Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - August 22, 2024


Ep 1056 ｜ “Open Womb” Theology： When Can Christians Stop Having Kids？ ｜ Q&A


Episode Stats

Length

46 minutes

Words per Minute

167.89339

Word Count

7,786

Sentence Count

586

Misogynist Sentences

22

Hate Speech Sentences

26


Summary

In this episode of Relatable, I answer some of your most pressing questions: Should women vote, should women submit to their husbands' choice of a vote, and should deliverance ministries be softening the word of God?


Transcript

00:00:00.000 What do I think about open womb philosophies or open womb theology?
00:00:08.220 Should women vote?
00:00:09.940 Also, if your husband wants you to do something like, say, stay at home, but you don't want to,
00:00:17.160 what does it look like to submit to your husband?
00:00:20.440 Also, what is my take on deliverance ministries?
00:00:24.200 I am answering all of these questions and many, many, many more on today's episode of Relatable.
00:00:29.460 It's brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers.
00:00:30.920 Go to GoodRanchers.com.
00:00:32.300 Use code Alley to check out this GoodRanchers.com code Alley.
00:00:43.800 Hey, guys, welcome to Relatable.
00:00:46.160 All right.
00:00:46.780 Answering some of your most pressing questions today.
00:00:51.000 The first question, actually, the first two questions, they really go hand in hand.
00:00:54.820 Should women vote?
00:00:55.720 Second question, should women submit to their husband's choice of a vote?
00:01:01.180 So apparently this is kind of a controversial position for people on the right.
00:01:05.300 But yes, I do think that women should be able to vote.
00:01:09.820 I know I'm such a radical feminist for believing that.
00:01:13.720 Now, I would be happy to narrow voting to, say, property owners.
00:01:20.540 I think that that would probably be a good qualification for voting.
00:01:26.000 Heck, I would be happy just having voter ID to be able to prove your citizenship.
00:01:31.740 You should be a taxpayer.
00:01:34.380 That seems like it should be important.
00:01:36.320 I know that you're not supposed to be allowed to have civic tests in order to vote, but it
00:01:44.600 would be great if everyone had to pass a basic civics exam before they voted.
00:01:51.880 Unfortunately, we don't have any of those things.
00:01:55.580 And Democrats have been pushing the allowance of illegal immigrants to vote for a very long
00:02:04.520 time.
00:02:04.920 These people who cast themselves as the sentinels of democracy and who say that they're fighting
00:02:11.820 against voter suppression.
00:02:13.740 Well, nothing is less democratic and more suppressive of the vote than allowing people who are not
00:02:22.140 citizens of this country have representation through their vote.
00:02:27.020 That is wicked.
00:02:28.200 It causes disorder.
00:02:29.260 It causes chaos.
00:02:30.540 It means that you're not really a country because there are no privileges to being a citizenship.
00:02:34.640 It means citizenship is really obsolete.
00:02:36.960 If citizenship is obsolete, then you have no privileges, no really special rights as a
00:02:44.240 citizenship, as a citizen, which really means that we have no sovereignty.
00:02:48.640 We're not even a legitimate country.
00:02:50.080 And of course, that is true.
00:02:51.080 If we have no borders, we have no sovereignty.
00:02:53.400 We have no protection.
00:02:54.340 We have no parameters.
00:02:56.960 We're basically illegitimate and invalid, which, again, just causes chaos.
00:03:01.560 Remember, God created borders.
00:03:03.580 He created governments.
00:03:04.840 He created the idea of nations and even the idea of languages.
00:03:10.600 All of these things create order in our lives that are necessary for human flourishing.
00:03:17.180 So anyway, I do think that there should be qualifications for voting, more qualifications than we have now.
00:03:24.120 And maybe it would have been good if we had stuck with the one vote per family model that it used to be.
00:03:33.740 But that's just not the world we live in today.
00:03:36.620 I don't even think it is helpful for anyone to be out there saying, let's revoke the 19th Amendment.
00:03:43.500 It's not going to happen.
00:03:44.960 All you are doing is ensuring that the women who can vote, who do vote, will not vote for the policies that you would like them to.
00:03:53.720 And that has a very real effect on vulnerable people who bear the brunt of our policy decisions, namely children and babies in the womb.
00:04:03.180 So be a little bit more strategic, those of you who are championing the idea of getting rid of the 19th Amendment.
00:04:10.120 Advice for the next generation of church leaders slash young people in ministry.
00:04:16.240 A really simple, don't compromise on the truth just because you think being nice or softening the word of God is going to somehow make the gospel more attractive.
00:04:25.040 It won't.
00:04:25.940 It won't.
00:04:26.600 Okay.
00:04:27.300 I know Gen Z is super cool.
00:04:29.860 I know the people, the generation coming up, maybe they're intimidating to you because you don't understand all their lingo.
00:04:35.620 They're so much more technologically savvy than us.
00:04:38.660 They are so apathetic about things and cover everything and five levels of irony.
00:04:45.280 And so maybe you're intimidated by that coolness and you feel like, okay, they are never going to be appealed to by just preaching God's word, just preaching the plain gospel.
00:04:55.620 I've got a caveat.
00:04:56.500 I've got a compromise.
00:04:57.500 I've got to soften it.
00:04:58.420 I've got a nuance.
00:04:59.780 That's the only way.
00:05:00.900 No, I mean, the word of God stands and the word of God will not return void.
00:05:06.720 What you win people with, you will win people too.
00:05:10.840 If you win people with compromise, their faith will be compromised.
00:05:15.080 If you win people with soft watered down theology, they will have soft watered down theology.
00:05:21.040 The word of God is good enough.
00:05:22.540 You do not have to apologize for it.
