BaylyBlog: Out of our minds, too...

Marriage, fertility, and economic decline...

(Tim) My good brother, Bob Patterson, recently did a piece for National Review Online (NRO) that I commend to our readers. In an e-mail to friends, Bob summed up the argument he makes this way:

The decline in marriage and fertility rates among the Baby Boom generation stands at the heart of what presently ails the American economy. After noting the demographic concerns of former Fortune columnist David Goldman, I suggest that national GOP leaders can no longer ignore the interplay between social and economic issues if they want the party to make a comeback in 2010 or 2012.

"No woman miscarrying or barren in your land."

(Tim) A couple nights ago we were reading the Bible together following dinner. We've finished Genesis and are halfway through Exodus in Robert Alter's translation of the Pentateuch. After the necessary corruption of 'adam' in the first couple chapters of Genesis (which was so bad we started laughing at Alter's PC circulocutions), we've very much enjoyed using a literal translation that, otherwise, is so careful to keep the Hebraisms intact. A couple years ago we'd used Alter's translation of 1 and 2 Samuel and appreciated it quite a bit, too.

Reading Exodus 23, we came across this promise God makes to His covenant people. Speaking of all the wicked people-groups in Canaan who have finally filled their cup of wickedness, He declares:

...I shall obliterate them. You shall not bow to their gods and you shall not worship them, and you shall not do as they do, but you shall utterly tear them down and you shall utterly smash their pillars. And you shall worship the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water, and I shall take away sickness from your midst. There shall be no woman miscarrying or barren in your land. The count of your days I will fill.

At this point we stopped and I asked a question: "Would Christians today be angry at God if He blessed them this way--that none of our wives or daughters would miscarry or be barren? Say God poured out His favor on us and all our homes sprouted children just like olive trees sprout branches; would we be pleased, or would we be angry?"

But then, God hasn't blessed us in this way, has He? Barrenness and miscarriage are a central reality of pastoral ministry, today. And also birth control.

Birth control? That doesn't fit into this discussion...

The Lord giveth: Anne-Claire and Elise Holmes...

(Tim) God is so kind to us! Shortly after Noon, today, with her husband by her side, Mrs. Chris (Michelle) Holmes gave birth to twin daughters, Anne-Claire Evangeline Holmes at 12:52 PM weighing 3 lbs. 11 oz., and Elise Lydia Michelle Holmes at 12:54 PM weighing 2 lbs. 10 oz. Join us in giving thanks for the Lord's mercy to the least of these.

The first pic is of Anne-Claire, the second of Elise. Both babies are fine. Right now, Chris is up in the neonatal unit seeing his daughters, and Michelle is praising God with Barbara (who attended the birth with Chris) and Mary Lee (who arrived soon after). Praise God with us for saving both girls' lives, and protecting their mother!

And as an explanation to those of you who have not followed this dangerous work Michelle has been doing, her twins were diagnosed eleven weeks ago today with Twin-toTwin Transfusion Syndrome, and for most of the weeks since then, mother Michelle has been in the hospital hooked up to fetal monitors asking the Lord to allow her daughters to survive until they were large enough to live outside the womb. So today, by God's grace, they were both born--tiny, but living and healthy, even. And yes, that is a syringe.

Raising daughters, part II: The father's love, endless talk, conjugal bliss, and work...

(Tim, w/thanks to the godly mothers, daughters, and wives of Church of the Good Shepherd who obey Titus 2) This is the second installment in a series of e-mails I received from several women of our congregation advising me what to say on the subject of raising daughters to a class on childrearing held here at CGS.

* * *

Girls need both a mother and a father actively involved in their lives. Dads are immensely important in raising young women. A young woman ought to feel so securely loved by her father that she does not need to prematurely seek the affection of a boy. This means dad needs to give his daughter plenty of time, attention, and hugs. From how her dad treats her mom, she will learn what to expect from her future husband. If the daughter learns to respectfully submit to her father's care and instruction, it will be easier for her to lovingly, respectfully submit to her future husband.

Raising daughters, part I: The nature of true beauty and how to avoid fear...

(Tim, w/thanks to the godly mothers of Church of the Good Shepherd) We offer several classes Lord's Day mornings in between two worship services. One on childrearing is taught by Pastor Stephen Baker.

Being the father of five sons, Stephen asked if I'd come into his class for a week and teach on raising daughters. In preparation, I asked Mary Lee to write down some of her thoughts. She, in turn, wrote a couple women of our church (including our daughters) asking for their thoughts...

And He will give you the desire of your hearts...

