By Charlie Johnston
I have made a great mistake…probably the biggest of the last 30 years. I labored under a vast misconception about something vitally important. I put it in a critical memo I once wrote for some Congressmen – and fear it may have influenced some of what I have written here, so you need to know what that error was. And you need to know what the facts are, as it has relevance to the debate on IVF today.
For decades I have been operating under the misconception that, during her fertile years, a sexually active woman expels almost a thousand eggs a month, many of them fertilized. She does, indeed, shed about a thousand eggs a month , mostly through natural processes outside of menstruation – but only one per month is available for fertilization. (There are rare variations – which is the cause for multiple births.) After fertilization, fetal development starts once the fertilized egg is implanted in the womb. Again, on a rare occasion, a fertilized egg may not implant and be expelled through mestruation – but that is an aberration.
This has huge consequences. If dozens, maybe hundreds, of fertilized eggs were expelled each month, the moment of fertilization could not be the beginning of life – only the beginning of potential life, like a seed before planting. Otherwise, it would make God the most prolific abortionist on earth. Theologically, that is not and cannot be true. If, however, only one egg can be fertilized each month and that moment of fertilization begins the process of implanting, which then begins the process of fetal development, then the moment of fertilization is the beginning of life. The rare fertilized egg that does not implant is, in effect, the earliest form of a miscarriage.
One might argue that a stored embryo (fertilized egg) is not implanted and so cannot begin development, so what is the problem. There is a vast difference between an embryo that does not implant and one that is artificially prevented from implanting. In fact, one could better argue that the natural process of implanting, which is the imperative of every egg successfully fertilized, IS the first step of fetal development.
I am largely an autodidact on most of the vast array of subjects I cover, with substantial formal training in only five or six areas. The virtue of an autodidact is that he can find deep insights in broad philosophical or narrow technical areas because of his superior logical sequencing and perception of nuance. The deep flaw of an autodidact is that, if he does not take great pains to get the foundational material precisely right, he builds on a false foundation and arrives at deeply false conclusions.
One of my usual safeguards against this is to vet my work with serious experts in whatever field I am speaking on. I vetted my errant work with a prominent and respected (since deceased) microbiologist – and have pondered why she didn’t correct my misconception, when she did correct a minor flaw in terminology. It dawned on me that my supporting data and conclusions were sophisticated enough that it did not occur to her that I misunderstood this basic fact. She actually thought I was a professor of microbiology at another university – and thought I was playing some sort of game with her when I insisted I had no formal background in the subject. Looking back, the original material I sent her was somewhat ambiguous on this point, so it makes sense it would not even occur to her that I misunderstood this most basic fact. Always, always, always, check and verify your premises.
It stings to publicly admit to such a foundational error. It stings more to have operated under such a misconception for so long. From the moment I first took over as chief editor of a group of newspapers, though, I adopted the ethos that, while it was near impossible to never err when you are at it publicly every day, when I discovered I had erred, there would be no correction in tiny type on page 34 from me or silence in the hope you wouldn’t notice: I wanted to make sure you heard about the error first from me – and I wanted you to hear it louder than the original error. It has been a notably useful discipline for me, both cementing credibility over the years from readers and listeners who know that when I screw up, they will it hear it from me loud and clear – and goading me to vet repeatedly my premises so as to rarely have to make such apologies and suffer the sting of embarrassment from them.
I deeply thank Sheryl Collmer, the editor of the CORAC Newsletter, for sending me back to the books on this.
To correct a great evil effectively, one must sequence your approach properly. I do not think IVF should be a political priority right now for the same reason I would not have thought making eligibility for public office for black folks an appropriate political priority in 1862: doing so would undercut the greater priority of freeing the slaves then and ending abortion of developing babies now. You cannot liberate the castle until you have surmounted the outer defenses. But it was a philosophical truth then that all men are created equal and a philosophical truth now that life begins at conception – and conception is at the moment of fertilization. And it is a prime goal for all of us to live philosophical truth.
