Utah 2009 Reflections

We are all back safe and sound (protected from a near collision with a deer? elk? Just five minutes into our trip home). We drove through the night and arrived home early yesterday morning. After a nap yesterday and a good night's rest last night, I feel much better.

Our last day in Utah was packed full with great conversations. Our team was invited out to the Stake President's turkey farm and was able to spend time talking with him. Remember that he sought us out because of the serving we had done in his community. We were able to share that serving was a natural expression of who we were as the body of Christ in gratitude for His grace, His forgiveness; for what Christ had already done for us while we were still sinners. In Mormonism, grace is what comes AFTER all you can do, that Christ CAN NOT save us in our sins and that forgiveness of sins through the atonement is conditional upon your repentance which requires the complete FORSAKING of your sins. Another great talk I had was with another TLC member. Both of these divine appointments were directly because of trusting in God to serve those around us. He said that he was completely satisfied with his life, but wanted to know what made us come into a community that we didn't know and serve all. Understand that the TLC and other fundamentalist and polygamous groups are shunned by the LDS church and so are finding some comradery with the Christians in Utah. Like many of the conversations I had, it revolved around the nature of God, how we can spend eternity with Him and trusting in the Bible as the standard by which we compare everything else. I was able to answer many questions that he had and by his own account, "explain things in a way that he had never heard from Christians." Really this was nothing special on my part but quoting God's word. I know that God is working in a powerful way in Manti and it was awesome to be used by Him throughout the week.

The last night of the pageant is usually the busiest with the largest crowds of Mormon attendees. The Saturday nights are also usually the least attended by Christian missionaries due to having to drive home to take care of responsibilities at their own churches on Sunday. This was the case and so there were tons of opportunities to get in discussion. As we would finish one conversation, LDS would then approach us with questions and comments. I didn't have to move much from the spot I originally started from. One of these was an LDS man who wanted to ask me about the Trinity and why I believed that God didn't have a body of flesh and bones, my two favorite topics regarding the nature of who God is. As was every Mormon that I spoke to this week, he had a misunderstanding of what the Trinity is and why we believe that God is a triune personal Being. I explained that the Bible was clearly monotheistic and yet the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are all called God and have the powers, nature and names of God. These three persons of the one God are distinct from one another; the Father is not the Son is not the Spirit. This usually topples the straw man the LDS church teaches and then proceeds to tear down.

The thing that broke my heart this year in early conversations that I had was that LDS trust the LDS church and LDS prophets over God's word in the Bible even though God tells us that we should compare everything to His word and that His word will not fail or fade away. For every evidence contained in the Bible that contradicted what they believed, they would simply say that the verse in question was "mistranslated". Despite explaining how the Bible was translated and the reliability of the texts, it was a common escape route to addressing the truth of God's word and how Joseph Smith was in direct contradiction to it. It then became my tactic to establish the reliability of the Bible first. Many time's I would begin my conversations with, "why don't LDS trust the Bible?" Mormons do not like to say that they don't trust the Bible, but we know that you either trust it completely or know where you can and can not trust the scriptures or else you can't say that you trust the Bible. If I have a car that's brakes fail intermittently without rhyme or reason, I can’t trust that car to safely get me where I want to go. I certainly wouldn't trust allowing a loved one to drive it, even if it was reliable most of the time. Most Mormons would then assure me that the LDS Bible contained in my Quad was reliable and it was then an open, honest look at God's word could begin.

One last story... my wife was offering bug spray to anyone who wanted some; as there were tons of mosquitoes out this year (I'm still covered in bumps). Because she was a Christian there was a reluctance to take the free gift. Finally an LDS girl who was being bitten thankfully accepted the bug spray and then many more did as well. A comment made to my wife by a young man who was LDS was "that's not bug spray right? It's probably sugar water." The perception that the Christians who come to the pageant are evil is pervasive. We heard many more comments than just this one that we hated Mormons and were paid by our churches to come there and protest the pageant and harass Mormons. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We came out of love for God, love for the LDS people and love for the truth. I hope that came through as we tried to break down those barriers in Utah this year.

