Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 156 ｜ God, Kids & Country

00:00:00.320 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. I hope everyone is having a wonderful week.

00:00:04.860 Today we are going to talk about a study that was published this week by NBC and the Wall Street Journal

00:00:10.120 that examines Americans' values by generation.

00:00:14.260 I've talked about it a few times this week on Fox, on the radio, on OAN,

00:00:18.780 so maybe you've already heard my analysis, but of course today we'll get more in depth.

00:00:23.060 I've been really excited to talk about this because this points to so much of what we discuss on this podcast

00:00:30.880 about self-love and self-obsession.

00:00:33.700 I know we talk about this topic a lot, but that's because it is so prominent and so pervasive in our culture today

00:00:40.460 and there are even attempts by Christians to make this biblical or quasi-biblical

00:00:46.420 and I think it's really important that we as Christians are able to stand against it logically and biblically

00:00:52.240 and all of that good stuff.

00:00:53.360 So we're going to talk about what the results were and what they actually mean.

00:00:57.820 It shouldn't surprise us, anyone that has been paying attention to the direction that our generations are going

00:01:03.200 or any of you who have listened to this podcast for any amount of time,

00:01:07.040 we kind of know this about the younger generations.

00:01:10.560 So it looked at ages 18 to 38, that's part of Generation Z and all of millennials.

00:01:16.080 It showed they do not care about three things, at least not as much as older generations 0.96

00:01:20.660 and not as much as they did about 20 years ago.

00:01:24.680 Patriotism, God, and having kids, those are the three things that compared to older generations, 0.77

00:01:29.500 our generations just really don't care about that much.

00:01:32.220 Here's a quote from the Wall Street Journal.

00:01:33.760 Among people 55 and older, for example, nearly 80% said patriotism was very important,

00:01:39.840 compared with only 42% of those ages 18 to 38.

00:01:44.480 The millennial generation and older members of Gen Z.

00:01:48.300 Two-thirds of the older group cited religion as very important, with fewer than one-third

00:01:52.760 of the younger group.

00:01:54.700 Over 50% of baby boomers also play a high value on having children,

00:01:58.680 while only a little over a third of millennials do.

00:02:02.920 So, in other words, the vast majority of millennials and older Gen Zers do not value patriotism,

00:02:09.480 they do not value religion, and they do not value having children.

00:02:14.160 These are values that Americans have been able to bond over for a very long time,

00:02:18.720 whether you were on the right or the left.

00:02:20.320 That's just not true anymore, at least among people who are under the age of 40.

00:02:25.920 Most of us do this poll shows, most of us do still place a high value on hard work,

00:02:31.720 but the younger generations are still less likely to care about that than the older generations are,

00:02:36.380 which isn't really surprising.

00:02:38.040 Now, before we get into the analysis, which you can probably guess what I'm going to say,

00:02:43.900 let me first state that I understand.

00:02:46.220 I understand that the millennial bashing gets really old.

00:02:49.360 I get it.

00:02:49.760 I am a millennial. 0.61

00:02:51.100 I have talked about how terrible millennials are. 1.00

00:02:54.020 I have heard how terrible millennials are many times.

00:02:58.620 I am not someone, let me tell you, I am not someone who hates millennials.

00:03:02.240 I don't.

00:03:03.220 Or who thinks all millennials are bad,

00:03:05.620 or who thinks that all millennials were raised in a vacuum.

00:03:09.040 I obviously know that's not the case.

00:03:11.120 Baby boomers. 0.95

00:03:12.260 My parents are baby boomers.

00:03:13.420 I love them very much.

00:03:14.340 They did a great job raising me and instilling me with awesome values.

00:03:18.420 But a lot of baby boomers love to complain about about millennials and about how terrible we are,

00:03:24.500 about how lazy we are.

00:03:25.480 But they did raise us.

00:03:27.080 Like I said, we were not raised in a vacuum.

00:03:30.040 So whether it was their direct influence or through their lack of influence and the impact of whatever school that we went to,

00:03:37.160 millennials have learned their values.

00:03:38.780 We've learned our principles and we have learned our worldview from somewhere.

00:03:42.460 We didn't make it up on our own.

