Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 341 ｜ Christmas Encouragement & Listener Questions

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Hope everyone is having a great day. Today I'm going to

00:00:15.600 give you some Christmas encouragement and I'm also going to answer some of the questions

00:00:20.760 that you guys sent me on Instagram. I know that you're probably tired of hearing people

00:00:26.760 say this, but it's just true. I don't know if it's just cathartic to say it, but it's been a crazy

00:00:33.420 year. It's been a crazy year. I don't think any of us could have anticipated that all of this COVID

00:00:40.100 madness would have lasted as long as it has. I think most of us thought that it would be two

00:00:46.720 weeks to slow the spread and then by Easter that we'd be done with all of it. I remember thinking,

00:00:51.460 surely by summer, this will just be over. We went on vacation in June and it really felt like it was

00:00:58.100 over. We were at the beach going to restaurants. There was no one that was wearing masks. This was

00:01:02.920 actually before people were wearing masks and it really felt like, okay, there is a weight that's

00:01:09.180 lifted off of our shoulders and things are getting better. And then we thought, okay, well, it'll be

00:01:12.920 by the fall. Kids will go back to school. Things will go back to normal. And then a lot of people

00:01:17.020 said, oh no, it'll be after the election. And here we are still going back and forth with all of this,

00:01:23.420 not just the virus, but also the regulations that have come along with it. And there have been a lot

00:01:28.120 of negative repercussions associated with it that have really strained people's lives. It strained

00:01:35.820 their mental health, their emotional and spiritual health, their financial situation, in addition to

00:01:43.120 the physical toll that all of this has taken on people. And so some of you have lost people that

00:01:48.740 you have loved, if not to the virus, some of your friends or family members, maybe they died by

00:01:54.480 suicide because of isolation-induced depression. You haven't seen your grandparents in several months,

00:02:02.980 or maybe you have people in your family who are scared to go into public. They're scared to have

00:02:08.120 human interaction. And so you haven't been able to see them. I know people that typically are very

00:02:13.620 stable, emotionally stable people who have had to go on antidepressants. They've had to go

00:02:18.180 to therapy or at least virtual therapy because they find themselves crying alone at night, not knowing how

00:02:25.100 to deal with the uncertainty and the loneliness that this year has caused. And it's heartbreaking.

00:02:32.280 The reality is we have to regard the entire person. We are not just clumps of cells. We're not just

00:02:39.040 material objects. We're not just physical beings. We're spiritual, emotional beings as well. And the

00:02:44.740 public policy that completely disregards those parts of human nature in favor of just protecting,

00:02:52.600 maybe possibly protecting the body from a virus with a high survival rate is not good public policy.

00:02:59.540 And we have been dealing with the consequences of that for months. Now, here is the good news

00:03:06.260 in all of that. While one, there's just some political practical good news is that I do think that

00:03:12.160 there's a lot of people who have woken up to the fact because of some of the arbitrary and

00:03:16.800 discriminatory policies that some of these politicians have pushed forth, that the government

00:03:21.580 is not your moral arbiter. They're not your caretaker. They're not your friend. And they're

00:03:25.820 certainly not your God. If the government is your God, you will discover the hard way that they are

00:03:30.500 not a merciful God, that these bureaucrats who are in power very often do not have your best

00:03:36.680 interest at heart, that while they are putting harsh rules and restrictions on you, your business

00:03:41.340 and your family, they are not following them themselves. And that hypocrisy, I do think, has opened

00:03:46.380 the eyes of a lot of people to realize that, okay, these earthly authorities are not worth my trust.

