TNG 3 Areas that Define Your Life

Best-selling author, speaker, and advocate for Christian apologetics, Dr. Alex McFarland.

Best-selling author and apologist, Dylan Burrows. Together, bringing you truth. For a new generation, this is TNG Radio.

Certainly one of the pivotal issues of our day, socially, politically, definitely spiritually, is the issue of human life and the issue of abortion. That's what we're going to be talking about on today's edition of TNG Radio. We're going to talk about when does personhood begin. And Alex McFarland here with Dylan Burrows. So glad to be with you, Dylan.

And isn't it a blessing that the Word of God is very clear on the issue of life, the sanctity of human life, but not only Scripture is on our side related to this issue, but modern science as well? Well, certainly, Alex. And you recently had the opportunity to speak to an audience about this issue of when does personhood begin. I want you to start by sharing a little bit about that experience. What was it like?

What happened there? It's an interesting story I think our audience needs to hear. Well, it was a privilege to be at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, to be at the medical school in front of medical professors and medical students that are pursuing a variety of different types of degrees in the medical field. And I was asked to speak about when does personhood begin. And we talked about what it means to be a human being and the DNA and the attributes of life that are present at the moment of conception. But instantly during the Q&A period, Dylan, the subject got to abortion. And it's amazing to me how many young people, although we're going to give an encouraging statistic about the rise of pro-life sentiment among young people, but among some young people and even not so young, there's this belief, I believe wrongly, that abortion is a civil right. Abortion somehow helps society and is some panacea to liberate people. And in fact, one medical professional there said that her goal in life, we really had a debate, her goal though was to perform as many abortions as she could during the course of her medical career.

So I want to talk about this today because it is an issue and it's an issue that I think the church and especially young people need to be informed on. And to really talk about this, there are some scriptures we could invoke, but I want to go more toward the scientific and the political sides of things because this country was based on belief in what is called moral law or moral truth. And our rights, the founding fathers understood that our rights and certainly the right to life is the most fundamental of these. Even Bill Clinton, when he was president, although his political party is very much known for being pro-abortion, but Bill Clinton, when he was president back in the 90s, said that the most fundamental basic constitutionally protected right is the right to life. And John F. Kennedy in his inauguration, January 20th, 1961, JFK said the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God. And so we need to understand that our founding fathers did not believe that the government could create artificial rights, but that our rights, our fundamental immutable rights, in other words, rights that can't be taken away, at least they can't be taken away legitimately, come from God.

Now let's give a little history and then I want to talk about the science behind our understanding of personhood. There are the enumerated rights spelled out by the Constitution, life and liberty and free speech. But then there are what scholars call the penumbra of rights that are maybe not explicitly spelled out, but are inferred. For instance, the Constitution doesn't say that, you know, you have the right to defend your computer from getting hacked. But the principle is that you have the right to personal property ownership and you have the right to self-defense. And the Constitution doesn't have to spell out all the hypothetical scenarios that might come along as time goes by. But the basic rights of self-defense or the right to free assembly, the basic natural rights that all legal and spiritual thinkers of the Western world have spelled out for 2000 years, this is what the Constitution explicitly defends. Now, in 1973, what was unique about Roe that really has given us abortion on demand, that today, many who I think don't know what God says, and they really don't understand our Constitution, and they are perhaps unwilling to acknowledge what modern science has shown us, they have believed, the court asserted that within that penumbra of rights is the right to abortion because it's a matter of privacy. Dylan, this is for one human to terminate the life of another human. That's just not logical at all to say it's a privacy issue, because if it's a right within the privacy of one's home to terminate the life of an unborn baby, then by that logic, it would be appropriate and legal to terminate another human's life as long as it was done in private. And of course, we know that's ludicrous.