(Tim) Praise the Lord! He has seen the affliction of his beloved and comforted them! Joseph and Heidi just heard the Ethiopian court has approved their adoption of Mamush, here pictured. Lord willing, they'll be travelling to Ethiopia this Saturday to begin the process of bringing their son home. Read more about it, here.

Lord willing, Ethiopian court will act this Monday on Joseph and Heidi's adoption...

(Tim) Our eldest son, Joseph, and his wife, Heidi (see pic), are in the late stages of adopting a child from Ethiopia. This coming Monday, the Ethiopian court will act in their case, Lord willing, after which they may be free May 16th to travel to pick up their little boy. As longtime readers will remember, Doug and Heather Ummel (Heather is our firstborn) have a son, Josiah, who was adopted from Ethiopia a couple years ago.

Here's a pic of Josiah, along with some helpful adoption resources.

Would you please keep Joseph and Heidi, and the Ethiopian authorities, in your prayers? And if you're interested, here's the blog where Joseph and Heidi update us on their son's entry into God's Covenant Community. Here's Heidi's latest update...

Robert and Phama, meet Scott and Marcy...

(Tim) Just received by e-mail today...

For all our readers with fond memories of Scott and Marcy Naylor, as well as readers with sons who soon will be seeking a helpmate, preferably with a full head of red hair and the spirit that normally accompanies such glory, this picture of Scott and Marcy's quiverful is, as one son used to say, the bomdiggity!

If woman is man's glory, Scott's heavy duty glorious.

By the way, the Naylors are paedo--not credo--although some find that cross-polination isn't the worst thing in the world. Still, it's better to have the husband paedo and the wife credo so the husband is able to exercise that thing Tim Keller says is the center of the Creation Order of sexuality, "tie-breaking authority."

Children are a blessing from the Lord: Abrielle Larie Weeks...

(Tim) About forty-five minutes ago, God blessed our son-in-law and daughter, Lucas and Hannah Weeks, with a daughter, seven pounds, twelve ounces, twenty inches, named Abrielle Larie Weeks.

Mother and child are tired, but happy. Actually, everyone's happy.

No, joyful!

Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. (Psalms 127:3)

On the next page, there's a pic of Aubrielle...

In which Hannah meets her match...

(Tim) A couple days ago, daughter Hannah was over at daughter Heather's home, visiting. It fell to her to put Doug and Heather's son, Josiah (almost 4), down for his nap. Once, twice, three times she said to Josiah, "Josiah, it's time to go to bed; get in bed, Josiah; Josiah--did you hear me?--it's time to get in bed!"

Josiah made no progress toward the bed, instead finding a happy medium between rebellion against his aunt and submission to his mother as he responded, "Let's just let Mommy worry about that, shall we?"

Christianity Yesterday, in numbers too small to be noticed...

(Tim) With the spirit of the prophetesses who preceded them, daughters of Sarah working out of the offices of Christianity Yesterday in Wheaton, Illinois have founded a new blog for women titled Adam's.helper.

Demonstrating a lineage flowing down from the Blessed Virgin Mary, the blog's Mission Statement gives hope for a prophetic witness perfectly contextualized to speak to a world that has repudiated all things womanly, motherly, feminine, modest, and chaste...

Dead babies who don't count: The Pill's bloody future...

(As you read, check out this new music for fathers and husbands who understand that, in the godly, fear and love embrace - don't miss Hiding Place and The Son of God Goes Forth to War)

* * *
...the proven ‘anti-implantation’ action of the morning-after pill is really nothing other than a chemically induced abortion. (Pontifical Academy for Life)

(Tim) Today, twenty-two percent of our nation's children are murdered in the womb, and a growing proportion of those murders are what our nation's merchant of death, Planned Parenthood, euphemistically refers to as "medical abortions"--abortions committed by chemical rather than steel weapons. Pro-life leaders have been dreading this change for decades knowing how much more difficult it will be to oppose abortion as it moves toward the earliest weeks and days of pregnancy, and into the privacy of the home.

The change has come quickly...

Already, chemical abortions comprise over twenty percent of current abortions, and the proportion is growing rapidly. In a private e-mail sent to Planned Parenthood Federation of America on July 9, 2007, Danco Laboratories LLC (the pharmaceutical firm distributing one of the chemical abortifacients, Mifeprex) reported: "In the five years following FDA approval (2000-2005), more than 750,000 U.S. women have used Mifeprex."

This means over 150,000 women per year are taking Mifeprex to kill their unborn child. But Mifeprex is only one of the growing list of chemical agents being deployed...

Food as fetish...

