help

Abstinence-only education among high risk youth

Efficacy of a Theory-Based Abstinence-Only Intervention Over 24 Months A Randomized Controlled Trial With Young Adolescents John B. Jemmott III, PhD; Loretta S. Jemmott, PhD, RN; Geoffrey T. Fong, PhD Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2010;164(2):152-159. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of an abstinence-only intervention in preventing sexual involvement in young adolescents. Design: Randomized controlled... [Read more]

Marriage and permanency

When I first saw this comic today, I read it quickly and was mildly offended at the mother’s comment in the second panel. Then I reread it and realized that I did agree with it. You see, at first I had read the second panel from the sacramental viewpoint. From the view of God’s desire as He unites people in marriage, there is no doubt that the Sacrament of Marriage does make a relationship... [Read more]

A coming of age story from a Christian professor

It seems as though I have unwittingly uncovered a subject too long left not discussed, that of Christian authors who do not fit into the mold of the CBA or the ECPA.  Lately the blog has ranged from vampire chick-lit for teenagers to furry tales to, now, a coming-of-age story written by a Christian professor at Texas Christian University. If you know anything about coming-of-age stories in the secular... [Read more]

Why do you make it so hard to become Orthodox? – part 03

OK, I understand much of what you have been saying, but why must I have a sponsor, or why is a baby expected to have godparents? Well, in the book of Hebrews, it says: For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.  For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled... [Read more]

rss

Why do you make it so hard to become Orthodox? – part 02

So, why is a catechumen encouraged to take on a “new” name when they are chrismated? What’s in a name? Taking on a new name is not necessary, but it is highly encouraged. The background to a name change goes all the way back to the beginnings of God’s special interactions with Abraham and continued all the way through the New Testament. There is a long list of people who had... [Read more]

research

Why do you make it so hard to become Orthodox? – part 01

St. Augustine with catechumens Last week one of my readers asked me to comment on the year-long process to become Orthodox and be allowed to participate in the sacraments. Let me begin with a bit of contrast. Recently, an evangelical who worked on the Mike Huckabee presidential campaign, and is a blogger, wrote a posting listing ten problems with evangelicalism. Let me pick up on just one of them as... [Read more]

Please be careful this New Year’s Eve

More Comment Graphics Yes, this is a rough graphic. I meant for it to be a rough graphic. I looked for a rough graphic on the Internet, one that I could reprint here. Too many of our high school and college youth think it is funny to end up completely wasted. They do not see themselves as even their friends see them, as objects of hilarious picture-taking. And, too many of those photographs end up... [Read more]

Link spasm

I learned a new term today, “Link Spam.” The title of this post is a deliberate misspelling so that people searching for information on the subject would not accidentally link here expecting something else. It started this way, I have a very handy WordPress plug-in called Akismet. It is also available free for other platforms, and has just one purpose, stop spam. Yes, blog spam has become... [Read more]

What do Eastern Orthodox believe about free will?

I have very obviously not done a good job explaining what Eastern Orthodox believe about free will. So, rather than using my own words, let me quote a couple of excerpts from The Confession of Dositheus. This confession was approved by the Synod of Jerusalem of 1672. It is not considered an Ecumenical Council by all Eastern Orthodox, but it does have a heavy influence on how we think about many issues... [Read more]

Lowering the drinking age

A website reports an interesting story on how college presidents believe that it is time to lower the drinking age to the voting age. Apparently, college drinking tends towards binge drinking precisely because it is forbidden. Actually, this is not that strange. St. Paul warned us a long time ago that if we forbid something, there is a guaranteed certainty that it will become even more desired.... [Read more]