Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 313

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Wednesday. Hope everyone has had a wonderful week so

00:00:15.180 far. I'm going to answer some of the questions that you guys sent me on Instagram. You sent

00:00:20.540 me so many wonderful ones. And there were a lot of questions I got that I've addressed

00:00:25.240 on the podcast before, which is totally fine. I don't have any problem with that. A lot

00:00:29.540 of you who are following me on Instagram or who are listening to the podcast, you are

00:00:34.800 new and you have no idea that I've talked about some of the subjects that I have. I am working

00:00:39.760 on categorizing, it takes a long time, but I've got someone helping me now, working on

00:00:44.280 categorizing all of my podcast episodes on my website, AllieBethStuckey.com. And then

00:00:50.320 once I finish that, it's going to be a lot easier for you guys to navigate. I'll be able

00:00:54.640 to point you guys exactly to the link and you're just going to be able to go there and

00:01:01.240 to find the podcast that you're looking for. However, in the meantime, all you have to do

00:01:06.140 is scroll through and typically the titles are pretty self-explanatory or you can just

00:01:12.160 search in the podcast app. I get a lot of questions. For example, have you ever talked

00:01:15.860 about predestination? You could try typing in Relatable Predestination. There is an episode

00:01:20.320 titled Predestination. Some people ask me about women pastoring churches. There's an episode

00:01:26.640 titled Women in the Church. You can type in Relatable Women in the Church. You can even

00:01:31.700 Google that with the name Allie Stuckey and something is going to come up. The episode

00:01:36.440 will come up. You can also just scroll through. Some people ask me about my testimony, how I

00:01:43.040 got to do what I'm doing. Well, I definitely, first of all, recommend you reading my book.

00:01:47.500 You're Not Enough and That's Okay, Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love. I tell you a lot

00:01:52.480 about how I landed where I am now, what my testimony is, how the Lord saved me. And so

00:01:59.540 you can read my book for those details, but I've also talked about it on this podcast

00:02:03.700 way back when. So just scroll back. A lot of people just kind of binge listen to my podcast once

00:02:09.300 they find it. And a lot of the podcast episodes are evergreen. Like last summer when I was on

00:02:15.480 maternity leave, I pre-recorded a bunch of evergreen topics or evergreen episodes. And

00:02:21.220 I think it was like Monday I did a theological topic and Wednesday I did a political topic and

00:02:26.980 on Friday I did an interview. And so I kind of go back to the basics. I talk about, you

00:02:31.760 know, why I'm a reformed Christian and why I believe the things that I do. And I also talked

00:02:36.980 a little bit about, you know, eschatology. And then on Wednesdays I talked about how liberals

00:02:41.720 and conservatives view the Constitution and how we view things like socialism and all

00:02:46.600 of that. So you can go all the way back to last summer or even before that. You can just

00:02:50.980 binge listen to the episodes. You can put it on one and a half times or two times. Some

00:02:54.900 of you say I already talk too fast and so you can't listen on two times. I feel like I don't.

00:03:00.320 Whenever I listen to my podcast not on two times, I'm like, oh my gosh, that's so slow.

00:03:04.720 But I understand. Some of you think that I talk quickly. And so, but you can go back and

00:03:09.680 you can listen. You can listen to those and just kind of binge listen if you're wondering

00:03:14.120 if I've ever talked about something. But I will categorize those episodes for you so

00:03:18.500 you will be able to find them quickly. Okay. I'm going to try to get through as many questions

00:03:22.680 as possible. I know I usually take so long to answer just a single question. And then

00:03:27.820 I only get through like three of the questions that you guys send. And so I'm going to try to

00:03:33.240 be quick this time. Okay. Here's a question. Biblical way to deal with receiving hateful

00:03:38.740 reactions to your faith, politics, beliefs. So there's certainly a difference between

00:03:43.360 persecution and pushback. And we need to make sure that we are distinguishing between the

00:03:48.780 two. It's very easy for any type of person, but I would say Christians as well, to have

00:03:54.380 a victim complex where we think anytime someone is arguing against us or pushing back against

00:04:00.020 us that we are being persecuted, it may be a form of persecution or it may not be. It could

00:04:07.700 just be people offering a different perspective. It could be people, you know, arguing you or

00:04:12.380 debating you. And that is perfectly fine. That's not necessarily them trying to, you know,

00:04:18.360 castigate you or make you feel bad about yourself or persecute you. And so I do think it's important

00:04:23.360 to distinguish between those two. When Jesus talks about persecution, he says, you know, blessed

00:04:28.140 are those who are persecuted. But he is specifically talking about, you know, persecuted for following

00:04:33.940 him, persecuted for being a Christian, persecuted for being a disciple of Christ. And so if someone

00:04:41.080 argues with you about your politics, that doesn't necessarily mean that you're being persecuted.

