Friday, May 17, 2024

Part I

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Higher Education Has a Quality Control Problem: Systemic Fraud Within Academic Journals

Well, a major publisher of academic papers is closing 19 academic journals. This would be Wiley, identified by the Wall Street Journal as a 217-year-old publisher based in Hoboken, New Jersey. On Tuesday this week, it announced it’s closing 19 journals, “some of which were infected by large scale research fraud.” Now, that’s shocking enough. We’re talking about 19 academic journals that are simply being closed because they’re so infected with fraud. But then the next sentence, “In the past two years, Wiley has attracted more than 11,300 papers that appeared compromised according to a spokesperson and closed four journals.” The article goes on, “It isn’t alone. At least two other publishers have retracted hundreds of suspect papers each, several others have pulled smaller clusters of bad papers.” 

Now, this is something I mentioned on The Briefing before, but it’s so important when you see a story like this. We need to pause and just reflect that this should change the way we hear certain news. This should change the way we hear certain claims bandied about. It is really interesting, and I mentioned this before, that as you look at much of the news or what’s called news, a lot of it is just picking up some kind of academic paper from somewhere, picking up some kind of research that was found somewhere, and then writing an article about how true this is. This is exactly what goes on over and over and over again. We are told X and then we find out, well, no, that’s not true. But it’s even more dangerous to be told something like X or Y or Z, and then, honestly, the paper was withdrawn because of research fraud and nobody tells you.

And so you just look at the number of headlines. About 42% of Americans say this or the vast majority of Americans say this or this particular drug was proved to be effective and all these different contexts and you just go down and then all of a sudden you realize, “Oh, that was withdrawn.” But we’re not talking about mistakes here. That’s what makes this article really interesting from a Christian worldview perspective. We’re not talking about mistakes. We’re talking about fraud. We’re talking about lies. We’re talking about misrepresentation. Something else we need to watch is that when you look at the amount of so-called research that’s being published these days, there is no way that anyone is monitoring the quality of all of this. I’ll simply say the vast majority of it is basically without any adequate quality control.

Now, you’d like to think that the closer you get to a big brand name, let’s just say Johns Hopkins University, famous for its medical research, you’d like to think that that would certainly ensure something. Harvard University, University of Chicago, Sloan Kettering Medical Center, I’m just mentioning those because they’re very established brands, but it turns out that some of those brands have been highly infected as well. You’re actually looking at some big names in the medical, pharmaceutical, and, say, medical research world that are having to look at perhaps even rebranding simply because they’ve been now discovered to be either the perpetrators or the victims of a vast amount of so-called research fraud.

Now, there are a lot of reasons to ask why would there be so much fraud? Why in this? I mean, it’s understandable why people would run illegal gambling organizations. You can see the commercial aspect. You can understand at least why bank robbers rob banks, but why exactly would you be so involved in academic fraud? I’ll tell you the reason and it’s this. The way forward in most academic cultures, the way towards tenure, the way towards long-term employment is to have a long, long list of published articles. In the scientific and technical fields, a long, long list of published research papers that you can attach to your application for a job or your application for tenure, and evaluation sometimes comes the very same way.

If you want to make the first cut, the second cut, the third cut, the fourth cut, you better be padding that list. A lot of it, quite frankly, is so technical that only someone who’s in that technical subspecialization has any idea what this is about anyway. The volume, because of the amount of academic production right now, the volume is so high, again, no one can keep up with it. No one can do the quality control. The big issue here is that some of this has real life impacts and real life. I don’t just mean who gets hired for the pyrotechnics department at university X. I mean, what drug are you given when you go in the hospital?

I mean, when you look at the big money behind so many of these, especially say pharmacological or pharmaceutical applications, there’s a big reason to perhaps hedge a bit on some of this research. Now, I do think that when you’re looking at, say, medical research and drug research, you’re probably looking at a far higher standard of peer review, a far higher standard of external review, and that’s why I think most of this fraud is going to be found at the periphery. But the periphery can be very, very dangerous, particularly because you have people who cite the study and they’re making an argument. If study X says this, then we should take step Y. But it’s true also that even as these papers have an impact and they become a part of the so-called research record, it’s also true that many of them are withdrawn.

