John Calvin’s 500th Birthday is at last upon us, this 10th of July. It goes without saying that Calvin, author of Institutes of the Christian Religion , was one of the greatest theologians in history.

“There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice.”- John Calvin

Today we rejoice for the benefits we reap from the writings of Calvin.

The Thought of God, is a collection of articles from The Banner of Truth Magazine which were written by Maurice Roberts. In the first chapter, aptly titled, “The Thought of God”, Roberts talks about how the thought of God, for the believer, is strength and comfort when confronted with all manner of troubles. Here are some highlights:

“To have God in mind and thought is the believer’s constant source of strength. The martyr languishes in the flames but his mind flies upward to God his Saviour and looks forward blissfully to the glory that awaits him even as his body sinks to ashes…The faithful pastor of a congregation, entombed in his study and confronted with an impossible daily agenda of duties, brightens his heart and feels his pulse quicken as he remembers his Master above. The thought of God enlivens all action”.

“The thought of God should be the Christian’s panacea. It should cure all ills at a stroke. And what infinity there is in the thought of God! Nothing can approach in beauty to the idea of the true and living God. That there exists a being who is infinite in power, knowledge and goodness, that this being cares for me with a perfect love as though I were the only man in existence, that he loved me before I was born and created me to enjoy Him eternally and that he sent his Son to suffer the agony of the cross to secure my eternal happiness—that, surely, must be a thought to end all sorrow. It ought to be and often is”.

“If God be God, then no insoluble problem exists. And if God be my God, then no problem of mine is without is appropriate solution. There is in God just exactly what is needed to solve every riddle in life. Such a Being is God that He comprehends in himself all that we could ever need to neutralize all evils, veto all temptations, negative all sorrows and compensate for all losses. More still there is in God such a supply of competence and wisdom that He is able to transform every ill into good as soon as it touches us. God has, so to say, the ‘Midas touch’, by which all the Christian’s problems turn to gold in His hands. To be told ‘all things work together for good’ [Rom. 8:28] to us is to have more than a cordial. It is to have the elixir of life”.

“Those who think of God as He truly is know that it is a good exchange to lose home and country, family and fortune, health and comfort—yes, and life itself—to gain possession of God himself in the end”.

I have thought much before about how a God-saturated mindset puts all things into perspective. After reading this article, I wondered how much the thought of God is actually a part of my thought life and if my first instinct in times of trouble is to see things in such perspective. I pray that God would strengthen me to do so, to be always in meditation of God and to be always ready to interpose the thought of God between myself and trials.

There is a hymn we sing in our congregation, “Jesus I My Cross Have Taken”. I am reminded of the part that goes:

“Go then earthly fame and treasure, come disaster scorn and pain. In thy service pain in pleasure, with thy favor loss in gain”

I pray the thought of God would enable me to boldly proclaim the same, no matter what may come.

You may remember this post from Lakeshore Baptist Church when they were facing closure due to zoning issues. Now read the amazing culmination of these events and see God doing great and mighty deeds for His glory!

All Christians have been given a spiritual gift or gifts. We know this is true because this is what the scripture says in 1st Corinthians 7:7b, “each has his own gift”.

I am single in Christ. What is the gift of singleness you ask? To put it in my own words, the gift of singleness is a freedom from the desire to pursue marriage or to be married along with the ability to remain content in sexual celibacy. I would add that one must also be content in silence and solitude in their personal time, but the main focus is being free from marriage and strong sexual desire. It is very important to stress, that this gift along with all other spiritual gifts, is to be used to God’s glory and not for selfish gain. It is especially important to stress this very truth for singleness because as a single Christian, it can be very tempting to try to convince yourself that you have the gift of singleness for selfish reasons such as finances or more free time. If this is your reasoning for singleness, then I would argue that you don’t have the gift of singleness, and you are merely shirking responsibility, delaying marriage, and prolonging your adolescence. The gift of singleness, if you have it, carries with the the responsibility and the desire to use it for the glory of God.

How exactly I am using my singleness to serve the LORD is another discussion. My aim here is to point out that most often, when I discuss with others what God has been or is doing in my life and I mention my singleness, people simply dismiss it. They say things like, “It will happen one day”, or “You just haven’t met the right girl yet, then you’ll change your tune”. My favorite comes from the ones who somehow have a special knowledge of God’s will for my life who tell me in various words the same thing; that I’m going to get married sooner or later because it’s God’s will and He has someone special for me. Most of the time a just nod politely but I’m always thinking to myself, “Were you even listening to me?”

