So it begins

Lent, that is.

Here is Pr. Peters on ashes and the history of the custom.

Fascinating article

This editorial from the LA Times makes the case against same-sex marriage on the basis that the one thing everyone agrees upon (or used to) is that marriage produces children. Unintentionally childless marriages are the exception, and everyone acknowledged the tragedy of those situations. Intentionally childless marriages make the case in favor of same-sex marriages. If there's no inextricable link between marriage and children, there's no natural law argument against same-sex marriage.

HT: Manhattan Declaration

End of Life Care: It's OK to be a Burden

A conversation about funerals among the Blackbirds led me to search for this article by Lutheran ethicist Gilbert Meilander.

In contending against advance directives for end-of-life care, Meilander argues that it's okay to be a burden to your family members when you're dying. That's the nature of human relationshipw: they're interconnected. We bear one another's burdens all the time. It's how we live as families and as Christians.

At the end of the article, Meilander distinguishes between two questions. "What would he have wanted?" is futile. We can never know the answer. Asking that question is an unnecessary burden. Loved ones should rather ask, "What is best for him now?" or "What can we do to benefit the life he still has?" Answering those questions is a necessary and good burden.

And the Winner is...

No, not of the Best Christmas Cookies in the World Contest. I got exactly one entry in that contest who told me, upon delivering the cookies, "I'm not entering your contest." So the title is up for grabs.

This is the winner of the "Best Prolife Commercial of the Superbowl." Man-bashing commercials abounded again this year as last. Yes, yes, we get it. Men are apish, self-interested, sex-and-food-crazed, and altogether fun to laugh at. Even as infants, they are quite infantile.

The pre-game controversy was over the Tim Tebow ad paid for by Focus on the Family. So, when the commercial came on, I perked up. Then what? Little Timmy almost didn't make it. Then he tackled his mom. And you needed to go to Focus's website to figure out what it's all about. Not a strong contender for best pro-life message unless you follow through and go watch the rest of the videos.

I thought Google's commercial was more pro-life at face value. Man meets woman, courts her, leaves his father and mother (at least his fatherland) to cleave to her, has baby, needs to assemble crib. An impressive link between marriage, sex, and babies.

Pr. Baker also notes the Dove for Dudes commercial has an implied "life begins at conception" message, as the guy's life begins when the sperm meet the egg. At first I thought the picture a little shocking, but it does imply a rather impressive, however unintended, pro-life message.

So, props to Dove and Google for bucking the anti-family, anti-life mentality of society. FotF? Not so much.