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Follow the Money

The Cornerstone of the Transgender Movement

            When there are questionable actions taking place, it is often said that one should “follow the money” to find the real motivations behind the questionable activity. Money is an incredibly powerful influencer, which has historically been able to sway governments, bribe officials, or bias researchers. While money is a necessary part of modern society for the exchange of goods, there is one type that we should be aware of that has powerfully shaped much of our current culture’s obsession with gender and sex. This one, however, is not a type of currency; it is actually a man. Many revere his work as foundational to culture, but few realize the horror and exploitative nature of this man. To understand what the modern transgenderism movement is founded on, one must “follow the Money,” which in this case is Dr. John Money.

Dr. John Money

            Dr. Money was a New Zealand psychologist who specialized in researching sex (or “sexology” as it was sometimes called). He is credited with coining or popularizing terms such as “gender role,” “sexual orientation,” and “gender identity.” He constructed a theory of sexual development, “…emphasizing the interaction and interdependence of social psychology and biological factors.”[1] Money’s clinical work started with people who were considered intersex (born with reproductive anatomy that does not fit the typical definitions of male or female) at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He eventually moved to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in 1951.[2] His works are foundational to the modern gender theories, including the belief that a person can tangibly become the other sex: transgenderism.

            The bulk of Money’s research allegedly led him to believe that the sex that was assigned by doctors and parents to a child at birth or during earliest childhood will dominate his gender identity.[3] Basically, Money had assumed that gender was heavily influenced by nurture, not just nature. He wanted to prove this, so it was not surprising when he took on the case of a pair of twin brothers to test this hypothesis.

            Bruce Reimer and his identical twin Brian were born in 1965. Both were born with slight genital defects, and the doctors attempted to correct it with circumcision. Dreadfully, the operation was botched and Bruce’s genitals were damaged beyond repair. Understandably, his parents did not allow the procedure done on his twin brother Brian (whose defect naturally resolved itself).[4] The parents were referred to a psychologist with experience with physically intersex individuals: Dr. John Money. At the doctor’s advice, his parents agreed to have him “sex reassigned” and made into a girl via surgical, hormonal, and psychological treatments.[5] Over time and through numerous office visits where he studied their interactions, Dr. Money apparently thought the transition was a great success.

The Reimers

Although this girl is not yet a woman, her record to date offers convincing evidence that the gender identity gate is open at birth for a normal child no less than for one born with unfinished sex organs or one who was prenataly over-or underexposed to androgen, and that it stays open at least for something over a year after birth[6]

Money continued to monitor and experiment with the twins for more than a decade, analyzing the gender and sexual development of both boys with Bruce being reassigned the identity of a girl named Brenda. When the twins turned nine, Money published his self-reported success with the twins study in a book called Sexual Signatures:

The girl already preferred dresses to pants enjoyed wearing her hair ribbons, bracelets, and frilly blouses, and loved being her daddy’s little sweetheart. Throughout childhood, her stubbornness and the abundant physical energy she shares with her twin brother and expends freely have made her a tomboyish girl, but nonetheless a girl.[7]

The influence of Dr. Money’s reports was widespread in theory and practice. Sociology, psychology and women’s study texts were rewritten to argue that, as Time magazine reported: “This dramatic case . . . provides strong support … that conventional patterns of masculine and feminine behavior can be altered. It also casts doubt on the theory that major sex differences, psychological as well as anatomical, are immutably set by the genes at conception.”[8] Lay and social science writings still echo this case and so do medical texts.[9],[10] ,[11] ,[12],[13] What many of these writings fail to include in their analysis of Dr. Money’s work was the abusive and sexually degenerate nature of it. These twin boys were not subjects of a study; they were victims of a predator.

            As Bruce (aka Brenda) tried to heal from the gender reassignment surgeries and adapt to the artificial influx of female hormones, he regularly went to see Dr. Money along with his brother. As identical twins, they were considered ideal test subjects for a psychological study on gender and what influences it. Brian acted as the control group for comparison to Bruce. The scientific legitimacy of the study effectively ended there.

            During the twin’s visits with Money, they were instructed to strip naked and look at their sibling’s genitals, as well as engage in sensual performances. Bruce was shown pictures of naked adult women, supposedly to train him to be more feminine and reinforce his gender identity.[14] Later in life, Bruce said that much of Money’s treatment included the compulsory practicing of deliberately sexual positions and motions with his brother. Money justified it all as the equivalent­­ of normal childhood sexual exploration.[15] In a later interview with Rolling Stone, Bruce informed readers that Dr. Money had at least once photographed their “exercises.” Sometimes he watched them alone. Other times he observed them with multiple colleagues.[16] The twin also recalled how, when they were alone with Dr. Money, the doctor would show anger and become verbally abusive if either of them resisted his orders—a stark contrast to the calm and polished veneer that their parents always saw.15

            As a result of this controversial case going mainstream for all to see, Dr. Money’s views on the acceptability of pedophilia came to light. He had argued that pedophilia could be clinically divided into “affectionate pedophilia” and “sadistic pedophilia,” all the while appearing himself to be supportive of some aspects of the pro-pedophilia movement.[17] Money once said “If I were to see the case of a boy aged ten or eleven who’s intensely erotically attracted toward a man in his twenties or thirties, if the relationship is totally mutual, and the bonding is genuinely totally mutual […] then I would not call it pathological in any way.”[18] When this support of pedophilia is put in the context of his actions in the Reimer case, one really begins to question the motivations of this once lauded doctor and why he had these boys act out sexual activities while he watched.

            For over a decade, Bruce and Brian unknowingly provided data that, according to biographers and the Intersex Society of North America, was used to reinforce Money’s theories on gender fluidity and provided justification for thousands of sex reassignment surgeries for children with abnormal genitals,[19] as well as those in more recent times that have “transitioned” with no physical deformities as the reason for the surgery.[20]

            When one compares Money’s study data to Reimer’s testimony, it appears as if the famed sexologist was either dishonest or ignorant in his note taking. According to the victimized Bruce Reimer, unlike what Money had claimed, the young boy had not taken to the female role at all and had experienced severe gender dysphoria (the distress resulting from a person’s assigned gender), contradicting what Money had said about the experiment’s success. In this scenario, Bruce was forcibly assigned the gender of a girl, while in reality being a biological boy. Bruce reported that he actually did not identify as a girl, hated wearing dresses, disliked typical feminine activities and toys, as well as—quite justifiably—strongly resented all his visits to the doctor. The trauma got so bad that at the age of thirteen, Bruce told his parents he would commit suicide if he was forced to return to Dr. Money.14 All the female hormones, dresses and female norms they tried to use with “Brenda” Reimer simply made matters worse. On top of it all, he was viciously bullied and did quite poorly in school. The charade was falling apart. It makes one wonder if Dr. Money’s conclusions were intentional falsehoods or if he really did miss these blatant signs.

            Eventually, at the age of fifteen, Bruce’s father finally told the twins the truth about what he really was. This brought great relief to Bruce. It appears all those years of gender dysphoria were actually reality pushing through. He immediately reassumed his male identity, taking the first name of David. By the age of 21, testosterone injections, surgeries to remove the breasts that the female hormones had caused to form, and the reconstruction of a passable penile replacement all helped him reclaim some of what Dr. Money had stolen from him. In interviews, and a later book about his experience, David described his dealings with Money as torturous and abusive. Accordingly, Reimer claimed he developed a lifelong distrust of hospitals and medical professionals.[21]

David Reimer

            The transition back to a male identity did indeed help David, as he began to work out, become more physically masculine and eventually married a single mother with three children. Unfortunately, the trauma never left. As is common with childhood abuse, it lingers—or in this case, builds to a head until something gives or the victims themselves break. The secret destroyed their family. His father sunk into alcoholism and his mother attempted suicide. Reimer’s twin sibling, Brian, later descended into substance abuse and petty crime. The physical stress wore on David too, leading twice to suicide attempts by his early twenties. In 2002, Brian Reiner died from a drug overdose. Two years later, David committed suicide at the age of thirty-eight.[22]

            The echoes of this tragedy still remain today, rippling through our culture. Instead of universal condemnation of John Money’s child abuse and discrediting of his work, he has become the foundation of an entire movement. Money’s concepts of gender have led to our “gender fluidity” and how sex and gender are no longer linked. Transgenderism has, thanks to Money and his disciples, convinced thousands that they can in every essence become the opposite gender from their physical birth sex. While many have assumed that transgender reassignment treatments, including hormonal puberty blockers and genital removal and remodeling, have been reserved for those legally at the age of consent, it has recently been discovered that such treatments have also been used on youth. The removal of healthy breasts at the onset of puberty has certainly been occurring in youth as early as 13[23] if not younger. Vaginoplasty, the irreversible last “stage” in male to female transsexual transitioning has also been occurring in minors in the United States despite guidelines to the contrary.[24]

            A new study of nationwide hospital databases discovered at least 1,130 minors between 2016 and 2019 went through reconstructive chest surgeries to match their perceived genders. This is a 389% increase in three years.[25] As astonishing as this sudden spike is, it may not be the whole story. Leor Sapir of the Manhattan Institute suggests that the number of minors who receive gender-related chest surgeries is underrepresented in that study.

JAMA included only procedures performed in hospitals, not by plastic surgeons in private settings. Because these procedures yield around $10,000 per patient, many mastectomies take place outside of hospitals in surgery centers owned by plastic surgeons themselves.[26]

This exponentially climbing number of minors getting these permanent and harmful physical changes is not slowing down. In fact, it is being encouraged from the top. In August of 2022, President Biden’s administration published a proposed rule that would require hospitals to provide “gender transition or gender-affirming care.”[27] This includes what can more accurately described as chemical castration[28] and body mutilation for no medical reason. Under the rule, insurers must pay for it, and there is no minimum age listed in the regulation.[29]

            Proponents of gender-confirming medical interventions will argue that suicidality is high in those that do not receive the surgeries. As the narrative goes, the individual’s gender dysphoria leads to sever anxiety, depression, and other issues and allowing them to conform to their perceived image of themselves will ease those burdens.[30] The problem is, this is not backed up by research. Back in 2016, the Obama administration was unable to conclude that Medicare should pay for medical transitions due to the increase in suicidality after such surgeries.[31]

            Dr. Jack Turban is a leading voice in the pro-gender affirming surgeries for minors. He cites 16 studies that allegedly showed that such surgeries result in favorable mental health outcomes. Leon Sapir broke down those studies in an article, showing that many of those studies were short term follow ups which failed to properly analyze long term results.[32] Two studies that Sapir pointed to showed that regret did not typically manifest fully until after ten years.[33] [34] When these pro-gender surgery studies only publish mental health of individuals in the short term, they either ignorantly or manipulatively hide the actual rates of regret. In fact, one long term study with Swedish adults showed that, after 10-15 years post-surgery, the suicide rate was nineteen times that of comparable peers.[35] No long-term study of this sort has yet to be done with those transitioned as minors. It may predictably be even worse than those that transitioned as adults.

            What all these disciples of Dr. John Money fail to notice is the natural resolution of gender dysphoria in children. According to Dr. James Cantor, “roughly 60-90% of trans-kids turn out no longer trans by adulthood.”[36] Even the regularly progressive New York Times published an article that said

Several studies have tracked the persistence of gender dysphoria in children as they grow. For example, Dr. Richard Green’s study of young boys with gender dysphoria in the 1980s found that only one of the 44 boys was gender dysphoric by adolescence or adulthood. And a 2008 study by Madeleine S. C. Wallein, at the VU University Medical Center in the Netherlands, reported that in a group of 77 young people, ages 5 to 12, who all had gender dysphoria at the start of the study, 70 percent of the boys and 36 percent of the girls were no longer gender dysphoric after an average of 10 years’ follow-up.[37]

Clearly this is an absolute disaster of our own making. Science has been replaced by ideology, and biology has been replaced by imagination. Children who would naturally recover from their early mental disorder are being regularly pushed into permanent, life altering treatments that will severely disrupt how their bodies develop, sterilize them, and remove healthy body parts from them. The number of regretful transitioned persons will soon spike as the “honeymoon” phase ends and they finally see themselves in the mirror for what they are: a shadow and mockery of the gender that they could never actually become. Those that avoid suicide are already speaking out, but have an uphill battle to be heard, since mainstream media turns a blind eye to such counter-narrative stories. That said, if one takes the time to look, the regret is clear and it is absolutely heartbreaking.

            Back in the 90’s, self-esteem was a huge message pushed through the educational system. Now, instead of helping people find value within themselves, our medical institutions agree with their twisted sense of brokenness and encourage their confusion. Rather than help them return to a correct understanding of reality, we have moved into a culture that does not acknowledge that any such reality exists. The truth is whatever each person wants it to be, so of course whatever a person says they feel like they can be. One social media influencer claims to be “tri-gendered,” with male, female and nonbinary as the three genders she identifies with.[38] The severe lack of training in logic here is palpable, since it is absolutely impossible to be both genders and no gender at the same time. Other young people go as far as claiming to a different species.[39],[40] One of the worst, however, are those healthy people identify as handicapped, going as far as causing self-harm to their otherwise healthy bodies.[41], [42] At what point will doctors willingly assist in the destruction of healthy tissues simply because a person wants to be handicapped? Since they already remove healthy sex organs, we cannot be that far off from such a scenario.

            If reality is no longer applicable, then any limitations are subject to the dumpster. If a child is mature enough to decide permanent bodily reconstruction, are they mentally capable of voting? Are minors mature enough to buy firearms? Are minors able to get tattoos? The hypocrisy is palpable in places like New York or California, where minors cannot get a tattoo even with parental permission, yet they can get an abortion or double mastectomy without their parents ever being notified.[43] What really is the age of consent? If a child can consent to permanent body manipulation and sterilizing surgeries, can they consent to sexual relationships too? This brings us full circle back to Dr. Money and his apparent support of particular types of pedophilia. In a world where children are considered mature enough to allow doctors to butcher their genitals, it is not far off to see any push for legal pedophilic relationships. We even see scholars presenting TedTalks claiming that pedophilia is just another of the long and ever evolving list of gender identities.[44] When will this insanity and child abuse stop? It stops when people make it stop.

            Conservative talk show host Matt Walsh, host of the Matt Walsh Show and the man behind the controversial “What is a Woman” documentary[45] has laid the groundwork for what must be done. After much research, Walsh had released his documentary exploring the world of gender theory, showing viewers the not only confusing, but self-contradictory nature of the view. He then revealed that permanent bodily harm was being done to minors around the country in the form of “gender affirming care.” This shocked many who thought only adults could participate in such procedures. Following the momentum of the film, Walsh has started to call out specific hospitals that perpetrate this child abuse,[46] such as Vanderbilt University. Vanderbilt paused its surgeries on minors after Walsh’s efforts lead to media pressure and bad press.[47]

Matt Walsh, creator of the documentary “What is a Woman?”

            Taking the message up the ladder to those in political office, Mr. Walsh has been highly influential in the formation and presentation of a statewide ban on gender conforming treatments and surgeries in his state of Tennessee.[48] Governor Ron DeSantis also took action to ban such treatments on minors in Florida.[49] Multiple other states are hinting at following suit. Sadly, this topic is becoming a battle ground of progressives and conservatives instead of being something we can all unite on in defense of our youth. The United States has often been the leader in scientific innovation, but on this topic, it lags behind many other nations to our discredit.[50] It is up to the American people to take a stand against such cruel mutilation of children by taking it to the ballot box.

