WEBVTT 00:00:00.660 --> 00:00:04.040 It is Friday, the 20th of March, 2026. 00:00:04.040 --> 00:00:05.140 I am Corey J. 00:00:05.140 --> 00:00:08.740 Mahler, and this is At Any Cost. 00:00:08.740 --> 00:00:15.120 The slight delay there when it said beginning now was my having to do a sanity check on my end. 00:00:15.120 --> 00:00:23.500 I reconfigured some storage stuff, and I had to make sure it was actually recording the file so that I can post that later. 00:00:23.500 --> 00:00:30.340 At any rate, I don't believe there is any housekeeping for this week, so I can get right into the question. 00:00:30.340 --> 00:00:32.980 I see that there are some questions in the chat. 00:00:32.980 --> 00:00:35.020 I've been noting those down as they come in. 00:00:35.020 --> 00:00:45.100 So as always, if I don't notice your question in the chat, go ahead and post it on the forum or ask me elsewhere so I can make sure to answer that. 00:00:46.420 --> 00:00:58.840 The first question for this week is, do certain ethnicities have a genetic or epigenetic predisposition to disbelief or a rejection of God? 00:00:58.840 --> 00:01:07.260 If the answer is no, then what is the mechanism that explains why ethnic Jews have largely rejected God continually since their inception? 00:01:07.260 --> 00:01:16.580 If the answer is yes, how do we reconcile genetic predisposition with double predestination, or without resorting to, really? 00:01:16.580 --> 00:01:30.060 Am I in danger of becoming proud or arrogant toward the branches that were broken off in Romans 11 for believing that ethnic Jews face greater temptation to reject God in light of the false ethno-religion they've created? 00:01:32.520 --> 00:01:40.140 The short answer is that yes, there is a sort of genetic component to belief or unbelief. 00:01:40.140 --> 00:02:05.920 It is not so powerful that it is in itself determinative, but it is going to make it more difficult for some races and less difficult for some other races to believe, and it is going to make converting some races more difficult, as we of course see, with the Jews are a good example, but Europeans are a good example in the inverse. 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:27.840 Europeans were the easiest to convert to Christianity in part for racial reasons, because we had not fallen as far with regard to false worship, we had not fallen into the same sort of evil kinds of demon worship that were rampant in, say, Africa, India, other places like that, certainly parts most of the new world. 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:49.340 And with regard to the Jews, the big thing for them is, as scripture says all over the place, you are a stiff-necked people, they are a stubborn people, they don't agree with God, they rebel against God constantly, they rebel against God at the foot of the mountain while God is physically present on the mountain, they make a golden calf. 00:02:49.340 --> 00:02:52.840 Even the Africans, the Hamites would not have done that, right? 00:02:52.840 --> 00:02:58.840 So, there's very clearly a racial component when it comes to belief or unbelief. 00:02:58.840 --> 00:03:10.600 But with the Jews, it's not just that, it's also the fact that, as I mentioned last week, culture downstream from race, there's an interconnection there, there's a feedback loop. 00:03:11.620 --> 00:03:18.280 The entirety of Jewish culture post the New Testament era, right? 00:03:18.280 --> 00:03:33.820 So, after really the destruction of the temple, is when they really sort of double down on this, into Rabbinic Judaism and Talmudism, which the Talmud then formalized in its current form in the 500s, AD, not BC. 00:03:35.900 --> 00:03:42.960 In the process of doubling down into that, they create their entire culture as being contrary to Christ. 00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:44.340 They hate Christ. 00:03:44.340 --> 00:03:47.640 That has become essential to their identity as Jews. 00:03:47.640 --> 00:04:02.620 It's why we said in Stone Choir, and why we have said elsewhere, that for Jews, in order to convert, it's not the same as other peoples, because the entirety of their cultural and their racial identity has become that rejection of Christ. 00:04:02.620 --> 00:04:06.880 No one else has that as a core component of their culture. 00:04:06.880 --> 00:04:09.980 Now, could some other people over a course of centuries develop that? 00:04:09.980 --> 00:04:17.500 Sure, the Indians seem well on their way to doing that, with how they behave with any depiction or mention of Christ. 00:04:17.500 --> 00:04:23.120 But that requires them to essentially reject being a Jew, in order to convert. 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:25.680 That's one of the reasons it's so difficult for them. 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:37.740 You don't have to reject being a Frenchman, or a Dutchman, or British, or German, in order to convert to Christianity, back when neo-pagans, pagans at that point, were actually a thing. 00:04:37.740 --> 00:04:46.460 Right, all you had to do was recognize that you had a portion of the truth, and now the fullness had come back and been re-revealed to you. 00:04:46.460 --> 00:04:55.960 And so, it wasn't a fundamental rejection of who and what you are, it was simply a rejection of false beliefs that had crept in over time, and a return to the true faith. 00:04:57.400 --> 00:05:05.820 The Jews can't do that so easily, because their entire culture, again, and their racial identity is bound up in that rejection of Christ. 00:05:05.820 --> 00:05:12.740 And that's not double predestination, that's just biological consequences of sin. 00:05:12.740 --> 00:05:14.380 There's a spiritual component as well. 00:05:14.380 --> 00:05:30.680 We should never fully disconnect the spiritual, the soul, and the body, because, again, you're a Gestalt, you're not one or the other, you're not a ghost piloting a meat mech, right, as the atheists like to joke. 00:05:30.680 --> 00:05:32.940 Although I guess for them, it's not really a joke, it's incoherent. 00:05:32.940 --> 00:05:39.220 But you are the totality, not any individual component. 