The World and Everything in It: December 9, 2022

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

Today on Culture Friday: Kanye West, Lorie Smith, and Mr. Rogers

NICK EICHER, HOST: And the common thread. John Stonestreet ahead today on Culture Friday.

Plus, Collin Garbarino reviews a Christmas story sequel

And the Music of Advent from around the world. This week: Australia.

BROWN: It’s Friday, December 9th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

BROWN: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Defense bill » Lawmakers in the House have voted to end the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for members of the U.S. military.

AUDIO: On this vote, the years are 350, the nays are 80. The resolution is agreed to.

The measure was part of a national defense bill worth nearly $860 billion.

To win bipartisan support for the bill, Democrats agreed to GOP demands to scrap the military mandate.

More than 8,000 active-duty service members were discharged for refusing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

The White House disagreed with the move. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby:

KIRBY: Repealing the vaccine mandate is a mistake.

But President Biden is expected to sign the defense bill into law.

“Respect for Marriage” Act to president’s desk » Hours earlier, the House okayed a much more controversial bill, which was already okayed by the Senate.

PELOSI: Today, Congress sends the Respect for Marriage Act to the president’s desk.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the 258-to-169 vote a “glorious triumph.”

The bill erases from federal law the traditional definition of marriage and repeals the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act which defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

It does contain some religious-liberty protections, but critics say they don’t go nearly far enough. GOP Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler:

HARTZLER: This bill only serves to further demonize biblical values by establishing a private right of action against organizations who believe in natural marriage, opening the floodgates for predatory lawsuits against people of faith.

President Biden released a statement Thursday praising Congress for passing the bill. 

Colorado shooter » Court documents unsealed from Colorado Thursday reveal that the alleged gunman in a mass shooting at a nightclub was arrested in June of last year. Anderson Lee Aldrich was accused of making a bomb threat, but the case was dismissed.

Colorado prosecutor Michael Allen:

ALLEN: His mother at that hearing describes him as loving and passionate. His grandmother described him as a sweet young man and that he did not deserve to be in jail.

Allen said the dismissal of that case also helps to explain why Aldrich wasn’t barred from buying a gun under the state’s red flag law.

Five people died in the shooting last month.

Iran executes protester » Iran said Thursday it executed a person arrested during nationwide protests. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: Officials in Tehran said they put to death a man convicted for a crime allegedly committed during a protest. It marks the first known execution of a protester since recent demonstrations began.

The demonstrations started in mid-September as an outcry against the Iranian morality police. But they’ve expanded into one of the most serious challenges to Iran's Islamic regime since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Activists warn that others could also be put to death in the near future, saying that at least a dozen people so far have received death sentences over their involvement in the protests.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Griner release » WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner will be home for Christmas.

Russia released her Thursday in a prisoner swap for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was jailed in the United States.

But another American, Paul Whelan, remains behind bars in Russia.

The White House insisted that US officials did not choose Griner over Whelan. Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre.

PIERRE: Unfortunately, the choice became to either bring Brittany home or no one. As the president said this morning, he will never stop working to secure Paul’s release and he will not give up.

Whelan is a former Marine. US officials say Moscow appears more reluctant to release him.

Israel » Incoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is asking for more time to form a new ruling government. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has that story.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: Netanyahu has requested a two-week extension to give political partners more time to fill leadership roles.

But Netanyahu is moving closer to forming a government. He reached a deal Thursday with an ultra-Orthodox party after making agreements with three other far-right factions.

A new government coalition could bring an end to years of instability, which saw five elections in just four year’s time.

For WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead: Culture Friday.

Plus, a nostalgic Christmas sequel.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s the 9th day of December, 2022.

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

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. It’s Culture Friday!

Joining us now is John Stonestreet, president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast.

Morning, John.

JOHN STONESTREET, GUEST: Good morning.

EICHER: You know, I hate to pile on the Kanye West story, because you feel like you’re watching a person melting down in public. When Alex Jones is the voice of reason, you know it’s going to be a difficult day. But I want to ask you to talk about how we Christians tend to glom on to celebrity conversions and I have to confess to having, frankly, enjoyed the Kanye West album Jesus is King. We reviewed it favorably in WORLD and all that. But my question for you is, is there a better way to hold celebrities at more of an arm’s length? I think of Elon Musk, frankly, or Jordan Peterson. I find myself rooting for these guys and appreciating what they do. But you’re kind of waiting for the public implosion, because that’s exactly what it would be.

