Looking Through A Mirror Cracked

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A r t i c l e t i t l e

Looking Through A Mirror Cracked

By Samuel M. Buick

The moral landscape is not that of a playground, but that of a pock marked battle field scarred from the constant bombardment of the guns of relativism, the minefields of atheism, and the obstacles and bunkers of secular existentialism. The once highly valued standards of ethical conduct and public and private morals have been torn to shreds by the cross-fire. Scandals have done nothing but cause the public to turn away, some out of disgust, some from dismay, and some from an apathy that causes concern. While the moral decline is of concern, it is the obvious apathy of the general public to issues of morality and ethical behaviour that startles me.

Recent political scandals reveal the duality that exists in public and private morality as well as that which are moral and legal definitions of right and wrong. One need not look far to see the slippery slope we are on as the result of fuzzy lines which have almost blurred themselves from existence. The standard was set by a worldview that clearly stated that one was ultimately accountable before God for their lives and conduct, to one that sees God as a grandfather figure, Santa like, so benevolent that he will wink at our flawed nature and character, acknowledge that we tried our best, and look at the scale to measure our good deeds, and let us into heaven. Sadly there are many within the religious landscape who adhere to this very form of Christianity. Their theology may indeed deny this view, but ethically and pragmatically, they practice such a form of religion.

I use the term 'religion' loosely, for I do not know what else to use. My understanding of biblical Christianity is that what most consider my faith to be 'religion', I understand to be relationship. In relationships there are standards that are appropriate and those which are not for life and conduct. We call these standards 'ethics.'

The question facing the culture and the church is, ?what is the basis of our ethics?? Ethics cannot be pragmatic or existentially non-defined. Ethics must have a source, a standard on which to measure degrees of good and evil. Man is not the measure of all things, and man certainly is not the one to define or measure these qualities of moral codes of behaviour.

We live in a Western culture which has been wrestled from its foundational moorings of dependence upon God (providence) to one of democracy gone berserk (personal autonomy). Much of what we call democracy today has nothing to do with the Magda Carta, the English Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell, or the Declaration of Independence. Democracy today is the quest for rights and freedoms without accountability and responsibility. This is full fledged incarnate autonomy. It is to rule oneself and consider oneself above law. This is nothing short of creating chaos and disorder as virtue while at the same time destroying what was once the highest good. How do we reconcile this neo-paganism with biblical morality? If one pushes the envelope, so to speak, one must come to terms with God being the source, the giver and sustainer of life, which includes natural and moral law. This line of thinking goes against the grain of popular morality.

As the public we have no one else to blame for the moral decline and the conduct of our elected representatives and leaders than ourselves. As an electorate we elect those who are a reflection of ourselves. The decline in morality in the public domain is the fleshing out of the decline of private morals in our homes, schools, business practices and the like. When we get caught, we agonize at the quandary in which we have placed ourselves, not because we know we have transgressed God, His character, and His laws, but simply because we have been found out. We have been found to be wanting in those family values that we once extolled to all who would lend us their ears. We have been found lacking in moral fibre in ethical debates where pragmatism has overtaken what is morally necessary. Our politicians, our leaders as a whole are merely reflections of our own sinful condition.

I decry the moral degeneration that has taken place in the church. The culture reveals its own condition. The church reflects its own condition. When the world, the culture which we are a part of, sees little difference between itself and the church, then we are on the thresh hold of the judgement of God on the church and upon the land.

Morality, ethics, and the like flow from the character of God. God blesses the nations who acknowledge and live according to His ways. We have nothing apart from God and His grace shown toward us. Christians need to look inwardly and reflectively, seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures, with a broken spirit and repentant heart. I am no different than the Prime Minister of our nation, or the President of the United States. I am in need of Christ Jesus, and His grace, His forgiveness, His restoration. I must come humbly knowing that in myself I am nothing and have nothing, and knowing that while I was yet a sinner Christ died for me. If I was to cast a stone today, I would break my mirror!

© 3 Sisters Communications 1999

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