GlobalView from Bishop Bill Atwood

A few days ago there was a study released in England decrying the trend for English people to abandon traditional British knife and fork etiquette and move (horrors!) to American-style cutlery manipulation. You see, Americans usually hold their fork in their left hand and knife in their right. They cut meat and then put the knife down and shift the fork to the right hand to eat. To use the fork, they use it like a shovel with the fork tines curving up.

English people hold the fork in the left and knife in the right as well, but they do not shift hands with the implements. The “English Way” is to keep the fork in the left hand with the tines curved down. After cutting the meat, it is “stabbed” with the fork (still tines curving down), then the knife is used to mash other food items from the plate onto the back side of the fork. Mashed potatoes, “mushy peas,” carrots, or whatever are added to the back side of the fork. The food is then conveyed to the mouth with the fork tines still curving down.

Now it seems that significant percentages of young people are abandoning the “stab and smash” British school of cutlery for the American style. We will get to why this is happening in a moment, but why on earth is there a difference to begin with?

The answer goes back to Colonial times. The rag-tag colonies were not as developed or as sophisticated as their English predecessors. Most homes or rooming houses did not have a knife for each person as the genteel English homes would have. There was often one knife in the home that everyone shared. The knife would be passed to you to cut your meat. Rather than just cutting one bite, all the meat would be cut up into bite sized pieces. The knife would then be passed on to the next person for them to cut up all their meat. Without two implements to hold, most people revert to their dominant hand to hold the fork, i.e., the right hand. To dine with gusto, the fork is used, tines curving up, to shovel food onto the fork and into the mouth.

As more knives were introduced into American culture, there was the capacity to use both implements, but the practice of using the dominant fhand for the fork continued.

Now days, with American films and television ubiquitously available, and an overall abandoning of any sense of historic norms of etiquette propriety falling by the way side, cutlery convention has descended into near chaos, with “each one doing what is right in their own eyes.”

This “spirit of the Garden of Eden” to decide for ourselves is sadly common in culture. It surfaces in countless ways, some important, some insignificant. Because of sinful human hearts increasing chaos reigns wherever the Dominion of Christ is not in place.

Of the greatest departures from God’s order, revealed in Scripture (and for centuries unchallenged in the church), is the abandoning of marriage being intended as a life-long union between one man and one woman who are bound in a covenant relationship before God.

Those who act with confidence to move in a different direction from the foundational revelations of God do so without appreciation for the unintended consequences that will result. For example, in the United States, the decision to move from valuing life to abortion on demand has resulted not only in more than fifty-five million abortions, but also has bankrupted the Social Security system. Why? Because the Social Security system has too few workers. How many too few? Fifty or Fifty-five million. Imagine that. It was not the intention, but it is a result.

With shifts away from marriage, I expect that there will be many and even more disastrous unintended consequences in a whole range of areas. This one is so fundamental to social order, it may well be a blow that proves fatal to societal order. In other words, we may find ourselves in utter chaos from this move, unless we can turn back from the redefinition of marriage. We have already seen a rise in all manner of problems from unstable families and divorces. Tragically, it can get worse.

Now, the Anglican Communion looks toward January, 2016. The Archbishop of Canterbury has invited Anglican Primates to a gathering to address “innovations concerning  sexuality and marriage,” and many of the innovators have the confidence that they are right and that it is good and proper to change marriage. Most of the Church does not agree. My thinking is that moral chaos has devolved to such an extent that there will either be a significant move back toward Biblical order, or there will be a descent into utter moral chaos. That is a very dark prospect. When that has happened in history things get very, very bad until people come to their senses and cry out to God again for deliverance. It is indescribably painful to go through that, and unnecessary. We are not doing everything right by any means. Lots of things need to be addressed and brought into order, but this issue is more dramatic than almost any we have faced. Foundational principles cannot be changed without bringing the whole house down. Let’s not do that.

The Rt. Rev. Bill Atwood is Bishop of the ACNA International Diocese and an American Anglican Council contributing author.