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Men Shall Be Unholy (Morals) 2 Timothy 3:1-7
Neither repented they of their...FORNICATION. Revelation 9:2 Abominable Customs |
The New Age movement is called, among other things, 'the New Church'. Jean Dixson, a popular seer, anticipates "the foundation of a New Christianity." One New Age group calling itself 'New Christianity', writes in its newsletter, The Good News: "Our ministry isn't into sin, guilt, disease, or pain." This group is formulating their own new code of ethics. Robert Muller, New Age spokesman, concurs calling for a: |
[N]ew code of behavior which will encompass all races, nations, religions and ideologies. It is the formulation of these new ethics which will be the greatest challenge for the new generation.
Terms like the 'new ethics', 'situation ethics' or the 'new morality' imply that ethics and morals change and can exist outside of the traditional Judeo-Christian Decalogue (the ten commandments). Few realize that the word ethics (L. ethicus) means only "customs of a nation"; morality (L. moralis) means merely "customs, mores." The words themselves are detached from any objective standard of right and wrong. For example, cannibalism and bigamy were considered 'moral' and 'ethical' behaviors among nineteenth century New Guinea bushmen. Abandoning one's tribe and territory, however, was 'immoral', that is, against the group's mores. |
God noted that "the customs of the people are vain" (Jeremiah 10:3), and not to be confused with his ordinances. |
Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs..." [morals or ethics] Leviticus 18:30 |
The words moral and immoral (according to custom and not according to custom) are an affront to God. They imply that man himself can determine what is right and wrong. Eve became the first 'moralist', as she chose to decide what is good and what is evil. Rebels, like Eve and Lucifer seek 'the good'. Moralists always claim to adhere to "what is right." |
Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes. Deuteronomy 12:8 |
God spoke these words because the heathen perennially chose their mores over the laws of God. "Taoists maintain morals are relative." The Hindu Bhagavad Gita "teaches the supremacy of freedom over morality." Its dialogue between Arjuna and Krishna concludes: |
[T]here can be no absolute moral values because all things are changing, evolving. A particular moral value represents only a particular perspective offered by a particular time at a particular level of evolution.
From the bushmen to the bookmen like Boehm, Blake, Nietzsche, Heidigger and Sartre, man rejects the mandates of God for a man-made morality. A confederacy of educators, carrying Einstein's 'Theory of Relativity' banner, have captured today's students. In a national religious survey, half of the college students polled affirmed that: |
Truth is basically relative; what is right and true for you may not be right and true for me.
The decrees of God have died and man's mores revived in the New Age and new versions as well. |
[M]orality...derives from the innermost self, not from mere obedience. The Aquarian ConspiracyEvil is what you think it is. Shirley MacLaine
[Is] not based on...dualistic concepts of 'good' or 'bad.' David Spangler
Moody's Erwin Lutzer concludes: |
The New Age movement [is] promising contact with a religious god who nonetheless doesn't judge anyone.
And so are the new versions. |
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In the battle between man's mores and God's laws, the new versions have opted for the 'popular' morals of the day. They have substituted the relativistic word 'immorality' for the word 'fornication'. The word 'immorality' carries with it no description of what is forbidden. Webster elaborates: |
Immorality: State or quality of being immoral
Immoral: Not moral
Fornication: Illicit sexual intercourse on the part of an unmarried person.The New Testament Greek word is porneau, porne, pornos, porneia [i.e. fornication].
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The NASB calls 'natural', what God calls sin.
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Every young person knows the meaning of the word 'whore'. (Webster's 'whore': to have unlawful sexual intercourse; whoremonger: lecher; a man given to whoring.) |
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The NASB's non-judgmental translations echo the policy statements of many mainline denominations. |
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The prediction by Marrs that, "Satan will author an unholy New Age bible, with no restrictions on man's desire to enjoy a licentious lifestyle" is coming true. |
Informal polling of university students between 1985 and 1991 with the question posed, "What is immorality?" elicited responses ranging from "pollution" to political issues. The NIV's and NKJV's "sexual immorality" fared no better. To the query "What is sexual immorality?" student response ranged from "one night stands" to various situational scenarios indicative of the highly desensitized and depraved nature of the mores of our current culture. Answers to both questions always evoked responses showing the subjective and relative nature of the word 'moral'. It appears young Americans know Latin etymology and Webster's better than new version editors. |
Bibles without objective standards merely reinforce the Values Clarification theories of Louis E. Baths, Merrill Harmon and Sidney B. Simon being used in the elementary schools today. The Wall Street Journal notes: If parents object to their children...engaging in premarital sex, the theory behind Values Clarification makes it appropriate for the child to respond, 'But that's just YOUR value judgement. Don't force it on me.' |
