Monday, November 14, 2011

the problem at Penn State

By now, even non-football fans have tuned in to the Joe Paterno debate. Fired because he (and several others) didn't do the right thing "morally". This is the result of a society that has chosen to reject it's morality and God in general. I can't believe how many times I've heard the word "moral" on sports center the last few days. In case you don't know - the moral failure is a little boy was being molested in a shower by an older man on the campus of Penn State. And several people did nothing really to intervene! WHY? There are two reasons that our current culture refuses to intervene in this instance. Part of the problem for Penn State and for all of us:

1. There are no morals. We live in a culture where right and wrong are proclaimed to be up to each individual. This means that we have become desensitized to what really is wrong. When our culture sees something that is obviously wrong (like a child being abused) we don't know how to react...a certain form of moral paralysis takes place and people don't know how to process it all. This is not a hard case. What happened was wrong, and should have been quickly identified as such and stopped just as quickly.

2. This leads to our second problem...we don't think it's our business to get involved in other people's lives. We try to ignore or go around serious issues and needs because we don't want to stick our nose in the middle of it. This is why so many people reported what they saw to their superiors, but never confronted the perpetrator of wrong (ie. the man in the shower). Someone, should have stepped in and physically stopped the abuse.

Christians are called to call things wrong and right according to God's standards and Christians are called to act. Let us not become like the rest of the world that can't identify wrong when we see it and are afraid to act.

2 comments:

Abby said...

Perfectly said! Amen!

Lisa said...

Amen Mike! This is true in too much of our society today. Unfortunately I too have witnessed this in my own walk this year. As Christians we have to stand for what is right and wrong and most importantly, not be afraid to convict our brothers and sisters in Christ. I think too often we don't say anything as you said because we don't feel it's our place, but if not our place, then whose? Just because none of us is in a position to throw stones doesn't mean we can turn our backs and not help others in need.

God Bless You!