Could the fall of morals from the 1960s to now have been avoided?

[Davidz777]

The question is misplaced because there has never been or ever will be an era when one can more broadly describe our world or our (USA) nation as universally moral as it is vastly too complex with many necessary freedoms. Sure there were a lot more smaller conservative Christian communities then where that may be true but not more widely. People with their ethics, morals, beliefs, and behaviors are simply too variable.

Why do you think my generation (Viet Nam War vet) rejected the post war ethic and morals? It was not because the majority of ordinary people were wrong ethically or morally but rather because there was always a minority that were not. Even during the 1950's there were some liberal big city communities rife with every vice we have today. Just look at the Hollywood movies through previous eras if judged by today's standards. Elites and powerful then as now as was before the 60s and during all the OT centuries were often depraved while holding ordinary simple people to standards they themselves ignored and laughed at.

Also you show your too young age with "from the 1960s", as the real change didn't begin till the late 60s and for several years till the war ended was confined to limited regions around largest liberal cities and colleges. It did not really effect most of our nation until the 70s.

 

[timothyu]

Yes, the disco generation brought depravity to the forefront and a world built upon the principles of the 10 C's that even the 60's generation followed, went out the window in trade for rights over responsibility. The world went 'physical physical' and self interest grew like a mushroom cloud.

 

[Daniel C]

What fallen morality? Treatment of minorities is better. Violent crime is down. Divorce is down (so are marriage rates). Interracial marriage is accepted by the vast majority. What's the problem?

Well as you're a gaytheist we are not going to find common ground on what mortality actually is. I would say these are some signs of moral decline since the sixties:

- increase of suicide rates
- legalising of child killing (abortion)
- legalising of sodomites or homosexuality
- trangerism being accept
- legalizing of certain narcotics
- false propaganda introduced into the public fool/school system about gender "equality"

 

[miggles]

Has nobody here seen Mad Men? The 50's was full of moral hypocrisy, relatively low standards of behavior for men, etc.

low standards of behavior for men is today.

 

[Original Happy Camper]

Do you think the relative freefall of morality that started around the 1960s could have been avoided? How in what kind of way?

I also don't believe we should go back to before the 1960s in all ways, but I believe the traditionalists and conservatives have a point sometimes.

It was prophesied to happen

Matthew 10:15
Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

 

[SoldierOfTheKing]

I see goodness in the world every day, all without your narrow religious orthodoxies.

There was goodness in the world before the 1960’s...

 

[timothyu]

There was goodness in the world before the 1960’s...

Define goodness.

 

[pc_76]

Morals are not just about crime. And while crime has decreased is some areas over the last 20 years violent crime has remained relatively steady over the last 10. Murder has stayed close as well. Rape has gone up, assault relatively the same, Burglary has decreased theft has decreased and Vehicle theft has remained about the same. Since the 60s though everything has increased per 100,000 people. It was 1887 and now is 2580 per 100,000.

As far as drugs are concerned Heroine use has claimed since 2002. Since 2015 Marijuana use has risen as well as cocaine, and Meth, LSD.

There are other moral things that have decayed in America besides crime and drugs since the 60s.

I still wish I could go back to the 90s and no later as the young adult I am now. I long to have lived before everything changed and went very crazy. Where is God? Why can't he just intervene once and cause fall on the ones who have rooted the problems and let us start fresh again instead of decree that the world we live in now should end?

 

[Nithavela]

I still wish I could go back to the 90s and no later as the young adult I am now. I long to have lived before everything changed and went very crazy. Where is God? Why can't he just intervene once and cause fall on the ones who have rooted the problems and let us start fresh again instead of decree that the world we live in now should end?

Maybe he doesn't exist.

 

[Desk trauma]

Now the 90s are the good old days of better morals. Yet I clearly recall the professionally outraged Christians railing about how awful our morals were then and harking back to the even gooder old days.

 

[JackRT]

Has there really been a fall of morals since the 1960s? I see more and more people rejecting racism, rejecting misogyny, rejecting patriarchy, rejecting violence, rejecting homophobia and supporting women's absolute right to control their own bodies. These are very positive trends. Not all is dark.

 

[Nithavela]

Now the 90s are the good old days of better morals. Yet I clearly recall the professionally outraged Christians railing about how awful our morals were then and harking back to the even gooder old days.

The good old days of rampant aids epidemics and techno music.

 

[pc_76]

It was prophesied to happen

Matthew 10:15
Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

Sorry but if I was God and I opposed sin and didn't tolerate any of it, I would destroy them eventually but without taking anyone else living there. Also, good and evil wouldn't be a one-way street.

'Tis a very cruel joke. You can tell me whatever you want to tell me about how God and his plan are supposed to work, but it doesn't change the reality of personal disappointments and loss, that things are not always fair.

I can accept Christianity and it's culture for shaping the success of western civilization in many respects. What I won't accept is a God who is supposed to be all-powerful and eternally good but tolerates evil in this world, who is a central being above all and everything else who's actions cannot be judged. Both God and Satan are cruel masters on our life.