Right. And we fail to remember sometimes in these discussions that we're talking about the right to privacy for the woman who's the mother, but not the right of the child who has yet to be born. So it's a one-sided argument that leaves out the most vulnerable person in the situation. But we're not just talking about a policy, we're talking about something that's very personal. The Pulitzer awarded poet Gwendolyn Brooks, for example, said that abortions will not let you forget.

You remember the children you got that you did not get. And so many people I've talked to over the years who have faced abortion decisions or have experienced one in their past, it's one of those profound life-changing decisions that has shaken them from that point forward. It's not a simple medical procedure some would have you to believe. It's something much more important, much more personal.

But I like this idea. We want to talk about it here in this segment, but also later throughout our broadcast that abortion is not simply a religious issue. It is an issue concerning all humanity.

So speak to that a little bit, Alex, this idea that it's more than a religious issue. Yes, and I'm glad you quoted the Gwendolyn Brooks poem, because as a pastor and as a counselor, I will say that over the years, Angie and I have sat down and counseled with many, many people, not only women that have had abortions and have carried great remorse and feelings of guilt for decades, but men. Dylan, I've counseled many men who wept tears of sadness and pain in my office, because years ago they pressured a girlfriend or a wife to have an abortion. And the psychological scars left behind, the emotional pain is really immeasurable about the children that aren't there. But it is an issue that touches all of humanity. And one of the great things, and it's really kind of an untold story, are the amount of secularists, atheists, humanists that are now pro-life and are defending life and arguing for restrictions on abortion on demand. And I know we've got a break coming up.

I want to talk about that when we come back. If you're a Christian parent, you of course want to instill a biblical view of life in the hearts of your children. If you're a pastor, you want to offer ministry that draws young families to your church. This is Alex McFarland encouraging you to check out my new book and video curriculum, The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask About Christianity. Why do bad things happen? I interviewed hundreds of children, ages 5 to 12, and we address actual questions from actual children, the spiritual issues that are on the minds of your kids.

Did Jesus ever sin? The book and video lessons are great for groups of any size and was produced with the goal of equipping kids to stand strong for Christ in any situation. The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask, the book, study guide, and video series, you'll find it at AFASTORE.net.

That's AFASTORE.net. Christians don't necessarily agree with one another when it comes to questions of religious pluralism, homosexuality, the role of government, abortion, and war. Too often we manage these disagreements by ignoring them. Yet we're called to engage the world for the sake of Christ. How can we be effective if we avoid society's most pressing questions? In 10 Issues That Divide Christians, Alex McFarland challenges us to drill down to the biblical core of 10 current issues, such as social justice, evil and suffering, pornography and environmentalism, as he echoes the biblical invitation, come, let us reason together. Only by engaging the scriptures deeply, thinking clearly and speaking truthfully, can we and God's family address our differences and discover the peace that comes with unity of purpose. 10 Issues That Divide Christians.

Find this book and many others at alexmcfarland.com. We're back. This is Dylan Burrows with Alex McFarland on Truth for a New Generation. We've been talking about the pro-life issue today, and surprisingly, many do not know that millennials are turning against abortion on demand. Pro-life support is strongest among the 18 to 34-year-old age group, of which 57 percent are vocally pro-life, up from 50 percent just two years ago. We talk about this some in Alex McFarland's book, 10 Issues That Divide Christians. Alex, tell us a little bit more about the shift that's taking place among the next generation. Well, thanks.

I think it's in many ways due to science, and I want to talk about the amazing things that the scientific world has shown us that weren't known in 1973. But I also think it's this, Dylan. A lot is said about millennials and Gen Z and younger, but I will say this. They have a good compassionate heart, many of them. Now, they need to be led to Christ. They need a biblical worldview. And frankly, I think millennials and younger need to be instilled with a bit of patriotism and love for this country. But one thing in all of our interviews and surveys, they want family. They want family because so many of them haven't had family. And I think a lot of the empathy for the unborn and the pro-life sentiment is not just the stats related to science and the negative fallout of abortion, but I really think it's an ethic of life based on a desire for family.

