One only has to read one’s preferred daily media feeds to see that there’s a growing lawlessness in this world. That said, I should also interject myself here and admit that some people don’t believe the world is getting any worse from a moral or criminal standpoint.
A friend once mentioned an article which cited data showing a statistical decline in crime in a particular region. Of course, there are a few ways to artificially reduce crime statistics. One is to fail to document them. Another way is to change the definition of what constitutes crime.
Perhaps Broward County Sherriff Scott Israel is a small example of this phenomenon. He once boasted of a reduction in crime arrests under his tenure. Yet some have questioned his methodology. A writer for The Capitolist notes:
… taking into consideration Israel’s own comments, the BCSD’s own written policies discouraging arrests, and the crime and arrest data for the relevant years – is that it does, in fact, appear that the BSO, under the leadership of Sheriff Israel and in collaboration with the BCSD, were engaged in a deliberate effort to avoid arresting Broward County students, even when they had committed crimes.
When we reclassify crimes we automatically change the data and results (assuming the collection procedure is reliable). If a Leftist Totalitarian system could document “thought-hate-crimes” – you know, like having the wrong opinion about immigration, gender etc – the crime rate might skyrocket.
On the other hand, a Far Right Totalitarian system might classify all abortions as criminal. It might also treat all homosexual acts and same-sex marriage criminal as ell. This would likewise raise the crime statistics.
Showing an obscene graphic of a be-headed president might be deemed tasteless in one system, depending upon who it was. It would be punishable hate-speech in another. So we see that in a secular society one can tweak the data based on a fluid standard and get different results.
While there may be many overlaps, what constitutes a crime in Western nations will often differ in Islamic countries. Islamic nations (even allegedly Democratic ones) generally hold to at least some form of Sharia Law.
Note that if you Google Sharia Law (SL), one of the first entries will be the obligatory Snopes whitewash. There are plenty of other apologetic examples. Robert Spencer is summarily dismissed as an alarmist-hater even though he thoroughly analyses the Qur’an in his critiques.
In point of fact SL nations severely punish Christian proselytism, apostasy and homosexuality. Organizations like Gatestone Institute have documented the problems of creeping Sharia in the West. Islam’s Whitewashers dutifully ignore problematic cultural and SL issues regarding Islam in Western cities.
While what constitutes lawlessness can be fluid in a given culture, the Bible is explicit. God’s Word is the true standard for defining lawlessness.
Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 1 John 3:4
Western societies have largely moved away from Judeo-Christian influences. We’ve seen other influences impact the West while Christianity and the Bible’s teachings have been steadily suppressed. Tragically, many professing Christian leaders have distanced themselves from biblical standards in order to accommodate sin.
In his book The Rage Against God, former atheist Peter Hitchens wrote on the ramifications of a “de-Christianized” [Post-Christian] society. The background of the following comment is his return to Britain after being away for some years. His observations are worth noting:
The accelerating decline of civility in Britain, which struck me very hard when I returned there in 1995 after nearly five years in Russia and the USA, has several causes. The rapid vanishing of Christianity from public consciousness and life, as the last fully Christian generation ages and disappears, seems to me to be a major part of it. I do not think I would have been half so shocked by the squalor and rudeness of 1995 Moscow if I had not come from a country where Christian forbearance was still well established. If I had then been able to see the London of 2010, I would have been equally shocked. (p. 91- emphasis mine)
No doubt many British citizens will disagree with Hitchens. They may be generally happy with how it is now (2018 at time of writing). They’ll decry Brexit and despair of opposition to aspects of immigration, or those who warn about the encroachment of Islam into England. They will see the departure of archaic biblical values as a positive and a signal to better times.
The Bible agrees with Peter Hitchens. Paul Washer has noted that:
…whenever God is removed from a society or culture, something must take His place. What often takes the place of God in a godless culture is the state. The state, in time, begins to demand worship and obedience so that it can rule over even conscience and religion. (High King of Heaven p 283)
I believe God the Holy Spirit is the ultimate Restrainer of lawlessness. While I think God restrains evil in several ways – one being a plurality of governments – the Christian Church (through the Holy Spirit) is a major form of restraint.
The Apostle Paul talks about the Lawless One in 2 Thess 2:2-12.
…who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. 2 Th 2:4
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.
…and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. 2 Th 2:10-12
The coming of the Lawless One is God’s judgment on a world which rejects the truth. Can you imagine a time – perhaps after the rapture – where lawlessness is allowed to run amok (Jer 17:9-10)? Such a world will become a type of hell on earth. We may already be seeing glimpses of this where Christianity has been effectively suppressed.
The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Mat 13:41-42
Even before the coming of God’s wrath, death could overtake us, and then judgment (Heb 9:27). If you haven’t already accepted Christ as your Lord and savior, now is the time to do it!
Time waits for no one.
Maranatha!
Further reading:
The Gospel of Jesus Christ: An Evangelical Celebration
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