transcript

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[00:04] It's Friday, April 24th, 2026. I'm Albert Mohler, and this is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview. Listeners to The Briefing know that I often draw attention to obituaries because often they tell us a story of a life that demands our attention. I'm speaking of an obituary that ran just in Wednesday's edition of The New York Times. Here's the headline, Desmond Morris, age 98, who saw the animals at human's core dies. Okay, so he died at age 98. Desmond Morris was a major British figure, a major British author, but he became famous on both sides of the Atlantic for his book, published in 1967 entitled The Naked Ape. He was basically arguing that to understand humanity, you need to understand that there is nothing in the image of God, there is nothing not produced by evolution, there is nothing special about us, we are just apes that put on clothes. Okay, that was a very huge best-selling argument back in 1967. As a matter of fact, when I say huge, I mean huge. More than 20 million copies of the book were sold. In the publishing world, that's astounding. Twenty million, that's bigger than the population of many countries. All right, so let's look at what we're talking about here. Desmond Morris, very interesting, was a zoologist. I'm sure others have observed this. They just haven't said so, I think, out loud. I'm gonna say it out loud. There's something weird in the 20th century about certain animal zoological and insect specialists. They tend to be very, very interested in human beings outside their doctoral research. So for example, the main profit of the sexual revolution in the 20th century in the United States was a man by the name of Alfred Kinsey, who wrote bestselling books, most importantly, Sexual Behavior in the Male and then Sexual Behavior in the Female. We now know that he was himself a sexual pervert, that he was deeply involved in all kinds of just, well, I'll just say on this program, unspeakable things. Let's just say that he used data, for instance, on Boyce drawn from pedophiles, and he knew they were pedophiles. He used the research anyway. It's horrifying stuff. It's a scandal that you have at Indiana University, an institute that bears his name on that campus. It is one of those things that should be absolutely unthinkable. Nonetheless, he was an expert in gall wasps. He wrote his doctoral research on a bug and an insect, but he wore a white professorial, like a medical robe or covering in such a way that wearing that doctor's garb in whites, he had the authority of someone who was a major expert, the authority of science. But he had nothing to do with science when it relates to human sexuality. He evidently knew a good deal about wasps. Paul Ehrlich, who was the prophet of what he described as the population explosion or the population bomb. He became a major figure. He died not too long ago, just a matter of months ago, I discussed his death on The Briefing. Again, one of the darker figures of the 20th century. He argued for all kinds of coercive policies on the part of governments to force people not to have children. That's an awkward way of putting it in English, that's exactly the way it was. He wanted to coerce people into not having children, that's exactly how the policy was phrased. And by the way, that meant coercive sterilization, it led to, in many ways, China's one child only policy, it also led to all kinds of government subsidies intended to decrease the birth rate, which we now know is the exact opposite of the problem. It's a decreasing birth rate that's threatening the future, not an increasing birth rate. I raise him because he was an expert on butterflies. But again, wearing the garb, the lab coat, carrying that scientific authority, Paul Ehrlich and Alfred Kinsey and Desmond Morris really posed as scientists to tell us who we as human beings are and how we as human beings should behave. Okay, the title of the book, The Naked Ape, tells us a very great deal, because he was basically arguing from an evolutionary worldview. And by the way, he said there's nothing to be gained by anything outside the evolutionary worldview. He made the argument that human beings are just, well, more sophisticated apes. This is how Douglas Martin described his career. Quote, in a career that included writing more than four dozen books and 50 scientific papers and presenting 700 television episodes, Dr. Morris, that is Desmond Morris, used observational powers that he had honed as a zookeeper to study the ways of humans as well as those of animals. The Naked Ape, a zoologist study of the human animal, sold more than 20 million copies, was translated into 23 languages. In the book, he argued, quote, that ancient genes shared with apes shape human behavior, end quote. Okay, so he tried to explain just comprehensively what it would mean for human beings to be understood as just, again, apes wearing clothing. He said, you take her clothing off, we're nothing more than a naked ape. And he tried to relate this to everything from the way we eat, to the way we govern ourselves, to fighting, mating, and child rearing. That's the list from The New York Times. And it was a clearly secular perspective. I just want to make a note here, not only is there the pattern that so many of them were actually trained in some form of zoology, and