Shine Like Stars (1)

I am naturally allergic to doom-and-gloom speculation. My wife regularly reminds me that I am unreasonably and hopelessly optimistic. If by all other estimates a job will take eight hours I believe I can do it in four. I have not been a voice insisting that the cultural sky is falling. We simply don't know if things will be worse or better next year or in twenty years. Trends aren't strictly predictive. Just ask stock market speculators.

But it is hard to not notice reasons for believing that we are living in a darker time than many of us are used to. Just 20 years ago almost 70% of U.S. adults were members of a church compared with 52% in recent years. And with the rise of live-streaming 58% of Americans agree that "Worshiping alone or with one's family is a valid replacement for regularly attending church." Culturally, objective standards identifying male and female are being erased. Many expressions of biblical faith are no longer merely counter-cultural; now they are "proof" of dangerous extremism. Religious liberty seems more and more threatened.

And we could go on and on. But better to ask the question, "What should we do in these dark days?"