00:05:24.020 You don't have to let God off the hook.
00:05:25.540 You don't have to do PR for God, make him seem better than he is.
00:05:29.560 You speak the truth in love.
00:05:31.420 So yes, gentleness, kindness, all of those things.
00:05:34.280 You can have compassion for someone and meet them where they are.
00:05:38.080 But the goal is to not have them stay where they are.
00:05:41.340 This generation is like every generation that has ever lived.
00:05:44.980 They are sinful and their greatest need is not to feel good about themselves.
00:05:49.420 It's not to feel accepted.
00:05:51.140 It's not to feel awesome and have built up self-esteem.
00:05:55.180 Their dire need as sinners is to be saved by Christ.
00:06:01.060 That's my greatest need.
00:06:02.140 That's your greatest need.
00:06:03.120 That's the 10-year-old's greatest need.
00:06:04.540 The 20-year-old's greatest need.
00:06:05.560 The 99-year-old's greatest need.
00:06:07.740 Male, female, no matter what, that is our greatest need.
00:06:11.040 And there might be some different strategies, some different approaches that you take to make
00:06:15.540 sure that you really are meeting them where they are.
00:06:17.600 I'm not saying that you need to not be strategic or not try to invite them into your life in a way
00:06:27.700 that will appeal to them.
00:06:29.260 But I'm saying even as you invite them in, even as you are reaching out to them, do not compromise
00:06:35.980 on the word of God.
00:06:39.540 Which current animal skeleton do you think would make the scariest dinosaur?
00:06:42.820 That's a great question.
00:06:45.140 An owl.
00:06:46.580 An owl has a really scary skeleton.
00:06:49.880 We'll put the pictures up.
00:06:51.360 Hippo, super scary.
00:06:53.520 No, I think I'm going to go with baboon.
00:06:56.360 Frightening.
00:06:57.440 Baboon, really scary.
00:06:58.900 Any really animal dinosaur or animal dinosaur, animal skeleton could be, you could see it being a dinosaur.
00:07:08.860 All you have to do is picture it with scales instead of fur and wings, maybe, and huge fangs, huge teeth, huge canines.
00:07:21.180 And then you're like, oh, this is a dinosaur.
00:07:24.580 And you're like, oh, nope, it's actually a cow.
00:07:26.880 That's how crazy paleontology is.
00:07:29.920 How to approach or discuss with a fellow believer on their viewpoint against biblical core values.
00:07:35.860 So I think what you're asking is that this person says they're Christian, but they don't support the core tenets of Christianity, one of them being maybe the definition of marriage and gender.
00:07:47.460 I'm guessing that's probably what you are alluding to.
00:07:51.000 There are a few ways to go about this.
00:07:53.300 One, I would read Tactics by Greg Kokel.
00:07:56.280 He has a lot of really practical tips for how to, over time, convince someone to come to your side or just play a role in that person's mind and heart changing.
00:08:05.320 You might not be the person who helps bring that person over the finish line through the grace of God.
00:08:10.400 You might just be one person along the way on their journey, and we have to be fine with that.
00:08:16.120 In humility, we don't have to win every argument and every debate.
00:08:19.480 We just have to do our job to be obedient and plant seeds.
00:08:23.340 So there are multiple ways to do that.
00:08:25.480 You can, when you engage in conversation, if she says something that's blatantly unbiblical, you can just ask, well, what do you think about this Bible verse?
00:08:33.280 How do you think about this?
00:08:35.580 Or if you want to say, hey, like, I really want to study the book of Genesis, or I really want to study the book of Romans.
00:08:41.800 Like, would you be willing to do this Bible study with me?
00:08:44.460 Either find a good Bible study or go over it then.
00:08:47.620 Hey, first chapter of Romans, Romans 127, where Paul, writing to the Romans, is talking about the unnatural desires of homosexuality.
00:08:58.480 You can ask her, okay, like, what do you think about this?
00:09:01.000 How do we wrestle with this?
00:09:02.280 Get you, make sure you have a good ESV study Bible.
00:09:06.800 If you have, if she has questions that you don't have the answer to, I think one, it's not exhaustive, but it's a good place to start.
00:09:13.380 One place to go is gotquestions.org.
00:09:15.460 Like, they've answered a lot of theological questions.
00:09:17.620 If you just, like, kind of need the basics of an answer to an apologetics question, that's where I would start.
00:09:25.620 Because, look, it might be that she's a genuine believer, but she just is not in the place of her sanctification yet where God has given her the wisdom on certain issues.
00:09:36.600 I think all of us have had that point in our faith, and we have to remember that, that while I was genuinely a Christian, like, I thought that Joel Osteen and Stephen Furtick were awesome.
00:09:46.900 I didn't know.
00:09:48.000 I really didn't know the false premises and principles of the prosperity gospel until I was later in college.
00:09:56.360 And I got myself an ESV study Bible.
00:09:58.740 I started listening to more Reformed teachers, and I realized, oh, what I've been hearing from those kinds of preachers, that's just not the gospel, and it's not biblical at all.
00:10:07.220 It doesn't mean necessarily that I wasn't saved.
00:10:09.700 I was just confused.
00:10:11.020 And so sanctification is a process.
00:10:13.440 We work out our faith and fear and trembling.
00:10:15.580 Maybe she's a genuine believer.
00:10:17.000 She's just not there yet, and God will use you.
00:10:19.500 Or maybe she's not.
00:10:20.500 Maybe she's not a genuine believer.
00:10:21.760 Maybe she's a Christian in name only, and she thinks that she is nicer than God, in which case she serves the God of self, not the God of Scripture.
00:10:29.380 That's a much bigger conversation, so make sure that you're sharing the gospel with her.
00:10:37.080 All right.
00:10:37.700 I'm so excited to tell you guys about Sherwood Kids.