We’re not talking about a few, we’re not talking about hundreds, we’re talking about thousands. By the way, if you catch thousands, well, here’s a hint. You’re looking at the tip of the iceberg of the problem. Now, Christians looking at this can say, “Well, this is just further evidence of a sinful world.” And of course it is, but it’s also evidence of the fact that sin comes with consequences and some of those consequences can eventually be life and death. There are all kinds of research projects that have led to huge public programs, huge government actions, and they’ve turned out to be wrong.

Now, of course, I’m not calling for absolute paralysis because we don’t know anything that’s not consistent with the Christian worldview either. But I am saying that in a fallen world where the perverse incentives are to publish or perish, you have an awful lot of people who are publishing what ought never to be published, making claims that ought never to be made, and asserting things that are simply taken by someone else to be true to potentially devastating effect. But it’s also just revealing the absolute moral vacuum at the heart of so much of higher education in the United States, where, honestly, so long as you have the citation, I think an awful lot of faculty colleagues don’t really care if it’s credible or not.

One paragraph in this Wall Street Journal article by Nidhi Subbaraman says, “The discovery of nearly 900 fraudulent papers in 2022 at IOP, that’s just one of these providers. 900 fraudulent papers in one year, 2022. We’re told that IOP Publishing is a physical science publisher.” We are told that the discovery of the nearly 900 fraudulent papers, “was a turning point for the nonprofit.” You think? A spokesperson for the company said, “That really crystallized for us. Everybody internally, everybody involved with the business, this is a real threat.” Well, thanks for waking up to that now. In moral terms, we need to recognize that, yeah, when you find out that something’s fraudulent, you need to withdraw the paper, but we need to recognize that damage is already done. Publishing the paper in the first place, publishing this supposed research in the first place makes all of these businesses, in some sense, culpable in the complexity of having presented what was absolutely not true, absolutely not credible and, in some cases, we simply have to know absolutely dangerous.

The systemic nature of the problem’s reflected in this statement, “Problematic papers typically appear in batches of up to hundreds or even thousands within a publisher or journal.” I continue, “A signature move is to submit the same paper to multiple journals at once to maximize the chance of getting in,” according to an industry trade group now monitoring the problem. “Publishers say some fraudsters have even posed as academics to secure spots as guest editors for special issues and organizers of conferences and then control the papers that are published there.” Seriously? We’re now told that there are fraudsters who aren’t even true academics who are becoming the hosts of meetings and the editors of special issues of these journals in order to publish papers that aren’t credible? Who is running this zoo? But then again, I have to be careful there because morally I insulted zoos everywhere with that comment.

Part II

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Sorority Sisters Sue Over New Member: Transgender Sorority “Sister” Sparks Controversy on University Campus

Alright, let’s turn to questions. As always, thrilled to get so many good questions from listeners to The Briefing. We’ll get to as many as we can. It’s interesting that some questions are new and some questions are absolutely perennial. Some questions you can say, “Well, I guess we’ve been talking about this for several hundred years as Christians.” One of those is one I’m going to take even today. Listener writes in and says, “I’m asking for help with a common Christian’s manner of reconciling two of the five principles of Calvinism. Those will be unconditional election and limited atonement with sharing the gospel with others and praying for their salvation.” Now he goes on and just basically says, “I have a hard time holding those two things together.” Well, I just want to say this, brother, this is not at all a new thing. That is not a new tension.

It’s not something that this generation of Christians has just all of a sudden awakened to. I want to say the most basic level, I believe, the Scripture teaches both things. Speaking here of what you call the five points of Calvinism, I’ll simply say the structure of reform faith, the sovereignty of God, the sovereignty of God in election, the sovereignty of God in the atonement, the sovereignty of God in calling a people unto himself through his son. I believe that the Bible’s really clear about that, absolutely clear about that, but the Bible is also clear that we are to preach the gospel, knowing that if anyone hears the gospel and believes, their sins will be forgiven and they will be saved. All who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. I think that’s equally clear. I think we’re also called to respond to the Gospel. We are commanded to respond to the gospel.

The gospel is not presented to us in the Scripture for our consideration. It is presented to us in Scripture and is presented to us in evangelism, not just for our consideration but for our decision. Charles Spurgeon, the great London preacher, had a wonderful way of putting this when he was asked how he reconciles divine sovereignty and human responsibility. He said, “I don’t try to reconcile friends.” I just want to say, brother to brother, it’s just the wrong way to look at this situation, because when the Bible says this is true, and the Bible says this is true, our business is to believe both of those truths that God has revealed. If there’s a tension, the tension’s in us, and I think that tension may be just healthy for the church. It reminds us that we are given the responsibility to share the gospel.

