Something is Wrong

Pro-choice activists are fuming over the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared abortion is not a constitutional right, overturning its historic 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade. Hundreds of people immediately descended on the court to protest. The ruling came exactly one month after the May 24 nightmare in Uvalde, Texas, when 18-year-old Salvador Ramos entered Robb Elementary School and shot to death 19 children and two teachers.

Logically, you would think outrage over the murder of children in Texas would translate into outrage over the murder of children in utero. But people who lobby for “reproductive rights” don’t see things that way—yet another reminder that the soul of our nation is deteriorating.

What compels a teenager to commit an egregious crime? What compels people to fight for the right to kill children who should be safe in their mothers’ wombs? These issues may look dissimilar. But in truth, they are part and parcel of the same problem.

Uvalde is no isolated incident. Mass shootings in the United States have become common in our conversations and culture. Violent crimes and homicides are surging in our major cities, up 30 percent in 2020 and rising, while district attorneys turn a blind eye to criminals.

According to a Pew Research poll taken a month before the recent Supreme Court decision, 61 percent of U.S. adults say abortion should be legal all or most of the time, while 37 percent say it should be illegal. From 1973 through 2020, 42.8 million children were aborted in America—the equivalent of obliterating the entire population of Canada, and three times the number of Jewish people in the world.

What has gone wrong? According to a recent Gallup poll, 50 percent of Americans rate the overall state of moral values in our country as “poor,” while 37 percent say it is “only fair.” The poll also found that 78 percent think moral values are deteriorating. The situation has grown so bad only 1 percent view our moral values as “excellent,” and 12 percent feel they are “good.”

Gallup released another poll showing belief in God is at its lowest point since the public-opinion polling company first surveyed the subject in 1944. In 2017, 87 percent of Americans surveyed said they believed in God. In a mere five years, the percentage dropped six points, to 81 percent.

As fewer people look to God for their standard of morality, the more they look to themselves. They do what seems right in their own eyes. The writer of Proverbs declared, “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the hearts” (21:2).

It’s human hubris to justify our opinions and convince ourselves and those around us that we are right. The sovereign God of the universe weighs our motives and the intentions of our hearts against His moral truth.

When you have no god, your way always seems right to you—even at the expense of others. Yet consideration of others is at the heart of Scripture, from the laws of the Old Testament to Jesus’ Golden Rule: “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Mt. 7:12).

Americans from all backgrounds acknowledge our country is sick, and it’s not the type of sickness the government can fix by throwing money at it. It’s a soul sickness that can only be mended by the healing hand of God—if we turn to Him.

Will we turn? Or will we, as a nation, continue to do what’s right in our own eyes and watch helplessly as more and more violence overtakes us and more and more unborn babies are put to death? Our prayer is that God will stir hearts and draw people to Himself because He alone is our hope.