We are all seeing it happen. It appears that the moral standards in today’s society are in an ever-increasing downward spiral. However, the truth is that in the ebb and flow of man’s moral consciousness there have always been peaks and valleys in moral standards. It is evident that we may be approaching another valley. With every digression from God’s moral standard, there have always been groups of people that hold to God’s unchanging standard and stand in the gap, rather than get to a point when what was once deplorable is now acceptable.
Daniel Bell, a teacher of sociology at Harvard University, wrote in his book, The Coming of Post-industrial Society, “The lack of a rooted moral belief system is the cultural contradiction of the society, the deepest challenge to its survival.” We are in a society that has lost its moral backbone and has replaced it with moral subjectivism and secular humanist ideals. Moral subjectivism is the idea that there is no system of absolute right or wrong. This means that one cannot say to Mr. X, “You are wrong” or “You are right,” because one cannot impose upon him any system of moral beliefs. It is left up to the individual to decide what is right and wrong. “Here is a simple but profound rule: If there are no absolutes by which to judge society (or individuals), then society (or the individual) is the absolute” (How Then Should We Live, Schaeffer, 224). This is a far cry from, “This is My beloved Son: hear Him” (Luke 9:35), and the authority that is given to Christ (Eph. 1:20-23).
The humanist manifesto is void of religious thought and godly reasoning. Inside the front cover of every secular humanist magazine, Free Inquiry, there is a list of 21 “Affirmations of Humanism.” Here is a sample, “We affirm humanism as a realistic alternative to theologies of despair and ideologies of violence and as a source of rich personal significance and genuine satisfaction in the service to others.” This is very prominent in our society and it is common to experience people using this language. It has a big voice in the media, so people are becoming indoctrinated with these thoughts, and children are taught this in schools, “We do not believe that any particular sect (religion) can claim important values as their exclusive property; hence it is the duty of public education to deal with these values” (Council for Secular Humanism, 1980). The humanist movement has been an influential force in getting God out of the public eye. We need to understand these are people groping in the dark trying to understand life and the world around them with their own reasoning. “O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:23). With this on our hearts, the duty to teach and be examples of the Gospel message is all the more important.