Doesn't it seem like no one has any concept of right and wrong anymore?

Question

It seems to me that no one has any morals anymore. Everywhere I go people are using profanity, having sex outside of marriage, divorcing for the wrong reason (we just grew apart is no excuse to break the vows one makes before God), heavy drinking and drug use, etc. I grew up in the 70's and although things were beginning to change then, people still believed in marriage , family, and acting halfway decent. There were those who rebeled , but the majority of the population still had some values. Why does everyone think some immoral things are o.k just because of the year it is? What was so wrong about the 50's? At least families stayed together and crime was lower?

I agree that many things may have taken place years ago but at least people had a sense of shame and didn't boast. If a woman got pregnant, she married, aborted, or moved away in order not to disgrace here family. It doesn't make it anymore right but at least people used to know they were doing wrong , not they don't seem to even know it. Everyone has become from booksmart, but education without morals will get you nowhere. We have come along way and yes these are the modern times but what is so great about the increase in STDs (especially those that can't be cured), broken homes, illegitimate children, drugs, lack of respect for women, and the crude culture we live in?

Answer 1

Yeah, I know what ya mean, I came up in the late fifties, and today, everything seems upside-down, inside-out, backwards. What was always considered right is now wrong, and wrong is called right. I assume you realize that this is pure prophecy. Oh yeah,
sure is. We are in the final generation, the generation that is the one when Judah returned and established their homeland back in and around Judea. Don't be too disheartend by all of this; I assure you that Christ will be returning very soon, and He is coming with a rod of iron - things will get straightened out. Until then, keep in mind that what you see today is nothing - we're just getting started, and its gonna get alot worse. Things you and I in the 70's would have never believed could happen are happening today, and in the next few years we are gonna be equally as surprized at other unfathonable, unspeakable things that will come down....but its all in the plan to
allow it. The downfall of man is his lack of knowledge; all knowledge comes from God.
As long as folks don't know God, they will continue on their downward spiral.

Answer 2

People have always used profanity. People have always had sex outside of marriage, in fact it was worse when people didn't divorce - affairs were rampant as an escape from the trap of an unhappy, loveless marriage, and so were drinking and drug use. I agree that growing apart is a lazy reason for a divorce, but only if there's kids involved - if not, who cares? It's not your business.

The kind of morals you are speaking of are relative morals, which means their acceptability changes not only with time but with location, too. In these days, people have decided that being happy is more important than following social rules.

It wasn't like that in the 50's, when people were nearly psychotic with the effort to appear like everythng was okay when it WASN'T. Abusive or dysfunctional families should not necessarily stay together. Just because a family is together, does not mean everything is okay or that anyone is happy. After all, my mother's parents stayed together, even though her father raped her so hard he fractured her back when she was a small child. But her mother looked the other way to keep the family together, to keep the peace and 'tranquility'. Does that seem right to you? Well, does it? The family stayed together, after all. That's the moral thing to do, right?

Puke on rules and immoral morals.

"Outmaneuvered on all counts, I opt to change the rules."
--Never Cry Wolf

Answer 3

I know exactly what you mean (and no, my name is not June Cleaver). I was married in '72, have had some SERIOUS marriage problems but we chose to work them out. Have raised 2 kids who do NOT hang out, don't swear (at least not around me they don't), have reached the ages of 19 and 17 and are headed to University (one is also in modelling and the other in hockey so don't think they are geeks). I have been an elementary school teacher and gave it up because I got tired of teaching social skills instead of academics. My children have yet to go out with a date who comes from a 2 parent home..........don't get on my case about saying this....yes the kids are good dates. I was simply commenting on the fact that few people stay married anymore. My husband and I seem to be the dinosaurs of marriage I guess. Well I have rambled enough.

