Who is read and loved internationally.

😉

John Calvin said that, of infants as well as adult converts, that it was “baptism, by which the door of the Church is thrown open to them.”  The Westminster Confession and Catechisms all state that baptism is one’s “solemn admission” into the institutional Church.

Which is to say, that the Reformed teaching is Biblical on this point.

From Kevin MD:

A lack of neonatal beds in Canada is forcing expectant moms to be airlifted to the US

Should spend some space explaining what to avoid.

The Gospel Coalition kicked off in late May with little fanfare, just how organizers wanted it. Any conference headlined by D. A. Carson, Tim Keller, and John Piper would likely attract more than 500 attenders with a little publicity. But Gospel Coalition leaders chose a word-of-mouth strategy and capped attendance by hosting the two-day conference in the chapel at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS). They wanted to test their ideas on a relatively small, friendly group.

Don’t let the low-key strategy fool you. This new group, spearheaded by 40 stake-holding theologians and pastors, has big goals. They want nothing less than a renewed evangelical commitment to core confessional beliefs. And they have the strategy to match their ambition.

The Gospel Coalition already boasts one hallmark achievement with its foundational documents, a confessional statement and theological call to ministry. Gospel Coalition’s diverse leadership, ranging from Presbyterian pastor Phil Ryken to emerging leader Mark Driscoll, hashed out the documents in meetings over more than two years. Carson wrote the original draft of the confessional statement, while Keller penned the theological call to ministry. The confession, dense and comprehensive, addresses current trends with a positive tone meant to attract rather than condemn. But because the confession betrays a broadly Reformed perspective and expects that men lead churches and homes, it will not appeal to every evangelical. The ministry statement, on the other hand, can help all evangelicals navigate cultural challenges such as politicized faith, consumerism, and theological and moral relativism. [read the rest]

Even low level weight control linked to youth suicide

A couple of quotations:

One explanation of these results could have been that depression is the real cause of suicidal behaviour and that also weight control behaviour is an outcome of depression. But even after controlling for depression, a strong link between weight control and suicide behaviours remains.

Interestingly, the body mass index did not show any link to suicide. Therefore, only feeling fat but not being fat is linked to a suicide risk in young people. And it seems that many of those feeling fat are not really fat. This is a reason for concern about public weight loss messages.

The only skepticism I have is how much a different it makes.  If 1% of non-dieting youths have suicidal thoughs, and 2% of dieting youths have suicidal thoughts, then that is a significant doubling.  But it still means there is only one chance in fifty that any dieting youth you see has been thinking about suicide.  I would like to know more about the findings.

I hate this.

Today, the Federal Communications Commission has fined a number of retailers including RadioShack, Fred Meyer Stores and Boscov’s. These retailers failed to post special labels on their analog-only televisions notifying consumers that, come next year, their TVs will stop working. [read the rest]

Government must protext life, liberty, and seamless national-corporate transitions in entertainment technology.  Just more bread and circuses.