Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - February 26, 2026


Ep 1309 ｜ Is Alysa Liu a Designer Baby？


Episode Stats

Length

56 minutes

Words per Minute

172.30695

Word Count

9,713

Sentence Count

688

Misogynist Sentences

28

Hate Speech Sentences

21


Summary


Transcript

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00:00:30.800 Alyssa Liu is an incredible Olympic figure skating champion.
00:00:34.960 But there's something interesting about her origin story, which includes surrogacy.
00:00:39.580 There are some details here that Christians really need to understand and learn something from.
00:00:44.360 Also, a discussion about healthy patriotism.
00:00:46.820 What does it look like to be proud of your country in a way that is actually Christ-like?
00:00:51.840 We'll be exploring all of this and much more on today's episode of Relatable.
00:00:55.340 It's brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers.
00:00:56.820 Go to GoodRanchers.com.
00:00:58.200 Use code ALIA at checkout.
00:00:59.120 That's GoodRanchers.com.
00:01:00.460 Code ALIA.
00:01:10.320 Hey, guys.
00:01:11.040 Welcome to Relatable.
00:01:12.160 Happy Wednesday.
00:01:13.460 Hope everyone has had a wonderful week so far.
00:01:15.560 We've got so much to get into today.
00:01:17.420 Did you see the State of the Union?
00:01:19.580 Well, if you want to know what I thought about it and you want to know my coverage and other Blaze host coverage, then you need to go watch that on Blaze TV.
00:01:29.820 You can look on my Instagram.
00:01:30.760 You can look on my ex.
00:01:32.260 I had all kinds of things to say about it, but we don't have time for that today.
00:01:36.220 We've got other things to get to before I get into all of that.
00:01:40.220 Like this video.
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00:01:50.860 Make sure you're subscribed on all of these platforms.
00:01:53.400 It really helps us a lot.
00:01:55.340 Leave us a five-star review wherever you listen and make sure that your friends are listening to Relatable so they can be in the know and so that they don't fall prey to the propaganda that is targeting Christian women on a daily basis.
00:02:10.300 And we even have a conference making sure that women are fully equipped with theology, biblical truth.
00:02:16.920 It's actually not a political conference.
00:02:18.760 You'll hear some cultural issues brought up, certainly, because the Bible covers those topics.
00:02:24.900 But this is really a theologically equipping conference for women who want to be clear, who want to be confident, who want to be courageous by the power of the Holy Spirit and because of the truth of God's Word.
00:02:35.680 This is a completely unfiltered, no-fluff, gospel-centered Christian women's conference.
00:02:40.480 It's called Share the Arrows, and the theme is always courage and clarity.
00:02:44.060 It's incredible.
00:02:44.700 We had 7,000 women in Dallas, Texas last year.
00:02:48.140 Just an amazing day.
00:02:50.240 And by the grace of God, it will be another amazing Holy Spirit-filled year this year.
00:02:55.700 It's in Dallas, Texas, October 10th.
00:02:58.300 Make sure you go to sharethearrows.com.
00:03:01.460 We will be dropping our speaker lineup soon.
00:03:04.560 Sharethearrows.com for your tickets today.
00:03:07.400 All right, let's get into the United States of America at the Olympics.
00:03:12.680 So I know that most of you have probably been plugged into everything that's going on.
00:03:17.160 I'm not going to do a whole recap of all of the gold medals that we won, although it was a lot, and how the U.S. dominated.
00:03:23.800 We'll get into that a little bit when we talk about hockey.
00:03:26.580 But I want to dig a little bit deeper and look at some of these athletes and some of the lessons that we can learn from their lives, from their origin stories, and even their representation of America on the world stage.
00:03:39.760 We'll be talking a little bit about patriotism, how we should think of that from a Christian perspective.
00:03:43.980 But I wanted to highlight one particular athlete that I absolutely loved watching and dig into her origin story and talk about why it is relevant that this figure skater, Alyssa Liu, who is incredible, an absolute champion, such a joy to watch, that she was born via surrogate.
00:04:04.400 And she and all of her siblings were born via IVF.
00:04:08.420 They were gestated with a surrogate, and they were raised by a single father.
00:04:14.800 And I think all of that, it highlights something that we really need to look at.
00:04:20.100 Now, before I get into all of that, I know that a lot of you are probably thinking, why does it matter?
00:04:24.980 Can't we just celebrate her?
00:04:26.220 And we should celebrate her.
00:04:27.160 I want to talk about the amazing things she accomplished at the Olympics, but we talk about surrogacy and IVF a lot and the ethics of kind of designing children and picking out mothers and gestators from catalogs and the commercialization of children that really can't be glossed over.
00:04:46.140 And I just want to take every opportunity for Christian women to be able to look at this issue in the face and kind of grapple with this difficulty of seeing this person made in the image of God, who is obviously incredible, but also realizing that the ethics of surrogacy and IVF, they give us pause as Christians.
00:05:04.320 And we have to be able to hold those two things at the same time.
00:05:07.340 So, okay, first, let's look at this iconic picture.
00:05:10.000 This is full screen four of Alyssa Liu.
00:05:12.220 In case you have been living under a rock and you don't know who she is, look how adorable that is.
00:05:16.800 This is after she won gold jumping up into the air, which is that even that move alone is more than I could do without breaking my neck.
00:05:24.460 How do you jump into the air on ice skates?
00:05:27.800 I don't know.
00:05:28.420 That's my perpetual question.
00:05:30.020 And then we'll show this video.
00:05:31.320 It doesn't have any sound of her performing.
00:05:33.640 She's such a different kind of performer.
00:05:36.740 I mean, the way that she moves, the way that she dances, a lot of people just talk about the joy, joy, joy.
00:05:43.440 And there is a lot of joy, obviously, that's emanating from her when she's dancing, but it's just fun.
00:05:49.740 And it's a little sassy and it's very youthful without losing the elegance.
00:05:56.100 It's also extremely athletic, the way that she moves.
00:05:59.120 And I think that she, not that my opinion when it comes to figure skating really counts because I have zero expertise in this area, but I, of course, believe that she completely deserved that gold medal.
00:06:11.180 And I'm just so thankful for that.
00:06:12.860 I'm thankful for these incredible athletes representing the country that I love on the world stage.
00:06:17.840 So let's talk a little bit about the goods and the questionable about how Alyssa was raised, who her father was, and how she became this amazing athlete that she is.
00:06:30.700 So we'll talk about Arthur Liu and him fleeing from China as a political refugee, but then also why and how he chose to procure so many children via surrogacy and why that matters.
00:06:44.520 But let me go ahead and pause first, tell you about our first sponsor for the day.
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00:07:17.640 You'll see if you're watching this on YouTube, just how adorable that is with the He is Risen sunrise.