00:03:52.480 They're not worth all my admiration and all of my obsession. Yes, I think it's important to vote

00:03:59.980 as best we can based on all the information that we have, but it's also important for us to not put

00:04:05.560 our hope in the government and for us to remember time and again that no matter who is in office,

00:04:10.700 Jesus is on his throne. And that really is what Christmas is about, that Jesus is on his throne,

00:04:17.560 that he is in charge. That's why I love Isaiah 9, 6 through 7 so much. Those of you who grew up in

00:04:24.360 the church are probably familiar with this passage. For to us, a child is born, to us, a son is given,

00:04:30.760 and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,

00:04:36.560 Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace,

00:04:43.820 there will be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it

00:04:48.700 with justice and with righteousness. From this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of

00:04:54.960 hosts will do this. So very often on this conservative podcast, we talk about how the growth of government

00:05:01.340 always leads to human suffering because power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

00:05:06.620 That is just a part of human nature. The more money and power, authority,

00:05:09.900 therefore size we give the government, the more human beings suffer, the less free we are, the less

00:05:18.240 we flourish because of that inherent nature of power. It corrupts human beings. That is true

00:05:27.940 of people. That is not true of Christ. Christ is the only one that can take all the power, that can have

00:05:35.420 all the power and the authority in the universe. And he just gets better and better. In human terms,

00:05:41.660 anyway, we know that he is immutable and unchangeable. That as his government, that as his power, as his

00:05:49.440 authority increases, so does peace. So does justice. So does righteousness. He can be totalitarian,

00:05:58.000 if you want to use that word, in his authority. And things just get better. Things just get more

00:06:05.080 peaceful. Things just get more satisfying. Life just becomes more pleasurable. Justice increases.

00:06:13.940 Righteousness increases. And that is what we have to look forward to. But that's also the reality that

00:06:20.120 we live in right now, that yes, we are given earthly authority. Romans 13 says that God establishes that

00:06:26.580 earthly authority. Daniel 2.21 says that he sets up kings and he takes them down. And so we do have a

00:06:33.580 responsibility to submit to a certain extent, of course, to earthly authority as long as it is not

00:06:39.920 causing us to sin. But God is on his throne right now. He is in charge right now. He's king of kings

00:06:45.640 right now. The government is on his shoulders right now. And so we already live under submission to that

00:06:52.360 king. That is what gives us peace. That is what gives us hope. And we know that one day he will rule

00:06:57.560 in perfect peace. That he will defeat his enemies once and for all. That there will be no parties.

00:07:02.220 There will be no partisanship. There will be no politics. There will be no elections. There will be

00:07:08.180 no two sides to this. There will be one ruler, one authority, one kingdom, and one king who will rule

00:07:17.420 over all in perfect peace. And his justice and his righteousness will have no end. So in all of the

00:07:25.600 calamity and the chaos that we have experienced this year, all of the untrustworthiness of our

00:07:30.940 politicians, all the people in power that we roll our eyes at, all this petty tyranny that we have

00:07:37.160 witnessed over the past year. Yes, it concerns us, of course. And yes, we do have a part still in this

00:07:45.560 country in trying to vote out the people that are not working towards our best interests. This is still

00:07:50.420 a government for the people, by the people, of the people. But that is not where our hope lies. Our hope

00:07:57.680 does not lie in these elections. They certainly don't lie in these politicians. Our hope lies in the

00:08:03.360 fact that God is ruling and will rule in complete and total peace. And that is what Christmas reminds us

00:08:11.240 of. That hope. God made flesh. God with us. Emmanuel. Coming to live a life he didn't have to live,

00:08:19.300 to die a death he didn't have to die on behalf of rebellious sinners like you and me, so that we

00:08:24.500 could be forgiven forever through his death on a cross, defeating death when he was raised up three

00:08:32.400 days later, so that we could live forever with a God that we are now reconciled to through Christ.

00:08:40.200 That is what Christmas is about. That is why we have joy no matter what. Even under, especially for a lot

00:08:47.060 of Christians around the world, even under real tyranny, here in America, we still have a whole lot of

00:08:51.380 liberty, a whole lot of privilege, a whole lot of opportunities to worship freely and to speak freely.

