99% of Adults with Down Syndrome Report Being Happy in Life

(Life News)

The worst statistic that is floating around these days is the one that upwards of 90% or more of Down Syndrome children are aborted after prenatal testing. I am convinced that this is because parents are pressured into abortion by their health care providers.
In a totally backwards world, parents are told that they are selfish and evil if they DO NOT kill their special needs child. And with a new, early, non-invasive genetic test on the horizon, the pressure on parents to “get rid of” their Down Syndrome child will only increase. I refer to this quote more often than I should, but I believe it is so important to understand what is being said in doctor’s offices about those with Down Syndrome: ... MORE

11 Scientists Who Experimented on Themselves

(Laura Garrison)
Would you inject 50 hookworms under your skin for your job? Or steam in a vomit sauna for a few hours? Hopefully we non-scientists will never have to answer questions like these. But for the 11 brave souls on this list, experimenting on themselves was all in a day’s work.

1. Benjamin Franklin ....MORE

R.I.P.: Rest in Peace?

(Barnabas Piper) A wake-up call.” That is how we often refer to death, especially when the person who died was close to us or when the individual’s death receives significant attention in the news. But what is this call awakening us from? And, even more importantly, what are we being awakened to?
Many people, when they see death, are simply faced with the fact that people die. Few people like to dwell on this fact, and those who do are considered morbid. When people see death, they are “awakened” from the delusions and fog of a comfortable life to the reality of mortality. This type of awakening is often short lived and leads to no real life change. It isn’t so much an awakening as it is a rolling over and shifting of positions on the metaphorical pillow of life.   MORE

Is “Living the Gospel” an Acceptable Term?

 (Joel). The term “living the gospel” has become a popular one in the past few years, being used by people such as Tim Keller, J.D. Greear, David Platt, and many others. Many variations on the term exist: “living out the gospel,” “living in light of the gospel,” “being the gospel,” and so on. While most people probably hear the terms and skip right past them without a second thought, there are others who have repeatedly and loudly declared opposition to all such uses of the term. MORE

The High Costs of Marriage Absence

(Phyllis Schlafly) Most Americans are unaware that about $700 Billion a year of federal taxpayers' money is handed out to non-taxpayers allegedly below a poverty line (in addition to $250 Billion a year given out by the states). After Barack Obama became President, he increased federal welfare spending by a third because, as he promised during his campaign, he wants to "spread the wealth," knowing that promotes dependence on government and votes for the Democrats.
This federal welfare apparatus consists of 69 means-tested programs: 12 programs providing food, 10 for housing assistance, 10 for social services, 9 for educational assistance, 8 programs giving cash, 8 for vocational training, 7 for medical assistance, 3 for energy and utility assistance, and 2 for child care and child development.  MORE....

Which Political Party is Better Connected to Church

(Gallup) (CNSNews.com) - A majority of Democrats—52 percent—say they seldom or never go to church, according to Gallup data published Monday. That result is based on Gallup’s daily tracking polls conducted between June 1 and Aug. 31 of this year. In addition to the 52 percent of Democrats who told Gallup they seldom or never go to church, another 20 percent said they go to church nearly weekly or monthly, and 27 percent said they go weekly. On Oct. 28, Gallup reported that its daily tracking polls between June 1 and Aug. 31 showed that 38 percent of Republicans said they seldom or never go to church, while 21 percent said they go to church nearly weekly or monthly, and 40 percent said they go weekly.
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The Cost of Commuting

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Via: Streamline Refinance

The World’ #1 Need

(Ronnie Floyd)  SPRINGDALE, Ark. (BP) -- Research suggests that only 11 of every 100 people in the world claim Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. About 50 percent of the world's population presently has no realistic opportunity to hear the Gospel and the percentage is growing. Every minute, 120 people are born, likely to live their entire lives and never hear the name of Jesus, not even once. MORE...

In the World, But Not of the World? Gospel, Church and Culture

(James Grier)
A practical form of atheism has settled over western culture. The residue of Modernity with its coconspirators of secularism and technology are still present. The influence of the social pragmatism of Postmodernism continues to increase unabated as its paradigm progresses in the universities, the media and the political process. Multiculturalism, with its educational agenda, challenges the possibility of ultimate truth or values and replaces it with the socially constructed truth and values of each culture. Diversity has taken on new dimensions as social pragmatism continues to secure dominance in the intellectual life of the west. 
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The Benefits of Sorrow

(Zack Eswine)
“To be cast down is often the best thing that could happen to us.” (Charles Spurgeon)
It is rarely wise and often unkind to say what Spurgeon says while someone vomits from the chemo, showers off from bodily assault, exit interviews for their lost job, or weeps by the graveside of their child. In such moments, we learn from the best practice of Job’s friends. We say nothing. We sit in the ashes. We weep with those who weep. We talk more to God about them than we talk to them about God. We need not declare in these early horrid moments what grace and time in God’s hands can prove without our saying a word. So, we speak Spurgeon’s sentiment sparingly and in time, but nonetheless we learn to embody it daily. I say, “we learn to embody it” because we know full well that Spurgeon’s statement is not automatic. We know full well how sorrows can negatively change a person–it can harden us, embitter us, shatter our faith in God and make us cynical about people.
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Grace-Based Parenting vs. Fear-Based Parenting

(Tim Kimmel)
From Tim Kimmel’s chapter “The Freedom to Make Mistakes” in his book Grace-Based Parenting:

Legalistic parents maintain a relationship with God through obedience to a standard. The goal of this when it comes to their children is to keep sin from getting into their home. They do their best to create an environment that controls as many of the avenues as possible that sin could use to work its way into the inner sanctum. . . . It’s as though the power to sin or not to sin was somehow connected to their personal will power and resolve. . . . These families are preoccupied with keeping sin out by putting a fence between them and the world. 

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Mohler, Wallis Debate Social Justice, Gospel

(Baptist Press)

Evangelical leaders Jim Wallis and R. Albert Mohler Jr., in a debate over the church's role in social justice, agreed that Christians have a duty to care for the poor but disagreed whether that task is part of the Gospel itself.

The debate hosted by Trinity Evangelical Divinity School's Henry Center for Theological Understanding was cordial and saw the two men agree on several issues but disagree on the debate's core question: Is social justice an essential part of the mission of the church? Wallis, president of Sojourners, took the "yes" position while Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, took the "no" position.  MORE...