Providing a reasoned defense of the Christian message
Here.
Let me be blunt: denying same-sex couples from marriage is not the same as denying interracial couples from it. Although anti-miscegenation laws were immoral, the same mistake is not happening today. And despite the rhetorical force of making the comparison, merely claiming it’s the same does not make it so.
From Albert Mohler: www.albertmohler.com/2012/05/10/evolutions-end-president-obama-calls-for-same-sex-marriage/
Is President Obama’s “evolution” on same sex marriage finally complete? His call for the legalization of same-sex marriage yesterday is an historic and tragic milestone. An incumbent President of the United States has now called for a transformation of civilization’s central institution. And yet, no observer of this President could be surprised. The arrival of this announcement was only a matter of time.
From Stand to Reason’s blog here.
Are we really depriving homosexuals the right to marry the person they love? Yes. But there’s nothing unusual about that. Nobody has the right to marry any person they love. Everyone has restrictions.
When you take an honest look at the marriage law, it turns out that there is nothing unfair about it. Homosexuals have the same rights and the same restrictions as heterosexuals. For example, there is no legal right granted to a heterosexual that does not apply in exactly the same way to every homosexual. Both can marry in any state. Both can marry someone of the opposite sex. Both can receive the benefits that come with legal marriage. Heterosexuals and homosexuals are treated alike.
There is also no legal restriction for homosexuals that does not also apply in exactly the same way to every heterosexual. Neither one can marry their sibling. Both are prohibited from marrying someone already married. They can’t marry a child. And neither has the freedom to marry someone of the same sex.
The marriage law applies equally to every person, whether they are homosexual or not. Everyone is treated the same.
Read more here at Stand to Reason’s blog.
Gotta laugh at this one on MSNBC. Here we go:
‘Gaia’ scientist James Lovelock: I was ‘alarmist’ about climate change
James Lovelock, the maverick scientist who became a guru to the environmental movement with his “Gaia” theory of the Earth as a single organism, has admitted to being “alarmist” about climate change and says other environmental commentators, such as Al Gore, were too.
Lovelock, 92, is writing a new book in which he will say climate change is still happening, but not as quickly as he once feared.
He previously painted some of the direst visions of the effects of climate change. In 2006, in an article in the U.K.’s Independent newspaper, he wrote that “before this century is over billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable.”
However, the professor admitted in a telephone interview with msnbc.com that he now thinks he had been “extrapolating too far.” The new book, due to be published next year, will be the third in a trilogy, following his earlier works, “Revenge of Gaia: Why the Earth Is Fighting Back – and How We Can Still Save Humanity,” and “The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning: Enjoy It While You Can.”
Ok, so he got it wrong while helping the sheep to dance in unison, but thats ok because he’s gonna get the third part of a trilogy out of it. And who would not want another book if the covers are anything to go by.
It will also reflect his new opinion that global warming has not occurred as he had expected.
“The problem is we don’t know what the climate is doing. We thought we knew 20 years ago. That led to some alarmist books – mine included – because it looked clear-cut, but it hasn’t happened,” Lovelock said.
“The climate is doing its usual tricks. There’s nothing much really happening yet. We were supposed to be halfway toward a frying world now,” he said.
“The world has not warmed up very much since the millennium. Twelve years is a reasonable time… it (the temperature) has stayed almost constant, whereas it should have been rising — carbon dioxide is rising, no question about that,” he added.
Plainly we should trust scientists, except when we shouldn’t, and this is a case of shouldn’t. And now we should simply forgive and forget that billions of dollars have been inappropriately stolen by climate crackpots and their wooly mates.
In the interview, Lovelock said he would not take back a word of his seminal work “Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth,” published in 1979.
But of “Revenge of Gaia,” published in 2006, he said he had gone too far in describing what the warming Earth would see over the next century.
“I would be a little more cautious — but then that would have spoilt the book,” he quipped.
It’s cute to be funny, and of course another book with such a riveting title would be irresistible, but what will we do in the end? It is easy to lose the trust of a culture, but it is much much harder to regain that trust. Oh the dilemma of the young person growing up, whether to be a scientist or a politician.
From Summit Ministries
On Saturday, April 21, 2012, our friend and colleague Charles W. “Chuck” Colson entered the presence of the Lord.
We honor Chuck’s legacy of equipping Christians to understand and live the biblical worldview. When a faithful leader like Chuck passes, others must rise up to continue his good work. Summit’s hope is that Christians everywhere will take up the mantle Chuck Colson has left us.
Summit President Dr. Jeff Myers had this to say of Chuck:
“We at Summit Ministries honor Charles Colson for the life he lived and the legacy he leaves behind. We thank God for raising up such a gifted, humble, and steadfast follower of Christ. Chuck devoted the second half of his life to ministering to the least of these — prisoners and their families. We’re grateful for Chuck’s faithful friendship to Summit Ministries. We intend to honor his legacy by redoubling our efforts to train the rising generation to follow in his footsteps. We offer our condolences to his wife and family, along with the team of professionals at his numerous organizations. Our prayers for them are for the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. And we rejoice that Chuck is finally looking upon the face of his Savior, whom he served so well.”
Summit founder and President Emeritus Dr. David Noebel said:
“Chuck Colson’s testimony and work has had an incalculable impact on the U.S. and the world. I am grateful for his influence and his belief that training fellow Christians to live out the biblical worldview is imperative. He has long been a faithful friend to Summit Ministries. We thank God for Charles Colson. May God comfort his family as they mourn his loss.”
For more information on the life and work of Chuck Colson, visit chuckcolson.org.
For a special commentary on Chuck Colson by Summit speaker John Stonestreet, go to www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/19240.
Read all about it…
Media Release
The election of 14 Members of Parliament from the Greens Party is a matter of grave concern. The electorate should be aware of the hidden agenda of the Greens Party.
