The Point by Colson Center

In a feat of international coordination, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) evacuated two Paralympic athletes from Afghanistan last week to compete in the Games. 

One of these Paralympians, Zakia Khudadadi is competing in Taekwondo in this year’s Paralympics. The 23-year-old Paralympian grew up in a different Afghanistan. Now, Paralympian isn't likely to be a profession available to women in her country anymore.

Khudadadi was trapped in Kabul before her rescue, her scheduled commercial flight grounded when the United States took control of the airport. She stayed with family who didn’t “have enough food to feed their own children.” Khudadadi’s story is one of many we will hear as the changing political landscape in Afghanistan is realized. Pray for the people, and especially the women, of Afghanistan. They will be the victims of the Taliban’s very bad ideas.

According to a friend, the first day of her son’s 8th grade class began with teachers asking students to stand up and declare their pronouns. This was in Ohio, but I’d be willing to bet it happened in most state schools this year. 

Set aside for a moment the questionable wisdom of asking hormone-riddled middle-schoolers during the most awkward times of their lives to talk about their bodies in front of their peers…  

This would have never happened five, even three years ago. Compared to other ways gender confusion is aggressively advanced in our culture, this one may seem like an innocuous first-day-of-school icebreaker. It’s not.  Culture is most powerful not where it's loudest, but where it makes things seem normal, or “common.”  Encouraging students to view their identity as chosen, and their physical bodies as wrong isn’t normal. It isn’t true; and it’s harming our kids.  

Christians shouldn’t participate. And parents should not let this classroom activity slide by unopposed. 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Dr. King’s speech was only to be four minutes, but gospel singer Mahalia Jackson shouted for King to “share the dream,” and he did. For 17 minutes, he shared the dream.

Dr. King shared a dream of America living its founding creed: of descendants of slaves and descendants of slaveholders sitting together as brothers, of states long defined by injustice transformed into places of freedom, and, in what may be the best measure of progress in race relations, a future in which his children would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. 

Dr. King’s dream is closer to reality than ever, but it’s also threatened. Dismissal of racism, on one hand, challenges the dream’s validity. On the other hand, theories that elevate the color of skin above anything else cripple the dream’s reality. 

In grounding his dream in Scripture, King shows us the way forward. With biblical references, imagery, and mandates, King guides us on a path to pursue in this cultural moment. There’s really no other way forward.

Abortion advocates tell us that killing unborn babies is an essential part of “family planning.”

For instance, Planned Parenthood’s website says that “Deciding to have an abortion doesn’t mean you don’t want or love children. In fact, 6 out of 10 people who get abortions already have kids—and many of them decide to end their pregnancies so they can focus on the children they already have.” 

But according to a massive new study by the Charlotte Lozier Institute, that’s just not true. A review of almost eight million pregnancies found that abortion among low-income women with children is “exceedingly uncommon, if not rare.”

Less than six percent of Medicaid-enrolled women had both births and abortions. As study lead Dr. James Studnicki remarked: “…abortion is in no way typical of motherhood…the overwhelming number of children are born to mothers who never have an abortion.” 

It’s time to debunk the myth that abortion is a family-friendly practice. It turns out that those least likely to “plan parenthood” are parents. 

The House votes on a $3.5 trillion budget resolution later this week. That’s a lot of money, which will fund a lot of programs… and every one of them reflects our national values. 

Despite bi-partisan requests, the appropriations committee sent this budget bill to the Senate floor without the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funds being used for abortion. 

But, in a courageous speech from the floor, Senator James Lankford called colleagues to remember that, “millions of Americans of faith and no faith know that the only difference between a child in the womb and outside the womb is time.” Democrat Joe Manchin cast the deciding vote to include Hyde in the budget.

The Charlotte Lozier Institute estimates that 60,000 pre-born babies are saved every year because of the Hyde Amendment. Budgets have consequences; bad budgets have victims.

As more and more haunting images emerge from the airport in Kabul. Parents are passing children through lines of strangers in hopes they will be able to escape the Taliban, Young girls are gripping fences, crying out “The Taliban is coming!”, and we hear more and more reports from the ground that our worst fears about the Taliban are indeed coming true, many of us sit, watching these images, reading these stories on our phones, imagining ourselves and our own families in these same position. We can’t even begin to understand what any of this is like. We feel compelled to do something. We feel that our country has let them down.

I saw a tweet yesterday from a mom that describes many of the same feelings that we have. “Sometimes,” she said, “I’m mad at God that all he lets me do is pray about a situation that is out of my hands. I suppose that says more about me, and my frustration with prayer, than it says about God.”

Many of us ask, “other than prayer, what can I do?” What if it’s true that prayer is doing something, that prayer actually moves the heart of God and can alter human history?

We do have a responsibility for what’s happening in Afghanistan. There’s a lot of things we can’t do, but there’s one thing we can do and we must do, both for the Christians on the ground and for the vulnerable citizens. That is to ask God for mercy and to end their suffering now.