As members of the body of Christ, each with our own respective spiritual gifts, aren’t we always nurturing and encouraging in regards to each others gift or gifts? Does not the church give plenty of opportunities for the saints to use their gift? We don’t dismiss it when someone has the gift of wisdom, for example. We don’t discourage them from teaching or preaching. Or if someone has the gift of helps, we don’t tell them that they must be mistaken about what gift they think they have and discourage them from helping. So why, oh why my dear brothers and sisters, when someone speaks out and proclaims that they have the gift of singleness and they are seeking to use it to glorify our almighty, infinite Father; do we suddenly act like we know better that them about their own gift and simply treat them as a marriage waiting to happen?

I would speculate that perhaps many of us do not realize the significance of this particular spiritual gift, as each spiritual gift has it’s own significance (though all of them point to God’s glory). To illustrate the significance of the gift of singleness, let me borrow some points from a sermon by John Piper titled “Single in Christ: A Name Better Than Sons and Daughters”.

The main point of Pastor John’s message is that  A. God promises those of us who will remain single blessings that are better than the blessings of marriage and children. And also, B. that God calls those to display, in Christ exalting devoting devotion in singleness, to display truths (four of them) about Christ and His kingdom, that shine more clearly through singleness, than through marriage:

1. That the family of God grows not by propagation through sexual intercourse, but by regeneration through faith in Christ.

2. That relationships in Christ are more permanent and more precious than relationships in families.

3. That marriage is temporary and finally gives way to the relationship to which is was pointing all along, namely, Christ and the church.

4. That faithfulness to Christ defines the value of life, and all other relationships get their significance from that.

Pastor John begins is Isaiah:

Isaiah 56:4-5  For thus says the LORD: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant,  (5)  I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.

In his message Pastor John clarifies that “eunuchs” does not strictly mean those who have been physically altered by castration but defines them as “those who cannot procreate, and thus devote themselves to some unique service”.

Piper continues by explaining to understand this more clearly we have to first go back to the context of Genesis and know that from the beginning, from before the fall, through His covenant from Abraham all the way to Christ; God is building his covenant people primarily through procreation. Thus marriage and having children here is of paramount importance. God was building his covenant through a particular people, primarily Israel. Having children and building that lineage was important for the propagation of the name and nation of Israel. So thus we have passages such as Genesis 1:28 where it says “be fruitful and multiply”.

And this is the background for Isaiah 56:4-5, that God will give to the eunuchs, those who remain devoted to singleness in Christ, who cannot procreate and propagate their own name; an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. So what is this everlasting name, if the eunuch cannot procreate? This must be referring to different kind of children. And so we must look at another passage:

Isaiah 53:10  Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

He shall see His offspring? Jesus was never married. He was a eunuch, faithfully single until His death, which is the point really. This is another kind of offspring. When Christ saves us by His blood, when we are untied to him through faith, we become His children, the children of God. So now a whole new way of bringing offspring into being takes precedence over the old way. “Which is why the next chapter, 54″, Piper says, “begins like this”:

Isa 54:1  “Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married,” says the LORD.

We are talking about spiritual birth here! This is a prophetic proclamation that God’s grace will go beyond physical descent. This prophecy tells how God, through regeneration by faith in Christ, will build the family of God. Paul comments on this in Galatians:

Galatians 3:7  Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.

Galatians 3:25-26  But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,  (26)  for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

What does this mean for the one who is single in Christ? Piper answers, “Single people in Christ have zero disadvantage in bearing children for God, and in many ways significant advantages…Paul was a single all his life, or at least, lest we overstate it, single all the life we knew him…and he is a father if there ever was one”. Paul says in 1st Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 4:15  For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Piper goes on to caution, “Now take heed and be careful, lest you trivialize what I am saying, as though Pastor John is sentimentalizing singleness to make the single folks feels good. I could care less about making anyone feel good. I am declaring the temporary and secondary nature of marriage and family over against the eternal and primary nature of the church. That’s what I’m declaring. This is not trivial. This is HUGE. And I fear that we have settled into our land, and into our culture, and idolized the family, idolized marriage. We’re here for a vapor’s breath and then we’re gone. What happens here is relatively minor compared to what will be after the resurrection”.

