First Jacksonians.
“Know you not that the unrighteous [unjust] shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor abusers of themselves [liers] with mankind, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers [railers], nor extortioners shall possess the kingdom of God. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doth is without [outside] the body; but he that committeth fornication, sinneth against his own body.” 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10, 18
In the quotation from Saint Paul’s Epistle, except for words such as “unrighteous” for “unjust” and others bracketed above, the King James Version (Protestant) and the Rheims (Catholic) Biblical translations of the New Testament are identical. Some “modern” translations of the Bible have substituted the words “immoral behavior” in place of fornication, leaving readers to guess lest their consciences be shocked.
Every reference, bookshelf and electronic, defines fornication as any form of sexual intercourse outside the bounds of marriage. According to research reported by the Pew Trust from its survey in 2014, Mississippi has the highest “religiosity” (is the most religious) state in the Union. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the year 2022, Mississippi is the state with the highest rate of births to unmarried mothers. Jackson’s unwed birth rate is higher than the state’s average. One can only conclude that Mississippi’s ministers are not preaching from 1 Corinthians 6. Throw in the tragic divorce rate for marriages with young children and, paraphrasing another biblical expression, it looks like we’re in a hell of a mess.
As if man has legitimate authority or ability to make his own moral rules, we hear the “consenting adults” excuse for this unnormal behavior pervading the population. It is but a tired cliché. In the capital, all this freely consenting behavior is killing the city’s moral fiber. Self-indulgent attitudes are reflected in act, dress, and talk. Rudeness and confrontation are not uncommon on the sidewalks and roadways in and around the city. There is violence in the schools and crime in the neighborhoods. Shopping centers and once-prosperous malls are closing or already closed. Citizens who can afford to are moving away. Those who cannot are fighting what seems to be a losing battle. But all’s not lost if in the homes and schools and from the pulpits the true word gets told and repeated and enforced.
A society’s authority, security, and stability require a legitimate standard, a moral order. The family is the basic community that is the foundation for the larger community in that society. Religion, truthfully encouraged and taught, sets and guides the moral standard that recognizes the irreplaceable value of family life to the community and society overall.
Obviously, therefore, the starting point for accomplishing this goal for the city’s (and state’s) stability is strong encouragement of traditional families. Author G.K. Chesterton wrote in The Everlasting Man that the original foundation of the world “before all thrones and even all commonwealths [was and] is the family.” Claiming it to be “the unit of the state [and] the cell that makes up the formation,” he called family “the triangle repeated everywhere.” Father, mother, child[ren].
While out-of-wedlock births do happen, they should not be affirmed, much less encouraged. Rather, in government, media, schools, and churches they should be strongly discouraged. Also related, current child support laws are not working. The system itself is not working. Ask the state Health Officer, the state Commissioner of Child Protective Services, any sheriff, police chief, social worker, chancery court, criminal court, or youth court judge whether they believe it’s working. A morally sound legislature should enact stricter laws, to be rigorously enforced, that hold fathers accountable and both parties inexcusably responsible for their children’s welfare.
Legal obligations are of little value without moral imperatives behind them. Moral law is the proven standard to achieve the order necessary to rectify the problem. Our city will thrive when it is accepted that the secular means for maintaining stability and order have failed and that a standard older than government itself is the only basis for a happy society. Motivational speaker Matthew Kelly has written that “our lives change when our habits change.” His counsel applies individually and communally.
The city is collapsing morally and socially. As one controversial mayoral candidate said, “Something’s got to be did!” The positive “change” in circumstances promised by every politician can only come through a real change in behaviors. Real change begins with a return to the real law. For Jacksonians, in my opinion, beginning with the admonition of First Corinthians Chapter 6 is appropriate.
Chip Williams is a Northsider.
