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A “norm” is a standard, a rule, a pattern. That which is “normal” is that which conforms to the norm or recognized standard. Departure from the rule or standard is “abnormal.” When a nation becomes so corrupt that it elevates abnormal behavior to the level of “normalcy,” it is in serious trouble.
Seven centuries before Christ, the nation of Israel so acted. The great prophet Isaiah cried out against it:
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isa. 5:20). She paid for her folly with heartache, defeat, and captivity.
Unfortunately, men continue in their self-destructive attempts to redefine good and evil, right and wrong, normalcy and abnormalcy. Consider the following:
- Until 1973, the American Psychiatric Association defined homosexuality as abnormal behavior, at which time it ceased to list it as such in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. This move was not prompted by results of research, but by political pressure from homosexuals who staged riots at scientific meetings. In 2003 the Supreme Court overruled Texas laws against sodomy. This abnormal (as well as unnatural) behavior, for which Jehovah God destroyed ancient Sodom, was now de jure, if not de facto, “normal.” God’s norm has not changed, however (1 Cor. 6:9–11).
- “No-fault” divorce laws began appearing in the 1970s and soon became universal. Previously, the relative difficulty of getting a divorce preserved many marriages. Marriage was the norm, and divorce was correctly stigmatized as abnormal. Divorce has now almost become the norm. God’s norm has not changed (Mat. 19:9).
- Pre-marital sex was sinful, shameful, and abnormal, until the “sexual revolution” of the 1960s. It has since become “normal” for men and women to “live together” before and apart from marriage. God’s norm is unchanged (Mat. 19:5).
- Marriage has ever been considered only as a union between a male and a female— the universal norm since Adam and Eve (Gen. 2:24–25). However, in their push to “normalize” the abnormal, homosexuals and their sympathizers are determined to create the aura of normalcy for “same-sex marriage.” God’s norm has not changed (Mat. 19:4–5).
These are but a few of the suicidal moral reversals of God-given norms for which men must sooner or later give account.
[Note: I wrote this article for and it was published in The Lighthouse, weekly bulletin of Northpoint Church of Christ, Denton, TX, July 12, 2015, of which I was editor.]
Attribution: From thescripturecache.com; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.