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(What follows below is an adaptation of an article I first wrote 16 years ago for the Chicago Daily Observer and the Illinois Review, concerning the Electoral College. Every midwit on the left (and a few on the right) is calling it antiquated and irrelevant to modern reality. First, just because something was conceived long ago does not make it ‘antiquated.’ Many, perhaps most, today do not understand the difference between a principle and an operating system. A principle is never antiquated: it is either true or false. A proper operating system is a means of trying to realize that principle. The Electoral College is an operating system designed to realize several particular principles. Its critics completely ignore – or are entirely unaware of – the principles underlying it. They criticize it because it very effectively safeguards several critical principles that they want to destroy. This piece illustrates some of those principles – CJ)
“There is a great push afoot to effectively abolish the Electoral College and replace it with a single, national popular vote. This would direct a state’s presidential electors to cast their votes for whoever wins that national popular vote. Advocates say that this would be more fair, make fraud harder, and facilitate a truer national consensus. They are wrong on all counts – and display a startling ignorance of the entire philosophical and operating principles underlying our national republic.
On most matters we show a certain reverence for the founders. Well, we should. They created the first democratic republic in history that did not degenerate, within a decade or two, into chaos and end in dictatorship. Their achievement is profound: while the United States is one of the youngest nations on the planet we have the oldest continuous form of government. That achievement is doubly impressive if one is aware that, historically, democracy has been one of the most volatile, unstable forms of government known to man. The founders somehow managed to separate the nitro and the glycerin of freedom and create something that would last rather than blow up every time it is jarred.
When in high school I, too, thought the Electoral College a strange, antiquated institution. While in college I came to recognize some of the magnitude of the founders’ achievement. Rather than assuming they had tossed it into the Constitution as some sort of bizarre joke I thought it more useful to do some investigation on what, exactly, was on their minds. (Incidentally, when he was a senator, the late Pres. John Kennedy wrote a very lucid explanation of the Electoral College and why it has served the nation well). The people behind this push helpfully explain that among the main reasons the Electoral College was originally needed was because of the lack of cell phones, computers, calculators, the internet and other modern inventions. Can they possibly be that stupid?
A presidential election, though held on a single day, is not a single election. It encompasses 50 discrete elections, one in each state. The people do not directly elect a president; the states do, guided by the will of their particular citizens. To give an example, suppose the Cubs and the White Sox were in the World Series (you Southern Illinois Cardinal fans can substitute the Cards and the Royals – or better yet, an NLCS between the Cards and the Mets). The White Sox win three games by a score of 10-0. The Cubs win four games by a score of 1-0. The White Sox, in essence, win the popular vote 30-4. But the Cubs win the series because it was not one seven-day long contest to see who could score the most runs. It was seven individual games. Perhaps you think a presidential election should not be the collective decision of the states, but a single expression of the national popular will. Consider some of the real reasons the founders adopted the Electoral College and how these reasons relate to modern circumstances.
First, the states are different sizes. In order to prevent small states from losing all influence and just being swept along by big-state interests in national affairs, the small states’ weight in the electoral college is slightly larger than the big states in comparison to their population, because of the uniform rule of two senators per state, regardless of size (the total number of electors each state gets is equal to the sum of its members of the U.S. House and Senate). Abolish the Electoral System and every presidential election hence would be contested – and decided – in five to eight major urban areas. Small, and even medium size states, might never again even see a presidential candidate. Rural influence on presidential elections would evaporate entirely. After a few elections voters in small states and rural areas would figure out their vote was utterly meaningless. Participation in elections would likely drop because of the futility of it. Tensions between rural and urban interests would become dreadful, perhaps intractable. Even the invention of cell phones hasn’t changed that.
Second, there was the fear of regionalism, that some areas of the country with common interests might band together to hijack national presidential elections by the intensity of their votes. Were it not for the Electoral College this would have actually happened in 1860. There were several southern states in which Abraham Lincoln did not get a single popular vote. Despite having a minority population, the south, by the intensity of its commitment to the slave culture, could have hijacked that election from the rest of the country. The Electoral College prevented that. The Civil War was a great battle both over slavery and national union. The crisis would not have been averted without an Electoral College, only postponed and intensified. The likely end result would have been the Balkanization of what is now America. One of those little filigrees the founders added, to give stability to this great democracy, worked to save the nation and put an end to the sort of regionalism that had, in earlier times, been catalyst for destruction of democracies. Abolishing the Electoral College would likely resurrect the specter of regionalism. Take a look at the map. West of the Mississippi River every state except California and Texas would become powerless in national elections unless some of them banded together and, as the old south did in 1860, voted monolithically. In the southeast, which states other than Florida and, perhaps, Georgia, would have any influence? Look carefully at the map before glibly injecting this old element of instability back into the prospect of national union that the founders most painstakingly and brilliantly worked to eliminate. The invention of calculators doesn’t change this a whit.