00:10:40.980 So if you're anything like me, finding entertainment for your kids that's, like, not a screen or a show that they're going to become addicted to is, like, it's high on my priority list.
00:10:51.640 And that's why I love Sherwood Kids.
00:10:53.200 This is different than the other kinds of entertainment platforms.
00:10:56.680 It's a low-stimulation platform that helps kids develop a love for reading without becoming addicted to screens.
00:11:04.000 So most kids' entertainment is, like, you know, it's designed to keep your kids glued to the screen, mindlessly entertained, and embracing even, you know, left-wing agendas.
00:11:16.580 And you don't want that.
00:11:18.140 You want wholesome content, and that's what Sherwood Kids has.
00:11:21.580 They have thousands of wholesome audiobooks, e-books, read-along videos.
00:11:26.100 It's filled with the kind of stories that you actually want your kids to enjoy because it's promoting the values that we have.
00:11:31.180 So go to SherwoodKids.com slash Allie.
00:11:34.020 You'll get 50% off a lifetime membership when you do, which is amazing.
00:11:38.300 SherwoodKids.com slash Allie.
00:11:44.620 Let's see.
00:11:45.720 Age-appropriate resources to help elementary kids understand all the election news.
00:11:51.880 I love, like, World Magazine.
00:11:54.240 They have the world and everything in it.
00:11:56.200 That's not a kid's podcast, but they do have a World Magazine podcast resource just for kids to explain world news to kids from a biblical worldview.
00:12:07.520 I love that.
00:12:09.120 And so I would probably start there.
00:12:11.200 It's just a great media group and a great resource where you can go.
00:12:15.840 How can we be praying for you as you prepare for Share the Arrows event?
00:12:19.440 That's so sweet.
00:12:20.680 I truly do.
00:12:21.720 I've got the kindest and most compassionate audience.
00:12:24.460 Every sponsor tells me that.
00:12:25.900 Every guest tells me that.
00:12:27.340 You guys really do share the arrows.
00:12:28.880 You share the arrows with me.
00:12:30.040 You share the arrows with my guests.
00:12:31.280 You share the arrows with the people that I talk about on the show.
00:12:34.420 And I'm just so thankful for that.
00:12:36.580 And you guys are always praying for me.
00:12:38.260 Every time I meet you, you say, I've been praying for you, my family and I, my Sunday school class.
00:12:42.120 One of you, I met you not too long ago at an event and you said that there's a group of you in your neighborhood and you come together every week or every, actually, I think it's every day, which is pretty amazing.
00:12:56.020 And pray for the country.
00:12:57.580 And you told me that at those meetings, y'all pray for me.
00:13:00.440 And that means so much to me.
00:13:03.380 You have no idea.
00:13:04.720 And I covet your prayers and I appreciate your prayers.
00:13:07.680 Specifically, when it comes to share the arrows, I just pray that everyone that God would want to be there would be there, however many people that is.
00:13:14.660 But that we would maximize our reach in being able to tell people about the show.
00:13:20.160 So, or not the show, the event, rather.
00:13:23.180 So that everyone who needs to know about it will know about it.
00:13:27.420 And also just pray that God is glorified.
00:13:30.300 Pray for all of the speakers, that they would be of calm and sound mind.
00:13:33.740 I pray for Francesca Battistelli, who is leading worship there, and that all of our words, that they be true, that they would be seasoned, that they would be, that they would meet fertile soil in the minds and the hearts of the people attending there.
00:13:52.820 I'm sure most of the women there will be Christians, but I'm sure there will be women there who maybe aren't and who don't know what to think about all these crazy political issues, theological issues.
00:14:04.180 And so I just hope that we can equip and encourage those women as well as the people who already agree with us, that everyone would leave there with so much hope and encouragement and equipment.
00:14:15.660 And also just safety.
00:14:17.280 I mean, I think we've seen over the past several weeks, if not several years, just how crazy things have gotten.
00:14:24.160 So pray for our protection, just our physical protection there, too.
00:14:29.580 My husband, someone says, my husband wants me to be a stay-at-home mom, but I do not want to.
00:14:33.560 Is this a submit to your husband situation?
00:14:36.960 Yes.
00:14:37.920 Yeah.
00:14:38.900 I think that I think it is.
00:14:40.640 Now, I don't know your specific circumstances.
00:14:42.460 I don't know your husband.
00:14:43.160 I don't know his reasoning, and I'm not saying that it's forever, and I don't know all of the different factors in your life.
00:14:53.240 So let me just say that.
00:14:55.080 But just from this, just from this, your husband wants you to stay at home.
00:15:01.060 You don't want to stay at home.
00:15:03.360 Yes.
00:15:03.820 It's a submit to your husband issue, I would say.
00:15:07.600 How do you think high school girls should respond to boys pretending to be girls?
00:15:13.160 At the same events.
00:15:14.940 I mean, that's really tough.
00:15:16.140 I hate that our girls are having to bear that responsibility.
00:15:19.900 Girls are naturally, I think, amenable and relational and compassionate.
00:15:24.760 And so I don't think it really comes naturally for them to be like, I'm going to stand up and fight against this thing because they want to be seen.
00:15:32.940 They want to be cool and accepted and all of those things, too.
00:15:35.440 And today you're told, especially if you're a young white girl, that you're you've already got like the bigotry baked in and that you have to work hard to not be transphobic and racist and all these things.
00:15:43.880 It's such a burden to put on children.
00:15:47.560 And yet that's the position that they're in.
00:15:50.780 And of course, if they're Christians, as young as they are, they have to stand up for what is good, right and true.
00:15:56.080 They simply do.
00:15:57.020 They have to push back against what is dangerous.
