For years I have given considerable time to analyzing substantive newspapers, magazines, and other communications for faith meaning. For this page I will limit notes from mostly one day’s source, but concepts might be easily traced in current materials published by respected authors/publishers/analysts. On Monday, December 9, 2013, I went through the Sunday paper of the day before – then repeated the venture. It would be impossible to cover everything on one Page, but I launch.
Article #1: Singing the Sunday Blues. Once the day of rest, Sunday has devolved into a day of stress.
Article #2: Mental Illness: Want to talk about it? The anti-stigma movement has married itself to a drug-industry script that mental illnesses are diseases like any other. The problem is, it’s not true.
Article #3: New politics won’t come easy, but come it must.
Article #4: Fired, they still find jobs as nurses.
Article #5: Stay at home dads boost moms’ careers.
Article #6: Human brains may be hard-wired by gender.
Article #7: Abuse scandal is certain to persist.
I include here an article from the internet related to a massive proposal for scientists of the world to develop a model of the development of mankind and the causation of shifts in nature (like climate change) that will force significant revision in the theories of the past relative to the history of mankind and the world. It was noted that the cost of the project would be so expensive that it may not be achieved, that it would be controversial in recasting the physical history of mankind and world (nature) development. Further, there was little or no use of faith as a solution factor.
My reactions to these articles are: 1) that finding the true course of human life thought and action is fraught with large ignorance and complexity; 2) that a changing world is in the era of speeded up change as may have occurred in Greek/Roman times, the fall of Rome, the Renaissance, and the technological age, to a new period that may be perceived as the Scientific/Technological Age. (Although hinted at earlier, its seeds were clearly sown beginning in the publication of Darwin’s Origin of the Species in 1859, and followed with broad speculative doubt about whatever preceded); 3) that refuge in faith-based solutions to human problems has been offered in a humanistic recipe for life, leaving out divine assistance; that some problems and their solutions relate to both natural and supernatural perceptions and/or applications appear lost in humanism; and, 4) that the future will provide a new context for earth life, if life prevails.
Each of the above headlines deserves greater treatment than can be given here so will get another Page in these series – but summarized here. The seventh day perception was given by God for worship, rest and recuperation, so to focus on meaning (including fellowship with others) that there is more to life than the repetitions of daily life. Affirmation will not be gained without a faith context. (One man said to me: After the sermon and prayer I feel like I can lick the world at least until next Sunday.) The reference to mental illness likely misses the compound concepts of many human problems, that they are both physical and spiritual so require some attention in and between both contexts. The reference to politics ought to drive the society to a greater commitment to education about leadership and followership leading to the address of problems like the closing down of government, degrading the meaning of government. The references to nurses relates to nurses found guilty of violations of their profession, but able to move on to other nursing jobs without correction of former approaches to morality and professional performance. The references to men boosting their wives professional lives by taking home duty, and the emerging evidence that there are differences between male and female that should not be identified as prejudice or violation of equality will have to be taught so to create a balanced society. One model does not fit all, but it takes education to discover the various contexts, their value to society, and the limits that may be set. The abuse scandal refers to the morality of priests who have violated vows to their church so to suggest the beginning point of faith is not in humanity but in God who represents himself in the life and words of Jesus Christ and Scripture. Christians can speak firmly on the emerging and changing world. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020