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00:08:02.200 Okay, let's talk about Arthur Liu because he's been in the media a lot.
00:08:05.600 This is Alyssa's father.
00:08:06.940 He fled China as a political refugee.
00:08:10.240 He settled in the California Bay Area.
00:08:12.780 He attended law school there.
00:08:14.340 And that is also where he started a family.
00:08:17.320 Now, he is the only biological parent that Alyssa knows because Alyssa was born by surrogacy.
00:08:24.960 He used IVF with anonymous egg donors.
00:08:27.960 This has all been reported publicly.
00:08:29.700 And surrogates to have Alyssa and her four younger siblings.
00:08:32.980 And let me just pause just for a second and explain this to those of you who don't know
00:08:37.500 what is going on here.
00:08:39.060 So when you purchase a child, and that really is the most accurate way to say that, purchase
00:08:45.280 a child via surrogacy.
00:08:47.640 What you are typically doing, especially if you are a man who is not using the eggs of
00:08:53.900 his wife, you are purchasing the eggs of one woman.
00:08:57.980 And then you are renting the womb of another woman.
00:09:01.180 And these were reportedly strangers.
00:09:03.600 That's typically how it is.
00:09:05.300 It's actually encouraged that you don't have a kind of pre-existing personal relationship
00:09:09.840 many times with these egg donors and these surrogates because it gets very emotionally
00:09:14.500 messy.
00:09:15.420 You don't really want the so-called egg donor.
00:09:17.740 It's really an egg seller to feel any claim over her biological child.
00:09:22.400 And you don't want the surrogate, if you are the IP, which is the intended parent, what
00:09:28.120 Mr. Liu was, you don't want the surrogate to be able to act upon the physiological and
00:09:35.300 emotional, physical bond that she has created with this child that she's been helping grow
00:09:40.440 for nine months.
00:09:41.380 So that is why you separate the two women.
00:09:44.000 They're not supposed to be the same woman.
00:09:45.420 And that is very often why this is done contractually, like a business deal.
00:09:50.160 Why this is done with two strangers.
00:09:52.820 Now, unfortunately, who is not considered in these purchases, in these transactions, are
00:09:59.000 the children.
00:09:59.800 What is considered is the desire of the adult.
00:10:03.340 I want to be a father.
00:10:04.820 I want to be a mother.
00:10:06.440 Sometimes there are fertility issues going on there that doesn't justify it.
00:10:10.580 But sometimes, as it seems in this case, like he just wanted to become a dad, which is a
00:10:16.140 great desire.
00:10:16.840 But we as Christians don't believe that any means necessary are justified in satisfying
00:10:23.780 even a good desire.
00:10:25.760 The science that is required to make a child indicates the two people that are required
00:10:35.020 to raise a child.
00:10:36.560 So the two people needed to make a child are also needed to raise a child.
00:10:41.240 And when we intentionally create children to rob them of a mother or a father, we are stealing
00:10:49.180 from them something that is necessary for their healthy development.
00:10:54.160 And it's wrong.
00:10:55.180 That's different than adoption.
00:10:57.080 An adopted child was not purposely created to take them away from their biological mother.
00:11:04.540 That is the next best option in a broken situation.
00:11:08.720 Adoption redeems a broken situation.
00:11:11.200 Surrogacy creates that broken situation.
00:11:14.140 Sperm selling creates the broken situation.
00:11:16.840 Egg selling creates the broken situation.
00:11:19.200 And in this case, you have commodified two women.
00:11:23.960 And then you have also created a transaction over a child.
00:11:28.740 So you've also commercialized to that child.
00:11:30.680 So in every single case, no matter what the reason is, surrogacy, egg and sperm selling
00:11:37.540 are wrong.
00:11:38.940 And then there's also something interesting about how Arthur chose the women who were going
00:11:44.420 to be the egg sellers for all of his children.
00:11:46.380 So he specifically chose white women as these egg sellers.
00:11:50.620 I don't say egg donors because these women are making money from selling their eggs for all
00:11:54.820 of his children, believing that it would give them, quote, a diverse gene pool and reflect
00:12:00.480 his own blend of Chinese and American cultures.
00:12:03.520 Like that should just kind of make your skin crawl a little bit, that you're creating these
00:12:07.740 designer babies as if out of a catalog.
00:12:10.080 I mean, that's really objectifying these little people.
00:12:12.960 When the kids were young, Arthur was married to a Chinese woman.
00:12:18.520 And this is now his ex-wife, but also she remains their legal guardian and the person the children
00:12:26.380 call mom.
00:12:28.440 Around the age of eight, Alyssa realized she looked different from her dad and his ex-wife.
00:12:33.460 So I will just stop there and say that there is some conflicting wording and reporting around
00:12:38.520 this.
00:12:38.940 On the one hand, it seems like, yes, she is the legal guardian, but she's not interviewed.
00:12:44.080 She is not visible.
00:12:45.160 Um, and also she's referred to as his ex-wife and not as their mother.
00:12:51.160 So there's something strange going on there, which again, makes sense.
00:12:54.300 There's a lot of brokenness here.
00:12:56.900 Arthur has said he doesn't know the identities of, um, the, uh, the egg donors or the egg sellers.
00:13:03.760 There are no records available to reveal them, which just, again, points to something that
00:13:08.960 we need to understand when it comes to egg selling is that we are purposely cutting children
00:13:13.620 off from half of their, um, half of their biological reality.
00:13:20.480 And you don't get to know the fullness of your medical history.
00:13:23.960 You don't get to know the fullness of your ethnicity.
00:13:26.300 You don't get to know the fullness of your origin or your family's origin.
00:13:30.900 And I think it's just an innate longing in all of us to know whom we are and from where
00:13:37.680 we come.
00:13:38.380 Um, and we are robbing kids of that when we purposely make them for whatever designer purposes
00:13:43.940 we want.
00:13:45.460 Um, if we look at how she was raised at 16, Alyssa performed in the 2022 Beijing Winter
00:13:51.640 Olympics, where she finished in sixth.
00:13:53.600 This is according to People magazine.
00:13:55.540 He saw her talent when she was at a young age and then wanted her to shine.
00:14:00.480 And so she really probably didn't have, as a lot of these Olympians didn't really have
00:14:04.060 like a typical childhood, she worked really, really hard her entire life to get to where
00:14:08.880 she is today.
00:14:09.780 And he even talks about how much he dedicated into her athleticism and excelling at figure
00:14:15.940 skating on 60 Minutes.
00:14:17.260 Here's someone.
00:14:18.380 A single dad, he had five kids with the help of surrogates.
00:14:22.580 Alyssa was his oldest child and her figure skating career became his second full-time job.
00:14:29.100 I took her everywhere.
00:14:31.080 I took her to Japan to learn from the top coaches there.
00:14:35.160 I took her to Canada.
00:14:36.980 How much do you think you spent to help her become the figure skater that she is?
00:14:42.360 I would say half a million to a million dollars.
