Some Reflections On Enns And The Evolution Of Adam

Themelios | Article: Some Reflections On Enns And The Evolution Of Adam A Review Essay - The Gospel Coalition: "According to Enns, Scripture does not teach a historical Adam; indeed the OT does not teach it, and though Paul believed it, he was wrong to do so. The advantage of this conclusion is that it removes one of the main sources of conflict between evolution and Christianity."

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Pressure to Repeal China’s One-Child Law Is Growing

Pressure to Repeal China’s One-Child Law Is Growing - NYTimes.com: Pan Chunyan was grabbed from her grocery store when she was almost eight months pregnant with her third child. Men working for a local official locked her up with two other women, and four days later brought her to a hospital and forced her to put her thumbprint on a document saying she had agreed to an abortion. A nurse injected her with a drug.

“After I got the shot, all the thugs disappeared,” Ms. Pan, 31, said in a telephone interview from her home in the southeastern province of Fujian. “My family was with me again. I cried and hoped the baby would survive.” But after hours of labor, the baby was born dead on April 8, “black and blue all over."

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Loving the God who takes your child

Loving the God who takes your child - YouTube: A couple from Heritage Baptist Church in Owensboro, KY, share their trust with God and the gospel at their 7 week old's funeral service.

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Aftermath of Aurora: So you STILL think God is a merciful God?!

So you STILL think God is a merciful God?! « A Miniature Clay Pot: Why would . . . such a tragedy would make me question the goodness of God? If anything, both of my girls said it made Him a much more real presence to them; the youngest shared this verse: Do not be afraid of sudden fear nor of the onslaught of the wicked when it comes; for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your feet from being caught. (Proverbs 3:25-26) He is not the cause of evil, but He is the one who can bring comfort and peace in the midst of evil.  It’s been amazing to see the outpouring of love from so many people after this unthinkable act.

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U.S. House to vote on D.C. pain-capable unborn child protection act Tuesday

U.S. House to vote on D.C. pain-capable unborn child protection act Tuesday | LifeSiteNews.com: The U.S. House is readying to vote on a hotly debated abortion bill in the nation’s capital, where the procedure is currently legal for any reason through all nine months of pregnancy. The House is scheduled to consider the D.C. Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.R. 3803), which would ban abortions on children after 20 weeks gestation in the District of Columbia, on Tuesday. The measure will require a two-thirds majority to pass.

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To the gestational approach and back - a top pro-life leader’s journey

LifeSiteNews: John Smeaton is the director of the longest-standing pro-life group in the world — the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC). A pro-life activist since 1978, Smeaton is regarded as one of the most influential voices in the pro-life movement. The Oxford graduate is also a vice-president of International Right to Life Federation, representing pro-life groups in 170 nations around the world. A one-time supporter of "incremental" approaches to abortion legislation, he now says he regrets that tactic.

“It was quite wrong, but we did so, and then exactly what we predicted would happen happened,” Smeaton stated. He described how, after the upper limit of 24 weeks was instated, the number of late abortions actually increased, because the majority of politicians had voted to introduce new and broad exceptions to the abortion law. Smeaton said he is certain that in the current political climate politicians will always vote for exceptions to any abortion limit because of the “overwhelming view” that disabled babies have no right to life.

. . . “Well-meaning pro-lifers argue that a law permitting abortion up to, for example, 16 weeks, is ‘better’ than a law permitting abortion up to 20 weeks,” Smeaton says, “and that voting for such a law would save lives.”

“[V]oting for ‘better’ intrinsically unjust legislation in order to save lives runs completely contrary to the moral principle: One may not do evil so that good may come of it.” Smeaton concluded, “For those who find it hard to resist the temptation to support restrictive, intrinsically evil, legislation, I can tell you that from our experience in Britain and Ireland, that SPUC and the pro-life movement have made far more progress since the Society has sought to adopt an ethically correct approach to legislation.”

Margaret Sanger: Named One of the 20 Most Influential Americans of All Time

Margaret Sanger | The 20 Most Influential Americans of All Time | NewsFeed | TIME.com: Time magazine recently named Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, one of the 20 most influential Americans of all time. Gloria Steinem's tribute reads: "Her brave and joyous life included fulfilling work, three children, two husbands, many lovers and a large network of friends and colleagues. Indeed, she lived as if she and everyone else had the right to control her or his own life. By word and deed, she pioneered the most radical, humane and transforming political movement of the 20th and 21st centuries."

Editor: Radical, yes. Humane, not so much.

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Pro-lifers pushing for better regs on abortion clinics

Pro-lifers pushing for better regs on abortion clinics (OneNewsNow.com): The abortion death of a Chicago woman at a Planned Parenthood clinic has prompted a call for regulation and inspection of Illinois abortion facilities. Pastor Ceasar LeFlore III with the Life Education and Resource Network (L.E.A.R.N.) explains that the facility where the abortion was performed was not regulated.

Tonya Reaves, 24, was rushed to a hospital recently where doctors discovered an incomplete second-term abortion and a perforated uterus. The woman subsequently bled to death. (See earlier story.)

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A federal court ruled against the contraceptive mandate

A federal court ruled against the contraceptive mandate. Here’s what happens next.: The U.S. District Court for Colorado on Friday blocked the Obama administration from requiring an air-conditioning company in Colorado to provide no co-pay contraceptives to its employees, as the Affordable Care Act directs. It was, as Sam Baker points out, the first time a federal court has ruled against that provision of the health-care law.

It’s not yet, however, exactly a victory for the contraceptive mandate’s opponents: The injunction is specific to that one company, and it holds only until the judge can reach a verdict on the case’s merits. Still, it could mark the start of a long period of litigation involving one of the health-care law’s most polarizing provisions.

Related: OBAMACARE HHS ABORTION PILL MANDATE DEALT SERIOUS BLOW; VICTORY FOR PEOPLE OF FAITH

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Gospel Preaching Isn’t Enough

Gospel Preaching Isn’t Enough – The Gospel Coalition Blog: "I thought if I preached gospel-centered sermons, I'd have a gospel-centered church," a friend lamented to me. His church was rife with gossip, dissension, moralism, and apathy, despite a deep gospel centrality on Sunday mornings. The church had a gospel pulpit, but not a gospel culture.

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Are Science Journalists Biased?

Are Science Journalists Biased? | the Human Future: “Science journalists” are among the most biased “reporters” writing in the media today. Certainly on the stem cell controversy, they joined — no led — the hysterical hype over embryonic stem cells and stifled adult stem cell good news, either by not reporting it — such as a study in which patients paralyzed with spinal cord injury regained feeling! — or by burying the story with faint reportage.

In other words, they would drive ESCR stories, and maybe or maybe not report more notable adult stories, and often damning with faint praise — while also being sure to put in a reference to the greater hope offered by embryonic. It happened so often, I thought of it as a template. Then there was the trick of using the term “stem cells” when it was adult, intended to make the reader think embryonic.

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China's most incredible mother: Story of woman who rescued 30 babies from the trash

Daily Mail: Lou Xiaoying, now 88 and suffering from kidney failure, found and raised more than 30 abandoned Chinese babies from the streets of Jinhua, in the eastern Zhejiang province where she managed to make a living by recycling rubbish. She and her late husband Li Zin, who died 17 years ago, kept four of the children and passed the others onto friends and family to start new lives.

'I realised if we had strength enough to collect garbage how could we not recycle something as important as human lives,' she explained. 'These children need love and care. They are all precious human lives. I do not understand how people can leave such a vulnerable baby on the streets."