Third, there is the matter of vote fraud. It deeply puzzles me that proponents of this plan seem to honestly believe it would make fraud more, rather than less, difficult. The founders created the Electoral College, in part, to make it more difficult for unseemly combinations to conspire to hijack an election. Read that as vote fraud and special interests. It is rare that a conspiracy of fraud in only one state could hijack an election (Evidence of massive fraud in Illinois and Texas, either of which could have changed the election, exists from the 1960 election, but it is the exception, rather than the rule. Even had Nixon chosen to contest the result, he would almost certainly have confined himself to one or both of these states, rather than the even more nightmarish scenario of a national recount. Of course, since 2016, the left has made electoral fraud into a wholesale, rather than retail operation). Imagine that polls show an election to be a dead heat in the late going. Conspirators do not have to come up with multiple conspiracies in several states to cheat the electorate: they need only confine themselves to electoral corruption mainstays such as Chicago, Texas, Louisiana, Los Angeles and such. Massive vote fraud in any one of these would be sufficient to gain a tainted victory where only the national popular vote counts in a dead heat. One need only look at the experience of western democracies where a single, national vote does determine the outcome of the chief executive to see that fraud changing the outcome is easier, not harder than under our “archaic, antiquated system.” The invention of the computer makes such “unseemly combinations” much easier, not more difficult.
Fourth, the legislation is unenforceable. Under the Constitution once electors are chosen, they have the absolute right to vote for whomever they choose. Long-term practice has led to a gentleman’s agreement in which each elector votes for the candidate who won their state’s popular vote. Once a state has chosen its electors, it cannot bind them to vote for anyone in particular. It would require a Constitutional Amendment to change this. In 2000, the Gore campaign actively tried to persuade electors from states that voted for Bush to be ‘faithless’ and vote for Al Gore anyway. The Clinton campaign did the same with Trump electors in 2016. In each of the elections of 2000, 1988, 1976 and 1972 a ‘faithless elector’ did vote against who they were pledged to. Any serious enforcement clause injected into National Popular Vote legislation would make it unconstitutional.
Imagine, now, a scenario in which Barack Obama and Donald Trump were their respective party’s nominees (I choose them for this example because of the big states they come from). The election is close as can be. Without Illinois, Trump is the victor. Former Chicago City Clerk Jim Laski did interviews a decade ago explaining the “Chicago Way;” how they would accomplish vote fraud not just by forgery and voting the dead, but actually cutting and pasting the chad on absentee ballots if they were cast for the ‘wrong’ candidate. You’re from Florida and you have read about all of this. Do you ask your delegation to vote for Obama? And what about the rest of the country? If the legitimacy of a presidential election came down to believing in the electoral integrity of the Chicago precinct captain, what kind of chaos would ensue? Once this boundary was breached it would be far more likely to destroy the gentleman’s agreement among electors than to enhance national unity. The internet could communicate the news, but it would not stop the chaos.
Over the last century we have abolished many of the elements of stability the founders injected into our unique system of government. A serious student of the history of democracies would be alarmed at the number of symptoms our culture has developed that have previously been precursors to a democracy’s descent into chaos. In fact, the current chaos in our country is typical of that of the many, much shorter lifespans of democracies unraveling. The elimination of yet another critical safeguard is not a good idea. Contrary to popular (and uninformed) opinion, the Electoral College was not invented by a mad founder as a practical joke.
Before tinkering with the system that has resulted in the longest lasting democratic republic in world history, willful modern midwits should take some pains to understand how that astonishing result was achieved – and maybe show a little more respect for the founders’ achievement and expertise.”
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I have long enjoyed – with some reservations – the fresh, candid approach to a lot of subjects that Tucker Carlson brings. He does not have any sacred cows. The reservations have come because, at times, Carlson ventures with confident swagger into subjects he clearly does not have even basic knowledge about – and seems to take no pains to get before he starts opining. This has been an annoying flaw (which some dismiss as a mere quirk) that has blunted my respect for the man. It is disturbing enough that, when he does come up with a deep insight (which, in fairness, he often does) I check his premises carefully before assuming that insight has real, rather than just apparent worth.
His latest interview, though, in which he cheerfully went along with a revisionist ‘historian’ who posits that Winston Churchill was the great villain of World War II and that the holocaust was a mistaken effort by the Nazis to be humane, is a bridge waaaay too far. It revealed a staggering level of historical ignorance by a figure who would be taken seriously in large public discourse. (Yes, I know that most establishment media anchors and commentators are even more ignorant than Carlson, but I haven’t taken them seriously for a very long time.)