00:08:57.940 That is not true of most Christians around the world. And yet, even those Christians have hope and have 0.99

00:09:02.780 joy, more so than any person who does not know Christ who is in a prosperous and free country. The Christian

00:09:10.740 who is suffering under the Chinese Communist Party, who is worshiping under the threat of being killed,

00:09:18.680 of being imprisoned, of being tortured, has more joy, has more peace, has more assurance knowing that

00:09:25.300 Jesus is his king than the person in America that has all the freedom and opportunity and privilege in

00:09:32.140 the world. That is the reality that we live under. We have more in common, you and I as Christians,

00:09:36.860 we have more in common with our brothers and sisters in Christ in Afghanistan, in Syria, in China,

00:09:43.040 in North Korea, than we do with people who do not know Christ here in America that share our same

00:09:48.320 constitutional, political, cultural values. And that is where we look when we feel weighed down by

00:09:59.480 the burdens of this world. That is our transcendent hope in the body of Christ that will survive the

00:10:07.900 craziness of this world, that will survive tyranny, that will survive persecution, that will survive

00:10:13.980 viruses. That is our hope. That is our assurance. I'll read you a little passage from Luke 2, 8 through 13.

00:10:23.400 And in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night,

00:10:28.260 and an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they

00:10:32.720 were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news

00:10:37.780 of great joy that will be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,

00:10:44.280 who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes

00:10:51.580 and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising

00:10:58.460 God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.

00:11:07.420 Charles Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, as he is called, he had mixed feelings about Christmas. He

00:11:17.140 didn't like how it was becoming secularized, how it was becoming commercialized. He said there is no

00:11:22.680 biblical foundation for celebrating the birth of the Savior in this way, but he actually loved it

00:11:29.360 as a family institution. He loved it for the rest that it gave the working man, for the fellowship

00:11:36.260 that it encouraged among believers and among families. And of course, he thought the birth of Christ

00:11:43.220 worthy of adulation and of celebration. And he says, and I'm just paraphrasing, I read a quote by

00:11:51.060 him about Christmas the other day, saying that if we are going to celebrate Christmas, let us celebrate

00:11:56.220 it in the same way that the angels did, giving glory to God and declaring his gospel. That is our posture

00:12:04.020 this Christmas. Whether you have decided that you're going to gather with your family or whether

00:12:07.660 you are going to spend this Christmas alone. I hope that's not the case for you. But if that is,

00:12:15.000 it is still our responsibility and our great joy to give glory to God in the highest, to share his

00:12:22.420 gospel, to remind people of the hope that we have in Christ, that this world is fading away, that it is

00:12:30.560 withering away, that one day there will be a new heaven and a new earth where Christ will reign totally,

00:12:36.560 completely, completely, in perfect peace. And unless you have that hope, your hope is going to be in

00:12:41.740 this life. And if there is anything that 2020 has shown us, this life is really not worthy of our hope.

00:12:47.480 It's really not worthy of our trust. It certainly isn't worthy of even all of our best laid plans,

00:12:55.300 because life is unpredictable. But one thing is sure, and that is Jesus Christ. As Hebrews 13, 8 says,

00:13:00.860 Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That verse has been the verse that I have clung to over the

00:13:07.940 past few months, when it just seems sometimes that we are on sinking sand. I remember that Christ is our

00:13:14.640 solid rock. And I'm so thankful for Christmas to remind us of that foundation, to remind us of God made

00:13:22.320 flesh and the gospel of what God did for us when he didn't have to do it. He humbled himself, even to the point of

00:13:28.320 death on the cross for us, people who wanted nothing to do with him. Thank God for that. Thank God for

00:13:33.840 that. We have every reason, even in this hard year, to rejoice and to give glory to God in the highest.

