Season: 8 Episode: 126
Summary:
Does it seem as though culture is becoming increasingly more immoral? Did you ever think abortion would be legal 28 days after birth? Did you believe divorce and the approval of gay marriage would lead us to transgenderism? Shanda talks about the black hole of immorality and what you can do to move back to the hard-line of truth.
Quotables:
“When you move the line of truth one inch, you’ve entered into relativism where the line always moves.”
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Hey Guys! Welcome back to another episode of Her Faith Inspires podcast where we take cultural issues and align them to biblical truth. I have a great episode for you today. But first, I want to tell you about an amazing course coming up with Online Christian Courses that you will want to get in on. You know the best selling book by Dr. Frank Turek and Dr. Norman Geisler called IDHEF? Well, Frank is teaching that class through LIVE zoom sessions and at the same time, you can have your kids in the 4th-6th grades learn IDHEF at their level with me.
The class is set to launch in Aug and again, it’s a side by side way for the family to learn about evolution, creation, the validity of the Bible – 12 weeks of instruction with videos, questions, and lessons – for the entire family.
If you have 2-4th grade students, you can buy the workbook curriculum at Impact apologetics.com right now. This is also a great homeschool curriculum, private school curriculum and you can take these as a self-paced courses. Go to onlinechrisitancourses.school to register before the courses fill up.
Ok, back to our topic of the day.
A few weeks ago the state of Maryland proposed to legalize abortion up to 28 days after birth. If it passes, the people of Maryland will vote on the proposed amendment in November of this year.
Just this week – At the recording of this episode, the supreme court nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson, was asked to define what a woman is and she said she could not because she is not a biologist.
Last week, I was on a field trip with my son and this is his first year in a private Christian school. And one of the moms on the trip talked about some things that are confusing to her right now. She brought up her shock over the state of our culture … men wanting to become women and women wanting to become men.
She mentioned the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage in 2015 during the Obama administration and she said, “I was like, OK, they deserve it. Let’s give it to them. But look at what’s happening now.”
And I said to her, “That’s because it’s not about deserving and fair. It’s about changing the definition of marriage. When you move the line of truth an inch, you’ve entered into immorality.”
And that’s what I want to talk about today.
There is no rock bottom with immorality. Immorality is a black hole. It doesn’t have a boundary, a stopping point, or an end. It doesn’t. And if you think that you can give or compromise on moral issues, it will take you so far, by the time you come to your rock bottom, it’s too late.
For example, if you say: I’m for abortion if a woman feels she can’t take care of her child financially and if her baby daddy leaves her because that wouldn’t be fair to her or the baby. But I’m not ok if they want to kill the baby in the third trimester. That’s taking it too far.
My question is: Why not? You already gave an inch on immorality. Why? The argument against abortion it is wrong to intentionally kill an innocent human being. Abortion intentionally kills an innocent human being. Therefore, abortion is wrong.
The argument doesn’t give an inch.
Because once you budge on the truth, you’ve entered into subjective morality where the individual gets to decide when it’s permissible to kill the baby. And guess what? Outside of truth, everyone’s line is different. Your line might be the third trimester, but the people in Marylands line is 28 days after birth. Once you start killing innocent human beings and passing it off as permissible because ____________ (rape, finances, my body-my choice, Christians don’t adopt, etc) then anyone can move that line at anytime for any reason.
Why? Because immorality is a blackhole.
So today, we’re going to talk about:
- How have we’ve seen the bottomless pit of immorality and where is it going?
2. Why it’s the church’s fault.
I usually have 3 points but today I want to hone in on these two because I feel this topic is so important.
So let’s get into the first one:
How have we seen the bottomless pit of immorality and where are we headed?
I gave the example of abortion. When I first heard of the abortion debate, because remember, abortion wasn’t legal in all states before I was born but Roe v Wade was in 1973. That means abortion was legal in some states but not in all. There is an abortion timeline which I’ll leave in the notes and its from Planned Parenthood so it’s not biased toward a Christian worldview at all.
In the 1880’s there were laws restricting abortion access to become the norm.
In 1910, abortion was illegal at every stage of pregnancy.
In 1955, Planned Parenthood held their first conference to legalize abortion.
