Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - November 08, 2019


REPLAY: What Can Christians Do About Abortion?


Episode Stats

Length

30 minutes

Words per Minute

189.812

Word Count

5,711

Sentence Count

289

Misogynist Sentences

12

Hate Speech Sentences

12


Summary

Virgil Walker of the Just Thinking Podcast joins Allie to discuss the Alabama legislation allowing abortion up to 20 weeks if a woman is raped or in incest, and why Christians should be on the front lines of the pro-life cause.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, happy Friday. Welcome to the podcast. Today we are going to talk to my friend Virgil
00:00:06.800 Walker of the Just Thinking podcast. You have probably heard of Just Thinking if you've been
00:00:11.840 listening to either their podcast or my podcast for a little bit. I had Daryl Harrison who is
00:00:16.780 the co-host of Just Thinking. A few weeks ago we talked about wokeness in the church and Virgil
00:00:23.100 Walker. His expertise is abortion. He does a lot for the pro-life cause. And so we're going to talk
00:00:31.000 about the legislation in Georgia and Alabama, this non-exception or this lack of exception in the
00:00:37.920 Alabama legislation for rape or incest, how we as Christians should view that and really what we
00:00:44.080 should be doing on the front lines of the pro-life cause. Virgil, thanks so much for joining me.
00:00:49.840 Thank you for having me, Allie. Yeah. First, if you could just tell everyone who might not be
00:00:56.440 familiar who you are, what you do, and why you care so much about this issue of abortion.
00:01:04.160 Yeah. Well, I'm Virgil Walker and I'm part and parcel of the Just Thinking podcast with Daryl
00:01:13.080 Harrison, the famed Daryl Harrison, Daryl Dangerous Harrison. You've interviewed him on your podcast.
00:01:21.540 And so I work side by side with him. I do a lot in the area of abortion. I've been involved in abortion
00:01:26.660 at the abortion mill for the last seven years or so, six or seven years doing sidewalk ministry and
00:01:33.800 the like, and just an advocate of the pro-life position. So. Okay. I gotcha. And you work for a
00:01:40.040 church, correct? Correct. Correct. Here, here in the Omaha area. Absolutely. Okay. I gotcha. So
00:01:46.160 there's a lot of conversation going on about abortion right now. Um, and this is something
00:01:51.900 that you and I share this passion for the pro-life cause. I heard, I've heard you say before that you
00:01:58.320 are more of an abolitionist than a pro-lifer. So what do you mean by that? Yeah, definitely,
00:02:05.040 definitely more of, of an abolitionist. I think that for the most part, uh, I think pro-life,
00:02:10.540 the pro-lifers get it right. But I think oftentimes we're involved in half measures, uh, or, or we're
00:02:18.080 willing to cede ground, uh, on the issue of, uh, incest, uh, and rape. I mean, you see that in the
00:02:24.720 conversation as I've been talking, even though the course of the last few days with regard to this
00:02:28.740 particular issue, what you find is that most who argue the pro-life position have ceded the issue
00:02:36.500 of rape and incest. I mean, it's almost as if they want to, they want to steer clear of those two areas
00:02:41.740 in the way of exception. And what my thought is, it is, it's inconsistent. It's really inconsistent
00:02:47.080 from a standpoint of a biblical worldview. You know, the rape and incest thing has been brought up a lot
00:02:53.300 this week because of the Alabama legislation, the Georgia legislation, it made an exception for rape
00:02:59.020 and incest. It said, okay, a woman can still get an abortion up to 20 weeks in Georgia, if she is a
00:03:04.720 victim of rape, or if this is a consequence of incest. Um, a lot of more, a lot of pro-lifers were
00:03:10.560 probably a little bit more comfortable with that, like you said, but Alabama says, sorry, no exceptions.
00:03:16.500 And you see a lot of people who call themselves pro-life saying, well, well, well, that's a little too
00:03:22.000 far. So can you tell me what you would say or how you would kind of confront, uh, that kind of
00:03:29.440 caveat? Yeah. I think, again, we have adopted rather than holding to a biblical worldview of
00:03:36.100 the sovereignty of God and that he is the one who is the giver of life. We've, we've decided that
