Ep 222 ｜ How Do I Tell Someone They’re Wrong？
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
190.9443
Summary
In this episode, Allie answers a listener's question about how to tell someone you don't "agree" with their theology. She also asks a question about praying according to God's will. Allie also talks about the power of prayer and how God responds to our prayers.
Transcript
00:00:04.480
So as promised, I am going to answer some of the questions that you guys have sent me.
00:00:09.040
And this is going to be a fun episode because you guys sent me a lot of good questions.
00:00:14.520
So I asked this on Instagram and I get a lot of you sending me the questions in a little
00:00:20.520
question box and there are literally thousands of them.
00:00:23.100
So I can't get to all of them or else this would be like a week long podcast, but I will
00:00:27.640
try to get to as many as I possibly can and make sure that all the answers that I give
00:00:32.260
are relevant to you, whether you actually ask the question or not.
00:00:35.580
So this is going to be a fun and substantive podcast episode.
00:00:39.660
Some questions, some of them just make me laugh.
00:00:43.080
And some of them are, um, some of them are very profound.
00:00:47.540
Some of them are too complicated for the time that we have today, but a lot of you ask really
00:00:53.100
good questions and this is a really good question.
00:00:55.000
How do you tell someone you don't agree with their theology?
00:00:59.100
And then she goes on to say that this person believes in the prosperity gospel.
00:01:03.060
So we did an episode on the prosperity gospel, uh, titled plans to prosper.
00:01:08.440
So a lot of you ask me, Hey, have you talked about this?
00:01:11.640
So typically you can just Google like prosperity gospel, Allie Stuckey relatable, or whatever
00:01:17.460
subjects you want to hear me talk on, and it will pop up.
00:01:20.020
It should, but this particular, I need to, I will come up.
00:01:23.560
So I'm getting a new website and I'm going to be able to categorize the podcast episodes
00:01:31.760
And I'll make sure that we can do that on YouTube too.
00:01:34.780
Uh, because a lot of you guys ask me, Hey, have you talked about this?
00:01:37.520
And we have, uh, another complaint that I've gotten.
00:01:40.100
I know I'm not answering this question right away.
00:01:41.620
Another complaint that I've gotten is that it's sometimes hard.
00:01:44.360
Like if you want to hear me talk about capital punishment, for example, and I happen to talk
00:01:48.420
about that at an end of a podcast talking about feminism, for example, the title doesn't show,
00:01:54.080
doesn't demonstrate or reflect that I talked about, uh, capital punishment at the end of
00:02:00.740
It's harder for me to even remember, but I can't necessarily change that because the
00:02:06.320
title isn't going to include every single thing that I talked about the description typically
00:02:11.600
So sometimes you can Google it, but I understand that's hard to find.
00:02:15.240
I will try to start tagging those things better, categorizing the episodes better.
00:02:19.760
So you can easily navigate and say, Hey, has Allie talked about this?
00:02:26.040
So all of that to say, I did an episode on the prosperity gospel titled plans to prosper.
00:02:31.840
If you listen to this on Apple or even on Spotify, you can type in plans to prosper question
00:02:37.360
mark, relatable Allie Stuckey, and it will, uh, it will pop up.
00:02:41.100
So this particular person is asking me, how do you tell someone that you don't agree with
00:02:46.920
This person that she is talking about believes in the prosperity gospel, prosperity gospel,
00:02:53.500
You can say, you know, by faith, I believe that God is going to give me this promotion.
00:03:04.760
That is some form of weird new age manifestation, self-empowerment gospel that doesn't align with
00:03:13.580
Anytime we are asked to ask God of something, which we are told to ask God and God commands
00:03:20.960
And we hear that the prayer of a righteous person has great power.
00:03:25.900
And when he chooses, he responds to our prayers.
00:03:30.360
Um, for example, like there's another example of this, like delight yourself in the Lord
00:03:35.260
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
00:03:36.900
The precursor to that, the understanding to all of those commands, to all of those promises
00:03:44.040
is that, uh, we are praying according to God's will and that God being sovereign is always
00:03:58.240
We can't manifest something enough or believe something enough to change what God has planned
00:04:05.700
Now we pray because God commands us to pray and graciously he has ordained prayer to be
00:04:16.340
If you've got a question about why do we pray if God is sovereign, will God in his sovereignty
00:04:20.180
ordained prayer to be a means by which we communicate with him and ask for things and a means by which
00:04:30.420
That's awesome for our relationship with God, but that does not mean as the prosperity
00:04:34.560
gospel says that we can just say, Hey, I believe I'm giving this promotion.