00:16:00.180 They don't have to accept this and they don't have to feel comfortable with it.
00:16:04.620 They don't even I'm sorry, but they don't have to be nice to a boy that is trying to be a girl.
00:16:08.820 They don't I'm not saying they should be unkind, like malicious and bullying, but they don't have to be nice.
00:16:14.120 They don't have to be accommodating.
00:16:15.620 They don't have to be sweet to this person.
00:16:17.920 They can ignore this person.
00:16:19.520 They should go to their trusted adults and say, I'm uncomfortable with this.
00:16:24.240 And by the way, like where are their dads?
00:16:28.040 Maybe their dads should be showing up at the school and saying, no, no, nope, we're not doing this.
00:16:34.880 Or you're pulling your daughter out.
00:16:36.880 Um, that's that's where my mind goes there.
00:16:41.480 As a Christian, what do you think of the emerging patriarchal quiverful doctrine?
00:16:47.160 You know, it's really interesting.
00:16:49.140 The turn that that kind of like subset as of Christians have taken a lot of these people,
00:16:57.660 the patriarchy bros are people who have asked to be on my podcast,
00:17:02.420 who have retweeted me and praised me in the past, who have, you know, given me virtual high fives.
00:17:08.280 And then suddenly it was, oh, actually, no, a woman shouldn't be having a podcast.
00:17:12.940 She shouldn't be talking about these things.
00:17:15.840 This is a battle that is being fought.
00:17:18.380 And women just aren't equipped for battle.
00:17:20.700 Yeah, I agree that women are not equipped for physical battle.
00:17:23.580 I don't believe that women should be in armed combat positions.
00:17:27.100 Please do not equate a podcast to combat like I know that that makes a lot of these podcasting
00:17:33.920 patriarchy bros feel better to equate like a physical battle with what they do, which is
00:17:42.000 podcasting.
00:17:43.260 But it's not the same.
00:17:45.280 OK, it's like it's it's not the same.
00:17:47.340 I'm talking.
00:17:48.580 And that is actually something that women traditionally have been really good at is communicating.
00:17:53.580 I think men can be really great at communicating, too.
00:17:57.320 But that's kind of like our like women's thing.
00:17:59.980 Like we talk a lot.
00:18:01.740 And what do we say?
00:18:02.880 It's like 10,000 words a day.
00:18:04.960 I definitely say more than that compared to men who I think say like 5,000 or less.
00:18:10.100 Look, this is not this is not a real battlefield.
00:18:14.420 OK, like I don't want to go out and fight or I do want to podcast, though, because I've
00:18:20.820 always like to talk and I'm still talking and that's what we're all doing in this podcast
00:18:24.680 space.
00:18:25.340 We're talking and I do think it's OK for women to do that.
00:18:28.940 I know I'm so radical.
00:18:31.880 Now, do I think do I agree that the husband is the head of his wife and the head of his
00:18:37.200 family and that a wife is called to submit to her husband as to the Lord?
00:18:41.300 Yes, that's Ephesians 5.
00:18:42.860 Of course I do.
00:18:43.900 And I've also said many times that women should not be pastors biblically.
00:18:48.260 It's just not our role.
00:18:49.680 We are called to do many things, but we are not called to be pastors and preachers in
00:18:56.080 a church.
00:18:56.920 But there are many, I think, who want to expand that prohibition to every area of public life.
00:19:03.660 And I just cannot get on board with that.
00:19:06.680 I don't see it biblically.
00:19:08.060 And it just seems like so many of these men are very angry at a lot of things.
00:19:13.660 And I guess I won't psychoanalyze much more than that.
00:19:18.060 What is my stance on DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals?
00:19:23.500 I don't like it.
00:19:24.500 I think it's a whole horrible system that we have put in place.
00:19:27.920 Like we're talking about 17-year-old boys.
00:19:32.040 We're not just talking about like three-year-old toddlers.
00:19:34.860 We're talking about like 17-year-old boys considered minors.
00:19:37.400 And they get to come here and not get deported because of DACA.
00:19:41.920 First of all, I think how it was decided was, how it was implemented was completely unconstitutional.
00:19:47.180 And I do not believe that any illegal alien should be allowed to be in the United States.
00:19:52.880 I don't.
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00:20:57.180 Next question.
00:20:58.440 How would you handle your adult children moving back home?
00:21:03.380 I would be happy about it.
00:21:05.840 I mean, I might not be happy about whatever circumstances made them feel like they had to move back home because there could be some very bad circumstances that would lead them to having instability in their life and would lead them to sharing a roof with us again.
00:21:20.780 But, you know, I just don't believe.
00:21:23.240 I don't believe in kicking your kids out when they turn 18 or even when they turn 25.
00:21:27.600 Now, there's a difference in failure to launch, like a kid who is just immature.
00:21:32.460 They're just wanting a free ride.
00:21:33.780 They don't want to work hard.
00:21:34.780 They don't want to be self-sufficient.
00:21:36.280 Okay, that's a problem.
00:21:38.040 But a child or, you know, an adult child, especially a daughter that is working, saving money, just wants the protection, the comfort, the convenience of being home until they are ready to move out or until they find a spouse to get married to and live with.
00:21:57.340 Like, I'm totally fine with that.
00:21:59.700 I think America is so hyper individualistic in some ways that we think that the measure of success is being isolated.
00:22:09.360 And I just don't believe that.
00:22:13.060 I don't believe that.
00:22:13.720 And I want my kids to know that they can come back home anytime they want to and that that is not a failure.
00:22:20.440 That's not something to be embarrassed about.
00:22:22.700 And so it depends on the reasoning, yes, but it's not coddling to say, yeah, this is your home.
00:22:28.820 We are your parents forever.