Utah 2009 Reflections

Utah 2009 Day 5

Another great day. We were able to split up into groups and accomplish all the service work we were asked to do today and then share in a great time of fellowship and amazing food with Chip and Jamie in their home. The weather turned from rainy to cold and windy with ominous dark clouds on the horizon. Although a little chilly, we again had amazing conversations all night. Again it was just such a joy to see everyone in our group engaged in long, meaningful conversations with LDS. Tonight Jimmy was able to spend all night with a father/son that he had talked with at last year's pageant. The son remembered Jimmy and said that he had remembered everything they had talked about last year and was eager to talk more.

While talking to a group of returned missionaries, a girl came up next to us and kept repeating, "Hey, I know that guy" to her friends. My wife recognized her as one of the missionaries we have had to our home a couple of years ago. They talked and when I had finished I recognized her as well. Now off her mission and visiting a friend, she decided to come to the Pageant tonight. We had a great talk, sharing verses and emails by the light of our phones as the Pageant had begun and it was now dark on the street. She stayed and we talked about truth, evidence, our testimonies and that God's word, His testimony, was greater. We talked about the nature of God and salvation and I pleaded with her to trust God's word over Joseph Smith's.

Here are some pictures for those that have asked and thanks again for the prayer, love and support from home.

Here we are helping Chip and Jamie move dirt.

Our worship time on the streets of Manti before the pageant evangelism.





Our youth sharing God's word.

Tomorrow we will be going over to the Stake President's turkey farm and then do a little local hiking. Please pray for an opportunity to share with this man who has taken interest in our group as well as another TLC member who wants to know what makes our group so willing to serve.

Utah 2009 Day 5

Utah 2009 Day 4

As you can see from the sign, one of the changes this year has been signs posted around all the pageant areas except for the street. Apparently there will be no talking about Jesus Christ on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints property.

God is so good. Our trip has been so great. Our serving the Manti community has created such a buzz that we have been inundated with requests for us to serve. We will be painting over graffiti, continuing to do some yard work and digging a ditch tomorrow. Chip is getting us help from some of the other Christian groups as well. Word spreads fast in a little town like Manti. Tonight the Stake President for the area came looking for "the Rising Tide" and wanted to meet and shake hands with our group. We have invited him to several events we have planned tomorrow. Please pray that we will have some time to talk with him tomorrow as well.

Yesterday we were able to see the College House and Cafe and again hear the miraculous story of how God provided. We were able to help Chip and Jamie move a huge pile of dirt to different places around their yard. We will be hanging out and having a meal with them tomorrow! After a hard day of work we hit the streets of Manti and had great conversations with LDS, then watched the Manti Miracle Pageant.

Today we headed up to the streets around BYU and went door to door to the off campus houses. This is always a highlight for me as the residents are almost exclusively students and many are returned LDS Missionaries who know what it's like to go door to door. Many times I will hear that they had promised themselves that they would never turn away a missionary from their experience and so we usually get into great talks right away. Today was no different. Every team had a great experience. We then ate lunch on campus and again had meaningful talks with LDS students.

It is raining off and on as I am typing this (our poor campers!) but the weather stayed clear enough for the evangelism time to be uninterrupted. I can't say as much for the performance. It was amazing to look around the Manti streets and see EVERYONE in our group engaged in lengthy conversations all night. We of course had ice cream at Miller's and then came back to hang out, talk and pray.

Please pray for clear weather tomorrow and continued wisdom and discernment as we share in love the truth of God's word. If you have been praying for boldness, please continue as even our most timid have been engaged in conversations. I am so proud of our college, high school and younger kids that are sharing and asking great questions.

Utah 2009 Day 4

Utah 2009 Day 3

From Last Night...

Wow, what a long and crazy day. We were up and on the road by 7am and it is now 11:30pm and we are still an hour away from Manti and bed. Our kids have been amazing! We started the day by going to the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple in South Jordan. The inside of temples are only open to the public during these open house dedications. After this initial time, only LDS who have proven themselves worthy of recommendation are able enter the temples. The temple is described as a place where the presence of the Lord is felt stronger. We were asked several times to experience the peace and presence of God. There is no doubt that the temples are exquisite and expensive but in no way are they a restoration of the temple in Jerusalem. Instead of a place to offer up sacrifices for our sins, they are a place that "worthy" LDS learn secret knowledge to gain entrance to heaven and perform rituals for the dead in hopes that their actions will help those who did not choose the Mormon god in this life.

