Kerby Anderson
When the Southern Baptist Convention met a few weeks ago, the messengers adopted a resolution about in vitro fertilization (known as IVF). While it is unusual for the nation’s largest Protestant denomination to debate medical ethics, they felt a need to respond to the recent ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court on IVF.
The mainstream press reported this as an attempt to condemn the practice. The actual statement was to “reaffirm the unconditional value and right to life of every human being” and asked that doctors “only utilize reproductive technologies consistent with that affirmation.”
When I wrote my book about genetic engineering in the 1980s, I started to hear from infertile women (the modern-day Hannahs) wondering about the ethics of IVF. If you are interested, you might want to obtain my recent booklet, A Biblical View on Genetic Engineering.
Let me also point you to the work by Dr. Jim Denison, who have been on my radio program. He has an excellent white paper on, “When does life begin? Frozen embryos, IVF, and the sanctity of life.” He is the Theologian in Residence for the Baptist General Convention of Texas and serves as Resident Scholar for Ethics with Baylor Scott & White Health.
He reminds us that “at the moment of fertilization, the embryo possesses the chromosomal makeup of a distinct human being with all inheritable factors.” And we also know that all persons are equal in their right to life (Psalm 139:13–16).
This perspective would therefore call for the careful and moral application of IVF. The Southern Baptist Convention resolution is not radical but based on sound biblical and medical information.

Kerby Anderson
Depending on the news source you have, you may or may not have heard about the arrest of eight individuals from Tajikistan who are suspected terrorists. In case you are unfamiliar with that country, it is at least 95 percent Muslim and located near Afghanistan, Pakistan, and communist China. Put another way, they come from a country that has been a hotbed for radical Islamic terrorism.
The FBI and other intelligence agencies believe these eight illegal aliens were planning a terrorist attack like the attack at the Moscow concert hall. At least four of the men involved in that attack were from the group ISIS-K. All eight of these men are connected to ISIS-K.
How did they get into the US? First, let’s remember that President Joe Biden and Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas assure us that people crossing our border have been vetted. Second, we now know that at least one of these individuals used the app provided by the Biden administration that allowed people to get in the country. Third, some of the others were apparently intercepted by Border Patrol, supposedly vetted, and sent on their way.
Let that sink in for a moment. These men were not the “gotaways” I sometimes talk about in my commentaries. Yes, 8 million have crossed the border since President Biden took office, and another 2 million are “gotaways” that I usually suggest may be involved in trafficking or terrorism and did not want to be caught.
But these men were confident they could “game the system.” They didn’t even try to avoid being caught. And I might mention that another potential terrorist was caught in New York City with a full arsenal of weapons in his vehicle (such as loaded magazines and body armor).
This is the danger America faces from an open border and a vetting process that is broken.