            Minors are simply not capable of properly making such life altering choices. It is up to the adults in their lives to steer them closer to an understanding of reality, not push them further into their self-destructive rejection of reality. The bill in Tennessee does not just ban the gender transitions in minors: it would allow those that regret their transitions as minors to sue their parents for failing to protect them in their innocent youth. If other states can follow suit on this, we will soon see parents held accountable for encouraging such harm on impressionable children. It is a necessity for this to finally stop. It has almost become a fad for parents to jump on any hint that their child is within the LGBTQ camp.

            Gender theory as introduced and influenced by Dr. John Money has sent disruptive ripples out across our culture. Posthumously, his ideas continue to reverberate throughout society, their destructive force knocking down one taboo after the other. Are these medical practitioners really trying to destroy the foundations of society and our future generations? Maybe a few, but probably not the majority. Are some convinced they are helping? Most definitely. Are some motivated by other more tangible things? Well, as we already said, when questionable actions take place, one should follow the Money, right?

[1] Bullough, Vern (2003). “The Contributions of John Money: A Personal View”. The Journal of Sex Research. Taylor and Francis, Ltd. 40 (3): 230–236. doi:10.1080/00224490309552186. JSTOR 3813317. PMID 14533016. S2CID 22122271.

[2] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/the-story-of-john-money-controversial-sexologist-grappled-with-the-concept-of-gender-1.3137670

[3] https://www.nytimes.com/1975/05/04/archives/nature-and-nurture-and-gender-sexual-signatures.html

[4] https://allthatsinteresting.com/david-reimer

[5] https://isna.org/faq/reimer/

[6] Money J, Tucker P. Sexual Signatures: On Being a Man or Woman. Boston: Little, Brown, 1975. Page 98

[7] Money, John. Sexual Signatures. Brown Little, 1975.

[8] https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,910514,00.html

[9] Behrman RE, Kliegman RM. Nelson’s Essentials of Pediatrics. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Co., 1994.

[10] Blethen SL, Weldon VV. “Disorders of External Genital Differentiation”. In: Kelly VC, ed. Practice of Pediatrics. Vol. 7. Philadelphia: Harper & Row, 1985:1-23.

[11] Catlin EA, Crawford JD. “Neonatal Endocrinology”. In: Oski FA, ed. Principles and Practice of Pediatrics. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1990:420-429.

[12] Ratzan SK. “Endocrine & Metabolic Disorders”. In: Dworkin PH, ed. Pediatrics. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1996:523-565.

[13] Diamond M. “Sexual Identity, Monozygotic Twins Reared in Discordant Sex Roles and a BBC Follow-Up”. Archives of Sexual Behavior 1982; 11:181-185.

[14] https://allthatsinteresting.com/david-reimer

[15] https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/david-reimer-and-john-money-gender-reassignment-controversy-johnjoan-case

[16]Colapinto, John (1997). “The True Story of John/Joan”. Rolling Stone. No. 775. New York: Straight Arrow Publishers. pp. 54–97. ISSN 0035-791X.

[17] https://www.salon.com/2015/01/04/pervert_or_sexual_libertarian_meet_john_money_the_father_of_fology/

[18] Interview: John Money; PAIDIKA: The Journal of Paedophilia; vol. 2, no. 3; Spring 1991

[19] https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/david-reimer-and-john-money-gender-reassignment-controversy-johnjoan-case

[20] https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/09/us/vanderbilt-suspends-gender-affirming-surgery-minors/index.html

[21] https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/david-reimer-and-john-money-gender-reassignment-controversy-johnjoan-case

[22] https://allthatsinteresting.com/david-reimer

[23] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29507933/

[24] https://www.jsm.jsexmed.org/article/S1743-6095(17)30108-X/pdf

[25] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/2797439

[26] https://www.city-journal.org/floridas-reason-and-compassion-on-gender-medicine

[27] https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/08/04/2022-16217/nondiscrimination-in-health-programs-and-activities

[28] https://www.dailywire.com/news/puberty-blockers-cause-infertility-and-are-given-out-like-candy-according-to-gender-clinic-director

[29] https://www.dailywire.com/news/mutilation-mandate-why-proposed-biden-rule-will-require-hospitals-to-offer-gender-affirming-care

[30] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/political-minds/202201/the-evidence-trans-youth-gender-affirming-medical-care

[31] https://www.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-database/view/ncacal-decision-memo.aspx?proposed=N&NCAId=282&bc=ACAAAAAAQAAA&

[32] https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/the-distortions-in-jack-turbans-psychology

[33] https://www.jsm.jsexmed.org/article/S1743-6095(18)30057-2/fulltext

[34] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-014-0300-8

[35] https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0016885

[36] http://www.sexologytoday.org/2016/01/do-trans-kids-stay-trans-when-they-grow_99.html

[37] https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/23/opinion/sunday/richard-a-friedman-how-changeable-is-gender.html

[38] https://thepostmillennial.com/trigender-person-identifies-as-male-female-and-neither

[39] https://metro.co.uk/2019/03/01/otherkins-trans-species-people-dont-identify-human-8787845/

[40] https://www.bodyandsoul.com.au/mind-body/a-case-of-the-furries-as-year-8-student-openly-identifies-as-a-cat/news-story/249924446f0f0c6633fb0699063f4eb8

[41] https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/becoming-disabled-by-choice-not-chance-transabled-people-feel-like-impostors-in-their-fully-working-bodies

[42] https://news.yahoo.com/woman-blinds-herself-drain-cleaner-215652198.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9zZWFyY2guYnJhdmUuY29tLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAG8Cy5XT0m9ETxFeH7tBIk5G1_kirZOJdbnKEXc3v8NJr8cmJs6py0iwAP82Ekbvzzd1GAfn4mGS4iI1F1ed9w06e5_MglyiPbU0umq6Yo9be–puE_l8P32iCd3JasLQFy0oAyLVa-vrXsz-hxDfFj_LVdWXoUHyFaGr3nrV9ok

[43] https://religionunplugged.com/news/2021/10/1/children-in-california-can-now-make-life-altering-decision-without-parents-knowledge

[44] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knaxQPjHn2k

[45] Whatisawoman.com

[46] https://www.dailywire.com/news/hospitals-clinics-are-promoting-services-to-gender-nonconforming-kids-here-are-47-of-them

[47] https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-vanderbilt-pediatric-gender-clinic-pausing-transgender-surgeries-on-minors

[48] https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-tennessee-introduces-legislation-to-ban-trans-treatments-for-minors

[49] https://www.dailywire.com/news/florida-medical-boards-vote-to-ban-medical-transition-for-minors

[50] https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-medical-groups-get-the-science-wrong-on-pediatric-gender-affirming-care

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Incompletely Pro-Life

Can one be truly pro-life while knowingly profiting from abortion?

            Can a person be pro-life yet profit from abortion? While it sounds rather absurd, this is the boiled down stance of many pro-life advocates. When focused directly on the heinous acts of the abortion industry, condemnation and moral outrage is the normal reaction as these people take a stand in the defense of the unborn; however, many are ignorant of the black market sales of aborted fetal tissues. Such vile practices are slowly coming to light, but not before they have become a staple of the medical industry. Unbeknownst to many, these aborted fetal tissues are the foundation for many of the common vaccines we regularly receive as early as infants. Still worse is when pro-life advocates have realized the connections between abortion and the pharmaceutical industry, yet turn a blind eye to these practices. It is logically inconsistent to be pro-life and to advocate for the use of vaccines that are built upon the tissues of aborted children.

            Abortion is an explosive topic with people lining up on both sides of the issue in masses. For the sake of this essay, I will define abortion flat out as murder. I am not here to debate with pro-choice advocates; rather, I am here to open the eyes of my fellow pro-lifers, who will most likely agree with such a definition. With that said, it is safe to conclude that abortion, as murder, is a terrible act and is, in the theological sense, a blatant sin that destroys a life made in the image of God. 

            I remember the pro-life outrage that boiled up in 2015 when it first dropped. A man named David Daleiden released his first of numerous undercover videos from inside Planned Parenthood. In the months in which he went under cover, he recorded some incredibly disturbing footage.[1] In some, an abortionist laughed as they pieced together the dismembered remains of a recently aborted fetus. In another, a high-ranking Planned Parenthood official asked for a Lamborghini as she haggled over the prices of fetal tissues.[2] Planned Parenthood took Daleiden and his undercover cohort Sandra Merritt to court, attempting to redirect the attention to the journalists and their fake IDs and such red herrings. Despite the conclusions of the Planned Parenthood hired Fusion GPS “experts” that claim Daleiden’s footage was “misleadingly edited,”[3] a Texas judge sided with Daleiden when a forensic firm reported the video authentic and not deceptively edited.[4] While the legal weight of America’s abortion industry has been thrown heavily at these journalists, it has become undeniable that the sale of aborted fetal tissues is indeed occurring. Where else would such companies procure fetal tissues except from abortionists? Some argue that the tissue is donated, but we have seen some medical companies losing court battles because their illegal sales of fetal tissues.[5] In court, it has come to light that this entire undercover investigation was started because there was evidence that Planned Parenthood was changing their abortion methods so that the babies would be born alive and in a way that their organs could be harvested right away with little to no damage to the valuable parts.[6]

David Daleiden, the man who went undercover into the abortion industry.

            The pro-life movement has been united in speaking out against this terrible practice. The sale of human flesh is revolting to practically all pro-life activists, and is actively condemned; yet, the real conundrum is that these same people who condemn it have turned a blind eye to the purpose of such sales. Why would fetal tissues be worth so much in the first place? Who is able to find a use for such an ethically questionable product? The answer lies in the pharmaceutical industry.[7] Fetal tissues are used in embryonic stem cell research, in experimental treatment of diseases, and of course, as the template for live viruses. Common live virus vaccines include MMR, Chicken Pox, Hepatitis A, Varicella, Rabies, Shingles and Polio vaccines, among the long list of others.[8] As the list shows, many of these vaccines are on the required list of the CDC’s vaccine schedule and are given routinely to millions of people every year, especially children.

            So here we see the connection. Abortionists are selling fetal tissues to third party organizations that, using legal limbo, profit from the sales to medical and research facilities. Some pro-vaccine individuals attempt to get past this ethical dilemma by pointing out that the cell lines used today in vaccines either are not the same as using fetal tissues, or that the abortions that resulted in these cell lines were decades ago. Neither argument is sound. After all, their cellular changes since the abortion and their temporal distance from the abortion event do not change the fact that they stem from the bodies of murdered children. Others might argue that it was only two fetuses, and they were going to be aborted anyway. To the second claim, their abortions are still sickening no matter how inevitable they are assumed to be. To the first claim I point to the sworn testimony of Dr. Plotkin, the esteemed author of “Plotkin’s Vaccines,” a common textbook on vaccines. Nestled within many hours of testimony about vaccines, Dr. Plotkin was forced to admit that a single cell line required 76 fetuses to produce one successful cell line.[9] Clearly cell lines are not easy things to make if it takes the tissues from over 70 children to create.

In this sworn testimony, one of the leading vaccine experts admits to the huge number of aborted fetuses used in cell lines.

            Practicing Catholics are typically very strict in their pro-life stance. The Vatican still remains adamantly against such practices, and quite openly condemns it as murder. It is in light of this that many are shocked to hear the Catholic Church claiming that it is not sinful to use vaccines that are produced by the use of aborted fetal tissues. They seem to argue against abortion as one of their strongest objections in some cases, but they turn around and make exceptions for it in the specific situation of vaccinations. The juxtaposition here is perplexing and, in all likelihood, hypocritical. In the journal Medicina e Morale, edited by the Centra di Bioetica della Universita Cattolica in Rome, Catholic bioethicists condemn the production of vaccines in this manner; yet they flip on their condemnation to claim that it is morally acceptable to use the products of abortion under some circumstances.[10]

            Their reasoning can be summed up thus: abortionists are sinful, and those researchers that willingly use such tissues are also in sin; however, those that need to use the vaccines for their health benefits are not guilty of sin as long as there is no other way to protect against the spread of these diseases. As Dr. Ploktin points out, the Catholic church claims that abortionists and vaccine researchers like himself that use fetal tissues are the ones condemned to hell (which doesn’t bother the atheist Plotkin), but those that use the vaccines are innocent.[11] Is this logical? In essence, this Catholic position assumes that the ends justify the means. But do they?

            Ethically, the claim that the ends justify the means is shallow at best. It allows for unspeakable acts of immorality as long as the end result is a morally beneficial one. In this, the Catholic Church is not just aiding the population in its efforts to remain healthy; they are actively supporting a for-profit industry that makes billions of dollars off of the production and use of aborted human flesh. Homeland security defines human trafficking as “… involving the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act;“[12] however, human trafficking is not just about labor or sex. Organ trafficking is a real issue. It is summarized as 

“the recruitment, transport, transfer, harboring or receipt of living or deceased persons or their organs by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability, or of the giving to, or the receiving by, a third party of payments or benefits to achieve the transfer of control over the potential donor, for the purpose of exploitation by the removal of organs for transplantation.”[13]

While not specifically for transplantation, the use of fetal tissues is indeed taken by force and sold to a third party by exploiting the innocent child. If this is the case, then the pharmaceutical industry that profits from the sales of vaccines that use such tissue is in the dead center of one of the world’s largest human trafficking schemes. Is the Catholic Church really tolerant of human trafficking? Are the ends found in possible health benefits to us truly worth the means of direct investment into further human trafficking and abortion?

            It comes down to this: are those that continue to vaccinate with the knowledge that they are using fetal tissues innocent of the abortion and human trafficking? The Catholic Church’s position seems to suggest that it is morally acceptable, but many of us pro-life advocates see the hypocrisy in such a stance. Even if we grant that vaccines help reduce the dangers of diseases (something that in many cases is false, which further hinders the Catholic argument), we are purposefully placing funds into the hands of those that make a profit from the abortions, dissections, sale, and experimentation on innocent human children. No, the ends do not justify the means. As Mother Miriam, host of the “Mother Miriam Live!” YouTube channel says in direct opposition to her fellow Catholics, “No, we never need to go against our conscience… those vaccinations might save [us from] diseases and plagues… but we don’t do evil to get good.”[14] The ends do not justify the means, especially when the means are not only evil, but perpetuate the continued evil in the future. 

            The vaccine industry is not only ignoring any religious objections to the use of fetal tissues in their products, they are actively moving to silence any religious dissent so that they can continue to profit from these multi-billion dollar products. States across America have begun to remove religious exemptions to vaccinations. California, New York, West Virginia, Mississippi and Maine have successfully done so, leaving some pro-life advocates with little legal way to avoid committing what they see as an atrocity against God. No government should ever have the power to force a person to compromise their beliefs, especially one guided by a constitution such as ours that was designed to avoid all such attempts. 

            For any pro-life activists to not only accept such ruling from their government, but openly support it as well means the pro-lifer has negated the core of what it means to be pro-life: to oppose abortion in all forms and protect the God-given right to life. As William Wilberforce once said when presenting his bills to end slavery throughout the British Empire, “You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.”[15] Along with this knowledge comes the responsibility to act. For as has been said many times before, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”[16] To accept and use vaccines built upon the flesh of innocent humans is not an inert act, but rather, one of support. As said in Mark 8:36, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Is it worth the attempt to increase our own health if we have to lose our soul by sacrificing countless innocents to accomplish it? Clearly it is not. If we support the use of aborted fetal tissues in vaccines, we simply cannot be considered pro-life. 

