Episode Transcript
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Music.
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To the official podcast of the Love Times Two Project. Change the culture and
the politics will follow.
Hey, welcome back to the podcast. Thanks for tuning in today.
I'm hoping that what you're going to hear in this episode will pique your interest
in some really good books that connect directly with the mission of protecting moms and babies.
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And some, if not all of these books, I will guarantee you, you've probably never
heard of unless you've been around for a really long time.
And even then, some of these you've probably never heard of.
But before we dive into the list of the five books that I'm going to share with
you, I'd like to ask you to prayerfully consider becoming a monthly partner
of the Love Times 2 Project.
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There's never been a time like now to dive in and support the critical mission
that we are working to advance.
We really are one of the few organizations that are standing out,
calling on making the upstream the priority, The upstream being changing hearts and minds.
We're calling on the upstream to be the priority.
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And we have to do that. If we hope to show compassion for pregnant mothers and
build support for unborn babies, we have to change hearts and minds.
And we're not just promoting this type of heart change in a generic way,
but we're making crystal clear that this entire effort must be Christ-centered.
It must be a Christ-centered changing of hearts and minds. You don't need me
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to tell you that the culture is unwinding all around us.
I'm not trying to be negative. I'm just being realistic.
And actually, by looking at things realistically, we can be positive because
of the hope that we have in Jesus.
We need to take our bearings. We need to see the lay of the land,
and we need to take appropriate action.
And the action of the Love Times 2 project is to focus on loving every mom and
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every baby, no matter what.
Love for mom, love for babies. That's exactly what Love Times 2 is all about. out.
So we need you to partner with us in making this happen. Now it's really easy.
You just go to lovetimes2.org slash give and follow the prompts.
If you can become a monthly supporter, it will be deeply appreciated.
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Okay, so here we go. Five pro-life books that are well worth your time to dive into.
Some or all of these books may be completely new to you and it would be really
easy to go to current books, even go to New York Times bestsellers,
and point you in that direction.
But I'm telling you, there's so much good material that is out there.
I do think it's worth your time to read these books because I know it was worth
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my time to read them. So these are not just recommendations coming out of left field.
And spoiler alert, none of these five books are one of the five books that I've written.
So there's no sales pitch, absolutely no sales pitch involved,
to which some might say, hallelujah.
But none of my books are in this list, I promise you. Now, I've purposefully
decided not to list these books in priority order.
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So it's not like number one's the best and number five is not so good,
because it's all good stuff.
And I'm not trying to rank any of these above the others. So just take this
list in the random order that I prepared it, maybe jot it down on a note,
and you can probably find all of these books for less than five bucks,
including free shipping on a used book resale site online.
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I like abooksmyself, A-B-E, books.com.
I find a lot of this stuff and a lot of used books there. There are a lot of
other resellers that are out there.
So you can probably find every one of these books for less than five bucks.
I know for a fact that you can find three of the five for under five bucks and
probably all of them. I just didn't spend enough time looking for all five of them.
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So what are these five books you're asking?
Well, first up is the book titled
Embryo by Robert George and Christopher Tullifson, published in 2008.
This book may actually be more important today than it was when it first rolled off the presses.
And that's because so much of the abortion debate has shifted to the embryo.
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The abortion debate in one form or the other has always been about the embryo,
but it's shifted specifically to the embryo. And we need to understand why.
The most powerful argument against abortion has always been late-term abortions.
And it still is because most people understand the undeniable truth that a late-term
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baby looks like a baby like we all think of.
But one of the counters to late-term abortions from abortion supporters is to
steer the discussion back to the embryo, back to the very early stages of our lives,
when human life may not look like what most people think of when they think
of, quote, baby. So out of sight, out of mind.
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So that's exactly why right now you're hearing more about IVF and IUDs and embryos,
with the very term embryo sounding sort of less than human.
So the debate has shifted largely into that direction. And yet,
human embryos are human, and we need to grasp the moral significance of that
reality. Enter the book.
