Pilgrim’s Progress

According to The Economist: “Killed, aborted or neglected, at least 100m girls have disappeared—and the number is rising.”

Blogging about the story, Southern Baptist’s Dr. Al Mohler states, “In other words, even as the spread of ultrasound technology has greatly aided the pro-life movement by making the humanity of the unborn baby visible and undeniable, among those determined to give birth only to baby boys, in millions of cases the same technology has meant a death warrant for a baby girl in the womb.”

Read the rest here.

One of my favorite public intellectuals, Dr. Allan Carlson, does it again with this masterpiece:

Eighteen months of severe recession have brought to the surface old truths that many chose to forget when times seemed to be good: the business cycle has not been eliminated; finance capitalism is by its nature unstable; politically-connected corporations commonly escape market discipline; and there is nothing conservative about the “creative destruction” of a capitalist economy.

Indeed, a curious aspect of political labeling in America has been the conflation of the word “conservative” with the interests of the great corporations. The problem is an old one. As one commentator noted in the mid 1930’s, the label “conservative” had then been thoroughly “discredited,” twisted by the “apostles of plutocracy” into a defense of “gamblers and promoters.”

Read more about third ways and a family-centered economy here.

Hat tip: JR

Though liberals do a great deal of talking about hearing other points of view, it sometimes shocks them to learn that there are other points of view.

-William F. Buckley, Jr.

According to this new analysis from the Southern Baptist’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, the President’s health care plan advances abortion, in that:

• funding goes to Planned Parenthood;
• subsidies go toward insurance plans that cover elective abortions; and
• there is no language in the bill that speaks to barring federal funding of elective abortions.

This even after the Stupak amendment had passed and made clear the will of Congress. This is an absolute outrage!

A few days ago on Twitter, I said this: “If you’re living your Christian faith in a way that no one knows you have one, you’re doing it wrong.” I’d like to discuss that in a bit more detail.

In Christian circles, we talk a lot about a “personal faith” in Jesus Christ, or a “personal walk,” etc. While I think those terms are appropriate, I think there’s some confusion about the word “personal.” For many, both in the Church and out of it, “personal” has come to mean “private.” Certainly, there are many outside the church that would be happy if we were treat our faith as private, keeping it to ourselves and “out of their faces.” Inside the church, many Believers are perfectly content to sit on their hands, so to speak, enjoying their faith in silence. Unfortunately for them, that’s not what the Bible tells us.

All through the Gospels, we see clear indications that, while our faith is personal (that is, it’s a faith that each of us must hold, not relying on that of another), it’s meant to public. For example, in Matthew 5, we are told that we are “the light of the world,” that “a city set on a hill can not be hidden,” and to “[l]et your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” The apostle Peter wrote in I Peter, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

Most importantly, Jesus’ last words to his disciples before his ascension included what we call The Great Commission. In this short piece of Scripture, we’re told to go, to make, to baptize, to teach. While the nature of you’re involvement is not something someone else can tell you, I think it’s safe to say that if you’re not involved in this great commission in some way, you are, indeed, doing it wrong.

Brian McLaren is “a prominent, controversial voice in the emergent church movement.” Like many in the emergent church movement, though, he has been, at least for me and apparently a few others, difficult to pin down on exactly what he thinks. That has all changed, it seems, with the publication of his book, A New Kind of Christianity. Melinda at Stand to Reason has a nice discussion of the tome, including some counter-arugments at the end. If you’re a fan of McLaren’s, or, like me, wondering what he believes, this should be a very helpful discussion.

“No man is justified in doing evil on the grounds of expediency.”

-Theodore Roosevelt

Bearing ourselves humbly before God … we await undismayed the impending assault … be the ordeal sharp or long, or both, we shall seek no terms, we shall tolerate no parlay; we may show mercy – we shall ask for none.

–Sir Winston Churchill, BBC Broadcast, London, July 14, 1940

Not V-Day. Not even plain Valentine’s Day.

I hope everyone had a happy Saint Valentine’s Day!

This is not the best writing on his life, but read about Valentinus: priest, bishop, martyr, true Christian saint.

A panel of Oklahoma House of Representatives passed House Bill 2321 which allows “the state Board of Education to adopt guidelines for the nonsectarian, nonreligious academic study of the Bible and its influence on literature, art, music, culture and politics.”

“This lays some ground fire to back these teachers who would like to refer to the Bible,” said bill author Rep. Todd Russ. “It’s intended to be an additional tool for presenting our heritage and the history of America and the value system of America and where it came from.”

I appreciate Rep. Russ’ description of “ground fire.” It reminds me of the line from the song “Pass It On” that says it only takes a spark to get a fire going. May this Bible teaching fire continue to spread throughout our country.