Dennis Abernathy
We live in a day where people challenge the thought that there is a fixed standard of right and wrong. They claim that truth is relative. Such thinking is even becoming rampant in religion. People are taught they have a right to believe whatever they want to believe. This mindset is not new. In Judges 21: 25 we read: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” That equals multiple standards.
Granted, as creatures of choice, we can believe what we want to, even if what we believe is wrong. For example, if one wants to believe there is 10 inches in a foot, he can do so, but he will be wrong every time. Just so, in religion there is such a thing as being religiously wrong, which presupposes a fixed standard, and assures that doing “what is right in our own eyes” is not permissible.
In Deut. 12: 1 we read, “These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe.” Verse 8 says: “You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes.” Isaiah said the people “called evil good and good evil” and put no distinction between “darkness and light” because they were “wise in their own eyes, and clever in their own sight” (Isa. 5: 20-21).
Such convoluted thinking is gaining ground in society today. Reaction to sin and false doctrine is being so toned down that there is no distinction between good and evil in the average mind. Those who are wise in their own eyes, seek to explain God’s Word away to a culture that has little knowledge of God and His Word. These clever people do not retain God in their knowledge, but consider themselves to be wise, when in actuality they are fools (Rom. 1: 22, 28). “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God” (Psa. 14: 1).
No matter what one may think about it, 10 inches is not a foot, a man is not a woman, and a woman is not a man, and no matter how one may try to make wrong right, or immorality moral, or false teaching true, it is still wrong, immoral, and false. “It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jer. 10: 23). God’s standard is the “good and acceptable, and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12: 2). Thus, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths” (Prov. 3: 5-6).
Our culture is becoming immoral, disrespectful, and unintelligent. The actor Denzel Washington said: “With so many things coming back in style, I can’t wait until morals, respect, and intelligence become a trend again.”