00:14:47.200 And that could probably be said by a lot of these Olympic parents.
00:14:52.180 They invest a lot of time and energy and money and to their kids.
00:14:55.840 And I'm not condemning him for that.
00:15:00.080 I do think that the background there and her origin story is interesting.
00:15:05.800 And it's just another opportunity for us to be reminded that, yes, while everyone, no
00:15:13.300 matter the circumstances surrounding their conception or surrounding their gestation or
00:15:19.400 birth or birth, are made in God's image, we are glad Alyssa is here.
00:15:23.280 We are glad her siblings are here.
00:15:25.160 It looks like they had a decent upbringing.
00:15:28.020 I hope so.
00:15:29.140 I think that's a good thing.
00:15:30.840 And we can all celebrate her completely unapologetically while also saying, hey, we have compassion for
00:15:40.680 her to be robbed of her biological mom, just as we do all kids.
00:15:45.500 We have to be able to hold those two things.
00:15:47.800 Because if we don't, like if we get trapped in the emotional argument surrounding IVF, that
00:15:53.060 are you saying you don't want all these people to be here or surrounding surrogacy?
00:15:57.220 Are you saying that this person who had cancer shouldn't have the right to have a child?
00:16:01.400 Well, the truth is, is that none of us has a right to have a child.
00:16:04.980 Children are people.
00:16:06.960 They're image bearers of God.
00:16:08.680 They're not something that we are entitled to be able to create by any means necessary.
00:16:14.160 We are glad that they are here.
00:16:16.220 We honor them as dignified image bearers while still pointing out that there are some serious
00:16:21.520 issues with surrogacy specifically when it comes to these particular circumstances, but
00:16:28.620 also as a whole with the industry that it has created, which is basically indistinguishable
00:16:34.980 from worldwide trafficking.
00:16:37.020 And this is especially an issue with China, who has used surrogacy to create these dual
00:16:43.640 citizens who are born in America via surrogate.
00:16:46.720 They get citizenship because they're born here.
00:16:49.580 They go back to China later after they've been sometimes educated in America or they're
00:16:56.400 educated in China.
00:16:57.420 Then they come back to work in America and they're able to do that with dual citizenship.
00:17:02.260 This is a huge problem.
00:17:04.200 This is a part of, I don't even know what you would call it, birth warfare that is happening
00:17:10.200 from the CCP at the United States.
00:17:13.680 I'm not saying that Alyssa was a part of that, but against the backdrop of what is going on
00:17:18.520 globally, it's really important for us to be able to see this with clear eyes.
00:17:23.720 So that leads us to the actual trend that's going on specifically in China and why we need
00:17:28.480 to care about it.
00:17:29.200 Let me pause and tell you about our next sponsor for the day, and that is Voice of the Martyrs.
00:17:35.720 They have an incredible book out and it's called Hearts of Fire 2.
00:17:39.340 It shares the real stories of women around the world who are following Jesus in places
00:17:43.860 where doing that can cost them their freedom, their families, even their lives.
00:17:47.920 These are not distant, abstract situations.
00:17:50.620 These are our sisters in Christ, and their faith in the middle of all of this chaos and
00:17:55.720 serious persecution, not just getting rejected, but facing imprisonment, facing torture, facing
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00:18:04.040 And it's also just such an edification for our own faith, a reminder that the gospel is
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00:18:37.860 So we've talked about surrogacy a lot on the show, and we talked about it specifically
00:18:48.100 in episode 1296 with Peter Schweitzer, and he has written a lot and researched a lot about
00:18:55.980 China over the years.
00:18:57.420 And we talked about this trend in China of using surrogates to accomplish what we just
00:19:05.400 explained earlier.
00:19:06.400 And actually, recently, a Chinese couple, this is according to The New Yorker, I can't
00:19:11.220 really pronounce their names, Guo Zhan Wan and Sylvia Zhang, were accused of hoarding
00:19:16.360 and mistreating at least 26 children in their mansion in California.
00:19:20.480 So this 65-year-old man reportedly wanted to build a large family so that one of his children
00:19:26.260 could become president of the United States one day.
00:19:30.600 And this couple allegedly set up their own surrogacy agency called Mark Surrogacy to
00:19:36.000 make this happen using his sperm and eggs from an anonymous egg seller to create multiple
00:19:43.220 pregnancies through multiple surrogates across the country.
00:19:46.700 And then a former employee described this man as a wealthy man obsessed with having as
00:19:51.420 many kids as possible, like Genghis Khan or something.
00:19:54.340 Unlike others who pursue vices, I guess is how he wanted to glamorize it, romanticize it.
00:19:59.660 He simply wanted more children by any means.
00:20:02.620 Well, the by any means is the problem there, right?
00:20:05.580 Because then it doesn't really matter the welfare of the kids.
00:20:08.420 What matters is what you want.
00:20:10.160 And prioritizing adult desires over child welfare is disorder.
00:20:15.240 It's not how it's supposed to be.
00:20:16.640 The couple was arrested in May 2025 on suspicion of child abuse and neglect after a two-month-old
00:20:22.620 baby in their care was hospitalized with a traumatic brain injury.
00:20:26.560 So I would say that looks like abuse.
00:20:29.200 It is suspected that this baby was shaken or dropped by a nanny.
00:20:34.820 So not only outsourcing conception to a lab through anonymous egg sellers, but also outsourcing
00:20:43.960 the gestation to non-mothers of the children and then outsourcing the care for the children
00:20:50.760 to other women.
00:20:52.140 And so, I mean, how many steps do you have to take to avoid the God-ordained function of
00:20:59.600 husband and wife creating and protecting children?
00:21:02.820 I mean, how many women do you have to pay to make up for the role that one mom fulfills?
00:21:09.360 Authorities raided their home in July 2025, removing 21 children, mostly toddlers and infants,
00:21:16.360 all born via surrogates.
00:21:18.020 They took them into protective custody while the couple was released on bond pending an
00:21:22.460 ongoing state investigation.
00:21:25.440 Since their release, at least five more babies were born to their surrogates in states like
00:21:29.600 Virginia, Pennsylvania, Georgia.
00:21:31.860 So that's a really disturbing thing going on here is that these women are actually giving
00:21:38.300 birth in states all over the country.
00:21:40.280 And then these babies are somehow being transferred back to these surrogacy homes in places like
00:21:48.260 California.
00:21:49.440 America is absolutely the wild, wild west when it comes to fertility treatments, so-called
00:21:55.940 fertility treatments and surrogacy and IVF embryos have no rights, basically, in the United States.
00:22:06.280 And these are human beings.
00:22:07.980 They might not look like a full-grown baby.
00:22:10.700 They might not look like you or me.
00:22:13.100 But the appearance of people is not how we decide on their dignity or their worth or their value.