(Tim) Food. People today can't make up their minds whether it's erotica or The Meaning of Life. For men whose god is their belly, lust and appetite feed off each other and produce similar neuroses. Computer pornography. Obesity. Hooking up. Anorexia. Abortion. Veganism. Birth control.

Enslaved to our appetites, we'd do well to learn a word almost never heard outside Roman Catholicism: concupiscence.

Here's something true: Christians today turn the marriage bed over to a mutual concupiscence we refer to as "making love." But there's little love, and no making of anyone at all.

True love can't possibly be self-gratification by other means...

In the past, a baby was nobody's enemy...

(Tim) Justice of the peace in tow, Suleman's father was chasing the hospital with a shotgun until "the hospital made it clear it had nothing to do with getting Suleman pregnant."

Honest. That's exactly what the newspaper reported.

And by the way, did you notice that the state is "investigating" to see if laws were broken by this mother carrying her children to term? Sitting in the fridge, they were, prior to nestling into their mother's womb.

The headline is "Octuplets' birth spawns outrage from public."

Listen, if people are angry at the cost of the octuplets and ready to tar and feather the mother...

It's not too late to join us tomorrow night for Ted Tripp seminar, "Instructing a Child's Heart"...

(Tim) Starting tomorrow night, Friday, February 6th, Church of the Good Shepherd is sponsoring the Ted Tripp seminar, Instructing a Child's Heart (those are two of our grandchildren, Josiah and Bayly--aren't they perfect?). The seminar begins with registration Friday night from 6:30 to 7 PM, followed by the first teaching session from 7 to 8 PM and the second from 8:15 to 9:15 PM.

Saturday morning, there's a Continental Breakfast from 8:30 to 9 AM, then three sessions with the first beginning at 9 AM and the last ending at 12:30 PM.

This web site will give you more details.

Here are directions to the church: Church of the Good Shepherd is about three minutes west of Indiana 37, just off Highway 45 (Second Street). Come into Bloomington on Indiana 37, exit 37 at the Indiana 45/Second Street Exit. Go west, past Sam's Club, then the Super WalMart, then the BP Station (all on your left), until you you come to the light at Airport Road. Turn right on Airport Road and go about one hundred yards to Endwright Road. Turn right on Endwright Road and go about a quarter mile to the entrance to CGS on your right.

Walk-ins are welcome, so come join us! Childcare will be provided. You'll be glad you took the time to become a better Dad or Mom.

And if you stay for worship Sunday morning, I'd love to meet you afterwards. Please introduce yourself.

Be fruitful and multiply...

(Tim, w/thanks to Brett R.) Either children are a blessing from the Lord, the fruitful womb His reward; or Al Gore and Jonathan Porritt are right, and the days' likely to come soon when "persecuted is the man whose quiver is full." Check out this, from yesterday's Times. Here's a teaser...

Two down, two to go...

Here's a typical Sunday scene at Christ the Word--where the women are real women and the men try harder.

The best New Year's resolution Christians could make...

(Tim) Things are quiet here at the church-house. It's New Year's Eve and I've been doing odd jobs in between reading Christmas cards and letters that piled up the past few weeks.

Just now, I finished my second letter in a row from friends with lots of children--one family with eight and the other nine. And last night, we sat and talked through the evening with our dear friends, David and Jill Crum, who are in town to visit their six sons now living here in Bloomington. David and Jill have been blessed by God with eleven children--ten sons and one daughter.

These are happy, happy families God has used to propagate a godly seed for His Own glory. And not one of the mothers or fathers cast a longing eye at other believers who chose money, career, or status over another child. They're all poor, and they're all joyful. Trust me. (If you want to test it, send me a private e-mail and I'll put you in touch with them so you may ask them yourself.)

So here's the New Year's Resolution I'm so impertinent as to suggest, dear brothers and sisters. Why not follow these three pastors and their godly wives and dedicate this coming year to being fruitful and multiplying? To propagating a godly seed. To making love and life, both at the same time? And if you and your wife are not able to have children, take in foster children or adopt a child.

What could you expect if you did so...

Pleased as punch...

Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. (Psalms 127:3)

(Tim) What makes me happy? God's grace everywhere. Simply everywhere!

But today, in particular, another family in Church of the Good Shepherd has been blessed with a little one tenderly nestling in his mother's womb, awaiting the light of day in God's perfect time. Children are a blessing from the Lord; happy is the man whose quiver is filling.

So, I'm rejoicing in all the covenant children bubbling up and out of our homes and churches. And no, I'm not going to spill the beans on who the blessed couple is this time. But I will tell you people who see them already thought they were Roman Catholic.

Certainly not Reformed.

The Little Drummer Boy, Daniel Peregrine Crum...

