John N Clayton Archives

October 28, 2022October 26, 2022

God’s Original Equipment Is Better Than What Humans Make

One of the things I have learned about my body is that God’s original equipment is better than what humans make. The dental equipment that various dentists have put into my mouth has usually lasted only about 20 years, but I still have some of my original teeth. My eyes are starting to show aging after working well for years, but I go through glasses at an alarming rate. Trifocals don’t work as well as the eyes I had as a teenager.

The desire to put off children until later in life to pursue a career has caused many couples to freeze embryos for later in vitro fertilization. In Scandanavia, 78,000 human embryos have been frozen, and 18,000 pregnancies have resulted from in vitro fertilization. Studies show that 74% of the mothers who used IVF suffered from high blood pressure, while only 4.3% of women had blood pressure problems with natural childbirth.

High blood pressure is dangerous in pregnancy because it can lead to preeclampsia which can cause complications for both the mother and child. This has implications for the abortion issue and family planning organizations. The bottom line is that women must decide what is most important in their lives. God has given them the ability to have a baby, and God’s original equipment is better than what humans make. Having a child is a choice a woman should make, but babies should not be an afterthought.

The financial stresses on families may force women to make hard decisions. Still, human interference with the original design of the reproductive process causes significant problems for families, women, and babies. Which is more important, having a high-level career or raising a child? Trying to do both and doing them successfully is a daunting challenge.

Reference: CNN.com and The Week for 10/14/22, page 22

October 27, 2022October 26, 2022

Little Aborted Souls in Heaven

An article by S.M. Hutchens in Touchstone magazine raised the question of what the Redeemer will do with “those little aborted souls … in heaven.” A skeptic recently suggested to me, “If we believe the Bible, Christians should support abortion because those aborted babies automatically go to heaven.” Both of these views miss the point. There will be no such thing as “little aborted souls” in heaven.

When we die, we leave all of our physical existence behind. At the end of time, the physical world will be dissolved and turned back into the form from which it came. (See 2 Peter 3:10-18.) Einstein’s famous equation e = mc² tells us that mass and energy are really the same thing, and quantum mechanics continues to support that concept. In 1 John 1:5 we read, “God is light.” Light is energy, and the idea is that God took some of His own nature and turned it into matter. That was the start of the creation process.

Revelation 21 tells us that in heaven, we will be free of every negative thing that afflicted us here on Earth. There will be no death, pain, or suffering. As verse 5 says, all things will be made new. Christ will bring all of us who are His into this new existence, including those babies who were killed before they could draw a breath.

The skeptic then says that we should rejoice that these “little aborted souls” are now with God and will never have to experience the trauma of life. That might sound like a reasonable argument, except for something that atheists can never deal with. It is the question of purpose. What is our purpose—why are we here? There is a joke about the skeptic who says to God at the judgment, “Why didn’t you put a stop to COVID?” God responds by saying, “I did, and you aborted it.” That really is more than a joke. It raises a key point in this discussion.

The Bible makes it clear that God had and continues to have a purpose in the creation and a purpose for each of us. We are not just accidents. Ephesians 6:12 and 3:10, as well as the Book of Job, show us that there is a war between good and evil, and we are on the battlefield. Atheists may try to deny this by saying evil doesn’t exist, but that is an irrational view.

Everyone was created with talents and abilities to do something in the battle with the spiritual forces described in Ephesians. Unfortunately, many refuse to participate and end up with lives full of frustration and no direction. Aborted babies never have a chance to do what God created them to do. Those of us who find our niche realize that God put us here for a reason. In that, we find contentment and value in life as we fulfill the purpose for which we were created.

Reference: “L’Chaim!” in the column “Mortal Remains” by S.M. Hutchens in the November/December 2022 issue of Touchstone magazine

October 26, 2022October 25, 2022

Should We Treat an Aborted Fetus as a Deceased Person?