then they posed as experts on humanity. I just want to point out that all three of these, Alfred Kinsey and Paul Erlich and Desmond Morris, they hated the Christian understanding, the biblical understanding of what it means to be human. They didn't just discard it. They hated it. I want to tell you something else. Every single one of them hated it, at least in part, because it implies a morality. In other words, if we are made by our Creator in His image, then He sets the rules for how we are to live. But understand the opposite. If there is no Creator, then, ladies and gentlemen, there are no rules, or whatever rules we might imply are just exercises of power to be constantly renegotiated. Okay, so some very interesting things. He was born January 24, 1928, in a small village in southern England. He became world famous because of his writings. He was very interested, for example, in human babies. And this is another factor that Christians need to keep in mind. If you want to redefine how Americans, for example, or how modern people on both sides of the Atlantic, Americans and Europeans, you want to redefine how we understand what it means to be human. One of the ways you do that is by redefining the baby. And once again, the moral liberals in the second half of the 20th century, they really set about to do that. Dr. Benjamin Spock, most famous among them, in opposing as a medical expert on child rearing, he had no real expertise when it came to child rearing. He was openly committed to an agenda of moral permissiveness and moral revolution. He himself was a participant in that moral revolution. But he was the darling of the media, and his book sold, again, as a bestseller by the untold millions. If you can tell mothers and fathers how to raise their children, you can redefine the identity of a baby. You can change society. That's one of the reasons why so many from Desmond Morris, who spent much of his career trying to redefine the human infant as a very small ape. Or you can look at Benjamin Spock, who did something very similar, basically, becoming the prophet for autonomous individualism in the crib. Let's just say, Christians understand that's a disaster. But it's very interesting to see this man lived a long time. So again, he died just recently at age 98. So he lived almost a century. He was born in 1924. He became a world famous as a very young man. His fame extended. And it's just really interesting to note that it's likely that there are few people, or at least fewer people today, listening to The Briefing, who knew his name. I want you to know his name, because Desmond Morris had an enormous impact on the way people think, on the policies that were made. And in terms of the great secular shift that came in the second half of the 20th century, he was one of the primary shapers. And I want you to understand, it wasn't a neutral process. They understood the enemy. When I talk about so many of these people, they understood the enemy to be biblical Christianity. You can't have the sexual revolution. You can't have the redefining of society. You can't have their new vision of humanity, unless you can kill the biblical understanding of all those things. So, once again, Desmond Morris died just recently at age 98. He, I think, probably, at least, as far as I can tell, honestly believed the human beings were just more highly developed apes. And frankly, when it came to many issues, I think he preferred the less developed apes. And by the way, it's not an accident when the word naked is in that title. Because for all of these people, a revolution in human sexuality and marriage and family, that was all never very far behind. All right, now let's turn to questions. As always, I appreciate questions sent in by listeners. They're always a catalyst for our thinking together. I think that's a gift whereby we can share such things with each other. I appreciate the generosity of so many listeners to The Briefing and sharing their questions out loud. Okay, now let's turn to questions. As always, I appreciate the generosity of listeners to The Briefing and sharing these questions with us. And it is generosity because it is a generous gift to help us to think through these issues. And it's also just a basic principle Christians need to understand. Often we will not think about an answer unless it is posed as something required by a question. And so once again, I appreciate the questions. I have a young wife sent in a question. She writes, Is it morally wrong for a fertile couple to pursue adoption? She says, I'm thinking mainly in terms of a fertile couple taking an adoption opportunity from infertile ones. She says, I'm currently pregnant with our first child and pregnancy has been very hard on me. My husband and I have always been open to adoption and love how it is a powerful display of the gospel, but I'm wondering if it is something we should consider if we are fertile. You know, I think this is a very honest question and I think it's a very sensitive question. And by the way, in the scripture, you do have adoption presented as a powerful picture of the gospel. In that sense, our adoption through the atonement accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ, that's a powerful metaphor for God's saving act. We are adopted to the extent that we become the sons and daughters of God, and it's just such a powerful thing. We