[1] http://www.centerformedicalprogress.org/cmp/investigative-footage/

[2] https://youtu.be/6LPlHjP1DVw

[3] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/26/planned-parenthood-sting-videos-charges-dismissed

[4] https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2019/01/18/appeals-court-rules-in-texas-favor-over-effort-to-defund-planned-parenthood/

[5] https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-fetal-tissue-20171209-story.html

[6] https://www.nationalreview.com/news/abortionist-testifies-at-fetal-parts-hearing-some-of-these-fetuses-were-live-births/

[7] https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/who-buys-sells-and-uses-fetal-tissue-acquired-from-abortion-clinics/

[8] https://savedmag.com/aborted-baby-dna-in-vaccines/?fbclid=IwAR0LsPwdojswtHHDsxaozbZ0TPhkwX5v08QRC_G6WAhbFrcjvkSgdPEEhJM

[9]https://www.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR3o5Pr6ApeR6U0mlPRjsFVnu7YevZ3l5UzAP7mpMYEgBYclZvcW3vYABYs&v=fr_o_XXoJ3M&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop

[10] https://www.immunize.org/talking-about-vaccines/vaticandocument.htm

[11]https://www.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR3o5Pr6ApeR6U0mlPRjsFVnu7YevZ3l5UzAP7mpMYEgBYclZvcW3vYABYs&v=fr_o_XXoJ3M&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop

[12] https://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign/what-human-trafficking

[13] http://hottproject.com/about-the-crime/other-crimes/trafficking-in-organs.html

[14] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1E8p1szGOg&feature=youtu.be

[15] http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/slave-route/resistances-and-abolitions/william-wilberforce/

[16] Loosely attributed to Edmond Burke https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/12/04/good-men-do/

Fortunate

            My heart was racing. Never before had I driven so fast in such treacherous conditions. With thunder booming overhead, lightning flashing in front of me, and heavy downpour hitting the windshield, it was a treacherous time to be driving over the speed limits, yet I had no choice. As I dodged around cars and slipped through red lights with wipers ineffectively swatting at the rain on the windshield, I could not stop praying: God, please help us get to the hospital in time!

            My wife Janelle was pregnant with our second child. The first was born at a maternity center surrounded by midwives. She is such a strong woman that she gave birth to our daughter without any medications to numb the pain of labor. Our daughter was born perfectly healthy and my wife recovered quite rapidly afterwards. We hoped that this second pregnancy, a bit over two years later, would be a similar experience, so we had signed up with a local midwife and planned to have a homebirth. With the chaos during the latter stages of the Covid19 pandemic, we especially wanted to avoid hospitals as much as possible. Since our firstborn was successfully born out of hospital, we easily qualified as a low-risk pregnancy for the second.

            While the discomforts of the pregnancy were a bit worse than the first, nothing serious or out of the ordinary was noted. Our 20-week anatomy scan told us that we were having a boy and that the placenta was positioned on the anterior of the uterus. Absolutely nothing was amiss to anyone’s knowledge; however, Janelle still had doubts. On a few occasions, she would worriedly say “I just know something is going to go wrong with this pregnancy.” There was no logical basis for these premonitions at all. They were shrugged off by both of us as the result of fluctuating pregnancy hormones. Little did we know that they were actually quite prophetic. Usually, most major issues in pregnancy are caught early on, which was why I was quite confident that our little man was past all danger when week 39 arrived. That confidence was shattered at what we thought was a regular checkup with our midwife. 

            I was playing with our two-and-a-half-year-old daughter during my wife’s checkup at the midwife’s home office while Janelle was on the exam table. Our little boy was not getting his head into position in the pelvis properly to be ready for delivery. The midwife was trying to check on his position and how dilated Janelle was in an attempt to predict how close to labor she might be. Since it is actually quite common for the second child to not engage in place until right before labor starts, we were not too worried about that. But the delay in his positioning, in hindsight, was not his fault: there was something in his way, making it impossible for him to take that next step towards birth. So here we were with the stage set for a very dramatic entry, one that almost didn’t happen.

            The onset of bleeding was so sudden that it took a few seconds for me to register the severity. Something had accidentally been punctured during the examination and Janelle began to hemorrhage on the exam table. The midwife immediately went into emergency mode and had us begin the rush to the hospital. Her home was too hidden for an ambulance to find quickly, so I grabbed our daughter and rushed out to get her buckled in the car. Still bleeding, Janelle made her way out to the car with the midwife—supplies hurriedly gathered—jumping in with us. It was then that the storm began in earnest, pouring torrents of rain down on our car, as if we were in a climactic scene of a Hollywood film. 

            With my wife bleeding beside me, the midwife crammed in the back seat, trying to get an IV into Janelle’s hand. Our daughter Phoebe, normally put on edge by thunder and lightning, was mostly curious, yet not comprehending the urgency of the situation. She saw the midwife attempting to hang the lV on the handhold over the door and remarkably asked if she could help by holding them. There was our toddler daughter holding the IV bag and tubes up from her car seat as we sped towards the hospital. After calling ahead to the hospital to have nurses waiting, the midwife kept up constant checks on the baby’s heartbeat, each time, hearing the steady thumping just like every other check before. Again, I prayed: God! Keep Janelle and the baby safe! 
            

            The account of the intense drive has already been told, but suffice to say, we finally arrived at the hospital and Janelle was rushed into an emergency cesarian section. The midwife and Phoebe were not allowed into the hospital (due to Covid19 regulations), so I sat alone in a hallway for a nail-biting half an hour before I could hear the shrill, yet glorious cries of our son being delivered. 

            The question is, what was the problem? What had led to the dangerous bleeding in the first place? We discovered that the 20-week ultrasound report had been in error. The placenta, the temporary organ that acts as an interface between the mother and baby in utero, had not actually been in the anterior position of the uterus as claimed. Instead, the placenta had grown over the cervix, the opening to the birth canal. This mass of blood vessels had effectively sealed off the path the baby would have needed to be born. This rare event is called a placenta previa and occurs only in about 0.3-0.5% of pregnancies.[1] In such a pregnancy, birthing naturally, as we had planned, is simply not an option. Bleeding or not, a cesarian section was the only way for the baby to get out. Normally, such a placement of the placenta is caught on the 20-week scan and an early c-section is scheduled because, if labor begins, the pressure of the uterus pushing the baby into the placenta would surely lead to catastrophic bleeding, seriously jeopardizing the lives of both mother and child.

            During that routine checkup of the cervix, the midwife had accidentally punctured the placental tissue, causing the serious hemorrhage. Because of the inaccurate scan report, she could not have known any better; however, in puncturing it then, she inadvertently saved both Janelle and our son. Had the placement of the placenta not been discovered until the onset of labor, blood would have been lost at deadly amounts, starving the baby and risking Janelle’s life as well with massive blood loss. It was an act of God to have the bleeding occur at that moment instead of later.

            That was not the only act of God we experienced. His hand is clearly seen in this entire story. One such example actually took place about a week or two before this event: our car got new tires. While this might not seem all that amazing, realize that we had no idea that our car’s tires were basically bald until our mechanic had mentioned it during a routine oil change. We nearly said no to the new tires so we could find a better deal, but decided to simply get it done. Without those new tires, I have serious doubts that we would have made it to the hospital without hydroplaning and crashing during the storm. Those new tires gave us a much safer drive than bald tires ever would have.

            Another miracle seen in hindsight was pointed out by the midwife. During the driving, Janelle’s bleeding actually slowed to nearly a stop. The midwife, a certified nurse with over 40 years of midwifery experience, said that it was miraculous that it slowed. She later mentioned to us that she has no clue why the heavy bleeding stopped, but she was incredibly glad it did. Even more amazing was how Janelle replenished her blood levels faster than anyone expected, avoiding any need for a transfusion and surprising us all. Such steps would have been absolutely necessarily had she continued to bleed during that long, arduous drive.

            Even the timing of all this was miraculous. In the typical placenta previa case, the c-section is scheduled well before labor is likely to occur. This obviously would have meant a premature birth, and several weeks in the NICU. Such early births can lead to complications due to underdeveloped lungs and other organs. Because of the missed placenta previa diagnosis, our boy made it all the way to 39 weeks. This is considered full term since the lungs are pretty close to fully developed by that point. He was indeed fully developed and ready to come out, yet amazingly had not triggered labor. The timing was perfect for the discovery of the placenta previa: not too early, and not too late.

            My desperate prayers during the drive were answered far beyond anything I could have imagined. Not only did we make it to the hospital safely, but God orchestrated many details for the ultimate safety and health of our entire family. Clearly, there were far too many to be attributed to simple luck: this was the divine hand of Providence guiding our steps. May our family remember this story, setting it as an “ebhen ha‘azer” (stone of help) of biblical times, giving praise to our Savior for His gracious protection. It is no coincidence that our son is named Felix Elisha— “fortunate because God is my salvation.”

[1]https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230643896_Early_preterm_delivery_due_to_placenta_previa_is_an_independent_risk_factor_for_a_subsequent_spontaneous_preterm_birth

* * *

            I am alone. I cannot see anyone or anything near me. The landscape around me is shrouded in a deep fog, an impenetrable darkness that my eyes cannot pierce. It envelops me on every side. This gloom is all I have ever known. In its borders, I feel safe. In its frame, I feel I belong.

            Yet, as the days go by, I develop a sense of unease. I grow wary as the weeks run swiftly past. I sense that these walls I was content in are drawing nearer to me. The darkness grows deeper, and I know that my distance from these walls has begun to diminish, for I can feel them closing in around me, though I still cannot quite see them. Time, such an unforgiving thing, has started to instill dread as the darkness grows ever deeper, ever nearer. I lash out, striking with my hands, with my feet, trying to send these shadowy hedges back to where they were before. Kicking these walls, I am desperate, as my body becomes caught between them, rapidly becoming restricted in my movement.

            Is this my fate? Are these barriers going to shrink until I am crushed in this oblivion? All I long for is to return to how it was, in the comfort of my apathetic being. But now, this silence has ensnared me. It crept in on me while I was unaware. How could one fight what they cannot see? I do not know. I never knew. I am all alone.

            These walls have gone from snug to tight, and from tight to strangling. I cannot move without a struggle. Desperation builds inside of me, as the empty walls fight to squeeze me into a darker grave. I cannot get out. There is nowhere for me to go. I cannot hide. I cannot run. Why do I even bother fighting for a glimpse of hope? What is there to fight for?

            Then I hear it. It is like it had always been there, yet I had somehow failed to notice. It was faint at first, but as I still myself to listen and still my heartbeat, I can hear and seek the source of the warm, rhythmic noise that echoes from beyond the curtain of darkness. It soothes my aching mind. I originally would have feared the sound, yet now, anything at all is welcome. Its drumming pulse seemed to speak to me. Through the darkness it called out, seeming to say, “Don’t fear. I’m near,” over and over again.

            Tears welled up in my eyes, the walls ever tighter around my body. The pulse spoke louder with each passing minute, and I wished to escape to its source. I desperately yearned to call out to it, crying “Save me from this darkness! I am trapped in this painful prison!” However, I could not. I would try, but no sound would issue forth. This comforting darkness had become a prison. The safety of these walls seems to have inevitably become my demise. As my hope is all but shattered, I silently cried once more. “I need to be free! I cannot escape on my own! I need help!”

            As if in response to my cry, the cadence of the pulses increased, climbing rapidly. No longer did they say, “Don’t fear. I’m near,” but instead, with ever-increasing intensity, they declared, “Come! Come! Come!”

            “How? Where?” I cried, the pain in my body increasing unbearably. “Show me, please!”

            “Come! Come! Come!” rang the reply. “Leave your darkness and come!”

            The walls of my prison began to violently convulse, sending pain through me like I had never known. I had to get out!

            “Come! Come! Come! Leave your darkness and come!”

            A frantic drive overcame me, and I began to fight. I thrashed at the walls with all my might. I lashed out with my hands and feet, straining against the tremors with every ounce of my meager strength.

            “Come! Come! Come! Leave your darkness and come!”

            The spasms in the walls grew ever faster, ever harder. Yet over it all, the pulse called with power, filling me with strength that was not mine.

           “COME! COME! COME! LEAVE YOUR DARKNESS AND COME!”

            “Show me where!” I inaudibly screamed.

            Right on cue, a thin beam of light penetrated my darkness. Its sensation was frighteningly new, for its illumination both hurt and healed my flesh and mind. Part of me longed to remain in the darkness that I had always known; but another element of my being instantly desired to escape my pain and know this light.

            “COME! COME! COME! LEAVE YOUR DARKNESS AND COME!”

            A battle raged within me, and the war outside of me was effortlessly overcoming my pitiful struggle. Who knew what lay beyond these walls? I surely did not. The terrible thought flashed through my mind of eternally living in that searing pain the light had afflicted me with, even with that tiny beam.

            “COME! COME! COME! LEAVE YOUR DARKNESS AND COME!”

            Agony seared through me as I threw doubt away into the darkness. With renewed vigor, I thrashed, shoved, and heaved against my entangling cage. Inch by inch I crawled towards the light. To stop surely meant death to me. The walls grew narrower faster now as I fought for the light. They squeezed so hard at times, I feared that I would not make it, but the strength from the shouting voice would not be denied.

            “COME! COME! COME! LEAVE YOUR DARKNESS AND COME! MY STRENGTH IS YOURS. NOW COME!”

            My muscles burned from the strain, but I would not let them stop. The light at the end of the tunnel was so close! Its beam grew ever brighter as I approached. I had to reach it! By my life or death, reaching that light was my destiny.

            “COME! COME! COME! ENTER MY LIGHT AND LIVE. COME!”

            After what seemed an eternity, I reached the dividing point. Before me was the intense, burning light, and behind lay the darkness I once craved. My mind was torn. It seemed as if there were two persons inside of me warring for control as I lay at the dividing line. One move in either direction would push me past the point of no return. The unknown was before me, and I was afraid. Likewise, behind me were the dark walls I once knew, and I ached to return to that safe, quite place of ignorance, but I knew now that I could not. The darkness groped at me, trying to reclaim its captive, but it had lost.

            “COME! DIE TO YOUR DARKNESS AND LIVE IN MY LIGHT! COME!”

            With one final push, I allowed the light to overcome me. The shock was severe, but all at once I felt a wave of relief wash over my body as I was freed from the crushing walls of my dark chasm. I fell limp as cold air washed over my new life. The pulsing voice was no longer shouting to me over the maelstrom of crushing walls; rather, it came upon me as a whisper, giving me a gentle caress of peace.

            “Welcome home child,” it murmured affectionately. “The darkness has gone, and my light has come. I will never forsake you. You have come home.”

            I opened my mouth and cried. A rush of air filled my lungs, and with each breath, I felt more alive. My cries no longer went unheard, for even I could tell that they sprang forth, flying upward to the comforting voice I had decided to follow.

            My tears sprang forth as a fountain, unbidden, yet ever so welcome. The bitter night was spent. It was as if my life before was dead. The darkness was gone, never to take hold of me again. I had been made new!

