Пълният препис на Three-day weddings and Tuesday midterms: How to sacralize the secular

WEBVTT 00:01.077 --> 00:04.339 [SPEAKER_00]: Good morning and welcome to the daily article podcast from Denison Forum. 00:05.599 --> 00:07.320 [SPEAKER_00]: It's Tuesday, November 3rd, 2026. 00:07.340 --> 00:12.743 [SPEAKER_00]: This is an automated reading of today's daily article, authored by Dr. Jim Denison. 00:13.844 --> 00:16.805 [SPEAKER_00]: Today's article is titled, Three Day Weddings and Tuesday Midterms. 00:22.528 --> 00:27.591 [SPEAKER_00]: More than 50 million Americans cast ballots in early voting prior to today's midterm elections. 00:28.660 --> 00:39.249 [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. 00:40.330 --> 00:43.613 [SPEAKER_00]: More than 100 million people are expected to join him by voting today. 00:44.674 --> 00:46.035 [SPEAKER_00]: But why do we vote on a Tuesday? 00:46.896 --> 00:53.102 [SPEAKER_00]: The U.S. is one of only 28 democratic countries that typically hold national elections on non-Holiday weekdays. 00:54.000 --> 01:02.743 [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. 01:03.863 --> 01:09.105 [SPEAKER_00]: Our reasoning goes back to the 19th century when the nation was primarily rural and all voting was in person. 01:10.306 --> 01:16.248 [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. 01:23.318 --> 01:33.083 [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. 01:34.004 --> 01:37.326 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome parties and tightly planned after parties occur in between. 01:38.286 --> 01:40.087 [SPEAKER_00]: Receptions are getting more elaborate as well. 01:40.768 --> 01:48.092 [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. 01:49.152 --> 01:50.133 [SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't always this way. 01:51.287 --> 01:57.669 [SPEAKER_00]: 40 years ago, 72 percent of weddings were held at a religious location with a religious leader presiding. 01:58.629 --> 02:01.010 [SPEAKER_00]: This is true of only 30 percent of weddings today. 02:02.250 --> 02:07.712 [SPEAKER_00]: When I became a pastor more than 40 years ago, nearly every wedding I performed was held in our church. 02:08.832 --> 02:13.954 [SPEAKER_00]: Toward the end of my pastoral ministry, destination weddings held at picturesque venues were more common than ever. 02:14.994 --> 02:16.535 [SPEAKER_00]: This trend reverses history. 02:17.642 --> 02:22.706 [SPEAKER_00]: editor and former Oxford researcher Samuel Hughes reports that at the advent of Christianity. 02:23.787 --> 02:31.232 [SPEAKER_00]: Quote, it was entirely permitted for free Roman men to have sex with male and female slaves and prostitutes, including children. 02:32.213 --> 02:34.054 [SPEAKER_00]: No norm of male fidelity existed. 02:34.975 --> 02:41.459 [SPEAKER_00]: Male extramarital sex was not merely tolerated in practice, but was generally considered completely acceptable as a matter of 02:46.816 --> 02:52.499 [SPEAKER_00]: However, he notes, Christianity overthrew nearly all these norms with the invention of male fidelity. 02:53.580 --> 02:59.904 [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. 03:00.764 --> 03:07.508 [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. 03:08.549 --> 03:09.169 [SPEAKER_00]: Here's my point. 03:16.662 --> 03:18.703 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's do the same with our elections today. 03:19.803 --> 03:24.465 [SPEAKER_00]: There was a time when relating the sacred to the secular was unnecessary, because the two were one. 03:25.145 --> 03:27.025 [SPEAKER_00]: And the problem of pain, C.S. 03:27.066 --> 03:32.687 [SPEAKER_00]: Lewis wrote, quote, Paradisele Man always chose to follow God's will. 03:33.688 --> 03:44.071 [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 03:47.087 --> 03:51.531 [SPEAKER_00]: Pleasure was then an acceptable offering to God because offering was a pleasure and quote. 03:52.571 --> 03:56.394 [SPEAKER_00]: Then came the fall and the renting of creation from creator. 03:57.756 --> 04:11.847 [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. 04:12.909 --> 04:18.474 [SPEAKER_00]: Now we find ourselves in a bifurcated world like amphibious creatures who can live in water or on land. 04:19.355 --> 04:23.298 [SPEAKER_00]: We can compartmentalize our lives so as to have a Sunday world and a Monday world. 04:23.858 --> 04:27.021 [SPEAKER_00]: But this keeps us from experiencing God's best on Monday. 04:28.062 --> 04:34.047 [SPEAKER_00]: The better approach is to treat every dimension of our secular lives as though they were spiritual because they are. 04:36.229 --> 04:38.451 [SPEAKER_00]: Now let's relate this assertion to today's midterms. 04:40.024 --> 04:48.911 [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. 04:50.012 --> 04:59.680 [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. 05:00.520 --> 05:05.865 [SPEAKER_00]: US News and World Report responds, a country that rolls its eyes at its politicians can survive. 05:07.044 --> 05:11.827 [SPEAKER_00]: Can democracy survive if the inhabitants of that country doubt the collective sanity of majority rule? 05:12.848 --> 05:18.592 [SPEAKER_00]: In this context, it is noteworthy that God loves every person we will meet today as fully as he loves us. 05:19.593 --> 05:22.075 [SPEAKER_00]: Accordingly, we are to love them as we are loved. 05:23.015 --> 05:26.097 [SPEAKER_00]: We are even to love your enemies and do good to those who hate you. 05:27.438 --> 05:32.502 [SPEAKER_00]: God's word is adamant, bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them. 05:33.568 --> 05:37.111 [SPEAKER_00]: We are therefore prohibited from slandering or speaking evil of others. 05:38.672 --> 05:42.956 [SPEAKER_00]: When we are in conflict with someone, we must speak to them, not about them. 05:43.957 --> 05:47.160 [SPEAKER_00]: This applies to our leaders and to all who vote for and against them. 05:48.261 --> 05:51.063 [SPEAKER_00]: How would obedience to these principles change our political discourse? 05:51.904 --> 05:52.765 [SPEAKER_00]: Our national future? 05:53.786 --> 05:58.670 [SPEAKER_00]: Of course, the key to speaking the truth and love is experiencing that love ourselves. 06:00.091 --> 06:00.832 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus taught us. 06:02.425 --> 06:09.351 [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. 06:10.032 --> 06:12.554 [SPEAKER_00]: For out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks. 06:13.695 --> 06:19.260 [SPEAKER_00]: If our hearts are surrendered to our Lord, our words will manifest His love and draw others to Him. 06:20.401 --> 06:22.042 [SPEAKER_00]: What treasure will your heart produce today? 06:24.744 --> 06:27.086 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to the daily article podcast. 06:27.858 --> 06:37.220 [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.