also understand that over the course of the last 20 or 30 years, evangelical Christians thinking through the issue of adoption have learned a very great deal. And it's a bit more complicated than at least some evangelicals believed, and I think said out loud, say 20 or 30 years ago. Number one, we face a very interesting situation in the United States, where there are so many infertile couples who want babies and they desire them. Let's just say that is a righteous, a wonderfully righteous, God-honoring desire, and there is an insufficient number of babies, of infants, to be adopted. So I love the way this mom asked the question so honestly, saying that she is fertile, that she's had some real struggles with pregnancy and interested in adoption. But she understands, and she says she and her husband talk about this, they're open to adoption as a powerful display of the gospel, but wondering if it's something we should consider if we're fertile. I don't have a one-to-one question and answer that I can just say with profound biblical authority, I know exactly what you should do. But I'm saying you're asking exactly the right questions. I think you're absolutely right to desire children. That's just God-honoring and wonderful. And I'm thankful the Lord is giving you and your husband a child. I don't know what the complications with the pregnancy, but I bless you and pray God's protection over you. I'm just proud to know of both of you. I think you're asking the right question about adoption. And one of the reasons why adoption takes the shape it does now in so many contexts is because of the difficulty of domestic adoptions. Let's face it, abortion has been a big factor here. Because of the easy access to abortion, there are fewer babies born that are available for adoption. And there are other issues also, and the contraceptive revolution is a part of that as well. But this is why you have so many international adoptions. And right now in the United States, the greatest need for adoption and for what's often called foster care is not with newborns, but rather with older children. That is admittedly far more complicated, and I don't think that's exactly what you're asking about here. Let me just say, I think you're asking exactly the right questions. There are infertile couples who do not have the choice and who desperately want a child. I think it's a matter of sweet sensitivity to that moral dimension that leads this wife and mom even to ask the question. And again, I pray you and your husband are given just the wonderful gift of this child at the end of this pregnancy, and I know you will raise that child in the nurtured admonition of the Lord. Moving forward, I think you're thinking very biblically. All right, now I have a question coming from an older man who is Baptist. He holds a Reformed Theology. He's now attending an ARP, Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. He says, I'd like to know your thoughts on donating my body to medical teaching and having it cremated after appropriate use and treatment. He says, I'm getting nearer to seeing our Lord and would like to have some guidance from you. Okay, I just read that all as it is because I delighted in the turn the question takes because all of a sudden I'm asking about the issue of a Baptist in a Presbyterian Church is raised. I thought that's where we were going. And by the way, I'm thankful for so many of my ARP Presbyterian colleagues and friends. But that's not what he's really asking. He's asking about the Christian understanding of donating his body for medical teaching. Okay, so one of the issues the Christian worldview affirms is the dignity of the body. You see that everywhere in scripture. I think one of the most beautiful pictures is the sons and descendants of Joseph carrying his body back to the Holy Land, given the promises of God. That's very sweet. The biblical pattern clearly is burial, and that's over against all kinds of burial patterns at the time which were understood to be the desecration of the body. And by the way, in many of those, including burning or cremation, the cremation came from explicitly pagan backgrounds. The idea was that not only is this efficient, but you're also liberating the soul or the spirit from the body. And that's clearly to Christians is anathema. That's just unthinkable. Now, most people choosing cremation these days aren't thinking in those explicitly pagan terms. I'm well aware of that. I just think the background to that's very highly problematic. Christians have had a prejudice towards burial with the understanding that this is with the promise of the resurrection that is to come. Now, let me be clear. The resurrection power of Christ will extend not only to bodies in a box, but even to those who have been dissolved by acid or have decayed in the sea. In other words, that resurrection power is going to be absolutely categorical. But it does raise the question of the ethical treatment of bodies. This is why the Christian prejudice has always been towards respecting the body in death, and burial has been a part of that, even in the burial practices. This is another angle when it comes to medical teaching. Say in an anatomy lab, and, you know, this historically is how physicians have been taught so much in their first year. And by the way, you have to love the name by which it sometimes goes, and that's gross anatomy. It's