00:03:42.500 we're going to, we're going to see that we're going to put that aside and adopt a secular view
00:03:47.500 where we've elevated our feelings and emotions. And again, I don't say that in a way to minimize
00:03:53.020 a woman who's been traumatized by the issue of rape. I think that's a horrific situation. And,
00:04:00.120 and what we need to do with regard to the issue are to separate the two things. One, we've got to
00:04:05.600 separate the issue of the rape and look at that differently. We've conflated the issue of the rape
00:04:11.480 and the life of the child. We've, we've conflated both issues and have made the decision that they
00:04:17.180 should both be treated in the same manner rather than recognizing that they're two separate issues.
00:04:23.400 The rapist, that situation needs to be adjudicated from a standpoint. I love with what your friend,
00:04:28.640 uh, Ben, Ben Shapiro says, either castrated and or killed. If we've, if it wants that rapist has been
00:04:34.780 proven guilty, I think the worst harm should be done to that individual. But with regard to the life of
00:04:40.900 the child, we need to hold to a biblical worldview that says that the child is an image bearer of God
00:04:47.100 and is, is worthy of distinct value, dignity, and worth. And rather than adopting the ideas that the
00:04:53.940 world has given us with regard to feelings and emotion, we need to stop for just a moment, recognize
00:04:59.780 the value of the child and realize the child has done nothing wrong deserving of death. And, and I also
00:05:07.360 think we need to, we need to think about how to, how to amplify a kind of a, a, the culture that says
00:05:13.400 that this is shameful, that carrying a child that born out of rape is, is a shameful situation. Uh, we
00:05:20.260 need to recognize the heroic nature of a woman who's gone through that difficult process and, and makes
00:05:26.100 the decision, uh, to carry a child to term. I was talking with, with a friend who, who mentioned the fact
00:05:31.980 that, uh, we, we often quote, you know, Romans 8, 28, that, that, that God has, has, uh, has, uh, has
00:05:38.700 given us all things to work together for his good. Right. When we think about that, most Christians who
00:05:45.560 are pro-lifers would agree with the fact that we know that all things work together for the good
00:05:50.260 of them that love God and are called according to his purpose, except for in the instance of incest and
00:05:55.140 rape. Those are situations where we've got to realize the sovereignty of God. He is the giver of life.
00:06:01.240 And to, and to, and really think through that process, providing all the support necessary for
00:06:06.960 a woman so that she can bear the child and either make the choice of giving the child up for adoption
00:06:13.380 or keeping the child as a result. Is there anything that Christians need to be doing? I know that you
00:06:19.760 mentioned, obviously sticking up for the personhood of the individual from the point of conception,
00:06:24.200 no matter the situation surrounding the, the conception of the child, um, also taking care of these
00:06:31.100 moms, making sure that they have the real options that are available. Of course, keeping the child,
00:06:36.200 raising the child, adoption, whatever it is. Um, is, is there anything else Christians can be doing
00:06:42.540 as far as, you know, the adoption process? We hear a lot. Adoption is too expensive. The foster care
00:06:48.640 system is, is terrible. We hear this as an excuse kind of from the pro-choice side. Is there anything
00:06:54.160 Christians can be doing in those realms to make sure that truly it is as easy as it possibly can
00:07:00.780 be for a woman to give birth to a child and make sure that child is in a good home?
00:07:05.420 Yeah. There, there, there are, there are a lot of things that, that churches in particular believers
00:07:10.380 can do to be supportive. I do, I shared with you earlier, we, I do a sidewalk ministry at an abortion
00:07:16.440 clinic. And, uh, when I'm there, it is incredibly important to know that I've got an entire, an entire
00:07:23.000 church community around me that I can call at a moment's notice. Uh, if something were to happen