00:05:39.220 --> 00:05:46.000 And so you are not just biologically, whatever race you are, you are spiritually that race as well. 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:48.680 So there are both aspects to that. 00:05:48.680 --> 00:05:52.240 It will be more difficult for some people to convert than others. 00:05:52.240 --> 00:06:09.640 That doesn't mean double predestination is true, because the biological consequences of longitudinal or generational sin are not equivalent to God condemning someone before creating him to be that thing. 00:06:09.640 --> 00:06:15.800 It's not the libertarian sense of individuality and free will, which is sort of where the tension is here. 00:06:15.800 --> 00:06:18.540 There are those who want to look at every person as tabula rasa, right? 00:06:18.600 --> 00:06:20.240 They want you to be the blank slate. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:28.900 You just start off, you're a person, you're cast into the world, and then you become whatever you're going to become on account of your own decisions and your own actions. 00:06:28.900 --> 00:06:30.660 And that's just not true. 00:06:30.660 --> 00:06:37.840 You bring a lot of things to the table when you are born, because you're not just born a human. 00:06:37.840 --> 00:06:40.820 You're born, again, list any race you want. 00:06:40.820 --> 00:06:43.640 You're born a German, you're born an American, you're born a Scotsman. 00:06:44.200 --> 00:06:52.640 And that brings things to the table that other races do not have in the same amounts or have in greater amounts, right? 00:06:52.640 --> 00:06:54.460 There are differences there. 00:06:54.460 --> 00:07:02.960 So the sins of our fathers do not damn us, but they can certainly make it more difficult for us to convert. 00:07:02.960 --> 00:07:17.360 Similarly to the sins of the fathers can so mentally impair you, cognitively compare you, where you can never produce your race in this case, not just you personally, but you personally as well. 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:23.680 You can never produce a theologian, someone who could truly defend the Christian faith at a high level. 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:33.140 Races that have fallen that far can be Christianized, but they can only remain Christian in so far as someone else is shepherding them. 00:07:33.140 --> 00:07:37.540 They are sheep, and if they don't have a shepherd, they are going to go astray. 00:07:37.540 --> 00:07:45.060 So, it's not a pride thing, it's not, oh, look at me, I'm so great, and these other people are so terrible. 00:07:45.060 --> 00:07:53.680 It's recognizing that God has built a system where there are real consequences for sin, and they do accumulate down through the years. 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:57.520 We have them as well, I pointed it out before, right? 00:07:57.520 --> 00:08:04.580 Disease, the way that we age, the various maladies that are common to certain groups and not to others, right? 00:08:04.640 --> 00:08:10.460 There are groups that have autism at higher rates, there are groups that have coronary disease at higher rates. 00:08:10.460 --> 00:08:15.760 These things are also consequences of sin accumulating over time. 00:08:15.760 --> 00:08:21.540 Not all of these are going to affect you in the same way with regard to being able to convert to Christianity. 00:08:21.540 --> 00:08:30.060 So, it's not a matter of arrogance, and you can have a certain degree of pride, and you should have a certain degree of pride in the accomplishments of your ancestors. 00:08:30.060 --> 00:08:35.600 That's rightful, that's honoring your father and your mother as you are commanded to do. 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:42.740 So, it's not the arrogance toward the branches that were broken off that's being spoken of in Romans 11. 00:08:42.740 --> 00:08:49.760 That would be like saying, look at how great I am, I was chosen because I'm a great person, and the Jews are rejected because they're an evil... 00:08:49.760 --> 00:08:56.780 No, I am elect because God decided to count me among the elect. 00:08:56.780 --> 00:09:10.080 I have benefits that have accrued to me due to the relative faithfulness, and in some cases, more recently, of course, the true faithfulness, and all the way back with Japheth as well, of my ancestors, I benefit from those things. 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:22.040 So, it's right to recognize that you have those benefits, and you're just recognizing the way God built the system, designed the system, you're not being impermissibly arrogant. 00:09:22.040 --> 00:09:23.680 That's not what's in view there. 00:09:23.680 --> 00:09:27.200 So, you know, don't brag, oh, look at me, I'm so great. 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:29.580 I'm great, and God chose me because I'm great. 00:09:30.360 --> 00:09:32.580 That's what's in view there, don't do that. 00:09:32.580 --> 00:09:36.380 Because, of course, it's all grace, it's all faith. 00:09:36.380 --> 00:09:39.440 You didn't have anything to do with saving yourself. 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:48.940 But there is a very real component there with regard to biology and your spirituality, your soul, in this case, not in the modern sense of that term. 00:09:48.940 --> 00:09:54.560 That's very real, and it influences how likely you are going to be to convert. 00:09:54.560 --> 00:09:56.400 Is there a tension here that we can't resolve? 00:09:56.400 --> 00:09:56.760 Of course. 00:09:57.620 --> 00:10:03.360 We can't ever, in this life, fully resolve the tension of how exactly election works. 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:14.060 All we can do is look at it in scripture, accept that it is true, accept that God has put it in His Word, that's how He operates, and then we live with it. 00:10:14.060 --> 00:10:24.020 God also works through means, though, and so we should continue to read His Word, study His Word, spread His Word, partake of the sacraments, because God works through means. 