The Sex Exposure Calculator
Harry Readhead, reporting for METRO, writes:
A new calculator will tell you how many sexual partners you’ve been indirectly exposed to.
For instance, if you have had nine lovers – that’s the average in the UK – and your other half has had the same, you have been indirectly exposed to 597,870 individuals.
That’s the population of Belfast.
The Sexual Exposure and STI Risk Calculator also tells you your risk of catching gonorrhoea, syphilis and chlamydia.
This adds new meaning to the expression “getting more than you bargained for.” By contrast, only those who follow God’s prescription and wait to become sexually active until they’ve found their life partner, protect themselves from exposure to these diseases. In effect, they reduce that risk to zero percent! What a wonderful gift for a couple to exchange on their wedding day.
But the negative effects of multiple sex partners are not limited to the transmission of STDs. Casual attitudes toward sex tend to be translated into casual attitudes toward marital commitment, which serves to undermine the security and health of the relationship.
Yes, God’s will for marriage requires us to delay our sexual gratifications. But God doesn’t set forth these expectations to harm us. Rather, His desire is to protect us from what He knows would cause us, and our future spouse, harm.
“If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love” (John 15:10).
Crime Does Pay
Ben Nuckols reports:
WASHINGTON (AP) — They say crime doesn’t pay, but that might not be entirely true in the District of Columbia as lawmakers look for ways to discourage people from becoming repeat offenders.
The D.C. Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a bill that includes a proposal to pay residents a stipend not to commit crimes. It’s based on a program in Richmond, California, that advocates say has contributed to deep reductions in crime there.
Under the bill, city officials would identify up to 200 people a year who are considered at risk of either committing or becoming victims of violent crime. Those people would be directed to participate in behavioral therapy and other programs. If they fulfill those obligations and stay out of trouble, they would be paid.
The bill doesn’t specify the value of the stipends, but participants in the California program receive up to $9,000 per year.
The program in California experienced a 77 percent drop in homicides over the seven years after it was implemented. Not only that, the $9,000 a year spent in stipends is said to be a bargain compared to the pain and suffering of the victims and the cost of incarcerating the offender. Follow this link to an article on the original program in Richmond.
Just because it’s cheaper to pay criminals not to commit crimes than to incarcerate them doesn’t mean that's what should be done. While paying criminals off may seem like the pragmatic thing to do, it offers no incentive for them to actually begin making a positive contribution to society. But having abandoned our Judeo-Christian principles, we no longer look for moral or spiritual answers to our social ills.
God has a different solution. His love not only turns our hearts from evil, it also motivates us to love others the way He has loved us. It doesn’t just prevent negative actions, it replaces them with positive actions.
If $9000 keeps some on the straight and narrow, imagine what the gift of God’s eternal forgiveness and love will do.
"For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died" (2 Corinthians 5:14).
The Wonders of a Mother's Milk
Lauren Newmark with SPLASH writes:
Wouldn’t it be great if there were a nontoxic cancer treatment that effectively killed tumor cells without causing any harm to healthy cells in the patient’s body? Or how about a chemical that could make antibiotics effective against bacterial strains that have become antibiotic resistant, such as pneumococci or MRSA?
Solving just one of these tasks would be a medical miracle, and yet a team of American and Swedish researchers has shown that both are possible. Even more amazing is that the solution to these two seemingly disparate medical issues comes from the same molecule, a protein-lipid complex found in human breast milk called HAMLET (human alpha-lactalbumin made lethal to tumor cells).
... In human infants, HAMLET is formed when the milk reaches the stomach; [and] unfolds when it comes in contact with digestive acids and then combines with milk oleic acid.
HAMLET has shown promise in treating multiple types of human cancers … without causing any negative side effects
Who would ever suspect that a potent cancer-killing agent might be hidden in a mother’s milk, or that coming into contact with the acid in a babies stomach would cause it to unpack and activate?
Scientists speculate that its purpose is to increase “infants’ immune responses while keeping cellular growth in check,” according to Ms. Newmark.
Of course, researchers attribute this purpose to HAMLET without considering the implications of the presence of such a benevolent intention. Clearly, this is loving design hidden inside loving design--a protein molecule designed to protect, wrapped inside a substance designed to provide sustenance. The presence of this potent agent offers a powerful example of God's loving intention toward us. It's like the mother who slips a much needed, health inducing medicine into her child's meal to both nourish and to protect the child. It is a double expression of love and care.
According to Solomon, the same can be said of the milk of God’s word. He writes, "My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen carefully to my words ... for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body" (Proverbs 4:20, 22). God's words offer spiritual nourishment even as they also delivers health inducing medicinal properties, activated the moment they begin to be digested.
“Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment” (1 Peter 2:2).
"When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, LORD God Almighty" (Jeremiah 15:16).