Who Owns Who?

            Several years ago, I read that one of Babe Ruth's bats sold for $63,000. Now, you can buy a good bat for quite a bit less, so what makes this one different? The owner.

            If you are a Christian, you are owned by Jesus Christ. That's why you have  special value as a human being. You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

            This is also a reason fellowship with other Christians is so important. They, too, are owned by Jesus.

            In a letter emphasizing the community of Christ, Paul writes, “19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies”(I Cor. 6:19-20.) NIV

Honor, or No?

            This week’s SPORTS ILLUSTRATED cover story focuses on the amount of athletes in college football, who have criminal records. Hint: the number is a large one.

            This week, Brigham Young University suspended the leading rebounder of their men’s basketball team—Brandon Davies—for violating the honor code. This was in spite of the fact BYU was one of the favorites for the NCAA Tournament, which begins in a couple of weeks.

            Moreover, word has filtered out that one of the reasons the PAC—10 has rejected BYU was because several schools within the conference considered BYU to be too “rigid.” (One example: school policy limits BYU from playing athletic contests on Sunday.)

            Question: Have the events of this week made BYU look commendable, or out of step with a rapidly changing culture?

Cheating Hearts

Several years ago, TIME magazine reported a study done at the University of Hawaii. An attractive member of the opposite sex approached college students. After a brief introduction, the students were asked one of three questions:

                        1. Would you go out on a date with me tonight?

                        2. Would you go back [with me] to my apartment?

                        3. Would you have sex with me?

            The male response varied from the female response. Here is how each answered the question of the corresponding number:

                                                Women (yes)                  Men (yes)

                        1.                         50%                             50%

                        2.                         6%                               69%

                        3.                         0%                               75%

            The magazine noted that Charles Darwin considered Man to be a moral species since human beings could compare their past and future actions and motives, and correspondingly approve or disapprove of them.

            “In this sense,” TIME said, “yes we are moral. We have at least the technical capacity to lead an examined life: self-awareness, memory, foresight and judgment. Still, subjecting ourselves to moral scrutiny and adjusting our behavior accordingly is hardly a reflex. We are potentially moral animals-which is more than any other animal can say-but we are not naturally moral animals. The first step to being moral is to realize how thoroughly we aren't."

            These are fascinating words coming from a secular magazine. Better yet was the title of the article—“Our Cheating Hearts.” Does this title connote an editorial statement in a supposedly neutral magazine’s investigative reporting?