00:04:40.460
And that somehow moves the needle and makes God more likely to change his mind.
00:04:46.880
That again, that's a me-centered theology in which you are earning things.
00:04:53.240
You are, you really have the power and you are the one who is in control rather than the
00:05:00.600
And that is just not biblically correct, but people like to believe in prosperity gospel
00:05:09.140
We like to believe that God is just like this genie in a bottle.
00:05:12.340
And then if we rub it the right way that he will come out and grant us our three wishes.
00:05:16.480
We like to think that he's just along for the ride.
00:05:19.140
Like we like to think that he's just the fulfiller of our dreams to help us reach our goals that
00:05:24.140
he is just here to tell us that we're awesome and to cheerlead and to make sure that we get
00:05:27.980
the things that we want, but that is not who God is.
00:05:31.160
Uh, we don't see that kind of God throughout the Bible.
00:05:33.840
We do see a God that blesses people, even blesses people monetarily, blesses people materially,
00:05:39.740
blesses people with health and wealth and health and wealth and long life, but he doesn't
00:05:46.260
And actually he guarantees for Christians persecution.
00:05:49.340
He guarantees for Christians hardship, uh, tribulation, even sorrow and sadness, even though
00:05:54.840
there is a surpassing joy through all of those things.
00:05:58.200
And there is a, a spirit, uh, a spirit fueled perseverance through all of those things.
00:06:03.640
We are actually promised trials and tribulations.
00:06:12.560
We're promised, uh, the presence and the guarantee of our inheritance.
00:06:15.640
The Holy spirit is what the Bible says, uh, but we are not guaranteed an easy life.
00:06:26.640
Like we follow Jesus because the love of Christ compels us to follow Jesus.
00:06:31.000
Uh, we love because he first loved us while we were still sinners.
00:06:36.040
We follow him because, uh, his love, his sacrifice compels us to do so because he is worthy of
00:06:42.000
our following, uh, no matter what we get or what we don't get.
00:06:45.840
What is so important to remember when people tell you, um, the, the benefits of the prosperity
00:06:51.500
gospel, that even if we had nothing in this life, even if we had no monetary blessing,
00:07:02.220
We didn't have any kind of, uh, material blessing to speak of what God did through Christ on the
00:07:17.300
Like in that act by sending his only son to die for us, that we might be reconciled to
00:07:25.680
That alone is far more than we ever deserved, far more than we ever deserved.
00:07:35.320
I don't think it's bad to even pray, uh, for certain things in a, in accordance to his
00:07:42.300
Now, I do think that if your prayers are filled with a personal promotion and a personal
00:07:48.740
accumulation of wealth, that there is probably a posturing there in your heart that needs
00:07:54.300
to be checked and that you need to, you know, be in the word and pray for wisdom and pray
00:08:00.080
for the, the power and the ability and God's mercy to be able to repent from that.
00:08:04.560
And to make sure that all of us, whether you say that you ascribe to the prosperity gospel
00:08:08.980
or not, to make sure that all of us are following God for who he is, because he is worth that
00:08:13.460
following and not for the things that we think that we deserve, uh, the gifts that we think
00:08:19.100
that we deserve and the stuff that he can give us.
00:08:31.840
He desires our following and he does not, uh, he does not promise health and wealth, name
00:08:38.680
it and claim it type things that the prosperity gospel says, uh, says that he promises.
00:08:44.120
So for this person who asked me, how do you tell someone who, uh, that you don't agree
00:08:50.100
with their theology, specifically the prosperity gospel?
00:08:53.100
I think that you just say a lot of what I just said, that you stand on the truth of God's
00:08:59.260
word without apologizing and that you always, you are going to be, uh, in a safe place.