00:13:41.020 Okay, I just wanted to start the podcast with some of that encouragement. I'll end the podcast with some

00:13:46.320 of that encouragement as well to get us in the Christmas spirit, which we really should be in

00:13:52.560 all year round, because it really is just the the Holy Spirit and thanking God for everything that

00:13:59.080 he is and has done. But I want to answer some of the questions that you guys gave me on Instagram,

00:14:05.320 because I told you that I would. So one of you guys, and I think I've probably answered this before,

00:14:10.720 but I'll answer it again. You asked me what I think about Santa. And you didn't ask me, you know,

00:14:19.160 if we're going to tell our kids about Santa or what we're going to do. But, you know,

00:14:23.620 obviously, my husband and I have talked about this. I think that Santa is the same thing as

00:14:28.720 Christmas in general. There is no, there's obviously no biblical support for Santa. There's

00:14:34.020 no biblical support for giving gifts on Christmas. There's no biblical support for Jesus being born on

00:14:38.500 December 25. There's no biblical support for doing stockings and washing It's a Wonderful Life and

00:14:44.300 Christmas tree and all of that. All of these are celebrations that we have added on to

00:14:49.160 this day that don't necessarily have an explicit biblical basis, but I would argue also are not

00:14:54.340 sinful. There are lots of things that we do throughout our lives that can be used for the

00:15:00.740 glory of God that aren't necessarily explicitly in his word telling us to do these things. I would

00:15:08.160 include Santa in that. I think Santa can be used in a way that glorifies God. I think it can be used in a

00:15:15.480 way that is deceptive, that is manipulative, and that doesn't glorify God. Now, there are a lot of

00:15:22.060 different perspectives on this, and I'm not going to pretend like I am the end-all be-all when it comes

00:15:26.160 to talking about Santa Claus. There are a lot more experienced and godlier mothers that you could 0.98

00:15:31.100 talk to about this, and that could give you wisdom. Personally, I think how probably we are going to handle

00:15:38.880 Santa when the time is right is that this is a fun story. I think we can read books about Santa. We can

00:15:46.040 look at pictures of Santa. We can go take, you know, a picture with Santa at the mall or wherever you do

00:15:52.480 that. I think that it can all be a part of the folklore of Christmas and say, you know, this is a fun

00:15:58.860 Christmas character. Rudolph is a fun Christmas character. Personally, I don't think that we are going

00:16:04.620 to say this is a real person who gives you your gifts. One, because I think it's important for kids

00:16:10.980 to know where the gifts actually come from, not just from parents, but also from the Lord.

00:16:20.460 I'm looking up this verse, so I just have the exact reference. James 1.17,

00:16:28.460 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights,

00:16:34.480 with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. I would much rather direct my children's

00:16:42.420 gratitude towards the giver, the actual giver, the real giver of good gifts, which is the Father above,

00:16:51.060 which is the Father who sent the greatest gift, His Son, than directing their gratitude

00:16:56.500 gratitude or their awe or even in some cases their worship towards really a figment of our

00:17:03.760 imaginations. Now, again, I am not judging you if you have decided differently. This is how we have

00:17:10.880 thought through it. And this is how we think, at least right now, we're not to the stage yet,

00:17:17.340 how we are going to approach it. Because I think it is very easy to get kids to a point of almost

00:17:23.420 worship and awe towards this figment of their imagination, when really that worship and awe

00:17:29.700 and that adoration and even that feeling of mystery and intrigue can be directed towards this God that

00:17:39.660 we are trying to get them to seek with their whole hearts. And so I think Christmas is an opportunity

00:17:50.420 to direct them towards that rather than to direct them towards this person who isn't real. And if you

00:17:57.840 think about it, like he almost is a replacement of God. Like he is this guy that you can't see. He has

00:18:04.880 supernatural power because he can, you know, he can travel the world in just one night and he knows what

00:18:13.180 you're thinking. He knows if you're being good. He knows if you're being bad. He holds you accountable

00:18:18.660 for those things and he gives you gifts according to those things. Like it's actually a much worse

00:18:23.780 version and a much more legalistic version of the Father in Heaven that we have that gives us gifts