In 2008 in the Victorian Parliament the Greens voted for the decriminalisation of abortion which meant that it was no longer a crime to kill an unborn child. Victoria now has the most permissive abortion law in the world. The law provides for abortion on demand and a woman can now demand an abortion for any reason.
The Greens in Australia support same sex marriage and same sex adoption. The Greens also support the education system teaching that homosexuality is normal.
In 2010 the Greens promoted Bills to legalise euthanasia in the New South Wales, Western Australian and Victorian Parliaments. Senator Bob Brown the leader of the Greens in Australia has said that passing euthanasia laws was a top priority.
The electorate should recognise that the Greens represent in our Parliament a threat to the protection of the right to life of unborn children, the elderly and the ill and to the institution of marriage as exclusively between one woman and one man. The Greens Party in Germany has similar policies.
It is disappointing that the media did not challenge the Greens Party before the general election to reveal its hidden agenda. The Greens Party is a serious threat to the sanctity of life ethic and the right to life of every person from conception to natural death. It is also a threat to the sanctity of marriage.
We should recognise that the long term objective of the Greens is to reduce the world’s population, creating a world in which nature is the dominant “right” with humanity subservient to that “deity”.
The Greens captured 11.6 per cent of the votes cast in the general election. It is believed that many voted for the Greens unaware of their hidden agenda. Right to Life calls upon the Greens Party to reveal to the nation Its hidden agenda.
Ken Orr
Spokesperson,
Right to Life.
Phone 03 3856111
It was hailed as the scientific study that ended the global warming debate once and for all – the research that, in the words of its director, ‘proved you should not be a sceptic, at least not any longer’.
Professor Richard Muller, of Berkeley University in California, and his colleagues from the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures project team (BEST) claimed to have shown that the planet has warmed by almost a degree centigrade since 1950 and is warming continually.
Published last week ahead of a major United Nations climate summit in Durban, South Africa, next month, their work was cited around the world as irrefutable evidence that only the most stringent measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions can save civilisation as we know it.
It was cited uncritically by, among others, reporters and commentators from the BBC, The Independent, The Guardian, The Economist and numerous media outlets in America.
The Washington Post said the BEST study had ‘settled the climate change debate’ and showed that anyone who remained a sceptic was committing a ‘cynical fraud’.
But today The Mail on Sunday can reveal that a leading member of Prof Muller’s team has accused him of trying to mislead the public by hiding the fact that BEST’s research shows global warming has stopped.
Prof Judith Curry, who chairs the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at America’s prestigious Georgia Institute of Technology, said that Prof Muller’s claim that he has proven global warming sceptics wrong was also a ‘huge mistake’, with no scientific basis.
Prof Curry is a distinguished climate researcher with more than 30 years experience and the second named co-author of the BEST project’s four research papers.
Her comments, in an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, seem certain to ignite a furious academic row. She said this affair had to be compared to the notorious ‘Climategate’ scandal two years ago.
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk
From here.
That is the essence of his argument although he closes with some statements that Israel cannot have peace in the “Occupied Territories” until “she acts with justice and reciprocity toward the Palestinians.” This is more political than biblical, but I can say this much.
First, he ignores the actual reason why Israel has occupied these territories since 1967. She has done this because masses of armies were gathering along the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Border, the Syrian Border, and the West Bank with the intent to destroy Israel. Israel defeated this threat in the Six Day War.
Second, the Palestinians have consistently rejected all peace efforts by Israel, both before and after that conflict. Even when Barak offered them over 95% of the territory they wanted, he was turned down with no counteroffer.
What the author is ignoring is that, thus far, the Arab aim has not been to merely establish a Palestinian State that will live side by side with Israel but the attempt to destroy Israel as a State. No true Koran-believing Moslem could ever accept Israel’s right to exist. As long as the Palestinians refuse to recognize Israel’s right to exist, refuse every peace offer, and insist on terrorist attacks (even having their own children blow themselves up just for the sake of killing Jews), there cannot be peace.
Israel is not totally innocent in all of her actions, but the author has blamed everything on Israel. In spite of his claim that Israel has a right to exist, he has not extended a single blame on what the Arab side has done. This is selective reading of the political news. But for us, the final issue is not what is politically expedient, but what is biblical.
Each additional year of education, odds of attending religious services increased by 15%
From here (H/T to here).
Hardly a Christian friendly article, but interesting nevertheless.
‘PROTESTANT ETHIC’ 2.0: THE NEW WAYS RELIGION IS DRIVING ECONOMIC OUTPERFORMANCE
A few snippets:
No surprises here. The USA is trending in the same direction as its forerunners, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
I guess this will be a surprise to the ‘Brights’ like Dawkins and his other ‘Religion for Dummies’ mates. No surprise in my circles however.
How does the New Atheism fit into this? From the above observations, I think we can understand at least two facets of the current New Atheist secularist shrill.
First is possible underpopulation of New Atheists as the new world order shakes out. A reasonable fear for the New Atheists secularists is that their highly evolved selves are not passing on their genes in competitive numbers. Thus instead of genes, they attempt to force their memes onto the rest of us by preaching, and by making converts and disciples through the university, media, and book publishing arenas.
The second is overpopulation of religious people. As populations continue to grow toward the theoretical 9 billion asymptote, religious people are not going away. What better way to halt religious growth than to decrease religious breeding using the guise of Earth overpopulation. FWIW, I’m partly with the secularists on the second point given the Biblical mandate to look after the planet; I just don’t share their panic of overpopulation or their global warming hysteria, I mean climate change hysteria, scare tactics. Given the intellectual bankruptcy
of the New Atheists, there may not be too many Brights left in years to come anyway.
Interestingly, Africa is not mentioned at all in the article.