Nobody’s Watching Is there?

Sexual immorality is fast becoming a rampant social ill, affecting both young and old alike. Immorality refers to any act, thought or communiqué that is licentious and disregards morality. It is an "evil, wretched and wicked" social ill that is capable of generating other social diseases and "impairs good public (societal) interest and welfare (Webster’s Encyclopedia of Dictionaries). Addressing and combating these ills have be-come a global preoccupation of the Church and some governments as never before. We have already been pre- warned by Jesus in Lk. 17:26, "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man" (Lk. 17:26).

Destroying Moral Fabric

The Government’s ongoing war against piracy of counterfeit CDs and VCDs, including porn-related ones shows clearly how society’s moral standard is being shamelessly and pathetically corrupted and debased by immoral influences. Added to this is the easy availability of pornographic materials through the Internet in the comfort of the home. With computers becoming the in-thing, even children now have immediate and direct access to pornography.

The irony is that some parents themselves are said to be bringing such porn-related materials into their homes to conduct ‘family viewing’. Such ongoing defilement of mind, body and soul provokes people into promiscuous indulgences of various sorts. ‘Escapism’ encouraged by the porn media has additionally led many to indulge in drug and alcohol abuse, transexuality, homosexuality, and sex orgies. Parental neglect in guiding and disciplining their children has also contributed to the gravity of sexual immorality and domestic violence, exposing children to traumatic events, child abuse, divorces and the like.

These, in turn, have caused resentment in children against parents and society and are worsening the generation gap. The end result on children is filial impiety, disrespect for elders and rebellion, increase in school dropout rate and indulgence in bohsia (promiscuous affiliation) and lepak (loitering), teenage preg nancies, abortions and child prostitution. The AIDS epidemic has even begun to threaten the extinction of whole families.

The moral integrity of local manufacturers and consumers of such counterfeit materials has certainly gone down the drain. In contrast, piracy is still frowned upon by the masses in the West.

Apart from the ill effects threatening the nation’s economy, the more serious concern is the moral degradation of our society and the disastrous chain effect in the form of sexually- and crime-related social ills. In this affluent age, people have become as in 2 Tim. 3:1–4 "lovers of their own selves…lovers of pleasures".

With a reported average of four women being raped daily and two persons being murdered every three days (The NST, July 2) where is our society heading? With the inclusion of unreported cases, the problem could be even more alarming. Porn and violence-related media have also contributed to death by shooting as the number one cause of death in the USA. The Church in Malaysia, according to a recent survey, is not encapsulated from the damaging cyber-porn media and pirated CDs and VCDs. In fact, the Internet is said to be the biggest threat to good Christian conduct.

The demonic influences of the questionable entertainment offered on the Internet and video games are not unknown to God’s children. One Christian leader aptly said, "This is a reprobate society exploring every realm of absurdity and madness in a non-rational fantasy world..."

Efforts by the authorities to combat pirated materials through raids and confiscation, imposition of stiffer penalties (including whipping) have not had the desired impact. Moral religious education methods need to be reviewed. The issue "creative licence" for import of films, videotapes, cassettes and other medium is meant to help enhance knowledge in creative arts (including music). On the contrary it facilitates infusion of corrupt values in our society as manifested in the increase of sexual crimes.