Where were you on September 16, 2001? Yes, you read the date correctly. I didn’t mean September 11. I am asking if you remember where you were five days later, Sunday, September 16, 2001.I remember where I was. I had just begun my Ph.D. studies at Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY, and my wife and I were still visiting churches in thearea. That Sunday, we attended Clifton Baptist Church. Dr. Tom Schreiner, my doctoral supervisor and the pastor at Clifton, delivered a message from Luke 13 and reminded us of the sobering warning from Jesus: “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). I heard a word from…
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Rosie O’Donnell: Christianity Is More Dangerous Than Radical Islam
Maybe you missed it, but Rosie O’Donnell made some outrageous remarks on “The View” this week. In an exchange with Elisabeth Hasselbeck, O’Donnell said that “Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America where we have a separation of church and state.”You can watch the video of O’Donnell’s remarks by clicking here. Hasselbeck countered O’Donnell’s comments by saying that, “We are not bombing ourselves here in the country. We are being attacked.” Even cohost Joy Behar was compelled to respond to O’Donnell’s outlandish claims saying, “Christians are not threatening to kill us. This group (radical Islamists) is threatening to kill us.” I think most…
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Bob Casey Betrays Pro-life Principles
I just finished listening to the latest “Meet the Press” podacast (see transcript), and I am profoundly disappointed in “pro-life” candidate Bob Casey. Democrat Bob Casey is challenging Republican Rick Santorum for his seat in the U.S. Senate, and it is one of the most watched races in the country. They met on “Meet the Press” this past Sunday to debate the issues.When Tim Russert asked Casey about his position on the so-called “morning after pill,” Bob Casey took a position that cannot be reconciled with his previously stated belief that life begins at conception. Here’s the exchange between Casey and Russert: MR. RUSSERT: The morning-after pill. You in favor…
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Stained-Glass Ceiling for Women as Pastors?
A recent article in the New York Times claims that even in more mainline denominations that ordain women as pastors, very few women are being called to pastor larger churches. Women now make up 51 percent of the students in divinity school. But in the mainline Protestant churches that have been ordaining women for decades, women account for only a small percentage — about 3 percent, according to one survey by a professor at Duke University — of pastors who lead large congregations, those with average Sunday attendance over 350 (source). So why is it that so few egalitarian/feminist churches actually employ women as lead pastors? Here’s my theory. God…
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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 B”
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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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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Bessie Marie Criswell, R.I.P.
“Mrs. W.A. (Betty) Criswell – “Mrs. C” as she was affectionately called – taught the Bible for over 70 years, most of those here at First Baptist Church of Dallas. She devoted herself to Dr. Criswell’s gospel ministry during his life, and after his death continued to preserve his legacy through First Baptist Church and The Criswell College.”Mrs. C was a blessing and a beacon to all who knew her, as well as the many thousands who listened from her radio audience. We mourn her loss as a church family and staff and celebrate her homegoing to see her Savior face to face, Whom she has so wonderfully served.” –From…
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Victim of Truck-jacking Speaks
A four hour car chase captivated the Dallas/Ft.Worth area on Sunday. Samuel Scott Jones hijacked Christie Bundren’s 18-wheeler, kidnapped her in the process, and forced her at gunpoint to flee from police for four hours under threat of death. It seemed that everyone in the Metroplex was tuned in and praying for the safe release of this poor woman and for a peaceful conclusion to the kidnapping. Thankfully, she was released, and the ordeal did end peacefully.The victim was interviewed this morning on Good Morning America, and you can watch the entire conversation here: “Woman Truckjacked at Gunpoint.”