(Tim) Thus far, God has blessed us with six grandchildren and another two on the way. Here's a video of our grandson, Daniel, parumpapumpuming, filmed by his father, Ben.

Ten lords a-leaping, nine ladies dancing...

(Tim) One of the joys of Advent season each year at Church of the Good Shepherd is our women's Christmas Tea. It was held last Saturday and the Lord blessed us with a beautiful snowfall. The women had a wonderful morning (and early afternoon) of fellowship.

During the tea, someone had the good idea of taking this picture of our infants. Another ten of our young women are expecting. So we have ten lord's a-leaping at God's gift of another child, and nine ladies dancing, celebrating their deliverance.

Children are a blessing from the Lord; happy is the church whose quiver is full.

Progressive Christmas dinner, then piano, bassoon, flute, and ocarina concert ...

(Tim) Last night, the Bayly, Crum, Ummel, and Weeks housholds were joined by Seth Boles, Annie Hogue (and wee ones), Lizzie Wegener, and Dani Williams for our annual Christmas season progressive dinner here. We picked this tradition up from the Taylor clan (which now numbers about one hundred direct descendants of Dad and Mom Taylor).

We started with horse dovers at Joseph and Heidi's, then soup at Ben and Michal's, main course at Doug and Heather's (bread and drinks provided by Heather, with Mary Lee providing the filling stuff), followed by dessert at Lucas and Hannah's.

For music...

Obama didn't just win; McCain also lost...

(Tim, w/thanks to Mark) Well, turns out the Constitution Party wasn't on Indiana's ballot, so that made my decision easy. Meanwhile, did you notice we haven't promoted the Republican Party or John McCain?

Now that it's over, this article will explain the ambivalence/antipathy/antagonism many of us felt as we looked at the Republican Party's candidate this year. Elections are never simply won. They're also lost, and political strategists need to understand the only demographic groups still having children in these United States are biblical Christians and Hispanics. Guess what both groups hold precious?

Children, born and unborn.

So the man who swallows the shame of taking the little ones in his arms and protecting them is the one we will support.

Barack Obama rocks XXII: Isaiah's doing his part...

(Tim) Chris Taylor is the father of Isaiah Taylor, the young man who wrote Barack Obama calling him to repent of his advocacy of baby-murder. We ran a copy of Isaiah's letter on this blog a few weeks ago. Earlier today, Focus on the Family put a pic of Isaiah on their home page. Chris Taylor writes: "For those of you who haven’t heard yet, here’s the scoop: Leslie was driving down the road a few months ago and passed a group protesting the killing of babies with large photos. It caused a lot of questions by our three older children (11, 9, 7). When they got home, Isaiah (9) was so disturbed that he decided to write a letter to Senator Obama to let him know that he hoped things would change in the future.

"Anyway, this little letter has made it’s way all over the states via newsletters, blogs, radio broadcasts, pulpits, and websites. Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece even sought to hand a copy personally to Senator Obama during the DNC up in Denver. Though, that never happened, Isaiah is still hoping for a response...

"Isaiah is getting a kick out of the fact that I am now being referred to as “Isaiah’s dad” at work."

God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things that are strong...

(Tim) This is true Christian faith.

Two praises...

(Tim) At 4:15 this morning, the God of the universe blessed Ben and Michal Crum (our son-in-law and his bride) with the safe birth of a son, Zion Bjorn Crum. Zion joins his older brother, Daniel Peregrine, and he and his mother are doing quite well. Praise God with us for this sixth grandchild.

Also, please join us in praising God for the graduation of our first class completing the three-year curriculum at ClearNote Pastors College. We have two graduates--Joseph Bayly and Steve Moxey. The worship service of thanksgiving and commencement will be held this Sunday afternoon, beginning at 5:15, with dinner and fellowship following. If any of you are close enough to join us, please do. My brother, David, will be here with us and we'd love to have you here, too.

And, as always, if you're considering pastoral ministry and your church would recommend you for preparation for that calling, check out the pastors colleges at David's church, Christ the Word, in Toledo; and our Church of the Good Shepherd here in Bloomington, Indiana. (Here's the web site of ClearNote's campus ministry at Indiana University.) For more information on Reformed Evangelical Pastors College in Toledo, please call Pastor Andrew Dionne at (419) 297-4453. For information on ClearNote Pastors College in Bloomington, please call Pastor Stephen Baker at (812) 360-7457. Fifteen students have enrolled thus far and we'd be happy to put you in touch with some of them if you have questions you'd like to ask students.

It's Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, mother of Trig Paxson Van Palin...

