Stan Guthrie

Seismic Tremors

2008-05-15T10:54:00.000-05:00

IT is a cruel and poignant certainty that the children who died in the wreckage of their school during the earthquake this week in Dujiangyan, China, knew all too well that their country once led the world in the knowledge of the planet’s seismicity.
By Simon Winchester

Democracies Don't Let People Die

2008-05-15T10:21:00.001-05:00

Tectonic plates in motion don't distinguish between democracies and autocracies, but the record shows that getting hit by an earthquake or cyclone in an authoritarian government is a high-risk proposition for the survivors.
By Daniel Henninger

Double Divorce

2008-05-14T10:47:00.001-05:00

A CT news story.

By Sarah Pulliam

What's So Odd About Religious Colleges?

2008-05-14T08:30:00.001-05:00

Wheaton College's stance on divorce is refreshingly countercultural.

By William McGurn

China Update

2008-05-13T14:43:00.001-05:00

While in China, Franklin Graham and Samaritan's Purse
Respond to Earthquake Destruction

SHANGHAI, China, May 13, 2008 (Press Release) - Within hours of a 7.9 magnitude earthquake that crumbled buildings and killed thousands of people in the Sichuan Province of western China on Monday, international Christian relief organization Samaritan's Purse responded to the crisis.

Franklin Graham, president and CEO of Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, is currently on a 10-day visit to China where he is meeting with government and church leaders in Beijing, Hangzhou, Nanjing and Shanghai. When he learned about the devastating earthquake, Graham committed 1 million RMB ($150,000) to assist with the immediate disaster response. While the relief organization is continuing to look for additional ways it can contribute to the earthquake relief efforts, Graham issued the following statement of condolence:

"On behalf of my father, Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, we want the people of China to know that we are praying for each person impacted by this disaster. Recovery efforts are under way, but you can never recover the loss of a life. We want to do anything we can to assist with this crisis so we are committing these funds for initial support of the local church as they assist with the relief efforts. I've been impressed with the effective and immediate response of the Chinese government and how they’ve responded to this devastating earthquake. Each day I’m here in China I am meeting with officials to assess the need and offer our assistance. Finally, I would ask all Christians in the United States to pray for the people of China and the church here as they reach out to their fellow citizens with God’s love and compassion."

Today Graham met with Elder Fu Xian-Wei, chairman of the Three Self Patriotic Movement, and Rev. Gao Feng, president of the China Christian Council, at the organizations’ national headquarters in Shanghai. "This donation is very important to the people of China because it shows the love of God for all people," said Rev. Gao. "This will encourage more Chinese people to do the same and to reach out to their neighbors in need. Franklin Graham's visit is bringing us much more understanding and encouragement for each other." Later in the day Graham met with the Shanghai Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee.

Myanmar Cyclone Aid Caught in Red Tape

2008-05-09T16:48:00.000-05:00

Military junta limiting ability of relief groups to deliver and distribute food, medicine, shelter.

Prayer for Burma

2008-05-07T08:35:00.001-05:00

Pioneer American missionary Adoniram Judson arrived in Burma in
1813. He was 24 years old and Burma was a hostile place. Judson
laboured for six years before seeing even one convert. In 1828 a
former slave and hardened criminal named Ko Tha Byu became the
first ethnic Karen to receive Christ. By God's grace Ko Tha Byu
became a mighty evangelist. After 18 years of ministry Judson
observed in 1831 that a 'spirit of inquiry' was spreading across
the whole land. Operation World (2000) estimates that Burma is now
8.7 percent Christian. The 70 percent Burmese majority is strongly
Buddhist, whilst the ethnic minorities are predominantly Christian.

In 1962 the Marxist-influenced military seized power in a coup.
Foreign missionaries were then expelled and all private (mostly
Christian mission) schools and hospitals were nationalised.
Political repression and isolation escalated further after the
major crackdown of 1988, and again after the junta received an
influx of arms and military hardware in 2005. The junta is no
longer defined by ideology but by its addiction to the perks of
totalitarian power. Its violent, corrupt, discriminatory and self-
serving regime fuels resistance to its rule, which the military
then violently represses. Thus goes the perpetual cycle of
conflict.

A genocidal conflict is presently being waged against the ethnic
Karen. (See 'Burmese Darfur: The Silent Genocide of Myanmar',
Spiegel online, 6 Sep 2007.) This has created around 540,000 IDPs
(internally displaced people) in eastern Burma and forced some
200,000 Karen into refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border. Most of
these refugees are Christians.