00:07:28.920 right there at the location and everything from, from providing a place to stay for that woman,
00:07:34.260 if she's in an abusive situation, uh, to providing food, to providing clothing, to providing every single
00:07:39.680 need that she might have up and into and through adoption. Uh, I, I, I think two thoughts. One is
00:07:46.800 often pro-choicers try to use the excuse that, that we can murder a child or that they can murder
00:07:52.800 a child in the womb on the basis of the fact that someone's not adopting that child. And, and that,
00:07:57.640 that's a flawed argument. That's a false statement. That life is not a value, whether that life is a
00:08:02.580 value, whether or not someone desires it or not. Secondly, Christians can do more. We often make the
00:08:08.820 claim that we are pro-life and yet all we do in the, in a way of advocating that position
00:08:14.500 is every four years voting for the person who claims that they are going to be more pro-life
00:08:20.560 than not. And, uh, we've got to step up to do more. Uh, I'm thankful that I'm in a place in a
00:08:26.260 space where, where there is that level of support at the point of need. And, uh, and, and we've got to
00:08:32.040 look for ways to advocate, look for ways to be uncomfortable, uh, where we can be in an effort to help
00:08:37.980 these women who are really going through some very difficult times.
00:08:42.060 So can you offer any advice to the man or the woman who doesn't, they don't know where to start.
00:08:47.280 They, they don't know if there are any pregnancy clinics in their area. They would love to have
00:08:52.160 their church be involved in a pro-life ministry, but maybe their church isn't. How did they start
00:08:56.940 doing something like you're doing or just to start making that connection between mothers in crisis
00:09:03.560 and whatever sphere they're currently involved in?
00:09:07.640 Yeah. The, the, the, I, I completely appreciate the question that you asked because I remember at
00:09:13.260 the point at which I got interested in this issue, began to educate myself. My first thought was,
00:09:18.080 where do I go? Like I had no, no one to show me what it looked like to be on the sidewalk at an
00:09:23.840 abortion clinic. And while some people are willing to do that, others are not, there's all, there's all
00:09:29.240 kinds of, of pregnancy advocacy places in town where I live. There's, there's a sure women's
00:09:35.400 clinic. We do, they do a lot of great work. So you've got to find where, where there are
00:09:40.180 organizations who are already doing the work, where you can plug in, where you can be a part of. I
00:09:46.500 think those kinds of things are, are definitely important. We've got to seek those out and do
00:09:50.820 more than simply every four years vote for the, the, the, the person that we think is going to
00:09:56.300 advocate for our position. I'm, I'm even concerned. And, and, uh, Ali, I wanted to throw something
00:10:01.060 back to you really quickly, if I could, I, I'm, I'm concerned about, about where things go from
00:10:07.660 here with regard to the Supreme court. We know that this decision that's happened in Georgia was,
00:10:12.840 was designed for the purpose of getting thrown back into, uh, you know, the Supreme court to
00:10:17.300 challenge Roe v. Wade. You know, I don't, I don't know about you. I don't know that I have the
00:10:21.220 confidence to believe that, that things will be overturned. And I really think that most
00:10:25.080 conservatives will be reeling at that point. If, if indeed, you know, Roe v. Wade is not overturned
00:10:31.040 based upon this case. You, you have any thoughts about that? I would say considering how Kavanaugh
00:10:37.160 has ruled on a few other cases, not even involving Planned Parenthood or abortion. It looks like he's
00:10:44.240 leaning further to the left than a lot of us had hoped. Now he might call himself personally pro-life.
00:10:50.160 We know that he's Catholic. A lot of the Catholic community considers themselves pro-life,
00:10:54.840 but sometimes you have some cognitive dissonance where people say, well, I'm personally pro-life,
00:10:59.900 but I don't want to limit the rights of other people. I don't know if Kavanaugh falls into that
00:11:05.080 camp. And so judging by Kavanaugh, uh, I, I don't think that we are going to get the ruling on Roe v.
