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A daily program powered by the Truth Network. This is kind of a great thing, and I'll tell you why. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host.
Who exactly decides when a human life becomes valuable? We want to hear your thoughts on this. eight six six three four truth. That's eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four. Who decides and when does a human life become valuable?
Welcome to Truth Talk Live. It's today's host for Truth Talk, Doctor Abbadon Shah. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis, and we're excited to continue the conversation with you guys today. Excited to engage in this conversation.
Hot topic. It's a hot topic, man, and things are. Happening in the news right now, of course, there was this report out of the Netherlands. We're going to talk about that in just a little bit. There are things happening right here in our own United States.
There are states that are lobbying against the Supreme Court over these shield laws. If you don't know what a shield law is, basically, it's this law where if someone, a doctor in New York City, offers abortion pills or something like that to a patient over in Louisiana and ships it over, well, Louisiana has the right to pursue that doctor legally because abortion is restricted in Louisiana.
Well. Right now, there's a big Supreme Court thing going on where states are actually lobbying against that.
So we're going to be talking about that a little bit today. But we're going to introduce today's Truth Talk host, Dr. Abadan Shah. Dr. Shah, all of this stuff we can talk politics, we can talk laws, we can talk jurisdiction.
But at the end of the day, we are talking about God and His vision for human life. Oh, absolutely! Is because we are fearfully and wonderfully made by a Creator who loves us and has created every single individual. Whether it's a baby, whether it's an unborn, unborn child, they are fearfully and wonderfully made, and human beings have no right to say what is life and what's not. And that's what we're dealing with here.
That's right. It's when human beings are pretending to play God. Yeah, they can't, but they are doing that, and it's all done in the name of compassion. I mean, who would have thought compassion that we are being compassionate by taking life? You know, we often hear this this mantra now.
It's not the the quantity of life, but the quality of life. That's right. So we want to make sure the quality of life is good. And if if that person feels like that they need to end their life because their quality is not good, well, you know, that's what we have to do. And and what we're seeing is is simply an evidence of where our culture has come, walking away from God.
It can be difficult sometimes when we're sitting. In church circles, or we're sitting in you know our our Christian bubbles to think that these are real issues that are happening in the world right now. I mean, we hear some of these things and they just sound preposterous, right? Like, of course you can't decide when your life is over. Of course you can't decide when life begins and what life isn't, but.
This these are very real issues that are happening. This isn't hypothetical. This isn't some you know ethereal concept that doesn't exist in the world. These are very real issues that are that are under investigation, and I mean they're up for legal decision now. I think one of the biggest attacks of the enemy and one of his tricks is is he's never going to say no no no no human life isn't valuable.
It means nothing. He's going to take something that everybody agrees on and he's going to twist it. And so I think a lot of times, Doctor Shaw, maybe you can talk about this too. What ends up happening is people twist the conversation. This isn't really when we talk about abortion specifically.
This is not really a conversation about is this alive or is this not alive. It's about my rights. Do I not have the right to my own body? And in a vacuum, you'd say, of course you do, but. It affects somebody else.
No, no, no. That doesn't matter, right? At one time, it was, you know, it's simply a biochemical process. Abortion is simply a biochemical process.
Now it's it's just my right, right, to my body. And now it's come back to, well, yes, it is your right, and yes, it is biochemical process. But how about the quality of life?
So, I mean, all those things are simply saying that. God does not have the copyright on life. That's right. God is the one, and that's what we're doing here as believers. You know, when you go to the polls, we're not here to tell you vote this party and or vote that party.
We're saying vote biblical values because not only does my life and my future depend on that, but the future of our American civilization depends on it. Our American culture depends on it. Because if we stop valuing the life of the helpless ones, then it is pretty much done for us as a culture. Talk a little bit about what that trajectory could look like, Doctor Shaw. Because there may be some people who are listening that think, "Well, I disagree with it," but you know, people are going to do what they want to do.
They have the freedom to make their choices. It doesn't really impact me directly. What is the what is the conclusion? What are the logical track for that kind of thinking? I mean, we are called to be the salt and the light of the world.
So, if we do not stand for those values, if we don't speak out for those values, then the salt has lost its flavor, and the world becomes dark.
So, we have to. If if you are troubled by where our world is headed. Just light a candle where you are. You be that light. You be that person in that backyard barbecue, or or that cookout, or you know somebody's birthday party, or somewhere where you're sitting and just having a conversation, and somebody brings up something that devalues life.
