Culture Friday: Grace and grit

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Friday the 30th of May.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher in Northwest Iowa, the final day of the 2025 World Journalism Institute collegiate course hosted by Dordt University.

Well, nothing says “almost done” like smoke in your hair and a song in the air, students gathered ’round the bonfire at the end of the day as they close in on their final projects.

Hey, it’s been a great couple of weeks—as is typical. And I’ve said this before I always come away from WJI feeling optimistic, meeting smart, young people who sincerely want to honor the Lord in their work.

And … speaking of work … I do want to thank you for supporting our work during this New Donor Drive. It’s the last day for WJI and the last day of the New Donor Drive.

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EICHER: wng.org/newdonor, and thank you for making trustworthy, biblically grounded journalism possible.

Well, it’s Culture Friday, student edition, round two.

John Stonestreet joins us now. John, of course, is president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. Good morning to you.

JOHN STONESTREET: Good morning!

EICHER: Let’s get right to the questions, John, we’ve got a lot!

CLAIRE PERKINS: Hi, Mr. Stonestreet. I’m Claire Perkins. I’m from East Tennessee State University, and I was wondering how I should biblically approach the conflict between the abolitionist movement and the pro life movement. On my campus, there is a pretty harsh conflict between the two groups, and as vice president of the students for life group, I’m struggling to handle that conflict with both grace and truth as these are fellow believers.

STONESTREET: What a great question. And thanks for your leadership of that wonderful group. The students for life organization is just one of the bright spots for a lot of us looking at young people, and all of us old people look at young people and think they're the ones that are ruining the world, but it really was us, and you guys have a lot of hope. So let me just say that.

EICHER: No kidding, guilty. Guilty, yeah.

STONESTREET: Exactly! But somebody did it to us first, I guess, Nick. But listen, this is a tragic conflict, and it's something that is happening across the pro life movement, where there is a lot of division, which is really a shame, because we really need all hands on deck. Everyone shares the same goal, which is the abolition of abortion, saving as many lives as possible, changing hearts and minds is incredibly important work, doing it with people who do not have the ethical, moral or worldview framework to think like you do about life requires that sometimes we shock, sometimes we argue, always we love and love in particular ways, and sometimes we show compassion. And I think that the “to a hammer, everything looks like a nail,” and that kind of describes some activist on these movements where they want everyone to do it exactly like they are. Let me just tell you right now, be in it for the cause. Don't be in it to be right against this other group. Be in it for the cause. The cause of life is worth standing for. And you keep your focus the way that Nehemiah and those who are working on the wall kept their focus against the critics. It's like, you can call me dumb, you can call me an idiot all you want, you know, but I've got important work to do, so I'm going to keep doing this work, and that work is going to bear fruit. I'll give you an example of this that seemed very innocuous in the history of the pro life movement for years, but has proven to have one of the most significant impacts in saving actual lives. You see, what happened was when Roe v Wade was pushed forward, the argument was often like, we have to have abortion, because who's going to take care of these women and children? And what happened in the wake of Roe v Wade was that in every town in America, people stood up and said, Yeah, I'll take care of these women. I'll take care of these children. And they organized and they opened places where these people can come. Now, were laws passed because they showed up? No. Would laws have been passed if they hadn't shown up? No. See, that's the thing. Is that we need all hands on deck, hitting it at every level that we can. And so stay at the work, do the right thing, smile and don't respond to the criticism.

AUBREY PAGE: Hi, John. My name is Jane Aubrey Page. I’m a student at Taylor University, and I had a conversation with a friend just about her wanting to know the Lord. She has the desire, but she doesn’t know how to muster that desire within herself, and she doesn’t think she can. Yet she feels like the Lord isn’t reaching back out to her, if that makes sense. So what would you tell someone who is trying to get to know God by reading scripture and praying but doesn’t feel like he’s revealing himself to that person? What would you say?

STONESTREET: Yeah, it's really hard when these kind of questions come. I always wish there was a one line. Was a one line. If you say this, it'll change their hearts and minds, but that's not how this sort of thing work. But I will point out something, that this person is only expecting the Lord to speak to her. I guess I'm assuming, in some kind of voice or something, through prayer and through Bible reading, what we know is that God has spoken to her in the Bible. It's right there. In other words, the Bible itself is the word of God. It's not a vehicle for the Word of God, like the mid 20th century Neo liberals taught, it actually is the word of God. So when Proverbs says, “A soft answer turns away wrath.” That's God speaking to her, telling her a soft answer turns away wrath. When John says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever can believe,” God is saying that if she believes, she will have eternal life. And I'll also point out that that same Bible, which is God's word, actually God's language to her, to your friend, is also saying that the heavens declare the glory of God. It's more like a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who said the earth is crammed full of heaven, and every bush is on fire with God, but only those who look will take off their shoes. Is, in other words, God's talking all the time, and it has to do with whether we are willing to hear what he has said, instead of forcing what we think he should have said or how he should have said it.

EICHER: So this one is on the same theme, John.

ISRAEL GOLE: My name is Israel Gole, and I go to Baldwin Wallace University. I know a philosophy professor who seems open to Christ, but his worldly philosophy is keeping him from believing. I have given him some Christian philosophical arguments, and he recognizes that some of them, you know, they have some weight to them, but he’s still there’s something in his heart or in his mind that’s keeping him from believing. And I’m wondering, is more Christian philosophical arguments? Is that the way to go, or is there another way to work around his mental blockade and continue to witness to him?

