In this edition of No, Not Again. Seriously, You’ve Got to Be Kidding, Right? You’re Not?!? Oh…Great!, Vino has tested positive for homologous blood doping after winning Stage 13 of the Tour de France. No wonder Americans are turned off by pro-cycling, a once noble sport that clearly has its priorities out of whack when it comes to performance enhancing drugs. Europeans just need to learn how to look the other way or plead ignorance, a la Sargent Schultz from Hogan’s Heroes: “I see NOTHING! I know NOTHING!” You do not want to tarnish someone’s record, right?

Update: On the heels of Vinokourov’s exit are Moreni (for exogenous testosterone usage) and the malloit jaune Rasmussen (for lying about his whereabouts and missing doping control tests)! While I am glad to see dopers and cheats ejected from the sport, I do have concerns about the media leaks, rush to judgement and punishment that entire teams have to endure because of the actions of an individual.

Sheryl Crow thinks we can fight global warming by only using one square of toilet tissue per rest room visit (2-3 for those “pesky” occasions). I know whose hand I will not be shaking.

Did anyone catch the piece that aired on ABC’s Good Morning America yesterday (Gene Shopping: Parents Won’t Pass on Deadly Diseases with New Procedure)? For some parents the decision to test your embryos for diseases is difficult, but in the end they say it is the right thing to do for them and their families.

“I mean we go to church, you know. … We have family that, you know, was thinking that, that it was expensive,” Chad said. “I weighed the pros and cons of this and I couldn’t, I couldn’t pass that onto my daughter, knowingly.

“I have about an 80 to 85 percent chance of getting colon cancer. I get screened regularly. … I’m trying to combat it as best I can. I just want, like anybody does, I just wanted a healthy kid and not have to go through the worries that I go through.”

When confronted with the question of whether or not gene-shopping is ethical, many in the biotech industry respond with confindent assurance.

“I think there’s a big difference between choosing, selecting for eye color or height or athletic ability or appearance, and choosing for potentially, and in some cases, a certain lethal disease, like the genes for Huntington’s, for example,” Johnson said. “I think we’re capable, both professionally and societally, of making that distinction.”

“There’s a gray area in the middle where it’s going to be more difficult,” he continued. “But this kind of decision where you’re talking about preventing colon cancer, to me is very clear.”

I wrote a post last year (Biotechnology and the Church) in which I asserted that the church has dropped the ball on many of the bioethical issues that our society faces in the 21st century. We are no longer talking about aborting babies; we are simply talking about making better babies. There are many questions we need to ask ourselves in order to respond to the “ends justify the medical means mentality” of our culture.

The questions … raise[ed] for Christians are numerous. How does … [genetic testing of embryos] … relate to the Biblical vision of the New Heavens and New Earth and of the resurrected and glorified body? How does the biotech revolution relate to the vision of God to “restore all things to their rightful and more glorious place and function in Jesus Christ” and, derivitively, to the Commission of the Church? How does the biological/technological convergence/revolution relate to the call to “make disciples of Jesus Christ” (i.e. people whose lives conform more and more to the restored image of God’s perfections and righteousness in Jesus Christ)?

What do you think about the direction in which the biotech industry is moving, specifically with regard to gene-shopping? Are the issues black and white, or are there increasing shades of grey? How do you see your Biblical convictions shaping the debate on this and other social and cultural matters?

Like a lot of people I am shocked and saddened by yesterday’s mall shooting in Salt Lake City, UT. I cannot imagine what it would be like to find out that your loved one is not coming home from a simple shopping trip. Worse still, would be flipping through the story’s photos on Yahoo! and seeing your daughter, sister or mother lying dead on the ground.

Police officers examine a body on the floor Monday, Feb. 12, 2007, at Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City. #

A police officer stands nearby as a body of a woman lies on the floor Monday, Feb. 12, 2007, at Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City. #

A Salt Lake City Police officer squats with his gun drawn next to a body inside the Trolley Square Mall, Monday night, Feb 12, 2007, in Salt Lake City. #

Granted, photos of dead people regularly appear in news magazines (war torn Iraq and the Indian Ocean Tsunami come immediately to mind). However, I thought that in America there was an unwritten code that said we will pay our citizens a little more respect. I do not think laws are needed, but do you think this crosses the line of common decency? If so, what has caused the change?

The other day I came across a little stocking stuffer book that I received over Christmas. You know, one of those little square books with a lot of little one sentence quotes in it. I almost lost it between the shuffle of the holidays and the clutter of my office. As soon as I started leafing through it (for the first time) I was quite glad I had found it. Author Harry H. Harrison, Jr. begins Father to Son: Life Lessons on Raising a Boy with this quote.

Turning a boy into a man is a man’s job. Since the beginning of time, it’s been up to a father to make his son responsible. Kind. Courageous. Honorable.

A young boy doesn’t come with instructions. He just comes with boundless love and an adventurous spirit. But the journey to manhood begins very early . . . the first time he looks at his dad and thinks, “I want to be like him.”

Many times have I noticed how much my son wants to be just like me. Unfortunately, it is not always his father’s “good” behavior that is replicated. If you want to find out how sinful you really are, then just have kids!

Harrison continues his intro by citing the five key foundations for raising a son.

1. Be around.
2. Be his father, not his friend. If you don’t understand the difference, imagine his confusion when you must discipline him.
3. Be a good husband. Show his mom respect at all times.
4. Be home for dinner.
5. Be his hero.

While those functions and behaviors are so necessary for fathers to fulfill, they are also counter to our sinful selves. I am more likely to pour myself into my job, hobbies and other activities than I am to sacrifice my time for my family. I can be hesitant at times to discipline (at all) out of fear of rejection or being too harsh. My wife is the one person that I criticize the most. Realizing this is all very overwhelming, but comfort comes in knowing that our heavenly Father, by his grace and working of his Spirit, is continuing to mold and shape me into the family man that I need to be, after the mind and model of Jesus Christ.

Note: Sorry for posting this so late. I ran into some technical issues with the blog.