I was a sophomore in high school when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. I remember sitting in math class when the rumors started to spread that something had happened and just not believing it was true. We spent the rest of the day alternating between teachers who attempted to continue their lessons as planned and those who just turned on the TV to watch the news.

I imagine my experience is pretty similar to a lot of people in my generation. It wasn’t until recently, though, that I realized how different that experience—as well as my understanding of the twenty-five years since—was from the generations above me.

You see, I have vague memories of the world before 9/11, but they’re mostly of basketball games, birthday parties, and other childhood events that seemed consequential to me but far less so to anyone else. I knew the world existed beyond my little bubble, but I understood very little about it. As a result, my view of how the larger world works is almost exclusively born from experiences that came after the terrorists attacked.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Looking back on a world I don’t remember →

Hope for an uncertain future – Part 1

During the bombing raids of World War II, many children in Europe were orphaned and eventually placed in refugee camps. Though they received food and medical care, they could not sleep at night, afraid of waking up to find themselves again homeless and without food.

Someone then suggested giving each child a piece of bread at night. Not to eat, just to hold. The idea worked—the children could sleep, secure in the knowledge that they would have something to eat the next day.

More than ever before in our history, Americans need such “bread” to hold when we go to sleep tonight, a “tune without the words” that sustains us amid the cacophony of threats we face.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Hope for an uncertain future →

In nearly 40 years of association with collegiate athletics, one of the most notable changes has been the advent and growing presence of social media. What could not have been anticipated is the impact and influence this medium has on so many players and coaches, and on their sense of worth and well-being.

While bullying was once limited to the elementary school playground, cyberbullying has empowered a new generation of keyboard critics with the ability to belittle, shame, disparage, and denigrate with an unrelenting zeal, finding fault as if there will be an award for it. Thus, I’m not surprised that one of the most requested and popular subjects I’m asked to address in team-development sessions is how to filter the critical voices and minimize their negative impact.

Kennedy and Lincoln on the price of leadership

Too often, we think only those in leadership roles are the targets of criticism, and that it comes with the territory. And indeed, it does.

Continue reading Denison Forum – How to respond to criticism with wisdom →

Here’s a less-than-encouraging thought to begin your day: on average, 174,349 people will die today, including 8,150 Americans. Recent examples range from the Amazon plane crash in Miami that killed five to the Nepal flash floods that killed at least 1,300, with some 5,000 missing. Humans are threatened these days by volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, and floods.

But we know that airplanes sometimes crash and natural disasters sometimes occur. What we don’t expect is to go to work in the morning and never come home because people espousing an ideology we’ve never heard of decide that they should hijack airplanes and use them to kill us.

When you think of 9/11, what comes to mind first? For me, it was watching the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapse live on television. Prior to that moment, we held out hope that those inside the flaming buildings could somehow evacuate safely. Then the North Tower followed and all such hope was gone.

Continue reading Denison Forum – 9/11 and finding hope on the hardest days →

A Labor Day reflection on identity and grace

Singer and actress Miley Cyrus has announced that she is dropping her last name and will henceforth be known simply as “Miley.” Her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, supports the decision: “I told Miley yesterday I felt good about her going with her first name. I mentioned Dolly and Cher. Thinking about it more and more . . . Elvis . . . Prince . . . and so on. It’s a natural progression for an iconic superstar legend.”

The news prompted me to consider other people commonly known by only their first name these days. Some sports figures are obvious for the uniqueness of their name: “Tiger” Woods, “LeBron” James, and “Dirk” Nowitzki come to mind. Others are more location-centric: in Dallas, “Troy” Aikman, “Emmitt” Smith, “Michael” Irvin, and “Nolan” Ryan are examples.

And some are transcendent: in basketball, there will only be one “Michael” Jordan, just as in country music, there will only be one “Dolly” Parton and “Reba” McEntire.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Miley Cyrus drops last name, inspiring me to do the same →

When to be prophetic and when to be pastoral

Midterm elections are always important, but some can feel more important than others. This year, control of the House and the Senate is very much in question, with a variety of issues on the table that could be decisively affected, among them:

• Data centers
• Freedom of religion vs. Sharia law
• The war in Iran
• US support for Israel
• Immigration enforcement
• Democratic socialism
• Efforts to impeach the president.

How do pastors serve faithfully amid such division and distraction?