00:22:19.020 These are human beings that we are discarding like trash, that we are killing via eugenics,
00:22:24.540 saying, oh, we don't want a boy.
00:22:26.480 We do want it.
00:22:27.740 We want a girl.
00:22:28.800 And discarding embryos that might be diagnosed with something like Down syndrome.
00:22:33.260 It is like a hidden massacre that is going on under this sunny guise of just helping people have
00:22:41.220 children.
00:22:42.600 And China plays a huge part in this.
00:22:45.080 There is this article that I found really interesting.
00:22:47.220 It's called A Surrogacy Silk Road.
00:22:50.520 Chinese parents had a west for babies.
00:22:52.980 Silk Road is a reference to the ancient network of trade routes that connected East Asia and
00:22:57.980 the Middle East, Europe, parts of Africa, South Asia, named mostly after the highly valuable
00:23:03.600 Chinese silk that flowed west along these paths.
00:23:08.280 But it also, it didn't just trade textiles and things like that, but also slaves.
00:23:14.340 This was a slave route that traded people, especially young slave girls, so sex slaves
00:23:20.500 throughout Europe, throughout the Middle East, throughout Asia on this so-called Silk Road.
00:23:26.680 And right now, China is grappling with low fertility rates.
00:23:30.720 That's threatening economic stability.
00:23:34.060 Yeah, when you have a one-child policy for decades, as they did in the 20th century, when babies in the
00:23:41.080 third trimester were birthed and then slaughtered and then thrown into piles, especially if they were
00:23:48.800 little girls, like that might cause some unforeseen consequences.
00:23:53.420 By the way, population control always causes unforeseen consequences.
00:23:58.900 Population having too much, or overpopulation rather, that we hear about from people like Bill Gates.
00:24:06.240 That's a myth, by the way.
00:24:07.340 It's a Malthusian conspiracy theory.
00:24:09.700 We don't have an overpopulation problem.
00:24:11.760 But China bought into that, of course, in the 20th century.
00:24:14.160 Now they're dealing with the repercussions, and so they're trying to get as many kids as possible.
00:24:17.660 And so they have this demand for international surrogacy, and it's not only that they want more children,
00:24:25.040 and so they're trying to create as many as possible, but it also makes them a lot of money.
00:24:29.840 Especially when Chinese surrogates are paid to have these children, they're given money.
00:24:35.220 International surrogacy is giving rise to alternative family structures in China.
00:24:39.700 There is a professor, a researcher at the University of Freiburg with a Ph.D. in social anthropology.
00:24:46.360 He points out that the general preference for surrogacy as opposed to adoption in China
00:24:50.400 is partially explained by the everlasting notion of bloodline.
00:24:55.040 What's interesting is that Chinese aspiring parents hoping to start a family via surrogacy,
00:24:59.860 according to this article, have no legal local options.
00:25:04.540 Surrogacy is strictly prohibited under a law that was passed in China in 2001.
00:25:10.040 Now, notice that it says legal.
00:25:12.020 And earlier I said that China is making money from this, and they are making money from this,
00:25:17.440 as well as benefiting from having more children, as well as benefiting from American-Chinese dual
00:25:23.640 citizenship that can grant them power and access into America.
00:25:28.080 But there are illegal and very discreet services that exist in China that kind of work as travel agencies.
00:25:36.640 They're named something different, kind of euphemistic, like a medical assistance facility.
00:25:44.460 And you can use them to find you an egg seller and find you a surrogate from different countries
00:25:52.860 that you can then use.
00:25:54.240 And they're raking in tens of thousands of dollars.
00:25:56.660 And the CCP is really turning a blind eye.
00:25:59.440 So they say that they don't agree with this or they say that surrogacy is illegal.
00:26:03.760 But there's no specific structure, actually, to put sanctions on a surrogate mom.
00:26:08.300 They're turning a blind eye to this, probably because it's helping them in a lot of ways.
00:26:13.580 And so we just need to understand that in the midst of all of this, that there are real children
00:26:20.180 who are being bought and sold and trafficked.
00:26:23.680 And they don't get a say in this.
00:26:25.180 It's much like our Monday episode.
00:26:27.100 Kids are the unconsenting subjects of progressive social experiments.
00:26:31.680 And I want us to be able to celebrate someone like Alyssa Liu.
00:26:35.320 And we absolutely should.
00:26:36.520 Her accomplishments stand on their own.
00:26:38.920 But I don't want people to read this origin story and say, ah, well, maybe it's OK.
00:26:44.940 It's not OK.
00:26:46.060 That's my point in saying all of this.
00:26:48.340 Like, I don't want us to be blinded by the glitz and the glamour and this story by saying,
00:26:54.200 well, she turned out fine.
00:26:55.500 That's not the point.
00:26:56.980 It's still wrong.
00:26:57.840 No matter how someone turns out to rob a child purposely, purposely to create them,
00:27:03.700 only to rob them of their biological parents.
00:27:07.100 And every surrogacy circumstance actually fuels this worldwide, extremely lucrative scheme
00:27:14.880 that is going on here.
00:27:16.660 And actually, Reddit had something to say about this, which I found interesting.
00:27:20.780 The Then Before Us executive director, that's Katie Faust's organization, Josh Wood,
00:27:25.020 he pointed out this Reddit thread talking about what it's like to be a designer baby.
00:27:30.380 We'll get into that in just a second.
00:27:32.320 Let me pause, tell you about our next sponsor for the day.
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00:28:30.860 Okay.
00:28:31.600 So Josh Wood posted a screenshot of a Reddit thread on Axe.
00:28:37.100 He said the title of this Reddit post in true unpopular opinion.
00:28:42.600 I guess that's the subreddit.
00:28:43.960 Olympian Alyssa Liu shows us the power of designer babies.
00:28:48.880 Her wealthy and intelligent single dad decided he wanted to have children.
00:28:51.840 I'm guessing selected.
00:28:52.920 This Redditor says, this is not Josh Wood saying this.
00:28:55.540 This is this Redditor.
00:28:56.840 Some really good egg donors.
00:28:58.380 Usually wealthy people recruit from Stanford and the like.
00:29:01.100 That is absolutely true.
00:29:02.600 That has been documented.
00:29:03.960 These wealthy people purchasing eggs.
00:29:06.200 They will look at catalogs that only have Ivy League students.
00:29:09.600 This is eugenics.
00:29:10.540 This is crazy.
00:29:11.600 What a surprise.
00:29:12.440 She's one of the most natural and talented Olympic skaters ever.
00:29:15.200 This Redditor says, this is a brilliant idea that almost any woman and wealthy men can emulate.
00:29:22.060 Instead of settling for a less than remarkable partner, select a donor with the very best genes
00:29:26.920 and have remarkable children.
00:29:29.600 That's just a horrible way to think.
00:29:30.880 Again, this is just objectifying children as if children exist to grow up and to fulfill your dreams.
00:29:37.280 There is another example of a person on this thread.
00:29:40.760 This person on Reddit said, in 2013, I had a fertility clinic reach out to me asking if