Yeah, that's a good point. And so much of the science now is showing how developed the child is in the womb. Even at the earliest stage, if you were to look at some of the science now, even at 24 hours after fertilization, you see some of the division that's taking place. If you were to look at some of the scientific charts related to that now, just the earliest stages, even at the six-week mark, we have developed fetus.

It's way beyond what we ever knew in science 50 years ago. And now you're having children who are being born prematurely, in some instances that are under two pounds and even down to one pound at some times that are surviving. And yet in many cases, those children would be legally terminated under the laws that exist now that allow abortion on demand. So as the science comes out, and as we see more and more visual information that supports the pro-life position, I think the shift is changing among the next generation in a positive way.

Well, absolutely. You know, one of the questions about our government and our Constitution is that if individual rights, such as the right to life, exists, what is their source? Many would say that rights come through court decisions, enacted law, and that's a very dangerous thing because that really is a might makes right philosophy, that if we were able to pass the law, then that inherently must mean the law is right.

And I disagree with that. Our founding fathers and great thinkers like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. have pointed out that rights come from God. Harry Truman said that. JFK said that. Ronald Reagan said that. Brett Kavanaugh, who was just ratified and put on the Supreme Court, knows that and has said that. And we were unique in our founding because the premise of America was that the role of government was not to grant rights, but to guard the rights inherently possessed by all people, conferred on us by our maker. And the most basic of these is the right to life. Now, rights and freedoms can be infringed upon or protected, but no government can legitimately take away human rights. That's why when the founding fathers, they launched the American Revolution and they said, appealing to God for the rectitude of our intentions. In other words, they were saying, look, if we're in the wrong, we're willing to answer to God for it because they believed that the rights of human beings, our worth, our value, our dignity, our liberties were worth defending because they were gifts from God.

Now, oddly enough, folks, here's a bombshell perhaps. One of the big atheists of the last 20 years was Christopher Hitchens. He lived 1949 to 2011. It was my privilege to get to know Christopher Hitchens a little bit because twice I interviewed him, we debated.

I moderated a debate for him and Angie and I took him to dinner. I'm sorry he was an atheist and I don't know whatever his spiritual condition was at the time of his death. The last communication I had with Christopher Hitchens was via email about two weeks before he died, but he was asked in January of 2008 if he was opposed to abortion and was a member of the pro-life movement because it was almost a given that if you're an atheist, you don't believe in morality and you've got a fairly libertine view of behavior and it's almost axiomatic that pro-abortionism and atheism go hand in hand. But let me quote the late Christopher Hitchens. He said, quote, I've had a lot of quarrels with some of my fellow materialists and secularists on this point, but I think that if the concept child means anything, the concept unborn child can be said to mean something, says Hitchens. All the discoveries of embryology and viability, which have been very considerable in the last generation or so, appear to confirm that opinion, which I think, said Hitchens, should be innate in everybody. It's innate in the Hippocratic oath.

It's instinct is in anyone who's ever watched a sonogram. So yes, my answer is yes to that question. Are you pro-life? The late atheist Christopher Hitchens was pro-life.

Let me give you another quote. And Dylan, I think whenever we can cite someone on our side, on an issue like this, who is not doing it because, you know, whenever I speak at universities, they say, well, you're a Bible banger and you're a fundamentalist. What about bioethicist Peter Singer, who is anything but a Bible-believing Christian?

He's an atheist. And Peter Singer says this, quote, the pro-life groups were right about one thing, the location of the baby inside or outside the womb cannot make much of a moral difference. We cannot coherently hold that it is all right to kill a fetus a week before birth, but as soon as the baby is born, everything must be done to keep it alive, end of quote. And that's from an article on the Humanist website, and it's about the rising pro-life passions of atheists and secularists. Obviously, I'm not advocating atheism or secularism, but it's interesting. My point, and I want you to respond to this, Dylan, even the unbelieving secular world says of the unborn, hey, this is a human being, and as such, it's wrong that it be killed.

