Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 21 ｜ Puttin' Up with Putin

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to the podcast. It's Ali with CRTV's Relatable. So a bunch of you guys have

00:00:06.460 been asking me to break down what's really going on with Trump and his relationship with Russian

00:00:11.660 President Putin. So I'm going to do my best to explain everything that's going on in a really

00:00:17.440 simple way and also to give my take on it. We did a topical podcast on the unbiblical nature

00:00:23.280 of the modern self-love movement earlier this week. And so today we're going to cover some news.

00:00:29.060 As you guys know, I like to keep you all well-rounded in this information and the information

00:00:33.920 that you take in on this podcast. Okay. After we covered Trump-Putin, I'm going to answer two

00:00:39.000 questions that I received from listeners on Instagram. One regarding predestination and

00:00:44.160 evangelism, and then one regarding Ariana Grande's new song, God is a Woman. Let me issue a word of

00:00:54.200 warning to diehard Trump supporters who are listening to this right now. I love you, but

00:01:00.000 we're probably going to disagree if you liked how President Trump handled the conversation or seems

00:01:07.580 to have handled the conversation with Putin and the subsequent press conference. As you guys know,

00:01:13.800 I voted for Trump, but I am always willing and ready to call him out when needed. And in my opinion,

00:01:20.660 this is one of those times. So everyone just take a deep breath, know that we can still love each

00:01:24.580 other and be friends, even if we happen to disagree on this. So after NATO, Trump met with President

00:01:30.520 Putin in Helsinki, where they reportedly discussed a whole host of things. Then they held a press

00:01:35.840 conference. And that is the point at which stuff hit the fan, if you want to say that. People were most

00:01:43.540 upset about President Trump saying that he and Putin had discussed the whole Russian meddling thing.

00:01:48.960 Um, Putin denied it and Trump believes him. Apparently, uh, Trump said, I don't see any

00:01:55.060 reason why Russia would have meddled in the election. All right. Uh, he also said, I have

00:02:01.540 great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin, uh, was extremely

00:02:07.180 strong and powerful in his denial today. Okay. Uh, so let's back up just a little bit. Let's get

00:02:14.160 some context. Um, our intelligence agencies have confirmed to us that Russia did in fact

00:02:19.500 meddle in our election. Uh, that's really not up for debate on either side of the aisle. Uh,

00:02:23.740 Bob Mueller indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers last week for their part in election

00:02:29.540 tampering. And in that indictment is detailed how Russian intelligence hacked the Democratic

00:02:34.760 Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic National Committee, um, at least partly in an

00:02:40.160 effort to stop Hillary Clinton from getting elected. So that's not just some leftist theory

00:02:46.000 to delegitimize president Trump. That is as far as we can tell a proven fact by special counsel,

00:02:52.420 Bob Mueller and his team, uh, they attempted to interfere in the election through hacking the

00:02:57.040 DNC server and leaking harmful information. All of that we know. So for Trump to say that he believes

00:03:04.680 Putin that Russia did not hack our election, uh, is for Trump to say that he does not believe in his

00:03:11.040 own intelligence community. He doesn't believe in the people under his own authority. Uh, he got a ton

00:03:16.800 of backlash for this. I think rightfully so, which is probably why he kind of has tried to now cover his

00:03:23.520 tracks by saying, Oh, you know, I have a ton of faith in the intelligence community, but I also have

00:03:30.280 faith in Putin. Uh, the reason why Trump is so soft, at least rhetorically on Putin regarding, uh, the

00:03:36.860 Russians hacking the election is because Trump feels that if he acknowledges that the Russians are guilty

00:03:42.720 in this, then his whole presidency is discredited. Uh, he doesn't want to admit that because he doesn't

00:03:48.720 want to admit or give any credence whatsoever to this idea that he didn't win fair and square. Uh, but

00:03:55.040 what Trump needs to realize and what some Trump supporters need to realize is that in recognizing

00:04:01.460 what the intelligence community has proven that Russia did in fact hack the election in an attempt

00:04:06.180 to at least in part, uh, hurt Hillary Clinton, uh, that he is not actually supporting the theories

00:04:12.280 that are propagated on the left by those who wish to delegitimize him. Uh, those theories being that

00:04:17.880 a, he didn't actually legitimately win the presidency. And the second theory is B, uh, that he actually

00:04:24.180 colluded with the Russians to win the presidency. Neither of those things have actually been proven.