We are given the responsibility to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. We are to present the claims of Christ to all people and to do so in the confidence that, if they hear the gospel and believe, they will be saved. At the same time, when we get to heaven, we fully expect that we will have, as the clear understanding, of who is there to the glory of God the Father chosen before the foundation of the world. So, we believe that both of these things are true. And if there’s a tension, the tension is in us. The tension is not in God and the tension is not in the gospel. 

This comes down to what sometimes is referred to as the well-meant offer of the gospel, and that well-meant offer of the gospel comes down to this. I am eager to tell people how they can come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, have their sins forgiven, be saved. And that requires me to present to them the gospel when I preach, when I’m in conversation with them, even of course when we send missionaries to the uttermost part to the world. The well-meant offer of the gospel means that I know that, in every case, that if they hear the gospel and believe and repent of their sins and seize upon Christ, they will be saved. Not they might be saved; they will be saved. Thus without hesitation, I gladly present the well-meant offer of the gospel. It is well-meant and it is the gospel.

Part III

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How Do We Hold Together God’s Sovereignty in Salvation and the Mandate for Evangelism? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters from Listeners of The Briefing

Alright, let’s turn to questions. As always, thrilled to get so many good questions from listeners to The Briefing. We’ll get to as many as we can. It’s interesting that some questions are new and some questions are absolutely perennial. Some questions you can say, “Well, I guess we’ve been talking about this for several hundred years as Christians.” One of those is one I’m going to take even today. Listener writes in and says, “I’m asking for help with a common Christian’s manner of reconciling two of the five principles of Calvinism. Those will be unconditional election and limited atonement with sharing the gospel with others and praying for their salvation.” Now he goes on and just basically says, “I have a hard time holding those two things together.” Well, I just want to say this, brother, this is not at all a new thing. That is not a new tension.

It’s not something that this generation of Christians has just all of a sudden awakened to. I want to say the most basic level, I believe, the Scripture teaches both things. Speaking here of what you call the five points of Calvinism, I’ll simply say the structure of reform faith, the sovereignty of God, the sovereignty of God in election, the sovereignty of God in the atonement, the sovereignty of God in calling a people unto himself through his son. I believe that the Bible’s really clear about that, absolutely clear about that, but the Bible is also clear that we are to preach the gospel, knowing that if anyone hears the gospel and believes, their sins will be forgiven and they will be saved. All who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. I think that’s equally clear. I think we’re also called to respond to the Gospel. We are commanded to respond to the gospel.

The gospel is not presented to us in the Scripture for our consideration. It is presented to us in Scripture and is presented to us in evangelism, not just for our consideration but for our decision. Charles Spurgeon, the great London preacher, had a wonderful way of putting this when he was asked how he reconciles divine sovereignty and human responsibility. He said, “I don’t try to reconcile friends.” I just want to say, brother to brother, it’s just the wrong way to look at this situation, because when the Bible says this is true, and the Bible says this is true, our business is to believe both of those truths that God has revealed. If there’s a tension, the tension’s in us, and I think that tension may be just healthy for the church. It reminds us that we are given the responsibility to share the gospel.

We are given the responsibility to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. We are to present the claims of Christ to all people and to do so in the confidence that, if they hear the gospel and believe, they will be saved. At the same time, when we get to heaven, we fully expect that we will have, as the clear understanding, of who is there to the glory of God the Father chosen before the foundation of the world. So, we believe that both of these things are true. And if there’s a tension, the tension is in us. The tension is not in God and the tension is not in the gospel. 

This comes down to what sometimes is referred to as the well-meant offer of the gospel, and that well-meant offer of the gospel comes down to this. I am eager to tell people how they can come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, have their sins forgiven, be saved. And that requires me to present to them the gospel when I preach, when I’m in conversation with them, even of course when we send missionaries to the uttermost part to the world. The well-meant offer of the gospel means that I know that, in every case, that if they hear the gospel and believe and repent of their sins and seize upon Christ, they will be saved. Not they might be saved; they will be saved. Thus without hesitation, I gladly present the well-meant offer of the gospel. It is well-meant and it is the gospel.