00:22:30.240 You're our child forever.
00:22:31.900 This is a place that you can come and feel safe and save money and all that good stuff.
00:22:38.880 What is my take on an open womb?
00:22:42.140 I get this question a lot, and that is basically not using birth control, just being intimate with your husband and seeing what happens.
00:22:50.960 And a lot of people live that way.
00:22:52.780 Obviously, that is largely like Catholic doctrine that does not believe in any form of birth control.
00:23:00.200 Now, some people who believe in open womb, I don't know if you would call it open womb theology or the idea of an open womb would say they would not even do natural family planning.
00:23:13.860 So natural family planning is basically where you avoid sex during ovulation because you can't get pregnant every single day of the month.
00:23:21.300 You can only get pregnant a few days of the month.
00:23:23.480 And so people who do natural family planning, maybe they don't believe in birth control, they don't like birth control.
00:23:28.700 That includes like the barrier method, hormonal birth control, all of that stuff.
00:23:32.460 They don't believe in it or they just don't want to do it.
00:23:35.040 They might do natural family planning.
00:23:36.920 Now, some people who are open womb, they don't believe in that either.
00:23:42.020 They truly are just like, look, we're going to be intimate whenever we're going to be intimate.
00:23:45.780 And if the Lord wants to give us kids, we will.
00:23:48.940 And that is from, you know, the wedding night all the way until menopause when she is not able to, you know, conceive anymore.
00:24:00.160 And I don't have anything against that.
00:24:02.400 Of course, I don't have anything against that.
00:24:04.100 Now, I'm a reformed Protestant.
00:24:05.720 There are reformed Protestants who are against every form of birth control.
00:24:10.100 I am not against every form of birth control.
00:24:13.640 I don't think that we have to have an unlimited number of children.
00:24:18.860 Now, I can't say that I have an exact formula for you to follow, and I'm not sure anyone does, an exact formula for you to follow that says this is when you know that you are done.
00:24:29.700 This is the limit on the number of children you can have.
00:24:33.220 I don't have something precise to follow when it comes to that, but I do think that we have to examine our motivations.
00:24:41.840 Why are we either putting off having children or not having any more children?
00:24:46.420 Is it because of a lack of trust?
00:24:47.880 Is it because of fear and anxiety?
00:24:50.460 Is it because of selfishness?
00:24:52.120 Is it because of something superficial or vain?
00:24:55.600 Or is it something else?
00:24:56.740 Is it something deeper than that?
00:24:58.680 And so I think we all do have to be really honest and be prayerful and trust God with those things, but I am not morally or theologically against every single form of birth control.
00:25:13.320 I am against hormonal birth control, any kind of hormonal birth control, whether it's the pill, whether it's IUD, because it can make the womb inhospitable to life, and that means a fertilized egg.
00:25:29.540 So you can fertilize an egg.
00:25:31.260 That's the point of conception in which that little entity has his or her own DNA, and that can still happen when you are on hormonal birth control, but that birth control makes the womb inhospitable.
00:25:46.040 So that little fertilized egg might not be able to implant, which means that it is possible for these birth control methods to be an abortifacient, and that is why ethically they're different than something like the barrier method.
00:26:03.060 So that's my thought on that.
00:26:04.480 I could probably give you more detailed theology surrounding that, and Protestant versus Catholic, and even some forms of Protestant versus other forms of Protestant, and the disagreements that we have on things like birth control and open womb.
00:26:17.980 But those are my basic thoughts.
00:26:21.660 Another question, are we too dependent on technology?
00:26:27.140 Yeah, I certainly think in a lot of ways.
00:26:29.660 I think that we see this manifest itself most prominently in parenting.
00:26:33.720 That the new form of a pacifier is like the tablet or the iPad or games on a phone.
00:26:40.820 I am not anti-technology.
00:26:42.680 Obviously, I'm not some Luddite.
00:26:44.480 Like, I have a podcast that you have to access using technology.
00:26:48.360 I have my phone.
00:26:49.680 I have my iPad.
00:26:51.080 I really like technology, and we are not 100% screen-free in our home.
00:26:57.120 But I also see what too much screen time does to myself, my own brain.
00:27:04.180 I feel like my brain atrophies, that I'm not as creative.
00:27:07.440 I'm not as sharp.
00:27:08.560 When I'm on my phone too much, I'm a lot more anxious.
00:27:10.700 And I think the same thing can happen to kids, probably even more so because their brains
00:27:15.520 early on are still forming.
00:27:18.240 They're still learning so much.
00:27:19.760 And that's really the time that you want them to exercise their brains.
00:27:23.480 It's kind of like for us, when you're thinking about your muscles and when you're thinking
00:27:29.760 about when you can become the strongest and the most fit, it's probably in those teenage
00:27:36.520 years and the decade of your 20s.
00:27:40.620 Not that you can't get fit in your 30s and beyond, but that's really when the body is
00:27:45.260 kind of at its best.
00:27:46.680 It's most pliable.
00:27:47.940 It's most flexible.
00:27:49.780 It can change the quickest during those years.
00:27:53.580 Well, the same is true for the brain.
00:27:55.700 A child's brain is so malleable and is forming so quickly when they're young.
00:28:00.220 That's really the time that you want it to be pushed to its limits of creativity and thinking
00:28:05.380 and problem solving because it really lays a good foundation.
00:28:09.460 And I think that screens can take away from that because they're just so easy.
00:28:14.560 That to say, I'm not against limited screen time at all.