00:29:46.240 I was willing to be an egg donor for a VIP couple for a large sum of money.
00:29:50.440 I was a division one athlete at Berkeley, tall, blonde.
00:29:53.700 The family wanted all of these traits for their donors.
00:29:56.020 So can confirm this does happen.
00:29:59.540 Another Redditor claimed herself to be a designer baby.
00:30:02.000 She said, as a designer baby myself, via sperm selling, genes aren't everything, or rather
00:30:07.420 they are, and that's the problem.
00:30:09.300 Not really sure what that means.
00:30:10.440 The intense pressure my mother put on me to live up to my potential pretty well killed
00:30:15.880 whatever potential I might have had to be a star.
00:30:19.300 She treated me like an investment, not a child, and it sucked.
00:30:23.260 Sure, there are plenty of parents of natural born kids who do the same thing, but I think
00:30:27.380 it's more common among parents, this Redditor says, who use sperm and egg donation because
00:30:32.100 they know exactly what they paid for and want to feel like they got their money's worth.
00:30:39.120 That is just really disturbing.
00:30:41.540 Do we know that that's what's going on in every single one of these situations?
00:30:45.300 No.
00:30:45.800 But the thought of designer babies is very brave new world.
00:30:49.780 It's very dystopian.
00:30:51.160 And it's what happens when we don't see people as God sees them.
00:30:55.700 As independently valuable.
00:30:58.400 I mean, all throughout history, all throughout the pagan societies of old, have we measured
00:31:04.020 people's worth by their productivity, by their wealth, by their ability to reason and to
00:31:12.320 rationalize what they can bring to the table.
00:31:15.500 I've told this story many times of this book that I read called When Children Became People
00:31:20.320 by Owen Backey.
00:31:21.340 He talks about pagan Roman Empire, how the logos was the indicator of someone's worth as a
00:31:29.660 person and only the adult free male could have the logos, which was the ability to rationalize
00:31:34.000 or reason.
00:31:34.900 And that's why children were objectified under moral justifications, that they were basically
00:31:42.100 on the level of barbarians because they couldn't reason like adult men.
00:31:46.220 So they were aborted.
00:31:47.880 They were killed as infants.
00:31:49.280 They were used as child labor.
00:31:51.000 They were sold into sex trafficking.
00:31:53.000 They were used as objects of sexual pleasure, all because they weren't seen as as valuable
00:32:00.000 as adults because they didn't have the fullness of the logos.
00:32:03.940 And it was Christianity that burst onto the scene and said, no, no, no, that's not how we're
00:32:08.100 valuing people's worth.
00:32:09.560 We're valuing people's worth by this previously Hebrew concept called, or exclusively Hebrew concept
00:32:15.080 called the Imago Dei.
00:32:16.380 All people are made in God's image.
00:32:17.560 I don't care how old you are.
00:32:18.900 I don't care where you come from.
00:32:20.380 I don't care about your background or your bloodline or any of those things.
00:32:23.900 You are all made in God's image and therefore you all matter.
00:32:26.860 And actually we're going to pay more attention to the vulnerable ones, to the poor, to the
00:32:31.680 women, to the sick, to the children, because that is what our Jesus, the one that we worship
00:32:37.380 calls us to do.
00:32:38.400 And so that was a major disruption in civilization 2000 years ago, and it shaped Western civilization.
00:32:44.200 It changed how the world saw people.
00:32:46.400 It changed how the West treated children.
00:32:49.400 And it should continue to be our rallying cry today that these children matter.
00:32:54.800 And they matter because they are made in God's image, not because of what they bring to the
00:32:58.720 table and that there is no cost that we can put on a human life.
00:33:02.140 It's the same argument that we made against slavery.
00:33:04.860 It's a similar argument to the one that we make against abortion.
00:33:07.980 The people are made in God's image and they all have the same innate worth.
00:33:12.620 How we create them matters, how we gestate them matters, how we raise them matters, how
00:33:17.600 we view them matters, how we talk about them matters.
00:33:20.660 And I just don't want all of that to get lost as we look to the incredible accomplishment
00:33:26.520 of being a gold medal Olympian.
00:33:29.700 Yes, that is incredible.
00:33:31.240 Applaud that 100%.
00:33:31.980 100%, but just remember what is going on when it comes to surrogacy in general around the
00:33:39.320 world is something that is very dark and that Christians should not let up on.
00:33:44.720 All right, let us shift gears just a little bit in talking about patriotism.
00:33:49.420 But since we're shifting gears, let me just go ahead and pause, tell you about our second
00:33:52.920 to last sponsor for the day.
00:33:54.160 It's Alliance Defending Freedom.
00:33:55.400 I love Alliance Defending Freedom, everything they stand for.
00:33:58.560 They are fighting for Americans' First Amendment rights, especially our freedom of religion
00:34:04.140 and our freedom to not be discriminated against because of our sincere Christian beliefs.
00:34:09.920 They stand up for those who are standing up for their faith and are being unconstitutionally
00:34:14.300 maligned for that faith.
00:34:16.700 There is a high school junior in North Carolina named Gabby Stout.
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00:34:25.980 She got permission from the administrators, but then when she wanted to put the message
00:34:32.120 on there, which was the message that represented bravery and her faith, they reversed the policy
00:34:37.680 and they accused her of vandalism, got her in trouble.
00:34:41.040 The accusation even aired in the local news.
00:34:44.060 She was punished for standing up for the biblical values that Charlie spent his life defending
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00:34:53.060 If you want to support Gabby, support ADF, go to joinadf.com slash Allie, see how you can
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00:35:08.620 Okay, let's talk about something just a little bit lighter, but also has a serious note to
00:35:13.860 it.
00:35:14.060 Let us just talk for a second about how amazing that hockey game was between Canada and between
00:35:19.800 the United States.
00:35:20.800 So I will just be honest, like I am not really someone who follows hockey and I won't pretend
00:35:27.320 to know everything about hockey.
00:35:29.640 However, I was just excited to see America win because I love this country, no matter who
00:35:36.180 is president.
00:35:37.060 I love America.
00:35:38.580 I am so beyond grateful to live here.
00:35:40.900 I love seeing us represented in a strong, powerful way on the world stage.
00:35:46.440 And so I'm always going to cheer on people.
00:35:48.320 I also don't know that much about figure skating or in the summer Olympics, the gymnastics or
00:35:52.380 anything, but I am still excited when our athletes do well.
00:35:56.520 And especially, especially when we beat smug Canada at their own game.
00:36:03.320 Now, Justin Trudeau, just a few months ago, actually about a year ago in 2025, he tweeted,
00:36:08.740 you can't take our country and you can't take our game.
00:36:14.160 And then the White House responded with this about a year later, and that would be a bald