You speak out. You can do it with grace. You can do it with kindness. But speak out and say something like, you know, it's heartbreaking because that child needed care and love, and our culture has gone from being, yes, that person is hurting. It's our job to help them be as comfortable as possible.
That's right. Our job is to do everything possible to make their Their life as easy as possible to show them love. Not we can end that life. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's let's do the most compassionate thing.
Like it's some animal. I like the way that you framed it earlier. That where you said we're acting as though God doesn't have the copyright on life. Because I think, and I'm I'm really convinced of this, and and I think you guys agree with me. I think a lot of people listening would agree with me.
Is that I think what people on the left like to do is they like to mask their their Quest for power under compassion, just like you said earlier, where truth is not the ultimate. Objective. It's this pseudo kindness, which really is building things on power. I think a lot of it is, and and maybe you can kind of talk to this. I know we're going to cut to a break here in a couple of minutes, but a lot of it is saying that he is no longer the judge.
I'm the judge. Oh yeah, I decide not only when I live and what to do with my life, but what to do with somebody else's life. Yeah, and that's been coming for a long time. I mean, that began right in the beginning of time. You know, when human beings felt like this is my life, and I will do what I want to do with.
And if if your life gets in the way, I'll take your life. Yeah.
So Cain killed Abel. I mean, think about that: killing someone, taking their life, is not some easy thing to do. That's right. But if you lose that sense of conscience, if you lose that sense of compassion, if you lose The understanding that life does not belong to me; it belongs to God. And Western culture right now, hopefully, is coming back to God.
But but because of evolution, because of this this anti biblical bias, we are getting further and further away from this. This mindset. I was going to ask you what some of the contributing factors were to that devaluing of life in in Western culture. Do you see that in Eastern cultures? Do you see that the world over is that an exclusively Western problem?
Well, it's Eastern as well. It's Eastern as well, but in East, it's all masked under. Oh no, we love everybody. Oh no, we value each other. But when you see human depravity on the streets of these third world countries, where people will make a wide circle around people who are in absolute misery.
I mean, they're they're in pain, bleeding, but people will walk around them all in the name of you know I don't want I don't want I don't want that on me.
Well, yeah, same thing. It's the world over, East West. Human life is valued only by those who truly. Fear God. Yeah, I know we're going to take a break here in a second, but when we come back, I want to start looking at some scripture because I love the way that we build this issue on God, right?
Because as as we've been talking about on the Clear View Today show, we're getting to know God, we are understanding His love, we're understanding His grace, His eternality, His immutability, all of these different things. But now we're looking at things that start to really, really affect us. And so as we're going forward, I want to look at some some of the scripture that we're going to talk about, Doctor Shaw. I want you to talk. About how maybe this has impacted your life and your ministry, but we also want to hear from you guys.
What what does what makes a human life valuable? Is it is it nothing but God's word? Is it something else? Is it something that maybe you've heard growing up? We want to hear from you.
eight six six three four truth. That's eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four. And as we're doing this, I really want to hear from you guys as you're calling in with your stories or your principles or whatever it may be. You know, you said something very interesting there, John. Is that it?
Begins with our view of God. It begins with our understanding of who God is. We're going to talk more about that after the break. Yeah, absolutely. Truth talk live.
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dot org. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. We're glad you're joining us today. We're here in studio with today's Truth Talk host, Dr. Abbadon Shah.
Before we get back into the conversation, do want to thank one of our sponsors, and that is Le Blue Ultra Pure Water. This is exactly what we drink right here on the Clear View Today Show, Truth Talk Live. Thank you for sponsoring this video. You know they they deliver to your office. They've got great water.
They got coffee. They got tea, and so we just want to thank you for sponsoring this episode. You know, Dr. Shaw, we're talking about some important stuff today. This is really a heavy topic, right?
Because it is not just abortion; it is also euthanasia. It is also this idea of of people taking people. A different way when they're suffering, and so we're taking something that God has said is mine—the authorship of life is mine. We're saying yes, but in certain circumstances, we're going to make—we need to intervene. We need to step in.
Yeah.