“I see my torpor and my negligence”

St. Gregory the Great (c. 540-604) is so called because he is commonly listed among the four key “doctors” of the Western Church, alongside Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome. Serving as the pope in Rome during plague, floods, and invasions, he organized church resources to feed the poor, often inviting impoverished people to his personal table. He preached the gospel from church to church and saw himself as a servant of the servants of God.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Ministry amid the midterms →

In nearly 40 years of association with collegiate athletics, one of the most notable changes has been the advent and growing presence of social media. What could not have been anticipated is the impact and influence this medium has on so many players and coaches, and on their sense of worth and well-being.

While bullying was once limited to the elementary school playground, cyberbullying has empowered a new generation of keyboard critics with the ability to belittle, shame, disparage, and denigrate with an unrelenting zeal, finding fault as if there will be an award for it. Thus, I’m not surprised that one of the most requested and popular subjects I’m asked to address in team-development sessions is how to filter the critical voices and minimize their negative impact.

Kennedy and Lincoln on the price of leadership

Too often, we think only those in leadership roles are the targets of criticism, and that it comes with the territory. And indeed, it does.

Continue reading Denison Forum – How to respond to criticism with wisdom →

How a petty lunchbox debate went viral

One of the most interesting aspects of social media is the seeming randomness of which videos or posts go viral. And the perfect example of that unpredictability is “Oreo-gate,” a series of Instagram posts that has racked up tens of millions of views across what is, as of this writing, twenty-one videos. The story has been featured on “Good Morning America,” along with articles in the New York Post, First Post, Business Insider, and more.

The videos revolve around a group chat put to music in which one mom is angry that her daughter was given Oreos at school. She then tries to get all the other moms to stop sending Oreos, even going so far as to email the school and check lunchboxes after the other moms say no.

The kids eventually find ways to start sneaking her daughter Oreos, with the latest post detailing an Oreo-themed birthday party. Overall, it’s petty and silly, but it’s just believable enough to have struck a chord with millions who have viewed the videos.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Why is the internet obsessed with “Oreo-gate” →

What happened: President Trump announced on Friday that his administration had entered into a deal with Venezuela that could have a profound impact on America’s oil reserves and energy capacities. The agreement grants the US a 35 percent stake in the North American Blue Energy Partners, along with the chance to purchase 20 percent of the oil it produces at cost. However, there are reasons to suspect the deal may not be as straightforward as it seems.

Why it matters: Energy independence has been one of the president’s primary concerns since returning to office, and this agreement could further insulate the United States from oil production in the Middle East and elsewhere. However, it also ties the country to Venezuela to an extent that could create new problems in the future. The specific text of the agreement, which has not been released, could decide which fate is more likely.

Continue reading Denison Forum – A guarded hope for President Trump’s Venezuela oil deal →

Rajendra Dawadi, the principal of a school just north of Nepal’s capital, was teaching a class when a staff member burst into the classroom, shouting that a major flood was headed toward them. Mr. Dawadi immediately told the nine hundred children on the campus to run to higher ground. Thirteen minutes after he heard the first warning, a deluge of water, mud, and debris destroyed the school.

Contrast his response with this news: Federal aviation officials have learned that two air-traffic controllers left work early before an Air Canada regional jet crashed into a firetruck at LaGuardia Airport in March. Two pilots died in the runway collision, and six others sustained serious injuries. The Federal Aviation Administration is moving to fire the two controllers.

A principal acts to save his students while air-traffic controllers who could have prevented a tragedy are off the job.

When disasters strike, is God more like the former or the latter?

It’s a question we all have reason to ask today. The Ross Fire west of Fort Worth continues to threaten some of my dearest friends. Tropical Storm Edouard made landfall on the Gulf Coast yesterday, bringing the threat of flooding rain to the part of Texas where I live. Three men from Granbury, one of my favorite North Texas towns, were hiking when floods swept through the Grand Canyon last Saturday; two are dead, and the third is still missing at this writing.

After the wife of Scottish minister Arthur John Gossip died suddenly at the age of fifty-four, he preached a now-famous sermon titled, “But When Life Tumbles In, What Then?”

What then, indeed?

“A need to trust something we cannot control”

In Psalm 75, the Lord proclaims: “When the earth and all its people quake, it is I who hold its pillars firm” (v. 3, NIV). What do we do when those “pillars” still seem to “quake”?