00:04:29.040 So we know that Russia hacked, but we have no idea if they were successful in influencing voters to

00:04:34.440 actually vote for Trump. We probably won't ever know that. And just a side note, I mean, Russia didn't

00:04:39.860 do that great of a job of helping Trump win because he didn't even win the popular vote. So if they did,

00:04:46.360 uh, if they were actually trying to get Trump to win, they might need to up their strategies just a

00:04:51.860 little bit. Um, and it also has not been proven that Trump's campaign in any way colluded with

00:04:56.720 Russia. All we know is that Russia hacked probably to hurt Hillary Clinton. We don't know if they were

00:05:01.520 successful and we don't know, uh, that Trump was in on it. And it's likely almost a hundred percent

00:05:06.640 sure guaranteed that Trump's campaign was not involved in any way, considering it has been

00:05:11.900 months and months of investigating into that matter and no proof of collusion has been presented.

00:05:17.020 Um, so Trump could have been tough on Putin. He, uh, could have said, look, I stand by my

00:05:25.340 intelligence community and whether Putin admits it or not, his officers are responsible for hacking

00:05:31.300 our election and they need to know that we're not going to tolerate that. Uh, Putin is an evil 0.98

00:05:36.080 dictator who kills political dissidents. I think that he would have respected a little bit of toughness 0.99

00:05:41.320 coming from Trump, the president of the United States. Russia is not some great global superpower

00:05:46.280 that demands our respect. We could take out Russia in a second if we actually needed to. 0.96

00:05:50.840 Now I'm not saying that we want to purposely aggravate them, but Russia is not our friend. 0.99

00:05:55.400 They are not our ally. They do not care about democracy. They don't have shared values and they

00:06:00.760 actually see democracy as a threat as all dictatorships do, which is why their goal is to

00:06:06.680 meddle in our democracy and cause chaos in America, the leader of the free world, which they have been 0.76

00:06:12.420 successful at doing very successful. Um, and it would be important to know that it's not just

00:06:18.460 Trump that is playing into Russian's hands right now, but also Democrats who have been running around 0.55

00:06:24.200 like chickens with their heads cut off, screaming that the sky is falling for two years, accusing Trump

00:06:29.040 of collusion. So Russia is at least in some ways in America winning. They just are. Um, now to be fair,

00:06:36.040 Trump has been harsher on Russia when it comes to action than Obama was his entire presidency.

00:06:42.140 Okay. I think we can agree on that. He has slapped lots of sanctions on Russia. He has upheld some

00:06:47.660 sanctions. He has expelled Russian diplomats. Uh, so in his administration's policy, he has been tough.

00:06:53.360 This is good, but there is no reason in my humble opinion to kowtow in rhetoric to an evil dictator

00:07:00.820 whose power compared to ours is minimal. Okay. Especially when you are so critical of our

00:07:07.020 allies. I am okay with Trump being critical of our allies to a degree, like when they're not living

00:07:12.720 up to their ends of the deals, but I am not okay with Trump being more critical of our allies than

00:07:18.000 he is of our enemies. Russia is an enemy that is not putting America first. Like Trump has promised 0.56

00:07:24.740 so many times to do. And here's, here's the thing. The only reason to me, Trump is at least in word

00:07:31.780 soft on Putin and Russia is a matter of ego. That's really it. I know other commentators have said this

00:07:37.460 as well. And I completely agree. He doesn't really at the end of the day, see himself as a part of a

00:07:43.420 team or as a representative, uh, of anything except for himself. And thank God, thank God that he has

00:07:49.640 surrounded himself with a pretty incredible administration that has been able to get things done that

00:07:53.600 conservatives want done like tax cuts, uh, getting rid of the Obamacare mandate, moving Israel's 1.00

00:07:59.260 capital to Jerusalem, defeating ISIS. All of these are great things. I support the steps that president

00:08:05.200 Trump has made to perpetuate liberty and push forward the conservative agenda, whether he is

00:08:10.340 directly doing it or whether it's his administration. I don't really care. I support America first.