Well, so if you go back to the definition of the sanctity of human life—that's what we're referring to here—we believe that all human life is sacred, and I'm taking it from systematic theologians: all human life is sacred and created by God in His image. What makes Makes humanity or human life distinct from, say, animal life, is that we are his creations that are made in his image, in the image of his son Jesus. Human life is of inestimable worth in all its dimensions, including preborn babies, the aged. The physically or or mentally challenged, and every other stage or condition from conception through natural death. All of it is sanctified by God.
Okay, we are therefore called to defend, protect, and value all human life.
So, again. All of that is coming from Scripture, and one of the major portions of Scripture that is often invoked is Psalm one thirty nine. Yeah, I think that's a big one too because it shows the intimate relationship that God has with His creation. You know, we think that God is some king just sitting up on the clouds, and these are my little puppets, and I make them dance and I take them away when I'm ready. But I think Psalm one thirty nine shows how much.
God loves us and deeply, deeply loves us. Yeah, there's a there's a beauty, there's a poetry to how it describes being fashioned by God. How how it describes being fearfully and wonderfully made. I love the part in verse 14 that says, "I'll praise you for I'm fearfully wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works, and my soul knows that very well." That's right.
There's an intimacy between God and His creation on an individual level, and I think a lot of times what we do is we want to we want that intimacy for ourselves. Where and I think you were right, Doug. There's something that has to break inside of you to take a human life, but it comes at this. It comes with this sort of dark, twisted reward of I have power. You know what I mean?
And maybe it's not a conscious thought, but there is something that's like I did that. I did that. Does that make sense? I think a lot of people who who go down that path. Maybe it's not something they think right in their minds, but it's something that happens to you when you take a life.
I think that's why a lot of people, even people who take a life and they don't want to, it messes with them. You know, there's something that changes inside of you.
Well, in a distorted way, that's what Frank Sinatra was singing. I did it my way means I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my own destiny. I will decide how this life will end, and if I feel like life is Meaningless, or if I feel like my pain is too much to bear, if I feel like I have nothing left to live for, then I am going to step out of this life. On my own terms.
That's what they're saying. And so, right now, we are dealing with a massive issue that is growing. It's already happened in Denmark, as you know. Canada already has this, and it's coming. Several states in in in America have already legalized this.
It's coming, and it's not a good thing. Yeah, where human beings are saying, for compassion reasons. I mean, that's the new twist in this debate.
Okay. Previously was my right, my body, my life, my right. You know those kind of things. But now it has the twist, which is, hey, listen, the most compassionate things, the most. What's what's the word we use?
You know, compassionate, merciful, merciful, like the kind thing, kind thing to do. Yeah, a lot of these adjectives here would be to just end that life. Humane thing is what I was looking to say. Yeah, the most humane option. Gosh, that makes it sound like an animal.
Yeah, well, it does. And I think there is there is a removing of this this sovereignty of the individual for that to have to happen. You know, there was this case in in the Netherlands that we kind of talked about at the at the beginning where this actually happened at the end of twenty twenty five, but. They just confirmed it here in these past couple of days, actually, where this was a two month this was a two month old child. I'm sorry, 24 month old child, like two years old, and this child was struggling.
It was suffering with a bunch of afflictions, and instead of letting that child live, they said, "You know what? We want him to make sure he's going to live a good, or if he's not going to live a good life, we don't want him to live." Yeah, we want we want to do the kind thing, and and I can imagine, and I can imagine that wasn't that was a how do you want to say it. That was not a decision easily arrived at, but it's the wrong decision. Right, it's certainly the wrong. Right, we're going to chat more about that.
We've got a caller on the line, David from North Carolina. David, how are you today? Hey, David, how are you?
Well, how are you all? Yeah, doing well, doing very well. We're talking today about the sanctity of human life. Let's take a quick break. Hey guys, John here with the Clearview Today show, and I want to just take a second and talk to you about today's sponsor, WatchSafe.
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Now let's get into the show. Yes, I've been listening, and I am very curious because I know that up in Canada and other parts of the world, they've been talking about really pushing this euthanasia or you know doctor-assisted suicide. And I'm just curious, you know how how do we get to this point in culture where I heard Doctor Shah say that. A lot of the times, I talk about is the quality of life, not the quantity of life. But you know, at what point does a culture begin to accept these ideals of you know, as long as you're the one calling the shots, you can end your life when you want.