He then continues by pointing out that in the resurrection, that there are no marriages:

Matthew 22:30  For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

“I am declaring”, says Piper, “the radical biblical truth that being in a human family is no sign of eternal blessing. Being in God’s family means being eternally blessed. Relationships based on family are temporary. Relationships based on Christ are eternal. Marriage is a temporary institution and stands for something that lasts forever, namely, our relationship to Jesus Christ, church and bridegroom.”

When Jesus’ mother, Mary and his brothers came and asked to see Him what was his reply?

Matthew 12:48-50  But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”  (49)  And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!  (50)  For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

So you see, the emphasis is on the family of God. Those who keep the word of God, who do the will of the Father, those are Jesus’ mother and brothers.

Piper adds, “Do not elevate natural processes like procreation and childbearing, and marriage to anything bigger than what they are: temporal physical means of keeping the world going and illustrations of Christ and the church, which when He comes fade away…

“So what shall we say in view of the amazing Biblical vision of the secondary and temporary nature of marriage and procreation? We should say what Jesus said and what Paul said following Jesus. And here is what Jesus said”:

Matthew 19:12  For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

Again, Pastor John clarifies the meaning of eunuch, saying, “There is no reason that we should take the phrase, ‘made themselves eunuchs’, to refer to any form of physical sterilization, any more than we take the words, ‘if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out’.

He goes on, “If you can receive it…receive it. Some people choose, by God’s calling a life of devoted singleness in Christ. And to them is promised a name and a memorial better than the name of marriage and children”.

So what does Paul say?

1 Corinthians 7:7-8  I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.  (8)  To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am.

1 Corinthians 7:32-35  I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord.  (33)  But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife,  (34)  and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband.  (35)  I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.

Now that we have this scriptural foundation that, God promises those of us who will remain single blessings that are better than the blessings of marriage and children, the main point of Pastor John’s message, someone might ask, “Can I have both? Wouldn’t it be better to have both the blessings of marriage and children, and the eternal blessings? Pastor John gives two answers to that question.

1. That the blessings of being with Christ in heaven are so far superior to the blessings of being married and having children, that to ask this question; “Wouldn’t it be better to have both”, is like asking, “If you are going to give me the ocean, can’t I also have a thimble”? So to see Christ more clearly is to keep this, and all things in better perspective.

2. Both marriage and singleness present us with unique trials and unique opportunities for sanctification. Unique. Not the same, different, yet both important. And there will be unique rewards for each. And which is better will depend not on whether you were married or single, but on how you responded to each.

In closing, as Jesus said, to the one who can receive it, let him receive it. And as Paul said, each one has his own gift. To the one who is called to singleness in Christ, let him receive it. My dear brothers and sisters, I have received this calling. I am here to be a spiritual father, for the glory of God. So please allow me to lovingly exhort you: The next time a single person, as rare as this gift may seem, shares with you in conversation their spiritual gift of singleness, don’t dismiss it. Don’t treat them simply as a marriage waiting to happen. Don’t tell them that “it will happen one day”, because this is no trivial thing for this individual, no more than your spiritual gift is a trivial thing. Instead, engage in the conversation, challenge them, exhort them, encourage them, hold them accountable by asking them how they are using their gift for God’s glory, and most importantly, pray for them. Don’t dismiss my singleness.

Soli Deo Gloria!

What does it mean to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus (Matthew 16:24)? Watch this video:

Matthew 7:16-27  You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?  (17)  So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.  (18)  A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.  (19)  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  (20)  Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.  (21)  “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  (22)  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’  (23)  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’  (24)  “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  (25)  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.  (26)  And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  (27)  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Friday, May 29, 2009 (By John MacArthur)

[This] post is adapted from a 2001 Q&A session at Grace Church.

Question: Is it true that Christians and non-Christians have the same rate of divorce?

Answer: Some reporter called me a few months ago and said,

Reporter: There is a new study, a new survey that indicates that divorce among Christians is the same as divorce among non-Christians. This survey has been done, this poll has been taken and it has been determined that Christians are divorced at the same rate that non-Christians are divorced in America. What do you think of that?

John MacArthur: I don’t believe it–I do not believe that.

Reporter: But this is what the survey says!

John MacArthur: I don’t care what the survey says–I don’t believe that. I don’t believe it, and in fact, I believe that is to dishonor the Lord, to say that the power of Christ is zero in a marriage–the power of the Holy Spirit in a marriage. I don’t believe that. I do not believe that true Christians get divorced at the same rate that non-Christians do.

