Dear rob,
Last weekend I was in Billings, Montana, for our (live, in-person) Christian Thinkers Society events with the Big Sky Worldview Forum (more about this below). Additionally, I was interviewed in-studio for the state-wide call-in program, “Montana Talks with Aaron Flint” (KBUL News Talk). One caller, frustrated by the cultural disparity, asked why it seems we cannot even have a conversation with the other side. I responded: “The reason is because of sin. Sin poisons everything.” Sin corrupts our relationships. Sin corrupts everything, which is why we need our Savior!
This weekend I am speaking in New Jersey at Southridge Community Church for Accelerate weekend (more details here: https://www.southridgecc.org/accelerate). Please pray for all who are coming live and streaming online. Christian Thinkers Society is also excited to the church on its 150th anniversary! Thank the Lord for churches all over America still finding ways to meet and do outreach!
As we lead lives of Christian distinction and are committed Christian Thinkers, I must ask you, now more than ever, to not be silent! Take a moment and read Luke 3:19, “John also publicly criticized Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, for marrying Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for many other wrongs he had done.” John the Baptist had such a following that Antipas quickly put him to death. John was not afraid to speak out against evil (“and for many other wrongs he had done”). We need to be John the Baptist’s of today. If you see wrong, say something. Stand up. Yes, we must always approach it with truth and grace, but we must not ignore evil.
One evil I want to again choose to speak out against is the eugenic-leaning, cloaked in environmentalism and “science,” advertisements currently on display in Vancouver. Please read an effective response: https://www.citynews1130.com/2020/09/27/vancouver-billboards-ecofascism/. You may not be aware, but ideas relating to eugenics were discussed as early as Plato (c. 429–347 BC) and Aristotle (384–322 BC). Plato spoke metaphorically of the need to keep the precious “metal” of Greece “pure.”[1] And Aristotle recommended abortion and infant exposure, lest the quality of the Greek population decline.[2] Also ominous was Aristotle’s justification for slavery: “Slaves are subhuman or lesser men, while masters are superior.”[3] I hear the echo of these eugenic ideas, in the current advertisements in Vancouver.
As a father of five, I grow weary of how traditional families are constantly under attack. This time, the family is to blame for “over-population” and consumption. We must not be credulous on these matters. My heart also goes out to women who have lost their children or are unable to have children. How offensive to these hurting would-be Moms.
I might add, these organizers may get what they want, but they may not want what they get in losing the traditional family, which is the bedrock of western civilization. “Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground” (Genesis 1:28).
Now, I turn to update you on some exciting Live events with Christian Thinkers Society …
[1] Plato, Respublica 546d–547a.
[2] Politica 1334b–1335b.
[3] Aristotle, Politica 1327b; see also 1252b; 1255a; 1285a. For scholarly discussion, see Peter Garnsey, Ideas of Slavery from Aristotle to Augustine(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 105–27; Malcolm Heath, “Aristotle on Natural Slavery,” Phronesis 53 (2008) 243–70.
