Education: Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl by N.D. Wilson

About

Notes from the Title-A-Whirl is a great teaching and discussion resource from N.D. Wilson. After he authored the book, he created a dvd formatted edition “bookumentary” that includes 3-5 minute conversational and explanatory video of him working through each chapter of the book. For some, it might feel like a mind-twister but others can find a tremendous challenge to think and believe rightly about this life. He tackles all kind of subjects and life issues like Bible, religion, science, math, biology, philosophy, etc. as well as marriage/divorce, death, friendship, etc.

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All Resources by N.D. Wilson

Life: Dr. Kathi Aultman's Conversion Story: From Abortion Provider to Pro-Life Advocate from Pro-Life Utah [VIDEO]

Here’s some quotes from the video:

I 'm Dr. Kathi Aultman.

00:03

I am a retired OBGYN, and I used to be an abortionist.

00:09

And I'd like to tell you the story of how I went from being someone who aborted babies

00:15

to someone who now tries to save babies.

00:19

After college I took a year off to make money to go to medical school.

00:25

During that time I met my future husband and I got pregnant.

00:29

And decided that abortion was the best option for me.

00:34

Later I regretted that decision, but at the time, I thought that was the best thing I

00:38

should do.

00:40

When I entered medical school, I truly believed that abortion was a woman's right to choose,

00:49

and I was very adamant about it.

00:51

I wanted to help women.

00:54

During my training, I learned how to do D&C; with suction abortions, and then I sought

01:07

out extra training to be able to do D&E; abortions, or dismemberment abortions.

01:22

After getting my medical license I was able to start moonlighting doing abortions at a

01:28

clinic in a nearby city.

01:30

I got pregnant during the last year of my residency, and during that time, I still continued

01:38

to do abortions.

01:40

And really didn't have any qualms about it.

01:43

I felt that my baby was wanted, their babies were not, I didn't see any problem with that.

01:50

What did change my mind, was when I went back to the clinic after delivering my baby.

01:58

I ran into three patients that changed my life.

02:02

With the first patient, I realized that I had done three of her previous abortions.

02:09

And when I objected, and didn't want to do it, staff told me that I didn't have that

02:14

right.

02:15

That it was her right to choose.

02:17

Even if she wanted to use abortion as her birth control.

02:20

She had the abortion, I talked to her there afterwards.

02:23

She still did not want to use birth control.

02:26

And wanted to use abortion as her backup.

02:28

The second patient came in with a friend.

02:31

And oftentimes the patients did want to see the tissue.

02:36

The friend asked her, "Do you want to see the tissue?"

02:39

And she snapped at her and said, "I don't want to see it, I just want to kill it."

02:45

And I wanted to say, "What did this baby ever do to you?"

02:49

The last patient had four children already, and she and her husband felt that they just

03:00

couldn't afford another child.

03:03

So, she cried throughout the whole time at the clinic.

03:08

It just broke my heart.

03:10

It was at that point that somehow, I made the baby/fetus connection.

03:18

And the fact that the baby was not wanted, was no longer enough for me to do the abortion.

03:25

I never did another abortion.

03:30

The only time I had any qualms other than that, was when I did my neonatal intensive

03:35

care unit rotation.

03:38

And I realized that some of the babies I was trying to save, were the same gestation as

03:45

babies that I had aborted.

03:47

The problem is, that I still believed that a women had the right to choose abortion.

03:53

I still believed in abortion.

03:56

And I still referred patients for an abortion.

04:00

As I began my practice though, I noticed that there were women who kept their unwanted pregnancies,

04:11

even very young girls, and they seemed to do fine.

04:16

And then I was seeing other women who had abortions, who were coming in with psychological

04:23

problems, and being extremely distressed.

04:26

I was also seeing complications of abortion.

04:31

And this didn't jive with the feminist rhetoric that I had so closely embraced.

04:38

So I began to be a little uncomfortable.

