Privately Teaching Public Morality

“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. “And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.” Deut. 6:5-7

Moral absolutes have been replaced by moral pluralism, and ‘little’ sins are no longer difficult to justify.

Our private lives are no longer relevant to our public lives - or so we are told.

Unfortunately, these are lies. How we live in private, our honesty and integrity in unseen instances - defines our character. Additionally, small compromises of truth have led to rampant teen pregnancy, crime, and drug abuse in our society. These are the rewards of individual rights bereft of responsibility.

As parents, we must teach our children the value of the moral life and that righteousness has intrinsic value. If we teach them that doing the right thing is appropriate because it’s the smart thing to do, they won’t need many lessons before they learn that acts of virtue can sometimes be costly. Even so, we can communicate the fact that ‘godly decision making is the most intelligent and least destructive way to live.”

Each of us needs a foundation for our moral values. For Christians, that basis is - that our system of rights and wrongs is not of human origin, but divine. This essential truth, however, is not learned as a simple academic fact. It is grasped by children as they observe it in their parents.

The adage rings true - “More is caught than taught.”