I started this piece with a serious error I have made. It happens, despite best efforts sometimes. But Carlson showed no grasp of the most basic historical facts in this interview and, even worse, no desire to get them before doing this. I am done with him. He is not as unreliable a source as, say, Brian Stelter, but he clearly has joined, even if unwittingly, the growing assault on truth and memory. I’m done with him.
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In just over a week I will hit the road to make a full circuit of the contiguous United States. I will head east first, into the Midwest and on through the northern Appalachian States. We will have a field day in Maryland in mid-October, then I will spend a couple of weeks in New England. From there, I will double back to Texas and Louisiana the first of November, then into the southeast to spend the holidays with family. After the New Year I will basically head west in a clockwise direction to cover the rest of the country. If you want to schedule a talk or event, please contact my scheduler at ginaw@coracusa.com. And leave the light on for me!
If communication goes out for any length of time, meet outside your local Church at 9 a.m. on Saturday mornings. Tell friends at Church now in case you can’t then. CORAC teams will be out looking for people to gather in and work with.
Find me on Twitter at @JohnstonPilgrim
The Corps of Renewal and Charity (CORAC)
18208 Preston Rd., Ste. D9-552
Dallas, Texas 75252
A Sign of Hope 
Amen, Charlie. Thanks for the reminder – by way of example – to live integrity.
Thanks, too, for the reminder about the Electoral College.
I appreciate Stephen Green’s piece. I’ve been meaning to bring up Candace Owen’s problem. Such rejoicing there was when she came into the Church at the vigil and then… whatever happened to pursuing truth? She’s now on the path with trailblazer E. Michael Jones who has captured the attention of many with his wild assertions which are nothing short of anti-Semitic.
Man oh man, we DO have a lot of wood to chop. Your closing image says a LOT. Speaking of a box of rocks…
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For anyone interested in attending the Maryland field day which Charlie mentioned, more information is available at region3.corac.net. In addition to Charlie attending, there are a number of presentations of interest to the Corac community. Hope to see you there!
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Charlie, just in the last couple days, I’ve seen a tweet that says that at the moment of fertilization of the egg, the egg emits a flash of light, and nobody seems to know why. Have you heard of this phenomenon? This is not the first time I have heard this, but your material on IVF above brought it to mind.
Has anyone else heard of this flash or (if it happens) knows why the flash of light occurs?
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I’ve seen it, Steve. Here’s a vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9tmOyrIlYM
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Cool! Thanks. 🙂
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A few years ago, I had read that the flash occurs. It was suggested that was the moment God created the soul.
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I’ve heard about it too Steve bc!
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On the Electoral College, I have immense admiration for the process. I gather that this single part of the Constitution took a very large amount of their time at the Constitutional Convention, significantly more than any other part of the Constitution did. Do you know if that’s true?
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Charlie, the article you linked about egg availability in women was not very clear (not to mention it only mentioned the word “woman” once and started out with “persons who have ovaries”). While the ovaries may have thousands of eggs, only one is released each month into the fallopian tubes ready for fertilization. I have no idea where the eggs that are not released go, but they are not released into the tubes. It is the implantation of that one egg into the uterus (fertilized or not) that sets in motion the building up of the woman’s uterine lining, preparing for the possibility of a fertilized egg. (And yes, sometimes two are released or one egg from each ovary, but these are rare occurrences for most women). I worked for a pro-life crisis pregnancy center, many years ago, and they would show a video to the young women who came in pregnant and not knowing what to do. Truly, it is amazing that women get pregnant at all! The window for the egg to be fertilized is short–between 12-24 hours after it’s release from the ovary, and with thousands of sperms fighting to enter the somewhat protected egg, only the strongest survives. My point is that there is only one egg (in most cases) which is travelling to the uterus.
Perhaps I am being nitpicky, but as I read the beginning of your article, I was confused about your thinking that thousands of eggs could be fertilized, when only one is ever released. A lot of people read your blogs and I just wanted to clarify.
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Jewels, once thinking that many could be fertilized was the very mistake that that whole section was about. It went on to state emphatically that that is not the case. Forgive me, but it seems you just restated, in your own words, what I said, then asked me for clarification. I once thought many eggs could be fertilized. I was wrong. What else is there to say?
The article I linked was not as clean as I would have wanted, but it was the best short explanation of the fundamentals I could find.