04:44

What finally changed me, was a very loving friend gave me an article.

04:51

Said, "Would you consider reading this?

04:53

I know what your position on abortion is, but could you just read this?"

04:57

It was an article that compared abortion to the Holocaust.

05:04

Suddenly I realized that I was no different from the German doctors who did horrible experiments

05:11

on people.

05:12

Or the Nazis who exterminated so many.

05:15

I suddenly understood why they could do what they did.

05:19

Because, I could do what I did.

05:21

I did not see the fetus as a human being.

05:25

Just like the Germans did not see the Jews as human beings.

05:30

When you don't see someone as human, you can do whatever you want to them, and not feel

05:34

bad about it.

05:36

That was the point where I became pro-life.

05:40

And after that, it took a lot of prayer, and a lot of counseling, for me to get past the

05:51

fact that I was basically a mass murderer.

05:54

And to get over the fact that I had aborted my own child, as well as so many others.

06:01

You know, I always love to meet people that I delivered.

06:07

But it's bittersweet, because I know there are so many that I will never meet, because

06:13

I aborted them.

06:16

The thing to remember, is that although we can't see who these little people are, they

06:24

ARE people.

06:25

They're still in the womb, but they are people.

06:30

And we don't know what they are going to be, or who they are going to become.

06:36

But we need to give them a chance.

Life: Foster and Adoption Stories

About

The stories speak for themselves, especially as love in real life is key factor among one of life’s most difficult situations. Below are links and information sharing foster and adoption stories. Not all stories will be full of success, as many continue with great difficulties. But love doesn’t see something as success or failure, rather, becomes the engine to fight for the good in people’s lives. Love originates with the world’s Creator God, who fights for this world with truth and love that transforms hearts and lives to do his will. One final day will be reunion of all families who have trusted in him coming together as his in heaven. Until then, this is a taste of that day and his presence — his love for people.


Ohio, America


New York, America

Man fosters over 30 kids and adopts 12, recently 5 siblings.

https://fox61.com/2019/10/18/western-new-york-man-adopts-5-siblings-so-they-can-stay-together/

Life: Botham Jean's Brother Forgives, Embraces Amber Guyger [VIDEO]

This new’s video is regarding the court case ending of Dallas, TX officer Amber Guyger accidentally shot Botham Jean in his own apartment thinking it was her apartment returning home from work. Botham Jean’s brother takes the stand testifying to forgiveness and turning to Jesus in what he desires for Amber Guyger. He asks to hug her, and with even the judge rightly tearful, she permits. What a genuine example of grace and mercy from the gospel.

Education: Youth sports referees quitting at record rates amid parents' bad behavior by Fox News

About

Here’s a sign of our cultural times revealing something is off in the hearts and lives of America — bad behavior at youth sporting events. This is merely one of countless other things that show culture’s pendulum swing of extreme behavior regarding finances, morality, beliefs, and so on.

The below news video captures a several minute introduction to the rising bad behavior and its impact even on the referees. The news anchors attempt at the end to provide helpful tips and tricks to minimize parent’s bad behavior, though it will fall short as a solution.

Parents are the sole rightful and responsible people in a child’s life to train them up, and regardless of what people believe (or not) about God, he created it that way. Parenting children is the immediate training context to work through bad beliefs and behavior before they are grown and gone from their parents. Meaning, it’s not the government, law, or sporting even policy that needs to replace the parent. Rather, parents need to change (repent). You would see a massive de-regulation, de-lawing, and de-invasion of government when parents and family related guardians train up their own children to believe and behave rightfully.

Is getting loud at a sporting event bad behavior? No. Is working through the frustrations and joys of the game bad behavior? No. The bad behavior comes from a belief that they are entitled to a specific outcome they want. And when a referee call, sports play, or situation arises that prevents the desired outcome, there’s an explosion or result of the awry belief.