00:04:46.160 Now, they could take that to great lengths to where, you know, if you're owning a business,

00:04:51.280 they could try to trash your Yelp page. They could try to ruin your life. They could try to

00:04:55.180 dox you. I would certainly say, if it's for your faith, that's certainly a form of persecution.

00:05:01.660 And I think the way that we handle that, there are times when it's good to correct the record.

00:05:06.900 If someone is slandering you, if someone is spreading a rumor about you, and it is important

00:05:13.480 for you to actually publicly correct the record about this because it's causing a lot of confusion,

00:05:18.380 then certainly you have the opportunity and perhaps the responsibility to do so. However, a lot of

00:05:25.620 times when people are trying to mischaracterize you, lie about you, criticize you online, it's just

00:05:32.520 not even worth responding to because what they're trying to do is get your attention and to make sure

00:05:38.420 that you've read the things that they're saying about you and make you feel bad. And it's just not

00:05:43.480 worth investing your time into. And so what you do is that when you get criticism, first you examine

00:05:49.700 it to see if it's true. Is it true what they're saying? Are you saying something that is false or

00:05:56.660 do you have the wrong perspective on something? If it's not true, then you just have to not worry

00:06:02.500 about it. Your job is to glorify Christ by seeking and speaking truth in a way that is loving, in a way

00:06:08.840 that is kind. There are going to be people who tone police you. No matter how you speak, no matter how

00:06:15.780 gently you speak, no matter how many people tell you, wow, you're so gracious and you speak the truth

00:06:20.180 in love, there are going to be people, mostly because they disagree with you, who come along

00:06:25.920 and say, oh, you know, your tone is off here or I really wish that you would say this differently.

00:06:31.500 I wish you would be a little bit softer or maybe a little bit more agnostic on this or be a little bit

00:06:37.520 less assured and confident in this particular area. And you've just got to ignore that. You've got to

00:06:43.080 ask God for wisdom. Ask God to humble you. I constantly ask God to humble me and show me where

00:06:48.820 I'm wrong. I don't want to be wrong. I don't want to tell a lie. I don't want to misconstrue something.

00:06:53.620 I don't want to manipulate my audience in any way. I don't want to let my bias say something that

00:06:58.420 isn't true. So I'm constantly asking God to show me where I'm wrong, to receive criticism well,

00:07:04.040 but to be able to push to the side criticism that is just not based on reality and to focus on what

00:07:09.880 he has called me to and who he says that I am. And as long as you are doing that, as long as your

00:07:17.060 eyes are on Christ, as long as your hope is in heaven, not in what people say about you, for

00:07:22.120 better or for worse, then you can remain confident. The Bible says that his mind is in perfect peace

00:07:28.000 whose mind is stayed on you, whose mind is stayed on Christ. And so keep your mind stayed on Christ.

00:07:34.860 Ask him to help you discern between true criticism that needs to be taken and it needs to be heeded

00:07:40.940 and criticism that is just unfounded. Ask him to help you discern between persecution and pushback

00:07:50.380 and how to react to those two things in a way that is glorifying to Christ. I certainly have not always

00:07:55.860 responded in a way that is glorifying to Christ, but we ask him to sanctify us and to conform us to

00:08:01.940 his image. Okay. Someone asked Tim Keller having somewhat of a critical race theory view. So a lot

00:08:09.140 of people are saying, okay, Tim Keller has gone woke because a couple of years ago, he wrote an article

00:08:14.060 about how socialism isn't objectively bad. And he certainly has, I would say, a more liberal view

00:08:20.240 on things like systemic racism and critical race theory. I would say even things like Marxism,

00:08:26.800 although I think he would explicit, he would say that he doesn't agree with Karl Marx. I think that

