Why would civilized people suddenly resort to the sort of violent anarchy that swept across England last summer? This question had sociologists scratching their heads. Some blamed poverty, while others pointed to “injustice.” However, these vague explanations miss the underlying issues. Namely, sinners who lack God’s grace and the solid moorings of God’s Word stand on the edge of a moral abyss, as Paul aptly describes in Romans 1.

The biblical history of Israel reveals—over and over again—the violent unrest that can spring up, even in a country with a God-focused heritage. England once gave lip service to the authority of God’s Word. But it gave up any pretense of believing the Bible after geologists like Charles Lyell and biologists like Charles Darwin attacked the historicity of Genesis and the church acquiesced.

The Bible’s absolute standards of personal responsibility and conduct, built upon the rock-solid certainty of an inerrant Bible, is the only solid foundation for any civil society.