On the day she gave birth to her newborn son who has Down syndrome, Governor Palin sent an e-mail to family members and close friends. Written as if it came from God, Gov. Palin signed the e-mail, "Trig's Creator, Your Heavenly Father." In her e-mail, Palin wrote: "Many people will express sympathy, but you don't want or need that, because Trig will be a joy. You have to trust me on this. Children are the most precious and promising ingredient in this mixed-up world you live in down there on Earth. Trig is no different, except he has one extra chromosome."

(Tim) So Senator McCain's picked Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. David and I slightly disagree on this. Roughly speaking, here's David's thought...

The Christian home is an acid test of true Christian faith...

(Tim, w/thanks to David Lehr) In a nation where the majority of citizens claim to have "a personal relationship" or to be "living a narrative" with Jesus at the center, how is it that babies keep being murdered at a rate of 1.3 million per year? How is it that women continue to take on more positions in which, by design and intent, they exercise authority over men? How is it that the family meal has died? That what my Dad called "that huckster" now owns the center of our living room and dying room? That no one practices hospitality any more--except possibly at restaurants or hotels? That husbands love internet sluts instead of their beautiful wives? That one fifth of our nation's women now arrive at their early forties never having given birth to a child?

Really, the older I get, the more sense it makes to me that the New Testament epistles place such constant and heavy emphasis on simple (or should I say basic) household matters. Do we really think that killing babies, women sleeping with women and men with men, children defying their fathers, mothers abandoning their children and home for a public life, husbands loving prostitutes instead of the virtuous wife God gave them, wives refusing to submit to their husbands and taking over the leadership of the church, smutty plays and drama and poetry, and spoiled cats and dogs are things unknown in the world of the early Christians?

The Protestant logic of non-procreative hedonism...

(Tim) From Joe Sobran's latest column celebrating the fortieth anniversary of "one of the most prophetic documents of the last century," Humanae Vitae:

* * *

Strange as it may seem, nearly all Christians used to agree that contraception is contrary to God's law.  This began to change in 1930, when the Church of England decreed at its Lambeth Conference that married couples might licitly use contraceptives in cases of hardship. Other Christians were shocked, discerning that the floodgates had been opened by this first fatal concession.

One might mention countless baleful results, such as the current demand for sodomite "wedlock." The real sexual revolution, however, occurred not in the noisy or flamboyant homosexual precincts, but quietly, in the marriage bed. Everything else is an offshoot, a byproduct of the compromise of the marital act, a perversion that has become the norm in the "advanced" countries of the West. In view of this, the perceptive homosexual advocate Andrew Sullivan has gloated, "We are all sodomites now," and he is not far wrong. Gay activists are merely acting out the logic of non-procreative hedonism...

Funny funny funny...

(Tim) This one's a classic. Watch it first.

Next, watch this spoof, followed by another one.

Life comes from God and that's the reason we did not stop life...

(Tim w/thanks to David) After his 44-year old wife, Livia, gave birth to their eighteenth child, a daughter named Abigail weighing 7 pounds, 14 ounces, Romanian immigrant, Alexandru Ionce, told the press: "We never planned how many children to have. We just let God guide our lives, you know, because we strongly believe life comes from God and that's the reason we did not stop the life."

Who says things are bad? God sits on His throne, husbands and wives love, God makes the womb fruitful, children are born, families grow, the blueberry bushes hang heavy with fruit, cats nurse their kittens, corn tassels wave in the breeze as the ears ripen, salmon spawn, Romanian immigrants choose life, and God adds to the Church daily those who are being saved. Praise God!

I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

Single or double imputation, and the chemical murder of babies...

(Tim, w/thanks to James) First, this from our sermon text yesterday:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. (Matthew 23:23)

It's sometimes depressing, but other times very encouraging to see what believers in Jesus Christ are doing in their place of work or profession as they face the onslaught of demonic forces. Often, we compromise with this present evil age--incrementally, of course. Yet from the perspective of those who have lived longer than thirty-five years and have some familiarity with church history, the compromises are punch-you-in-the-nose obvious.

There are other brothers in Christ, though, who boldly confess their faith. All of us are strengthened by their pursuit of justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Take, for instance, this Washington Post piece reporting on pharmacists starting new pharmacies that refuse to sell drugs that kill unborn babies.

Of course, the Post is incapable of accurately reporting the story because they are committed to using their paper to market their belief that unborn children are not fully "persons" under the United States Constitution. Thus their story is sold as a battle over "birth-control," "contraception," and "rape" with no mention of the chemical murder of babies and those babies' deaths.

