Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 1163 ｜ Self-Centered Women’s Ministries Are Making the Church Weak ｜ Guest： Natasha Crain

00:00:00.780 Natasha Crane is a mom and an apologist.

00:00:04.400 Her new book is about persevering and advocating for God's definitions of good and right and

00:00:11.360 true in a culture that hates us.

00:00:13.800 She dispels all of the myths that Christians should not be bringing our worldview into

00:00:19.860 the public square, even as we are called all kinds of crazy names like Christian, nationalist, 0.91

00:00:25.580 fascist.

00:00:26.860 We have to persevere and keep on persistently advocating for a biblical worldview, not just

00:00:34.160 in obedience to God, but for the good of our neighbor.

00:00:37.020 She makes such a powerful case for this today on today's episode of Relatable.

00:00:41.820 It's brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers.

00:00:43.340 Go to goodranchers.com.

00:00:44.720 Use code Allie at checkout. 1.00

00:00:46.260 That's goodranchers.com, code Allie.

00:00:55.580 Natasha, thanks so much for taking the time to join us.

00:01:01.440 For those who may not know, can you tell everyone who you are and what you do?

00:01:05.160 Sure.

00:01:05.760 So I've been married for 25 years, and I have three kids, three teenagers, two 16-year-olds

00:01:11.100 and a 14-year-old.

00:01:12.500 Wow.

00:01:12.900 And I've been writing and speaking for about the last 10 years.

00:01:16.140 I've written five books, and my focus is really on equipping Christians with a better

00:01:20.680 understanding of worldviews and apologetics.

00:01:22.960 So you've written five books in the last 10 years.

00:01:26.020 If my math is correct, that's a book every couple years, and you have three teenagers.

00:01:30.420 Can you just tell us how you have had, how do you find the time to do that?

00:01:34.980 It's been hard, actually.

00:01:36.380 It kind of shocks me when I look back at it and think, oh my gosh, I've written five books

00:01:40.380 over those 10 years, and I just found little bits and pieces of time here and there, and

00:01:45.040 I homeschooled for part of that time for about three years of it, and so flexibility of schedules,

00:01:50.100 that always helps out too.

00:01:51.000 But it's been great.

00:01:52.820 It's been rewarding and challenging at the same time.

00:01:55.080 Yes.

00:01:55.700 And you focus mostly on apologetics, apologetics when we're talking to our kids, how to equip

00:02:01.820 them for the world.

00:02:02.940 But also, this expands beyond mothers raising kids, and really, you just talk to Christians.

00:02:08.840 Okay.

00:02:09.440 How do we battle this culture that hates Christianity, that doesn't believe the things we do, not only

00:02:16.280 doesn't believe, but is diametrically opposed to many of the things that we believe.

00:02:21.060 So why did you get started talking about that?

00:02:24.640 Yeah.

00:02:24.920 Well, when I very first started writing, I started a blog back in 2011.

00:02:29.120 Everyone was blogging at that time.

00:02:30.720 It sounds so quaint now, looking back at that.

00:02:32.520 I know.

00:02:32.980 It's like blogs.

00:02:34.060 I did, too.

00:02:34.720 I think I probably started one in 2011 as well.

00:02:37.420 It was a big blogging time, and so I had three kids three and under at the time, and I thought,

00:02:40.700 this would be kind of an interesting thing that I could do maybe once they go to sleep or

00:02:44.440 they're taking naps, whatever.

00:02:45.740 And so I started this blog called Christian Mom Thoughts.

00:02:47.480 I didn't think anything of the name.

00:02:48.840 Christian Mom Boss. 0.64

00:02:49.480 Okay.

00:02:49.860 No, Christian Mom Thoughts.

00:02:51.100 Oh, I was going to say Christian Mom Boss. 1.00

00:02:52.700 I was like, Mom Boss would have been better, actually.

00:02:54.920 I always hate saying Christian Mom Thoughts out loud because it's so lame.

00:02:58.020 It's like the worst name ever.

00:02:58.960 But I didn't set out to write.

00:03:00.820 I didn't set out to be a writer or anything.

00:03:02.440 But we all had very – okay, I'll tell you.

00:03:06.200 So I will tell you the name of my blog because we all had cheesy names for our blog, okay?

00:03:12.700 But now, mind you, 2011, I was like 18, 19 years old, okay?

00:03:18.480 It was called Taking the Alleyway, and it was a blog.

00:03:22.400 It was about – actually, people would read it today and be like, this sounds a lot like

00:03:26.060 what I still talk about.

00:03:27.080 It was about culture and stuff.

00:03:28.240 So I just wanted to relieve you of any embarrassment that you had.

00:03:32.340 Thank you.

00:03:32.500 Thank you so much.

00:03:33.360 Yes, you're welcome.

00:03:33.860 That's even a little more clever, though, than Christian Mom Thoughts.

00:03:35.760 So I'm going to give you more credit.

00:03:36.640 No, I like it.

00:03:37.480 It's straightforward.

00:03:38.320 You know what you're going to get.

00:03:39.000 It was.

00:03:39.460 It's like, here's what I'm thinking about.

00:03:41.100 Here, how we're going to raise our young kids to know and love the Lord.

00:03:43.620 I mean, they were so little.

00:03:44.720 So I was just writing about things like what we were doing with songs that they were singing

00:03:49.140 and prayers and things like that.

00:03:51.000 And I really didn't think anything of it.

00:03:52.460 But as my blog started to grow, I started to have skeptics who would come to my website.

00:03:56.320 They would find my blog when people would share my articles on social media, and they would

00:04:00.140 say things like, you're indoctrinating your kids.

00:04:02.920 Don't you know there's no evidence for the existence of God?

00:04:05.860 That science has put God out of a job.

00:04:07.540 The Bible's filled with errors and contradictions.

00:04:09.580 I mean, the list went on and on.

00:04:11.540 And I had grown up in a Christian home, and so I had never really been challenged, and I

00:04:16.760 didn't walk away from my faith like so many of the stories that you hear.

00:04:19.760 But I hadn't really heard these kinds of challenges myself.

00:04:23.260 And certainly no one was bringing them to me proactively in the home or in the church.

00:04:27.520 And so it just kind of set me off onto this long reading journey of trying to figure out

00:04:31.960 what are answers to the questions that I was getting through my blog.

00:04:34.980 And in that process, I then turned around and made my blog into a place where I was equipping

00:04:38.540 other Christian parents with an understanding of these things, saying, hey, this is what

00:04:41.560 the world is saying.

00:04:42.700 If you're like me, maybe you can't answer these questions, but here's what you need to

00:04:46.400 know.

00:04:46.980 And so over time, the blog grew in popularity, and a publisher reached out and said, hey, what

00:04:51.660 if you took 40 of these questions, put them into an easy-to-understand book for Christian

00:04:55.940 parents, and that became my first book, Keeping Your Kids on God's Side.

00:04:59.200 That is awesome.

00:05:00.480 You know, not everyone who has met with those kinds of questions and challenges on the internet

00:05:05.080 would have the response to dig deeper into what the answers are, and then formulate a

00:05:11.740 response and push back against them.

00:05:13.760 A lot of people would ignore them, or maybe they would crumble themselves.

