Whatever Happened to Shame?

Whatever happened to shame? There was a time when immoral conduct brought shame. It brought shame on the family and on the individual. People were ashamed for certain things to be reported, or be known, because of the harm that it did to their reputation. There was a time when public officials caught in scandal would resign and just disappear from public life, because they were so ashamed of what had come out.

A recent article in Newsweek magazine focused on Judge Walter Williams—a slender, soft-spoken man, a judge at a municipal court in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The article refers to him as a "justice with an iron fist." The article describes that when he puts on his black robes to preside, something happens to this soft-spoken, unassuming man. He suddenly turns into a figure as if out of the Old Testament—a fierce jurist whose voice booms as he exhorts wrongdoers to straighten themselves out.

Obviously, shame cannot be legislated. As UCLA Public Policy Professor, James Q. Williams said, "it must arise from the moral sense that exists in all human beings."

What has happened to that moral sense in our society? The prophet Jeremiah indicts many of the religious leaders who had failed to do their part in honing and developing that moral sense. Speaking of these religious leaders, Jeremiah wrote: "From the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest, everyone deals falsely. They have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, saying, 'Peace, peace!'" Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; neither could they blush. Therefore they shall fall among them that fall" (Jeremiah 6:13-15). Later on in Jeremiah, the prophet makes the same general point, writing "that they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly," not saying that they have no good at all, but they have only done a slight, saying, 'Peace, peace!' when there was no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore shall they fall among them that fall; in the time of their visitation, they shall be cast down" (Jeremiah 8:11-12).

The religious leaders of our nations have not pointed out the Law of God. They have sought to make people feel good about themselves, when in many cases what people were doing should have caused them to feel very bad. They have diminished the whole concept of shame—of that sense of shame that leads to repentance.

Whatever happened to shame? Because the Law of God and the Word of God have been watered down, it has virtually disappeared from our society!

This is John Ogwyn, with commentary for the Living Church of God.