I just finished reading a book by media theorist Douglas Rushkoff entitled Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now. It is a penetrating and thought-provoking book. [The title is an obvious play on the Alvin Toffler?s 1970 classic book, Future Shock.] To me, it captures quite brilliantly the unsettledness and disorientation that many feel as we begin the 21st century. It offers an analysis of our culture unlike any other I have read recently. Yet, with his analysis, Rushkoff offers few solutions and little comfort. So, in this Perspective, I seek to summarize the principal arguments of the book and add a biblical response to each major point, for I believe that God offers a cure to the ?disease? called ?Present Shock.?

Many remember this tragic 2010 story: In Gainesville, Florida, Pastor Terry Jones threatened to burn copies of the Qur?an on 11 September 2010 (he called it ?International Burn a Koran Day?). He said that his purpose was to ?bring awareness to the dangers of Islam and that the Koran is leading people to hell. Eternal fire is the only destination the Koran can lead people to so we want to put the Koran in its place?the fire!? Although I believe that Jesus is the only way to eternal life (John 14:6; Acts 4:12), I question whether Pastor Jones was laying out an effective strategy to give witness to the truth about Jesus. I find nothing in the Bible that would view this as an effective kind of witness. Let me suggest two thoughts:

One of the key themes of Issues in Perspective is the articulation and defense of the Christian worldview. That worldview is discerned from a study of the Bible and the application of that worldview to life. Two recent studies validate that worldview.

Over the last decade or so, several books and articles have posited a rather optimistic set of projections about the Millennials?the generation born between 1982 and 1999. The typical thesis is that the Millennials are helpful, civically oriented young adults who desire to save the world. This view has recently been challenged, arguing instead that the Millennials evidence an entitlement mentality, are self-centered, and uninterested in anything other than their own virtual world of Facebook, Twitter and their I-Phone. Which is it? Are they the ?Me-Generation or the We Generation,? to quote Jean Twenge author of the book, Generation-Me?

Whatever your view of the role biblical Christianity played in the founding of America, intellectual honesty demands that one recognize that religion, religious values and specifically Christianity have all played a defining role in the development of American civilization. . . Whether one agrees with all of these various American developments or not, biblical Christianity was central in explaining each one of them. But there is growing evidence that that central role of biblical Christianity no longer exists in America. Is America becoming increasingly secular, with little or no religious influence in ethical, social, economic or political decision-making?

Over two years ago, Syria was a relatively stable nation and Damascus, its capital (the world?s oldest continually inhabited city), was a stable city with a mixture of Christians and Muslims who lived reasonably well together. Since 1973, Syria and Israel had agreed to tolerate one another and the result was a stable border along the Golan Heights. Much of this stability was due to the brutal rule of the Assad family, an Alawite clan family that has ruled Syria since 1970. . . But that Syria no longer exists.

Twenty-five years ago, same-sex marriage was a ?thought experiment? in our culture. It was an idea promoted primarily by those on the left and other cultural radicals who saw few boundaries to personal freedom and behavior. But as the gay and lesbian movement re-framed human sexuality as a matter of personal freedom and liberty, not ethics, legitimizing same-sex marriage was not far behind. It was only 17 years ago that Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) decisively. Only a year ago, President Obama still opposed same-sex marriage. But, today, all the national momentum is behind same-sex marriage. It is now legal in nine states and the District of Columbia. . . .In effect, the definition of marriage is now on the line and legitimizing same-sex marriage seems imminent. How should we think about this momentous set of developments?

Almost exactly fifty years ago, Betty Friedan published her bombshell, The Feminine Mystique, which argued, among other things, that traditional gender roles had compartmentalized women as homemakers?both their and culture?s detriment. Arguably, Friedan?s book was the manifesto of the feminist revolution. Laws and cultural norms changed as equal treatment of and more professional opportunities for women increased. Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer of Facebook, has just published Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead. . . Permit me a few thoughts on this important book, for it says much about where our culture is and how our culture continues to process basic gender differences.

Over the last few years, we have been bombarded with apocalyptic phrases such as ?fiscal cliff,? ?sequestration,? ?entitlement cliff,? and the persistent debt ceiling crisis. All of these are real issues and reflect the unwillingness of our governmental leaders to address the serious financial condition of America. But a recent article in the Wall Street Journal by Jonathan V. Last summarizes an even deeper crisis, one that captures one of the real causes of our nation?s financial crisis: A serious demographic cliff?the declining fertility rate in the United States. [The fertility rate is the number of children an average woman bears over the course of her life.] The fertility replacement rate is 2.1. Therefore, if the average woman has more children than that, the population grows; fewer children and it contracts.

There is a resistance in some parts of our culture to the idea of American exceptionalism: The conviction that America has developed differently than say Western Europe. Our political and our economic system is different than Europe?and intentionally so. Because America rejected the idea of a state church, the prolific religious pluralism of America has also influenced how it has developed as a civilization. America is different from Western Europe and much of this difference results from choices we have made as a civilization.