In Psalm 46:10, the Lord famously declares, “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” “Be still” and “know” are two separate commands. I have always taken their relationship to mean, “Be still so that you can know that I am God.” Spend time in solitude with the Lord so you can sense more fully his presence. The times I have done the former, I have always experienced the latter.

But today I am reading their relationship differently: “Be still” because he is God. Stop trying to do what only he can do. Trust him to be sovereign over the universe and claim the fact that “the Lᴏʀᴅ of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress” (v. 11, my italics).

Of course, none of this is new truth. Why, then, is trusting God’s sovereignty in the hardest places often so hard to do?

After all, we constantly trust people and objects whose capacities we do not and often cannot verify. We trust doctors when they diagnose our illnesses and pharmacists when they hand us our medications. We trust those who prepare the food we eat. We trust that our air is not poisoned and our chair will support us.

This is the essence of what it means to be creatures rather than the Creator: we must trust our fellow creatures and ultimately our Creator to do what we cannot. As the Christian psychiatrist Curt Thompson notes, “We are invariably made for faith, to operate out of a need to trust something we cannot control.”

“We are unstable, but you make us firm”

But when it comes to trusting God, we face two enemies we do not face when we sit in a chair to eat a meal.

The first is Satan. He hates God but cannot attack him directly, so he attacks his beloved children. The best way to hurt me is to hurt my family. Our Father feels the same way.

So, when we are choosing whether or not to obey God’s word, the devil whispers in our ear, “Did God actually say . . .” (Genesis 3:1). If we insist that he did, the devil assures us that when we disobey, “You will not surely [fill in the consequence]” (v. 4). No one will know; no one will be hurt. To the contrary, “you will be like God” (v. 5), living your life as your own master.

This leads to the second enemy of trust in God: ourselves. As fallen people, we want to be our own God, to handle our own problems, to defeat our enemies and get the credit for our successes. At least, I do. I don’t like having to depend on God or others and do so only grudgingly and when I have no other alternative.

So, I need God to continue sanctifying my heart, to continue molding me into the character of his Son, to make me holier than I want to be. In The Imitation of Christ, Thomas à Kempis prayed,

There is no holiness where you have withdrawn your hand, O Lord; no profitable wisdom if you cease to rule over it; no helpful strength if you cease to preserve it. If you forsake us, we sink and perish; but if you visit us, we rise up and live again. We are unstable, but you make us firm; we grow cool, but you inflame us.

The author Michelle Van Loon is right: “A pilgrim is formed by the question, ‘Do I trust him?’”

Will you be a pilgrim today?

Quote for the day:

“Few delights can equal the presence of one whom we trust utterly.” —George MacDonald

Our latest website resources:

• A guarded hope for President Trump’s Venezuela oil deal
• Why study of the Old Testament is essential for the New Testament
• How to care for a grieving friend
• Mayor argues against lowering flag for Dolly Parton
• President Trump renames Lake Ontario as “Lake America”

Denison Forum

“This is a risk for the whole world. In a few years, we will be living in a Terminator movie. It’s no joke. Machines are making decisions to strike.” This is how Col. Serhiy Minaiev responded to a Russian drone strike that killed three civilians in southeastern Ukraine last month.

The New York Times reports that the drone was guided by an experimental artificial intelligence system, not a human pilot. It had been programmed by human operators to fly toward a particular gas station, but when it got close, it chose its exact target, most likely propane tanks, on its own.

According to the Times, this development was long watched for in the war in Ukraine, “presaging a dystopian future in which killer robots roam the skies making life-or-death decisions that reduce targets to data points.” (For more, see Dr. Ryan Denison’s latest Focus article, “Russia launches AI-piloted drones in Ukraine. What comes next?”)

“The only Foundation of Republics”

From the time the first human used the first tool to kill another human, our ethics have struggled to keep up with our technology. Today, genetic engineering can alter the DNA makeup of an organism in ways that change the species with unforeseeable consequences. Autonomous robots and weapons systems can make life-and-death decisions without human accountability. AI agents can “hallucinate,” producing errors that result in patient suicides and generating misinformation as much as 51 to 79 percent of the time.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Will we soon be living in a Terminator movie? →

On Wednesday, August 26, flash floods broke out across Nepal, leaving chaos and destruction in their wake. Scientists believe that a glacier broke loose from high in the Himalayas near the Tibet-Nepal border. The melting ice mixed with rocks, boulders, and mud to create a concrete sludge. Videos show this sludge mixture barreling down from the mountain, over 40 miles, sweeping away bridges, buildings, cars, and people with  tremendous force.