00:08:32.620 he does skew to the left on a lot of issues, but that's not necessarily new. Like if you read or listen

00:08:39.400 to some of the things that he said even 20 years ago, he has kind of always been in this camp. Maybe

00:08:45.520 it's coming to the surface a little bit more with so many conversations about so-called racial and social

00:08:50.580 justice, but he's always business way. I mean, the guy is, he lives in New York. He's lived in New York

00:08:56.860 for a long time that is going to have an effect on how you think and how you see the world. I will not

00:09:03.120 stop recommending certain resources from Tim Keller. When I read Reason for God, when I was a senior in

00:09:08.620 high school, it really helped me and changed my perspective on how to approach Christianity intellectually

00:09:14.860 to how to love God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength. I would say that that book,

00:09:22.260 Reason for God and C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity, had a huge effect on my faith and really spurred me on

00:09:32.660 and served as a springboard to really studying the Bible and knowing God. And so I'm so thankful for that.

00:09:39.540 Nothing that he says now can discount the help that was offered to me and has been offered to

00:09:44.840 millions of people through the book, Reason for God. Prodigal God is another great one by Tim Keller.

00:09:51.340 We just read The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness at the very beginning of Women's Book Club with

00:09:56.280 Ali Stuckey on Facebook. Every Good Endeavor is another good one. And there are a few more by Tim

00:10:02.940 Keller. Meaning of Marriage, one of the best books on marriage engagement that I have ever read.

00:10:08.300 Look, there are going to be people with whom we disagree socially, culturally, politically in

00:10:14.600 heaven. And I think Tim Keller, a lot of his work is so solid and so helpful. I just really disagree

00:10:20.800 with him on how he skews on politics. And I have a hard time understanding his perspective on a lot of

00:10:26.120 it. I've asked him to be on my podcast. It was a while ago, to no avail, which that's fine. He's a big

00:10:32.560 deal. And I don't expect everyone I asked to be on my podcast to say yes, but I would love to have a

00:10:37.560 conversation with him as someone that I respect in so many ways, but really disagree with on the

00:10:42.380 topic of social justice. Someone asks, how can we prepare for the worst case scenario Dems running

00:10:48.680 everything? So if Democrats win the presidency, if they win back the Senate, if they take over or if

00:10:56.320 they win a bunch of seats in state legislatures, I think that we are in major trouble. And the reason

00:11:04.040 is because of the things that they have promised to do if they gain power, pack the court. So that

00:11:10.080 means expanding the court to 13 seats, filling in those four extra justices with left-wing

00:11:15.280 activists, as we've talked about before, and we'll talk about more on Friday with Ted Cruz.

00:11:20.140 What it looks like when a Democrat nominates and confirms a judge or a justice, the way that they

00:11:27.840 see the Constitution, left-wing justices and judges, is this living document that can really be molded,

00:11:36.240 that is, can really be changed according to whatever the next progressive trend is. So they really

00:11:42.940 make the Constitution, make the law say whatever they want it to, according to the current progressive

00:11:50.120 dogma. And so they can try to find a so-called right in between, you know, the, in between the lines

00:12:00.460 of the Constitution in order to make it say what they want it to say. And that is why Democrats are

00:12:06.660 always pleased with the results or with, with the results of a Democratic nominated and confirmed

00:12:15.400 judge or justice. They are always in agreement with them because left-leaning judges and justices

00:12:22.360 always align with the latest Democratic dogma. Whereas conservative judges and justices, how they

00:12:28.460 see the text is very different. So you've probably heard the term constitutionalist or textualist or

00:12:33.240 originalist. And so they interpret the law according to how the law was originally intended and what the

00:12:40.480 law actually says. And because we are looking at an objective source, the Constitution, the law,

00:12:47.080 there is going to be a difference in opinion. So conservatives are very consistently disappointed

00:12:53.340 by how Republican nominated or Republican confirmed judges and justices rule because we disagree

00:13:02.520 on the interpretation of the objective text that happens very often. And so what would happen if they

00:13:10.320 packed the court, which Joe Biden refuses and Kamala Harris, they refuse to say whether or not they

00:13:16.080 would do that. Democrats in Congress have promised that they would do that. So that means that they,

00:13:21.540 that, that they would, obviously. The reason why Joe Biden isn't saying that is because