Cashed out

WORLDmag.com | Cashed out | Marvin Olasky | Aug 11, 12: The National Association of Evangelicals backs off its million dollar subsidy from pushers of contraception for the unmarried.

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The new underground railroad

WORLDmag.com | Underground railroad | Mindy Belz | Aug 11, 12: Desperate situations call for desperate measures, and just as the "conductors" along the Underground Railroad saw that their "cargo" was safely shipped from "station" to "station," today inside and outside China are "conductors" offering real help to save babies. In some cases that's help to escape. For others, it's aid to pay fines to keep more than one child.

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Defining Religious Liberty Down

Defining Religious Liberty Down - NYTimes.com: The defenders of the H.H.S. mandate note that it protects freedom of worship, which indeed it does. But a genuine free exercise of religion, not so much.

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The 2012 Elections: Five Questions for Pro-Life Advocates

The 2012 Elections: Five Questions for Pro-Life Advocates | CRI: The candidate’s political strategy was simple: shrink the significance of abortion so it was more or less equal with other issues. It worked. Twice as many white evangelicals age eighteen through forty-four voted for Barack Obama in 2008 than voted for John Kerry in 2004. Catholics, meanwhile, supported Obama at fifty-four percent, up seven points from what they gave Kerry four years earlier. The candidate got just enough pro-life votes from these groups to tip the election his way. Each of these alleged pro-life votes represents a profound misunderstanding of the pro-life position. The fundamental issue before us is not merely how to reduce abortion, but who counts as one of us.

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Romney Lays Out Pro-Life Agenda He Would Take as President

Romney Lays Out Pro-Life Agenda He Would Take as President | LifeNews.com: Mitt Romney has laid out the pro-life agenda he would take as president, if elected to defeat pro-abortion President Barack Obama this November. The agenda, spelled out in a letter to voters asking his campaign where he stands on pro-life issues, would have Romney reinstated the Mexico City Policy to prevent taxpayer funding of groups like Planned Parenthood that promote and perform abortions overseas. It includes supporting the reversal of Roe v. Wade, supporting pro-life legislation pending in Congress, and appointing the kind of judges who would be most likely to reverse Roe.

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Pace of baby-making could hold clues to economy, presidential race

Pace of baby-making could hold clues to economy, presidential race | Fox News: The fertility rate has long been linked by economists to the health of the economy. It's unclear what that rate will be come election day -- but right now, projections show confidence is down in an historic way. If the trend holds, it's another sign that President Obama will have to counter a pessimistic mood to win a second term. The U.S. fertility rate has declined steadily since reaching an all-time high in 2007.

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Debate continues as Michigan Senate committee approves sweeping abortion-related bill

Debate continues as Michigan Senate committee approves sweeping abortion-related bill | MLive.com: A sweeping bill to put more regulations on abortions was approved Thursday by the Republican-led Michigan Senate Judiciary Committee. The legislation was approved by a 3-1 vote, with Republicans in support and the committee's lone Democrat opposing the measure.

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How NOT to Respond to Sexual Brokenness

Following on the Renewing Virtue series on love, Breakpoint now examines how love can become disordered, resulting in sexual brokenness. We're offering a branded thumb drive of the series on Sexual Brokenness including additional features that can be used for small groups or Bible studies.

1. When Sex Got a Divorce
2. How Sexual Brokenness Victimizes People

3. How Not to Respond to Sexual Brokenness

Ruling frees FDA to crack down on stem cell clinics

Short Sharp Science: Ruling frees FDA to crack down on stem cell clinics: Treatments in which stem cells are harvested from bone marrow and injected straight back into the same patient are deemed part of routine medical practice - not regulated by the US government. But if the cells are subjected to more than "minimal manipulation", the FDA maintains that the therapy becomes a "drug", which must be specifically approved for use.

It was on this basis that in 2008 the FDA began moves to shut down Regenerative Sciences, a clinic in Broomfield, Colorado, that treats orthopaedic problems using a stem cell therapy called Regenexx.

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Genetically modified 3-parent children hitting their teens

Genetically modified 3-parent children hitting their teens | LifeSiteNews.com:  A controversial IVF method resulting in 3-parent babies has recently been debated in the UK, but according to reports brought to light by Dr. Joseph Mercola of the health website Mercola.com, the technique has already been used in the US as far back as 1997. The birth of these genetically-modified children was indicated in a 2001 report issued by the Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science of Saint Barnabas (IRMS), New Jersey, so the children are now over 10 years old.

The IRMS report stated that 12 “clinical pregnancies” were “obtained” by using the technique, and mtDNA fingerprinting showed that two of the children were born with genetic material from the donor. The report declared that, “in addition to maternal mtDNA, there was a small portion of donor mtDNA observed in their blood.” In other words, both of the children have one genetic father and two genetic mothers.

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Scientists, seminarians debate evolution online

Houston Chronicle: Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary Academic Dean Kenneth Keathley agreed to invite seminary professors to contribute essays describing their disagreements with BioLogos, a nonprofit foundation "committed to exploring and celebrating the compatibility of evolutionary creation and biblical faith," according to its website.

Keathley begins the first essay by noting that the Southern Baptist statement of faith is silent on how God created the universe. But he goes on to say that Southern Baptists' very literal interpretation of Scripture leads many in the denomination to hold the view that God created the world in six, 24-hour days less than 10,000 years ago.

. . . Southern Baptist Seminary President Albert Mohler, a young-earth creationist, has called the attempt to reconcile evangelicals to evolution a "direct attack upon biblical authority." Keathley, meanwhile, calls himself an old-earth creationist who accepts that the universe is billions of years old, but also believes that God directly intervened at certain points in natural history.

In an introductory essay to the series, Keathley lays out several points where he believes Southern Baptists are at odds with the BioLogos model. Among them is whether Adam and Eve were real people who experienced a real fall from grace with God that brought sin into the world. The concept is also central to the idea that Jesus saved the world from sin through his death on the cross.

Falk and two other writers state respond that science tells us "there was never a time when the human population from which all modern humans descended was as small as two individuals." Instead, they suggest the possibility that "God began a covenantal relationship with a real, historical first couple who brought about spiritual death as a result of their disobedience."

Keathley also points out that for some Christians, evolution presents a problem because it implies that suffering and death have been with the world from the beginning, rather than resulting from rebellion against God. "Young-earth creationists ask, 'What does this do to the nature of God if God created the world with pain and suffering from the beginning?'" Keathley said in an interview.

. . . Falk and others say in their essay that the problem of evil is a challenge, but that "Scripture does not take a universally negative view of suffering and death in the present age. Rather it is recognized as being both a tragedy and a creative force."

Editor: Emphasis added. I have to commend the Houston Chronicle for the careful way in which it handled the two sides.

The Sanctity of Life 4-DVD Boxed Set - Pre-order now!

The Sanctity of Life 4-DVD Boxed Set - Answers Bookstore: This compelling series reveals the movements and political pressures that have resulted in society's low regard for the sanctity of life. Yet it keeps the focus on the foundation that every Christian's worldview must be based upon—the Bible. No other series has so courageously defended the biblical case for life—addressing abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell harvesting, human cloning, mercy killing, and more. Join Christian scientists Dr. David Menton, Dr. Georgia Purdom, and Dr. Tommy Mitchell in this compelling 4-DVD series. Co-produced by Answers in Genesis and the American Family Association.

Available 9/10/2012

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Pro-life Proverb -- 12:6

The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood,
but the mouth of the upright delivers them.

Words are powerful. They can devalue, dehumanize, kill. (See Matthew 5:21-22; James 3:8-10.)

