All posts by Wintery Knight

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News

China church leaders blocked from attending Lausanne Congress

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Story here from Christian Today. (H/T Mary)

Excerpt:

China’s government is preventing Christian leaders in the country from attending a major international gathering of mission-minded leaders by stopping them as they reach the airport and confiscating their passports.

While it is unclear how many Chinese Christian leaders have been stopped so far, more than 230 were invited to go to the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelisation in Cape Town, South Africa.

On Sunday, five members of China’s “underground” church in Beijing were blocked from leaving the country from Beijing International Airport and at least one was detained.

Liu Guan, one of the five, told Hong Kong-based newspaper Ming Pao News that border inspectors refused to let them go through after seeing information about the Lausanne Congress on their passport visas. Shortly after, five or six government security officers arrived along with other authorities who seized their luggage and confiscated their passports.

Though Liu reported that the law enforcement officers were polite and that there were no conflicts between the two sides, he was not allowed to board the plane and was sent home about three hours later. Liu’s passport and those of his colleagues will not be returned to them until October 25 – the last day of the Lausanne Congress.

In another report, Texas-based ChinaAid Association said one house church Christian was blocked from flying out of Shanghai International Airport, though another was cleared and is en route to South Africa.

According to the Christian persecution watchdog group, which has been monitoring the situation closely, around 1,000 law enforcement officers have been assigned to restrain would-be Lausanne delegates from China and prevent them from boarding the planes.

According to ChinaAid sources, all of the 200 or so house church representatives who were invited to attend the Lausanne Congress – whether Uyghur Christians from Xinjiang or Han Christians from Beijing – have been contacted by authorities for questioning.

Religious liberty is not a guaranteed right in many parts of the world. The main Lausanne Congress web site is here.

News

Health care reform blamed for huge hikes in premiums

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From NBC Connecticut. (H/T ECM)

Excerpt:

The state has given Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield the go ahead to raise premiums by as much as 47 percent for some members, and says health care reform is the reason why.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to Insurance Commissioner Thomas Sullivan on Oct. 6, asking what he called “excessive” increases were approved without full consideration of all the facts. His letter mentioned rate increases for both Anthem and Aetna.

The new rates took effect Oct. 1, and include increases from 19 percent all the way to 47 percent depending on the individual, the Hartford Courant reported.

Sullivan responded to Blumenthal saying the new rates included “very rich benefits” mandated by federal law.

“There is not one person in the state of Connecticut who will see an increase in their current premiums based on what the department approved for Anthem and Aetna,” Sullivan said in a release. “The rates that were filed and approved reflect the current cost to deliver care and the impact of more comprehensive benefit designs required under the federal healthcare reform law. If the attorney general wants to complain to someone, he should complain to Congress.”

Indeed. We should all be complaining to Congress in November.

Commentary

What is the goal of parenting?

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From Wes Widner at Reason to Stand.

Excerpt:

What is the goal of parenthood?

Before we explore what it is, let’s dispel some myths of what it is not.

The goal of parenthood is not to…

  • make kids feel good about themselves
  • relive our childhood
  • fix parents mistakes
  • keep them from pain

While some of these things are otherwise good goals, they are accidental to the true goal of parenting.

Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.

Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
–Deuteronomy 6:1-9

Simply put, the goal of parenting is to produce disciples.

Disciples of what? Disciples of our lives.

Bolding is mine. This is called the shema, by the way, a verse that is sacred to the Jewish people. You cannot understand Judaism without this verse.

When I think about marriage, one of the “design scenarios” that I think of is what sort of children will the marriage produce. In fact, this the main scenario that I use for spouse evaluation. I consider the person’s ability to satisfy the requirements of raising children who will know the Lord. It’s very hard to do because I tend to focus on things like politics and apologetics. But a lot of the problem is just finding someone who cares about other people and is willing to invest in relationships instead of wanting to have fun, fun, fun all the time with friends at parties, dances and gatherings. Someone who cares about what other people believe, and who is willing to invest in them and help them along.