The United States 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA)
decrees that the US Commission of International Religious Freedom
(USCIRF) designate as Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) those
countries whose governments engage in or tolerate systematic and
egregious violations of religious liberty. Burma has always been on
the USCIRF's CPC list, being re-designated a CPC most recently on 2
May 2008. Over recent years the increasingly desperate and paranoid
junta has escalated its efforts -- as its official policy states --
to 'destroy the Christian religion in Burma'.

On 3 May 2008 the 190 km/hr (120 miles/hour) winds of Cyclone
Nargis ripped through Burma's Irrawaddy delta. The toll of injured,
dead and missing is spiralling upwards at a horrendous rate. On
Tuesday 6 May Burma's state television reported that 10,000
perished in the town of Bogalay alone. Rescue operations will be
difficult due to the remoteness of the disaster region which is a
major rice-producing area and home to 24 million people. The risk
of disease is high. However, Cyclone Nargis has blown open a door.
The junta that has kept Burma closed, isolated and violently
repressed for decades has now issued an appeal for international
assistance.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR GOD TO --

* work through the affliction caused by Cyclone Nargis, to deliver
Burma from its affliction of violent, repressive, totalitarian
rule; may he open the ears of multitudes of Burmese to the
gospel of Jesus Christ.

'He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ears
by their adversity' (Elihu, Job 36:15 ESV).

* bless all Burmese pastors, Christian leaders and teachers: inside
Burma; in the refugee camps; in the Burmese diaspora; and
especially those who are presently fleeing or suffering in
terror. May the Holy Spirit fill the leaders with the wisdom,
faith, grace and strength to shepherd the Lord's flock through
these difficult times.

--Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | No. 477 | Wed 07 May 2008

Good News for Embryos

2008-05-06T10:05:00.001-05:00

The end may be in sight for the debate over "harvesting" human embryos for their stem-cells in the pursuit of possible medical cures. Apparently adult stem cells--those cells gotten from human body tissues and not embryos--have the potential to be just as versatile for medical research as ESCs--but without the need to kill nascent human life. An article in Newsweek:

In June 2006, a Japanese group led by Shinya Yamanaka reported the first successful result with mouse skin cells, and between November 2007 and January 2008, Yamanaka's group and two American groups led by James Thomson and George Daley at Harvard University all reported the successful reprogramming of human skin cells into a state that is indistinguishable from human embryonic cells. Over the last several months, progress made along this new scientific path has been breathtaking. The laboratory of Rudolf Jaenisch at MIT has taken in the lead in developing therapies with this new technique in mice, demonstrating a cure for a mouse version of sickle cell anemia and alleviating the symptoms of Parkinson's disease in mice.

What these scientists can now do is essentially to take any type of cell and turn it into the equivalent of an embryonic stem cell—without needing embryos or egg cells. So what exactly are these new cells? Cells are fundamentally defined not by where they come from, but by their program of gene activity. In this sense, the new cells should be called embryonic stem cells. And since they are genetically identical to the person who provided the original sample, they are technically embryonic cell clones of that person. But scientists have discovered the power of words to elicit positive or negative emotional responses. "Clone" and "embryo" are words to be avoided. And so by consensus, the new cells are being called induced pluripotent stem cells.

Researchers say more work must be done on the promising technique.

Obama Breaks Ties with Wright

2008-05-02T13:19:00.001-05:00

Controversial remarks provoked Obama's denunciation.
By Sarah Pulliam

A Friendship Tested by Faith

2008-04-26T12:00:00.001-05:00

Stan Guthrie and Rabbi Yehiel Poupko on National Public Radio.

Food Crisis: No Free Lunch

2008-04-21T09:56:00.000-05:00

With gasoline flowing toward $4 a gallon in the U.S., some Americans are trying to figure out what they can cut from their budget to remain behind the wheel. In other parts of the world, high prices for basic items are causing more trouble.

The prices of wheat and rice this year will have doubled since 2004, according to World Bank projections. Soybeans, sugar, soybean oil and corn are expected to be 56% to 79% costlier than in 2004. The bulk of the increases have come in the past year and can be attributed to the West's push to turn these crops into fossil-fuel replacements like ethanol. Food prices will likely remain overinflated until at least 2015, the Bank says.