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Sorry, Charlie, it still left me thinking that you believed thousands of eggs were released. 😳
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The multitude of eggs that do not make it into the fallopian tubes are expelled with menstruation – but none of them are fertilized. Some die and are through non-menstrual means as they do before puberty. The one that makes it into the fallopian tubes and CAN be fertilized usually isn’t – and it is expelled with the rest through the normal menstrual cycle.
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“The multitude of eggs that do not make it into the fallopian tubes are expelled with menstruation”
As far as I am aware, it is physically impossible for any egg to be expelled in menstruation unless it passes through the fallopian tube first. Therefore, your statement above does not make sense. Please refer to a diagram of the female reproductive system.
Jewels and I are merely trying to help you understand a minor misconception that you still seem to have about the mechanics of egg travel, that’s all. We both want you to be as accurate as possible in this public forum so that your credibility on the matter is not questioned.
I sincerely suggest, in the friendliest way possible, that you find a trusted individual with whom to review the topic.
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Thank you, Mel. While I have a good grasp of some intricate microbiological processes, I had the purpose – and many of the details – of the menstrual cycle completely wrong. I thought it was, primarily, to expel eggs that did not implant. What I am learning is that (metaphorically speaking) It basically builds a new potential safe home for a potential child every 28 days – and that a period is the expulsion of the old home in preparation for building anew.
Perhaps I wrote the correction too quickly. As soon as I knew enough that it was definitive that conception begins at fertilization, not implantation, I had to jump on it because it has profound theological implications. But it was just the beginning of exploration – and I know that. I DO have people with real expertise on almost every subject I use as go-to’s. I am contemplating right now why so many, from microbiologists to research hospital directors never corrected me before this…how I shaped it so that they did not even notice. There is much work for me to do after having so badly misunderstood. But I do the work and, in time, I will completely have absorbed it all. Most of the literature on the subject is somewhat opaque, assuming knowledge on the part of the student, without making things clear and precise. (The most opaque I have found, for someone laboring under my misconception, was from Johns Hopkins). I not only have to fully find what the facts are, but also why no one called me on it until Sheryl Collmer did earlier this week. The latter is critical for finding how such an error could have survived so long. On the occasions when I do find major error in myself, the task before me is not just to correct the error but to get up to snuff and to find how I made the error so I can banish the missteps from my procedure, that I not make similar errors going forward.
Forgive me if I have been a bit snappish. I get furious with myself when I discover any significant error on my part – and I hate that I can get snappish with others when I am furious with myself.
In some ways, I feel like a very erudite writer for a national publication I know. In middle school, a teacher told his class, “Knowledge is power” – Francis Bacon. It baffled him all the way into his early 30s. He would often say it to colleagues, hoping they would expand on and explain it. But all they ever did is nod sagely in agreement. He was desperate to know what it was that made France bacon and what it could possibly have to do with the power of knowledge. Finally, he saw the quote in a meme with a picture of Francis Bacon beside it and understood, at long last, the root of his misunderstanding all those years.
One of the benefits of running this site is that I have so many people with deep expertise in so very many areas, that I do not lack for good information on just about anything. Thank you all.
Part of me wonders if maybe this was not simply a means of God reminding me to humility. When I first made the error semi-publicly, it was in a heavily-vetted technical memo. The error was ancillary to the major point, almost a throwaway. That paper was a key cause in ending the left’s big national push for an expansion of embryonic stem cell research and its funding – so it had a very good effect. But embedded in that good work was a key, major error which, even if only a minor coda to the memo, was egregious. Very upsetting to me. It will be a month or two before I have fully incorporated the facts, the failure that caused the error, the long shelf life of that error when it was exposed to so many genuine experts, and how to prevent this type of error from happening again into my psyche. I thank those of you with genuine expertise for helping move this process along for me. Regardless, the fundamental correction needed to be made now rather than after I have internalized everything.
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Good to know you are as human as the rest of us, Charlie. 😄
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Yes Jewels, you are correct. Only one unfertilized egg is released by the ovary each month, and the zillions of sperm all rush to be the first to fertilize it. The other eggs which were “contenders” to be released that month shrivel up and are reabsorbed by the ovary, never released into the fallopian tube.
There is one correction to your comment that I might offer. You stated: “It is the implantation of that one egg into the uterus (fertilized or not) that sets in motion the building up of the woman’s uterine lining, preparing for the possibility of a fertilized egg.”
The uterine lining is already building up and preparing for a fertilized egg right after menstruation is done, and prior to ovulation. This building process is not triggered by implantation, and must be completed/adequate before the fertilized egg arrives.