00:05:18.160 So what do you think in your life up until that point had kind of equipped you for that

00:05:23.140 moment that you said, you know what, I think I can take these questions on?

00:05:27.300 Well, I'm a very type A analytical kind of person, so I have an MBA in marketing and statistics,

00:05:32.820 and that's just kind of like where my mind goes.

00:05:34.940 And I couldn't stand the thought that people were raising objections that I couldn't answer.

00:05:39.540 And yet here I am trying to write my Christian mom thoughts blog, where I was equipping people

00:05:44.800 with some kind of thinking about how they can raise their kids in a Christian home to know

00:05:48.640 and love the Lord.

00:05:49.640 And I'm thinking, oh my gosh, I can't even answer the same questions that I'm being asked.

00:05:54.040 So my kids are growing up in a completely different world than the one in which I grew up.

00:05:58.280 And so that really spurred me on because I just realized I need to know more answers.

00:06:02.600 It didn't really make me question my own faith, but it made me want to investigate to say,

00:06:07.100 okay, well, what is the evidence for God's existence?

00:06:08.920 I don't want to just be telling my kids, well, believe in God because I do.

00:06:12.620 I want them to actually understand why there's good reason to believe that Christianity is true. 0.96

00:06:17.820 So where did you go?

00:06:19.700 Where did you turn for those answers first?

00:06:21.940 What kind of resources?

00:06:23.180 I think I was just Googling things as they came.

00:06:26.080 So it wasn't like I set out to do a big program or something very structured,

00:06:30.460 like you might find through a university or something like that.

00:06:33.380 It was, I would get a question and then I would go seeking answers to that question.

00:06:37.740 And then I would learn everything that I could about that and then turn around and use that

00:06:42.440 as an opportunity on my blog to help equip others.

00:06:44.320 I think I really went deep onto the questions in Genesis and Evolution first because I especially

00:06:49.320 had a lot of questions that people would raise on that.

00:06:51.520 And that was just something I was completely unprepared to talk about.

00:06:54.800 Yeah.

00:06:55.280 So you basically, you use the search engine to find resources.

00:06:59.200 You dug into what do commentaries say?

00:07:01.980 What do theologians say?

00:07:03.620 What does the Bible say?

00:07:04.860 And you formulated a response based on the premise that God's word is true, right?

00:07:11.040 And that his word and the reality of creation is logically defensible, right?

00:07:19.220 Right.

00:07:19.680 Absolutely.

00:07:20.400 I wanted to understand all the different perspectives that Christians had also because I quickly

00:07:23.860 found that Christians do have a lot of different disagreements.

00:07:27.480 And so I tried hard in my first book in Keeping Your Kids on God's Side to present eight chapters

00:07:32.420 that just kind of looked at the scriptural and scientific case that people make for and

00:07:36.320 against each of those views.

00:07:37.940 So it was really on my heart to just equip parents with this understanding that they probably

00:07:42.640 weren't going to get from their church in terms of how to disciple their kids and answer

00:07:46.400 these questions.

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00:09:27.800 You mentioned that we don't get a lot of those apologetics answers in our churches.

00:09:37.340 Why do you think that is?

00:09:39.640 Oh, that's a big, big question.

00:09:42.200 I think that a lot of times, first of all, pastors are very busy people, and they have

00:09:46.080 a lot of things that they have to work on.

00:09:48.480 But a lot of times they think that it's enough that kids are just coming to church and that

00:09:52.420 they're just being exposed to God in some sense.

00:09:56.240 But I think that when we assume that kids, if they're surrounded by God enough, that they're

00:10:00.860 just going to naturally hang on to their faith, I think that is a very limited and naive understanding.

00:10:06.440 I mean, we know from all of the research that somewhere between 60 and 80% of kids walk away

00:10:11.460 from their faith today by their early 20s.

00:10:13.840 And so surrounding kids by God is not enough to help them internalize who Jesus is and

00:10:20.220 facilitate that relationship.

00:10:21.940 And kids are having so many challenges today from the world that they have to be equipped.

00:10:27.180 I always think of it like a mountain.

00:10:28.680 There's a mountain of faith challenges out there.

00:10:30.420 And if we're just taking them to church every week thinking that's enough, it's like sending

00:10:34.200 them to Mount Everest with just a few jumping jacks of faith.

00:10:37.140 And we have to do more than that.

00:10:39.720 We have to equip.

00:10:40.720 We have to train.

00:10:41.680 We have to prepare them specifically for what they're going to encounter.

00:10:45.360 And that's where I think that the church is not really preparing kids to stay.

00:10:49.720 And overwhelmingly, the parents aren't prepared.

00:10:51.640 So parents are the primary disciples of the kids.

00:10:53.780 I'm not saying that the church has to take that over.

00:10:55.660 It's great when the church comes alongside the parents in those ways.

00:10:58.780 But we have to remember that the parents are the primary disciples.

00:11:02.480 And if parents don't have a biblical worldview, if they don't understand the Bible, how are

00:11:06.460 they going to pass that on themselves?

00:11:08.200 So we have a discipleship of the parents' problem, not just a discipleship of the kids'

00:11:12.720 problem.

00:11:13.380 Yes.

00:11:14.020 You know, I realize in church, and I don't say this out of a desire to shame, but as I

00:11:20.080 interact with people that I know have been going to church for a long time, and I hear

00:11:24.940 some of the things that they say or questions that they have that are very clearly answered

00:11:31.200 in Scripture, I realize we have obviously a deficit of sound theology and apologetics

00:11:37.760 knowledge, but we seem to have a problem of discipleship, that yes, it is possible for

00:11:44.300 someone to attend church their whole life, to sit under sermons, and to know Bible verses

00:11:49.700 and still not know how to answer the culture's questions about Christianity, God, and morality.

00:11:58.020 And you point out in your book, you've got a new book out, When Culture Hates You, Persevering

00:12:02.600 for the Common Good as Christians in a Hostile Public Square, that only 4% of Americans hold 1.00

00:12:08.320 beliefs consistent with the core truths of the Bible.

00:12:11.260 Well, about 60% of Americans identify as Christians.

00:12:14.520 So we've got a problem here.

00:12:16.500 It's a huge problem.

00:12:17.740 And when people hear me on my podcast or they hear me speak, I'm always referring to these

00:12:22.440 statistics because I think it's so important that every Christian hears these statistics.

00:12:25.980 When you have 65% of people, according to Pew Research, who are saying, I am a Christian

00:12:30.720 when they're surveyed, and only 4% who hold the beliefs consistent with what you would

00:12:35.660 expect that to mean, we have what I would call an authority gap.

00:12:38.900 It's the difference between, well, this is what I say I am, and this is how I'm going

00:12:42.320 to label myself, and those who are seeing all of reality through the truth of what the

00:12:46.760 Bible teaches, that you're looking to the Bible as your authority on truth.

00:12:51.040 And it's no wonder that the culture looks like what it does.

00:12:54.800 I mean, when we hear that statistic that 65% of people say they're Christians, and then

00:12:58.360 we look at what's going on in culture, it doesn't match up, right?

