A timely reminder for earth day today:

The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. (Psalm 24:1-2)

Note: Click here for more pictures of our beautiful planet from the Big Picture.

Related post: Knowing God through His Creation

                                    Photo: Bree Bailey [Flickr]

Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg! That’s the name of a lake in Webster, Massachusetts (and the longest place name in the United States). I first learned about it in grade school and actually memorized it. Years later I can still roll the name off my tongue, and believe it or not, I can even spot the two misspelled letters in the sign above.

In an embarrassing mistake, officials in Massachusetts have been forced to admit that some road signs pointing to Lake Chargoggagogg-manchauggagogg-chaubunagungamaugg have spelling mistakes in them.

The typos, which are completely baffling considering how easy it is to spell Lake Chargoggagogg-manchauggagogg-chaubunagungamaugg, were revealed by a local newspaper, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, which has been covering the misspelling scandal since 2003.

Legend has it that two Indian tribes disputing fishing rights gave the lake its long Indian name which means: “You fish on your side, I fish on my side, and nobody fish in the middle.” It’s a fun story which unfortunately was later debunked. But somehow that’s how I still think about the lake after all these years.

HT: Neatorama

Yesterday I posted part of an interview with Scott Klusendorf, author of The Case for Life: Equipping Christians to Engage the Culture. Here is a later part from the same interview where Scott talks about some of the alternatives to Embyronic Stem Cell Research (ESCR). The bottom line is that there are positive ways to continue stem cell research without destroying human embryos in the process.

Not only is embryonic stem cell research immoral, but it may be unnecessary. First, numerous peer-reviewed studies indicate that adult stem cells are more effective at treating disease than previously thought. Unlike embryo stem cell research, we can extract these adult cells without harming the donor. Critics of the pro-life view, like the late actor Christopher Reeve, insist that these adult cells won’t work. However, the evidence suggests just the opposite. So far, adult stem cells are outperforming their embryonic counterparts.

Second, new research suggests we can pursue embryo cell treatments in morally acceptable ways. Altered Nuclear Transfer (or ANT) is one new technology which seeks a morally acceptable means of producing pluripotent stem cells (the functional equivalent of embryonic stem cells) without the creation and destruction of human embryos. Instead, researchers will use biological entities that have some of the properties of embryos, but are not living organisms. In 2007, researchers in Japan and the United States, using slightly different methods, successfully coaxed ordinary adult skin cells to function just like pluripotent embryonic ones. This remarkable breakthrough demonstrated that pluripotent cells can be obtained without destroying human embryos. This should come as thrilling news for everyone in the cloning debate intent on using embryo cells.

Here is an interesting video clip from Oprah where Doctor Oz proclaims the stem cell debate closed and explains the benefits of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Research (IPS Cell Technology) to Oprah and fellow guest Michael J. Fox. This new technology takes skin cells and makes them embryo-like, thus avoiding both the moral problems of destroying embryos for research as well as the practical problems involved with using embryonic stem cells, such as the risk of tumors in the recipient. (Video length: 3:13)

Related posts:
    • Scott Klusendorf on Embryonic Stem Cell Research
    • They’re Going to Die Anyway

This picture from last week …

reminded me of this post from last fall:

Forty-five years ago a terrorist bomb ripped through the walls of a church in Birmingham, AL, killing four young blacks girls (Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins) just getting out of Sunday School. This bomb not only ripped through the church, but it also ripped through the heart of America. It tore a wound in the fabric of our country that has been a long time healing … Someone has said that the moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice. God’s redemptive purposes sometimes ripen slowly in our estimation, but they do ripen nonetheless. You see, with the election of Barack Obama, we will soon see two little black girls, Malia and Sasha Obama, running the hallways and playing on the lawn of the White House. Hearts that were broken with the tragic murder of little black girls in a house of worship will be somewhat mended by the playful laughter of two beautiful young black girls in the White House. (Anthony Carter)

Crossway has a good interview with Scott Klusendorf on the subject of embryonic stem cell research. Scott is the author of the new book: The Case for Life: Equipping Christians to Engage the Culture. This is an important topic for Christians to study, especially during these times when government policy is working to change the laws in this area. Here are the first three questions and answers:

1. What are stem cells and why are scientists eager to use them in treating disease? Stem cells are fast growing, unspecialized cells that can reproduce themselves and grow new organs for the body. All 210 different types of human tissue originate from these primitive cells. Because they have the potential to grow into almost any kind of tissue—including nerves, bones, and muscle, scientists believe that the introduction of healthy stem cells into a patient may restore lost function to damaged organs, especially the brain.
2. Why is stem cell research focused, at least in part, on embryos? Human embryos have an abundant supply of stem cells which scientists are eager to harvest in hopes of treating Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and other illnesses. The practice of securing these early cells is known as embryonic stem cell research (ESCR). The problem is that you must destroy the embryo to secure its stem cells.
3. Does that mean Christians should oppose all stem cell research? Absolutely not. Pro-life advocates agree that we should save lives. We also support funding stem-cell research. But, we’re opposed to one kind of stem-cell research that requires destroying defenseless human embryos so that other humans may (allegedly) benefit. That’s immoral.

Be sure to visit Crossway for the rest of the interview.

Related posts:
    • Alternatives to Embyronic Stem Cell Research
    • They’re Going to Die Anyway

Yesterday’s message in the Gospel of Mark series was titled Calling All Sinners, taken from Mark 2:13-17. The main idea of the message was that Jesus calls sinners like you and me. Here is a brief outline of the message:

    I. Jesus calls sinners to follow him (verses 13-14)
    II. Jesus calls sinners to fellowship with him (verses 15-16)
    III. Jesus calls sinners to repentance (verse 17)

Note: Click on the Sermons tab at the top of the blog for this and other messages.