And that just kind of doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Yeah, thank you, David, for calling. Here's the thing: you know, throughout history, we've heard of the Hippocratic Oath. This is the oath that's coming from the Greek world that was taken to preserve life, to fight for life, to do whatever they can to help a patient. From suffering and and to give them healing and wholeness or whatever, they have twisted that now to say that yes, we're still doing the Hippocratic Oath in helping with suffering by helping them die.
Right. It's it's it's all about so it's so twisted, yeah, just warped and and almost perverted thinking that's just so messed up, so far from what the the goal should be. Yeah, earlier what John said, you know, it's it's twisting twisting this this narrative, and they have twisted this by saying, "That's right, you're right. We are doing the Hippocratic Oath by." Ending suffering. Oh yeah, yeah.
Everything is going to be. Everything is going to be framed as this is the just. This is the compassionate thing to do. Very, very rarely I've come to see in in my life, and and Doctor, I know you would agree with this too. Very rarely does evil just present itself.
Hey guys, I'm evil. I want to take human life because I don't value God's copyright. No, it's not going to be like it's like no, no. You guys are the you guys are the ones. Yeah, it's not like the the old movies where you look out for the black hat.
Right. Yeah.
So because because what what they'll say is like well so wait.
So you would just keep them suffering, just keep them suffering in the hospital bed for another ten, twenty years, and for the rest of their life. And it's so funny because so many people have told us these miracle stories of healing and of how these these these people who were given their right to life went on to prosper. Yes, right. We have some callers waiting for us. Samantha from Anderson.
Hey, Samantha. Hello. You're on the you're on Truth Talk Live. How are you, Samantha? Hi, good.
How are you doing?
Well, Samantha, how are you doing? We're talking about the sanctity of life today. Who, Samantha, want to ask you? Who owns the copyright on life? God does.
Amen. Amen. Amen. What do you think about what's going on in the world today? I think that there is a lot of sin, and there is a lot of corruption, and we all really need to be turning back to God.
Amen, amen. Absolutely, Doctor Shah. Do we see evidence of that of a turning back to God, or do you think we still have a long way to go? I think there are people who are waking up and realizing that even those who are not part of. The church culture, or Christianity, or biblical truth—you know—I'm presenting it in different ways—are also realizing that if we keep killing ourselves, or if we go down this path, today it is.
Oh, I want to end your suffering.
Okay, all right, wrong, but okay, I I can sort of understand why you would say that with this whole quality of life thing. But down the road, it will become. It's not just because of quality of life.
Now it's going to be mandated. That's right. That's right. We're going to talk more about that after this break on the Street Talk Live Show. That's right, Samantha.
Thank you for calling. We're going to go to a quick break. We'll be right back. What would you say if you were on trial for your testimony for Christ? This is Truth Commentary with Stu Emerson, author and host of Truth Talk Live.
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To access the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress, go to ptv.org. Hey, what's going on? Welcome to Truth Talk. My name's John.
My name's Ryan, and we are here in the studio live today with today's Truth Talk host, Dr. Abbadan Shah. You know, Dr. Shah, we've been talking a lot about the sanctity of human life. There's a lot of things going on out in the world today.
There's a lot of Supreme Court cases right now. In fact, as we as we speak, there's something going on where states are lobbying against the Supreme Court. There was that report that we talked about on the show yesterday, actually. Out of the Netherlands, but under all that is a simple copyright claim to human life. Yeah, and it all goes back to Psalm one thirty nine.
We mentioned that up top or in our previous hour, and I want to mention read that Psalm for us, if that's okay. I think we have a caller waiting for us patiently. But Psalm one thirty nine verse thirteen says, "For you formed my inward parts." You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skilfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in your book, they all were written the days fashioned for me when, as yet, there were none of them. There are several conclusions I want to quickly bring up here. Number one, God holds the copyright to every single life.
Amen. We already discussed that God makes every life intricately and lovingly. Every life, God's marvelous work should cause us to praise Him. God supervises the entire developmental process of every life. God' marvelous God's marvelous work in bringing life can never be fully understood.
Now we can figure out the human anatomy. We can understand diseases and do the best we can to bring some cure and healing to them. But no one truly knows how does this all truly work. How does that life come in? In that little body, little little being, how does that happen?
We don't understand. That's right. And God makes every child unique and beautiful, even if there are some disabilities. You might want to go ahead and say that again for the people in the back, because I don't want to write that down. Say it one more time in bold.
