The Point

The State Supreme Court has now made California the second state to legalize gay “marriage.” They did so in a 4-3 vote overturning legislation that placed a ban on “marriage” for same-sex couples. What comes as a surprise for some, is that six of the seven justices were Republican appointees.

The City Attorney who argued the case for the plaintiffs had this to say:

Today the California Supreme Court took a giant leap to ensure that everybody -- not just in the state of California, but throughout the country -- will have equal treatment under the law.

In other words, the injustice of denying gays and lesbians the right to marry has been rectified, at least in Massachusetts and California.

That’s odd. Last time I checked, gays have always had a right to marry, just not with someone of the same sex.

One is left to wonder when “equal treatment under the law” will allow mothers to marry their sons, brothers to marry their sisters, a woman to marry her dolphin (oops!—that’s already been done), and, in light of recent news, a gardener to marry her pogonia.

…just not one of the divine sort. That is the conclusion of Canadian biologist Stuart Kauffman. We need “God” because, in the estimation of Kauffman and increasing numbers of researchers, natural laws are inadequate to account for the complexity of life.

Notes Kauffman, “I do not believe that the evolution of biosphere, economy and human culture are derivable from or reducible to physics. Physicists cannot deduce, simulate or confirm the detailed evolution of the biosphere that gave rise to the organised structure and processes that constitute, for example, your heart.” (Not to mention man’s heart.) Kauffman continues, “There seems to be no natural law sufficient to describe Darwinian pre-adaptations.”

In other words, evolutionary theory provides no way to determine how a physiological feature will change under future environmental pressures, or identify the past transitions and changes that led up to an existent feature.

This is serious. If Darwinian evolution is not fully governed by physical laws, it has no predictive value, beyond a few minor adaptations like pesticide resistance (a charge, it will be noted, often leveled against intelligent design). What is the entrenched materialist to do?

Given the imprudence of my adolescence, I’m grateful that the public World Wide Web didn’t exist in the late 80s. Though one could rack up a more damaging record of regrettable behavior than we did, my friends’ and my sense of humor, far too often at others’ expense, surely would have left a lamentable trail on the Internet, had I been a Gen-Y-er.

For one thing, we would have most certainly set up a MySpace band website for The Screaming Banshees from Hell. Hardly the typical high school band, TSBFH was five guys who didn’t play a single instrument, the anti-madrigals if you will. All we had was a penchant for rewriting lyrics to common songs, voices which could carry a tune well enough, and a $40 Sony boombox for recording tracks.

About those lyrics. They were *terrible*. Comedic in nature, the lyrics either parodied Far Right Wing politics or mocked the schoolmates we regularly targeted. TSBFH, being far less a “band” than yet one more means for hacking others off, had lyrics that certainly weren’t anything you’d want your mother to read. I still vividly recall A.P. delivering the news that his mom had found his master stash of lyric sheets. I decided then and there that I would never show my face around his house again.

This speech did not garner much media attention--at least, I didn't hear anything about it--but I was delighted to hear McCain invoking Wilberforce in a recent speech about human rights. And unless I'm mistaken, this is the first time any presidential candidate has, in effect, made a campaign promise to fight female circumcision.

According to the fifth paragraph here, he's in danger!

(Thanks to Wendy for the warning.)

(Image © The Daily Mail)

Quick quiz: Who was the first person in the Bible described as being "filled with the Spirit"?...

Click play above to listen.

Here are a few more ideas on creating culture:

• "Family Ties"
• "The Philippines' Ethical Time Bomb"
• "Get political, scientists"
• "VH1 Zips (with No Unzipping) through 'Sex'" (adult themes)
• "Punished for views on homosexuality" (via FRC)
• "Serial bomb blasts leave 60 dead in India"

C. S. Lewis scholar Michael Ward writes in the New York Post about the great new "Just War" flick Prince Caspian.

I can hear Lefties grinding their teeth as they decide whether or not to let their kids see this subversive film....

(Image © Disney)

A church I recently visited used a huge flat screen TV and a video broadcast to deliver the Sunday sermon. The video was a live transmission of the senior pastor’s message delivered from their main church location.

