Signs & Wonders Blog

The latest Internet craze to go viral is the Ice Bucket Challenge. By dumping a bucket of cold water on their heads, people from all walks of life have raised awareness and funds to fight Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. ALS (also known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”) is a progressive degeneration of the central nervous system, leading to the weakening of muscles and paralysis.  My friends have expressed mixed reactions to the Ice Bucket Challenge. Some have participated believing it’s for a worthy cause. Others oppose it because many ALS organizations conduct embryonic stem cell research, which results in the killing of pre-born human life. A few God-fearing participants of the challenge have specified their donations go to pro-life organizations like the John Paul II Medical Research Institute in Iowa, which uses adult stem cells. As for myself, I’ve chosen not to participate in the Ice Bucket Challenge. I’d rather give my time and money to organizations that minister divine hea...

During my teens and early twenties, I was a regular listener of Casey Kasem’s radio show “American Top 40.”   That inspired me to subscribe to Billboard magazine whose record charts Casey based his weekly countdown on. Nowadays I avoid listening to most of today’s hits because of the increased amount of profanity and sexual content in the lyrics.   Still, I occasionally log onto Billboard’s website to find out what’s happening with the pop music scene.   T here's now a song in the Top 20 by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis called “Same Love” that openly endorses same-sex marriage.   Some of the song’s lyrics attempt to discredit the Bible’s prohibition of homosexuality… The right wing conservatives think it's a decision And you can be cured with some treatment and religion Man-made rewiring of a predisposition Playing God, aw nah here we go God loves all his children, is somehow forgotten But we paraphrase a book written thirty-five hundred y...

While riding a bus in Tampa, Florida a few weeks ago, I briefly browsed through a newspaper someone left behind.   One particular article  by a New York-based freelance writer named Jill Filipovic grabbed my attention.   I was inspired to search for her Facebook profile and email her this reply… Dear Jill, This is in response to your article “ The Moral Case for Sex Before Marriage.”   I first read an edited portion of it in a Tampa newspaper.   Later I went online and found the full version on your blog. I used to frequently have sex outside of marriage. Had I read your article when I was in my early twenties (I’m 48 now), I would have agreed with most of what you wrote.   But after having been infected with venereal disease twice and being forced to pay child support for a daughter I never raised, I see things differently now.   While I agree there are benefits of having a healthy sex life , I must take issue with many of ...