From the book, “What People Ask About The Church,” by Dale A. Robbins — 56 — In recent years we've heard a lot of talk about traditional values.
It seems to surface in every political campaign and has been the subject of debate and
controversy by the news media. While there may be differing interpretations, especially from
secular society, traditional values generally refer to the standards and values which were
embraced by most Americans from its earliest beginnings and throughout the majority of its
history. It is believed by many, including myself, that these values were a great part of
what made America a great and free nation — the absence of which, will likely result
in the further decline of our country. Traditional, historical American values have in the past, included a
faith in God, church, prayer and the Bible, which has for a large part, been the
foundation of other national traditions, such as: Respect toward authority, diligent work
ethics, absolute values of right and wrong, honesty in business practices, wholesomeness
in leadership, moderation rather than excess, marriage as a prerequisite before having sex
or bearing children, a family which consists of both a father and mother, taking
responsibility to provide for our own — such one's spouse, family and children, and
so forth. Traditional values are largely the Bible-based ethics that were a
great part of our national heritage which instilled character and taught people how to
grow up as human beings. People learned how to behave, to have manners, good morals, to be
honest, unselfish, generous and considerate of others. They were taught the benefits of
discipline, hard work, and responsibility. They were given good role models of how to be
loving and kind to their spouse, encouraging and supportive to their children. This was
the sort of thing which caused marriages to last, families to succeed, and which made our
nation strong and free. Many of today's political leaders are looking to a restoration of
such traditional values, not especially because of such a want for faith in God. But they
see that the values which were generally held by believers in the past are the cure for
the sickness that plagues our nation. And on the more cynical, capitalistic side of
things, politicians have come to see it as a remedy for the numerous costly government
social programs. Our government has nearly gone bankrupt trying to fix the ills of society
which have been produced by the absence of traditional values: Drug abuse, deadbeat dads,
unwed mothers, abortion, abandoned children, abandoned elderly, the spread of AIDS and
other venereal diseases, litigation abuse, welfare abuse, failure of education, lack of
discipline in the schools, rampant crime, and etc. All of these woes, and much more, are products of a society without
values — and specifically, without the values which originally came from a lifestyle
of faith in God. Realizing this, more and more politicians are beginning to sound like
preachers in their appeal for a return to moral values. It has been said that America is following the same historical path
that led to the collapse of the Roman empire. In the famous history, "The Decline and
Fall of the Roman Empire,"¹ the author gave the following reasons for Rome's fall: (1) Excessive spending by the central government. Sadly, these same symptoms are the ills of our own society, and most
Christian leaders believe that unless there is a revival of moral values in our nation,
like Rome, it will corrupt from within and will die as a nation. It is said, "They
which fail to learn from history, are destined to repeat it." We're reminded of a
warning in scripture: "The wicked shall be turned into hell, And all the nations that
forget God" (Psa. 9:17). ¹ The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon This article is copyrighted © by Dale A. Robbins, 1995, and is a publication of Victorious Publications, Grass Valley, CA 95949. Unless otherwise stated, all scripture references were taken from The New King James Bible, © Thomas Nelson Inc., 1982.You may download for personal use as long as you retain credit to the author. Obtain permission before reproducing copies for any reason, by filling out our simple permission form. For media reproduction rights, or to obtain published quantities of this title, email us. |
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