Embryo. Now this one statement in the introduction does a great job of really
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stating where the book is going to take you. Here's a quote.
A human embryo is a whole living member of the species Homo sapiens in the earliest
stages of his or her development.
Unless severely damaged or denied or deprived of a suitable environment,
a human being in the embryonic stage will, by directing its own internal organic
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functioning, develop himself or herself to the next more mature development
stage, that is, the fetal stage.
Now, from that point at opening, the authors take you to facts about embryology,
moral philosophy, the challenges of new technologies involving embryos, and a lot more.
So this isn't the simplest of reads, and you'll need to put your thinking cap
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on, as the old saying goes, and maybe drink some extra coffee.
But Embryo hits exactly in the bullseye of where the cultural debate on abortion
is at right now here in 2024.
So Embryo, very important book for you to read and get your head around all
of these specific topics dealing with the embryo.
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Now, next up is the classic Whatever Happened to the Human Race by Francis Schaeffer and C.
Everett Koop, who happened to be a former Surgeon General of the United States.
This book was published in 1983.
It was an enormously significant book for me personally, in that it really ignited
deeper thought on the value of every human life.
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This was really significant as well, in that Schaeffer rightly understood that
for the first decade of legalized abortion in the United States.
First decade after Roe versus Wade in 1973, much of the evangelical community
in the United States had stayed relatively quiet when it came to abortion.
Now, Schaefer did not single-handedly change that, but I can tell you that this
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book was a milestone in bringing evangelicals into action and speaking out for
protection of unborn children.
This book also appeared shortly after the Baby Doe case was happening in Bloomington, Indiana.
Now, if you've never heard about
the Baby Doe case, all you have to do is Google Baby Doe Bloomington.
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That's all you need, because it was such a prominent event in those days that
just those three words, Baby Doe Bloomington, will immediately bring up results
with the background of what happened in Bloomington, Indiana in 1982.
And this book followed that. I love the synopsis of this book on Crossway.
It says this, they see the present as a crucial turning point.
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Choices are being made that undermine human rights at their most basic level.
Practices once labeled unthinkable are now considered acceptable.
The destruction of human life, young and old, is being sanctioned on an ever-increasing
scale by the medical profession, by the courts, by the parents, and by silent citizens.
But what can I do, you ask? I'm just one person. You can start by reading this book.
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Yes, it will shock you and it will make you weep. It will also help you see
how you can actually make a difference.
Whatever Happened to the Human Race, Francis Schaeffer and published in 1983.
Another book coming out in 83. This was actually another one of the first pro-life
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books that I ever read after hearing it recommended by a pastor delivering a
sermon on Sanctity of Human Life Sunday.
Now, this is the perfect book for all of you fans of logical thinking.
Here's the Amazon description of this book. The setting is this.
What would happen if Socrates suddenly appeared in modern Athens?
Peter Kreeft imagines the dialogue that might ensue with three worthy opponents,
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a doctor, a philosopher, and a psychologist, about the arguments surrounding abortion.
Kreeft uses Socratic technique to strip away the emotional issues and get to
the heart of the rational objections to abortion.
Logic joins humor as Socrates challenges the standard rhetoric and passion of
the contemporary debate.
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What is the Socratic method, you might ask? The Socratic method is a form of
argumentative dialogue between individuals, and it's based on asking and answering
questions. So it's a back and forth.
The American Bar Association describes it as a method that forces law students
to really analyze the issues in a case and at times defend a position they may
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not personally believe is right, but in legal training, it's still very helpful for them.
The ability to spot and argue both sides of an issue is a skill that can only
be mastered with practice.
Okay, now full disclosure here. I'm not the sharpest thinker when it comes to
things like the Socratic method. There are times.
Following the thread of questions and answers in this book can become tedious
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if you are easily distracted.
Trust me. But The Unaborted Socrates, it really is a classic that is well worth
a read if you want to strengthen your ability to defend human life.
Okay, book number four is absolutely one that I'm willing to bet you've never heard of.
It's called Modern Fascism by Jean Edward Edward Vieth, and it was published in 1993.
