Cause Without Affect? Action Without Consequence? Sin Without Punishment?

I'm far from the first person to have noticed that our society today is growing quicker and quicker not to hold people accountable for their actions. Personal decisions that lead sooner or later to serious problems or dreadful conclusions are being dismissed as not being the person's fault. Somehow we have gotten to a point where you should be able to do whatever you want and to hell with the fallout.

A nice libertarian's dream.

But a persons' actions and choices do have consequence. It is the severity of these consequences that others see and thereby set a real life example to others why they should not follow such actions themselves. In so do, that is how a society self regulates and self polices good behavior and good decisions from bad behavior and decisions.

But what if there was in fact a way to totally undo the consequences of bad decisions and bad behaviors? What if with a single injection or pill the results of whatever rotten thing you did to yourself could be undo with no lasting ill effects – would that make the bad behavior now acceptable?

For example:

If there was a medicine that could 100% cure lung cancer overnight no matter how advanced. Would that make smoking ok?

If there was a medicine that could 100% cure drug addiction overnight with no withdrawal symptoms no matter how messed up you are on drugs, would that make taking crack or heroin ok?

If there was a medicine that cured all STDs, even AIDS and herpes, would that make rampant unrestrained sex with anyone anywhere at anytime ok?

If there was a machine that could mend broken bones perfectly, even the head and back, no matter how badly damaged would that make driving without a seat belt or air bag ok?

In other words, if science could find ways to cure the end effects of our bad behaviors and decisions would that make the behaviors and decisions no longer bad? If you didn't have to pay the price in the end they why not spend like there's no tomorrow?

Just because something can be fixed doesn't mean it is the right thing to do to break it in the first place.

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