It’s Monday, December 30th, A.D. 2024. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 125 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.   I’m Adam McManus. ([email protected])

By Adam McManus

Attacks on Christians in India during Christmas

A spate of violent attacks marred the 2024 Christmas celebrations across India despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi extolling the virtues of love and harmony taught by Jesus Christ in his Christmas speech, reports International Christian Concern.

Prime Minister Modi belongs to the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party, which is currently ruling the country. Still, he attended the Christmas celebrations hosted by the Catholic Bishops Conference of India in New Delhi.

During the function, Modi gave a speech stressing the importance of strengthening the spirit of love, harmony, and brotherhood in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ.

MODI: “The teachings of Lord Christ, celebrate love, harmony and brotherhood. It is important that we all work to make the spirit stronger.”

He also greeted the people during Christmas on X, posting photos and videos of himself attending the Catholic Christmas event.

However, this did not deter many pro-Hindu groups from disrupting the Christmas celebrations in churches, schools, public places, and even people’s homes. In many cases, Hindu nationalists acted brazenly despite the presence of police.

179 dead in South Korean airplane crash

At least 179 people are feared dead after a plane carrying 181 passengers skidded off a runway as it landed and smashed into a wall at a South Korean airport, reports CNN.

The tail of the plane was the only part that appeared to remain intact as flames engulfed the aircraft, sending a plume of black smoke into the air, according to NBC News.

The Jeju Air flight was returning from Bangkok when the horror unfolded at Muan International Airport in South Korea, located 180 miles south of Seoul.

South Korea's emergency office said the jet's landing gear appeared to have malfunctioned with a bird striking the aircraft among the theories that could have possibly caused the crash. 

There were wails in the airport's arrivals hall as families wept loudly when a medic announced the names of 22 dead passengers. They were identified by their fingerprints.  

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu had prostate removed

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu underwent prostate removal surgery for two hours in an underground facility on Sunday after he was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection resulting from a benign prostate enlargement, reports The Jerusalem Post.

Biden regrets withdrawing from the presidential race

President Joe Biden regrets having pulled out of this year’s presidential race and believes he would have defeated Donald Trump in last month’s election – despite negative poll indications, according to a Washington Post profile.

Former President Jimmy Carter died at 100, defended gay marriage as a Christian

And finally, Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States and devout Baptist known for his charitable work and longtime service as a Sunday School teacher, has died at the age of 100, at his home in Plains, Georgia on Sunday afternoon, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 

Carter married Rosalynn Smith in 1946. In July, the couple celebrated their 77th wedding anniversary, with their union currently standing as the longest marriage of any U.S. president.

Carter only served one term in office when President Ronald Reagan successfully won the White House as skyrocketing inflation and the Iran hostage crisis dropped his approval ratings.

Since leaving office, Carter has become known for many charitable efforts, including decades of volunteering with Habitat for Humanity.

In a candid interview with Huffington Post’s Marc Lamont Hill, Carter explained that he did not see that homosexual marriage was in conflict with the Bible.

CARTER: “I never have run across any really serious conflicts between my political obligations and my religious faith.”

HILL: “How about gay marriage?”

CARTER: “That's no problem with me. I think everybody should have a right to get married, regardless of their sex. The only thing I would draw a line on, I wouldn't be in favor of the government being able to force a local church congregation to perform gay marriages if they didn't want to.  But those two partners should be able to go to the local courthouse or to a different church and get married. That's no problem.”

Hill had this follow-up.

HILL: “Would Jesus approve gay marriage?”

CARTER: “I believe He would. I don't have any verse in Scripture.”

HILL: “No, no, but just intuitively yeah”

CARTER: “I believe that Jesus would approve gay marriage. That's just my own personal belief. I think Jesus would encourage any love affair if it was honest and sincere and was not damaging to anyone else. I don't see that gay marriage damages anyone else.”

However, in Matthew 19:4-5, Jesus defined marriage explicitly, leaving no room for misunderstanding.

He asked, “Haven’t you read, that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?”

Later, in that same interview, Carter claimed that he had a personal, Biblical problem with the vast majority of abortions as a Christian.

CARTER: “I have had a problem with abortion, you know, and this has been a long time problem of mine. I have a hard time believing that Jesus, for instance, would approve abortions unless it was because of rape or incest or if mother's life was in danger.”

Sadly, that conviction that he should protect most babies destined for death by abortion was meaningless because he refused to let it interfere with his commitment to the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision which legalized abortion through all nine months of pregnancy.

CARTER: “So, I've had that struggle, but my oath of office was to obey the Constitution, which is interpreted by the Supreme Court. So, I went along with that.”

Truth be told, as a self-proclaimed Christian, Carter’s allegiance should have been to uphold the sanctity of life for all babies. After all, Acts 5:29 says, “We must obey God rather than man.”

Close

And that’s The Worldview on this Monday, December 30th, in the year of our Lord 2024. Subscribe by Amazon Music or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  Or get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I’m Adam McManus ([email protected]).  Seize the day for Jesus Christ.