00:13:25.640 he is trying very hard to get moderates. He's trying very hard to get Trump defectors. He's trying

00:13:31.840 very hard to get people in the middle of the country. He knows that trying to expand the court is

00:13:36.360 radical. Ruth Bader Ginsburg even said that that's a terrible idea. It was a terrible

00:13:40.220 idea when FDR tried to do it. It's a terrible idea now. So that's why he won't say that they are going

00:13:46.060 to do that if they gain power, but they will. They'll fill in those four left-wing justices and

00:13:51.200 it will not matter what the Constitution says. It will not matter. It will not matter what the First

00:13:56.300 Amendment says about religious liberty. It will not matter what the First Amendment says about free

00:14:00.660 speech. It will not matter what the Second Amendment says about your right to bear arms.

00:14:04.820 They will interpret the law according to current democratic dogma to mean whatever the heck

00:14:10.120 they want it to mean. So everything is on the line if Democrats take power and they decide to do that

00:14:16.740 one thing that they have promised to do. School choice will be on the line. Homeschool will be on

00:14:21.120 the line. Parental rights will be on the line. Free speech will be on the line. Your pastor's ability

00:14:28.140 to preach the things that he wants to preach will be on the line. Religious liberty in general will be on

00:14:33.380 the line. Your right to own and carry a gun will be on the line. I mean, that is literally what's at

00:14:39.400 stake. You're talking about constitutional rights, not just for this generation, but for generations to

00:14:44.380 come. There's also a difference when we talk about rights, when the right talks about rights versus when

00:14:50.360 the left talks about rights. So here's a really good example of that. You remember Jack Phillips. He owned

00:14:57.160 the the cake shop, the masterpiece cake shop in Colorado, and a gay couple came to his cake shop

00:15:03.980 and said, we want a wedding cake for our gay wedding. He said, look, I don't I don't make gay

00:15:08.400 wedding cakes. I'll make you another kind of cake. I'm happy to serve you. But I don't make gay wedding

00:15:12.780 cakes here because I am a devout Christian and homosexuality and specifically gay gay marriage is

00:15:19.720 against my religion. And so it would be against my conscience to make that cake. Well, they attempted to

00:15:24.680 ruin his life. That is what I believe they actually set out to do. They could have gone anywhere to go

00:15:30.340 get a gay wedding cake, especially in Colorado. But they decided to try to ruin Jack Phillips's life

00:15:36.620 because according to his conscience and according to his religion, he decided that he was going to

00:15:41.620 conduct his business in a way that he saw fit. The right would say, look, that's his First Amendment

00:15:47.080 right. You don't you don't abandon your First Amendment rights when you start a company. You don't

00:15:51.500 abandon your First Amendment rights. When you decide to sell cakes, you have a First Amendment

00:15:56.880 right to conduct your business as you see fit, as long as it is not infringing on the rights of other

00:16:03.080 people. And the left would say, well, they have that gay couple has a right to get their gay wedding

00:16:08.300 cake wherever they want to. And we would say, no, no, no, you don't. You don't have a right to buy a

00:16:15.540 cake wherever you want it. You can go anywhere. You can go anywhere to buy that gay wedding cake.

00:16:21.100 You do not have a right to force someone to provide you with a specific service that goes

00:16:26.860 against their First Amendment right. And so the left and the right see rights differently. The right

00:16:32.720 says, OK, our rights are recognized or they're first of all, they're given by God, but they're

00:16:36.940 recognized by the Constitution. Whereas the left is really talking about a lot of times privileges

00:16:43.400 that they want to make rights. And they believe that those privileges should actually trump the

00:16:49.000 constitutional rights that we have, like religious liberty. That's not everyone on the left, but that

00:16:53.880 is leftism as an ideology. So that is what is at stake if they try to pack the court. Privileges

00:17:02.120 become rights and they trump actual constitutional rights like religious liberty. And so what do we do

00:17:09.660 if all of that happens? If they decide they're going to abolish the Electoral College? If they decide

00:17:14.660 that they're going to reconfigure the Senate? I mean, all of this is very difficult to do. They

00:17:19.620 couldn't do it, you know, automatically and immediately. If they get rid of the filibuster,

00:17:24.860 all of all of these are ways to circumvent the democratic process so they can have as much power