00:10:24.980 --> 00:10:29.100 If you believe that there's a bit of a tension there, that's fine. 00:10:29.100 --> 00:10:32.440 There's going to be some tension in life with regard to some of these things. 00:10:32.440 --> 00:10:36.760 It doesn't have to be resolved to the satisfaction of human reason. 00:10:36.760 --> 00:10:39.780 If God said it, it's true, that is sufficient for Christians. 00:10:46.813 --> 00:10:55.273 The second question for tonight is perhaps a little bit Lutheran-specific, but it has applicability to everyone. 00:10:55.273 --> 00:11:06.313 It's Lutheran-specific because of some lectures turned into, I believe they were lectures first, and then turned into essays from CFW Valter, the founder of the LCMS. 00:11:06.313 --> 00:11:15.953 He gave two lectures, a series of four actually, two lectures against the theater, and then two lectures against... 00:11:16.993 --> 00:11:18.993 Now I can't remember what the... 00:11:18.993 --> 00:11:19.913 Dancing, that was it. 00:11:19.913 --> 00:11:24.413 Two lectures against dancing, two lectures against the theater, for a series of four lectures. 00:11:24.413 --> 00:11:30.593 I don't 100% agree with him, but I'll read the question first, so we can see where we're going with this. 00:11:30.593 --> 00:11:39.593 What is the place, if any, in a Christian society, this site of eternity for the theater, cinema, opera, etc.? 00:11:39.593 --> 00:11:47.093 Apart from the subversive elements in places like Hollywood and Broadway, can the performing arts be of any edifying use? 00:11:47.093 --> 00:11:52.193 If there is a proper use of these arts, what is it and how should we use them? 00:11:52.193 --> 00:12:02.193 So I believe that they do have a great deal of utility, and I'm not just biased because I happen to like opera and plays and things like that. 00:12:02.193 --> 00:12:04.853 There were some very good companies in LA. 00:12:04.853 --> 00:12:16.973 I had, I guess, full disclosure, I had season tickets to the LA opera for years, and I didn't go to all of the operas because obviously it's LA, it's the LA opera. 00:12:16.973 --> 00:12:29.693 Some of them are going to be, well, many of them I didn't go to because they were terrible, because they were doing the DEI and nonsense, but some of them I just didn't go to because they were not something that really a Christian should be attending. 00:12:29.693 --> 00:12:39.573 And that's true with regard to many plays, not as many with regard to operas, but certainly many plays, particularly the modern ones, and particularly movies, right? 00:12:39.613 --> 00:12:44.493 When we start expanding out into the totality of the visual arts. 00:12:46.293 --> 00:12:53.533 I do think there's a place for it in society because I think that it is instructive, and I think it's part of human culture. 00:12:53.533 --> 00:12:57.933 It's been part of our culture for millennia at this point. 00:12:57.933 --> 00:13:01.473 I don't think that all of it is wicked. 00:13:01.473 --> 00:13:04.533 I see someone mentioned, saw Don Giovanni in LA. 00:13:04.533 --> 00:13:05.533 That was a good production. 00:13:05.533 --> 00:13:08.193 Depending which one you saw, one was very good. 00:13:08.233 --> 00:13:11.193 There was one that was also good, but not quite as good. 00:13:12.473 --> 00:13:19.333 So, with regard to the theater, I think we should still have it in a Christian society. 00:13:19.333 --> 00:13:23.613 But we have to have it with some caveats, right? 00:13:23.613 --> 00:13:28.513 There are some problems that we need to avoid. 00:13:28.513 --> 00:13:41.753 You wind up with some unportantness, some things that are inappropriate, particularly when you're mixing young unmarried women and men, which happens with regard to the theater and ballet and things like that. 00:13:41.753 --> 00:13:45.173 That's something for which society has to account. 00:13:45.173 --> 00:13:49.633 Part of that will necessarily be changing how we structure how these things are done. 00:13:49.633 --> 00:13:55.293 I don't think it's good to have individuals where that's the entirety of their career. 00:13:55.293 --> 00:13:57.733 Like, you devote your life to this. 00:13:57.733 --> 00:14:07.553 I think that we're going to have to accept that, particularly for women, you know, you can have a certain number of years and a certain amount of time you devote to this. 00:14:07.553 --> 00:14:12.233 But for a woman, being a wife and a mother is really what she's supposed to do. 00:14:12.233 --> 00:14:16.453 Her efforts, her energy, her time should be focused on that. 00:14:16.453 --> 00:14:22.293 Necessarily, that's going to change how we balance these things with regard to the theater. 00:14:22.293 --> 00:14:33.713 At some point, I think I would actually like to go through and look at Luther, not Luther, Vaulter's essays and perhaps go through them more thoroughly, sort of point by point. 00:14:34.153 --> 00:14:36.633 So, I'll make a note for myself to do that. 00:14:38.593 --> 00:14:41.133 Going to close my window, the dog is barking. 00:14:44.673 --> 00:14:49.833 But I do not think that these things are simply negative. 00:14:49.833 --> 00:14:52.313 I think that they have utility in society. 00:14:52.313 --> 00:14:58.293 I think that they are particularly good at instructing with regard to morals in many cases. 00:14:58.293 --> 00:15:06.993 Now, does that mean that we should maintain all of them, that we should keep all of them, that we should just have no sort of control over these things? 00:15:06.993 --> 00:15:08.053 No. 00:15:08.053 --> 00:15:18.233 I have, for a very long time, thought that one of the most important aspects of any proper government is control over things like this. 00:15:18.233 --> 00:15:25.673 A Christian government, a Christian prince, should determine what is permissible and what is not permissible in his territories. 00:15:26.233 --> 00:15:30.233 He should not just permit anything goes in the theater, right? 00:15:34.113 --> 00:15:37.793 And there is also an aspect of it. 00:15:37.793 --> 00:15:42.413 Some men are going to get more out of the theater than others. 