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Christianity Today, December, 2008

Quotation Marks

Recent remarks on birth control, why you can't sue God, and other news developments.

Compiled by Ted Olsen | posted 11/18/2008 09:16AM

Comments (10)

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"I was called to start a mission, not a church. … You don't try to preach … what is sin and what isn't sin. A mission is a place where you ask nonbelievers to come and find faith and hope and feel love."
Robert H. Schuller, of the Crystal Cathedral, after removing his son, Robert A. Schuller, from the Hour of Power television program.
(Source: Los Angeles Times)

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"If we can stay positive and hopeful, God will bring us through to a better day."
Joel Osteen, on the economic downturn.
(Source: Detroit Free Press)

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"We can't believe everything ancient writings tell us, but this research represents a confluence between the archaeological and scientific data and the Bible."
Thomas E. Levy, a University of California, San Diego, archaeologist, on new carbon dating of a copper smelting operation in ancient Edom that places it in the 10th century B.C., three centuries earlier than previously believed and consistent with the traditional timeline of King Solomon.
(Source: Los Angeles Times)

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"It's murder of a life."
Thomas White, vice president for student services and theology professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, on oral contraceptives. The pills prevent fertilized eggs from implanting in the uterus. White says not all birth control is sinful, but that he sinned in not depending on God's timing for children.
(Source: WFAA)

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"There can never be service effectuated on the named defendant."
Judge Marlon Polk, of Douglas County (Neb.) District Court, throwing out Sen. Ernie Chambers's lawsuit against God because you cannot deliver him a summons to appear in court.
(Source: Omaha World Herald)

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December 2008, Vol. 52, No. 12

Comments (10)

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Displaying 1–5 of 10 comments

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November 20, 2008 1:03pm

So if some people don't use birth control but depend on God's timing for children, do they take medications for health problems or just depend on God to heal them or not?

Joe

November 19, 2008 1:02pm

Since roughly 20% of all conceptions abort or fail to implant--does this make God the greatest provider of abortions?

melissa

November 18, 2008 10:17pm

In response to another reader, oral contraceptives have assoiciated health risks including but not limited too elevated blood pressure, possible sterility after many years of use and not to meantion exposure to std's because confident that pregnancy is not an issue women make the naive assumption that the man they are sleeping with is disease free. Condoms have none of those risks and are just as effective and do not involve possible fertilised eggs.

dr. j. vickrey

November 18, 2008 7:51pm

The Church's position on this is immoral and has been for as long as it has enslaved Western women, leaving them to the mercy of their husbands and the Church's all-male organizational chart. What would happen if the rules were reversed and all Church rules applied to men and male contraceptives, with men having the burden of carrying and birthing babies?

kathy

November 18, 2008 6:47pm

As Catholics, we don't have to figure it out. It's taught that all artificial contraceptives are sinful. We didn't make it up; it's a teaching that has been taught since the early Church. In Ephesians 5, St. Paul compares the relationship of husband to Christ and the wife to the Church. Also when the Pharisees asked Jesus about the woman married to seven brothers, he told them that she is no one's wife in the Resurrection; there will be no marriage in heaven for we will be like the angels. Marriage is the visible sign pointing to us of what is to come: we will all be married to God for all eternity. Also, the marital act is a visible sign of worship (see Romans 12:1-2). The marital act has 2 aspects: the unitive and the procreative. If you interfere with the procreative act, you will also be interferring with the unitive aspect because the two were never meant to be separate. If pregnancy needs to be delayed, the couple can use Natural Family Planning.

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