00:11:13.500 Wade that we want. Now I could psychoanalyze Kavanaugh and say, maybe it's because he wants to show
00:11:20.120 the left who hated him so much that he's really not going to do all the terrible things that he
00:11:25.000 said that, or that they said he was going to do. I'm not sure his motives behind that. And I can't
00:11:29.720 predict necessarily what's going to happen. I was more optimistic just at the thought of thinking,
00:11:36.540 okay, we've got a, like you said, a more pro-life than not, or a more pro-life than, uh, Hillary
00:11:43.180 Clinton president. And so we've got a few Supreme court vacancies up for grabs. And so it's a
00:11:49.740 possibility that this could happen. But unfortunately, unfortunately, probably people
00:11:55.640 like Kavanaugh and, and maybe, uh, some other conservative justices too. I'm just not sure
00:12:01.620 have bought into this lie that, you know, being all the way pro-life is too extreme. It's too extreme.
00:12:08.540 And maybe Planned Parenthood does do some good things. And it may be abortion in some cases
00:12:14.620 is really compassionate. I like what you are saying about being an abolitionist. I think too
00:12:20.500 many people are scared to really say that, including people in power. Do you agree?
00:12:26.060 I completely agree. In fact, most of the conversations that I've had since this
00:12:30.080 legislation got enacted with Christians is, yeah, I'm pro-life, but I mean, that that's, it's in fact,
00:12:38.300 I mean, you, you could, you could say this, this is a new, I think this issue is bringing up
00:12:42.740 even the, the, the clarity of thought, or at least an opportunity for people to begin thinking about
00:12:47.380 their, their true position. And what I'm running into is this new category of Christian calling
00:12:53.120 themselves pro-life, but, and, and it's a shame because they're looking at it from a, I believe,
00:12:59.500 from a secular perspective, uh, rather than from a consistently biblical worldview, as we talked
00:13:06.580 about being image bearers of God. I think we've got to look at that. We've got to examine that and
00:13:10.960 even be willing to say how much of that was taught to us by our own quote unquote pro-life movement.
00:13:16.360 That's why I've, I've distanced myself a bit from saying I'm pro-life to telling people I'm an
00:13:20.600 abolitionist. Uh, while I recognize that that has its own connotation, uh, to it, cause there's a
00:13:26.180 group out there and, and, uh, doing some different things that I disagree with. Uh, I, I do agree
00:13:32.040 from a standpoint of, we need to be all about the abolition of abortion.
00:13:37.220 And that means not just legislatively, but also in creating a culture of life to make,
00:13:43.680 I've heard this phrase before, and I really like it, making abortion unthinkable or as
00:13:48.620 unthinkable as possible. There's always going to be evil in the world. There's always going to be
00:13:53.020 people that insist upon killing their child for whatever desperate, you know, reason they feel
00:13:58.400 like they have, that's always going to exist. No law can outlaw all kinds or every single kind of
00:14:06.800 evil, but legislatively, and also in what you're doing and what a lot of people are doing is making
00:14:12.240 sure these women are cared for. I think the biggest myth that we hear from pro-choicers is that people
00:14:17.900 who don't like abortion are only pro what they call forced birth, that we're only for, uh, birthing the
00:14:25.560 child. And then we want to abandon the child. And they usually say that's because we don't agree
00:14:32.880 with their government programs or we don't agree with all the stuff that, that they believe the
00:14:38.320 government should be doing. So we must not really be pro-life. Um, I think I know what you're going
00:14:43.080 to say, but what do you say in response to that? Well, one that there's never justified reason to
00:14:49.360 end the life of a child, first of all, uh, never justified reason. Uh, but more times than not,
00:14:55.620 I mean, the people that I know who care the most in those instances and who are willing to care are
00:15:01.440 not folks advocating for, for the death of a child in the womb. Uh, it's those of us who are believers