00:09:06.040
Like you are going to be in good territory when your theology is centered on the glory
00:09:15.820
When your theology is centered on how God can most be glorified rather than how you can most
00:09:21.680
be glorified, like you are going to be heading in the right direction, no matter what theological
00:09:28.360
And so as you think through this, uh, how your theology most glorifies God, I think that
00:09:34.780
you'll be able to learn how to have a conversation with your friend.
00:09:38.620
I don't know who your friend is and I don't know how she communicates and like what the
00:09:43.060
best context is for you to have this conversation, but stand on the truth, stand on God's glory.
00:09:56.840
Don't apologize for the things that Jesus says.
00:10:03.140
Uh, that means that there are, uh, certain ways and maybe a certain context in which we
00:10:08.500
say certain things that are true about the Bible.
00:10:11.080
But if you want to have a heart to heart with your friend and just lay it all out there so
00:10:14.800
that you can say, you know, uh, I, I did everything I can and only the Holy Spirit can change
00:10:21.360
hearts, only God can plant the seed and give growth to the faith in her heart.
00:10:27.420
All you can do is be a faithful steward of the truth, not be apologetic for it, not make
00:10:38.140
That is the only reason you're telling her the truth.
00:10:40.200
Because if you didn't love her, then you wouldn't.
00:10:43.900
And I love the desire for, I pray that all of us have that same desire to speak the truth
00:10:50.580
Another question I got, is it okay to prep slash store food for times like this coronavirus?
00:10:57.760
If you read, uh, Proverbs 31, the Proverbs 31 woman and, uh, who she was and what she
00:11:03.720
did on a day-to-day basis, one of the verses says that she laughs at the time to come.
00:11:14.200
But I think that we should use whatever resources we can to protect ourselves, to protect our
00:11:21.340
Understanding that God is still on his throne, that God is still sovereign, that his will
00:11:25.400
is going to be done, whether we are completely protected from the sickness or not.
00:11:31.100
And so we understand that we're not ultimately in control.
00:11:36.620
We still should go about our day-to-day lives in being obedient to him and thanking him
00:11:42.100
for all the good things that he has done and thanking him for whatever provision he has
00:11:47.080
But I absolutely, we went to the grocery store and made sure that we had frozen food
00:11:51.460
and canned food and an extra water and things like that.
00:11:54.480
I don't think there's anything wrong with that at all.
00:11:56.420
I have to remember as a natural worrier, as someone who likes to be in control, that I
00:12:02.780
don't have ultimate control and that there is only so much that I can do.
00:12:07.500
Like I want to guarantee that I can protect my family.
00:12:12.620
And I have to be okay with that, that I serve a sovereign God who is good, who is on her
00:12:18.740
I almost said her, who is on his throne and knows what's best and is foresaw this and
00:12:28.680
is not surprised by this, is not thrown off by this.
00:12:31.240
By the way, we also did an episode on the idea that God is a woman and how ridiculous
00:12:35.820
and stupid that is and why God is, why he is depicted as father, as king and Jesus is
00:12:43.020
prince of peace and Lord of lords and all of those masculine sounding names.
00:12:50.700
God is a woman question mark, maybe, but you can go back and listen to that.
00:12:53.800
So anyway, no, I don't think that it's wrong to prep or store food for this time.
00:13:03.740
So someone said the let dairy die movement and why are they cray cray?
00:13:11.940
I think you can totally be a vegan and be a Christian.
00:13:14.820
I don't, I don't think there's anything wrong with being a vegan.
00:13:17.600
The difference between just being a vegan and being these let dairy die people.
00:13:22.580
So the let dairy die people, they, uh, tried to, uh, they tried to interrupt a Bernie Sanders
00:13:29.080
rally a few weeks ago after Joe Biden had a good night on super Tuesday last week.
00:13:34.680
They, uh, they tried to go across stage with their signs.
00:13:43.260
If you are trying to build some kind of movement that says, you know, we need to stop eating,
00:13:48.340
we need to stop eating dairy or stop eating meat or whatever, because we care about the
00:13:51.820
animals because some people believe that the dairy industry is corrupt.
00:13:54.940
And I'm sure there are some dairy manufacturers that do really bad things, but that's not true
00:14:01.460
But I guess if you believe that killing animals for food period is bad thing, you probably think
00:14:05.940
all dairy farms are bad, but, uh, this just does a huge disservice to that.
00:14:10.260
Like, I think that people can be vegan and that's totally fine.
