I don’t know when, where, or why Dr. Mohler appeared in this little spoof, but I thought it was funny enough to pass along to you.“Mohler-McLaughlin Sessions†– YouTube (HT: Barry Joslin)
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Justin Taylor on the Emerging Church
I get asked all the time, “What is the emerging church?†Usually when this happens, what they want is just a quick definition of what it is and whether or not they should be for it or agin’ it. So I give them my thumb-nail definition and a brief evaluation and critique of the movement.But I have one more resource to give to them, now that Justin Taylor has written his own brief definition and evaluation of the emerging church. His short essay, “An Emerging Church Primer,†is a part of the most recent 9Marks Newsletter, and it is a helpful introduction to a very complicated and diverse movement. Justin…
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Jada Bown Swanson: A “Plan C†Testimony
Introductory Note from Denny: If “Plan A†is the effective use of contraceptives and “Plan B†is the use of a drug that has the potential to cause the miscarriage of an unborn baby, then “Plan C†would be yet another way that one might deal with an unplanned pregnancy. An old friend of mine from college left an extended comment on my previous post “Propaganda and ‘Plan B.’†In that comment, Jada Bown Swanson shares her own “Plan C†testimony, which she has given me permission to share with all of you. What follows is Jada’s story in her own words. Thank you, Jada, for your story with us.…
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Propaganda and “Plan Bâ€
The FDA has just approved the use of a non-prescription “morning after†pill. According to the Associated Press, “Women may buy the morning-after pill without a prescription — but only with proof they’re 18 or older†(source).Anyone who reads this blog knows that I believe this to be a tragic development. I say that because the so-called “morning after†pill can act as an abortifacient. How does “Plan B†work? It is essentially a heavier dose of birth control pills that a woman takes within 72 hours of sexual intercourse. The “emergency contraception†works to restrict ovulation in a woman. But it also can act after conception by blocking implantation…
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Embryonic Stem-Cell Research: Okay after All?
Today’s New York Times reports that “Biologists have developed a technique for establishing colonies of human embryonic stem cells from an early human embryo without destroying it. This method, if confirmed in other laboratories, would seem to remove the principal objection to the research†(source).If this article is any indication, I think the proponents of this research have yet to grasp the moral implications of experimenting on embryonic humans. While we can be thankful that this new technigue doesn’t kill the embryo, there still remains the obvious ethical problem of using human beings for spare parts. Moreover, this new technique doesn’t even address the widespread practice of in vitro fertilization…
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The Bush Doctrine: Alive and Well
In a recent issue of Commentary Magazine, Norman Podhoretz says that the Bush doctrine is alive and well. He contradicts mischaracterizations of the Bush doctrine that allege the Bush doctrine to be an ideology of unilateralism. Podhoretz shows that many of Bush’s detractors simply misrepresent and misunderstand what the Bush doctrine is.Readers of this blog know that I am in fundamental agreement with Podhoretz on this one (see my “Time Magazine Takes a Whack at Bush and Misses“). I commend to you Podhoretz’s full essay: “Is the Bush Doctrine Dead.â€
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Stanley Hauerwas: Why So Asinine?
I know Stanley Hauerwas is a provocateur who is often given to hyperbole, but I am having real trouble with something that he said at the 2003 Emergent Convention. The recording of the lecture is the latest download from the Emergent Village podast. I won’t attempt to critique the entire talk, but there was one sentence that jumped out to me: To suggest that hope in afterlife is a way to deal with death is about as stupid as suggesting we ought to have children because they’re our hope in our future (Stanley Hauerwas, 2003 Emergent Convention).
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Southern Baptist Mistake
Pastor Mark Dever writes that Southern Baptists made a huge mistake at their convention in Greensboro, South Carolina when they refused to consider a resolution calling for intergrity in church membership. He writes: When a question was raised about the propriety of allowing those who are able to attend church, but who never do to remain members of our churches, the answer was given that this was in order to keep the names as “prospectsâ€. Presumably, the intention is that our prior contact with them gives us an excuse for contacting them personally. . . For me to allow my local congregation to continue on, with people in membership regularly…
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Petitioning for Life: A Story of Survival
In today’s Wall Street Journal, Julia Gorin declares “I was not aborted.†Why is she making this proclamation? She is responding to a petition being circulated by Ms. Magazine that invites women to declare publicly “I had an abortion.†It’s hard to believe that anyone (even readers of Ms. Magazine) would relish the opportunity to announce such a thing, but Ms. Gorin thinks that the antidote to such foolishness is for nearly-aborted people to tell their own stories.Ms. Gorin does tell her story in this piece, and it is a poignant and powerful narrative of her mother’s decision to buck the Soviet norm in order to have a second child.…
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Hezbollah Balks: Is Anyone Surprised?
“Hezbollah refused to disarm and withdraw its fighters from the battle-scarred hills along the border with Israel on Tuesday, threatening to delay deployment of the Lebanese army and endangering a fragile cease-fire†(Washington Post).Is anyone surprised that Hezbollah is refusing to disarm and to pull out of South Lebanon? Is anyone one surprised that Hezbollah is jeopardizing the cease-fire brokered at the U.N.? Does anyone have any more doubts about who is gunning for a prolonged fight? I hope not. Read on: “Hezbollah Balks At Withdrawal From the South†– Washington Post