It’s believed that more than 1,500 individuals are missing, and over 165 people have been reported dead. However, according to a local Christian worker, due to the remote nature of some of the villages affected by the flooding, not everyone is registered. So, it is extremely likely that the numbers are much higher than this, and they will continue to rise.

With rescue efforts already underway, CNN reports the threat is still ongoing. Many fear a secondary flooding event because the initial floods and landslides have “created a new lake, increasing the risk of landslides, mudslides and flash floods, with the three days of rain ahead.”

The collapsed earth is forming unstable dams and is liable to break. Thus, an already desperate circumstance has become all the more urgent.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Responding to the Nepal floods with hope and purpose →

A reflection on meteorology and eternity

Forty-seven American tourists are missing today following flash flooding that occurred at 8:30 a.m. local time in Nepal. They are among a “preliminary” toll of at least 341 missing people, according to a statement by the Nepal Tourism Board.

In other weather news, a wildfire west of Fort Worth, Texas, has burned eighty thousand acres at this writing and is only 12 percent contained. I have been watching it closely because it is close to a chapel our ministry supports, and that is close to my heart.

Mark Twain noted, “Climate is what we expect; weather is what we get.” He is often credited as well with the observation, “Everyone complains about the weather, but nobody ever seems to do anything about it.”

I am writing today to complain about the weather, and to decide what to do about it as well.

Meteorology and my morning walk

My morning walk was impaired today by meteorologists. I consulted the Weather Channel app, the AccuWeather app, and the app from our local news station. All were in adamant agreement that it would begin raining in forty-five minutes. So I altered my routine, got outside in the dark, and shortened my walk by half. Of course, not a drop of rain fell this morning.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Flash floods and wildfires →

In August of 1996, I headed off to college as a freshman with a “hi-tech” word processor in tow and little awareness or understanding of the Internet, much less access to it. Equally, I was largely unaware of or affected by the temptation of pornography. Sure, I knew of magazines or movies containing such material, but thankfully, I had limited access to it and was too embarrassed to even try.

Unfortunately, by the time I graduated four years later, I was stuck in a hidden addiction to pornography. Though shame told me otherwise, a majority of my generation was, in retrospect, in the same predicament.

A pattern of addiction

Humanity’s struggle with lust and pornography is just about as old as time. Sexual temptation has seemingly affected each generation within every culture.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Is gambling the next pornography? →

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday announced Operation Economic Outcast, which he called “an unprecedented campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran and its enablers.” The operation will introduce new sanctions across a variety of vital sectors. The impact on American consumers is yet to be known.

Closer to home, why should you care that 22 percent of the Canadian population speaks French? Because this fact may soon cost you money.

The United States and Canada are now in an escalating trade war. When talks broke down last Friday, President Trump enacted 50 percent tariffs the next day. On Monday, he added cars, automotive parts, and steel to the tariffs beginning January 1. The Canadian Ministry of Finance is set to announce retaliatory tariffs against the US today.

It seems the French language was part of the problem.

Canada considers both English and French to be its official languages and requires all federal services to be offered in both languages. However, the US views this requirement as a trade barrier that “harms the ability for businesses to freely sell their products.” Mr. Carney said US negotiators “made changes, including threats on the French language and Quebec culture and Canadian culture. That is not acceptable. That would never be acceptable.”

Paper products, alcoholic beverages, and dairy products may all cost more as a result.

A “melting pot” or a “salad bowl”?

What it means to be an American has long been a subject of contention. Are we a “melting pot” in which everyone assimilates into a single, cohesive culture with a single language? Or are we a “salad bowl” in which diverse cultures coexist within a shared social framework? Depending on who you ask and where you look, the answer seems to be “yes.”

The same can be said of the Christian community. After three thousand people came to faith at Pentecost, “all who believed were together and had all things in common” (Acts 2:44). Paul famously declared, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28), answering the prayer of Christ that his followers would “become perfectly one” (John 17:23).

At the same time, the body of Christ “does not consist of one member but of many” (1 Corinthians 12:14). Accordingly, “the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you’” (v. 21).

We each have a constellation of spiritual gifts, abilities, education, experience, capacities, and challenges that are combined uniquely in us. I cannot do what you can do for Jesus today, nor can you do what I can do. My kingdom assignment is mine, just as yours is yours.