00:28:17.020 That would make me a huge hypocrite because we do have limited screen time in our house,
00:28:22.400 but it cannot be the pacifier.
00:28:24.560 It cannot be the parent.
00:28:26.920 It cannot be a form of sedation for the child because we are too stressed out.
00:28:32.160 We are too stretched thin.
00:28:33.580 We lack too much self-control to be able to help them to regulate their emotions.
00:28:38.440 We need to let our children be bored.
00:28:40.700 We need to let them have an imagination.
00:28:44.280 And I found, and we don't do this perfectly as parents, but I found when you allow your
00:28:48.940 child to kind of like push past that I'm bored, I'm bored stage, they will figure out something
00:28:54.780 to do.
00:28:55.740 But it takes, I mean, it takes Holy Spirit derived patience and the parent too, to say,
00:29:01.600 okay, yeah, I'm annoyed right now.
00:29:03.400 I'm trying to do something.
00:29:04.820 I'm busy, whatever.
00:29:05.580 And they keep on like pestering me for a snack to do this, to do X, Y, Z.
00:29:09.500 But like the, usually the best and right thing to do as a parent is also the hardest thing
00:29:14.760 to do.
00:29:15.160 So you have to push past that a little bit and just allow your kids to be bored.
00:29:18.960 I know for me, like that is when I got to exercise the most creativity growing up, which
00:29:24.580 really helped me a lot.
00:29:26.460 Do I ever deal with doubts and fears about heaven being real or what happens after death?
00:29:31.760 There are definitely moments where I'm like, I just think, I'm like, wow, is there anything
00:29:37.860 beyond this?
00:29:38.920 Of course, there are moments like that where you're like, wow, this seems so surreal.
00:29:44.540 It's so hard to imagine.
00:29:46.240 I really believe in this whole narrative of redemption that is in the Bible.
00:29:51.120 Well, of course, there are moments that I have doubt and moments that I wonder, wait,
00:29:56.640 is this all real?
00:29:57.940 But then I think I usually work backwards and I kind of think, well, what else makes sense?
00:30:04.220 I know when we all know that good and evil exists, where does that come from?
00:30:10.660 And if good and evil exists, don't I want to believe that something is going to be done
00:30:17.180 about it?
00:30:17.520 We all have this nagging suspicion that something's not right and needs to be made right.
00:30:24.800 What can that be except for morality and eternity written on the human heart, as scripture says?
00:30:31.560 And when I think about the existence of the universe, I actually find it much, much, much
00:30:35.640 harder to believe and have much greater doubts, of course, about all of this coming from nothing,
00:30:42.040 just being the result of a spontaneous combustion, some big bang, and that we all have evolved
00:30:49.140 from bacteria.
00:30:50.220 How can something come from nothing?
00:30:52.440 So I kind of think about that, like just in general, that it really just makes the most
00:30:56.900 rational sense to believe in an intelligent designer.
00:31:00.000 And if there's an intelligent designer, which one is it?
00:31:04.480 Who is it?
00:31:05.140 And then I look at the different religions.
00:31:06.860 I look at the different belief systems, and I look at the fruit of those belief systems.
00:31:11.000 I look at the arguments for those belief systems.
00:31:14.940 And I truly believe that Christianity is not only the best and most fruitful faith, but
00:31:24.380 the only one that is true and the only one that is reasonable, by the way.
00:31:28.920 Um, and so, yeah, that's how I kind of work it out, that I also just think about that Christianity
00:31:36.060 has been the greatest force for good in all of humanity.
00:31:40.640 And I just don't think that something can be that without also being true.
00:31:49.980 All right.
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00:32:32.840 What if surrogacy became illegal?
00:32:35.440 What would happen to all the babies frozen in time?
00:32:39.280 Yeah, I think that's a good question.
00:32:40.620 There are a million frozen embryos, more than a million frozen embryos on ice right now.
00:32:45.060 And that means that they're abandoned or maybe their parents are paying for them to be frozen
00:32:52.060 indefinitely or they've been donated to science or they're up for adoption right now.
00:33:01.000 There are no plans to transfer and implant a lot of these embryos.
00:33:06.100 There is something called a snowflake adoption where you can adopt one of these embryos.
00:33:14.160 You can transfer it into your uterus and hope that it implants and that it grows into a full
00:33:20.340 grown baby and you give birth.
00:33:21.980 And of course, this baby is not biologically yours in that case, but it's been given life,
00:33:26.420 which I think is an option.
00:33:29.040 I think that that can be an ethical thing to do.
00:33:35.060 However, it is surrogacy.
00:33:38.380 That is a form of surrogacy.
00:33:39.640 And if that were the one loophole to a ban on surrogacy, like if that were the one exception
00:33:45.740 that, okay, no surrogacy, unless you are talking about a husband and a wife adopting an embryo,
00:33:55.640 transferring that embryo into her uterus, that would be the one form of surrogacy that if that's
00:34:03.340 the exception, I'd be okay with that.
00:34:05.360 But let's move in the direction of not allowing, say, two men to buy a baby by buying eggs and
00:34:13.520 renting a uterus.
00:34:14.760 Like let's move in the direction of protecting these kids and ensuring every child has a right
00:34:19.220 to a mother and father.
00:34:21.220 Why are Christians so sensitive when it comes to Trump?
00:34:25.000 Look, Trump is a somewhat divisive figure because of how he talks, because of some of the things
00:34:30.100 that he says, but more than that, because of how he's portrayed.
00:34:33.140 Some of that is his own doing.
00:34:35.300 A lot of it is not.
00:34:36.520 A lot of it is just the media, fear-mongering, lying.
00:34:40.900 People have cast him as some, you know, Hitler-esque white supremacist.