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As a Creighton Model FertilityCare Practitioner I agree with you Mel. One more thing is that if the egg is not fertilized within 24 hours, it will die. To be more clear, there are no live unfertilized eggs arriving in the uterus.
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I had human sexuality class in 7th grade. In 9th grade my family moved to another school district, which gave the course in high school. Later, in college, I took another class, which went further into the details of the various biological processes in both the male and female. (Indeed in almost every case, one egg is dropped into the fallopian tube during each cycle, except in cases where sometimes when another egg is released and we could have non identical twins or triplets etc.) After studying all this with information on various body temperatures, pH balances and viscosities, I came away with an awe that anyone manages to get born. It truly is an amazing miracle which occurs routinely enough that we are here to ponder it. God is Great!!
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Amen, William!!
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Only a fertilized egg will implant.
If no implantation happens, within hours, the uterus begins the sloughing off which results in menstuation that completes itself 14 to 16 days later. Next month the uterus builds itself up, freshly ready for the implantation of a fertized egg. This cycles, if no interruption of hormonal or chemical birth control, monthly for about 30 years.
Wonderfully miraculous, menstruation is not about sloughing off unfertilized eggs, but rather the “dirty sheets” of the unused bed. This allows the body to remake a fresh bed each month. Whether a women is 18 or 38, the uterus is freshly made up with “clean sheets.”
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JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU! … PS 😉
https://theacru.org/2024/09/03/panem-et-circenses-2/
https://cis.org/Map-Sanctuary-Cities-Counties-and-States
https://reclaimthenet.org/former-white-house-official-aggressively-targets-online-misinformation
https://babylonbee.com/news/source-says-kamala-was-promoted-at-mcdonalds-after-having-affair-with-mayor-mccheese
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/https://patriotpost.us/digests/109946-mid-day-digest-2024-09-04
https://dailycaller.com/
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/
https://www.wnd.com/category/front-page/
GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!
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Thank you Charlie. Always a great post from you.
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Thank you Charlie.
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“After fertilization, fetal development starts once the fertilized egg is implanted in the womb.”
After fertilization in the fallopian tube, but before implantation in the uterus, the new zygote (fertilized egg) divides multiple times within itself. An unfertilized egg will not do this. So there is already development that is happening before implantation.
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and because of that fertilized egg cell division happening before implantation and the zygote growing; any narrowing down of the fallopian tube can lead to the possibility of impeding the movement of the zygote traveling to the uterus and causing the zygote/blastocyst implanting in the fallopian tube leading to an ectopic pregnancy.
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JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU! .. Happy Day! 😉
https://catholicexchange.com/learnings-from-the-little-cajun-saint/
https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/no-your-parish-is-not-vibrant/
My Goodness! I’m sure that naughty Bad Apple of the Good “Catholic” Biden Family … & cousins of The BVM .. Ya-Know! …. will get his just wrist-slap and the above Family will act all shocked and appalled at such felonious behavior ………by de by … did the IRS/DOJ take an interest in The Big Guy’s 10%!?
https://www.frontpagemag.com/hunter-biden-unprotected/
HullyGee!! I’m sure that the Latest Russia, RUSSIA FBI Hoax to smear Trump has absolutely nothing to do with Deep Blue DemonRat MN/NY Guv’s having disturbing ties to RedChina …. not to mention The Biden Crime Family’s, long & “profitable”, ties to the ChiComs.
https://sonar21.com/more-doj-cowbell-on-russia-while-ukraines-plight-worsens/
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/who-is-linda-sun-ex-aide-to-new-york-governor-hochul-charged-with-acting-as-chinese-agent/articleshow/113046779.cms
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house/3123997/house-oversight-opens-investigation-tim-walz-china/
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2024/09/05/known-wolf-fbi-states-they-were-aware-of-threats-from-14-year-old-georgia-school-shooter-colt-gray/#more-263851
https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2024/09/04/breitbart-business-digest-inflation-leaves-the-middle-class-too-poor-to-shop-at-dollar-stores/
https://catholicvote.org/
https://stream.org/category/us/
https://hotair.com/
https://thedailybs.com/news/
https://www.zerohedge.com
https://www.frontpagemag.com/
https://links.glennbeck.com/view/55d278157d0973635efe6258lt7be.1pvo/ecc8d8f7
https://floppingaces.net/
GOD SAVE THE REPUBLIC & ALL HERE!!
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Charlie, I also listened to Tucker’s interview. Was there anything that you agreed with in this video? Thanks!