The Taliban has promised that this time, they’ll be different. This time, there will be more freedoms and less oppression of women and religious minorities. 

Clearly, Afghan citizens do not believe these promises… they are at the point of desperation, clinging to the wheels of departing American aircraft, some even falling from the sky to their deaths. Poignant scenes show women and girls begging U.S. troops to protect them, crying out, “The Taliban is coming! The Taliban is coming!” Desperate parents plead with Western forces at the airport, holding infants and children high in the air, begging that even if they cannot escape what awaits them, their children may.

And, so far, early indications aren’t encouraging. We hear stories of Taliban targeting Christians, beating women, and reinforcing the same dehumanizing vision of society as before. 

It’s a reminder that worldview matters more than words. And from a Christian worldview, there are times when our own words are woefully insufficient. So, let us pray for Afghanistan and hope their days of trouble will soon end.

Earlier this month, former Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu was inducted into the NFL’s Hall of Fame. Polamalu was known for his speed, his power, and his hair.

And throughout his impressive football career, Polamalu was outspoken about his Christian faith, which he demonstrated by remaining humble, level-headed and team-oriented — which is unfortunately unusual for a player that talented.

In his Hall of Fame induction speech, Polamalu reminded his fans of the unique way he approached the game. After he showered praise on his wife, he shared this wisdom with his two young sons: “Boys, the best thing I could do for you guys is love your mother.”

There is something special about someone so physically imposing putting others first. Congrats to Troy Polamalu, and thanks for the important truths: humility exalts, marriage and family sustains, and true power is shown in love not on the football field.

As a father, I often think about what a Christian heritage will mean for my children. I want it to be the source of their peace and strength in times of trouble. But what if I knew it would be the source of their persecution as well? 

On the Breakpoint Podcast this week, I spoke with Mindy Belz about the new dangers for Christians in Afghanistan. A couple years ago, a number of Christian leaders did something incredibly brave: they changed the official religious affiliation noted on their national identification cards. Because they knew that religious identity is passed down from fathers to children, their hope was that their descendents could be born with a Christian heritage for generations to come. 

It was a courageous move, even then. But now, as government records fall under Taliban control, these believers have been uniquely exposed to the threat of violence. Belz told me that she knows of Christians who have received letters from the Taliban stating “We know where you are, and we know what you’re doing.”

This cost of discipleship is not a light one, but the church in Afghanistan is demonstrating exactly what bearing the name of Christ is worth to them. May God strengthen his people in Afghanistan, and give us the same courageous heart.

Haitians desperately need our prayers. The death toll of last week’s earthquake has now topped 1,300 people and continues to rise. Thousands of homes have been leveled. And now the country faces severe tropical weather, with victims still trapped in the rubble. These follow a presidential assassination, ongoing food insecurity, and increasing gang violence, all of which makes delivery of emergency services complicated. 

Please support the emergency relief efforts of groups such as Samaritan's Purse. You can give right now at the front page of samaritanspurse.org. Just find their “give” tab.

To be clear, the story of Haiti is more than a story of national bad luck. It’s a story of foreign aid doing more harm than good, and of widespread cultural breakdown because of systemic evils and corruption. The resulting desperation of Haiti’s people is reflected in one woman’s statement: “We only have Jesus now.” May He have mercy on that nation.

Archaeologists recently discovered that the ancient Mayans of Tikal, in what is modern-day Guatemala, had uncovered an incredibly advanced water filtration system. Soil samples show they filled their reservoirs with zeolites: pieces of volcanic material that could filter out big bits of debris and invisible microbes which could cause disease.

One researcher observed that the Mayans probably didn’t understand why the zeolites worked. They just saw that they did; so they used them. Isn’t that a great metaphor for God’s natural law?

For a culture that largely denies the existence of God, we sure have a lot of scientific data showing us that His law works best. Even the most entrenched atheists can’t ignore that stable, monogamous marriages produce the healthiest children, that sexual promiscuity is dangerous, and that virtues like forgiveness and forbearance are essential to healthy communities.

This is an opportunity for Christians to unlock the mystery of why these things work. The way of Jesus is the best way for us; and that’s true because our Creator knows and loves us.


Image Sourced From: chensiyuan, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

LiveAction has produced a beautiful video that pulls back the curtain on the glories within the womb. In its short three minutes, we’re treated to a portrayal of the first nine months of a human life. According to LiveAction, 12 percent of pro-choice people changed their minds after watching, and 37 percent of those already pro-life became “more pro-life.”

It’s this power to persuade which led doctors and lawyers to include “3-D and 4-D ultrasound images of unborn children” in their support of Mississippi’s challenge to Roe v. Wade at the Supreme Court. Looking these hidden figures “in the eye” highlights the vanity of the aging pro-abortion talking point about a “blob of cells.”

When abortion became legal in 1973, it was easy to say that fetuses weren’t human. But, as time has gone on and imaging technology has grown clearer, it has become harder to argue that what we see isn’t a fellow human being.