00:15:07.460 who are advocating for life, who are willing to help, uh, who are reaching out and trying to do
00:15:13.580 more than, you know, than, than others, uh, to see, uh, a child taken care of. One of the things
00:15:19.640 that's been interesting to me as well, uh, in addition to, to, to the rhetoric is the, the lack
00:15:25.660 of, uh, of, of the arguments that are being made from the other side. I mean, they, they just,
00:15:32.320 they have no substance to them whatsoever. They, they are either ad hominem attacks or genetic fallacies,
00:15:38.320 rather than anything substantive that really anchor our position. Like if I'm going to argue
00:15:45.600 with someone, I'm going to at least want to make sure that I'm, I'm properly categorizing what they
00:15:50.920 believe. I'm properly articulating what they believe. And none of them understand that at the
00:15:55.200 end of the day, the argument that we're, that we're positing is this is a human life and, and we
00:16:01.620 need to treat the human life in the womb in the same way that we would treat a human life at any other
00:16:06.120 stage of development. No one seems to get that on the other side. And so they're coming up. And I
00:16:11.380 know you saw that the argument about these white men who advocated this position. I wondered your
00:16:17.320 thoughts about that as well. Yeah. Well, neither of us are white men and we are, we are having this
00:16:23.540 conversation and I think it's just a way you said so many good things there. And one of the things that
00:16:29.600 I just wonder, and you don't want to assume always bad motives on the other, on the, on the side,
00:16:36.120 of the people that you are disagreeing with. It's I think particularly hard to do that with
00:16:40.520 abortion just because the other side, the reality that they're advocating for, whether they know it
00:16:45.140 or not is so grotesque and is so black and white, uh, that it's really difficult not to assume bad
00:16:51.740 motives. But even if we were to give the benefit of the doubt to most people, I think there are a lot
00:16:56.140 of people on the pro-choice side that do realize the argument that we're making, that do understand the
00:17:01.520 argument that we're making, but, but they know that if they do the way that you said, if they do say,
00:17:08.380 I understand what you're saying, Virgil or Allie, that this is a human being, that this is just an
00:17:13.660 early stage of development, but I still think it's okay to kill a human being. That makes their
00:17:19.880 argument sound really bad. And they know that that is very brutal. And most of them, what they're just
00:17:27.660 not willing to verbalize that because it hurts their conscience too much, which should tell you
00:17:33.480 something about the human heart. But I think it makes them feel better. It puts a balm on their
00:17:39.100 guilt or shame to say, well, this is not a human being. This is not a person. Um, it just reminds me
00:17:45.780 the kind of dehumanizing language that we hear from them to justify their arguments. It reminds me so much
00:17:52.840 of the arguments made for slavery. And I wonder if you agree with that since you call yourself an
00:17:58.080 abolitionist. Absolutely. I mean, the, the, the same arguments that are being posited today, uh,
00:18:04.660 are the same ones that were, that were posited in during the time of slavery. It's the devaluing of,
00:18:09.520 of a human being who's created in God's image. Uh, that the, the, the arguments today are my body,
00:18:15.100 my choice. Uh, the arguments back then were, were my slave, my property. Um, and so those are the same,
00:18:21.180 those are the same arguments that, that are, that were being posited then that are being posited now.
00:18:26.260 And the, the, the, the interesting thing is, like you said, they, they recognize that in the public
00:18:32.580 arena, in, in social media, in, in media in particular, their arguments sound very, very harsh.
00:18:40.040 They, and, and they recognize those don't hit the ear very well. Uh, but what's interesting,
00:18:45.100 Ali is at the abortion clinic, these women are making those arguments. Uh, these women
00:18:51.040 walking into these abortion clinics, I was there this past mother's day weekend.