STONESTREET: Well, it would be… Maybe it’s a little unfair to put Kanye West into the same category as Elon Musk and Jordan Peterson. We’re talking about dramatically different bases for being famous between these individuals, but your point is well taken. What is similar with all three is that all of them are at some level propped up; the church tends to do this because we want to claim people that are famous. And I think what that reflects is that our churches are shaped by a culture of celebrity more than by biblical explanations and ideals. It reflects our condition as fallen image bearers.

We also should be wickedly clear about the human condition, which is to say we must be clear that the human condition is wicked. We should be absolutely clear that—no matter how many followers one has on Twitter or Instagram, no matter how many people buy their albums or watch their movies—the heart of man is sinful above all things and desperately wicked beyond our ability to comprehend. And this condition is not just true of that super popular person over there who happened to do something really cool. It’s also true about you and me.

And another thing we can look to—even if you don’t kind of get into the depths of the theology of the human condition to the extent of folks like Cornelius Plantinga who wrote his book about sin—is how Biblical celebrities are discussed. And what I mean by that is that the Bible is full of famous people—people that were really, really famous in their day. Moses, and Samson, and David, and Abraham, and Solomon. Solomon was super famous; he was even famous in Sheba, right? I mean, he was a famous guy the same as celebrities in the modern world. What all of these celebrities have in common is that shared human condition, and if that same condition is present in all of the heroes of the Bible, then it’s certainly part of the rest of us. This understanding hopefully pulls us right back to the foot of the cross to ask for grace and mercy, and it compels us to pray for grace and mercy for these folks as well.

I think it was Blaise Pascal—and this is John Stonestreet’s 21st century English translation of the French there—who talked about humans as the glory in the garbage of the universe. And it is something about the Christian worldview of this statement that just nails the inherent contradiction of the human condition. If you’re an atheist, you just think humans are animals. If you’re a new-ager, like Oprah, you think us humans are divine in our own right, that we’re gods absent God. What Christianity says is that we are made in the image of God, but we have a tendency to act like animals. That’s the one that gets it right.

EICHER: The Supreme Court this week took up the case of Lorie Smith, the Christian web designer. Our legal reporters here at WORLD seemed to think this is going to be a big win for the First Amendment, and what it protects: free speech and freedom of religion. Suppose that’s the outcome: Do you think that’ll settle it and we’ll all live happily ever after? Or is there a potential unintended cultural consequence that you could imagine?

STONESTREET: That’s the darn thing about unintended cultural consequences: They’re all so unforeseen, aren’t they?

And here we are. It’s hard to imagine, you know, where all this is going. I don’t think there’s any question. I mean, there’s always a question I guess. It’s dangerous—as I think Yogi Berra said—to make predictions, especially about the future. That said, I think pretty much people assume that Lori Smith is going to win. The question is what the court will be wanting to do? How broad is this ruling going to be? Is it going to be something that deals with speech? Or is it really going to extend to freedom of religion? There’s enough here to make this just about speech and specifically the problem of compelled speech, nothing else.

The court has been really clear about compelled speech. I think that most of the justices realize that. Most of those remaining justices who don’t realize or respect this consensus seem to be trying to figure out ways to convince everybody else that it wasn’t speech, but that argument has already been decided in other cases. If something does happen, there’s sure going to be a lot of questions. It’s not clear if a website is speech. What does that mean about a cake artist? What does that mean about a florist? Or what about somebody else who provides services and participates, and by the manner of participating then has to make some statement of endorsement or non-endorsement? You know, how fascinating was it that the same week that the Lori Smith’s case was tried at the Supreme Court, that also in Virginia, the Virginia Family Foundation was refused service at a restaurant, right? Their reservation was canceled because they were too conservative and because they made LGBTQ customers feel endangered; now they were turned out because of who they were.