In 2016, when Mike Pence was governor, the state of Indiana passed a law requiring “the burial or cremation of any fetus.” The question at hand is should we treat an aborted fetus as a deceased person? Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit against the state, which went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Finally, in 2019, the court ruled that Indiana law had a legitimate interest in disposing of fetal remains.

In 2020, a group of women who had abortions in Indiana, along with abortion providers and an abortion clinic, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. They said that the requirements caused abortion and miscarriage patients “shame, stigma, anguish, and anger” because they “send the unmistakable message that someone who has had an abortion or miscarriage is responsible for the death of a person.”

In September of 2022, U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young ruled that the law violated the U.S. Constitution because it infringes upon the religious and free speech rights of people who don’t believe that aborted fetuses have any rights.

Whether we should treat an aborted fetus as a deceased person highlights the real issue in the abortion question. That is, whether or not a baby is a human before birth. Those who argue for abortion do not have scientific support for their position. The unborn child is not “an extension of the mother’s body.” Every medical attempt to define when a baby is a human fails because of the criteria used. Using brain waves, the ability to live outside the womb, the heartbeat, or when the fetus responds to outside stimuli are all arbitrary and change as technology advances.

In today’s world, having an abortion is safer than natural childbirth. The number of women who die in childbirth worldwide is vast, and even in the United States, there is a risk in giving birth. When you look at the arguments for abortion, consider how they can be applied to euthanasia for a person with age or mental issues. Some people want to use similar arguments to eliminate the cost and personal inconvenience of people at the other end of life’s journey. Ethics proponents like Dr. Peter Singer use them to justify euthanizing the mentally ill and the severely physically disabled.

Should we treat an aborted fetus as a deceased person? As our civilization embraces atheism, naturalism, and humanism, will it embrace a 100% materialistic view of human value? The recent ruling in Indiana seems to indicate that is the case.

Reference: Indianapolis Star and USA Today Network for September 30, 2022.

October 25, 2022October 24, 2022

Banning Books in Public Schools

What books should be in a public school library? That issue has erupted into a serious battle with librarians and teachers caught in the middle as special interest groups fight to include books supporting their causes. In contrast, others are intent on banning books in public schools.

A research group known as PEN America found 2532 instances of banning books in 32 states in the previous school year (2020-21). They also counted 50 groups fighting to ban books. The American Library Association estimated 1600 different books targeted for bans or restrictions in the same period.

A group called “Moms for Liberty” was founded in 2020 to fight the use of certain books and now has 100,000 members in 38 states. Legislatures in Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida have passed laws calling for criminal charges when authorities deem books promoted to children are “pornographic, obscene, or inappropriate.” However, we have not seen a consistent definition of these words.

The books being targeted fall into two general subject areas. One is race, and the other is LGBTQ issues. Teens or perhaps preteens can deal with those issues, but they should not be forced on kindergarten or first-grade children. Some targeted books have passages about masturbation, oral and anal sex, and sexual assault. Such subject matter is not what a small child should be confronted with at school without preparation at home.

The issue of race is quite different. Describing each race as having a built-in bias or set of properties is foolish. Not all white people are racial bigots. Not all people of color are poor or uneducated. Schools must teach the history of racial issues in America without polarizing our culture with sweeping generalities.

The reaction of many Christian parents has been to remove their children from public schools and either home-school or send them to private schools. The challenges parents face will only get worse because our country has rejected Christian values. Our books have been banned in the past because they promoted faith in God and the validity of biblical Christian values. Atheists have led an effort to forbid our books on science and faith because they contain positive support for belief in God.

Christianity opposes racism and teaches sexual morality, but banning books will not solve today’s problems of racism and immorality. The Church and home must be involved in teaching children proper sexual conduct and preparing them for the challenges they will face. For Christian parents, Proverbs 22:6 applies here: “Teach your children right from wrong, and when they are grown, they will still do right” (CEV). That teaching must be by example as well as by words.

Reference: The Week for October 21, 2022, page 11.