00:18:31.540 according to his goodness, not according to our merit. So I think Christmas is an opportunity to share

00:18:38.360 the gospel with our kids. And I almost think it's a missed opportunity if we are replacing the real good

00:18:44.200 giver of gifts with this not so good giver of gifts in Santa Claus. Again, I'm not going to,

00:18:52.560 you know, teach my kids to be scared of Santa or to say that Santa is evil. I think he's a character

00:18:56.700 of Christmas, you know, just like Rudolph and whatever, Frosty the Snowman. I think, you know,

00:19:03.600 that's all fine. And that could be fun. I think it's important for kids to have imagination,

00:19:07.040 for them to hear stories, for them to tell stories. I think that's all really fun. But I think that it's

00:19:14.260 even more important for us to direct our kids towards what is real. And the reality of the

00:19:18.880 gospel is much better than the story of Santa and the North Pole. I also think that there is

00:19:24.760 a possibility for disappointment. I remember when I found out, I was six when I found out that

00:19:31.900 Santa Claus was real. It was actually the tooth fairy first that I found out wasn't real. And then

00:19:38.180 I kind of, you know, I used that deductive reasoning to say, okay, what about the Easter

00:19:44.720 bunny? And what about Santa? Because they're probably not real if the tooth fairy isn't real. And I was

00:19:50.960 really mad. I remember being really mad when I was six years old at my mom for lying to me. I think I was

00:19:57.000 also like embarrassed. I developed that like self-awareness very early on in my life to where

00:20:03.880 I didn't want to not be in the know about something or I didn't want people to think that I didn't know

00:20:10.660 something. And so I felt like I had been hoodwinked. And I was pretty mad about that. I don't know if my

00:20:15.580 kids will feel the same way. But I also think that that is easily avoidable. It's easily avoidable by

00:20:22.220 telling kids the truth about Santa. Now, I also don't want kids to be those kids to go to school

00:20:27.960 and declare on December 1st that Santa isn't real either, because there'd be a lot of disappointed

00:20:33.820 parents there. But I think there's a way to strike that balance and to teach our kids well. So that's

00:20:40.600 my thought about Santa Claus. Take that as you will. I am not the arbiter of what you should do

00:20:47.640 for Christmas. So there's a lot of questions as well about the coronavirus vaccine that I got on

00:20:54.420 Instagram that has nothing to do with Christmas, obviously. This as well. I mean, maybe it does,

00:20:59.160 because maybe you think of it as a Christmas gift. It's obviously a testament to the industriousness

00:21:05.600 of American companies. It's also a testament to a public-private partnership, Operation Warp Speed,

00:21:11.380 that was started by President Trump and these vaccine development companies. But I know that

00:21:16.440 there's a lot of mixed feelings about this right now. Even if you do not consider yourself an

00:21:21.000 anti-vaccine person, I think that there's cause for concern. When something goes through this quickly,

00:21:29.320 there's typically a much longer, more stringent process for testing the safety and efficacy

00:21:35.380 of vaccines than this. But there's a bigger conversation to be had about vaccines that I don't

00:21:40.660 want to do extemporaneously that I have. So I've actually done two episodes on vaccines. I talked

00:21:46.720 to a very pro-vaccine doctor. And then I talked to, I wouldn't even say an anti-vaccine doctor,

00:21:52.600 but a vaccine-skeptical doctor and one who is very empathetic towards vaccine-skeptical and

00:21:58.740 anti-vaccinating parents. So I had those two different conversations over a year ago now,

00:22:05.340 maybe even a year and a half ago now. And those were very popular episodes, but I never went in,

00:22:14.160 I didn't go in personally and analyze the different sides to the vaccine debate. And I think that I

00:22:20.800 might do that in an upcoming episode and talk about whether or not, you know, the different sides,

00:22:28.000 the different perspectives on taking the COVID-19 vaccine. A lot of people have questions about

00:22:34.360 fetal parts being used to develop these vaccines. How is the Christian supposed to 1.00

00:22:40.040 think about that? And so I think I will analyze that. I'm just, I have to prepare myself for more

00:22:47.140 blowback than ever, because even when I did those two episodes, I mean, most of the negative reviews

00:22:53.660 that I got from that were actually were from the anti-vaccine crowd or the vaccine hesitant crowd.