STONESTREET: Well, I think the answer is yes. It's not one thing. It's all of those things. And good for you for being willing to talk and to have those conversations, and you're going to find yourself probably in moments over your kind of philosophical head, and your willingness to acknowledge that and to say, you know, let me go study. It's going to make you better. It's going to make you sharper. It's going to introduce you to a wonderful richness of Christian thought. The whole thing reminds me of C.S. Lewis, you know, who had become intellectually convinced for a while, but then when he talks about his conversion, talks about like, oh, this means an awful lot like, this requires me to give up this and to stop doing this. And you might remember that Lewis called himself the grumpiest convert in all of Britain because he knew what it required of him, and that's what Romans one says. So you're never dealing with just a brain that cannot embrace the arguments for God, you're dealing with a heart and a mind, a life, a set of relationships that have been impacted by selfishness and sin and so on, and those things put up barriers that are pretty significant. So the answer is, you need to do all those things. You need to show up. You need to be willing to hear and listen. There are some wonderful philosophical things you can appeal to. For example, some of the stories of guys like Lewis, I think of Anthony flew, who didn't fully convert before he died. But his last book is as the most prominent atheist philosopher of the 20th century, who his last book was called, there is a God. And he let N. T. Wright write the Epilog to his book about the evidence for the resurrection. And the evidence for the resurrection is not the same as the traditional kind of proofs for God's existence, but it's a really interesting thing, because you have to reckon with if you take things at face value, God has left himself a very strong case that he raised Jesus from the dead, and that requires a response, and that's what you need to understand. Embracing Christ is not just a matter of assent to a particular set of beliefs. It is a surrender. And you know another person you might look at as a high profile conversion who talks a little bit about this, although it's brand new, is Ayaan Hirsi, Ali, a political philosopher, but she talks about that surrender aspect being a part of this as well. So God bless you and sharing Christ with your prop, that's really wonderful stuff.

JACOB VANDER WEIDE: Hi, John. My name is Jacob Vander Weide, and I’m from Montreat College. Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about the Christian view on euthanasia. The Bible seems to have a good degree of clarity on it. I was wondering how we can articulate our opinions on euthanasia with people who might disagree with us in a way that is respectful and honors God.

STONESTREET: Yeah, listen, I think that there are very clear statements about human dignity, and the implications of those have been brought out in theology. So I think you're right on that. But remember, if something is true, it aligns with the way the world is. And I think that there are a number of things that can be pointed to, at least in terms of preventing this policy from moving forward. And I think your best case right now is to point to North Canada instituted medical assistance in dying, and all the slippery slope stuff we talked about with euthanasia when it comes to Belgium and Netherlands, apparently Canada, slope is straight up and down and is greased with Crisco. Because it has been unbelievable how quickly the so called right to die becomes the so called duty to die, and the expectation to die and the expectation to participate in someone else's death. So what you're seeing there is a whole kind of collapse of freedom, and that collapse happens because these words, and this is another thing I think we can point to. You can point to that as a real life case study, and then point to what's behind it. What do these words mean? What is the right to die? What is unworthy life? How is that different than what the Nazis talked about in terms of unworthy eaters or life, unworthy of life, as they put it, if we sanitize it, does that make it any different? And how is it that this grants additional freedom without putting the financial pressure on people? That's what you're also seeing too an incredible amount of financial pressure. And by the way, is it right to do. Do this at a time of historic mental complications, mental illnesses, comorbidities. In other words, we're not talking about people who are in the right state of mind to begin with, a lot of times. And so I think we need to point out all of those things, and at the very least on a policy level, they equal pause. Interestingly enough, I think you haven't seen the big push in the United States towards doctor-assisted suicide or euthanasia since Canada. And I think it's because we're worried we're getting on that same path, because we will.

JOHNNY KNIGHT: Hey, John. My name is Johnny Knight. I recently graduated from Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I’m currently living in Twin Cities, Minnesota, and my question is, how do we live out Paul’s statement that he has become all things to all people, in order that we might save some? I live in a very liberal, immoral city with lots of people living non-Christian immoral lives. How do I become all things to them in order to save them without affirming what they’re doing?

STONESTREET: Well, that is the challenge of living in a pagan society. So welcome to the club. You know, Johnny, this is kind of where all Christians have found themselves to various degrees. And let me hit a couple things. Number one is be aware of your own proclivities to sin. I say that because we have, as Chuck Olson said, an infinite capacity to self rationalize. In other words, we'll use, I want to be a minister to others as an excuse to indulge the temptations we kept protected and hidden on the side, the Puritan writers talked about this. So just know that we're going to be highly susceptible to use that as an excuse to sin. That's Romans one. But the second thing I think we can do is look back on church history, and I will say this, that anytime that the church has found itself in a tough pagan cultural context, which has been most of the time, it's always seemed to lead to the protection and defense of children, I think that's where we're at now. That's hard. Like all things to all men, what does that mean? We should never sacrifice individuals on the altar of “humanity or culture,” and the unique value of every single life, particularly children, means we have to be all things for them so that they're not victimized by a culture that will dehumanize them either through making them hate who they are, lead them to mutilation in the name of kind of “medical care” or something like that. So I think it's going to always be the protection of children, and I think that's the moment we're in. I think we see that across the board. The final thing I'll say is, stand for truth and don't get as Alexander Solzhenitsyn said, “Don't participate in lies.” So a clear line between being all things to all men and doing it in a way that crosses the other clear instructions that Scripture gives is don't participate in lies. You know, doesn't mean you have to fight every fight. Doesn't mean you have to protest every protest, but don't participate in lies, lies about who people are, lies about what's right and wrong, lies about the categories of reality. So those are three things I think, that we can maybe take and apply to this.

EICHER: Excellent, John, that was terrific, and I'm so grateful to you for taking a pause from your national conference to answer these questions. So from one conference to a journalism institute, you've been a busy man, so I appreciate your making time for the students, and I know they do too.

John Stonestreet, president of the Colson center and host of the Breakpoint podcast, thanks again, John.

STONESTREET: Well, thank you. These were great questions.

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