Wiley S. Drake, pastor of the First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park, CA has created quite the stir by encouraging members of his congregation to pray imprecatory prayers against two men who threatened the church’s nonprofit status.
The problem originated with Pastor Drake’s writing a letter—on church letterhead—to his congregants making known his support for former Arkansas governor and current presidential candidate Mike Huckabee (Wikipedia).
On Thursday of last week, Russell Moore, dean of the school of theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, addressed the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on the subject of global warming in a presentation entitled “An Examination of the Views of Religious Organizations Regarding Global Warming.”
“The first area of concern is that the biblical text not be used as a vehicle for a political agenda—no matter how commendable the agenda might be,” Moore stated. “To tie the authority of the Bible to the shifting and revisable scientific and public-policy proposals of one’s global warming agenda is unhelpful to the debate at best and trivializing of Christian faith at worst.”
Southern Baptists “are not opposed to environmental protection,” Moore argued, but they are “concerned about the ways in which religious arguments are used in this debate, possibly with harmful consequences both for public policy and for the mission of the church.”
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Moore also argued that proposals of many environmentalists were the result of “utopianism” and “apocalyptic scenarios” that ignore the evangelical “understanding of the narrative of history as outlined in Scripture.”
“And, ultimately, God will redeem his creation by freeing nature from [sin’s] curse,” Moore argued. “In our care for creation, we must maintain the limits of environmental action, knowing that the ultimate liberation of creation has everything to do with our resurrection and the resumption of human rule through Christ over this universe.”
As a result, Moore dismissed “global government action on climate change” as a flawed attempt to “reverse the curse of the Fall.”
The book traces the development of a baby girl through the sequence of trimesters. Her physical development is breathtaking in its beauty. But the biggest surprise for most readers may well be the revelations about fetal behavior. Babies are learning to sleep, taste, smile, cry, and suck their thumbs—all while in the womb.
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The development of these sophisticated imaging technologies is reshaping the abortion debate. Once these images are seen, they can never be forgotten. For the first time in human history, this generation has been given the gift of seeing inside the womb. Once these images are seen there is no way to deny what we see—the miracle of life.
. . .
In the Womb, the book, is based upon In the Womb, the television documentary. The documentary is also breathtaking, and it offers the additional benefit of seeing these unprecedented images in motion. The book and the DVD together represent a scientific education of sorts. Parents will want to watch the DVD and read the book with their older children.
I would strongly suggest that parents read the book and watch the DVD, and then share these with their children, allowing for generous discussion and parental instruction. These images and photographs hold the promise of helping children and youth to understand the miracle of life in a whole new way. That is exactly what the pro-abortion movement should fear.
Time has an interesting piece entitled, “The Case for Teaching the Bible,” in which David Van Biema argues in favor of classes on the Bible in public schools. Such classes are becoming more popular.
SIMPLY PUT, THE BIBLE IS THE MOST influential book ever written. Not only is the Bible the best-selling book of all time, it is the best-selling book of the year every year. In a 1992 survey of English teachers to determine the top-10 required “book-length works” in high school English classes, plays by Shakespeare occupied three spots and the Bible none. And yet, let’s compare the two: Beauty of language: Shakespeare, by a nose. Depth of subject matter: toss-up. Breadth of subject matter: the Bible. Numbers published, translated etc: Bible. Number of people martyred for: Bible. Number of wars attributed to: Bible. Solace and hope provided to billions: you guessed it. And Shakespeare would almost surely have agreed. According to one estimate, he alludes to Scripture some 1,300 times. . . .
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In the end, what is required in teaching about the Bible in our public schools is patriotism: a belief that we live in a nation that understands the wisdom of its Constitution clearly enough to allow the most important book in its history to remain vibrantly accessible for everyone.
Gore’s mansion, located in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville, consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, according to the Nashville Electric Service (NES).
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Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359.
Since the release of An Inconvenient Truth, Gore’s energy consumption has increased from an average of 16,200 kWh per month in 2005, to 18,400 kWh per month in 2006.
Gore’s extravagant energy use does not stop at his electric bill. Natural gas bills for Gore’s mansion and guest house averaged $1,080 per month last year.“As the spokesman of choice for the global warming movement, Al Gore has to be willing to walk the walk, not just talk the talk, when it comes to home energy use,” said Tennessee Center for Policy Research President Drew Johnson.
In total, Gore paid nearly $30,000 in combined electricity and natural gas bills for his Nashville estate in 2006.
Of course, he does have a large house, so one would expect that his numbers would be higher. The real question is whether living in a house that consumes that much electricity and natural gas is consistent with the message that Gore so adamantly preaches.
A more sustained investigation into Washington’s God, however, makes all claims that he was a deist highly problematic and finally untenable. . . .
The most important answer to these questions is found in the prayers that, as general and as president, Washington publicly urged upon the army and the nation.
Barack Obama is officially running for president. Check out the New York Times for the details. You can also find information at his website and in this short announcement video.
Wiley S. Drake, pastor of the First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park, CA has created quite the stir by encouraging members of his congregation to pray imprecatory prayers against two men who threatened the church’s nonprofit status.
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On Thursday of last week, 
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Michael and Jana Novak think not.
