“The culture wars are being fought in virtually every sphere of life—government, business, law, politics, commerce, education, the sciences, media, the arts, entertainment, religion, marriage, family, health care, and popular culture to name just a few. Each of these spheres produces seemingly unrelated instances of cultural conflict. Yet, it is in the accumulation of such present-day moments of conflict that we gain an understanding and direction of the cultural drift. The purpose of these posts and the books I have written is to participate in the redemption of culture in all institutions of American life through sharing the truth of the biblical worldview which was at the heart of the nation’s founding and formed the central cultural vision by which it is to be governed.
Over the last 15 years I have written and posted many articles about American culture from the perspective of the biblical worldview. Therefore, I have selected a few of the posts that continue to offer time-tested answers to the questions of life and the turmoil found in modern society that we encounter every day.”
Larry G. Johnson
In Defense of Labels
Max Lucado is a wonderful and inspiring writer. Few writers can match his ability to bring fresh insights, infuse substance, and bring clarity to both the commonplace and complex things of life. One of his recent website posts was titled Simply ‘Church’.” He posed two questions, “…what would happen if all the churches agreed, on a given day, to change their names simply to ‘church’?…if there are no denominations in heaven, why do we have denominations on earth?” His point was that we should not attend a church based on the sign outside, but we should join our hearts to the like-minded hearts of the people on the inside. [Max Lucado] This is a noble sentiment and reflects the Apostle Paul’s admonition to the Romans, […]
Common Core Curriculum Standards – The devil is in the details
The Common Core Curriculum State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) was previously examined in “Education in America – Part III – Common Core State Standards – Educational excellence or secular cultural conformity?” [See Archives – August 9, 2013] This article takes a more in-depth look at the concerns about Common Core and the nationalization of education. Initially, the CCSSI was a state-led effort that established a single set of educational standards for kindergarten through 12th grade in English language arts and mathematics. In that initiative, states were to voluntarily adopt Common Core standards to unify and strengthen educational standards and expectations. However, the seemingly voluntary adoption of standards by the states has evolved through the power of the federal purse strings into mandated standards under various federal […]
Marriage – Part V – The Consequences of the Humanist Worldview of Marriage
Part V examines the consequences of the decline of traditional marriage in American society as a result of the ascending humanist worldview. Much of the material for this series has been excerpted from Ye shall be as gods which succinctly frames the opposing Christian and humanist worldviews with regard to human relationships in general and marriage specifically. [Johnson, Chapter 20, American Family – Marriage and Family.] The family and societal carnage that occurred in America during the twentieth century and thereafter as a result of the domination of the humanist worldview is monumental and recounted in numerous studies and reports. The statistics reflecting the precipitous decline of marriage and the American family are incontrovertible and coincide almost exactly with the emergence of the Boomer generation […]
Marriage – Part IV – The Pathologies of the Humanist Worldview of Marriage
Traditional marriage is in serious jeopardy in twenty-first century America. In Part IV we will examine the assault on the divine concept of marriage and the resulting pathologies of the humanist worldview of marriage and relationships. Much of the material for this series has been excerpted from Ye shall be as gods which succinctly frames the opposing Christian and humanist worldviews with regard to human relationships in general and marriage specifically. [Johnson, Chapter 20, American Family – Marriage and Family.] As a result of the ascending humanistic worldview, the concept of marriage as known and practiced in Western civilization since its inception has been done great damage. In the liberal view, the importance of marriage has been diminished in at least two ways. First, the […]
Marriage – Part III – Contract or Covenant?
In Part III we turn our attention to the nature of marriage under the Christian and humanistic worldviews. Much of the material for this series has been excerpted from Ye shall be as gods which succinctly frames the opposing Christian and humanist worldviews with regard to human relationships in general and marriage specifically. [Johnson, Chapter 20, American Family – Marriage and Family.] Throughout history the marriage ceremony has been a ritualistic and solemn occasion between a man and woman—a highly public profession of commitment to the most private of relationships. The solemnity of the occasion arises from the enormous magnitude and significance of the commitments—to take the marriage partner as wife or husband, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer […]