Month: March 2009

A debate on what Obama really said: When killing is OK

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I don’t think President Obama is that stupid. He says what he means, even when it comes off sounding insensitive. So, when he came out in a ceremony to announce that he was reversing policy by former President Bush to lift restrictions on embryonic stem cell research and said he strongly opposed reproductive cloning, I think he meant it.

I think he meant what he said because, narrowly defined, this would mean that he opposes the creation of embryonic stem cells for the purpose of implanting them in a womb for the birth of a cloned human. What he didn’t say, however, was he opposed therapeutic cloning of embryonic stem cells — human beings — for the purpose of destroying them later for research reasons. Is that a stretch? Consider this: When he was a senator from Illinois, he signed on in support of a bill to ban human reproductive cloning but would have allowed for therapeutic cloning.

Conservative Catholic scholars Robert George and Douglas Kmiec recently debated Obama’s executive order and their exchange was published in U.S. News and World Report online. Kmiec, although conservative, is an enthusiastic Obama supporter and argued from the position that Obama’s position is not as harsh as it sounds. George argues as I have above only much more thoroughly. The exchange is enlightening in that George shows how conservatives like Kmiec have overlooked much in their rush to support Obama.

Behold the Lamb of God, the precious wrath remover for all who believe

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There are three weeks until Easter, when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ after his sin-atoning death on the cross outside of Jerusalem approximately 2,000 years ago. Let us not forget or slight the magnitude of what that death means for all of us. From John Piper, pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis:

[W]e see this precious wrath-removal in John 3:36: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). This means that when John says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” he doesn’t mean that every person in the world is saved. He means every person in the world—Jew or Gentile—will be saved if they believe in Jesus and follow him. If they believe, their sin has been taken away by the Lamb. If they believe, God’s wrath has been removed by the Lamb.

There is no race, no nationality, no ethnicity, no socio-economic status excluded. To as many as receive him, who believe on his name (John 1:12), their sins are taken away (John 1:29; 1 John 3:5) and the wrath of God is removed (John 3:36; 1 John 2:2) and they are made the children of God (John 1:12) and given eternal life (John 3:16).

Don’t be dumb about praise, let it out

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Psalm 34:1

I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Here is how Charles Spurgeon comments on this verse in the collection The Treasury of David:

“His praise shall continually be in my mouth,” not in my heart merely, but in my mouth too. Our thankfulness is not to be a dumb thing; it should be one of the daughters of music. Our tongue is our glory, and it ought to reveal the glory of God. What a blessed mouthful is God’s praise! How sweet, how purifying, how perfuming! If men’s mouths were always thus filled, there would be no repining against God, or slander of neighbours. If we continually rolled this dainty morsel under our tongue, the bitterness of daily affliction would be swallowed up in joy. God deserves blessing with the heart, and extolling with the mouth – good thoughts in the closet, and good words in the world. (Volume 1, pp. 122-123)

HT: Fighter Verses

Reuniting victim with potential killer

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This is bizarre:

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) – A woman who gave birth in mid-air left the baby behind when she disembarked in Auckland, Television New Zealand reported Thursday.

Police and Pacific Blue — the airline which operated the flight from the Samoan capital Apia — were saying little about their investigation Thursday, but mother and child were said to be recovering in hospital.

Television New Zealand reported that the Samoan woman gave birth in one of the aircraft’s toilets during the flight to Auckland early Thursday.

The infant was found by an airline worker in the toilet rubbish bin more than an hour after the plane landed.

And then comes the troubling part:

Pacific Blue’s website says women need medical clearance to board a flight if they have passed the 36-week mark in their pregnancy.

“We are relieved to have been informed that both mother and child are reunited, are well and are now being looked after in hospital,” the airline said in a statement.

It’s good that the woman and child are being treated at the hospital, but is anyone else concerned that this child, which miraculously survived a murder attempt, is now reunited with the person who sought to end the child’s life?

God speaks through your iPod: Carry the ESV Study Bible in your pocket

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Confession: I own an iPod and am happy with it. I can listen to songs, sermons (yes, I like sermons) and podcasts. My son has an iPod Classic and my wife and daughter also have iPods. We have a lot of stuff.