October 24, 2022October 23, 2022

Persecution of Christians Continues

The latest data on the persecution of Christians around the world is disturbing. Unfortunately, getting data from some areas is difficult, but several organizations have worked hard to get numbers that tell us how bad it is. By “Christians,” these organizations mean any group that recognizes Jesus Christ in any form as divine, including Catholics, Mormons, and all denominations.

China is an area where it is hard to get accurate data. According to the “Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life,” there are 67 million “Christians” in China. That includes 9 million Catholics, 23 million “Three-Self Protestants” (the group approved by the government), 35 million independent protestants, and 20,000 “Orthodox Christians.” The current government has been shutting down churches and confiscating their property, so most of the ones listed are meeting as house churches. During the Cultural Revolution in China from 1983 to 1993, the government imprisoned 3,000 Christians, but the current imprisonment rate is estimated to be over ten times that number in 2021 alone.

The second most extensive national persecution of Christians is in Nigeria. In June of 2022, terrorist attacks on Christian churches resulted in 125 deaths and numerous kidnappings. In Nigeria in 2020, 3,530 Christians were murdered, and in 2021, 4,650 were killed during attacks on church services. Kidnappings have increased from 990 in 2020 to 2500 in 2021, with 470 churches attacked. Vietnam and Pakistan have smaller numbers.

It is amazing to note that these numbers far exceed the attacks by the Roman government on Christianity during the first century. We continue to see legal attacks on practicing Christians in the United States. The military has clamped down on chaplains who hold Christian services of any kind. That includes observations of Christmas, Easter, or even Sunday worship. Secular groups can rent facilities on most state universities. The Does God Exist? ministry did that from 1968 until 2019. Now we are told that facilities can not be rented by “Church groups” at the same universities where we used to do lectureships.

Our country’s political struggles have polarized every segment of our culture. Antichristian organizations and the media have assured us that the days when Christianity was socially acceptable are pretty much over. This persecution of Christians may purify us as those who merely want to go to Church social events leave, and the persecuted minority that remains will continue to do the will of God.

References: Touchstone magazine, November/December 2022, page 12 ,and Wikipedia.

October 22, 2022October 18, 2022

A Negative Attitude Toward Christianity

“Religion” is a bad word in the world today. Many religions are violent, abusive, dishonest, and the source of war, waste, and murder. When I gave my lectures on science and faith in England, Ireland, and Scotland, I found that people were very interested in what I was presenting, but if I used the words “church” or “religion,” they were repulsed. In many countries today, telling someone you are a Christian invites a very negative response. Why do people have a negative attitude toward Christianity, and what can we do about it?

People have seen destructive actions by people who claim to be Christians. If you take a history course, you will learn about the Crusades, religious wars, slavery, racial hatred, and racial abuse, from the Tulsa tragedy to lynchings in the south. In modern times, we have seen people robbed of their money, their property, and their virginity by people who claimed to be Christians. There is no defense for that behavior. It is wrong and flies in the face of what Jesus Christ taught and lived. Furthermore, those actions create a negative attitude toward Christianity.

Surveys in the last ten years have shown that more and more people are rejecting “religion.” Religion is usually defined as human attempts to reach God. According to recent surveys, when asked if they believe the Bible is God’s Word, 20% of Americans say “no.” A substantial percentage of Americans cannot tell you anything about the Bible except what they have heard critics say. They also admit that they doubt God’s existence and reject the Bible’s moral teachings. The answer to this situation is education about Christ and His teachings.

If we are to change the trend away from God and the negative attitude toward Christianity, we must start at the very bottom. We must assume the world around us knows nothing about God, Christ, or the Bible. Unfortunately, that is the situation for many people today, and starting with the basics is necessary. Here are some basic places to begin:

1) How do we know there is a God? What is the evidence?
2) What is God, and how do we know that the spiritual world exists? Naturalism teaches that the material world is all there is.
3) What are the properties of God, and how are they relevant to humans?
4) What is a human, and why are humans special? What uniquely sets us apart?
5) Why do the teachings of Christ make sense, where do we find them, and are they reliable?