00:13:02.020 I mean, we would not see a culture that looks the way it does today if we actually had 65% 0.88

00:13:06.900 of people being true followers of Jesus who held a biblical worldview.

00:13:10.980 It wouldn't look like this because we would have people out being salt and light, and we

00:13:14.400 would be seeing everyone act in a very different way based on beliefs that were very different

00:13:18.940 than the beliefs that the overwhelming majority of self-identified Christians hold today.

00:13:23.780 Yeah.

00:13:24.200 So let's define our terms.

00:13:26.360 Biblical worldview.

00:13:27.900 As you mentioned earlier, Christians have disagreements, and some people might say, well, what you,

00:13:33.580 Natasha, would call a biblical worldview, maybe someone else doesn't call a biblical worldview.

00:13:38.760 So who are you to say that only 4% of people hold a biblical worldview when maybe it's just

00:13:45.060 your subjective interpretation of what that means?

00:13:47.440 Yeah, well, so a worldview is basically just a step back on the definition for that one.

00:13:52.320 A worldview is basically how any given individual answers the basic questions about our existence.

00:13:58.080 So where did we come from?

00:13:59.200 Why are we here?

00:13:59.980 Is there any objective meaning to life?

00:14:01.840 What happens after we die?

00:14:03.180 All these questions.

00:14:03.920 So anyone capable of holding beliefs is going to have a worldview, whether they have consciously

00:14:08.240 arrived at that or not.

00:14:09.780 The question is, does your worldview line up with reality?

00:14:13.140 And so it's not me saying that 4% of people have a biblical worldview.

00:14:18.080 This actually comes from researchers at Arizona Christian University's Cultural Research Center

00:14:22.440 under the direction of Dr. George Barnett.

00:14:24.740 And he has been researching worldviews for the last 40 years.

00:14:27.280 So he's kind of the gold standard in worldview research.

00:14:30.080 And so they've done a lot of testing over time in terms of methodologies and measuring a person's

00:14:34.920 worldview.

00:14:35.980 And what they do is instead of saying, well, here's how people identify themselves, they

00:14:40.940 give dozens of questions to people so that they're asking directly about their beliefs.

00:14:45.840 They're asking basic beliefs about the nature of God and what people believe about the nature

00:14:49.980 of morality, what they believe about heaven and hell, basic beliefs about what the Bible would

00:14:55.460 teach.

00:14:56.180 And then based on that research, they're the ones, the researchers are the ones that take those

00:15:00.100 answers.

00:15:01.020 And if at least 80% of your answers line up with what the Bible teaches on those basic things,

00:15:06.160 not secondary doctrine kinds of things, just at least clear teachings about the nature of God,

00:15:12.580 the nature of man, you know, are people basically good or bad kind of things.

00:15:16.520 And what they find from that research is that as of the most recent worldview inventory survey,

00:15:22.640 4% of people have a biblical worldview.

00:15:25.800 Basic measures, you know, and I always tell people when people want to push back on it

00:15:30.400 because people do say exactly what you're saying, well, that's just that interpretation.

00:15:33.620 Well, we're just looking at what the Bible teaches.

00:15:36.300 We're not talking about end times interpretations.

00:15:39.100 We're not talking about secondary and tertiary issues.

00:15:41.440 Just here's what the Bible says about some of these basic tenets.

00:15:44.700 Do you believe that or not?

00:15:46.260 Like you mentioned, are people basically good?

00:15:48.900 There are people who identify as Christians who would say, well, I don't know.

00:15:53.060 I think they're basically good because, well, we're made by God.

00:15:57.400 We're children of God, they might say.

00:15:59.880 And so we must be basically good.

00:16:01.340 But that's not what the Bible teaches.

00:16:03.320 Right.

00:16:03.620 And so if you want to say, well, I have a biblical worldview because I believe some things in

00:16:07.300 the Bible, well, someone might say that.

00:16:09.440 But when researchers are trying to get to classifying a biblical worldview, they're trying

00:16:14.280 to get back to, okay, but here's what the Bible teaches.

00:16:17.920 And so do your beliefs line up with that?

00:16:19.900 Not some percent of them.

00:16:21.900 Yeah.

00:16:21.940 So people, that's just a research definition, basically.

00:16:25.140 But it's interesting because even that example of people being basically good, I mean, the

00:16:28.420 research has found that more than half of Christians will agree to that statement, that

00:16:33.160 people are basically good.

00:16:34.340 It's the number one thing that people who would otherwise have a biblical worldview go

00:16:39.960 awry on.

00:16:41.240 Interesting.

00:16:41.620 It's the number one thing.

00:16:43.020 They say that people are basically good.

00:16:45.240 Interesting.

00:16:45.360 And that has so many implications for the rest of your theology and for how you see the world

00:16:49.780 around you.

00:16:50.260 So it's not just a small thing.

00:16:51.880 So you should be really concerned as Christians that it's not enough that people are sitting

00:16:57.020 in the church every week.

00:16:58.760 You're not necessarily learning what you need in order to form a biblical worldview.

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00:19:13.140 You make the case that the fact that only 4% of Americans hold this biblical worldview

00:19:19.380 has an effect on how Christianity is treated in the public square.

00:19:25.840 And we've all seen this, that we are told over and over again that if you, as not just

00:19:32.700 a Christian, but a conservative Christian, bring your worldview into the public square,

00:19:38.440 into politics, if you allow what you believe about the Bible to influence your politics, 0.99

00:19:43.860 you are a fascist. 1.00

00:19:45.120 You are a dictator. 1.00

00:19:46.260 You're trying to bring in the handmaid's tale. 0.95

00:19:49.160 You are a Christian nationalist.

00:19:51.400 Now, it's interesting because if you're a progressive that uses some decontextualized

00:19:56.220 Bible verse to support your immigration policy or your abortion policy or your socialistic 0.98

00:20:02.660 policy, that's not Christian nationalism.

00:20:05.240 That's fine.

00:20:06.180 That's true good Christianity.

00:20:08.140 It's only when a Christian might say, well, you know, Psalm 139 makes it pretty clear that

00:20:13.380 babies inside the womb are valuable or made by God. 0.82

00:20:17.480 So I don't think that it should be legal to murder them.

00:20:20.420 All of a sudden, that is prohibited and a form of tyranny.

00:20:26.500 So I'm sure you've seen this, Trent, too.

00:20:28.840 Tell us how to make sense of it.

00:20:30.760 Well, there is a huge double standard.

00:20:32.440 I mean, the double standard is really amazing.

00:20:34.600 I have a chapter in my book, In When Culture Hates You, about, quote, unquote, dangerous Christian 1.00

00:20:39.060 nationalist because that's how we're seen.

00:20:41.260 And you're not going to be called a Christian nationalist or being told that you're dangerous

00:20:45.940 in some way if you're bringing your progressive views into the public square.

00:20:49.460 Even if you say those progressive views come from the Bible, no one is going to hate you

00:20:52.640 for that.

00:20:53.420 But when you hold views that are contrary to the popular moral consensus that are biblically

00:20:57.980 based and you bring those views to bear in the public square, that's when people are

00:21:02.340 going to say, oh, you want a theocracy, and you are being anti-democratic, and this is

00:21:09.300 an extreme and pervasive and theocratic view.