00:22:59.940 Not everyone, not everyone is anti-vaccine on that side who has questions about vaccines, but

00:23:05.840 a lot of hate from that side just for interviewing someone who disagreed with them. And I'm just going

00:23:13.360 to have to, I'm just going to have to brace myself for that and understand that that is what's going

00:23:18.540 to happen on both sides of the issue. No matter, no matter what I say, there's going to be hate for

00:23:23.020 that. So I just have to make sure that it is very thorough, that it's very well researched and prepared.

00:23:27.180 So when I do that episode, I will answer the question about this particular COVID vaccine,

00:23:33.740 because there are so many questions that I've gotten about it, but I just want to make sure

00:23:36.980 that I answer it in the best way that, um, in the best way that I can. Um, okay, let me look for

00:23:46.000 another question. Uh, so someone asked me, why is no one talking about George Soros? Who is he?

00:23:54.860 Is he really the conservative boogeyman? So I would not say that no one is talking about George

00:23:59.400 Soros. I think that he is almost, he is seen as a conservative created boogeyman by people on the

00:24:08.920 left, but he's not, he is billionaire. He calls himself a philanthropist, but he's a political

00:24:13.920 activist and he is far left wing and he pumps lots of money through his open society foundation

00:24:20.040 into left wing causes, namely things like, uh, black lives matter and to various politicians and,

00:24:27.160 and district prosecutors, district attorneys here in the United States. He is always supporting with

00:24:32.860 his money, democratic initiatives, liberal initiatives, and democratic politicians. That's

00:24:37.380 just a fact. That's not that. That's not some conspiracy theory. I mean, he's a real person.

00:24:42.080 It's verified on Twitter. He's got a kid who helps him with, um, with all this stuff. When I say kid,

00:24:48.400 I mean, he has an adult son. So yeah, he is a billionaire. He's very influential. He's very

00:24:53.800 involved in liberal politics and he funds, um, a lot of, uh, liberal policymakers and therefore liberal

00:25:02.840 policies. Um, now maybe there's some more sinister conspiracies about him that aren't true,

00:25:10.160 but he has his hand in a lot of left wing chaos. He has his money in a lot of left wing chaos. He's

00:25:18.720 a left wing guy. He supports left wing causes. That's who George Soros is. Um, maybe some people

00:25:23.880 give him too much credit. Maybe some people almost see him as like big brother. They see him as this

00:25:29.020 like ubiquitous figure. He's not, he's just a human being, but he does have a lot of power and he has a

00:25:33.520 lot of money and he has a lot of influence through his various organizations. So that's who he is.

00:25:38.900 That's the kind of influence he has. And, um, he's behind a lot of left wing prosecutors and

00:25:45.940 politicians that of course I, I would argue are very destructive, uh, for our country. But do I

00:25:52.160 think he's behind every bad thing or every left wing thing that happens? No, I think that that is,

00:25:56.880 uh, probably impossible. Um, would you travel back in time or to the future? If I had to choose

00:26:06.280 between the two, I think I would travel back in time. I don't, I think there's a reason why

00:26:10.660 the Lord allows us to have memories, but doesn't allow us to be able to see into the future. Um,

00:26:16.220 exactly anyway. And I think we wouldn't be able to handle it. I don't think that we would be able

00:26:22.420 to see the state of the world, the state of our lives, how the people that we love turned out,

00:26:27.480 things that happened to them, things that happened to us without being completely disturbed and anxious

00:26:32.940 in the present. And so, um, uh, C.S. Lewis talks about how the best place for our minds to be

00:26:40.560 is in the present, is in the now, uh, because that is, that's the only, that's the only reality.

