Breakpoint

Stop and think about this statement, "I'm a woman trapped in a man's body." How did a sentence like this become not just common, and not even just plausible, but unquestionable? Even more, how did it happen so fast? In his new book, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution, Grove City College professor Carl Trueman explains the answer as thoroughly and clearly as possible. According to Trueman, the transgender moment – along with its claims about sex, gender, and human identity – is just a symptom, or an expression, of a much deeper and older cultural revolution. If Christians are to have any hope of responding effectively and faithfully, it is essential to understand how that revolution took place. (Dr. Trueman is one of the featured speakers at next month's Wilberforce Weekend in Fort Worth, Texas. Recently, on a special Colson Center webinar, he offered a preview of what's in the book and what he'll be talking about in May.) Trueman's central point is crucial and unlocks virtually every one of our culture's most controversial and significant issues. The view of human identity that is now taken for granted is radically different from the view most people throughout history (not only Christians) have long held. In the Christian view of the human person, we are more than the stuff we're made of. We have a telos, a moral shape, a created purpose, a design. Just as a plane is made to fly, a book is made to be read, and a fish is made to swim, our purpose is to image and glorify God. If we hope to thrive as individuals and as a society, we must live in alignment with that design. Otherwise, we're fighting not just against God, but against our very natures. Sadly, that idea, which is fundamental to life itself – not to mention to a biblical worldview – would be considered "too deep" for many Christians and churches. In the book, Dr. Trueman describes how freshmen entering his classes usually know what the Bible teaches about sexual morality but have no idea why the Bible teaches it. So, when a gay friend asks why they shouldn't be able to marry someone of the same sex, or when a transgender relative claims a new name and demands new pronouns, these students are often at a loss to justify their convictions. For the record, my experience with students and, too often, their parents, educators, and even pastors is often identical. All contemporary Western people, to one degree or another, are unwitting disciples of an ideology that Trueman identifies as "expressive individualism." This view, which is as much caught as it is taught in our culture, declares human beings to be a kind of "living playdough." Not only can we mold and remake ourselves according to our feelings, but the highest purpose of our lives is to look within, determine an identity, and then express it to the world, while demanding that everyone comply. Of course, this also means that our highest duty to each other (after discovering and expressing our own identities) is to recognize and affirm their chosen identities, no matter how impossible or contrary to nature they may be. There is a reason that so many people, yours truly included, consider Dr. Trueman's book the essential explanation of our cultural moment. In astonishing detail, he traces the history of selfhood in Western culture up to the present moment and describes how the ideas of men like Rousseau, Freud, and others became the cultural water in which we all swim. Still, the best part of The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self is that it does more than describe what has gone wrong. Trueman helps prepare Christians to respond in grace and truth. You can get a copy of The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self for a donation of any amount to the Colson Center this month. Just visit BreakPoint.org/April2021, to request a copy. Again, that's BreakPoint.org/April2021. Also, please join me, Dr. Carl Trueman, and others at the Wilberforce Weekend conference next month in Fort Worth. The focus of the event is understanding and applying, from a variety of angles, who we are as made in the image and likeness of God. The imago Dei is an essential doctrine in the Scriptures, and central to our cultural witness. For more information, go to WilberforceWeekend.org.

John and Maria discuss the fatal shooting of Dante Wright in Minneapolis. Maria shares how a compassionate response is effective to step forward in love as a community. Maria then introduces a new take on the saga in transgender athletes in collegiate athletics. New actions by the NCAA are putting states in a challenging position to say what isn't true and redesign women's athletics. John and Maria close the program reflecting on the Supreme Court's decision regarding a case out California. Pastor Jeremy Wong and California resident Karen Busch sued the state after being barred from holding Bible studies and prayer meetings in their home. The court upheld lower court rulings, allowing the pair to continue prayer meetings, in a 5-4 decision by the High Court.