00:17:31.260 as possible. And of course, they accused Donald Trump of being an authoritarian. But we know it's

00:17:35.800 true. I mean, this is what leftism does. Leftism has always been in the way of tyranny and just

00:17:41.000 gaining more and more power at the expense of the people that voted them in in the name of

00:17:46.320 compassion. That is what leftism is. That's what leftism does. And that is what they will do. They

00:17:52.740 are trying. They do not care that most of the country doesn't want to abolish the Electoral

00:17:58.240 College. They do. They do not care if most of the country doesn't want to, you know, abolish the

00:18:04.140 first and second amendments. That is why they want to expand the court, because we don't have to vote on

00:18:10.360 who is a justice. They get to pack the court and they can use the court as an extension

00:18:17.300 of a legislative body to be able to ram through particular policies that they know people

00:18:23.620 wouldn't actually go for if it was up for if it was up to us. So that is what the Democrats are

00:18:29.280 going to try to do. Every constitutional right, everything that we hold dear will be on the line.

00:18:34.900 Absolutely. What do we do if all of that happens? Well, we continue to do what we're doing now.

00:18:44.300 I mean, we're going to wake up the day after the election, no matter who wins, and we're going to

00:18:49.400 say, this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. And we're going to

00:18:53.660 remember that the Lord is on his throne and that he is not surprised. He's not thrown off. He's not taken

00:18:58.840 aback by anything that happens, that governments are instituted by God. In the same way that Trump

00:19:04.280 was instituted by God and Obama was instituted by God, the next president and the next Congress will

00:19:09.140 be instituted by God. That doesn't mean that it pleases him, the things that they plan to do.

00:19:16.540 Of course, when God institutes particular governments, that doesn't mean that he is

00:19:22.520 endorsing a particular candidate. But in his sovereignty, he is doing whatever he is doing

00:19:27.980 for his own glory and according to his perfect plan of redemption. No matter who is in power,

00:19:34.580 we know that Jesus is king. We know that he is coming back. He will once and for all defeat evil

00:19:40.200 forever. And so that is what we trust in. That is what we have our hope in. And we stay engaged.

00:19:45.680 We keep talking about the things that we're doing, the things that they are doing, the people in

00:19:51.840 power. We hold our governors, our state legislatures in power. Really, what's more important than

00:19:56.540 anything is that, not more important than anything, but just politically in a worldly sense,

00:20:02.220 that Republicans retain the Senate and that your state legislatures stay red. That is much more

00:20:08.980 important than who becomes president. Of course, we're going to vote for Trump and hope for the best

00:20:13.220 there. But what is more important to your rights is that Republicans keep the Senate and that they

00:20:20.120 retain the state legislatures that they have. If those things are lost, it's going to be a tough

00:20:27.020 go of it. But again, we trust in the Lord and we trust that ultimately things are going to be

00:20:32.460 better than okay. We're not going to have sin or sadness or political division or persecution at all

00:20:38.520 anymore one day. And so we still rejoice. And our joy in the midst of chaos, in the midst of fear,

00:20:46.020 is our testimony to a hurting and to a chaotic world.

00:21:01.860 Okay, here is a little bit of a different question. What do you think about people eating

00:21:06.520 organic, gluten-free or dairy-free? Do I think it's worth it? Well, I am not a dietitian. I'm not

00:21:11.560 a nutritionist by any means. And so, you know, I mean, some of this stuff, is it a marketing scam

00:21:20.420 in some ways at some places? I'm sure that's true. We try to eat. I mean, when I'm grocery shopping

00:21:27.760 anyway, we try to eat organic as much as possible. I can't say that everything that I eat at a Tex-Mex

00:21:33.540 restaurant is organic. But, you know, we do our best when we're grocery shopping to do that. I

00:21:38.980 think anything can become an idol. And so certainly being obsessive over any kind of, any kind, any type

00:21:49.040 of food can certainly become idolatrous. But for a lot of people, I understand it's also for health

00:21:54.920 reasons. Like if you're lactose intolerant, yeah, you got to eat dairy-free. And we should thank God

00:21:59.480 that like we live in a country that you can do that really easily. I mean, thank the Lord for

00:22:06.220 capitalism, that we are actually able to live in a country where if enough people demand something

00:22:12.120 like dairy-free sour cream or whatever it is, someone's going to make it because they want to

00:22:17.480 make money. That is a good thing. And so, sure, yeah, it's fine. I don't really care how people eat.