00:03:43.780 So I understand that.

00:03:46.500 And millennials do have good traits.

00:03:48.920 I think that we are more empathetic than generations that have come before us.

00:03:53.300 We are better traveled.

00:03:54.240 So maybe we're better.

00:03:55.560 We're more open and more interested in other cultures.

00:03:58.080 I think that can be a good thing.

00:03:59.260 We're obviously very technologically savvy.

00:04:01.760 We are innovative.

00:04:03.260 We are extremely creative.

00:04:04.760 We also can be very entrepreneurial.

00:04:06.700 While at the same time, some millennials want things handed to them.

00:04:10.020 And there are a lot of millennials who are willing to pursue their passion and make it into a career.

00:04:16.880 I also think that the millennials who do have their heads screwed on straight have the potential to be excellent parents as well as excellent leaders.

00:04:24.160 We have started to see the harm that technology is doing to kids.

00:04:28.400 And we might be more disciplined in that, not just for ourselves, but for the people that we raise.

00:04:33.940 Maybe we'll lower their screen time.

00:04:35.500 Maybe we'll be more diligent about making sure that we are their primary influence.

00:04:40.400 That's what I hope, anyway, for millennials and Generation Z.

00:04:44.520 The common descriptions, though, the stereotypes that we see of our generation, or our generations, I should say, as entitled and self-centered, are true about a lot of us.

00:04:56.600 Not all of us, of course, but about a lot of us.

00:04:58.940 And there is so much that has helped create this helicopter parenting, the everyone gets a trophy mentality that we had at school growing up,

00:05:07.520 increasingly individualized technology.

00:05:10.200 There was a day and time in which an entire family shared a television or shared a computer,

00:05:15.440 and it increased as we got older that everyone had personalized devices, whether that was a Game Boy or an iPad or an iPhone.

00:05:26.860 I was trying to think of what it was, an iPod.

00:05:28.920 I already forgot about what that word was, an iPod or an iPhone.

00:05:33.220 Social media, of course, has contributed to this.

00:05:35.660 And then as we got older, we got even more conditioned to this idea of instant gratification that characterizes services like Amazon, Uber Eats, etc.

00:05:44.780 We are used to things being individualized.

00:05:47.900 We are used to things being immediate.

00:05:49.740 We are accustomed to being served.

00:05:52.120 We are accustomed to having our very personalized needs met.

00:05:56.360 Our universes have grown increasingly centered on ourselves.

00:05:59.880 That is not necessarily our fault.

00:06:02.200 That's just the world in which we grew up.

00:06:04.460 And that's also not to say that millennials haven't had challenges. 0.99

00:06:07.480 Of course, like every generation, millennials have had challenges.

00:06:10.120 There was the recession about 10 years ago that especially older millennials really probably got the brunt of.

00:06:16.240 And even if you were a younger millennial, your parents went through it.

00:06:18.960 Maybe that was a hard time for your family.

00:06:20.960 And of course, a lot of millennials have been overseas in the Middle East fighting what seems like an endless war.

00:06:27.600 And of course, individuals who are in these generations have had their own personal struggles.

00:06:33.020 Of course, there are millennials and Generation Z whose families are in poverty.

00:06:37.360 Of course, there are things that difficulties that these generations have had to overcome.

00:06:42.540 This is not to say that every millennial has had it easy and that every millennial should just buck up and stop complaining.

00:06:49.680 I'm not saying that.

00:06:51.140 But, but it appears that millennials have learned in general that the world should serve them.

00:06:58.880 That we are on the throne of our own universes.

00:07:01.480 That we are the center of our lives.

00:07:03.600 And this, of course, is reflected in the thing that we talk about all the time in online culture.

00:07:08.240 So self-love, self-care, self-empowerment, self-fulfillment.

00:07:12.080 These all fall under the category of what I call trendy narcissism.

00:07:16.500 We can try to say that it's healthy, that it's good, that it's boosting confidence, but it's not.

00:07:20.980 It's a way to glorify selfishness and arrogance as virtues.

00:07:24.620 That's all it is.

00:07:25.480 This, of course, is in large part why millennials don't care about having kids, don't care about patriotism, and don't care about God.

