Morality in America

1 Kings 16:23-30; 2 Timothy 3

I step on to the treadmill to walk for one hour. I look up at the television in front of me. The TV is set to the MSNBC channel. On the bottom of the screen these words are written. COMEY: TRUMP “NOT MORALLY FIT TO BE PRESIDENT.” I cannot hear what is being said because I do not have necessary earphones. As I look at these words I ask myself, “what is moral in America? Does America really care about morality? Maybe former FBI director James Comey’s real goal is to sell his book. Maybe the President’s morality is more about politics than his behavior. As I think about this I ask myself other questions that come to my mind. I want to share some of these questions with you. You see, it is not my goal here to judge the morality of President Trump. My goal is that we think about morality in America as it truly is. In particular, I want those of us that call ourselves Christians and followers of Jesus Christ to assess our own morality individually and in our churches. Are we consistent in what actions that we say are moral and immoral? Are we judging others and at the same time ignoring, denying, and rationalizing our own behavior? What is right, and what is wrong?

Before we answer these and other questions, I believe that we must be clear about the words “moral” and “morality.” So, I Google the word morality on my android, and I read that the word “morality” is a noun. Morality is “principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior. Further, morality is a particular system of values and principles of conduct, especially one held by a specified person or society.”

Another definition states: “Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of conduct from a particular philosophy, religion or culture, or it can derive from a standard that a person believes should be universal. Morality may also be specifically synonymous with “goodness” or “rightness” (https://en.m.wikipedia.org>wiki>Moral). Thus morality can be that of an individual’s belief or of a group’s agreement. Now, based on Mr. Comey’s statement he specifies that America has principles and values that govern our conduct. America has values and conducts that we agree determines right and wrong. However, I question if this assumption is true. You may ask why.

It is simply this. Where do we get morals from? Who determines what is moral or immoral? America is a county with a diversity of peoples of many races, skin colors, ethnicities, religions, and cultural backgrounds. Americans are persuaded and guided by various philosophies and truths. In addition, how are we affected by the constitutional ideal of separation of church and state? When we take notice of racism in America, it becomes obvious that what is right and wrong for white America and Black America is often different. For example: Gun violence is an everyday issue in the ghettos of America’s large cities for African Americans. Black people are being killed every day, and it seems that much of white America is not that concerned about their lives. However, there are two things that cause many white Americans to become concerned and raise the issue of human life. They are the abortion debate and mass shootings and killings of large numbers of white folk at one time. If human life is the issue, why are we not concerned about life all the time? Why are Americans concerned about the life of the unborn while at the same time ignore killing of unarmed Black boys by police? Police persons are supposed to be better trained, and they are supposed to be more confident in themselves so that they do not shoot down a kid with a cell phone in his hand and then say that they thought that it was a gun. Why do we want to spend money on stadiums and refuse to spend money on affordable health insurance for every citizen? That is, if human life is really that important.

There are diverse religions and within the major groups of religions there are differences within each group. I am a Baptist. I attend a church where women are acknowledged as preachers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet, our church is affiliated with an association and a state convention that refuse to acknowledge the calling of women. So, if discrimination is immoral on racial grounds, why is discrimination not immoral on gender grounds? If God is sovereign, how can we cherry pick the scriptures and emphasize a few verses to justify gender discrimination and at the same time condemn those who pick over scriptures to justify racial discrimination and racist practices?

Are morals permanent? Think about this: God is moral in His being, but God does not have morals based on principles and values outside Himself. God does not adhere to a standard. God is the standard simply because of who God is in God’s own being and perfection. God’s morality, if I may say this, is grounded in God’s own attributes; God’s nature; God’s being. One of the attributes of God is this: God is immutable. This means that God does not change. The writer of the book of Hebrews says it this way: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8, NASB). Since God does not change His Word does not change. God is immutable in all His being. On the other hand, history demonstrate and prove that human morality is constantly evolving and changing, whether we are talking about an individual or a group of people. Let us turn to the church.

The church in America today no longer abide by the strict moral demands that it held to forty to sixty years ago when I was a child. For example: When I was a child a man that was divorced was not likely considered to become a deacon or a pastor of the church. While this remains the ideal in many churches today, there has been a relaxation of this requirement in many churches. A woman who has a child out of wedlock is not rejected and shamed as much as they were when I was a child. From these examples we can see that morality in the contemporary church is changing from that of past generations. Why are these changes taking place? I think that the answer at least in part, is that society in general is constantly changing. Secondly, I believe that our morality is changing because our society is becoming more influenced by secular society and less by the church. The church itself is often influenced by the world more than faithfulness to God’s Word. Let us briefly look at the scripture passages listed at the beginning.

In 1 Kings 16 we read about some of the kings of Israel. We read that King Jeroboam sets a standard of evil and idolatry. Successive kings are described as worse than the king before him. “Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, and acted more wickedly than all who were before him” (1 Kings 16: 25, NASB). After Omri dies, his son Ahab becomes king in Israel. The writer says the same thing about Ahab that had been said about Omri. “Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD more than all who were before him” (v. 30). From these two verses we can see that the writer is judging the kings by the laws and standards set forth by the Lord. Also, each generation is worse than the generations before.

In 2 Timothy 3 Apostle Paul writes to his protégé Timothy and warns him of the increasing ungodliness. He encourages Timothy by reminding him of his stand for Jesus and the gospel (vv. 10-11). Timothy needs to have a clear understanding of what he can expect in the future. “Indeed all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse deceiving and being deceived” (vv. 12-13). Can you see that God’s standards and commandments for morality does not change, but people are changing the standards to suit their own purposes? What is the purpose of this article? What are we saying here?

Simply this: The church is the light of the world and the bearer of the truth of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Secular society tells us that truth is relative and changing. The scriptures tell us that God is immutable; thus truth does not change. Since Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the life (Jn. 14:6), the church must always base its morality upon the truth of God. The church cannot be deceived and persuaded by the world. In conclusion, America does not have a defined morality. The church has its morality defined by the God that we worship, praise, and confess to be our Lord. God reveals truth through the written word, the bible, and truth is confirmed by the Holy Spirit.