Another man’s trash
Today in his Outtakes, Joe from Evangelical Outpost links to a great piece by Macht about common ESCR arguments.
At prosthesis he says:
For the ESCR opponent, the ethical question then isn’t “Should we throw out these embryos and let them go to waste or use them for something good?” If this were the dilemma, this might be a good argument. Rather the ethical question is “Should we kill human beings in order to perform research on them?” I hope the answer is obvious.
Abraham’s ordeal
Abraham Cherrix was done with chemotherapy. The 16-year-old went through one round to combat his Hodgkin’s disease. When the cancer came back again, Abraham and his parents decided to go against the doctors’ advice and instead try an organic diet under supervision from a clinic in Mexico. That was their plan until a social worker asked a juvenile court judge to require the teen to continue conventional treatment.
On Friday, the judge ordered Abraham to report to a hospital to begin treatment and awarded social services joint custody with the parents. Yesterday, a circuit court judge suspended the original judge’s orders and set a trial date of August 16.
One Nation Under God
Previously, I have recommended two relatively centrist resources on the religious history of our country, Meacham’s book American Gospel (the post has a great lecture by him as well), as well as Boyd’s Myth of a Christian Nation. I also have mentioned Goldberg’s more liberal Rise of Christian Nationalism.
Today, however, I’d like to recommend the very right One Nation Under God site, from Presbyterian D. James Kennedy. He offers a video and one paltry article on the Constitution. Although spun a little, he shows the significant impact and faith of the founders on the foundations of the U.S. He also offers some audio clips. I saw the special, it was a too short introduction to the Christian heritage of our country.
Modern messianic marketing
Everyone in the world falls into one of two camps on a messiah – they have found one or they are looking for one. Even secularists, especially secularists, have their messiahs and embrace them with fundamentalist, evangelistic fervor.
Misquoting Jesus
One of the most prolific and intelligent critics of the scriptures and their integrity is Bart Ehrman, who I have written about before (see Who’s Afraid of Bart Ehrman?). One of his books, Misquoting Jesus, has, like the DaVinci Code, started what could become an industry of counter-point books. The first I’ve seen is Dillon Burroughs’ Misquotes in Misquoting Jesus: Why You can Still Believe. The author looks about 20 years old, and the reviews are mixed. But it looks interesting.
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A potential debate
Potential is a fantastic concept. It drives a large portion of our actions, weighing the possibly benefits and consequences before making a decision.
Those in favor of embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) constantly cite potential as the reason to push past any ethical qualms. However, those opposed to ESCR may also appeal to potential both in the negative consequences of federally funding ESCR and the positive benefits to establishing the personhood of the human embryo.
The Doctrines of Men
Thirsty Theologian has a great post on an issue Aaron has commented on previously: the Southern Baptist Convention’s unbiblical prohibition of alcohol use by its membership. (Hat tip: Evangelical Outpost)
The argument that this resolution is a clear violation of Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone is authority over the life of a Christian) is compelling. In fact, I’m not sure which is worse: the fact that the SBC would sink to such depths of legalism or that the passage cited to justify the resolution was ripped totally out of context and twisted to justify the convention’s actions.
This is, of course, nothing new for the SBC or other churches, for that matter. Different groups have longed try to use Scripture to justify positions that are not directly addressed in God’s word. These teachings are what Jesus referred to as the "doctrines of men".
When our attention becomes focused on issues of Christian liberty and practical applications of God’s word (in which there can be legitimate disagreement) rather than Scripture itself, Christians run the risk of becoming irrelevant and losing our influence in a world that so desperately needs to hear the truth.
Tolerance Clarified
One of the frustrating things about the debates over homosexuality is the constant accusation of "hate" from the pro-gay side of the debate. I previously wrote a post discussing the various types of disagreement that are often misunderstood as hate (see What is Hate). Just this week, Greg Koukl at Worldview Weekend wrote a very nice article echoing some of my sentiments on the often juvenile and illogical hate accusations made by pro-gay apologists.
Stem cells: behind the hype
While the media informs us the nation and the international community are in an uproar over President Bush’s first veto – expansion of federal funding of embryonic stem cell research (ESCR), an actual investigation of the facts tends to deflate much of the hype involved in the stem cell debate.
What is compassion?
Many conservatives are often forced to answer the question “why don’t you care?” or some similar inquiry. More often than not, the accuser simply avoids the questioning route all together and simply states, “you have no compassion.”
Thanks in large part to the media, the left has become the party of compassion, while the right is a collection of cold-hearted individuals. What seperates the two sides and what role does compassion play for either?
The new blogging pastor
Washington Post has a neat article, Cyber-Savvy Pastors Blog When the Spirit Moves Them, dealing with pastors who blog and the impact it has on their congregations.
Feminists Fail to Condemn Genocidal Sex-Selection Abortion
A new report shows that that India has aborted over 10 MILLION female fetuses based solely on their gender, and will abort up to 1 Million more each year unless something changes. However, the illogically selfish and unbalanced pro-choice position forces most of its adherents to be unable to condemn this criminal genocide, or "foeticide." As I’ve asked before in GATTACA Comes to Life, where does it stop? Liberal theology is unable to manage this because it is faulty.