00:07:33.740 I'm not saying there aren't other factors, but this is, at least in my opinion, a large factor that plays into all of this.

00:07:41.600 All of these things require sacrifice.

00:07:44.400 They require self-denial.

00:07:46.120 They require self-emptying.

00:07:47.400 The putting aside of immediate gratification for the sake of someone or something else.

00:07:51.880 I talked a lot about this on my motherhood podcast that I did last week.

00:07:55.900 The joy of self-emptying that can be something that maybe at first you want to resist, but actually affords you a lot of satisfaction.

00:08:03.600 Millennials have also learned that America is bad and is completely characterized by its failures rather than its victories.

00:08:10.680 This is also something that we talked about last week in an episode titled Two Americas.

00:08:15.460 We've learned that having kids will hamper our self-fulfillment, which is found, we're told, in being fit and successful.

00:08:21.880 And that believing in God and actually believing and practicing what the Bible says is bigoted and backwards and wrong.

00:08:29.740 So we're taught all of these things.

00:08:31.140 We believe all of these things.

00:08:32.740 And it's not to say that we are just victims of our circumstances or victims of other people's doctrine.

00:08:37.180 We have made the choice to take these things on.

00:08:40.320 But most of all, we have been taught that we are the only thing that matters.

00:08:45.580 Now, let me clarify, as it seems I always have to, because there's probably already comments on YouTube saying these things.

00:08:52.580 But let me just clarify that when I criticize self-love, I am not advocating for self-deprecation.

00:08:59.300 And when I criticize self-care, I am not advocating for self-harm.

00:09:02.940 And when I criticize self-empowerment, self-fulfillment and self-help, I am not advocating for self-sabotage.

00:09:09.080 Obviously, I am not saying that we shouldn't acknowledge or use our abilities, that we shouldn't get our nails done,

00:09:15.280 or that we shouldn't set our goals and have a schedule and an agenda and all of that.

00:09:18.660 That's not what I'm saying.

00:09:20.040 I just don't think.

00:09:21.720 I just don't see the need to focus on loving ourselves or caring for ourselves or helping ourselves any more than we already do.

00:09:30.140 I just don't see, and I've never seen a self-love deficit in our culture.

00:09:35.520 I've never seen that.

00:09:37.000 And yet, and yet, all of a sudden, we are getting told by Instagram psychologists that we do,

00:09:42.400 that our problem is that we don't love ourselves enough.

00:09:44.880 Our problem is that we don't take care of ourselves enough, that we don't do enough of the things that we want.

00:09:50.120 We're not doing enough of what makes us happy.

00:09:52.260 And I just don't really see that as a problem that our society in the United States of America,

00:09:57.180 especially among young generations, has.

00:09:59.620 But we're told that all of our problems will go away, that our anxiety, that our insecurity, our paranoia,

00:10:04.900 our depression, our loneliness, the answer to all of these things are found inside of ourselves.

00:10:10.000 And if we just muster out the strength to love ourselves more and to be more confident,

00:10:13.500 then we will finally be at peace and be satisfied.

00:10:18.200 But as I've said many times, that's not the answer to all of those things.

00:10:23.240 What we find is that if you are in a place of depression or insecurity or paranoia

00:10:29.020 or something like that, you actually don't have the strength to just love yourself more.

00:10:33.640 If someone just tells you, if you are in a state of despair, just love yourself more,

00:10:38.520 you're thinking, OK, I would love to be able to do that, but I can't.

00:10:42.640 That's, you know, part of the problem is that you can't feel any positive thoughts

00:10:46.520 or you feel like you're out of control in your own mind.

00:10:49.500 And so the prescription of self-love actually doesn't solve what the problem is.

00:10:54.860 It's not actually a proper diagnosis because the reality is, is that self-love is already natural.

00:11:01.060 Self-love is natural.

00:11:02.180 It is something that we are born with.

00:11:03.660 It's instinctual.

00:11:05.000 This doesn't mean that you think that you are perfect and lovely and awesome all of the time.

00:11:10.240 It means that you will naturally always look out for yourself and your best interest.

00:11:14.680 And it actually takes effort and discipline for us not to do that, for us to put those

00:11:18.880 things to the side and for us to look to the interests of other people.