There was no message being said. And you know what I gotta tell you: I think it’s horrible. I think it’s going to hurt their business. Virginia Cobb is a friend of mine. She runs that organization and does a tremendous job. She’s super nice. She has convictions. And I think the way she’s handling it so far is just absolutely fantastic.

A restaurant has a right to choose who they serve. I don’t think it’s an issue of public accommodation despite still thinking personally that the owner mistreated Virginia. That’s just another example of something that’s going to happen. We already have far more cases of people choosing not to serve Christians or other people who have strong beliefs about sexuality and marriage than the other way around. More Christians have been cancelled for their beliefs than have been cancelled by Christianity. If the issue weren’t so consequential, it’d be super interesting to make a prediction and see what comes true. I don’t know.

BROWN: John, can we do a little show and tell? Let’s start with something you posted the other day, really needs no introduction…

“Boys are boys from the beginning. Girls are girls right from the start. Everybody’s fancy. Everybody’s fine. Your body’s fancy and so is mine.”

Of course, that’s a clip of Mr. Rogers singing a song he wrote in 1967, Everybody’s Fancy, a song that unapologetically celebrates the differences between boys and girls.

Stay with me here. This is Addy, an American Girl doll. She belonged to one of my daughters—a popular collection of dolls, sort of a rite of passage for girls.

The same company that produces the American Girl dolls has also published a book that gives gender changing tips.

Here’s a quick excerpt: “If you haven’t gone through puberty yet, the doctor might offer medicine to delay your body’s changes, giving you more time to think about your gender identity.”

55 years ago we would have never imagined anyone suggesting puberty blockers as a rite of passage.. And yet here we are. How optimistic are you about the next 50 years?

STONESTREET: Optimism is such a tough word because it implies things are going to work out. I think we're going to see a reckoning on this issue. But I think it's going to come through the suffering of an awful lot of children who were told things that aren't true and were victimized by adults who in the end were just really trying to justify their own wishes. By the way, I think it's important too to mark something, a moment in time between this Mr. Rogers song in 1967 and the American Girl dolls and Blue's Clues and all the other expressions today. And that's Barney. And I just want to make a public case that Mr. Rogers was way better than Barney the Dinosaur. Because Barney the Dinosaur said you're special. And what he meant by that was this kind of emotional, happy-clappy you're special you go back to this song in 1967, Everybody's Fancy by Mr. Rogers. And what you have here is Mr. Rogers, a Presbyterian minister, let's remember this, making a compelling and powerful case against Gnosticism. He not only says boys are boys and girls are girls, he talks about the body as being an important part of what makes someone special. Barney was a Gnostic. Barney was just talking about how you feel special, and I feel special, and I feel you're special, as if there weren't any physical realities. So in between a world in which Mr. Rogers could articulate a creation theology of the human body and of maleness and femaleness in a profoundly important and compelling sort of way and the day of today, we're we're actually advocating child abuse in the name of medical and psychological and chemical interventions. You have to have this this mid-ground, this ground that Carl Truman talked about in The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self and Strange New World, in which you basically denigrate the physical body, you make it completely irrelevant to the question of human identity, and you turn all identity factors inward. And once they're turned inward, they're completely untethered from any external realities and from any creation norms, and actually, from any sort of critique. And suddenly what we feel becomes reality and that is a dangerous place. But here's the thing we actually do live in a world. We do live in a world that is physical, and in which we have physical bodies. And so you can only jump off the roof for so long before you hit the ground. So if you're asking me 50 years from now, there's going to be a lot of hitting the ground and it's going to be awful, and it's going to be painful. Christians are going to be called to do an awful lot of victim care. But all that to say, I stand by my statement: Mr. Rogers was way better than Barney or Blue's Clues.

BROWN: John Stonestreet is president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. Thanks, John!

STONESTREET: Thank you both.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, December 9th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: A Christmas sequel almost 40 years in the making.

Thanks to 24-hour marathon showings on cable channels, watching the movie A Christmas Story has become a holiday tradition for many families.

EICHER: Now a sequel featuring much of the original cast is available on Warner Bros’ streaming service HBO Max. But should you add this movie to your rotation of holiday favorites? Here’s Collin Garbarino.

