The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century reform movement within the church. The Reformers believed that the Bible taught that salvation was based on faith, not good works, and that the Bible was the ultimate authority, not the Pope. In 1517, a German monk named Martin Luther wrote a list of arguments called the Ninety-five Theses and nailed them to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany. Luther argued that people cannot buy God’s forgiveness; He believed God’s grace was a free gift appropriated by personal faith in Christ and His finished work on the cross. Thanks to the invention of the printing press, Luther’s ideas quickly spread across Europe, as did other Reformers such as John Calvin, Menno Simons (an Anabaptist) and Thomas Cranmer in England.

Within Western Civilization a disturbing trend is raising its ugly head: The Economist calls it “Gen-Z Socialism”—”A fresh crop of socialists want to remake the economy with price controls, hefty wealth taxes and a spree of nationalizations. Supercharged by fury over Gaza, they are winning voters at a formidable pace. Many rose to prominence only recently, like Zack Polanski, who leads the Green Party in Britain, or Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York. Others are long-standing political fixtures: the septuagenarian Jean-Luc Mélenchon is on his fourth swing at the French presidency . . . Forget weighty collectivist ideals or seizing the means of production. Gen-Z socialism is a me-first doctrine. Climate change and race, preoccupations of the 2010s and early 2020s, are now much more peripheral concerns. So are social issues, barring Gaza. Angst about inflation, housing and artificial intelligence have replaced all that with something cruder.

Ethically speaking, does the end always justify the means? Does a seemingly good end (having healthy babies free of all genetic disorders) justify the means (in vitro fertilization, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, etc.)? Reproductive and Genetic Technologies have empowered humans to a degree unimaginable only a few years ago. These technologies are also empowering parents to decide what kinds of children they want. Therefore, these technologies raise profound ethical questions, including ethical questions about the human embryo.

This weekend we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It is indeed the founding document of our nation. This anniversary reminds us of the importance of history and a proper understanding of that history. How Americans view their history is important, for that narrative is what is taught in our schools and informs how we view current issues in their historical perspective. Until fairly recently, there was a consensus among most Americans about that narrative. No longer. There are at least two competing narratives that dominate America’s educational curriculums and the various media outlets (e.g., cable television, the social media, and political commentary)

Joshua Chatraw of the Keller Center has made a series of observations about the relationship between entertainment and the growing culture of despair quite visible now within American civilization. He gives focus to three stages

Ben Sasse, who is dying of pancreatic cancer, recently wrote an essay for the Wall Street Journal on AI and character development. He concluded with this reflection: “Character, whether of an individual or of a nation, is molded by habits and by time. This republic requires men and women to do long-form deliberation, serious thinking, honest humility and daily striving. What good is it to gain the whole world if we forfeit the souls that we’re supposed to form? We can’t expect to remain free without being virtuous, we can’t be bold without being rooted, we can’t be great without aiming first to be good. To stave off [Aldous] Huxley’s dystopia [in Brave New World], we must deliberately shape our children’s souls so that they can be creators, doers and thinkers embracing the next frontier.”

Sports gambling involves wagering on sports outcomes, transformed by the 2018 Supreme Court ruling into a legal, universally accessible, and rapidly growing industry in over 35 US states. Popular platforms like DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM offer extensive mobile betting on leagues like the NBA, NFL, and soccer. However, this boom has sparked concerns regarding high-risk bets, such as parlays, and rising financial issues like credit delinquency among bettors. The danger of sports gambling especially concerns young men.

Mark 12:30-31 declares that we are to love God with our heart, soul, mind and strength. The challenge for the believer is what theologians call the noetic effect of sin: 2 Corinthians 4:4 affirms the depths of sin’s effect on our minds. For that reason, one of the weighty commands of the New Testament is to “renew our minds” (e.g., Romans 12:1-2; Ephesians 4:23). Colossians 3:2 commands: “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” In 2 Corinthians 10:5 Paul speaks of taking “every thought captive to obey Christ.”

One of my hobbies is astronomy. When I retired from higher education in 2012, my wife bought me a telescope. Studying the stars and the planets is breathtaking. But beyond my amateurish investigations, I love to view the amazing photos provided by NASA from the Hubble Telescope and now the James Webb Space Telescope. The beauty, scale and sharpness of these photos are magnificent. And when I realize that these stars, galaxies and nebula are millions of light years away, I am drawn to King David’s affirmation, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the sky above proclaims His handiwork” (Psalm 19:1, ESV).

Marriage was the first institution God created (Genesis 2:24-25). Given how important marriage is to God, what is the state of this institution in the early decades of the 21st century?