Has the world really become that bad?

[pekoe]

That kind of thing was true even in the middle ages.

Really? I didn't think the tele was invented until much later.

[HisLeast]

Really? I didn't think the tele was invented until much later.

I was talking about the whore houses.

[pekoe]

I was talking about the whore houses.

Yes I know. I was just making a little joke. I was simply pointing out that other places around the globe are just as immoral as the USA and that within my own lifetime I've seen a change for the worse.

[gringo300]

I think it would be a huge mistake to think that the world- as bad as it is- is in anywhere remotely near as bad a shape as it could potentially be.

I absolutely believe there is a VERY organized effort to make the condition of the world worse than it currently is.

[tango]

I was reading once online about how in the mid 50s that they would film Elvis Presley above his hips because his movements were "sexual". If you look at the music industry, there's a lot of sexual suggestion in the lyrics and songs etc. and I'm sure it wasn't like that a couple of decades ago.

I'm sure there is more to add, but has the world become more sinful as the bible was talking about sin multiplying in the end times?

2 Timothy 3

I agree with HisLeast that looking purely at American television is perhaps a little limiting.

That said it seems we as a society have moved away from any sense of shame relating to anything. The kind of things that were regarded as off-limits for discussion in polite company are now flaunted in all sorts of freak shows on our televisions. Our newspapers and magazines are more and more willing to show nudity, our movies are showing more sex, more gore, more evil of all kinds.

It seems nowadays the biggest crime is to offend somebody by using an inappropriate word to describe them (hence we see lots of politically correct nonsense about what words we are expected to use to refer to specific groups of people), and yet causing offence by thrusting overt sexual behaviour in someone's face is totally disregarded.

[tango]

It isn't. It's from the Christian perspective. I've heard that over in Europe, you don't even need cable to see people having sex on tv. I've also heard that in some countries, houses of prostitution are so open that women sit in store front type windows displaying their wares to attract customers. Of course this is hearsay to me as I've never been overseas, but any Christian on any continent can see that people are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.

In the UK there are movies shown late at night on regular TV (i.e. available with a standard rather than adults-only subscription) that are listed as "erotic" movies. Typically they are at least partially censored although full nudity isn't cut after certain times. I believe (but don't know for sure) that parts of continental Europe are more lax. In the UK there are a range of adult TV channels which are available for subscription although my understanding is that some things are still barred. Of course on the internet no such censorship applies and just about anything the most twisted mind can imagine is probably out there somewhere.

In Amsterdam the red light district is pretty well known. I don't specifically recall women sitting in store front windows (the only time I went through the red light district after dark was on a canal boat) but understand it's pretty normal for the women to sit in the windows. Even so prostitution is described as "the oldest profession" for a reason and the fact it wasn't clearly on show doesn't mean it was any less sinful 1000 years ago.

[Cornflake]

Each generation thinks the world is being more corrupted and that, back when they were kids, it was better. They're all kind of wrong.

I was reading once online about how in the mid 50s that they would film Elvis Presley above his hips because his movements were "sexual". If you look at the music industry, there's a lot of sexual suggestion in the lyrics and songs etc. and I'm sure it wasn't like that a couple of decades ago.

It wasn't like that a couple of decades ago?

Have you ever seen the movie Grease? Have you ever listened to the lyrics to Greased Lightning? That was just the first thing that came to mind. There have been suggestive songs since the beginning of songs - and yes, they didn't film Elvis because of the way he moved his pelvis.

There's been porn since people could write. There are cave drawings in Scotland that are basically filthy, graphic, graffiti about the bodies of some of the women who lived there.

For the person that said SAW wasn't around 15 years ago no, but the Halloween, Friday, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, etc., movies were around almost 30 years ago. Have you seen Halloween?

I'm not suggesting some things aren't perhaps more accessible, but they've always existed.

[The Mighty Sword]

It's worse than you can imagine.