They can also save a life! Just by speaking up, a righteous person can put a halt to the progression of devaluation, dehumanization, and death. That's a real encouragement for the value of preaching, writing, counseling . . . using words, not just deeds, in the struggle to spare the lives of innocent, vulnerable people.

Words come from thoughts, as the preceding verse attests:

The thoughts of the righteous are just;
the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.

Matthew 12:34 echoes the thought: "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." What comes out of a person's mouth reveals what's in his heart. We can't expect a wicked person to have good words, but we can expect the righteous -- those who know Christ -- to do so. This verse says our thoughts should be of justice and truth.

The verse that follows is a ray of hope:

The wicked are overthrown and are no more,
but the house of the righteous will stand.

The thoughts and words of the wicked are destined for destruction. They'll do their best, but they will not ultimately prevail. This is a very great and precious promise.

Journalist says we should stop "Disneyfying" Down syndrome

Daily Mail: 41-year-old Samantha Brick is desperate for a child and has undergone at least one cycle of IVF. But if she were to become pregnant, and if that child were found to have Down syndrome, she would have an abortion. Here's her reasoning:

'My first attempt at IVF failed and my husband I have discussed in depth and at length whether we could keep a baby diagnosed with Down's Syndrome.

'I live in France,I know that people there don't have the same support, I would have to send my baby to a centre on Monday morning and then welcome them back on Friday night.

'I already have a large family including ageing in laws with their own problems and so it's not just myself that I have to think about it is everyone else in the family and what the impact would be on them.'

'I actually think it would be selfish to HAVE that baby because of the impact on the local health services, the cost of raising that child and the support it would need.'

'My family and I have between us worked with hundreds of people with Downs Syndrome. Let's stop 'Disneyfying' this genetic condition and ensure families, and potential parents, can debate and discuss and have the full unbiased facts of exactly what they're getting into.'

Editor: Could she have said anything more offensive? And I'd like to know how Down syndrome has been "Disneyfied." 

Billy Graham: 'My Heart Aches for America'

BGEA: Billy Graham: 'My Heart Aches for America': Some years ago, my wife, Ruth, was reading the draft of a book I was writing. When she finished a section describing the terrible downward spiral of our nation’s moral standards and the idolatry of worshiping false gods such as technology and sex, she startled me by exclaiming, “If God doesn’t punish America, He’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”

. . . I wonder what Ruth would think of America if she were alive today. In the years since she made that remark, millions of babies have been aborted and our nation seems largely unconcerned. Self-centered indulgence, pride, and a lack of shame over sin are now emblems of the American lifestyle.

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Five Million Children Born With IVF, But How Many Lost?

Five Million Children Born With IVF, But How Many Lost | LifeNews.com: The Singularity Hub reports that recently the International Committee Monitoring Assisted Reproductive Technologies estimates 5 million children have been born using IVF since 1978. But if 5 million children have been born, how many lives have been created then lost, destroyed or frozen?

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Why Unmarried Christians Are Having Sex

Why Unmarried Christians Are Having Sex | Urban Faith: Christian adults must carry on the conversation of abstinence to the next phase. It’s not just a youth issue. If we could more openly discuss the tingling we feel, the occasional knockout attraction we have to the opposite sex or the times where our sex drives lull, I believe we might find that we’re able to maintain purity much later into adulthood. Because when we don’t talk about it, we allow the normal ebb and flow of sexual desire to become associated with shame and guilt over what we’re experiencing. And since the desire won’t go away, we’re forced to relieve the shame by separating our morality from our behavior.

We’ve got to get talking and see ourselves afresh as sexual beings, moving gradually and prayerfully through stages of sexual expression until marriage where it’s fulfilled. Because “not yet” is much easier to digest than “no.” Our sexuality, today, is an integral part of who God has created us to be, and like all things must be celebrated while also put in submission to Christ.

Editor: What part of "remain sexually abstinent until marriage" don't people understand? Dwelling on one's sexuality may not, however, be helpful. Still, I do think a positive message about what God intends for sex -- and for singleness -- is better than the negative "just say no."

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Sex and Character

Sex and Character: John Milton knew that sex was God’s idea. God created sex, for a reason. Satan knows that too. But Satan wants human beings to miss the real purpose of sex. He wants us either to be obsessed with sex, or to pretend it doesn’t exist. Either error serves his destructive ends well.

. . . Duran and Cole’s book Sex and Character teaches teenagers about the painful realities of sexually-transmitted disease, acquaintance rape, pornography, unwanted pregnancy, and the downside of sex before marriage. . . . How do kids resist sexual temptation? Not by pretending their desires don’t exist, or that their sexuality is bad and something to be denigrated. Rather, teenagers need to learn that the moral traits they most value in others -- like compassion, respect, honesty, courage -- provide the basis, on a Biblical foundation, for a healthy view of sex.
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Study: Parents of Kids With Disabilities Beating Abortion Culture

Study: Parents of Kids With Disabilities Beating Abortion Culture | LifeNews.com: A new study published this week in the highly accredited pediatric medicine journal, Pediatrics, reveals social networks are trumping the medical establishment. The study is entitled The Experience of Families with Children with Trisomy 13 and 18 in Social Networks. It shows families are proving to the medical community that their children’s lives, no matter how long, have value and are worthy of care and treatment.

From the abstract: "Parents reported being told that their child was incompatible with life (87%), would live a life of suffering (57%), would be a vegetable (50%), or would ruin their family (23%). . . . Parents who engage with parental support groups may discover an alternative positive description about children with T13-18. Disagreements about interventions may be the result of different interpretations between families and providers about the experiences of disabled children and their quality of life."

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Climate was HOTTER in Roman, medieval times than now

Climate was HOTTER in Roman, medieval times than now: Study • The Register: A new study measuring temperatures over the past two millennia has concluded that in fact the temperatures seen in the last decade are far from being the hottest in history.

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Recovery Just the Beginning of Israel’s Stem Cell Miracles

Mir Rosh Yeshiva Recovery Just the Beginning of Israel’s Stem Cell Miracles | JewishPress: Patients in the trial were transplanted with stem cells taken from their own bone marrow and treated with NurOwn stem cell technology.

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Exposure to sexual content in popular movies predicts sexual behavior in adolescence

Exposure to sexual content in popular movies predicts sexual behavior in adolescence: study | LifeSiteNews.com: Researchers at New Hampshire’s Dartmouth College are urging parents to protect their children from sexual content in films as they release a new six-year study that found viewing such content has a significant impact on the sexual behaviour of young adults.

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Stem Cell Research and the Moral Status of Human Embryos

American Bioethics Advisory Commission, by Donel O'Mathuna: Scripture does not state that some humans are persons and others are not. The Bible describes people as being made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). There is no suggestion that we must first reach some stage of biological development before we become images of God. Being an image of God involves reflecting the character of God to the world. As such, even as adults we fall far short of how 'developed' we should be in this area (Romans 3:23). Only Jesus Christ is the true image of God (Colossians 1:15).

. . . But others face the prospect of premature death from the illnesses which stem cells might some day alleviate. What about the potential for helping them? Only in a utilitarian system do the ends justify all means. Scripture is clearly opposed to such a way of making ethical decisions. For example, Jesus tells us that many will seek to enter heaven because they had done many good deeds. But he will refuse them entry if they did not know him personally (Matthew 7:21-23). God is not just concerned about good outcomes, but cares about how those results were obtained. Such laudable goals and intentions as developing treatments and saving lives do not justify killing other humans, even the smallest human embryos.
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Parents, docs may clash on quality of kids' lives

Parents, docs may clash on quality of kids' lives | Fox News: About one in four parents of children with a serious and often fatal genetic condition say they feel judged by doctors when they want life-sustaining treatment for their newborns, in a new study.

