The New York Times Magazine has a heartbreaking article on yet another monument to the culture of death—pregnancy reduction. In case you have never heard the term, here’s what pregnancy reduction is in a nutshell. When a pregnant mother is carrying two or more babies in her womb, she can choose to kill one or more of those babies while allowing others to live. According to pro-choicers, pregnancy reduction is a practice that began years ago to reduce health risks for women carrying multiples. Pro-choicers have also reasoned that pregnancy reduction increases chances for surviving multiples to make it to term.
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Paige Patterson with Mark Dever at the SBC
Paige Patterson and Mark Dever sat down for a lengthy discussion at the Southern Baptist Convention a couple of months ago, and the video of the event is now online at SWBTS.edu. The event was sponsored by 9Marks ministries. (HT: Marcus Glover)
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Akin, Mohler, and Platt with Dever at SBC
Here’s another video from a “9Marks at 9” event at the SBC earlier this summer. This one is Danny Akin, Albert Mohler, David Platt, and Mark Dever. (HT: Marcus Glover)
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Boy Survives after Being under Water for 20 Minutes
A twelve year old boy named Dale Ostrander was with his church youth group on a beach trip when he was pulled out to sea by a rip current. Reports say that he was under water and without oxygen for about 20 minutes. He was expected to die, or at best, to be a vegetable for the rest of his life. It turns out that the prognosis was wrong.
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Another Important Postscript on the Wild Goose Festival
A few weeks ago, I wrote a “post-op” piece on the recent “Wild Goose Festival” that included a variety of reports about how the conference went. It turned out to be a kind of would-be-Woodstock for Emergent church types. The speaker line-up was a list of progressive all-stars: Brian McLaren, Jim Wallis, Shane Claiborne, Tony Jones, and many others. Musicians included Derek Webb, Jennifer Knapp, and others. A reporter from The Economist said that about 1,500 people showed up, and they included “artists and musicians, nonconformists, post-Christians, non-Christians, disaffected evangelicals and a liberal evangelical subset known as the ’emergent’ church.”
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Christian Musician Says Complementarianism is “Oppression”
Vicky Beeching is a British contemporary Christian musician and worship leader who has recorded five albums since 2002. If you have never heard of her before, then chances are that you have heard at least one of her songs. She co-wrote the popular anthem “Glory to God Forever,” and churches across the country routinely include this song during worship services. Recently Beeching posted a critical remark about Complementarianism on her Facebook page (see below), and then invited readers to respond with “BIBLICALLY BACKED UP, theologically well explained” responses. So I’ve decided to take her up on her invitation in this space. I thought this would be a great opportunity to…
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Newsflash: Christians Continue To Hold Christian Beliefs
Stop the presses! Newsflash from NBC’s Jamie Novogrod! Here’s the scoop: Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann yesterday attended a church here in Iowa, where the pastor called homosexuality “immoral” and “unnatural,” and later showed a testimonial video from a man who claimed to have been gay before having a conversation with God. Hold on a minute. A Christian presidential candidate visits a Christian church that espouses Christian doctrine. I don’t know about you, but I’m not exactly sure what is so newsworthy about this report. Let’s think through the possibilities. Which of the following do you think makes this item newsworthy?
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How Long Is Too Long for a Sermon?
Pastors, if you are not following Brian Croft’s “Practical Shepherding” blog, you need to. He consistently has great, relevant content that I think you would find helpful. His latest post is titled, “How Long Should My Sermons Be When I Preach?” And it’s about just what you think it’s about—the length of your sermons. Brian doesn’t mandate a certain length, but rather gives a set of principles to consider. He says that pastor should determine the length of his sermon… 1) Based on where your people are, not where you think they should be. 2) Based on how good and seasoned a preacher you are. 3) To leave your people…
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Fascinating Interview with Tim Challies
Is there a code among Christian bloggers that determines who writes what and when? Is there any competition among Christian bloggers? Are there any topics that are off-limits? These are but three questions from a fascinating interview with Christian uber-blogger Tim Challies. Challies.com is one of the most widely read Christian blogs on the planet, and I found his answers to the questions to be refreshingly candid. There are sixteen questions in all (see below), and you can read Challie’s answers here.
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J. I. Packer Delivers the Sermon at John Stott’s Memorial
(HT: John Starke)