the biggest anatomy context. I think that can be God-honoring as well. I think it's one of those borderland cases, to be honest. If the body is treated with respect, I think that could be important. And let me just say that the Christian worldviews had a bit of difficulty on this issue in a way that I don't think... We should acknowledge it. We should acknowledge it. The emergence of modern medicine required certain people to obtain bodies for medical research, in which case the Catholic Church and, for that matter, most Christian churches were very much opposed to the use of the body in what would be considered a dissection or some kind of examination. This really delayed a lot of understanding. So, for instance, you think about the founding of the United States of America, 1776. That's just a handy date to understand that modern medicine is not far from that. And as a matter of fact, on both sides of the Atlantic, in the English-speaking world, you had debates over even how the body works and even the relationship of certain organs to other organs. And quite honestly, because of the Christian concern about the desecration of the body, quite honestly, the Muslim doctors were way ahead. And by the way, if you go to the Muslim-dominated world, you can buy anatomical dissection prints of the human body. You can find nothing like that in the entire European world of Christianity because of this concern. And thus, it's kind of like other things, including matters economic and the lending of money. Again, the Reformation was a big part of that. There had to be a rethinking of the body in such a way. I'm going to get to the bottom line here. The Christian understanding is now, I think there's a good consensus, this has to be an honoring, dignifying treatment of the body. And so I would tell you that I think the use of a body for legitimate medical research, just in terms of even understanding as a doctor, as a surgeon, how the human body works, I think that can be a God-honoring thing. And I don't think I've ever said that out loud before because no one ever asked me the question that way before. But it still must be done respectfully, and I call upon medical schools and others to make certain that such things are done respectfully. And I'll just say, you know, there's some modern crime dramas and other medical dramas and things in which it's kind of acknowledged that sometimes the bodies aren't handled respectfully. So it's a good thing for us to ponder. I have a question here from a young woman. And she says she's been a Christian since she was a sophomore in high school. And she is confident of the fact that she will be in heaven with Christ after her earthly life. She says, I know the miraculous wonders that await me in the life to come. However, I still struggle with the concept of death and the actual act of dying. Can you be a Christian but also be afraid to die? Okay, I think this is a sweet question. I really respect this young woman for sending in this question because it articulates what a lot of Christians are thinking but aren't sure they can say out loud. And so, let me just state that I think we look at this two ways. And I guess I'm trying to be very transparent and honest with you in answering this question. And that is, I think there are two different ways to look at this. Number one, ultimately, Christians do not fear death. And in that ultimate sense, we do not fear death simply because we understand that death, in a biblical theology, we understand that our mortality is a result of human sinfulness. We also understand that it is what points us to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in which by the transformation of the Gospel, by the saving power of the Gospel, by the substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by His own physical resurrection from the dead, we are promised eternal life with Christ in a resurrection body, even in a glorified body, and thus death for us. The scripture uses some sweet metaphors for death for the believer. A death is sometimes described as something like sleep. The scripture tells us that to be absent from the body for the believer is to be present with the Lord. That's just really precious. And thus we should fear death in no sense in that way as a Christian thinks about death. If we have in that sense an ultimate fear about death, I think it is a sign that we need to lean more faithfully into the promise of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But I did say there is a second dimension. And it is actually reflected in this question. She says that she is concerned about the concept of death and the actual act of dying. I want to tell you, and I say this as an historical theologian, it is really interesting how many Christians have struggled with, I think you stated well, the actual act of dying. As a matter of fact, during the medieval period among Christians, it became something of a preoccupation. So much so, that when Martin Luther the Great Reformer died in the 16th century, his friends sought to explain how peaceful his death had been. Meanwhile, his enemies tried to describe how agonizing his death had been, with certain body parts bursting and with all kinds of humiliating things. My point is that that's a 16th century reality and you say, well, why are you talking about it now? It is because I think when you look at someone like