We have certainly come a long way from the Roman Empire’s Colosseum days two thousand years ago where they praised and cheered for the deaths of humans (mainly gladiators and Christians). So, some fighting and screaming here and there is still not bad if you are one to compare. However, one thing is missing from both extremes. What is missing? God. There is an incredible and insatiable desire to live godless in everyday life, hence why it appears in sporting events.

Sporting events are certainly to be fun, competitive, intense, focused, loud, quiet, and even maturing as well as character building. But that comes from the context of parents already mature at work on their immature child (vs. the parents being immature). Sporting events or children are not to be the god in our life that controls us. And, our aim is not to correct bad behavior at sporting events, but understand believe what God wants for our lives. Hence why this then shows up in every area of our life, including sporting events.

Therefore, what we are really seeing is untrained and unrepentant adults training their kids to do likewise, exponentially affecting lives for generations to come in how to behave in life when things do not go their way or they don’t get their way. Instead of swinging with the pendulum, let’s cut the string and fall to a strong foundation of truth and love. The greatest affect on a generation is to be godly (i.e. what God wants).

Sporting events have many great benefits and lessons to learn, especially learning to lose and how to treat others in the midst of loss.

Video

Education: Has Science Buried God? by John Lennox [VIDEO]

About

Eric Metaxas interviews (mainly at minute 6 on the video) John Lennox at the Colson Center in Washingon D.C. in summary form regarding the topic question, “Has Science Buried God?” The interview might just be best for a helpful introduction to Lennox and to discover more of what he has authored and argued, especially in debates with high profile atheist (20th-21st century version) professors and scientists. Dr. Lennox provides a lot of helpful statements and introductory level direction in how to think and find more answers. Many of the statements are also challenging modern day assumptions, decades old under-toe current, and now seemingly tsunami wave of people’s ‘anti-belief’ in God. Below the video are quotes/statements written out from the interview for reference also.

Metaxas allow 3 questions from the audience at the end, which starts about 1 hour 5 minutes that addresses: 1) Mathematical proofs; 2) Abortion; and 3) What would Lennox say before God in heaven upon death?

From Socrates in the City youtube video (1 hour 19 minutes) description:

“Host Eric Metaxas and Oxford professor John Lennox explore the question, "Has science buried God?" -- discussing the fine-tuned universe, evolution, logic, history, and more! "It's like we're an old Vaudeville team" says Metaxas, who eggs the legendary Lennox into retelling his equally legendary roast chicken anecdote. The interview was hosted by the Colson Center and took place in Washington D.C., in May 2019.“

Video

Dr. Lennox provides statements like:

  1. “There are a myth in our culture: 1) Science is the only way to truth. 2) The position is logically incoherent … That statement (science is the only way to truth) cannot be true since it does not come from science.”

  2. “Science can bury atheism.“

  3. “It was the belief in God that drove science.”

  4. “They got the wrong concept of God.”

  5. “The more he understood of how it worked, the more he admired the genius of the God [of the Bible] who did it that way.”

  6. “There’s a mind behind what’s up there … not mindless, unguided processes.“

  7. “Our faith increases [in God when learning the world and science].“

  8. “Kids can understand but professors cannot. The scientific explanation tells you how it works. The personal explanation works also … the two explanations do not compete but compliments.”

  9. “[The why question] is an important question.”

  10. “Something came from something, not nothing.”

  11. “Science can bury atheism.“

  12. “We have been miseducated by atheists that there’s science there and there’s faith here.”

  13. “Atheism followed to its logical conclusion destroys rationality.”

  14. “The Bible is putting the finger on what is really profound.“

  15. “The universe is word based … not that the universe came from nothing and created itself.”

  16. “And God said … The idea of God speaking is such a powerful one. The Bible has been talking about it for a millennia.”

  17. “Nobody can get rid of the idea of creation. So reject God and end up with a self-creating universal and that’s a contradiction in terms … leads to nonsense.“

  18. “It is a mistake to think that only Christians are a people of faith.”

  19. “Every school in our country is a faith school.”

