Global (& Postmodern) Culture
& Changing Values - 2
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topic, go to
Culture
See also
Postmodern Beliefs
|
Modern
versus Postmodern Culture
Human Nature
|
Conforming to the culture
|
Romans 1:22-32
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Spiritual Slide
December 2004
How religious are Europeans
and Americans?
"The United States of America, Western and Eastern Europe are far apart
as far as religion is concerned. While 86 percent of all US-citizens believe
in a Creator God this only applies to 80 percent of the population in Eastern
and 70 percent in Western Europe.... While 40 percent of the religiously
affiliated in Central and Eastern Europe go to church at least once a week
– Poland heads the list with 60 percent – only 25 percent of all West Europeans
worship at least weekly.... An exception to the rule is Italy with almost
40 percent regular worshippers. Most Swedes and Danes on the other hand
seem to shun churches."
Statistics for the Changing
Church
Upsurge in teenage girls' drinking
-- Flavored 'alcopops' called gateway for young consumers:
"The percentage of teenage girls who drink alcoholic beverages is rising
faster than that of boys, and on average the girls take their first drink
at age 13....
"...31
percent of teenage girls said they had drunk an alcopop in the past six
months, compared with 19 percent of boys. The poll found that girls consumed
more of all types of alcoholic beverages than boys."
See
Twist of Faith: Deliver us
from Evil
November
Wal-Mart's China inventory to
hit US$18b this year:
"China is Wal-Mart's most important supplier in the world.... 'If Wal-Mart
were an individual economy, it would rank as China's eighth-biggest trading
partner, ahead of Russia, Australia and Canada,' Xu said.... It has opened
39 stores, including supercenters, 'Sam's Clubs' and neighborhood markets
in 15 cities around China, including Beijing, Harbin and Dalian.... The
firm has a total of 4,900 stores in 10 countries worldwide."
Much of its inventory is made by virtual
slave labor in
its horrendous work camps.
Children becoming too materialistic:
"'American children are deeply enmeshed in the culture of getting and spending,
and they are getting more so,' Schor, a professor at Boston College, writes.
'The more they buy into the commercial and materialist messages, the worse
they feel about themselves, the more depressed they are, and the more they
are beset by anxiety, headaches, stomachaches and boredom.'... One study
found that nearly two-thirds of mothers thought their children were brand-aware
by age three....
"Usually I just ignore
it when my kids nag me for stuff. But there was something in my son's manner
that morning that made me take notice. He was product-possessed and after
I stopped fuming, I got scared....
"In 'Born to Buy,' Schor
outlines the numerous tactics that advertisers are using on our kids, many
of which turn them into disrespectful tykes and teens. For example, there
is an 'antiadult bias' in the commercials. 'It's important to recognize
the nature of the corporate message: kids and products are aligned together
in a really great, fun place, while parents, teachers, and other adults
inhabit an oppressive, drab and joyless world,' Schor says.... Advertisers
and marketers are turning our children into materialistic monsters. And
sadly, we are aiding and abetting the enemy."
Loving the world
and
2 Timothy 3:1-14
October
Consumerism can be harmful at
an early age (registration required):
"Coming soon to your daughter's sleep-over party: viral marketing. It sounds
ominous, and it is. Viral marketing is when a manufacturer gives products
away in the hope of creating a buzz that spreads via the peer group. It
has already infiltrated the adult world, and now it's targeting our children.
The best example may be 'Slumber Party In a Box' offered by Girls Intelligence
Agency, a Los Angeles-based marketing firm. Here's the breezy pitch it makes
to girls at
www.GIAheadquarters.com
...
"When potential clients
visit www.girlgames.com,
the come-on sounds more like a pitched battle....
"For 8- to 13-year-old
girls who are in the vulnerable stage of development where fitting in is
paramount, this is a chance to be cool, to be a trend-setter, to get free
stuff ...Trouble is, many girls don't see that they are being used, that
their friendships are being exploited. By 11 or 12, they may already be
so deeply into the consumer culture that they have absorbed its values:
Stuff can make me happy. The more I have, the better it is. ...
"'The more involved children
are in being consumers, the more (likely they are to be) dissatisfied with
life....' says Boston College sociologist Juliet B. Schor. ... Ultimately,
the best antidote is to create a home life where children see more of your
values reflected than of consumer values."