00:11:23.060 This is why Ephesians 5 29 says, husbands, love your wives as you love your own body.

00:11:29.220 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it.

00:11:33.180 And that is why and how Jesus tells us to love others as we love ourselves.

00:11:38.360 I know we've talked about this a million times, but when you think about it, that's really

00:11:41.980 a radical command that we are born with this instinct to do whatever we have to do to survive.

00:11:48.420 We are born with the inclination to serve ourselves, to find comfort and protection and sustenance.

00:11:54.480 And unless we are driven by a purpose or a reason or a thing, something is driving us

00:12:00.280 to something that is higher than ourselves, we will do whatever we can to obtain it.

00:12:05.600 And Jesus tells us to love people like that, to do whatever it takes to meet the needs of others.

00:12:12.660 So just as you would instinctively look for shelter for yourself in a storm, Jesus is telling us

00:12:18.640 in the same way, look for shelter for other people.

00:12:21.880 So just as you would desperately look for water, if you're thirsty, Jesus is telling us desperately

00:12:27.000 look to quench someone else's thirst.

00:12:29.520 Just as anxiously as we would look for food, if we were starving, we should be just as anxious

00:12:34.960 to satisfy the hunger of someone else.

00:12:37.420 As much as we naturally seek to avoid loneliness and avoid despair, we are to seek to help others

00:12:44.140 escape loneliness and despair as well.

00:12:46.720 That is the kind of a so-called self-love that Jesus is telling us to reflect and imitate to other people.

00:12:53.660 The kind that you don't have to teach, that we were made with, that we were naturally driven by.

00:12:59.520 In addition, obviously, to the sacrifice that is learned through Jesus by the Holy Spirit,

00:13:05.080 he's asking that we be naturally driven by the same kind of love to other people.

00:13:10.460 And actually, I'll correct myself.

00:13:12.260 It is loving other people in the natural way that we love ourselves that is the sacrificial

00:13:17.100 love that is empowered by the Holy Spirit.

00:13:19.400 He is not saying, Jesus is not saying, unless you think, for example, that your postpartum body

00:13:25.520 is beautiful, you actually can't love yourself until you're able to do that.

00:13:29.300 Or until you have higher standards for what kind of guys you date, you can't really love

00:13:34.000 other people.

00:13:34.860 I mean, think about that. 0.96

00:13:35.780 Think about how dumb that would be if that was the commandment that Jesus, the God of the 0.94

00:13:39.860 universe, gave us, that that's what the world tells us, that you can't love, or that is 0.90

00:13:45.680 what the world tells us, that you can't love other people until you love yourself.

00:13:48.720 And the kind of love, though, that they're describing is superficial.

00:13:52.600 It's not the radical, hospitable, inconvenient love that Jesus is talking about.

00:13:57.000 It's the tell someone they look good in their genes and that their feelings are valid kind

00:14:01.040 of love.

00:14:01.600 And it's empty.

00:14:02.760 It's fleeting.

00:14:04.060 Do you honestly think that Jesus, knowing who Jesus is, having read the gospels, who bled 0.98

00:14:09.740 on the cross for our sins, the ultimate act of self-denial on behalf of wayward sinners,

00:14:15.420 do you honestly think that when he is asking us to imitate him in our own self-denial, that

00:14:21.200 he actually meant that we need to hold off on loving other people until we feel good about

00:14:26.080 ourselves?

00:14:26.940 As I've said, the Bible is radically unconcerned with self-love, but I want to correct that

00:14:32.500 because it actually is concerned with self-love, just not in the way that our world is.

00:14:37.260 It happens to be very concerned with it.

00:14:39.360 So 2 Timothy 3, 1 through 5 has something to say about this.

00:14:42.340 But understand this, that in the last days, there will come times of difficulty for people

00:14:47.640 will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents,

00:14:54.260 ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not 0.87

00:14:59.640 loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers

00:15:05.160 of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

00:15:09.400 Avoid such people.

00:15:11.200 I mean, how many are guilty of us, first of all, of at least a few of the things that

00:15:16.100 were listed?

