"It's disgusting, it's horrible," says NDP critic Cheri DiNovo about Christian Horizons' staffing contract. The contract, quoting yesterday's article in the Record, says that "all staff [are required] to sign a contract which forbids them from engaging in certain behaviours that go against its religious beliefs, such as adultery, pre-marital sex, homosexuality and 'endorsing' alchohol or cigarettes." Christian Horizons "was recently ordered to compensate a worker who had to quit after revealing she was gay." DiNovo's outrage arises from the fact that CH, Ontario's largest provider of community living, receives public funding.
I haven't read CH's contract, so I don't know if it differentiates between orientation and lifestyle -- hate the sin, but love the sinner -- but I do wonder about DiNovo's vehement reaction. Disgusting? Horrible?
Meanwhile, Bill C-10, a federal proposal which would ensure that arts projects are reviewed before receiving funding, is called censorship. The bill would deny public funds to projects deemed to be offensive: hate propaganda, excessively violent material, pornography. Canadian Director David Cronenberg, reacting to the Bill, says, "It sounds like something they do in Beijing."
Has a Christian lifestyle become so offensive? What has happened! Intolerance has become a four-letter word - hate. As Jesus' followers, we have our work cut out for us. We have to show by the way we live that our intolerance arises from love and obedience. Nothing disgusting or horrible about that.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
They really are GEMS!
Everyone in church on Sunday morning would have to agree -- our GEMS are real gems! Their participation in our worship service blessed us and honoured God. "Thank-you!" to our girls and their counsellors.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Daddy's Girl
Yes, I know it's a silly song, Red Solvine's Daddy's Girl, and my daughter-in-law will probably kill me for using it (she wasn't amused when we wanted to play it at the wedding). But it paints such a great picture of lavish, extravagant love. That's the way God's love is described in I John 3:1. That verse is this year's theme for our girls' club: GEMS (Girls Everywhere Meeting the Saviour). The GEMS will be leading much of this Sunday's service; you won't want to miss it!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Read at the Youth Service:
At Sunday's Youth Service, Christine read the poem,"When I say, 'I Am a Christian'" by Carol S. Wimmer. The poem captures so much of what we heard and saw on Sunday night. We are Christians - that is, Christ-followers, because Jesus loves us. And that changes everything! Here's the poem:When I say, "I am a Christian,"
I'm not shouting "I am saved!"
I'm whispering, "I was lost."
That's why I chose His way
When I say, "I am a Christian,"
I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble,
Needing God to be my guide.
When I say, "I am a Christian,"
I'm not trying to be strong
I'm professing that I'm weak
And pray for strength to carry on.
When I say, "I am a Christian,"
I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches,
Which is why I speak His name.
When I say, "I am a Christian,"
I do not wish to judge.
I have no authority;
I only know I'm loved.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
What Was I Thinking?!
Aaron says, "Please, do not hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed" (Numbers 12:11). Isn't that the truth! So many of our sins are acts of foolishness; after the fact we wonder, "What was I thinking?" If we look to Jesus, God will look past our foolishness. Join us this Sunday at 10:00 a.m. for the message, "What was I thinking?!"
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Friendship Club
On Monday I visited our Friendship Club as they held their last meeting of the season - next week is bowling! Together with their leaders, the students listen to Bible stories, sing, dance, and share a snack together. Our Friendship Club meets at the Wingham Presbyterian Church. If you want to know more about the program, drop us an email. In this picture Heather TenPas role plays as Ruth during the Bible Story.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Letters to the editor...
A few weeks after Macleans featured the "Jesus problem", the letters to the editor started coming in. Everyone, whether the sceptic or the believer, must eventually ask the big question: "Why did Jesus have to die?" If you cannot answer that question, you will never be able to resolve the "Jesus problem." Join us this Sunday, 10 a.m.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Profession of Faith Retreat
Having had only sons, it was great fun to have eight young women at my home for our Profession of Faith Retreat last weekend. We (Ken dB & I)took them through the six confessional documents of the Christian Reformed Church. We also sang, prayed, worshipped, and played & ate together. Watch for an announcement of an upcoming Profession of Faith worship service at Lucknow Community CRC! p.s. you can click on the slide show on the right for full screen options. You can also access other LCCRC pics from that page -- click on "Public Gallery".
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Rebel without a Cause
"It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good." That's the text for this Sunday's message, "Rebel without a Cause." It's from Galatians 4:18. You're welcome to join us!
