The Horrible Case of Dr. Gosnell and the Forgotten Ones

[Trigger warning: abortion, murder, disturbing graphic details of Gosnell’s crimes]

In the last week, the Internet has been blowing up with shock, horror and outrage over the murder trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell. A late term abortionist in Lancaster, Penn., Gosnell is on trial in Philadelphia for performing gruesome and illegal late-term abortions that led to death of a woman and seven infants (though in reality, he’s responsible for killing far, far more). During the trial, former employees provided gruesome testimony detailing how Dr. Gosnell frequently and illegally delivered live, viable babies in their 3^rd trimester of pregnancy and then murdered them by severing their heads with scissors. The grand jury report also details how his unlicensed staff illegally administered potentially lethal amounts of drugs to patients, how venereal disease was spread among his patients by reusing unsanitary disposable instruments, and even how he punctured and perforated wombs and bowels leading to the death of at least one woman. The conditions of the clinic can be described as a house of horrors; and according to the grand jury report, when public health officials searched the clinic, “the search team discovered fetal remains haphazardly stored throughout the clinic – in bags, milk jugs, orange juice cartons, and even in cat-food containers.” This place of horrors was Gosnell’s daily business.

 

Christian Culture: Balancing Grace with Truth in the Post-Eden World

In a past post entitled ‘Culture Wars, Homophobic Chickens and a Net Loss of Yards‘, I posited that the evangelical community missed an opportunity to effectively demonstrate the balance of love & grace with biblical truth (relative to the Chic fil A ‘homophobic chicken sandwich’ media coverage from September of 2012).  In this post, I tried (perhaps ineffectively) to suggest that the evangelical community falters in demonstrating the message of the gospel in that: (a) We did not really listen to others, (b) We lost our priorities, (c) We did not demonstrate grace and love.

Just this morning, a friend sent me the following email:

 

Theory of Atonement: Satisfaction

Throughout this Good Friday we are looking at the various theories of the atonement or explanations of what Jesus accomplished on the cross.  This is the third post today, and in this one we turn to the theory of Satisfaction.

Throughout Church history Christians have meditated upon Jesus’ cross, and inevitably asked the question, “What did Jesus accomplish on the cross?”  The bible uses a number of metaphors to describe the work of Jesus on the cross, and throughout its history the Church emphasized particular metaphors over others, depending upon the different historical and cultural contexts of the Church.  The Church’s contextual contemplation of Jesus’ suffering led to different explanations as to what Jesus accomplished by his death on the cross.  These different answers became the various theories of the atonement we know, study and often ignore today, and the most prominent theory from the Medieval Church was the theory of Satisfaction.

 

Theory of Atonement: Ransom

Throughout this Good Friday we are looking at the various theories of the atonement or explanations of what Jesus accomplished on the cross.  This is the second post today, and in this one we turn to the theory of Ransom.

Throughout Church history Christians have meditated upon Jesus’ cross, and inevitably asked the question, “What did Jesus accomplish on the cross?”  The bible uses a number of metaphors to describe the work of Jesus on the cross, and throughout its history the Church emphasized particular metaphors over others, depending upon the different historical and cultural contexts of the Church.  The Church’s contextual contemplation of Jesus’ suffering led to different explanations as to what Jesus accomplished by his death on the cross.  These different answers became the various theories of the atonement we know, study and often ignore today, and the most prominent theory advanced by the early Church was the theory of Ransom.

 

Theory of Atonement: Recapitulation

Throughout Church history Christians have meditated upon Jesus’ work on the cross, and inevitably the question arose, “What precisely was accomplished by Jesus on the cross?”  The bible uses a number of metaphors to describe the work of Jesus on the cross, and throughout its history the Church emphasized particular metaphors over others, depending upon the different historical and cultural contexts of the Church.  Their contextual contemplation of Jesus’ suffering led to different explanations as to what Jesus’ work on the cross accomplished.  These different answers became the various theories of the atonement we know and study today, and the earliest theory advanced by the Church was the theory of Recapitulation.

 

Evangelicals Call for Justice

Christians on the political left often advocate for additional Federal spending as part of bringing God’s shalom to the world, and Christians on the right often, contrary to how scripture uses the term gospel and salvation, disconnect the gospel from any temporal and embodied forms of salvation.  But an issue of justice crying out in the current culture is rallying both the left and the right in God’s Kingdom to work together, and the electoral defeat of Mitt Romney may have provided the necessary impetus for apathetic members of Congress to get on board.

 

Analysis of Worldview: Are Evangelicals Christian or American? … Part II

Yesterday I argued that every culture, or subculture, has a worldview, and any group’s worldview is embodied by a metanarrative or myth.  Both worldview and myth function at a pre-cognitive level, relatively out of sight.  These in turn produce a set of basic beliefs, and at this level the group is actively aware of the beliefs as well as the symbols and praxis that sustain the beliefs.  Therefore, examining a group’s use of symbols and praxis should tell you something about the underlying worldview to which they adhere.  So the question is whether Evangelicals, based upon an examination of their use of symbols and praxis, are American, Christian  or an unhealthy combination of the two?

 

Analysis of Worldview: Are Evangelicals Christian or American?

Our views of the world require us to tell stories that help explain the world, and our stories produce beliefs, symbols and praxis by which we live.  In theory, we should be able to reverse the flow of this thinking, examining the symbols and praxis of any group to get an idea about their underlying worldview.  I contend that Evangelicals, by their adherence to certain symbols and praxis, show themselves to be more American than Christian.

 

The Elephant’s Debt Update

Tim Challies speaks on Vertical Church ; Errant Theology of Money; and the Missing Elder Update.

 

Still Haven’t Found What You Are Looking For

“I wish I could find a small but faithful church to attend.  I’d leave the HBF [Harvest Bible Fellowship] in a flash. So tired of being marketed to as if I were a consumer and the church was Madison Ave.”

This comment, which was recently posted on BSI, taps into a core problem faced by many Evangelicals today.  And lest the reader wonder, this is not an isolated situation.  Over the past several months, Scott and I have been asked on numerous occasions where we attend church and why.  Clearly, many within the body are struggling to find a faithful church home; and thus, we post this today in the hopes of helping anyone who is currently searching.  While we cannot tell you where to go, we can tell you where we have planted our roots.