Great news!

This is a momentous day! There should be dancing and shouting in the streets!

It is official... Michael Cera has signed on for the Arrested Development movie. FINALLY, all my life goals will be accomplished. 

Zimbabwe update

There was an article in the New York Times today describing the ever-worsening situation in Zimbabwe. Basically, cholera is rampant, children are being orphaned daily, people are fleeing to neighboring South Africa, and are being met with violence, robbery, and rape.

Read the article for yourself to get a better understanding of the current situation:

Desperate Children Flee Zimbabwe, for Lives Just as Bleak

I've been watching events unfold in Zimbabwe for over a year. Every time the nation gets a glimmer of hope, corruption and disease bring despair and hopelessness. Honestly, I feel so defeated. How much prayer, aid, and funds are needed to improve the state these children are in? Christ called us to care for the orphans and widows, and we can see so clearly that these people are the ones being exploited the most right now. It honestly breaks my heart and I hope it breaks yours too. So, what can we do?

I'm not sure, but I do know one organization that is offering the beacon of Christ in this broken nation. ServLife is partnering with an orphanage in Zimbabwe that is caring for children who have been orphaned by AIDS. We have the opportunity to sponsor every child who is staying in this orphanage for only $30 a month. It's not much, but we can have the confidence that we are doing our part to further the Kingdom of God in Zimbabwe. Go to ServLife.org and click on the Sponsor a Child link. In the comments section, type in Zimbabwe. How amazing would it be if we could have every child in this orphanage sponsored?

The state of Zimbabwe may be bleak, but we can offer the hope of a future through the power and grace of Jesus Christ.

Decreasing abortion rates

I read a journal article today that had some very interesting findings. It was posted on Donald Miller's blog a few months ago, but I was doing some research for class and stumbled upon it again. The aim of the study was to determine which socioeconomic factors lead to the decrease in abortion rates. The article is pretty long, so I'll just sum up some of the most interesting statistics.

"During the 1990's the family cap, Medicaid funding for abortions, and state laws restricting access to abortions appear to have no effect on the abortion rate."

In other words, laws passed illegalizing abortion had no effect on the actual rates on abortion. Also, when Medicaid covered the costs of abortion (which many pro-lifers are extremely against) there was no rise or fall in the number of abortions. 

Furthermore, "a $100 increase in AFDC-TANF [Assistance to Families with Dependent Children - Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, also known as "welfare"] was correlated with a decrease in the abortion rate of about 20%. A four percent increase in male employment is associated with a 21% decrease in the abortion rate, while that same increase in female employment suggests a 17% increase in the abortion rate." (emphasis mine).

These results should be eye-opening to pro-life Christians. It is a fundamental value of the religious right to want laws that make abortion illegal. However, it is clear that these laws have had no effect on the number of children aborted. Essentially, you can change a law, but if an individual's economic status is not altered, then their behavior will not change. 

It is also a historic value of the religious right to be against social spending to needy families. They say "why should the government give them money when they could work and make money?" However, it is clearly shown in this study that a mere $100 increase in welfare assistance substantially decreased the number of abortions, much more so than any law has. 

Furthermore, if the government increases social spending (this includes more than just welfare checks) and therefore increases the number of available jobs, then more men will be employed which also decreases the number of abortions. 

In essence, this study shows the true social change necessary to end abortion in our country. You may think I'm un-Christian or un-Republican (ok, maybe I am un-Republican), but these facts cannot be ignored. I am just as much against abortion as people picketing to have Roe v. Wade overturned. I just hope that we can be intelligent Christians who make opinions based on facts and not traditions. 

Mark Driscoll

One of the top 10 most viewed articles on the New York Times website today was titled Who Would Jesus Smack Down? You should definitely go read it. Basically, the article is about Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle (not to be confused with Rob Bell's Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan). I was pretty disturbed by the article and decided to go watch some of Mark Driscoll's sermons. I think the Times represented Mark Driscoll pretty well. Pretty much, his church is a reaction against the feel-good, self-help gospel promoted by people like Joel Osteen. Mars Hill has embraced Calvinism to an extreme degree. They believe whole-heartedly in predestination, specific gender roles, and are against the image of a "limp-wristed Jesus." I strongly encourage you to read the article to get a better understanding of the teachings of Mars Hill. The church also is intentionally hip and seeker unfriendly.

I consider myself to be a pretty forward thinking Christian, as I tend to be critical of the modern megachurch. This is why I was so surprised by my disgust of Mark Driscoll's teachings. That sounds a little harsh, but I was mostly offended by Mark Driscoll's presumption to have the answer to every theological question. I think there are some theological truths that we as humans simply cannot understand and never will. Driscoll does not feel the same way; he even expels members who dare to disagree with him, considering it dissent. I do recognize that the actual circumstances of these explusions may be different than the Times portrays them.

