Month: August 2006

Two new announcements were made today regarding stem cell research.
Japanese scientists announced they’ve been able to make adult stem cells respond more like embryonic stem cells.
American scientists announced they’ve been able to take cells from embryonic stem cells without harming the embryo.

Japanese researchers have modified stem cells from adult mice into cells that have the promising characteristics of embryonic stem cells, according to research published in Thursday’s issue of the journal Cell.
The announcement is the second development this week that could help scientists overcome objections to controversial research on embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cell research has been lauded by scientists for its potential to find cures for debilitating diseases, but critics of the technique say it essentially kills a human life because scientists must destroy an embryo to create the cells.

I still say lets fund more research with adult stem cells, but the new research with American scientists looks promising as well.

From the podcast:

When the lawyer in Luke 10 says, “Who’s my neighbor?” What he’s really saying is, “Whom don’t I have to love? Whom can I get with not having to go out of my way for? Surely not a Samaritan. Surely not a Gentile.”
The answer Christ gives him is “Your neighbor potentially anybody but is specifically the person that God providentially places in your path with a need.”
The person with the broken down car, the person with too many bags of grocery.
The person who’s lost a loved one — that’s your neighbor.

John Brown, an associate pastor at Denton Bible Church (Tommy Nelson) gave a great message Sunday on “Who is my neighbor?”

“What could possibly be on par with loving God with our entire heart, soul, strength and mind?
Christ quotes Lev. 19:18, ‘The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.'”

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“How good it is to be able to come before you — anytime and anywhere.
That as we sit in this room we didn’t have to rouse a priest, kill a bull, go to a temple or wait for the stars to align just so — but where two or more are gathered in your name there you are among us. We thank you for your blessed presence.”

“You will never know it all, because mystery is a prerequisite of faith and without faith it is impossible to please God” – Matt Chandler

As likely everyone knows, liquids are now banned on US flights.
I still think its a very knee-jerk reaction.
I also think seperate lines for Muslims, Arabs or whomever is an even worse knee-jerk reaction.
Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby examines Israel’s national airline that has been free of terrorist attacks for nearly three decades.

Nearly five years after Sept. 11, 2001, US airport security remains obstinately focused on intercepting bad things — guns, knives, explosives. It is a reactive policy, aimed at preventing the last terrorist plot from being repeated. The 9/11 hijackers used box cutters as weapons, so sharp metal objects were barred from carry-on luggage. Would-be suicide terrorist Richard Reid tried to ignite a bomb in his shoe, so now everyone’s footwear is screened for tampering. Earlier this month British authorities foiled a plan to blow up airliners with liquid explosives; as a result, toothpaste and cologne have become air-travel contraband.
[…]
Israeli airport security, much of it invisible to the untrained eye, begins before passengers even enter the terminal. Officials constantly monitor behavior, alert to clues that may hint at danger: bulky clothing, say, or a nervous manner. Profilers — that’s what they’re called — make a point of interviewing travelers, sometimes at length. They probe, as one profiling supervisor told CBS, for “anything out of the ordinary, anything that does not fit.” Their questions can seem odd or intrusive, especially if your only previous experience with an airport interrogation was being asked whether you packed your bags yourself.
Unlike in US airports, where passengers go through security after checking in for their flights and submitting their luggage, security at Ben Gurion comes first. Only when the profiler is satisfied that a passenger poses no risk is he or she allowed to proceed to the check-in counter. By that point, there is no need to make him remove his shoes, or to confiscate his bottle of water.