A Ridiculous Experiment

I like living in the rural Midwest. It is a culture all its own.

The thriving centers of population are fewer and further between (and at least some of the vices that accompany them seem to be, too). The work ethic is strong. There is still a sense of being neighbors – hence, the reason I wave or raise my pointer finger off of the steering wheel to an oncoming driver and expect that he probably will do the same.

But this general morality can be jeopardized. This rural charm and the fundamental character that underlies all decent society could be tested with a social experiment.

Consider this truly ridiculous scenario:

Imagine that we taught our children (with all sincerity) something completely illogical, such as that the world as we know it started from an explosion . . . an explosion of nothing.

Completely absurd, right? But bear with me here.

Without getting into silly particulars, let's inform our children that, through mind-boggling spans of time, the impossible became possible, and mankind emerged as an apex predator with some apparent capacity for reasoning.

But before they begin perceiving this tale too concretely, let’s pull the rug out from under them by conveying that there really is NO objective standard of morality.

And to take it one step further, we could de-stabilize everything by telling them that reality is merely what they perceive it to be.

Let’s say that we taught them that “good” is whatever they want it to be, that "law" (as we understand it) is arbitrary, that words are meaningless, and that in the end nothing can be explained in concrete terms.

Before long, who knows what we might see!

We might see children questioning the right of parents to set guidelines in the home. Furthermore, these kids would likely begin to see any unwanted authority as oppressive. Hence, there would be a growing disrespect for parents, and surely that disrespect would extend to teachers and law enforcement.

On the flip side, we would probably even see parents who thought they were helping their children by NOT enforcing rules and siding with their children against authorities.

Before too long, it wouldn’t be surprising to see alarmingly violent actions. To make it worse, immoral leaders might even encourage such actions to meet self-serving ends.

We certainly would see a storm of sexual behaviors, and this would likely be followed by the elimination of those annoying by-products called babies.

We might see various “liberation” movements — women liberated from femininity, children liberated from old-school parenting shackles, men liberated from the confines of monogamous marriage. We might even see thought liberated from the restrictive vehicle of language.

Any word could mean any thing.

First, we could teach our children that they can be anything if they set their mind to it. And we would reinforce through various well-constructed but make-believe stories that, before all things, they must "believe in themselves" and that anyone who does not share their vision of themselves is toxic and evil.

Then, building on the first premise, and having unhitched language from reality, we could instruct our children to identify with their reality. (Of course, some of the more astute ones might understand the silliness of that statement because, if there is no reality, then the phrase "their reality" is meaningless.) If they feel like something . . . anything, then they should claim that such is reality. They should feel free to claim, without any expectation of resistance, that they identify as a different gender, or for that matter, a gender classification which does not even exist. Nothing should stop them from practically identifying as a god, if that's how they feel.

Since this thought-experiment would certainly clash with actual reality, people would still struggle with guilt and confusion. I wouldn’t be surprised if mind-altering substances would be sold like candy. We might even see women saying they have a right to kill a baby, or men saying they have the right to sell a girl. . . that is, if our children really bought into this thinking.

No doubt, things would look a lot different. Perversions would become commonplace. No element of character would motivate men to work hard or pay their bills. People old and young would feel entitled to. . . well, whatever made them happy. The economy would become a mess! Doubtless, the family structure would virtually disintegrate, and violence would sweep over society like a flood. Life would devolve into the perpetual search for self-gratification coupled with a looming sense of despair. Perversions of all sorts would be glorified in the media; and really, anyone who holds to an old “objective morals” thinking would be made to look weird and fossilized. We would see the near extinction of common sense.

Could you imagine that? There would probably be no respect for people, or property, or liberty, or even life itself.

That “social experiment” would truly be worthy of ridicule.

In fact, it resembles our current society, which is pitiable and pitiful. Our society has nearly abandoned reason and has certainly rejected the Bible as the authoritative revelation of the Creator of reality.

It is from this confused, twisted, rebellious, and needy world that we have been rescued, and it is to this same world that we are called to be salt and light!