...so be sure to get him something nice!
Get the John Calvin birthday clock at Calvin 500
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Gender-driven abortion: coming soon to a country near you
Caught this from the Washington Times today. Apparently, Sweden has ruled that it's A-OK for women to abort their babies based on the sex of the fetus. It's already a common practice in China, which has a one-child per family policy.
In China, couples don't want a girl for their only child, so they abort them at very high rates. Sweden doesn't have a one-child policy. Gender-driven abortion is just a matter of choice for them.
The reasoning seems to be that in Sweden, women have the unfettered right to abort until the 18th week of pregnancy, no matter the reason.
I have two thoughts about this,a side from the fact that it makes me ill. First is that since the current president is extremely pro-abortion, as is the Congress, I see no reason to believe that this couldn't become standard practice in the US. And, it would have the full blessing of the government.
Second, this is nothing less than war against women. These babies are being destroyed solely based on the fact they are female. This gives me great confidence that feminist groups, and lawmakers who champion women's rights, are going to jump all over this. I'm sure we will see protests in front of the Swedish embassy in Washington, DC. We should see the condemnation of this practice starting anytime now.
In fact, I'll just right here until the protests start...
(H/T: Hot Air)
In China, couples don't want a girl for their only child, so they abort them at very high rates. Sweden doesn't have a one-child policy. Gender-driven abortion is just a matter of choice for them.
The reasoning seems to be that in Sweden, women have the unfettered right to abort until the 18th week of pregnancy, no matter the reason.
I have two thoughts about this,a side from the fact that it makes me ill. First is that since the current president is extremely pro-abortion, as is the Congress, I see no reason to believe that this couldn't become standard practice in the US. And, it would have the full blessing of the government.
Second, this is nothing less than war against women. These babies are being destroyed solely based on the fact they are female. This gives me great confidence that feminist groups, and lawmakers who champion women's rights, are going to jump all over this. I'm sure we will see protests in front of the Swedish embassy in Washington, DC. We should see the condemnation of this practice starting anytime now.
In fact, I'll just right here until the protests start...
(H/T: Hot Air)
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Performance-based acceptance...
My awesome blog buddy Joel, from Grace Roots, has set up a synchroblog. The theme is "performance-based acceptance." Unfortunately, it's something I know a little too much about. I have several stories I could share about how I tried to measure up to someone else's ideas of what my walk with God should look like. Here's one of them:
To be honest, I can't remember a time in my life when I didn't feel like I had to perform a certain way to be accepted. My world, as a child, revolved around two things: my mom and my church. I got heavy doses of the need to live up to certain standards from both of them.
As a result, I built my life around doing what was expected of me, hoping to get the love I needed. I served the church in any way I could. I pledged myself to "full-time Christian service." (Are there part-time Christians? Oh, that's for another post.) I taught Bible studies, I led singing, I preached, I did everything I knew how to do. But I never thought it was enough. So I kept trying to do more.
Part of "doing more" involved planting a church in the area we live in. That's not a bad thing, but church planting is a lot of work. When you think that you have to meet everyone's expectations in order for you to be loved, it becomes overwhelming. After a while, I couldn't keep up with all the balls I felt I had to juggle. Finally, I had to let them all fall, and walk away from all my old notions of what it meant to serve God and others. I left pastoring, and dropped off the radar screen for a while.
The really awful thing about having people expecting me to perform a certain way was that I came to see God doing the same thing. I was working so that God would love me, would accept me. That was great when things were going well, but when something went wrong, it was torture.
I know now that my uncertainty about God loving me were based on messages I got from other people, not from God Himself. I find myself listening more to His voice, and less to those voices that tell me what I must do to please Him.
For me, the best part of living loved by Father is that I get to share this news (it's really Good News!) with other people. I'm shocked by how many Christians need to hear the gospel. You know--the real gospel, the one that says we are loved and accepted because of what Christ did, not by anything we do.
For the past few weeks, we have been fellowshipping at a very traditional congregation. Instead of being draining, it's been fun and liberating. It's great to be able to love on people, and not need them to validate me. It's also great to be able to preach God's love and grace, without giving them obligations they need to fulfill.
Grace is such a radical concept that I think there's always a desire to make it safer, more controllable. One way we do that is by putting performance obligations on people. But that's not God's way. That's man's way of taming grace...
(To read the rest of the blogs participating in the synchroblogging wonder, go here...)
To be honest, I can't remember a time in my life when I didn't feel like I had to perform a certain way to be accepted. My world, as a child, revolved around two things: my mom and my church. I got heavy doses of the need to live up to certain standards from both of them.
As a result, I built my life around doing what was expected of me, hoping to get the love I needed. I served the church in any way I could. I pledged myself to "full-time Christian service." (Are there part-time Christians? Oh, that's for another post.) I taught Bible studies, I led singing, I preached, I did everything I knew how to do. But I never thought it was enough. So I kept trying to do more.
Part of "doing more" involved planting a church in the area we live in. That's not a bad thing, but church planting is a lot of work. When you think that you have to meet everyone's expectations in order for you to be loved, it becomes overwhelming. After a while, I couldn't keep up with all the balls I felt I had to juggle. Finally, I had to let them all fall, and walk away from all my old notions of what it meant to serve God and others. I left pastoring, and dropped off the radar screen for a while.
The really awful thing about having people expecting me to perform a certain way was that I came to see God doing the same thing. I was working so that God would love me, would accept me. That was great when things were going well, but when something went wrong, it was torture.
I know now that my uncertainty about God loving me were based on messages I got from other people, not from God Himself. I find myself listening more to His voice, and less to those voices that tell me what I must do to please Him.
For me, the best part of living loved by Father is that I get to share this news (it's really Good News!) with other people. I'm shocked by how many Christians need to hear the gospel. You know--the real gospel, the one that says we are loved and accepted because of what Christ did, not by anything we do.
For the past few weeks, we have been fellowshipping at a very traditional congregation. Instead of being draining, it's been fun and liberating. It's great to be able to love on people, and not need them to validate me. It's also great to be able to preach God's love and grace, without giving them obligations they need to fulfill.
Grace is such a radical concept that I think there's always a desire to make it safer, more controllable. One way we do that is by putting performance obligations on people. But that's not God's way. That's man's way of taming grace...
(To read the rest of the blogs participating in the synchroblogging wonder, go here...)
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