Who's your favorite poet? Do you even have a favorite poet? Even before COVID, when did you last attend a concert or visit an art museum? When did you last draw a picture, or photograph something beautiful, or write a song, or cook a fancy dinner, or just make something? Enjoying, engaging in, reflecting on, and creating art is a profoundly divine activity. God is, as theologian T. M. Moore puts it, "the Great Artist." His universe was made with "such wonder, diversity, order, color, sound, dimension, scope and harmony that He could confidently pronounce Himself pleased with what He had made." Made in His image, humans are also creators. Artistic creativity is, in fact, an integral and distinguishing capability of being human. The works of our imaginations and of our hands have the potential to reflect the very nature, purpose, and character of God in the world. Not only that, but as the folks at Engage Art explain, art is one way that Christians can cultivate a culture of community: "All of the individual artworks being made by filmmakers, musicians, potters, and all the rest; all the museum collections and comic books; all the dance crazes, songs, poems, etc.—they all get mashed together to create the culture we all get to live in." For the last few years, Engage Art has sought to cultivate, celebrate, and reward artistic creativity by inviting artists of all ages and backgrounds to submit original music, short films, drawings, paintings, photographs, and more. Winners of the Engage Art contest in each category receive cash prizes and have their works displayed with the performing and visual arts at the EngageArt.org. (Submissions to the contest are made through the Engage Art app, which can be found on the website or at the Apple and Android app stores.) The contest is itself an artistic creation of longtime art appreciators and philanthropists Bill and Linda Bantz. They have structured this contest not only to encourage human creativity, but to increase engagement with Scripture. The whole approach reflects an important belief – that a new generation of artists can find inspiration in the Bible's rich and accurate description of reality, just as so many great artists have throughout history. The theme of this year's contest, open as of April 15th, is based on Ephesians 6:10-20, which is often called the "Spiritual Battle" passage. Thus, submissions are encouraged which "discuss the broad and evergreen theme of good vs. evil, as well as the idea that unseen forces have an impact on our world." As Paul explains in that passage, we battle "not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." All the information and requirements for submitting a work for the 2021 Engage Art contest can be found at the website EnageArt.org. There's also a gallery of past contest entries, including paintings, illustrations, sculptures, films, and music videos. Years ago, Chuck Colson said, "For the Christian, the arts are an important way to understand God and His creation. In a post-Christian culture, those who blend artistic gifts with Christian faith can help lead us back to a biblical worldview. That is why the Church should encourage them." I encourage you to share your own artistic talents with the world. Enter the Engage Art contest, and please, tell any Christian creative you know about this opportunity. Details can be found at EngageArt.org, or come to BreakPoint.org for a link.

One of the most important effects of embracing a deliberate, self-conscious Christian worldview, as well as losing the sacred-secular distinction too many Christians have absorbed from the world around us, is seeing the depth, the breadth, and the width of the Lordship of Jesus Christ in every sphere of life. Once we see life this way, our vision of serving Jesus is radically re-shaped in light of the unassailable, undefeatable, and advancing Kingdom of God. Once Chuck Colson embraced this vision of the Christian life, he poured it into every single BreakPoint commentary. Each and every day, in every speech, in every book, and in every visit to every prison he ever took, he was eager to help Christians think clearly about cultural issues and trends from a Christian worldview. During the last decade of his life, Colson decided that the best way he could advance this vision would be replication. That is why he invited Christians to study with him through what is now called the Colson Fellows Program. Inviting Christians to take a deep dive into Christian worldview over a ten-month course of study, trained and mentored by top Christian authors and thinkers. He saw class after class of Christians become the kind of culture-shaping leaders who could look at the world around them, think clearly about it, effectively analyze, critique, and discern what was happening in the world and champion the Kingdom of God in whatever time and place God had called them to. What makes the Colson Fellows Program so different and so vital is that it is not just an exercise in learning new things, as important as that is. Commissioned Colson Fellows are, well, commissioned. Because the training includes a teaching project, a three-year planning process, and self-inventory on who God has made Fellows to be, they are able to apply a Christian worldview in real-world, practical ways. Here's how the program works: Colson Fellows-in-Training learn how to articulate and defend biblical truth in the marketplace of ideas through intensive instruction on worldview and cultural analysis. They read both Christian classics and the best contemporary writers, many of whom they interact with on twice-monthly webinars. Colson Center faculty includes folks such as Os Guinness, Joni Eareckson Tada, Dr. Glenn Sunshine, J. Warner Wallace, Jennifer Marshall, and Scott Klusendorf. What may be the best part is that Colson Fellows study together, in community, in one of our 55 Regional Cohorts around the country, a time-zone specific Online Cohort or one of five International Cohorts. So, we have doctors and business professionals learning alongside of academics and lawyers, who are also learning alongside homeschool moms and everyday Christians who are passionate about living faithfully in this cultural moment. The cross-pollination of applied faith is rich, indeed. Those who complete the program join a network of more than 2,000 commissioned Colson Fellows, who have studied with us and are living out a deeper faith in a broken world. This network includes people like pastors and religious freedom attorneys, educators, college presidents, entrepreneurs – you name it. Colson Fellows Program Director S. Michael Craven likes to say that as people study with the Colson Fellows, many have this moment of "conversion." Serious-minded Christians who have been walking with the Lord for many years discover more clearly, some for the first time, that they are a part of a much larger story—one that certainly includes but goes beyond our personal salvation in Jesus Christ. Christians often say, "I've invited Jesus into my life," but the reality is that Jesus is inviting us into His life. His purpose. His restoring work in the world He created. To this life, His Life, we are invited to join Him in the work of making all things new. If you are stirred in heart and mind for this kind of faith, this kind of life, come to ColsonFellows.org to learn more. We respond to all inquiries and are happy to answer any questions you may have. We're accepting applications now for next year's class of Colson Fellows.

