Race, Riots, Right, and Wrong (Episode 10)

Plain Bible Teaching Podcast

In this episode we’re going to be looking at some principles relating to current events:

Race, riots, right, and wrong

Current events have turned our national attention to the problem of racism. Protests have occurred across the country, as well as rioting and violence. During events like these, it is important that we remember some Biblical principles.

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Who Is to Blame for the Abortion Tragedy?

Ultrasound

Many who defend the practice of abortion attempt to classify it under the heading of “health care” or as “a woman’s right to choose.” The reality is that the practice of abortion is the act by which the life of a child in the womb is deliberately terminated. In other words, when an abortion is performed, an unborn child (a human being) is intentionally killed.

In our society, the issue about abortion has shifted away from the question about when life begins. If it does not matter when life begins, then it does not matter when an abortion occurs. This means one of two things:

  1. EITHER abortion is wrong at every stage of pregnancy (this is the pro-life position);
  2. OR abortion is acceptable at every stage of pregnancy, even up to the point of birth (this is now the pro-abortion position).

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The Foundation for a Godly Society

Moses and the Ten CommandmentsThe Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) – the laws engraved onto stone which God delivered to Moses for the children of Israel – give us the blueprint for the foundation of any godly or righteous society. These Ten Commandments are regularly assaulted by those on the “left” as having no place in our government or our schools. The stated reason for their opposition is that the Ten Commandments represent a religious element that has no place in anything related to government. Yet the Ten Commandments represent more than just religion. The reason there is such strong opposition to the display of the Ten Commandments by the “left” is because the Ten Commandments stand in direct opposition to the Liberal’s ideal for society.

Many today view the Ten Commandments as part of the foundation of our religion. Yet they are part of the Old Law which was nailed to the cross (Colossians 2:14). Does this mean they are of no value for us today? Certainly not! But we must use them properly. The Old Testament was written and is preserved “for our instruction” (Romans 15:4). When we study the Ten Commandments, we find the foundations of a godly society.
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Pro-Life, With Exceptions

Pro-Life

[This article was written by Bryan Matthew Dockens.]

For years, political candidates have attempted to appease conservative voters by claiming to be “pro-life”, while moderating their positions to appeal to the mainstream by claiming three exceptions, namely: rape, incest, and the mother’s life. Is the pro-life position one that can bear exceptions?

In the case of rape, it is certainly true that someone deserves to die. That would be the rapist. The Old Law stated plainly, “If a man finds a betrothed young woman in the countryside, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die” (Deuteronomy 22:25). Although the Law of Moses has been done away with, capital punishment remains a valid penalty for crime (Romans 13:4).

Under what rationale can it be argued, though, that the unborn child, conceived in rape, deserves to perish for his father’s sins? In the Old Testament it was written, “The fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall the children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin” (Deuteronomy 24:26). The baby in the womb is entirely innocent of the sin his father committed against his mother. Spare that child the pain of death. Punish the sinner, not one of his victims.
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More Righteous than the Religious

Jesus and the Pharisees

The title of this article may sound a little odd. But let me begin by stating that this article is not about how organized religion is wrong – it is not. The point of the article is not to say that religious people are not righteous – many of them are, and they should be. So what is the purpose of this article?

The title is based on one of Jesus’ statements from the Sermon on the Mount:

For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).

The scribes and Pharisees were regarded as the religious leaders of that day. Jesus’ point was that in order to follow Him, we must live up to a higher standard than what is commonly accepted – even commended to us – among the religious world. Doing just enough to blend in with those who are religious is not enough to be part of His kingdom.
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Why the School Shootings?

[This article was written by Tim Haile.]

Our nation has once again been shocked by another tragic school shooting. On April 16, 2007, Cho Seung-hui killed 32 people and injured 17 more at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. Sadly, these shootings have occurred frequently enough over the past 15 years that we tend to forget just how many of them have taken place. It hasn’t been that many years ago that Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 12 and injured 24 in Littleton, CO (Columbine High School, 1999). Along with these school killings, many other gang related murders occur at the hands of youths. It is not my purpose in this brief article to document the dozens of such shootings that have occurred, but rather to shed some light on why they are occurring, and why they are occurring with such increased frequency.

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