For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He shall come in His own glory and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels

                                           "Humans are the only creatures that blush,

                                                   and the only ones that need to."

                                                                                            Mark Twain

My topic for discussion today centers on the terms "shame" and "ashamed" and I just thought the above old wheeze of Mark Twain's was appropriate to this topic. But, he wasn't the only well-known person to say something relating to humans and their expressions. Another famous man once wrote that "of all expressions, blushing seems to be the most strictly human." Surprisingly, that was said by Charles Darwin. (Yes - that Charles Darwin)

As regular readers of my editorial efforts, you've no doubt deduced by now that I write from time to time about things that tend to bother or worry me. Well, today is no different and this particular worry deals with both our individual and societal "shame." Or, perhaps I should say, our lack of it.

You can look up the definition of blushing and you'll find a lot of causes for human blushing, usually in some high-falutin' medical terminology that says things like it being an "involuntary" reaction that reflects some sort of anxiety or fear. That's all well and good, but I'm just going to define it as an outward expression of something that our minds recognize as being embarrassing or of something we've done that violates our conscience. (And I'll save "conscience" for a later editorial).

And many times we blush because we're "ashamed" of something we've either done or did not do that we should have done. But, you know what? Studies have shown that, like conscience, blushing can be trained to not show after we've become enured to feeling "shame" if we continually do things that affect our conscience. In other words, we become so used to this violation that it no longer bothers us when we do it.

Furthermore, I believe that answers a common question that we hear uttered from time to time - "Have you no shame?" I'm afraid that much of the time the answer to that question is "No" we don't have any shame anymore. And that gets right to the basis of my prior statement about things that bother or worry me. I just don't think that a lot of our society is "ashamed" anymore by its conduct and behavior.

In reality, when you look at, or read about, some of the things going on in our society like lewd and lascivious lifestyles, unwed and pregnant high school girls, same-sex marriage and any other type of aberrant behavior, the participants in this sort of activity seem to be proud of their actions. They almost wear it like a merit badge, so to speak.

Would you like to know why this is? Well, if you read on you'll learn my take, my explanation, as to the root cause of there being no "shame" in much of our society. It seems to me that over the last 5 or so decades our society has become "enlightened" and I don't mean that in a good or progressive way.

The sad thing about our "enlightened" society is that it sees itself as being "progressive" but, in the manner of becoming more acceptive of what I earlier referred to as "aberrant behavior." We saw the early stages of the "enlightenment" when the phrase "I'm OK - you're OK" came into vogue. IE: Whatever "our" lifestyle or behavior may be - it's acceptable.

Acceptable to who? Only to a society that looks to itself (IE: man) for direction in morals, ethics and knowledge of what's right and wrong. Here is where we get to my belief as to the cause of our national lack of "shame." And that belief is simply that, as a nation and a society, we've removed ourselves so far from God and His precepts that we no longer have a valid basis for knowing what's right or wrong.

Brethren, there is a price to pay for this removal of God and any mention of Him or His Word from society's knowledge. From the beginning of this nation, the laws of God, His precepts and principles, have been the basis of our societal laws and mores. We've gradually moved away from Him, seemingly more rapidly in the last 5 or so decades, and it stands to reason that not only have the behavioral standards of society not "progressed," they've gone just the opposite direction - they've "regressed." Yes, we're paying the price for our "enlightenment" and I'm afraid that we'll continue to pay even more as long as the Lord allows this earth to exist.

Allow me to provide you some Biblical passages to our thoughts here that I feel are applicable to our subject matter today. I worry that we just might have reached the state that ancient Israel once reached where it's reported in Judges 17:6 that "....every man did that which was right in his own eyes." I ask you, isn't this what our society is now doing? Whatever it wants to do, morally speaking, and thinking that it's "right in its own eyes?" I see it as fitting to this picture.

When I think about the lack of "shame" exhibited by this society today, I'm reminded of a question asked by one of Job's buddies, Zophar, the Naamathite, in the 11^th chapter of Job, verse 3. I think his question shines a spotlight on our lack of societal "shame" and the reason that we're in serious lack of it. He asks, "When thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?"

In today's society, I'm afraid that the answer to Zophar's question is: No, I think that we've succeeded in removing God so much from our national picture, that there is no one now able to make people feel ashamed. And that, my friend, is a sad liturgy relating to where our society stands in regards to shameful conduct. There just isn't much there anymore that brings "shame" or causing "blushing."

In closing my thought today, let me speak to one other worry that I see emanating from the effect of society on individuals. We have entertainers, commentators and people in high places mocking God and those who "believe." I worry that we'll let these people influence us into avoiding speaking out against our lack of "shame." That we'll be "ashamed" to stand up and protest this digression of our society away from God. Let me just leave you with two passages that we need to remember when we consider this subject.

                "For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him

                 shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He shall come in His own

                 glory and in His Father's, and of the holy angels." Luke 9:26

 

                "...and they shall not be ashamed that wait for me." Isa. 49:23

Ron Covey