All posts tagged: Culture

Sex Dolls: Can we talk about this?

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I have to start this article with a disclaimer. I am writing as a Christian, and the topic here is closely related to pornography. I hope we can understand some issues in our modern world, without being drawn into the behavior. If Christians don’t speak about some topics, the conversation will only be one-sided. Some challenges need an answer. There are some things we should be aware of. I will not give references or links to visual and video sites, because they tend to be pornographic. There is a line in a country song “I know what I was feeling, but what was I thinking?” So, what are we thinking? A few years ago, I was in a retail store, and I looked for something to buy, but they didn’t have anything for me. It was a strange place. As I was leaving, I passed a mannequin display, and I heard an angry woman. Another shopper, a woman, told me that something was disgusting. I wasn’t sure what she meant, so I looked around, and …

Believers and Hollywood: Which side are they on?

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Are you woke, or base? I am learning more about these terms, and they are interesting. We could use the older terms “left wing” and “right wing” but I believe most of us could not define those positions, in one sentence. Definitions are emotional, these days. The question really is, what tribe do you belong to? For you, which side is always right? And who is wrong, before they even speak? We are polarized by in our modern society. With polarized sides, and conspiracy theories, what happens if you believe in something spiritual? What side is God on, woke or base? I am a Christian, and for me, “spiritual” means God, and we find our way back to God through someone named Jesus. So, what does God think about Covid vaccines? Is God a Socialist, or a Capitalist? Does God approve of fifteen minute cities? What about climate change or global warming; yes or no? Is there any place for God in Hollywood? And for Americans, Republican or Democrat, and God? Other countries have their …

Sex Positive: What is that?

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One of the most dangerous practices, in our modern culture, is giving names to things. Have you noticed, that we give a name to something and then everyone knows if that thing is good or bad? There is no need to think about it. I used to work as an English teacher, I taught language more than literature, and I notice this. We make the language do all the work, so we don’t have to think, or take responsibility. That is one of the drivers of “Cancel Culture.” The name “Cancel Culture” is one of those shorthand descriptions. If I use that name, you know that you are not supposed to like or approve of that thing. Can we agree, that we will not play the shorthand-blaming game? We are just using a name for something that people do. If we want to form an opinion, we should learn more. Here is one thing to know; we have a shallow and thoughtless way to approve or disapprove of things. We can easily communicate our opinion …

Critical Race Theory: What should we think?

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Are you oppressed? Do you feel like a victim, or does your family have some sad stories in its history? Or, do you see yourself as privileged? Are you and others like you better off than other groups of people? For most of us, the answer to the first question is ‘yes.’ We can find some story of how our family went through hard times, and struggled. The answer to the second question is probably ‘no’ for most of us. We don’t feel privileged in our modern, stressed-out times. You have probably heard of “CRT” or “Critical Race Theory.” This is an extension of Critical Theory, which is, in my opinion, the best description of Leftist or Progressive thinking. Critical Theory forms the basis for Marxism, also known as Communism. Communists often had violent revolutions because of their core belief that the problems of the world need to be fixed with radical change. “Change” might be a violent revolution, or an election victory, but it brings a revolution, things change. If we believe that there …

2021: The Year of Mistrust and Suspicion

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Although there are many things that characterize the year 2021, perhaps nothing is more conspicuous than the deep lack of trust that Americans currently have in their national leadership. From the president to the CDC, from Dr. Fauci to the media, almost everyone is viewed with suspicion and mistrust. Of course, it would be all too easy for those on the left to blame this on former president Trump. After all, wasn’t he the one driving the “stop the steal” movement? And didn’t he make clear that, not even the Supreme Court could be trusted? But to blame the current situation on Trump would be both shallow and naive. Plenty of clearheaded, fair-minded, thinking Americans have good reason to question what they are hearing and seeing and reading. Can anyone really be trusted? Both leftwing and rightwing media have become so politicized that much of the reporting is often more sensationalistic than sound. Endless internet headlines (which people often run with, at face value) are mere clickbait, with the article linked having nothing to do …

The Ongoing Intersection of the Gospel with Culture

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By Dr. Michael L. Brown Three years ago, I conducted a poll on Facebook asking, “Should pastors and Christian leaders just preach the gospel, or should they also comment on relevant social and political issues?” Three years later to the day, I posted the same poll on Twitter. How did the results compare? Obviously, there is nothing scientific about these polls. They simply indicate how my Facebook and Twitter communities feel about the question. As for these two social media communities, although they have much in common, in many ways they disparate in their viewpoints and beliefs. How did the results compare? In 2018 on Facebook, out of roughly 1,900, 84 percent said “Gospel & culture” with only 16 percent saying “Gospel only.” In 2021 on Twitter, out of 889 responses, 79.2 percent said “Gospel and culture too” with only 20.8 percent saying, “Gospel only.” The overall differences were fairly minor, especially given the fact that many Christians are still suffering burnout from the 2020 elections while many others have felt the need to draw back from both politics …

