I already knew what his views were, but it is jarring to hear the words coming out of his mouth. In a speech to Planned Parenthood from last year (see video above), Senator Barack Obama favors the right to an abortion at every stage of pregnancy. In addition, he cites his opposition in the Illinois State legislature to the legal protection of babies that are born alive as a result of a failed abortion. This opposition was based on the argument that giving medical treatment to such babies after they are born might erode a woman’s right to choose as established by Roe. In Obama’s America, some babies who are…
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NRO: An Open-Letter to Senator Obama
Sherif Girgis is a senior philosophy major at Princeton University who recently wrote the following open-letter to Senator Barack Obama. Girgis gets right to the heart of the matter on the life issue, and the implicit critique of Obama is devastating. The article is posted at National Review Online.
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Hold Them Back
Sanctity of Human Life Sunday is a national observation and affirmation of life. This observance coincides with the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the ruling which made abortion legal on January 22, 1973. Sanctity of Human Life Sunday is usually observed on the Sunday that is closest to the January 22 anniversary. My church observed on last Sunday, and what follows is the lesson that I taught there in my Bible Study class.
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A Meditation on the 20th Anniversary of 9/11
I’ll never forget where I was on September 11, 2001. My wife and I were in our second year of marriage, and we were living in Louisville, Kentucky while I was working on my Ph.D. On the morning of the attacks, I had a seminar later that day, and I was in our apartment when she called me from her work to tell me to turn the television on. I think both buildings had already been struck by the time I tuned in, but I was watching live television as the towers eventually crumbled to the ground. Americans were horrified by what we saw that day. As the flames engulfed…
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What the Gospel Is
Evangelicals sometimes have ways of speaking and communicating that actually leave out crucial aspects of the gospel. Perhaps the following scenario will be familiar to you. A parent comes to me and says, “Pastor, my 8-year old child wants to meet with you about getting baptized.” We agree to meet, I sit down with the parent and with the child, and I say, “Johnny, why do you want to get baptized?” He replies, “Because I don’t want to go to hell.” I clarify, “Yes, but Johnny, getting baptized doesn’t save you. You have to accept Jesus into your heart in order to be saved.” Johnny askes, “How do I do…
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“Ready Player One” and Three Is the Magic Number
I just finished the book Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, also known as The Greatest Story Ever Told. Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever come across a more heavy-handed retelling of the gospel narrative in a novel. Nor have I had more fun with a novel than this one. To be sure, this is not a book for children. It has adult language and themes and definitely not something for your family read-aloud. Nevertheless, it’s as if Cline has aimed this book at people born in 1972 and weaned on 80’s pop-culture. The book is a nostalgia-filled Geek-fest for Gen X’ers like me. It’s also a book that offers…
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The Strangest Thing about the Christian Faith
The strangest thing about the Christian faith is not our views on sexuality or politics. Those things are not even our most controversial of claims. The strangest thing about us is what the apostle Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4: 3 that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He has been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. To be sure, that Jesus died is not the controversial part. Even unbelieving pagans agree with the death of Jesus as an historical fact. They don’t, however, agree…
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Jesus Christ, the perfect “has been”
The strangest thing about the Christian faith is not our views on sexuality or politics. Those things are not even our most controversial of claims. The strangest thing about us is what the apostle Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4: 3 that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He has been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. To be sure, that Jesus died is not the controversial part. Even unbelieving pagans agree with the death of Jesus as an historical fact. They don’t, however, agree…
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Do you know who our last living WW1 veteran was?
I have been enjoying William Manchester’s magisterial three-volume biography of Winston Churchill. Right now, I’m in the first volume when Churchill served as the First Lord of the Admiralty during World War 1. Reading about that war got me to wondering whether there were any American veterans of that conflict still alive today. It turns out that our last one passed away three years ago, and his name was Frank W. Buckles. Not many people born during the administration of President McKinley lived to have a Facebook page, but Mr. Buckles did. He was 110 years old when he died in 2011.
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Michael Bloomberg: “I’ve earned my place in heaven.”
Former Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg is an activist for a number of causes. As a result, he believes that he is a shoe-in for heaven. The New York Times reports: But if he senses that he may not have as much time left as he would like, he has little doubt about what would await him at a Judgment Day. Pointing to his work on gun safety, obesity and smoking cessation, he said with a grin: “I am telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven.…