Matthew 6:33
September
'Safe
sex' has failed to stop STD epidemic:
"The Centers for Disease Control says 65 million Americans are infected
with incurable STDs. By anyone's definition, those cases constitute an epidemic.
They involve nearly one in four adult Americans.... STD rates have increased
by 77 percent since 1986, the first year for which statewide data are posted....
"It
is not because sex is dangerous. The fortunate fact is that two people who
are uninfected will never create an STD between them. STDs come from other
infected people. Promiscuity is the crowbar that pries the lid off the epidemic.
The surest way to promiscuity is a pattern of sex outside marriage. History
has proven that the surest barrier to promiscuity is marriage. ...
"With
the advent of the 'safe sex' intervention, millions of condoms have been
sold and even given away. What has been the result? The STD epidemic has
spiraled upward." See
Are
Campus Pornography Courses Sexual Abuse?
It helps explain why this
is happening.
Believers or Not, Divorce Rates
Virtually the Same: "Researcher Also
Finds Majority of Christians Disagree with Related Bible Teaching.
...when it comes to divorce, there is little difference between born-again
believers and the unsaved....
"'You
can understand why atheists and agnostics might have a high rate of divorce,
since they are less likely to believe in concepts such as sin, absolute
moral truth, and judgment,' [Barna] says. 'Yet the survey found that the
percentage of atheists and agnostics who have been married and divorced
is very similar to the numbers for the born-again population."
See
Statistics for the Changing
Church
Teenagers face health timebomb:
"Under-age sex, binge-drinking, drug abuse, smoking and poor diet are contributing
to epidemics of obesity, ill-health and sexually transmitted diseases among
UK teens."
July
Crusading legislator never lacked
self-esteem: "Of
all his crusades... Vasconcellos will likely be remembered best for his
plan to create a special state body to examine
ways to
improve residents' self-esteem. The
California Task Force to Promote Self Esteem and Personal and Social Responsibility
made national headlines in 1987 when Pulitzer Prize-winning 'Doonesbury'
cartoonist Garry Trudeau made it the butt of his jokes for two straight
weeks.... Since then, Vasconcellos has worked to promote self-esteem nationwide,
pushed for laws that required state officials to integrate self-esteem programs
into their agencies....
"Among the senator's
kindred spirits is Jack Canfield,
author of a series of inspirational books, including 'Chicken
Soup for the Soul,' 'Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul,' and 'Chicken
Soup for the Dog and Cat Lovers Soul.' His books have sold 85 million copies
in 37 languages."
Romans
12:3
June
Our nation ignores existence
of God: "...when
I attended a local graduation ceremony later that day I was deeply touched....
Our creator was not invited in the beginning, the middle, but at the tail
end with 'God bless' from the guest speaker. That's all that would be tolerated.
... Instead he talked about the Wizard of Oz. ...
"Today it's
perfectly correct to look to movies with the word wizard in the title for
direction in life because we don't want to offend someone or get sued. But
it's considered offensive to quote scripture. It's an offense that our God
and Savior has been replaced by a scarecrow, a tin man and cowardly lion
on high school graduation day, and that God wasn't invited into the ceremony
by humbling ourselves in prayer even once. A nation that mocks the sovereign
God by demoting him to a generic god then asking him to bless them is in
serious trouble."
A lone voice in the wilderness
is calling the censorship tune
(Australia): "...The offenders are hip-hop artists: Khia, a female
MC raised in Florida who sings about the joys of oral sex, and Necro, a
half-Romanian, half-Israeli rapper from New York, who talks about dead body
disposal like it is. Neither artist has been banned to minors in their home
country. The change to classifications came after the Federal Government
announced in 2001 that it would overhaul the CD sticker code. The sole reason
it gave was a 'rise in a level of complaints about the exposure of children
to explicit and potentially offensive audio recordings.'"
Can governments effectively
legislate morality? Can hearts be changed apart from God's saving power?
How seductive is today's music industry?
See
Popular Music with
Pagan Roots
May
G.L.S.E.N. to establish homosexual
clubs on all school campuses: "GLSEN, which stands for Gay, Lesbian
and Straight Education Network, is stepping up its efforts to establish
homosexual clubs on all school campuses. Their goals don't stop at clubs
according to their publications, they 'extend to incorporating homosexual
concepts into all curriculum, holding diversity seminars for teachers and
students and ensuring that only positive discussions about homosexuality
are allowed into elementary school classrooms, including kindergarten.'"
