On Knowledge and Virtue

Peter has some encouraging and instructive words for us. Notice the role that effort plays in the cultivation of virtue and maturity. It is all fueled by grace and the power of the Holy Spirit of course…but we must be intentional about it if we are to mature.

3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

10Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Psychiatry Textbook Acknowledges that Homosexuals Can Change

I came across this post which was both interesting and encouraging. Change is possible, despite what is often touted in the media. check it out (HT / STR).

Essential Psychopathology and Its Treatment is a textbook used at medical schools and psychiatry departments. The newest edition cites evidence that homosexual orientation can be changed and therapies that help people change are not necessarily harmful. The relevant text is on page 488:

While many mental health care providers and professional associations have expressed considerable skepticism that sexual orientation could be changed with psychotherapy and also assumed that therapeutic attempts at reorientation would produce harm, recent empirical evidence demonstrates that homosexual orientation can indeed be therapeutically changed in motivated clients, and that reorientation therapies do not produce emotional harm when attempted (e.g., Byrd & Nicolosi, 2002; Byrd et al., 2008; Shaeffer et al., 1999; Spitzer, 2003).

Interestingly, one of the researchers they cite to back up their claim is Dr. Robert Spitzer. He was once considered a champion of gay activism because of his instrumental role in removing homosexuality from the American Psychiatric Association’s manual of mental disorders in 1973. Thirty years later, however, he published his new findings that some homosexuals were able to change their “orientation.” (HT / STR)

China Blocks Google to Stifle Online Dissent Ahead of Nation’s 60th Anniversary

Who says information, ideas, and images aren’t powerful? Just ask Iran. Now China sees the writing on the wall. Regarding the porn, I am all for getting rid of that–for the good of humanity (I think it could be argued that this is a human rights issue because of what it does to people, families, and ultimately societies). “Desire” and “Freedom” must be subordinated to the Good. But something tells me China is not ultimately concerned with porn blocking. You can read for yourself…

Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design By Stephen C. Meyer

In Signature in the Cell, Dr. Stephen Meyer shows that the digital code embedded in DNA points powerfully to a designing intelligence and helps unravel a mystery that Darwin did not address: how did the very first life begin? Follow Dr. Meyer as he investigates how new scientific discoveries are pointing to intelligent design as the best explanation for the complexity of life and the universe.”


The origin of information is a powerful pointer to an intelligent mind, not unintelligent evolution.