00:15:16.880 I mean, we as Christians sure are not immune to these things.

00:15:20.020 So I'm not trying to say that, okay, we're innocent of all of these sins that have been

00:15:24.640 listed.

00:15:25.020 The point is that they are sins.

00:15:27.980 They are sins to be repented from.

00:15:29.660 They are not things to be glorified in.

00:15:31.320 They are things to be struggled against and not things to indulge in.

00:15:34.600 And how accurately, though, does this describe where we are and who we are?

00:15:39.980 Lovers of self, lovers of money, proud and arrogant.

00:15:43.920 These are virtues, we're told nowadays. 0.98

00:15:46.360 Ungrateful, aka entitled, unholy.

00:15:49.200 We hate the idea in our culture of sanctity or purity.

00:15:52.500 Heartless.

00:15:53.280 Just look at abortion advocates. 1.00

00:15:55.060 Unappeasable.

00:15:56.180 Our hunger for sin cannot be satisfied.

00:15:58.420 It also reminds me of those who are constantly setting new standards for wokeness.

00:16:03.640 They can't be appeased.

00:16:05.660 Slanderous, aka cancel culture.

00:16:08.040 Without self-control, telling someone to make good choices we think nowadays is bigoted,

00:16:13.040 brutal, not loving good, reckless.

00:16:15.560 Again, I would refer you to many of those who promote abortion. 0.84

00:16:19.800 Swollen with conceit.

00:16:21.120 Again, something that we see as a virtue.

00:16:23.380 Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

00:16:25.860 This is what happens when you exchange the God of scripture for the God of self.

00:16:30.000 Having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

00:16:34.840 How many people do we know nowadays?

00:16:37.260 I think I've said nowadays like three times, which is three times more than I've ever said

00:16:40.400 it in my life.

00:16:41.260 But nowadays, who simultaneously claim to be morally relative, but are constantly setting

00:16:46.720 their own standards for morality that other people need to abide by.

00:16:51.040 Here's an amazing quote by Miley Cyrus, of course, our moral arbiter.

00:16:55.860 That really, it just typifies exactly what has been normalized by people our age.

00:17:02.240 She says, why are we trained that love means putting yourself second and those you love

00:17:07.000 first?

00:17:07.440 If you love yourself, then what?

00:17:08.840 You come first.

00:17:09.680 And she's exactly right.

00:17:10.940 If you love yourself, if self-love is your main priority, you come first.

00:17:14.880 And that's the problem.

00:17:15.980 Um, actually the whole article about her on enews.com, uh, not typically where I get my

00:17:22.080 news, but I was looking for this quote because I had seen it floating around is a very perfect

00:17:26.960 encapsulation of, uh, today's morality or so-called morality.

00:17:31.260 But, uh, we just don't have time to get into the entire article.

00:17:34.800 We could probably do a whole episode on Miley Cyrus.

00:17:38.160 Uh, I love this quote by John Calvin.

00:17:42.340 There are, these are actually excerpts from a passage from a little book on the Christian

00:17:47.420 life.

00:17:48.240 Uh, so first let me quote this pertinent biblical passage, Philippians 2, 3, do nothing from

00:17:54.360 selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility, count others more significant than yourselves.

00:17:59.940 That is a radical commandment only made possible by the Holy spirit.

00:18:04.020 I certainly could never do that ever by myself.

00:18:06.720 Uh, John Calvin says this in this book, uh, and again, these are excerpts.

00:18:11.640 It doesn't all go together.

00:18:12.900 Each of us thinks we have just cause for elevating ourselves and despising all others in comparison

00:18:19.260 to ourselves.

00:18:20.040 Our self-love ruins us with such blindness.

00:18:23.320 In fact, we so delude ourselves that we sometimes embrace our vices as virtues.

00:18:29.040 There is no one who does not nourish a high opinion of himself within our very nature inclines

00:18:37.120 us towards self love.

00:18:39.280 As a result, we don't easily deny ourselves or our desires in order to seek the good of

00:18:44.500 others, but constant recognition of our vices.

00:18:47.680 Let us then return to humility by so doing, there will be nothing left in us to puff us up,

00:18:53.600 but on the contrary, there will be much to put us in our place.

