The Dangers of Moral Relativism

There exists a belief that right and wrong is subject to human interpretation, called moral relativism. This is very dangerous to society for a number of reasons. Here are some:

First, and most obviously, without a fixed standard of right and wrong, people will do whatever they want.Without thinking that there is a right and a wrong, people do whatever they feel like doing. They give in to the animal side of man.
If everybody one day decided that nothing was morally superior, there would be no laws, personal or public. Murder, thievery, dishonesty- all of these, and more, would abound. It wouldn't be safe to go anywhere, because for all you know you could be killed. What would the punishment be for these actions? Nothing.

Next, happiness would be diminished, if not entirely extinguished. This happens naturally, because the soul recoils in the presence of sin, and anybody who has ever sinned knows how it feels to have that sin weighing on you. Happiness is impossible in the presence of sin.

Also, civilization would be lost if moral relativism became widespread. Civilizations are devloped through leisure, as Bastiat points out in one of his essays.* With people not having a set of moral rules, they would plunder, because that is the easiest way to gain. Work would take up mouch more time, because the people who didn't participate in plunder would have to try even harder to supposrt themselves.



Moral relativism is sometimes easy to accept. It's easy to say that there isn't any right or wrong, and that we all behave in ways that are just as moral. But it is absolutely not true. I don't claim to know everything, because I don't. I'm a young girl, and I have a whole lot of stuff to learn. But I know that God established right and wrong before this world was created, and I know that we have to try to follow the right way.

  

  "And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away."

2 Nephi 2:13

*"And here we have a glimpse of one of the finest harmonies in the social world. I allude to leisure: not that leisure that the warlike and tyrannical classes arrange for themselves by the plunder of the workers, but that leisure which is the lawful and innocent fruit of past activity and economy.... Is not leisure an essential spring in the social machine? Without it, the world would never have had a Newton, a Pascal, a Fenelon; mankind would have been ignorant of all arts, sciences, and of those wonderful inventions prepared originally by investigations of mere curiosity; thought would have been inert- man would have made no progress."- Frederic Bastiat,  Capital and Interest. Bastiat also expounded upon plunder in The Law

My Funny Valentine

Today, I was listening to Frank Sinatra. As I was enjoying his wonderful voice, the song My Funny Valentine came on. At first I thought it was a kind of strange song, because he pointed out all the faults of this lady, but then I realized that it is really quite sweet. It's one of my favorite songs, because its lyrics are as beautiful as its sound.

Just because we may not be perfect according to the standards of the world, doesn't mean we aren't wonderful in our own special ways. We are unique, and beautiful.

Here are the lyrics:

"My funny valentine
Sweet comic valentine
You make me smile with my heart
Your looks are laughable
Unphotographable
Yet you're my favourite work of art

Is your figure less than greek
Is your mouth a little weak
When you open it to speak
Are you smart?

But don't change a hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay little valentine stay
Each day is valentines day"
(Note: I just looked up the lyrics online.)

Here is a recording of Frank Sinatra singing this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKvrSHVsRDo

Honour and the Downfall of American Society

Yesterday, I was emailing a very intelligent friend from LEA, and he sent me this:
 "I was reading A History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbons a couple of days ago, when I came across a passage that said, ''He (speaking of the Gallienus, the Emperor of the time) was even destitute of a sense of honour, which so frequently supplies the absence of public virtue.'' Sound familiar? The word honour has slipped from the vocabulary of the average American, and most of our lawmakers are sub-average. That is why, after reading that, the loss of morality in our society is no longer a surprise. When honour fails to be a word used correctly and not lightly, expect that society's downfall. We are Rome. We will fall, unless we fix quite a few things up, and soon."

After this, I looked up the word honour in the Webster's 1828 dictionary, because I like that dictionary. Here are some of the definitions:

1. The esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation.

2. A testimony of esteem; any expression of respect or of high estimation by words or actions;

4. Reverence; veneration; or any act by which reverence and submission are expressed,as worship paid to the Supreme Being.

6. True nobleness of mind; magnanimity; dignified respect for character, springing from probity, principle or moral rectitude; a distinguishing trait in the character of good men

As a society, we don't respect anything except our own desires. We look at reverence and venration as foolish. We definitely don't value true nobility of mind. We must learn to respect virtue, to remember that there is something higher than ourselves, and be keepers of virtue, or we will not keep freedom. As John Adams said,
"Our Constitution  was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

This new year, let's all try to improve ourselves so we can preserve this freedom for ourselves and future generations of our children. 


Happy New Year! I hope it's full of love and improvement in our characters.