If an alien arrived on our planet and went looking for “love,” I wonder what he would find. Here is what I imagine happening. He starts by looking at the sexes. Our species now spends countless hours absorbed in media. So, he begins by tuning in to some “reality TV” like “Jersey Shore” and “The Bachelor” to get a feel for our “culture”… (I use that word loosely). What he sees in these shows about friendship and the romantic bond turns out to be about nothing more than desire, abuse, and competition for affection.
We Americans are a confident people. I read the other day that in a recent survey, ninety-four percent of our college professors believe they have above average teaching skills. A survey of our high school students found that 70 percent of them believe that they have “above average” leadership skills and only 2% believe that they have “below average” leadership skills. Our students also have great faith in their mathematical ability, while students in Japan and South Korea have much lower self confidence…and much higher test scores.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10 (NIV)
“Fear” has been all over the headlines this week – “Earthquakes,” “Tsunamis” and “Nuclear meltdowns.” For a week now these images have displaced the others that usually dominate our imaginations and feed our anxiety. We seem to fear almost everything in this day and age.
We live in a culture of fear. The nightly news brings high-definition images of earthquakes, wars and pandemics into our living rooms. The Internet is like a planet-wide nervous system that keeps us constantly, globally connected and on edge. Especially since 9/11, we have become even more anxious, and this anxiety has only been heightened further by the market crash two years ago.
As I sit down to write this blog, our church building is serving as a polling place for the current mid-term election – and not just any election, but one of the most contentious in recent memory. Back in the 90s, author James B. Stewart used the term, “blood sport,” to describe American Politics. These days, “gutter sport” seems more apt, as candidates smear one another in personal attack ads devoid of real substance. “Civility” seems like a lost concept. Apparently, when you disagree, you must also be as disagreeable as possible.
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