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As soon as I saw what he was doing, I turned it off. I am no more interested in listening to that than I would a program about how the earth is flat, the sun revolves around the earth, or that Abraham Lincoln never existed. It might be of interest to some who know next to nothing about well-documented history…though if they listened to it they came away knowing less than they started with. I do not have enough time in my life to listen to stuff that I already know, with certainty, is errant poppycock.
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The discussion about egg cell development got me thinking about the Incarnation of Christ. That little single digit number of cell was true God and true man.
Pretty mind-blowing for this simpleton.
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“The discussion about egg cell development got me thinking about the Incarnation of Christ. That little single digit number of cell was true God and true man.”
So true Christopher j. ” “And Mary said; I am the handmade of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word. And The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” John 1:14. During the Latin rite mass we genuflect when this passage is said confirming Emanuel… God is with us. Obviously, this is the whole point of this thread that if God became man at the moment of His conception by Marys fiat, we too are fully (hu)man at the moment of conception. This is the teaching of the church and why even a newly fertilized embryo must be considered a human and fully protected.
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JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU! .. Happy Day! 😉
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/jesus-blood-shroud/2024/09/05/id/1179195
https://catholicvote.org/the-grunt-padre/
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/pope-francis-departs-indonesia-papua-new-guinea-stop-two-12-day-trip-2024-09-06/
https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/month-bible/
https://thenationalpulse.com/2024/09/05/debate-hosting-abc-news-boss-is-30-year-besties-with-kamala-mega-donor-to-dems/
https://thenationalpulse.com/2024/09/05/trump-will-establish-government-efficiency-commission-proposed-by-musk-report
Need more proof that the BigPharma/Medical Wing of DemonRat Party is very afraid of a Trump Win and, hopefully, a ChinaPlague Hoax & VAXX Genocide Reckoning!?
https://freebeacon.com/democrats/rnc-urges-election-officials-to-scrutinize-dem-aligned-group-registering-patients-to-vote-in-hospitals/
https://thenationalpulse.com/2024/09/05/house-panel-subpoenas-walz-over-250-million-covid-fraud/
https://www.2ndsmartestguyintheworld.com/p/we-will-not-comply-with-pandemic
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2024/09/06/biden-admits-inflation-reduction-act-was-actually-the-green-new-deal-con/#more-263873
https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/the-dire-political-and-spiritual-consequences-of-our-health-crisis
Yep! We got a Health Crisis PLUS THEY keep US unhealthy with THEIR Killer VAXXs, medical “care” that keeps US unhealthy and buying THEIR drugs to keep US that way…….Oh!! Let US not forget THEIR Bidenomic Plan of destroyed Middle Class, Inflation and Citizens having to choose Food, Drugs or Fuel! One of the most disturbing recent News Stories was that of Dollar General Stock losing 25% because of dismal 2nd Quarter stats. Rural poorer people are unable to afford basics from an outfit/business model designed for them.
It ain’t gonna be a Merry Christmas Gang but I’n NOT hearing anything from The Usual Suspects about it nor am I hearing the stories THEY would run, when the GOP owned the WH, of school kids starving and old folks eating Dog Food ……. remember them back in the Reagan/Bush Days?
https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/all-the-right-people-hate-trump
https://afn.net/
https://thedailybs.com/news/
https://www.zerohedge.com
https://links.glennbeck.com/view/55d278157d0973635efe6258lthwq.20ol/e4015234
GOD SAVE THE REPUBLIC & ALL HERE!!
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Fr. Chad’s prayer for the election. Love the line: lest we be given the leaders we deserve!
Mary Immaculate, living tabernacle of the Divinity, where the eternal Wisdom lies hidden to be adored and served by angels and men, Queen of heaven and of earth, beneath whose sway are subject all things that are lower than God, Patroness of the United States of America, sorrowful and mindful of our own sinfulness and the sins of our nation, we come to Thee, our refuge and hope.
Knowing that our country cannot be saved by our own works and mindful of how much our nation has departed from the ways of Thy Son, we humbly ask that Thou wouldst turn Thine eyes upon our country to bring about its conversion. We consecrate to Thee the integrity of the upcoming election and its outcome, so that what is spiritually and morally best for the citizens of our country may be accomplished, and that all of those who are elected would govern according to the spiritual and moral principles which will bring our nation into conformity with the teachings of Thy Son.
