Today's Journal
SHARED MORAL ORDER
David Brooks, New York Times wrote:“The most grievous cultural wound has been the loss of a shared moral order. We told multiple generations to come up with their own individual values. This privatization of morality burdened people with a task they could not possibly do, leaving them morally inarticulate and unformed. It created a naked public square where there was no broad agreement about what was true, beautiful and good. Without shared standards of right and wrong, it’s impossible to settle disputes; it’s impossible to maintain social cohesion and trust. Every healthy society rests on some shared conception of the sacred — sacred heroes, sacred texts, sacred ideals — and when that goes away, anxiety, atomization and a slow descent toward barbarism are the natural results.”
(Note: This short paragraph is from an extended article ‘Time to Say Goodbye’ that was published 30 January 2026. It was Brooks last column after 22 years at the New York Times.)
Much of what is presented by Brooks in this article is an attempt to recognize a social culture that no longer has regulation and order to any standard. He mentions: ‘Without shared standards of right and wrong, it’s impossible to settle disputes; it’s impossible to maintain social cohesion and trust.’ This standard for me is the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom Way. Without this order, we will continue in the downward spiral he mentions. But if masses of people turn and repent and come to Christ there is certainly a New Way to live…the Kingdom Way.
“I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.” Jesus