400-408 – Calls – What's your "I reunited with my birth-parent" or your "I reunited with my birth-child story? Have any of you gone looking and found your birth-parent or birth-child? How did God "show up" in that relationship?
413-423 – Calls –
428-438 – Calls –
443-452 – Calls –
458-508 – Calls –
512-523 – Calls –
528-539 – Calls – Rosie in Covina shared that she got free help from the "search angels" at gsadoptionregistry.com.
544-554 – Calls –
558-608 – Calls – Is your advice to young people "wait longer to get married," or "plan on getting married sooner"?
(1:10) Dr. Al Mohler 1. Celibacy is the exception. (Focus on the Family 6/6/2011). There is no Biblical category of "enduring singleness" except for the gift of celibacy in gospel service for God's glory.
(1:07) Dr. Al Mohler 2. Protection in marriage. Women provide men the protection of his passions. Men desperately need a wife as protection for honor, passion, and integrity. We desperately need that, otherwise we men will sin gruesomely without a wife. She is there to remind us at every moment: You belong to me before God, you owe me all of your sexual passion, you owe me all of your sexual interest. God has given us to each other and you may not look outside this covenant of marriage where your passions might lead you.
(1:54) Dr. Al Mohler 3. Sexual maturity vs. marriage year. In 1900, the average boy reached sexual maturity at about age 15 and was usually married by age 20. The average girl reached sexual maturity at age 14, and was married between 18-20. Today, sexual maturity arrives for both girls and boys about age 13. What have we done here? We have created this incredible span of time where sexual passion is ignited but there is no holy means for it to be fulfilled. This does not mean you marry at 16. But [paraphrased], imagine if our world was more accepting of and encouraging for couples to marry earlier within the Biblical understanding that maturity comes through the crucible of adult-making… We have established a "boy culture" where boys are not growing up into men.
(:36) Jeff Vines 1. Both marriage and singleness are gifts. (Sermon on dating and singleness 6/5/2011). In 1 Corinthians 7:7-9, Paul said, "Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am. However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that. 8 But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. 9 But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion."
(:22) Jeff Vines 2. You ask, "Pastor Jeff, how do I know when I'm ready?" Research indicates you double your chance for a successful marriage if you wait until your 25. If you marry at or before 24, you're twice as likely to divorce as those who marry at 25 or later.
• AP (6/5/2011) Pope denounces 'disintegration' of Europe families.
// In his homily, Benedict lamented the "increasing disintegration of the family, especially in Europe" and urged young couples to resist "that secularized mentality which proposes living together as a preparation, or even a substitute for marriage." "Do not be afraid to make a commitment to another person!" he said. //
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• WTHR (6/7/2011) No more national anthem at pacifist Indiana college.
A small northern Indiana college has decided to stop playing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at sporting events after starting to do so for the first time last year.
Goshen College's board of directors says it will find an alternative that honors the country and the Mennonite Church-affiliated school's pacifist traditions.
The 1,000-student college has been playing an instrumental version of the national anthem, followed by a peace prayer, before games and other events. Some were upset with the school's decision last year because the song's lyrics contain references to using war and military might to defend the country.
Art professor John Blosser tells The Goshen News that there is much national pride at the school, but that most people aren't going to blindly accept what the country does.
• Fox News (6/7/2011) Jilted Ex-Boyfriend's Abortion Billboard Ignites Free Speech Debate.
A New Mexico man's decision to lash out with a billboard ad saying his ex-girlfriend had an abortion against his wishes has touched off a legal debate over free speech and privacy rights.
The sign on Alamogordo's main thoroughfare shows 35-year-old Greg Fultz holding the outline of an infant. The text reads, "This Would Have Been A Picture Of My 2-Month Old Baby If The Mother Had Decided To Not KILL Our Child!"
Fultz's ex-girlfriend has taken him to court for harassment and violation of privacy. A domestic court official has recommended the billboard be removed.
But Fultz's attorney argues the order violates his client's free speech rights. "As distasteful and offensive as the sign may be to some, for over 200 years in this country the First Amendment protects distasteful and offensive speech," Todd Holmes said.
The woman's friends say she had a miscarriage, not an abortion, according to a report in the Albuquerque Journal.
Holmes disputes that, saying his case is based on the accuracy of his client's statement.
"My argument is: What Fultz said is the truth," Holmes said.
The woman's lawyer said she had not discussed the pregnancy with her client. But for Ellen Jessen, whether her client had a miscarriage or an abortion is not the point. The central issue is her client's privacy and the fact that the billboard has caused severe emotional distress, Jessen said.
"Her private life is not a matter of public interest," she told the Alamogordo Daily News.
Jessen says her client's ex-boyfriend has crossed the line.
"Nobody is stopping him from talking about father's rights. ... but a person can't invade someone's private life."
For his part, Holmes said that during a domestic court hearing last week he pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this year concerning the Westboro Baptist Church, which is known for demonstration signs and slogans that include anti-gay slurs.
"Very unpopular offensive speech," he told the Alamogordo Daily News. "The Supreme Court, in an 8 to 1 decision, said that is protected speech."
Holmes says he is going to fight the order to remove the billboard through a District Court appeal.
• Marketwatch (6/6/2011) Firms to cut health plans as reform starts: survey. 30% of companies say they'll stop offering coverage.
• Fox News (6/7/2011) 1 in 3 Employers Will Drop Health Benefits After ObamaCare Fully Kicks In, Survey Finds.
• USA Today (6/7/2011) U.S. funding for future promises lags by trillions.
The federal government's financial condition deteriorated rapidly last year, far beyond the $1.5 trillion in new debt taken on to finance the budget deficit, a USA TODAY analysis shows.
The government added $5.3 trillion in new financial obligations in 2010, largely for retirement programs such as Medicare and Social Security. That brings to a record $61.6 trillion the total of financial promises not paid for.
This gap between spending commitments and revenue last year equals more than one-third of the nation's gross domestic product.
Medicare alone took on $1.8 trillion in new liabilities, more than the record deficit prompting heated debate between Congress and the White House over lifting the debt ceiling.
STORY: Government's mountain of debt
Social Security added $1.4 trillion in obligations, partly reflecting longer life expectancies. Federal and military retirement programs added more to the financial hole, too.
Corporations would be required to count these new liabilities when they are taken on — and report a big loss to shareholders. Unlike businesses, however, Congress postpones recording spending commitments until it writes a check.
The $61.6 trillion in unfunded obligations amounts to $534,000 per household. That's more than five times what Americans have borrowed for everything else — mortgages, car loans and other debt. It reflects the challenge as the number of retirees soars over the next 20 years and seniors try to collect on those spending promises.
"The (federal) debt only tells us what the government owes to the public. It doesn't take into account what's owed to seniors, veterans and retired employees," says accountant Sheila Weinberg, founder of the Institute for Truth in Accounting, a Chicago-based group that advocates better financial reporting. "Without accurate accounting, we can't make good decisions."
Michael Lind, policy director at the liberal New America Foundation's economic growth program, says there is no near-term crisis for federal retirement programs and that economic growth will make these programs more affordable.
"The false claim that Social Security and Medicare are about to bankrupt the United States has been repeated for decades by conservatives and libertarians who pretend that their ideological opposition to these successful and cost-effective programs is based on worries about the deficit," he says.
USA TODAY has calculated federal finances based on standard accounting rules since 2004 using data from the Medicare and Social Security annual reports and the little-known audited financial report of the federal government.
The government has promised pension and health benefits worth more than $700,000 per retired civil servant. The pension fund's key asset: federal IOUs.