The weekly video format must be effective for this church because they have three fully packed services every Sunday morning. But I am still a bit undecided whether I would recommend this kind of video channeling to my unchurched friends. The method does allow churches to expand quickly and thus reach more people to hear the Word of God in different locales. However, one might argue that video preachers might discourage genuine interaction and could put too much emphasis on the "star" quality of a preacher.

I wonder what Pointificators think of this emerging trend.

From the London Telegraph:

Sir Paul McCartney is said to be "horrified" that his new eco-friendly car was flown 7,000 miles from Japan.

The Lexus LS600H, which costs £84,000, was a gift from Lexus to the 65-year-old former Beatle, who helped promote the hybrid vehicle.

But instead of arriving by boat as expected, the car was flown to Britain on a Korean Air flight, creating a carbon footprint almost 100 times bigger than if it had come by sea.

A source is reported to have said: "Paul was offered a Lexus as a gift and ordered the hybrid limo because it helps to reduce emissions. . . .

Paddy Gillett of the anti-aviation lobby group Plane Stupid, said: "For anyone to pretend that a private limousine is in any way eco-friendly is like pretending a private jet is. It's total greenwash."

So last night my fiancé and I were coming back via the Metro from visiting my brother’s family. Apparently there was a police convention downtown and the Metro was crawling with police officers. The ones in our car were all fairly drunk. One of them had an open container of beer in hand. It was all I could do to contain the Gomer Pyle in me and not yell out “Citizen’s Arrest!” (As Dave the Swede says, it's a good thing I didn't: never confront drunk policemen.) But if you've never seen this classic television moment, this is what was running through my head--accent and all.

By the way, if I were a doctor, I think I would prescribe Andy Griffith Show re-runs quite regularly. I'm fairly confident there is some kind of therapeutic value in them. I'm only half-joking.

This just in from Great Britain, that bastion of Christianity that has given us John Wesley, George Whitefield, and, of course, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. Now why can't Williams just go join this Jedi group and help them fend off Darth Vader?

With each edition of the UN Wire, the news in Burma—Burma, people—becomes more dire. “Myanmar Death Toll Soars.” “UN suspends Myanmar relief after military seizes supplies.” “Myanmar crisis worsens.”

My heart breaks. I can't begin to fathom the magnitude of the devastation and death in the aftermath of the cyclone that hit Burma—and worse, the deaths and starvation resulting from the power-hungry junta’s evil disregard for human life. And I say “Let my people eat,” because Burma is literally in my blood, as my great-grandmother was Burmese and Thai: Our family is knit, in part, from Burmese blood. That's not to say I don’t care as much for those hurting in Chile, which is still dealing with its erupting Chaiten volcano, or in China, from the earthquake.

Cyclone, volcano, earthquake, drought: This fallen Earth literally is groaning. And so the Church shows compassion for those hungry and hurting.

But when the problem is exacerbated by the wickedness of men consumed with power and blinded by evil that taints their treatment of fellow humanity, tearing at the darkness will require more than compassion—it requires some of that passion Jesus had in the temple with the moneychangers. It’s time to get angry at sin and act righteously upon that anger. Enough is enough.

Stress and college -- boy, they go together well!...

Click play above to listen.

• "Holocaust Hero Who Saved Children Dies"
• "Death Toll from Chinese Earthquake Nears 12,000"
• "Parents who prayed as child died face charges"
• "The Grace of Wrath"
• "In Custody, in Pain"
• "In autistic boy's hands, paper and scissors express an amazing spectrum"

Check out Oprah's offering for today. Even a family friend who got into A New Earth to help handle stress is taken aback by this one. I wonder if other Oprah fans will feel the same, or if she's got most of them so snookered by now that they'll follow merrily along wherever she leads.

(Image © Oprah.com)

Last month, The Washington Post featured teens who were going to extraordinary lengths to ask prospective dates to the prom, like plastering an invitation to the prom on a sailboat or hanging it from a highway overpass. And then, there are the expenses. Dress -- $250. Hair and makeup -- $200. Tuxedo -- $120. Limo...you get the picture. By the time the "day after" rolls around, teens (i.e. their parents) can end up having spent thousands just to make prom night a "magical" experience.

