Rushdoony starts with the following quote in this chapter, "customs or social mores govern us often much more strongly than does morality. Most people are more afraid of offending their friends through bad taste than of offending God by sin."
There are many customs and mores in our society. Some of them are important and, if properly understood as subservient to a Godly moral foundation, they will hold their rightful, crucial place in society. The problem comes when customs become a product of a society detached from the scriptures and thus are free to run directly antithetical to morality. When this happens, the individual must make a concerted effort to resist the temptation to follow in society's error and make a stand on the side of moral truth.
Rushdoony shows that rightly understood, "moral order represents the establishment on earth of objective ethical or moral truth; it is the conformity of earth and man to the will and word of God...it grounds society in truth and thereby makes possible the health and welfare of society as a whole." In contrast to this, a society bereft or a Godly morality has already had the ground prepared for revolutionary changes to its foundations. "The greatest asset to any revolutionary group is a large body of people who are governed by conventions or customs. With such people, since appearance is all that matters, the country can be gutted of its historic position, constitutionalism, and liberties, and there will be no objection as long as the form is retained." We have a President now that was swept into office on the promise for change, but in reality, that tact, while seemingly ingenious, was nothing more than embracing what was already going on in American society. While there are political, military, and economic issues, just to name a few, that are changing the face of our society, the bottom line is that it was the ecclesiastical and moral breakdown that precipitated those changes. When society, as a whole, turned away from its adherence to God's righteous rule, there was no longer a moral backdrop that anchored our decisions. Almost every day in the United States today, there are political leaders that are attacking the historic positions held in our society even to go as far as attacking our most basic rights, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom to defend oneself with constitutionally protected weapons, etc. While the form of our nation is intact, the form is about all we have left and the only question that remains is how long the shell can hold in place as the remaining core of the nation is systematically removed.
Rushdoony gives a warning to these apathetic traitors in our midst. "these people who cling to the appearance rather than the reality are the bread and butter of all revolutionary groups; they finance them, support them, and defend them, because they too are revolutionaries. They are the first wave of every revolution, and, even though the second wave first uses them and then destroys them, the conventional people are still part of the revolution. This means we cannot treat these people who sit complacently in apostate churches, and how ignore all subversion in the political order, simply as blind people. They are themselves the first great wave of social revolution, of moral anarchy and national and religious decadence...the conventional people have a deadlier revolution. They are for the Bible, but it doesn't really mean what it says, and we mustn't go overboard on those things."
So, what is our answer. First, learn, believe and live out a Godly righteousness. Second, learn to recognize the subversive among you, whether it be coming from an individual, church, media, politician, etc. Third, prepare yourself to respond to the subversive and engage with the goal of changing both minds and hearts.
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