Romans 1:22-32
U.S. athletes told to cool it
at Olympics: "American
athletes have been warned not to wave the U.S. flag during their medal celebrations
at this summer's Olympic Games in Athens, for fear of provoking crowd hostility
and harming the country's already-battered public image....
"Regardless
of whether there is anti-American sentiment in Athens or not, the world
watches Americans a lot now in terms of how they behave and our culture.
What I am trying to do with the athletes and coaches is to suggest to them
that they consider how the normal things they do at an event, including
the Olympics, might be viewed as confrontational or insulting or cause embarrassment."
Olympic Myths and Earthy Magic
Fashionable faith:
"Bevis is one of many people
who proudly proclaim their faith through fashion by wearing T-shirts that
boast 'Jesus is my homeboy.' 'I'm really, really Christian, and it really
shows that,' the 13-year-old said. 'I didn't just get it because it was
cool.' Her pink T-shirt - featuring a sketch of Jesus cradling the four-word
phrase in block letters - drew a lot of students' attention at Cobb Middle
School, she said. 'They thought it was cool,' the seventh-grader said of
her classmates. 'They wanted to know where I got it from.'"
Teen queen bees rule at box office (Registration required).
"They are Hollywood's newest nightmare export, mixing
drop-dead good looks with looks that just say 'drop dead.'... And
recent popular films such as 'Mean Girls' -- No. 1 at the box office last
weekend.... seem to suggest that posses of these popular girls are roaming
the hallways of American high schools as never before....
"From such harrowing depictions of girls gone
wild as last year's 'thirteen' to a recent episode of the CBS series 'Without
a trace,' in which a group of girls subject one of their high school classmates
to humiliation so extreme that he attempts to kill himself, girl are translating
their popularity into power...
"I don't know if girls have gotten meaner,' says Hand Steinberg, executive
producer of 'Without a Trace," whose episode 'Wannabe' depicted a group
of high school girls enacting the kind of cruelty against a weaker classmate
that used to be viewed as the exclusive province of boys. But, he adds,
'Since feminism, women have become more empowered.
"In the real world of the schoolyard, cattiness and gossip are wielded like
weapons.... There are no rules, you just have to know what to do and what
not to do,' says Christina, a 13-year-old eight grader.... 'You just have
to see the way other people act, then you act the same way.'"
Deliver
us from evil
Alarming rise in 'uppers' use
by preschoolers:
"...it is difficult to comprehend how children younger than 5 could be prescribed
mind-altering drugs and be taking them on a regular basis, but according
to a recent survey... not only are children from birth to age 5 being given
antidepressants, it is this age group that has shown the largest proportional
increase in the use of antidepressants.... This survey comes on the heels
of the Food and Drug Administration recommending that pharmaceutical companies
'change the labels of 10 drugs to include stronger cautions and warnings'
due to increasing criticism about the potential for violence and suicide
in adolescent and pediatric patients while taking the drugs."
See
Toying
with Death
April
Violence Among Girls Increasing
in U.S.: "Twelve-year-old
Nicole Townes is out of a coma but still struggling to recover after being
pummeled and stomped at a birthday party in a beating that was shocking
not just because of its savagery, but because it was meted out by other
girls. Authorities say it is symptomatic of a disturbing trend around the
country: Girls are turning to violence more often and with terrifying intensity....
Around the country, school police and teachers are seeing a growing tendency
for girls to settle disputes with their fists.... And some believe the violence
is also fueled by the emergence of movies and video games such as 'Tomb
Raider' in which women wreak violence with the gusto of male action heroes....
"Phil
Leaf, director of the Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence.... said
society should not have been caught by surprise by the surge in girl violence.
'...A decade or so ago, we were worried about the lack of male role models
in the home. Today, there is a dearth of effective female role models as
the mothers who used to be there are forced back into the job market....'
Leaf said the situation in Baltimore and other cities reminds him of the
William Golding novel 'Lord of the Flies': 'We're seeing the effects of
children growing up in a world without adults.'"
(4-26)
Toying with Death
and
2 Timothy 3:1-14
December
Cities come out about wooing
gays — and their dollars
:
"A lot has changed since comic Ellen DeGeneres made headlines by revealing
her homosexuality on her TV sit-com — and in real life — in 1997. About
20 television shows now include gay themes or characters.... 'The bottom
line in any business is what's being spent,' says Nicki Grossman, president
of the Greater Fort Lauderdale visitors bureau. "You can't ignore the kind
of spending that gay and lesbian travelers do."