Part IV

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How Do We Analyze the News Without Becoming a Sad Christian? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters from Listeners of The Briefing

Okay, I received a wonderful, wonderful question and it came with some extended language. It comes from a young husband, a father who’s 30 years old. I really appreciate this question coming from Tulsa, Oklahoma. The listener talks about something I discussed on The Briefing, and it was, as I mentioned, scheduled for Mother’s Day, The Washington Post article about the two dads and the little girl, three and a half years old that just designated one of them as a mommy. It is heartbreaking. This man says just hearing it made him weep. I love how he ends it. Listen to this, “My question is really twofold. How do you balance the knowledge of the things you frequently discuss and also not having your joy in life removed from you? Do you have times where you find this too much to discuss? I want to be informed but not a mopey and sad Christian.”  Well, one of the things I want to say to this listener is I pray that I do not become so accustomed to talk about these things that they don’t hurt. I’ll tell you gladly I haven’t reached that point. These things hurt. I talk about them because I think they are the things we need to know in order as Christians to be faithful not only in our own lives, but in our public witness and our understanding of the gospel challenges all around us.

You ask a good question, and that is, “How do I balance the knowledge of these things we discuss and not having my joy in life removed?” Well, I am just so thankful that the Lord has given us means of grace and blessings by his providence in such a way if indeed, yes, we have to discuss these issues, this is not where we live. I think that’s really important. That’s why I think it’s important to have this program and to talk about these issues and to try to inform Christians and try to help Christians think through these issues. But the far more important thing is that Christian husbands be faithful to their wives and together raise children in the nurtured admonition of the Lord. The far more important thing is that we’re faithful in the local church and faithfully deployed as Christians in working in the fields of the Lord.

Yes, in the professions of the world and in the workplace, the far more important thing is that we love our neighbors even at times when we have to talk about what’s really going on with our neighbors. I hope that makes sense. I will tell you, I think I’m a lot more joyful because I’m a father and a grandfather than I would be otherwise. I think I’m a lot more healthy and I know I’m a lot happier because I am the husband of my wife, Mary. I will tell you, the Lord surrounds me with wonderful signs of encouragement. I get to be on this campus where I see all these undergraduate students, young people, 18 to 22 years old, so committed to Christ. I get to see so many young men called to the preaching ministry who are training, and I just am in awe of their commitment and, quite frankly in their generation, how they stand out.

I’m in awe of the numbers in which they come and the faithfulness that they demonstrate and, yeah, I just love walking out. I was talking to a major Jewish intellectual and found myself saying when he said, “What makes you hopeful?” I said, “I look out the window of my office and I see all these young people and I see all these students and I see all these families and I see all these strollers. And you know what? It just makes me happy.” I want to thank this listener from Tulsa. Just thank you so much for listening and thank you for listening in a way that you clearly are engaged. I think it’s a wonderful testimony when you say that, at times, some of these things seem almost overwhelming and I think it’s the way it should be. I think there are times when we should feel just almost overwhelmed, but almost as the critical category, because as Christians, we come back to the fact that Jesus Christ is Lord. We know who created the earth, we know who redeemed us by the blood of the lamb, and we know who is going to make all things right. I think it’s good and honest that sometimes we say these issues involve us emotionally as well. God made us that way for His glory. I’ll tell you, even answering this question reminds me of that, so we’re going to move on.

Part V

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What Advice Do You Have for a Young Deacon? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters from Listeners of The Briefing

Okay, I have to move to another question from another young man, another question that encourages me. This young man has just been elected and ordained as a deacon in his church. He’s still in his twenties and he says, “All my life, I had the false idea that deacons were just a bunch of old men in the church who prayed a lot and counted the money.” And then he asked the question, “Do you have any advice or wisdom to share with a young deacon,” Okay. I just want to say to this young man, I want to say one of the most precious things that I have in my library is my dad’s copy of a book entitled “The Baptist Deacon.” It was by Robert Naylor, who’s the president in the last generation of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas. In it is a note from the pastor of the church to my dad who was a young man, I think just about your age as a matter of fact, when he was elected as a deacon and ordained as a deacon in the church.