What's happening in our world today, especially in Europe and Canada, and headed this way, is that every life doesn't matter what the special needs are. Are beautiful. It's it's like if the Packaging at times is is broken or torn. Does not mean the package is is wasted. No, that package is precious.
All right, God records beforehand His providential acts for every life, even before birth. Amen. And I hope you will remember that that. Is coming straight from the Bible, Psalm one thirty nine. Amen.
We have a caller who's patiently waiting for us. That's right, Adam from North Carolina. Adam, how are you doing today? Hey, doing well. Good, good to hear from y'all.
Thank you for taking my call. Thanks for calling into Truth Talk. We're talking today about the sanctity of human life and how we navigate that in the world around us. What the response of believers ought to be. Let's take a quick break.
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Now let's jump in. Yeah, definitely. The question that I had was for either on social media when you see people talking about that, or even just in the workplace. What's the best way for a Christian who believes that? You know the life is is valuable and that God owns it.
God owns the copyright on life, just like what y'all were talking about. What is the best way for us to to argue in favor of that, in favor of that viewpoint, without giving up, you know, our stance as a Christian, or without coming across as not necessarily insensitive, but Without coming across abrasive or uncaring, that's a good question because I think a lot of us want want to stand up and speak out. But is that going to happen? Am I going to change someone's mind in a Facebook comment thread? What do you think?
Well, depends on who you're talking with. If it's talk, if you're talking with a person who is You know, you know, more Christianized, if I may say, then then definitely be be quick to bring up scripture. Talk about Psalm one thirty nine. Talk about how destructive this is. How it goes against God's plan for humanity.
To to take life is not right. That's right. Okay, do that. But in some situations, it may not be. You know, it's not possible to do that.
And so, how would you do it? My suggestion to you is stick to the. Gospel. That's right. Focus on how Jesus came to give His life for every single person, even that person, even that child in in Netherlands who who lost their life.
The life was taken away because of some decision that this is not good quality. Jesus died for that life. Amen. And had a plan for that life.
So come back to the gospel, especially in those situations where that person may not share you. Biblical values. That's right. Amen. Thank you for calling in, Adam.
Beth, over in Virginia, is calling today. Beth, we're talking about the sanctity of human life. How precious human life is. Oh, Beth, can you hear us? Beth from Virginia, calling, wants to talk about the topic.
Yeah.
Amen. Can you hear? Yes, I can. We can. Welcome to Truth Talk.
Thanks for calling in. What's your What's your question about the topic today, Beth?
Well, I I have more of a statement. I really enjoyed listening to you all today, and I am a teacher, a high school teacher, and one of the classes that I teach is a parenting class, and it it's always. I guess a little alarming, but very interesting to me when we talk about conception and when fertilization takes place, and how rapidly or how soon after that fertilization takes place that the brain system begins to develop, the heartbeat happens, and and the students in class, it's like wow, so that's a human, and I am like absolutely, it is, and so many times just to. Allow them to have a mental representation or something concrete to think about. You know, I I will sometimes use the analogy that here we are inside of this classroom, we're we're people in here, and just because we go on the other side of the door, that doesn't make us any less.
And you know, I I think that really helps them to to understand and open their eyes a little bit that. You know, it's we're we're still human even prior to birth, but then we we do get that it never fails. We always get on the topic of abortion and just how. In even in difficult situations like you guys have talked about today, where you know maybe there are some birth defects or you know situations that are are dangerous for the mother, or those type of questions that that I get asked, and I my personal belief is that nothing comes to us that hasn't passed through God's hands yet, and and I just feel like. You know who are we to decide anything about you know life?
God created us, and and that is His judgment. That's right. But I was just kind of wondering how maybe. Be, I could approach some of those difficult questions in a public school setting. That's a great question.
Great question. Yeah, I think you've done a great job there, Beth, and in giving that illustration of if I step out of the room, do I stop being a human? And of course, no. I think. When given an opportunity, because I was a public school teacher as well, as as long as those questions are coming from the students, you have every right to then give your your views because they have initiated the conversation.
So I would say, you know, as they initiate the conversation, feel free to share from personal experiences, or if you don't have those personal experiences, maybe life stories of people who survived. If You know, they could have been aborted. Imagine where we, our world, would be today. You know, think about musicians like Bach and Beethoven, or someone who found a cure for some debilitating disease. Imagine where our life would be today.
