It is a common bias today that the Pro-life position is a religious belief while the Pro-choice position is a scientific one. This bias likely stems from the reality that the majority of pro-lifers are Catholics and Protestants. And because secular society also believes that religion and science are antithetical, they conclude that the prochoice position must therefore be scientific.

The truth is, the pro-life position is based on the biological science of embryology while the pro-choice position is based on the subjective views of bodily autonomy, pregnancy by rape, viability, health, eugenics, and the spiritualization of Personhood. Here's a comparative overview of the two positions. ...

There is a massive beef recall going on right now across Canada. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has recalled 135 packaged ground beef products from grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, hospitals, and other institutions. The reason? Fear of E. coli contamination. E. coli is a bacterium commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded animals and often transmitted through fecal matter. Such contamination is an ongoing risk inherent to the filthy disease-ridden conditions of factory farms, along with other well-known offenders like Listeria and Salmonella. In 2008 there was a widespread outbreak of listeriosis linked to cold cuts from a Maple Leaf Foods plant in Toronto, Ontario.

So, here is my question: Health concerns aside, should Christians, who would never dream of abusing their pets, purchase meat products from factory-farms that are notorious for the horrific maltreatment of animals?

"But we want a man hag-ridden by the Future — haunted by visions of an imminent heaven or hell upon earth . . . "  ~ Screwtape ("The Screwtape Letters," C.S. Lewis)

In folklore, a "hag" is a witch-like spirit identical in essence to the Old English "mare." Thus, a hag is a ghost that visits you in the night -- a nightmare. According to legend, the hag visits its sleeping victim by sitting on his chest.

How many of us live our daily lives hag-ridden by the future? We either fear the future or long for the future. But in either case, we're immoblized--paralyzed--in the present. ...

The other day I was putting away some cards and letters in my "sentimental box" and it was too full, so I flipped through some stacks to see what was there. I noticed a letter from my grandmother and decided to read it, for she could no longer write and I missed receiving them. This particular letter was the last letter she ever wrote to me.

The majority of the letter is about her back problems (due to a break several years prior) and how because an acquaintance with a similar injury had fully recovered, she hoped to recover in the same amount of time as he. This despite the fact that he was a middle-aged man and she is elderly.

My heart contracted as I read the closing statement: "If I make it, I should be better by next spring! One whole winter to go!"

How many people spend their whole lives searching for a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow - that ever elusive happiness we all long for yet seldom find?

I personally don't think absolute happiness is even possible in this world. Yet everywhere you look, unhappy people are desperately seeking it, all the while sacrificing loved ones, friends and themselves in the pursuit.

Perhaps we're searching for the wrong thing - a false god. What if instead of pursuing happiness, we pursued Christ; and with Him, the peace, joy and contentment that is the fruit of the Holy Spirit?

I never would have dreamed of having a homebirth until two things happened to set things a-percolating.

First, I ran into an old friend I hadn't seen in years and she told me she'd delivered both of her sons at home in the bathtub. Then, later, when I was 3 months pregnant with my third child, I watched the Ricki Lake documentary, The Business of Being Born and my perception of modern childbirth was gloriously changed. (I highly recommend this film, by the way! View trailer here .)

A Focus on the Family Poll (October 1, 2003), found that 47% of families surveyed admitted that pornography is a problem in their home.

Porn usage is viewed by many Christians as an addictive lust issue which can destroy marriages, and is discouraged as a form of sexual immorality. The mainstream public, on the other hand, may find porn distasteful in some regards but useful in others. It is not uncommon for magazines and therapists to recommend porn usage as a means of "spicing up" a dull sex-life. It is viewed by such as an acceptable form of adult entertainment as long as it doesn't become an addiction or involve children.

In general, Christians and mainstream alike are making the somewhat tacit assumption that women in the adult entertainment industry are there by free choice. The majority of Christian articles I've come across are focussed solely on the sexual immorality of the end user and that's as far as it goes. Now, if all porn stars were truly in the business consensually, then porn usage would indeed be a matter of chastity only. But if the women posing for both camera and film are actually sex slaves, then the use of pornography is far more sinister than lust. . . .