John Stonestreet is joined by Dr. Bill Brown, Dean of the Colson Fellows program that equips attendees with Christian worldview and a ministry plan to reach their communities. Dr. Brown brings questions from the Colson Fellows class of 2021, along with a few questions we've received at the Colson Center related to neighborliness.

In the 1992 dystopian novel, The Children of Men, P. D. James tells the story of a world where no child has been born in 26 years. It's a world without hope or purpose. Mass suicide of the elderly is common, and the not-yet-elderly are urged to watch pornography in vain hopes of stimulating libidos and reproduction. Mind you, the story is set in, that's right, 2021. In the book, male sperm counts collapsed in 1994 — called "Year Omega" in the novel — with the last children being born in 1995. While James' story is fiction, in the real 2021, life may be imitating art – male sperm counts around the world are in decline and, by one estimate, a real "Year Omega" could arrive in 2045. According to a new book by Shanna Swan, an epidemiologist at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, between 1973 and 2011 sperm counts in Western males dropped by 59 percent. In the ten years since then, things have gotten worse. As Swan writes, "If you look at the curve on sperm count and project it forward — which is always risky — it reaches zero in 2045 . . . That's a little concerning, to say the least." The decline in male sperm counts coincides with a precipitous decline in fertility rates, not only in the West but increasingly in the developing world, too. Half of the world's countries have fertility rates below replacement level. By 2050 two-thirds of the world's countries are expected to have fertility rates below replacement level. The obvious questions are, one, what role do declining sperm counts are playing in this fertility drop? And two, what's behind the declining sperm counts? Swan acknowledges that nonbiological factors, such as "contraception, cultural shifts and the cost of having children are likely" to have contributed to declining birth rates. But she insists that there is ample evidence for biological reasons, as well. Besides the decline in birth rates, she points to things such as "increasing miscarriage rates, more genital abnormalities among boys and earlier puberty for girls." As for the cause in declining sperm counts, Swan and others single out "endocrine-disrupting chemicals in the environment, including phthalates and bisphenol-A" better known as BPA. These chemicals are found in "plastics, pesticides, cosmetics and even ATM receipts." In addition to the environmental factors, there are lifestyle factors, such as tobacco and marijuana use, and obesity that might also be affecting sperm counts. Regardless of what's causing lower sperm counts, the drop is real. Throw in cultural attitudes towards marriage and childrearing, and the trend is indeed "concerning." While it's difficult to imagine a Children of Men-like scenario, we are already seeing the effects of the decline in fertility around the world: aging populations, a shortage of working-age adults, and 70 million men in China and India without a reasonable prospect of getting married. Between our treatment of the environment and our cultural attitudes and practices, it is almost as if we are following the recommendations of an "extinction consultant." If we asked this consultant the best way to disregard and even rebel against God's command to "be fruitful and multiply," his answer would likely have resembled what we are currently doing. We can do something, of course, about the chemicals Swan and others point to as being factors in the declining sperm rate. That, at best, would only slow the trajectory of our demographic demise. There are cultural factors that are far more important and would remain untouched. Not to mention, for many people, especially in the West, the answer to every environmental and social problem from climate change to poverty is "fewer people." That makes the Guardian's headline about Swan's book so ironic: "Falling sperm counts 'threaten human survival,' expert warns." Given the Guardian's track record, and that of similar publications, you would expect them be cheering for our possible extinction, or at the very least to look on the bright side: "At least the polar bears will be OK." The only way forward is somehow reversing the anti-human and anti-natalist worldview that is driving us towards a demographic crisis. In James' 1992 novel, hope takes the form of a miraculous birth and a baptism. That's a pretty good summary of what hope could look like or us in 2021. Certainly, it will require a lot more than banning chemicals from water bottles. It will require from us, including those of us in the Church, what the New Testament calls metanoia, a change of mind that results in a transformed way of life.

