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A viral clip about aborting a baby with Down syndrome lit up the internet, but the part that matters most to me isn’t the comments section. It’s the question sitting underneath it: what is the unborn, really? As a physician and a dad, I walk through that question with the one person who has made it impossible for our family to keep this debate theoretical our son Thomas, now 26, who was diagnosed with Down syndrome and fought for his life from his first moments.

Thomas was born on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, rushed to the ICU, and spent his earliest weeks in congestive heart failure before a pediatric heart surgeon repaired his heart. I share what that season looked like in real life, and why those details matter when we talk about prenatal diagnosis, disability, and the choices parents feel pressured to make. Then we shift to what Thomas has taught us over decades: how caregiving forms a servant’s heart, how joy can be louder than fear, and why his simple, wholehearted worship often moves a room full of guarded adults to actually sing.

From there, I lay out the moral framework I believe we can’t avoid: is the unborn a human being or a potential human being? We talk personhood, the image of God, and why I don’t believe value changes with size, location, age, health, or circumstances of conception. If you care about the abortion debate, Down syndrome advocacy, Christian ethics, or the dignity of human life, this conversation will challenge you and it may change how you speak about it. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs a clearer lens, and leave a review with the question you’re still wrestling with.

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A genealogy can look like filler until you realize it is the backbone of a promise. We open Genesis 11:10-32 and follow the generations of Shem, right after the Tower of Babel and the dispersion of nations, to see how God keeps a single redemptive thread alive even when humanity scatters and the knowledge of the true God grows dim.

As we trace the line forward, we talk about why Scripture guards these names so carefully: the promised seed from Genesis 3 is being preserved on purpose, moving history toward the Messiah. Along the way, we notice a dramatic shift in human lifespan after the flood and explore reasons often discussed in creation science circles, including the water vapor canopy idea, radiation exposure, and the accumulating effects of genetic and environmental change in a harsher post-flood world.

Genesis 11 also introduces Abram and the family tension that sets up everything to come: Sarai’s barrenness, the move from Ur of the Chaldees toward Canaan, and Terah’s decision to settle in Haran instead of finishing the mission. That stop becomes more than a travel detail. It becomes a warning about delayed obedience, spiritual discipline, and the fear of becoming “disqualified” in the sense described in 1 Corinthians 9:27. If you want Bible study that connects the text to daily faithfulness, this one will challenge you. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find these Genesis devotions.

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A baby asks for “mama,” and two adults laugh back, “There is no mama.” That short viral moment is heartbreaking on the surface, but we think it also reveals something deeper about the way modern culture talks about same-sex marriage, commercial surrogacy, and what counts as a family.

I’m joined by my daughter Hannah as we slow down and look past the news cycle. We start with why the video felt so evil to so many people, not only because it provokes a child to tears, but because it treats a child’s mother as optional. From there we revisit a question some people warned about years ago after Obergefell: what about the children? We talk plainly about how no “private” adult choice stays private once a child is involved, and why children’s rights must come before adult agendas.

We also bring in the child development and sociology side. We outline what social scientists commonly acknowledge about socioemotional health: biology matters, gender differences matter, and parental loss is harmful whether it comes through divorce, abandonment, death, adoption, IVF, or third party reproduction. We challenge the slogan “love is enough,” discuss why some studies are methodologically weak, and point listeners to research associated with Paul Sullins and Mark Regnerus. Finally, we share testimony from adult children and stories drawn from Katie Faust’s Them Before Us, where “father mother hunger” shows up again and again.

If you care about faith, family, and the real-world impact of marriage and reproductive technology on kids, listen through to the end, then subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

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https://www.jacksonfamilyministry.com

https://bobslone.com/home/podcast-production/