00:18:58.960 We will never achieve genuine meekness except by having our hearts saturated with self-denial

00:19:06.300 and respect for others.

00:19:08.780 And this was written by the way, hundreds of years ago, which to me, it comforts me to realize that

00:19:15.080 what the Bible says is true.

00:19:16.120 Of course, that there's nothing new under the sun, that the same sin that we are now glorifying

00:19:20.380 today was also glorified hundreds of years ago in John Calvin's time.

00:19:25.480 And the reason that comforts me is because I am constantly getting caught up in my anxiety

00:19:30.260 that the world is worse than it's ever been, which in some ways I do think that it actually

00:19:34.740 is.

00:19:35.300 But Satan is not creative and sin is not innovative.

00:19:39.140 And so the things that we are struggling with today, people have always struggled with.

00:19:43.480 It is human nature, which just renews the importance of us Christians being knowledgeable

00:19:48.740 about what this problem is and what it means and how to logically and biblically fight against

00:19:54.760 it.

00:19:55.580 So self-obsession by which we have been conditioned, millennials have been conditioned for years 0.96

00:20:01.020 is a, not the, but a root cause of our resistance to anything that burdens us or displaces us from

00:20:09.180 the center of our universes.

00:20:10.480 Um, we start to view privileges as rights and we start to view inconveniences as injustice.

00:20:18.540 When you put yourself on the throne of your universe, that's what happens.

00:20:22.420 You see privileges as rights and inconveniences as injustice.

00:20:26.620 And that really explains a lot of the attitude that we're seeing from a lot of young people

00:20:31.320 today.

00:20:31.820 This is precisely why we as a generation are also attracted to the policies of Bernie Sanders

00:20:38.500 and Elizabeth Warren.

00:20:39.400 You know that I'm not including myself in that, but as a generation, we have a right,

00:20:44.480 we think to free college, to free birth control, to free abortions, to free healthcare, to free

00:20:49.160 hormone therapy.

00:20:50.300 We have a right not to work if we don't want to.

00:20:52.720 We have a right to reparations and any policy that says that we don't, or any person that

00:20:57.340 says that we don't is just bigoted.

00:20:59.540 And the policy is unjust, who disagrees with any of these things.

00:21:03.540 And the, the opposition to this might say, well, no, this viewpoint is actually compassionate

00:21:10.520 because you're not just saying that you want these things for yourselves.

00:21:13.060 You're also saying that you want these things for other people, people who are underprivileged.

00:21:17.700 It's about taking care of the poor.

00:21:19.100 They might say the marginalized in the environment, but it's actually, it's actually not when it

00:21:24.600 gets down to the pragmatism of the actual policy.

00:21:27.620 Now I do believe, and I've said this before, and I will always say this, as long as I see

00:21:31.980 this happening, I do believe that there are many, many liberals, you, some of you might

00:21:36.580 not believe me.

00:21:37.120 There are many liberals who genuinely believe that leftist policies are the most compassionate

00:21:43.180 and they're sincere in this.

00:21:44.740 They are sincere in their desire to care for the least of these.

00:21:47.280 Now they probably don't give conservatives the benefit of the doubt for our policies,

00:21:50.900 but I will give them the benefit of the doubt because I do believe that.

00:21:54.120 Uh, but the problem is they are still ultimately selfish and detrimental policies because most

00:22:00.680 of them are, uh, because you are asking the government to subsidize your unwillingness

00:22:05.540 to help people yourself.

00:22:07.060 Uh, and as I have always said, socialism is millennials way of feeling virtuous without

00:22:12.680 ever having to get off the couch, which of course is not actual virtue.

00:22:16.560 Uh, there is a reason why study after study shows that conservatives give more to charity

00:22:22.520 than liberals do, uh, why the percentage that every millionaire democratic candidate for 0.99

00:22:27.560 president gave to charity last year was under 3%, 3% of what they made.

00:22:32.260 I know people who are much poorer, like hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars poorer

00:22:38.160 than Beto O'Rourke who gave a lot more, not just percentage of what they make, but also

00:22:44.340 just a dollar amount of what they make to charity.