Yes, and there is a growing secular case against abortion as well, as we've mentioned. And it's interesting to me that when Christopher Hitchens makes that comment that you quoted, he says it's instinct in anyone who's ever watched a sonogram. For many people, it's not just the facts and figures that have convinced them.

It's actually seen the visual picture of a child in the womb before it's born. And so that has been a major shift in our culture. We want to talk more about this when we come back in just a moment. So stick with us here at Truth For A New Generation.

We'll be right back. You know, Alex has been writing for many years, and one of his classic books is still great today as a basic introduction to the Christian faith. It's called Stand, Core Truths You Must Know for Unshakable Faith. This book will help you help your teens get off the roller coaster of doubt and onto solid ground. You'll read about the six pillars of biblical Christianity.

They are one, inspiration of the Bible, two, the virgin birth, three, the deity of Christ, four, atonement, five, Christ's resurrection, and six, Christ's return. You know, Alex mixes it up with humor and stories he gleaned from decades of working with youth and encourages teens to build a foundation of faith that will stabilize their lives and help them take a stand for Christ. Simple and straightforward, Stand, Core Truths You Must Know for an Unshakable Faith, available wherever Christian books are sold. 1 Peter 3.15 tells us to be ready always to give an answer for the hope we have.

We're instructed to be prepared to defend our faith. This is Alex McFarland for the Life Answers Teams, students we train at North Greenville University, a leading Christian college in South Carolina. The Life Answers Teams are made up of students who will inspire and equip your congregation. These apologetics teams we train speak in churches to youth groups and train Christians of all ages to address key issues of our times from a biblical perspective. Like, is there a God?

Is the Bible true? What about gender and moral issues? Call me at 864-977-2008 and we will arrange for the Life Answers Team to come to your church and give a presentation that will benefit your people for years to come.

864-977-2008 and always be ready. Welcome back. This is Dylan Burrows and Alex McFarland of Truth for a New Generation. We are talking about the pro-life issue today. So important in our culture and the surveys are showing that the worldview is shifting among the millennial generation.

Increasingly, there is support for the pro-life position among the next generation. That's so important in the work that we do at Truth for a New Generation. And as we come closer to the end of the year, we would like to mention that the work we do is supported by people like you.

We cannot do it without your help. So if you have a moment to go to truthfornewgeneration.com and consider giving to our ministry online, you can do that right now. Again, that's truthfornewgeneration.com. Select the donate button and you can give their tax-deductible gift that we can use to impact the lives of the next generation, whether it be the pro-life issue or whether it be spiritual or renewal, apologetics, worldview, and the other issues that we cover. And as we come back to our discussion in this final segment on the pro-life issue, it's amazing to me that it really comes down to this issue that the answer to abortion questions is simple.

It's a human life period. Respond to that, Alex. Tell us what we should take away from this. Well, you know, Dylan, we're working on our summer 2019 apologetics camp for teens, and last summer we had a very, very successful camp. The theme was My Whole Life for His Whole Plan.

And certainly one of the most popular speakers everywhere we go, he just gets incredible reviews, and that's Daniel Ritchie. And Daniel, as many people will know, and some of you that have followed our ministry, you know Daniel, and he was born without arms. He's a wonderful minister of the gospel, has a great family, married, and building a great Christian home. But Daniel tells the story that when he was born, and he's in his early 30s, so this was three decades ago, but they didn't know, and the dad and mom are in the delivery room, and the doctor delivered a baby without arms. And the doctor looked at the dad and says, do you want me to take care of this for you?

