The Necessity of Good Mentoring

Few things in life can change us faster than solid mentoring. I have been blessed over the course of my life to be around several men and women, further along than I in the faith, who took interest in teaching me how to live well. It's incalcuable how much I've gained from these times. I have been spared the consequences of many bad decisions by talking things over with my mentors. They always are able to see truth in the mixed bag of ideas I bring week to week.

Over time (lots and lots of time), as I've grown step-by-step, I see my response is not merely to be the best disciple possible. I am being discipled that I might be a discipler. I've been shaped, that I might in turn work to shape others into "God's kingdom come" and "the likeness of Christ". As we grow in faith and understanding, our response to transform our world starting with the church.

Therefore, it's fairly clear God doesn't give us mentors so we can go live in a cabin in the mountains all by ourselves, as nice as that sounds sometimes :) As we grow in this journey, God will bring people to us who we can pour into. I was surprised with this happened this past week. A friend came up and asked me if I could mentor him. I was shocked, but then heard God's gentle affirmation. It turns out the aspects of his life he wants most to grow in most, are things I'm most passionate about. Needless to say, God knows what He's doing.

A great image of this is a person with one hand grasping the hand a person higher (further along) with the other hand reaching down to one lower. In this, we all need continual shaping, even while there are plenty around for us to shape. We each have much to offer as image-bearers.

Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Last night, I finished my final paper for The Bible and Social Ethics, a class I took at Fuller Seminary. It was a good class. We got to hear from the Senior Policy Analyst at Focus on the Family and about Justice for All, a blunt, educational ministry, informing college students graphically about the results of abortion.

I wrote my paper about embryonic stem cell research, because I wanted to dive into a topic I felt uninformed in. I ingnorantly dove into my Bible, looking for what the Lord might say to researchers who are destroying embryos for the stem cells within. The overarching message came as quite a surprise, "The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein (Ps. 24:1)." God's message to researchers, "Be very careful with my embryos."

An embryo does not primarily have value because of the mother or the father or even the society in which it is created. It has value because Creator God says it has value. Looking at embryos as God's possession has shaped my view on this tremendously. When a researcher destroys an embryo for the sake of research, he destroys someone who is owned by God.

Another new insight, was the foreknowledge of God throughout Scripture. God described both the personhood and behaviors of both Jesus and Isaac before either were concieved. This means to a timeless God, people exist and are known before they are even concieved; a new thought for me on this issue.

Lastly, I learned the distinction between embryonic stem cell research and adult stem cell research. Not all stem cell research is wrong. Researchers can and have been taking adult stem cells from spinal chords, nasal cavities, and bone marrow of adults. I find this type of stem cell research moral and ethical. I'm only against stem cell research which destoys human life, at whatever stage of development.

Here's how I chose to begin the conclusion:

In 1791, in Britain’s House of Commons, a young politician stood among his older, more experienced peers and said, “Never, never will we desist till we…extinguish every trace of this bloody traffic [slavery], of which our posterity, looking back to the history of those enlightened times, will scarce believe that it has been suffered to exist so long a disgrace and dishonor to this country.” History has proven William Wilberforce true and shown him to be a profound prophet and hero for humanity. His words speak into the current state of embryonic stem cell research like few others. There is a future day when all will see clearly the horrible, uncontested genocide happening in clinics and laboratories across the United States of America.