MUSIC: [We Wish You a Merry Christmas]

COLLIN GARBARINO, REVIEWER: 1983’s A Christmas Story immortalized Ralphie Parker’s quest to acquire a Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle. Now, in the new film A Christmas Story Christmas, we get to see what kind of man that imaginative 9-year-old grew up to be.

RALPH: Oh, life moves fast. One day you’re playing “kick the can” with kids named Flick and Schwartz. And the next thing you know, you’re paying taxes and pulling out gray hairs.

The movie is set in December 1973, 33 years after the original. Peter Billingsley returns as Ralph Parker, now a middle-aged man living in Chicago with his wife Sandy and their two young children, Mark and Julie.

JULIE: Okay, but what if there’s a fire in the fireplace?

MARK: Santa’s fireproof.

JULIE: What if the fireplace is too small?

MARK: He sneaks in a window.

SANDY: Good morning.

JULIE: Good morning, Mom.

MARK: Morning.

JULIE: What if the window is stuck?

MARK: He has WD-40.

JULIE: What if the window’s too small?

MARK: He sucks in his gut.

SANDY: Hey, get your breakfast.

BOTH: Yes, Mom.

It’s been a lean year for the Parkers. Ralph quit work to write the great American novel. He’s given himself a year to become a successful author, but time and money are running out.

SANDY: Well, there’s still one publisher left.

RALPH: Yeah.

SANDY: Hey, you know, I heard that Mark Twain got rejected 34 times before he got published.

JULIE: That’s brutal.

MARK: Yeah.

SANDY: I just mean you’re in good company.

RALPH: Thanks.

SANDY: But he actually said that you could cut it in half?

RALPH: That’s crazy, right?

SANDY: I mean it is… a little wordy.

A week before Christmas, Ralph gets a call with bad news. His father has passed away, so the family heads back to Hohman, Ind., to spend the holiday with Ralph’s mother in his childhood home.

RALPH: It was my old home. With its light, its colors… its smells. But it was forever changed.

Now that “the old man” is gone, Ralph feels it’s up to him to make Christmas special for everyone. But it’s a lot of pressure for Ralph who’s low on both ideas and resources.

Many of the cast members from the original movie return to their roles for this sequel, though Julie Hagerty replaces Melinda Dillon as Ralph’s mom. Part of the fun comes from seeing Flick, Schwartz, and some of the other kids all grown up. The script does a good job showing how the characters both change and stay the same as they mature.

RALPH: Some things never change. Especially Flick and Schwartz.

SCHWARTZ: Yeah, you’ve got an—

BOTH: Ralphie!

RALPH: Am I glad to see you guys.

SCHWARTZ: The cosmopolitan man returns.

FLICK: Yeah, Mr. Big Shot, gracing us small town folk with his presence.

RALPH: Yeah, come on. I could never forget about you guys. Believe me, I tried.

A Christmas Story Christmas offers a kick of nostalgia. The 1970s details will strike a chord with older viewers. We see patterned wallpapers, classic toys, and unreliable vehicles.

SANDY: Well, what do you guys want for Christmas?

JULIE: An Easy-Bake Oven, Hungry Hungry Hippos, and a stuffed kitty cat.

SANDY: Got it. What about you?

MARK: A Flexible Flyer F-23 Yankee Clipper.

SANDY: And what is that?

MARK: A sled.

SANDY: Oh, okay. I’m sorry.

JULIE: What do you want, Dad?

RALPH: Want? A time machine to restart the year. What I need is a new radiator for the Plymouth.

Keen-eyed fans of the 1983 movie will note callbacks to the original in almost every scene. And similar to the original, Ralph’s voiceover provides a running commentary on the episodic narrative. In a satisfying meta-twist, by the end of A Christmas Story Christmas, this sequel starts to feel like a prequel.

But parents should know this PG movie contains some coarse language on par with the original, and characters consume plenty of alcohol.

Revisiting Hohman has a certain charm, but A Christmas Story Christmas isn’t destined to become a classic. There’s no iconic line like, “You’ll shoot your eye out.” The original’s strength was it conveyed the magic of Christmas through the wide-eyed wonder of childhood. This sequel lacks that sparkle though it does have a few bittersweet scenes of surprising pathos that explore the nature of being both a son and a father.