But, prom doesn't have to be a budget-buster or a materialism fest.

Instead of renting an expensive hotel banquet hall, high schoolers from Lexington Christian Academy in Massachusetts decided to have the prom at school and donate the money they saved on expensive accessories to Hekima Place, an orphanage in Kenya. To further cut back on costs, they also organized a dress swap.

Another high school in Schenectady, New York launched a fundraiser to help their low-income students afford the prom. As an incentive for good behavior, teens were able to participate in a gown drive and enjoy a free limo ride. Without the assistance, many of the students wouldn't have been able to pay for prom.

Nice to see creative, charitable alternatives to one of the most potentially self-centered nights of the year.

(Image © Prom365)

Mark Earley's BreakPoint commentary about Prince Caspian reminds me that I've been meaning to ask the Pointifficators for a recommendation. My boys and I have been enjoying night-time readings of the Chronicles of Narnia for over a year now, and we recently finished The Last Battle. The conclusion is a tad bittersweet for us, as we greatly enjoyed Lewis' series but haven't a clue what we could read next which would be as powerfully imaginative and insightful as those wonderful tales. Any recommendations?

Blogging has reached a whole new level.

I was flipping through a magazine and stopped dead when I saw this image. It is a few years old. These are the feet of the world's most premature living baby, Amillia Sonja Taylor, just after her birth at Baptist Children's Hospital in Miami, Florida.

When she was born at 21 weeks, she was about the same length as a ballpoint pen and weighed about 10 ounces.

I tried doing an Internet search to see if there are any updates on her, but the last I can find is around February of 2007 when she came home from the hospital. Anyone know if baby Amillia is still doing well? She's over a year old now, I guess.

Once I can collect my thoughts and emotions on this and comment rationally and without verbally expressing my lividness over it, I'll comment more later on the tragedy in Burma. Meanwhile, from CNN, 5 toilets for 3,500. Five! And no drinking water. Think about that today as you take your shower and grab a Starbucks. And give, if not here, then here, or to another reputable aid organization desperately trying to tear at the darkness in southeast Asia.

(Image © API)

I've been away from the blog for a few days traveling. But a chance last week to interview an ex-prisoner and two volunteers reminded me once again why I feel I have one of the best jobs around.

Every once in a while I get to look into the eyes of someone who has been profoundly changed by the Holy Spirit's inner workings. The woman I interviewed, whom I'll write about for an upcoming issue of Jubilee Extra, our ministry newsletter, had a tumultuous and painful childhood that ultimately led her to a life as a drug dealer.

While she was in jail, her cell door opened one day and she and a few other women were permitted out to a meeting room in the jail to talk with a local Prison Fellowship volunteer who had come in to visit the prisoners. My interviewee elected to go to the meeting but had little idea what or whom she'd encounter. The volunteer asked her simply how he could pray for her.

When the young woman got back to her cell, a flood of memories washed over her. Over the next few hours, she was convicted of things from childhood through adulthood, and she knelt on the floor of her cell crying and asking for forgiveness.

Now, three years since her release, and about five years since her conversion, I got the extraordinary opportunity of seeing someone whose life has been absolutely revolutionized by the love of Christ. Not only that, but I got to meet some volunteers who will certainly be difficult to catch a glimpse of in the new heavens and the new earth because of the throngs of people they've led to Christ, who no doubt will be near them there as they praise and thank the Lord together, for what He has done.

Life without TV -- could it actually be better?...

Click play above to listen.

Read more about this experiment from CNN.

• "Statue Whittles Away at King's Legacy"
• "Playing with Fire"
• "Millennial Messianism"
• "McCain's Christian Problem"
• "Lots of 'Baby Mamas'"

Thanks to all of you who submitted text for my "comic strip" about Dr. Death running for Congress. 

Gene wrote the winning caption for His Hideous Strength: Devilry Afoot in Congress:

"I'm Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Vote for me and I promise to solve the Medicare and Social Security crisis!"

I hemmed and hawed at making the decision because they all made me laugh, but Gina insisted I choose one. Seriously, thanks to all who took the challenge.