Temples are a misunderstanding of who Jesus is and what Jesus did. When Christ died, the veil was torn in two (Matthew 27:50-51). The separation between God and man traversed only once a year by the high priest Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) was made available yo all believers through Christ, our mediator. When Jesus died and the temple veil was torn, it signified that the way to God was now open through the shed blood of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9:8) We no longer need a temple to have access to God. We can now approach the throne of grace with confidence, to find mercy and grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through (AK)the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Heb 10:19-20

Why would LDS re-hang the curtain in the temple (there is an actual curtain in the temples)?

God doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands (Acts 17:24, Hebrews 9:11-12, 24) We are the temple of God and He dwells in us (1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 2 Corinthians 6:16)

Junelle made a comment that Mormons don't call Jesus, "Jesus". They will call Him Christ, the Savior, our brother, but not Jesus. Talking to LDS missionaries today, it was absolutely true. Asked about their relationship with Jesus, they will declare that they have a personal relation with Him despite never praying to Him. I had a long talk with one of the sister missionaries who explained that there are two types of grace that Jesus' sacrifice provides. The first is the resurrection which is free for all, the second is the grace that Christ provides for exaltation but "that grace is not free, that grace you must work for." She knew this was true because she knew that the Book of Mormon was true. When asked about the many examples of grace being only described as a free gift that can't be worked for, she bore me her testimony that she knew it was true. When I pointed out that her testimony was in direct opposition to Gods testimony, she broke into tears again bearing me her testimony again. Another missionary led her away to a back room.

We then toured the Salt Lake City Temple and many in our group had many great conversations. Tristan, Jimmy and Chandler spoke with Jason, an LDS with many questions and who wants to meet with them again in Manti. We drove up overlooking the temple and the whole valley and worshiped God and prayed for the city of Salt Lake City, the state of Utah, those divine appointments that God will provide, that our hearts would be humble, trusting in God and full of His love for the Mormon people.

Now...
We are preparing to go to training in town, help out Chip and Jamie at the College House and then the pageant tonight. Tomorrow will be BYU!

Thanks to everyone who has posted comments. We really appreciate them.

Utah 2009 Day 3

Utah 2009 Day 2

The Calvary group arrived safely yesterday and we had an awesome time at the park last night spending time with our former Mormon friends worshipping God and having a meal together. Our team went door to door around Manti off erring to serve the community in any way we could, which meant mowing lawns, weedwacking and helping haul trash to the dump. Through this service we were able to have many natural conversations with the LDS in town and show that Christians were not "evil" ( a common misconception here. I was able to spend over an hour riding to the local landfill with Chris. Chris belongs to the TLC (True Living Church) church which is a local splinter group from Mormonism breaking off as late as the late 1980's. They believe that Brigham Young was right when he preached that Adam is our God. Although they say that they left due to false prophecies, the still believe most of what LDS believe. Because they feel that the line of authority was broken by these false prophets, their "authority" come from knowing "the true nature of God" meaning that He is Adam. It reminded me of Gnosticism having special knowledge". They have their own prophet and practice plural marriage. I actually think that they are more consistent than LDS. We spoke on the nature of God - God can not be one of many and have declared that He was the only God, that He knew of no others. We then spoke about the reliability of the Bible. It's inconsistent to say that you believe in the Bible and yet discard God's word where it disagrees with revelation. We spoke on the apostasy - Did Jesus mess up? Didn't He lie when He called Himself the Good Shepherd? A good shepherd would lose ALL OF HIS FLOCK! We had a great conversation and even talked about his polygamist upbringing. Even though he and his wife (he currently has only one) were both brought up in polygamist families, when I asked him if his wife was comfortable with bringing another woman into their home, his whole demeanor changed. He could say the words, but you could tell that it was painful to know in heart that his god required him to betray his wife in that way. Thanks for the prayers and support.

Utah 2009 Day 2

Utah 2009 Day 1

We arrived safe and problem free last night in Manti. We met with our friend Junelle and settled in to the rustic stone house. In the quiet before the week begins, we are enjoying the beautiful city of Manti and the quiet of the town. LDS will be travelling from all over the US to attend the pageant and so we are excited about the opportunities for this week. Today we plan on serving in and around Manti, reaching out to the LDS community here.