Sex in the Chinese city
:
"...as the country quietly copes with a subtle sexual revolution, premarital
sex has become the norm rather than the exception. According to research
by Li Yinhe, a researcher with the China Academy of Social Sciences, in
1980 the rate of premarital sex in Beijing stood at only 15 percent. But
the same study revealed that by 2002 this rate has already reached 80 percent."
Romans 1:18-22
If Shoe Won't Fit, Fix the Foot?
Popular Surgery Raises Concern:
"With vanity always in fashion and shoes reaching iconic cultural status,
women are having parts of their toes lopped off to fit into the latest Manolo
Blahniks or Jimmy Choos. Cheerful how-to stories about these operations
have appeared in women's magazines and major newspapers and on television
news programs. But the stories rarely note the perils of the procedures."
Bring back human kindness –
please!
"Recently
I was taking a van loaded with kids, ages 11 to 16, home from a night at
the movies. When I dropped them off at their respective homes, something
was obviously missing as nearly every child jumped out and slammed the van
door. ... What was missing? Two simple words: 'Thank you.' ... A few days
ago, I sponsored an event where I supplied refreshments for a group of about
16 adults. Guess how many said thanks?"
Thanks
Hey, we're all victims here
:
"Expert victimologists estimate that 91.2 percent
of people in North America and Europe now qualify as victims, at least in
their own minds.... Male witches have been marginalized by society, according
to the book Male Witches in Early Modern Europe.... People with tattoos
are often unfairly stereotyped.... Two black women are suing Southwest Airlines
because a flight attendant, attempting to get passengers to sit down for
takeoff, said over the intercom, 'Eeny, meeny, miney, moe; pick a seat,
we gotta go.'... A [failing] high school student in Trento, Italy...hired
a lawyer who argued that she was suffering from 'irreversible psychological
pathology,' or math phobia."
Phil
4:11-13
Woman knocked unconscious by
Wal-Mart Shoppers:
"A 41-year-old woman was knocked unconscious and then trampled by a mob
of shoppers who continued to step over her as she suffered a seizure
during a Friday sale at Wal-Mart in Orange City, Fla.... When Orange City
and EVAC paramedics got to the store they found Van Lester lying on her
left side on top of the DVD player, surrounded by shoppers seemingly
oblivious to the unconscious woman, said Mark O'Keefe, a spokesman for
EVAC Ambulance."
The worth of a human life is
diminishing along with Biblical values.
Romans 1:18-22
Charts: Paradigm
Shift
November
Marriage Redefined:
"
What
is happening in our culture is an unraveling of all we once considered normal.
Anyone who now appeals to virtue, values, ethics or (heaven forbid!) religious
faith is labeled an enemy of progress, an intolerant bigot, a homophobe
and a 'Neanderthal.' There is no debate and no discussion. By definition,
anyone who opposes 'progress' in casting off the chains of religious restrictions
on human behavior - which were once considered necessary for the promotion
of the general welfare - is a fundamentalist fool, part of a past that brought
us witch trials, slavery and back-alley abortions."
Charts: Paradigm Shift
And it was
all planned -- openly.
See
Legalizing Mind Control
and
Steps toward Global Mind Control
Strongly religious most opposed
to gay 'marriage':
"Evangelical Protestants, both black and white, appear to be one of the
few remaining bulwarks against widespread acceptance of homosexuality
in an American society where sodomy has been decriminalized and television
shows feature homosexual characters.... Homosexuality is viewed as a sin
by 88 percent of white evangelicals, 74 percent of black Protestants and
64 percent of white Catholics, compared to 18 percent of secular respondents."
No wonder Christianity is
equated with intolerance. Based on the absolute truths of the Bible, our
values simply don't fit the postmodern world.
John 15:20-21
But some courts
are less hostile than others
.
Secret Spells Barbie and the
Tendential Revolution: "Christie and Kayla... are supposed to
be Barbie’s Wiccan friends, or something like that, who, the ad tells us,
'by day are just fashionable school girls, but by night they turn into magical
enchantresses.'” What
can parents do?
October
The Magic of the Season!
(Scroll down to the box with this title)
"Can you feel it? There's magic in the air! As evidenced by the popularity
of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, as well as the TV series Charmed
and Sabrina the Teenage Witch, the magic/fantasy genre is charming
kids everywhere with spellbinding tales of fantastical fun! Now your daughter
can enjoy this imaginative trend with those fashionable enchantresses, the
Secret Spells™ dolls, and all the magical products from the movie Barbie™
of Swan Lake."