00:08:15.200 I support American exceptionalism, exceptionalism and American greatness, uh, the patriotism that I think

00:08:21.380 that he has promoted during his presidency. That's my favorite thing about him, but acting this way

00:08:26.400 with Russia, like I said, is not America first. He's gotten a lot of similar criticism in the past

00:08:31.780 few days, which is probably why he is now walking back some of his comments. Uh, he actually just said,

00:08:37.340 Oh, I misspoke. I didn't mean to say, I don't see any reason why it would be Russia. I meant to say, 0.69

00:08:43.540 I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be Russia. He actually said that. I mean, come on,

00:08:48.680 come on. No, this is just another example of ego. Instead of apologizing, instead of

00:08:54.540 outright correcting himself, he makes up what I believe is a lie. Uh, that correction doesn't

00:09:00.100 even make sense in the context of everything else he said. He's also said since the press

00:09:04.580 conference, how strong Putin is. Why, why, why, why do you need to compliment a dictator?

00:09:10.820 He is trying to play both sides because he wants to be liked by both sides. Donald Trump

00:09:16.480 wants to be liked by everyone. Because like I said, whether you like him or not,

00:09:21.360 it's okay to admit this. Donald Trump is arrogant. He acted the same way towards Kim Jong-un, 1.00

00:09:26.200 another evil dictator. We could nuke off the face of the planet if we wanted to, 0.99

00:09:30.460 whom we have no reason to respect or pay deference to whatsoever. It is pride. He wants to be liked,

00:09:37.520 even though I voted for Donald Trump. And I'm glad that I did. That has always been my biggest

00:09:42.380 critique of him, that he is incredibly self-absorbed. And because of that, he says and

00:09:47.280 does really stupid things. And that self-absorption hinders him from being the great leader that I 1.00

00:09:53.300 think he actually could be if he humbled himself. And that's probably true of all of us. A lot of

00:09:59.420 people compare Trump to Reagan. And while I see where they're coming from, because Reagan was a bit

00:10:04.480 of a political outsider when he became governor of California and was hated by a lot of the

00:10:08.860 establishment, Donald Trump will never be Reagan, probably, because he doesn't have the character

00:10:15.340 of Reagan. Reagan had wisdom. Reagan had discernment. Reagan had an ideology. He had

00:10:20.480 a core principles, a deep belief in capitalism and the free market and hatred towards big government.

00:10:27.060 Reagan had values and a purpose that was bigger than himself. And while, like I said, I like a lot of

00:10:34.480 what Donald Trump has done, and I will support him when he does things that I believe are good for the

00:10:38.680 country, I do not like the things that he says, specifically when the things that he says are

00:10:44.480 meant to appease a dictator. And listen, you don't even have to come at me with these criticisms of

00:10:52.580 Obama and Bush and their relationship with Russia, because I know I completely agree. Obama was caught 1.00

00:10:57.960 on camera in 2012, I believe, telling a Russian leader he'll have, quote, more flexibility after his

00:11:05.160 second election. Bush met with Putin and said that he looked into his eyes and saw his soul.

00:11:10.260 We have been stupid and naive with Russia in the past, and I don't think it's working out well for 1.00

00:11:14.920 us. I don't think it's going to work out well for us with President Trump. You may disagree with me, 1.00

00:11:19.600 which is fine. But one thing I think that we can both agree on here, a little bit of a different

00:11:25.160 direction, is the ridiculous reaction from people on the left about this. Absolute idiots accusing 1.00

00:11:30.700 President Trump of treason because of this. That's hilarious. I might think he was wrong 1.00

00:11:35.700 to handle Putin in this way, but treason? I mean, come on. Their hyperbole is absolutely ridiculous.

00:11:42.780 It completely undermines their case, and their case could actually be good without the ridiculous 0.98

00:11:47.440 accusations of treason. They could just say, hey, Mr. President, putting America first doesn't really

00:11:52.700 seem like it. And I would say, great point, liberals. But treason? Absolutely absurd, coming from the

00:11:58.160 people who didn't have a thing to say about Obama's milquetoast approach to Russia and his

00:12:03.680 promises of, quote, flexibility to a Russian leader. So I just I don't really understand

00:12:10.260 conservatives or Trump supporters not being able to call out President Trump on this.

