Culture (Page 2)

God’s wrath and grace go together. When God comes to judge, he also comes to save. The judgment of the wicked is the salvation of the righteous. Revelation 19 describes the judgment of Christ upon the nations of the earth. “He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty” (Rev 19:15). As the wicked are destroyed heaven erupts in praise saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God” (Rev 19:1) 2…

Life in Calgary the past few weeks has produced an eerie feeling of déjà vu. The daily updates and calls to restrict water usage to save our water supply remind us of COVID-era restrictions. The same playbook is in use. Heightened rhetoric, worst-case scenarios, group sacrifice, threats of enforcement action, along with half-truths or outright lies are all fair game to achieve the desired result—coercing the people of Calgary to use less water. More similarities include extending restrictions from a…

The Canadian healthcare system is broken—or at least problematic in many respects. Problems include long wait times for urgent care, long delays for surgery or specialized care,[1] difficult access to certain kinds of care, an increased tax burden, a lack of innovation, and Canadian doctors working in other countries. We know that these are significant issues because in election season our political parties vow to improve and fix Canadian healthcare—yet it is growing worse rather than better. No matter what…

If you live in a city in Canada—or anywhere in Canada for that matter—you’ll see news headlines about rising crime rates. In Calgary, there are plenty of news reports on increasing crimes, especially in public areas like bus stops or LRT stations. Homeless encampments are routine, bringing along criminal activity. The opioid epidemic continues to claim 100 lives every month in Alberta. Even with stricter gun laws in Canada, violent crimes persist. Public spaces are especially dangerous. During the period…

“This is an Alberta Emergency Alert issued by the Alberta Emergency Management Agency. Extreme cold resulting in high power demand has placed the Alberta grid at a high risk of rotating power outages this evening.” The Government of Alberta, January 13, 2024 On January 13, 2024, at 6:44pm every phone in Alberta buzzed and chimed with an emergency alert. We had all experienced a warmer than usual winter, but we had recently descended into a cold snap not atypical of…

We live in a time of sexual “freedom.” It seems that anything—or almost anything—goes. Christian ethics regarding sexuality is seen as archaic, joy-killing, and harmful. What is most putrid to this sexualized culture is when someone attempts to use Bible verses to justify a sexual ethic or a vision of marriage. The Bible is dismissed as unauthoritative and irrelevant. Some people, well-meaning I’m sure, have taken the bait and seek to argue for sexual ethics in society and in marriage…

Penned in 375 BC, Plato’s Republic argues for the ideal state. This state would be one of bliss and prosperity. His idea? A ruling class of philosophers serving as Guardians to order life in the city. The ruling elite or philosopher king would rely on a lifetime of special education which will enable him to “be the savior of his country, as well as himself” (Republic, 6.497). Ideas have a way of reappearing again and again in history—including bad ideas.…

In 2020, headlines concerning COVID-19 were replaced with stories about George Floyd, riots (aka, fiery but mostly-peaceful protests), and Black Lives Matter. Just as technocracy boomed in the COVID era, cultural Marxism had a similar surge. With the battle against “whiteness” going mainstream, efforts continue to decolonize—or more accurately, de-Christianize—western culture. One example of this was in 2020, when the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture produced an online guide to expose the aspects and assumptions of…