  20. “They don’t realize that their atheism is a belief system [don’t you believe in your atheistic beliefs].

  21. “We are people who believe in Christ, and provide why we believe what we believe.“

  22. “[Put Christianity and truth in the public space] We need a lot of courage to do that, otherwise we all will be silenced.“

  23. “Evolution only addresses when there is life and not how life came about.”

  24. “Our culture is faced of a raw choice between God and nothing.”

Topics (mentioned or addressed):

  1. Literature

  2. Theology

  3. Languages

  4. Classics

  5. God

  6. Word

  7. Universe

  8. Life

  9. Creation

  10. History

  11. Science

  12. Evolution

  13. Atheism (20th/21st century version)

  14. Galileo

  15. Kepler

  16. Christopher Hitchens

  17. Richard Dawkins

  18. Stephen Hawking

  19. Carl Sagan

  20. Peter Singer

  21. Reductionism

  22. Ontological Reductionists

  23. DNA

  24. Fine-tuning

  25. Chance, necessity, and laws of nature

  26. Abiogenesis

  27. Philosophy

  28. Physics

  29. Mathematics

  30. The Bible

  31. Biblical Revelation

  32. John’s Gospel

  33. Living Word, Jesus

  34. Isaac Newton

  35. C.S. Lewis

  36. Logic

  37. Rationale

  38. Gravity

  39. Energy

  40. Education

  41. Schools

  42. What to say at death and before the Lord Jesus Christ?

Life: "We Need to Value Truth" - John Cooper Interview with CBN News [VIDEO]

Thank you John Cooper for sharing your Facebook post posing and answering the question, “What is happening in Christianity?” The above interview is also helpful and inspiring as you advocate merely what is Christian — God, the gospel, his word, etc. John Cooper even shares how he’s involved in a church, listening to pastors, reading God’s word, etc. What an encouragement to hear, especially from a musician.

Life: Atheist, Skeptic, and Cynic turned Christian - The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel

About

Strobel provides great research and resources about Jesus and Christianity within this sermon in 2018. By providing and explaining the his background as well the background of Jesus, you are led as a ‘juror’ to make an informed decision. The point? Jesus. Trust him.

Telos

Even so, Lee’s sermon also helps explain “telos.”

At 33:10, Strobel captures that when God became his telos, his life changed. Prior to that point, his telos was godless. A genuine faith is not merely the believing and receiving, but believing and receiving the “who” and the “who” became his telos.

Sidenote

The term “atheist” throughout the Roman empire history during and after Jesus meant one who denied their “theists” (gods). So, Christians were known as atheists from the Roman perspective. Our current time and culture uses the term atheist in various ways, and how Lee is using the term is from his perspective in being “a”gainst all gods, especially the one of Christianity.

Life: The Inspirational Epicenter of Francine Rivers' Life and Authorship

What an incredibly helpful Christian and Christian author!

Listening to Francine Rivers as well as reading her books provides genuine and inspirational insight into how God works to bring people to trust him and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Francine retells her life story through this helpful Q and A, including growing up in a churchy household, rejecting anything religious while in college, going through abortion, college education, struggling marriage, and ultimately coming to learn of God and the gospel through relationships in their NorCal neighborhood and church community.

One can learn much through just this interview on when God affects the heart he then also aims and aligns their life. God then is the epicenter with ripple effects of others tasting of his goodness.

Per her recounting of the move back to Northern California from Southern California, I am thankful for God using a church community, two households, and one pesky eight year old boy wanting to help move in his new neighbors! God is good!

She mentions her first book after becoming a Christian, Redeeming Love, which is based on the Bible’s Old Testament book of Hosea — about God’s love for his spiritually adulteress people metaphored through sending a prophet (Hosea) to love a prostitute.

