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The New Reformation

Morality and the Youth of Today

By: Audrey Sawyer

Morality. A commonly used word, but what does it really mean?

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language defines morality as The quality of being in accord with standards of right or good conduct; A system of ideas of right and wrong conduct.

But who decides the “standards of right or good conduct”? Alfred North Whitehead once said “What is morality in any given time or place? It is what the majority then and there happen to like, and immorality is what they dislike.” The morality of a given era is decided by the people living during that period. According to today’s standards, there are almost no standards for morality. Skimpy dress, foul language, and many other un-moral actions are perfectly acceptable to today’s society.

If you were to ask the average young person today, if they were moral, you’d almost, without fail, get a resounding “yes”. But is that true? Is the youth of today at all concerned with morality?

Ask any older person, and you’d get a resounding “no”. I have to agree with my elders in this case (as rarely as that happens). J

Today’s youth is more concerned with having fun, and enjoying life, than considering the consequences of their actions. They live with an “Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die” philosophy, never considering the result of their actions.

Would you consider a young woman in a skimpy outfit to be moral? I wouldn’t, but the young woman in question would see absolutely nothing wrong with it.

The youth of today has taken the standards for morality of their parents and grandparents and thrown them out the window.

“Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere.” - Gilbert K. Chesterton But where should this line be drawn? Today’s lines are so faint, to be almost invisible. True morality comes from God’s word.

“In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel” –I Timothy 2:9 I Timothy 4:12 says the young are to be an example: “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”

Or how about II Peter 3:11? “what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,”

Or verse 14? “be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”

Oh, that the youth of today would compare their standards of morality to those of God’s word. That they would know that compared to God’s perfection, they have very far to come, and that they would strive to improve their personal standards to match those of a holy God.

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