Forced Dysfunction

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For those who are parents or for those who grew up in some type of family, you know that a family needs certain things to survive. Daily routines require someone to take charge and in normal families the one in charge takes into account what is necessary for the entire family. For example, if one child likes donuts for supper, it is unlikely that every supper will consist of only donuts. Surrendering the entire family to the needs of one of the children makes no sense. Yet this happens often. I know a few families with several kids but the one that shows promise in sports or academics gets the bulk of if not all the attention. The other children feel less then when compared to that child. I have also seen cases in which the dad or the mom puts their career or their needs first and the rest of the family has to adjust to their schedule or their desires.   In these cases, families don’t work well. There is division and strife, …

A lesson to learn from pornography in video games: What do we really want?

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What does a rich man want after he has everything he needs? More. We humans need to know who we are, and pornography can teach us that. I learned a lesson recently, when I found a video on the Internet, about problems with video games. Apparently, there are censorship organizations that restrict excess behaviour in video games. READ: Video Game Censorship I don’t play video games, although there was a time when I enjoyed flinging Angry Birds across the computer screen at other little animals. It was addicting. I watched the information video, out of curiosity, and I learned something about us. We like to mix good and bad; we like to do the wrong thing to get us to the right place; and we lie to ourselves. Those are all different views of the same thing. I was surprised to learn one thing about video games. When we can do anything, when we can go bad without restraints, we like to kill each other. Sometimes we settle for injure and torture. I used to …

Culture Relevance and Christianity

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There is so much confusion about truth these days. Our society is fighting among itself trying to convince the other side they are right and they are wrong. This feels and looks like war to me. Ideological and spiritual war. A well-known quote, many attribute to US Senator Hiram Johnson, claims that truth is the first casualty of war. Variations of this sentiment have been around for centuries and has its base in the notion that we vilify our enemies and romance our friends. The US and Canadian media do a great job of vilifying Conservative Christians and our beliefs in the Bible as the truth. The truth of God, even the inconvenient ones, are replaced with acquiesce to the cultural desires. Do what thou wilt has replaced the ten commandments. We see this shift taking place in many societies around the world. Here in Canada, our culture values sexual identity issues above religious freedom. Definitions change to exclude traditional families and Biblical values. The core of Christianity is being attacked as the Bible’s inspiration …

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So What is Cisgender?

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I heard part of an argument recently, and one angry person accused others of being “cisgender.” I didn’t know the full meaning of the word, but I understood part of the argument, and I knew the words were spoken in anger. I think this word is new, and I know it is often used in anger, to identify people who are wrong and cruel to others. It’s like ‘fascist’ or ‘racist’ or ‘white male’, a description of people who discriminate and are politically incorrect. We should know this word. But first, I have a small detour. A few days ago, an instructor asked several of us an interesting question, referring to “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.” You probably know the pattern, at the bottom are poor or unhealthy people who are fighting for survival, and as we become more secure in life, we focus on higher priorities like love, and self esteem. RELATED: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs This was the question: If you were given a choice by your employer, which one would you choose? a) …

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People Who Pet Dolphins

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Recently, Oscar winning actress Brie Larson apologized. In 2004, when she was 14, she petted a dolphin. Now she is building a successful career in Hollywood, and she has tried very hard to clear herself of any controversy. In this case, controversy is animal cruelty. Brie Larson is a dolphin petter. More correctly, she was a petter, as a child. Now she has apologized. Movie stars with fabulous careers have corporate teams of managers, publicists, and stylists; and a public apology indicates some alarm. This dolphin petting accusation seems to be a serious threat to someone. We live in interesting times. Now, the eternal and universal moral principles that underpin everything in society seem to last about a week. Tourists used to enjoy petting dolphins, and I remember when we were not offended by oil in pipelines, and when good electricity did not always come from windmills. A few days ago someone asked me to explain the words behind the acronym LGBT. We were having a conversation about transgender access to public washrooms. It’s hard …

Christians must adjust to our rapidly changing culture

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Over the last 10 years, we have witnessed a dramatic shift in Western culture. The question is how can Evangelical Christians adjust to this change. Foxnews interviews John S. Dickerson author of the book, The Great Evangelical Recession. Dickerson says over the past number of years, Christians have focussed on changing government policy — in some instances spending millions of dollars in pursuit of this goal. Dickerson says for the most part that has failed and Evangelicals are entering what he describes as a spiritual recession. To pull out of this recession, Dickerson says Evangelicals need to focus on changing our culture instead changing government policy.