Are Things Getting Worse? (Or Is It Just Your Imagination?)

The commentary, “Your Brain Has Tricked You Into Thinking Everything Is Worse,” was written by an experimental psychologist who believes that societally, things haven’t gotten worse—we just remember the past selectively (remembering the good more than the bad, so that the past seems rosier in our memories), therefore making the present seem worse than the past. This researcher found that in 235 surveys, featuring 574,000 people in 59 different countries, everyone agreed that morality has been declining and is still declining (apparently this has been a consistent result since they began taking these surveys in 1949).

I ask this question to audiences slightly differently. For years I’ve asked if America is getting more or less Christian—from a worldview perspective—every day, and the answer is always a resounding, “Less!” So, is morality really declining, or is this research right and it’s “all in our heads”?

Well, I would answer both yes and no. Okay, what do I mean by that?

As America drifts further from the anchor of the Word of God, moral relativism permeates the culture, and we get the moral tailspin we’re now experiencing.

Yes, things are getting worse morally. As America drifts further from the anchor of the Word of God, moral relativism permeates the culture, and we get the moral tailspin we’re now experiencing. But, of course, this depends on how you define morality! If these researchers aren’t taking into account the increase in sexual promiscuity and depravity, abortions, etc., then they will not have an accurate picture of morality . . . and whether or not things are getting better or worse! It all comes down to who your authority is: God or man.

(You can read more about this in a 2016 article written by Avery Foley on a similar study.)

But I would also say “no” in the sense that the true (and only) golden age of human morality wasn’t a few generations ago in any of our lifetimes—it was many generations ago in the garden of Eden (and it didn’t last long!). God’s original creation was “very good” (Genesis 1:31), free from sin and immorality. But then Adam and Eve sinned against God (Genesis 3). Ever since, humanity has been in a moral tailspin as each person is born with a sinful heart, dead in trespasses and sins, at enmity with God and man.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins. (Ephesians 2:1)

To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires. (Ephesians 4:22)

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. (Isaiah 64:6)

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

Our hope should never be in a return to the “golden age” of yesteryear or a in politician who promises that return. Our hope should be in Christ and the coming “golden age” that will last forever—when all who have repented of their sin and trusted in Christ will dwell with him in a new heavens and new earth, free from death, suffering, and sin.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:1–8)

Get More Answers on Answers News

This item was discussed Monday on Answers News with cohosts Dr. Gabriela Haynes, Avery Foley, and Dr. Tim Chaffey. Answers News is our weekly news program filmed live before a studio audience here at the Creation Museum, broadcast on our Answers in Genesis YouTube channel, and posted to Answers TV. We also covered the following topics:

• Pastor becomes LGBT-affirming because he first compromised Genesis.
• Did the first kangaroos “not hop”?
• How did snakes lose their legs?
• And more!

Be sure to join us each Monday at 2 p.m. (ET) on YouTube or later that day on Answers TV for Answers News. You won’t want to miss this unique news program that gives science and culture news from a distinctly biblical and Christian perspective.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.