current events
CNN reported on a tragic story about a woman whose boyfriend tricked her into taking an abortion-inducing drug after she told him she was pregnant. The boyfriend, John Andrew Welden, is now facing first-degree murder charges for killing the unborn child. Welden told his girlfriend that his father, a doctor, had prescribed her an antibiotic for an infection. In reality, Welden gave her an abortion-inducing drug, and the pregnancy was terminated. Read More »
The biggest news in professional basketball this week has nothing to do with the NBA playoffs. Instead, the basketball world is talking about Jason Collins’ first-person essay for Sports Illustrated in which announces he is gay. Within a sports-saturated culture, this is big news. Collins opens his article with the following declaration: Read More »
For the last two days I have been telling my classes that we are living history in this moment. Most of us take little notice of the oral arguments being made before the Supreme Court of the United States. We recognize few of the names of cases, and even fewer names of those who have served as justices. However, Hollingsworth v. Perry and United States v. Windsor may become as familiar as Roe v. Wade or Lawrence v. Texas. In fact, the names Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer, Roberts, Alito, Sotomayor, and Kagan may become quite familiar through the years. Much of the historical significance of these cases and justices hinges not on what happened during the oral arguments on March 26–27, 2013, but on the written opinions that will likely be released in June. Read More »
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report last week that flew under the radar of most news organizations. They conducted a five-year study (2006–2010) on the use of the “morning-after pill” (labeled “emergency contraception” in the study—more on that later) and found that 11% of “sexually experienced women aged 15–44 . . . had used emergency contraception, up from 4.2% in 2002.” Thus, in less than ten years, use of this form of birth control has almost tripled. Read More »
The Boy Scouts of America are scheduled to make a decision this week on their membership policy. This could prove to be a significant shift in policy that has the potential to impact the future of scouting. Read More »
National media has given a lot of coverage to the supposed Mayan prediction of the end of the world. According to the predictions, the world was supposed to have ended on December 21, 2012. While many people took this prediction as a myth that had no bearing on reality, others took it as a bit of the ancient world that should not be ignored altogether. It stirred enough interest on the national scene that many secular people began to wonder about an “apocalypse” and the end of the world. Read More »
Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on the blog of Dr. Thomas White, vice president for student services and communications at Southwestern Seminary.
In the wake of Kansas City Chief’s linebacker Jovan Belcher’s murder-suicide Saturday, Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock wrote, “How many young people have to die senselessly? How many lives have to be ruined before we realize the right to bear arms doesn’t protect us from a government equipped with stealth bombers, predator drones, tanks and nuclear weapons?” Whitlock and many others have decided to blame guns for tragedies like this one; however, I don’t hear the same outrage over alcohol when a drunk driver kills someone on the roads. Guns are not the problem. Read More »
Editor’s Note: The following book review appears in Southwestern Journal of Theology, vol. 55, no. 1 (Fall 2012): 187-88. This particular issue focuses on “Scripture, Culture, and Missions.” For more information about the journal, or to subscribe, email journal@swbts.edu. Read More »
In the heated rhetoric of this political season, one issue that continues to be at the forefront of discussion is homosexuality. While much of the discussion has focused on rights and the definition of marriage, one young man has garnered national attention for making a different argument. Matthew Vines, a 22-year-old Harvard University student, has set out to defend homosexuality from a biblical perspective. Unfortunately, Vines has made grave errors in his attempt to defend what Scripture clearly condemns as sin. As part of an interview with The Christian Post, I was asked to respond to several of the arguments Vines has made. In order to provide the full context of the statements made by Vines, this series of posts will offer quotations from Vines and then my responses. Read More »
I voted today. With a clear conscience I voted for the candidate that I thought would protect freedom, protect life, and uphold the ideals of our nation. However, there was not one candidate that had as his platform to uphold the Gospel. In fact, one candidate denies the Gospel by his religion; the other rejects the implications of the Gospel by his actions. So, the question is, how can I sleep tonight knowing I cast my vote for one of these Gospel rejectors? Read More »
