America has been experiencing a crisis for some time now in the area of its immigration policies and practices. In this Perspective, I want to add a biblical perspective to the discussion.
On 8 July 2011, the US space shuttle program came to an end. The shuttle Atlantis was the last operational shuttle to be launched into space; its mission was to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). The space shuttle program lasted for 30 years and involved 135 launches and two tragic disasters.
Nearly two weeks ago, my wife and I were watching ABC evening news and an ABC investigative reporter was summarizing a piece on Michele Bachmann?s husband, who runs a Christian counseling center in Minnesota. One of the goals of his center is to help counsel homosexuals who desire to change their lifestyle. The report was cynical and filled with innuendo and criticism from other professional counselors.
One of America?s premier corporations, Boeing, has built a second production plant in South Carolina (its other one is in Washington State) for its 787 Dreamliner airplane, creating over 1,000 jobs so far. But the National Labor Relations Board, created in 1935 by the Wagner Act, has taken exception to Boeing?s decision.
Sexual scandals seem to abound right now in our culture: politicians, media leaders and former presidents, as well as the normal sexual perversion emanating from Hollywood. Are our expectations about fidelity in marriage too high and, in fact, unrealistic? Will this same expectation of basic fidelity in marriage now be extended to same-sex marriages?
Mara Hvistendahl has written a powerful and provocative book entitled Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls and the Consequences of a World Full of Men. She demonstrates that in China, India and other nations, there are many more men than women, the result of systematic campaigns against baby girls. In nature, 105 boys are born for every 100 girls. Jonathan Last writes ?this ratio is biologically ironclad. Between 104 and 106 is the normal range, and that?s as far as the natural window goes. Any other number is the result of unnatural events.? However, in India today there are 112 boys for every 100 girls born. In China the number is 121, with some towns in China over 150! Why this incredibly skewed ratio? One reason?abortion.
The debate within our culture about origins continues, and the legacy of Charles Darwin in this debate is immense and profound. We tend to forget that Darwin?s ideas were truly revolutionary and their impact continues throughout western civilization. Better than any other example, Darwin?s hypothesis about natural selection proves the point that ideas do indeed have consequences.
Recently, I received in my office at Grace University a single sheet entitled ?The Heartland Proclamation? by the Heartland Clergy for Inclusion. In part, this sheet read, ?As Christian clergy we proclaim the Good News concerning Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) persons and publicly apologize where we have been silent.
I believe strongly that God desires we keep our focus on the Middle East. No matter what your position on eschatology, the end of history will occur in this region. The campaign of Armageddon will be in the Jezreel Valley of Israel and that campaign will involve all major world powers. So, it matters to us what is occurring in this region. In this Perspective, I want to review recent developments in the region.
In the United States, there is a growing fascination with the belief in reincarnation. In fact, adherence to this belief is a part of psychiatric therapy?something called ?hypnotic regression? or ?past-lives therapy.? One very famous physiatrist, Dr. Paul DeBell, believes that he was a caveman in a past life and that his eternal soul also inhabited the body of a Tibetan monk and a conscientious German who refused to betray his Jewish neighbors in the Holocaust.