In 1996 American political scientist Samuel Huntington wrote a book called The Clash of Civilizations. In it, he proposed a remarkable thesis, that while in the past, especially in the 20th century, global conflicts had been primarily between nations, countries, and kingdoms, in the future, especially in the 21st century, global conflicts would increasingly be between not nation-states but between cultures, between civilizations. These cultural fault lines, as he called them, sometimes existed within a country or existed across regions. It didn't take very long within the 21st Century to prove his theory correct. In fact, in The Clash of Civilizations, Huntington went on to predict that the hottest of these conflicts would be between religious and non-religious cultures, specifically, that what you might call the hottest of the hot would be between Islam and the West. In the time since 9/11, his predictions have largely played out. But there has been another story dealing with Islam that has played out at almost the same time. In fact, just over the last three decades or so, we have seen a remarkable number of Muslims coming to Christ. Individuals from the Islamic world are reporting conversions – sometimes through dreams, sometimes through missions, sometimes through other means. Regardless of the means, it has been what one missiologist called a remarkable movement of the Holy Spirit. The reports are so numerous, in fact, that a foundation recruited a friend of mine, a scholar named Dr. David Garrison, to investigate. They sent him for several months to visit various corners of the Muslim world and to figure out where these stories were coming from. They wanted to know how legitimate these reports were. Garrison put together his findings in a book called A Wind in the House of Islam. You see in the whole history of the Islamic faith, there have been few reports of large movements of Muslims becoming Christians – very few in fact. But about 80 percent of all the movements recorded in history of large groups of Muslims becoming Christians have taken place in just the last three decades. There's something else that's taken place over the last three decades: Each and every year for the last 28 years, during the season of Ramadan, the most holy period in the Islamic calendar, a group of Christians led by a prayer guide, have together prayed for Christ to draw Muslims to Himself. Ramadan is a very good time to keep our Muslim neighbors and Muslims around the world and prayer. Since 1993 to be precise, the "30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World" prayer guide has been equipping Christians to pray for Muslims during this season of Ramadan. It is an international movement that calls on, "The church to make a deliberate but respectful effort to learn about, to pray for, and to reach out to our world's Muslim neighbors." There is even a "30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World Prayer Guide" for kids which I have used with my own family. The "30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World" is available both in a print booklet and as a digital download. You can find it by going to 30DaysPrayer.com. Or come to BreakPoint.org, and we'll tell you how to pick up a copy. James tells us that the effectual prayer of a righteous man avails much. This has been a movement of prayer of hundreds of thousands of Christians for decades. Let's be a part of it.

