Jim began this edition of Crosstalk asking for prayer regarding an important Supreme Court case being heard tomorrow (12/4).  There will be oral arguments presented in a case dealing with the Tennessee law banning irreversible gender transition procedures for children.  

Governor Lee of Tennessee had signed Senate Bill 1 into law in March of 2023.  It went into effect in July of that year.  The legislation bans doctors or health care providers from performing so-called gender affirming surgeries or hormonal procedures on minors.

The Biden administration joined together with the ACLU and several teenage plaintiffs suing to stop this law. A Tennessee District Court initially blocked it in April of 2023 but in September, a Sixth Circuit Court upheld Tennessee’s protections for children and the Supreme Court took up the case in June of this year.  The case is known as United States v. Skrmetti.

When something bizarre is spoken or takes place, we often respond with the question: What in the world?  The remainder of this program dealt with news stories that, from a Christian perspective, cause us to want to express the same question.  Examples included:

• After repeatedly insisting that he would never pardon his son (Jim provided proof via audio cuts), President Biden has pardoned Hunter Biden for any and all crimes that he committed over the last decade.
• A very distraught group of Wisconsin women gathered on November 9^th at a park in Whitefish Bay, filming themselves during a primal scream gathering to express their frustration with Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election.
• Two Democrat appointed judges have decided to unretire following Donald Trump’s landslide victories in both the popular and the electoral college votes.
• A church in Switzerland employed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) “Jesus” in its confessional booth as an experiment to use digital technology in a sacred space.
• A Lutheran church in Bavaria served up sermons by a chatbot last year and an AI enhanced app was also rolled out allowing users to text “Jesus” and other biblical characters and receive an immediate response.

There are several other eye-opening stories to hear.  These were followed up by listeners who wrapped up the broadcast with their comments.