Now and Then

Are We Better or Worse Off?

The next time you get the chance, stop, and look around. Take the time to consider what you have, what others have, and what the current society consists of. Now, compare the current time to what it was like one hundred years ago. Things have changed a great deal in the past hundred years, and it may seem for the good. However, not all things are what they seem. Although time has brought better quality of life, more convenience, and greater numbers of freedoms, our society has not changed for the better. Our culture has become focused on itself instead of God.

One hundred years ago, death and sickness were more varied and widespread. As time has passed, there have been medical and mechanical discoveries that have given longer life to people. Currently, there are few who die from child birth, yellow fever, and other diseases. As a result, people put less trust into God and less care into their lives, and put more confidence into medicines, vitamins, doctors, and worldly possessions. Part of the time, this brings about obesity and other illnesses, but most of the time, this leads to a healthier population, many of whom begin to care too much about looks. In addition, less people appreciate life now than they did one hundred years ago.

Just like there have been advances in medicine, there have also been advances in technology. In this modern age, we have many things available to us at our convenience. Because we have more to entertain is, we spend much of our free time, or rather waste our time, watching TV, seeing a movie, going to the local Funworks, listening to music, using a computer, and playing Playstation. We fail to appreciate many of the small things in life. We are much more comfortable now than we would have been in the late 1800s, early 1900s. Electric appliances are there to help us, fast food restaurants are just around the corner, and cars have become necessary for transportation. These cars come in all sorts of colors, with optional leather seats, sunroofs, CD players, tape players, DVD players, and navigational maps. We have found ourselves in a society where personal convenience and money are all that matters.

In being a society more concerned with convenience and self, we have gained many freedoms and rights by fighting for them, which is not exactly a bad thing. Blacks, women, and other minorities have come a long way. Anti-racism has gone far, almost too far. Women are no longer expected to be homemakers and nothing else. People have a right to say what they want when they want, and have their own views. Because of this, the government is trying to please immoral people, not moral people. We have come to a point where prayer and the teaching of God is not allowed in public schools, and someone is trying to take “under God” out of the Pledge of Allegiance; homosexuality, sex before marriage, and divorce are viewed as OK. There are few moral grounds left, and most have become what man thinks is moral, not what God says is moral.

Because of the shift in freedoms, convenience, and quality of life, people have forgotten to appreciate not only what they have, but also who gave them what they have: God. If you would only take a moment to think about this, you would realize how things have changed for the worse, and in response, live life to its fullest for God.