Mark Shead shares a favorite Twitter message . “A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station…”

Charles Spurgeon on praying for guidance: “Take your difficulty to God in prayer and say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears’ (1 Sam. 3:9). Do not ask God to confirm your opinion; ask Him to make your opinion conform to His truth.” (Beside Still Waters, p. 26)

Stanley Hauerwas on receiving life as a gift: “Long story short: we don’t get to make our lives up. We get to receive our lives as gifts. The story that says we should have no story except the story we chose … is a lie. To be human is to learn that we don’t get to make up our lives because we’re creatures…. Christian discipleship is about learning to receive our lives as gifts without regret.” (Living Gently in a Violent World, p. 93).

Veggie Tale creator Phil Vischer comments on Christians and fame: “I am growing increasingly convinced that if every one of these kids burning with passion to write a hit Christian song or make that hit Christian movie or start that hit Christian ministry to change the world would instead focus their passion on walking with God on a daily basis, the world would change… Because the world learns about God not by watching Christian movies, but by watching Christians.”

N. D. Wilson explains why he writes stories for children. “For many children, the only nobility, the only joy, the only strength and sacrifice that they see firsthand comes in fiction. Even when children have plenty of joy in their lives, good stories reinforce it. As long as I’m dealing in honesty, I may as well admit that I have been more influenced (as a person) by my childhood readings of Tolkien and Lewis than I have been by any philosophers I read in college and grad school. The events and characters in Narnia and Middle Earth shaped my ideals, my dreams, my goals. Kant just annoyed me.”

Today is the first annual International Day of Prayer for Turkey. Andrew Jackson, who is attending a service in Instanbul today, shares the following letter from Christian leaders in Turkey:

We would like to invite you to join us in a commitment that we as the current churches of Turkey have made: as from this year, 2009, to set aside every year, the day of April 18 as the “International Day of Prayer for Turkey”.

Why April 18? We had been thinking of such a day of prayer for many years as we knew we needed more prayer from around the world. Various dates were being proposed, when, as you will sadly recall, three of our brothers were brutally murdered, martyred, in the city of Malatya in 2007. On 18 April 2007, Necati Aydin, Tillman Geske and Ugur Yüksel were murdered for no other reason than actively living and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. We know that their deaths, that saddened God’s heart and our hearts, were not in vain. We feel that more than any other event, mingling their memory in deep prayer for the country they and we all love, will honour their sacrifice.

We therefore call upon the body of Christ worldwide to join us each year on April 18, to pray for the church and the land/people of Turkey. To pray that the church in Turkey is anointed and strengthened in the Holy Spirit to live for the glory of God; and to pray that the outcome of this will bring hope and blessing to the land and people of Turkey as hearts and eyes are opened to the Kingdom of God.

Will you please pray for the church and the people of Turkey today? I just did.

Here are two great quotes from R. C. Sproul on Christians and science:

Christians Need Not Fear Scientific Inquiry
“There is a sense in which the Christian should be the most passionate scientist of all because he should be rigorously open to truth wherever it is found. He should not be afraid that a new discovery of something that is true will destroy his foundation for truth. If our foundation for truth is true, all other truth can only support it and enhance it. It can’t destroy it. Therefore, Christians ought not to be afraid of scientific inquiry. This does not mean that we should uncritically accept all pronouncements and pontifications of scientists. Scientists are fallible and may occasionally make arrogant statements that go far beyond the realm of their own expertise.”

Our Age Cries for Talented Christian Scientists!
“Our age cries for talented scientists who see the scientific inquiry as a true vocation and as a response to the mandate of God Himself. Rather than flee from the scientific enterprise or embrace intellectual schizophrenia which only destroys, Christians are needed by the thousands to venture into the realm of nature, armed with the knowledge of grace. We can show that a God who exists on the other side of the wall is concerned with life on this side of that wall.”

Related posts:

• The Bible is to Theology as Creation is to Science
• God’s Providence and Scientific Investigation

Jonathan Dodson explains how various cultures experience conversion differently and what that means for evangelism in the United States today.

Gospel change in some cultures is more gradual than instantaneous. The American Evangelical tradition of “deep consciousness of personal sin followed by a sense of joyous liberation” is not common to all cultures. Missionaries labored for years before they saw a single conversion, and even then, the conversions were sometimes very different than what they expected. Cultures that are more communal experience conversion differently that cultures that are highly individualistic. In many African and Asian cultures, conversions come in pairs or families instead of by single individuals. Not all gospel change happens identically, especially across cultures.

What these missionaries encountered “on the field” is beginning to occur in the U.S. Many church planters have a pre-Christian past that is very “Christian.” We inherited the evangelical, pietistic conversion experience of our forefathers. Like the conversions of our missionary forefathers, our personal conversion relied heavily upon a prevailing Christianized culture, common basic knowledge of God, sin, faith and Christ. But America has changed. We cannot assume our listeners possess the same knowledge and experience that we did, which is precisely why it is so crucial that we exercise pastoral wisdom through contextualization.

What do you think? Although the gospel never changes, must we change our methods of evangelism in order to share Christ with those in a post-Christian culture?

I have been pretty quiet around here on anything Obama related, but I got a laugh out of this report from yesterday’s Tea Party in Greenville, South Carolina. Apparently, they were selling Obama Burgers — you pay for one and they cut it in half and give the rest to the guy behind you for free!!

HT: National Review

This is neat. The Hancock Wildlife Foundation has live webcams (Pacific Time) of eagles in their natural habitat. They were pretty active when I tuned in, but this is wild and this is live, so you may have to be patient.

The mission of the Hancock Wildlife Foundation is to promote the conservation of wildlife and its habitats through science, education, and stewardship. You can view more wildlife web cams here.

HT: Don Surber