            I felt love envelope me like a blanket, clothing my pale skin in warmth. How could I have ever taken comfort in that darkness? It was literally a crude shadow to what I now felt. Never again would I miss that prison. This was what life should be like!

            The voice once again called to me, love dripping from it like the sweetest honey. “My child, you have so much more ahead of you. I will bring you new wonders every day! Stay with me, my love, and I will guide you to joys immeasurable.”

            I quivered with anticipation. “I don’t want anything else. I love your light!”

            Happiness inundated my body as I felt a laugh radiate from my savior. “Ah, my child! I love you more than you can comprehend. You must open your eyes! Open them and see the wonders I have placed around you! Your eyes are closed, though you do not realize it. While my light can even pierce your closed eyes, you must open them now and truly see!”

            Slowly, the lids on my eyes crept open. I gasped in wonder as I learned to see for the first time. Everywhere I turned my gaze, there was a new sight, a new marvel. Each new thing was stunning, and I sat there speechless. 

            “All of this is for you, child,” the voice said, “so that you may know me more. I know you intimately. I want you to know me likewise. Now go, and live! Thrive in the world I have crafted for you. If you continually seek me, you will always find me, no matter where you are.”

            Overwhelmed, I whispered to him. “I love you!”

            With my new sight I could see him smile back. “I love you more!”

Birth

By Jeremy Blatchford

Green Privilege

When woke environmentalism is its own worst enemy



            We are trapped within a false dichotomy. On one side, we have the enlightenment of leftist environmentalist wokeness, and on the other side, we have racists, bigots, Earth-burning capitalists, and maybe a few Nazis tossed in for good measure. On the side of the woke, we have those that support more restrictions on capitalism and push for us to “protect” the earth at all costs, even if that cost becomes detrimental to America and harmful to other nations. One could say that woke logic necessarily backfires by turning the woke leftist voter into a person benefiting from what they call white privilege by pushing harm upon others.

            Ignoring the triggered screams of protest, we can start with the example of energy sources. Those leaning left have praised President Biden for his actions leading to the closure of the Keystone XL pipeline, originally designed to help move massive amounts of fuel from Canada down into the USA. Even more recently, Biden suspended a Trump era oil drilling lease in Alaska, fearing the damage such drilling would do to wildlife. In an attempt to protect the Alaskan wildlife and slow climate change, the cessation of drilling has been mandated, but what are the repercussions? Obviously, in a country like ours that runs on this fuel source, it leads to increased gas prices. In January of his first year in office, President Biden signed an executive order that put drilling and fracking on federal lands and waters on hold for 60 days in an attempt to combat climate change,[1] yet some claim that the increase in gas prices was not due to Biden’s actions. Biden though, while on the campaign trail, called for the U.S. to phase out its dependence on fossil fuels.[2] It is quite clear that the goal of the progressives is to drastically reduce oil and gas production.

            Here is where it gets funny: In the attempt to cut fossil fuel usage in the United States by stopping pipelines and in-country drilling, the Biden administration is increasing carbon emissions, which they believe increase climate change. Take, for example, the end of the pipeline projects: without the pipelines, how are these millions of gallons of fuel transported across the nation? By train of course! When one relies on trains to move millions of gallons of anything, one must realize that these trains themselves run on fuel, which in turn produces more greenhouse gasses.[3] University of Alabama mechanical engineering professor Amit Kumar discovered that pipelines create less greenhouse gas emissions than rail—61-77% less—when transporting large capacities of crude oil over long distances.[4] Here we see the logical shallowness of leftist policies in full swing. In the attempt to reduce carbon emissions, they increase carbon emissions. Makes sense, right?

            It does not end there either. By placing a moratorium on drilling in the US, Biden’s administration is also demonstrating phenomenal levels of what the woke call “white privilege.” Here in the majority white country of America, we have a tremendous reliance on fossil fuels. This will not be changing any time soon, so what happens when the President decides to stop drilling for oil on our own lands in his effort to protect wildlife? Obviously, we are forced to get the oil from somewhere else! America imports fuel from the Persian Gulf, but also from Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and even Nigeria.[5] Once again, looking to basic Progressive woke logic requires us to note that America’s old white male president is seeking to enjoy the beauty of nature in his country, all the while exporting the ecologically destructive work to poorer countries which cannot afford to protect their wildlife like we can. Clearly, some excessive patriarchal white privilege coming from the Biden administration here!

            Since ecologically destructive policies have been mentioned, let us take a look at other attempts at saving the Earth that inadvertently do just the opposite. Many progressives today push legislation that limits the use of fossil fuels, especially in motor vehicles. With the urge to reduce carbon emissions from the burning of gasoline, electric cars have shot up in popularity. It is common to see political “environmentalists” driving a new Tesla or Prius instead of a gasoline powered vehicle in their not-so-modest virtue signaling. The question is “are they actually helping the environment?” The answer is a resounding NO. These types of vehicles come with a terrible cost. We pay with heavy ecological damage in our attempt to try to stop a few excess molecules of CO2 to escape into the atmosphere.

           It does not take very long to research the destructive nature of lithium mining. (Lithium is one of the most commonly used chemicals for modern electric car batteries.) Besides once again exporting the ecologically destructive mining work to comparatively impoverished countries (GASP! White privilege alert!), lithium mining requires huge quantities of water—upwards of 500,000 gallons per single metric ton of lithium—stealing water from other areas that need it. In some dry regions of South America, the mining process takes 65% of the regions water supply, stealing it from the farmers. In other regions, like Tibet, toxic chemicals have been known to seep into the water supply, killing livestock or impacting fish as far as 150 miles downstream from a lithium processing operation.[6] Residents from parts of Argentina believe that lithium mining has contaminated streams used by humans, livestock and for crop irrigation. In Chile, the landscape is dotted by mountains of discarded salt and canals filled with contaminated water with an unnatural blue hue. According to Guillermo Gonzalez, a lithium battery expert from the University of Chile, “This isn’t a green solution – it’s not a solution at all.”[7] Clearly battery powered vehicles are causing just as much, if not more, ecological damage than the standard fossil fuel powered vehicle. And yet the privileged progressives continue to push the use of these ecologically destructive products in direct contradiction to their eco-friendly initiatives.

            This contradictory behavior has not been limited to electric car batteries either. When we focus on solely carbon emissions, wind and solar power win hands down against coal and similar fossil fuel powerplants; however, is that really all that should be focused on? What if the use of these technologies actually increases the continental surface temperatures, the very thing that the switch from fossil fuels is trying to avoid by cutting C02? In a pair of published papers, Harvard University researchers calculated that the use of wind power would require five to twenty times more land than previously estimated. Such an excess of large-scale wind farms “would warm average surface temperatures over the continental U.S. by 0.24 degrees Celsius… with the largest changes occurring at night when surface temperatures increased by up to 1.5 degrees. This warming is the result of wind turbines actively mixing the atmosphere near the ground and aloft while simultaneously extracting from the atmosphere’s motion.”[8]

           On top of that, the wind farms cause major disruptions to local wildlife. For some unknown reason, most birds do not seem to comprehend the wind turbines’ spinning action and are struck and killed by them in large numbers. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service,

Estimates of bird/turbine collision range widely and all of the studies attempting to quantify this contain some level of bias and uncertainty. The most comprehensive and statistically sound estimates show that bird deaths from turbine collisions are between 140,000 and 500,000 birds per year. As wind energy capacity increases under the DOE’s mandate (a six-fold increase from current levels), statistical models predict that mean bird deaths resulting in collisions with turbines could reach 1.4 million birds/year.[9]

With the drastic increase in wind farms that the Harvard researchers suggest is needed, one could safely assume these bird fatality numbers could also spike drastically. So not only do wind farms require considerably more land than previously thought AND cause climate change, but they kill millions of birds as well. How can this really be considered eco-friendly technology?

          The list of actually “green” technologies grows shorter the more we dig. Solar energy is no different. While we indeed reduce the production of greenhouse gasses during the use of solar panels, they are nowhere near the ecologically “innocent” things they are portrayed to be. “Fabricating the panels requires caustic chemicals such as sodium hydroxide and hydrofluoric acid, and the process uses water as well as electricity, the production of which emits greenhouse gases. It also creates waste.”[10] The production, and especially the recycling of older solar panels is a problem that is growing almost exponentially as reliance on the technology spikes. “The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in 2016 estimated there was about 250,000 metric tonnes of solar panel waste in the world at the end of that year. IRENA projected that this amount could reach 78 million metric tonnes by 2050.”[11] Not only is the waste a problem, a German researcher from the Stuttgart Institute for Photovoltaics said that “Contrary to previous assumptions, pollutants such as lead or carcinogenic cadmium can be almost completely washed out of the fragments of solar modules over a period of several months, for example by rainwater.”[12] This suggests that the solar panels themselves are even causing harm in the locations where they were installed, increasing the risk to the animal and human population living with them. And it does not take a genius to realize that all these toxic products and wastes are being produced and disposed of mainly in less “privileged” countries,[13] just further solidifying the leftist woke agenda as part of the “white privilege” they claim to despise.

          It does not end there. Solar farms, like wind farms, are found to cause increases in surface temperatures. “Findings demonstrated that temperatures around a solar power plant were 5.4-7.2 °F (3-4 °C) warmer than nearby wildlands. The result demonstrates that there are potential heat costs to generating green power although the added heat dissipates quickly and can’t be measured 100 feet away from the power plants.”[14] Even though it is suggested that the heat cannot be measured 100 feet away, basic laws of thermodynamics can help one easily conclude that the heat, while apparently dissipating, must go somewhere. It is not a very big stretch to suggest that these drastic localized temperature spikes can and will cause long term climate change when solar farming reaches the levels the Biden administration seeks. Just like with wind power, the excessive use of natural land is enough to lead to increases in surface temperatures.

          This brings us full circle back to our core issue: these ecological impacts of wokeness cause far more harm than good. Electric cars, wind power, and solar power are all known to cause dangerous levels of pollution, climate change, and damage to local environments due to habitat destruction and direct destruction of local wildlife populations. To top it off, these methods increase dangerous toxin exposure to desperate, impoverished countries. Instead of dismantling the imagined evils of fossil fuels, the woke progressive energy plans will simply shift our problems into other, often more serious environmental issues. In a similar theme, by pushing our problems to other countries, the progressives undermine their own agenda by participating in what they themselves deem the evils of white privilege. Perhaps we should instead call it “green privilege.”  

[1] https://www.foxbusiness.com/energy/bidens-hostile-administration-will-cause-problems-with-gas-prices-former-shell-oil-president

[2] https://apnews.com/article/9dfb1e4c381043bab6fd0fa6dece3974

[3] https://energynews.us/2017/09/28/crude-oil-by-rail-or-pipeline-new-studies-explore-the-question/

[4] https://www.enbridge.com/energy-matters/news-and-views/carbon-footprint-pipelines-vs-rail

[5] https://www.npr.org/2012/04/11/150444802/where-does-america-get-oil-you-may-be-surprised

[6] https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/renewable/the-environmental-impact-of-lithium-batteries/

[7] Ibid

[8] https://scitechdaily.com/wind-farms-cause-more-environmental-impact-than-previously-thought/

[9] https://www.fws.gov/birds/bird-enthusiasts/threats-to-birds/collisions/wind-turbines.php

[10] https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/141111-solar-panel-manufacturing-sustainability-ranking

[11] https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2018/05/23/if-solar-panels-are-so-clean-why-do-they-produce-so-much-toxic-waste/?sh=8661482121cc

[12] Ibid

[13] https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2018/05/23/if-solar-panels-are-so-clean-why-do-they-produce-so-much-toxic-waste/?sh=8661482121cc

[14] https://umdrightnow.umd.edu/news/researchers-discover-solar-heat-island-effect-caused-large-scale-solar-power-plants

Masking the Issue

“It’s for others!” “It is the Christian thing to do.”

           If we could have earned a nickel for every time someone said these phrases about the use of masks during the spread of the novel coronavirus, we would have put an end to this coin shortage within a week. The phrases come from the pulpit; they come from Christian friends and coworkers; they even come from random people on the internet trying to hold the moral high ground. No matter where they come from, these phrases are sometimes veiled accusations used to encourage submission to the frequently mandated use of masks. This author has experienced people implying that the salvation of a Christian is in doubt if they do not wear a thin cloth over their face. This is a misunderstanding of the science on face coverings, and of what Christians should be doing with topics considered non-essential to the faith. What if we can demonstrate that masks actually are not efficacious in the first place? Would that not shift the mask debate, and our response, to its proper place as something of lesser importance for the Christian?

            Early on in this pandemic, the use of masks was very strongly discouraged by many of those deemed leaders in the areas of global medicine. These leaders included the World Health Organization (WHO),[1] the CDC,[2]  the US Surgeon General Jerome Adams,[3] as well as NIAID scientist and Trump coronavirus task force expert Dr. Anthony Fauci.[4] This unified front against mask usage devolved chaotically in the months that followed, with these and other sources flip-flopping on the usefulness of masks and many organizations contradicting the others. Dr. Fauci even claims he, among other medical experts, was lying when he said that masks shouldn’t be used by the public, since he didn’t want the public to use up the N95 masks needed in the medical field.[5] It is reasonable to expect the science to change slowly as we learn more, but we have seen decades of scientific practice suddenly flip 180 degrees. Compound that with Dr. Fauci’s obviously low view of the American public, and it becomes completely understandable why there is reticence to trust these experts.

           Now, months later, there is finally a seemingly reunited front presented by all these medical research organizations. They seem to agree that face coverings slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. This unity is fragile at best, as we start to hear from front line medical doctors (the ones in the trenches against this virus) that disagree with the current thought. These organizations keep claiming that this virus is slowed by the use of cloth masks, though this assumption is still being debated. As early as the beginning of April, an ER doctor in the trenches at a COVID-19 hospital in New York, Dr. David Price, has claimed that masks do not help stop the spread of the virus. He said that the “…transmission [is] almost exclusively from your hands to your face” from someone with symptoms or someone who will show symptoms within the next one or two days.[6] He continued, saying that you would need 15-30 minutes of close contact with an infected person to contract the virus through aerosolized form. However, (here is the critical point) when it came to mask usage, Dr. Price said he hoped they were useful, not for the prevention of the disease, but rather to help train people to stop touching their faces.[7]

           His last comment is critical: This experienced doctor who has firsthand experience with treating the novel coronavirus has said that masks do not stop the spread directly. While his claim that they could be used to train oneself to avoid touching the face was an honest opinion, it has not been backed by general practice. All one needs to do is visit the local grocery store to see how often people touch their faces. With uncomfortable masks on our faces (or, more often than not, falling down), we are constantly touching our faces. Even the simple reminder to not touch our face makes us unconsciously more likely to do it. Because the virus not only enters through the mouth and nose, but the eyes as well, the constant handling of our masks to pull it back up our noses puts whatever is on our hands right up beside our eyes, increasing the likelihood of infection from the virus. For example, in California, one month after Governor Newsom mandated masks, the coronavirus case count in the state had increased 162%, a head scratching number if one assumes that masks slow the spread.[8] The quantity of testing has increased, which of course increases the percentage, but it is still not clear if all of that rise was purely from testing alone. We also see a sudden rise in COVID-19 cases on military bases, despite the strict masking and distancing policies enforced with military precision.[9] If masks were the virus stopper their proponents claim they are, military bases that enforce them so strictly should be the easiest place to prove it; however, just the opposite is being shown. To make matters worse, we saw an attempt to manipulate data in Kansas to fit the narrative on masks. The Secretary of Health in Kansas, Dr. Norman, skewed data in an attempt to hide the 77% more daily cases per capita in counties with mask mandates than those without.[10] Let that sink in: the secretary of health—an esteemed “expert”— skewed the data and knowingly deceived the public to promote the particular narrative that mask mandates are effective in reducing COVID-19 spread.

