Links to Your World, Tuesday December 2

“‘People say to me: Oh, how fascinating, it must be a treat to have a perfect memory,’ she says. Her lips twist into a thin smile. ‘But it’s also agonizing.’ In addition to good memories, every angry word, every mistake, every disappointment, every shock and every moment of pain goes unforgotten. Time heals no wounds for Price. ‘I don’t look back at the past with any distance. It’s more like experiencing everything over and over again, and those memories trigger exactly the same emotions in me. It’s like an endless, chaotic film that can completely overpower me. And there’s no stop button’” (“An Infinite Loop in the Brain,” about a woman with absolutely perfect memory)


Forget Guitar Hero—this Christmas season try your skill with Handbell Hero free online.


Christianity Today Online has a daily Advent calendar for you. Start here.


“Astronaut Don Merkley has space-walked six times, repairing broken latches, attaching antennae to the space station — and praying over all the earth. ‘I intercede for each continent as I pass over it,” says Merkley, an evangelical Christian. “I have the high ground, spiritually speaking, over the prince of the air. It’s a tremendous faith boost.’” (LarkNews)


“Lesley helped with the ultrasound [on a woman who wanted an abortion but was too far along to have one] and saw the fetus moving. It was 20 weeks, 3 days old and ‘pretty real’ to her. In previous weeks, she had tried to keep similar-sized babies alive. This ‘conflict of effort’ was, to Lesley, ‘weird, even surreal.’” (From a WaPo article about a young medical student trying to decide whether to follow her abortion-rights convictions into the abortion business. Let’s hope she continues to think about why this “conflict of effort” would be “weird, even surreal.”)


Why do pro-life convictions begin at conception? Listen to this 90-second clip from Albert Mohler’s interview with Yuval Levin of the Ethics and Public Policy Center (You can listen to the whole show here):



Your Role as Your Teen’s Spiritual Mentor


“Some say that creating better programs, preaching, and worship services so people ‘come to us’ isn’t going to cut it anymore. But here’s my dilemma—I see no evidence to verify this claim….I realize missional evangelism takes a long time, and these churches are often working in difficult soil. We can’t expect growth overnight. But given their unproven track records, these missional churches should be slow to criticize the attractional churches that are making a measurable impact” (Dan Kimball, “Missional Misgivings“)


“It’s an amazing compliment to our team, our fans and Baylor,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “We’ve worked very hard to get to this point. To be ranked in the Top 25 out of 344 Division I teams is a testament to how far we’ve come as a program.”


“Jesus came to wash my heart clean,” said Safi, spontaneously breaking into song about the strength of Jesus and her love for Him. “I am strong because of Jesus. I believe.” Safi is the first believer among 8,000 Vigue people who live in southern Burkina Faso. The Gospel has come to the Vigue by way of Bartlett Baptist Church in Bartlett, Tenn., in partnership with the International Mission Board. (story)


“The Papua New Guinea jungle has given up one of its darkest secrets - the systematic slaughter of every male baby born in two villages to prevent future tribal clashes. By virtually wiping out the ‘male stock’, tribal women hope they can avoid deadly bow-and-arrow wars between the villages in the future.” (London’s Daily Mail)


“At the very moment when Obama and his party have won the trust of so many Catholics who favor at least some limits on abortion, I hope he does not prove them wrong. I hope he does not make a fool out of that nice Doug Kmiec, who led the pro-life charge on his behalf. I hope he does not spit on the rest of us — though I don’t take him for the spitting sort — on his way in the door. I hope that his appointment of Ellen Moran, formerly of EMILY’s List, as his communications director is followed by the appointment of some equally good Democrats who hold pro-life views. By supporting and signing the current version of FOCA, Obama would reignite the culture war he so deftly sidestepped throughout this campaign.” (Slate; HT: Terry Mattingly at GetReligion)


“From James Bond to Batman, recent movie heroes have been saving the world not out of cheerful duty but rather righteous anger. Can these figures be seen as psalmists in lament – crying out against the injustice of a fallen world – or is rage simply all the rage right now?” (Think Christian)


“Teenage girls drawn to Twilight and its shallow look at romance need to understand what real love looks like” (Megan Basham in World) I know nothing about the book or film, so you tell me whether Basham is on target.


“‘Children’s normally and naturally developing minds make them prone to believe in divine creation and intelligent design. In contrast, evolution is unnatural for human minds; relatively difficult to believe.’” From an article in The Telegraph explaining one academic’s claim that children are ‘born believers’ in God and do not simply acquire religious beliefs through indoctrination.


“Harvard students learn how Christianity is the answer for those who want to change the world” (About N.T. Wright speaking at Harvard)


“Manhattan is the capital of people living by themselves. But are New Yorkers lonelier? Far from it, say a new breed of loneliness researchers, who argue that urban alienation is largely a myth.” (New York magazine; Even if you don’t live in New York, if you live alone in a city, there’s good news in this article)