00:18:55.260 They don't care. They recognize this is a human life. I'm calling out to them and letting them
00:19:00.580 know, Hey, we're here to help you. We're here because we care about you. You don't have to
00:19:04.220 end the life of your child. You know, I know you're doing this to cover, uh, perhaps cover sin in,
00:19:09.300 in, in, in an area of your life, but man, Christ died for your sins. There's no reason for that.
00:19:14.120 There's, we're here to help you. We love you. These women flip me off. They'll,
00:19:18.160 they'll tell me they know it's a human being and walk right into the abortion clinic. And so
00:19:22.060 it's, it's a different thing at the, at the point of, uh, you know, where, where rubber meets the
00:19:27.200 road, so to speak. But I, I recognize that, you know, in the, in the, you know, in the area of
00:19:31.760 social media and the area of media in general, uh, those arguments don't play well, but they do,
00:19:36.340 they do coincide with the same arguments that were being had during the time of slavery.
00:19:40.620 And what you obviously realized just from that short story that you just told me and what I
00:19:47.020 think a lot of Christians maybe sometimes forget or don't want to think about because it's just
00:19:52.240 another layer of discomfort. But the answer to this essentially and ultimately is the gospel of
00:19:58.940 Jesus Christ. Because you, you mentioned that these women, these women get very angry when you
00:20:04.820 mention sin or Jesus or what they're doing. And you just look at either, uh, Romans one,
00:20:11.340 or you look at Ephesians four that says they are darkened in their understanding. Why? Because they
00:20:16.140 don't know God. It says they are, uh, callous. They are, uh, ignorant in their hardness of heart.
00:20:22.600 And when I think about so many people that, uh, are adamantly pro abortion or pro what they call
00:20:29.480 pro choice, it, it, uh, Ephesians four rings, uh, so true that it is callousness, it's ignorance,
00:20:36.980 it's darkness, it's a hardness of heart. And what can soften all of those things? Only Jesus Christ.
00:20:44.100 That is it. And I think a lot of Christians, um, even well-intentioned Christians, they don't
00:20:51.680 want to believe that that is the ultimate answer because again, sharing the gospel for a lot of people
00:20:56.460 feels very awkward. Absolutely. Absolutely. I think I, one, you're, you're spot on with that too.
00:21:02.380 I think we're going to come face to face with that. If indeed, uh, the, the, the Roe v. Wade decision,
00:21:07.900 you know, goes the wrong way. Let's say this goes to the Supreme court, um, and, and, and, you know,
00:21:13.220 Roe v. Wade's not turned around. Uh, I know that there'll be people continuing to, to, to advocate
00:21:18.040 for that. I think there, I think a lot of Christians will be disheartened, uh, by that. But at the end of
00:21:22.440 the day, I think you, you landed spot on it, uh, which is the other day I was listening to,
00:21:26.980 to one of your relatable, uh, podcasts where, where you quoted from Romans one 18, you walked
00:21:32.080 us through 28 through 32. And you talked about all the things that are in the heart of, of mankind
00:21:37.080 and that we not only agree with those things, we give hearty approval to those that do. And I think
00:21:41.680 when, when you look at that reality in, even in the life of, of believers, where we've allowed some
00:21:47.160 issues around this abortion to cloud our mind rather than holding to a biblical worldview,
00:21:51.940 there, there will be a cost. And ultimately at the end of the day, we've got to get back to the
00:21:57.380 proclamation of the gospel at the end of the day, the proclamation of the gospel that changes the
00:22:02.260 hearts of the human condition is what will, what will turn this around. Right. One thing that I did
00:22:07.660 want to get your insight on, I think I've heard you talk about this, uh, before, but how abortion,
00:22:13.100 this is switching gears just a little bit, but how abortion disproportionately, uh, affects
00:22:17.800 impoverished communities, minority communities, and in particular, the black community and how
00:22:23.280 that point seems to be completely ignored by the side that is so quick in every other situation to