00:15:42.413 --> 00:15:46.893 And some men are going to be endangered by certain things in the theater more than others. 00:15:46.893 --> 00:15:54.393 I can think of a good example, and I'm not necessarily making a recommendation to go out and find a production of this and see it. 00:15:56.353 --> 00:16:06.513 There was a production of a picture of Dorian Gray, not obviously the book, but a staged version of it, a play, when I was living in LA. 00:16:06.513 --> 00:16:18.693 And obviously, if you know anything about the book and anything about Oscar Wilde, it deals with some themes that are not Christian, but can have a Christian tenor depending on how they're presented. 00:16:18.693 --> 00:16:26.213 And the reason I bring it up is that Oscar Wilde clearly didn't intend this, and I highly doubt the playwright did. 00:16:26.213 --> 00:16:28.233 I don't know that much about him. 00:16:28.233 --> 00:16:39.153 But it was probably the single most compelling and strongest condemnation of homosexuality I have ever seen in my life. 00:16:39.153 --> 00:16:44.173 Which, if you've read the novel alone, you probably wouldn't necessarily pull that out. 00:16:44.173 --> 00:16:46.693 It's there as well as an undercurrent. 00:16:46.693 --> 00:16:52.953 Not necessarily intended by the author, but sometimes authorial intent is not what actually tends to come through. 00:16:53.533 --> 00:16:58.533 Sometimes the author manages to say something that he didn't necessarily intend, right? 00:16:58.533 --> 00:17:03.833 You can think of Dune and Herbert trying to say Paul is the villain, right? 00:17:03.833 --> 00:17:07.253 No one comes away thinking Paul is the villain. 00:17:07.253 --> 00:17:11.433 He's the hero of the story, no matter what Frank Herbert tried to do. 00:17:12.973 --> 00:17:26.593 So that's an example where I think for a certain type of man, you can go and see that and see it as a moral play condemning a sort of wickedness in Christian terms. 00:17:26.593 --> 00:17:28.673 And I think that has value. 00:17:29.973 --> 00:17:34.133 I would agree with the person in the chat who said that the underlying morality was Christian. 00:17:34.133 --> 00:17:42.613 He was in a Christian society, and so he was inculcated, he was steeped in that, even if he himself rejected it in some ways. 00:17:42.653 --> 00:17:50.173 It came through in his writing, because you benefit from the, or suffer from, the culture around you, because you absorb it to some degree. 00:17:50.173 --> 00:17:53.493 There is a feedback loop with you and your culture as well. 00:17:53.493 --> 00:18:06.313 So, I think it is something that we need to be careful about as Christians, and we should not have the degree of license we've granted to the art set these days. 00:18:06.313 --> 00:18:08.213 But I think it still has a place in society. 00:18:08.213 --> 00:18:14.973 And like I said, I would like to go through those essays more closely and maybe go point by point right. 00:18:14.973 --> 00:18:18.953 Not a refutation, but perhaps sort of a clarification. 00:18:18.953 --> 00:18:28.193 In some cases, yes, I'm going to disagree bluntly with Valter because he sort of hated dancing and the theater, and I think both are fine. 00:18:28.193 --> 00:18:29.853 Not all dancing, obviously. 00:18:29.853 --> 00:18:33.093 There are some kinds of dancing that Christians should just not do. 00:18:33.093 --> 00:18:34.133 Don't participate in that. 00:18:34.133 --> 00:18:38.893 But the waltz, ballroom dancing, those things, I don't have any objection to them. 00:18:39.033 --> 00:18:44.633 I think they are a part of our culture, and I think they're a necessary part of our culture. 00:18:44.633 --> 00:18:46.373 I think they should be maintained. 00:18:46.373 --> 00:18:51.753 And with the right sort of structure in society, there's nothing wrong with those. 00:18:51.753 --> 00:18:56.633 If they're used as an avenue for licentiousness, that's a problem. 00:18:56.633 --> 00:19:06.893 But if you have a more structured, proper understanding of an interaction of the sexes, dances in the theater are perfectly fine. 00:19:07.293 --> 00:19:09.313 And in fact, I do think they're also good. 00:19:09.313 --> 00:19:14.413 And I should mention explicitly one of the things that I have in the back of my mind the whole time I've been saying this. 00:19:14.413 --> 00:19:19.013 Some of the ancient Greek plays are great in terms of the morality they teach. 00:19:19.013 --> 00:19:32.793 So I don't agree with Walter when he says that it is anti-Christian virtues, in some cases, or pagan virtues that are praised, and to the detriment of Christian, I think you can praise both at the same time. 00:19:32.793 --> 00:19:51.373 You don't have to denigrate the Christian virtues in order to esteem what some would call pagan virtues, and I don't think they're pagan virtues, because being strong and capable and knowing who you are and going through life with courage, things like that, those are themes in many of the Greek plays. 00:19:51.373 --> 00:19:54.653 I think those are consonant with Christian morality as well. 00:19:54.653 --> 00:19:57.593 So the short answer is yes, it has a place. 00:19:57.593 --> 00:20:00.053 The longer answer is obviously a lot longer. 00:20:11.232 --> 00:20:14.492 The third question is about circumcision. 00:20:14.492 --> 00:20:17.292 Not only does scripture tell us it is useless, correct? 00:20:17.292 --> 00:20:21.592 Luther himself plainly and strongly condemned circumcision. 00:20:21.592 --> 00:20:24.712 Why is the Lutheran Church ignored him on this topic? 00:20:26.532 --> 00:20:48.712 I don't necessarily know that it's the Lutheran Church that ignored him on this topic, because certainly those who came from a Lutheran background, so Germans, Scandinavians, and some others, were by and large not circumcised until relatively recently, I think it's about the 1950s, that really became popular. 00:20:48.712 --> 00:20:52.132 I may be off by a little bit, but I think it was right around then. 00:20:53.472 --> 00:21:10.252 It was pushed by both Jews and just some crazies over in non-denominational territory, arguing that it was a measure against masturbation, that it would decrease the incidence of that. 00:21:10.252 --> 00:21:21.372 These were also the men who were advocating for eating very high-fiber food and having frequent enemas, though, so I'm not sure I would particularly take their advice on anything. 