The result of these rising prices is that 100 million people could slip back into poverty, erasing seven years' worth of gains, Bank President Robert Zoellick warned earlier this month. Food inflation and shortages have sparked riots from Egypt to the Philippines, and six people were killed in Haiti alone during nine days of related unrest there this month.

Soaring oil prices have made it more expensive to transport food products, though the World Bank estimates this and costlier fertilizer account for only 15% of the rise in food prices. Improved eating habits in developing nations are also increasing demand for grains – both for human consumption and to feed livestock, since rapid economic growth in places like China means more people have enough money to buy meat. But the Bank notes that "almost all" of the increased growing of one of the key crops, corn, "went for biofuels production in the U.S."

For a look at what the World Bank says about the food crisis, click here.

While the science of whether ethanol is an efficient use of corn, given its proportional removal from the world's food supply, is beyond me, the current world food crisis points out the fact that there are economic costs and drawbacks with every government mandate and subsidy. There is no such thing as a free lunch. When corn is turned into fuel, it cannot be used for food, and some who would eat that corn will have to buy other food (presumably at a higher price) or go hungry.

Christian Evangelism and Judaism

2008-04-02T12:05:00.001-05:00

An exchange of views between a rabbi and a columnist.
Rabbi Yehiel E. Poupko and Stan Guthrie

Mikhail Gorbachev ... Christian?

2008-03-25T13:21:00.001-05:00

We've heard much from atheists about why they don't believe. Here's an interesting item about the spiritual journey of one of the world's best known disbelievers--Mikhail Gorbachev.

Gorbachev's visit to the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi in Italy this month has rekindled those questions about Gorbachev's faith. Was he denouncing atheism and affirming his faith in God? Was he a closet believer even during Soviet times?

Several European media outlets were quick to size up Gorbachev's half hour of silence at St. Francis' tomb as proof that the 77-year-old former leader of an atheistic superpower was, in fact, a Christian.

The Italian newspaper La Stampa called his visit a "spiritual perestroika." A story in the London Daily Telegraph's March 19 edition concluded Gorbachev "has acknowledged his Christian faith for the first time."

The paper quoted the former Soviet leader as saying that the saint's "story fascinates me and has played a fundamental role in my life." But Gorbachev subsequently told the Russian news agency Interfax, "Let me say that I have been and remain an atheist."

Wherever the truth lies, the discussion reminds me of a passage in Paul Kengor's book, God and Ronald Reagan, describing the beginning of Reagan's May-June 1988 mission to Moscow:

[Reagan] finished his remarks by pausing, looking up, and delivering this direct, closing salutation to the general secretary and his comrades: "Thank you and God bless you." As the words left his lips and were translated into Russian, the hardened Kremlin atheists visibly blanched. Gorbachev's translator said that Reagan's words rang like blasphemy to the Soviet officials present, and they reacted with wry expressions. "The heretofore impregnable edifice of Communist atheism was being assaulted before their very eyes by [Reagan]." the translator recorded in his notes.

Much has happened in the two decades that separate us from that simple, yet defiant statement asking for God's blessing on the Soviet leaders. Mr. Gorbachev was friendlier than his predecessors to the role of religion in society. Perhaps that's all this flap over his visit to the tomb of Saint Francis signifies. I'm an optimist, however, and will be looking for more.

God, bless Mikhail Gorbachev.

Why Evangelize the Jews?

2008-03-25T09:40:00.000-05:00

God's chosen people need Jesus as much as we do.

The 2008 Christianity Today Book Awards

2008-03-18T11:17:00.000-05:00

This year, 49 publishers nominated 359 titles published in 2007. CT editors selected the top books in each category, and then panels of judges — one panel per category — voted. In the end, we chose 10 winners and gave 11 awards of merit to the books that best shed light on people, events, and ideas that shape evangelical life, thought, and mission.

Spitzer's Logic

2008-03-14T10:58:00.002-05:00

Eliot Spitzer, the disgraced governor of New York, resigned this week after a federal investigation revealed he repeatedly used a high-priced prostitution ring. Many people are asking how the former New York attorney general could be so stupid to brazenly flout the law. I confess I don't know. Perhaps sex addiction may have something to do with it. I suspect we will learn more details about this sordid case than anyone really needs.

Ironically, I see a sad link between Spitzer's public positions on issues of concern to pro-lifers and his acts with prostitutes. The link involves his evident contempt for women: his wife and daughters, certainly, but also his contempt for women caught in the sex trade, and his contempt for women generally as mothers.

