Posted on 03/28/2002 8:55:47 AM PST by TLBSHOW
Edmund Burke once remarked that “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” For nearly forty years, far too many good men have been standing on the sidelines, watching our culture slide into the darkness. In abdicating their moral obligations to our society, they have—in many ways—done more than all of the whores put together to contribute to the cultural mess in which we currently find ourselves. Many upstanding Americans have kept silent while their friends, families, and acquaintances engaged in nonmarital sex, experimented with drugs, aborted their children, lied to their colleagues, and turned their backs on God. Why?
These Americans have been inundated with a cultural message that they have no right to judge bad behavior. The shrill Leftist voice, “Who are YOU to judge?” can be heard at every turn.
[WARNING: There are references to Biblical passages below. I advise fanatical atheist extremists to get their stash of aluminum foil and duct tape to construct the usual force field. You have been warned.]
Those who have never read the Bible—namely atheists, agnostics, and Unitarians—run around quoting Matthew 7:1 ("Judge not, and ye shall not be judged",) and John 8:7 ("He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.).
Once and for all, let us put these arguments to rest. First, while the Lord judges men’s souls, men can—and must—judge others’ behavior.
Second, in Matthew 7:5, we are told "Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." That is to say, if I am committing adultery, then I ought to clean up my own act before I tell my sister to stop committing adultery. If I am not committing adultery, then I am able to see and can tell my sister that she is behaving immorally.
Third, in John 8:11, after saving the prostitute's life, Jesus says to her "Now go and sin no more." He does not say that her acting like a whore is an alternative lifestyle choice. He does not say that everyone is a whore in college. He tells her to stop acting like a whore.
Religious individuals (and all civilized people, for that matter) have a moral obligation to speak out against behavior that is immoral. To remain silent in the face of immorality is to endorse it.
Furthermore, it is disingenuous to argue that the “non-judgmental” crowd is not making judgments of its own. They are. Their judgment is that there is nothing immoral about nonmarital sex, abortion, cheating, etc. This is the message constantly presented to young people—in our public schools, on MTV, on sitcoms, in college, and increasingly by parents who have chosen to abdicate their responsibilities to their children.
Moral Americans have a duty to speak out, loudly and often. We have lost one of the most important instruments in fighting the culture war—social stigma. If individuals engage in immoral behavior, then that behavior ought to be stigmatized. An individual who is contemplating engaging in nonmarital sex ought to know that if he does, he will be socially ostracized until he changes his ways. A guy who is thinking about smoking marijuana should know that if he goes down that road, he will be a lowlife loser. A girl who is thinking about wearing tight clothes and getting drunk at the bars ought to understand that she will be viewed as a harlot.
Is that mean-spirited? Is that cruel? Is that nasty? Do I care? The answer to all four questions is ‘no.’ Being right is the only criterion on which I base my judgments, not whether a bunch of sexaholics, feminists, and libertarians will throw a hissy fit because I make them feel guilty about their own misspent lives.
Some moderate (atheist) Republicans get all bent out of shape about Christian conservatives becoming active in politics. They accuse us of being no different than the far Left—trying to impose our will on everyone. Such an argument is not credible. The far Left seeks to use the power of the federal government to threaten citizens with jail or death if they don’t hand over their property to other citizens. Religious conservatives argue that we need to privately change people’s minds and hearts, thereby transforming the culture. There is no government coercion involved in reintroducing social stigma to our society.
Moral folks need to uncurl themselves from the fetal position and get out in the world to do battle where it is needed.
“But Sabia,” you whimper, “It’s not worth all of the grief it would cause me. I don’t want to get yelled at. Look at what people have been doing to you!”
Get yourself together! Life is about the struggle; it’s the battle that builds character. Traditional values are worth fighting for and they are worth losing friends and acquaintances over. Moral principles should never be compromised in order to avoid conflict.
In many ways, the silent majority of moral Americans has let my generation down. Through their silence and indifference, we have inherited a culture of moral relativism, nonjudgmentalism, and anti-religious bigotry. My generation must take on the responsibility to turn the tide. We must return the scarlet letter to a society that is in desperate need of high moral standards.
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