Martin Luther, you see the evidence of what I'm talking about here. I think in David, in the Psalms, you see the evidence of what I'm talking about here. In terms of the big question, the most fundamental question, Christians do not fear death. Death has no sting over us. It has no claim over us ultimately. But, recall that even in the 23rd Psalm, David prays that the Lord will be with him as he passes through the valley of the shadow of death. I think that's just absolutely honest. None of us knows what dying is like until we die. And I think it's just natural for any human being to ponder such things with great moment and with great weight and even for Christians to understand that. And so, I'm just trying to be absolutely honest. I think we have no fear of death and we are not to fear death. I think we understand the actual process of dying is one, at least, let's just put it this way, over which we have absolutely no control. And that's hard for human beings, period. I think it's good for us to admit there's some aspects of that, that we might fear. But again, the word of the Lord is to his own, fear not. And I think that's where we need to go. We need to lean into that. Okay, I want to end today with a really sweet question from a mom. And this is a mom question. It's just fantastic. This is a mom of a 16-year-old son who feels called to the ministry. And she says of her son that he wants to pursue a degree in ministry and theology at a Bible college. Now listen to this quote, My husband wants him to pursue a different degree prior to going to seminary so that he could have a secondary career. My husband says that most pastors have to be bivocational, so he wants to set him up for success. And then she says, Can you give any insight toward this disagreement? If you had a son, what path would you encourage? Well, this son, this son, I think it's just a God-honoring thing. Here you have a mom and a dad who are encouraging their 16-year-old son towards a call to Christian ministry. And the question is, how exactly does he do this in taking the next step? I want to say, I think, both of these arguments, the argument for going directly into the study, the full-time study of Bible and doctrine and theology. And if I didn't believe that, I couldn't run Boyce College as we do. And at Boyce College, we have programs that get young men directly into ministry and into theology and into Bible, and even a SimTrack program so that in a short amount of time, a young man can do both the undergraduate and the graduate degree, be ready for ministry. I think it's just superb stewardship. And I will tell you one of the exciting things I get to see is 18-year-old young men come into study for the ministry and then just get so excited as they begin learning and growing in grace so quickly. Okay, there's another argument here. And that's the argument made by this father who I assume is just as supportive of his 16-year-old son in terms of responding to a call to ministry and just giving him, this sounds like very fatherly advice. I love this. I love it when a Christian mom shows up being a mom and a Christian dad shows up being a dad. I see it right here. He wants to make certain his son has a job. And that is a good fatherly, a good fatherly impulse. And I would not say it's true that most pastors have to be bivocational in the United States. But you know what, being prepared for that, I will tell you this. When I get asked about what a young man should know, one of the things I say is that I think all young men are greatly assisted by having a background in some business classes, some leadership classes. I think there's just an awful lot to learn there. By the way, it's applicable in ministry. And let me give you another word, and that is, and so I want to give both mother and father, and presumably 16-year-old son, a bit of grace here in saying, I say to new parents, I say to parents, that is, of new students at Boyce College all the time, don't worry too much about the major. Worry about who they are when they graduate, what they know, and how their heart is inclined. Worry about their character and their heart, because I can just tell you, the ones who come out right in that respect, never have to worry about getting a job. And the ones who don't come out right in that respect, I don't want getting a job. So I just want to give parents an understanding that major is a lot less important than you might think, unless it's a particular field like pre-med or pharmacy or something like that. I hope that's helpful. And boy, I just want you to know how encouraged I am by this. The world needs more 16-year-old boys who already perceive a call to ministry and parents who are this encouraging. It just makes me happy. I appreciate all the questions that are sent in. And I'm just reminded of the fact that God's people are always real people. They come up with real questions. And dealing with these is a real privilege. Thanks for listening to The Briefing. For more information, go to my website at albertmohler.com. You can find me on X or Twitter by going to x.com/albertmohler. For information on the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to sbts.edu. For information on Boyce College, just go to boycecollege.com. I'm speaking to you from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. And I'll meet you again on Monday for The Briefing.