The Total Collapse of Society as it Moves Further From God
In Christian apologetics, we have a term that we use to describe how we ground our knowledge and reasoning in objective truth. That term is epistemology. Simply stated, epistemology is the study of how beliefs are justified. I don't intend to take a deep nosedive into philosophy here, suffice it to say that as Christians, we ground our beliefs in the revelation of an all-knowing, all-sufficient, infinite God.
When God created Adam and Eve, he did not leave them to figure out the world for themselves. At least, not completely. He gave them instructions and commanded them to obey. But He didn't just give them instructions, God also gave them the ability to understand and interpret His instructions and the language by which they communicated. Upon creation, Adam and Eve's knowledge rested solely in the revelation of God.
It wasn't until Adam and Eve rejected the knowledge and instruction of God—the revelation of God—that the fall happened and creation began to descend into chaos. To question, "did God really say?" began the spiral into fallacious reasoning, subjective self-centered idealism, and irrational thinking, otherwise described by Scripture as "rebellion."
Paul demonstrates this fast decline of the world, apart from God, that rejects God's clear revelation in Romans 1:21-22, stating "For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools..."
Throughout the Old Testament, we see descriptions of various revivals taking place where God chooses people to deliver out of chaos and back into order—but these people can only remain ordered so long as God's hand restrains the rebellious among them. We've seen it mostly through God's chosen nation of Israel, and repeatedly throughout the book of Judges, whereby God delivers a chaotic people and draws them back to Him. But we also see God move on Gentiles the way he did with Ninevah when he sent the prophet Jonah to call them to repentance.