God shows his anger from heaven against all the evil and wrong things that people do. Their evil lives hide the truth they have. This makes God angry because they have been shown what he is like. Yes, God has made it clear to them. There are things about God that people cannot see—his eternal power and all that makes him God. But since the beginning of the world, those things have been easy for people to understand. They are made clear in what God has made. So people have no excuse for the evil they do.
People knew God, but they did not honor him as God, and they did not thank him. Their ideas were all useless. There was not one good thought left in their foolish minds. They said they were wise, but they became fools. Instead of honoring the divine greatness of God, who lives forever, they traded it for the worship of idols—things made to look like humans, who get sick and die, or like birds, animals, and snakes.
People wanted only to do evil. So God left them and let them go their sinful way. And so they became completely immoral and used their bodies in shameful ways with each other. They traded the truth of God for a lie. They bowed down and worshiped the things God made instead of worshiping the God who made those things. He is the one who should be praised forever. Amen. (Romans 1:18-25 ERV)
What is your morality based upon? How do you determine right from wrong, or discern good from evil? We all need some standard, some foundational basis for determining morality. Popular opinion and the ever-changing currents of culture are not a solid basis for determining morality. And yet, throughout the centuries, opinions and culture have shaped social norms and morality, and not in a beneficial way.
The Roman Empire was enormous and powerful, and yet it dissolved and crumbled. Why? It wasn't overtaken by another empire or one invading army, it crumbled from the inside. Its culture became more and more corrupted by the power it gained, and the moral breakdown and decay among its people.
The recent decision by the US Supreme Court has stirred up more rhetoric among Christian believers and nonbelievers regarding homosexuality. Same sex marriage is the law of the land now, but making something legal doesn't make it moral. The Civil War and the Civil Rights movement should have taught us that. As has been said many times before, morality can't be legislated.
Morality must have a solid foundation to withstand the currents of culture. God—the One, True, and Living God—is the only One who is unchanging in His goodness and rightness. When we ignore Him, we do so to our peril and it will cost us. ©Word-Strong_2015