00:21:12.540 But a lot of Christians have actually taken on that narrative.

00:21:16.060 They hear that from the media.

00:21:18.460 It comes from mainstream media a lot.

00:21:19.960 And they take it in.

00:21:20.760 They say, well, I guess I shouldn't be bringing my views in the public square because of separation

00:21:24.700 of church and state.

00:21:25.720 They think that that means that they're somehow limited in a way that no one else is.

00:21:29.380 But Christians have to understand we live in a constitutional democracy.

00:21:33.740 And in a constitutional democracy, it's not somehow anti-democratic or theocratic to bring

00:21:39.620 your views into the public square.

00:21:40.980 That's exactly how it's intended to work.

00:21:44.320 Everyone is free to bring their views in.

00:21:46.860 And it's no more intolerant of you to advocate for a policy that is rooted in your views than

00:21:51.660 it is for someone else to advocate for a policy that's rooted in theirs.

00:21:55.060 This is just how it works.

00:21:56.700 So when people try to silence Christians who have unpopular views, my concern, especially

00:22:02.460 with this book, which is intended for Christians, is to help Christians understand, hey, don't 0.72

00:22:06.380 listen to the voices who are trying to silence you, who are saying, oh, there's a culture

00:22:09.620 war and you need to sit down.

00:22:11.780 That's not how this works.

00:22:13.140 It's not how it works from a civic perspective.

00:22:14.820 It's not how it works from a biblical perspective.

00:22:16.380 We're called to be salt and light in culture.

00:22:18.600 So we have to understand that those voices, they're just trying to silence us.

00:22:22.980 Yeah.

00:22:23.460 There's no reason to take it.

00:22:24.580 Yes, it's the myth of progressive neutrality, that progressivism and secularism is neutral.

00:22:33.140 And that if someone with a progressive secular worldview wants to use their belief system

00:22:38.080 to influence the law, that that is somehow what was intended by the founders, that that

00:22:46.020 is actually what real democracy is.

00:22:48.480 And they can impose their subjective beliefs about gender, about when life has value, about

00:22:55.300 justice on me.

00:22:56.920 And I'm expected to abide by that.

00:22:59.380 I'm expected to tolerate that in my child's school and in the law and in the workplace.

00:23:04.980 But I am not allowed to bring my beliefs and my worldview into the public square without

00:23:10.940 it being called tyranny.

00:23:12.160 And I even see those who call themselves progressive Christians, which is really an oxymoron.

00:23:17.840 But they would say Christians like me, conservative Christians like us, we just want power and we

00:23:23.460 just want wealth because we believe that abortion is wrong or we believe that a man cannot become 0.96

00:23:28.360 a woman and therefore shouldn't be able to enter into women's spaces. 1.00

00:23:32.060 But really, it's that we love our neighbors and we believe that God's ways are better, that

00:23:37.840 these are better ideas that lead to human flourishing, that actually protect the most vulnerable.

00:23:43.600 And so we are simply living out our faith in the same way that a secular progressive is

00:23:48.940 living out their faith by trying to tell me that I must call a man she.

00:23:54.000 That's exactly right.

00:23:55.100 It's all a question of the common good.

00:23:56.760 How do you define the common good?

00:23:58.600 And I spend a lot of time talking about this in my book because I think Christians get 1.00

00:24:02.540 very confused on this because we see that there are so many different ideas out there of what

00:24:07.260 is good.

00:24:08.060 People start saying that what we believe is harmful and toxic and that we're misogynists

00:24:13.580 and we're oppressors.

00:24:15.040 And we have all these insults that are hurled at us because of our ideas about the common

00:24:19.560 good.

00:24:19.880 And then a lot of Christians start going, huh, maybe this is a bad belief.

00:24:23.840 Maybe I am doing something wrong because we have the wrong expectations that people are

00:24:28.540 going to like us.

00:24:30.180 And so we have to get really clear on what it means to advocate for the common good.

00:24:34.840 Just because people have different ideas of what is good doesn't mean there are lots of

00:24:38.720 goods.

00:24:39.420 There is a good and it is defined by God alone.

00:24:42.380 He is the one who sets the standard for the common good.

00:24:45.040 What is objectively good for individuals and therefore what is objectively good for collections

00:24:49.800 of individuals and societies?

00:24:52.000 How do we define that?

00:24:53.180 And so we have to think a lot more about that as Christians so that we don't get trapped

00:24:57.920 by the words that the world uses.

00:25:00.320 Because when the world says you're being harmful and you're being toxic, well, that stings.

00:25:05.020 But at the same time, what the world calls good may be evil and what the world calls evil

00:25:10.100 may be good.

00:25:10.980 We have to be really clear about what the actual definition is on any of these topics.

00:25:16.040 So when we are arguing for the reality of the gender binary that is fixed at the moment of 0.85

00:25:23.280 conception and we're arguing for that reality to be reflected in policy, say we're at a school

00:25:28.680 board meeting and the school board is debating a policy where, you know, we should be able

00:25:34.320 to, you know, have spaces that are designated for people, you know, based on their self-identity,

00:25:42.960 allowing boys into girls' spaces.

00:25:45.740 And obviously we Christians are saying, absolutely not.

00:25:49.400 That doesn't reflect reality.

00:25:51.180 And so we are going to advocate for the policy that protects sex separate spaces.

00:25:56.640 Is a good defense of our advocacy because God says so?

00:26:02.800 How do we defend Christian policy in an effective and a persuasive way so that those who are not 1.00

00:26:09.840 believers could be won over to our position even if they don't have our same perspective on God?

00:26:17.020 That's really good.

00:26:18.200 A very big question.

00:26:20.000 I think that one of the things that we're seeing is that people are starting on the gender issue

00:26:24.760 specifically, are starting to come around because of some very pragmatic considerations.

00:26:30.160 So they may not even agree that there is this creator God who has a design for human

00:26:34.980 flourishing that is represented in gender.

00:26:37.940 They might not agree with us on any of that.

00:26:40.020 But when they see a video of a biological male playing in a female sport like volleyball and

00:26:47.140 hurting someone greatly because they were allowed to play in that, then you start to see people

00:26:52.680 get concerned.

00:26:54.060 Then they start speaking up because from a very practical perspective, they're seeing,

00:26:58.060 wait a second, there are differences, biological differences between males and females.

00:27:02.720 And so a lot of the people who are actually out there advocating right now for getting

00:27:08.600 biological males out of women's sports, they're not necessarily Christians. 0.97

00:27:12.580 They're not advocating from a biblical worldview perspective necessarily.

00:27:16.280 They're saying, look what is happening.

00:27:17.860 Women are getting physically injured by males being in these sports. 0.57

00:27:21.660 Or look at what happened in this particular school district when biological males were able

00:27:26.760 to use the locker rooms or were able to go into the bathrooms.

00:27:29.920 And so I think, of course, as Christians, we want to bring everyone to a saving knowledge

00:27:34.800 of the Lord ultimately.

00:27:36.360 But when we're talking about these issues of the common good, we're not always going to

00:27:39.800 be able to point back and say, well, God said so, and therefore this has to be the way that

00:27:44.400 things work in this area.