00:34:46.600 And of course, if someone believes that, that's going to turn them off.
00:34:51.820 But I really see a lot of sensitivity on both sides.
00:34:54.860 I see some sensitivity in defense of him.
00:34:57.800 Some people never, ever, ever willing to criticize him, never willing to say that he's done anything
00:35:03.540 wrong, never willing to just be realistic about our election processes.
00:35:07.960 Like they would get mad at me if I said, oh, yeah, Kamala has a chance of beating Donald
00:35:13.180 Trump.
00:35:14.860 They would say that I'm some like anti-Trumper for saying that.
00:35:19.340 That is delusional.
00:35:20.460 That is cult-like.
00:35:21.860 And those people do exist.
00:35:23.480 They absolutely do exist.
00:35:24.920 And then on the other side, you have people who are so sensitive that they won't even
00:35:29.040 say, oh, yeah, it's wrong that someone shot at him and we shouldn't lie about him.
00:35:33.900 We shouldn't slander him and we shouldn't, you know, we shouldn't mistreat him and malign
00:35:41.580 him the way that we have.
00:35:43.940 Those people are so sensitive that they think that anyone who would vote for Donald Trump
00:35:47.980 is basically not a Christian.
00:35:49.320 And so in that sense, he is a polarizing figure.
00:35:55.160 I don't think that he should get in the way of our relationships or our unity as the church.
00:36:01.720 I think in some ways we have allowed that.
00:36:05.520 And really, I think he's just kind of exposed, though, some deeper disagreements that we have
00:36:10.580 in the church, because it's not Donald Trump's fault that we really disagree in the church
00:36:15.620 on social and racial justice.
00:36:17.760 But it was under his presidency that that was really highlighted, that one side really believes
00:36:23.540 in a secular, non-biblical, Marxist definition of justice.
00:36:29.820 And then, you know, there are obviously some people who are not even part of the conversation
00:36:34.180 because they don't know.
00:36:34.880 But then you've got other people saying, hang on, that's not that's not the biblical
00:36:39.940 definition of justice.
00:36:41.160 Like, I would say that's one of the biggest points of division still today.
00:36:44.840 That's not Trump's fault.
00:36:46.320 But his presidency did just kind of highlight those fissures.
00:36:52.120 Let's see.
00:36:53.800 When your friends disagree with you on a moral issue like IVF, how do you get around that?
00:36:58.200 So speaking of 2020, I did have some disagreements with a couple of friends.
00:37:03.560 And there were some things that they posted after that that I was like, um, what, what?
00:37:11.040 Like, I knew that these friends maybe were more moderate than me, but the things that they
00:37:16.580 were posting politically and theologically, I was very disturbed by.
00:37:20.220 And so I would just gently push back.
00:37:22.600 And actually, the conversations that were kind of spicy at the time, they were like a little
00:37:27.860 heated.
00:37:28.820 Now, I did feel like I had to be the one and you should feel like this, too.
00:37:33.560 To be ultra gentle and to be the one who was above reproach and my kindness and even my
00:37:39.620 tone.
00:37:41.020 And without, you know, shying away from the truth and asking the right questions.
00:37:45.440 And if the other side was going to be sassy, I was going to let them be sassy.
00:37:49.500 If they were going to be accusatory, I was going to let them be accusatory.
00:37:52.260 And then I would feel out, OK, I got to leave this alone.
00:37:56.020 I got to leave this alone.
00:37:56.940 Now, IVF is super, super, super sensitive because the person who is going through IVF,
00:38:02.960 they've already struggled through maybe years of infertility.
00:38:07.440 And there is nothing like wanting to have a baby and not being able to get pregnant.
00:38:12.220 This person didn't want to go through IVF and they have convinced themselves and have
00:38:16.160 allowed themselves to be convinced that they can take matters into their own hands and they're
00:38:21.600 going to do whatever it takes, whatever it costs to have a biological baby.
00:38:25.940 And they do believe that the ends justify the means.
00:38:28.940 And honestly, a lot of them will say, I don't really want to think about the morality and
00:38:34.220 ethics of this right now.
00:38:36.680 I'll think about it later once I have my baby, which is never, ever, ever how a Christian should
00:38:41.180 think about something.
00:38:42.640 Most people who go through IVF are not thinking, oh, I'm going to have leftover embryos.
00:38:46.880 Oh, this is going to be really hard on my body.
00:38:49.020 Oh, these babies might not survive this very dangerous transfer process.
00:38:54.200 Oh, there's going to be genetic testing and a eugenics process in this probably, or at
00:38:58.880 least that's going to be pushed on me.
00:39:01.020 And yet that is the scenario that a lot of these couples find themselves in.
00:39:05.260 Not every single one, but a lot of these couples.
00:39:07.960 And once that train starts going, it's really hard to stop.
00:39:10.860 Not to mention the fact that very often, very often, the whole process starts with pornography
00:39:18.000 and masturbation for the man.
00:39:19.560 So, I mean, there is a reason why it is very ethically tricky to take procreation outside
00:39:28.260 of the act of sex.
00:39:30.140 Remember, technology can take us from what's natural to what's possible.
00:39:34.340 And when it does, we have to ask, but is this moral?
00:39:38.700 Is this ethical?
00:39:39.540 Most importantly, is this biblical?
00:39:42.420 Just because a technology makes it possible to do something does not mean that it is right
00:39:47.120 to do that thing.
00:39:48.980 And IVF is not the same as cancer treatment or any other medication.
00:39:53.620 That's what a lot of people like to say, that if you reject IVF, you have to reject every
00:39:58.040 other form of medical intervention and science.
00:40:00.120 Well, no, because the other forms of medical intervention and science are not creating new life.