Don't think the church is immune
from the speedy shift to pagan values. What God told us to shun has now
become the norm.
1 John 2:15
R-rated homecomings prompt cultural
clash: "Hip-hop reigns, tank tops rule
and 'freaking' ... often is the dance of choice. Kids insist they're just
wearing and doing what's hip.... In Dearborn, a high school student
was sent home in February after he refused to take off or turn inside out
a T-shirt with President Bush's face and the words 'International Terrorist'
on it. The American Civil Liberties Union sued the district, claiming it
violated the student's First Amendment right to free speech."
In this topsy-turvy
world, the notion of "free speech" is turned upside down. Decadence is protected,
by Christian symbols forbidden -- just as the Bible warned:
Isaiah 5:20
EU pays £1m to train Italian
TV showgirls at 'school for bimbos': "The school, in Frattamaggiore
near Naples, attracted 'structural funding' from Brussels - channeled through
the local, Left-wing regional council.... Some of the EU funding will go
directly to the students."
Proverb 17:15
Arnold and the collapse of Western
civilization: "There
used to be -- generally speaking -- something called rules, and they used
to be acknowledged as -- generally speaking -- a good thing....
"That's
exactly what our UN founders wanted: the eradication of morality--of the
notion of 'right' and 'wrong.' Did they win the cultural battle? Perhaps
the California recall today will help answer that question."
See
Romans 1:22
September
Author Says Culture's Visual
Media Obsession Paves Way for Paganism:
"...while many people today take this constant barrage of images for granted,
one Christian author and professor of communications is concerned that the
postmodern obsession with images is pushing words -- and more importantly,
the Word -- out of place at the heart of civilized culture. And he says
this process is, in effect, bringing on a postmodern 'dark age' that resembles
pagan societies of the past.
"Dr. Arthur W. Hunt...has written a book called The Vanishing Word:
The Veneration of Visual Imagery in the Postmodern World, which
asks some important questions about the effect visual culture is having
on people's spiritual lives....
"...the
main components of pagan idolatry are sex, violence, and the cult of celebrity,
or person worship. And in a society where broadcast media use sensationalistic
images to compete for ratings... the similarities are not difficult to spot....
"'It's
vitally important for Christians for them to understand that our faith is
dependent upon the written word. When that begins to become devalued, then
that is a threat against our faith."
Psalm 119:11
Hip-hop dolls for 6-year-olds:
"Mattel has unveiled a new line of hip-hop dolls sporting miniskirts, street-wise
hairdos and tattoos – proudly aimed at the 6-12 age bracket. While 'Flavas'
are being sold by the company that makes the American icon Barbie, they
have little in common with the more traditional dolls. ...Each of the six
dolls.... comes with accessories including ghetto blasters, cell phones
and stick-on tattoos."
Chart: Paradigm Shift
Man nabbed for 'killing, cooking'
woman: "The
man accused of mutilating a woman and then cooking her body parts was arrested
on Tuesday night, KwaZulu-Natal police reported on Wednesday. ...This followed
the discovery of a woman's remains next to a pot filled with body parts
on Tuesday."
All
cultures are not equal.
The fall and rise of human
violence
Film shoot in Plainfield attracts
protesters: "About
15 demonstrators gathered at the end of a cordoned-off block of Stelle Avenue,
where a crew is filming part of the movie 'Kinsey,' starring Liam Neeson
as well-known human sex researcher Alfred Kinsey.... Kinsey is famous primarily
for his 1948 research work, 'Sexual Behavior in the Human Male,' which often
is credited with playing a role in the germination of the sexual revolution
of the 1960s.
"...the
'father of modern sexuality,' as he is sometimes called, used accounts from
pedophiles and young boys in his research, and based part of his studies
on a man who had 'violated over 800 children.... He opened up, clearly,
a wave of immorality in this country,' Huber said."
See
The Sadomasochistic Roots
of Justice Kennedy's Opinion
August
Dismay as international pedophile
probe fails: "Police
chiefs are dismayed that no one found to have accessed child pornography
on the web is being prosecuted for abuse despite officers having 'grave
doubts' about the safety of children living with them.... Celebrities, lawyers,
police officers, teachers and clergymen have been among those arrested...."