00:36:20.780 eagle trampling on a goose, which is, I even said goose kind of like a goose would talk.
00:36:28.440 And that is representative of Canada.
00:36:31.820 So the U.S. won its first gold medal against Canada since 1980.
00:36:35.900 That's a long time, no offense to those of you who were born in 1980, it's a long time
00:36:40.140 ago, a historic breakthrough for Team USA and heartbreaking loss for Canada.
00:36:44.640 Hockey is the national pastime.
00:36:46.340 That is the only sport that it has.
00:36:48.500 And it is like the sixth most popular sport here in America.
00:36:52.440 Hockey player Jack Hughes made the game winning goal in overtime after having his teeth knocked
00:36:57.460 out during the third period of the game, which is so incredibly iconic and hockey-ish and
00:37:03.160 American.
00:37:03.760 Here's top three.
00:37:04.320 This is all about our country right now.
00:37:06.920 I love the USA.
00:37:08.440 I love my teammates.
00:37:10.240 It's unbelievable.
00:37:11.660 The USA Hockey Brotherhood is so strong.
00:37:14.560 And we have so much support from ex-players.
00:37:17.340 And I'm so proud to be American today.
00:37:20.320 So sweet.
00:37:21.300 The story of him and his brother and how they were raised to just be excellent and to love
00:37:25.580 hockey is really, really cute.
00:37:27.180 And then we have this.
00:37:29.300 We have this incredibly iconic picture.
00:37:33.140 Knocked out teeth, draped in the American flag with his fist in the air.
00:37:38.880 Just amazing.
00:37:39.700 I mean, this needs to be on the cover of Time magazine.
00:37:42.280 I saw someone say, forget the Louvre.
00:37:44.300 Put this in every Buffalo Wild Wings in America.
00:37:46.700 Completely agree.
00:37:48.760 As should be on a Wheaties box.
00:37:50.580 Unfortunately, something like this has become political.
00:37:54.660 Like there is one side of the aisle that believes patriotism is something that should be tempered
00:38:00.140 and nuanced.
00:38:01.380 And yes, of course, we shouldn't idolize any president.
00:38:04.160 We shouldn't idolize our country.
00:38:06.120 Our citizenship in America shouldn't supersede our value of our citizenship in heaven.
00:38:13.220 But as I'll explain, it's good to be proud of your country.
00:38:16.260 And it really doesn't matter who's in the White House.
00:38:18.840 Like you are celebrating the values that has made America in its 250 years the freest and
00:38:26.100 the greatest and the most entrepreneurial country in the world.
00:38:30.140 How amazing is that?
00:38:31.540 That has championed the cause of human rights in so many ways for the past two and a half
00:38:36.920 centuries.
00:38:38.200 Here's the men's hockey team just singing the national anthem with all their hearts.
00:38:42.160 Love it.
00:38:42.520 Stop four.
00:38:42.880 Okay, they're not going to win any Olympic choir contests anytime soon, but that's okay.
00:39:04.320 That was beautiful.
00:39:05.160 I also loved this moment after their win.
00:39:08.920 Trump called them on someone's phone just to congratulate them and to invite them to
00:39:15.460 attend the State of the Union, which was last night.
00:39:17.720 Here's top five.
00:39:18.620 How are you?
00:39:19.060 Say hi.
00:39:19.580 How are you?
00:39:20.080 Say hi to him.
00:39:20.680 How are you doing, Dan?
00:39:21.400 I have seen hockey goalies have slightly worse games than they have.
00:39:27.680 It was unbelievable, and you were all unbelievable, and that team is pretty good you've played.
00:39:34.240 I don't know if that's going to begin anytime soon, right?
00:39:37.020 You know, I tell you what, I just told my people two minutes ago, I didn't know they'd be calling.
00:39:42.460 I said, we're giving the State of the Union speech on Tuesday night.
00:39:46.920 I could send a military plan or something, but if you would like to, it's the coolest night.
00:39:53.580 It's the biggest.
00:39:54.400 We're in.
00:39:54.940 We're in.
00:39:55.800 We're in.
00:39:56.460 We're in.
00:39:56.640 We're in.
00:39:57.240 We're in.
00:39:57.680 That was really sweet.
00:39:59.820 They were all excited.
00:40:00.660 And you know what?
00:40:01.220 I don't know the politics of all of them.
00:40:02.800 And in fact, I've seen some things about Jack Hughes, maybe being pro-LGBTQ or liberal.
00:40:08.120 That's really not what it's about.
00:40:09.520 I think Alyssa, you probably has given some progressive opinions, but you know, she draped
00:40:14.600 herself in the American flag and said that she was grateful to be there to be competing.
00:40:18.560 These men just seem grateful to be there to be competing, and of course, grateful to win.
00:40:23.140 Like, as a conservative who loves America, that's all I want to see.
00:40:27.460 I don't expect these athletes to agree with me on everything.
00:40:30.660 I'm sure like 1% of them probably agree with me on everything.
00:40:34.760 A lot of them might have voted for Kamala Harris.
00:40:38.500 For us, like, we're just different than the left.
00:40:41.300 Yes, of course, I'm going to disagree with them.
00:40:43.020 I might even publicly disagree with them if they're public about that.
00:40:46.060 But I just want you to be grateful to live in an amazing country.
00:40:50.960 And I want you to be unapologetic about that when you are on the world stage.
00:40:54.620 What I really take issue with is people like this saying, oh, you know, I just representing
00:41:01.620 the United States.
00:41:02.480 It's just it's just tough.
00:41:04.580 It's not seven.
00:41:06.320 It brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now, I think it's a little hard.
00:41:12.920 There's obviously a lot going on that I'm not the biggest fan of.
00:41:16.360 I think for me, it's more I'm representing my like friends and family back home, the people
00:41:20.660 that represent it before me.
00:41:22.240 I just think if if it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I'm representing it.
00:41:29.620 Blah, blah.
00:41:30.960 That's so weak, like weak in either direction.
00:41:33.520 Like if you are a progressive activist and you're trying to say what ICE is doing is completely
00:41:38.120 unjust and you think America is like, I don't know, Nazi or whatever, say with your chest.
00:41:44.280 Like if you're talking about injustice, being like, uh, I'm not really like a fan of like
00:41:48.940 everything that's going on, that is not persuasive to me.
00:41:52.900 Either say it or don't say it.
00:41:54.480 But that is just wishy washy and weak.
00:41:56.920 You don't have to agree with all the policies in America like you would not see a conservative
00:42:00.880 standing up there and being like, yeah, I don't know about representing America when
00:42:04.940 abortion is going on.
00:42:06.120 It's not that we don't think abortion is a grave evil, the greatest evil that's going
00:42:10.580 on in the world we do.
00:42:12.520 It is understood that you are representing what you love and are grateful for about your
00:42:19.580 country, the foundational principles, the country that has given you the opportunity
00:42:23.900 to become an incredible athlete and to be unapologetic about that.
00:42:28.880 I just that's what we want to see.
00:42:31.120 Like, I don't care really about your political opinions or who you voted for.
00:42:34.800 I just want to see you represent America proudly.
00:42:38.380 But we've got the Huffington Post saying, if waving the American flag or chanting USA
00:42:44.160 turns you off right now, you're not alone.