But the more we are united with Christ, the more we are united with each other. Our “body” functions holistically to the degree that Jesus is our “head” (Ephesians 1:22).

Spotting a beaver in a pond

My wife and I were walking around a lake in our neighborhood over the weekend when we spotted a beaver paddling through the water. I had seen the animal a few months ago and told her about it. She wanted to see it for herself, but it did not make another appearance until surfacing that morning.

Prior to that moment, I believed in the beaver’s existence by seeing it, while she did so by faith in me.

According to Carneades, an ancient Greek philosopher, there are four categories of such “faith”:

1. Plausible: A claim seems right, though you’ve not checked on its validity. For example, news reports tell you there is flooding in the next city over.
2. Convincing: You have strong reasons to believe something. It’s been raining torrentially for several days, so floods are likely.
3. Coherent: The belief agrees with most or all of your other beliefs. The news channel is generally reliable, rain causes floods, and such floods are common in that city.
4. Thoroughly explored: You’ve conducted an extensive investigation into the matter. You checked with local authorities and traveled to the city to see the flooding for yourself.

My wife’s belief in our neighborhood beaver was plausible, convincing, and coherent but not thoroughly explored until the day she saw it for herself.

“The Lord of me and the God of me”

Here’s my point: The more personally we experience a truth claim, the more practical and powerful it becomes for us.

A transformational daily encounter with the living Lord Jesus is the most urgent and relevant example I can cite. If I tell you that you can have such an experience with him today and you believe the biblical record to be true, my claim is plausible. If you’ve seen the difference Jesus makes in other lives, it becomes convincing. If you believe that such an experience would be consistent with your other beliefs about the Christian life, it becomes coherent.

But until you meet Jesus for yourself, your beliefs are only beliefs. Like Thomas, when we experience the risen Christ personally, we call him not “the Lord and the God” or “our Lord and our God,” but “my Lord and my God!” (John 20:28, my italics). Thomas’s words in the Greek New Testament are, “The Lord of me and the God of me.”

Accordingly, early tradition reports that Thomas took the gospel further from Judea than any other apostle. He traveled roughly three thousand miles to preach in India and lead multitudes to Christ before he was martyred and buried in a shrine that bears his name as a cathedral today.

Pastor Adrian Rogers was right: “The same Jesus who turned water into wine can transform your home, your life, your family, and your future. He is still in the miracle-working business, and his business is the business of transformation.” John R. W. Stott agreed:

“The new life is not a matter of mere moral reformation, but of spiritual transformation.”

Will you experience the “new life” with Jesus today?

Quote for the day:

“We take what we think are the tools of spiritual transformation into our own hands and try to sculpt ourselves into robust Christlike specimens. But spiritual transformation is primarily the work of the Holy Spirit. He is the Master Sculptor.” —Jerry Bridges

Our latest website resources:

• A Christian response to the Lindsay Clancy case: How to respond when the mental health epidemic becomes personal
• Kathryn Krick’s viral “healing” videos, why Gen Z wants old-school worship & the Lakers’ shock sale
• What comes after postmodernism? A review of “Based on a True Story” by Paul Anleitner
• What is the “Vibe Shift” and does it point to revival?
• We need to have a conversation about suicide

Denison Forum

How is the Bible relevant to these stories today?

• What Time called “President Donald Trump’s final event commemorating the US’s 250^th birthday” took place in the nation’s capital Sunday as Kyle Kirkwood won the Freedom 250 Grand Prix. Mr. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump rode around the 1.7-mile race track in the presidential limousine ahead of the competition.
• Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts signed a temporary order on Friday allowing work to continue on the White House ballroom while the court considers an emergency appeal from the Trump administration. The ruling came after an appeals court earlier stopped the project.
• A giant statue mocking Mr. Trump for the US’s role in the Iran war has drawn attention in Washington, DC, as well.
• Earlier in the war, the Iranian president wrote an open letter to the American people that was widely shared on X and covered by national media.

You don’t need the word of God to explain any of these stories in isolation. Many national leaders have discretion to celebrate significant events as Mr. Trump did with the IndyCar race. Some countries place their chief executive under the final authority of other bodies such as a Supreme Court. Some allow their leader to be mocked in public. And some let the leader of a country with whom they are at war address their public directly.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Indy cars race around DC after Court rules on ballroom →

How to respond when the mental health epidemic becomes personal

The trial of Lindsay Clancy, a mother accused of murdering her three young children, just wrapped up its fifth week, and continues to stir heated debates on social media. Countless women who’ve experienced postpartum depression, anxiety, or psychosis shared their stories online. Psychiatrists are sharing facts about mental health during the postpartum period, along with varying opinions on whether she received adequate treatment or not.