Romans 1:22-32
'Flash
mob' fad targets the Valley: "They come out of nowhere and disappear
into the ether - crowds of mostly young people who mysteriously gather in
groups called 'flash mobs,' then dissipate before any official notice can
be taken. The flash mob fad has hit many other cities in the world, from
Amsterdam to New York, and it now appears to be headed to Phoenix...."
Chart: Postmodern
Culture
Nationwide Increase in Teen
Prostitution
:
"... the kids are getting younger; according to the FBI, the average age
of a new recruit is just 13; some are as young as 9...
"...pimps
are increasingly targeting girls at the local mall, a place many parents
consider a haven for their kids to gather after school and on weekends....
"Child advocates are just
as worried about, and puzzled by, girls like
Stacey, who aren't forced into prostitution but instead appear to sell
themselves for thrills, or money, or both. Richard Estes, a University of
Pennsylvania researcher, says so-called designer sex is becoming more common
in cities across the country."
See
Are
Campus Pornography Courses Sexual Abuse?
It helps explain why this
is happening.
For teens, taking risks a normal
part of growing up:
"Trading chest-punches with your buddy, clinging to the hood of a speeding
car, leaping off a rooftop into a swimming pool....'We're kids,' explained
Carlo Atero... who admits to hanging from the back of a car while skateboarding.
'We like danger.'
"...driving
with your lights off or setting a buddy's clothes on fire almost makes perfect
sense.... And the problem is, most kids don't think they can get hurt as
a result.... 'Kids... see dangerous things differently than us.'''
That's because
many prefer to learn from each other and from popular fantasies -- not from
history or their parents.
Proverbs 22:6
Jaerin Park Delaney, popular
classmate
(Sad
obituary): "Jaerin [age 17] could have been a musician... or an international
businessman -- in addition to English, he was fluent in Korean and competent
in Flemish and French. Or he might have wanted to pursue a career in sports;
he was an avid tennis player and a youth soccer team coach....
"According
to witnesses, the car was being driven in a reckless manner at high speed....
Unfortunately, at the same location and time, there was a westbound Chevrolet
pickup truck pulling a fifth-wheel trailer.
"He
had a very strong spirit... And a beautiful smile.''
Children just want to chill
out
: "What they valued most
was being with their friends and having the freedom to do what they wanted,
away from adults."
Of course. They want
to have their own way -- and not have to obey anyone!
Judges
17:6
Teens now spend more time online
than watching TV:
"During an average week...13- to 24-year-olds spend 16.7 hours online (excluding
e-mail); 13.6 hours watching TV; 12 hours listening to the radio; 7.7 hours
talking on the phone... and six hours reading books and magazines....
"Teens and young adults
almost universally engage in other media-related activities while they're
online: Some 68% listen to CDs or MP3s; 50% watch TV; 45% talk on the phone;
45% listen to the radio; 45% do homework; 21% read.... 13- to 24-year-olds,
dubbed 'Milliennials,' are extremely comfortable with such media multitasking."
Your heart
The Age of Consent - The Rise
of Relativism and The Corruption of Popular Culture: "A Jewish
fable relates that a man stood at the gates of Sodom and cried out against
sin. He implored men to repent and change their ways. As things got progressively
worse, he continued to cry out his warning. When it looked absolutely hopeless,
a passerby asked him why he still bothered. He answered, 'I used to cry
out so that men would change their ways. Now I cry out so that they won't
change me!'"
July
Cell-phone study - More dangerous
than driving drunk:
"...it makes no difference whether the telephone is hand-held or hands-free,
according to a paper presented Tuesday at an auto-safety conference in Park
City, Utah.... 'Cell-phone conversation draws attention away from the processing
of the visual environment,' said David Strayer of the university's psychology
department... 'We found a 50 percent reduction in the processing of visual
information when you're driving and talking on a cell phone.;'
Teens Suffer Because of Early
Sexual Activity: "Kids who begin having sex when they're teens
are more likely to experience sexually transmitted disease's, pregnancy,
abortion, and devastating emotional problems.... '(Premarital) sex is not
going to make you happier, and in fact is going to put you at risk emotionally,
in addition to physically,' Pardue said. Unfortunately, society tells teens
that sex has few consequences."
See
Sex Ed and Global Values
Romans 1:18-22
Charts: Paradigm
Shift
Whoa! Canada! Legal Marijuana.
