Review: Parenting by God’s Promises

Parenting by God’s Promises by Joel R. Beeke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As a new father I frankly feel overwhelmed at times by what is happening in our world, knowing that my son will have to face challenges that are likely increasingly difficult. It seems that every day I read about “parents” who decide to end the life of their unborn child and most recently about parents who are sueing because they chose to give birth to a child that was later diagnosed with Down Syndrome.

It is in this world that we are called to parent. How we face these challenges as adults has everything to do with how we raise our children. What values will they have? How can we help guide them through the mines of moral indiscretion and raise them to hate sin or even to know what sin is much of the time?

A Mobile for Tinsley: a Parable

Since my son was born, his mother and I have talked much about how we have seen God’s provision for him and how He has orchestrated our lives to make way for Tinsley and his unique challenges. I have often threatened to share that wider story, but perhaps for now a smaller story within that story will be a place to start.

Barbara Walters on Guilt and Abortion

When does life begin?  This one question is cornerstone to the debate on abortion and the so-called “woman’s right to choose.”  Beyond the obvious biblical references (Ps. 139:13, Ps. 51:5), there are whole cultures that celebrate a child’s date of conception as the beginning of life by adding a full year to the person’s age.

Yet people on the pro-abortion side of the debate argue that life begins much later.  Some suggesting that life begins with a beating heart (week 3) and others believe that it begins with the first breath outside the womb.  Surely Barbara Walters and the liberal ladies on The View would agree with one another that life begins, the “pregnancy” becomes a child, at birth.

On February 8th, the topic on the show was sparked by a ruling in Texas that upholds a law that requires women to view an ultrasound of the baby inside them before choosing to abort.

Review: Mark: a Commentary by RC Sproul

Mark: Saint Andrews Expositional Commentary by R.C. Sproul
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Four stories about Jesus and this is the oldest.  It is also the quickest since every event in Jesus’ life seems to have happened immediately after the last.  Yet what sets this account apart is that it speaks dramatically of Christ’s authority and the draw that he had as people heard and felt the weight of that connection to the Father.

In his signature style, R.C. Sproul present this full exposition of the gospel account with Christ’s authority as its central theme.  His accessible discourse provides a look at the gospel nearly verse by verse as he not only talks about the passage itself, but connects it with the rest of the book and its significance to the life of Christ and our foundational belief as Christians.

US Constitution Divine? Part 2

Some time ago I stumbled upon a painting (I later found to be done by a Mormon) of Jesus holding the US Constitution as if the Founding Fathers did not so much write it as they were handed it by Christ himself.  My brief comment about it was welcomed by a very vibrant conversation.

Lo and behold, there is a follow-up to the original painting:

The painting features current President Barak Obama standing on the Constitution and flanked by all the other presidents including George W. Bush who is just over his right shoulder. Click here for a larger, interactive, version of this painting.

What first strikes me about the painting itself (other than FDR standing) is that it is Obama who is standing on the Constitution amidst shreds of paper containing the Bill of Rights.  Could we not also put other presidents, like, I don’t know, George W. Bush himself who presided over the near military state as the Patriot Act was signed into law to “protect” the American people while giving the federal government unprecedented power over the populous?