After watching some of Driscoll's sermons on YouTube, I think my disgust has waned a little. I still do not agree with most of the practices at Mars Hill, but I do appreciate Driscoll's honesty. They had an entire series titled "Ask Anything" where members were allowed to text message questions to Mark during the sermon. He candidly answers questions about masturbation and different types of sex within a marriage. This content would typically be too inappropriate for a church service, but Driscoll chooses not to separate the church and real life. Watching these clips, I was shocked, embaressed, and even a little offended, but that doesn't make it wrong. I also appreciate the lack of legalism at Mars Hill. Don't get me wrong, they absolutely believe that there are sins which you should avoid, but they see them as secondary to following Christ.

Overall, I still have pretty mixed emotions about Mark Driscoll and this New Calvinism. I'd appreciate some feedback, so maybe together we can form a valid opinion.

My Favorite Things

If you've ever watched the Oprah Winfrey show, you probably know that she has this special where she talks about all of her current favorite things shamelessly promoting expensive brands. In the end, everyone in the audience gets free stuff, and then everyone else watching is jealous. So, I've decided to follow suit and share some of my current (free) obsessions!

First, I've been reading this new blog called Smitten Kitchen. It's this lady who cooks really awesome dishes and takes amazing pictures of all the food. Then she posts the recipe with helpful tips. It's so great. I made this amazing cake for Dayne's Christmas present. So go there. And bake stuff!

Also, (now this is probably old news) but I watched P.S. I Love You for the first time the other day. It was so great! I cried a ton, but it was clever and original... not just a typical girly movie. So everyone go watch it, and if you've seen it before, go watch it again. I've already watched it twice.

Sorry guys that the previous two things are extremely feminine, so my other new favorite thing is Wii Golf. It's sort of an odd thing for me to enjoy so much, but I'm getting pretty competitive about it. I'm still not great, but its fun and I can't stop wanting to play!


Finally, the most favoritest new thing of all is Flight of the Conchords. You may have watched New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo in the past, but you need to become obsessed. January 18 is the premiere of the second season on HBO. It comes on every Sunday at 10 pm. Watch it. Live it.



So that pretty much sums up my obsessions of the moment. Feel free to leave comments about some of your current favorite things to share with us all!

I apologize for the temporary blog hiatus. When actual exciting things are happening in my life, I find it difficult to keep people updated. It's those lonesome wanderings of my mind that seem to make it onto the page. Also, I have this problem with not being able to write unless I have some sort of meaningful, thoughtful idea. I suppose this trait is the exact reason why it takes me three hours to write a one page paper. It is difficult, no.. painful for me to write a bad essay. Now you might assume I'm being arrogant in saying this because that would mean I never write bad essays. Well, let me clarify... Yes. Yes, that's about right.

In recent news, I have fulfilled two of my life goals since the previous post. I am getting married and I saw Jason Mraz live. I have to say, neither of the two disappointed. You may wonder which one of these was at the top of the list... well, I'm not telling. Now all I have left to do is end world poverty, make some babies, and watch the Arrested Development movie. Come on, Ron Howard, let's get started!

Who knows when I'll update again. Next time you hear from me, I could be pregnant and dressed up like Mrs. Featherbottom going to the movies with all my newly wealthy friends. So, I'll leave you with something wonderful to listen to while I'm gone.

P.S. If you've missed the AD references, we can no longer be friends.

In defense of environmentalism

Recently in popular culture, it has become increasingly trendy to "go green." Hippies feel it is their duty to take care of Mother Earth, while others just join in for the cool grocery bags (myself included). On the other side of the spectrum, I've heard many Christians voice their disgust with Al Gore and "so-called" Global Warming.

While reading through Romans today I got a little bit of insight about what God's heart might be in regards to all this. In Romans 8 Paul is discussing the future glory that we will receive as believers. He goes on to describe creation:

"Against its will, all creation was subjected to God's curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay." (Rom. 8: 20-21)

Creation obviously is living after the fall, so is not as it was meant to be, but it is groaning in anticipation of the day when all will be restored. As members of the Kingdom of God, we are called to advance God's kingdom and bring heaven to earth. We've been taught that advancing the Kingdom of God means caring for the poor, spreading the news about Christ, freeing the oppressed. In other words, it is our calling to bring heaven to earth; we are to make earth more like it is in heaven.

So if part of the coming of Christ includes the restoration of the earth, isn't this part of the Kingdom of God? And if we are to be spreading the Kingdom, shouldn't we be restoring the earth?

A few churches have decided that the answer to those questions is yes. Imago Dei Community in Portland, Oregon takes environmentalism very seriously and even sees it as an act of worship. (Mind you, they do live in Portland so they have no other choice).

Just some thoughts to ponder... even if you don't decide environmentalism is for you, why not buy a nifty one of these?!