Around the Web–9/26/12: Alcohol and More
Alcohol
It’s time to call again for abstinence from alcohol: Christian libertine, wake up!
Another mother killed by a drunk driver. Her brother-in-law, Colorado pastor Steve Hafler, posted a blog about alcohol the day before. Tragically, he had to follow with another blog the next day, announcing the terrible accident that has since claimed the life of a wife and mother.
Original post: Before You Take a Sip, Consider This
Follow up: Drunk Driver Has Family Member Fighting for Her Life
Chris Anderson of My Two Cents comments:
We posted eight articles from our friend Mike Harding in the early days of this blog. They deserve reading again. Two other posts are included under the tag on P&D. Read, pray, think, repent if you need to:
Other items:
Psychiatric Medication and the Image of God
An article attempting to find balance in the use of psychiatric medications. This is a very difficult field and the article highlights the difficulties. On the one hand, we don’t want to be simple pragmatists: “The drug works, therefore it is OK.” But on the other hand we must recognize that some behaviour problems have a physical cause and medication may actually address the specific physical need. One of the problems with the latter hand is that we still know very little about the brain and often even less about how long-term psych drugs affect body and spirit.
For example, numbing the effects of grief would be depletive. In grieving the loss of a loved one, medication could hinder proper functioning of the embodied soul. That circumstance often makes people most experientially aware of their beliefs and desires, and this is a key opportunity for strengthening faith. Medicating a person out of this opportunity could be a more sophisticated way of escaping from grief by getting drunk on alcohol.
FIRST-PERSON: Paris Hilton was (partially) right – Kelly Boggs
Kelly Boggs is the director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention’s office of public affairs among other things. He writes a weekly column for Baptist Press. This column focuses on the sexual habits of male homosexuals (carefully written so as not to be offensive). The things reported suggest that homosexuality is a problem of sexual addiction – perhaps ‘obsession’ would be a better term. Boggs closes with this telling George Orwell quotation:
“In a time of universal deceit,” said George Orwell, “telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”