Friday, September 13, 2024

This is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.

What Kind of a Sad World Has a Plummeting Birth Rate Like Ours? (00:00)
The Tragedy of the Shrinking of Families Across the World

Is Lust Sin? How Should I Handle Sinful Thoughts? (8:48)
— Dr. Mohler Responds to a Letter from a 90-Year-Old Listener of The Briefing

When Do Souls Come to Be? If It Happens at Conception, What Happens If an Embryo Twins? (12:00)
— Dr. Mohler Responds to a Letter from a 15-Year-Old Listener of The Briefing

Is the Emerging Alliance Between Iran, Turkey and Russia a fulfillment of Ezekiel 38? If so, Is It Possible That Vladimir Putin is Actually Gog? (14:16)
— Dr. Mohler Responds to a Letter from a 14-Year-Old Listener of The Briefing

What is Your Favorite Biography of Winston Churchill? (16:48)
— Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters Listeners of The Briefing
- “Never give in”: What in the world are they saying about Winston Churchill? By WORLD Opinions (R. Albert Mohler, Jr.)
- Winston Churchill—History, Destiny, Biography: A Conversation with Andrew Roberts by Thinking in Public (R. Albert Mohler, Jr. and Andrew Roberts)

Should Students Be Required to Wear Uniforms? Does It Strip Students of Individuality and Creativity? (21:18)
— Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters Listeners of The Briefing

Follow Dr. Mohler:

[virginian]

Forget the tax credit. It takes a good income to owe over $6, 000 in federal taxes each year. Instead, a card for free diapers, good for two or three years can be given to a mother in the delivery room. Diapers are a considerable expense for new parents. Breastfeeding, hand-me-downs, and grandparents can help with the other baby expenses, as needed.

[gordoncrawley]

Well put answer on what would be best as far as dress in schools. The statement that school should be thought of as a special place was a very good point. If students looked at school in that way, I think it would be helpful toward them getting a better education, for that is the point of having schools. One thing I liked about the Army, was that I never had to think about how I would be dressing, it was always the same and one less thing to have to focus on. About students expressing themselves, there is way too much of that already, and it distracts from learning, which makes people forget what they are in school for. Charitable last sentence, Dr. Mohler, that in itself teaches me something.

[D]

Thank you, Dr. Mohler, for continuing to beat the birth rate drum. This has been a recognized issue for decades. While sad, generally, it is tragic within the church. Until pastors repent and then call their congregations to repent of their antinatalist worldview, repent of killing their babies via "the pill, " IUD, etc., repent of taking steps to inhibit God's blessing of children with vasectomies, "tube-tying, " etc. and repent of the general "no babies now, thanks" abominable worldview.... nothing will change. On a related note, the sad dispensational worldview/eschatology exemplified in the answer to the Iranian question is also part of the problem.

[amac]

Pointing out the falling birth rate with all the confusion now in politics over IVF etc. As a background will make many people pessimistic.

[kristiLB]

Oh wow! I'm so thrilled to see in the footnotes that one of your Churchill recommendations is "Never Give In". I'm wondering if it's the same as one entitled Never Give In The Extraordinary Character of Winston Churchill by Stephen Marshall? My 11 year old son is reading this as a part of his homeschool curriculum - and he is enjoying it!

[JosephAJester]

He is a driven person. And he uses the phrase "driven nuts."

They got that driving road rage.

And they get frustrated with a computer that isn't moving fast.

If they moved as slow as the computer and road, then they wouldn't be bothered. But things like to play with them, slowing up when they don't expect it, and speeding up when they're trying to take it slow, and even slowing down and not up sometimes.

[mrcmusic]

That makes me think of the movie children of man.

[aglover]

This is weird and counterproductive. Lots of people in my generation have declined to have children because they are, quite reasonably, pessimistic about the future. Trying to scare them about the horrors of a low-fertility future is likely to increase their pessimism and therefore to make it make it even less likely that they will decide to have children.

[russellhmccullough]

Turkey is Suni. Iran is Shia. No alliance possible.

[geraldlame]

In answer to a question about the soul and twinning, Mohler admits in this Briefing, that

“Exactly how souls come to be, well, the Bible just doesn’t tell us that.”

He could also have truly said – and more to the point of this question – the Bible doesn’t tell us exactly WHEN souls come to be, either.

So if the Bible doesn’t tell us how or when souls come to be, but to be a human person means to be ensouled, how can it be true that

“... the Bible does make very clear that the dignity and sanctity of human life, the personhood goes all the way back to the conception and fertilization that is at the beginning of this entire process.”

Let’s be very clear. Nowhere does the Bible say this. If it did, Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas could not have believed, as they did, that ensoulment takes place weeks after conception. After all, they read the Bible, didn’t they? What Mohler says is there, is not. His oft-repeated biblical-sounding verse, “God says ‘Let there be life’”, which he says occurs at fertilization, is his own invention.

Mohler and the pro-life movement confuse biological life with the soul. Aquinas believed that an embryo first had a vegetative soul, then a sensitive (animal) soul, and finally a rational soul from God after 40 days of development. He derived this from Aristotle, a profound philosopher and the first embryologist. (Read Aristotle’s De Anima, On the Soul.)

And this point of view is consistent with modern science, in that the life processes going on in a human embryo are shared by the entire plant and animal kingdoms. They do not define or constitute human personhood. They do not set us apart in any way. What distinguishes us most from other animals, and gives us the capacities thought to be shared with God that define a person, is our human brain, which begins to assume its final form only late in pregnancy.

[LindeeLove]

Doesn't Albert realize that a plummeting birthrate means fewer people ending up burning in hell for all eternity?

[JosephAJester]

You can not only go mad and start crying too much, you can also go mad and start laughing all day and night in a padded cell. So god made pain to stop you from becoming a laughing loon.

[MaxGoogle-odok]

Albert takes a very narrow view of declining birthrate. He forgets to argue there is a limit in resources that can sustain an ever growing human population. Therefore, I would argue a declining global birthrate is good for the human race. He is correct that declining birthrates are bad for nations. Why Russia is at war and why industry is leaving China are the most recent and known examples for low birth rate problems. Luckily, the USA has always solved this problem (which we are going to in the next 25 years). This is through immigration. Both the Biden and Trump administrations are solving this problem through open borders, even if both will not admit it. Does anyone think it was odd Trump never solved our open border even when he had the house, the senate and campaign on doing so? Like the Irish and Italians before these new immigrants, regardless if they are illegal, will be the workers that the childless cat ladies never had.