Of course, Spitzer pleased many advocates for women by pushing for passage of a tough state law against sex trafficking. Studies show that 89 percent of prostitutes strongly want to leave this work, while two-thirds experience a form of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Yet here is Spitzer happily and repeatedly abusing young women's bodies and souls for his own sordid pleasure. Hypocrisy concerning sexual matters is nothing new for a politician. Just ask David Vitter.

But while conservative politicians such as Vitter have been rightly lambasted in the press for hypocrisy, Spitzer's private actions are sadly the logical result of his public leadership.

Spitzer's contempt for women is also evident in his radical pro-abortion positions. Spitzer as attorney general founded a "reproductive rights" unit within his office and aggressively tried to shut down pregnancy support centers across the state.

His own private sexual misdeeds clearly divorce the sexual act from reproduction, and his public stances do the same. Gone is the dignity of women who nurture children in favor of women as the mere playthings of the rich and powerful-like Spitzer. If something so unfortunate as a pregnancy might ensue, not to worry: just get an abortion. Spitzer the AG and governor saw terminating a pregnancy as a fundamental right for New Yorkers.

Of course, many, if not most, who support abortion rights don't cheat on their families and cavort with high-priced call girls. But they are virtuous in spite of their public positions. Abortion is infidelity on so many levels: to women, to children, to self, and to God. We shouldn't be surprised that Spitzer's public life spilled over to his private life.

Reproductive Outsourcing

2008-03-10T12:21:00.000-05:00

You've heard about international adoption, no doubt. But what about international surrogacy? Here's the news from The New York Times:

An enterprise known as reproductive outsourcing is a new but rapidly expanding business in India. Clinics that provide surrogate mothers for foreigners say they have recently been inundated with requests from the United States and Europe, as word spreads of India’s mix of skilled medical professionals, relatively liberal laws and low prices.

Commercial surrogacy, which is banned in some states and some European countries, was legalized in India in 2002. The cost comes to about $25,000, roughly a third of the typical price in the United States. That includes the medical procedures; payment to the surrogate mother, which is often, but not always, done through the clinic; plus air tickets and hotels for two trips to India (one for the fertilization and a second to collect the baby).

Is Barack Obama a Red Letter Christian?

2008-03-04T10:36:00.004-06:00

Many evangelicals seem taken with Barack Obama. Tired of the Religious Right and seeking a new tone in Washington, they see in this untested, enigmatic senator a chance for real change. And indeed he is congenial and a breath of fresh air when compared with the grasping Clinton dynasty. Many Bible-believers seem ready to look the other way with Obama, despite his extremely liberal voting record (including unfettered backing of abortion), because he appears to be a genuine person they can work with.

I wonder how his latest, religiously based comments might change this. The other day Obama reiterated his support for civil unions for homosexuals. No surprise there. Some Christians (but not me) do indeed allow for the conferring of some legal rights, short of marital status, on gays as a simple matter of fairness. But I suspect his rationale raised some hackles.

If people find that controversial then I would just refer them to the Sermon on the Mount, which I think is, in my mind, for my faith, more central than an obscure passage in Romans.

Since when did Romans 1 become obscure? I thought pitting the words of Jesus against those of Paul was a tactic of Red Letter Christians, not something a serious candidate for the Oval Office would engage in.

But be that as it may, it's a good thing that Obama is not running for theologian in chief. There is no refererence to gay civil unions in the Sermon on the Mount (unless you stretch the Golden Rule beyond all recognition). Perhaps Obama mixed up his Bible references, like Howard Dean calling Job his favorite New Testament book?

When Jesus spoke of marriage, of course, he assumed it is a heterosexual institution. There may be a legal case to be made for marriage-like civil unions. But, please, let's not drag Jesus into it.

Larry Norman, Coffee Shop Evangelist

2008-02-29T08:38:00.000-06:00

How a chance meeting with a selfless Christian star changed my life.
By Susan Perlman

The Once and Future Vampire Novelist

2008-02-25T09:42:00.002-06:00

In a CT article by Cindy Crosby published just over two years ago, novelist Anne Rice--famous for her dark stories about vampires--spoke of her return to her Catholic faith and said she would from now on write about Christ. While she did not repudiate her earlier work, saying it was a record of her spiritual journey, she said she was through with vampires:

I would never go back, not even if they say, 'You will be financially ruined; you've got to write another vampire book.' I would say no. I have no choice. I would be a fool for all eternity to turn my back on God like that.

