Diet drink sales plummeted recently when the World Health Organization declared that they contain an artificial sweetener that causes cancer. Then we learned that a 154-pound person would have to drink more than nine to fourteen cans of diet beverage every day over the course of their life to raise safety concerns. And multiple other studies have reportedly concluded that the sweetener in question is safe as an ingredient.

In other medical news, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill. At first glance, this seems like good news for pro-life supporters: anything that prevents unwanted pregnancies should result in fewer abortions, or so we might think.

However, as with the diet drink controversy, there’s more here than meets the eye. And the implications of this issue go deeper even than the crucial issues it raises.

Thirty-five potential side effects?

The FDA approved the first oral contraceptive on June 23, 1960. Until the FDA’s announcement last week, however, such medications could be dispensed only with a physician’s approval and oversight. Why is this significant?

The over-the-counter drug being approved is called Opill. It contains the hormone progestin, which works by suppressing ovulation and causing changes in the cervix and uterus that decrease the chance of pregnancy. It was first approved by the FDA as a prescription in 1973.

Most women in the US use birth-control pills containing both progestin and estrogen; women on progestin-only pills tend to have more unscheduled bleeding. Some are concerned that users, particularly teenagers, would not know to seek the help of a health care provider in this case.

The National Catholic Bioethics Center “strenuously” opposed the FDA’s decision, stating that a patient should first be medically evaluated for contraindications to the drug as listed by the manufacturer: known or suspected pregnancy; known or suspected carcinoma of the breast; undiagnosed abnormal uterine bleeding; hypersensitivity to any component of the product; benign or malignant liver tumors; and acute liver disease.

The Center also listed thirty-five serious potential side effects from the drug for which consumers should be screened and monitored by health care providers. In their view, making it available without a prescription violates the “do no harm” ethic foundational to medical practice.

The morality of “the Pill”

“The Pill” was a major factor in the sexual revolution that began in the 1960s. For the first time, women could engage in premarital or extramarital sex with less fear of pregnancy.

As I note in The Coming Tsunami, Helen Gurley Brown’s 1962 book Sex and the Single Girl encouraged single women to be sexually active. Betty Friedan’s 1963 book The Feminine Mystique argued that women are victims of a false belief requiring them to find identity and meaning in their lives through their husbands and children. It is difficult to imagine the popularity of these books and their ideas without the advent of the Pill.

And it is difficult to imagine that making oral contraceptives available without a doctor’s or parent’s consent will not lead to a significant rise in teenage sexual activity as well.

On the other hand, some reports claim that oral contraceptives prevent unwanted pregnancy and thus lead to fewer abortions. For example, one study found that providing free birth control to a specific group of women lowered the abortion rate among them by 62 percent to 78 percent.

However, other research indicates just the opposite, stating that contraceptives often fail to prevent pregnancy. For example, the progestin in Opill is much less effective if taken over three hours later than usual. Using contraceptives has also been found to encourage higher-risk sexual activities.

One ten-year study found that a 63 percent increase in the use of contraceptives was accompanied by a 108 percent increase in the rate of elective abortions. Researchers at Duke, Yale, and the US Centers for Disease Control concluded: “Programs that increase access to contraception are found to decrease teen pregnancies in the short run but increase them in the long run.”

How to “approve what is excellent”

Yesterday we focused on the battle being waged in our culture against a spiritual enemy who “comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10, my emphasis). Today let’s add the fact that winning this battle depends greatly upon the use of discernment.

As we have seen with the diet beverage and oral contraceptive debates, there’s almost always more to a story than meets the eye. Media outlets typically have their own agendas and reasons for reporting the “news” as they do. And we seldom know today what we will learn tomorrow.

This need for discernment is especially urgent with regard to the spiritual dimensions of our cultural engagement. Satan is “the deceiver of the whole world” (Revelation 12:9), a “liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). Consequently, we are warned: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1).

How do we do this?

First, seek guidance from your Father: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (James 1:5). Accordingly, pray for our “love [to] abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that [we] may approve what is excellent” (Philippians 1:9–10).

Then “test everything; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21, my emphasis) so we can “abstain from every form of evil” (v. 22). This discipline is vital because our “powers of discernment” are “trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14).

“Reclothe us in our rightful mind”

To be culture-changing Christians, you and I must obviously “distinguish good from evil” before we can help those we influence do the same. To this end, let’s offer this intercession by the Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whitter for ourselves and our nation:

Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways;
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise.

