Have you felt it too…that quiet ache when kindness is dismissed as weakness, or when crude language and public contempt are treated as signs of strength? Not long ago, disrespect was met with conviction, and there was a shared sense that certain boundaries mattered. Today, those boundaries often feel blurred, and what once prompted apology now passes for authenticity. It’s a sad, sad state we are in. Too many people transforming God to be, to them, more like themselves.
Is it any wonder then, amid the noise and normalization of what dehumanizes, followers of Christ are called to something different, something higher. We’re not here to blend in, but to bear witness. As the contrast between the values of the world and the character of Christ becomes more vivid, our calling becomes more urgent.
To reflect Christ in a fractured world, we must understand not just what moral decency is, but why it matters. It is not about appearing upright. It is about preserving our God-given humanity and seeing it in others. If we hope to lead others toward truth and wholeness, we must first be rooted in the deep purpose behind our words, our actions, and the posture of our hearts.
The remedy for declining moral decency begins with a recovery of moral imagination—the capacity to see others as sacred, not expendable; as fellow image-bearers of God, not obstacles to our agenda.
In the Methodist tradition, which emphasizes both personal holiness and social holiness, moral decline isn’t just a cultural issue, it’s a discipleship issue. The solution isn’t simply reclaiming good manners or nostalgia for a better time but restoring the heart through transformed thinking and loving.
Romans 1:28-32 NASB
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
Understanding the Decline in Moral Decency
The Apostle Paul warned about this in Romans 1:28-32, where moral breakdown begins when people no longer retain God in their knowledge. Once the sacred is removed from the center of a society’s vision, what follows is a spiral into dehumanization, vulgarity, and selfishness. Casual cursing in public life, especially from leaders, is a symptom of this detachment from sacred accountability.
In today’s world, public figures may curse to appear “authentic,” “relatable,” or “tough.” But this is not authenticity. It is posturing. C.S. Lewis wrote in The Abolition of Man that “we make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise.”
The decay in language reflects a decay in values. Language shapes thought, and when our public discourse is coarsened, our moral sensitivity dulls.
How Culture Normalizes Dehumanization
We’ve seen how quickly culture can shift what is considered normal. The use of technology, social media, and soundbite-driven politics has made it easier to caricature people rather than engage them. In a society where people are labeled rather than listened to, it becomes frighteningly easy to see others as enemies, obstacles to be eliminated, rather than neighbors to be loved.
John Wesley insisted that holiness was inseparable from love: “The gospel of Christ knows no religion but social; no holiness but social holiness.” To see a person as an obstacle to be crushed rather than a soul to be loved is to depart from the core of the gospel. This is the work of the enemy: to turn compassion into contempt, mercy into mockery.
In Luke 10, Jesus’ Parable of the Good Samaritan, the priest and Levite passed by the wounded man, likely seeing him as an interruption to their agenda. An inconvenience to be avoided. Only the Samaritan saw him as neighbor. The rapid shift in culture that turns people into problems is not new. It’s just faster now. But it is always counter to the kingdom of God.
The Remedy: Restoring Reverence and Reclaiming Witness
We cannot legislate people into decency, but we can disciple them into it. The remedy is:
- Reverence for God: When God is revered, people are respected.
- Renewal of the mind: As Paul writes in Romans 12:2, we are not to conform to the pattern of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
- Redemptive witness: Christians must model a different way of speaking, living, and treating others—even (especially) those with whom we disagree.
Preparation daily is required for personal restoration first. You cannot give what you do not have;
“You’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious…”
A culture that mocks decency needs to see it lived with courage, not scorn.
Imagine a garden left untended. Weeds don’t just show up overnight, but they do grow quickly once care is abandoned and the one meant to tend simply let’s them go. A coarsened culture, vulgar language, and dehumanizing rhetoric are signs of a garden left uncultivated. It doesn’t take long for good soil to be overrun. But neither does it take long for new growth to begin when we sow with care.
Wesley would say: start with the means of grace – Scripture, prayer, the sacraments, Christian community. These are the seeds of renewal. And these seeds are for US. So before we begin lecturing others about their need for them, we must allow our counter cultural living in response to the means of grace we employ say everything they need to hear.
We don’t answer vulgarity with more vulgarity, or hatred with louder hatred. We answer with witness. As Lewis also said, “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
So let’s start here—with holiness in heart, decency in speech, and dignity in how we see others. Amen.
With hands to the plow,
Pastor Theresa