Behaviour Condemned (Press, 20 September 1982)

At a recent two-day convention of Jehovah's Witnesses, held on 19 and 20 September 1982, attendees were informed about the declining moral standards in society. Mr W. P. Harp, the district overseer for New Zealand, addressed delegates from the Kaiapoi, West Christchurch, and South-East Christchurch congregations. He expressed concern that the public was being conditioned to accept increasingly degraded moral behaviour. Mr Harp noted that societal acceptance of behaviours such as trial marriages and premarital sex, which would have shocked most Christians two decades ago, was now commonplace. He highlighted the rising prevalence of adultery, de facto relationships, and even homosexual marriages in contemporary society. To illustrate the change in moral standards, Mr Harp presented statistics from 1980, stating that there were 22,981 registered marriages, but 6,493 divorces occurred, a rate that was double that of ten years prior. Additionally, he pointed out that 22 per cent of all births were considered illegitimate, underscoring the significant societal shifts in attitudes towards marriage and family structures.

The text on this page is created, in the most part, using Generative AI and so may contain errors or omissions. It is supplied to you without guarantee or warranty of correctness. If you find an error or would like to make a content suggestion please get in contact

The text on this page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 New Zealand