Jon Fortt and David Tieche take the week's hardest headlines and hold them up to the lens of Scripture — so the news points somewhere instead of paralyzing. Three stories, and the uncomfortable question under each one.

First, the death penalty is back in the headlines: the planned executions of Nidal Hasan (the Fort Hood attack) and Krista Pike — and the initial push to televise Hasan's. Before the cameras, the hosts litigate the deeper question — what does the Bible actually say? David walks it chronologically to a striking fact: both sides quote the same verses. Genesis 9:6 ("whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed") reads to some as God sanctioning execution and to others as the very reason not to take life. He sets Jesus rebuking the disciples who wanted to call down fire (Luke 9) and sparing the woman accused of adultery (John 8) beside Paul before Festus (Acts 25) and Rome's sword in Romans 13:4. Jon stacks Exodus 21:12 and Numbers 35:31, then pivots to Cain: the first murderer is not executed — God marks him so no one else will kill him either (Genesis 4). On the live-streaming itself, both men are uneasy. Jon connects execution-as-spectacle to America's history of lynchings and the "lack of horror" in a watching crowd; David notes who actually ran public executions — Rome, ISIS — and argues that watching another human die malforms the watcher. Romans 12:19 anchors it: vengeance belongs to God. A Fortt Media topic study on the death penalty is here: https://bible.fortt.com/p/the-death-penalty-for-and-against

Second, parental discipline. Sparked by the Halle Berry–Olivier Martinez custody dispute, Jon and David get honest about spanking — both were spanked as kids — and about a parenting-conference Q&A that got uncomfortable fast. They treat it as a tertiary, freedom-of-conscience issue, holding Proverbs 13:24 ("spare the rod") next to Ephesians 6:4 and Colossians 3:21 ("fathers, do not provoke your children... so they will not become discouraged"). The through-line: never strike in anger, know how each child is built, and don't shield kids from consequences — simulate them in love so a small lesson now spares a larger pain later. A Fortt Media topic study on spanking is here: https://bible.fortt.com/p/corporal-punishment-of-children-for-and-against

Third, the number-one box-office horror movie "Other Mommy" (Jessica Chastain) — a demon that wears your mother's face. Why does it terrify us? Because a mother is supposed to be comfort, safety, protection. Scripture leans on exactly that image: God comforting "as a mother comforts her son" (Isaiah 66:13), Jesus longing to gather Jerusalem "as a hen gathers her chicks" (Matthew 23:37). Horror works by inverting it — the thing meant to protect you is now after you — which is why distrust of corrupted authority cuts so deep. Jon closes with Malachi 4:6 and, full circle, Rizpah guarding her executed sons' bodies (2 Samuel 21:10); David with the prodigal's father running to meet him (Luke 15) — the parent's heart that is God's heart. A Fortt Media topic study on the character of mothers is here: https://bible.fortt.com/p/mother-or-father-the-parent-of-peace-and-protection

The thread running through all three: what is meant to give life — justice, a parent's hand, a mother's face — can be twisted, and Scripture keeps pulling us back toward the real thing.

Dave's written breakdown of the death penalty is linked here: https://bible.fortt.com/p/i-remember-mcveigh-s-execution-we-shouldn-t-want-to-watch-hasan-s