......... Those people in those time were as religious as it gets.......
I've never understood folks conflating "religion" with maturity......
For a civilization to succeed the citizenry must be capable of transcending tribalism.
Tribalism can only be replaced by mature adults facing the future with vision and preparing for it. And by these mature adults passing it on, training the upcoming generation.......And yes Christianity allows for this, teaches this ("turns the world upside down") and has been wildly successful. It is responsible for the creation of "capitalism" which allows normal people to succeed without trampling their fellows (tribalism) .... until now. WE as in OUR GENERATION as in the folks reading this forum have been reverting to tribalism (selfishness) , ignoring the edict to pass on values.
A typical "man" today is uncomfortable with passing on basic moral precepts, preferring instead to define "manliness" by values best left in the schoolyard sandbox.
We absolutely do "reap what we sow" in this life and we're reaping the fruits of the values we planted. Back in the time Pete refers to people "looked down on" reprehensible behaviour and turned away to higher principles in the main...... Now we're celebrating bas behaviour as never before in our country.
This is not a surprise.
It is inevitable,
and sad to watch.
Thomas Sowell writes "one of the sad signs of our times is that we have
demonized those who produce,
subsidized those who refuse to produce and
canonized those who complain."
In other words, "men" have become whiny bitches and "kardashians" are looked up to
In a world run by "feelings" civilization will fall.
When I was about nine yrs old our septic system plugged...... my father stripped down to his skivvies and crawled into the tank......he stuffed his "feelings" and dove in for the greater good of his family because he knew it was right. And he had me help because he knew that passing it on was right.
My Dad was a MAN.
Another thing about the old man.... I never once saw him leave a room because "he didn't like" somebody. Agree/disagree "like" didn't enter into adult talk.
Dad was on the school board, town councils and various civic boards because he felt a duty toward his group, his town, his corner of civilization.
He was often the only adult in the room, standing alone on the Word of God against softening the rules.....
And he owned everything he ever said, even when his beliefs changed he never deleted.
This is profound.