Archive for November, 2010

Who Needs Marriage: TIME Asked the Question – Do You Have an Answer?

Tuesday, November 30th, 2010 at 6:39 pm  
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“When an institution so central to human experience suddenly changes shape in the space of a generation or two, it’s worth trying to figure out why.” Belinda Luscombe of TIME magazine made that observation in the course of reporting on a major study of marriage undertaken by TIME and the Pew Research Center. In the cover story for the magazine’s November 29, 2010 edition, Luscombe summarizes their findings with a blunt statement: “What we found is that marriage, whatever its social, spiritual, or symbolic appeal, is in purely practical terms just not as necessary as it used to be.”

Without doubt, marriage has been utterly transformed in the modern world. In Western nations, the concept of marriage as a sacred covenant has given way to the idea that marriage is merely a legal contract. The limitation of sexual intercourse to marriage went the way of the Sexual Revolution, even as the ideal of permanence gave way to no-fault divorce and serial monogamy. And as for monogamy, that may be on shaky ground, too. These days, you can’t take anything for granted.

The debates over the legitimization and legalization of same-sex marriage have, among other things, revealed the fact that far too many Americans (and that includes a frightening number of American Christians) are simply unarmed for any intellectual conflict on any question related to marriage.

And the demographics? Brace yourselves. In 1960, 70 percent of all American adults were married. Now, that number is just over half. Eight times as many children are born out of wedlock as compared to that same year. In the 1960s, two-thirds of all young adults in their twenties were married. Now, only 26 percent of twenty-somethings are married.

Statistics can inform or misinform, and it is possible to find statistical support that puts a happier face on the health of marriage. But in order to find these happier statistics, it is necessary to redefine the question. For example, some marriage defenders will assert, accurately, that most Americans will at some point be married. But that fact lowers the question of marriage to the minimalist level of “at some point.” By any honest measure, marriage is in big trouble.

When Belinda Luscombe argues that marriage is “in purely practical terms just not as necessary as it used to be,” she has a rationale to back up her argument. “Neither men nor women need to be married to have sex or companionship or professional success or respect or even children.” All that is true — when marriage is viewed on the canvas of American culture. Marriage no longer regulates sex. The Sexual Revolution severed sex from marriage in a social sense, and the arrival of The Pill offered a pharmaceutical means of severing sex from reproduction. No-fault divorce arrived as a legal accommodation to marital impermanence, effectively redefining both marital and family law in the process. Social status and professional expectations were liberated from the question of marriage, and many feminists declared that marriage itself was an impediment to the full liberation of women.

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Cutting Back on Care

Tuesday, November 30th, 2010 at 4:27 pm  
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November 29, 2010

Here’s a story that should surprise no one. Doctors across the country are cutting back on their treatment of the elderly because the government is cutting back on Medicare payments. Older people on Medicare must now wait months to get an appointment and, in some cases, specialists are refusing to see them at all.

“What can we do?” asks one doctor quoted in the Washington Post. What, indeed? Doctors have to stay in business. They have costs, especially high malpractice insurance premiums, which the Obama health care law doesn’t address. That’s because the trial lawyers give big political contributions to Democrats.

This is another step on the road to passive and possibly active euthanasia. When categories of life, beginning with the unborn, are deemed unworthy of living and without value, they will be allowed to die and then secretly killed for the greater good, of course. We’ll accept it – just as we have abortion on demand. Give it time. Meanwhile, if you’re old, or getting there, better stay in shape, or hope your doctor will still see you.

Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.

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Would Or Did?

Tuesday, November 30th, 2010 at 3:11 pm  
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Christ died for our sins . . . , was buried, and . . . rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. —1 Corinthians 15:3-4

Not many years ago, we watched as the “WWJD” craze swept through the Christian community. The bracelet-emblazoned theme “What Would Jesus Do?” was a valuable reminder to many people that we should consider the heart and mind of Jesus when making choices. As we seek to live in a way that honors the Savior, it is appropriate to measure our attitudes and decisions against the example our Lord set for us.