[preachinjail]

It's worse than you can imagine.

...." the love of many shall grow cold..." = abortion, etc.
...."lawlessness shall abound..." = ever drive the freeway lately? Even the cotton head grannies are flagrantly disobeying the speed limit. If they will disregard the rule of law for such a simple (yet very dangerous) thing like driving your car faster than the law allows...what are they WILLING to also do?

Yeah.....welcome to the end times.

Lawlessness is the barometer we are told to look for. "As in the days of Noe....so shall it be in the end of the age."

[gringo300]

I was talking about the whore houses.

A huge proportion of what's on television... whore houses...

Is there REALLY all that much difference?

(Wait, the television post wasn't quoted. Sigh.)

I was also wanting the thumbs down in my post, not next to the thread title.

[Hunter121]

I was reading once online about how in the mid 50s that they would film Elvis Presley above his hips because his movements were "sexual". If you look at the music industry, there's a lot of sexual suggestion in the lyrics and songs etc. and I'm sure it wasn't like that a couple of decades ago.

I'm sure there is more to add, but has the world become more sinful as the bible was talking about sin multiplying in the end times?

2 Timothy 3

That's exactly what I'm thinking, generations are getting worse.

[BroRog]

I think the practice of social mores waxes and wanes over time. Some generations are worse than others. What HAS changed in recent times which seems to be different than at any other point in history is the postmodern view that true-truth can't be known. Even during times when licentiousness was open and common, the sages of society were able to appeal to a moral standard, whatever it was, and an objective body of truth. I realize that even moral standards change over time, but the point is the same. It was always possible, until recently, to give a moral justification for good behavior. But now, in a world order in which people doubt the very concept of truth, it is almost impossible to give a rational justification for moral behavior.

[HaveMercy]

I don't see how anybody could study history and believe that people are any worse now than they were in the past. Actually there was a lot of cruelty that was taken for granted in the past that modern people wouldn't be able to stomach. For example, people in the 19th century may have outlawed abortion but they had no problem with letting children work 16 hour days in dangerous conditions or letting the poor (often children also) die of starvation and cold in the streets. Child (and adult) prostitution was notoriously rampant in Victorian England.

They may not have had our sins, but they had their own sins. The world has always been full of sin.

[Slina]

I tend to go back and forth on whether or not the world really is getting that much worse in terms of sin. I was doing some research on the Victorian era for a story once, and ended up deciding that one of the main differences between then and now was that they acted dignified about it and basically kept it behind closed doors even though it was still very much there. Homosexuality as well has been in cultural favor at various points in history, and quite a bit of it shows up in art and literature from ancient Greece for example. Also look at opera or Shakespeare; plenty of messed up stuff right there.

But yeah, compared to 50 years ago, entertainment has definitely gotten a whole lot more blatant about glorifying sin, especially here in America. Based on the British tv shows I've seen, they've always been a step ahead of us in terms of what they're willing to show over there (one show in particular was just recently having issues moving to American tv because the original has too much homosexual content, for example), but I suspect there's been a similar progression there as well. It's probably a case of these things happening in waves, plus having different issues at any given time. You also have things like the Parents Television Council that have been doing a lot to keep entertainment under control. Producers back wanted to show stuff as much as they do today, but regulations were a lot stricter back then.

I agree though that probably the main thing that's changing is the level of shame involved, at least recently. A lot of this stuff used to be practiced behind closed doors and kept quiet in public. Nowadays most people just don't care; they're not necessarily proud of it per se, but they're sure not trying to hide it either. I almost think it's just the casual way in which people nowadays admit to certain things that's so revealing, more so than what we see in popular entertainment. If anything, entertainment just reflects what's already going on in the culture.

[HaveMercy]

Why is it when sin is discussed it almost always seems to be about sexual sin? That's just a feeling I get when I read threads like this and everyone uses what's on television as a way of showing how people are far more sinful nowadays.