Some other good reads

The first one comes from Al Mohler and is an outstanding look at the war being waged on crisis pregnancy centers by the "pro-choice" lobby that really wants women to receive only that information that leads to abortion: The Culture of Death Grows Desperate: War Declared on Crisis Pregnancy Centers. From his essay...

These centers are staffed by brave workers and an army of volunteers who are committed to counsel women against killing their unborn babies. The ultrasound images have been massively important in this counseling process. Once the woman sees the unborn life within her, the chances of that baby surviving to live birth are tremendously enhanced.

As one abortion rights activist famously declared, “The fetus beat us.” When the fetus is seen for what is really is, the mother has a much harder time deciding to abort it. Crisis pregnancy centers generally offer a variety of services, ranging from counseling and adoption services to medical care and support for new mothers. All this is too much for the abortion industry, which rightly sees crisis pregnancy centers as their increasingly powerful opposition.

The abortion lobby is terrified of pregnancy resource centers because women who come in and find out they are pregnant overwhelmingly choose to carry to term. Even worse, the staff and volunteers in these centers love and care for women and men who choose to carry to term, exposing the lie of those who say that pro-life people only care about children until they are born. If you are a Christian and care about the unborn, find a way to help these centers. I volunteer in one locally and they always need help. If you can't volunteer, you can donate money or material assistance. Every single day spiritual warfare is going on and these crisis pregnancy centers are on the front line.

The next comes from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and looks at the fact that women are not in church like they used to be: Less Women in the Pews. The numbers are quite stunning. It turns out that men are not the only ones abandoning the church. Diane Montgomery lists some puzzling statistics and then ask the obvious question:

In a day and age where women have more leadership opportunities within the Church, more opportunities for theological education, and are more liberated than ever within religious circles, why are there now less women in those churches? Why are they reading their Bibles less, volunteering less frequently, and believing less in the accuracy of Scripture?

She leaves the question unanswered but the answer certainly seems obvious.

The oft repeated contention was that in the bad old days women were repressed and controlled in the church. In an effort to be more “fair” and “equitable” many denominations and faith traditions have ditched any semblance of gender distinctions. This is the same path we have seen over and over again, people trying to smooth over the culturally unpopular parts of the Bible to make it more palatable, only to find that people are not really interested in a watered down religion. Mainline Protestantism is littered with the results: church schisms, mostly empty churches populated by a few rapidly aging congregations, plummeting attendance. Perhaps the egalitarian solutions have had the opposite impact intended?

Another interesting article is on Fox News, Missouri Teachers Protest Social Media Crackdown. I heard this on the radio the other day, perhaps NPR. Missouri is strongly restricting teachers from private social media interaction with students or minor former students. Why would Missouri do that in this day and age?! This is why….

The law was proposed after an Associated Press investigation found 87 Missouri teachers had lost their licenses between 2001 and 2005 because of sexual misconduct, some of which involved exchanging explicit online messages with students.

Only 87?

With email, texting, social media, etc. minors can be in contact with adults far more easily and privately than ever before. It is probably a good idea for teachers and student to have at best very limited and very public contact outside of school. Back when I was in school in the stone age it would have seemed very odd for an adult male teacher to call a 15 year old female student at home on a regular basis. Now that level of contact is quite easy to achieve very discretely. The news is littered with stories of teachers being involved in inappropriate relationships with students. Common sense would dictate that teachers keep a very high barrier between themselves and their students. Unfortunately common sense is an uncommon virtue. That is why we have laws like this.

Finally a post from Felicity Dale on a great example of house church networking: An outstanding example of the impact of a network of house churches. She looks at the impact of a network of house churches started by Jim Mellon.

Back in the early 90's, Jim Mellon was on the eldership team of a megachurch with a $1 million a year budget. One Christmas, their church didn't have the funds to help a member's family where both husband and wife had lost their jobs. As he and his wife, Cathy, discussed it, they realized that church shouldn't be this way, that there should be resources available to help any members of the body in need (Acts 2:45, Acts 4:34-35).

As they searched the Scriptures, looking to see what the Bible had to say about church and finance, they came across the concept of church meeting in homes, and because of the financial implications, began a network of house churches.

As they moved their finances more toward benevolence and ministry, they have given away more than $1.2 million. That is a wonderful example for anyone to follow!