To Denny Burk and his blogpost about Ross Douthat's NY Times article challenging Planned Parenthood's work of joining family planning with its abortions services. This appeared in Denny Burk's blog.
There is a large part of what Douthat wrote which is true that is until you get to the times before Roe v. Wade was decided. There were serious problem back then with 'back ally' abortions and the health impact and even dangers it posed on pregnant women who were desparate.. Certainly this concern doesn't justify the Supreme Court's decision or any legalizing of elective abortion or Planned Parenthood's abortion services. But there were legitimate concerns from the past that some liberals don't want us to have to face again.
Douthat's concerns for the life of the unborn child are admirable and worthy of by imitated. But once he uses these concerns to paint liberals as consisting of a monolith on this subject, he has tried too hard to make his case and thus he endangers the credibility of the many valuable things he has to say about abortion especially in the ears of those who need to hear his words the most.
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Aug 9
To R. Scott Clark and his short blogpost quote supporting the exclusive singing of the Psalms. This appeared in Heidelblog
Is Benson bragging or complaining about the virtual exclusion of hymns written by people? The same can be asked of what made the Calvinistic principle the norm in the Reformed Church. This idea of exclusive psalm singing, makes Psalm singing unnecessarily divisive with followers of both sides more than eager to play the part of the pharisee from the parable of the two men praying. And what makes that ironic for some from the exclusive side is that while refusing to use instruments because they deem such a return to the OT and its use of shadows, any sense of superiority based on the exclusivity of Psalm singing partially reminds one of the circumcision party whom Paul battled in his epistle to the Galatians.
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Aug 11
To Joe Carter and his blogpost on how secular eschatologies are affecting future plans. This appeared in the Acton blog.
One of the reasons why the Christian worldview is being replaced is because it has failed a good number of societies, let alone people. Christians have fought in too many wars against each other. Then there is the Christian Imperialism exercised by the West. And even within the West, there is intolerance for certain others by Christians.
So as we consider how silly some secular eschatological beliefs and hopes are, realize how much more discrediting to the world of a Christian worldview the history which Christians have left behind.
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To Joe Carter and his blogpost about the Civil War and slavery. This appeared in the Acton blog.
I fully agree with the problem and point made by this post. But we should note that we all have the kinds of conflicts that loyal Southerners face when considering the Civil War and slavery. Before the Civil War we were ethnically cleansing the land of slaves. Our economic system has always relied significantly on exploitation to succeed from the removal of Native Americans from the land and slavery to the exploitation of labor as seen in the kind of working conditions women and children had to endure to the use of sweatshop labor overseas as well as trafficked labor used here. And if laborers are not being exploited, the environment is.
So while pointing out the faults of Southerners who struggle with accepting Civil War history, we need to look to our own denials of historical facts lest we become like the pharisee from the two men praying.
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