“Imagine” has become a kind of secular national anthem, but it seems like a strange choice.

Last year, a bunch of celebrities tried to make us feel better about a global pandemic by singing “Imagine there’s no heaven.” Really? Facing death, let’s offer a materialistic worldview, with no future after we die and no present source of meaning? And, these millionaire celebrities actually sang to us, “Imagine no possessions?”

Then, during the opening ceremony of the Olympics, this song with the line “no religion, too” was sung, when 84 percent of the world identifies with a religious group. Not to mention, how does “imagine there’s no countries” fit with the Olympics, at a ceremony featuring every nation bearing their respective flags into the stadium? 

At best, this song is an ironic choice almost everywhere we hear it, especially for a global celebration of world cultures and athletes. At worst, it pushes a worldview that’s godless, hopeless, unrealistic, and ultimately meaningless. 

Last month, the American Medical Association announced it will advocate removing sex designation from public birth certificates. Marking gender on the official document, says the AMA, could lead to discrimination for those who identify as transgender later in life. 

“There is no clear standard for defining sex designation,” AMA authors wrote, stating that “gender is a social construct.” 

Strangely enough, the AMA still recommends that hospitals accurately record a baby’s sex on the U.S. Standard Certificate of Live Birth, a document used for government data-keeping. 

This brings up important questions. If there is no clear standard for defining sex designation, what standard will be used for government documents? If gender is a mere social construct, why would the government need a record of it? Why would an association of medical professionals weigh in on something so obviously not scientific? How can anyone trust an association that asks the state to tell lies? And if these lies aren’t fit for official government purposes, why should we accept them in any other part of life?

Nightbirde sings in dark times. For the Colson Center, I’m John Stonestreet with The Point.

Jane Marczewski was the front-runner on this year’s season of America’s Got Talent. She was forced to leave the competition last week to focus on fighting cancer. This is the third bout of cancer for the woman who goes by the stage name Nightbirde.

She was diagnosed with cancer in 2017. Shortly afterwards, her husband asked for a divorce. She spiraled into depression, struggling to speak, eat, or leave her bed for several months. 

On her blog, Jane wrote about meeting God in those dark places, even on the bathroom floor. She chose the name Nightbirde because she wants to sing in the darkest places, where she found Jesus. “If you listen for it and look for it,” she said, “you’ll see Jesus all over it.” 

Jane has what might be called a "big enough" worldview. One able to handle even the hardest challenges. As Jane put it in an interview, “The note that I’ve been given to sing in the orchestra of life is short and insignificant, truly, but I want to sing it well.” May that be true for all of us.

Many feared that the isolation and unemployment from Covid lockdowns would lead to an increase in “deaths from despair.” Those predictions were tragically spot on. 

According to new numbers from the CDC, drug overdose deaths in the U.S. skyrocketed by nearly 30 percent in 2020, the greatest increase in decades. According to The Wall Street Journal  most of the 93,000-plus fatalities involved fentanyl.

Responding to health crises by focusing only on physical sickness just won't do. Nor can we continue to value pharmaceutical profits over human life. 

These numbers expose a second pandemic facing our culture: a radical lack of hope. We're worshiping at the altar of stuff, sex, state, and self, and it cannot satisfy.

We were made for something more. Sharing that with the world is more than a matter of obedience---it's a matter of public health.

A few weeks ago, a self-described “heretic” tweeted out a message befitting that title, saying, “Jesus was Christ. Buddha was Christ. Muhammad was Christ. Christ is a word for the Universe seeing itself. You are Christ. We are the body of Christ.”

To this, someone else retorted, “If you can’t say something Nicaean, then don’t say it at all.” The joke here is that the Nicene Creed of the fourth century clarified Christian beliefs in the midst of controversies over the nature of Christ, drawing a line between God’s self-revelation in the Bible and human speculation.

Despite the joking nature of this reply, it reminds us of something important. Once we stray from the core beliefs held by Christians since the Church’s earliest days, we risk “exploring” our way into outright false beliefs.

In contrast to their reputation for restrictiveness, the creeds of the Church are liberating. Like railings along a cliffside, the creeds give us the freedom to differ and dispute with fellow believers while remaining free from the fear that we’ll stray so far that we’re no longer Christians at all.

Normally when an Olympian wins the gold, we see happy tears. We see families back home cheering. We see the pride in carrying the national flag around the field. It’s such a pure moment. It never gets old. So, when the Fiji men’s rugby team recently won the gold over New Zealand, there was something about this that was even more pure and enjoyable.

This was the second Olympic gold for the Fijians. They got on their knees, they prayed to God in thanksgiving, and sang a hymn of praise. It was so beautiful. It's a traditional tune that contains these words, “We have overcome, by the blood of the lamb, and the word of the Lord, we have overcome.”

It was a wonderful moment, and a wonderful reminder, that whether we win in rugby, or anything else, the most certain thing in the world is what Jesus Christ has done for us, not what we will ever do.