Many, many, many, many, many, many believers in Jesus Christ, both couples and pharmacists, refuse to submit to the claims of love as they apply to these little ones. We cultivate ignorance of the destruction of unborn children that is a constant in the use of birth control pills. For many years, now, pharmaceutical firms, doctors, and pharmacists have known birth control pills kill unborn babies. Some have adapted their definition of life to allow their own use of those pills, or their fulfillment of prescriptions for these abortifacients.

Sadly, most of us have such seared consciences that we feel no need to provide a biblical base for our actions. We justify nothing.

Within evangelical or reformed churches, no one raises the subject. When it comes to chemical (as opposed to mechanical) baby-killing, mum's the word. It's completely legit, no questions asked. After all, how would the whole evangelical reformed money-making machine work if women started having babies every nine months?

"'Chemical baby-killing?' What are you, some sort of fanatic? My parents used the Pill back in the Sixties. Are you saying they killed some of my brothers and sisters? That's absurd! Why don't you go become a Catholic? You aren't secretly going to Mass, are you? Matter of fact, tell me your views on justification, would you? Are you all imputation or are you sympathetic to infusion? And speaking of imputation, single or double, dude? No sneaking away and hiding behind a rock. Which is it? En garde!"

Beyond the church, though, the treatment of this issue by the Post is itself instructive. Look how their headline demonstrates...

Since then, abortion has been legalized and tobacco's been banned...

(Tim, w/thanks to Kamilla and Dawn Eden) Mike Wallace was doing interviews back in 1957 sponsored by the Philip Morris Company. Courtesy of the Harry Ransom Center of University of Texas, Austin, here's an interview with Margaret Sanger, patron saint of Planned Parenthood and its scholarly cover organization, the Alan Guttmacher Institute. To whet your appetite, here's an excerpt:

* * *

MIKE WALLACE: What are your religious beliefs, Mrs. Sanger? Do you believe in God in the sense of a Divine Being -- who rewards or punishes people after death?

MARGARET SANGER: Well, I have a different attitude about--the divine--I feel that we have divinity within us, and the more we express the good part of our lives, the more the divine within us expresses itself.I suppose I would call myself an Episcopalian by religion and there's a--many other, if you travel around the world you get quite a bit of the feeling of all--all religions--have so much alike in the divine part of our own being. And I suppose you just couldn't just put that into a book or you couldn't put it to a phrase or a sentence.

WALLACE: Do you believe in sin -- When I say believe I don't mean believe in committing sin do you believe there is such a thing as a sin?

SANGER: I think the greatest sin in the world is bringing children into the world--that have disease from their parents, that have no chance in the world to be a human being practically. Delinquents, prisoners, all sorts of things just marked when they're born. That to me is the greatest sin -- that people can -- can commit...

Cindy McCain rocks (I): And contra Barack Obama, she thinks babies born alive should live...

(Tim) Last night, Michele Peatie left a kind comment here in which she mentioned her blog, Unborn Word of the Day. My curiosity piqued, I went and read some of her posts including this on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of orthodox Roman Catholic French composer, Olivier Messiaen. If you're not familiar with Messiaen's music, try this.

Further down the page was this gem of a post, "Living Pro-Life - 3 Politicians." Here Mrs. Peatie tells the stories of two female politicians' response to their Down Syndrome children, as well as the adoption by Senator John McCain and his wife, Cindy, of a special needs child from Mother Teresa's orphanage in Bangladesh.

A teenager now, the McCain's daughter, Bridget, would not have survived without surgery and years of rehabilitation. Cindy brought her home and, with her husband, provided her surgery, care, and love. Actually, Mrs. McCain brought back two babies: The other is also a teenager, now, and was adopted by one of McCain's aids, Wes Gullett, and his wife. Her name is Nicki. She too needed much medical care and Mr. Gullett says he "never saw a hospital bill" for her care, implying the McCain's paid for it all.

Turning to another politician who shows love for the poorest among us, this woman is a member of Feminists for Life and the Governor of Alaska...

A wedding sermon...

(Tim) From the Pulpit of Church of the Good Shepherd
Wedding of Lucas Weeks and Hannah Bayly
May 17, 2008

That He Might Sanctify Her

Ephesians 5: 21-33

Lucas and Hannah, it’s a curious thing that the God Who made us, the One who is our Creator and therefore knows us best, has not left us free to develop according to our own inclinations. He does not abandon us to our own sentiments and passions...

Joy tinged with sadness on a wedding day...

As I was in the prime of my days, When the friendship of God was over my tent; When the Almighty was yet with me, And my children were around me; When my steps were bathed in butter, And the rock poured out for me streams of oil! (Job 29:4-6)

(Tim) Lord willing, in a few hours our third daughter, Hannah Marie, will be married to Lucas Dee Weeks, son of Ron and Doris Weeks. This will leave Mary Lee and me with one child still living at home--Taylor, our fifteen year old son.