How will you help God answer your prayer today?

Denison Forum

Have you heard of “vampire facials”? This is the colloquial term for a “microneedling treatment using platelet-rich plasma—a component of your blood that can lead to impressive results when absorbed into your skin.” The treatment promises to “enhance the skin’s overall appearance.” However, it is also a way to contract HIV; a third case has now been confirmed from a now-defunct spa that offered this service.

In other news, a businessman named Mark Exposito is accused by prosecutors of raiding his company’s bank accounts to steal more than $8 million he and his wife used to support a lavish lifestyle. Exposito, the stepson of former US Senator Claire McCaskill, faces about two dozen wire fraud counts.

A dear friend alerted me to these articles and commented on them: “Although very different stories, they share a common thread: a desire to be someone other than God created us to be.” He added: “Sadly, they have missed the fact that we are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ by a loving Father. In pursuit of something else, we forget to whom we belong.”

Pastor and author Craig Groeschel agreed: “Being consumed by what people think of you is the fastest way to forget what God thinks of you.”

Abortion ban saves nearly 10,000 lives

Yesterday we discussed the importance of making public our faith stories of transformation by God’s grace. Using our influence to promote biblical morality is a vital way we can serve God’s kingdom and advance the common good.

For example, it is estimated that the abortion ban in Texas has saved the lives of nearly ten thousand precious babies. Our state’s pro-life policies are largely the result of decades of selfless service by pro-life faith-based advocates. Indiana is now seeing a similar drop in abortions for similar reasons.

Believers should be engaged not only in politics but also in public media. Jim Morrison was right: “Whoever controls the media, controls the mind.” And we should encourage people to join us for worship; studies show that those who do so regularly tend to have more close friendships, which can in turn lead to better health outcomes.

However, the most foundational way we can be catalysts for moral transformation is to be the change we wish to see. In his daily devotional, Dr. Duane Brooks recently included a sentence that would change every person who embraces it: “The only Bible we really believe is the Bible we live.”

Paul would have agreed. In discussing the characteristics of an effective faith leader, he stated that he “must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil” (1 Timothy 3:7).

“There is a reckless abandonment about him”

In one sense, there is nothing sinful humans can do to make ourselves more holy. I cannot learn to fly faster if I do not have the inherent ability to fly at all. Watchman Nee was right: “Just as one cannot be saved through good works, one cannot overcome through good works.”

On the other hand, we are frequently encouraged by Scripture to practice the various spiritual disciplines such as prayer, Bible study, solitude, and meditation. Why are we to do so if such disciplines cannot sanctify us?

The balance inherent in spiritual growth is captured by Paul’s phrase: “sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13). On one hand, we are to “stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter” (v. 15). On the other, we are to pray for God to “comfort [our] hearts and establish them in every good work and word” (v. 17).

As we work, God works. As we practice spiritual disciplines, we position ourselves to be transformed by God’s Spirit.

Our part of this partnership involves a daily commitment to know Christ in every circumstance of our lives. The spiritual genius Oswald Chambers observed: “The spiritual saint never believes circumstances to be haphazard, or thinks of his life as secular and sacred; he sees everything he is dumped down in as the means of securing the knowledge of Jesus Christ. There is a reckless abandonment about him. The Holy Spirit is determined that we shall realize Jesus Christ in every domain of life, and he will bring us back to the same point again and again until we do.”

Thus, “The aim of the spiritual saint is ‘that I may know him.’ Do I know him where I am today? If not, I am failing him.”

“The gleaming water in a jar”

St. Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335–c. 395) commented on today’s theme: “The life of the Christian has three distinguishing aspects: deeds, words, and thought. Thought comes first, then words, since our words express openly the interior conclusions of the mind. Finally, after thoughts and words, comes action, for our deeds carry out what the mind has conceived.

“So when one of these results in our acting or speaking or thinking, we must make sure that all our thoughts, words, and deeds are controlled by the divine ideal, the revelation of Christ. For then our thoughts, words, and deeds will not fall short of the nobility of their implications.”

How do we do this?

Gregory continued: “Each of us must examine his thoughts, words, and deeds, to see whether they are directed towards Christ or are turned away from him.” This is because Jesus is “like a pure, untainted stream. If you draw from him the thoughts of your mind and the inclinations of your heart, you will show a likeness to Christ, your source and origin, as the gleaming water in a jar resembles the flowing water from which it was obtained.”

Will your thoughts and actions “show a likeness to Christ” today?

Denison Forum