Conspiracy theorists have also entered the conversation, stringing together theories to “prove” that the killer was really her husband, Patrick. On the other side of the spectrum, conservative social commentator Matt Walsh called her a “selfish, evil witch,” condemning her and anyone else who excuses her alleged actions.

This case has stirred up a lot for me personally as well. I’m a health coach working at a counseling center alongside a team of therapists (one of whom is my husband). I’ve coached over a thousand clients with varying physical and mental health concerns. I’m also a survivor of PTSD, depression, and bipolar disorder. I’ve been symptom-free for almost 20 years.

I haven’t expressed my thoughts publicly until now. To start, as a mother of three, I have found the trial clips hard to watch. It’s a gut-wrenching tragedy.

Continue reading Denison Forum – A Christian response to the Lindsay Clancy case →

Why this story is more complicated than it seems

When McKenna West, a cardiac nurse from Alaska, agreed to become the surrogate for a California couple late last year, she had no way of knowing that the decision would put her name in national headlines. However, when the baby she was carrying was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) in April, that all started to change.

The biological parents—Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed—pushed for an abortion and, initially, West agreed. However, she had a change of heart before going through with it and eventually sought refuge in Texas to ensure the child could be born and would be well-positioned to receive the necessary surgeries to save his life. The day before she gave birth, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened, and a judge in Dallas ruled that the baby must be given the necessary treatment and remain in Texas while also granting the biological parents’ request that West not be allowed to make medical decisions for the child or be around him.

The baby boy—who was named Rumi by his birth parents and Gabriel by West—has since received the first of those surgeries and is recovering. Details are sparse, though, and representatives for Gilkar and Ahmed have said they don’t intend to offer any further updates on the situation. However, the parents are scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, at which point a judge will rule on the temporary restraining order they filed against West, so it’s likely they will have to provide updates at that point.

Until then, the story is likely to continue generating controversy, particularly because few seem to be able to agree on the details of what actually precipitated West’s flight to Texas.

Why the truth is hard to find

One of the most difficult parts of discerning fact from fiction in this story is that most of the details trickled out after the headlines had already been written. The largest point of contention surrounds the initial push for an abortion.

Court documents filed in Alaska on July 20 stipulate that Gilkar, Ahmed, and West were all in agreement on an abortion initially. However, the later-term nature of the pregnancy (West was at twenty weeks at the time of diagnosis) meant that she would have to travel from Alaska to Seattle to find a doctor willing to do it. While she waited for her appointment, she researched hospitals that treated HLHS and found that a Dallas hospital had a 100 percent success rate with the initial round of three surgeries.

She then decided against an abortion. When the biological parents learned of her decision, she claims they stopped covering her doctor’s visits and surrogacy payments while threatening to sue her if she refused to comply. They’ve since made good on that threat, suing West for $100,000 for an alleged breach of contract and emotional distress.

Eventually, both sides seem to have agreed to forgo abortion, and the primary point of contention shifted to where the child should be born. The parents pushed for California, while West was adamant that the hospitals in Texas were better suited to the necessary treatments.

At this point, it’s hard to know whether her highest priority was ensuring that the pregnancy would continue in a state where abortion is illegal or getting to a place with the highest quality of care. Perhaps both played a significant role in her decision.

Again, everyone has said the right things about wanting what’s best for the child in the days since this story became public, but the biological parents have to know that doing anything to jeopardize the health of the child now would look awful.

At the same time, West is now seeking parental rights and custody of the baby under the belief that Texas law “recognizes anyone who gives birth in Texas as the legal mother of the child.”

Where this story goes from here is anyone’s guess, but there are a few takeaways that we cannot afford to lose sight of amidst the conflict.

Three points to remember

First, human lives should never be used as political props. 

While Ken Paxton and his office may have genuinely had the best interests of West and the baby she carried at heart when they interceded on their behalf, abortion has become such a political issue that it’s easy for people like Lee Budner, the lawyer for the biological parents, to denounce it as “political theater” when that’s how the issue of abortion has been used by other politicians in the past.