I hope to give all readers and would-be comic writers further opportunities to respond to life's dismal events with humor.

In today's Washington Post, Marjorie C. Bradford tells this story of herself as a "worldly, bright, sophisticated college sophomore" in 1944:

After the obligatory glass of wine, Jorge gradually began to put some moves on me. I thought I could handle this, but before my virtue could be put to the test, the phone rang. Jorge, looking a bit irritated, first seemed to want to let it ring but reconsidered and picked up the receiver.

"Yes?" he said, and a few seconds later his face fell. "Yes, she is here," he said, and to me: "Your mother wants to speak to you."

With my heart in my throat, I listened to some very concise instructions on what I was to do next. I was out of there like a shot and rode the subway home -- alone. I expected the lecture of a lifetime, but Mother said nothing, nor was the episode ever mentioned again.

Meanwhile, in a recent magazine interview, dancer/singer Julianne Hough talks about the dangers of dating in 2008:

There has been a lot of consternation over age-of-the-earth issues among people who profess an orthodox faith. Mike Metzger whimsically maintains this "divisive debate" is nonsense. 

I, for one, wholeheartedly concur with him!

On Wednesday, a group of Christian leaders, led by Os Guinness, went public with an "Evangelical Manifesto."

We are troubled by the fact that the confusions and corruptions surrounding the term Evangelical have grown so deep that the character of what it means has been obscured and its importance lost. Many people outside the movement now doubt that Evangelical is ever positive, and many inside now wonder whether the term any longer serves a useful purpose.

In short, the "Manifesto" was an apology for all the mistakes evangelicals have made, particularly, as in recent years, becoming increasingly defined by the political and cultural positions, instead of clinging simply to their identity as Christ-followers. Among other ills, the creators of the document acknowledged:

All too often we have trumpeted the gospel of Jesus, but we have replaced biblical truths with therapeutic techniques, worship with entertainment, discipleship with growth in human potential, church growth with business entrepreneurialism, concern for the church and for the local congregation with expressions of the faith that are churchless and little better than a vapid spirituality, meeting real needs with pandering to felt needs, and mission principles with marketing precepts. In the process we have become known for commercial, diluted, and feel-good gospels of health, wealth, human potential, and religious happy talk, each of which is indistinguishable from the passing fashions of the surrounding world.

There were 77 Christian leaders who signed the document, including Max Lucado, Jim Wallis, and John Yates. Many (like James Dobson and Chuck Colson) didn't sign it for a variety of reasons. Some criticized the lack of diversity among the signers, like Washington Times religion writer Julia Duin:

The paucity of black and female signers on this document was pretty obvious. There are many evangelical female scholars in the D.C. area who could have signed on and shown up at the press conference. Why weren't any of them sought out? Organizers cited a lack of time but the word on the street is they spent plenty of time trying to balance out the document with certain signees from the right and the left. Surely they could have found some local women and black leaders.

I don't know. Overall, it seems like it could be a good first step in making necessary apologies. But, will it really change anything? Only time will tell.

When Chuck Colson talked about cremation on BreakPoint, several listeners disagreed with his opinion that traditional burial was a better reflection of Christian ideas about "treat[ing] the body with respect." There was even some disagreement among staffers here.

But I'm guessing we could all agree that flushing the body just might be the ultimate act of disrespect for God's creation.

(Image © AP)

It's Monday. What's to love?...

Click play above to listen.

Want more ideas for turning drudgery into worship?

The geek in me got a kick out of this Mother's Day comic strip (I think the second panel is my favorite).

• "Darfur school 'bombed from air'"
• "The Weight of Story" (via The Line)
• "Japan Steadily Becoming a Land of Few Children" (via The Line)
• "Ahmadinejad: Israel a 'stinking corpse'" (via The Corner)
• "Vito's Problems and Ours"
• "Sex and the City: They're older -- but are we wiser?" (adult themes, language in comments)
• "The Father of All Bad Ideas"
• "Miley Vogues"

I don't think this is what is meant by becoming more involved in your kids' lives:

"Mother Arrested on Child Abuse Charges After Allegedly Urging Her Daughter to Fight a Classmate"