Looking outside my Study window I see the flag moving rapidly in the breeze. There’s been lots of wind this March. A certain meteorologist on the radio said recently our weather patterns are returning to those of the 1950’s. The old ditties “March comes in like a lamb, goes out like a lion,” or, “March winds bring April showers which cause the blooms of May’s flowers” haven’t been said much recently. It could be because our weather patterns have changed: naturally, I believe.
Now, some in the “Climate Change” movement (Climate Change is what “Global Warming” is now called since the earth stopped warming in, I believe it was 1997, ‘98. They can’t let it go, so they just change the name) would have you young people (if there are any young people who actually read this!) believe that the current weather patterns and temperature are the ideal for the planet. If you’re older than, let’s say, thirty-five, you can remember vast swings in temperature through the decades as well as weather patterns that have been in flux all your life: younger people, not so much.
My father was born in 1917 and lived to be eighty-eight years old. I listened to him talk extensively through the years and he told stories about what the country was like when he was growing up. Daddy used to say, “Son, when I was a boy, we had a lot of pastures to play in. People raised cows for food and they had pastures for them everywhere. You can’t find pastures like I used to play in as a boy; they have all grown over with trees.”
Granted, my father had limited travel experience as a child. His family never owned a car until my Dad bought a 1930’s Buick when he was about eighteen to twenty years old. My Grandfather didn’t even get a license until he was sixty-four. He purchased a 1957 Chevrolet four door sedan either right before or right after he got his license, which He wrecked ten times that same year (That’ll be another story)! Prior to that, if they travelled, it was usually by bus, or when they were very young, by wagon. So, my Daddy saw very little of the country until he was married and able to travel. Thus, his perspective of pastures and forests was skewed by his limitations.
Such can be said about youth who are taught that our current climate cycle is the ideal. Their view is skewed by their lack of experience. They can’t remember vast swings in temperature because they haven’t experienced them. And since we tend to base our beliefs primarily on our experiences, when someone in authority affirms what we are currently experiencing as the only experience, we tend to cling to beliefs as correct in every situation. Therefore, we reject the idea that weather or anything could have ever been different or perhaps even better fifty years ago than it is today.
But, things haven’t always been as they are today; whether it is weather or my topic for today, morality. Scripture tells us in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” Warming has happened before it will happen again. Cooling has happened before it will cool again. Been pretty cool this year as a matter of fact and thanks to the internet, we can see it hasn’t been just a local thing. So, as the meteorologist said, maybe our weather patterns are returning to those of the 1950’s.
But, what if our public morality would return to that of the 1950’s? Would that be better? Some tell us the morality of the 50’s was a sham. People say things like, “We don’t live in a Beaver Cleaver reality,” referring to a 1950’s television show where everything was supposedly scrubbed Clorox clean. We are told that even though things may have looked good on the surface, deep down below, they were terrible. Since I wasn’t alive then, I have no “experiences” to fall back on. I do know how we are constantly bombarded with the idea that things are worse today than they have ever been, in regards to equality, freedom, and oppression. I am sixty-three years old, and I can say without a doubt that is an absolute lie! Those specific things are much better now, than they were when I was a boy. So, I kind of doubt in the 1950’s things may have looked good on the surface, but down below they were terrible.
Scripture says in Ecclesiastes 7:10, “Say not thou, ‘What is the cause that the former days were better than these’ for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.” We want to be wise. We will not claim what is not true: the “Good old days” were better than today. But we will say morality has been crumbling for quite a while and simply ask, why, and what can be done about it.
A great way to learn Biblical morality is in a Bible preaching and teaching church. Wrenn is certainly that! So, why not be sure to meet us there this Wednesday and Sunday as we learn from the Word of God? It’s the Easter Weekend, what a great time to make Church your practice every Sunday!