November 2008 Summary

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Editorial (in full below)
October was not a good month for many people. In the state of Victoria we saw abortion on demand legalised in the most cavalier way by MPs who showed scant regard for women and no regard at all for the unborn.

Amazing Perseverance
Bruce Stewart looks at the story of Abraham Lincoln and encourages us to persevere through tough times.

Nitschke Euthanasia Workshops
Euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke has "sparked outrage" in the United Kingdom by announcing plans to hold one of his Exit International euthanasia or 'suicide' workshops.

Politics 2.0- Get Up! And Avaaz
Peter Stokes looks at the politics and connections of the two groups and reminds us to look behind the headlines.

News and Action
Victoria: Body Piercing Bill, Garnaut Report, Stem Cell Centre problems, Homosexuality - Federal laws, IVF Victoria.

Marriage in Australia
Jenny Stokes looks at the statistics in relation to marriage and concludes marriage is a vital foundation to our society.

AHRC: Freedom of Religion and Belief
Freedom of religion is under threat again in Australia !

Abortion: Where to from here?
Jenny Stokes examines the aftermath of the Abortion Law Reform Bill being passed in Victoria and encourages us to remain standing and fight the important battles.

The Pill- life and health risks
Jenny Stokes exposes the risks associated with the oral contraceptive and warns users to be aware.

Binge drinking- band-aids or solutions?
Recent proposals by the Federal government to impose a tax on 'alcopops' to try and curb binge drinking by teenagers faltered when the Coalition didn't support the legislation.

Californication
Last year more than 64 companies told Channel Ten they did NOT want their ads shown on the program Californication.

Football, Barbie, sex and Fire-fighting
A FORMER Mansfield volunteer fireman and football coach, Ken Campagnolo, who was 'outed' as bisexual by his work colleagues, has been having his day, in fact a few days, in 'court' (VCAT).

Mardi Gras gets your tax dollars
The NSW government has promised funding to the Sydney homosexual mardi gras, through 'Events NSW'.

Church of England apologises to Darwin
The Church of England (UK) has apologised to Charles Darwin, the founder of the theory of evolution.

USA: Presidential Election
The election for the US President will be held on Tuesday 4 November.

World News
Eugenics in New Orleans, Russia: abortion, UK - Destructive Embryology Bill, UK : Young Muslim Advisory Group, Canadian election.

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Editorial (full version)

October was not a good month for many people. In the state of Victoria we saw abortion on demand legalised in the most cavalier way by MPs who showed scant regard for women and no regard at all for the unborn. The Legislative Assembly then voted to give selfish single women, lesbians and homosexuals the right to bring children into the world unnaturally by IVF. Our prayer is that this Bill will be defeated in the Legislative Council.

Sadly, perhaps, many people were more overwhelmed by the so-called financial meltdown that not only brought down large financial corporations but sent governments into hypertension.

We think these issues could sum up the biggest problems of today's 'western' nations and even the church - apathy, selfishness and greed. These are also the reasons the church has been so bad at its' role of being the moral compass of society.

The lack of voices publicly denouncing the Victorian government's intention to legalise abortion was astounding. Instead of every Christian leader, church pastor and Christian voicing outrage, there was but a whisper and it came mostly from para-church groups and the Catholic Church. Towards the end there was a whimper from one or two mainstream evangelicals, but where was the outrage at the injustice of this Bill?

The mainstream church talks a lot about 'justice' towards the poor and the marginalised but hardly says a word about killing the unborn.

Yes, the Catholics threatened to withdraw from maternity services and yes, a good crowd gathered outside parliament for the Prayer & Protest gathering where they heard

Pastor Dale Stephenson tell the crowd that it would soon become illegal to dock the tail of a puppy, but legal to kill the unborn.

But sadly it was all too little, too late.

As for the financial 'crisis', which could be disastrous for many retirees and small businesses who need to access their money now, the same issues of apathy, greed and selfishness were certainly at play. But there was also another ingredient that probably started it all: 'false compassion' driven by Christians who see social justice as the most important role of the church. Social justice and compassion are good servants but bad masters; when social justice and compassion drive an issue, rather than common sense and truth, trouble is afoot.

The US 'sub prime' mortgage debacle appears to have started with calls for low-cost loans to people who could not afford them. This was a badly thought out social justice initiative of Democrat President Jimmy Carter and it was then vigorously pursued by another Democrat President, Bill Clinton, despite signs it was already creating major problems. The New York Times carried an article back in 1999 stating that major problems were ahead if this program continued. But good deeds were more important than common sense, so G W Bush inherited a disaster waiting to happen but did nothing about it because the greed of the big money lenders had taken over, thus compounding the problem.

Solving these problems will now be very difficult. Stopping them before they began would have been easy - just a few basic 'rules', "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you", "Love your neighbour" and "Do not Murder". Oh, and yes, the church acting out Jesus words in Matthew 5, "YOU are the Salt of the earth".

ARE WE?

Yours, in the service of Jesus Christ
Peter & Jenny Stokes