Presuming that he wouldn't want a child with no arms. And the dad looked down at his newborn son and said, that's my son. It's unthinkable that the quote, take care of this, would have terminated the life of a bright, shining Christian thinker and minister of the gospel, Daniel Ritchie. You know, Dylan and I interviewed Gianna Jessen, who in 1977 survived a saline abortion. She was the victim of a saline abortion, and the problem was she didn't die. And so when her tiny body was expelled from the mother's body, much to everybody's surprise, the child was alive. And so she was laid in a pan for about five hours and left to finally die, but she didn't die. And finally, these two nurses began to care for this infant that was crying, covered in this chemical that was intended to kill her. And these nurses, the doctors threatened the nurses and said, no, don't do that. And they said, this is a human baby, we have to save this baby. And Gianna Jessen is a dynamic representative of the gospel now.

But when I think about people like Daniel or Gianna, my heart breaks, and I'm horrified to think that they were going to be murdered. And folks know this, that at the instant of fertilization, and as you go from zygote to blastocyst, at the moment of fertilization, you've got metabolism growth, response to stimuli, and cell reproduction. Those are the four criteria that biologists say constitutes life. Plus, you've got a DNA pattern that contributes to all the physical attributes, not only hair color, eye color, stature, height, but even personality traits. And the DNA blueprint of the developing baby is distinct from that of the mother. You have got a human being from the moment of fertilization on.

And Dylan, the more I've studied this issue, the more passionate that I've become about it. And when I spoke at the medical school in Louisville this week, I was reading a book on embryology that is said to be used the world over, the developing human clinically oriented embryology by Dr. Keith Moore. It says this, human development begins at fertilization, the process during which a male gamete unites with a female gamete to form a single cell called a zygote.

This highly specialized totipotent cell, that means viable, growing, left to its own devices will progress into full maturity as a human being. This marks the beginning of each of us as a unique individual. And Dylan, as I begin to study more and more, sure the Word of God is compelling that we're knit together under the watchful eye of God in our mother's womb.

That describes gestation. And every life is valuable and we are made in the image of God and therefore we have worth and value and dignity. But we live in a time, Dylan, where I think everybody should be passionately pro-life because not only the Word of God, the guaranteed protections of life under our Constitution, but the undeniable empirical proof of science from conception onward, we're talking about human beings. Yes, and it's interesting to me that today in a time when social justice has become the headline of our culture, that the pro-life issue is something that we can certainly discuss when it comes to social justice. Proverbs 31 talks about this concept of being a voice for the voiceless, and I can think of no other segment of our population that is worthy of us giving a voice to the voiceless than those of the pre-born children of our nation. There are so many lives that are affected by this each and every year, and if you're one of those who is wondering, is it important for me to stand firm on the pro-life issue and to do something about it as a person of faith?

The answer is yes. We need you to speak out, to live out your faith in this issue, and to do all you can to be a voice on this topic. As we close today, Alex, just give us a final word on this topic as we wrap up today. Well, you know, I honestly believe that life, our view of human life, is the key issue of our times because so many moral, spiritual, and cultural dominoes stand or fall depending on what you believe about the value of human life. And so I would encourage everybody to stay informed, be prayerful, pray that God will have mercy on us, but God will turn this country back to an ethic of life.

Geneticists, biologists, thinkers, philosophers, ethicists, they know that this is a moral issue that for 45 years plus we've landed largely on the wrong side of. And for the future of precious young lives, and frankly, for the soul of the country and the preservation of the Constitution, I pray that we would rediscover morality, rediscover God, and therein rediscover an ethic of life. Amen. Thanks for joining us again at Truth For A New Generation.

We look forward to being with you next time. Truth For A New Generation, in association with Alex McFarland Evangelistic Ministries, exists to equip Christians with a biblical worldview through conferences and camps. For information about upcoming events, visit truthforanewgeneration.com or give us a call at 877-YesGod1. That's 877-YesGod and the number one. TNG radio is made possible by the friends of Alex McFarland Evangelistic Ministries, P.O. Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina 27404. That's P.O. Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina 27404. Or give online at alexmcfarland.com or truthforanewgeneration.com. Thanks for listening and join us again next time as we bring you more truth for a new generation on TNG radio.