In 1966, 9 doctors of San Francisco, known as the San Francisco Nine, were sued for performing illegal abortions (PP gives reasons such as women dying from illegal abortions, and for needing abortions because they were exposed to rubella – that could cause birth defects).
In 1970, NY became the first state to legalize abortion.
In 1973, we have Roe v Wade.
In 1992, abortion was reaffirmed in the Constitution in the Southeastern vs Casey case.
Per PP, they say 80% of Americans want abortion to be legal. Remember, 65% of Americans claim to be Christian while at the same time approve of the killing of innocent human beings.
And let me say this: Abortion is a hard line.
It’s the killing of innocence human being. The black hole is where you see the progression of abortion since its legalization. Roe v Wade wasn’t about allowing abortion within the third trimester. Scientists have always debated over when a baby should be aborted. Some say before the first trimester, some say at viability and can survive outside the mother’s womb – but they disagree as to when that is. Now … now, people are saying 28 days after birth. Did the judge in 1973 expect this to be the debate in 2022?
For those who think abortion is permissible because of rape, did they ever expect we’d be discussing abortion at 28 weeks after birth? No. Because their bottom line was rape. Some peoples bottom line on abortion is the first trimester. But it doesn’t matter what your bottom line is because when you move the line of truth one inch, which is it is wrong to intentionally kill an innocent human being – you have entered the black hole of immorality and anything goes and nothing is considered immoral anymore.
That’s with abortion. What about gender?
I’ve talked before about feminism but the feminist movement had women shouting from the rooftops that women are no different than men. Women can do anything men can do. Don’t tell me I throw like a girl. But did the feminists of the 60s, 70s and 80s ever expect that a male would enter women’s sports and completely crush the female competition because after all, there is no difference between men and women.
Did feminists in the 80’s dream that one day a man would sit in office of health and human services for the Biden Admin and win woman of the year? He’s taking a woman’s spot. Why is it evil for a man to be manly but when he decides to tuck his junk (pardon my expression) and call himself a woman, he’s considered a hero?
Now, we have a supreme course justice nominee … a judge … can’t make the most basic judgment of all … define a woman! Immorality is a blackhole. You may say, “What does it matter that women wanted the right to vote, climb the corporate ladder, and get equal pay as men”?
Is that immoral?
No. That’s not immoral but the message costs more than women were willing to pay because women missed their inherent purpose: she is not the same as a man. She cannot do anything a man can do and that is beautiful itself because there are some things women do that men can’t. Women wanted out of the home and into the office at the expense of their families and now, men want into women’s roles. Why not? When we tell them there is no difference between men and women, a woman looking for a position in the highest court confirms that this message is still plummeting down the pipeline of the blackhole.
And now we have people who are confused and transitioning from male to female and female to male … which, by the way, is a contradiction. Because if you say there is no difference between and a man and a woman but you’re transgender, you’re saying there is a difference between a man and a woman because you have to transition.
And also, by the way, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson also confirmed that gender is biological when she said, “I can’t define a woman because I’m not a biologist.” So … she’s saying biology determines gender.
Why can’t people think anymore?
Sexual immorality will never hit rock bottom. And it all started with sex outside of marriage. We get unwanted pregnancies, gay marriage, pedophilia, transgenderism, and the list goes on.
So where are we headed?
This summer, organizations are hosting sex camps for 11 and 12 year old kids because they want them to be just as comfortable with a condom as they are with a bandaid. Guess where this blackhole is headed? To your kids. Look, I’m not trying to hyper inflate this or scare anyone. I have three boys and one of them is the age of the kids going to this sex camp. But as a mom, as parents, we are the first line of defense for our kids and I’ll tell you, no one is going to teach my kids this trash and get them spiraling down the blackhole of immorality. But that’s where it’s headed. Kids are next in the sex craze. They are grooming our children on TikTok and YouTube and they’re going to make child porn and other things involving children legal slowly but surely.
We have to be watchful and know where we’re headed and do something about it while we can.
So, why is this the church’s fault?
That sounds harsh. I try and be careful how I talk about the church because she is the bride of Christ. But not all who call themselves the church are of Christ.
