Externals

Every few weeks I get to meet up with some friends for a coffee and a blether. We cover just about any subject and in the space of a couple of hours can set the world to rights, no matter the troubles. These are very light hearted times and not usually too serious, but get to know each other better every time even though we all go back many years. This past week was such a time.

Politics and the state of the world are fair game and are in our sights most times. I wonder how much attention we pay to the overall state of our nation? You can substitute your own country and I’m sure it will be pretty much the same, with all the same problems which need solutions. Our politicians do try, but don’t always get it right with our major issues like:

Drug use and addiction is increasing at an alarming rate, and although it is debated a lot, we don’t seem to be closer to a solution. We all know it’s not a good thing to be hooked on drugs, but since we can’t stop it happening, the answer seems to be to allow it, decriminalise hard drugs and not prosecute offenders. After all, they are victims too. If you can’t fix it, then make it legal!

Crime is at an all time high and linked to unemployment, poverty, and a bad childhood. We need to find someone or something to blame and we do a pretty good job at that. We find reasons to sympathise with the criminal while the victims are left behind.

Terrorism is rife, and without naming names or sections of society, we all agree it is a major problem but we don’t want to tackle it head on. So we go round in circles making suggestions that it’s not really their fault if someone has radicalised them to believe they are doing good in the long run, and if anything happens to them, their family will be provided for. We don’t want to upset any group unnecessarily, so we stay silent to the obvious truth.

After talking about this for a while, one of the men said something like this which brought a silence to our table. “The further we get from the commandments of the Bible, the worse society becomes, and that’s because we (the 'good' part of society) have also moved away from the importance of the Bible.” On this occasion, we could not disagree. The real problem wasn’t and isn’t what’s wrong with society. It’s what has happened to change us as a whole? Our community and therefore our nation has moved away from the laws of God, and we no longer live our lives in a Bible believing manner. We have changed on the inside, and that has affected our attitudes to wrong behaviour. Get the inside right, and the other problems will follow.

We used to have a name for that internal intention to do wrong. Oh yes, we called it ‘sin’, but we’re better than that now, aren’t we? Talk of sin is old fashioned. Our communities and societies have moved on for the good of us all, and we are better for it, aren’t we? Let’s leave the Bible to have the last word, and see what it says…. Case closed I fear!

The human heart is most deceitful and desperately wicked. Jeremiah 17:9 NLT