Anything Goes

In a permissive climate where anything goes, we must dare to ask, Where are things going?

According to a study released by the Parents Television Council on March 30, the amount of sex-related material on TV more than tripled from 1989 to 1999. Uses of foul language on TV occur five times more often, and references to homosexual activities occur 24 times more frequently than they did a decade ago.

What are the rules in a world where anything goes? In the name of free speech, pollute the airwaves with indecency and tarnish the tender hearts of the young. Let the angry, the violent, and the morally bankrupt star on TV shows aired at 4:00 in the afternoon when children are home to watch. Use taxpayers' money to promote "safe sex" techniques that really aren't safe. Argue over whether or not to post the Ten Commandments, and do it in courthouses where the commandments have been carved on the walls for years. Tell kids there is no right and wrong and "everybody does it." After all, anything goes.

Ridicule those who believe God created the world. Frighten preachers and editors into silence lest they offend anyone by speaking unpopular truth. Make school teachers walk on eggshells lest they exert too much discipline in the classroom or assert their personal beliefs too strongly. Label as politically incorrect any effort to resist the advance of public or private sins. After all, anything goes.

Anything, that is, except standing firm for a moral principle. Anything, as long as it doesn't sound like you believe Jesus is "the way and the truth and the life" (John 14:6). In the world of "anything goes," if you stand up for ideas like those, it's doubtful anyone will applaud your courage. More likely, you'll be called narrow-minded or branded with the buzzword for our culture's unpardonable sin: "intolerant."

Even for the most open-minded, though, toleration has its limits. Chances are, you have witnessed some clear cases of intolerance during the last week.

A restaurant diner sends back his food because it's the wrong order. A police officer stops a motorist and writes a speeding ticket. A meticulous neighbor applies weed killer to his lawn. (Dandelions and crabgrass won't be tolerated on his quarter-acre of land.) An umpire throws a profanity-spewing manager out of a baseball game. A builder tosses aside a badly warped two-by-four.

In everyday life, all of us refuse to accept products, ideas, or behaviors we find intolerable. While everyone has a right to his own ideas, every idea can't be equally right. Can you imagine Jesus saying, "Anything goes"? Jesus didn't tolerate sin. He was a friend of sinners, though. He was gracious, forgiving, merciful, and kind—tender toward people, but firm in his convictions and faithful in his teachings. Jesus didn't come to "tolerate" sin; he came to save us from it. There's a big difference.

Anything goes? Actually, if we're going to be like Jesus, some things in our own lives need to go. Things like "sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed." Things like "anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language" (Colossians 3:5, 8).

We're imperfect people living in an imperfect world. But it won't make the world better if we shrug off sin—or worse, if we applaud it or endorse it by our silence.

Instead of saying, “Anything goes,” let's start with a different premise: If it doesn't please God, it needs to go.