00:22:24.140 But of course, any kind of diet, any kind of restriction can become an idol. And certainly

00:22:31.120 if it causes you to look down upon other people who eat differently than you, that's how I feel

00:22:35.340 about veganism too. I don't think veganism is bad. I don't look down upon you if you eat vegan. But I

00:22:41.380 do get upset when vegans look down upon other people who are not vegan. I think that we have

00:22:48.300 the freedom. We have the common grace freedom to eat the way that we want to eat. And it is such a

00:22:53.460 privilege to even have those options. You know, the vast majority of the world, they don't have

00:22:58.120 the option to eat gluten-free or dairy-free. But here in America, we have so many wonderful privileges

00:23:03.660 because the Lord has blessed us, because of the system of capitalism, that we actually get to pick

00:23:09.800 and choose the kind of diet that we want. When do I think that we'll actually know the results of

00:23:17.600 the election? I think it's going to be several weeks. And that's just like, oh my gosh, you know,

00:23:23.560 if you have ever, one time I ran a half marathon. I think it was 2013. Maybe, yeah, I think it was 2013.

00:23:31.440 And you get to mile like seven and you're like, I've run a long way. And I still have over six miles

00:23:41.260 miles left. And that is at the point, I think it might've been at like 10 miles for me, maybe that

00:23:47.180 I was like, okay, I'm actually really tired. And thinking that I have a 5k left really just wears

00:23:52.400 me out. That's kind of how I feel right now. Like I'm so ready for the election to be over. And then

00:23:57.540 I realized it's not going to be over after the election. It's just going to keep going. And even

00:24:01.960 after that, like, I still feel like the 2016 election is still being contended. Like we have just

00:24:08.920 been in this constant battle for the past few years. And I'm just worn out thinking about the

00:24:14.540 fact that it is not going to be over when on election night. I'm excited about watching election

00:24:20.200 night, but it's going, if Trump wins, they are not going to concede. If Biden wins, I think that there

00:24:29.000 is a much higher likelihood that Trump will concede, but I still think that there's going to be some back

00:24:35.360 and forth after the election. So I think it's going to be several weeks and I am really not

00:24:41.100 looking forward to it. So a lot of questions on how my family is doing. Uh, we're, we're doing great.

00:24:47.380 Uh, yeah, we're doing, we're doing really well. Um, my husband is about to turn 30 and he's about

00:24:52.140 to run a marathon. So I was about to say y'all can wish him happy birthday, but he's not on social

00:24:57.020 media, but y'all could be praying for him. He's running in a race, uh, this weekend, right? Is it this

00:25:02.680 weekend that he's running a race? Yeah. I should probably know that. But, um, so I'm really excited

00:25:06.780 for him. I'm super proud of him. He's very disciplined person, especially when it comes to,

00:25:12.240 to working out. He just decided a few months ago, like, yeah, I think I'm going to run a marathon.

00:25:18.120 And so he just started going out and running every morning. I mean, he's always been an athletic guy.

00:25:22.900 And so it's not like, I mean, it was a big feat for him, but maybe not as much as for other people.

00:25:28.580 And, uh, he is just stuck to it. I mean, running 16 miles or however long it is by yourself,

00:25:35.900 that just takes a lot of determination that I probably don't have. So I'm super proud of him.

00:25:42.100 Um, but yeah, we're doing well. We're ready for the weather to cool down a little bit. Unfortunately,

00:25:46.920 it is still 95 degrees where I am. Um, but thank you all for asking so much. Yes. My family,

00:25:54.140 uh, we are all doing very well. Um, someone said, can you be at a Bible study with Christians on the

00:26:01.960 left? Yeah, certainly. I certainly think so. Now you need to be discerning about who is leading

00:26:06.380 your Bible study, I think, and who is actually teaching you and influencing you. Again, I don't

00:26:11.620 think that means necessarily you have to get out of the Bible study, but you need to be very prepared

00:26:16.080 and equipped before you go to Bible study. And, uh, you need to be, you need to know your Bible and you

00:26:23.040 need to have your resources that you are studying from. You can't just take everything that anyone

00:26:28.420 says. I don't care if they're on the left or the right. You can't take what anyone says completely

00:26:33.340 without, uh, without checking it against scripture. And so I have a list of resources on my blog,

00:26:40.200 allybestucky.com slash blog slash recommended dash resources. I'll put it in the description.