00:21:21.372 --> 00:21:27.292 But they also tried to argue that it was for cleanliness, and that was always just a post-Holk rationalization. 00:21:27.292 --> 00:21:34.292 That was them trying to say, well, we want to achieve this end, we want to do this thing, and so we have to justify it. 00:21:34.292 --> 00:21:36.732 Oh, we'll say it's about cleanliness. 00:21:36.732 --> 00:21:40.752 You know, the same thing could be said with regard to your fingers, right? 00:21:40.752 --> 00:21:44.792 If you don't have any fingers, it's a lot easier to keep them clean. 00:21:44.792 --> 00:21:49.732 You don't remove parts of your body because you have to wash them. 00:21:49.732 --> 00:21:58.692 That argument is so completely ridiculous and evil that it's quite frankly insane that anyone ever parrots it. 00:21:58.692 --> 00:22:01.732 But people repeat it without thinking about it, right? 00:22:01.732 --> 00:22:08.492 You know, if you shave all the hair off your body, if you're completely bald, you never have to wash your hair. 00:22:08.492 --> 00:22:12.392 Yes, true, but do we want everyone to be bald? 00:22:12.392 --> 00:22:13.212 Right? 00:22:13.212 --> 00:22:20.732 You know, I say that as someone who's mostly bald, but I have a beard and other hair, I'm not going to shave all of it off because then I wouldn't have to shampoo it ever. 00:22:20.732 --> 00:22:21.972 That's a dumb argument. 00:22:22.112 --> 00:22:25.872 And so, no, Christians should absolutely oppose circumcision. 00:22:25.872 --> 00:22:34.692 It is Judaizing, it is wicked, and it is worth saying, of course, that the modern version is not the ancient version. 00:22:34.692 --> 00:22:35.792 Very different practices. 00:22:35.792 --> 00:22:37.512 You can look that up and they have diagrams. 00:22:37.512 --> 00:22:43.212 I'm not going to show the diagrams on the stream, but there are significant differences. 00:22:43.212 --> 00:22:58.272 It was not the total removal of the foreskin, it was basically a cut, which is why when you see the Israelites, the second generation, after the wandering in the desert, are circumcised, and then recover quickly and go fight a battle. 00:22:58.272 --> 00:23:07.652 I think all of the men listening recognize that if someone removed your whole foreskin, you would probably not recover quickly and go fight a battle. 00:23:07.652 --> 00:23:11.252 I think you would want to take a little bit longer to heal. 00:23:11.252 --> 00:23:14.952 And so it's very clearly a different practice. 00:23:14.952 --> 00:23:16.512 The modern one is just evil. 00:23:16.992 --> 00:23:23.172 It is meant as a form of basically torture and judaizing, and it should absolutely be opposed by Christians. 00:23:26.652 --> 00:23:37.652 The fourth question is back to a topic that we all know and love, World War II, and consequences of it basically in this case. 00:23:37.652 --> 00:23:48.732 Do you believe America is doomed due to their, Americans, ongoing actions against the world, and especially Germany, specifically in World War I and World War II? 00:23:48.732 --> 00:23:51.772 Israel has America totally under their control. 00:23:51.772 --> 00:23:58.252 The demographic collapse since after World War II seems to indicate being under a curse from God. 00:23:59.652 --> 00:24:03.752 I will not disagree with regard to us being under a curse from God. 00:24:03.752 --> 00:24:07.132 I think that is very true that we are. 00:24:07.132 --> 00:24:10.512 Does that mean that we cannot repent? 00:24:10.512 --> 00:24:14.752 I don't think so, because I don't think we are so far gone that we can't repent. 00:24:14.752 --> 00:24:18.752 So the answer to are we doomed is no, I don't think that we are doomed. 00:24:21.232 --> 00:24:27.372 But some sins bring their own punishment with them, right? 00:24:27.372 --> 00:24:29.332 You go back to the Oscar Wilde example, right? 00:24:29.332 --> 00:24:32.872 Homosexuality brings some of the punishment with it. 00:24:32.872 --> 00:24:36.852 Abortion is one of the greatest sins of America, in many other nations at this point. 00:24:36.852 --> 00:24:42.032 I'm not just singling out Americans, but I'm American, so I'm answering in that context, in the context of the question. 00:24:43.672 --> 00:24:53.212 Abortion brings part of the punishment with it, because part of the punishment is that you don't have a next generation, because you have murdered them. 00:24:53.212 --> 00:25:17.532 That is one of the reasons that we are under God's curse, because we permit abortion is still rampant in this country, and I was actually drafting an article, I need to finish that one, about one of the ways in which we have just sort of normalized abortion, and very few people think about it, which is to say hormonal birth control is an abortifacient. 00:25:17.532 --> 00:25:18.992 That's another thing. 00:25:18.992 --> 00:25:33.092 So, women who have been on hormonal birth control, if they have engaged in sexual intercourse while on it, which if you're on it, you're probably sexually active, or else there's no real reason to be on it, right? 00:25:33.092 --> 00:25:37.592 I know there's the medical justification, supposedly, of regulating your cycle. 00:25:37.592 --> 00:25:41.932 That's nonsense made up by evil doctors who want to ruin your life. 00:25:41.932 --> 00:25:50.152 So, those women need to repent, and the men who have been with them need to repent, because that is a great wickedness. 00:25:50.152 --> 00:25:59.672 It is at least accepting the possibility of murder, which is very close to being morally tantamount to committing murder. 00:25:59.672 --> 00:26:05.912 So, not in the terms of the punishment and things like that, but it's certainly something of which we need to repent as a nation. 00:26:05.912 --> 00:26:08.272 And so, are we cursed with regard to that? 00:26:08.272 --> 00:26:10.352 I think absolutely yes. 00:26:10.352 --> 00:26:18.952 But, like I said, I don't believe that it is to such a degree that we cannot repent. 