00:14:13.600
Whether it's for health reasons, whether it's for compassion for animals, you just, whatever
00:14:22.400
It's when it becomes militant, not just like this, but people who say that you can't be
00:14:26.980
pro-life and not be vegan, that you can't be a good person, that it's hypocritical of
00:14:33.540
you to say that you're a Christian or pro-life or whatever and not be a vegan.
00:14:41.080
If you're a Christian from a biblical perspective, human beings are unique.
00:14:49.940
We uniquely are in need of a savior, in need of salvation.
00:14:53.640
We are uniquely involved in God's amazing redemption plan in a way that animals, that
00:15:01.260
And so human beings, because of that, because we're made in the image of God, we have a precedence.
00:15:07.420
We have a far more, an inexplicably higher significance than any other species does.
00:15:17.720
That's just the way it is from a Christian perspective, from a biblical perspective.
00:15:21.540
Our significance as human beings is not based on capacity.
00:15:34.700
That is part of why we are pro-life from the womb to the tomb.
00:15:39.480
Now, I could get into a whole other conversation about capital punishment, which I have always,
00:15:44.080
I've also talked about on this podcast before, why there is a biblical case for believing in
00:15:49.560
And that does not make you a hypocrite for believing that murderous criminals should be
00:15:55.780
executed, but babies in the womb should not be executed.
00:16:00.740
Maybe I'll get into that later in the podcast, but of course, so all of that said, no, it's
00:16:06.900
not hypocritical to not be vegan, to believe that it's okay to kill any animals and to be
00:16:12.160
pro-life, to be anti-abortion because human beings are not animals.
00:16:17.480
They're inherently more significant than animals.
00:16:22.700
Well, yes, we were created as stewards of creation.
00:16:30.800
We can try to kill animals for meat as compassionately as possible, but it is not a requirement for
00:16:38.240
you to be a moral person, for you to be a biblical Christian, for you to be pro-life, to be a vegan.
00:16:44.880
I've talked about that a few times, but I just want to reiterate.
00:16:48.400
How do we explain to someone that biblically grandparents can't watch over us from heaven?
00:16:51.960
So I don't know that necessarily biblically that people in heaven can't see us or can't
00:17:03.260
I'm not sure if there is a biblical support for saying that people who are in heaven don't
00:17:08.940
I definitely want to hear it, but there is a lot of bad theology that comes out when tragedies
00:17:18.160
I never take that opportunity right then to correct people's theology when they are
00:17:24.100
talking about their child that they lost becoming an angel or visiting them or things like that.
00:17:29.420
Like, I'm not going to take that time to say, hey, that's not true.
00:17:37.220
And I'll try to comfort them with all the truth of the gospel that I possibly can.
00:17:41.160
And I will pray for them, but I'm not going to take that opportunity to reprimand them or
00:17:45.880
chastise them the same thing if someone lost a grandparent there.
00:17:51.740
I think it's hard to speak the truth in love by saying, hey, you're wrong theologically.
00:18:03.060
Now, it is true that we do not become angels when we die, that we don't become a guardian
00:18:08.240
angel, that we don't intercede, like the dead doesn't intercede for people who are alive.
00:18:15.860
We don't like dead people don't have like acts of power on our behalf or they don't do anything
00:18:25.240
I don't think that they I don't think it's possible for them to like leave little signs
00:18:34.120
It's also very practical that really the reality is so much better that we don't need
00:18:43.020
We don't need the dead to be here with us because Jesus Christ has interceded for us
00:18:46.980
and the Holy Spirit is here with us and is alive within us, all of us who are Christians.
00:18:53.220
And that's so much better than a fallible human being, you know, being in our stead or doing
00:19:01.740
Unfortunately, that is just superstition that ends up disappointing people, ends up disappointing
00:19:06.560
people and burdening people beyond how they should be burdened because they're always looking
00:19:12.720
They're always afraid that they're disappointing that grandparent or whoever has died or that
00:19:19.180
And it just leads to all of these superstitious thoughts and superstitious behaviors that I think
00:19:23.940
ends up in fear and insecurity rather than in comfort and in strength.
00:19:28.880
But the reality is, is that we have an ever living God who as Christians is here with
00:19:34.340
us, who heals our broken heart, who binds our wounds.
00:19:38.400
The people who have died, who have gone to heaven, they can't do that for us, but our living
00:19:45.880
We have a Savior, the Bible says, that sympathizes with our weaknesses, who in every way has been
00:19:59.040
Jesus says that he is our helper, that he is with us, that he comforts us, that he reveals
00:20:05.360
to us truth that is found in God's word, that he gives us wisdom.
00:20:09.640
So we have something so much better than the idea of our grandparents that we love becoming
00:20:19.940
I'm just not sure about that, but this idea of the dead becoming these agents in our life
00:20:28.100
And like I said, ends up leading more to hurt than to comfort.
00:20:35.640
Like we have a God of peace already who is infinite and who is so much better than any
00:20:39.980
of our kind of superstitious ideas that we can contrive can.
00:20:46.520
Someone else asks, are you Baptist or Presbyterian?
00:20:53.060
I did go to a Presbyterian church for a little bit in college and I really liked it.
00:20:58.140
And there's a little bit more formality, a little bit more ritual and routine at Presbyterian
00:21:03.160
They obviously are pedo-baptists and for the most part, they believe in infant baptism.
00:21:13.580
There is the idea in pedo-baptism that it is like the new covenant in the way that the
00:21:18.420
Old Testament, the old covenant was circumcision that set Israel apart.
00:21:24.160
It was a lot of pedo-baptists believe that that means infant baptism advocates.
00:21:29.960
They believe that the new covenant is represented by infant baptism.
00:21:35.620
I just don't see that represented in the New Testament.
00:21:39.420
Belief always precedes baptism in the New Testament.
00:21:44.320
Now, there are instances, for example, of the centurion who believed and he was baptized
00:21:52.100
But again, that doesn't say that his entire household didn't believe.
00:21:58.280
There are a lot of people that I love, that I respect, that I follow, that are theologically
00:22:03.340
solid, that I learn so much from, that know so much more than I do, that are pedo-baptists,
00:22:14.820
I've actually talked to some of you about that disagreement before, and I'm happy to talk
00:22:37.920
So two questions right in a row on Harry Potter.
00:22:44.000
I had friends who read Harry Potter, but my parents didn't let me.
00:22:50.940
But now recently, he's kind of like not as, he used to defend it a lot.
00:22:56.940
Like whenever I would say Chronicles of Narnia are so much better than Harry Potter, which
00:23:00.480
they just are, even though I've never actually read Harry Potter.
00:23:08.640
Um, now I just, so I don't know enough about Harry Potter to be able to like give you a
00:23:15.960
I know there's magic involved, but I wouldn't say that would be the sole reason, maybe because
00:23:22.320
it's witchcraft that people see, but there's witchcraft technically like in the Chronicles
00:23:29.860
And I would highly recommend you reading the Chronicles of Narnia to your kids.
00:23:37.940
Even though I disagree with him on some things theologically, uh, I love Chronicles of Narnia.
00:23:44.480
I think fiction is wildly important for not just, uh, children.
00:23:49.820
I actually think it's important through no matter how old you are, but fiction is so good
00:23:58.140
It's so good for, uh, becoming, uh, better thinkers, more critical thinkers for becoming
00:24:04.480
better writers, becoming better readers, having just a better, um, uh, a better understanding
00:24:14.820
And if you cut out everything that is imaginative or everything that is make-believe, well, then
00:24:20.440
you don't have anything fun to read to your kids.
00:24:25.540
Like I said, I wasn't allowed to read that growing up, but I don't think we're going to
00:24:30.320
However, um, I don't think that we can draw the line and say everything that is make-believe
00:24:36.440
or involves a witch of any kind, like Chronicles of Narnia or Lord of the Rings.
00:24:41.420
I know they don't have a witch, but, um, should be cut out.
00:24:44.620
I, I, I don't think, I don't think I'm on board with that.
00:24:47.720
Um, difference in Protestants and Evangelicals.
00:24:57.840
There always has been a lot of different religions.
00:25:19.520
So if you don't like gross stories, then you might just want to fast forward.
00:25:26.160
So if you don't want to hear that, then you should probably just fast forward.
00:25:29.260
So when I was like 15, I was on a date with someone in high school, way too young to be
00:25:35.320
dating, by the way, of course I didn't think that then.
00:25:37.720
And I would have pitched a huge fit if my parents hadn't let me go out on dates when I
00:25:43.080
So I'm already trying to figure out how we're going to prevent our kids from doing that
00:25:48.080
My parents are laughing, listening to this, but I went on a date when I was 15.
00:25:54.340
It was probably like one of my first dates ever.
00:25:57.040
And I, we went to a restaurant and then we went back to his house, you know, his parents'
00:26:07.320
And I knew I didn't feel good, but I was on a date.
00:26:10.380
So like I was 15 years old, nervous, all that stuff.
00:26:13.940
I didn't want to ask him to go home before my curfew, which was like 1030 or something
00:26:18.160
And so I was just like, Oh, I do not feel good.
00:26:21.260
This is what I'm thinking in my head, but I'm not going to tell him.
00:26:37.060
I threw up all over his parents' front porch and in their entryway and in their bathroom.
00:26:44.920
I might even be getting red thinking about this.
00:26:51.640
We actually ended up dating for a few months, which is amazing.
00:27:02.360
I'm sure I've had super embarrassing moments since then too.
00:27:05.800
I can't remember, but that just sticks out in my mind.
00:27:09.080
It's one of the most embarrassing things that has ever happened to me.
00:27:17.400
Charlie Kirk is a great example of someone who didn't go to college and has become wildly
00:27:21.920
You don't have to go to college for everything.
00:27:23.420
And I think that's increasingly true that you don't have to, college isn't necessary
00:27:42.300
That is a difficult thing to do, especially depending, you know, like on who you are.
00:27:47.060
If you are someone who really desires to be married, some people just don't.
00:27:52.060
But I would say surround yourself with good friends, surround yourself, try to surround
00:27:56.940
yourself with people who are in your same life stage.
00:27:59.620
I know it can be hard when you feel like all your friends are getting picked off, like
00:28:02.720
all of your friends are getting engaged and getting married and having babies and you
00:28:07.620
It's totally normal to feel like you're missing out.
00:28:10.020
But the reality is, is that the Bible says that singleness is a gift and can be a gift
00:28:13.780
because you have, you don't have the distractions that married people do and, uh, that people
00:28:19.300
with kids do, and I know you might be thinking, but I want those distractions, but the Bible
00:28:26.840
And if you do get married and have kids, you will be married and have kids far longer than
00:28:31.340
So you can take advantage of this time to build friendships, to do acts of service, to
00:28:36.020
spend time in the word, uh, and do things that you just wouldn't have the ability and
00:28:40.980
the freedom to do if you were married or if you had kids and ask God for contentment
00:28:47.220
There are going to be days when you do feel peace.
00:28:51.700
And there are going to be days when you feel anxious and you feel really sad about it.
00:28:54.780
And that's normal, but Christ is with you and he is steadfast even when we are not.
00:29:03.320
A lot of you guys, a lot of you guys asked me about birth control and I have talked about
00:29:09.720
Um, and I don't remember which podcast episode, I think it was probably another Q and a, but,
00:29:17.280
uh, so I think the heart behind it is what I am most concerned with.
00:29:23.060
Now there are birth control pills and I just don't know enough about every single birth
00:29:29.160
There are birth control pills that make the uterus basically inhospitable for a baby to
00:29:38.540
So it depends on if you think conception starts at fertilization when the sperm meets the egg
00:29:42.920
or implantation when the fertilized egg actually implants itself into the uterine wall.
00:29:49.360
So there are birth control pills that even if you have a fertilized egg makes the uterus
00:29:56.200
So it can't implant itself into the uterine wall, but the egg is fertilized.
00:30:03.980
That's what happens with it with an IUD as well.
00:30:09.920
It doesn't always prevent, I don't think, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, someone on this,
00:30:13.960
it doesn't always prevent the egg from being fertilized, but it does prevent it from actually
00:30:20.360
Now there are some people that that doesn't work.
00:30:26.840
And if you get pregnant with an IUD, that can be big trouble, which is another reason
00:30:32.820
But so it depends on your stance on when conception or when life actually starts.
00:30:41.580
And that also affects your view of something like plan B as well.
00:30:45.320
Um, I think that the mentality behind things matter.
00:30:50.120
So I've heard, uh, John Piper talk about this before that there might be a period of time
00:30:56.400
in a marriage in which it may be appropriate not to have children and his reasoning, which
00:31:02.380
I generally agree with his reasoning for that is if you are doing that for the sake of ministry.
00:31:08.520
So for the focus of ministry, if there, um, is a period of time in which you need to focus
00:31:14.400
all of your energies and efforts onto a particular mission.
00:31:17.760
Now people have babies all the time in the midst of mission and it's great and it's beautiful
00:31:21.860
and it's a blessing, but that is his one time that he says, you know, that's when you,
00:31:28.760
um, you know, when there might be a biblical basis for not having kids for the reasons of travel,
00:31:36.060
for the reasons of just personal enjoyment, for the reasons of personal freedom and convenience,
00:31:41.700
those are not biblical reasons not to have kids.
00:31:44.980
Now for my husband and me, we didn't have kids for the first three years and we were
00:32:01.360
And so we just weren't in a place of really thinking about that.
00:32:04.660
And then when we became stable in our jobs and financially and all of that, we did, we
00:32:11.120
Uh, I can't tell you, I can't defend necessarily that that was the right thing to do, that that
00:32:18.480
And now looking back, I wonder if I had a faulty, if we had a faulty mentality of this kind of
00:32:24.040
worldly thought about kids, that kids are a burden, that kids are a hindrance, that kids
00:32:28.160
inhibit you from doing the things that you want to do.
00:32:30.580
I do not think that's a godly or a biblical mentality of kids.
00:32:34.520
I think that there can, there is flexibility and there is space for wisdom to be exercised
00:32:40.860
when it comes to certain situations in which bringing a child into it wouldn't be the most,
00:32:49.280
So sure, I'm definitely willing to have that conversation and hear about some of those
00:32:54.260
circumstances, but in general, if we are viewing kids as a burden and as a hindrance, it is
00:32:59.560
something that we just think are icky or that, oh, we're not going to be able to go to Europe
00:33:04.940
I don't see the basis for that and the support for that in the Bible.
00:33:10.100
And yes, there are other problems with birth control, uh, hormonally, just what it does
00:33:16.520
I was on birth control for acne, uh, at one point.
00:33:22.760
I wasn't using it to actually control conception when I was in high school and college, trust
00:33:27.680
me, but I was using it because a lot of people were like a lot of young women were just on
00:33:31.560
it to regulate themselves for acne, whatever it was.
00:33:37.160
My skin was not good when I was in college, they were constantly changing.
00:33:44.280
It's not, I don't think it's good for most women.
00:33:47.180
Now, maybe some women with PCOS, maybe it's helped you, but it just doesn't seem to be,
00:33:53.520
uh, it doesn't seem to be usually very healthy and how God, uh, intended things.
00:33:59.620
I can't go into every single form of birth control and say, this is good.
00:34:08.720
I think that in general, the heart behind birth control and why you as a married person
00:34:15.240
are not having kids, uh, is the most important thing.
00:34:19.760
There are so many, so many good questions to have.
00:34:23.820
I saw a really funny one and I can't find it anymore.
00:34:27.880
Someone asked me whether I would rather have Miley Cyrus or I think it was Ilhan Omar as
00:34:48.080
I don't think that I can, I don't even know if it was Miley Cyrus or someone.
00:34:53.280
I can't trust either of them for very different reasons.
00:34:58.460
If you follow me on Instagram, sometimes I do like Q and a on Instagram and I give y'all
00:35:02.520
a good, would you rather I'll have to do that one episode.
00:35:05.760
I'll have to come up with a really good, would you rather?
00:35:09.520
I'm really good at coming up with absurd, ridiculous, would you rather?
00:35:13.900
God just gave me, God just gave me a, um, a gift and that's when he was making me, he
00:35:21.120
was like, this is just one thing I'm going to be able to put in your brain.
00:35:25.920
I'm really good at like stupid things that don't contribute anything good to society.
00:35:32.480
Hopefully I'm good at some other things too, but I'm also good at like really ridiculous
00:35:38.820
So if we ever all relatable listeners, if we all get together and have a Mad Libs party,