00:27:46.060 We can, because there is a natural law, that there is a common knowledge of some of the basics

00:27:52.360 of reality, we can point to those things.

00:27:54.600 And we can advocate in that way and say, these are the things that are happening.

00:27:59.020 And even nonbelievers will look at those things and say, yes, I can see why that is a problem.

00:28:03.540 How can we resolve this so that it's for the good of everyone?

00:28:11.720 All right, quick pause to remind you guys, if you have not purchased your tickets for Share

00:28:16.020 the Arrows, now is the time to do it.

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00:28:27.040 This is going to be even better because there are going to be even more of you there.

00:28:31.900 I mean, just imagine being in a room with thousands of like-minded Christian conservative

00:28:38.700 women who are ready to be equipped with biblical truth and to walk out of there with zero fear 0.97

00:28:44.720 of man ready to take on the arrows of the enemy, not only for themselves, but also for their

00:28:51.540 fellow believers.

00:28:52.620 I mean, that is powerful.

00:28:54.420 We are going to have impactful teaching, deep theology, challenging apologetics.

00:29:00.080 We will be encouraging you in motherhood and in whatever calling God has placed on your

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00:29:33.500 That's where you can get your tickets today.

00:29:35.520 ShareTheArrows.com.

00:29:36.600 It's not about power.

00:29:43.660 I've heard this a lot, that conservative Christians want empire.

00:29:46.820 We want power.

00:29:48.060 We want wealth.

00:29:48.860 It's not about that.

00:29:49.840 It's believing that the common good can only be defined by the God who created good, by

00:29:55.280 the God who is good, who is the source of truth and goodness.

00:29:58.140 And if I believe that God's ways are better, of course I want that for my neighbor.

00:30:02.440 I believe in borders because I believe that's better for my neighbor here and also my neighbors

00:30:09.200 abroad, actually.

00:30:10.820 Like, I believe that having law enforcement and having laws that punish crimes, I feel like,

00:30:19.200 no, I feel like, I know that that is good for my neighbor.

00:30:23.140 Abortion laws that protect the most vulnerable, they're good for my neighbor. 0.99

00:30:27.940 And so it's not about power.

00:30:30.880 It's about wanting what is best as God defines best, which is a good definition of love, by

00:30:37.080 the way.

00:30:38.020 And sometimes, yes, that includes involvement in politics.

00:30:41.940 So when you hear from Christians who they're, maybe they're not progressive, but they're just 1.00

00:30:46.040 like, you know what?

00:30:47.000 Jesus's kingdom is not of this world.

00:30:49.400 I don't want to worry myself with politics and culture wars.

00:30:52.460 It's just polarizing and it's hurting my evangelism.

00:30:55.580 What do you say?

00:30:56.180 Well, God shows that he personally cares a lot about the moral health of societies and

00:31:01.240 the righteous functioning of societies.

00:31:03.200 If you read the Old Testament, you can see repeatedly that God is calling out nations for

00:31:07.540 injustice, for not practicing righteousness, and not just the nation of Israel, but the

00:31:12.140 surrounding pagan nations as well.

00:31:14.580 God cares about how societies function.

00:31:17.080 Yes, he cares about individual salvation.

00:31:19.060 We are to go out and make disciples in that sense, but that's not the end of the story.

00:31:23.600 We're to be a light in society.

00:31:25.220 So we can look at the example that's set throughout the Old Testament, but then also when we get

00:31:29.780 into the New Testament, we can look at Romans 13, 1 through 5, where Paul talks about how

00:31:35.040 all authority that civil rulers have ultimately comes from God.

00:31:38.560 So sometimes as Christians, we can get so skeptical of government.

00:31:40.980 We think all government is bad, but it's actually an institution that God gave us.

00:31:45.040 And what is the purpose of that institution?

00:31:47.220 Well, it goes on to say that it's basically to promote what is good and restrain what is evil.

00:31:52.300 So ultimately, if that's God's purpose for government, then we as Christians should feel

00:31:57.660 passionate about helping advocate for laws in our society that actually reflect God's

00:32:03.460 definition of good.

00:32:04.860 And that's what's so important to understand, because if we just sit back and say, you know

00:32:09.140 what, I'm going to let other people decide.

00:32:10.860 I'm going to let other people decide what kinds of laws should be made and enforced in 0.99

00:32:14.680 our country.

00:32:15.520 Well, we know that nonbelievers are not going to advocate in the same way with the same definition

00:32:20.220 of good and the same definition of evil.

00:32:22.980 So we have to be the ones who are willing to say, I'm going to advocate for righteousness

00:32:26.480 according to God's standards.

00:32:28.300 And if that involves power, that's okay, too.

00:32:31.180 So to your point, you know, it's not inherently about power.

00:32:34.160 We're not wanting to do these things because we want power first and foremost.

00:32:38.320 But in order to be able to do these things, sometimes that requires power.

00:32:42.460 So power in and of itself is not inherently wrong.

00:32:45.240 It can be stewarded well or it can be stewarded poorly.

00:32:47.960 What we want is to put in charge of this country, people who are going to steward the power well,

00:32:53.320 as well as can be given that we're still in a fallen world.

00:32:56.880 Yeah.

00:32:57.180 And that's such an important point, because actually it's not a debate.

00:33:01.380 You know, some so-called progressive Christians will say, oh, we just don't want power.

00:33:05.540 Christians should want less power and less influence. 1.00

00:33:08.200 And that's, you know, what Jesus did.

00:33:10.100 He didn't take over the Roman Empire.

00:33:11.980 He didn't usurp the Roman Emperor.

00:33:13.740 He, you know, laid down his life, which is just not the right comparison when we're talking about the reality of living in a constitutional republic and the reality of policymaking today.

00:33:26.340 But really, both sides, if we're honest, are saying this similar thing, is that we both want power to impose the policies that we think are best.

00:33:38.160 And really, it actually tends to be conservative policy that is wresting power away from the government, especially the federal government.

00:33:45.400 We're saying, no, we want the government to have less power.

00:33:48.180 We want more power on the local level.

00:33:50.760 And actually, that we believe in proper distinctions between church authority and familial authority, community authority, and then state and federal authority.

00:34:01.020 As you said, authority is not inherently bad.

00:34:04.720 It just depends on what it is being used for.

00:34:07.360 And that is where the honest debate really comes in, is which policies best align with God's definition of good.

00:34:14.720 And Christians have to know our Bibles to know what those definitions really are, right?

00:34:20.600 Right.

00:34:21.160 That's exactly right.

00:34:22.180 And, you know, it's interesting that you mentioned the spiritualization sometimes of that and say, well, Jesus, you know, he gave up his power.

00:34:28.720 He wasn't looking to take over anything.

00:34:30.820 But it's such, I just have to add on to that, it's such a terrible analogy that so many people bring up because this started with a very well-known pastor who posted this at some point on X about how, you know, Jesus gave up his power on the cross and therefore we should be giving up our power too.

00:34:46.800 Just because Jesus pursued one kind of good, a spiritual good in terms of dying for our sins and the atonement by giving up power, if that's what you want to call it, I would still argue with that characterization of it.

00:34:58.600 But by giving up power to be on the cross doesn't mean that no one can achieve other kinds of goods in other ways.

