The Best of the Briefing, Vol. 5

The purpose of the Best of the Briefing series is to help you stay updated on important realities confronting modern Christians -- LGBT rights, Christianity & politics, secular materialism, abortion, Roman Catholicism, and the like. The articles included in these volumes say particularly important things in particularly helpful ways (in my opinion, at least). I hope that you find them useful. Click here to download Volume 5 of The Best of the Briefing. If you prefer the audio podcast to the transcripted articles, you can find them arranged by date on Mohler's website. If you're a Logos user, you'll be glad to know that the documents are in .docx format, which you can use to create a personal book in your Logos library.

In the closing month of 2016, developments in the West shed light on two cultural forces that are very significant in the Philippines.


The first was secular humanism and the developed countries that have fully embraced it (or should we say, have become enslaved by it!). Articles number 6, 2, and 3 are all from a single episode of The Briefing. Read together, they show secular humanism has produced a society that is completely confused in terms of morality – a society that marginalizes people with Down Syndrome in favor of parents who have murdered their unborn babies with Down Syndrome; a society that is revolted at the idea of treating the mangled remains of aborted fetuses as human remains.

The second cultural force brought to our attention was the Roman Catholic Church. The reign of Pope Francis, which began in March 2013, has led to growing dissension within the RCC. Recently, it has become clear that this dissension has reached to the very highest levels of the church's hierarchy. Understanding such issues will help us to bring the errors of the RCC to the attention of our Catholic friends, in the hope of opening their minds to the biblical gospel.

These two concerns are, in my opinion, the most important ones covered in this volume of The Best of the Briefing, though also worth noting are attempts in Canada to redefine the meaning of family (article no. 1), and a recent discussion about 'fake news' and bias in the mainstream media.
  
Below is the list of articles included in this volume.

Marriage & Family

1. Redefining parenthood, redefining civilization: Ontario's radical new "All Families Are Equal Act" (December 1, 2016)

2. By our outrage we reveal ourselves: France bans commercial showing happy children with Down syndrome (December 5, 2016)

3. You'll know them by their outrage: Fury over Texas requiring fetal remains be treated as human remains (December 5, 2016)

Media & Entertainment

4. The real problem of fake news: Why does the Left give late night television a pass? (December 7, 2016)

5. Shrugging at the truth: How postmodernism paved the way for fake news (December 9, 2016)

Politics & Society

6. Moral outrage over currency? Bank of England apologizes for including animal product in new £5 note (December 5, 2016)

Religion

7. "Winks and nods" from Pope Francis sow confusion in the Roman Catholic church on divorce (December 15, 2016)

8. "Legalized medical assistance in dying": Catholic bishops in Canada capitulate to the culture of death (December 15, 2016)

Science & Medicine

9. Who is the relevant authority on science? How evangelicals are baffling research scientists (December 1, 2016)

 10. The folly of Scientism: Washington Post opposes Scott Pruitt for "rejecting settled science" (December 13, 2016)