The age of amateur sports at many American colleges and universities is apparently over. Year 2024 is the last year where the College Football Playoffs will be played by amateur athletes. Next year they will all be pros. It is pretty clear that the NCAA has embraced some form of “pay for play” that enables schools to pay players for their athletic skills.
Job’s three friends contend that they have God all figured out and can therefore judge Job, which he emphatically rejects.
When Hamas militants led a deadly cross-border raid into Israel on 7 October 2023, Hamas leaders were convinced that this event would trigger a wider Middle East war that would result in the end of Israel. The exact opposite has occurred. The Hamas terrorist attack triggered a war with Israel that has devastated Gaza, and it set off additional shock waves that have reshaped the Middle East: Powerful alliances were upended. Long-established “red lines” were crossed. A decades-old dictatorship at the heart of the region was swept away. The Middle East has been radically transformed.
Job goes from the downward spiral of despair to the heights of an affirmation of the resurrection.
President Trump had made immigration a major aspect of his presidential campaign and now a policy goal of his presidency. Few would disagree with his commitment to end illegal immigration. Few would doubt that dealing with illegal immigrants already in the country must be addressed. But, solving these challenges must be balanced with the reality of a serious worker shortage in the US. In this Perspective, I hope to review the issue of the worker shortage facing the US along with the volatile issue of immigration.
Bildad’s accusations are followed by Job’s seeking to present his case directly to God.
More recent cultural shifts around gender identification and the push for transgender rights represent a profound change in society that has led to battles over medical procedures for minors and public school policy. For example, former President Biden proclaimed that Easter Sunday 2024 was also the 2024 Transgender Day of Visibility. He declared to the transgender community: “You are America, and my entire Administration and I have your back.” That this “Day” also occurred on Easter Sunday provoked outrage and anger—understandably. Arguably quite political in nature, Biden’s proclamation backfired and further eroded the legitimacy of the transgender revolution.
Zophar focuses on God’s omniscience to accuse Job, who responds with a perspective on God that rejects the singular focus of his friends.
In 1958, political theorist, Isaiah Berlin, delivered a lecture entitled “Two Concepts of Liberty,” which established two strands of thought on the concept of freedom.
Jordan Peterson is a cultural phenomenon. He has been called both “the world’s most famous public intellectual” and “the stupid man’s smart person.” His most famous book is 12 Rules for Life, which is an unusual mix of existential philosophy and common sense pronouncements. The Economist reports that an entire Peterson industry has flourished around him: There is a Jordan Peterson newsletter (“Mondays of Meaning”), a “Peterson Academy ($500 a year gets you lectures on a variety of “manly” topics) and a “self-authorizing program.”