           Another critical piece of the puzzle is in the surprisingly low coronavirus mortality rate in the homeless in major cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco. Even while living in cramped conditions with others while unmasked, and often having other major health issues, these homeless people are shattering predictions for mass casualties amidst their populations.[11] If masks and distancing were so vital, why is such a vulnerable group comparatively unharmed? 

           There is very little evidence out there that can resolutely support the notion that cloth masks are even somewhat effective. Anders Tegnell, chief epidemiologist at Sweden’s Public Health Agency —the equivalent of our Dr. Anthony Fauci— says there is no proof that masks actually limit the spread of the virus. Tegnell went on to say that “It is very dangerous to believe face masks would change the game when it comes to COVID-19.“[12] The spokesman of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in Holland echoes this, saying “Face masks in public places are not necessary, based on all the current evidence…There is no benefit and there may even be negative impact.”[13] Many of these experts suggest that masks give a false sense of security. If the masks could filter out small particulates, then maybe they could be useful, but are cloth masks even capable of doing that?

           Actually, we know that the virus is easily small enough to permeate these simple cloth masks, and the force of a cough or sneeze has little problem propelling the virus through those gaps.[14] Not only do we know that masks commonly used to filter out dust particles will not stop the virus, but that the popular neck gators actually cause an increase in particulates, though smaller in individual size.[15] Now, even if the masks reduce the spread, they in no way can stop it. As was already said, states and military bases with stricter mask mandates have shown no real decrease in infection rates. While we are seeing numerous laboratory studies appearing that suggest that the use of any face covering is effective in slowing the spread of this novel coronavirus, what we see in the real world does not agree with such conclusions.

           If the masks were nothing but an annoyance, many would be more inclined to accept them, even if just to appease their peers; however, contrary to what is commonly shown in the media, there is data that warns against the long-term usage of cloth masks. Multiple studies suggest that the moisture retention and poor filtration of these cloth masks may increase infection rates.[16] Dr. Osterholm, director of the center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy said that, due to the months of viral transmission, cloth masks “…will do little, if anything, to limit the spread of the disease.”[17] Some experts have suggested that the use of masks on a regular basis could be causing more coronavirus infections![18],[19] Even the WHO admits potential risks from prolonged mask wearing include self-contamination, facial skin lesions, irritant dermatitis, a false sense of security, disadvantages or difficulties for those in the population with mental health disorders, developmental disabilities, and even wearing them in hot or humid environments, among other risks.[20] They even went on to admit

There is limited evidence that wearing a medical mask by healthy individuals in the households or among contacts of a sick patient, or among attendees of mass gatherings may be beneficial as a preventive measure. However, there is currently no evidence that wearing a mask (whether medical or other types) by healthy persons in the wider community setting, including universal community masking [emphasis added], can prevent them from infection with respiratory viruses, including COVID-19.[21]

To clarify that point, the World Health Organization says that if everyone in a community were to wear masks, there is no evidence that such actions would stop the spread of respiratory viruses like COVID-19. This flies in the face of the argument that healthy people have an obligation to wear masks for the sake of others. One should take note, since they do not make such claims as publicly as they should.

           Other studies suggest that the prolonged wearing of surgical masks, especially the better filtering N95 masks, could, in some people, cause loss of intellectual potential and cognitive performance due to decreases in blood oxygen and subsequent brain hypoxia. Symptoms like dizziness, headache, and shortness of breath are commonly experienced by the medical staff wearing N95 masks. The ability to make correct decisions may be hampered, too. All around, the choice to use masks long term is at best questionable, at worst, harmful, especially to vulnerable individuals.[22], [23], [24], [25], [26], [27], [28]

            Beyond that, facial coverings can be difficult for people with preexisting conditions. For example, asthmatics and those with other respiratory issues sometimes struggle with the limited flow of air. Others, such as most with autism, depression, claustrophobia and other mental conditions, also struggle to even keep a mask on, because they either cannot understand why they should, or they have panic attacks from the closeness of objects to their face. Even the CDC makes some exceptions for such people. Many states have their own specific regulations to include these people as well; however, these people face constant scrutiny in public. Many are kicked out or banned from stores, others might even be assaulted verbally or physically simply because they did not wear a mask. Is this really what we should be encouraging? Clearly, healthy concern has ramped up into full-on paranoia with many people reaching the extremes of either completely locking themselves away at home or snapping with aggression and outright violence towards anyone they see who isn’t wearing a mask.

            Where does this end? Will we eventually take off our masks for good? Not if we continue to listen to the same “experts” that claim the science is settled (after contradicting each other for months). One scientist thinks that we should continue to wear masks for several years! As he claims, “It’s actually pretty straightforward. If we cover our faces, and both you and anyone you’re interacting with are wearing a mask, the risk of transmission goes way down.”[29] This, of course, is ludicrous, knowing how this issue is anything but straightforward. Dragging himself back into the spotlight after being pushed aside, Dr. Fauci not only has recommended we continue masks for COVID-19, but for each flu season as well, along with the addition of goggles or face shields![30] Instead of this being a temporary precaution, they are trying to turn it into a permanent practice, as if we can somehow stop death and disease by wearing masks routinely. One might wonder if such a task is simply vain from the start.

           But what if this well-meaning stopgap of mask usage is a slippery slope? If we argue that we should wear masks for the sake of others, especially to be “good Christians,” then what else will that logically make us do? Some employers go as far as mandating masks during web conferences, with the only real reason being that masks serve as a reminder that they care for others.[31] Instead of masks being a health practice, they are trying to use them as part of their public image: in other words, they are virtue signaling. If we can be told we are morally obligated to wear masks for the sake of others, what is to stop them from saying the same about receiving a vaccine? It is not very hard at all to see that many in power want to mandate not only the coronavirus vaccine, but all vaccines. Yet when we see that even the adamantly pro-vaccine advocates are hesitant to accept the highly rushed coronavirus vaccines; we must really stop and wonder at their safety and efficacy. After all, never have we seen a vaccine rushed from beginning to end so recklessly as with these “Project Warp Speed” trials, skipping numerous safety tests, jumping to human testing very early on with untested vaccine technology. One of the leading candidates, the Moderna mRNA coronavirus vaccine, uses technology that has never been successfully used before, yet they still rush to completion. If the vaccine provides even 50% immune response yet causes adverse reactions in a high number of patients, wouldn’t we still need to take the suffering upon ourselves for the sake of others? Not at all! We are not called to knowingly bring harm upon ourselves in such ways, especially when the benefits are questionable at best. What of the other costs? Few seem to realize that most of the leading coronavirus vaccine candidates contain tissue and DNA from aborted human babies, which was used to propagate the virus. Can we as Christians morally accept a vaccine that is built upon the lives of innocent children?[32] [33] Where do we draw the line on this ”it’s for others” argument? If our actions in pushing such things cause harm to others, we definitely must second guess the moral foundations of such arguments.

           Through all of this, our trust in the guidance of political leaders and “experts” has not helped the situation. It is not difficult to find governors and mayors have displayed blatant hypocrisy in their treatment of this pandemic. They have directly or indirectly implied that gatherings at church and parties are dangerous for the spread of this virus, yet hundreds, sometimes thousands, of yelling (and often violent) protestors are not condemned and pushed to lockdown.[34] Even Dr. Fauci refused to condemn the protests directly.[35] Such a clear infusion of politics into the public policies on virus spread simply negates any trustworthiness of these leaders. To make matters worse, politicians and government officials in Washington DC have voted to make themselves exempt from mask wearing while they are working![36] This virus must be incredibly intelligent if it can differentiate between politicians rubbing shoulders in DC and a teacher in a room with students or a birthday party with more than ten guests. We also see the first things that presidential candidate Joe Biden and Vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris promise to accomplish together is a three-month, nationwide mask mandate. “Let’s institute a mask mandate nationwide starting immediately, and we will save lives… Protect your fellow citizens. Step up. Do the right thing. It’s not about your rights. It’s about your responsibilities as an American.”[37] In addition to that, they are pushing for even more contact tracing of citizens, which gives government officials the ability to see wherever you go. This is a serious breach of privacy thinly veiled in the illusion of public health. Leave it to a politician to try to take away your rights to decide what is in your best interest by saying “it’s not about your rights.” It comes down to this: if their partisan politics have infected their ability to properly identify which groups are risks to public health, how can we be so sure that they are being rational and scientific when discussing mask usage?

           Is it clear yet? At a minimum, it must be clear that the science is nowhere near settled on the benefits of mask usage during this pandemic. Meanwhile, there is research which should not be ignored that indicates that masks might do more harm than good. If masks fail in real world trials when trying to slow the spread of viral infections, and possibly cause physical or emotional harm to those wearing them, how could one legitimately suggest that those deciding against mask usage are being uncaring or unchristian? This is not a theological issue, as many try to make it: we are never called to blindly follow the masses to present an illusion of safety when such safety does not exist. Is it really a case of selfishness to want to avoid wearing masks with all this information in mind? In essential beliefs, Christians must be unified[38]; however, mask wearing is not an essential of the Christian faith. As a non-essential, we are called to approach such a topic with both liberty[39] and charity,[40] not attacking each other for what we believe on such issues. Moreover, we are not given a spirit of fear or timidity, but one of power, love, and a sound mind.[41] If we are actually just feeding fear, we are not helping those who are terrified of sickness and death. We should be giving them hope, and offering them peace, a peace that surpasses understanding and cannot be shaken by physical ailments.

[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/who-no-need-for-healthy-people-to-wear-face-masks-2020-4

[2] https://fox5sandiego.com/news/health/masks-keep-selling-out-cdc-keeps-pleading-with-public-not-to-buy-them/

[3] https://www.foxnews.com/media/surgeon-general-explains-masks-public-coronavirus

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6pEcgDmEUk

[5] https://twitter.com/dcexaminer/status/1273257458765459459?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5 Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1273257458765459459%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftechstartups.com%2F2020%2F06%2F17%2Fdr-fauci-admits-health-experts-lied-about-masks-at-the-beginning-of-coronavirus-pandemic%2F

[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwx3JMRTz8U

[7] ibid

[8] https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/coronavirus/one-month-after-statewide-mask-mandate-california-daily-case-average?amp&__twitter_impression=true

[9] https://www.conservativereview.com/news/horowitz-fort-benning-japan-hawaii-face-masks-not-working/?fbclid=IwAR0uQo-7iqnYT5FbrYWBkpb84bFsIOJlhBFmhT3vbH82-_hWePxmt2FYTyE

[10] https://sentinelksmo.org/kdhe-doctored-a-covid-case-chart-to-justify-mask-mandates/

[11] https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/06/coronavirus-homeless-death-toll-far-lower-than-predicted/

[12] https://www.dailywire.com/news/swedens-top-epidemiologist-says-just-wearing-face-masks-could-be-very-dangerous

[13] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8583925/The-land-no-face-masks-Hollands-scientists-say-theres-no-solid-evidence-coverings-work.html

[14] https://academic.oup.com/annweh/article/54/7/789/202744

[15] https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/511847-masks-with-valves-or-vents-dont-stop-the-spread

[16] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4420971/?fbclid=IwAR3A3gFS1oyIoGxnIDYtGwo4i0lu_ Vb_0eAgl3bSYKszCKTTRS06I2OC4kc#__ffn_sectitle

[17] https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/04/data-do-not-back-cloth-masks-limit-covid-19-experts-say?fbclid=IwAR1LKNqaBNyPRRrqHCxQSD5YXCkKP4SAbeBs4UdA7JEHrJQgAaK6jGhAGX0

[18] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-news-face-masks-increase-risk-infection-doctor-jenny-harries-a9396811.html?fbclid=IwAR0CII1Ls_nTMu7U6mOdeaybtsjyUT1Zh9nlRbGKo1kpCDcayV8TeeKbPqw

[19] https://www.dailywire.com/news/swedens-top-epidemiologist-says-just-wearing-face-masks-could-be-very-dangerous

[20] https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/advice-on-the-use-of-masks-in-the-community-during-home-care-and-in-healthcare-settings-in-the-context-of-the-novel-coronavirus-(2019-ncov)-outbreak?fbclid=IwAR3NQ0AcX8PEWUB1jrJU_sNOz2L3hRXeqw96isDAq-fQcazFFjm3nD-pSQY

[21] ibid

[22] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18500410?fbclid=IwAR2dl0CM1PXQcZrw2b93Qrv5oyug SzSgcxknTYW8nqCGc57kUEDr5XsjM-k

[23]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15340662?fbclid=IwAR34drr1E9qWTXbQJT_iW10oI07tlkOv29UDhb0o1TezsfeJwQMXzrkqOLA

[24]https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00173017?fbclid=IwAR33esIL5BsZIZHYlGWtj7ki1trmhdHLaJIbS06KfSrH7zs9HpifUMiHnEc

[25]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18331781?fbclid=IwAR1nbhZEutIDuNCussaYFheF6lRhkv334oJKQxBNPV1qUgplQ6rPJhryQMQ

[26] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-35797-3?fbclid=IwAR2algwETwJvq9asL9obm5tM5ZJ3O3zRwgblnseCREq2zRguIHCRsLpsYWc

[27] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-35797-3?fbclid=IwAR2algwETwJvq9asL9obm5tM5ZJ3O3zRwgblnseCREq2zRguIHCRsLpsYWc

[28] https://www.technocracy.news/masks-are-neither-effective-nor-safe-a-summary-of-the-science/?fbclid=IwAR3ffbJaxtVP6-RngPD1nZYA1sNI4jhwebxfTw13fLS-_j6k8kRcDrpEw_Q

[29] https://nypost.com/2020/07/06/virus-expert-claims-americans-will-wear-masks-for-several-years/?fbclid=IwAR2Q9cnKzo-PhJqFlJyx94D-n35FGBxrZYwGQ1e1x8id0BlgHCb3upY5sYI

[30] https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/fauci-birx-endorse-eye-goggles-face-shields-fauci-calls-for-masking-every-flu-season

[31] https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/national/article244861827.html

[32] http://nodeception.org/incompletely-pro-life/

[33] http://nodeception.org/aborted-fetal-cell-lines-used-in-vaccines/?fbclid=IwAR2VAm5G0Qa7sYPQ6pc1J0CJyMtF0kkQe-Xj7I_AlTuwF_op13bplY7sD7U

[34] https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-hypocrisy-riots-reveals-political-nature-coronavirus-lockdowns-opinion-1510325

[35] https://thefederalist.com/2020/07/31/anthony-fauci-refuses-to-say-whether-mass-protests-should-be-limited-to-stop-coronavirus-spread/

[36] https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/07/23/dc-mask-mandate-exempts-lawmakers-government-employees/

[37] https://www.usnews.com/news/elections/articles/2020-08-13/joe-biden-kamala-harris-call-for-nationwide-mask-mandate

[38] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+4%3A4-6&version=ESV

[39] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+14&version=ESV

[40] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+13%3A2&version=NIV

[41] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Timothy+1%3A7&version=ESV

Fauci’s Philosophical Failure

The Dangers of Blind Faith in Scientists

            We have a major problem. Is it wildfires? No. How about coronavirus? Closer, but not quite. Economic collapse? Nope. Is an invasion of murder hornets immanent? Not in the slightest. The list of potential disasters in the year 2020 will likely fill history textbooks of their own, but one that is a critical issue is not even on the radar of most people. Our problem here in the western world is that far too many have been easily lured into the snares of scientism, a worldview that claims science as the only reliable source of truth. Those living through 2020 may scratch their heads quizzically at this claim. How could such a worldview be worse than all the deaths and lockdowns the novel coronavirus caused? It could be seen in this way: if we rely on scientists to tell us what truth is, they could lead us unchallenged down any road they want.