That's right. So, giving illustrations like that truly help those young minds to go, huh? It could have been you. That's right. Could have been you.
Imagine if that would have happened to you. You know, and I think that's what you are doing, and and that's wonderful. Giving illustrations just like Jesus did. Helps young minds understand. Oh, instead of going with scripture or let me explain to you the statistics, they're not ready for that.
But illustrations—they speak louder than words. I think that goes a long way in helping people too, because it goes against the propaganda that we're being fed. You know, for a while it was just, oh, that's not a human life. Oh, that's a couple of cells. But as we talked about today, you know, the rhetoric now is like this is the most humane thing to do.
This is the most loving thing. Is the most merciful thing that we can do. And so, exposing them to no, this is really what it looks like. This is really what a human is. This is really when what happens at conception can go a long way in combating that.
That's right. And Beth, we want to thank you so much for calling in. We're about to take a break here in about three minutes, but I want to talk to Jamal over in Winston Salem. Jamal, you've been waiting patiently, my friend. How are you doing, sir?
I'm doing fine, guys. I'm sure you all doing well. This is a topic that I think we all can get behind. Sir, you got the three minutes, so I'll try to rattle off a few bullet points. Yes, the state of life in the womb.
Science and the Bible agree on that. When the DNA of both parents come together, science and the Bible says there's a new life in that womb. And also, what you do to the least of these, you're doing to me.
So, if we can't protect the least of these, I don't have a voice. What kind of society do we have? Also, you can say about any kind of life out there, any demographic you're talking about: the poor, the homeless, the people who are being persecuted, people being shot over there in Iran. How much do you really value life anywhere, or do you are are you selective with the kind of life that you want to protect? I had a friend of mine who I'll not name.
I mentioned about how bad it was. I told him Kurt got shot. His response was immediately after I said that he said, "Oh, well, he was kind of a bad guy." I said, "Oh, so depending upon your moral standing, means you have a right to live or not." So, wow. And he later cleaned it up a little bit, but. But without God, not in this point with this, and I'll take my answer off here.
I love appreciate you guys. My question is: without God in the picture, how do we value human life? Take care, and God bless. Great question. Thank you.
That is a great question. If there is, if we if we take God completely out, what is the standard? Where does the morality come from? Absolutely. I mean, you know.
It's it's. I appreciate Jamal. I mean, his his insight is always very enlightening and very helpful. Yeah, you take God out of the picture very quickly. Life does become meaningless.
Yeah, yeah. Do you think the reason we're in this mess is because we, as a as a nation, we have tried to take God out of the picture? Yes, yes. And now nobody can nobody can agree on what life even is, especially in the Western civilization. When you remove God out of the picture, that's when not only life becomes meaningless, but also democracy becomes meaningless.
Laws become meaningless. Everything becomes meaningless. Let me explain this way. Let's talk about democracy for a moment. It seems like we're deviating from the subject, but we're not.
I forgot the exact name of this author, but we'll come back to that. Yeah, we're going to talk to it after the break. Yes. Yeah.
So thanks.
So listen, we want you guys to keep calling in eight six six three four truth eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four. Tell us your thoughts on this topic. We're going to be back in just a minute. Parents, tired of conversations that go nowhere? How was your day?
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Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. We're here in the studio with our host, Dr. Abbadan Shah. Before we get into it, I do want to say another thanks to our sponsor, Le Blue Ultra Pure Water. Thank you so much for joining this video or for sponsoring this today's episode.
You can find all of that in the description below. That's right. It's a it's a been a great conversation. We've had lots of people calling in, talking about the sanctity of human life, Dr. Shah, talking about who owns the copyright to life, and of course, that's God.
Yeah, right. Before our break, Jamal, a good friend, good friend of our our show and Truth Network, he made a comment about how walking away from God or turning away from God is is resulting in the devaluing of human life, and that is hundred percent true. Not just devaluing of human life, but also democracy. Yeah, you know Robert Schuman. I was trying to mention his quote, and it took me a second to find it.
He made a a famous quote. This is going back in the fifties. He said, "Democracy." Will be Christian, or it won't be. Wow, that's a great.
Well, I like that. Yeah, it will be Christian. What do I mean by Christian? Means it will have a a belief in God, in a God who comes down to save us, or it won't be hard to believe. That's not on a T-shirt right now.