00:22:47.380 And yet these are the same people that want to lecture the rest of the world, or at least

00:22:52.420 the rest of the country about empathy, but it is not empathy.

00:22:56.240 It is not empathy to tell the government to take money from people that are richer than

00:23:00.160 you and distribute it to the poor.

00:23:01.640 It is not generosity.

00:23:02.960 If you are being generous with other people's money.

00:23:06.060 Um, and for those who are Christians, who also people who identify as Christians, who also

00:23:12.560 identify as socialists, uh, besides the myriad biblical passages that we have walked through

00:23:17.340 many times that, uh, push against socialism, I would like these people to consider, to consider

00:23:22.820 why socialism and godlessness always seems to go hand in hand.

00:23:27.420 Why is it that nations that when nations move further to the left and the government grows

00:23:32.420 that faith in God as a country wanes?

00:23:34.600 I want them to consider why that is.

00:23:36.780 Can you name a country, uh, that has become more Christian or even more religiously free

00:23:43.020 has had more religious liberty as it's moved closer to communism and socialism?

00:23:48.320 Can you name a country that those two things have gone in the same direction?

00:23:51.740 I can't, but, but before I freak all of you out and you're thinking, oh my gosh, we're

00:23:56.900 going to hell in a handbasket here and the country is going to be ruined. 0.96

00:24:02.420 And here's, here's where I find hope as scary as it can be to think about that.

00:24:06.940 We might be approaching this age.

00:24:09.360 Uh, there's obviously there's always hope there's hope in Christ.

00:24:12.280 There's hope in things eternal, knowing that this world is not our home and that one day

00:24:15.600 Jesus is going to rule in perfect peace and that there's not going to be divisiveness.

00:24:19.660 There's not going to be politics.

00:24:21.140 There are going to be people that we disagreed with on this earth and heaven, and we are going

00:24:24.940 to be in perfect unity and perfect peace there.

00:24:27.960 Of course that's hope.

00:24:29.040 And of course that's a good thing.

00:24:30.120 But there's also something to hope for and to understand about this life or this side

00:24:37.240 of eternity, um, that what happens when Christianity becomes less mainstream in a country, it's hard

00:24:44.260 as it is to watch as difficult, as difficult as it is.

00:24:47.900 And as much as I think we have a responsibility as Christians, uh, to make sure that God's law,

00:24:53.340 um, as much as we can is being advocated for here on earth, either, you know, legislatively,

00:24:59.580 like through abortion policy or privately, um, you know, through our own lives and just

00:25:05.660 through sharing the gospel.

00:25:06.700 As difficult as it is to see Christianity become less mainstream though, uh, what we can find

00:25:12.860 comfort in is that the church of God always becomes stronger is that when the church, the

00:25:18.820 true church is pushed to the margins of society, that we actually become stronger, that there

00:25:24.140 is no law, that there is no policy, that there is no rule or ban or any kind of limitation

00:25:30.760 on free speech or freedom of religious exercise that is going to drown out the gospel of Jesus

00:25:36.480 Christ.

00:25:36.920 It's not going to happen.

00:25:38.540 That is why the Bible is extremely concerned with us persevering through the end.

00:25:43.180 That is why the Bible is extremely concerned about persecution and extremely concerned about

00:25:48.340 trial, not concerned in the sense that they're scared that we're, um, that it's not going to

00:25:54.080 be ultimately fruitful for the gospel, but, uh, that we would pray for the strength to

00:26:00.280 endure and that we would understand that these persecutions are going to come and that we

00:26:04.620 find comfort and peace and the ability to keep going, uh, through the Holy spirit in Christ.

00:26:10.500 The Bible is extremely concerned and extremely focused on that.

00:26:14.640 And the Bible tells us time and time again, that the word of God is not going to fail, that

00:26:19.200 it does not return void.

00:26:20.840 And for those of us who are in Christ, we have hope in that, that it's okay if America,

00:26:26.500 and this is so hard for me to say as a Christian conservative, who loves this country and loves

00:26:30.720 the values upon which our country was founded.

00:26:33.100 It's okay.