Give grace to the citizens of this land so that they will choose leaders according to the Sacred Heart of Thy Son, that His glory may be made manifest, lest we be given the leaders we deserve. Trusting in the providential care of God the Father and Thy maternal care, we have perfect confidence that Thou wilst take care of us and will not leave us forsaken. O Mary Immaculate, pray for us. Amen.
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Hey Charlie!
What “higher level” mistakes would you say this led to with the more foundational misunderstanding of what is happening biologically in a woman?
You hint at it, but didn’t go in detail. My philosophical mind is curious!
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With respect, I didn’t hint at it all, Philip. I said candidly that if a woman expelled a multitude of eggs, including fertilized ones each month, the moment of conception could only be at the moment of implantation. Otherwise, it would make God the most prolific abortionist on earth. If there is only one egg fertilized each month, then the moment of fertilization IS the moment of conception. That differentiation has gigantic consequences.
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All good; you were definitely clear about it “making God being the most prolific abortionist.” I’m sure I–wrongly–read into it that there were other large consequences that were in your mind as you wrote this piece.
Thanks for taking the time to clarify; cheers brother!
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JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU! .. Happy Day! 😉
https://divinefiat.blogspot.com/2024/09/st-mechtildes-our-father-for-souls-in.html
https://catholicexchange.com/the-eucharist-the-opening-of-the-2024-olympics-and-eric-vardens-shattering-of-loneliness/
https://stacytrasancos.substack.com/p/thanks-richard-dawkins
https://tmattingly.substack.com/p/crossroads-the-ideas-that-led-jd
“Catholics” for Harris!! Yup! Let’s Vote for Perdition plus Spiritual and National Suicide … The Face of Manifest Ignorance in BoobLand USA ;-(
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/259119/ewtn-newsrealclear-opinion-research-poll-harris-leads-trump-among-catholic-voters
….. Speaking of National Suicide!
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/259139/arizona-bishops-oppose-proposed-state-crackdown-against-illegal-immigration
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/09/06/exclusive-photo-essay-kamala-harriss-middle-class-upbringing-in-westmount-canada/
https://www.theburningplatform.com/2024/09/06/ghosts-in-the-machine-2/
https://www.thecollegefix.com/professors-rally-academics-around-less-bad-candidate-trump/
You can Bet de Farm that this Trump Proofing Op has been On-Going at ALL Swamp DC Alphabet Agencies since the dawn of Lord BO’s reign in 09 …. and why Trump was stymied by Deep State in his term … it must be worse now …. don’t see much hope for The Republic sans Divine Intervention! …. with Red/Blue peaceful split as best option?
https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/biden-administration-busy-trump-proofing-doj-independent-watchdog-warns
…. Congress of Red States … NOW!!
https://merylnass.substack.com/p/take-your-pandemic-treaty-and-shove
https://www.theburningplatform.com/2024/09/07/holy-sht/
https://thedailybs.com/news/
https://www.zerohedge.com
https://patriotpost.us/digests/110036-mid-day-digest-2024-09-06
GOD SAVE THE REPUBLIC & ALL HERE!!
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To whom it may concern,
I have re and reread Charlie’s comments on IVF, fertilization, implantation, etc. I have always found it difficult to imagine what is happening when a fertilized egg is stored for possible future reintroduction into the mother’s womb to begin development. I have a relative who stored 4 such fertilized eggs, one of which was reintroduced, and was born while the other three await possible reimplantation later. She was told by a priest at the Divine Mercy Shrine that this was a mortal sin and that she could go to hell for this, which I believe is true, and this niece is perfectly well aware of it.
Could you clarify at one point the fertilized egg has an immortal soul and becomes a person? It seems like that happens at the moment of implantation if I understand Charlie’s writing correctly, and not at the moment of fertilization. If that is so I don’t fully understand whether a fertilized egg in storage is actually a person with a soul yet because it hasn’t been implanted in the mother’s womb and started to develop.
I would greatly appreciate further clarification on this.
Best
Jim Newcombe
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Jim, the soul is infused by God at the moment of conception when life begins.
From this piece, https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/catholic-church-clear-on-when-human-life-begins-3825 :
“To answer a question such as when does life begin, science gives us a quite adequate answer; according to one prominent embryology text, The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, by Keith L. Moore and T.V.N. Persuad (7th Edition; Publ. Saunders, p. 16), ‘‘Human development begins at fertilization when a male gamete or sperm (spermatozoon) unites with a female gamete or oocyte (ovum) to produce a single cell, a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marked the beginning of each of us as a unique individual’”
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Thanks I will read the EWTN Artic
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