00:42:48.400 The article goes on to say, the cognitive dissonance of rooting for the U.S. sports while
00:42:52.480 hating the U.S. government is so common that it continues to be one of the main topics I
00:42:56.860 hold space for in therapy.
00:42:59.460 Ah!
00:43:00.760 So many, so many things wrong with that sentence.
00:43:04.860 If you are in therapy and your biggest problem is that you don't like who's in office and
00:43:10.300 you don't know how you feel about rooting for the United States in the Olympics, wow,
00:43:16.460 we have like we need we might need to go back to an agrarian society for a little bit just
00:43:22.480 so people don't have so much time on their hands.
00:43:24.860 Like, if you have if you are working with a backhoe all day and you are like tilling the
00:43:31.960 soil to this shows you how much I know about farming to like to make your crops grow, OK,
00:43:41.100 then you don't have time to go to a therapist and talk about the cognitive dissonance between
00:43:47.040 chanting USA when the hockey team wins and not liking Donald Trump.
00:43:52.460 We've just gotten too luxurious and too free here.
00:43:58.160 They go on to say you can hold more than one truth at the same time.
00:44:01.460 That is true.
00:44:02.540 That's true.
00:44:03.540 You can admire the discipline and sacrifice of the athletes.
00:44:05.660 You can strongly disagree with government policy.
00:44:07.260 You can feel both pride and disgust without needing to collapse that into one correct feeling.
00:44:10.960 Well, you shouldn't feel disgust.
00:44:12.420 You shouldn't.
00:44:12.820 You just shouldn't feel disgust.
00:44:13.960 And you can actually say it's totally possible to say I love America so much.
00:44:17.820 I want what's best for America.
00:44:18.940 I agree with the foundational principles.
00:44:20.700 We're an incredible country.
00:44:21.800 I don't agree with all of the policies, but when it comes to progressives, there is like
00:44:26.060 a deep-seated resentment that goes on there.
00:44:28.560 And I think a lot of progressives think that patriotism is MAGA-coded, and so it makes them
00:44:33.840 cringe.
00:44:34.620 They don't like it.
00:44:35.500 I'm not saying all progressives, but typically when you see an American flag waving in front
00:44:40.780 of someone's house, like you know that that person is conservative, it should not be that
00:44:44.580 way.
00:44:44.960 I wish it weren't that way.
00:44:46.680 In fact, I can really respect someone who is progressive, but it's like, yeah, I think we should
00:44:51.400 put the interests of our country first.
00:44:53.260 And so, of course, I believe in getting crime down.
00:44:56.360 Of course, I believe in closing our border.
00:44:58.340 You can't love our country and not believe that we have a right to sovereignty.
00:45:02.280 Of course, I believe in ensuring that our country is economically prosperous.
00:45:08.100 Of course, I believe in the Constitution and the founding documents.
00:45:11.140 But we just disagree on some of the policies of how to protect those things.
00:45:15.060 I can respect that.
00:45:16.140 That's not where we are.
00:45:17.600 We have very fundamental differences, moral differences when it comes to how we see the
00:45:22.920 world and how we see truth and morality in the Constitution, and that makes it really
00:45:26.540 difficult.
00:45:28.600 We should be able to completely unite over, yeah, America is awesome and we love to see
00:45:33.180 her win.
00:45:33.660 Unfortunately, I don't know that we can really agree with that across the aisle right now
00:45:38.680 or agree on that across the aisle.
00:45:41.260 Now, I just wanted to end on a note about patriotism in general because I get this question
00:45:45.920 a lot.
00:45:46.400 Like, how do we balance this?
00:45:48.860 How do we balance loving our country, being patriotic, pledging allegiance to the flag,
00:45:54.800 and then also making sure that our citizenship is truly in heaven and honoring that first?
00:45:59.820 So we'll just end on some quick thoughts on that in just a second.
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00:47:12.760 Okay, where I go when I think about patriotism, which you could define in a variety of ways,
00:47:24.960 for me, I see it as gratitude.
00:47:27.100 I see it as pride, not in the unhealthy and sinful sense of, oh, Americans are innately
00:47:34.440 better than other people.
00:47:35.680 We have a higher innate value than others, or we have the right to do whatever we want
00:47:42.280 to.
00:47:42.880 It's not any pride in that I can own personally any good part of America, but just grateful
00:47:50.260 and just acknowledging what an incredible blessing and privilege it is to have been born here
00:47:56.720 and to have access to human rights and to have access to due process and all of these amazing
00:48:02.600 opportunities that are so unique to America.
00:48:05.440 And as we're raising children and we're talking to them about how the world works and even watching
00:48:10.820 the Olympics, actually, our oldest has a lot of questions.
00:48:14.560 What is that country?
00:48:15.440 What is that flag?
00:48:16.420 She even asks, is that a good government?
00:48:18.140 Is that a bad government?
00:48:19.140 What's the worst government?
00:48:20.160 Why are they a good or bad government?
00:48:22.780 It really makes us think.
00:48:24.280 And when you're teaching your children this, you're like, you just want them to know how
00:48:28.920 incredibly blessed and grateful they should be to be born in America because so many people
00:48:33.760 don't get that gift.
00:48:35.260 And so we want to steward it well.
00:48:37.300 It's not just so that we can consume.
00:48:39.160 It's not just so we can be proud and patriotic.
00:48:41.420 It's so that we can glorify God, so we can help other people, so we can share the gospel.
00:48:46.680 You know, Charlie Kirk, and I don't know if he originated this saying, but he always
00:48:50.160 used to say, like, the most important thing is to share the gospel.
00:48:53.900 And the second most important thing is to ensure that we have the freedom to share the gospel.
00:48:57.540 And the gospel can flourish no matter where it is, whether you have the First Amendment
00:49:02.440 right to free speech or not, because that's just the power of the Holy Spirit.
00:49:06.980 The gates of hell will not prevail against the church.
00:49:09.100 But how incredible that for centuries we have been able to send out missionaries to foreign
00:49:14.280 lands because of the theological training that flourishes here because of freedom, because
00:49:19.420 of constitutional rights.
00:49:20.800 That's amazing.
00:49:22.640 Jeremiah 29.
00:49:23.480 Most people know Jeremiah 29, 11, for I know the plans I have for you.
00:49:27.620 But a few verses earlier, it says, but seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you
00:49:32.760 into exile.
00:49:33.320 This is God speaking to his people who are in exile in Babylon.
00:49:37.080 And pray to the Lord on its behalf, or this is God through the prophet Jeremiah, for in
00:49:41.760 its welfare, you will find your welfare.
00:49:45.740 So I love that verse that God has providentially placed us specifically as Christians, because
00:49:51.500 we are also exiles in this world.
00:49:53.480 So there's a parallel here.
00:49:55.520 To seek the welfare of the city that we are placed in.
00:49:59.160 So when people say, politics don't matter, I don't want to involve myself.