The majority of parents of children with an extra 13th or 18th chromosome - known as trisomy 13 or 18 - said doctors had told them their kids were "incompatible with life" or would "live a life of suffering" in the course of counseling against pursuing life-prolonging treatments.

"There are some valuable points that the medical establishment could take from this," said Dr. David Sweetser, chief of medical genetics at Mass General Hospital for Children in Boston.

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Chinese Woman Victimized by Forced Sterilization After Lawsuit

Chinese Woman Victimized by Forced Sterilization After Lawsuit | LifeNews.com: The couple’s second daughter fell to her death from a fourth floor window during a quarrel with her boyfriend, according to the group. Her parents took the boyfriend’s parents to court and won a judgment of 43,000 RMB ($6700), but they were never paid. The victim’s husband petitioned to enforce the judgment.

In retaliation for this petition, that local government forcibly sterilized his wife. The local government told the victim’s husband that if he and his wife kept quiet about the forced sterilization, they would receive compensation.  The couple, however, decided to post the incident on the Internet.

Editor: The least we can do is help them get the word out.

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Every sperm is special, genome sequencing shows

BioNews - Every sperm is special, genome sequencing shows: Results of the first study to sequence the genomes of individual sperm cells obtained from one person have revealed significant genetic differences between them, confirming the belief that each sperm is unique. It is hoped the technique could be applied in fertility treatments to identify genetic mutations that may occur in the recombination process.

'For the first time we were able to generate an individual recombination map and mutation rate for each of several sperm from one person', said Professor Barry Behr from Stanford University in California, USA, who was involved in the study. 'Now we can look at a particular individual, make some calls about what they would likely contribute genetically to an embryo, and perhaps even diagnose or detect potential problems.'

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Foreign Adoptions in Short Supply

Foreign Adoptions in Short Supply | Christianity Today: Tighter government restrictions have reduced the number of children adopted from overseas to a 15-year low. In response, evangelicals—more willing than ever to adopt—are broadening the type of children they are willing to take in. More families, for example, are taking special-needs children, older kids, and those in foster care. Meanwhile, agencies are developing childcare subsidies and other programs to facilitate in-country adoptions.

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Get to Know: Christian Alliance for Orphans

Christian Alliance for Orphans: The Christian Alliance for Orphans unites more than 100 respected Christian organizations and a national network of churches. Working together, our joint initiatives inspire, equip and connect Christians to reflect God’s heart in caring for orphans in adoption, foster care and global orphan care initiatives. Through the annual Summit, the Orphan Sunday campaign and an array of other initiatives, we seek to help grow communities in the local church known for “defending the cause of the fatherless” (Isaiah 1:17).

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Do I Have What It Takes to Raise an African Child?

Do I Have What It Takes to Raise an African Child? – The Gospel Coalition Blog: Several months ago a friend e-mailed this blogger a humbling question. She asked: "I wanted to engage you on a topic that I know many white mothers who adopted African children (or domestically adopted bi-racial children) wonder. That is, in our insecure moments, we wonder (a) Do I have what it takes to raise an African child (because I really do NOT get what it's like to be in the minority---I don't even think minority) and (b) Do all the African American women out there frown upon us having adopted a black child?"

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Action needed on the DC Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act

Unborn Child Pain Index: Please take action now to pass the District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act -- to find out how, click here!

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Court dismisses contraception coverage lawsuit

Court dismisses contraception coverage lawsuit: A U.S. District Court judge has dismissed Belmont Abbey College's lawsuit against the government over contraception coverage. The court didn't judge the merits of the school's case. It said the case was dismissed because the government had not yet amended regulations to better reflect religious objections. It said the school's injury is too speculative and that the case is not ready for decision.

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Planned Parenthood’s Political Plans

Planned Parenthood’s Political Plans | NRL News Today: “The Genius of Cecile Richards” in The Nation tells a great deal about PPFA’s growing political muscle and how it exploits social media. As such it is a very useful primer into one of the key pro-abortion political actors and a reminder that pro-lifers must also use social media to its maximum potential.

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The Economic Effect of Abortion: Billions and Billions Lost

The Economic Effect of Abortion: Billions and Billions Lost | LifeNews.com: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Social Security Administration, Guttmacher Institute, and National Center for Health Statistics, if abortion had never been legalized in 1973, more than 17 million people would be employed, resulting in an additional $400 billion from those workers, with $11 billion contributed to Medicare and $47 million contributed to Social Security.

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How do you define purity?

How do you define purity? - Blog - Eternal Perspective Ministries: The greatest argument for sexual purity is God’s holiness. If we wish to be godly, we must wish to live in sexual purity.

This doesn’t mean being anti-sex. God has created our sexual identities as a gift. But a sexual relationship is to take place only in that sacred relationship of marriage between one man and one woman. We are sexual beings, whether married or not, but sex is reserved only for the marriage relationship. God is holy in his view of sex in marriage, and expects us to be holy, too.

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A Biblical Case Against Abortion

Reasons To Believe : Argument for the Silent: A Biblical Case Against Abortion: Although Christians are right when they defend the claim that the unborn should be regarded as persons from the moment of conception, it might be prudent to avoid the term “person” and make the simpler and more direct argument that the unborn should not be killed because they are human beings. After all, the Bible does not use the word “person” in Genesis 1:26-27 or 9:6 but speaks instead of human beings, ’adam, as created in God’s image and possessing life that is not to be violated. It is therefore unnecessary to defend a particular view of personhood or to argue its applicability to the unborn at any stage of development (for example, by citing Psalm 139) in order to argue that the law should protect the life of the unborn. All that is necessary is to defend the claim that the unborn are human beings.

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Answering the Theological Case for Abortion Rights

Answering the Theological Case for Abortion Rights by Scott Klusendorf: Theologically, it’s far more reasonable to argue that although humans differ immensely in their respective degrees of development, they are nonetheless equal because they share a common human nature made in the image of God.

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How astrology and superstition drove an increase in abortions in Japan

How astrology and superstition drove an increase in abortions in Japan | The Japan Times Online: It comes around once every 60 years and last happened in 1966; the next time will be 2026. It is the superstition centered around the year of hinoeuma: the fire horse.

. . . In 1966, some 463,000 fewer babies were born compared to the years before and after. The decrease was likely due to parents wanting to avoid having babies in a hinoeuma year. Clearly, birth control was used to avoid pregnancy, and more fetuses were aborted. There were around 43 abortions per 1,000 births in 1966 compared to the expected number of 30.6 per 1,000 seen in the other years from 1963 to 1969.
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Baptist College Vows to Defy Obama

Baptist College Vows to Defy Obama | FOX News & Commentary: Todd Starnes: Louisiana College, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, filed suit against the federal government in February. They believe the administration’s mandate that religious employers provide abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization and contraception is unconstitutional.

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Sir Elton: ‘heartbreaking’ my son has no mummy

Sir Elton: ‘heartbreaking’ my son has no mummy | News | The Christian Institute: In an interview with an American TV show, Sir Elton said: “I’d love to have more children. I want [Zachary] to have a brother or a sister to go to school with him, and so that he can have someone to play with. It’s going to be heartbreaking for him to grow up and realize he hasn’t got a mummy."

Editor: Well, he has a mommy, but she's not in his life.

