MIGHTY MORALITY

There are two invisible but mighty powers we often forget. The first is gravity that holds the universe together. The second is morality that holds society together. We cannot damage the Creator’s laws of gravity but we are always breaking His laws of morality designed to produce a happy society.

Today’s anti-social behaviour is similar to the immorality of the early 18th Century. In those days signs outside ale houses read, “Drunk a penny, dead drunk twopence - free straw (for sleeping!)” Yobbish behaviour was everywhere, but by the end of that century, although things were far from perfect, there was a dramatic improvement in law and order. This did not come about by acts of parliament but through the plain preaching of the gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ which changed people’s hearts. The power of the risen Christ got to the heart of the trouble which is the trouble of the heart! Jesus said, “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts and blasphemies. “ [ Matthew 15:19 ] And Jesus is always right.

Our present moral decline began when the Sunday Trading laws were weakened. By abolishing this day of rest, instituted by God for our good, even doctors had to agree that this became the primary cause for the increase in stress related illnesses. But even more serious, people drifted away from exercising their souls in Sunday worship and replaced this with shopping and sport! A century ago 4 million children attended our Sunday Schools. They were taught morality through the Bible stories and the Ten Commandments and magistrates said, “A child brought up in Sunday School is seldom brought up in court.” These Sunday Schools cost the tax payer nothing but saved the nation millions. As Benjamin Disraeli said, “The religious observance of Sunday is the cheap defence of a nation.