00:40:07.720 And it's amazing to me the disconnect, the dissonance in people who are pro-life, who understand
00:40:13.440 that the fertilized egg and embryos are living human beings, are people made in the image
00:40:19.040 of God when they're talking about abortion, but they don't see them the same way when you're
00:40:22.380 talking about IVF.
00:40:23.400 And the only difference is because it's you and it's something you want, but we should
00:40:28.200 never, ever sacrifice the well-being, the safety of children for our wants.
00:40:33.960 People also get very angry when you bring up adoption when it comes to infertility.
00:40:40.620 Don't get angry about that, okay?
00:40:43.240 There are lots and lots of babies and children who need adoption, and you're right that you
00:40:49.780 would make an excellent mom and dad.
00:40:53.460 And so pursue that route instead that is really redemptive.
00:40:58.140 And you don't have to worry about potentially destroying human life in the process.
00:41:04.220 So anyway, to answer your question, if you can push that hard with a friend, I would try.
00:41:11.760 But you know, you have to feel it out, and you have to try to maintain the relationship
00:41:15.440 as much as it depends on you anyway.
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00:42:12.400 What's my take on Deliverance Ministries?
00:42:14.840 Not a positive take.
00:42:20.360 Not a positive take.
00:42:21.380 I'll tell you that.
00:42:22.080 The Deliverance Ministries that say that I'm going to deliver you from all of your troubles.
00:42:27.060 I'm going to deliver you from all of your sickness and your ailments.
00:42:32.220 I would say most of those are fake and hokey.
00:42:35.620 I'm not saying that God cannot heal people.
00:42:37.420 Of course he can heal people.
00:42:38.620 He can heal people miraculously.
00:42:40.060 He can heal people in a moment.
00:42:41.680 And I think he does do that when he chooses to do that.
00:42:44.700 But the people who claim to have Deliverance Ministries, very often they're going to poor
00:42:49.000 countries or they're preying upon poor people here.
00:42:51.380 And they're saying, sow your seed by donating to me and my ministry or step out in faith
00:42:57.300 by writing me a check.
00:42:59.720 And when you do, the Lord will reward you through healing.
00:43:03.020 I mean, they want fame, they want the power, they want the platform, they want the profit
00:43:07.640 of Deliverance, but not the obedience to God.
00:43:16.020 And yeah, I think most of it, I can't say all because I guess I don't know what all that
00:43:21.440 could entail these Deliverance Ministries, but I think they're exploitation.
00:43:25.300 And if those people do not repent, I really do.
00:43:30.320 I mean, this phrase might not have that much theological grounding, but you understand the
00:43:34.420 spirit behind it.
00:43:35.500 Like there's a special place in hell who, for people who spiritually manipulate the sick
00:43:42.420 and the tired and the poor into giving their resources in exchange for healing that is not
00:43:49.880 real, a special, special place in hell.
00:43:52.940 So last question, what is the difference between a democratic republic and a democracy?
00:43:59.460 While a democracy is just everyone, everyone goes and votes and everyone's vote counts once
00:44:05.860 and whoever is in the majority, like that's the decision that's made.
00:44:09.700 That's the person that is elected.
00:44:11.200 But we've got an electoral college.
00:44:13.740 We have electors that we are choosing to vote on our behalf for the president.
00:44:23.100 For example, we have representatives.
00:44:26.360 We have senators.
00:44:27.180 It's not just a pure democracy.
00:44:29.000 We have people who are representing us both in our capitals, in our states and also the nation's
00:44:36.540 capital.
00:44:36.960 And it is simply far more stable.
00:44:39.380 It prevents something called the tyranny of the majority when the 51 percent dominate
00:44:45.900 the 49 percent.
00:44:48.600 That is ends up being this kind of mob rule, unstable form of government, a representative
00:44:56.340 democracy.
00:44:57.160 What we are supposed to be a representative republic is far more stable and actually ensures that
00:45:04.500 the less populous areas still have representation, at least nationally.
00:45:10.580 So that's what it's supposed to look like.
00:45:13.200 And so that's why it actually is troubling when you hear people on the left say, oh, let's
00:45:17.020 protect our democracy.
00:45:18.300 We're a democracy because that's they want that.
00:45:21.660 They want the mob rule.
00:45:23.020 They want the tyranny of the majority.
00:45:25.040 They want the 51 percent to dominate the 49 percent.
00:45:30.660 And so, yes, be careful about that.
00:45:33.220 We can say, yes, we have a democratic process.
00:45:35.720 We can say in general that democracy is good as a general idea, just that we get to vote
00:45:40.960 and we have a say.
00:45:42.260 But it is important to distinguish between a representative democracy and a republic versus
00:45:47.620 a pure democracy.
00:45:49.200 All right.
00:45:49.560 Thanks so much for all of your thoughtful questions.
00:45:51.860 We'll be back here soon.
00:45:52.740 Thank you.
00:45:54.780 Bye.
00:46:00.040 Bye.
00:46:00.500 Bye.
00:46:00.880 Bye.
00:46:02.180 Bye.
00:46:02.440 Bye.
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00:46:03.000 Bye.
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00:46:03.800 Bye.
00:46:03.960 Bye.
00:46:04.800 Bye.
00:46:05.880 Bye.
00:46:06.040 Bye.
00:46:06.580 Bye.
00:46:07.840 Bye.
00:46:08.820 Bye.
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00:46:11.040 Bye.
00:46:12.000 Bye.
00:46:12.500 Bye.
00:46:13.020 Bye.
00:46:13.160 Bye.
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00:46:13.640 Bye.
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00:46:16.000 Bye.
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00:46:17.500 Bye.
00:46:18.000 Bye.
00:46:18.300 Bye.
00:46:18.460 Bye.
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