Gay Marriage. Peace. What's Going On Up North, Eh?:
"Peaceniks, pot and people of the same sex exchanging wedding vows: It's
a trinity from the church of high liberalism, or a right-wing trifecta of
decline and doom...."
While Canada's moral erosion may be notch ahead
of the U.S., we are following close behind. And the decadent culture we
export through Hollywood draws the rest of the world along as well.
Chart: Paradigm Shift:
Total transformation.
June
Some molesters to go free:
"Authorities dismissed the first of hundreds of child molestation cases
Thursday, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned part of a California
law that allowed prosecutors to bring charges for abuse years after it occurred.
...'It's so hard to explain this to people who finally felt there would
be justice, that these men would serve time behind bars, and that kids would
be safe,' added Terrie Light, the Bay Area coordinator for a group that
supports victims of abuse by clergy."
Jeremiah 6:13-15
Britain at sex disease crisis
point: "...syphilis
rates in Britain have increased by 500 per cent in the past six years and
rates for gonorrhoea have doubled. Rates for teenage pregnancy remain the
highest in Europe. At the same time, poor adherence to HIV treatments is
promoting the development and transmission of resistant strains of HIV."
Charts: Total
transformation
AIDS Begins to Widen Its Reach
in India: "On a packed-earth
lane known as Bangaraman Temple Street, a resident leads a macabre house
tour, ticking off the names of the dead and the doomed. Here is the tiny
concrete hovel where Beeraka, the tea seller, died of AIDS last Saturday,
leaving behind an 8-year-old son and a wife who almost certainly is infected
with the disease...."
Matthew
24:7 Let's pray that this suffering
will turn many hearts to the true God for eternal hope and comfort. Christianity
is spreading in India, but so is persecution for those who turn from Hinduism.
2 Cor 4:16
May
Tongue-splitting ban slices
its way through Legislature: "Miller, a Democrat, is sponsoring
a bill that would all but ban what has become the latest craze in 'body
modification'--slicing the tongue in half to create a reptilian appearance.
It's a practice akin to body piercings and tattoos. But detractors like
Miller say it carries risks of infection and even death if not performed
by licensed medical people and surgeons."
Isaiah
30:9-11
April
Iraqi prostitutes back on the
streets after Saddam: "Prostitutes face new dangers in a city
ravaged by looting and lawlessness, but most are keen to take advantage
of the power vacuum.... 'They are all over the place now -- I see them everywhere,'
said Ahmed Sabri, a taxi driver. 'I could always spot them before, but now
it's so obvious. They are not afraid and do it far more openly.'"
Jeremiah 6:13-15
March
Church anger over ice-cream
sins: "The release of a new range of ice-creams named after the
seven deadly sins has left some European Church leaders veering towards
wrath.... Unilever, meanwhile, said that the flavours did not endorse
sin but were just harmless fun....
"'Lust' is
a vanilla ice-cream covered with a layer of strawberry chocolate, while
'gluttony' replaces the coating with chocolate-covered nuts. The flavours
will be replaced in two months with two more, out of the remaining sins
of vanity, greed, sloth, wrath and envy."
Such
"harmless fun" has a way of mocking God's standards, desensitizing our conscience
and prompting ridicule toward those who won't laugh with the crowd.
Isaiah
5:20
ET's May Receive New Mexico
State Honors: "A New Mexico legislator proposed Monday having
the state honor all extraterrestrial beings with a special day that will
'celebrate and honor all past, present and future extraterrestrial visitors'
to New Mexico, the measure reads. Rep. Dan Foley, a Republican from Roswell,
the spot where some say aliens crash-landed more than 50 years ago, said
he introduced the legislation to 'enhance relationships among all the citizens
of the cosmos, known and unknown.'"
See
Aliens, Monsters and Creepy
Creatures
Ceremonial deism or real faith?
by Cal Thomas: "There are two ways to look at the decision by the 9th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals upholding its ruling last June in which it declared
the Pledge of Allegiance phrase 'One nation, under God' violates the constitutional
prohibition against government-established religion....
"The
second way to look at the court decision is to ask where is the evidence
that this nation is truly 'under God'? ... What kind of nation that is 'under
God' would abort 40 million of its own children? Turn on the television
at almost any hour — from daytime soap operas and shows that glorify the
lurid and the wicked, to prime-time programs full of sexual situations,
crude jokes and four-letter words — and ask yourself if this is reflective
of a nation 'under God.' Are rampant pornography and child abuse an indication
of God's influence on America? ...