John Stonestreet visits with Alisa Childers, author of Another Gospel: A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity. Alisa is a featured speaker at the upcoming Wilberforce Weekend, May 21-23 in Fort Worth, Tx. Alisa shares how progressive Christianity is working to steal the image of God, providing context for her upcoming presentation at the Wilberforce Weekend. For more information on the Wilberforce Weekend, including a drawing where you could win tickets, hotels, and flights to the conference, visit www.wilberforceweekend.com

Back in January, at meeting held at the Royal Society in London, a team of scientists and investors announced the largest prize ever offered to solve a scientific mystery. Organized by engineer and business consultant Perry Marshall, the whopping prize of $10 million (ten times the Nobel Prize payout) will be given to any person or team who can "arrange for a digital communication system to emerge or self-evolve without…explicitly designing the system." The point of the contest is to learn where genetic code came from, and how it became the basis for all life. The winning experiment, according to their website, "must generate an encoder that sends digital code to a decoder," and transmit at least five bits of information, or roughly half as much as a comparable segment of DNA. In other words, to claim the prize, you must bring into existence the functional equivalent of the first living cell, without intelligently designing the system. Judges include Oxford and Royal Society biologist Denis Noble, Harvard Geneticist George Church, and philosopher of science Michael Ruse. According to Noble, a scientist whose work led to the first pacemaker, the prize is so big, because evolution "leaves two things completely unexplained: How did life get going in the first place, and what is the origin of the genetic code." With surprising honesty, he continued: "I cannot see personally how DNA could have been there at the beginning. After all, it requires the cell to enable it and to reproduce, and it requires the cell also to correct errors in that reproduction and replication process." Perry Marshall explained why he organized the prize by recalling a debate about the origin of life he once had with his brother. Sons of a pastor, Marshall offered a standard argument from design, but his brother retorted that natural processes were sufficient to explain all of life's complexity. Marshall wasn't convinced. As he was writing what would later become his bestselling book on computer networks, he realized that "mathematically [DNA and ethernet] are identical. It's encoding and decoding. It is a communication system…Genetics is digital communication." Intelligent design theorists have been making this point for decades. From a variety of angles, authors such as Michael Behe, William Dembski, and Steven Meyer have argued that information, like what is stored and communicated in DNA, has only one known source – an intelligent agent. To produce a system like DNA through unguided processes would not only be to do something that's never been done; it would be to do something never before observed in the history of science. But, it gets even worse of those hoping to snag that $10 million. As Dr. Noble reminded press and colleagues, DNA requires a cell to function…and cells, as far as we know, require DNA. To get one, you need the other. In other words, to win the money, competitors must not only put together the equivalent of functioning genetic code "without cheating," they have to create the molecular machines that use, replicate, and edit that code. How difficult is it to produce a living cell from scratch? A while back, my colleague Shane Morris asked synthetic-organic chemist James Tour this very question on the BreakPoint Podcast. Dr. Tour replied that anyone who claims we're close to building a cell, even in the most ideal of circumstances, "has no idea what they're talking about." In fact, he said, "ask them for details, and you see them start to sweat." The bottom line? The origin of life and of the information that makes it possible remain the most significant challenge to a naturalistic worldview. The only plausible explanation for how these incredible systems came into being is intelligent design, precisely what those competing for this prize are forbidden from using. Don't get me wrong. $10 million is a lot of money. But, it's still not enough to make the impossible possible.

John Stonestreet and Maria Baer discuss the ramifications of Major League Baseball moving the All-Star Game from Atlanta as a result of Georgia's new voting law. How do Christians respond when corporate activism falls for a non-factual narrative? And how is it that politics has overtaken every sphere of public life? They also tackle Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchison's surprising veto of legislation that would ban transgender surgery and hormone treatment for minors (the veto was immediately overridden)--and just how detached from reality our language over biology, sex, and gender has become. John and Maria wrap up this week's episode discussing how it is that Gallup has found that--for the first time--fewer than half of Americans are members of a church. Is this a failure of the Church? The result of what John calls "an anemic ecclesiology?" As for their recommendations of the week: "The Chosen" TV series and, for young people, the Impact 360 Institute and Summit Ministries.