Is the World Getting Worse?

Who hasn’t heard about how much better it was back in the “good old days”? Nowadays, moral codes are in decline. The environment mounts an ever-increasing threat to life on Earth (as we mount an ever-increasing threat to our environment). Evil at all levels continues to grow unabated. But when I actually heard this expressed by one of our leaders, according to the Bible(!), I was left shaken. Scripture speaks of hope, of redemption and of peace. But is its key message ultimately one of despair?

I haven’t lived long enough to say this with real assurance, but it seems to me that people are people, and have always been people. Human nature hasn’t fundamentally changed since Adam and Eve gained awareness of good and evil. Perhaps the implications of thoughts and actions are now greater than they have ever been. Media can magnify and amplify the most trivial details to the most grotesque levels — just ask Britney Spears (et al). And speaking of pop, there is a phenomenon that if you look back ten or twenty years, songs that were pretty racy then are pretty tame now.

The stars who claim to be a rebel in the contemporary scene actually have nothing left to rebel against (unless somebody could make straitlaced fashionable…). Stars push the envelope of scandalising exhibitionism as far as they dare (and further), but it’s all been done before. (I saw a TV bit recently that mentioned that the new favourite fashion accessory for rock stars is a porn star. I find this fascinating and ironic. It means that rockers recognise that they themselves have lost their to shock, and seek to shock by proxy.) Is it any surprise that in an environment that equates success to oneupmanship of outrageousness, people are pushed toward their demise? It shouldn’t be — self-destructiveness is a key factor of human nature, especially amongst our culture’s most celebrated leaders. (Our culture is largely led by a group of people whose defining attribute is their attractiveness, and who commonly publicly denounce their status of “role model”. Who thinks this is a good idea?) Is that all there is?

I guess it all boils down to where you’re looking. I look for hope. I celebrate it. Whether it’s church, or reading blogs, or watching TED videos, hope is paramount. I choose to believe that people can make a positive difference. I choose to believe that Christ was serious when he invited us to be involved in the redemption of this world. The problems are massive, complicated and pervasive. But I think if we for one second believe that all effort is in vain, we’re failing our calling: We’re supposed to be better than our defeatist, alarmist and apathetic human nature! With God’s help, I believe we can be.

I’d love to hear your take…