It should be an interesting year. There has been threats by the LDS leadership to keep the Christians sequestered away from any LDS walking to and from the pageant with the consequence of being arrested for any who might try to evangelize. So far they have not done this, but are refusing Christians use of the public restrooms near the temple. Please pray that we would continue to have opportunities to share God's word this week.

We await the rest of our team from Calvary Chapel later this afternoon. Please continue to pray for safe travel.

Utah 2009 Day 1

On a Personal Note

I apologize for not posting this week, but I have just been super busy preparing and training our group for our annual trip to Manti, Utah to share the true gospel of grace, true Jesus Christ and true God with Latter Day Saints who attend the Manti Miracle Pageant. I would appreciate any prayers for our group. Please pray that God would provide safety as we travel, that we would have many great conversations with the LDS there, that the Holy Spirit would change hearts and minds and that we would be good ambassadors for Christ.

I am excited to see great friends in the body of Christ that we have become close with over the years. I will be blogging next week from Utah about our trip for our friends and family in Southern California and anyone else who is interested in evangelism to Mormons. If there are any LDS in the Utah area, specifically near the Salt Lake City Temple, Manti area or BYU, I would love to buy you a meal and talk about what God says about Himself, His Son and eternal life. Let's try and meet up.

For those who may not understand why we go, it's because the Mormon people are worth spending our vacations, our time, money, energy and study to understand Mormonism and share with LDS who God is. God tells us that He is unique, the only God, He is all powerful, all knowing, perfect and holy. God is not just like us, only further down the road, one of many who share power and knowledge. God was not once a sinner like man.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Romans 1:16-23

On a Personal Note

Burden of Proof

In a previous post, Does God Exists?: The Craig vs. Hitchens Debate, I wrote, "Hitchens brought no evidence for atheism and instead tried to push the burden of proof onto Craig and then claim that the proofs were not extraordinary enough."

saikyocrusha posted the comment,

An atheist does not have to prove the existance of a god. The one claiming that a god exists bears the burden of proving that his deity exists.

This is an informal fallacy known as the burden of proof fallacy.

I have to admit, it was my understanding that during a debate it was the responsibility of both sides to not only knock down the oppositions arguments but bring their own arguments as well. I was wrong. Apparently during a formal debate the pro side of the argument presents arguments and the con side simply needs to show that the arguments are false. Obviously, I was not on any debate team and am still learning. In light of this standard, Hitchens only failed more miserably, barely addressing any of Craig's points. That being said, I still think that the issue of "burden of proof" is worth examining more.

While it is true that the person making the positive claim has the responsibility to back up that claim; has the burden of proof, atheists are making positive claims as well. It is not my intent to bash atheists here, but to say that if the purpose of having conversations about, what I think both sides would agree are incredibly important topics like, “Is there a God?”, then I think that we need to do away with tricks and ploys. Steve Tsai at the apologetics.com blog writes,

...The burden of proof is a principle that states that the person who asserts a proposition has the burden to defend it by reason or evidence. Notice here the person who has asserted the proposition must prove it true. Then and only then does the other person respond to the substantiated claim with counterevidence or a counterargument (which is called the burden of the rejoinder). The point here is that if you assert it, it’s your responsibility to prove it. And the converse point is, you don’t have to disprove what is unproven. There’s no need to go about disproving wild unsubstantiated claims.

Now I think this is a fair thing to ask of the atheist, that is, asking him to bear the burden of proof. If God’s existence is impossible, improbable or simply fortuitously untrue, it seems common sense dictates the atheist should give evidence for these claims. At least you would think.