00:12:15.500 Like you guys do understand that he's a president that will be here for maximum of eight years. And

00:12:22.560 after that, he's going to go away. But hopefully after he's no longer president, you will still have

00:12:27.840 your conservative principles. And if you are a conservative who believes that we should put

00:12:31.880 America first, there is no reason for us to acquiesce to a Russian leader, even rhetorically.

00:12:38.000 So I just don't understand. And I guess it's in all issues. Any person who will unconditionally

00:12:46.460 support or cheerlead for for a politician that they know is going to go away. Politicians are

00:12:54.040 temporary. Principles aren't supposed to be. So I just don't understand the people that are

00:12:59.100 unconditionally supporting him on this who are even saying, oh, maybe Russia is kind of our friend.

00:13:05.540 Maybe we should pay some respect to Putin. Why? Why? That's not a conservative position. That's not a

00:13:11.540 patriotic position. The things that people will compromise in order to support their team.

00:13:18.320 It's just really crazy. So those are all of my thoughts on that. And I know I went through that

00:13:23.840 really quickly. But in my opinion, that's basically all you need to know to get the gist of everything.

00:13:28.600 Now I want to transition to something totally different. It has nothing to do with Russia.

00:13:32.320 But there are questions that I received that you guys were hoping that I would answer. So I'm going

00:13:36.800 to take some time to answer two of them. The first question is about something I said on one of my last

00:13:42.060 podcasts when I quoted Ephesians 1, which says in verses 4 and 5, even as he chose us in him before

00:13:49.200 the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love, he predestined us

00:13:54.680 for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ. And the question that I got is, how does the idea of God

00:14:01.540 choosing and predestining us fit with the Great Commission, which is Matthew 28, 19?

00:14:07.200 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the

00:14:13.100 Son and the Holy Spirit. So this is an excellent question. And if you are asking this question,

00:14:18.520 you are in great company. It's a question that people have been asking for centuries, probably

00:14:22.680 millennia. And that question is basically this. If God chose some of us for salvation before we were

00:14:29.280 even born, before he even made the world, why do we evangelize? What's the point? And there's also

00:14:36.100 the question of, well, how is that even fair? How can people still go to hell, be separated from God

00:14:41.420 for all of eternity if God destined them to reject him? How is that just? And I don't think that we'll

00:14:47.500 have time to get into those last questions on this podcast, but we can address them on the next episode

00:14:53.080 or on a future episode if you want to. Just let me know. The short and kind of frustrating answer is

00:14:58.960 this. No one knows. I'm kind of kidding, but I'm kind of not. Humans have always wrestled with

00:15:06.040 reconciling God's complete and total power and sovereignty with free will. So the longer answer

00:15:11.900 is we know that God is all-powerful. If he is all-powerful, then he has power even over our

00:15:18.300 salvation. Job 42, 2 says no plan of God's can be thwarted. We know from that passage in Ephesians

00:15:25.140 that he chooses believers, chose us before he created the world. Romans 9 discusses at length

00:15:30.940 God's election, which is a fancy word for choosing. Paul uses the example of Jacob and Esau that before

00:15:37.280 Jacob and Esau were even born, before they had done anything, God, quote, loved Jacob, but hated Esau.

00:15:44.960 He destined Esau to serve Jacob, not because of Jacob's merit, but because, quote, God's purpose of

00:15:51.980 election might continue. He also gives the example of God hardening Pharaoh's heart. And Paul even goes

00:15:58.660 right ahead and addresses the question that all of us are thinking. He says, okay, what do we say

00:16:02.880 about all of this? What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means. For he says to

00:16:08.160 Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.