00:22:30.100 call out racism. Right. Right. Well, I think between you and I, you being a female, me being a black male,
00:22:35.960 we can put our intersectionality points together and maybe speak with a little bit of authority on this,
00:22:41.400 on this particular issue. And that is the reality that, that when I'm at the abortion clinic,
00:22:46.760 one of the things that I think is interesting or surprising, at least for, for women who are
00:22:50.960 driving in disproportionately in Nebraska, where I'm from, uh, blacks represent 6% of the population,
00:22:57.060 but represent about 28% of abortions that are taking place, uh, in the state disproportionately
00:23:04.060 affecting us. And in other areas, it's even worse. Uh, you know, you, you, you've, uh, I've heard you
00:23:08.920 talk about the fact that in New York, uh, that there, there are more, more black babies who are
00:23:13.820 murdered in the womb than are actually born. We know that statistic well, but it disproportionately
00:23:18.880 affects black communities. And if, if those who, who really believe that black lives do matter,
00:23:24.540 they would find themselves on the front lines at abortion clinics to ensure that the black genocide
00:23:29.080 that is taking place stops immediately. And I think women who come to the abortion clinic are often
00:23:35.540 shocked or surprised to see a black male there at the clinic. And, and so I, I do feel at times that
00:23:42.340 I have an extra opportunity to share with them. Hey, black lives do matter. If you want to use
00:23:46.520 that language, if you want to use that mantra from your secular worldview, if black lives matter,
00:23:51.040 they should matter today and it should keep you from aborting your child. And, uh, and every time
00:23:56.420 they hear that mantra, I want them to remember if they go through with that abortion on that day,
00:24:00.460 they weren't thinking that that black life mattered much. Now there's definitely forgiveness,
00:24:04.720 uh, through Jesus Christ and by way of repentance of sin and placing faithful faith in him.
00:24:11.040 Uh, but, but I want them to, to recognize that, acknowledge that, and to keep them from walking
00:24:16.360 into the evil, uh, that they're about to do as they murder their child in the womb.
00:24:20.560 Well, I think that this fight is just beginning, um, for unborn lives. And if we think that if we
00:24:31.700 think I, and I do agree that in some ways the pro-life cause has gained a lot of ground and we have
00:24:37.540 done wonderful things or the abolitionist cause against abortion has done wonderful things and
00:24:43.320 God has given us so much grace and so much power and so much discernment in this, but it is also
00:24:51.080 easy to look at the arguments from the other side, to look at the things going on in particular states
00:24:56.200 like New York and be scared and be disheartened. And just for me, there's no other issue that makes
00:25:03.580 me just want to pull my hair out and say, what, how, how the heck can people have this mentality
00:25:10.460 and where in the world are we going? So if you could just give some advice, some encouragement
00:25:17.620 to people who they might be happy about the Georgia and Alabama legislation, but they're feeling
00:25:23.840 scared, nervous, confused, helpless, out of control. Um, they want to do something for unborn
00:25:30.580 babies and women. They don't know what, and they don't know if anything is going to be fruitful.
00:25:34.540 Can you just give some, a charge to them maybe? Yeah. Yeah. That what you said reminds me of when
00:25:40.260 I first kind of got into this about six or seven years ago, uh, as the issue began to get real to me
00:25:47.520 and I felt like I've got to do something, but had no idea what to do. Um, man, I began to seek out
00:25:54.500 people who, who knew more than I did about the issue, who understood the issue well, and, and gave
00:26:00.540 examples of how to, how to go about fighting, uh, this particular issue, whether that means, uh,
00:26:05.740 finding someone who's at an abortion clinic, doing a sidewalk ministry, whether that's at, at an
00:26:10.480 advocacy clinic, uh, where you could spend time there with those folks, whether it's, whether it's
00:26:16.120 praying. Oftentimes I'll, I'll post on Facebook when I'm headed out to the abortion clinic and I'll just