"Psalm 33:12 says, 'Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.' Is God
the 'Lord' of the United States? Do we act like it?"
See
Deut 8:10-20
and
The Attack on the Pledge: Both Bad and Good?
February
It’s
worse than you imagined: "There are a lot of myths about why
Aids is widespread in Africa. But the facts, says Hugh Russell, are more
bizarre ...
"We are not more gay than you. I know it’s politically incorrect to speak
of Aids as having links with homosexuality, but of course in Europe and
the US it does.... Is it, then, that Africans are simply more immoral,
that African society is just too casual? No, of course not. Society here
is a complex web of tradition, custom, superstition and folklore, and the
average Zambian sticks rigidly to the tribal code. But perhaps that’s part
of the problem."
Contrary to multicultural correctness, the
fact is that some cultures are better than others.
Psalm 52:3
"Stimulating
images, damaged minds
by
Dr. Judith Reisman:
"On May 31, 2002, the Appeals Court legalized the 'right' of library patrons
to assault children and other non-consenting folks by viewing, and then
leaving on the computer screen, pathological acts of bestiality and sexual
torture of adults and children – paid for with our tax dollars. ....These
'rational' judicial verdicts treat as legitimate 'speech' images that create,
in viewers young as well as old, physical changes in the brain and that
imbed irrational states of intense sexual and fear arousal. Children and
illiterate alike rapidly decode sexual pictures....
"Even pornography advocates
freely admit that these stimuli create emotional excitation (experienced
as a state of lust overlapped with fear, shame and confusion)."
Our Maker
knew that well. That's one reason why He tells us to "flee sexual immorality."
(1 Corinthians 6:18)
Dance freaks school officials:
"Students at Palo Alto High are about to learn that ``freaking'' -- a popular
way of dancing that simulates sex -- will get them kicked out of school
dances. It's just too nasty, school officials say.... 'Freak dancing, to
me, is like pornography,' Pearson said. 'I may not be able to define it,
but I sure know it when I see it.'''
Jeremiah
6:13-15
Politicians narrate Peter and
the Wolf: "Former world leaders Mikhail Gorbachev and Bill Clinton
are to help narrate a new recording of Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the
Wolf.... .Mr Gorbachev ... will donate the money he earns for his performance
to Green Cross International - the environmental organisation he founded
in 1993."
See
The State of the World according
to Gorbachev
January
Watch Out for ‘Adult’ Ads:
"The typical American child today cannot escape the bombardment of sexuality,
in every medium, at every moment, day or night.... It certainly happens
in advertising. Ad critics used to be outraged about 'subliminal seduction.'
In these randy times, almost nobody’s subliminal about seduction...
"But not enough are asking: what are the children seeing? Miller suggests
this ad isn’t any worse than the hundreds of steamy scenes seen in prime
time. But Miller knows full well there are probably a lot more pre-teen
boys watching NFL football games on weekend afternoons than watch adult-themed
prime-time shows....
"Too few people really take the time to think about how these thirty-second
scenarios are processed by the young. It’s just another reason why many
parents feel assaulted by popular culture, even in its tiniest fractions."
Sex-ed in government schools
is even worse.
See
Sex Ed and Global Values
Britain Is a Pagan Country:
"Britain has become a pagan nation over the past 50 years, creating a vacuum
in which people will believe in anything and everything, says Cardinal Cormac
Murphy-O'Connor." Interesting
how well paganism fits
postmodernity.
Poverty-inducing entertainment
:
"The announcement last week that low-rent rapper Eminem was the 'People's
Choice' for best male recording star of the year is a huge win for those
bullish on the coarsening of America. ... Eminem's lyrics justify
immediate gratification on all levels. If your girlfriend does you wrong,
kick her in the stomach. ...
'Eminem may be the 'people's
choice,' but he is as harmful to America as any al Qaeda fanatic.'... Meantime,
bewildered American children continue to drown in their own ignorance...."
See
Brainwashing
in America
and
Galatians
5:19-26
Teen magazine under fire for
explicit sex guide: "...the pull-out sex guide in the new issue
is more explicit than anything that comes in her women's magazines. ...
Natacha Brisson, editor-in-chief of the magazine, says... she doesn't
understand what all the fuss is about. 'It's girl talk,' she said. 'It's
what you talk about with your girlfriend. It's the same thing with this
guide."
Find links to articles
in 2001-2002, go to
Culture 1
For more recent information on this
topic, go to
Culture
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