Education: Mathematical Challenges to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution with Berlinski, Meyer, and Gelernter Youtube Video by Hoover Institution

About

The below video by the Hoover Institution features a light-hearted but specificly detailed discussion about Darwin’s theory of evolution compared to recent scientific evidences about “functioning proteins.” Here’s the beginning of the Youtube video description:

“Based on new evidence and knowledge that functioning proteins are extremely rare, should Darwin’s theory of evolution be dismissed, dissected, developed or replaced with a theory of intelligent design? Has Darwinism really failed? Peter Robinson discusses it with David Berlinski, David Gelernter, and Stephen Meyer, who have raised doubts about Darwin’s theory in their two books and essay, respectively The Deniable Darwin, Darwin’s Doubt, and “Giving Up Darwin” (published in the Claremont Review of Books).“

Though the discussion does not end up agreeing and affirming that God is the one and only Creator to the world, the discussion does recognize the natural evidences of what God did create, regardless of people’s belief in Him or not. People may and can recognize truths and still end of not believing in Him. Christianity recognizes the connection between nature (creation) and the nature Creator.

We affirm God’s created order of instant, powerful creation through his spoken words narrated in Genesis 1 and 2 within 7 literal days and referenced throughout the remainder of the Bible as such. The math, physics, science, biology, history, geography, archaeology, philosophy, theology, biblicality, etc. add up or reveal God as existent and Creator.

Video

Life: Learning about searching the internet privately and securely

  1. Forbes published a review article in 2018 about using internet search engines entitled, “Why You Should Ditch Google Search and Use DuckDuckGo.”

  2. Solarwinds pingdom published a review post on how companies collect data when searching the internet entitled, “How Google Collects Data About You and the Internet.

  3. SiliconValley.com published a review page on ‘surveillance software’ on everyone using the internet entitled, “Review: Google Chrome has become surveillance software. It’s time to switch.”

Education: The Brutally Honest High School Valedictorian's Graduation Speech About the Telos of Life

Hear Kyle reference goals, relationships, purpose, priorities, generosity, etc., as he rightly learns and shares that when God is our telos, there’s ripple effects into our life related to money, relationships, education, jobs and careers, failures and successes, and so on. God is to be the epicenter of our life, as we walk and live beloved by him to love him and others in return.

And so, what a great speech with the theme of telos (goal, aim, completion) woven throughout, especially in light of real life! Maybe the only tweak to the speech is that your “launch into life” was when conceived and born, not merely at graduation! Ha! :) But, thank you for learning, and learning the correct lessons in life — especially the most important lesson in trusting your life to God through the person and work of Jesus and all of the effects that has on life like relationships, jobs, etc.

Homes: Panic: The Untold Story of the 2008 Financial Crisis by HBO Vice

About

This is one of several resources to explain the historical and economical 2008 housing crisis in America, and we are not posting it for political purposes (as some politicians disparage one another in the video, especially at the end).

Primarily, the video contains interviews from key people involvement from government and banks to news reporters that prove helpful in remembering specific facts during that period of time. Pictures and videos are captured throughout the video as a montage reminder of the recent past, and an example of why when we don’t live by truth and love and by greed and gain, then even our natural state of existence and economy cannot be sustainable — in America or throughout the world. HBO Vice’s video helpfully provides and portrays within an hour and a half the difficult realties of life, especially when we live Godlessly and how “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil (1 Timothy 6:10).”

After watching the video, then imagine what it would look like if people and economical systems were built by a Godly heart inspired by truth and love.

Life: Transforming Your Life by Renewing Your Mind by Dr. Brian Morley

About

Dr. Brian Morley, philosophy professor at The Master’s University, preaches through a common, human issue in dealing with pain and evil of whether God is real and even good. Listen to the below audio link from the Pine Mountain Bible Church website with the sermon entitled “Transforming Your Life by Renewing Your Mind” Dr. Morley shares of his personal struggles and realities throughout his life journey as well as his wife’s medical diagnosis of M.S. From the workplace and relationships to physical ailments, life can be incredibly difficult; but God has something for us to learn and change through it all.