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Sterilization of "mental defectives" defeated by Parliament 81 years ago tomorrow

John Smeaton, SPUC director: Sterilization of "mental defectives" defeated by Parliament 81 years ago tomorrow: Opposition to the Bill was led by Dr Hyacinth Morgan (Labour MP for Camberwell Norty) whose eloquent words should be remembered:

“The Bill is said to be in advance of public opinion, but it is really in advance of common sense and ordinary sanity....If once the principle of maiming or mutilation is admitted, not for the benefit or health of the individual but for the good of others or the State acting for others, there is no brake to sliding down the slippery slope leading to the swamp of State penalisation, where we may get rid of all those obnoxious to the State. Those preaching subversive doctrines may have their tongues cut out. Those writing subversive doctrines may have their hands cut off. The State (those temporarily in power) are the dictators of limb and life. The eugenicist upon a pinnacle of intellectual snobbery, looking down upon the less fortunate mental defective, may gradually raise the standard of mental deficiency and push more and more citizens into the maelstrom of the mentally-maimed."

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Religion and abortion: Why the pro-life view should not be dismissed for its alleged basis in religion

Religion and abortion: Why the pro-life view should not be dismissed for its alleged basis in religion | NRL News Today: Pro-choice advocates routinely dismiss the pro-life position on the grounds that it is a mere religious belief and therefore may not be “imposed” on our pluralistic society.

This claim is mistaken in two ways. First, the pro-life position is not inherently religious. Pro-lifers contend that abortion takes the life of an intrinsically valuable human being and should be prohibited by law as a matter of basic justice. This view is supported by empirical facts of biology (which show that the unborn, the human fetus or embryo, is a bona fide member of our species) and a foundational moral principle (namely, the equal dignity and right to life of every human being). Thus pro-lifers offer serious moral arguments using science and philosophy; they need not appeal to God, religious authority or sacred texts.

. . . Second, many pro-lifers do hold a religiously-informed and/or religiously-motivated pro-life position. But that fact does not render it illegitimate or unworthy of public consideration. Religion has played a central role in the work of social reformers throughout history. William Wilberforce passionately and tirelessly led the effort to abolish the British slave trade—and he did so with distinctly biblical motivation. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Christian minister who grounded his civil rights efforts in his religious perspective. Both Wilberforce and King successfully fought to change the law to reflect their religiously-informed moral views.

But those views—that slavery and racial discrimination are morally wrong—are not exclusively religious beliefs. And they should not be ruled out-of-bounds because they have deep ties to religion and religious people.

Editor: While I agree one need not be religious to be pro-life, I think the secular, scientific argument lacks authority for stating that a human being is valuable no matter the level of functionality. See Donal O'Mathuna's Medical Ethics and What it Means to be Human. Should Christians concede that the non-religious argument is stronger?

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5 Concerning Tween Trends

5 Concerning Tween Trends | Parenting - Yahoo! Shine: 11-13 year olds are engaging in sexual behavior earlier. They are engaging in oral sex at younger ages. I am quite sure that in their effort to remain technical virgins they are unaware of the STDs that are associated with oral sex. Parents and educators must broach this difficult topic and educate their kids. Ignoring the problem will not make it go away.

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Adult versus Embryonic Stem Cell debate may become “obsolete”

Adult versus Embryonic Stem Cell debate may become “obsolete” | The deVeber Institute for Bioethics and Social Research: The classic stem cell debate centres on adult versus embryonic sources. In theory, though ethically controversial, embryonic stem cells are more promising for their pluripotency or ability to develop into many different cell types. Adult stem cells are multipotent and more limited in their potential to differentiate. However, new technologies are developing that can resolve this conundrum.

. . . Still, adult stem cell therapies themselves are not without dilemma. “One of the drugs in my chemotherapy drug trial cost about $40 000 for the twelve week course. Another drug that I took on a monthly basis was about $4000 a month,” explained McCallum. “The stem cell transplant as it’s valued by insurance companies in the United States is about a quarter of a million dollars”
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Abortion, the Economy, and the 2012 Election

Articles: Abortion, the Economy, and the 2012 Election: Conventional wisdom holds that the defining issue of the 2012 U.S. presidential election will be the disastrous state of the economy. Both sides seem to agree that "it's the economy, stupid." But is it? Post-2004 election polls of voters showed that the single most important issue determining the majority of votes was "moral values."

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When Liberal Presumptions Skew Science

When Liberal Presumptions Skew Science » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: Scientists are studying Buddhists in meditation to see if “compassion” and “altruism” show up on brain scans.

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Time for China to Abandon Its Population Control Policy

Asia Unbound » Time for China to Abandon Its Population Control Policy: Last week, the government of the Philippines announced plans to allocate nearly $12 million towards contraceptive supplies for community clinics. Yesterday, the London Summit on Family Planning brought together government leaders, representatives from international agencies and civil society organizations, and private donors as part of a campaign to improve access to birth control in the world’s poorest countries. In China, the story was dramatically different. Last Thursday, fifteen prominent Chinese legal and demographic scholars issued an open letter calling for the end of restrictions on people’s birth rights.

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What Do You Think of eHarmony?

What Do You Think of eHarmony? | Challies Dot Com: "Any question about eHarmony or online dating is not a question of truth or error, but a matter of wisdom. The question that demands an answer is whether it wise to use a dating service in an attempt to find a spouse."

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Family rooted in the Divine nature

OneNewsNow.com - Your News Right Now: Dr. Dennis Kinlaw says the concept of family is rooted not in sociology – as secularists might have us believe – but in the divine nature of God. The evidence is that the Trinity itself includes a familial relationship, Father and Son.

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Marriage for the 99%: Seeing Family as a Social Justice Issue

Marriage for the 99%: Seeing Family as a Social Justice Issue | Christianity Today: Caring for the least of these has been a central part of Christian history, since Acts 6 and the church's first seven deacons. Christians started the first hospitals, soup kitchens, substance-abuse centers, and orphanages, and urged the abolition of slavery. . . . But an important new angle on social justice is emerging in academic circles that every concerned Christian should understand and acknowledge, a central factor in determining whether one lives in poverty or not. . . . For the past 20 years or more, though, the unexpected factor in whether our neighbors and their children rise from poverty is marital status.

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William Raspberry, Abortion, and Ambivalence

William Raspberry, Abortion, and Ambivalence | NRL News Today: On abortion, Raspberry could tip-toe up to the blatant inconsistencies that undergird the “pro-choice” worldview but never quite get over the hump. The best he could do—and, to be fair, this is an awful lot more than most “mainstream” columnists were/are willing to do—was to show with great insight how an honestly conflicted “pro-choicer” could assuage his or her own conscience.

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House committee reports out bill to end DC's abortion-until-birth policy!

National Right to Life: Pro-life members of the U.S. House of Representatives, with strong backing from the National Right to Life Committee, are moving forward with legislation to curb an ongoing scandal in our nation's capital:  Abortion is legal -- for any reason whatever -- right up until the moment of birth. This appalling situation would be addressed by the District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.R. 3803). The bill would prohibit abortion in the District after 20 weeks fetal age, unless the mother's life is endangered.

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IVF pregnancies terminated because of Down's syndrome

IVF pregnancies terminated because of Down's syndrome - Telegraph: Figures reportedly show that the genetic disorder was the most commonly given reason for terminating a pregnancy achieved [in the UK] through IVF-type treatment in 2009, the most recent year for which data is available.

Editor: This article is somewhat confusing, because it talks about babies conceived in test tubes (IVF) but tested during pregnancy. There's no mention of preimplantation genetic testing (PGD) which is routinely done with IVF to screen out abnormalities. In other words, defective embryos are discarded (I thought) so none are implanted in a woman's uterus. This story is disheartening, but an abortion prior to implantation is still an abortion. And genetic testing prior to implantation also yields "designer babies."