00:35:04.180 It goes without saying that those are just completely not comparable.

00:35:08.940 So, you know, we have to look at the fullness of Scripture to understand what we are called to do.

00:35:14.020 And that's why, you know, to your point, we have to understand the Bible because if we don't, we're going to look at individual things like that.

00:35:20.440 And when we see well-known pastors who post something like that, we say, oh, well, I guess, you know, I guess that's it.

00:35:25.740 I guess that because Jesus gave up his power on the cross, I'm supposed to give up power in society.

00:35:30.100 We make really bad conclusions if we don't know the fullness of the Bible.

00:35:34.700 We have to understand the full witness of Scripture if we're going to pursue what's right and what's good for society.

00:35:42.120 And understanding Christian history.

00:35:43.700 I mean, the history of the church is manifesting this, what has been often seen as a radical worldview of that includes the dignity of all people.

00:35:56.720 And people have heard me say this in pretty much every speech that I give, and I talk about it a lot on the show.

00:36:02.640 But this book by Owen Backey called When Children Became People, and he chronicles the history of the church and how the church and their idea of the Imago Dei, which, of course, is originally the Hebrew concept that goes all the way back to the first chapter of Genesis.

00:36:20.300 But when they evangelized that message and then also had this message of the gospel, which said everyone is equally dead and sin apart from Christ, doesn't matter how rich you are, doesn't matter your gender, doesn't matter your age, and everyone by grace through faith can be made alive in him.

00:36:38.260 And then you become brothers and sisters in Christ, and there's no Jew nor Greek nor slave nor free nor male nor female.

00:36:44.180 Now, that was an amazingly equalizing message that the ancient pagan Roman world did not believe.

00:36:51.140 They believed that it was the logos, your ability for rationality, your ability to reason that gave you value.

00:36:59.240 And they believed it was only the adult free male that had that value.

00:37:03.120 Well, it was Christians living out the truth of Scripture, sharing the gospel that changed how the world saw people, that changed particularly how the world saw previously subjugated people like children.

00:37:18.360 And so children became this underclass of subhuman barbarians in the pagan Roman world to people that were given extra honor and special care because of their vulnerability. 0.62

00:37:31.860 They were adopted and put in orphanages and given education and food and clothes.

00:37:37.760 That's Christian history that forged Western civilization, which is based on this fundamental idea that all people are made in the image of God.

00:37:46.020 And if Christians from the beginning had said, I have no say in what Nero is doing, I have no opinion about these policies that are in place. 0.69

00:37:56.400 Sure, it's, you know, these policies are incentivizing infanticide and widespread abortion and the subjugation of poor people, but I don't have any business with that.

00:38:11.160 The world would look like tribalism and barbarism.

00:38:15.220 Most things that secularists take for granted today are based on the Christian idea of people having dignity and Christians saying, I'm going to care about politics and culture.

00:38:28.740 That's so well said.

00:38:29.700 And it's amazing how much opportunity we as Christians in America today have to influence the common good in ways that Christians a couple thousand years ago didn't have.

00:38:40.240 And like you're saying, they're still out there.

00:38:42.200 They were doing exactly what they could do and should have done at the time.

00:38:45.960 And yet we have so much more ability in a legal sense to be able to do this because we live in this constitutional democracy.

00:38:53.440 And Christians are taking that for granted. 0.99

00:38:55.600 Christians who become convinced that, oh, we shouldn't be, quote unquote, political because we've been told so much by nonbelievers that that that's a bad thing.

00:39:02.920 And we come to believe this and it hurts people.

00:39:05.820 It actually harms people when we stay out of it, because if we're not, again, fighting for the common good, according to God's standards, someone else is going to be fighting good for according to their own standards.

00:39:16.680 And people will be harmed by it.

00:39:18.620 All right.

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00:40:36.940 You use a really good acronym, ACT, to show Christians why we should persevere in the public square.

00:40:46.060 We should keep speaking up and advocating for God's definitions of good, right, and true.

00:40:50.080 What is that?

00:40:51.200 So the A is for know your biblical authority.

00:40:54.320 The C is for strengthen conviction.

00:40:57.080 And the T is maintain tenacity.

00:41:00.080 So these are kind of the three steps to act or persevere in the public square.

00:41:04.640 So to start with knowing your biblical authority, it goes without saying that you're going to be more motivated to actually advocate for what's right if you're convinced that the God of the universe has told you to.

00:41:15.840 So if you truly believe that the God who created everything, who sustained everything, who made you has said that this is what is good and this is what is true, this is what's actually helpful.

00:41:26.760 If you're convinced that you know that because the Bible is God's word, then you're going to be much more motivated to get out and do the things that we're talking about.

00:41:35.400 And so that's why that first letter is so important to know your biblical authority.

00:41:39.180 So many Christians today, like we talked about with those statistics, they don't know their biblical authority.

00:41:43.620 They say they're Christian, but they don't believe what the Bible teaches, whether that's a conscious rejection or not.

00:41:48.340 And so it has to start there.

00:41:50.540 And then the C is for strengthened conviction.

00:41:53.320 So this speaks to, okay, once you know your authority, are you convicted that you understand truly what God is teaching in the Bible?

00:42:01.880 So I give an example in the book of a couple of a Lutheran bishop and an Episcopalian bishop.

00:42:07.920 And they're basically saying that they are fighting for the rights of trans people because they're made in the image of God, they're image bearers, and they make this whole statement that if you haven't talked about this issue, you haven't studied it at all, you might look at that and say, well, I think they're made in the image of God, too.

00:42:24.460 I think that they're image bearers and they deserve dignity.

00:42:27.540 And you start to get confused thinking, well, what should I believe about this as a Christian?

00:42:32.640 What really does the Bible say?

00:42:34.680 And so there are a lot of Christians who would actually say, yes, I believe the Bible is God's word, but they don't have the conviction on the individual issues because they're not sure they fully understand what it teaches on these things.

00:42:45.220 So if we want to strengthen conviction, the C, then we have to actually get educated and equipped on these individual issues that are so important for the common good today.

00:42:53.540 And then the last one, maintain tenacity, the T, is really about resetting our expectations.

00:42:59.140 So a lot of Christians today think they have done something wrong if people are upset with them.

00:43:04.580 They immediately think, you know, I've been cut off by a friend or a family member.

00:43:09.160 I have been, I've lost a job.

00:43:11.280 Somebody's mad at me.

00:43:12.300 Whatever the case is, they think they have done something that's a problem biblically because their expectation is that people will always like me.

00:43:21.400 Their expectation is that as long as people think I'm nice, then I must be okay.

00:43:25.720 But that's the wrong expectation to have.

00:43:28.100 We're not going to have the tenacity to continue if we know the Bible is God's word and if we have the conviction on an individual issue, but then we get out there and we start speaking up for truth and immediately get batted down because people don't like us for it and we think something went wrong.

00:43:42.960 So we have to reset our expectations.

00:43:44.980 Jesus said, if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

00:43:51.340 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own.

00:43:55.540 So he was warning his disciples before they went out on a mission.

00:43:59.680 He didn't give them warm fuzzies and say, hey, this is going to be great.