Here is where the atheist (and Hitchens as well) claims that atheism is "a" (without) "theism" (belief in God), not a positive belief that there is no God, but a lack of any belief in God. Atheists, they will claim, are therefore not responsible for a positive claim and can simply take the easy route of shooting down the theists arguments while being released of any responsibility of creating or defending their own. Please note that I am not saying that all atheists do this or that atheists have no positive arguments, they do. I am simply saying that with respect to the burden of proof, atheists can use what Tsai calls, "the atheist's ploy". Tsai offers some good responses to show the unfairness of this trick,

1. ...play the same game. That is, refuse to give in to this unfair tactic by turning it around back on them. How this is done is you take the positive affirmation of the atheist (which they must have, since a belief system cannot be purely negative) which is the materialistic thesis that claims, “all things are explainable in terms of physics and chemistry” and simply add the prefix “a-“ to it. So instead of claiming to be a “theist” (which would be a positive claim), one can claim to be an “a-materialist.” That is, one simply fails to manifest the materialistic thesis... In effect you’re saying, “if your view does not require proof, than neither does mine given the same rationale. Oh, you don’t like that? Then let’s do away with this game and get back to proving our claims."

2. ...ask the atheist if she would answer “yes” or “no” to the question “Do you believe that God exists?” Either answer to this question would be considered a positive assertion, and would therefore require argumentation and evidence...

3. ...An unsubstantiated claim is not a false claim. Epistemologically they are different. Even if all my arguments fail, all that proves is that I have bad arguments or may be a poor apologist. It does not prove God does not exist. And it does not entail that no one has good arguments for God’s existence. At worst, my failure would leave the issue of God’s existence a question mark. That is, maybe he does exist, maybe he doesn’t. You see, this is the point where the atheist is supposed to step up, and argue from uncertainty to the positive claim of God’s non-existence. But if he is not willing to bear his share of the burden, then God’s existence is neither impossible, improbable nor fortuitously untrue (and this is the case even if all my arguments have failed)...

4. ...It may be the case that the atheist’s ploy is self-contradictory. That is, there is a logical difficulty in asserting a lack of a belief (here I will use “knowledge” and “belief” interchangeably for this point, which I think is fine for present purposes). I know we do so all the time in common parlance, but strictly speaking this may be impossible, since you have to at least know something about what you’re denying knowledge of. So to totally lack knowledge of something and to assert that at the same time would seem to be contradictory.

Now there’s a weaker sense in which we can assert our ignorance of certain issues. But in these cases it’s arguable that the assertion of ignorance is one of lesser knowledge to greater knowledge, that is, one of degree. We know a bit and we wish to know more. The problem with the atheist’s ploy is that it is not this type of degreed claim, but a non-degreed claim of a total lack of knowledge. It’s hard to believe that anyone can assert their lack of belief in things that don’t enter into any of the propositions that one holds. How can you affirm you lack a belief unless you first know the belief that is lacked?

This is more clearly illustrated by employing what philosopher’s call propositional or doxastic attitudes. For any proposition, there are three epistemological stances or attitudes that can be taken towards it, 1) affirmation, 2) denial or 3) withholding of judgment. Notice there are only three propositional attitudes. The proposition under consideration is that of “God exists.” If you affirm the proposition, you are a theist. If you deny the proposition, you are an atheist. If you withhold judgment, you are an agnostic. Notice there is no propositional attitude of “lacking a belief.” Affirm God, deny God, or throw your hands up in the air and say you don’t know. But it is unclear on this very standard account of propositional attitudes where “lack of a belief” would fit in. So at best, “lacking a belief” is an extremely queer concept, and at worst it is self-contradictory.

Romans 1:18-20 says

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

This is most evident to me when atheists say they don't believe in God but express such anger and hatred for the supposed non-existent being. As a Theist and a Dualist, I am convinced that the world we live in is not confined to merely the natural world. God's eternal power and divine nature is clearly seen at every level (from the precision fine-tuning in the cosmos to the intricacy of the factory within a single cell). If we allow the burden of proof to be solely upon us as Theists, we are in our conversations with atheists, trying to explain God while abandoning the supernatural and agreeing to assume materialism.

Burden of Proof

Pro-Life Response to Murder

In light of Scott Roeder's first degree murder of abortion provider Dr. George Tiller and recent claims from his jail cell that, "I know there are many other similar events planned around the country as long as abortion remains legal," pro-choice groups are using the opportunity to link Roeder with anyone opposed to abortion. The Washington Post reports,

Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL-Pro-Choice America, said Roeder's comments "continue to escalate that kind of activity, that kind of violence. Quite honestly, I think it's imperative for anti-choice groups to tone down that rhetoric and keep the more extreme elements in their movement form copying Scott Roeder."

