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[SPEAKER_00]: Good morning and welcome to the daily article podcast from Denison Forum.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's Tuesday, November 3rd, 2026.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This is an automated reading of today's daily article, authored by Dr. Jim Denison.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Today's article is titled, Three Day Weddings and Tuesday Midterms.
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[SPEAKER_00]: More than 50 million Americans cast ballots in early voting prior to today's midterm elections.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Among them was Pope Leo XIV, who submitted a mail-in ballot for the midterms, becoming the first pope to vote in a U.S. election and likely the first to vote in a secular democratic election.
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[SPEAKER_00]: More than 100 million people are expected to join him by voting today.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But why do we vote on a Tuesday?
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[SPEAKER_00]: The U.S. is one of only 28 democratic countries that typically hold national elections on non-Holiday weekdays.
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[SPEAKER_00]: By contrast, 60 democracies typically hold elections on Saturdays or Sundays, and 16 others hold elections on weekdays, but declare them public holidays.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Our reasoning goes back to the 19th century when the nation was primarily rural and all voting was in person.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Wednesday was farmer's market day, so it was out, and Sunday wasn't an option because so many people were in church.
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[SPEAKER_00]: According to Axios, nearly one in three weddings now span at least three days, stretching from a bridal brunch a day or two before the wedding, to a farewell brunch the day after.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome parties and tightly planned after parties occur in between.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Receptions are getting more elaborate as well.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Think performers and silver body suits and disco ball helmets on the dance floor, or servers wearing hoop skirts lined with champagne flutes for guests to grab.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't always this way.
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[SPEAKER_00]: 40 years ago, 72 percent of weddings were held at a religious location with a religious leader presiding.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This is true of only 30 percent of weddings today.
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[SPEAKER_00]: When I became a pastor more than 40 years ago, nearly every wedding I performed was held in our church.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Toward the end of my pastoral ministry, destination weddings held at picturesque venues were more common than ever.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This trend reverses history.
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[SPEAKER_00]: editor and former Oxford researcher Samuel Hughes reports that at the advent of Christianity.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Quote, it was entirely permitted for free Roman men to have sex with male and female slaves and prostitutes, including children.
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[SPEAKER_00]: No norm of male fidelity existed.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Male extramarital sex was not merely tolerated in practice, but was generally considered completely acceptable as a matter of
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[SPEAKER_00]: However, he notes, Christianity overthrew nearly all these norms with the invention of male fidelity.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Christians promoted the idea that each man should be faithful to one woman, just as each woman should be faithful to one man.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And so it was until the sexual revolution beginning in the 1960s, and the carnage it has created for men, women, and families.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Here's my point.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Let's do the same with our elections today.
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[SPEAKER_00]: There was a time when relating the sacred to the secular was unnecessary, because the two were one.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And the problem of pain, C.S.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Lewis wrote, quote, Paradisele Man always chose to follow God's will.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In following it, he also gratified his own desire, both because all the actions demanded of him were, in fact, agreeable to his blameless inclination, and also because the service
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[SPEAKER_00]: Pleasure was then an acceptable offering to God because offering was a pleasure and quote.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Then came the fall and the renting of creation from creator.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Consequently, the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth and even a spiritual giant like Paul had to admit, I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Now we find ourselves in a bifurcated world like amphibious creatures who can live in water or on land.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We can compartmentalize our lives so as to have a Sunday world and a Monday world.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But this keeps us from experiencing God's best on Monday.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The better approach is to treat every dimension of our secular lives as though they were spiritual because they are.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Now let's relate this assertion to today's midterms.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Not only should our faith guide our decisions as voters, a process I described in a recent daily article, but it should infuse all we do in connection with today's elections.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I am especially concerned about a recent Gallup poll in which Americans trust in each other has plummeted from nearly 90% in the late 1970s to 51% today.
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[SPEAKER_00]: US News and World Report responds, a country that rolls its eyes at its politicians can survive.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Can democracy survive if the inhabitants of that country doubt the collective sanity of majority rule?
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[SPEAKER_00]: In this context, it is noteworthy that God loves every person we will meet today as fully as he loves us.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Accordingly, we are to love them as we are loved.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We are even to love your enemies and do good to those who hate you.
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[SPEAKER_00]: God's word is adamant, bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We are therefore prohibited from slandering or speaking evil of others.
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[SPEAKER_00]: When we are in conflict with someone, we must speak to them, not about them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This applies to our leaders and to all who vote for and against them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: How would obedience to these principles change our political discourse?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Our national future?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, the key to speaking the truth and love is experiencing that love ourselves.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus taught us.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil.
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[SPEAKER_00]: For out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks.
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[SPEAKER_00]: If our hearts are surrendered to our Lord, our words will manifest His love and draw others to Him.
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[SPEAKER_00]: What treasure will your heart produce today?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to the daily article podcast.
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[SPEAKER_00]: For links, scripture references, or to find out more about Denison Forum, visit us at DenisonForm.org or click the link in today's show notes.