It’s great when governments—state or federal—pass laws that make it easier to protect life. But neither side wins when the actual lives at stake are lost in the shuffle. We cannot afford to forget that there are real people suffering and dying because of our culture’s inability to see that life is important at all stages.

Second, neither side is above making that mistake. 

When those on the pro-choice side dehumanize a baby in the womb in order to advocate for its mother’s rights, it’s tragic and indefensible. However, when those on the pro-life side automatically villainize the mother when studies show more than three-quarters of them don’t want to get an abortion, we’re also in the wrong.

The truth is that all of us who care deeply about this issue are guilty of allowing emotions to narrow our focus to the point that we assume the worst of those who disagree with us. That’s not a good way to change hearts and minds, which is the only way we’ll ever see a real change in our nation’s approach to abortion. That doesn’t mean equivocating on the facts or budging on the truth, but God’s call to “speak the truth in love” is just as relevant to this topic as it is to the broader work of ministry (Ephesians 4:15).

Lastly, this story is still a cause for celebration. 

For all the fighting, lawsuits, and discrepancies between each party’s account of what happened, a baby that would have died is now alive, and that’s important. While the child still has a long path ahead of him, for now at least, it appears he will receive the care he needs.

When dealing with a problem as vast as abortion, where more than a million lives are lost every year before they even get a chance to take their first breath, it’s easy to get discouraged. After all, more children are lost to abortion now than before Roe v. Wade was overturned. And when even the moments that feel like progress don’t seem to make much of a difference, remembering that every life saved is important can help us not lose hope. At the end of the day, that’s what I’m taking from this story.

So, while we should continue to pray for the baby, his biological parents, and for West, let’s also take a moment to rejoice in the simple fact that he is alive. Praise God for that.

Quote of the day:

“Words not spoken in love are like knocking on the door of an empty house. You can make a lot of noise, but no one will respond.” —T. J. Greene

Our latest website resources:

• God’s presence for postpartum depression: A guided prayer
• Kathryn Krick’s viral “healing” videos, why Gen Z wants old-school worship & the Lakers’ shock sale | Ep. 82
• What comes after postmodernism? A Review of “Based on a True Story” by Paul Anleitner
• What is the “Vibe Shift” and does it point to revival?
• We need to have a conversation about suicide

Denison Forum

If you’re like me, you have NAG Syndrome today. I’m not talking about a problem in my marriage (though anyone who knows my wife would blame me, as they should). Rather, I’m referring to No Authority Gauntlet Syndrome, which is when you have accountability without authority. You see a problem that needs to be fixed, but you don’t have the agency or resources to do so. It’s even worse when you’re not sure anyone else does, either.

Here are some examples in the news I’ll list without a lengthy description lest I discourage you before I have the chance to encourage you (the latter of which is the purpose of today’s article):

• The US debt crossed the $40 trillion threshold for the first time yesterday.
• The West is running out of interceptor missiles that are crucial in defending against attacks from Russia, China, or other adversaries.
• A “mind-blowing” El Niño is setting warm water records in the Pacific and increasing the chances that 2026 will be the warmest year on record.
• Some geopolitical analysts say Iran will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz without controlling it and receiving war reparations, an end to sanctions, and a US military exit from the region. It could strike US military targets in Europe if the US escalates the war.
• Cyber warfare is increasingly targeting US water supplies. According to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, “A teenager with a laptop, a Starlink connection, and an open-weight AI model can now disrupt a municipal water or power system by identifying and exploiting old software vulnerabilities.”

Continue reading Denison Forum – Hope for those of us with “NAG” Syndrome →

Why are Eastern Orthodox and other “high church” denominations seeing a surge in attendance? Why has the growth of atheism and secularism plateaued in the West? Why do some films coming out feel so sincere and nostalgic?

These and many other cultural signs, says Paul Anleitner, point to a new wave of cultural change, something beyond the cynicism of postmodernism: Metamodernism. And this shift has massive consequences for faith, America, and culture moving forward.

Cultural Theology 

Paul Anleitner, like Dr. Jim Denison, is a cultural theologian. At first glance, this is a strange label; what does it mean to be a cultural theologian? Cultural theology is less about engaging in academic debate or biblical scholarship and more about integrating theological insight into contemporary cultural commentary. It’s a shift in focus that, while relying on the biblical, focuses on its application and relevance to the trends of modern society.

Continue reading Denison Forum – What comes after postmodernism? A Review of “Based on a True Story” by Paul Anleitner →