 

[AvisG]

It's an impossible discussion to have. What I see as a precipitous decline in morality (my morality) someone else sees as a vast improvement in morality (her morality). Has there been a massive shift in my 69.8 years on the planet? Undeniably. Do I regard the shift as a precipitous decline, so steep and fast that it seems to me to have a supernatural impetus? Absolutely. But someone else sees the same things from a perspective 180 degrees removed from mine - the shift is a steady advancement forward.

It would be more accurate to ask if the massive shift in morals, values and standards of conduct since roughly 1960 (in the U.S.) could have been avoided, thereby avoiding loaded terminology such as "the fall of morals." But even the morality of 1960 or 1900 or 1850 was always somewhat of a thin veneer over the same human nature that has existed since the Fall. That thin veneer did kind of hold things together in the same way that a thick coat of latex paint can sometimes hold crumbling concrete together, but the reality is that the morals of 1960 were really little different from those of today.

What "fell" was the restraining veneer, which consisted largely of genuine religious belief and pretend religious belief. What I at least see as the worst excesses of human nature are now openly celebrated. The veneer hasn't simply fallen - it is being ridiculed and gleefully trampled under foot. This is attributable to many things, to a large extent to technology and the new religion of scientism. I often wonder if the internet, social media and other technological "improvements" might not have a genuinely diabolical aspect. In any event, no I don't believe the shift could have been avoided. I believe it was destined to occur, has a supernatural impetus, and will only accelerate.

We are basically living in 2 Timothy 3:1-5. Again I say, what those verses describe is simply human nature as it has always been. But as those verses suggest, there would come a time when those excesses of human nature would be unrestrained and celebrated. That is the shift I see as having occurred. But I understand that there are those who see this as a positive thing; they are delighted the veneer has fallen.

 

[pc_76]

It's not fair it's so messed up that God punishes or forsakes America because of a certain class of people harmed it and ruined it for us. I hate how messed up it is that things are only "allowed" to go from bad to worse until Jesus returns.

Almost makes me want to die from here right now TBH.

 

[AvisG]

Check out worldpopulationreview.com. It is an annual report on countries. Check out the various "depravity indexes" - major crime rate, murder rate, divorce rate, etc. While it may appear to many of us that the U.S. has become a hellhole over the past 50 years, the statistics say otherwise. This doesn't change my perception that there has been a massive shift in morals and values, but perhaps it's not quite as "over the cliff" as my perception. Quiet and peaceful Canada has a murder rate essentially the same as the U.S., while Sweden has a higher major crime rate.

 

[stevevw]

As mentioned I think what may seem like successes in our society of being able to create human life in a test tube, manipulate DNA to eradicate cancer, and the many victories claimed by secularism on rights all come at a cost. They are the result of humans playing God, Satan gaining control and playing God showing his version of good which can fool many. It looks good on the outside but comes at a cost. One persons rights is another persons loss. A gain in technological know how also brings repercussions that could wreck our genomes and nature.

Just like nuclear power is a great source of energy but also something that could completely destroy the earth and people with it. Just like tech makes life much easier and brings more comfort than ever before yet more people are unhappy and want to end their lives or are going mad and are full of hate and rage. It seems everything comes at a cost and the more successes we claim the more costs it brings in one way or another to our planet and well-being.

We are seeing the consequences of past actions that we thought were good causing problems today and we will see more and more problems created in the future from what we think is OK today. We basically cannot get it right because we have a sinful nature and are susceptible to self interest. Money and power is valued above life and this will always lead to ruin.

Basically we are becoming more about self, the me generation. The power to do and be anything and if there is one sin that separates us from God more than anything it is preoccupation with self. This is Satan saying look at me I can do anything God can do.

 

[JackRT]

Quiet and peaceful Canada has a murder rate essentially the same as the U.S.

The intentional homicide rate (per 100,000) is 1.8 in Canada and 5.3 in the USA. The rate in the USA is 294% of Canada's rate ---- hardly "essentially the same".

 

[timothyu]

I hate how messed up it is that things are only "allowed" to go from bad to worse until Jesus returns.

That was the whole purpose of expelling us from the Garden. We need to learn from our mistakes. We need to reject the notion we can fix anything or do anything right of our own will, hence God's suggestion we put His will before our own. Our will often runs opposite to that of God, even though we are capable of living by either. As all are guilty there is no separation between the reasonable and the outright evil. We all break the same law of putting our will before God's. Some just take greater advantage of the fact.

 

[durangodawood]

Well as you're a gaytheist we are not going to find common ground on what mortality actually is. I would say these are some signs of moral decline since the sixties:

- increase of suicide rates
- legalising of child killing (abortion)
- legalising of sodomites or homosexuality
- trangerism being accept
- legalizing of certain narcotics
- false propaganda introduced into the public fool/school system about gender "equality"

Are human affairs unfolding according to God's plan?

If so, then no, the current state of morality could not have been avoided.