Today's links 21/4/2010

1. Thomas Watson, Body of Divinity, pp. 13-14:

"We glorify God by working out our own salvation. God has twisted together His glory and our good. We glorify him by promoting our own salvation. It is a glory to God to have multitudes of converts; now, his design of free grace takes, and God has the glory of his mercy; so that, while we are endeavoring our salvation, we are honoring God.

What an encouragement is this to the service of God, to think while I am hearing and praying, I am glorifying God; while I am furthering my own glory in heaven, I am increasing God’s glory.

Would it not be an encouragement to a subject, to hear his prince say to him, you will honor and please me very much, if you will go to yonder mine of gold, and dig as much gold for yourself as you can carry away?

So, for God to say, Go to the ordinances, get as much grace as you can, dig out as much salvation as you can; and the more happiness you have, the more I shall count myself glorified."

(HT: Justin Taylor)



2. The Deadly Drug....Can you guess what it is?

"Imagine a drug so powerful it can destroy a family simply by distorting a man’s perception of his wife. Picture an addiction so lethal it has the potential to render an entire generation incapable of forming lasting marriages and so widespread that it produces more annual revenue — $97 billion worldwide in 2006 — than all of the leading technology companies combined. Consider a narcotic so insidious that it evades serious scientific study and legislative action for decades, thriving instead under the ever-expanding banner of the First Amendment.

According to an online statistics firm, an estimated 40 million people use this drug on a regular basis. It doesn’t come in pill form. It can’t be smoked, injected, or snorted. And yet neurological data suggest its effects on the brain are strikingly similar to those of synthetic drugs. Indeed, two authorities on the neurochemistry of addiction, Harvey Milkman and Stanley Sunderwirth, claim it is the ability of this drug to influence all three pleasure systems in the brain — arousal, satiation, and fantasy — that makes it “the pièce de résistance among the addictions.”




3. Many of you must have heard about the furore caused by the decision of a single mother in Tennessee to 'return' a boy she had adopted from Russia. She simply boarded the seven-year-old onto a plane to Russia, with a note saying she had been lied to by the adoption agency in Russia. Russia has now announced that they have placed on hold all adoptions to the US, which is a nightmare situation for the many families who are midway through the process of adoption already.

You can read some of the stories here, here and here

As you can see, the story is so complicated.
1. There is always a risk when you adopt a child.
2. An adopted child is, nevertheless, now your own child. When things go wrong (as happens even with many biological children), you just cannot send the child away. You would not do that if the child was your biological child.
3. The adoption agency must be honest with the adopting couple, and be available for ongoing advice and help, as needs arise.




4. Aborting the "wrong" baby

(From Al Mohler, HT: Vitamin Z)

"The news out of Sarasota, Florida caught many people by surprise. A doctor in the city has lost his license because he aborted what is now described as the “wrong” baby. Back in 2006, Dr. Matthew Kachinas had been asked to perform an abortion on a baby that had been identified as having Down syndrome and other congenital defects. Instead, the doctor aborted that baby’s healthy twin."

"....What are we to make of this? We now know that the vast majority of babies identified prenatally as carrying the genetic markers for Down syndrome are aborted. National statistics indicate that 80-90% of such babies are now aborted — meaning that we have launched a search and destroy mission on Down syndrome babies in the womb.

The situation with Dr. Kachinas reveals the horribly confused morality that marks modern America and, in far too many cases, the practice of medicine. This doctor was asked to perform what is now euphemistically called a “selective reduction.” Instead, he aborted “the wrong baby,” killing a healthy baby instead of the baby identified as carrying the markers for Down syndrome."

Dr Mohler then asks this question....

"This news story out of Florida is a warning to the entire nation. What is the real scandal here — that this doctor was ready to kill a baby with Down syndrome, or merely that he aborted “the wrong baby?”

The answer to that question will tell us all we need to know about the conscience of the age."




5. Man arrested at Large Hadron Collider claims he's from the future

Can you figure out what happened?