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.