[281 words]
You are no doubt all too aware of America’s continuing moral decline. The evidence is both overwhelming and indisputable. You may be unaware, though, just how far and how swiftly we have slipped. William Bennett has recently released, through the auspices of the Heritage Foundation, “The Index of Leading Cultural Indicators,” a statistical portrait of the nation’s behavioral trends since 1960. His findings are alarming.
According to Bennett’s study, the population has increased 41 percent while violent crime has jumped 560 percent. Divorces have quadrupled. The teenage suicide rate has risen 200 percent. Illegitimate births have increased 400 percent.
What has gone wrong?
Consider these questions carefully. During the past thirty-four years, have we as a nation drawn closer to God or have we slipped farther away from God? Have we placed a greater emphasis upon the Bible or have we neglected the Bible? Have religion and spiritual matters generally been advanced or have they been pushed aside in favor of secular concerns? Are our families attending worship services, praying, and reading the Bible more often or less often now than families did a generation ago?
The answers are painfully obvious.
We are reaping what we have sown. The Bible has been right all along: “Righteousness exalts a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34).
The solution to America’s most pressing problems may be found within each of us, in a renewed and determined commitment to put God and His will first in our lives. As His people, we don’t need more government. We surely don’t need more selfish greed or self-promotional grandstanding. What we need is what we’ve always needed.
We need God.
Dalton Key
10th and Rockford church of Christ
Tulsa, OK