The world is going to be the world. Why are we surprised when they continue to grow more and more immoral? I mean, I’m guilty of saying, “I can’t believe we’re disputing gender.” Or, “I can’t believe people are hosting sex camps for children.” But why are we surprised? The world is dark. Jesus said WE are the light of the world. Christians. Yet, the church (and again, this is a generalized statement so of course I don’t mean everyone in the church), but many in the church have compromised when it comes to marriage. For example, when is the last time you heard a message preached against divorce? Divorce in the church is no less than divorce in the world.
The #1 message I see on social media is how Christians need to be loving.
They need not be so harsh. There you go. Reason #1 that this is the church’s fault: because Christians tried to make nice with the world. Well, if we say it differently or we say it nicer, they’ll accept us. No, they won’t. They hated Jesus and no one was nicer than He was.
Jesus told us we would be hated by the world. Why are we trying to be accepted?
Be nice is the thing you hear everyone saying. I actually looked up some of the big named women’s ministry leaders and not one of them has addressed the issues I started out with. They don’t talk about Lia Thomas. They don’t talk about Maryland and the abortion bill of murdering babies 28 days after birth. Why not? Because of the backlash. It is so much easier to talk about uplifting and encouraging and fun things. It’s so much easier to tell everyone they’re going to get a blessing. But that’s what the prophets in the OT did too. Look at Jeremiah.
Have you read that book?
He was the only prophet who warned God’s people about the future judgment and no one wanted to hear it.
Natasha Crain wrote Faithfully Different and she’s going to be a guest on my show in couple of weeks, but this was her quote on Instagram the other day; “secularism can readily accommodate a secular God who can require nothing but not a specific one that requires everything. The question is: which God actually exists?” That’s why you can still talk about God in America, but not the God of the Bible. And that’s why Christian influencers and big named preachers can talk about a God who will bless and supply your needs. They are more in line with secularism because that is not coming from a biblical worldview.
Frank Turek has said, “Whatever you win them with you win them to.” If you win people to Christ with a message of blessing, they’ll leave the church when they don’t get blessed. If you win them over with a message of prosperity, they’ll leave the church when they don’t prosper. If you win them to Christ with the message of the cross, they’ll stay with Christ no matter the cost.
And in regard to this message of: Be nice!
No one ever said, “Yeah, I gave my heart to Christ because someone told me I was sinner in a really nice tone of voice.” If you think being nice is all it takes, then the message of the gospel is lacking from your message.
Now, am I saying we shouldn’t be nice? Of course not. But when people say the church should be loving and the church should nice, what they’re saying is: just take it easy on truth. Love and truth will always go together. You cannot have one without the other. I explain this in my episode titled: “Is love love?” If you haven’t listened to that one, check it out and it will help you understand this a bit better.
So let me also say this: if all you are is being nice and you are withholding truth, you are not loving.
If you go to someone who will only tell you what you want to hear, you are not looking for truth. We can have compassion for the single mother who can’t take care of her child while at the same time speak the truth to her. We can have compassion for the person who is struggling with identify and gender dysphoria while at the same time speaking truth to them.
We can control what truth we speak and how we love, but we cannot control the reaction of the other person. When we try to ‘Be nice” and tiptoe around the truth, we are trying to control the response of the other person and that is getting in the way of them coming to God.
And the other main reason Christians stopped influencing the world is because they don’t know their bibles. How can you speak truth if you don’t know it? How can you uphold the truth if you don’t read it? You just can’t.
Conclusion:
I want to wrap this up today by encoring you to take a stand for truth. I was talking to a friend on the phone this morning and she said what people don’t realize is when they stay quiet on these issues, they’re actually giving their approval. Being silent is taking a stand, even if you don’t think it is.
Some may thing: Well, we all have different missions and platforms in life. Not everyone is meant to have a podcast, or post things to social media. My rebuttal to that is; what’s the mission of the church? Isn’t it to know God and make Him known? Are you part of the church? How are you standing for truth where you live?
Every Christian is called to stand on God’s word. Everyone.
If I can encourage you today I would say that the light of Christ shines bright in darkness. The world is dark but you have the truth. Be strong and courageous. Be bold and stand up for truth. You won’t be liked but you will embolden those who want to say something but are afraid. Allie Stuckey says it best: courage begets courage. You are not alone and we need your voice.
If you have any questions about this or anything else I share, email me at hello@shandafulbright.com and I’ll catch you on the next one.
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