00:26:20.220 ask people to pray for me. And, and, uh, because again, I recognize that in those spaces and places
00:26:27.260 at the end of the day, and this is the one thing that all of us need to remember, and that is God
00:26:32.140 is sovereign. And that if, if he wanted to wipe things out tomorrow, he would indeed do it. And we
00:26:38.440 pray earnestly, uh, for him to do just that. In the meantime, we have to be faithful to, to telling
00:26:45.560 truth to sharing that truth and love and operating from a standpoint of the absolute proclamation of
00:26:51.580 the gospel, which is what, what, what, what's required, uh, to see hearts changed and transformed
00:26:56.640 and folks in, uh, receive repentance, uh, faith in Christ and, and follow him all the days of their
00:27:02.460 life. Amen. Thank you so much for all of your insight and thank you for what you do and for leading
00:27:08.720 by example. And I know that you don't take credit for any of it and that it's all the Holy Spirit
00:27:14.600 through you, but thank you anyway, uh, for that. And of course, thank the Lord for what
00:27:20.700 he's doing through you and what he's doing through that ministry and how many lives have
00:27:25.080 been changed for generations to come. So I just, I just want you to know that you are
00:27:29.860 appreciated. Oh, thank you for having me. So appreciated a bunch. Appreciate you, uh, with
00:27:35.920 Daryl and myself with just thinking, and we definitely want to wish you all the best as
00:27:40.900 you get ready to have a brand new baby. We'll definitely be praying for you and looking forward
00:27:45.520 to when you, I know you're going to take a little bit of a hiatus break. Uh, we'll definitely miss
00:27:49.740 you and look forward to when you get back. We, uh, we just know that we watch you follow you and
00:27:54.000 our big fans. Okay. Thank you so much. And if you will just tell everyone real fast, if you'll just
00:27:58.940 tell everyone where they can find a just thinking or where they can find you, if you want them to follow
00:28:03.860 you on social media or wherever you want to direct them. Well, you can, you can catch me on
00:28:09.100 Twitter, Virgil W L K R. So Virgil spelled V I R G I L W L K R Omaha, which is kind of my moniker on
00:28:17.220 the just thinking, uh, podcast. Uh, you can find just thinking wherever you, wherever you download
00:28:21.860 your podcasts on, on Apple or iTunes and our Android. And so, yeah, I would love to connect with
00:28:27.320 you. Love to love to check us out at just thinking. Uh, and I definitely appreciate, uh, uh, have it,
00:28:32.400 having me on Ali. Thank you so much, Virgil. I appreciate it. I hope you guys enjoyed that
00:28:38.260 conversation. Uh, he is such a good example for all of us just to be bold in our faith.
00:28:44.080 A lot of times, uh, I'm probably guilty of this as well. When I am contending with the other side,
00:28:50.500 forgetting that the, uh, essential problem, uh, with those who think that unborn life is expendable
00:28:58.480 is that they don't know God is that they don't know Jesus Christ. And that is the capacity for
00:29:04.040 all of us. Now there are people who don't know God who are pro-life, but even that is, uh, wisdom
00:29:09.800 and grace from God that they understand that life inside the womb is made in the image of God. But as
00:29:16.040 Christians, we know that for sure. We are convicted by that in our souls and in our hearts. There is no
00:29:22.140 way to get around that. If we are children of God, we recognize the value of vulnerable life and we
00:29:28.740 care about life, uh, not just inside the womb, but we also care about these mothers. And it is
00:29:34.060 our responsibility to do something, uh, for life that starts at conception and also these mothers who
00:29:40.700 find themselves in crisis situations, but to create an entire culture of life to make them feel
00:29:45.880 helped and cared for. That is part of what it means. That's an example of what it means to be the
00:29:51.140 hands and feet of Jesus. I'm thankful for, uh, for Virgil. He certainly challenged me. I hope you feel
00:29:56.680 that way as well. And I hope you feel enlightened and encouraged by that conversation. I hope you guys
00:30:01.400 have an awesome weekend and I will see you on Monday for Theology Mondays.