Britain: Repairing a Broken Society
A time is coming when God's government—the Kingdom of God—will repair what is broken in today's valueless, immoral society.
On July 24 a by-election took place in Glasgow East, Scotland to replace a member of the British parliament whose seat became vacant between parliamentary national elections—usually held every five years. Previously on July 7, Conservative party leader David Cameron spoke in Glasgow on behalf of his party's candidate there.
What he said about morality makes a lot of sense. He stated: "We have seen a decades-long erosion of responsibility, of social virtue, of self-discipline, respect for others...Instead we prefer moral neutrality, a refusal to make judgments about what is good and bad behaviour, right and wrong behaviour.
"Bad. Good. Right. Wrong. These are words that our political system and our public sector scarcely use anymore...Refusing to use these words—right and wrong—means a denial of personal responsibility and the concept of moral choice...There is a danger of becoming quite literally a de-moralized society, where nobody will tell the truth anymore about what is good and bad, right and wrong.
"That is why children are growing up without boundaries, thinking they can do as they please, and why no adult will intervene to stop them—including, often, their parents. The values we need to repair our broken society and to build a strong society are values that should be taught in the home, in the family. I want a mandate for restoring responsibility to our society. A mandate to call time on the twisted values that have eaten away at our social fabric" (excerpts from text of East Glasgow speech, emphasis added throughout).
During his speech Mr. Cameron said nothing directly about God, Jesus Christ, the Bible, the Christian religion or any other religion for that matter. But his actual words about morality were generally based on the Judeo-Christian ethic. They ring true, not applying just to the United Kingdom but to the entire Western world and especially the English-speaking peoples around the globe.
Afterwards David Cameron suffered some caustic verbal punishment from members of the liberal press and the intelligentsia behind it. His words did not fit in with their pragmatic, amoral stance on basic issues governing morality. But regardless of whether his political party can or would successfully carry out a program designed to repair British society if and when it ever becomes the ruling government again, what he said in Glasgow remains fundamentally true.
Mr. Cameron also stated in that same speech: "Imagine if there was a government that understood, really understood, that encouraging personal and social responsibility must be the cornerstone of everything it did and that every move it took reinforced that view."
Just such a divine government is coming to this earth. The Bible promises that "the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed; no one will ever conquer it. It will shatter all these kingdoms [that are tolerant of ungodly values] into nothingness, but it [the Kingdom of God] shall stand forever, indestructible" (Daniel 2:44, The Living Bible).
Its Head of State will be Jesus Christ. Its policies will be based on the Ten Commandments and the true gospel as Christ preached it. In "the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through his holy prophets" (Acts 3:21, NRSV) it will repair what is broken in today's valueless society.
Why not learn more about that coming Kingdom and the godly values and laws it will teach and enforce?
Course Content
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