Yeah, should we go ahead and patent that? Write that down. Write that down. So also laws, laws will be sensible, or they will go out of control in a godless society. It's not like there are no laws.
You have laws for everything and anything. That's right. So, also, when it comes to life, what I'm trying to say here is that you remove God from our foundation, from a culture, from a civilization. Not only human life loses value. But democracy goes out the window, and laws become meaningless.
I mean, I can go on on that list. More things will happen, but nothing will make sense. Absolutely, you know. God has looked at every single human life, every adult, every child. Doesn't matter if there's any disabilities.
Doesn't matter how able-bodied or able-minded. God has said that child, that life is precious to me, and I want to take a caller right now, Caroline, over in Henderson, North Carolina. Caroline, we've been talking a lot today about the sanctity. Of human life. Yeah, I just wanted to hop on and kind of express my feelings.
I have the privilege of working with children and individuals who have been impacted by special needs and disability. Wow, a lot of these individuals are kind of set up to have a harder experience with. Without, with well, throughout their life, due to societal expectations and norms, and the way that the world operates isn't very inclusive or accessible. And a lot of this starts within the womb with selective abortion. We see when moms go in for for ultrasounds when when they show that a child is.
Is set to have Down syndrome. The majority of those pregnancies within the United States are going to end in an abortion. And in Eastern European countries like Iceland, they've completely eradicated their Down syndrome population. Wow! Because a lot of people think that a quality of life is determined by how easy their life is going to be, but we know that that's that's not true.
Our quality of life is determined by us bearing the Imago Dei and by bearing God's image. That's right. And we see this that Jesus's heart towards. Everyone, especially towards people who were impacted by disability and special needs, we see this in Luke 14, which is one of my favorite passages throughout the Bible. And it's the parable of the great banquet.
When this person is throwing the banquet, Jesus says, "If the rich people aren't going to come, you know what? Let's invite the poor. Let's invite the blind. Let's invite the crippled." Jesus doesn't have this perception that. Quality of life is determined by how easy it is for you, but Jesus is is saying that you know my heart is for everyone, no matter what what's going on in their life or or if they are impacted by special needs or disability.
Yeah, I ask my question. Go ahead for you guys is like how. My question is, you know, how as a church can we better be an advocate for this community, or how can we equip those who aren't familiar or don't have a loved one or a friend in the in the disabled community? How can we better be an advocate or a safe place for these people? Yeah, I think that's so great, and I think it goes back to to what Doctor Shaw was talking about earlier.
You know, God makes every child unique and beautiful, even if there are disabilities. You know, sometimes maybe because of sin, because we live in a fallen world where things don't always pan out the way that we think they should. The packaging can be can be damaged, but that doesn't mean the package itself is less valuable. And you know, I think the work that you do, Caroline, with the with with children and individuals with special needs is so important. I think that churches need to enter into that conversation.
Yeah, absolutely. And and you know, be able to resource families and and kids who are impacted by special needs. And maybe you don't have the personnel to do that in your ministry or in your setting. Enter into the conversation. Come alongside those families.
Figure out how you can support them and resource them. You know, to be To have access to the gospel in whatever capacity they can understand. That's right. I think also exposure. You know, Caroline.
I think what you do is is remarkable. And I think there's just like Ryan said, there's not enough churches who even think in that way. Yeah.
Until until it's on your doorstep.
So I think exposure is a is a big thing that you know. The more that we expose ourselves to these issues, to this reality that these children are here, they exist, they are loved, they are valuable. I think there's a lot more understanding. I know I personally, you know, I didn't have much experience. With people who had special needs or were disabled in any way, until my church started taking this seriously, and I think it's helped me grow to appreciate the the I guess the fact that not only that these children exist, but man, that they deserve the same not not even the same quality of life.
How do you want to say it? That they are loved, they are valued. And and the experience for them is just as valid. You know, it's not. I think a lot of churches find somewhere to put these to put these kids, yeah.
So that we can do our church, and that's just not the way that that it's it's meant to be at all.
So I want to say I really value and appreciate your work, Caroline, and thank you for calling. We got just a couple of minutes left in the show. I want to get to Glenda over in Ohio. Glenda, thank you for calling. We're talking about the sanctity of human life today.
We've been having a great conversation. What can we talk to you about? Yeah.
