Discipline is called for in today's permissive society

Taupo Times, Volume 23, Issue 57, 18 July 1974, Page 5

Discipline is called for in today's permissive society

Window on the churches

Little is said or written these days about depravity of morals whether in real life or in the "entertainment" world, yet many people deplore the moral decline of the Western world and indeed in New Zealand. One of the reasons is the media dominates and conditions public attitudes and tastes. Another reason is that this degradation is so low and so widespread. People today want to throw off all restrictions and mask sinful actions by giving them names that imply no guilt. In a pastoral letter last year Cardinal Heenan, of Westminster, said: "It is now generally accepted that nobody should tell us what to do. "Law — of God, of the church, or of the land — is regarded as the enemy of persona! liberty. "Going to school or to work or to church is our own affair. The whole idea of self-denial or even selfrestraint is out of fashion." Some people in responsible positions now deny there is a moral code and ask why a minority of believers should be allowed to impose their views on the rest of the population. The law of God is the law of reason. Hate, violence, dishonesty, and killing destroy society whether or not people accept God and his law. Today, unfortunately, some Christians and even clergy support abortion, euthanasia, and easier divorce. A few years ago an Auckland clergyman was advocating "marriage" for homosexuals. Things are no longer called by their proper names. We speak of industrial action not of strikes. We call poor people under-privileged and talk of artistic freedom instead of corruption. Fornication, an ugly word from the Bible, has been displaced by premarital sex, adultery by extra-marital sex. The preface to "Crockford's Clerical ITirectory," an English publication, written anonymously by a

leading Anglican churchman, said: "It cannot be overlooked that the moral crisis is within the church itself as well as in the nation at large. "Standards of sexual behaviour which have been an accepted part of Christian teaching since New Testament times are now openly called in question by some of the clergy, not only in books which reach only those who are in a position to evaluate what is written, but on the radio and television. "Millions of viewers and listeners are given the impression that the church has now abandoned its moral standards." The second reason as stated above for the lack of public outcry against the lowering of moral standards is that this degradation is so low and so widespread. In this, some people see hope for the next generation. They say that just about everything taboo or private or perverse or rotten has now been openly paraded in the spotlights to the point where there is nothing left to see or do. For a generation now each month has seen a book, a play, a film more "daring," "shocking," more lowbrow than before. There cofnes an end. One cannot outstrip the man who uncovers everything. One can say no more when all has been said. ■ Some see hope in this. The public will lose its sense of shock, become more "bored" with "sex", and turn back to better things. Unfortunately, this is not so. The so-called "permissiveness" of the former Christian society will not cure itself after surfeit and boredom, nor will there be any natural or inevitable

swing back to God's commandments. A man who hits the bottom of the well can fall no lower. But it is so very easy for him to stay at the bottom. Getting out needs great effort. I do not like the word "permissiveness". It is too soft — like saying T.O.P. (termination of pregnancy) when one means killing a baby. Permissiveness means repudiation of God's commandments — a serious and deadly business. There is a lot of talk these days about the need for sex ' education in schools. This has already been introduced many years ago in Sweden, and in more recent years in Britain. All Swedish schools have had explicit and detailed

compulsory sex education from infants to university. Today, Sweden leads the world with its illegitimacy of 25 per cent, and it also leads the world with its V.D. rate. Sweden has its lowest marriage rate since 1785, while its suicide and. abortion rates are high. Britain's compulsory sex education programme, encouraged and helped by the Family Planning Association, like Sweden's, cannot prove any advantages from it. Illegitimacy, V.D., abortions and crime among Britain's school-age children are rising rapidly. To try to stem the tide in Britain, free contraceptives are now available to all women, married or unmarried, even schoolgirls. Sex instruction and free contraceptives are thought to be more suited to the youth of modern Britain than religious instruction with its talk about selE" control and purity of heart. If the proposed sex education programme is introduced to our schools the ones who will be delighted will be the gay liberation movement, the pro-abortionists, people with "permissive" views. So also will the pornographers, and business concerns which will profit from the sale of printed rhaterial and teaching aids. These are the purveyors and supporters of our sick society. We should remember children are vulnerable, and we do not know where the trail will end. The only hope of restoration is a deliberate and personal return to faith in Christ and obedience to his gospel. Sex education should be taught inside the framework of Christian morality. God must be brought into it. The cult of the body is an ever-present trap. It won't die down or go away as long as there are people. Selfishness, self-indulgence, greed are "natural." Men are redeemed from this animal jungle because God created human beings to be supernatural or spiritual. It takes discipline and effort, but the alternative is the jungle.

Rev.

L.

Doyle I