Where Can You Find Morality?

WE LIVE in a world where ethics are changing. Dishonest practices that were condemned in the past are often winked at today. Thieves and swindlers are frequently glorified and romanticized in the media. In turn, many people fit the description found in the Bible: “Whenever you saw a thief, you were even pleased with him.”​—Psalm 50:18.

Yet, swindlers are hardly to be admired. One author observed: “What [sets] con artists apart is the natural ability, often discovered at a very  young age, to manipulate the people around them. Added to this is the fact that such manipulation leaves them without any feeling of guilt or remorse. On the contrary, it leaves them with an intense feeling of satisfaction​—a particular glow that encourages them to continue manipulating to get whatever they want, regardless of the cost to the giver.”

Of course, the public feels sympathy for the widow who is defrauded of her life’s savings, but few tears are shed when someone embezzles money from a big business or defrauds an insurance company. Many reason that businesses are rich anyway. But such fraud is not merely the problem of the businesses themselves; they pass their losses on to the consumer. In the United States, for example, the average family pays over $1,000 a year in additional insurance premiums to cover the cost of fraud.

Also, many people take advantage of opportunities to buy low-priced counterfeit imitations of brand-name products, such as clothing, watches, perfume, cosmetics, and handbags. They may realize that the counterfeit goods cost businesses hundreds of billions of dollars each year, but they think that it does not affect them. Ultimately, however, consumers must pay more for legitimate goods and services. In addition, buying fake goods puts money in the pockets of criminals.

An author who is in the business of combating fraud wrote: “I’m convinced that the main reason we have so much fraud today is because we live in an extremely unethical society. There’s been a sharp slippage in ethics that has inspired a culture of fraud. . . . We live in a society that doesn’t teach ethics at home. We live in a society that doesn’t teach ethics in school, because teachers would be accused of teaching morality.”

In contrast, Jehovah’s Witnesses do teach and endeavor to live by the moral standards of God’s Word. They are guided by principles such as the following:

● “You must love your neighbor as yourself.”​—Matthew 22:39.

● “Do not defraud.”​—Mark 10:19.

● “Let the stealer steal no more, but rather let him do hard work, doing with his hands what is good work, that he may have something to distribute to someone in need.”​—Ephesians 4:28.

● “We wish to conduct ourselves honestly in all things.”​—Hebrews 13:18.

Though the Witnesses are not smug or self-righteous, they believe that if everyone applied these principles, the world would be a much better place in which to live. They also believe in God’s promise that one day it will be.​—2 Peter 3:13.

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If everyone lived by the moral standards of God’s Word, the world would be a much better place in which to live

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True Christians follow Bible principles, such as “You must love your neighbor as yourself”