            Dr. Anthony Fauci, scientist at the NIH, said in an interview on the podcast “Learning Curve” with Michael Caputo that “…science is truth… And if you go by the evidence and by the data, you’re speaking the truth.”[1] He went on to agree that science is a process that when used, will eventually arrive at the absolute truth, one that is “immutable.”[2] Such outlandish claims should shock us all. This scientist who has spent 50 years working diligently in the field of diseases has made some major philosophical claims here, claims that have absolutely no foundation to stand upon. If the leading scientists can so easily make such illogical claims and get away with it, how far will they lead us down the rabbit hole until we realize we have been duped?

            Logic and philosophy may seem like difficult (and sometimes unnecessary) topics for the general layman, but without them, it is easy for those in power to spread falsehoods. A basic survey of philosophy and logic is all that is needed to pull the rug out from under this expert.

            To begin, we must first understand what this word “truth” actually means. Our postmodern culture has tarnished truth’s sparkling reputation. It has become the “cuttlefish” of concepts, constantly changing its colors and textures to adapt to the environment around it. It is all too frequently referred to as “my truth” or “your truth.” Such statements assume that our personal experiences and personal feelings can decide the truthfulness of something. For example, one moral truth could supposedly be right for me, but I cannot assume it is right for others in the same way. Dr. Fauci seems to think that calling it science makes it a type of truth, even if it can change. Truth does not dwell on a spectrum, but in absolutes only. There is no such thing as a non-absolute truth. To believe in such shows naiveté that is palpable.

           The truth simply cannot be relative like the postmodernists claim. Logically, such an interpretation is a blatant contradiction. The Oxford Dictionary defines truth as “that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality.”[3] The claim that truth is relative is in itself a contradiction, owing to the fact that such a statement is an assertion of absolute truth.

           As Dr. Fauci claimed, science was not just a source of truth, but one of absolute truth. This is a blatant misunderstanding of the nature of science itself. Science, by nature, is limited in scope. It is constantly discovering new things and building our knowledge of the universe, but we cannot call its discoveries truths since truth is absolute. Scientific discoveries do indeed point us towards the best possible explanations, but claiming that those explanations are truth means that it is absolute and unchallengeable. This is the critical point: if any aspect of scientific discovery is not open to challenge or refutation, then it is, by definition, no longer science. Science, by design, must be open to critique and the addition of new knowledge. Until we have gleaned all knowledge from the universe, we cannot make absolute truth statements about things discovered empirically. After all, new data can change what we understood to be correct.

           When early scientists claimed that the geocentric model of the solar system was correct, they assumed that it was true that the Earth was the center of the universe and all the stars and planets all orbited us; however, when new evidence built up over time, culminating with Galileo’s discoveries, scientists were forced to switch to the now held heliocentric (sun centered) model. Was the science here a source of truth? If it were, then the geocentric model would not be wrong, since truth cannot be false. It cannot be true and false at the same time according to the law of noncontradiction; therefore, the science was not truth to begin with. Do we assume that our model of the solar system is indeed correct now? Pretty much, yes, but we must be wary to avoid assuming it is truth, because, as was said before, we turn it into an absolute and are then unable to challenge such conclusions. This unchallengeable conclusion is that final step outside the limits of science itself. Dr. Fauci falls into the same trap when he claims that science leads to absolute truth. Even he seems to admit that we are not to the point of absolute truth, yet he suggests that the steps leading up to that absolute truth are true, which is a misnomer since there is no such thing as something that is partial truth. It is or is not truth. Clearly, history is rife with examples of scientific ideas assumed to be true that were undermined and often completely replaced at a later point.

The Heliocentric Model of the Solar System

           Dr. Fauci is a prime example that many leading scientists of our day are ill-trained in philosophy, logic, and the limitations of science. One key issue is revealed when we realize that science is never complete. We are always gathering new data. Many times, that data will undermine a current theory or hypothesis, forcing us to go right back to the drawing board to reimagine a way to explain the phenomena around us. If we are not continuously learning new things and investigating the old data in light of the new, then science is brought to a standstill. Conversely, we see that, because of the constant fluctuations of understanding in science, we can never legitimately conclude about something as being absolute or factual. Science in no way is immutable except that it cannot be a source of absolute truth. When Dr. Fauci claims that science is immutable and is absolute truth, not only is he lacking in that humility we need as scientists, but he is also falling under the spell of scientism, a logically errant view, and bringing the slow turning wheels of science to a grinding halt. After all, once we view science as inerrant, it is no longer science, but dogmatic faith.

           While you may have followed all those philosophical musings, you might still be puzzled as to why this is a much worse issue than all else 2020 has thrown at us. It is an understandable confusion, since it takes a look at a bit broader of a scale to comprehend than just the months that have dragged us through what seems to be the longest year in history. Zoom out with me to check out what I mean.

           While COVID19 and the economic crisis it created have gone on for months, this issue with scientism has been brewing for decades. In most schools across the west, the previously valued skills in logic and rhetoric have been removed from the curriculum, leading to multiple generations of students that have been stripped of the skills to be proper critical thinkers. As many might notice, our culture has shifted drastically away from rational logic driven thought towards knee-jerk emotional reactions. This, is one product of such a removal of critical thinking from education. The goal of education is to prepare students to stand on their own in the world, yet it is rapidly changing direction towards a more indoctrination-style approach that tells students what they should believe, rather than providing them the tools to weigh the evidence for themselves. Because of this, students and adults alike are now generally unprepared to challenge those deemed “experts” in their field. When someone like Dr. Fauci claims that science is truth, he is raising himself up to be one of the most reliable sources of reality that we have, yet this is nothing but an abuse of his position, since science simply cannot be considered truth. Why? Because it is always changing and must remain open to change at all points.

           Once we give up our ability to think critically about scientific topics, we are throwing away our right to disagree. Far too many people view the “experts” in science as so far beyond themselves in education and wisdom that they fear to challenge anything they say. Their vaunted degrees and years of training puts them so far beyond everyone else, we think, yet is this true? Clearly Dr. Fauci is so narrowly educated that he himself cannot even accurately educate on the fundamental nature of science! Why then are we laying our ability to think, down at the feet of such a man? Does this not show that we could easily be duped by his big words and impressive degrees? Indeed, the very nature of science itself demands that we constantly be critical of all he says! If we are not, then it becomes the blind leading the blind; or worse, the devious leading the blind.

           This should really make us question the experts. Anthony Fauci is far from perfect once one delves past the veneer of expertise. If we view Fauci himself with the same critical eye of a properly trained scientist, we can easily undermine his claims of being a source of truth. Let us analyze some of his past claims and see how they have stood up over time.

           At the beginning of 2020, while the novel coronavirus was beginning to spread from China, Dr. Fauci openly downplayed the danger, claiming “It isn’t something the American public needs to worry about or be frightened about…”[4] A month later, Fauci claimed there was no need for Americans to “change anything what you’re doing on a day-by-day basis.”[5] In April, Fauci attempted to alter the record by claiming that it was as far back as January when he believed the virus’ spread was a problem Americans needed to worry about, contradicting his own on-record comments.[6] If science is immutable, and his word as a leading scientist should be taken as absolute truth, why did it change so drastically?

           What about Fauci’s opinion on the use of masks to help stop the spread of this coronavirus? In March, he quite resolutely claimed that masks were unnecessary in our fight against the spreading virus and discouraged their use by the public.[7] When May rolled around, his public opinions changed, yet he claims he had known they were useful from the beginning, but intentionally lied to the public about them.[8] How can we trust him now if he purposefully lied to us about the scientific data? Are we sure the second admission wasn’t the actual lie? Remember, truth doesn’t ever change, only our perceptions of it do. As the data rolled in, the science continued to change, as it always has, which is why we clearly cannot assume that science is truth.

           If this wasn’t good enough to show the sandy foundation scientism is built on, look towards an even more controversial topic: vaccines. In the interview we originally heard Fauci claim that science is truth, he went on to claim that it was amazing how there were anti-vaxxers “who didn’t want people to get vaccinated, even though the data clearly indicate the safety of vaccines.”[9] He continued to pour on his incredulity at such people who doubted him even with all his decades of experience, reinforcing his role as a supposed source of truth. But does the data agree with his claims? When one glances past the curtain raised by the pharmaceutical industry, we find a much more harmful product than we have been led to believe.[10] Many of the vaccines on the market today haven’t even received the medical industry standard double blind inert placebo testing.[11] In fact, those that produce vaccines are not held liable for causing any harm or death to those who used their products, making it even harder to trust the truth of this claim since the laws defend them against lawsuits, the typical method of uncovering fraud and harm in the legal system.[12],[13] If we analyze the data in an unbiased fashion, we will find that their bold claims of safety and effectiveness are not as tangible as portrayed. How are we to now support such scientists when they decide to rush through vaccine production at “warp speed” for this coronavirus, skipping even more safety checkpoints than normal?[14]

           To top it all off, there are reports that Dr. Fauci supported the funding of the Wuhan Laboratory of Virology with millions of dollars. This lab is now known to experiment on viruses, especially coronaviruses, and is located right near the animal market that was originally blamed for the outbreak. While the part this laboratory played in this is still somewhat unclear, we know that Fauci’s organization gave them millions of US dollars to help fund research.[15] So far, Dr. Fauci has not been openly questioned on his support for the ethically questionable funding of viral manipulation.

            Not only has this renown expert not been accurate on many occasions, but he has even been manipulative and misleading. Clearly his vaunted scientific experience does not at all equate to absolute truth. It should also be obvious now that even just a little glance into the nature of science demonstrates that science is not immutable either. This begs the question: why do we keep falling into these positions as blind followers of people like Fauci? We wander into dangerous territory when we blindly give away our freedoms to people without having the skills to critically analyze their claims. If we lose our precious freedom to choose our own medical care, we are likely to wind up willfully giving away all that we hold dear as we begin to swallow harmful ideologies, many of which have been done in the name of science. Mandatory vaccinations, criminal charges for not wearing masks, or even the inability to travel without proof of specific medical treatments could very easily be the next steps if we continue to rely this heavily on experts like Fauci. Is this the road on which we really want to travel? Are we willing to trade freedoms for the illusion of security? The novel coronavirus has been no joke, but its impact is far less critical than giving away our rights to those we cannot keep in check. If the individuals do not take the initiative to hold tightly to their freedoms, we will see abuses far beyond what coronavirus could cause.

[1] https://www.hhs.gov/podcasts/learning-curve/learning-curve-05-dr-anthony-fauci-science-is-truth.html

[2] https://www.hhs.gov/podcasts/learning-curve/learning-curve-05-dr-anthony-fauci-science-is-truth.html

[3] Oxford Dictionary, https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/truth

[4] https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/virus-outbreak-infectious-disease/2020/01/26/id/951325/

[5] https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/04/13/dr-anthony-fauci-repeatedly-downplayed-coronavirus-threat/

[6] Ibid

[7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRa6t_e7dgI

[8] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/dr-fauci-made-the-coronavirus-pandemic-worse-by-lying-about-masks/ar-BB15zyW3

[9] https://www.hhs.gov/podcasts/learning-curve/learning-curve-05-dr-anthony-fauci-science-is-truth.html

[10] http://nodeception.org/deception-hhs-commissioned-report-shows-a-likely-1-in-39-vaccine-adverse-reaction-rate-while-publicly-claiming-a-false-1-in-a-million-rate/

[11] https://www.icandecide.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/VaccineSafety-Version-1.0-October-2-2017-1.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1kXSPJeZyk1CLxRvNjtlX_9MbJnyzCsMdjpS5-qXtuSnteSyv9JBOOi0w, pg. 4

[12] http://nodeception.org/vaccines-are-liability-free-products/

[13] https://childrenshealthdefense.org/protecting-our-future/facts-you-can-use/10-facts-every-parent-needs-to-know-about-vaccinations/?fbclid=IwAR3kf-_5QQ_qB57kjRWnGBMlAK9KmOcyN_ZyihIxhFUErR00FRQ-oQdd4vE

[14] https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-vaccine-trial-no-animal-testing.html

[15] https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11507231/dr-fauci-7-4-million-funding-wuhan-lab-blamed-covid-19-conspiracy/

The Decay of Truth

A Case for Christian Education

            A foul stench fills the air: something is rotting. On the grand fields of our western culture, a predator lurks, envenoming its prey slowly, weakening it bit by bit until it posed no threat. Before us, we see this poor victim. It was once strong, but the constant bombardment over the centuries has brought it low. It lies in the dust, bloodied from the constant attacks. This once mighty creature has begun to decay. Who is this beast? It was once called Truth. What has become of Truth and can he be saved?

            Truth once stood at the foundation of time, firmly planted and unshakeable; however, the predator, although weaker, was devious. Instead of facing Truth straight on, he poisoned him slowly, biding his time as the mighty opponent gradually sank into disadvantage. In his meager state, Truth has been overwhelmed.  By the cunning of his adversary, Truth has been replaced by a twisted imitation called Relativism.

            The pillar of society has now been replaced with a replica. This cheap copy has convinced our modern culture that Truth is not our foundation as once thought, but that he was flexible, and did not always apply to everyone the same. The standards could be changed to fit the needs or desires of the beholder. Sadly, mankind fell all too easily to this deception.

            It began as early as Eden, the first and last scene of perfection on Earth, and the place where Truth dwelt before he was weakened. The Creator had clearly spoken Truth when He said, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”[1] Now, the predator took the form of a serpent in that garden, and after the Creator had said these things, he slyly dug his fangs into the heel of Truth. To do this, he replaced Truth with this little deviation: “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”[2] With one slight of word, the cunning assailant smeared the character of Truth in the eyes of all mankind for all of time. As was said in Foundations of Christian School Education, “Our minds are affected by the Fall, so we tend to serve our own interests, limiting and interpreting what is found in nature by what we want or expect, by what supports our thesis and furthers our case.”[3] No longer does Truth hold precedence over our understanding. Instead, our vision of real Truth is clouded by the interpretations of our individual desires.

