When I was in school during the late 1960's or early 70's, we had a most unusual assignment. The teacher read to us from a story called "The Lottery". It was a mythical story about a medium sized town that was having a lottery. The kids and adults alike put their names in for a prize that nobody wanted, for the one whose name was drawn was stoned by the rest of the town's citizens. This was done, so the story went, to ensure a good crop for the next planting season.

Mild stuff for the "Hunger Games" culture in which we live now, but as a boy of about twelve, surrounded by other boys and girls of the same age, we were horrified. The teacher who read us the story made it very clear that she could not take part in the discussion that ensued, that she was a mere moderator. She was not there to judge or help us with the judgments, but was only present to record this social "experiment, along with teachers from their classes from all over the nation. It was about a half-dozen years after the time that prayer, the Bible, and any other mention of God had been removed from the classroom by decision of no less an authority than the Supreme Court.

The idea behind the powers that be was to monitor and assess the "success" of their victory in removing God from the public square. When my class discussed the story, I as recall, the overwhelming majority felt that this was immoral and wrong, no matter what the town mores and superstitions were. I read a newspaper article a few years back that indicated this story of the lottery continued in classrooms across America, and as the years went by there became fewer and fewer students who would rise to condemn the town's behavior.

Fast forward to 2007, in a classroom of a major university in the panhandle of Texas. Aside from the professor, I was the senior member of in this advanced class designed to train public school teachers. The example given by the professor was of a hypothetical case wherein a loved one had a disease that could only be cured by a drug that you and your loved ones could not afford. One dose would provide the cure and you had an opportunity to steal it - would you do it? The unanimous decision, save one, of the class was that they would indeed steal the drug, and they would feel not only justified but noble for doing so.

I was the wet blanket of the party when I suggested that despite the nonsensical boundaries set on the problem, that there were in fact numerous alternate and moral routes to a favorable outcome. These alternative solutions included soliciting donations and accessing programs that most drug companies have available to the impoverished in the real world. However, the fact that the entire class had abandoned all moral solutions showed me something: It showed that the efforts of our educational system to remove God and install our own sense of right and wrong has failed miserably.

Obviously there are some who would consider these results encouraging, but understand this: When a society rejects God's unchangeable and uncompromising standards for "morals" that shift with ever the changing opinions of men, then we have no standards whatsoever. In fact, when God's principles are abandoned for the preferences of men, we always sink to the lowest common denominator, and the fabric of society unravels to the point where God and law are no longer respected.

And when this happens, watch out, for the consequences can prove to be unbearable. Consider the problems we have with the drug culture and ensuing homelessness. Consider how people openly commit major crimes with little fear of punishment. Consider how perverse the actions of some (not all) of our public schools have become. Consider how many people cannot even tell the difference between a person with XX chromosomes and XY chromosomes. Consider the flood of pornography available at the click of a mouse or the scroll of a phone. Consider that people are often at each other's throats for the most minor of offenses.

Consider where we are! How is this culture of changing standards working out for us?

So, what can be done? We can return to the only Standard that never changes! We can return to God! I'm not saying that it will be easy - in fact I can promise you that it will be hard. It will cost you something to return to this Standard, but the price of going along this destructive path of modern society with its false standards will be more than you and your children can afford to pay. It is time to return to God!

Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.

Do not add to His words, or He will rebuke you and prove you to be a liar.

Proverbs 30:5-6, (1978 NIV)