Related: Disabled children often victimized more

Philip Ryken on Wheaton’s Contraception Mandate Lawsuit: 'A Last Resort'

Q & A: Philip Ryken on Wheaton’s Contraception Mandate Lawsuit: 'A Last Resort' | Christianity Today: The Wheaton College Board of Trustees has been concerned about the Health and Human Services mandate from the very time that it was first delivered to us, back in September. The Wheaton College board has been keeping abreast of developments throughout the year. I have written on several occasions both to the secretary of Health and Human Services and to the President expressing our concerns on issues of religious liberty as it relates to the mandate.

. . . Wheaton College stands to face punitive fines already on January 1, 2013, and I am welcoming incoming freshmen in two weeks. It’s already an issue for us in terms of our health insurance and what we provide for this coming academic year. Although we wanted to wait for the Supreme Court decision out of respect for the legal system, we do not believe that we can wait any longer.

. . . [T]he issue for us is abortion-inducing drugs. . . . But more broadly, because of our Christian convictions on that issue, we believe there’s a very important religious liberty issue at stake in all of this.

. . . We’re clear on our Protestant identity and there are many areas of theological disagreement that we have with Roman Catholic colleges and universities. This filing is not a way of suggesting that those differences have in any way been erased. But here’s an issue where we have strong agreement, and that is the value of religious freedom for all people everywhere. We also believe that we have a stake in the success of Catholic institutions winning their religious freedom arguments. Even if [contraception] is not a universal point of conviction for Protestants the way that it is for Roman Catholics, we believe that Catholic institutions should have the freedom to carry out their mission without government coercion. That struggle for liberty is a struggle for our own liberty and, we would argue, a struggle for the liberty of all Americans.

. . . the mandate does not apply to organizations that have fewer than 50 employees, so many smaller Christian ministries will not be affected by this. . . . But I think by the time all is said and done there will be non-educational institutions from the evangelical community that also will be filing suit on this issue if they have not done so already.
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School loans reason for delaying marriage

Call Me Maybe When Your School Loan Is Paid In Full : NPR: Some young adults say their student loan debt affects their dating and marriage potential. A few have had partners break up with them over debt, while other couples forge ahead, but keep finances separate and avoid legal marriage.

Related: Two classes in America divided by "I do"

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Casey at twenty: pro-life progress despite a judicial setback

Casey at twenty: pro-life progress despite a judicial setback | LifeSiteNews.com: There is certainly much for social conservatives and others to criticize about the jurisprudence used in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. However, even though the decision was a setback, the past 20 years have still been a story of legislative, political, and even some jurisprudential progress for the pro-life movement.This progress has occurred not only because of the perseverance of pro-lifers, but also because pro-lifers shrewdly used legal openings granted to them through the Casey decision.

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Putting Together the Pieces in the Spiritual World War

Cornwall Alliance :: Stewardship Notes :: Putting Together the Pieces in the Spiritual World War: Satan of course hates God but cannot attack Him directly, so He attacks His image/representative—humanity—instead, in what we need to learn to see not as isolated battles but as related fronts in a “spiritual world war.”

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Obama’s FBI is gathering intelligence on the pro-life movement

Pro-life leaders: Obama’s FBI is gathering intelligence on the pro-life movement | LifeSiteNews.com: The federal government appears to making a concerted effort to to gain intelligence on the pro-life movement, according to some of the movement’s most prominent leaders.

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Author of controversial study on gay parenting being investigated by university

Author of controversial ‘gold standard’ study on gay parenting being investigated by university | LifeSiteNews.com: The University of Texas has launched a “scientific misconduct” investigation of UT sociologist Mark Regnerus, after he was accused by homosexual activists of “scientific misconduct” in his recent study. Regnerus’ study, published in the July issue of Social Science Research, found that children of homosexual parents have significantly more social and mental-health problems than children of heterosexual parents. The study raised a tremendous outcry from gay rights activists.

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Classic article: The Roe Effect

The Roe Effect - WSJ.com: [published July 6, 2005] The Roe effect refers specifically to the nexus between the practice of abortion and the politics of abortion. It seems self-evident that pro-choice women are more likely to have abortions than pro-life ones, and common sense suggests that children tend to gravitate toward their parents' values. This would seem to ensure that Americans born after Roe v. Wade have a greater propensity to vote for the pro-life party--that is, Republican--than they otherwise would have.

Evidence of the Roe effect: Slate's No Kids for Me, Thanks: I Don’t Enjoy Alien-Parasites (June 12, 2012)

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Dehydrate dementia patients to death to save money

Dehydrate dementia patients to death to save money: British Medical Journal editorial | LifeSiteNews.com: Raanan Gillon, emeritus professor of medical ethics and former chairman of the Institute of Medical Ethics governing body, wrote that a ruling last year by the High Court against dehydrating an incapacitated patient to death was “profoundly disturbing” because it took the life and death decision-making power out of the hands of doctors and required that the principle of the “sanctity of life” take precedence over other considerations.

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A Biblical Theology of Motherhood

A Biblical Theology of Motherhood | For His Renown: "If we are trying to establish a biblical theology of motherhood, we want to see how motherhood fits in the plot of the Bible’s big story, how it interacts with other aspects of the story, and how these things shed light on the direct statements about motherhood in the songs of the Psalmists, the Proverbs of the sages, and the instructions of the apostles. Story and statements inform one another, each expositing, affirming, and explaining the other. This study will begin with motherhood in the Bible’s story before considering the Bible’s statements about motherhood."

James M. Hamilton Jr., “A Biblical Theology of Motherhood,” Journal of Discipleship and Family Ministry 2.2 (2012): 6–13.

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Orphanology: What Each Family Should Consider About Adoption

FRC Blog » Orphanology: What Each Family Should Consider About Adoption: Pastor Tony Merida, in his new book Orphanology, describes both the theological foundation for adoption and the way that individuals and churches can be involved embracing little ones who so greatly need a mom and a dad. Pastor Merida is strongly pro-life and is the adoptive dad of five children. His book is a gracious exhortation to Christians to consider how they can partner with precious young lives to create families where affection and hope and security transform not just the lives of children, but of the parents who adopt them.

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ADL Says Pro-Life 'Wailing Wall' Would Pervert Meaning of Judaism's Holiest Site

ADL Says Pro-Life 'Wailing Wall' Planned for Witchita, Kan. Would Pervert Meaning of Judaism's Holiest Site: The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today said an effort led by two pastors to build an international pro-life "memorial" in Wichita, Kansas -- encompassing what is being described as an exact replica of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem – is "an outrageous affront to the Jewish people" and a perversion of Judaism's holiest site.

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Woman sues US FDA for right to private donor's sperm

BioNews - Woman sues US regulator for right to private donor's sperm: The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, is in a same-sex relationship and wants to conceive a child using a friend's sperm by home insemination. FDA regulations, however, require all sperm donors – including both those who donate through clinics and privately - to undergo medical tests, which the plaintiff claims restricts her freedom to have children. The lawsuit, filed by the campaign organisation Cause of Action on the woman's behalf, states this requirement is unfair because heterosexual couples do not have to undergo costly and time-consuming tests before they have intercourse.

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Focusing on wholeness: God’s plan for human sexuality

Focusing on wholeness: God’s plan for human sexuality | LifeSiteNews.com: Christians have not done a good enough job in describing — and, sadly, living out — a positive vision for human sexuality. It is true that in our overly sexualized culture, there’s plenty to protest: pornography, sleazy advertising, explicit song lyrics, TV shows that glamorize infidelity of every kind. We would be less than Christian if we remained silent. So, we speak out against sexual sin. Got it. But what alternative do we offer? What are we for?