In Yesterday's National Post
Unwed moms, unwanted babies, high-risk pregnancies-- each story is a many-layered saga of sadness and hurt. Each story cries out for compassion and assistance. I become frustrated, even angered, when pro-life advocates are caricatured as being unsympathetic and dogmatic. I contend that those descriptors are most suited to pro-choice adherents who choose to withhold or, worse yet, turn a blind eye to, important information regarding the side-affects of abortion. And I'm not talking here only about psychological and emotional concerns.
The following article, by Barbara Kay and published in yesterday's National Post exposes a very real risk associated with multiple abortions. I'm not sure if it's the risk of premature births, and the high incidence of Cerebral Palsy, that frightens me more, or the conspiracy of silence which extinguishes any notion of informed consent. Read on and decide for yourself.
PRO-CHOICE'S GUINEA PIGS
The birth of my fourth granddaughter two weeks ago -- healthy, a good weight -- was the occasion for joy and relief in equal measure.
My daughter's pregnancy had first been fraught with ominous signs of imminent miscarriage. Then the worry was a probable extremely pre-term birth (at 24 weeks' gestation, her high-risk specialist ominously murmured, "Let's try to get you to 28 weeks"). Even on bed rest she was offered only 5% odds of going 37 weeks (she made it to 39!).
This was our family's first experience with an abnormal pregnancy. In the course of the unwanted adventure I acquired an education in the risks associated with prematurity, today a feature of one in eight births.
The most harrowing risk of an extremely pre-term birth (XPB) -- under 28 weeks gestation -- is cerebral palsy. The risk is about 38 times higher in XPB than in the overall newborn population.
Sometimes XPB is just bad luck. Sometimes it isn't. According to obstetrician Barbara Luke's classic Every Pregnant Woman's Guide to Preventing Premature Birth, "If you have had one or more induced abortions, your risk of prematurity with this pregnancy increases about 30%." After two, a woman's chance of an XPB doubles. A woman who has had four or more abortions runs nine times the risk of XPB, an increase of 800%.
Studies of black American women throw the problem into bold relief. Black American women, although only 12% of the American population, undergo 35.2% of all abortions. In 1987 it was reported in The New England Journal of Medicine that black American women with two previous abortions had a 91% higher relative risk of a subsequent pre-term birth.
As far back as 1967, Dr. Malcolm Potts -- himself a robust defender of abortion -- writing in The Eugenics Review, noted: "There seems little doubt that there is a true relationship between the high incidence of therapeutic abortion and prematurity. The interruption of pregnancy in the young (under 17) is more dangerous than in other cases."
(Of the approximately 120,000 abortions performed annually in Canada, the repeat rate is more than 29%, and amongst teenagers repeats are four times as high as for older women.)
This concession by Potts, who actually believed in eugenics, well before the organized and militant ideological polarization on abortion we're so familiar with, gives the lie to pro-choicers insisting such claims are "scare tactics" fabricated by pro-life activists.
But you won't find a future-pregnancy prematurity risk on pro-choice Web site fact sheets. The National Abortion Federation's states: "Comprehensive reviews of the data have concluded that a vacuum aspirational procedure in the first trimester poses virtually no risk to future reproductive health."
Since "suction" is the standard abortion method, I wondered if abortion clinics give actual potential clients a more nuanced picture. So I asked a friend in her 30s to do some sleuthing in person.
"Johanne" visited two abortion clinics in Montreal.
The Morgentaler clinic does not offer consultations prior to abortions. One signs the consent form and proceeds directly to the abortion. A consultation was only reluctantly arranged at Johanne's insistence.
Johanne asked a number of questions, including: "Is there a risk associated with a second abortion?" Answer: "No, and the proof is that [the woman] is fertile … One, two, three abortions, there are no risks."
At the Clinique Medicale de l'Alternative, Johanne was received with less suspicion. As at the Morgentaler, there is no consultation prior to the abortion. (I stress this because where prior counselling is offered, as in Sweden, fewer women choose to abort).
Johanne asked a doctor there the same questions, and again, was there a risk to future pregnancies associated with a second abortion? "No, a woman can have one, two, three, four, five abortions with no problem… "
In response to Nazi atrocities in human experimentation, the Nuremberg Code was adopted in 1964. The code insists on animal studies before exposing human beings to any procedure. All surgical procedures in Canada have been tested on animals. Except one. There are no published animal studies on vacuum aspiration abortion.