00:26:46.700 And I have a lot of resources for you to learn from. So just make sure that that Bible study

00:26:53.020 no matter who is leading it again, left, right, center, whoever, and whoever is in your Bible

00:26:59.100 study, that that is a supplement to the time that you are spending in God's word. That is a supplement

00:27:03.960 to your prayer life, a supplement, uh, to your study of the Bible, because anyone can lead you

00:27:10.760 in the wrong direction, especially if you trust them, especially if they say some things that are

00:27:15.160 true, it's so easy to be manipulated. But yes, I think it's great that you are, that you're there

00:27:20.660 because you can push back against them. Uh, you can pray with them and for them. You can challenge

00:27:25.900 one another. I think, um, it's very good. Okay. Uh, do I think that civil disobedience is justified

00:27:32.940 or moral? I actually did an episode on this and I will link it in the description. Uh, but I did talk

00:27:39.020 about this a few months ago where we talked about should Christians resist tyranny? And I think that that

00:27:44.700 is the title of the episode, should Christians resist tyranny? So I covered that. And so I'll just let you

00:27:50.080 go listen to that episode. If you are interested, uh, if you are interested about it, uh, in it,

00:27:56.120 uh, to mask or not to mask. I I've answered this question, but I'll ask it again. You know, I wear

00:28:01.100 a mask everywhere that it's required of me. And there are places that I have to go like to the

00:28:05.660 grocery store, to target, wherever that I, you know, that I have to wear a mask. And I do, if I am,

00:28:12.400 you know, it's very rarely am I on an airplane these days, but when I have to be on an airplane,

00:28:17.100 I of course wear a mask, I'm not going to, you know, throw a fit about that. We did talk about

00:28:22.520 last week, maybe it was last Wednesday when we talked about the science on masks. And we looked

00:28:26.960 at several peer reviewed studies about the efficacy of masks and how the so-called science has changed

00:28:33.940 on that and how they only provide a very thin layer and only a possible layer of protection.

00:28:41.860 And as Dr. Fauci said a few months ago, they can actually fill people with a false sense of,

00:28:46.700 of confidence because you think that you are protecting yourself from people's sickness when

00:28:50.840 really you're not. You are protecting other people possibly from a droplet of your asymptomatic COVID

00:28:57.900 from going into their nose or mouth or eyes. I mean, I guess a mask doesn't protect your eyes,

00:29:02.300 but it doesn't fully protect you. And if you're not also, you know, distancing yourself and washing

00:29:08.660 your hands, then it's probably not going to do you that much good. Unfortunately, I mean,

00:29:13.200 I don't know what else to do in places that require you to wear a mask.

00:29:18.020 You got it. You got to wear a mask. Hopefully it will be over soon. The WHO came out and said

00:29:23.780 they don't think lockdowns are the best way to deal with the virus. Thanks so much for letting us know

00:29:30.800 this now. I'd be interested to see if at some point they'll say, oh yeah. And by the way,

00:29:34.640 we don't think masks are great either. So we'll see about that. Okay. How to know when to start a

00:29:42.880 family. I get asked this question a lot and I don't know your particular situation. I don't know

00:29:47.780 if you are a missionaries, if you are fully dedicated to mission work. I don't know if you're

00:29:52.220 still in school or your financial situation. And so of course I can't speak objectively to exactly

00:29:59.120 what you should do. That is going to take wisdom and counsel and discernment and prayer and all of

00:30:04.760 that. But I argue this in my book. If you are a married couple and you are physically and mentally

00:30:12.520 capable, then you should have children. Now, is there some nuance in there probably? Are there

00:30:20.780 some situations where that is not the best choice? Sure. I have listened to John Piper talk about this

00:30:28.700 very often that, of course, the Bible says that singleness is a gift because you can focus more

00:30:35.280 on the Lord. You can dedicate all of your time and energy and effort to serving the Lord and marriage

00:30:40.880 inevitably is going to distract you from that. However, if you cannot control your sexual desires

00:30:48.600 and if you want to be married, then you should get married. That is what Paul says. So if singleness

00:30:53.980 is a gift because it can give you more time and more margin to dedicate yourself to the Lord,

00:31:01.140 then not having kids could be seen as that. But I think that it's very important that you are honest.