RALPH: When you’re a kid, all you want is the perfect Christmas gift. When you’re a parent, all you want is for Christmas to be perfect. But sometimes, if we’re lucky, the Yuletide stars shine full upon us in a rare moment of truth. And how we react in these moments can forever seal our fate.

It's a story about a parent who’s desperate to give his children a meaningful Christmas, but the true meaning of Christmas never comes up. The movie does, however, suggest that we can find happiness by celebrating life’s small joys. A Red Ryder BB-gun might be nice, but friends and family are at the heart of this Christmas story.

MUSIC: [We Wish You a Merry Christmas]

I’m Collin Garbarino.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, December 9th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Up next: the Music of Advent from around the world. 

Last Friday, we heard musical selections from Germany. If you missed it, we’ve included a link to it in today’s transcript. Visit WNG.org.

While you’re there, you can also find links to our Advent playlists for Spotify and Apple Music—making it possible to listen to the full versions of the cuts we highlight each week.

BROWN: Well, you’re in for a treat today as we head to the Land Down Under for a few Australian Advent songs and the first one is a real toe-tapper. Here’s WORLD correspondent Amy Lewis.

MUSIC: [Everybody Get Ready]

AMY LEWIS, REPORTER: In Australia, Halloween is minimal, and American Thanksgiving is nonexistent. Stores start filling with tinsel and lights and fur-dressed Santas early in October alongside pool noodles and large bottles of sunscreen, thanks to our upside-down seasons. But it’s never too early to look forward with eager anticipation to the Advent of Christ.

MUSIC: [Everybody Get Ready]

Sydney musician Colin Buchanan has been writing children’s songs since the mid-90s. His song called “Everybody Get Ready” reflects the excitement and energy of the highly anticipated event of Christ’s coming. And it helps us remember to come to him like little children.

MUSIC: [Comfort, Comfort]

South Australian husband and wife duo Robin and Dorothy Mann take the words for their song “Comfort, Comfort” from Isaiah 40.

God gave these words to Isaiah to share with his people living in the dreaded shadow of upheaval and exile. Would God truly deliver them in due time?

MUSIC: [Comfort, Comfort]

God’s comforting answer to humanity’s despair is found in his own Son, Jesus. In 1599, German Lutheran pastor and composer Philipp Nicolai wrote the hymn known in English as “Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying.” It’s based on the Matthew 25 parable of the virgins with and without enough oil awaiting the coming bridegroom. 

MUSIC: [Wake, Wake, for Night is Flying]

One hundred forty years ago, German Lutheran missionaries taught this song to the aboriginal Arrernte people in their own language. The Central Australia Aboriginal Women’s Choir sings it here.

MUSIC: [Central Australia Aboriginal Women’s Choir melody]

The third verse says in part: “Let all the heav’ns adore you, let saints and angels sing before you…where dwelling with the choir immortal, we gather ‘round your radiant throne.” This song spans time—and continents—to remind us that the multitude around Christ’s throne will come from every nation, tribe, people, and language.

MUSIC: [Central Australia Aboriginal Women’s Choir harmony]

I’m Amy Lewis, celebrating Advent in Geelong, Australia.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Well, it’s time to say thanks to the team members who helped put the program together this week: Amy Lewis, Collin Garbarino, John Stonestreet, Cal Thomas, Anna Johansen Brown, Leah Savas, Janie B Cheaney, Koryn Koch, Onize Ohikere, Whitney Williams, Emily Whitten, Steve West, Lauren Dunn, David Bahnsen, Jenny Rough, and Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Thanks also to our breaking news team: Kent Covington, Lynde Langdon, Steve Kloosterman, Lauren Canterberry, Mary Muncy, and Josh Schumacher.

Plus, the guys who stay up late to get the program to you early: Johnny Franklin and Carl Peetz. Production assistance from Lillian Hamman, and Benj Eicher.

Paul Butler is our Executive Producer.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio.

WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you, he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. (Deuteronomy 31:8 ESV)

Our December Grassroots Giving Drive is going well, but if you’ve not given yet, I do hope you’ll do it today. WNG.org/donate. And thank you!

Go now in grace and peace.

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