So the fact that women are guinea pigs is something else you won't see on the pro-abortion fact sheets or on consent forms. What other abortion risks are women not being warned about? Too many to mention in one column, that's for sure.
The following article, by Barbara Kay and published in yesterday's National Post exposes a very real risk associated with multiple abortions. I'm not sure if it's the risk of premature births, and the high incidence of Cerebral Palsy, that frightens me more, or the conspiracy of silence which extinguishes any notion of informed consent. Read on and decide for yourself.
PRO-CHOICE'S GUINEA PIGS
The birth of my fourth granddaughter two weeks ago -- healthy, a good weight -- was the occasion for joy and relief in equal measure.
My daughter's pregnancy had first been fraught with ominous signs of imminent miscarriage. Then the worry was a probable extremely pre-term birth (at 24 weeks' gestation, her high-risk specialist ominously murmured, "Let's try to get you to 28 weeks"). Even on bed rest she was offered only 5% odds of going 37 weeks (she made it to 39!).
This was our family's first experience with an abnormal pregnancy. In the course of the unwanted adventure I acquired an education in the risks associated with prematurity, today a feature of one in eight births.
The most harrowing risk of an extremely pre-term birth (XPB) -- under 28 weeks gestation -- is cerebral palsy. The risk is about 38 times higher in XPB than in the overall newborn population.
Sometimes XPB is just bad luck. Sometimes it isn't. According to obstetrician Barbara Luke's classic Every Pregnant Woman's Guide to Preventing Premature Birth, "If you have had one or more induced abortions, your risk of prematurity with this pregnancy increases about 30%." After two, a woman's chance of an XPB doubles. A woman who has had four or more abortions runs nine times the risk of XPB, an increase of 800%.
Studies of black American women throw the problem into bold relief. Black American women, although only 12% of the American population, undergo 35.2% of all abortions. In 1987 it was reported in The New England Journal of Medicine that black American women with two previous abortions had a 91% higher relative risk of a subsequent pre-term birth.
As far back as 1967, Dr. Malcolm Potts -- himself a robust defender of abortion -- writing in The Eugenics Review, noted: "There seems little doubt that there is a true relationship between the high incidence of therapeutic abortion and prematurity. The interruption of pregnancy in the young (under 17) is more dangerous than in other cases."
(Of the approximately 120,000 abortions performed annually in Canada, the repeat rate is more than 29%, and amongst teenagers repeats are four times as high as for older women.)
This concession by Potts, who actually believed in eugenics, well before the organized and militant ideological polarization on abortion we're so familiar with, gives the lie to pro-choicers insisting such claims are "scare tactics" fabricated by pro-life activists.
But you won't find a future-pregnancy prematurity risk on pro-choice Web site fact sheets. The National Abortion Federation's states: "Comprehensive reviews of the data have concluded that a vacuum aspirational procedure in the first trimester poses virtually no risk to future reproductive health."
Since "suction" is the standard abortion method, I wondered if abortion clinics give actual potential clients a more nuanced picture. So I asked a friend in her 30s to do some sleuthing in person.
"Johanne" visited two abortion clinics in Montreal.
The Morgentaler clinic does not offer consultations prior to abortions. One signs the consent form and proceeds directly to the abortion. A consultation was only reluctantly arranged at Johanne's insistence.
Johanne asked a number of questions, including: "Is there a risk associated with a second abortion?" Answer: "No, and the proof is that [the woman] is fertile … One, two, three abortions, there are no risks."
At the Clinique Medicale de l'Alternative, Johanne was received with less suspicion. As at the Morgentaler, there is no consultation prior to the abortion. (I stress this because where prior counselling is offered, as in Sweden, fewer women choose to abort).
Johanne asked a doctor there the same questions, and again, was there a risk to future pregnancies associated with a second abortion? "No, a woman can have one, two, three, four, five abortions with no problem… "
In response to Nazi atrocities in human experimentation, the Nuremberg Code was adopted in 1964. The code insists on animal studies before exposing human beings to any procedure. All surgical procedures in Canada have been tested on animals. Except one. There are no published animal studies on vacuum aspiration abortion.
So the fact that women are guinea pigs is something else you won't see on the pro-abortion fact sheets or on consent forms. What other abortion risks are women not being warned about? Too many to mention in one column, that's for sure.
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