But it’s not just liberal reasoning that is at fault – it’s the value system of the Indian culture that devalues women. We must encourage the promotion of equality and justice in such countries. And we should continue to evangelize them as well.
Books on Prayer
Jesus Creed has a nice list of books on prayer, and I thought to add my favorites:
- With Christ in the School of Prayer by Murray
- Could You Not Tarry One Hour by Larry Lea
- The Fourth Dimension vol. II by Yonggi Cho
- Revival Praying by Ravenhill
- Listening Prayer: Learning to Hear God’s Voice and Keep a Prayer Journal by Leanne Payne
- Restoring the Christian Soul: Overcoming Barriers to Completion in Christ Through Healing Prayer by Leanne Payne
- The Hour that Changes the World by Dick Eastman
Defining academic freedom
Just so everyone is clear. It is perfectly okay to teach that “9-11 was probably an American operation to launch a war on Islam countries.”
Journey to Manhood Weekends
Peoplecanchange.com has three upcoming weekend events for men who want help healing their SSA. The events are in Utah, Southern California, and Jacksonville, and are billed this way:
Journey into Manhood is a weekend of experiential exercises and inner-healing processes for men who are serious about working to overcome and resolve unwanted homosexual desires. The retreat is designed to help you:
- look at the inner perceptions that you project onto the outer world – perceptions that may be cutting you off from the male world, your own masculinity, and your ability to relate romantically with women;
- explore your feelings about men and women, masculinity and femininity, and your own self-image (or "gender esteem") that may be blocking you from growing fully into manhood;
- gain a clearer vision to see — and greater passion to make — the changes you need to make in your life to become the man you want to be and to live the life you want to live.
The real tragedy of the subway plot
Now that we know a little more about those behind the New York City subway plot, the real question becomes: did we violate their civil rights by spying on them or intercepting their communications?
For some reason the media, who has been all against NSA wiretapping of terrorist phone calls, monitoring of the financial movements of terrorists and the general spying on terrorists, seems to be silent about the potential violations of these human beings’ rights. When can we expect the stories championing their freedom of speech? When will the expose of the evil Bush regime’s role in this begin?
Global Warming Panic
Nice review of the current global warming debate at Uncommon Descent, which I’ve broken down into an outline by inserting bullets. You should also read through the comments at the link above – very instructive:
- A great many scientists have claimed that global warming is a fact (it is) and
- while conceding it is cyclical to some degree (it is)
- they say that human activity is accelerating it (it is).
- The problem is there’s no consensus on what we need to do to stop it (or even if we can stop it at all), what it will cost to stop it, who will bear the economic cost of stopping it, and what it would cost if we did nothing and just dealt with the consequences as they arose.
- We don’t have enough information to make an informed economic decision.
- Scientists might think it’s okay to run off half cocked like Chicken Little saying the sky is falling and throwing any money they can beg, borrow, or steal at the problem but businessmen don’t think it’s okay to do that. They need to know the cost of action, the cost of inaction, and who pays those costs. President Bush in his great wisdom has said as much. We need better information to make an informed decision about what to do.
“Left Behind” Video Game Continues to Get Free Publicity
Did anyone else see the short spot on CNN Headline news yesterday on the controversial Left Behind video game? I can’t seem to pull it up on their site. However, the lefties are still hemming and hawing over it, but what really make me laugh was this japanese (?) gamer who reviewed it in Christian Game Surprisingly Damn Good:
Yes, you can play on the side of the anti-Christ. Yes, you get power-ups in the form of Bible scripture. Yes, you have to pray to keep your spirit levels up. Yes, there is a ton of violence and carnage. Yes, Kirk Cameron is in the game. Maybe. I think I saw his righteous afro on an in-game billboard. But, no, we can’t make fun of it just yet. Damn it. Why’d it have to be good?!
I might even have to pick it up when it hits the $20 bin at Circuit City.
Somebody didn’t tell the economy
While liberals continue to rail against the "tax cuts for the wealthy," Bush tax cuts continue to help the nation as a whole, including bringing in more tax revenues from the middle class and poor corporations and the rich.
Darwinian Fundamentalists Take Action Against Open Inquiry in Kansas
In 2005 the Kansas state board of education (KSBOE) voted to adopt science standards that require students to learn both the scientific evidence and for and against the theory of evolution. No requirement to learn other theories, just the strengths and weaknesses of the evolutionary model. Now, it seems that Kansas Citizens for Science (KCFS) is now actively telling schools and teachers to disobey the state-sanctioned standards.
But trying to hold back open inquiry is like trying to hold back the tide of real science. Of course, it’s not just the "dummies" in Kansas that are calling for intellectual openness – South Carolina, Mexico, Minnesota and Pennsylvania also have such standards now in place.
If you’d like to do something to help the poor citizens of Kansas defend themselves against the heathen hordes, you can go and sign the petition at standupforscience.com.