00:16:13.440 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. Then he goes on to address

00:16:20.240 more of our questions in a few verses. Paul says, you will say to me then, why does he still find

00:16:26.720 fault? For who can resist his will? Well, what does molded say to its molder? Why have you made me like

00:16:32.200 this? Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use

00:16:38.040 and another for dishonorable? So this is Paul wrestling with this question along with us. These

00:16:45.500 two seemingly conflicting concepts of God's complete power, even over human will, and the reality that

00:16:51.140 we still have to pay consequences for our sins. If you flip to Romans 10 verse, actually, I don't

00:16:59.000 have the verse written down. Sorry. How then will they, those who are not believers, call on him in whom

00:17:05.520 they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they

00:17:12.220 to hear without someone preaching? So just a chapter after saying God chooses people without any merit of

00:17:18.420 their own, Paul says we must preach to people in order that they may hear the gospel. Romans 10 also

00:17:25.440 says that we must believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord. And beyond that,

00:17:31.560 the Bible is full of people making decisions that have real consequences. God being angry at the decisions

00:17:36.780 that people make. The entire book of James is heavy on action, that faith without works is dead.

00:17:43.520 So what we know is that, like we said, A, God is in complete control and he is all powerful,

00:17:49.980 absolutely sovereign, and that B, humans have free will to make real choices that have real consequences.

00:17:56.080 That means that God gives us actual commands that we are to choose to obey. And if we don't obey them,

00:18:03.620 actual things happen. One of those commands is the Great Commission that we are called to obey. And as

00:18:10.140 Romans 9 says, not obeying the Great Commission of going out and sharing the gospel, the consequence of

00:18:16.740 that will be that people will not hear. And I'm going to be honest with you, that's really hard for my

00:18:22.960 tiny brain to understand. And that's why I do think that this concept takes an amount of faith to grasp.

00:18:30.860 There is something called concurrence, which means two things are existing or are true at once.

00:18:37.420 And that is how I have to settle with God's sovereignty and our human will. He is in control.

00:18:42.320 And also, we have real freedom to make choices, even if I don't totally understand that.

00:18:47.240 The bottom line is this. I have to trust that God is who he says he is, that he is good,

00:18:52.160 that he is in control. Therefore, I have to trust that his word is good and sufficient and

00:18:56.920 is not contradictory, even if my fallible mind thinks it is. So my only response is to obey.

00:19:05.180 Even though he tells me that he chose us before the beginning of the world, even though he clearly

00:19:09.140 says he predestines us, even though he says it has nothing to do with human exertion,

00:19:15.360 he still calls me to go out and share the gospel. And as a follower of Christ, at the end of the day,

00:19:19.660 that's all I need to know. Okay. God is a woman by Ariana Grande. Someone asked me if I would give

00:19:30.020 my take on it. So I will. If you haven't heard about this and don't know what I'm talking about,

00:19:35.800 God bless you. That's okay. There's really no reason why you should. But this is a new song that

00:19:40.420 Ariana Grande released a few days ago, along with a super bizarre and weird music video that I wouldn't

00:19:47.000 watch around your kids if you have kids. But everyone's raving about it, of course.

00:19:51.600 Okay. So first, the girl has an amazing voice. I've always thought that. I usually find myself

00:19:57.460 liking her songs after listening to them a few times. She is genuinely talented, in my opinion,

00:20:03.540 as she also is like most celebrities in that she is outspokenly liberal. She calls herself a feminist.

00:20:08.740 She was a Hillary supporter. I'm not even going to hold that against her because she just believes 0.99

00:20:13.500 what most celebrities mindlessly believe just because they think that's the right thing to do.

00:20:21.300 This song, God is a woman, is a metaphor, of course. It is not meant to be literal,

00:20:26.240 but it is blasphemous nonetheless. And I'm going to explain why.

00:20:29.760 So it's a metaphor for female empowerment, particularly female sexual empowerment. 1.00

00:20:34.980 There's all kinds of symbolism in the music video of Ariana being literally in the center of the universe,

00:20:42.040 sitting on top of the world, controlling a hurricane, being naked in a pool of paint that

00:20:48.060 also looks like female anatomy. Yeah, pretty creative, right? She's at times being either 1.00

00:20:53.220 yelled at by men, which are all white men, by the way, or being suckled by men. Yes, I said suckled. 0.98

00:20:59.360 And it's all about female domination and assertiveness and even, I would say, aggression. 1.00

00:21:03.500 And there's one point where she shatters this glass ceiling. There's a voiceover by Madonna

00:21:09.520 quoting Ezekiel 2517. So even though it's not literally about God being a woman, she is in this

00:21:17.740 song putting herself in a position of God, frivolously using scripture, taking it out of

00:21:23.560 context, and then applying it to female empowerment. So that's my first problem with it is that in order

00:21:30.040 to build herself up, and I guess other women up, she has to compare herself and other women 1.00

00:21:35.540 to God. Even if you're using this as a metaphor, this is number one, incredibly egotistical. Number

00:21:41.920 two, it's obviously sacrilegious, or maybe that should be number one, and also comes across to me

00:21:47.520 as overcompensating for feeling like she's talked down to or patronized as a woman. Why do you have 0.94

00:21:52.400 to compare yourself to God, depict yourself controlling the universe to demonstrate that you're

00:21:56.980 empowered or equal to men? See, this video, I think, is such a good representation of everything

00:22:03.260 that is wrong with feminism. Feminism, especially the feminism of today, doesn't seek equality with 1.00

00:22:10.400 men. It seeks domination over men, control of men, revenge towards men. The Bible first she cites 0.93

00:22:16.820 actually talks about revenge. Even though the world is telling you that that is empowering,

00:22:22.500 it's not. It has to be miserable because this whole movement, this whole attitude is fueled by

00:22:29.240 resentment. Resentment towards the proverbial patriarchy. Resentment towards the men and the

00:22:34.540 systems that have kept you down. It's actually the opposite of confidence. It's insecurity. It's

00:22:39.400 jealousy, in my opinion. Plus, this whole idea that this song represents or seeks to represent as well

00:22:45.880 as other songs and things that I've heard women say in Hollywood, that women are the same as men are

00:22:54.500 sexually. That's just not true. This is nothing new. Women have been trying to say this, to act 1.00

00:22:59.720 forever, that they can treat sex as casually as men can, that we can compartmentalize sex from the rest

00:23:04.900 of our lives, and then a girl can just hit it and quit it without any emotional repercussions. Even though 1.00

00:23:09.900 a woman might get to that point where she's had so many one-night stands that it really just doesn't 0.97

00:23:14.640 face her anymore, it's just not reality. That's just not natural for a woman, and it's never going 1.00

00:23:19.920 to be. God didn't make us that way. There's a reason why more women tend to get attached easily 1.00

00:23:26.180 than men, why they are more heartbroken and damaged long-term than men are when it comes to physical

00:23:31.540 relationships that break apart. There's nothing wrong or weak about that. It is just how we are.

00:23:37.720 It's just female nature. There is a reason why you hear a lot more about single mothers whose baby 1.00

00:23:44.000 daddy left them than you do about single dads whose baby mama left. Now, in all of that, I'm speaking

00:23:52.540 in the context of sin, of course. God's intention was never for sexual relationships to be temporary

00:23:58.080 in the first place, and therefore they weren't supposed to end in heartache. His intention was for sex

00:24:02.940 to be between a man and a woman in the covenantal bond of marriage. He knows how powerful it is. He made

00:24:08.240 it, which is why there are so many rules and parameters around sex in the Bible. It's not just

00:24:12.900 something that you do. It's supposed to be spiritual. It was never supposed to be about

00:24:17.580 who gets over it faster, who has more power, any of that. And that's the other problem with this song

00:24:24.180 is its misrepresentation of sex to be about domination rather than a relationship and love.

00:24:29.640 And of course, secular songs have been misrepresenting sex for millennia. So again,

00:24:35.020 this is nothing new. The only difference with this is that instead of a guy talking about controlling a

00:24:40.300 woman through sex, it's a woman controlling a man through sex. Obviously, biblically, both are 0.81

00:24:46.220 wrong. And even if you don't believe in a biblical worldview, you can kind of see the damaging effects

00:24:51.740 of this. Humans have this tendency to try to correct a problem by swinging the complete opposite

00:24:58.120 direction, and very rarely does that work. Usually, the solution is somewhere in between. So in this

00:25:04.420 case, the solution to male sexist manipulating women sexually shouldn't be female sexist manipulating 1.00

00:25:10.580 men through sex. It should be no manipulation, no control, no power domination, but rather love and

00:25:16.660 commitment in marriage. But the day a non-Christian pop artist starts singing about covenants and 0.93