We address all of those questions on our websites and in our free materials. However, as long as preachers and religious leaders spend their time, money, and energy attacking each other and promoting emotionalism and entertainment, a negative attitude toward Christianity will continue. We must share our faith in love.

October 21, 2022October 18, 2022

Numbers, Chance, and Design

It’s an interesting case of numbers, chance, and design. We often get letters and emails from atheists who want to argue about the things we post. Interestingly, they usually do the opposite of what the writer expects. For example, we recently received a challenge to our argument for God based on the design we see throughout the cosmos. Our atheist friend claimed that numbers are a matter of chance, and therefore they refute any suggestion of design.

In reality, the opposite is true. I was familiar with the example my atheist friend gave. It involves the fact that multiplying 111,111,111 by itself gives a sequence that my atheist friend says “might look like design but clearly isn’t.” You can do this yourself. Multiply 111,111,111 by 111,111,111 and see what you get. If you do it correctly, the answer 12,345,678,987,654,321. Try it and see. Is this a product of chance or a product of design?

This works in a numerical system based on 10, which we use in the western world. However, we are in the midst of switching to a binary system because our computers work on 1 and 0 (or + and -), and much of our world today runs on computers. When mathematicians developed these systems, they had to choose a numerical sequence that worked well for the time and the culture in which they functioned. Since we have ten fingers, base ten was a good choice. I had a math professor who told us that if the early scholars had been barefooted, we would have been using a base twenty system.

What does that tell us about numbers, chance, and design? The point is that the reason 111,111,111 times 111,111,111 gives the pattern that it does is because intelligence designed the system. Intelligent minds made the choices that produced the number pattern. This is an argument for the validity of design in the creation, and design demands a Designer.

October 20, 2022October 20, 2022

Learn from the Past or Repeat the Cycle

How much of the Old Testament do you know and understand? If you are like me, you know some of the stories of biblical heroes and heroines. In the New Testament, Hebrews 11 discusses many of those individuals – Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and Rahab. Chapter 12 begins by referring to them as” a great cloud of witnesses” and an inspiration to run “the race that is set before us.” The historical record of God and His relationship to His people is a “schoolmaster” so that we can learn from the past and not make the same mistakes.

Someone said that the value of knowing history is to avoid repeating it, and humans have been slow learners. One lesson from Old Testament history that needs our attention is the on-and-off cycle of the human relationship with God that can only be broken by the message of Christ.

That cycle begins with Adam and Eve and is repeated over and over up to the present time. God creates, and His creation is perfect. Humans receive the blessings of God’s creation, and for a time, all is well. But, when humans become too comfortable with God’s simple covenant, they turn away from Him.

That began the cycle. Deuteronomy 28:1-14 predicts that it will be repeated. First, God told Israel, “All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God.” God then lists all the good things Israel will receive if they follow His commands and take advantage of His promises. Then in the following 54 verses, God tells Israel what will happen if they do not obey God’s provisions expressed in His covenant. The next chapter of Deuteronomy begins with, “These are the terms of the covenant the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Israelites ….”

As we follow the history of Israel from the golden calf to corrupt king after corrupt king, we see them turning away from God to embrace sinful and destructive practices, worshiping pagan gods, and even going so far as to sacrifice their children to those gods. Over and over, God responds by removing His protection and allowing foreign nations to overtake and destroy them. Then, finally, they repent and return to God, but they fail to learn from the past and repeat the cycle.

The whole message of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles tells the story of this destructive cycle. Jeremiah and Hosea devoted their lives and message to warning Israel of the dangers of their actions. When Israel returns to God, He restores the covenant until they forsake Him again. Finally, Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed, and still, they repeat the cycle.