Pro-abortion groups would love nothing more than to use these tragic attacks to try to gain the moral highground and suppress the only voice that the aborted have. While every major pro-life group has denounced the killing of Dr. Tiller, Melinda Penner gives good reasons why the pro-life movement is against the killing of abortionists,

Some ask, "If you consider abortion murder, doesn't that incite the killing of abortionists?" This question needs to be answered clearly and directly and here is the answer. No. It simply does not follow that if one believes that abortion is murder then he would advocate killing individual abortionists. In fact, it's not only wrong, it's counterproductive to ending legalized abortion.

...It's always wrong to take a human life without proper justification. Abortion is such a wrong because it takes the life of a valuable, innocent, human being without good reason. Therefore, it is morally obligatory for civilized people to campaign vigorously against such a wrong and use appropriate means to end it.

In opposing this evil, one is justified in using only the degree of force necessary to stop any harm that it is within his power to prevent. Therefore, one is never justified in using lethal force when other measures are available.
Since there are no imaginable circumstances in which lethal force is the only means available to end the harm of abortion, then lethal means are never justified.

Killing abortionists is, therefore, also an example of taking human life without proper justification. To do so would be to violate the basic principle of life that pro-lifers are committed to defending.

Penner adds in another post,

If an action such as killing an abortionist leads to the death of more innocent children, that is an immoral thing. If more children die, it's immoral. Killing abortionists doesn't do anything to end abortion and innocent babies dying - it actually extends it by damaging the moral force of the pro-life argument to bring a final and legal end to abortion.

Those who kill abortionists (there have been eight such killings in the U.S.) probably think they are saving some lives of unborn children. One person compared killing an abortionist to shooting a sniper at a playground. Isn't it justified to take out the sniper? These are very different circumstances and killing an abortionist cannot be justified in the same way.

One difference in the circumstances is that in the playground comparison there is only a specific group of children on the playground to save and one sniper who isn't likely to be replaced by another; it's not comparable to the industry of legalized abortion. There are other "snipers" operating, and many more children now and in the future are in danger, not just those on that "playground." Shooting this "sniper" doesn't prevent more snipers from continuing to work long into the future. It's all of those threatened lives we have to keep in view, and any action that extends legalized abortion and thus sacrifices more lives of innocent children is immoral and cannot be justified on pro-life logic.

Another serious difference in this analogy is that someone taking out a sniper would be operating under the law to stop someone from operating outside of the law. The reverse is true for killing an abortionist, so it's the law that has to be changed, not just individual "snipers." Otherwise abortionists keep operating under protection of the law. We live in a country of laws and are morally obligated to work within those to change a legal but immoral circumstances.

...Our actions should not undermine and weaken the system so that we possibly lose our freedoms to change the law and also undermines a system that protects us. We have an obligation to God to obey the laws and work within the system of laws to include unborn children under that protection.

I share the sentiment of Robert P. George who wrote on the day of the murder,

Whoever murdered George Tiller has done a gravely wicked thing. The evil of this action is in no way diminished by the blood George Tiller had on his own hands. No private individual had the right to execute judgment against him. We are a nation of laws. Lawless violence breeds only more lawless violence. Rightly or wrongly, George Tilller was acquitted by a jury of his peers. "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord." For the sake of justice and right, the perpetrator of this evil deed must be prosecuted, convicted, and punished. By word and deed, let us teach that violence against abortionists is not the answer to the violence of abortion. Every human life is precious. George Tiller's life was precious. We do not teach the wrongness of taking human life by wrongfully taking a human life. Let our "weapons" in the fight to defend the lives of abortion's tiny victims, be chaste weapons of the spirit.

Pro-Life Response to Murder

Stem Cells Help Repair Sight

...adult stem cells that is. Austrailian scientists are optimistic about a "simple and cheap" procedure that involves removing stem cells from the patients own eye and then culturing the cells inside of a contact lens which repairs the damaged eye when worn.

University of New South Wales medical researchers used the technique to treat the damaged corneas of three patients, all of whose vision improved within weeks of the groundbreaking procedure.

..."Unlike other techniques ... there's no suturing, there is no major operation, all that's involved is harvesting a minute amount - less than a millimetre - of tissue from the ocular surface.''