Well, it showed up in a newspaper and the guy who took the poll wasn’t happy, because he thought I was questioning his integrity, so he wrote me a very, very strong letter. I have a large “strong letter” file–this is one, “How dare you question me! How dare you question the integrity of this poll!” Well, I said, “I’ll question it on this basis: Who did you ask that question too? If you just surveyed the people who ‘claimed’ to be Christians–that doesn’t count, and I might suggest to you that you don’t know who the true Christians are.”

So I didn’t buy it at all. And what irritated me about it is that this is a dishonor to God! Because it denigrates the power of God in the life of a believer, with regard to the marriage! It wasn’t a question whether you get your statistics right, it’s a question of dishonoring God! You can’t say that the power of God has no effect on marriages! I said, “You don’t do that.” Well, now it has become an evangelical urban legend–every time I turn around–I heard a secular news reporter say on the television the other day, “Well, now it has been proven that divorce among evangelical Christians or among Christians is the same as non-Christians.” Now we are just another statistic. This is to say that God has no power in a marriage?

When divorces occur in our church [approximately 10,000 members] and they occur occasionally here–very often it is because somebody in the marriage who professed Christ–didn’t know Him. If you go out and survey people in “churches” across the spectrum from Catholic to Protestant, and denominations, etc., etc., etc, who knows what you are going to get?

The same company that does the surveys is the company that surveyed the people who said, “We don’t want Bible teaching anymore in the pulpit.” Now what does that tell you about that crowd–if they don’t love the Word of God?

It might be true that the divorce rate among nominal, cultural, so-called “Christians” is the same as those who don’t claim to be Christians. But to assert that the divorce rate among true believers is the same as unbelievers–well, that’s just preposterous.

The benediction of King Solomon, which he gave in the presence of the people of Israel after the Temple was completed:

1 Kings 8:56-61  “Blessed be the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant.  (57)  The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us,  (58)  that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers.  (59)  Let these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires,  (60)  that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other.  (61)  Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.”

What a great passage for meditation! A few things stand out:

1. God is faithful: “…according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise…The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us” (56-57). Solomon seems to be quoting Joshua:

Joshua 21:45  Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

Another related passage would be from Deuteronomy:

Deuteronomy 7:9  Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations

Yet another would be from Isaiah:

Isaiah 46:9-11  remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me,  (10)  declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’  (11)  calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.

God is always faithful. He always keeps His promise. Whatever God says He will do, you can be sure that He will do it. We can always place our trust in God and we must be faithful to trust in with all things at all times, because He is our Father and we are His children. He will never leave us or forsake us.

So as we meditate on this, we must examine ourselves and ask, “Where is my trust? Am I trusting in God, leaning not on my own understanding? Am I depending on God and asking Him for wisdom? Or am I constantly looking to the world for the answers or worse; thinking of myself as wise in my own eyes, having all the answers apart from God?”

2. Obedience results from our hearts being inclined to God: “…that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers” (58).

Our heart is like the barometer of our soul. Our heart contains our motivation. And what our heart is filled with is what will come out in our thoughts, words and actions:

Matthew 15:18-19  But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.  (19)  For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

Matthew 6:21  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

This is why in order for us to become obedient to God, He must rip out our heart of stone and give us a new one:

Ezekiel 36:26-27  And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  (27)  And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

I believe that this process continues, as part of our sanctification and our walk with God. Once he gives us a new heart, He continues to mold and make it to be more and more Christlike. As we walk with God in our daily (emphasis on daily) worship; reading and meditating on His word, spending time with Him in prayer, worshiping corporately, etc; our hearts become inclined to Him and his ways:

Psalms 119:36-37  Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!  (37)  Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.

Likewise, if we allow ourselves to be inclined to worldly or ungodly things, the result will be worldliness and ungodliness proceeding from us. Notice the psalmist asking God to turn his eyes from worthless things so that he may find life in His ways. It’s like the old saying goes, “Garbage in, garbage out”. How can we possibly expect to be obedient to God while filling our hearts and minds with all the worthless noise and ungodly garbage the world is spewing out, while neglecting our fellowship with God? We can’t.

As we meditate on this we need to examine ourselves and ask: “How is my heart? What are my motivations? What am I filling my mind and my heart with? Am I asking God in prayer to incline my heart towards in and no to selfish gain, so that I may walk in all His ways and keep His commandments?”

3. Third and finally, we are to be as light to the world so that “…all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other” (60).