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The new pro-life: time for an upgrade

The new pro-life: time for an upgrade | LifeSiteNews.com: New technologies provide the potential for made-to-order babies, diagnosing diseases in utero, living longer and more expensive lives, deeper integration with machines and computers, and replacing face-to-face friendships with virtual ones. And these technologies are not only far outpacing our ethics; they are even outpacing our awareness. This is bad news to those of us who are committed to defending the sacred dignity of all human life.

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Why Our Elites Stink

Why Our Elites Stink - NYTimes.com: The best of the WASP elites had a stewardship mentality, that they were temporary caretakers of institutions that would span generations. They cruelly ostracized people who did not live up to their codes of gentlemanly conduct and scrupulosity. They were insular and struggled with intimacy, but they did believe in restraint, reticence and service.

Today’s elite is more talented and open but lacks a self-conscious leadership code. The language of meritocracy (how to succeed) has eclipsed the language of morality (how to be virtuous). Wall Street firms, for example, now hire on the basis of youth and brains, not experience and character. Most of their problems can be traced to this.

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Evangelicals Struggle to Address Premarital Sex and Abortion

Evangelicals Struggle to Address Premarital Sex and Abortion - The Daily Beast: "It’s no secret that evangelicals have a big problem on their hands when it comes to young people and sex. The facts are staggering: despite almost universal affirmation that premarital sex is a sin, 80 percent of unmarried evangelicals (PDF) are having it, and 30 percent of those who accidentally get pregnant get an abortion, according to one survey. U.S. states where abstinence is emphasized over contraception in school sex ed—almost all in the heavily evangelical South—have teen-pregnancy rates as high as double (PDF) those of states with a comprehensive curriculum. Though an overwhelming majority believe premarital sex is wrong, white evangelicals are sexually active at a younger age than any demographic besides African-Americans, and are one of the least likely groups to use contraception.

"The fact that true love isn’t waiting has concerned evangelicals for years, but the issue is gaining new attention because such a significant number of Christians' unplanned pregnancies end in abortion. The scramble to address the situation is revealing fault lines over the place of contraception in church practices, giving birth control a new centrality in the largely pill-friendly Protestant domain.

". . . [T]he evangelical temperament is much more progressive than conservative. Despite the public’s idea of evangelicals as stubbornly resistant to change, they have always interacted and evolved in close parallel with the American mainstream. It remains highly unlikely that American evangelical culture in its current incarnation will broadly embrace a lifestyle at odds with the prevailing cultural norms. Evangelicals may claim to believe in abstinence and not to believe in evolution, but premarital sex, later marriage, and occasional abortions will be harder to resist than the limited debates taking place among evangelicals seem aware."

Editor: For what it's worth, I'm not so certain the links provided in the first paragraph prove anything. I skimmed the first one (supposedly substantiating the "80 percent of unmarried evangelicals are having it") and didn't find reference to religious beliefs. May have missed it, but be careful quoting this one.

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Mercy Ministry in the Church | 9Marks

Journal : Mercy Ministry in the Church | 9Marks: "Over the last few years, 9Marks has offered occasional warnings about mission creep in the local church. We believe the local church exists to make disciples and to teach them to do everything that the Lord Jesus commanded. Therefore, the local church, its pastors, its public gatherings, and any joint institutional resources belonging to the body should be dedicated to equipping the membership for works of ministry through teaching the truth in love. Acts of mercy are surely essential for God’s people, but for the institutional church, teaching is essential in a way that organized and structured mercy-ministry programs are not. Teaching is the water that gives life to all Christian activity inside and outside of church building doors."

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Struggling with homosexuality is a paradox; embracing homosexuality a contradiction

Michael Horton, CT: [S]in is not just a behavior. Long before they made any choice about what to do with it, people were predisposed toward same-sex attractions. . . . We reject the Pelagian reduction of sin to an action that one can overcome with enough will-power. We are depraved (warped) in every respect: spiritually, morally, intellectually, volitionally, and physically. . . .[W]e can inherit specific sins—or at least tendencies—of our fathers and mothers. Then add to that the ways in which people are sinned against by the attitudes and behaviors of others, especially in childhood. So even before we actually decide to take that first drink, place that first bet, unleash our first punch, or fool around with our best friend, we are already caught up in the tangled web of solidarity in sin. At the same time, we are responsible for our choices, which reinforce or counter the specific sins toward which we are especially disposed.

There is no reason to think that Christians who struggle with these attractions are any less justified and renewed by God's grace in Christ than are those who wrestle especially with greed or anger or gossip. The gospel frees us to confess our sins without fear of condemnation. Looking to Christ alone for our justification and holiness, we can finally declare war on our indwelling sin because we have peace with God.

If there is no biblical basis for greater condemnation, there is also no scriptural basis for greater laxity in God's judgment of this sin. It is as unloving to hold out hope to those who embrace a homosexual lifestyle as it is to assure idolaters, murderers, adulterers, and thieves that they are safe and secure from all alarm. Nor will it do to say, "Well, we're all idolaters, etc."

Accounts of forced abortions in China only 'tip of the iceberg'

Baptist Press - Accounts of forced abortions in China only 'tip of the iceberg' - News with a Christian Perspective: In written testimony for a US House panel, Bob Fu of the ChinaAid Association said Feng's "tragedy is repeated hundreds and thousands of times each day in China."

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Pro-life progress in the wolverine state

Pro-life progress in the wolverine state | LifeSiteNews.com: During the past 25 years, Michigan has become a quiet leader in enacting state-level pro-life legislation.

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‘My poor wife, my poor child’: another 8 month-old baby forcibly aborted in China

‘My poor wife, my poor child’: another 8 month-old baby forcibly aborted in China | LifeSiteNews.com: Wu Liangjie said his wife, Pan Chunyan, was eight months pregnant in April when family planning officials injected poison into her unborn child’s head, causing her son to be born dead two days later – despite the fact that the family had paid the fine for having a third child.

Related: Chinese officials settle with couple subjected to vicious forced abortion -- Officials in Zenjia township agreed to pay Feng Jianmei and her husband Deng Jiyuan 70,600 yuan ($11,023) in exchange for dropping their lawsuit.

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Tempted by abortion

I chose LIFE ... but I was tempted not to | LifeSiteNews.com: "I felt so lost and out of control. I had always been against abortion, no matter what…but I’m not going to lie: it crossed my mind. . . . I didn’t completely dismiss the idea of abortion until I finally spoke with Jeremiah’s dad when I was about three months pregnant. He talked about Jeremiah like he was just an object, and it made me so angry. Then I realized, I was doing the same thing. His life wasn’t an object to just throw away out of inconvenience. That’s when I decided his life was priceless. He was precious and deserved to live."

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Angry socialist conference chants for ‘free’ abortions

Video: Angry socialist conference chants for ‘free’ abortions | LifeSiteNews.com: An estimated 1,500 people attended International Socialist Organizaton’s “Socialism 2012” conference from June 28-July 1.  A cell phone video shows an angry crowd chanting: “Free abortion on demand! Can we do it? Yes, we can!”

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Dead chimp: "He's in a better place"?

Chimps' caretaker speaks out on deadly escape - WAFB 9 News Baton Rouge, Louisiana News, Weather, Sports: Las Vegas Metro police shot and killed a chimpanzee and tranquilized another after the animals escaped from a home. Timmi DeRosa, caretaker of the two chimpanzees who escaped, doesn't know how they escaped from a $100,000 cage. "I say God, I just know that he's in a better place and he'll never have to be in a cage again."

