Our Mixed-Up, Topsy-Turvy Society

by Dennis Abernathy

Our society can be described as running toward chaos. I am 77 years old, and today’s society is not the culture I grew up in. We are seeing more and more what the apostle Paul describes as “perilous times” (II Timothy 3:1-5). Today’s society is described in Isaiah 5. People were greedy, drinking had become a way of life, and enslaved to sin, they confused moral distinctions, to the extent that they could not discern between true and false values. They “called evil good, put darkness for light, and light for darkness, put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter"(Isaiah 5:20). Today, drinking is equated with a good time, sexual immorality is considered the gratification of a natural and normal urge, and rebellion against authority is looked upon as normal and right. More and more people are self-deceived and trust in their own fallible wisdom, believing they are “wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight" (Isaiah 5:21). Justice is perverted, and more often than not, the wicked go free, while the innocent are punished (Isaiah 5:23). More and more people can be described as “Doing that which is right in their own eyes” (Judges 17:6; 21: 25). Lawlessness and chaos reign. We are seeing this, not only in government but also in private lives and religion.

Why are we heading in the direction we are heading? I believe at the core of immorality is unbelief in God and His Word, and the belief that man is wise enough to “direct his own steps” (Jeremiah 10: 23). Modern philosophy, driven by rejection of God and His Word, only has the gratification of self as the standard to guide men. What we are witnessing is described for us in Romans 1:21, and it is not a pretty picture. People are becoming “futile (confused) in their thinking and their foolish hearts are darkened and professing to be wise, they are rather becoming fools.” More and more we are becoming a society and culture where people’s desires, ambitions, and personal satisfaction is taking precedence, and a coming judgment of God is seemingly forgotten by a vast majority of people.

My plea is for people to wake up to righteousness, and come to their senses.

Think on these things.