00:26:33.620 If our country becomes not a Christian country, it's okay. 1.00

00:26:37.300 If God is taken out of government. 0.98

00:26:38.880 Now I'm not saying I'm advocating for that, obviously, and you would have to be a crazy person

00:26:43.440 to think that I was, but it's okay.

00:26:46.280 Eternally it's okay for Christians.

00:26:48.260 We will be okay.

00:26:49.920 All we have to do is to be obedient to God.

00:26:53.680 So raise our families in the Lord, preach the word of God as much as we can share the

00:26:58.120 gospel, be loving to our neighbors, stand up for what's right, speak the truth, be kind

00:27:02.760 as much as we can.

00:27:03.560 That's getting increasingly difficult by the way, especially on social media, which is

00:27:07.060 why I might just delete Twitter altogether.

00:27:08.760 But that's another subject for another day.

00:27:11.180 Our responsibility is to be obedient and to glorify God in all that we can.

00:27:15.420 And we win the battles that we can.

00:27:17.840 But if we lose, we understand that the war is already won in Christ.

00:27:22.020 So there is hope.

00:27:23.260 There is no reason to despair.

00:27:24.740 All we have to do is trust and obey.

00:27:26.800 And trust me, I understand that is easier said than done, especially as a mom.

00:27:32.180 And for those of you who are moms and dads out there who are worried about the future

00:27:36.120 generations and what it's going to look like and raising your kids in a potentially socialist

00:27:39.940 country, I know, I know, I've talked about this a million times, I know, but we have

00:27:44.740 to trust that the Lord put us on this moment, on the span of eternity for a reason, and that

00:27:50.820 he equips every generation with what they need.

00:27:54.180 And if you are a Christian that's in this generation, that we have a very special role,

00:27:58.640 a very significant responsibility.

00:28:00.240 And we certainly shouldn't give that up just because times are scary.

00:28:04.060 Actually, we should be even more bold in the gospel.

00:28:09.660 So that is it for today.

00:28:12.620 If you have any questions, as always, please reach out to me, follow on Instagram, Twitter,

00:28:17.380 wherever you want to follow, unless, of course, I give up Twitter.

00:28:20.480 Let me know if you think that I should give up Twitter.

00:28:22.760 What I do is I delete the Twitter app, and then I just end up using the browser for like

00:28:30.140 two weeks, which is really annoying.

00:28:31.400 And then I get the Twitter app, and then I'm on it too much.

00:28:33.660 And then I delete it, and then I consider deleting my account.

00:28:36.020 I never do.

00:28:37.220 And so, but my life and my mind is so much better when I'm not on Twitter.

00:28:41.700 This week has been a terrible, a terrible Twitter week because I've been on Fox a few

00:28:48.540 times, and whenever you're on Fox, there's always people, crazy people from, I'm not even

00:28:54.260 going to say their organization that will take what you say, post and say, I can't believe

00:28:58.440 this person said that.

00:28:59.840 And they're trying to embarrass you, and you're like, yeah, I said that because it's true.

00:29:03.660 But it's just, and then you get trolls and people saying terrible things.

00:29:07.200 Some of you know if you saw on social media. 0.99

00:29:08.940 I mean, people are crazy. 0.99

00:29:10.660 People on both sides are crazy. 1.00

00:29:11.820 But man, people are crazy, and people hate conservatives. 1.00

00:29:16.300 And I just, sometimes I just want to unplug. 0.98

00:29:20.460 And so I might do that.

00:29:21.700 So let me know what you think if I should just delete my Twitter.

00:29:24.020 I'm highly, I'm highly, highly considering it.

00:29:26.680 Oh, I have a very special guest on Friday.

00:29:29.860 I'm really excited about it.

00:29:30.960 You guys are going to be excited about it.

00:29:32.500 I'm so excited for the conversation.

00:29:34.540 I think I'm going to learn a lot.

00:29:37.580 And oh, by the way, there's always someone that says this.

00:29:40.400 This is just another thing you can understand.

00:29:42.400 This is what my mind does all day.

00:29:44.120 It doesn't actually finish a thought, and then I just go to the next thought.

00:29:46.940 Okay, that's all I have to say today.

00:29:49.080 And I will see you guys back here on Friday.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - August 28, 2019

Ep 156 ｜ God, Kids & Country

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