As a result of the 18th century Enlightenment, Western Civilization began an intellectual journey to develop, in the words of philosopher David Hume, a ?science of man.? The Enlightenment leaders sought for the social sciences a level of certainty achieved by Sir Isaac Newton during the previous century for the hard sciences. Hence, the modern social sciences of psychology, sociology, anthropology, etc. were born. Have we achieved a ?science of man?? Have we achieved as a civilization an ability to attain a level of certainty about human behavior? The US government often operates on the basis of social science in its public policy programs. This applies to how the government funds prison reform policies, criminal behavior policies, economic policies, federal housing policies, etc. Has this connection between social science and public policy in western civilization been successful?

Gregory Berns, professor of neuroeconomics at Emory University, argues that ?dogs are people, too.? He bases this rather stunning conclusion on brain scans of dogs he and his colleagues at Emory have conducted. . . How should we think about Berns, his work and his conclusions? Should dogs be granted personhood? Should they have rights equivalent to humans? Is there a Creation-Order difference between dogs and humans? What is the fundamental difference between a dog and a human being?

Paul shares God’s instructions on marriage & divorce as it relates to the married, unmarried & widowed.

Over the years, one of the major themes of Issues in Perspective has been that God created the human race in two grand streams?male and female?and that each stream is totally different. Any attempt at a unisex movement or any attempts to make boys behave like girls or girls like boys are doomed to failure. God?s design for the human race is clear; we ignore this design to our peril as a civilization.

Paul explains a Biblical, God-centered perspective of the body, and how we are to view sexual intimacy of marriage.

With all the other crises currently on the world?s front burner, we have heard little about climate change of late. But there is an important amount of confusion about this issue right now. What is the source of this confusion? Is there or is there no evidence of climate change, especially global warming? What about some of the solutions being proposed to deal with the perceived causes of global warming? A few thoughts about this provocative topic:

Paul explains a deeper meaning of freedom in Christ to the Corinthians, and that it matters how we live and what we do with our bodies.

Last week, the concept of “American exceptionalism” got attention through an exchange between Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin. Both employed the term to define something about American society. What was most particularly disturbing was Vladimir Putin?s statement in an op-ed essay in the New York Times: ?And I would rather disagree with a case made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States? policy is ?what makes America different. It?s what makes us exceptional.? It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask the Lord?s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.?. . . Two important observations about Putin?s essay and Obama?s response:

In this passage, Paul gives us the reasons why Christians should not sue one another in civil law courts.

President Obama?s actions on Syria have been puzzling and difficult to assess. He declared that he would hold Syria accountable for crossing the now famous ?red line? he drew a year ago. Under his orders, the military moved all the necessary equipment?planes and ships?into place, ready to strike Syria. Major Arab nations, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, especially, supported his efforts. Secretary of State John Kerry issued several qualifiers about the nature of the US strike, even stating it would be ?unbelievably small.? The US then continued to issue a series of forewarnings that enabled Syria to move its WMD stockpiles to more secure areas.