This is ultimately the lesson being taught here in Solomon’s benediction. This ties the whole passage together. We are to trust in God, inclining our heart to Him to walk in His ways so that all may know that the LORD is God and there is no other. We can see this clearly by looking at verses 59 through 61 together:

1 Kings 8:59-61  Let these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires,  (60)  that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other.  (61)  Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.”

Notice the “cause” mentioned in verse 59. Also pay attention to the “therefore” in verse 61. “Therefore” always points back to the previous verse or passage. “may he maintain the cause of his servant…that all…may know that the LORD is God…therefore be wholly true to the LORD our God. This is the key to this passage. We are to fufill our purpose, which is to glorify God, by maginfying Him. And we magnify Him by letting our “light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Jesus’ teaching from Matthew 5:16). When we are walking in His ways and keeping His commandments, we are letting our light shine before others. We are fulfilling our purpose that the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God and there is no other.

Again, as we meditate on this, we must examine ourselves and ask: “Am I being obedient to God? Am I keeping His commandments? Is my light shining before others? What do my words and actions say to others about God?”

In conclusion, I can see the chain of events in this passage and in our walk with Him. God is worthy of our trust. We trust in him because He is faithful. By trusting in Him we submit to His will so that He can incline our hearts to walk in his ways and obey His commandments. Once we begin to bear the fruit of obedience to God in our lives we begin to shine the light of the Gospel and those around us begin to see that the LORD is God and that Jesus Christ is our ultimate treasure. Through it all, God is magnified and He gets all the glory!

Soli Deo Gloria!

This post is from the website of the Disabilities Ministry of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, MN, and was written by John Knight, Senior Director for Development:

I’ve read the transcript of your speech to the graduates of Notre Dame, Mr. President.  I have a question: Do words mean anything to you, Mr. President?

In your story about the doctor who challenged a statement on your website as you ran for the presidency, you said this:

He wrote, “I do not ask at this point that you oppose abortion, only that you speak about this issue in fair-minded words.” Fair-minded words.

After I read the doctor’s letter, I wrote back to him and I thanked him. And I didn’t change my underlying position (emphasis mine), but I did tell my staff to change the words on my website. And I said a prayer that night that I might extend the same presumption of good faith to others that the doctor had extended to me. Because when we do that — when we open up our hearts and our minds to those who may not think precisely like we do or believe precisely what we believe — that’s when we discover at least the possibility of common ground.

That’s when we begin to say, “Maybe we won’t agree on abortion, but we can still agree that this heart-wrenching decision for any woman is not made casually, it has both moral and spiritual dimensions.

So let us work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions, let’s reduce unintended pregnancies. (Applause.) Let’s make adoption more available. (Applause.) Let’s provide care and support for women who do carry their children to term. (Applause.) Let’s honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded not only in sound science, but also in clear ethics, as well as respect for the equality of women.” Those are things we can do. (Applause.)

So, is that the point, Mr. President – we get to talk, but the underlying positions get to remain the same?  The only thing that actually changes is we think a little more charitably about each other?

Please, sir, tell me how that is supposed to make a difference?

I have a few more questions, Mr. President:

When do we get to talk about how the behavior of men on virtually every measurable level has gotten worse since abortion was made legal across the United States?  Men are more likely to leave women today, more likely to be abusive, less likely to care for the children they father, and less likely to consider the consequences of their sexual behavior.  Up to 75% of marriages that have a disabled child end in divorce, and most of the time it is the man who walks away from his family.  When do we get to talk about men being encouraged to act like men rather than petulant, irresponsible, selfish little boys?

When do we get to talk about the cultural expectation that a mother is expected to abort her baby with an identified disability in the womb? Doctors, nurses, social workers assume a diagnosis of downs syndrome or spina bifida means a woman should terminate the pregnancy.  What do you call a 90% abortion rate, Mr. President?  If it were babies of any ethnicity, you would rightly call it genocide.  What do you believe about families in this situation, Mr. President?

Finally, Mr. President, you said yourself that “the strong too often dominate the weak.”  Please explain to me, Mr. President, who is more weak and thus more worthy of your protection as the leader of the free world than a baby in his or her mother’s womb?

But, of course, I’m just part of that opposition not really worthy of your attention or of ‘Open hearts. Open minds. Fair-minded words.’  How did you put it?

“You’ll hear talking heads scream on cable, and you’ll read blogs that claim definitive knowledge, and you will watch politicians pretend they know what they’re talking about.”