Signs of the Decline of Society

Here are the signs that a society is declining or has already declined:

Romans 1:28-31

"And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, ²⁹ being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, ³¹ without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;

Does this describe our current culture?  Yes.  How so?

I will break it down.

"Being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness..."

Do we have wickedness in our culture?  Yes.  What is wickedness? 

Wickedness is something that is "evil or morally wrong" or something that is "intended to or capable of harming someone or something."  Given the second definition I would say nuclear weapons point out the extent of our wickedness.  The power to wipe out an entire country at one push of a button is pretty insane if you think about it, to kill millions of innocent children etc.  To completely obliterate an entire people group.  That is wicked, or would be.  Look at the movie Hotel Rwanda.  "Ethnic cleansing" happens all over our world, where one people group will try to annihilate another, for no real reason at all.  That is wicked. 

"Greed, evil...."

Do we have greed in our culture?  Of course! lol Greed is America's middle name.  We are never satisfied with what we have so we strive to get more and more.  A car isn't enough, we always want a new car.  A house isn't enough, we want a bigger house.  While most of the world would consider us to be filthy rich, we don't see it that way.  We think we never have enough.  So people are greedy to make more and more money to get things that will really never satisfy them.  Why?  Because we are extremely greedy.  We always want more and more for ourselves, while the rest of the world starves, but most don't care.  That is greed. 

Ecc. 5 says, "He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity. ¹¹ When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to their owners except to look on? ¹² The sleep of the working man is pleasant, whether he eats little or much; but the full stomach of the rich man does not allow him to sleep.
¹³ There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches being hoarded by their owner to his hurt. ¹⁴ When those riches were lost through a bad investment and he had fathered a son, then there was nothing to support him. ¹⁵ As he had come naked from his mother’s womb, so will he return as he came. He will take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand. ¹⁶ This also is a grievous evil—exactly as a man is born, thus will he die. So what is the advantage to him who toils for the wind?"

Nothing.  Greed is futile in the end.  A chasing after the wind.  An appetite that will never be filled.

"Full of envy...."

Do we have envy in our culture?  Yes, definitely.  Our entire infrastructure is built on envy.  The capitalist mindset is only to beat the other guy, be better than everyone around you, get what they have and More. 

What did Solomon say in Ecclesiastes 4?  "I have seen that every labor and every skill which is done is the result of rivalry between a man and his neighbor. This too is vanity and striving after wind."  Another translation says that "all achievement spring from man's envy of his neighbor."  For example, we see that our neighbor has a better car than us, we want that car, so we seek to achieve more so that we can get what we envy that they have.  This is a futile attempt in the end, because someone will always have something better than us, no matter what we have.  Better to be content with what we have.  But contentment only comes as a gift from God, from knowing God more. :)  Then we begin to see what really has value, and what really does not. :)

"Murder, strife, deceit, malice...."

Do we have murder in our culture?  In 2011 14,600 people were murdered.  That is insane!  But most may not ever actually murder someone, but do we have strife with others?  Do we have malice in our heart?  Do we wish some other person didn't exist, even for a moment?  That is having a murderous heart towards them.  God sees the heart.  What does our heart look like in regards to the people around us?  What is our attitude? 

"Deceit...."

Do we have deceit in our culture?  Of course.  That goes without saying.  Even growing up I heard the concept all the time that white lies aren't really lies.  But yes they are.  Any time you are not telling someone the full truth, or you are withholding the truth from them, you are lying.  Satan is the father of lies.  Lies are as serious as murder.  But "the truth shall set you free."  Yes?  Amen. :) 

"They are gossips, slanderers...."

Ah gossip, something I have wondered about my whole life.  People talk about people all the time.  But what qualifies as gossip?  Google defines gossip as, "Casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true."  By that definition then I have never gossiped about someone.  It is ok to talk about people, if you are getting advice about a situation etc, but spreading lies about another person is completely wrong and that is gossip.  The ideal, however, is if you have an issue with someone, talk to them directly about it.  Sometimes that person won't listen to you or reason with you.  In that case, the Bible says to take another person, get someone else involved to right the situation.  Hence marital counseling etc.  But never take revenge on someone else by scaring their character and making up lies about them.  That is to slander someone.  Always speak the truth.  :)

 "Haters of God...."

Do people hate God today?  Yes.  Why?  Personal tragedy in their lives, pain, etc.  We all go through a lot of crap in life.  Some want to blame God for these things and hate God as a result.  The best perspective is to see that we live in a fallen world.  Satan is the ruler of this world, for a time.  God has given him power in this age.  Well, we gave him power when we ate the fruit in the garden.  We handed our dominion of the world over to Satan.  So that is why things suck.  It is not God's fault.  God ultimately allows things, since he has total power and control over all things, but we did this to ourselves.  God loves us.  He is ultimately for us, not against us.  So if you find yourself hating God ever, don't. :)  He loves you and wants what is best for you, even if you can't always see that.  He does. :)

"Insolent, arrogant, boastful....
Insolent means to defy authority.  Do we do this?  Yes, all the time.  Anytime someone defies a boss at work or an elder etc we are being insolent.  We are failing to submit to those we should and need to submit to for our own good. 

Arrogance is everywhere we look.  In Hollywood, in sports, in the academic world.  Our culture is full of arrogant people.  And most people, for some reason, seem to love these arrogant people, which only boosts their ego and pride even more.  I have never understood worshipping stars of any sort.  I always thought Brad Pitt was attractive, but I'm not going to worship him or think of him as God.  But that is what people do, put stars in the place of God and worship them as idols. 

And are we boastful?  Yes.  Everyone has their area of expertise, whether it be sports, academics, music, art etc.  We all have our talents.  And do we boast about them?  Of course.  All the time.  I used to struggle with this.  I have always had gifts and excelled in most things I tried, and it is hard to give God the glory for everything instead of take credit yourself.  But ultimately, we wouldn't even be alive if it weren't for God.  Any capability we have is from God, it is not our doing.  So there is no room for boasting, in any field or profession.  God is the vine and we are merely the branches. 

"Inventors of evil...."

Look at the Jackass movies.  That's all I will say about that. :)

"Disobedient to parents...."

Very.  What I have always found odd is t-shirts that encourage a prideful attitude in children.  Shirts that say spoiled or princess, basically bow down to me, the child.  The child did not bring the parents into existence, the parents brought the child into existence.  The child is to submit to and serve the parents, not the other way around.  But our culture is leaning more towards children being in control for some reason.  And this is very sad. 

 "Without understanding...."

Compared with the rest of the world, our test scores are way down, and we are no longer the most intelligent people in the world by any means.  Our intellect is rapidly declining.  I blame mind numbing TV, but who knows what has done this. 

"Untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful....."

Since lying has become socially acceptable, most are not trustworthy anymore. 

Since we have strife and malice in our heart towards other people, we have become unloving, for the most part.

And since we are arrogant and care only about ourselves, we have become unmerciful, for the most part.  We are quick to judge, even and especially those in the church, and we have forgotten what mercy should look like. 

May God help us and set us back on the straight and narrow path if possible.

If not, get right with God before it's too late. 

Grace and peace be with you. :)