            Over the ages, philosophers debated the identity of Truth. His original physicality has been blurred. Our modern society has turned from Metaphysical thought and focused on one specific aspect of knowledge: the empirical world of science. Truth was judged by the senses alone, rather than drawing from multiple sources of thought.  While much can be learned through empirical investigation, it is not enough to stand on its own.  “Empirical data gave access to knowledge and understanding, but both metaphysical and empirical investigation were considered necessary if one was to have adequate information about existence.”[4]

            Empirical men have risen through the ranks of humanity as the new “philosophers” of reality. They often stress the absolute necessity of science, and how it is the real Truth. Modern science enthusiast and TV personality Bill Nye once said, “Science is the key to our future, and if you don’t believe in science, then you’re holding everybody back.”[5] Nye also said, “You can believe what you want religiously. Religion is one thing, but science, provable science, is something else.”5 Another intelligent empiricist of the day, Stephen Hawking, said “I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.”5 Others, like the slightly more aggressive Richard Dawkins, go so far that they attack any other source other than science. Dawkins once said, “Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.”5 By claiming this, Dawkins makes the assumption that science is the exclusive source of truth. In this, all these well-educated men agree: Truth is found through empirical means alone. They are leaders in the dominant worldview of scientism, where science is deemed the leading authority on who Truth is.

            This pervasive scientism has lead to materialism. Materialism, very closely related to naturalism, suggests that there is nothing outside of the physical realm. If it cannot be explained through empirical methods or natural causes, it does not exist. This banishes all metaphysical ideas, such as heaven, hell, and even the possibility of the supernatural.  In these newer, aggressive worldviews, science is king. Not only king, but also the dominant and unchallengeable ruler of knowledge, portrayed as a benevolent dictator, taking over for our well-being. Scientists like Dawkins belligerently push this “benevolence” of science. He longs for a world of knowledgeable people to advance our civilizations. He said, “The enlightenment is under threat. So is reason. So is truth. So is science, especially in the schools of America,”[6] all because he assumes that any advances in religious or metaphysical thought is harmful to understanding Truth. While not all people have gone as far as Richard Dawkins in their hunt of Truth through naturalism, many are being influenced that way. The common layperson has been distanced so much from the inner workings and complexities of science that they have to put faith in those who have dedicated their lives to that study. This has lead to the acceptance of materialism and naturalism by the western cultures.

            Since the mid 1800’s, naturalism has had a face. Charles Darwin’s journey on H.M.S. Beagle is known by many, but it is the resulting conclusions by the scientist that have shaken the entire world. In his groundbreaking publication On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, Darwin explained a scientific mechanism, known as Natural Selection, that he claimed could explain the origins of all organisms in a fully natural manner. No supernatural causation was required. Using many years of data that he had accumulated from the Galapagos Islands and all around the world, Darwin attempted to show that all life could gradually change over eons into new life forms. A single cell could become a multicellular colony. A multicellular colony could unite into an organism. The simple organism could, after millions of years, become what we now call plants and animals. Further diversification happened, and thus we get to us, billions of years later. The arrival of a formal naturalistic theory like Darwin’s Evolution had been long desired by many. As Richard Dawkins said, “…although atheism might have been logically tenable before Darwin, Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist.”[7] With the advancement of evolutionary theory, mankind had found a way to run away from an intelligent Creator. Now, mankind was considered the highest being that existed. We were the lords of our own existence.

            Naturalistic Evolution now holds sway on many aspects of our culture. Academia, for one, tends to favor Neo-Darwinian thinking (an updated, but generally similar model of evolution as Darwin’s). The media and many politicians also serve under the banner of naturalism, touting the legitimacy of evolutionary science as the pillar of fact on which they stood strong. Popular TV host and educator Neil deGrasse Tyson was apparently confident when he said, “The theory of evolution, like the theory of gravity, is a scientific fact.”7 Richard Dawkins agreed when he suggested that “It is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid or insane (or wicked, but I’d rather not consider that.)”[8]  Statements like these are carefully formulated to lift naturalism and simultaneously, slam down any who would doubt their accuracy. They say science supports evolution, and imply that science is fact; yet are they correct? Can Truth be identified through the scientific method?

            Apparently unbeknownst to many leading scientists of our day, science has limitations. One issue is noted in Foundations of Christian Education when it was said, “… human beings are finite and fallible. They understand the secrets of nature slowly and partially, so that what appears at one point to be true may later prove to be incomplete, misleading, or just wrong. Humility is essential in the study of nature, especially when one is drawing conclusions from scientific evidence.”[9] Science, as the author suggested, is never complete. We are always gathering new data. Many times, that data will undermine a current theory or hypothesis, forcing us to go right back to the drawing board to reimagine a way to explain the phenomena around us. If we are not continuously learning new things, then science is brought to a stand still. Conversely, we see that, because of the constant fluctuations of understanding in science, we can never legitimately conclude about something as being absolute or factual. When people like Dawkins, Nye or Tyson claim that a particular aspect of science—such as evolution—is fact, then they show a blatant misunderstanding of the limitations of science.  Until mankind knows all things, science cannot deal in unconditional truth. 

            Why the legitimacy of the phrase “evolution is fact” is technically erroneous, can we at least assume that the evidence science has gathered has been conclusive in support of evolution? Is it reinforced by enough data that we can rely on it safely? A large portion of the academic world would claim it is, at least to the general public. Behind closed doors, many will be unable to support the evolutionary theory from a detailed scientific standpoint. Renowned chemist and engineer Dr. James Tour, a man named among “The 50 Most Influential Scientists in the World Today” by TheBestSchools.org in 2014, has constantly challenged evolution’s defenses. For over ten years, a challenge to chemical evolution has been posted on his website. He asks any evolutionist to explain to him how macroevolution can chemically occur. He has never once had a response. He has even directly asked Nobel Prize winners; yet even such distinguished scientists respond with silence. After describing his study on parts of our inner ear’s ability to pick up different tones, a biophysicist was asked the same question: how could it have chemically evolved? His response to Dr. Tour was “We all believe in evolution, but we have no idea how it happened!”[10] It may sound offensive to many naturalistic evolutionists, but it seems that this worldview requires blind faith. These cover-ups belie the common adage that science is unbiased. For accuracy, we should reword it to say that science is unbiased, but scientists are not.

            So why does all this matter? Why do the new views of materialism, scientism and naturalistic evolution relate to the story of Truth? Clearly, we see that a mere shadow of the real Truth is visible now through these worldviews. Truth originally displayed the Creator for all to see, but now through these degrading mentalities, mankind has “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”[11] Instead of the wisdom and power of an infinite and holy God, our western civilization looks to the created things, trying to use them to explain our existence in place of God. Instead of God being the center of our lives, man has raised himself up as a god of his own world. Naturalism puts mankind at the center, and more specifically, the individual. Each person tries to lord over their own life now, and there are none who can correct them. “What is right to you isn’t right for me” is an all too common phrase since truth is now defined by each individual’s wishes.  

            An inconvenient, and quite dangerous fallout from this trend is that people roam purposeless through their lives.  When mankind becomes the ultimate entity in our perceptions of the universe, we lose divine purpose. Our destiny is to survive and pass on our genes, and our worth is the same as the slime from whence we came. What a terrible existence that must be! In an attempt to rise to godhood, mankind has instead lowered himself to one of no worth. This view leads down a slippery slope. Once a human is no longer built in the image of God, he has little or no value. An unborn child becomes an inconvenience to be swept away; the elderly and ill become a burden to society; the strong trample the weak. Atheism is a direct descendant of materialism, and the practices of racism, abortion, eugenics, and even Nazism and genocide—while not required outcomes of atheism—definitely require such a view to exist. How did we get so far away from whom Truth really was? The predator was wickedly cunning and mankind is easily swayed by desires of the flesh.

            How can we escape the mire of immorality and false truths? How do we find the real Truth? Is it even attainable? Clearly empirical science is not up to the task.  “All an empiricist can do is describe information received through the senses. Humans then become property, or things—nothing more than a group of parts that function together in a machinelike manner with no unifying essence.”[12] Alone, empirical methods are unable to isolate the fundamental characters of Truth, but as simply one of multiple tools, we can get a better picture. Technically, science cannot answer questions of morality, questions of opinion, or even answer questions with supernatural implications. These are often questions we must ask in the field of metaphysics, rather than empirical science. Still, even with both at hand, to identify Truth, we have basically two options: Truth is not absolute and can be defined individually, leaving no ability for us to decide if something is real or not or good or not; or, we can see Truth as an absolute that acts as a standard against which all things area measured.

           Those blinded by materialism cannot select the later; logic, however, demands that there be absolutes. To say that Truth is relative to each person is itself an absolute, forming a contradiction that fails to satisfy.

            It is critical that people are equipped to discover who Truth really is. These doctrines of purposelessness have seeped into public schools and have bogged down our nation’s future. Is it not the target of education to prepare our youth for life? Gathering knowledge is valuable, but it is not the end goal. As said in the book of Proverbs, “By wisdom a house is built and by understanding it is established;by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.”[13] Wisdom is the structure of the house, and knowledge is what fills it. Are not the foundations, walls, and roof more important to the house’s integrity than decorations and furniture? To put this in perspective for how we teach, we need to know that “Education is not an end in itself; it is a means to develop a response to our calling in life. Consequently, when we discuss a purpose for education, it must be related to an adequate purpose for living.”[14] Without a purpose for life, our students will find no use for education. To find their purpose, students must be able to find Truth, and there is no better source than the Bible.

           So now, the question arises, “How is biblical Truth applied in the classroom?” Clearly, Christian education must emphasize the ultimate purpose we all have: to reflect the glory of God and to worship Him. (Teaching Redemptively pg 50) This mentality must unify all aspects of Christian education, no matter the subject being taught.

           In organizing teaching methodologies and curriculum, a core strategy that should be employed in the Christian school is to “weave themes such as stewardship, community, environment, worship, and the purpose of life into the study of academic subjects.” Teachers should draw the student towards ethical considerations whenever appropriate, and not in just Bible or philosophy classes, but all topics in the school.[15] Science class should not be limited to discoveries of empirical study, but also what we should be doing with such discoveries.

           Truth can definitely influence the natural behavior of individuals. When the fundamental goal of reflecting God’s glory and worshiping Him is lost, the purpose of the individual is also lost. This leaves students with noticeable changes in how they act. When they cannot see their purpose, things around them, such as their studies, lose interest. Once interest is lost, doubt and loss of respect often follow. If the individual is not focused on mirroring the Creator, then their actions will eventually become selfish, focusing inwards. Work becomes a monotonous routine.

How do we counter such a mentality?

           The Truth required for this situation is again revealed in scripture: work itself must be seen as a tool used to learn more of and become more like our Maker. “Work is valuable to the Christian because stewardly exploration and management of the creation leads to growth in the likeness of God. It is thus a form of praise and worship of the highest order.”[16] Work in itself can become a joy if the individual embraces it as an act of praise to God. As it says in Colossians 3:17, we are to do everything—every action or word—as if we were doing it for our heavenly Father. A truly thankful heart is a motivated one. “The students’ work of praising God in their studies will turn those studies from drudgery into delight. This is an important part of the vision we need for genuine Christian Schools.”[17] Without this focus, purpose is lost, selfishness is central, and behavioral problems arise.

           Even effective classroom discipline has its footing firmly planted in biblical Truth. A student grumbling about the unfairness of the rules could be compared to the grumblings of the Israelites under the Law. The Old Testament Law was given to us as our tutor to make us aware that there indeed is right and wrong. It signals the holiness of our Creator and demonstrates the consequences of our sin. Our school rules do more than just keep order and maintain an environment conducive for learning (though that is important.) They reflect significant truths that lay the foundation for students to understand and embrace their need for the Lamb of God. Another benefit to providing and enforcing school rules is that they help children feel secure and like they know what to expect. “Boundaries exist because the students need them for security.”[18]

            So here he lies. Truth has begun to rot on the fields of western culture. The predator’s grip on our future is suffocatingly tight and he keeps pulling the noose tauter. The hunter has led us away from Truth, promising us power and bliss; instead, we have fallen into darkness and doubt, unsure of our purpose anymore. We must rise above this. No matter how hard he tries, the enemy cannot fully overthrow Truth. Truth is still alive. It is an uphill battle, but education must furnish students with the tools to delve past the illusions and find their ultimate purpose in Christ. As Shakespeare said in The Merchant of Venice, “The truth will out.”

Bibliography

  1. The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2011.
  2. Braley, James, Jack Layman, and Ray White, eds. Foundations of Christian School Education. Colorado Springs: Purposeful Design, 2003. Print. 
  3. “BrainyQuote.” BrainyQuote. Xplore Inc, n.d. Web. 4 July 2015. 
         <http://www.brainyquote.com/&gt;. 
  4. Dawkins, Richard. The Blind Watchmaker. Page 6. New York: Norton & Company, Inc. 1986.
  5. Dawkins, Richard. “Put Your Money on Evolution.” The New York Times  April 9, 1989: sec VII  p.35
  6. Tour, James. “Does Science Dispel Faith?” Issues 2015: 4+. Print. 
  7. Graham, Donovan L. Teaching Redemptively: Bringing Grace and Truth into Your Classroom. 2nd ed. Colorado Springs: Purposeful Design, 2009. Print. 
  8. Moreland, J.P. Love Your God With All Your Mind. Colorado Springs: Navpress, 1997. Print. 
  9. Greene, Albert E. Reclaiming the Future of Christian Education. 2nd ed. Colorado Springs: Purposeful Design, 2003. Print. 

[1] Genesis 2:16b-17

[2] Genesis 3: 4-5

[3] Foundations of Christian School Education, pg. 28

[4] Foundations of Christian School Education, pg. 7

[5] http://www.brainyquote.com/

[6] The Blind Watchmaker. Pg. 6. 

[7] http://www.brainyquote.com/

[8] Dawkins, R. April 9, 1989. Book Review of Donald Johanson and Maitland Edey’s Blueprint. The New York Times. Section 7, 34.

[9] Foundations of Christian School Education, pg. 27

[10] Tour, James. “Does Science Dispel Faith?” Issues 2015: 4+. Print. 

[11] Romans 1:23 ESV

[12]  Foundations of Christian School Education, pg. 9

[13] Proverbs 24:3-4 ESV

[14] Teaching Redemptively pg. 49

[15] Teaching Redemptively pg. 203-204

[16] Reclaiming the Future of Christian Education pg. 55

[17] Reclaiming the Future of Christian Education pg. 61

[18] Teaching Redemptively pg. 245

The Shadow Proves the Sunshine

Does the existence of terrible evil in the world mean a perfectly good and infinitely powerful creator cannot exist?

           Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb bludgeoned a young boy to death for the thrill of it. Bobby Franks, the 14-year-old cousin of Loeb, was killed by the two young men for nothing more than to know what it felt like. While they originally had hoped to hold him for ransom in their attempt to produce the perfect crime, neither young man needed the money, coming from wealthy families themselves. After being caught and admitting to his crime, Leopold said “A thirst for knowledge is highly commendable, no matter what extreme pain or injury it may inflict upon others.”[1] How can humans be capable of such evil?

           Their legal defender in court was none other than Clarence Darrow, a man known today for his involvement in the famous Scopes trial.[2] In that later Scopes trial, Darrow would defend the teaching of evolution by John Scopes, a man placed in that role deliberately to challenge the laws banning evolution in the classroom. Darrow himself was known as a driven opponent of fundamentalist Christianity, with the goal of debunking it and the literalist interpretation of the Bible.[3]

Leopold, Loeb and Darrow

           Of course, Darrow’s position was already public knowledge prior to the Scopes trial. His defense of Leopold and Loeb prior to defending Scopes was also sensationalized. With a foundational reasoning based upon an evolutionary worldview, Darrow was strongly against the death penalty, even for murderers like these two young men. How did he come to such a conclusion?