00:44:03.060 You know, he didn't even say, hey, they might hate you, but just keep doing what you're doing.

00:44:06.560 He actually gave an explanation for why they would be hated by saying, if you were of the world.

00:44:11.400 And to be of the world literally means to be under the governing rule of Satan.

00:44:15.940 Scripture is very clear that you are either of Satan or of God.

00:44:19.780 You're a child of Satan or a child of God.

00:44:21.720 Those who are children of Satan, they want to go their own way.

00:44:24.680 It's their own wills, their own desires.

00:44:27.200 They are slaves to sin.

00:44:28.900 And people who are slaves to sin are always going to hate those who are slaves to righteousness, who are children of God, because the darkness hates the light.

00:44:38.240 The light shines on the works of evil.

00:44:40.700 People are going to hate you for it.

00:44:42.820 Jesus said as much.

00:44:44.160 You know, some people have said, oh, your title of this book, it's so strong.

00:44:46.680 When culture hates you, that's kind of divisive, right?

00:44:49.380 Like, do we really want people to think that Christians think that, you know, that we're hated?

00:44:53.720 I didn't come up with the word.

00:44:55.760 Jesus is the one who said that the world would hate you.

00:44:59.700 Yeah.

00:45:00.120 So we have to reset our expectations, and that's what will help us to maintain tenacity.

00:45:04.860 Yes.

00:45:05.560 Luke 6.26 says, woe to you when all people speak well of you.

00:45:10.240 I think even Christians, myself included, I will be tempted to take people's opinions of me as an indicator of whether I am doing well.

00:45:22.160 Is my tone right?

00:45:24.000 Is, you know, is what I'm saying not too offensive?

00:45:27.900 Now, some people might be surprised that I even ever have those thoughts, but of course, just like anyone in the public square, like, no one loves hearing things like, oh, you're just, you know, you're being unloving by having this position or that was too harsh.

00:45:42.820 And of course, I never want to be thought of as too harsh, but the truth is that no matter how nicely you say something, when something is a hard truth, there are going to be people who believe that you're mean.

00:45:58.300 I mean, Stephen was full of grace and power.

00:46:01.460 Jesus was full of grace and truth.

00:46:03.820 Jesus was crucified.

00:46:05.620 Stephen was stoned to death.

00:46:07.160 And yet we as Christians still have the temptation to measure our success by how people respond to us.

00:46:14.240 Right.

00:46:14.540 And it's always worth asking ourselves, right, if somebody is upset with me, did I say something in a rude or hurtful way?

00:46:21.600 None of us are perfect in doing that, so I'm not suggesting that it's never on us, but the message itself is always going to be offensive.

00:46:28.880 This culture ultimately is in deep rebellion against its creator, and it's in rebellion because our culture wants to go its own way.

00:46:36.840 Every individual who is outside a relationship with the Lord wants to go with their own wills and desires.

00:46:42.240 And when you're turning to yourself as the authority on all things for what is right and wrong and good and bad and harmful and helpful, and you're not turning to God as that authority, when somebody else comes along, a Christian comes along and says, you're actually not the boss.

00:46:55.660 You're not the one who gets to determine what is true.

00:46:58.220 That's a deeply offensive message.

00:47:00.640 No one wants to hear that.

00:47:01.900 If you want to be your own authority and someone tells you no, it's actually God who determines what is good or bad or harmful or helpful, people are not going to like that.

00:47:10.480 No. I mean, the God of self is very cruel, and will ask you to sacrifice all sorts of things on its altar.

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00:48:35.780 So for the Christian who says, but I just want to love people, and I just want to share the gospel, and that's what I want to focus on, and I'm afraid that bringing up these issues is going to actually hinder my evangelism.

00:48:56.880 What do you say to that?

00:48:57.920 Well, I would ask them how they define love, because if they're saying, I just, quote unquote, just want to love people, which is how a lot of people do say it, then I would want to understand how they frame that concept.

00:49:09.520 Because when Jesus was asked about the two greatest commandments, he said it's number one, to love God, and number two, to love others.

00:49:17.800 That hierarchy is really important, because you can't know how to love others unless you first know what it means to love God.

00:49:24.640 It frames what it means to love other people.

00:49:27.240 And so if we're trying to love people on our own terms, according to what we think is loving, we're going to get it wrong.

00:49:33.440 We have to go back to what God has said about loving people.

00:49:37.000 And so when we do that, of course, that includes evangelism.

00:49:39.640 God wants us to care about people's souls.

00:49:41.360 He cares about people's souls.

00:49:42.620 He wants all people to come to a saving knowledge of Him, right?

00:49:45.800 So we have to care about that.

00:49:47.480 When we are out here saying, you know, we need to care about advocating for righteousness in the public square, we're not saying that means you shouldn't be witnessing to people.

00:49:56.480 We're not saying that at all.

00:49:58.340 I feel like everyone thinks we can only do one task in the world, but that's not what we're saying.

00:50:03.560 When we're talking about the importance of these things, we're saying, yes, of course we need to evangelize.

00:50:08.100 That is part of loving others.

00:50:10.120 And we need to advocate for righteousness in the public square, because that is loving people too.

00:50:17.160 Caring about people's lives in the context of the societies in which they live is one of the most loving things that you can do.

00:50:23.740 So it's part of loving others.

00:50:26.640 It's not all of how you love others, but it's an important part of how you love others in the context of first loving God.

00:50:32.920 I have heard Christians say, I just don't want any enemies.

00:50:37.440 I just don't want it.

00:50:38.420 I've heard Christians, true Christians say, I just don't want any enemies.

00:50:42.760 And I'm just not sure how we can read scripture and come to the conclusion that that's ever a possibility for the Christian, especially in such hostile times. 0.90

00:50:53.620 Has there been a time where you've been scared yourself in a personal conversation or publicly saying something that's true that's controversial, but you know that God says it's true?

00:51:05.660 And how did you overcome that fear?

00:51:09.720 Well, yes, I think no one wants enemies.

00:51:12.460 I think that's important to start with.

00:51:13.860 Like none of us like that.

00:51:14.980 I think a lot of times people assume that if you're out writing and speaking about these kinds of subjects, you must have this really thick skin.

00:51:20.700 And the reality is I don't at all.

00:51:22.740 Every time I speak at a conference, I point this out in the Q&A session because I want people to hear this.

00:51:27.600 I want people to know I don't have a thick skin.

00:51:29.660 I don't like it when people are upset with me or when they think I'm wrong or when they say mean things.

00:51:35.640 I don't like it.

00:51:37.060 And yet I continue to do what I do because I'm convinced that Christianity is true.

00:51:42.260 And if Christianity is true, that's going to have a lot of implications for my life and how I live if I fully believe that and have put my trust in Jesus. 0.65

00:51:49.800 And so for me, it comes down to conviction.

00:51:52.620 You have to have conviction that Christianity is true. 0.98

00:51:55.420 And maybe that comes from my background as an apologist that I have this intense focus on that.

00:52:00.340 But at the same time, I think that if you had talked to me when I was in my early 20s, I don't just think.

00:52:05.580 I know if you had talked to me in college, there's no way I would have been speaking out about the things that I'm speaking out now.

