When God created us, He “created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27, emphasis added). He then initiated the first marriage (2:24) and the family (4:1-2). At our creation, God also included a command: “…Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth…” (1:28). Have we forgotten?

Japan made news recently when its government initiated a dating and marriage app to create couples. Why? The number of marriages and the birth rate are at an all-time low. In fact, the current birth rate of 1.2 per woman is well below that which is needed (2.1) to sustain the population. The Japanese government realizes that history indicates that if not corrected, they are a nation in decline. 

There are several species of wild goats of the genus Capra living in Israel and in the mountainous regions of Europe, Southwest Asia, and Northeast Africa (French “bouquetin”; Italian “stambecco”; and Alpine “steinbock”). The ibex is translated as “mountain goats” in the Bible, but it is not to be confused with the North American and Alaskan wild variety which is in a different genus Oreamnos.

Louisiana became the first state in more than forty years to require public schools and universities to display the Ten Commandments. Under the new statute, by January 1, 2025, a framed display at least eleven by fourteen inches in size with “large, easily readable font” must be on display in every public school building and classroom, from kindergarten to college.