“Science and evolution teach us that man is an animal, a little higher than the other orders of animals; that he is governed by the same natural laws that govern the rest of the universe,” he [Darrow] wrote in the magazine Everyman in 1915. Darrow saw confirmation of these views in the field of dynamic psychiatry, which emphasized infantile sexuality and unconscious impulses and denied that human actions were freely chosen and rationally arranged. Individuals acted less on the basis of free will and more as a consequence of childhood experiences that found their expression in adult life.[4]

Through his beliefs in evolutionary origins, Darrow presumed that a person’s actions were not done by the free will of the individual, but by the predeterminate outcome decided by one’s physical nature or hormonal compositions. Instead of seeing crime as an act of will, Darrow saw it as a medical problem, and thus not something the courts could properly punish with the death penalty. Rather, he suggested that medical treatment could take its place and possibly rehabilitate the criminals.

            This was Clarence Darrow’s defense of the child killers Leopold and Loeb: as the products of evolutionary processes and acting on animal instincts, the young men were not responsible for their actions that were predetermined by their inherited dispositions. Such a defense shocked the nation, as it should. If this defense had been successful, the entire justice system would have been toppled. Who can be held responsible for their own actions if all their actions are predetermined hormonal responses of a being that cannot surpass their genes?

            This does make one wonder: can a materialistic worldview like evolution allow for something like free will? If we are the product of blind natural processes, can we be more than the workings of our genetics? How could the sum be greater than the parts?

If life has arisen by unguided, materialistic processes, then we as living beings are nothing more than matter and energy. The energy moves through us and causes the matter to change shape or form, etc. Over billions of years, the energy fluctuations through matter gave rise to stars, which birthed planets, comets, and all sorts of space debris, which eventually coalesced just right to make this beautiful planet Earth. On it, all the matter and energy cleaved together to form the first life somehow, a mystery still completely unsolvable by materialistic means. That first life then changed into other life forms, branching out, gaining abilities via natural selection, and always following evolution’s main goal: survival of the fittest. Why do they strive to continue and overcome obstacles? Their “selfish genes,” as evolutionist Richard Dawkins calls them, drives them forward.[5] These selfish genes drive their temporary host on to survive and reproduce, passing themselves on further into immortality. Such a view only further draws us to this: what else could evolution produce except creatures that were bound to their genetic instructions? Free will cannot truly come about through materialistic means because matter and energy cannot really choose anything. Action and reactions are possible, but there is no freedom to choose one’s own actions.

If evolution is true, Clarence Darrow’s conclusions must also be as well: mankind, as the product of matter in motion and animal instincts driven by their genes, cannot be held accountable for any for their actions. Not only would murder most foul like that of Leopold and Loeb’s heinous acts be unpunishable, but neither would any other action mankind would take. Rape would be the animal instinct to spread one’s genes. Murder could be to advance one’s fitness levels. Theft obviously would be greatly advantageous to those skilled at it and those stolen from are just out of luck. We aren’t talking about just a few changes to how we look at murder. From a materialistic worldview, the entire moral framework is without foundation because nobody is greater than their genes. Matter and energy cannot think, so who are we to punish people for their actions? Within the evolutionary worldview, there can be no free will.

           Even modern atheist Sam Harris agrees with Darrow. He writes about the actions of two criminals, Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky, and how they broke into the home of Dr. William and Jennifer Petit in 2007. After knocking William senseless, they tied the doctor’s wife and daughters to their beds. While one of the men forced the wife to withdraw money from their bank for him, the other sexually abused the youngest daughter. When the two returned from the bank, they raped Jennifer and strangled her. When they noticed that William had slipped his restraints and gotten away to seek help, they panicked. After dosing the house with gasoline, they lit it on fire, burning it down with the daughters still tied to their beds. Only William survived the incident. The two perpetrators of this ghastly crime were eventually captured and brought to justice; however, even after all this horror, Sam Harris can do nothing but conclude that these men were not responsible for their actions. “How can we make sense of our lives, and hold people accountable for their choices, given the unconscious origins of our conscious minds?”[6]  

           Do these stories shock you? They should. Humans naturally see the horror in such actions. Murdering for the fun of it or brutally raping and killing are things that we naturally know are wrong. Yes, some repress this moral realization, killing their own conscience, but even they know it is wrong. It is because of this innate knowledge of moral absolutes that this matter-over-mind materialistic view must be wrong. Not only do we naturally know that such things are wrong, humans frequently act opposite to them, which hinders any conclusions that we do not have free will. We can choose to abide by these moral absolutes, or we can choose to ignore them. That is the nature if free will.

           But why would God grant humans such an ability that allows for such heinous abuses? How could a loving God give mankind the ability to murder, rape, steal, or any other form of sin? The book of Galatians tells us to walk by the Spirit, not the desires of the flesh, since they are in conflict.[7] Why would we be given these desires of the flesh if they can produce so much pain and suffering? Many an atheist has used this problem of evil as their excuse to disregard God’s existence. After all, if evil exists in the world and God has not stopped it, does that mean he is not truly good or powerful enough to do so? No, the existence of evil is actually proof of God’s perfect existence and of our own free will.

           How could the existence of evil prove that God is absolutely good? Think about the two stories we have covered thus far. How do we know that Leopold, Loeb, Hayes and Komisarjevsky committed evil acts? Why are we absolutely sure they did wrong? The only way to assume that something is absolutely wrong for there to be a measure of what is absolutely good. Without the ability to measure what is good against an absolute source, we would never know what is evil. Without the existence of God, murder, rape, theft, and all the worst actions you can think of are merely actions of equal value as love, self-sacrifice, and giving gifts. Murdering someone would be of equal merit to saving them if there was no absolute source to tell us what is good. As Greg Koukl says,

This is a profound realization. We have, with a high degree of certainty, stumbled upon something real. Yet it’s something that can’t be proven empirically or described in terms of natural laws. This teaches us there’s more to the world than just the physical universe. If non-physical things—like moral rules—truly exist, then materialism as a world view is false.[8]

Thought itself is an immaterial entity, just like morality. This must mean that materialism is false since immaterial things do indeed exist. Based off of that and the conclusion that morals exist, we can conclude that if evil exists, good exists. You cannot have shadows without light. This argument from morals, as Koukl says, demolishes the materialistic views of Clarence Darrow and Sam Harris. Materials cannot produce morality, and therefore must come from an immaterial source, like God himself.

            So how about the other claim? How does this prove free will? Think of it this way: if there are absolute morals, how can we break them? Isn’t our own ability to choose the most reliable explanation? Let’s look back at the problem of evil again. If God is purely good and absolutely powerful, why does he not end suffering? If God had stepped in, would Bobby Franks be dead? Would Dr. William’s family have suffered such brutal deaths? Of course not! So why didn’t God do it? As the antitheist argument goes, the logical conclusion is that God is ether not powerful enough to stop the actions, or he is not truly good because he allows evil. The question should actually be how would God stop such actions? Clearly, he would have to stop the perpetrators of course. If God created us with free will to choose our own actions and futures, wouldn’t he have to remove that free will to stop us?

            Why then would God even create us with free will if suffering were the result? Maybe it was because he values relationship! It is a humbling thought that the creator of the universe desires relationship with us, but that is what the Bible implies throughout. Can an intelligent being have meaningful relationships with automatons? If you program a computer to say “I love you” on repeat, will you feel loved by it? Of course not! A computer programed to automatically echo those sentiments is not only unable to truly love, but it is being forced to do it! Love cannot exist unless it is an action chosen willingly. The same exists here with our relationship with God: he wants a real, willing relationship. Just as a husband wants his wife to willingly love him, so does God want us to have the ability to truly mean it when we love him. Otherwise, love does not exist. If God were to stop these criminals, he would have to remove their free will, just as he would have had to do to stop Hitler or any other major evil the world has seen. Humans would be reduced to nothing more than a hollow echo if they weren’t given the ability to choose to love God or not, or to do good or not. Since God loved us long before we loved him, he clearly desires us to seek him willingly, and to remove that freedom to choose our path to or away from him would be the antithesis of this powerful love.

            Neither Darrow nor Harris can see the logical flaws in their positions. Not only do these instances of evil not prove the lack of a creator, but they actually do the opposite. Shadow cannot prove that light doesn’t exist. Cold doesn’t prove that heat doesn’t exist. In fact, both only exist because there is a lack of their counterparts present. You only know what is dark and what is cold because you know there is light and heat. In the same way, evil is simply a shadow that proves the existence of God. The creator, in his wisdom, knew that the relationship he wanted was that of father and children, and that love can never be forced. The evil that exists is not because of God’s lack of empathy or insufficient power, but because his great love and desire for us grants us this freedom to choose to love him back or not. No matter the darkness that humans are capable of, the light of God’s love is brighter.


“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:8

[1] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/leopold-and-loebs-criminal-minds-996498/

[2] https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/scopes-trial

[3] Ibid

[4] Ibid

[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9p2F2oa0_k

[6] https://samharris.org/the-illusion-of-free-will/

[7] Galatians 5:16-17

[8] https://www.str.org/w/evil-as-evidence-for-god?inheritRedirect=true

Future Tech of the Past

Why our best technology is still far behind living systems

            What if nanotechnology could design microscopic machines? That is the goal of many engineers in this burgeoning field. Need to deliver molecules to specific locations within your cells? Sure. Need to create microscopic engines to propel miniature machines around in the body? Of course. What about producing energy using turbine motors? Why not? These machines seem like the future straight out of science fiction, but we may someday reach these lofty goals.

            Why do I think that these grand schemes may be within our reach? With the increase in our technology and knowledge of the world at the cellular level, we not only have growing confidence in our capabilities; we actually know it has been done before. That’s right, these things already exist!

            Within each of your cells, we can already see such engineering marvels. The first molecule is an enzyme called kinesin. In a literal step by step walking motion, this molecular machine walks along the microtubules of the inside of your cells, hauling shipping containers or messages behind them from one spot to the other. These machines can definitely do the fast step, seeing that they can often hit 100 steps per second.[1] With every molecule of ATP (the energy rich “battery” of the cell), kinesin takes another step. Such walking wonders have numerous roles within the cell, and as such are likely numbered in the thousands in a single cell.

Kinesin enzyme hauling a vesicle of cargo

            What about the microscopic motor mentioned before? We can find that in the cellular flagellum. This whip-like appendage acts as an outboard motor, sharing uncanny similarities to the motor on a speedboat. With a rotor, stator, hook, and propeller, the flagellum lines up with boat motors incredibly well. The long whip like tail spins at speeds passing 100,000 rotations per minute, handling the extreme torque with ease.[2] It could be said that this motor is actually superior in many ways to those made by mankind’s best engineers.

The flagellar motor and propeller shaft

            The third nano-machine seems like more of a stretch compared to the others. Is a microscopic turbine that produces energy really within the realm of possibilities for us to create? Well, we already have the designs laid out for us within the cell. As pretty much every high school student in biology remembers, the mitochondrion is the powerhouse of the cell. Using a process called the electron transport chain on the inner membrane of the mitochondria, your sugars, fats, and proteins from your last meal are broken down and used to fuel a process that allows for the flow of ions through a turbine machine called ATP Synthase. The ions flow naturally through an opening in this enzyme apparatus, giving it the momentum to spin. Like a waterwheel at an old sawmill, the flow of these ions through the turbine is harnessed to do work. It is at these ATP Synthases that ATP, the battery molecule, is energized, being revitalized like a rechargeable battery. With relative ease, such molecules produce the vital ATP that runs the majority of functions with the cell, even the functions of the previously mentioned kinesin and flagella motors. Dr. Bowman, emeritus professor of biology at UC Santa Cruz estimated that each mitochondrion contains approximately 320,000 ATP Synthase turbines! This produces millions of ATP molecules per second in every body cell.[3]

           Any description of molecular machinery would be incomplete without the DNA polymerase machine. In each of most of our cells, we have an entire copy of the human genome (all 3.2 BILLION base pairs of it!). To put it in perspective, the DNA that fits within the microscopic nucleus of each of our body cells (excluding red blood cells), when unwound, would stretch about 6 feet in length![4] Every time a cell needs to divide, it must first duplicate all this DNA. This is where our friendly neighborhood polymerase comes in. This enzyme machine, with the help of other enzyme machines that prepare its path, comes in and starts to read the two open sides of the DNA. Not only does it read the base pairs of both sides, it puts down a complimentary copy of each individual base pair for each side as it goes! You could say that DNA polymerase is a nanoscale copy machine. Some of the fastest polymerases can lay as many as 1,000 base pairs per second![5] If a human tried to type that fast, you could expect the majority of the page to be riddled with errors. Not so here! DNA polymerase only makes about 1 error in 10,000 base pairs! But it gets better: DNA polymerase also comes equipped with its own spell checker! With this added proofreading capability, it improves its replication fidelity about 100-fold![6] Without such a function, harmful (and often fatal) mutations would be far more prevalent within our genomes. After all, what has been described is only one of the 30 trillion cells within a human body! Polymerase must be fine-tuned for optimal efficiency to tackle such tasks.

DNA polymerase (along with other enzymes like Helicase, Primase, Ligase, etc.) during DNA replication

            So, can our engineers build such machines at such tiny scales? So far, we have not, but we have great templates to copy from. But shouldn’t this make us wonder how such machines came about in the first place? If our greatest minds in the world cannot easily replicate such intricate and efficient machines, could a blind and unguided process be the cause of their entry onto the world stage? Many evolutionists must assume that natural processes, given enough time, could produce such a list of incredible engineering feats; however, such belief requires tremendous faith since no such process has ever been discovered that could produce such machines. Engineering in principle requires foresight, the ability to look ahead and plan out the best possible configuration. After that, the parts are put in place all at once for functionality to begin. If you’re missing a part here or there, or they are in the wrong places, you will not have a functional machine.

            When you think about it, anything that a random process can produce should be easily replicated by an intelligent agent in a fraction of the time. For example, if a random process can scatter scrabble tiles into the sentence “What does the fox say?” with enough time, shouldn’t a person be able to purposefully place such tiles in the same configuration in a miniscule fraction of the time it took the natural processes? The same goes for our molecular motors. After thousands of years of technological development and incredible leaps in understanding of the natural world, we as a species have come to realize that we are still well behind the level of engineering we have already had within us since we first stood up on this planet.

            When we study these molecular machines (which our four mentioned here are but a meager sampling of) without the preconceived notions of naturalism, we are inevitably drawn towards the conclusion that such machines are the products of an intelligent agent, just as our various motors and turbine machines are. It would be laughable to conclude that the engine of my Honda was the product of blind chance and natural processes because we as humans can naturally detect design in such things. If such a vehicle’s motor is so obviously designed, why must we ignore such logical thoughts when it comes to the origins of cellular equipment?  If kinesin, the flagellum, ATP Synthase and DNA Polymerase are all so efficient to be still beyond our current level of engineering in 2020, why not conclude that an even greater engineer designed them before us?

[1] http://book.bionumbers.org/how-fast-do-molecular-motors-move-on-cytoskeletal-filaments/

[2] https://evolutionnews.org/2016/11/what_it_takes_t_1/

[3]https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_many_ATP_synthase_enzymes_are_on_average_in_one_mitochondrium

[4] https://www.reference.com/science/much-dna-typical-human-cell-152043608773550f

[5] https://www.alpfmedical.info/base-pairs/the-mechanism-of-dna-polymerase.html

[6]https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1570963909001502