As I sit here writing the wedding sermon, it occurs to me that the joyful sadness Mary Lee and I feel as our Hannah departs is a graceful sadness...

Something's fishy about David Beckham...

(Tim, w/thanks to Dan and Joel) For years, one of our men here at Church of the Good Shepherd who's spent his life dealing with superfund sites as a government employee has been telling me of this phenomena. He's always seen it as a precious irony.

In 2002, thanks to soccer star David Beckham, the world was introduced to the “metrosexual.” Two years later, and with less mainstream-media attention, we got our first exposure to “Intersex.” Intersex is not some new perversion or a weird combination of science fiction and pornography. It is an unfortunate condition that is affecting freshwater fish all over the developed world. It occurs when fish of one sex also exhibit sexual characteristics of the other sex.

So here's another consequence of our abandonment of God's command that a man and his wife make fruitful love. Isn't it priceless how God makes the discipline fit the crime?

Be spiritual and subtract...

(Tim, w/thanks to Todd Gwennap) Philip Jenkins' The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity is an important book for those concerned about the church outside the confines our own denominational or geographical ghettos. It will set any western Christian back on his haunches thinking deep thoughts about God's thoughts being infinitely higher than our thoughts.

Anyhow, buried in Jenkin's work is this explanation of the multiple reasons demographers are concerned about population decline. The southern hemisphere is about to change--radically. And can we all admit that evangelical and reformed Christians have led the way in this change...

Brotherly love...

(Tim, w/thanks to Jim and Jon) Here's another reason not to separate the unitive and procreative aspects of marriage (as a small minority of Roman Catholics put it). Don't you wish you'd named your second son Charlie?

Tax policies and family life...

The impact tax policy has on marriage and family life in these United States is a very significant public policy issue that, too often, escapes the notice of Christians. The just state will avoid or repeal taxes that discourage marriage, a family wage, full-time motherhood, and childbearing. But who hopes for changes specifically designed to encourage these good things in the present day? What a dream, right?

Well, not to my friend Robert Patterson who today published a piece on NRO calling on presidential candidate John McCain to implement tax policies modeled after the historic tax cuts of 1948. Patterson describes the radical impact those cuts had on marriage and family in mid-century America...

Counting our blessings...

Thus says the LORD, ‘I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.’ Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of age.

And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets.’ (Zechariah 8:3-5)

(Tim) When David and I speak privately, it's a rare conversation we don't speak of our gratitude to the Lord for the wonderful churches He has blessed us with. And this isn't the one-upmanship of two brothers who are both pastors. Trust us, we know about that. Rather, it's the true joy of men for whom the lines have fallen in pleasant places recognizing it's all of God.

My Scripture reading today reminds me of one of our principal joys--our congregations' great fruitfulness physically and spiritually. Physically?

Well, between Christ the Word in Toledo and Church of the Good Shephed here in Bloomington, Indiana, I'd estimate between thirty and forty children will be born or adopted by a Covenant family this year. And this happens year after year--fruit, fruit, and more fruit! Our aisles and nurseries and gym and hallways and cars and homes and fellowship halls are filled with boys and girls playing together...

"It's all about the kids..."

(Tim, w/thanks to Heidi) According to an article in the LA Times, Americans are "switching religious affiliation in ever-greater numbers or abandoning ties to organized denominations altogether (and) Protestants are on the cusp of becoming a minority..."

If you've ever wondered if there's something besides simple obedience of the Great Commission in all the buzz about being "missional," this is it. As Heidi put it, "(This article is) helping me realize that the U.S. Needs 'missionaries' as much as people overseas, and that the next generation will pretty much be completely unchurched unless we do something." Here's one good quote:

John Green, a senior research fellow and a principal author, attributed (the Protestant decline) to the decline in birthrates, the inability to retain people born into the churches and people raised mainline Protestant moving to the ranks of the unaffiliated. "You might sort of think of this as family problems -- both at the level of having children, and raising children," Green said.

Immigration, abortion, and fertility...

(David) Statistics suggest that twenty percent of Americans will be foreign-born in 2050, a record high immigration rate for America, eclipsing even the 1860-1920 immigration wave which peaked at fifteen percent of the American population foreign-born.

Despite conservative concern over illegal immigration, America needs immigrants. Immigration has provided a significant portion of the fuel for America's economic fire over the last thirty years. And as the baby boom generation ages, immigrants will become even more essential to American productivity. This means conservative Christians need to think about whether it's preferable to have immigrants coming legally from many non-Christian lands, or whether the illegal immigration of Roman Catholic workers from Mexico has actually been a moral boon.

