Count the Spoons

Chuck Colson writes: "In our zeal to accommodate our so-called enlightened and tolerant age, we have lost the ideal of public virtue.  I am reminded of Samuel Johnson, who, upon learning that one of his dinner guests believed morality was merely a sham, said to his butler, 'Well, if he really believes that there is not distinction between virtue and vice, let us count the spoons before he leaves.'

"Today there aren't any spoons left to count. Look at Washington, Wall Street, academia, sports, the ministry--all the spoons are gone because we can no longer distinguish between virtue and vice.

"Recovering that ability depends on asking the right questions.  Our brightest and best leaders are concerned with the question, 'How shall we be governed?'  But in the Book of Ezekiel the Jews asked: 'How shall we live?'  It doesn't matter who governs if society has no spiritual element to guide it. Unless we learn how to live [with integrity], we are doomed."

   [Imprimis, Apr 1993.  Page 3.]