Thinkaloud | community standards

Who creates them?

mong the latest “buzz words” used by those who seem bent on influencing our society is the phrase “community standards.” But how are these community standards determined? Does a town or city or village, or, for that matter, any community of people, just evolve a set of standards? Do the rules of behaviour just happen? Is there an instant consensus? Of course not.

Community standards in Canada have been set by God-fearing people who knew the difference between right and wrong, who knew the tragic results of moral pollution, and who realized, as had civilizations before them, that biblical standards of conduct were the foundation for any community standards. The laws of this land are based on biblical precepts, and the ordering of life in any community flows from such laws.

There are, however, the strident, pushy opponents who act as if they operate by a different set of standards. In clever — though often illogical — arguments they demand that their minority viewpoint should be dominant, that their standards be imposed on the community, that each person should be free to act as he or she wishes, as if he or she were the only person alive.

Such naiveté is blind to the outworking of such ideas in real life. It ignores the fact that each person must give up some freedom in order to benefit from living in the group. The world was horrified when terrorists blew up the twin towers in the USA on 11 September in 2001. But just suppose the alleged perpetrators of the murderous deed had their own community standards, in which violence and murder were acceptable forms of behaviour. Should their minority “community standard” be allowed the freedom to operate without sanction? The answer is obviously “no.”

Is the position of those who constantly attack the moral foundations of our society, and who wish to tear down standards that have guided godly people for generations, any different? In substance both positions are the same. Any community, any government which ignores biblical standards (and they are plain enough for anyone to read), and has moved from a solid foundation to the pitiable position of responding to the most successful pressure group. This results in shifting values where licence is mistaken for liberty, where trendy is more important than holy, where chic is preferred to godliness.

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14: 34, NKJV), is a statement of truth that has not been withdrawn. Whose community standards? They’re ours, and they need to be preserved.

Writer: Lieut.-Colonel Maxwell Ryan is a former Editor in Chief in Canada and the UK. In retirement he is a part-time chaplain in a Salvation Army hospital in Winnipeg, Canada, a copy editor of theRubicon and the author of theRubicon series called Resurrected Writers.

Sunday, February 24th, 2008 Thinkaloud

2 Comments to Thinkaloud | community standards

Great words, and the only thing I’d add is that not only do these standards need to be maintained but they need to be built on by other biblical standards that are unfortunately missing in many areas of Western society. Standards of Biblical Justice, of grace, of forgiveness, of truth! If these were truly present in our western mindset then many of the world’s ills would be either non-existent or be able to be resolved much more easily.

Of course it would also have the benefit of hastening the return of Christ, because they are all Kingdom values.

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”