The Good Portion

Lincoln’s Logic on Slavery Applied to Abortion January 22, 2009 | By: John Piper On January 12, 2009 Samantha Heiges, age 23, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for drowning her newborn in Burnsville, Minnesota. If she had arranged for a doctor to kill the child a few weeks earlier she would be a free woman. What are the differences between this child before and after birth that would justify it’s protection just after birth but not just before? There are none. This is why Abraham Lincoln’s reasoning about slavery is relevant in ways he could not foresee. He wrote: You say A. is white, and B. is black. It is color, then; the lighter, having the right to enslave the darker? Take care. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with a fairer skin than your own. You do not mean color exactly? You mean the whites are intellectually the superiors of the blacks, and, therefore have the right to enslave them? Take care again. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first...

Here's a great John Piper sermon, dating back to the beginning of the Clinton presidency. Amazingly little has changed in the situation between then and now. You'll see what I mean. The message is on How to Be Pro-Life Christians Under a Pro-Choice President . I generally love Piper's political perspectives, because of his great respect for the God-given role of government, and the human beings God raises up to fill those roles. This message is no exception.

Paul's completed another informative and entertaining Puritan bio. This time it's Thomas Cartwright . Don't know who he is? Neither did I, but here's your chance to find out.

I know this poem has made the rounds, particularly in home-school circles, but it has an interesting place in my heart. Mainly because the title became a mantra of sorts for me long before I'd ever heard the poem. To those who know me, this story is old news, you may skip ahead to the poem. For the rest, here's the story: I came to Christ in the weeks after my former husband left me for another man's wife. Knowing how God feels about divorce, I thought if I went back to "living like a Christian", He would certainly be on my side and help me get my husband back. I had turned to God after a life of rebellion, like I always did, for purely selfish reasons - to get out of a fix. This time, however, something different happened. I became so broken and so keenly aware of my sinfulness that, for the first time in my life, I realized I needed to be saved. I didn't just need a change of circumstances - a fresh start, I needed a new heart. For the first time I...

Paul's posted another Puritan bio. Find it here: http://possumbane.livejournal.com/457029.html

This is the next installment of our Reading the Classics over at www.challies.com. Okay, last week I got ahead of myself. Back when we were reading Edwards there came a time, near the end, when Tim needed to take a week off while he went to some conference or another. When he came back I found myself mysteriously two weeks behind. I never did figure out how it happened, but I never got caught up again, and finished the race to the cheers of the clean-up crew. This time he took a break for the holidays and I ended up a section ahead. Again, I had no idea. Clearly I don’t pay careful enough attention to the instruction portion of his post. So, I commented on Section 7, Forgiveness, a week early. It was, in fact the predominant focus of that post. If you haven’t already read it, you can find it here: http://lauriemo.blogspot.com/2009/01/so-in-light-of-resolutions-ive-made.html . And with all that said, I’ll carry on today with the next section of our reading. We begin with the Christian v...