Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.- Isaiah 5:20
It seems to me that as the world embraces more and more immorality, it ironically starts to think it is becoming more and more morally virtuous.
This became all the more clear lately as social justice warriors go around looking for statues of men who lived centuries ago to tear down because of their alleged imperfections. As though now that this latest generation has conquered all sin and is a paragon of moral virtue, it can now set its sights on bygone generations.
If this does not epitomize pompous self-righteousness, nothing does. While people of this generation hardly know or recognize the seven deadly sins or 10 commandments, they not only feel qualified to tell their own generations what they are doing or did wrong, but feel justified in searching for iniquities from the last 500 years.
I wouldn't even mind this so much if this newest generation wasn't one of the most immoral and hypocritical of our entire human history. They have taken the words above from Isaiah not as a warning but as instruction. Practically every sin imaginable is not only accepted, but celebrated and when this generation does target a particular sin, they almost always get it wrong by misidentifying where the sin is and why it is sinful.
The ten commandments are set up in order of importance. The first commandment, to Love God alone and to worship Him only is more important than the commandment to honor one's mother and father, which is more important than the commandment to not murder. Almost all of the 10 commandments are routinely violated by the latest generation. They have turned every commandment on its head and become quite passionate in arguing for the opposite. The same goes for the 7 deadly sins. Truly a reversal has taken place with them.
I remember at work one time a coworker joking about the idea that we would even need the 10 commandments. He laughed that they were obvious and so why would we need commandments to tell us what to do. There was a slight amount of truth in what he was saying. As Catholics, we hold that the 10 commandments form part of the natural law which is naturally knowable by all people. And yet, if these 10 commandments were so obvious, why is it that our society embraces the breaking of each one of them?
Take for instance the fourth and sixth commandments: honor your mother and father and do not murder. In Canada, with the introduction of euthanasia, it became legal to kill your mother or father. Most people are okay with this. It, of course, started out slow, saying that only elderly people with a terminal illness could choose to take their own life. Yet now, the criteria for who is "permitted" to kill themselves is ever-expanding. They are taking away the age requirement, as well as the terminal illness requirement. Now they are saying people with depression can kill themselves. What differentiates this all from suicide?
People are on board. They no longer honor their mother and father, and when they become too much of a burden, they encourage their parents to just end it. Parents, themselves not wanting to be burdens, are pressured into this.
Of course, some morally good doctors oppose killing patients as it violates their oaths. So does the government allow these good doctors to follow their consciences? Of course not. They are forced to send the patient to another doctor who will in fact kill the person.
The majority of Canadians, being highly immoral, have accepted state-sanctioned murder. They use Orwell-type words to sanitize what is truly happening, and phrase it as a personal choice and dignified. How can killing a vulnerable person be dignified for anyone? They publish articles by those who choose to be killed and without fail advocate this amazing system. We of course never hear any counter arguments.
I once read an article in the local newspaper where a doctor lamented the fact that in Newfoundland and Labrador, not enough people are killing themselves. He "blamed" strong families and other things on this negative situation. So he was trying to get the message out that offing oneself is a great choice and that you should avail!
It won't be long before this option to kill oneself becomes an obligation. People will be told they are selfish for opting to live longer. Bill Gates himself rhetorically asked in a public speech whether it's better to "let" an elderly person live longer or if it's better to hire 10 teachers. This rhetorical question will be asked of the elderly as well before long. They will be made to feel guilty for not doing the responsible thing of killing themselves once they reach a certain age or have a certain health prognoses.
This is just one example of a grave violation of the commandments. It would be easy to find dozens of examples of violations of each of the other commandments as well. But unlike any other time, we do not as a society condemn these violations, but rather celebrate them, and wonder how they can be expanded to include more people. We are surrounded everywhere we go with evil. Anyone who is good will be severely punished. This is just a friendly reminder of that.
If you decide to be a good person, just remember that you will be persecuted and prosecuted. You will face many difficulties. But I think if you are aware of this, it might make it a little easier to accept. Jesus Himself told us this:
The eighth beatitude says: "Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
Remember those words as you do what is right.