00:50:02.700 I don't care what's going on in our country.
00:50:04.480 That is an incredible privilege that you have to not care and that your life is still pretty
00:50:09.300 great without you even knowing what's going on in your government.
00:50:12.560 That is because of the sacrifice and the blood and sweat and toil that has gone into creating
00:50:19.460 a constitutional republic where you can feel safe and you can make money and you can have
00:50:25.080 rights even if you have no clue what's going on.
00:50:28.100 I'm saying don't take that for granted because it's not a given.
00:50:32.360 I think people think that human rights are a given, that freedom is just a given.
00:50:36.200 No, that is specifically a Christian politic that has been interwoven in America for 250
00:50:44.520 years.
00:50:44.900 Not perfectly, but better than any other country that exists on earth today.
00:50:49.260 And it is because of the courage and the clarity and the persistence and the involvement of
00:50:54.300 Christians in the political world that has said, oh, no, no, no.
00:50:58.140 We're going to go by God's standards.
00:51:00.060 We're going to honor what God says about human rights and human dignity.
00:51:03.360 It's been Christians pushing for that in every way possible in America and abroad that has
00:51:08.640 changed the culture, changed in a good way how the world has seen people.
00:51:14.880 Psalm 33, 12, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen
00:51:19.920 as his heritage.
00:51:21.300 That's not to say that God has chosen America as his heritage.
00:51:25.180 America is not God's chosen nation.
00:51:27.660 We are his heritage as Christians.
00:51:29.440 We are his chosen people and we want our nation to be blessed.
00:51:34.180 We want good things for our neighbors.
00:51:36.580 And if God is the creator of the heavens and the earth, then he is the authority over all
00:51:40.080 of it.
00:51:40.660 He says what is and what isn't, what's right and what's wrong, what's good and what's
00:51:43.040 bad, what's true and what's false, what a woman is, what she's not, what a marriage
00:51:46.180 is and when life begins.
00:51:48.020 And if we believe all of that, none of those beliefs can be compartmentalized in our private
00:51:51.940 lives.
00:51:52.540 They have implications in the public and the professional and the political as well.
00:51:56.480 So 1 Timothy 2, 1 through 2, first of all, then I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions
00:52:02.660 and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions,
00:52:06.700 that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.
00:52:12.040 When kings, when rulers are godly, we get to lead a peaceful and a quiet life, dignified
00:52:18.780 in every way.
00:52:20.220 Now, that is a dictate for all Christians, no matter where they live, no matter what the
00:52:23.820 government looks like, but that is what we hope for as Christians.
00:52:28.100 That is the kind of environment that we want.
00:52:30.140 So that is one form of patriotism that Christians want to represent.
00:52:33.780 It's praying for our leaders, no matter if it's a Republican or a Democrat.
00:52:37.780 And yes, I believe being grateful for and in a healthy sense, proud of the country in which
00:52:45.080 God has providentially placed you.
00:52:47.200 You're not placed here arbitrarily or by accident because we know God doesn't do that.
00:52:51.360 St. Thomas Aquinas, are you happy to all of my wonderful Catholic listeners out there?
00:52:57.600 This is a 13th century theologian.
00:52:59.520 And he said this, the reverence given to our country includes homage to all our fellow citizens
00:53:05.080 and to all the friends of our country.
00:53:07.680 I think some people forget that your fellow citizens are also your neighbors, okay?
00:53:14.540 It's not just the poor illegal migrant from Guatemala that is your neighbor.
00:53:19.160 Lake and Riley was also your neighbor.
00:53:21.860 The unborn child is also your neighbor.
00:53:24.680 And how we treat them matters and the policy that references them and that acknowledges their
00:53:30.880 rights, that matters.
00:53:32.620 And in fact, nations are like families.
00:53:36.000 You don't hate the people outside of your family, but you lock your door at night to protect
00:53:41.640 the people inside your home, to protect your family.
00:53:44.140 You don't hate other children.
00:53:45.520 You don't hate other families, but you don't love them in the same way that you love your
00:53:48.680 own children.
00:53:49.900 You don't open your door to the neighborhood because you know that while not all of your
00:53:54.940 neighbors are criminals, it could be possible that one would be.
00:53:58.260 And it wouldn't be loving to invite strangers into your home and say, take our food, take our
00:54:04.460 children's bed.
00:54:05.440 Sorry, kids, you're going to have to figure it out.
00:54:08.040 That wouldn't make you a good Christian.
00:54:09.500 That wouldn't make you a loving neighbor.
00:54:10.660 Remember, that would make you a bad parent.
00:54:12.960 And God, being a God of order, has created these spheres for our loves, for our attention.
00:54:18.960 Remember, nations were God's idea.
00:54:21.420 He established the idea of a nation.
00:54:23.700 He established the idea of laws.
00:54:27.400 This is His idea.
00:54:28.960 Government is His idea.
00:54:31.420 That is an establishment of order for our good.
00:54:34.140 And it is okay for us to have an order and a priority of loves that focuses on those in
00:54:41.480 our lives, those in our nation, and their welfare.
00:54:45.900 Augustine in City of God talks about this concept as well.
00:54:49.480 I won't read the entire quote.
00:54:50.900 It's long.
00:54:51.300 But he teaches that Christians as pilgrims, exiles, sojourners in this world, in our earthly
00:54:57.400 dwelling, our earthly city, should actively desire, maintain, and work for peace and order.
00:55:02.380 Because peace and order protects us.
00:55:05.380 It protects our neighbors, our most vulnerable neighbors, the poor, especially the child,
00:55:10.980 maintaining the order of the family, of marriage, even civic authority, the maintenance of law
00:55:17.980 that honors the dignity and the right of the human being.
00:55:21.920 That is one way we can love our neighbor.
00:55:25.260 So that's why I talk about things like surrogacy.
00:55:29.120 IVF, very controversial.
00:55:31.000 If I just cared about followers and clicks and views, I would not talk about any of that because
00:55:35.420 that probably gives me the most heat of anything that I talk about.
00:55:40.320 The reason why I talk about it is because I believe Christians have a responsibility
00:55:44.480 to know what is going on in the world when it comes to children, when it comes to the
00:55:49.660 most vulnerable people in the world, both in and outside of the womb.
00:55:54.120 And I will take every single opportunity that I have, anything going on in the news, even
00:55:59.900 the Olympics, to make sure that Christians are perfectly clear on why kids matter and how
00:56:05.760 we treat them really matters.
00:56:08.120 And that is one big reason why we love our country.
00:56:11.700 We're grateful for our country.
00:56:12.900 And we fight to keep our country peaceful and orderly and safe for those vulnerable kids.
00:56:18.940 All right.
00:56:19.340 That's all we've got time for today.
00:56:20.900 We will be back here on Friday.