00:26:18.952 --> 00:26:21.972 And I want to bring up a relevant verse here. 00:26:21.972 --> 00:26:27.432 I want to switch over to a different window in Logos, so it's not taking up the whole screen here. 00:26:29.952 --> 00:26:37.032 So, the one that comes to mind for me, at least immediately, with regard to questions like this, is from Joel 2. 00:26:37.032 --> 00:26:54.672 Even now says the Lord your God, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and with weeping and with mourning, and rend your hearts and not your clothing, and return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, patient and very beneficent, and repenting concerning evils. 00:26:54.672 --> 00:27:02.372 Who knows whether he will turn and repent and leave a blessing behind him, a sacrifice and a libation for the Lord your God? 00:27:02.372 --> 00:27:18.232 Trumpet with a trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, proclaim a service, gather the people, sanctify an assembly, welcome the aged, gather the infant sucking the breast, let the bridegroom come from his bedroom, and the bride from her chamber. 00:27:18.232 --> 00:27:33.872 Between the fountain and the altar, the priests who minister to the Lord shall weep and say, spare your people, O Lord, and do not subject your inheritance to the reproach of being ruled over by nations, lest they say among the nations, where is their God? 00:27:35.812 --> 00:27:41.012 The first point I'd like to make is, do remember the Old Testament is for Christians. 00:27:41.012 --> 00:27:45.012 It's not a Jewish book, it's not for the Jews, it's for Christians. 00:27:45.012 --> 00:27:53.092 And so when you read things like this, read them as God speaking to you, speaking to your nation, telling you what he is going to do with your people. 00:27:53.872 --> 00:28:02.932 And so, I guess the great challenge here is that we don't have Christian rulers. 00:28:02.932 --> 00:28:27.452 We don't have true Christians really in any of the positions of power in our nation, which of course makes it very hard to call a national assembly and sanction a national day of fasting and repentance and prayer and mourning, which is what we should do with regard to a number of our sins as a nation, not least of all abortion and unjust wars, things like that. 00:28:29.132 --> 00:28:36.172 But we can do this with regard to the Christians who have ears to hear, right? 00:28:36.172 --> 00:28:44.852 I think that we should definitely have a period of national fasting, mourning, and repentance annually. 00:28:44.852 --> 00:29:04.972 I think that's just good practice, generally speaking, but specifically in terms of these national sins of which we have not repented as a people, the best we can do as Christians is to do this ourselves until we have rulers who can do it at a national level in an official capacity. 00:29:04.972 --> 00:29:09.592 And so there are obvious times during the year where this can be done. 00:29:09.592 --> 00:29:15.032 I think the period around All Saints, All Souls is sort of the Halloween. 00:29:15.032 --> 00:29:18.272 I think that's sort of the natural period for this. 00:29:18.272 --> 00:29:26.272 That's something that I've recommended in the past, and certainly I will sort of tune that and recommend it again this year. 00:29:26.272 --> 00:29:30.072 So I don't think we're doomed, but I don't think we're in good shape. 00:29:30.072 --> 00:29:34.732 And I think that we definitely need to repent. 00:29:34.732 --> 00:29:38.532 We need to turn back to God, and I think God is true to his word. 00:29:38.532 --> 00:29:41.952 If we do that, I believe he will still bless us. 00:29:42.632 --> 00:29:46.172 I don't think we're so far gone that we can't repent. 00:29:46.172 --> 00:29:49.432 But it doesn't mean that we should test the limits. 00:29:49.432 --> 00:29:53.132 The goal should never be to find the red line. 00:29:53.132 --> 00:29:55.212 We need to repent of our national sins. 00:29:55.212 --> 00:30:05.372 We need to turn back to God, and we certainly need to stop committing those sins and change the laws so that some of these things are no longer permitted in our lands, right? 00:30:05.372 --> 00:30:17.332 It's not enough to be a Christian and not engage in these sins because if we do absolutely nothing, to ban these things from happening in our lands. 00:30:17.332 --> 00:30:19.172 God is very clear. 00:30:19.172 --> 00:30:21.952 That kind of blood pollutes the land. 00:30:21.952 --> 00:30:29.972 Look at all of the rules for sanctification, for sacrifices, for dealing with these things in the Old Testament. 00:30:29.972 --> 00:30:36.712 Even a homicide that happens in the countryside, where the perpetrator is unknown, there's a provision for that, right? 00:30:36.712 --> 00:30:38.472 God cares deeply about these things. 00:30:39.692 --> 00:30:41.652 We should care about them as well. 00:30:41.652 --> 00:31:00.692 And again, as Christians, the best we can do in the interim, while we do not have Christian rulers, is get as many of our Christian brothers to participate in what is sort of a partial national repentance, the best that we can do under the circumstances. 00:31:05.012 --> 00:31:07.412 The fifth question is about NPCs. 00:31:09.012 --> 00:31:15.732 What is your opinion on the empty vessel theory, that there are people on the earth that are only flesh with no soul? 00:31:15.732 --> 00:31:18.732 I do not subscribe to it. 00:31:18.732 --> 00:31:24.552 And I don't like to go too far down that road because I think it leads into dangerous territory. 00:31:26.552 --> 00:31:37.032 But sort of the fundamental recognition, realization there is that there are different levels of sort of awareness for human beings, right? 00:31:37.092 --> 00:31:48.632 Which is really just recognizing the difference in spirituality, again, in the proper sense, not the novel modern sense, across people groups. 00:31:48.632 --> 00:31:50.452 And part of it's just intelligence, right? 00:31:50.452 --> 00:31:53.512 We're talking about, can a person understand a hypothetical? 00:31:53.512 --> 00:31:55.912 Can a person plan for the future? 