Setting Personal Boundaries in a Post-Modern World

                                                            By Tony Smart

7-24-2007

 Under the philosophy of modernism it was suggested that mankind’s society was progressing and technological advances were making our lives much better, to the point that belief in God would be “obsolete,” some thought. Now that we are supposedly living in the post-modern age in a culture that prizes “diversity” and technology we have an increasing crime rate, two million people incarcerated, an alarming number of pedophiles, rampant illicit drug use, abortion on demand, widespread corruption, legalized gambling, and teens being raised without any moral standards. The once clear lines between right and wrong have been greatly obscured if not erased altogether.

 

There is a verse in the Bible that reads:

 

Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.

Proverbs 22:28 

 

Landmarks are boundary markers. They are legal limits established to protect a person’s property. Everyone was expected to honor their neighbor’s landmark. This was so important that the exact location of the landmark was passed on from father to sons, from one generation to the next. The desire to move the division line of a person’s property so as to enlarge one’s field was, and continues to be a huge temptation for some.  The penalty for removing a post or stone which was set up as a landmark was a curse from God.  The penalty reflected the seriousness of the dual sin of dishonesty and disrespect.

 

Friends, there are certain boundary markers that each person must safeguard and pass down from one generation to the next. These include:

      1-     Reverence for God.

2-     The tenets of the Christian faith.

3-     Respect for one’s neighbor.

4-     Personal moral standards.

5-     The value, dignity, and purpose of all human life.

6-     The sanctity of marriage.

7-     The spiritual and physical defense of the home.

 These are some landmarks that we should never allow anyone to move. They mark the boundaries between success and failure, a life filled with purpose or one that is filled with vanity and engenders misery. Do you have clearly defined landmarks?