But, since I love God’s Word and have absolutely loved the ESV Study Bible we got last month, I am thrilled with the idea of having the entire ESV Study Bible available right there on an iPod (or iPod Touch). Olive Tree Bible Software offers this for Bible lovers who are also iPod owners. This blows my mind. And the ESV also offers this for those who want to view it through their iPhone, iPod Touch or PDA. Either way you can’t go wrong. From what I’ve read, Olive Tree’s latest software version adds split screen viewing, which is wonderful with the ESV Study Bible when looking at accompanying notes. See the video below, which shows how it works:

 

‘Bud & Me’: The Wild West and two amazing kids

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Bud&MeIn December I had the pleasure of reading “Peace Like A River,” which was the fictional tale of a Minnesota family that treks into North Dakota in search of a family member on the run from the law. Like many others, I got caught up in the story and enjoyed the way author Leif Enger told the story through the eyes of young Rube Land, whose retelling of the story caught the innocence yet had a maturity to it.

If you enjoyed that, imagine a true story of two young adventurers on amazing trips, including one by themselves! Bud & Me: The True Adventures of the Abernathy Boys is told through the eyes of Temple Abernathy (the “Me” in the title), who at age 5 rode horseback with his 9-year-old brother Bud from Frederick, Okla., to Santa Fe, N.M., and back.

The world was a different place in 1905, but to read something like this it just amazes you. At one point, Temple Abernathy says he and his brother were encouraged by reading Mark Twain’s “Roughing It,” a book that I’ve read and enjoyed. This is the kind of book that would be fun to read with children and then talk about. In the last year I’ve read through “Do Hard Things” by Alex and Brett Harris and so have my two children. The idea of that book was to defy the low expectations that are placed on kids. I would say these kind of adventures would fall in the “Do Hard Things” category!

To read some sample pages of “Bud and Me” go here.

 

HT: The Children’s Hour

The second coming of Christ: good news and bad news

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Since this is the season where we celebrate the first coming of Christ and his sacrificial death for sinners, we should also think about his second coming when it will be much different. You can reasonably say it will be both good news and bad news for everyone who has ever lived.

It will be good news for those who have trusted him with their life and have accepted his death as payment for their sins. We should eagerly look forward to it, for this world is not our final destination and as children of God we long to be with the one we belong to for eternity.

But, as John Piper points out, we should not be quick to believe rumors about his second coming:

Jesus is going to return to earth. I pray very soon. He said that before he comes—periodically throughout history—some people would think he has already come.

If they say to you, “Look, he is in the wilderness,” do not go out. If they say, “Look, he is in the inner rooms,” do not believe it. (Matthew 24:26)

Then he gave two reasons not to believe such rumors.

The first is that his coming will be globally unmistakable. It will be as publicly unmistakable as lightning.

For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:27)

And that brings us to the bad news. For those who don’t believe, it will be a terrible time of realization that all hope is gone:

The second reason for not believing these rumors is that he will come like vultures come on a corpse.

Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. (Matthew 24:28)

When the world is as ready for judgment as road kill is for the vultures, then he will come in great wrath.

The Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. (2 Thessalonians 1:7-8)

This will not be private, secret, or pleasant for unbelievers. He will come “on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30). And the judgment will be like vultures sweeping in on the corpse of human rebellion.

That’s not the way it is: How the media misleads on stem cell research

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Josh Brahm, who works with Right to Life of Central California, has written a devastating analysis of 9 Things The Media Messed Up About the Obama Stem Cell Story. While this is an issue we’ve visited here, it is educational to see names named and sources cited to clearly demonstrate what we’re talking about. As I’ve said before, there is either a laziness or a willful intention to deceive by media members that is going on with the issue of stem cell research. While some of the media offenders in Josh’s analysis are in his immediate area in California, there are still plenty of national news media organizations who are guilty of misreporting the issue.

I would highly recommend not only reading Josh’s excellent work yourself but helping those around you understand it better as well. The media, for the most part, is not helping in this matter and, in fact, is making it worse by doing shoddy work.

The Gospel is a big deal — and getting bigger

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These are good words to remember as Easter approaches and we think about the magnitude of what Christ did for us and does for us when we trust him with our lives. This is what John Piper is exhorting his family with, and I want to remember in my life as well:

Our temptation is to think that the gospel is for beginners and then we go on to greater things. But the real challenge is to see the gospel as the greatest thing—and getting greater all the time.

The Gospel gets bigger when, in your heart,

             * grace gets bigger;

     * Christ gets greater;

    * his death gets more wonderful;

    * his resurrection gets more astonishing;

    * the work of the Spirit gets mightier;

    * the power of the gospel gets more pervasive;

    * its global extent gets wider;

    * your own sin gets uglier;

    * the devil gets more evil;

    * the gospel’s roots in eternity go deeper;

    * its connections with everything in the Bible and in the world get stronger;

    * and the magnitude of its celebration in eternity gets louder.