00:31:55.912 --> 00:32:08.092 Does a person recognize that he will still be around a year from today, and that's him a year from today, and so he should not do things that will harm that person because he is that person, right? 00:32:09.952 --> 00:32:20.032 I don't think, just because you have these different levels of awareness and intelligence, and we could pick on all sorts of other attributes, right? 00:32:20.032 --> 00:32:33.512 Recognition of beauty, recognition of the good and the true, recognition of God's hand in creation, all of these things relate to man and also with regard to the Imago Dei. 00:32:33.512 --> 00:32:46.712 And there was a thread that I did with a hostile pastor at one point on X talking about the Imago Dei and its presence and the way in which it is present across people groups, right? 00:32:46.712 --> 00:32:50.992 Because the classical understanding of the Imago Dei is twofold. 00:32:50.992 --> 00:32:52.692 There are two senses. 00:32:52.712 --> 00:32:56.072 One is you're a human being, you're made in the image of God, period. 00:32:56.932 --> 00:33:10.572 The other, and this is all through the church fathers and theologians and others, is that you are in the image of God with regard to the attributes that God gave us that sets us apart from the rest of creation. 00:33:10.572 --> 00:33:23.472 So part of that, of course, is going to be original righteousness, which is lost in the fall and then restored juridically in baptism and then actually in the general resurrection. 00:33:24.692 --> 00:33:28.692 But there are also other aspects and attributes I mentioned as well. 00:33:28.692 --> 00:33:48.152 Intelligence, recognition of the beautiful, recognition of the good, recognition of the true, recognition of God's control and God's goodness with regard to his creation and his organization of things, trusting in God, believing that God will work all things out for the good, having hope with regard to God. 00:33:48.152 --> 00:33:50.332 All of these different things are also part of that. 00:33:50.952 --> 00:33:56.592 And, yes, they vary across not just individual men but across groups of men. 00:33:56.592 --> 00:34:03.432 But I don't think it rises to the level where we can say that any particular person doesn't have a soul. 00:34:03.432 --> 00:34:07.352 I just don't think that we can go that far. 00:34:07.352 --> 00:34:10.992 This isn't good news for many men, right? 00:34:10.992 --> 00:34:21.632 Because if you think about the people groups that have, say, an IQ of 55 and completely reject Christ, is it good they have a soul in their case? 00:34:21.632 --> 00:34:23.272 For them, that's terrible news, right? 00:34:23.272 --> 00:34:26.292 You can think of what Christ says about Judas. 00:34:26.292 --> 00:34:29.552 It would be better for that one if he had not been born. 00:34:29.552 --> 00:34:37.772 So I think the empty vessel or the NPC theory would be good news if it were true for many who are now on the earth. 00:34:37.772 --> 00:34:39.452 But I don't find it compelling in that way. 00:34:39.452 --> 00:34:40.232 I don't think it's true. 00:34:44.492 --> 00:34:47.212 The sixth question. 00:34:47.212 --> 00:34:49.112 I am considering joining the US. 00:34:49.112 --> 00:34:50.252 Navy after college. 00:34:50.252 --> 00:34:54.492 I love my nation, and I believe it would be a great way to set up my life. 00:34:54.492 --> 00:34:59.612 Would it be wrong for me to join the military knowing that I may be serving those who hate Christ? 00:35:00.792 --> 00:35:08.112 This question came in before the Iran War, so I think maybe there may be some slight differences in how this individual views things now. 00:35:08.512 --> 00:35:11.172 Maybe not, I don't know. 00:35:11.172 --> 00:35:13.692 Is it per se sin to join the military? 00:35:13.692 --> 00:35:14.952 No. 00:35:14.952 --> 00:35:18.612 Is it a matter of wisdom to join the military? 00:35:18.612 --> 00:35:19.432 Yes. 00:35:19.432 --> 00:35:23.312 At the current time, is it wise? 00:35:23.312 --> 00:35:34.552 I would have to say probably not, because your odds of being sent into a foreign theater to fight on behalf of the Jews are certainly non-zero. 00:35:34.552 --> 00:35:39.492 That's been the case for decades, of course, but they're pretty high right now. 00:35:39.492 --> 00:35:44.832 They're discussing landing ground troops in Iran, which would be a disaster. 00:35:44.832 --> 00:36:02.992 But if you can join the military in a capacity that does not see you being landed in a foreign country, armed to fight foreign peoples, that's probably the way to go. 00:36:02.992 --> 00:36:05.212 I don't think it's bad to have our guys in the military. 00:36:05.792 --> 00:36:11.412 And it's even good to have our guys as special forces and things like that, and just rank and file soldiers. 00:36:11.412 --> 00:36:21.252 But I can't, in good conscience, recommend that any of our guys join these days, because the odds of dying for the Jews are too high. 00:36:21.252 --> 00:36:25.892 And that's a loss of one of our guys. 00:36:25.892 --> 00:36:27.432 That's a bad thing. 00:36:27.432 --> 00:36:33.212 And it's a loss in pursuit of interests that are contrary to our own. 00:36:34.492 --> 00:36:38.412 So, it's going to depend on what you're going to do, right? 00:36:38.412 --> 00:36:47.312 If you're going to go into the Navy and be an IT guy in the Navy, okay, fine, that's a fundamentally different thing from being a Navy SEAL, right? 00:36:47.312 --> 00:36:52.272 Your risk profile is very different between those two career paths. 00:36:52.272 --> 00:36:55.592 So, it's a matter of wisdom. 00:36:55.592 --> 00:37:09.412 If you feel so personally compelled by it, say you come from a family that has been Navy for, you know, eight generations, nine generations, whatever it happens to be, then certainly I understand. 00:37:10.632 --> 00:37:12.072 Apply your wisdom. 00:37:12.072 --> 00:37:24.732 Don't put yourself in a position where you are likely to have your military career and what is required of you at odds with your Christian faith. 00:37:26.732 --> 00:37:30.312 So, like I said, it's a matter of wisdom and a matter of conscience. 