First of all, thank you for your show. I think it's a very valuable show. Yes, ma'am. Thank you for calling. And second of all, yeah, I am a retired physician in Ohio, and I was a chronic pain management physician.
And back in the 1990s, when Dr. Kavorkian was getting so much press in the news, we actually there was a national discussion slash debate. Between the American Medical Association and the American Pain Society, about you know where do we stand as a medical community regarding physician-assisted suicide? And at that time, there was a very high concern, especially expressed by the American Medical Association, that number one, it would you know it it does. Challenges the healer mandate is inconsistent with the physician's role as a healer.
Number two, it causes a slippery slope, and it is a societal risk because then you do put, like you said before, put vulnerable populations at risk. And the palliative alternative, and I think at that time there was a lot of debate about use of opioids for chronic pain and what we. Saw back then was that the main people that were asking in the 90s, the main people that were asking for physicians who assisted suicide, were those who either had terminal conditions, cancer, horrible pain, couldn't control it, but physicians were afraid to give them enough opioids because of all the regulatory issues going on. And at that time, some lobbying was done and. And some of the states became a little bit more lenient in allowing opioids for chronic pain manage, but but then again, you know, you've got a double edged sword that you know you're going to have the abusers come in and and massively.
And of course, we talk about you know look where the opioid epidemic is today. But what I've seen and is is with hospice, it sneaks in in subtle ways, and it's more. A much more prevalent in this country than I think a lot of people realize. Yeah, just because you know it's not getting press in the news, but hospice. Both of my parents passed away in the last two years, and my mother, I I went to bat with the hospice people because she had gotten to a point where she needed hospice care.
But I said, look, you know I'm a physician. I I know. What you know, I know what I'm talking about here, and you know I know that the tendency is to get people in and out of hospice quickly. They're using pain medication, opioids, because it is a terminal condition, so they don't have to worry about the regulatory issues as much as the general public, and so they will end up even counseling patients in hospice and the families. Saying, look, you know, we will, you know, our goal is to keep you comfortable, and it goes back to what you were saying about masking this as as something that's humane, something that's.
That's right. You know, I think I think Dr. Shaw had the right of it earlier. Where, yeah, absolutely. I think Dr.
Shaw had the right of it earlier. Where what we've done is we've we've removed the standard, right? The standard is God, and so once you remove that, well, you can't be standardless. You have to replace it with another standard. The problem is none of us can agree on what this standard is.
Is this a life? Is this not a life?
Okay, well, even if it's a life, is it a life worth living? Who decides?
Well, I think it should be up to the mother to decide.
Well, no, I think it should be up to the doctor to decide. And so because the Standard got removed.
Now none of us can agree, and now there is all this fighting. When really the answer is very simple: God holds the copyright on life. It's not up to any human to decide when a life is valuable. I think we have to be careful about the talk of comfort as well, because you know, certainly we wouldn't want people to sit there and be in pain. Certainly, we would never say that that's a good thing.
However, you know, it takes me back to stories in the Bible where God was working in the midst of pain. God was God was present in the midst of suffering, and you know, suffering. Suffering is not a is not a goal. I don't want to glorify suffering, but at the same time, you know we we got to remember that the life and death card is God's alone to play. It it's His alone.
He is the copyright to life. He has He alone can number our days, and we should be we should be hesitant to to enter into that realm. We should be hesitant to enter into any kind of talks about you know things that are going to speed up or slow down that process. The goal, yeah, the goal of life is never to minimize suffering. In fact, Jesus does His His his best and I think most fruitful work in our suffering.
Now, of course, that's not giving me the right to say, you know, I'm just going to make sure that people suffer and there's no chance of comfort or no anything. But what we're saying is that we don't have the copyright on life. We don't have the authority to take life to judge life. None of that. It only belongs to Jesus.
Hey, listen, Glenda, I want to thank you so much for calling in today. I want to thank you guys for listening. Thank you to Dr. Shaw for coming in and hosting Truth Talk Live today. Here's what we want to do.
We want to make sure that you guys connect with us over on the Clearview Today Show because we're going to continue this discussion tomorrow. You can text us at two five two four two nine six zero six nine. That's two five two four two nine six zero six nine. We want to thank you for listening to Truth Talk. Thank you to La Blue Ultra Pure Water for sponsoring this episode, and we'll see you next time.