The harvest from the seeds planted in the sixties (NASB) and seventies (NIV) is ripe and rotting on the vine. A 1990 survey by researchers at Indiana University and Marion County Health department revealed sexual activity is beginning at an earlier age than ever. Dr. Donald P. Orr reported 555 of 677 middle-class students, age 12-14 have engaged in fornication. Another recent survey, done by 8 denominations, polled 1438 'evangelical' teens (those who regularly attend a conservative church). Nearly half had committed fornication; only one-third "declined to brand sex outside of marriage as morally unacceptable." Bibles which omit a clear mandate against, "sexual intercourse on the part of unmarried persons" (Webster's 'fornication') leave parents defenseless in their battle for their children's chastity. An anxious mother called Moody Broadcasting's 'Open Line' program asking Pastor Cole where she could find a verse to show her son that pre-marital sex is wrong. He was unable to give one. On a recent 700 Club, the author of Generation at Risk was asked why sexually active Christian kids have no sense of guilt. He responded that there was "no absolute standard of scripture" to use and so young people conclude, "If I don't feel bad, it must not be wrong." |
The use of the ambiguous word 'immorality' by new versions is more a matter of sales than semantics. "After all, we are in the entertainment business," quips the owner of the NIV, international publishing magnate and purveyor of erotica, Rupert Murdock (New Age Bulletin, England, Vol. V, No. 1, p. 2, June 1993) Pressure from mainline denomination, representing large markets, prompts their use of wording which allows the greatest variety of interpretations. The 1991 national committee report from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) represents the reins pulling from religious and 'ethical' markets. |
Presbyterian Church U.S.A. |
Ethics in Contemporary Psychic Experience |
Roman Catholics are expressing similar views. Sister Madonna Kolbenschlay said, "[W]omen...are in the process of reversing Genesis by validating and freeing their sexuality." Father Matthew Fox in Original Blessing writes, "Ours is truly an erotic god." |
That morality is really not relative is seen in the outrage of the public at the sexual activity of gurus like Swami Muktanada Paramanansa (Gov. Jerry Brown, Marsha Mason and Diana Ross' guru), Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Rajneesh, Catholic priests and Bishops and fallen evangelical leaders. The secular press has devoted entire books, like the best selling The Closing of the American Mind, to bemoan society's substitution of 'values' for 'virtues'. A Los Angeles Times writer reflects on the coming cataclysm caused by the rejection of objective standards: [R]elative standards of morality breed chaos and ultimately the downfall of society. |
Excerpts from:
New Age Bible Versions by G. A. Riplinger
ARE YOU A GOOD PERSON?
VIEW-POINT
IS HELL REAL ?
LUCIFER: ANGEL OF LIGHT - FATHER OF LIES
WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED ?
RETURN TO THE OLD PATHS -- excerpt from The Morning Stars
CORRUPT LEXICONS AND DICTIONARIES
GREEK NUGGETS or FOOL'S GOLD?
DEEDS AND DOCTRINE OF THE NICOLAITANS
GNOSTICISM and CHRISTIANITY
SPIRITUAL ADULTERY
BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS
OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS
Beware of Greek and Hebrew Lexicons
CATHOLIC INQUISITION VIDEO
THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD (by a former priest)
ANTICHRIST REVEALED IN SCRIPTURE: THE PAPACY
AMERICA's CHRISTIAN HERITAGE
FOXE's BOOK of MARTYRS
Legislation is the enacting of laws, and a legislator is one who makes laws.
God is the divine legislator. He proclaimed his ten commandments, from mount Sinai.
In free governments, the people choose their legislators.
We have legislators for each state, who make laws for the state where they live. The town in which they meet to legislate, is called the seat of government. These legislators, when they are assembled to make laws, are called the legislature.
The people should choose their best and wisest men for their legislators.
lt is the duty of every good man, to inspect the moral conduct of the man who is offered as a legislator, as our yearly elections. If the people wish for good laws, they may have them, by electing good man.
The legislative councils of the United States should feel their dependence on the will of a free and virtuous people.
Our farmers, mechanics and merchants, compose the strength of our nation. Let them be wise and virtuous, and watchful of their liberties. (The Elementary Spelling Book, 1842, pp. 98,99); (see also the 1908 edition of The Elementary Spelling Book, 1908, pp. 98,99).
NO man may put off the law of God: My joy is in his law all the day. O may I not go in the way of sin!... All men go out of the way. Who can say he has no sin?... The way of man is ill.... See not my sin, and let me not go to the pit. Rest in the Lord, and mind his word.... This life is not long; but the life to come has no end.... No man can say that he has done no ill. For all men have gone out of the way. There is none that doth good; no not one.... He who came to save us, will wash us from all sin; I will be glad in his name. A good boy will do all that is just; he will flee from vice; he will do good, and walk in the way of life. Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world; for they are sin. (The American Spelling Book, Noah Webster, 1822, pp. 43,44,45).
Matrimony was instituted by God. The devil is the great adversary of man. All persons should wear a decent dress. We are apt to live forgetful of our continual dependence on the will of God. God governs the world in infinite wisdom; the Bible teaches us that it is our duty to worship him. It is a solemn thing to die and appear before God. If sinners entice thee, consent thou not, but withdraw from their company. The chewing of tobacco is a useless custom. Confess your sins and forsake them. The wicked transgress the laws of God. Liquors that intoxicate are to be avoided as poison. Before you rise in the morning or retire at night, give thanks to God for his mercies, and implore the continuance of his protection. Let all your words be sincere, and never deceive. A mediator is a third person who interposes to adjust a dispute between parties at variance. Christ is the mediator between an offended God and offending man. (The Elementary Spelling Book, 1842, pp. 52,58,66,69,72,74,76,77,79,80,82).