00:26:48.260 That's the only place that we really exist. Sometimes we think about the future or our

00:26:52.380 imagination of the future as if it's real and it's, it's really not. And Satan would love us to

00:26:57.440 exist in a state of imagination, of being disconnected from our reality. So we're

00:27:03.980 ineffective where we are. The Lord would have us focus where we are right now. Um, and I think

00:27:09.800 that that is purposeful, that he has obviously made us that way. And I don't want to travel to

00:27:15.120 the future. That freaks me out. Um, I already worry, you know, struggle with worrying about the

00:27:19.880 future. So I don't think that I want to see, I don't think I want to see how it turns out. I think

00:27:23.380 I would travel back to like, I don't know. I love the World War II era, but I don't know if I've

00:27:29.620 just romanticized it so much in my head because of different movies and books that I've read. That's

00:27:34.080 like my favorite era, at least in the past 100 years. And I would love to go back to that time.

00:27:40.020 It seems like it was a good time in American history, but I do wonder if I'd go back and I'd be

00:27:43.860 like, oh my gosh, I don't like, I don't like this. Like, I don't like not having access to all the

00:27:50.680 things that I love. I think that in 2020, we've got accustomed to a very luxurious,

00:27:55.200 accessible lifestyle that I would probably be missing out on if I went back to the 1940s.

00:28:01.000 Um, is love a feeling or a choice? I think it's both. C.S. Lewis also talks about this in

00:28:06.760 Mere Christianity. If you haven't read Mere Christianity, please do. This is not a book

00:28:10.560 that you need to listen to an audiobook. You got to get you a copy. You got to read through it,

00:28:14.320 probably slowly and read it a few times and underline and take notes and all of that.

00:28:18.920 Very important book to read, especially if you're a new believer, but if you've been a believer for

00:28:23.240 a long time, or if you're a skeptic, um, I highly recommend Mere Christianity. He talks about

00:28:28.280 how when you fall in love with someone, um, when you fall in love with your significant other

00:28:34.320 and, uh, you get married, eventually those feelings of total rapture and obsession that you feel 24 seven

00:28:43.560 when you're dating that person, like you just can't get enough of them. You can't eat, you can't sleep,

00:28:47.940 uh, because you are just thinking about them so much. You're literally lovesick because every

00:28:54.320 moment that you're not with them, you miss them. Those are good feelings. Like God gives human

00:28:59.480 beings the capacity to feel that way because it tethers us to people in a way that human beings

00:29:05.160 are made to be tethered. Now, I think God intended for us to be only tethered to one person that way.

00:29:09.720 And in our messed up world of serial dating and hookups and promiscuity and things like that,

00:29:14.600 we tether ourselves emotionally and physically to too many people. And God didn't create our hearts

00:29:19.180 to be broken that way. But that initial just obsession that you have with the person, especially

00:29:24.940 the one that you end up spending the rest of your life with is good because it attaches you to them.

00:29:29.380 It encourages you to make promises to them, to stay with them forever. But we make those promises

00:29:34.620 with the acknowledgement that one day we won't always have every single second, those feelings

00:29:40.660 of obsession. Eventually, you're going to be okay with leaving for the day and you're not going to

00:29:45.920 be just aching and longing for them. You're going to be able to eat and sleep even when they go out

00:29:50.860 of town. You're going to get annoyed with them. Things that you never thought would annoy you when

00:29:54.880 you were dating start annoying you. They start getting on your nerves. You start becoming more

00:29:58.840 critical of them and you realize maybe you're even becoming more critical of yourself because neither of

00:30:04.440 you are who exactly you thought you were when you first met or something like that. Those kind

00:30:09.840 of things happen when you're living under the same roof and when you're committed to one another

00:30:13.500 and when you're sharing a space for that long with another, especially if you've been quarantining

