I have been thinking about how we,
as a nation, have become so
permissive.

So permissive of so many things.

And my train of thought betrays that very topic.

I have time and comfort to THINK about something like this.

That must mean I am not threatened with harm or hunger, and that I am not worried enough about shelter for tonight or income for next week.

Going back into history, when a nation is on the edge of survival,
when a threatening strongman hovers over them or food lines are the daily normal … there are more immediate necessities that must be dealt with.

These immediate necessities lead to a more strict adherence to rules and measures that help meet what is needed that day.

When a nation is in a conflict for survival, when a military is in the midst of war….there is no time for social experiments or rationalizing about existence.

It’s all about simply preserving that existence.

Since the cessation of hostilities in 1945, our nation has been progressing toward the comfort we enjoy today.

It was interrupted in September, 2001. The sense of fear, threat and harm became real… for a period of time.

Church attendance spiked for a short time.

Prayer was no longer taboo in public and political forums.

Fear was present…therefore the presence of God was sought and His Name was invoked often.

But even then…our personal dwellings and daily provisions were not threatened.

We are a comfortable nation.

When one grows more and more comfortable there is a tendency toward an increasing level of permissiveness.

The thought that ” it will be okay”
or ” what’s so bad about that”….
becomes common thought.

In those times, we have seen that stretching the accepted norm toward an extreme fails to interrupt our level of comfort.

We fail to see the long term effect of a short term decision.

An example……
when Harry Blackmun,
made up the discovery of a clause in the Constitution that gave him the backbone to push his agenda …
we arrived at the approved decision that taking a unborn life for the convenience of the mother was Law. Yet there was a failure to see that there would eventually be about 59 million young lives never realized since that time.

For those who say we need more workers and revenue….
that number is roughly equivalent to the current populations of California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada and Arizona.

Reread that.

For a child born in 1973 would today be a voting taxpayer of 46 years of age. Probably with at least one or two children. Add that up.

Might there have been one more Steve Jobs or another Martin Luther King in that number…who could positively impact society…?

 

Comfort does bring good things.
Comfort is what we seek.
We should not negate the comforts we enjoy.

However, comfort can also bring a relaxing of both the adherence to and the acceptance of rules and guidelines that worked in the past, therefore are time-tested.

It’s a cycle which brought down the strongest civilizations.

Consider the temporary problem
Nebuchadnezzar had and the shortened life of Belshazzar….in the Old Testament.

My point is made….if you are thinking  that reference to be out-dated, or not applicable today.

Comfort causes human nature to rationalize that everyone should be allowed to engage in or practice whatever leads them to be “happy”….and that old ways no longer apply because we have “evolved”.

The pursuit of happiness.
It’s in the Constitution.

May we be in pursuit of comfort and happiness, though, without forsaking those behaviors  and practices which brought us to the level of comfort we enjoy today.

If one forgets what led to the success of a business….the success will eventually disappear.

Absolutes,
of which there are many,
do not fail to exist and matter,
merely because they have brought about success.

May we not permit the comfort we now enjoy to draw us away from those things we did to get here.

That brings to mind Paul’s  words …
in Hebrews 2……
“Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip”.

A Supreme Court justice nominee once called it….
” slouching toward Gomorrah”.

Slouching is not attractive or allowed in your child and
Gomorrah is universally accepted as a place where comfortable decadence brought destruction.

It’s a place to stay away from.