Bob Perry & LTI in South Korea

Abortion is illegal in Korea -- yet the country has one of the highest abortion rates in the world. For that reason, friends of LTI have been working to provide some pro-life training to the good people of Korea for quite some time.

This Friday, my wife and I will be leaving for Seoul for a week of speaking engagements at churches, high schools and to the students and faculty at a university campus. All will be centered on the pro-life issues of abortion and/or stem cell research.

This is a huge undertaking for me -- "daunting" is the word that keeps coming to mind -- so I greatly appreciate the words of encouragement and support I have already received from many friends and family. And, for all those who have made it, I also appreciate the commitment to pray for a safe and effective trip -- that those who hear the information would be receptive to it, and that they would be the catalyst for change in their country.

Though it seems to be changing by the hour, this is the latest version of the schedule that has been planned for me. I don't know what kind of internet access I will have, but I will try to report as best I can as the week goes on.

Saturday, October 2
3:45 pm Arrive at Incheon International Airport
5:30 pm Arrive at KyungMin University

Sunday, October 3
1:10 pm Speaking at M S Church (English Service)

Monday, October 4
9:20 - 10:10 am: Uijongbu - International Christian High School
         :: Seoul City Tour in afternoon ::

Tuesday, October 5
2:30 - 3:30 pm: KyungMin University (Students)
3:30 - 4:30 pm: KyungMin University (Students)

Wednesday, October 6
11:00 am - 12:00 pm: Young Shin Girls High School
4:00 - 6:00 pm: KyungMin University (Faculty - Abortion and SCR)

Thursday, October 7
9:00 am - 12:00 pm: Daesung Boys High School (3 sessions)
7:00 - 9:00 pm: Speaking at Sam Nam Church

Friday, October 8
7:00 pm: Speaking at Docsuri Church for Army Soldiers

Saturday, October 9
10:40 am: Depart Incheon International Airport

Great Tool for Simplifying Objections to the Pro-Life View [Scott]

My friend Alan Schlemon at Stand to Reason has developed a fanatastic flow chart for quickly categorizing objections from critics. I was so impressed I asked him to share it in my advanced pro-life apologetics class at Biola University last week.

See the video of Alan explaining the chart here.

The lecture notes for the class are here.

A Morally Untutored President [Scott]

At a recent town hall event, President Obama fielded a question on abortion. The President replied that the procedure should be "safe, legal, and rare" and that families, not the government, should be the ones making the decision. He also said that restrictions on late-term abortion are currently in place.

So much is wrong here. First, if abortion does not unjustly take the life of a defenseless human being, why should it be rare? Do we care how many teeth are pulled each year?

Second, the federal government IS involved in abortion! Indeed, When people tell me the federal government should stay out of the abortion issue, I ask what they mean by that. Truth is, Roe and Doe did not get the federal government out of abortion. Instead, one branch of the federal government, the judiciary, co-opted the issue from the other two branches of government, leaving them no say on the issue. Put simply, the Court in both cases struck down the abortion laws of all 50 states and concluded that a woman may obtain an abortion for any reason she deems fit through all nine months of pregnancy if needed for "health." As you might imagine, the Court then defined "health" so broadly that you can drive a Mack Truck through it! In short, the Court mandated a policy of abortion-on-demand that no state anticipated prior to the ruling. Thus, the federal government is totally involved in abortion such that families and voters have no legal say in the matter. And given the President would likely support the elimination of parental consent laws, his appeal to "families" making abortion decisions is a joke.

Third, the President wants to have his cake and eat it too. That is, if abortion is a private matter for families to decide, then laws against late-term abortion are every bit as unjust as those limiting early abortion. He can't have it both ways. Truth is, he does not support any laws which limit abortion. Remember: Three times as an Illinois State Senator he refused to protect babies AFTER they survive abortion. But that aside, if abortion is indeed a private family matter, no laws restricting it can be justified.

HT: Jivin J

Richard Land Interviews Scott Klusendorf on The Case for Life

The link for the syndicated broadcast is here.

Topics include pro-life apologetics, embryonic stem cell research, training youth, and responding to moral relativism.

Biola Class Clip [Scott]

Here's a brief clip from the advanced pro-life apologetics course I taught at Biola University last week. The clip is a brief review of a standard pro-life case before launching into more advanced stuff. (Thanks to Alan from STR for the clip.)

Advanced Pro-Life Apologetics at Biola University [Scott]

I'm at Biola co-teaching with Dr. Scott Rae a graduate course for M.A. students on Bioethics. Dr. Rae is covering reproductive technologies and end of life issues. I'm teaching advanced pro-life apologetics.

The content of my lectures can be seen in the outline below.

The extended notes for my portion of the course can be found here.

Course Description: Successful pro-life apologists pursue four essential tasks. First, they clarify the debate by focusing public attention on one key question: What is the unborn? Second, they establish a foundation for the debate, demonstrating to critics that metaphysical neutrality is impossible. Third, they answer objections persuasively. Fourth, they teach and equip. These tasks are necessary because while the street-level debate over abortion rages on, a serious intellectual discussion about the foundation for human rights continues almost unnoticed. What makes humans valuable? Can secularism provide an adequate grounding for basic human rights? How do natural rights differ from merely positive (legal) ones? How do war, social justice, and theology impact debates over abortion? In this course, we will review the basic pro-life case and examine the underlying worldview assumptions that both academic and lay people bring to debates over abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and cloning. We will also discuss why the Christian worldview in particular does a better job accounting for intrinsically valuable human beings, fundamental human rights, and objective moral rules.

Session #1: What is the Issue?
Session #2: What is the Unborn?
Session #3: What Makes Humans Valuable Part 1: Substance View of Human Persons
Session #4: What Makes Humans Valuable Part 2: The Religion Objection
Session #5: Abortion: Law, Metaphysics, and Moral Neutrality
Session #6: Bodily Autonomy Appeals: Analysis of Thomson, McDonagh, and Boonin
Session #7: Assumed Moral Equivalence, and other Common Objections
Session #8: Equipping Your Local Church to Engage

What's Wrong with Using "Spare" Embryos? [Scott]

I take up that question in the latest LTI donor letter.

Please give. You can do it here.