00:37:30.892 --> 00:37:35.892 I personally would not, but that doesn't mean that no one should. 00:37:35.892 --> 00:37:37.572 It doesn't mean it's sin to do it. 00:37:37.572 --> 00:37:41.112 It's not sin, but it may be unwise. 00:37:42.232 --> 00:37:51.412 So, if there aren't compelling reasons, I wouldn't join up where there is a high likelihood of being sent into combat at this point. 00:37:51.412 --> 00:37:53.952 That's sort of the baseline recommendation. 00:37:53.952 --> 00:37:57.652 From there, you apply the wisdom God gave you and your conscience. 00:37:57.652 --> 00:37:59.912 Make sure you do not violate your conscience. 00:38:00.032 --> 00:38:01.992 God gave it to you for a reason. 00:38:04.392 --> 00:38:07.992 The next question, the seventh question. 00:38:07.992 --> 00:38:11.052 I know genocide is biblical. 00:38:11.052 --> 00:38:17.072 What about eugenics, the kind that involve involuntary neutering? 00:38:17.072 --> 00:38:23.092 I've actually commented on this one in an archival episode of this show. 00:38:23.092 --> 00:38:28.552 The audio quality is not particularly great, because I happened to have a relatively bad cold at the time. 00:38:28.552 --> 00:38:33.832 And my sinuses were completely clogged, so I do not sound very good in that episode. 00:38:33.832 --> 00:38:38.752 I've been tempted to re-record it just for the sake of sound quality, but it's there. 00:38:38.752 --> 00:38:43.812 And I've also commented on it a number of times on X and elsewhere. 00:38:43.812 --> 00:38:45.652 I've written about it a little bit. 00:38:45.652 --> 00:38:47.952 Eugenics is permissible. 00:38:47.952 --> 00:38:54.972 The distinction, though, before anyone gets out the pitchforks and gets really angry at me, they'll do that anyway. 00:38:54.972 --> 00:39:02.072 There's active eugenics, and there's passive eugenics is the way that I like to divide them up. 00:39:02.072 --> 00:39:04.172 Active eugenics is euthanasia. 00:39:04.172 --> 00:39:06.132 That's morally impermissible. 00:39:06.132 --> 00:39:10.152 You are not allowed to just kill people because they're inconvenient. 00:39:10.152 --> 00:39:18.732 They have to have done something that rises to the level where it is morally warranted to exercise the death penalty. 00:39:18.732 --> 00:39:21.052 Sterilization is a fundamentally different thing. 00:39:21.052 --> 00:39:25.692 I do not think the Supreme Court was wrong when they said that three generations of... 00:39:25.932 --> 00:39:28.752 I can't remember if they said idiots or retards is enough. 00:39:28.752 --> 00:39:30.752 That was the Supreme Court opinion. 00:39:30.752 --> 00:39:31.872 I don't think that's wrong. 00:39:31.872 --> 00:39:35.092 I think that is morally permissible to do. 00:39:36.252 --> 00:39:58.692 That comes along with the fact that those who are members of our society, those who are born into our society, our own people, regardless of their condition, so even if we have someone who was born horribly disfigured, mentally impaired, just the worst absolute lot in life, we are responsible to care for that person. 00:39:58.692 --> 00:40:02.432 So that's part of the reason that we have to undertake these sorts of things, right? 00:40:02.432 --> 00:40:07.792 If you wind up with an entire society of people like that, you can't care for yourself anymore. 00:40:07.792 --> 00:40:11.332 You wind up like the worst parts of India or Africa. 00:40:11.332 --> 00:40:12.392 We want to avoid that. 00:40:13.072 --> 00:40:15.052 Eugenics is part of that. 00:40:15.052 --> 00:40:24.852 And one of the warrants, the lines of argument I've used for this, is that God makes man steward of creation. 00:40:24.852 --> 00:40:30.692 And so, God doesn't say you're the steward of this part of creation. 00:40:30.692 --> 00:40:34.712 He doesn't say you're the steward of all of, except this part. 00:40:34.712 --> 00:40:40.252 No, he says that we're the stewards of creation, and we're part of creation. 00:40:40.252 --> 00:40:41.392 Man is part of creation. 00:40:42.152 --> 00:40:49.252 Part of stewarding any population is attempting to ensure the population has sound genetics. 00:40:49.252 --> 00:40:56.072 Anyone who is a farmer or a dog breeder, whatever it happens to be, recognizes this truth. 00:40:56.072 --> 00:41:01.932 We like to try to draw this artificial distinction when we come to human beings, but we're mammals. 00:41:01.932 --> 00:41:03.452 The same as our dogs. 00:41:03.452 --> 00:41:05.112 The same as our cats. 00:41:06.332 --> 00:41:10.472 We are not exempt from the harsh reality of biology. 00:41:11.532 --> 00:41:18.552 And if we do not pursue these sorts of policies, the odds are that things will turn out horribly, right? 00:41:18.552 --> 00:41:25.932 And another part of this that I point out for those who will object to some of the things I've said, we already practice eugenics. 00:41:25.932 --> 00:41:30.612 In fact, we practice it pretty pervasively. 00:41:30.612 --> 00:41:33.032 We've done it more in the past than today. 00:41:33.032 --> 00:41:37.652 But one example, you're not legally allowed to marry your sister. 00:41:37.652 --> 00:41:38.912 That's a eugenic policy. 00:41:40.332 --> 00:41:41.252 No one objects to that. 00:41:41.252 --> 00:41:43.412 No sane person objects to that. 00:41:43.412 --> 00:41:50.112 Most places, you are not morally or legally allowed to marry your first cousin. 00:41:50.112 --> 00:41:52.812 That's a eugenic policy. 00:41:52.812 --> 00:42:00.192 In some places, you are not morally, you are not legally allowed to marry if you have certain conditions. 00:42:00.192 --> 00:42:04.892 All of these are eugenic policies that we already pursue. 00:42:04.892 --> 00:42:09.212 Sterilizing certain individuals is just part of that. 00:42:09.212 --> 00:42:12.472 It's on the passive side, because you are not euthanizing someone. 00:42:12.472 --> 00:42:19.052 You are just ensuring that you do not pass on these problems to future generations and say, you deal with it. 00:42:19.052 --> 00:42:20.452 Don't kick the can down the road. 00:42:20.452 --> 00:42:22.492 That's morally impermissible. 00:42:22.492 --> 00:42:27.552