00:52:10.640 I would have called myself a Christian.

00:52:12.200 I would have said that I believed all the things that a Christian should.

00:52:15.640 But I wouldn't have been speaking out about things because I didn't have the conviction yet that, wow, this is really true.

00:52:21.340 It's the whole picture of the world, and this is the truth about reality.

00:52:26.440 So I think with conviction comes the desire to speak out.

00:52:30.580 And a lot of Christians today—I was just reading some research about this the other day.

00:52:33.440 I wish I could remember the exact number, but a lot of Christians say that they have a lot of doubts about their faith.

00:52:39.680 And so if you have doubts about your faith, you're not going to put yourself out there to be hated by people.

00:52:44.580 You're not going to put yourself out there to, quote, unquote, make enemies.

00:52:47.960 You don't want to lose family members over speaking up.

00:52:50.540 So I think it's a problem of conviction in the church.

00:52:52.940 And I think that if anyone is listening and thinking, well, I don't know if I have that kind of conviction, well, then I encourage you to get the conviction.

00:52:59.600 What is it that you're doubting?

00:53:00.620 Do you doubt God's existence?

00:53:02.040 Do you doubt the reliability of Scripture?

00:53:05.020 Do you doubt that Jesus was who He said He was?

00:53:06.940 There are answers for all of these things.

00:53:08.700 That's a beautiful thing.

00:53:09.620 If Christianity is true, it has nothing to fear.

00:53:11.580 And if it's not true, you better figure that out soon and walk away from it because there's no point in being a Christian if it's not true. 0.88

00:53:17.960 So go out and find the answers to your questions.

00:53:20.220 Get the conviction it's true. 0.93

00:53:21.720 And when you have that, you're going to want to speak out.

00:53:24.060 And you still won't want enemies.

00:53:25.540 But you'll have the conviction of knowing that you're doing what you should be doing.

00:53:28.880 And you're being obedient to God.

00:53:30.560 And you can leave the results to Him.

00:53:32.300 Yeah.

00:53:32.540 I think a lot of people are so scared of being seen as self-righteous or as prideful or arrogant.

00:53:41.240 And I see that a lot, especially with women.

00:53:44.020 When a woman says, no, I know what I believe, not because I came up with it, not because I'm super smart, but because this is what God's Word says, they will be called arrogant. 0.97

00:53:54.180 They'll be called self-righteous.

00:53:55.700 It doesn't matter how much you say, no, it's not my righteousness.

00:53:58.760 It's not my wisdom.

00:53:59.960 It's God's wisdom and God's righteousness.

00:54:02.380 Being assured of your beliefs and not following it with, well, that's just how I feel.

00:54:07.260 Or that's just my opinion.

00:54:09.120 Or, but I don't know.

00:54:10.360 That is almost looked down upon, I think, especially among women. 1.00

00:54:14.060 And I just wonder how much of that is because so many women's Bible studies, women's Christian books, women's conferences, women's, you know, preschool mom groups are really just focused on the self.

00:54:27.020 How you feel, making sure that your self-esteem is up, making sure that you know that you're beautiful, that you're perfect, that you're worthy, that you're all of these things, that you get enough self-care and all of that.

00:54:39.020 Like, so many women's events and resources are focused on women's feelings and women's self-esteem rather than equipping women, telling them, first of all, you need God.

00:54:51.420 You can be a theologian.

00:54:53.140 The Bible has, you know, has the answers that you're seeking and equipping them to be theologians and apologists in their own home.

00:55:00.660 And I think that's why a lot of women are like, they doubt a lot and they're scared to even be confident in God's word because they get shut down when they are. 1.00

00:55:09.560 I think that's so true.

00:55:10.820 I will never forget one of the very first speaking events I ever did.

00:55:14.160 I was just getting started as a speaker and I was invited to come and talk to a local moms group at a church.

00:55:18.980 And they had me come in about ways that we can help our kids better understand their faith.

00:55:24.100 And so I did a little talk that I had come up with.

00:55:25.920 And I will never forget that when I ended that, the lady came up who had hosted me there and then she was encouraging everyone to come the next week for the session.

00:55:34.060 The next session that they were going to be focused on was how to do better scrapbooking with your kids.

00:55:39.180 And I'm not saying we can't talk about scrapbooking at church.

00:55:42.960 Okay.

00:55:43.620 Some people are thinking, oh, but that's just fellowship.

00:55:45.680 Okay, there's fellowship.

00:55:46.460 But it was indicative of so much more.

00:55:48.780 I mean, we see this all the time in the church when you look at the kinds of focuses that we have as women in women's ministries.

00:55:55.480 It's so often like that.

00:55:57.060 And I remember just being very jolted by that, thinking, like, this is crazy that, you know, I come in to talk about this really heavy topic and next week we're scrapbooking.

00:56:05.280 And if you looked at the other topics they were having, it was nothing like what I was talking about.

00:56:09.660 I mean, it was very light, very fluffy.

00:56:11.760 And I think that that gets replicated over and over again in the church.

00:56:15.520 And we're losing opportunities.

00:56:17.980 Every time that you are using that opportunity to talk about scrapbooking when you could be actually working on the discipleship of women, you're losing something major.

00:56:28.820 And that probably sounds harsh to some people.

00:56:30.860 I know.

00:56:31.380 I know it sounds harsh to, you know, make it sound like, oh, well, we shouldn't just get together.

00:56:35.060 Well, sure, have fellowship opportunities.

00:56:36.840 But when you're getting women together at some kind of weekly event at your church, focus on bringing them deeper in the Word, helping them to understand Scripture so that they can gain a biblical worldview that then they can pass to their children if they have children.

00:56:51.220 It's so important.

00:56:52.600 Yes.

00:56:53.000 And women can handle it. 1.00

00:56:54.460 Yes.

00:56:54.800 Because, you know, we are people made in God's image, and the Holy Spirit is doing work through our lives, too.

00:57:00.560 And so we need the equipment from God's Word.

00:57:02.940 And so I encourage every one of you, whether you're a man or a woman, but especially those of you who are moms out there, get this book, When Culture Hates You.

00:57:10.320 Because they don't just hate you.

00:57:11.520 They hate your kids.

00:57:12.480 They hate your grandkids.

00:57:13.580 They hate everyone who bears the name of Christ and all of the values that the Bible teaches us.

00:57:19.320 And so it's important to know what they are.

00:57:21.120 But even more important to know whose we are and by whose authority we say and advocate for these things.

00:57:26.700 So When Culture Hates You, persevering for the common good as Christians in a hostile public square. 0.93

00:57:31.660 Natasha, where can people follow you and support you?

00:57:34.840 Well, I have a website, NatashaCrane.com, and Crane is C-R-A-I-N. 0.96

00:57:38.680 And I have a podcast, The Natasha Crane Podcast, also.

00:57:41.220 But you can find out all the information about my books and podcasts on my website.

00:57:44.260 Awesome.

00:57:44.740 Thank you so much, Natasha.

00:57:45.900 Thank you.

00:57:51.120 Thank you.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - March 31, 2025

Ep 1163 ｜ Self-Centered Women’s Ministries Are Making the Church Weak ｜ Guest： Natasha Crain

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