But then, a new creation begins. Christ comes on the scene to restore the human relationship with God and establish His Church. Humans can now become new (Romans 6). Jesus shed His blood to make us one body free of all division and human fallacies. As in the past, God promises blessings when we obey His commands. (See John 14:15-17.) But here we are in America today, failing to learn from the past as we repeat the cycle.

We have seen the blessings of God as America has prospered. But humans are rebelling against God and His covenant by embracing destructive practices. How long will God tolerate our nation’s immorality as we restrict worship of God and endorse the killing of babies and the destruction of marriage? The Church is all that stands against the complete rejection of God’s commands and His covenant. We can break the cycle of history by relying on God’s word and following His instructions individually and as a nation. Will we learn from the past or repeat the cycle by following the path of nations that rose and fell in the past?

October 19, 2022October 18, 2022

Role Modeling Your Pronouns

The National Education Association’s October 2022 issue of NEA Today carries an article titled “Pronouns and Why they Matter for LGBTQ+ Students.” As a science teacher, I always found English teachers could do things I never had time for. The article encourages teachers to “try role modeling your pronouns before inviting everyone to introduce theirs.” It gives a pattern to follow: “Hi, my name is Meg, and I use she/her/hers pronouns. Could everyone please go around and share their name and pronouns.”

Reading this article reminded me of education courses I took at Indiana University many years ago. The professors who taught them had never taught in a public high school. They never dealt with gangs, had a gun or a knife pulled on them, or been threatened by a girl who spent her weekends as a neighborhood prostitute. Those of us teachers who had experienced all those things in the classroom just rolled our eyes and read their books so we could pass the course.

The last LGBTQ+ student I had in class changed her name four times in the school year. She would tell me when entering my classroom what name to use when I called on her. When she found out I was a Christian, she came in to talk on numerous occasions. She knew that she was safe in my classroom, that I cared about her, and that I understood some of her struggles. Late in the year, she told me, “You know I don’t care what you call me, you have shown me that you care about me, and that is all I need.”

I spent 41 years in the trenches, and while I never pushed my religion on my students, they knew where I came from. I have often said that if you have to tell someone that you are a Christian, there is a problem. Atheism, naturalism, and secular humanism have taken over the American educational system and destroyed public schools.

I don’t have all the answers, but I know that role modeling your pronouns is not as important as letting the students know you care about them. I understand why parents and educators are fleeing public schools and turning to charter and private schools. As they do, that leaves the public schools in many places as preparatory prison systems collapsing under their own weight.

Reference: “Pronouns and Why they Matter for LGBTQ+ Students” by Brenda Alvarez, NEA Today, October 2022 (pages 46-48).

October 18, 2022October 17, 2022

Surge of Sexually Transmitted Diseases

The rejection of God and refusal to follow the Bible as a guide for moral decisions is having an enormous effect on the surge of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that syphilis cases rose by 26% in 2021. In addition, the number of congenital syphilis cases, in which the disease passes to the baby in the womb, rose from 300 in 2011 to 2700 in 2021. HIV cases increased by 16% in 2021, while gonorrhea and chlamydia also rose. This continues a trend of recent years.

People don’t seem to understand that these diseases cause a great deal of collateral damage. Syphilis causes brain damage, and babies are especially vulnerable. Statistics strongly support the relationship between cancer and chlamydia. Suggesting that modern antibiotics can treat these diseases does not address the side effects. It also assumes that people who engage in dangerous sexual practices get medical treatment.

One evidence of the Bible’s inspiration as the Word of God is that its teachings provide the best sex while avoiding the diseases that promiscuity causes. Unfortunately, as the number of people engaging in sexual practices outside of marriage and with multiple partners increases, we can expect STDs to reach epidemic proportions, causing increased damage.

Following God’s instructions for responsible living can solve the surge of sexually transmitted diseases. However, that can only happen if people learn the risks involved in aberrant sexual practices and discover the joy they can have in a committed relationship with someone who shares their commitment.

Reference: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention