I recall the words of St. Augustine, "Wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it; right is right even if no one is doing it."  Have you noticed how little we hear about 'right and wrong' these days?  When right and wrong become purely subjective (what's right for me may not be what's right for you), we are in danger of losing any external standard for morality.  We have a cultural expediency right now called postmodernism that allows for a great deal of ambiguity over right and wrong.  Indeed, any external standard of right and wrong has now become politically incorrect.  Now isn't that convenient?

Even the Ten Commandments have been called into question as to whether they should be displayed at government offices & at other public venues.  And yet as this controversy is bantered back & forth, I'm hearing and reading about the various scandals that involve some of our politicians and bureaucrats.  And I'm left wondering what difference it may have made if only they would have taken seriously the teachings found within the Ten Commandments!  How many of these 'costly' investigations into wrongful allegations may have been averted.

Based on the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20), lying is wrong.  Stealing is wrong.  Unbridled 'envying' what others have is wrong.  Killing is wrong.  Adultery is wrong.  Worshiping anyone or anything other than the one true God is wrong.  Invoking God's name when you have no real thought towards Him is wrong.  And then there are a couple things that are right: honouring your father and mother, and keeping one day of rest among seven.

I don't know about you, but I have a long ways to go on just these.  I tell people I'm going to do things that I end up not doing.  It's always well intentioned, but it is a lie if I don't follow through with what I said.  I steal by being in debt and not paying back.  I was doing fine on killing and adultery until Jesus came along and redefined killing as hatred and adultery as lust. (Whoops!)  And then there are those commercials that appeal to everything I want that I don't have, and I don't see a whole lot of resistance going on in my own life.  I want as much as the next guy.

Meanwhile, God's idea of right and wrong hasn't budged an inch since the beginning of time.  We would do well to get a little old-fashioned about this.  These commandments are there not only to help us be better people, but also to remind us how far we have to go, and how much we need God's grace and forgiveness to get there.

I hear a lot of talk about how we are exploiting and damaging our environment.  And how if we don't begin to make correctives in how we manage our environment NOW, what legacy are we leaving behind for our children, etc.  I agree.  But I would like to broaden that discussion and apply those same arguments to the 'social conditions' of our day.  And my plea to the 'adults' of this generation: If we throw away the external standard of 'right and wrong' under the guise that it is 'politically incorrect' we ARE throwing away the moral fabric of society and we ARE inviting confusion and chaos for the children of the future.  Yes, clean up our environment and let's begin dealing with the toxic wastes.  But let's also clean up the 'moral carnage' found within our society.  It begins by bringing back into our society the teachings of the Ten Commandments!  It seems inconsistent to have a 'clean environment' and a 'morally rotten' society!

When it comes to right and wrong, we could afford to be a little politically incorrect!