00:31:07.780 Are you not having kids? Not necessarily the person asking this question, but anyone. Are you not having

00:31:12.360 kids specifically expressly to dedicate more time to mission work and to ministry? That might be

00:31:19.900 a biblical justification. A biblical justification might be a biblical justification to put off having

00:31:25.420 children. But I don't think the Bible gives us any room to not have children because we want to

00:31:32.280 travel more, because we just don't feel like it. We don't want that kind of sacrifice. We don't think

00:31:36.880 that we're mature enough. We just like our time and our schedule the way that we want it. I say that as

00:31:42.480 someone who, you know, we, I think it was three years before we started trying to have a baby. And

00:31:50.300 so I've been where you are just kind of thinking, well, you know, I want to, you know, I want to wait

00:31:55.480 until we do X, Y, Z. But I simply don't think that the Bible gives that as a justification for not

00:32:02.480 having children. Those are, and I mean this as someone who has been there. So I mean this in the

00:32:07.620 most loving way possible, those are selfish reasons to not have kids. I think it's wrong to put off

00:32:12.680 marriage for strictly selfish reasons. I think it's wrong to put off kids for selfish reasons,

00:32:18.520 because what that mentality says, at least implicitly, is that you view kids as burdens and

00:32:24.760 that you view yourself as a potential victim of parenthood rather than a beneficiary of parenthood

00:32:32.780 and rather than seeing children as blessings. The Bible continually, consistently throughout the

00:32:38.840 canon calls children blessings. A woman getting pregnant is a blessing. It is a good thing. It is a

00:32:45.300 reason for rejoicing. And that is how we as Christians are to view children. And so I think we have to be

00:32:52.000 really honest with ourselves about the reason that we're putting off kids. Again, I can't speak to your

00:32:56.980 specific financial situation, where you're living, what life looks like for you, but there

00:33:02.620 are particular selfish reasons that I don't think the Bible offers as justifications for not having

00:33:07.860 kids. And I also don't think that fear of the future is a good reason to not have kids, at least not

00:33:17.760 right now in America. I know a lot of people are afraid of persecution, and rightfully so. A lot of

00:33:23.040 people are scared about socialism, rightfully so. But you have to remember, again, God sees children as

00:33:29.380 blessings. And if He chooses to blast you with children. I know a lot of people struggle with

00:33:33.760 infertility. A lot of people have had miscarriages. And so there are a lot of people out there who

00:33:40.860 desperately want to have kids, who wish that they just had the option to put off kids or have kids,

00:33:46.420 but they have struggled a lot with that. And so just remember that when you are either complaining

00:33:51.800 about your children and what a burden they are, or you are talking about how you want to fulfill

00:33:57.800 your self-centered wish list before you have kids, there are a lot of people who wish they were in

00:34:04.020 your same place and could easily have children if they wanted to. But back to the fear of the future,

00:34:09.780 you also have to remember, yes, God is sovereign, but also He places every single person within the

00:34:16.460 generation that He wants them to be in. And He places in front of every generation whatever challenges

00:34:23.200 that He wants them to face. And He equips the Christians in that generation to face those

00:34:28.660 obstacles exactly how He wants them to for His own glory. And so you have to think about also

00:34:35.740 that children, that Christians are a credit to society, not a debit. And so we are giving good

00:34:44.760 things to the future. We are giving good things to society by giving the future Christian, biblical,

00:34:53.200 loving, kind, strong, bold, gospel-sharing evangelists. And so think about having children

00:35:00.320 like that, not as something that is either going to take away from your life or is going to add fear

00:35:09.980 to your life because of future unknowns. The future has always been unknown. The future has always been

00:35:15.160 unknown. And it shouldn't stop us from doing what we believe God has called us to do. So that's all I

00:35:20.520 have time for today. Thank you guys so much for listening. I will be back here on Friday with

00:35:24.880 Senator Ted Cruz. We're going to talk about the Supreme Court and court packing and all that good

00:35:28.780 stuff. I will see you guys then.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - October 14, 2020

Ep 313 ｜ What If They Win？

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