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Now, I still remember how a copy of this book came my way.
A pastor stopped by my office one day, and he told me he had just read this
book, and it had a powerful impact on him. And he asked if I'd like a copy of it, and I said, sure.
Honestly, at the time, I wasn't 100% convinced that it was going to be a great
read, but are you going to say no to a pastor?
Well, I'm not. So he handed me this copy. I still have it to this day.
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It's a very powerful read. It's on my bookshelf. Throughout Modern Fascism,
the author uncovers the core philosophies of fascism and makes the strong case, a really strong case,
that although we sometimes think fascism is something of the past,
when you read this book, you're going to see that the core beliefs of fascism
are alive and well in much of our world today.
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And of particular significance to this discussion that we're having is chapter
six that's titled Life Unworthy of Life fascist ethics.
Let me read just a small quote. It says this, the author wrote this,
The rejection of the Judeo-Christian ethic of transcendent moral absolutes means
that concepts such as justice and mercy no longer have a conceptual foundation.
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The apotheosis of the will meant that the Judeo-Christian ethic of compassion
would be replaced by a new ethic based on the values of strength and power.
And then the chapter continues later and says, existential ethics is centered
not upon moral absolutes, but on the individual's moral choice.
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Hey, does that sound familiar? That really nails the foundation of human abortion in our world today.
And this heavily footnoted book is less than 200 pages, but I can promise you,
it really is a gripping read that might surprise you and how deeply fascist
beliefs are connected to what we see in our newsfeed every single day.
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Hey, the last on this quick list of five is a book that is more of a handbook
than anything, and it's called Abortion Questions and Answers,
by Dr. Jack and Barbara Wilkie. Now, this was truly the gold standard resource
book on abortion well before anyone had even heard of the internet.
This was the follow-up to another book that was called Handbook on Abortion
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that the Wilkies published in 1972.
That's right, all the way back in 72.
Abortion Questions and Answers book really was the go-to source on topics like
how abortions are done, how abortion injures women, how abortion came to be legally.
So it was really, if you're doing research, writing a paper,
prepping for a debate during this time before the internet.
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This was the actual book, and I don't know how many copies of this book were eventually sold.
It's got to be in the millions, just guessing. It was everywhere.
Everyone used that book, it seemed like. Now, what's really remarkable to me,
this book was also first published in 1984.
And how interesting is that? So many things were happening in the early 80s.
This is book number three on this list of books that were published in the early
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80s. Like, Maybe a Movement of God was happening in the early 80s.
It's also fascinating to me that the book was revised several times just to
give refreshed data and so forth with it.
With the last revision bearing a subtitle that really became Dr.
Wilkie's calling card, and that is Love Them Both.
In his latter days of ministry, he understood something that rings just as true
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today as it did 40 years ago,
and that is this, the most persuasive case for moving the conflicted middle
towards greater respect for moms and babies, including unborn babies,
is found in the simplicity of three words, love them both.
Or you might say, loving every mom and every baby, no matter what.
Anger and division doesn't move people towards greater respect for life.
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Love does. And it's just fascinating to me that 40 years ago,
in the last revision of this book, Love Them Both
was the theme that he placed on the cover of this. Hey, there you go.
Five books, well worth the investment of your time and just a few dollars if
you can find them online at a used bookseller.
And I'm willing to guarantee that you will be able to find these things for under five bucks.
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So well worth your time, not going to cost you a lot of money.
Hey, that's it for this episode of the podcast.
If you have some other books that you think should be on a top reads list,
I'd love to hear from you. I'd love to suggest other books in future episodes of the podcast.
So just send an email to podcast at lovetimes2.org. And coming up soon,
we're going to talk about five films that are well worth your time to watch.
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But for now, please give us a great rating on the platform you're listening
to and consider becoming a monthly partner of the Love Times 2 Project by visiting
love, the letter X, the number two, .org slash give.
Hey, never forget, change the culture and the politics will follow.
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And never forget, change the culture and the politics will follow.
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Music.