The lens stayed on for 10 days allowing stem cells to change their form, colonise and repair the cornea.

Two of the patients involved in the trial had suffered extensive corneal damage to one eye, caused by multiple surgeries to remove cancerous growths.

Dr Girolamo said that in these cases the stem cells were taken from their healthy eye - but the third patient posed an additional challenge because of a congenital disorder which affected both eyes.

"We took them from another part of the eye altogether - the conjunctiva which also harbours stem cells,'' Dr Di Girolamo said.

"The stem cells were able to change from the conjunctival phenotype to a corneal phenotype after we put them onto the cornea ... that's the beauty of stem cells.''

The procedure could be replicated in third would countries by a surgeon with a laboratory for cell culture, Dr Di Girolamo said.

The patients have enjoyed their corrected vision for 18 months now and the researchers believe that a similar procedure can be used to repair damaged skin.

Even though one article mentions, "The stem cell procedure was considered non-controversial" and "this use of a patient's own stem cells is no more ethically contentious than a skin transplant", it is appearant by the comments posted that many people are still confused about the difference between adult and embryonic stem cells.

isn't it amazing - the more we allow our scientists to research the more they find - now lets just get them the funding they need to continue advancing these techniques!!

How is it that some people are still against Stem Cell research. I think it is great to think where it can take us.

There is a misunderstanding that this type of research, non-destructive, adult stem cell research has in any way been prevented from getting funding or that some are against this type of research. Quite the opposite, the pro-life movement has been touting the numerous cures in this area of research compared to the complete failure to bring about any cures by embryonic stem cells.

Other comments indicate that because we see promise in one area (adult stem cells) that we should spend equally in the area of embryonic stem cell research.

This is exactly why stem cell research should not be hampered but rather encouraged. There may well be a number of ethically questionable methods being used right now, but only with proper research and funding can we possibly expect our scientists to develop more of these ethically acceptable methods. The research has to start somewhere. This is brilliant work even if it is still very early days.

If funding is indeed limited it seems to make much more sense to invest wisely in the advances that are being made with adult stem cells.

Stem Cells Help Repair Sight

Busting Porn Myths

With access to the internet available now on laptops, phones and mp3 players, pornography through the internet has become increasingly available to younger people. Sean McDowell, son of noted apologist Josh McDowell and a high school teacher experienced this phenomenon first hand at lunch with some of his students,

...we swapped phones for a few minutes. Pretty soon all the students were showing off the “cool” features of their individual phones. One young man handed me his phone and I wanted to see how quickly it would connect to the Internet. I pushed the Safari icon but got something I was not expecting—a deeply disturbing pornographic image. This got me wondering how many young people look at porn. How common is this? Now that porn is accessible from anywhere, at any time, how much is it really affecting young people?

McDowell writes about the myths surrounding porn “It doesn’t affect me”, “I’ll quit later” and “I’m not hurting anyone”. McDowell "busts" each myth and then asks, "So, What Do We Do?"

When it’s all said and done, the reason pornography cannot be ignored is that it profoundly affects our relationship with God and with other people. As Jesus said, the greatest commandment is to love God and to love other people. The great human desire is for intimacy in relationships, which is being fully known and fully knowing another. But this is the very thing pornography robs us of the ability to experience. In Porn University Michael Leahy observes, “Nearly all who have made porn consumption a regular part of their lives confess struggling in relationships. They talk about the guilt and shame they feel regarding sex and the difficulty they have experiencing genuine intimacy with others, sexual and nonsexual.”

Burdens of guilt or shame erode our capacity to trust others because we have something to hide. We can’t be fully known because there’s always a secret to keep, some part of ourselves that we feel we must hide from others. This is why the Apostle Paul says to renounce “the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God…” If you struggle with pornography (or any other issue), the place to begin the healing process is to confess to God and to another believer. It’s never too late! 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Amazingly, such confession actually begins the process of rewiring the brain!

God wants us to be holy. But just as importantly, we worship a God who is compassionate, loving and forgiving. Pornography can be addicting, but we worship a God who is far more powerful and committed to our well-being than even we are. Healing is possible. I’ve seen it many times.

Busting Porn Myths