No. 746 - THE ERA OF IRRESPONSIBILITY

No. 746
Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN
THE ERA OF IRRESPONSIBILITY

It has often been said that history has a way of repeating itself. I can certainly go along with that, especially in the area of human conduct and responsibility. Today we see cases on every hand where people in responsible positions, in all areas of society, are acting totally irresponsibly. It’s not my nature to single out people who have dropped the ball and, by doing so, have set a terrible example for young people and those who look to them as an example. Rather, I had rather spend my time concentrating on things I can do, and we can do together, to make life better for future generations.
One thing we should all understand is that there are lasting and often dire consequences for our actions and how we deal with those around us. We just need to know, and be constantly reminded, that whatever we are doing that is wrong will most often come to light, and in due time we will be judged by God and by our fellowman. There are millions of people who are either dead, sitting in prison or disgraced who thought, “It won’t hurt this one time or no one will ever know.” Believe me, we will be found out and they will know.
Some time back a reader in Illinois sent me something written by a man I truly respected, the late Paul Harvey. It was written in 1975, so you can see that irresponsibility and sin were around back in those days, too, as it always has been. That’s just our nature unless we have had a life-changing experience, and Jesus Christ has made us literally a new person, II Corinthians 5:17.
By way of reminder, in part, here is what Paul Harvey had to say, “They told us that, if we’d relax about sex, take our clothes off and not get all uptight about it, there would be no more sex crimes. So we let it all hang out – and the incidence of rape has increased 10 percent in one year. We need to question some of the other advice ‘they’ gave us.
“They told us we had been too tough on criminals, that we should go easy on them. So we went easy on them – and the rate of violent crime has increased 47 percent since 1968, increased 6 percent last year and is increasing 15 percent this year. (And remember this was written in 1975) They also told us that if we would just be generous with poor folk, there would be no motive for stealing anymore. So, we gave everyone a guaranteed income and robbery, burglary, larceny, auto theft are running 15 percent ahead of one year ago. They said that churches were ‘old fashioned,’ that they must modernize, liberalize, rationalize, compromise. And those that comprised most are sinking fastest. It is appearing up to here that ‘they’ gave us some awfully bad advice. They did.
“They insisted that our schools must boot God out and rely on enhancing Junior’s intelligence. So we graduated a generation of Juniors with refined intellects and undisciplined emotions – so school-age suicides have soared 92 percent in two years. They said informal marriage was enough, so the odds are 5-to-4 your rapture will be ruptured and 2-in-7 that the next baby will be born illegitimate. Every ugly headline in today’s newspaper — and yesterday’s and tomorrow’s -- is somebody’s emotions gone out of whack.
“Spaceship earth came with a set of instructions. It is called The Holy Bible, and if it were not divinely inspired, it would still be the best blueprint for an orderly existence.”
We should each take responsibility for our own actions and teach our children and grandchildren to do the same. In other words, we must not be an irresponsible person.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)