Answer 4

We live in an increasingly tolerant society. On the whole this is a good thing. While crime is going up, I'm not sure it can be definitively linked to deteriorating morals rather than population explosion. Before all of this, though, many of the things being done were very very amoral, and were all upheld by the law. Policemen turned firehoses that could skin the bark from a tree on black people, there was a lot of beatings, and a slow-to-respond police force. People were judged more critically for what they looked like or sounded like, and this was all tolerable, acceptable. Now, there is a driving force moving people toward progression, tolerance, and acceptance. The strides in science and the lack of church in school is also turning more and more people agnostic, atheist, or alternative religion. Those that become agnostic or atheist have a tough time finding a moral code on which to subscribe. They have to build their own code of honor and civility, because disenchantment with religion has taken the one-size fits all moral code package away from many of us. During this transitional phase between losing morality, and making your own, there is a period of unrest, amorality, and confusion that is marked by poor choices, and mistakes. Obviously, this will translate negatively. Another problem is that many people seem to be incapable of making their own moral codes once their free of the obligations of the former--Christian code. Morality exists without religion, though, and ethics should be focused on in school if religion is not. I hope this answers your question.

Answer 5

Good point....we're living in modern day Sodom & Gomorrah.
The 50's were not perfect but I would have prefered to live then. The family unity & moral fiber of the communities were stronger & united. Now you have so much garbage & children being abandoned by their fathers. Crimes against women & children are an everyday thing & society has become desensitized. Not to mention the rise of sexual deviant behaviors & the list is growing daily. Another sign of the times before Christ's Return.....<>< <><

Answer 6

In America from 1960 to 1990, TV viewing rose, SAT scores declined. Illegitimate births rose dramatically, along with children with single mothers. Violent crime rose (per 100,000) from 16.1% to 73.2%, but median prison sentences declined. All that data comes from Columbia University, linked below.

What they did not quantify is what I have seen first hand over those same decades. Respect for others, including parents and the elderly, has all but disappeared, while excuses for obnoxious behavior for children abounds.

It's difficult to turn on a TV or go to a move without encountering foul language, nudity, explicit sex. Modern music glorifies crime, including rape and murder.

Putting money in your pocket at any cost has become the standard in business, with the accompanying rise in shoddy business practices, dishonesty in everything from advertising to stockholder reports.

The so-called American Dream has left far behind the white picket fence that some here deride has never having existed. (They are very wrong and their comments indicate they weren't around in the '50s or before.) The dream now is to stuff your pocket with money, buy a flashy car, big house.

It's very sad, but it's not going to change. It will get worse.
†

Answer 7

The moral decline you note is rooted in a shift in our culture's epistemology -- the way we view truth and reality. Sociologists say we have entered a new "postmodern" era that rejects absolute truth (postmodernism is really a phenomenon that evolved out of modernism). This relativistic epistemology can be seen in phrases such as "that may be true for you." In such a relativistic climate the only real value is "tolerance." To make statements about right and wrong are considered evil and generate the kind of hostile response you find here at Yahoo Answers. Without the cultural moorings of absolutes we have been careening down the slippery slope of sloppy ethics and immoral living. There are even trends within the Church (such as the "emerging church movement") that mirror this cultural trend. As a Christian I do not mindlessly follow any cultural trend. I was never bound to modernism and am not bound to postmodernism. Jesus is the light of the world and he has called believers to shine as light in the darkness.

Answer 8

I too feel the same way you do. Yet we must keep our own self in the way we have been taught so many years ago. I feel the Lord Jesus will soon come again, riding his white horse as it is mentioned in Revelations , and take over and rule this world for 1000 years. Read the Bible and know that you and others like you will hold the faith until the end. Those who break their vows in anything will taste the wrongness of it all and will repent. Look to God for direction. I have and I am glad for it. I may live in this world of mayhem, but I am not going to allow it to destroy me. I know that there is a better world coming.

Answer 9

Should it really be that big of a shock to you that the world is this way? The Scripture says that in the end times, "Evil men and seducers will wax worse and worse," so we should be happy in a strange sort of way, for it means that God's return is getting closer at hand each day and we need to be ready!

Answer 10

What was so wrong with the 50s was that everyone was FAKE. No one lived a life that was true or honest. Marriages stayed in tact but not due to love but due to how they thought society would perceive them for divorcing.

Just because the things that are talked about today weren't talked about then, does not mean that they didn't happen or didn't happen as frequently was today. Today we just know about them.

People aren't as polite as they once were but that has nothing to do with being right or wrong, that has to do with respect which many do not know how to give or receive.