There is an evolution occurring in our society; not in the sense of the development of new plant and animal species, but in the gradual change of what society considers its moral base. The list of taboos in place in society just a few decades ago is rapidly evolving into a new moral base.

The debate has raged for more than a century over the question of the origins of the universe. Has the universe always existed? If not, when did it come into existence—and how did it come into existence?

Today in our society, we seem to be inundated with visual images of human sexuality. You see it everywhere: ads in the newspaper, scenes on television and movies with partial nudity, magazines, the internet, and on the street or at the beach with people wearing tight or skimpy enough clothing that screams: "Look at me!" It all generates roving eyes and roving minds. Is all this perfectly harmless, or does it have a potential impact that can harm us if left unchecked?

Not only does God talk about Jerusalem in the Bible, but many of the other cities and nations of the ancient world—their future—is described right in the pages of your own Bible. Now back in the same general time period when Jerusalem and Judah were reduced to captive parts of the Babylonian Empire, there was another great city state right on the Mediterranean. It was the city of Tyre. This was a city-state that had existed for centuries; it was a major commercial center. Tyre was part of a major commercial empire that included the entire Mediterranean world. The city of Carthage in North Africa had been founded as its colony.

In recent years, amazing progress has been made in mapping the genetic blueprint of many bacteria and viruses that can cause human disease. The more we understand the genetic code of these microbes, the greater the promise of learning to control their deadly nature. Researchers have held out the possibility of developing new vaccines and antibiotics for all sorts of deadly human diseases.