00:25:23.260 marriage in the Song of Solomon, I will keel over. Okay. Now, one more thing just for kicks in this

00:25:32.140 little explanation. Even though the phrase God is a woman is a metaphor in this case, let's talk about

00:25:38.240 that since you've probably heard people talk about this before. The Episcopalian Book of Prayer is

00:25:43.060 apparently considering making God gender neutral in their Book of Prayer. Okay. So first of all,

00:25:49.400 we should just say that God is not like an anatomical man in the way that a human is. We see no indication

00:25:57.900 that God the Father has the physical body of man. He's obviously transcendent. We also know from

00:26:04.460 Genesis that God makes both man and woman in His image, which would mean that we both have attributes

00:26:10.280 that are reflective of God. However, in the Bible, God chooses to refer to Himself as a He, as a Father,

00:26:16.920 as a Lord, as a King. He doesn't refer to Himself as a mother, a lady, or a queen. He just doesn't.

00:26:23.820 And if we believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, which we should if we trust God is good and all

00:26:28.400 powerful, then we have to believe that God's self-referencing in Scripture is not a mistake,

00:26:33.100 that it's purposeful. Think about what we just said a few seconds ago about fathers typically

00:26:37.880 being the ones who leave if a parent leaves. Think about also how many people you know,

00:26:44.600 how many, especially girls, that you know that have, quote, daddy issues. Think about how much hurt 1.00

00:26:50.880 people go through who were either abandoned by a father or unloved by their father. Think about the

00:26:56.780 unique devastation that ensues when a father doesn't play his proper role of leader, of provider,

00:27:01.820 of protector, of supporter. Families fall apart. And while there are definitely consequences and pain

00:27:07.000 that happen when a mother doesn't do her job or when she abandons her family, you hear way fewer

00:27:11.980 stories of long-lasting hurt and devastation from motherlessness than from fatherlessness.

00:27:16.780 I say all this to say that there seems to be this unique longing in all of us to be protected and

00:27:24.000 approved of by a father in a way that differs from the comfort and the closeness that we want from a

00:27:29.420 mother. There seems to be a special need that humans have for a dad, a strong defender, a hero.

00:27:35.380 I wrote an article not too long ago about the correlation between fatherlessness and school

00:27:40.260 shootings. A disturbing number of school shooters have been fatherless. Kids who grow up without dads are far

00:27:46.180 more likely than kids without moms to struggle in school, to struggle with self-esteem, to be

00:27:50.900 depressed, be rebellious, get pregnant as a teenager, be suicidal. Dads fulfill a unique need. So I think it

00:27:58.280 is deliberate. I know it's deliberate that God has chosen to refer to himself as a father, having made us

00:28:04.740 with that desire and void that only a father's love can fill and that so many fathers on earth have

00:28:10.540 failed to fail. And listen, God is completely sufficient. So even though he chooses to call

00:28:16.000 himself a father and a king, he also has all the good characteristics that we usually ascribe to

00:28:21.100 mothers, like being nurturing, like comfort, communication, empathy, gentleness, kindness.

00:28:27.700 And sure, we can reject God as a father if we want to. We can choose to call him mother. But that,

00:28:34.560 just like every other theological error that we make, is based on our own selfishness and on the

00:28:39.260 assumption that we know better than he does and that our interpretation trumps the truth. And well,

00:28:45.720 that should never be the case. So that's that. As always, please email me if you have any feedback.

00:28:56.100 My email is allyattheconservativemillennialblog.com. If you like this podcast relatable, please feel free

00:29:03.160 to share it with your friends. And please feel free also to leave a positive review on iTunes or

00:29:10.680 wherever you listen to this podcast. You can also follow me on social media, on Facebook, on Instagram,

00:29:17.120 on Twitter, if you would like. If not, that's totally fine too. I will be back here on Tuesday.

00:29:22.460 Please send me messages or emails about what you would like me to talk about or any subjects that

00:29:26.980 have just been burning in your mind that you would like us to address on this podcast.

00:29:30.840 Okay. I hope that you guys have a great weekend.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - July 19, 2018

Ep 21 ｜ Puttin' Up with Putin

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