Greetings,
There is no doubt that we live in a world of changing morality. Over the years we have regularly talked about the steady – and sometimes rapid – decline in moral standards around us. We have noted that some people view the breaking down of barriers and taboos as progress towards a freer, more accepting society while the more conservative see only a disturbing downhill slide.
This predictable dichotomy spawns an accompanying reaction. Those who welcome broadening worldviews tend to promote the important role of schools in influencing the next generation. At the same time those more inclined to hold onto traditional values see the family as primary and vital to the transmission of moral standards. The trend over the past half century has definitely tipped the scales towards influences outside the home as the main vehicles by which young people develop their moral code. The school system has not only changed with the times in every way but has generally advocated relativistic approaches to almost everything.
This is a trend that has been recognized for a number of years now. In 2008 a union for educated professionals in the United Kingdom decried the absence of parental training in the children they are called upon to teach. They said that children are no longer learning moral values at home and the lack of discipline is making the classroom an unruly place where teaching anything is becoming more difficult.
Are we now in a time when those children who have been reared in the unbiblical environment of moral relativity in the educational systems of the western world are now producing offspring who are taking moral relativity to new levels? Are we seeing cause and effect? It cannot be denied that moral values are not being taught at home as they used to be, but is this not the result of previous conditioning? It is a challenge to raise children in this environment, but it is a challenge that parents in God’s Church must rise to. We must not give up our responsibility to teach our children God’s principles of life, which are not principles of moral relativity, but concepts based on God’s law, the true standard that our children need to learn.
“You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (Deuteronomy 6:7).
For further reading on this subject click on the following link: Children missing moral values at home, teachers say
* * *
Sabbath services will be streamed from Denver CO this week.
Warm Regards,
Brian Orchard