Editor: Chimps have eternal life?

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Christians should be spreading the Gospel, not worrying about political issues like abortion.

Christians should be spreading the Gospel, not worrying about political issues like abortion.: "Obviously we all know that as a Christian s our main focus is to spread the Gospel and share the hope we have in Christ.  We are commanded to 'Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation.' (Mark 16:15) The idea that taking a stand for the almost 4,000 children that are being ripped limb from limb every day by surgical abortion is contrary to the Gospel , is simply ludicrous. In fact, I would say that when we do not stand up for the voiceless or love our neighbor as ourselves, we are not truly preaching the Gospel."

Editor: What do you think?

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Disability and the divorce rate

Daniel Vance: "In my first decade involved in disability issues, I repeatedly heard people claim that marriages involving parents of children with disabilities had a divorce rate of more than 75 percent. . . . After reviewing the literature, I found no credible evidence married couples raising children with disabilities experienced that high of a divorce rate. . . . I guess if you speak untruths long enough, people will believe it."

Medical Ethics and What it Means to Be Human

Medical Ethics and What it Means to Be Human by Donel O'Mathuna:"New technology forces people to make profoundly important decisions about those they love. Parents have to decide whether to have their unborn children tested for genetic problems. If one is detected, they then have to decide whether to abort their unborn child. Couples who cannot have their own children have to decide whether to try the vast array of infertility treatments available. People with chronic, terminal illnesses have to decide how much technology to pursue. Ultimately, we have to decide whether to place "Do Not Resuscitate" orders on our loved ones.

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The Biblical Bases of Human Personhood

A slideshow by Dennis Sullivan, professor of biology at Cedarville University

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End of Life Decisions 101

bioethics.com » End of Life Decisions 101: The care of patients near the end of life can be ethically challenging. Physicians and other health care professionals may find certain concepts vague and hard to understand. Furthermore, there must be a balance between two extremes: a treat-at-all-costs vitalism on the one hand, and a too-rapid withdrawal of potentially beneficial treatments on the other. The purpose of this article is to provide some conceptual clarity.

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The New Sexual Identity Crisis

The New Sexual Identity Crisis – The Gospel Coalition Blog: The sexual identity crisis has breached the church where labels such as "gay Christian" and "gay celibate Christian" are becoming more commonly used and accepted. Some Christians with same-sex attractions now say the evolution of common vernacular makes it acceptable to adopt these terms as accurately describing their experience. But are such labels compatible with our identity in Christ? Do they draw us closer to Christ? Here are six points to consider.

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Amazing Computer Animation Shows Development of Human Face in Utero

Amazing Computer Animation Shows Development of Human Face in Utero | NRL News Today: The BBC offers some absolutely amazing examples of science developed with laypeople in mind on its webpage. But its series on “Inside the Human Body” may be the most fascinating of all, replete with spectacular graphics.
Although it first appeared over a year ago, only recently here in the states have most of us become aware of a YouTube video of one segment—a time-lapse of the development of the human face in utero.

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SPUC response to Gates: Food not contraception saves lives

SPUC response to Gates: Food not contraception saves lives | LifeSiteNews.com: Recently, Save the Children announced that family planning ‘saves lives’ of both women and babies. It has called for aid money to be spent on contraception, claiming that it is a good investment, cheaper than saving children from death by disease or starvation after they are born. Anthony Ozimic, SPUC’s communications manager, examines in a brief video why money is being wasted on contraception when people are starving.

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Letter to the editor by young woman with Down syndrome

Secular Pro-Life Perspectives: International Down Syndrome Coalition: Bridget Brown wrote a letter to the editor of the Washington Post describing her perspective on the high abortion rate of fetuses with Down syndrome:

Dear Editor,

I am a young woman with Down Syndrome. I am so sad to hear about all the babies with Down Syndrome who are aborted.  I am so grateful that I was not aborted because I have a full and wonderful life!

The world needs to know that I do not “suffer” from Down Syndrome. I believe in the sacred dignity of ALL people. AND most people I know with disabilities have full and productive lives.

. . . I wonder why we think Hitler was so horrible when we are doing the same thing he did? . . .

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Existentialism and Theological Famine Relief

Existentialism and Theological Famine Relief | Challies Dot Com: The Bible gives us a leg up on the process of figuring out who we are, but even then it’s not like you can simply flip to the Table of Contents and get a comprehensive answer. That’s where Jerry Bridges’ new book -- Who Am I? -- comes in.

Related: More about theological famine and its relief

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Prominent embryonic stem cell researchers leaving field

Prominent embryonic stem cell researchers leaving field, dimming prospects | Stem Cell Research Cures: As research progresses and alternatives to killing human embryos arise, the most prominent advocates and pioneers of human embryonic stem cell research are turning away from the field due to the scientific implausibility and monetary impossibility of the cells ever being used in large scale ways to cure diseases.

Related:
Human bones grown from fat in laboratory
First success for CIRM involves adult stem cells
Amniotic fluid offers alternative stem cell source
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Physician's Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment: Helpful or a New Threat?

Physician's Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment: Helpful or a New Threat? | Daily News | NCRegister.com: Some ethicists see stronger danger at end of life with new form that patients can sign. 'A living will on steroids.'

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Schools in UK could be forced to teach gay marriage

Schools could be forced to teach gay marriage | News | The Christian Institute: Secret Government emails reveal that schools could be forced to teach children about gay marriage if it becomes law. The emails between officials at the Home Office and Department for Education came to light following a Freedom of Information request.

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Pastors use social media to reach congregations

Pastors use social media to reach congregations | Online Athens: Atlanta-based Twitter executive Claire Diaz-Ortiz learned something surprising from an examination of the most popular tweets: Spiritual tweets were whooping up on the mundane. "We came upon data that religious leaders were completely punching above their weight on Twitter," she said. "They were super-engaged."

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Abortions Have Made Life Better for Millions Of Men: It's About Time to Speak Up in Support

Alternet: One in three women in America will have an abortion at some point in her life. There are roughly twice as many abortions as LASIK procedures performed in any given year. Given that overwhelming prevalence, it's high time for women who have had abortions to come out, step up, stand by their choices -- and refuse delivery on all attempts to burden them with regret or shame.

. . . But through all of this fresh energy and determination, there's one set of big, deep voices that's conspicuously missing. We need to hear from the men, too.

For every single woman who's ever had an abortion, there's a man somewhere in the story. For every woman who was able to delay motherhood until a better moment, or improve her existing kids' chances by not enlarging her brood, or end a pregnancy that was doomed to end in tragedy and pain, there's also a man out there who is not a father today -- or is a better father to the kids he has -- because a woman he was involved with had the means to make this decision.

Editor: It's official. You heard it from a pro-choice woman's mouth: Men have been invited into the dialog. Come on, men! Speak up!!

Are gender roles a social construct?

God created man male and female—Adam and Eve—and He made males and females different physically and distinct in their roles. Genesis 2:18 makes Eve’s role clear: “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Eve was from the bone and flesh of Adam, meaning she is equal in her standing before God and yet distinct from man (Galatians 3:28). But God gave Adam the authority not only to name the animals but also to name his wife, indicating that she does not share equal authority with her husband. In the Bible’s wording, she is his helper.

If God’s creation of Eve, a female, as a helper and companion for Adam, a male, is not clear enough to defend marriage as being reserved for a man and a woman, Genesis 2:24 clears up any confusion: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."

From the very beginning of God’s Word, He makes no allowances for “alternative” lifestyles such as homosexuality, bestiality, polygamy, and so on.