May 2008

I just read this article about an Australian baby who was born after an ectopic pregnancy, which occurs when a fertilized egg develops outside of the uterus.

The birth is described as “a medical phenomenon” as such pregnancy usually miscarries or is terminated by doctors because of the threat it can cause to the mother.

A justifiable argument for the practice of abortion is potential harm to the birth mother. However, I believe this wonderful event demonstrates God’s sovereignty. This is why I believe whoever came up with the horrible term of “reproductive rights” is foolish.

My head is still shaking negatively. Scott McClellan has surrendered to the almighty dollar.

The former White House press secretary’s recent book release is a so-called ”tell all” about his time serving the Bush administration. I have no intentions of reading this book because I don’t see, in the long run, how it can benefit.

It will not change anybody’s mind about President Bush or going to war in Iraq. It won’t affect the upcoming election. The only thing it does is stir the water cooler and provide another media headline for the week.

McClellan will sell some books, but I believe there will be long-term damage for him. McClellan already was forgotten when the ever-impressive Tony Snow replaced him. Whatever smear this book reveals will cause McClellan to be considered a weasel more so than a patriot.

I remember a statement my pastor once said. “What I say about you says more about me than it does about you.”

Whatever truth McClellan believes he’s sharing in his book will not bode well for himself. I may be in the minority for now, but I believe history will look favorably on President George W. Bush. McClellan will only enjoy his riches for a brief season.

In Numbers 12, the Bible calls Moses was the meekest (or most humble) man in all the earth. We also know that Moses himself composed the Book of Numbers. Here you have a rare case in which someone became aware of their humble nature and yet somehow retained it.

Recall in his masterpiece, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis says, “The vice I am talking about is Pride or Self-Conceit: and the virtue opposite to it, in Christian morals, is called Humility. You may remember, when I was talking about sexual morality, I warned you that the centre of Christian morals did not lie there. Well, now we have come to the centre. According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea-bites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.”

He goes on to say, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”

I may have stumbled upon two other Christians who have realized the danger of pride, but are calling for wearing the badge of humilty. The first is the author of this book who calls for “humble apologetics,” the second is this group calling for “a humble orthodoxy.”

I apologize for the delay in blogging, but I went on a nice fishing trip with the family. A bit of personal news: my best friend and his wife just had their (second) child, a baby boy, today. Ultimately, that is just about the most pro-life thing you can do.

On Stand To Reason’s blog, they have an entry up title, “The Irrelevance of Relevance.”  It’s an interesting discussion of the modern church’s appeal to be “relevant” (which I think means that churches want to show they’re hip, wit’ it, cool, etc.) and how those efforts may actually be contributing to the declining church numbers:

A very interesting and sobering thought, especially after just hearing about the possibility of a new service at my church becoming even “edgier” and more like a “TV church” (which is a topic for another day).

If you are an avid reader of this blog, you would know that America’s abortion laws are some of the least restrictive in the world. You would likewise know that Britain has far more restrictive laws, and tonight, those could become even better.

This evening, Members of Parliament “will debate a cut in the time-limit for abortion from 24 to 20 weeks.” Notice that even the debate is on “when” not if to restriction abortion, which is impressive. Though it probably should not surprise me that the nation that abolished slavery without an epic war is working their way toward abolishing abortion-on-demand before we do.

Hat tip on the story: JR

Update: If you thought Britain as a whole was good, northern Ireland has it even better. In the land of strife between Catholics and Protestants, there is one thing they can agree on.

So I just saw The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, “a 2008 fantasy film based on Prince Caspian, the … published novel in C. S. Lewis’ children’s fantasy series.”

I give it four stars (out of four), and you could make a good case for it being better than the first movie. Having just read the book, it was obvious where the differences were. As a non-purist though, I was not annoyed and rather liked the adaption for the silver screen. The acting was superb, as the children were even better than in The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe. The action was intense, and the storyline beat the pants off any Harry Potter movie (not that I have seen all of them).

If you’re looking for a good movie to see this week, while the showings of Indiana Jones 4 are sold out, you owe it to yourself to see this one.

“The country’s leading abortion provider celebrated Mother’s Day by asking for donations in honor of mothers. Inconceivable, you might say—not if it is Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA).” Read more here.

By any standard, Alexander Solzhenitsyn was one of the most important figures of the 20^th Century. His writings and Christlike example are remarkable.

To explain his rarity, Solzhenitsyn’s Thursday, June 8, 1978 Commencement Address at Harvard University gives us an example of one of the only good commencement addresses on record. Moreover, it provides one of the most thoughtful indictments of our western culture, which comes “ not from an adversary but a friend,” one who knew firsthand the tortures and evils of life in the communist Soviet Union.

“A decline in courage may be the most striking feature which an outside observer notices in the West in our days. The Western world has lost its civil courage, both as a whole and separately, in each country, each government, each political party, and, of course, in the United Nations. Such a decline in courage is particularly noticeable among the ruling groups and the intellectual elite, causing an impression of loss of courage by the entire society. Of course, there are many courageous individuals, but they have no determining influence on public life.”

Find the entire speech here.

One of my favorite think tanks, the Claremont Institute in California, has published two of the most important essays you can read concerning young men and women in American today.

‘Wimps and Barbarians: The Sons of Murphy Brown,’ follows the growing up of the fictional boy, “Avery, son of Murphy Brown,” and uses him as a springboard to warn against the two dangers for young men in America. You may recall, “Television’s Murphy Brown, played by Candice Bergen, was a successful news commentator who, after an unsuccessful relationship with a man that left her alone and pregnant, bore a son out of wedlock. The event, popular enough in its own right, became the center of political controversy when then Vice President Dan Quayle in a speech to the Commonwealth Club of California lamented that the show was ‘mocking the importance of a father.’”

The sister piece is entitled simply, ‘Heathers Compromise.’ It begins, “If we imagine that the decline of boys into wimps and barbarians has led inversely and categorically to the rise of girls, we would be gravely mistaken.”

Each piece does a superb job of showing what type of child, after years of rearing, you would not want to produce. Further, it points up the need for knowing what type of boy or girl you would like to raise, the golden mean between the extremes. In this writer’s case, that golden mean would be Christian Ladies and Gentlemen. That goal is easier said than done, but it is nice to at least have the goal.

Further suggested reading: ‘Dan Quayle Was Right‘ by Barbara Dafoe Whitehead.

There is little question in my mind that the 50s in America were a better time, in terms of social goodness and a thriving Christianity, than the decades following. A new piece in the superb journal, Touchstone Magazine, though, provides a provocative look back into that oft-lauded time and asks a few probing questions, such as:

“Are the 1950s in any way a useful model for American Christians of the twenty-first century? Would we like to go back? Would it be better, for instance, if the movie moguls returned to producing religious epics like The Ten Commandments, with their earnest depictions of the power of God? Would the renewal of prayers before football games in any way strengthen the fabric of public life?”

Their answer might surprise you. Read the feature here.

From an AP news story: “Conservative Christian leaders who believe the word ‘evangelical’ has lost its religious meaning plan to release a starkly self-critical document saying the movement has become too political and has diminished the Gospel through its approach to the culture wars.”

“The statement, called ‘An Evangelical Manifesto,’ condemns Christians on the right and left for ‘using faith’ to express political views without regard to the truth of the Bible, according to a draft of the document obtained Friday by The Associated Press.”

It looks like some heavy hitters have signed the document, such as Os Guiness and Rick Warren.

Update: Al Mohler has an important analysis of the manifesto. Also, I discovered that one of my favorite Christian thinkers of our day–and one of the most underrated–Timothy George, has signed the manifesto.