What Christians consider to be sexual immorality used to be the common definition for all of American society. It is not that people didn’t engage in sexually immoral behavior, but even those who participated did it knowing it was wrong.

My, how things have changed. Now, among a large swath of the population, there is, literally, no such thing as sexual immorality. Living together before marriage, one night stands, prostitution, adultery, homosexuality, polyamory, polyandry, polygamy – everything is fair game.

Ashly Madison is an online dating service with its own unique distinction. It caters to married people who are interested in having an affair.

Recently, they did a survey to discover where its members reside. It then put out a list of the top 20 American cities for adulterous behavior. But even more profound than identifying particular cities, their survey showed that infidelity is universal. They found that this behavior is common among people across the political, social, and economic spectrum. Cheating on one’s spouse has, in many ways, been completely normalized.

So how did we get here? Everything begins with the set of worldview beliefs that dominate society.

The first settlers who came to America from Europe, came for the purpose of religious freedom. Those who followed and began setting up settlements also primarily considered themselves Christians. And as the new nation was formed, the value system that was established was based on a biblical worldview.

That began to change during the 1800s when more secular focused thinking began to make its way from Europe, and over time gradually increased in prominence. But it wasn’t until around the 1960s and 70s that it built up enough momentum to begin actually crowding out the Christian values that had dominated before.

So now, the country finds itself in a position that is relatively new in the history of the nation. All of the major institutions of society are now dominated by naturalistic worldview beliefs. The Christian beliefs that have traditionally been the foundation of the nation still remain nominally as its values foundation, but these are gradually being chipped away. In their place, the values from other beliefs have begun filling in the cracks forming what now has become a hodgepodge of conflicting laws and policies; which has, in turn, created an entirely new level of moral confusion.

But the thinking that has opened the door to all of the “sexual freedom” referred to above comes mainly from naturalistic beliefs. Naturalism is the belief that the natural universe, operating by natural laws, is all that exists. On a material level, this pushes to the forefront ideas such as the theory of evolution, the notion that there may be life on other planets, and the belief that ultimately science will be able to explain all of existence.

But there is another dynamic at play when it comes to morals and values. Not only have naturalistic beliefs affected the way people think about the material world, it affects the values foundation of the nation, as well.

When it comes to moral values, a biblical worldview has something objective to build upon. Christianity recognizes God to be an objectively real person who has revealed objectively real true and right values. But Naturalism doesn’t have that kind of possibility. Since its core beliefs recognize only the natural universe operating by natural laws, there is no possibility of a transcendent God who is able to provide objective values. The only possibility that is left is for human beings to make up their own morality.

But we immediately run into a massive problem. What happens when different people have different ideas about what should be considered moral? At that point, the only possibility is for people to fight it out, with the most powerful getting their way. Everyone else must submit to the winner. Of course, if those who come out on the short end of the stick don’t like it, they can always rebel and try to overthrow the established order. There is no objective right and wrong, so the spoils always go to the winner.

Not so with values based on naturalistic worldview beliefs. There is nothing to keep people focused in the same direction. So when it comes to sexual morality, people who believe in living together before marriage are right. People who don’t believe in living together before marriage are right. People who believe homosexuality is normal are right, and those who believe it is unnatural are right. And, of course, people who believe it is okay to have extramarital affairs are also right – as long as they can get away with it.

So we now live in a time when naturalistic beliefs rule the day, and what the Bible says about sexual morality doesn’t really matter. If people want to follow the Bible, fine ... but if not, that is their prerogative.

What we end up with, then is companies like Ashley Madison – companies that actually promote adultery as a business product. And it will remain that way until the worldview foundation shifts back to biblical ideals. God has called Christians to be salt and light in the world and to share the gospel message with those who don’t believe in Him. We definitely have our work cut out for us.

Freddy Davis is the president of MarketFaith Ministries. He is the author of numerous books entitled The Truth Mirage, Rules for Christians Radicals, Liberalism vs. Conservatism, and his latest book Shattering the Truth Mirage and has a background as an international missionary, pastor, radio host, worldview trainer, and entrepreneur. Freddy is a graduate of Florida State University with a BS in Communication and holds MDiv and DMin degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a popular speaker, particularly on the topic of worldview and its practical implications for the Christian life. He lives in Tallahassee, FL, with his wife Deborah.

You may also contact Freddy at Leadership Speakers Bureau to schedule him for speaking or leadership engagements.

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