Recently, however, I was in a church where I saw a slightly different message. This church’s sign read, “WDJD—What Did Jesus Do?” That is indeed the more important question, because our salvation depends on it. Paramount among the remarkable deeds of the Son of God are the events described in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”

What did Jesus do? He took the suffering and guilt for our wrongdoing and paid our penalty. He died and conquered death so we could live. And the fact is, we will never be able to fully consider what Jesus would do until we have embraced what He did do for us on the cross.


To follow Christ in all we do
Can be a worthy goal
If first we’ve put our trust in Him
To save our sinful soul. —Sper

We are saved not by what we do
but by trusting what Christ has done.

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“Jesus, The Bridge Spanning the Great Divide” – Love Worth Finding – Nov. 30, 2010

Tuesday, November 30th, 2010 at 12:58 pm  
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NOVEMBER 30

Jesus, the Bridge Spanning the Great Divide
   “And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.” Ephesians 2:16

Up in heaven is the holy God.

Down below is the sinful man.

And sin is the dividing rod that separates.

Without God, man has an empty void in his life he knows he must fill, so man is constantly trying to reach God. But he keeps rebounding off the sin barrier.

Then God, moved in mercy by the pitiful plight of sinful man, said, “I will do something.”

God sent His Son, the Lord Jesus, to make a way. And upon the rough-hewn timbers of a cross, Jesus gave His life so you and I could live forever and live forgiven. Jesus built a bridge between man and God. It’s a bridge man could never build. And a bridge that man can never take away.

God made a way that we couldn’t make… for me… and for you. 

Since Jesus built a bridge of love for you to be reconciled to God, it’s your turn to build a bridge of love to someone who is lost and searching. 

For more from Love Worth Finding and Pastor Adrian Rogers, please visit www.lwf.org.

You can also listen to Adrian Rogers at OnePlace.com.

Watch Adrian Rogers and Love Worth Finding Video Online.

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High court says Pakistani government cannot pardon Christian woman

Tuesday, November 30th, 2010 at 11:21 am  
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The Pakistani government was barred on Monday by the country’s high court from pardoning a Christian woman sentenced to death for alleged blasphemy.

A lawyer argued that a pardon would be illegal while the case was pending in the courts.

“Since the matter is in the high court, the government cannot now make any move to pardon Bibi,” lawyer Allah Bakhsh Leghari told Agence France-Presse.

Asia Bibi was sentenced early this month to death by hanging for allegedly speaking against the Prophet Muhammad. The Christian mother of five is the first woman to receive a death sentence for blasphemy in Pakistan.

Bibi’s attorney filed an appeal and signed a petition pleading for a presidential pardon.

Religious leaders, including Pope Benedict XVI, and human rights groups have called for her release but conservative Muslims have threatened anarchy if President Asif Ali Zadari pardons the woman.

Federal Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti said he expects Bibi to be freed. He was tasked with investigating the accusations against Bibi and said preliminary findings showed she was innocent.

Bibi was arrested in 2009 following a petty argument she had with fellow field workers. She was picking fruit in a field with fellow Muslim workers and went to get water for the group. Upon returning, the Muslim women refused to drink the water because the container had been touched by a Christian.

Bibi was offended and argued with the women, but afterwards thought nothing of the incident. However, a few days later dozens of Muslims dragged her away and she was accused of blasphemy against the Muslim Prophet Muhammad, which she denies.

Human rights group Christian Freedom International warns that Bibi’s case could set a precedent in the Muslim-majority nation where Christians are already harassed and persecuted regularly.

“If Asia is put to death, it could mean a rise in prosecutions of Christians – not just in Pakistan, but also in other nations where Islamic law is enforced,” the group warned.

In the past, Pakistan’s courts have issued death sentences for blasphemy, but no executions have been carried out. All the death sentences were thrown out upon appeal.

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