Regardless, the great need of America in this realm is a reversal of the fertility-hating, child-killing philosophies that have driven our nation into this demographic rut. Christians should imitate the early Puritans by rejoicing in children, fertility, the blessings of the large and happy home and conjugal love.

And if we don't this is what our future will look like. (Thanks for the link, Marc)

Twin daughters save mother's life...

Can a woman forget her nursing child And have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. (Isaiah 49:15)

(Tim, w/thanks to Denver) This is a wonderful story of God's grace.

Diagnosed with cancer while pregnant...

There's a whole lotta faith goin on...

(Tim) Even unbelieving demographers will tell you that few things are as closely tied to faith and piety as having babies. Well, bragging unabashedly, three pregnancies were announced in our women's Bible study yesterday, bringing the total children we're preparing to welcome into our congregation to fourteen. We  now have twelve pregnancies (one of twins) and one couple well on their way to adopting a child from Ethiopia. During the past year or so, ten children were added to our nursery.

Look and see! Children are a gift from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is His reward. Like ammo in the hand of a soldier, so are the children of a man's youth. How blessed is the man whose mag is filled with them. Such men will not be ashamed when they and their wives are attacked by uber-hip evangelicals who despise fruitful sex, motherhood, and fatherhood.

The first and second childhood...

(Tim) Thinking about this comment, my dear brother David T. writes:

"There are certain things in life which just have to be done, including having children, raising them, educating them, and caring for the elderly. Someone has to do these things. When we set up our government, we must be very, very careful in the incentives we set up for individuals. When the government takes over the responsibility for doing something, that has long-term effects. Currently in our country, by guaranteeing people financial and health care support in their old age, we have significantly reduced their incentive to have children (who otherwise would be their primary financial and caretaker security). As a result, people are less likely to have children and care for them properly. Their own old age no longer depends upon it."

Sons and big bangs...

(Tim, thanks to Joel) My Dad loved firecrackers. So I grew up lighting fuses and dropping Cherry Bombs and M-80s off the bridge into the DuPage River half a mile from our house. Dad blew the match out and then came the boom and geyser. Splendid! Wonderful! Manly!

Right now, I can hear many thousands of mothers rising in protest against Dad's stupidity.

Not at all. He knew how to raise sons. He knew that taking the risk out of sonship was to lie about life and God.

Fathers, take back your sons from their mother and teach them the fear of God. Avoiding risk and danger is not the ultimate test of godly childrearing. And as a first step, watch this short talk. It's excellent, except that it's as gender-neutered as the TNIV.

Children are a blessing from the Lord...

(Tim) Some of you may remember our daughter Michal's testimony about how the Lord used the death of an orphan and two of her unborn children to strengthen her faith, and that this past year the Lord chose to bless Ben and Michal with a son. Well, a few weeks ago Ben sent us this pic of the three of them, and I thought some of you might want to see the rest of God's story. So here's Ben and Michal, and their firstborn son, Daniel Peregrine Crum.

Working mothers getting an unfair break? Hardly.

(Tim) On the way to Spokane, it's my third flight of the day, but we're delayed due to some thingamabobber on the front of the wing that's not responding to the watchamacallit. So more interesting tidbits from the Times.

In the business section, there's a short piece on singles in the corporate world who are whining about how unfair it is that parents get perks they don't get. If working mothers get time off or flex time to care for sick children and to give birth, why shouldn't they get time off to go to Jamaica?

Family friendly benefits are starting to generate a backlash among those people who do not have children. Childless singles feel put upon, taken for granted and exploited…by married and childrearing co-workers.

The article tells us "a growing number of childless workers are answering 'no' to questions like… 'Is it fair to offer a working mother a flexible schedule but not provide the same option to a woman without children?'"

Anyone care to answer their question?

For myself, I'd start by saying one of the great injustices of our country is the terrible burden working mothers are forced to bear, particularly those who are single...

There's no replacement for personal contact...

(Tim-not for the young ones) Explaining his reasoning behind instituting the holiday, Family Contact Day, the governor of Ulyanovsk region in Russia, Sergei Morozov, tells us approximately what every loving husband already knows: "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."

If there's a good, healthy atmosphere at home within the family, if the husband and wife both love each other and their child, they will be in good spirits... so there'll be a healthy atmosphere throughout the country...

Exactly nine months after Family Contact Day, Morozov will use a lottery to award a prize of a brand new SUV to one of the couples celebrating a new birth that day. "Contact," you know.

(Thanks, David Wegener.)