Now, I want to tell you that Baptists sometimes really mess up some of the language here. I’m going to speak of being a deacon and a lot of what I’m going to say is applicable to the office of elder in the sense of spiritual leadership. I think in the context in which I look at what you are asking me here, I want to say the most important thing is your job in the church comes with the assignment of spiritual leadership on behalf of the congregation. I’m just going to pray that you’ll grow in grace, grow in the knowledge of God, grow in your knowledge of Scripture, and grow into being the one to whom members of the church turn when they’re looking for godly counsel, when they’re looking for biblical advisement, when the church is seeking what it should do and where it should go and what its priorities should be. I want to tell you I’m already very, very happy you’re in that room and I’m also very happy you’ve discovered that the deacons aren’t just a bunch of old men who pray a lot and count the money. Not that praying a lot and counting the money is not important, I’m simply saying what’s important is the spiritual leadership of the church. I think that’s what’s reflected in what you write about being now nominated and ordained as a deacon in your church.

I’ll tell you, my father was a great example to me of a godly layman in the church who exercised just that kind of responsibility, had that kind of influence, was ready with godly spiritual counsel, showed leadership in the church as one of the most important men in the church. Though he was in the grocery business and wasn’t a pastor, he spiritually mentored so many and was a part of giving godly spiritual leadership to the church for so many decades. It was an example that he set before me for which I’m just incredibly grateful. To this young man, I want to say I’m really happy your church has turned to you, because the way you ask this question helps me to understand you want to be a godly leader in your church as a man of God. I’m going to tell you we need you and we need more of you, so get busy and help other young men to move into their rightful positions of spiritual leadership as well.

Part VI

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What Does Healthy Masculinity Look Like in Our Confused World? — Dr. Mohler Responds to a Letter from a 12-Year-Old Listener of The Briefing

Okay. I think this is kind of falling into a theme today and I want to take one more question. This one comes from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and it comes from a 12-year-old boy who listens to The Briefing with his dad on the way to school each morning. The dad has forwarded the question from this 12-year-old and get ready. Here’s the question. “How can one have and keep a godly masculinity when we live in such a confused world?” Whoa. Well, God bless you for asking the question. Remember, this is coming from a 12-year-old boy and what a happy thing is that? It’s a 12-year-old boy in this case who listens to The Briefing and who asked his dad if he could ask a question and his dad forwarded the question.

I just have to tell you, number one, my guess is that, yeah, things are in a pretty good shape for this young man in his home. I would say to this young 12-year-old, I think, most importantly, the first thing you can do is learn from your dad what a healthy masculinity is in a world that’s toxic, in a world of lies, in a world of just all kinds of confusion. My guess is that the greatest clarity is what God has provided for you right at home and as you’re on the way to school, riding in the car, listening to The Briefing with you. That just makes me very, very happy. Not only is the one who’s talking to you here, but also as a Christian and more importantly as a Christian father and grandfather. This is just the way the picture should look.

And then, I also want to say to this young man, I would look to the Bible for its absolute honesty in presenting to us pictures of masculinity. That includes pictures of masculine glory to the honor of God and also is honest in showing us some pictures of masculine failure to the glory of God. We need to learn from both and the Scripture, as God’s gift to us, inerrant and infallible, gives us the truth both ways, and that’s really, really important. I would lean into advice such as what the Apostle Paul gives to Timothy and Titus and the pictures, the encouragements, the explicit teachings of Scripture about what Godly manhood looks like. I think it’s very, very good, very, very healthy you recognize that the world is filled with confusion. And I also want to say to this twelve-year-old, one of the things that’s really sad is that an awful lot of people in the world would hate the fact that you’ve even asked the question. But I have to tell you I think it’s great you asked the question, and that’s why I was determined I was going to get this one in before we end the program today.

I also want to say to this twelve-year-old, one example of biblical masculinity is showing up and doing what needs to be done and just fulfilling the role that God has given you. Whether you knew it or not, one of the ways that you have acted and showed a biblical masculinity is in sending in this question and asking it in such a way that it gave me the opportunity to answer it and to do so from the heart and from Christian conviction. I want to thank you for taking the action of doing that, because just look, it led to the fact we’re talking about this with other people today because you asked the question. As I close, I just have to say it just makes me incredibly happy to know that there are moms and dads with kids in the car who are listening to The Briefing. 

My prayer is that this serves you and your family and what an honor that is.