Back in the 1960s (when I was a teen), the “Hippie Movement” and its consequent
“sexual revolution,” along with forces like Hugh Heffner, began to change the
way the Western world viewed sex. In hindsight, we can see it was the seed of a moral decline that has come to full bloom in today’s “hookup culture.”
It seems we must have reached the zenith of this cultural phenomenon when even the U.S. government promotes casual sex, aka, “hooking up,” as a
norm. Last week this advertisement appeared on various social media venues.
Since it's difficult to read the small pint, I will tell you what it says. An excited young woman appears next to a picture board of Ryan Gosling who says, Got Insurance? Hey girl, you're excited about easy access to birth control, and I'm excited about getting to know you. She [the girl in the picture] got insurance. Now you can too. Thanks Obama-Care.
There was an article in Sunday's paper about America's advanced state of decay—roads crumbling, bridges collapsing, power grids failing, sewage plants leaking, dams cracking, airports clogging. And while these are only infrastructure, an argument can be made that America is decaying in other ways—economically, politically, educationally, culturally, nutritionally, morally and spiritually. Is America out of control?
Centuries ago, Solomon said, “Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.” Is it also possible that Solomon's use of the metaphor was meant to imply a connection between the lack of personal self-control and civil decay?
Paul said society would deteriorate in the last days. And right in the middle of a laundry list of self-destructive characteristics, he says people will be “without self control” (2 Tim. 3:1-7). I don’t pretend to be an expert on prophetic events, but some scholars believe that America is not mentioned in Bible Prophecy because she will have lost her influence as result of moral and spiritual decay. But this I do know: we are all exhorted to discern the times in which we live (Matt. 16:3; Daniel 11:33). And the change in American culture and society in the past 50 years is something we dare not ignore.
Tom Bosley, the gentle father of Richie Cunningham on the '70s sitcom Happy Days, died yesterday, right on the heels of another loss, that of iconic TV parent, Barbara Billingsley, of Leave It to Beaver. Their deaths cause me to reflect on the changes in TV families in my lifetime.
I remember the day my dad brought our first television home. It was very small: a 12-inch round screen. My first recollections are of "Howdy Doody," "Lone Ranger," "Mickey Mouse Club," and family sitcoms: "Leave it to Beaver," "Father Knows Best," “My Three Sons,” “The Donna Reed Show,” and "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriett." These families were loving, close-knit, with children who were well-behaved and respectful. Fathers were always available and mothers were nurturing. They were safe. But in the 80’s, all that began to change. TV fathers were either absent (“One Day at a Time”) or foolish (“Married with Children”), with sassy smart-alecky children. The days of the classic family sitcom with wholesome advertisements have been replaced with reality television and noxious commercials.
As I look at the evolution of TV it amazes me at just how far this technology has come in 60 years. From very tiny, snowy, hard to see, black and white tubes to 60+ inch plasma, flat screen, high definition and digital via satellite! But tantamount to the technical incline is the moral decline. The real shame is not that the good old days of television are gone. The tragedy is how TV has become a vehicle for influencing moral corruption: surely what Paul meant when he said "For it is a shame even to speak of those things... because the days are evil." (Eph. 5:12,16).