And for a while, she was true to her word, writing the first two works in a series about the life of Christ. The second, Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana, is due out on March 4. After a planned third installment on Jesus, Rice plans to return to her vampire chronicling. But isn't that going back on her word? Rice answers Time this way: "I don't see it as a violation of my promise, because I won't be writing about vampires in the same way." And indeed, her new promise--to put the stories in a Christian framework with an accent on redemption--sounds interesting. But Time isn't buying, commenting: "Still, it is difficult to see it as anything but a change of heart."

I cannot pretend to see into Anne Rice's soul, but to me this is a troubling turn of events. Whatever the merits and drawbacks of writing one final vampire novel, her vow was all-encompassing, seemingly linking her eternal destiny to keeping it. I am reminded of the following verses:

When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands?

Singable Doctrine

2008-02-20T10:03:00.000-06:00

Keith and Kristyn Getty have a passion for writing modern hymns.

Manga and Bible Come Together

2008-02-11T11:37:00.000-06:00

The Bible is the most read, translated, and packaged book in history. There are Bibles for soldiers, teens, dispensationalists, the reformed, golfers, and on and on. The latest effort to contextualize and target the Scriptures is The Manga Bible, just out from Doubleday.

Manga, a Japanese-inspired form of the graphic novel, is a big seller right now, so many will see its marriage with Scripture as a match made in heaven. However, this is not your father's (or mother's) Bible, according to a story in The New York Times.

The medium shapes the message. Manga often focuses on action and epic. Much of the Bible, as a result, ends up on the cutting room floor, and what remains is darker.

“It is the end of the Word as we know it, and the end of a certain cultural idea of the Scriptures as a book, as the Book,” Timothy Beal, professor of religion at Case Western Reserve University, said of the reworking of the Bible in new forms, including manga. “It opens up new ways of understanding Scripture and ends up breaking the idols a bit.”

While known for characters with big eyes and catwalk poses, manga is also defined by a laconic, cinematic style, with characters often doing more than talking.

In a blurb for the Manga Bible, which is published by Doubleday, the archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, is quoted as saying, “It will convey the shock and freshness of the Bible in a unique way.”

No doubt. In the Manga Bible, whose heroes look and sound like skateboarders in Bedouin gear, Noah gets tripped up counting the animals in the Ark: “That’s 11,344 animals? Arggh! I’ve lost count again. I’m going to have to start from scratch!”

I guess it's OK, as long as we don't start preaching from it.

Post-Mayhem Woes

2008-02-04T10:00:00.000-06:00

The latest from Kenya.
By Sheryl Henderson Blunt, with reporting by Sue Sprenkle in Nairobi, Kenya

Graceful Argument

2008-01-28T12:31:00.000-06:00

Christian conservatives are often lambasted these days for fixating on abortion and homosexuality, as if we have sexual hang-ups. Tony Campolo has said for years that the Religious Right has “hijacked” the Christian faith over such issues. Yesterday at the National Cathedral, Rick Warren, who said the country needs liberals and conservatives, lamented that Christians still are viewed as only “right wing.” (I'm not quite sure how that is still possible, given that Pastor Warren is arguably the nation’s most prominent evangelical himself.) Such critics point out that the call to discipleship also involves addressing things like environmental stewardship, poverty, and racism. And in that they are right.

But with the persistent push in our culture toward both abortion and homosexual marriage, what would these critics have Christian conservatives do? Earlier this month, Al Gore came out in favor of gay marriage, stating, “Gay men and women ought to have the same rights as heterosexual men and women — to make contracts, to have hospital visiting rights, to join together in marriage, and I don’t understand why it is considered by some people to be a threat to heterosexual marriage. . ..”

Are we not allowed to answer him? To abondon the argument is to lose the argument. And we have good reasons, beyond Scripture itself. But we must make these arguments as gently and lovingly as possible, never forgetting that how we make our case counts almost as much in today's culture as the substance of our case.

Pastor Warren is calling for a “second reformation” that includes reconciliation in the church. That’s great. Let’s all stop calling each other names and agree to do whatever work that God has called us to ... with grace and truth.

A Hole in Our Holism

2008-01-21T11:08:00.000-06:00

Why evangelicals might be shy about sharing their faith.
By Stan Guthrie