Few would disagree that American civilization is at a point of confusion, chaos and dysfunction. We are a polarized nation where it is virtually impossible to have reasoned discussions, healthy debates or exercise civility. The family as the center of our civilization is clearly in crisis. Our national government is thoroughly dysfunctional and is more divided than it has been in generations. The threats to our national security are real and there is no consensus on how to handle these real threats. Even the broad American evangelical church?s view of God is what Christian sociologist Christian Smith calls Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. . . How did we get into this mess?

On the night of 1 October 2017, a gunman opened fire on a large crowd of concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest music festival on the Las Vegas Strip, leaving 58 people dead and over 500 injured. Between 10:05 and 10:15 p.m., 64-year-old Stephen Paddock of Mesquite, Nevada, fired hundreds of rifle rounds from his suite on the 32nd floor of the nearby Mandalay Bay hotel. About an hour after Paddock fired his last shot, he was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Why he did this is unclear.

Over 3,000 years ago, King Solomon wrote poignantly about his life and about the purpose and meaning of life in general ?under the sun.? His observations could be an appropriate epitaph for Hugh Hefner, the founder of the Playboy empire:

Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia founded in the 1980s, has been an ongoing nemesis for Israel on its northern border. It has fought brief conflicts with Israel (most recently in 2006) and has amassed an arsenal of rockets all aimed at Israeli cities and settlements. But over the last five years, Hezbollah has expanded its operations and is no longer merely a Lebanese militia; it has become a regional power of import in the Middle East. Perhaps more importantly, it has become one of the key instruments of Iran in building a powerful Shiite corridor from Iran to the Mediterranean.

It is time in American civilization to recognize the self-destructive nature of both public policy and private behavior when it comes to the institution of marriage, the first institution God created (see Genesis 2:18-25). It is without question an institution in trouble. In this Perspective, I hope to address the institution itself in terms of history and then suggest a biblical theology of marriage.

I have been involved with the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW) since I took a few post-doctoral classes at what was then Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. One of those classes was taught by Dr. Wayne Grudem, one of America?s foremost theologians and New Testament scholars. He is a founder and leader of CBMW. . . (which) has just released The Nashville Statement, a statement on ?biblical sexuality.? Denny Burk, president of CBMW, declared that ?the aim of The Nashville Statement is to shine a light into the darkness?to declare the goodness of God?s design in our sexuality and in creating us as male and female.?

When I was in graduate school, the reigning view of the future was the domination of Japan economically and financially ?in Asia and in the West. There was the fear of Japan buying more and more American real estate, of overwhelming American automobile makers and American electronics firms. Rarely do you hear of those projections anymore. Rather, it is China as the future economic, financial and military power of Asia?and of the world. China is positioning itself as the next superpower. In the words of Judith Shapiro, ?the Chinese era is upon us.?

I recently read Rod Dreher?s somewhat challenging and provocative book, The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation. From my vantage point, Dreher?s analysis of North American culture and specifically the evangelical church is spot on. He writes: ?The most pressing problem Christianity faces is not in politics. It?s in parishes. It?s with the pastors. Most of all, it?s among an increasingly faithless people.? The truth is Christianity is declining in the United States. He makes the following observations, supported by statistical data and other pieces of evidence:

In early August, James Damore, a software engineer at the Silicon Valley giant Google, was fired by Google chief executive, Sundar Pichai, for violating Google?s code of conduct, specifically his perpetuation of ?harmful gender stereotypes? in the workplace. Although 80% of Google?s tech employees are male, Google prides itself in its commitment to diversity, inclusion and openness, yet demands ideological conformity within its company. The irony of the Damore case is therefore striking.

We are living in a complicated, rather frightening age. Columnist David Brooks calls it ?an age of anxiety.? Changing demographic and technological disruption have produced a society where ?people live with bewildering freedom, without institutions to trust, unattached to compelling religions and sources of meaning, uncertain about their own lives.? For many this anxiety is producing a fear of the future and many will do anything to escape this fear, which is generating an ?age of fanaticism.? This combination of anxiety and fanaticism is occurring at a time when the United States seems hopelessly divided.