Will the world ever be a better place?

It seems whenever we turn on the news there is something bad happening. In the last few years it seems that what has happened in the world has only gotten worse. Problems we never even thought about 10 years ago are happening every day and with increasing intensity. One has to wonder will this world ever be a better place again.

The reality is many of the problems we have today were around for centuries. They have ebbed and flowed, come and gone, moved from place to place. The problems that we see today occurred elsewhere but sadly they all had the same end we do not see just yet for this world today.

Edward Gibbon wrote a comprehensive set of books in the 1700s about the decline of the Roman Empire. It was first published in 1776, the year the United States became a nation. The book went through several printings and volumes. Today it is one of the greatest resources for understanding what went wrong with the Roman Empire leading to its collapse.

The most common reason given for many years was the invasion of barbarians that caused the fall of the eastern empire by 476 AD and the western empire by 1456. But according to Gibbons the real cause was the loss of civic virtue, in definition the moral and ethical qualities that citizens should possess to contribute to the well-being and prosperity of their community. People stopped caring about their community and others. They also lost their moral compass on the most basic levels. That led to the invasions, and ultimately its collapse. Just the loss of virtue caused apathy and corruptness to spread across the empire like a fast moving cancer. Other books written during the later years of the empire seem to have lost all morality. Behavior across all walks of life deteriorated in ways never seen before by those societies. The accounts read very similar to the society we have today.

As in the past there was some return to an order, usually inspired by the religious leadership of the day. Not all of it was good but not all of it was bad either. It got people to return to the basics of moral life, think about God and try their best to worship and submit to Him. Not every religious movement that followed was good but for God’s purpose the right ones were put where he wanted them to be at the right time.

Back to the original question, will this world be a better place? It can be if people return to morality on this side of the kingdom but when Jesus Christ returns again it most definitely will be.

Back in the book of Acts in the Bible many people converted to Christianity were hoping that the Roman Empire would collapse in their time or at least return to morality. It went on for another 400 years until its time began to come to an end. While the problems did not end during that time the solutions for them were just beginning as the church in Jesus Christ began to spread across the known world. Many people converted to Christianity and lived a moral life despite what the world around them was doing. Many were also martyred for doing so too, knowing that the reward for their sacrifice was the highest one. The answer is ‘yes’ the world can be a better place if people return to Godly morality, but until that time we ourselves can be committed to that life regardless of what the world around us does.

Your Brother in Christ,

Steve Koenig

Lakeshore Fellowship