00:30:19.520 with your significant other for the past several months with children. You learn things about each

00:30:25.100 other and you don't have 24-7 those feelings of obsession that you had when you are dating and you

00:30:31.560 barely even knew each other. Although, of course, you still have those feelings sometimes. C.S. Lewis

00:30:35.700 talks about how that kind of love, the kind of love that you choose, even in the moments where you

00:30:41.860 don't feel it, is the more important kind of love. That is the abiding kind of love. Love cannot just rest

00:30:49.560 on a feeling or else you will call it quits as soon as you don't feel good. Well, relationships don't

00:30:55.660 always feel good. Relationships are sometimes hard. Sometimes you disappoint each other. Sometimes you

00:31:00.960 persistently annoy one another. Sometimes things happen to where you really feel like you have to

00:31:09.220 choose. You have to say, okay, I am in this. I am committed forever. I made a promise. No matter how

00:31:16.220 you feel in the moment, you decide, okay, I am committed to this family because I made a promise

00:31:21.960 before God. I made a promise to this person. This act of persistent commitment is love. It's not

00:31:30.140 always a feeling. It is a choice of dedication and commitment. And it is also the choice. It reflects

00:31:38.280 the eternal choice, the unconditional, unwavering choice that God has made to love us. And so feelings

00:31:45.500 are important. I do think it's important to actually feel in love with the person that you're

00:31:50.460 going to marry. There are some people who say, no, just find a Christian and just marry them and

00:31:56.400 you'll make it work. I do not give that advice. This is something I talk about in my book. There's

00:32:01.940 kind of, I would say, a segment of evangelical Christianity who talks this way, who says,

00:32:07.120 just find a believer, get married, and you'll be fine. Stop being so picky. And I agree. You

00:32:11.460 shouldn't be picky about arbitrary stuff. Like if you find someone that you like who has brown eyes

00:32:16.480 instead of green eyes or something like that, then I think that you probably need to cross must-have 0.90

00:32:22.440 green eyes off of your list of people to marry. But you need to like the person. Like I remember

00:32:28.960 I've dated people, dated seriously some people that, you know, were Christians. We could have

00:32:34.800 gotten married. And I just couldn't bring myself to love them. I just didn't feel that way about

00:32:40.460 them. And I just think the Lord that I didn't marry that person. I didn't marry those people

00:32:44.860 because the feelings just weren't there. And I just knew that there was this nagging feeling in me

00:32:50.020 that I had to convince myself that I liked them. I had to convince myself that I had fun with them.

00:32:54.340 I had to convince myself that we made each other laugh. And really, we did it. And I wanted someone

00:32:58.900 and I had to remind myself that I wasn't shallow for wanting someone who appreciated my humor. I

00:33:05.620 appreciate their humor, who liked some of the things that I like, who could have, you know,

00:33:10.080 a conversation with me and that I really felt like I could click with. I remember before I met my

00:33:17.000 husband thinking, oh, you know, I'm just being picky. I don't need to care about those things. I

00:33:20.720 just need to find someone who loves the Lord and will make it work and have babies. Oh my goodness. 0.94

00:33:25.800 I'm so glad I didn't follow through with that. You need to like and to be in love with the person

00:33:30.340 that you're going to spend the rest of your life with. And there will be days, of course, where you

00:33:34.660 don't feel like you like them and you choose to love them. There are going to be times when it's

00:33:38.580 really, really hard where one of you is going through something or whatever it is, you're going

00:33:43.480 through a conflict. You have to choose to love that person. But I think it's a gift of God that

00:33:47.840 he also gives us the capacity to passionately and romantically love the people that we are going to

00:33:52.380 spend the rest of our life with. So we will then be compelled to make that choice to love them

00:33:56.820 consistently and persistently, no matter what we feel for the rest of our lives. And so I would say

00:34:02.260 it's both. Okay, a couple more questions. So a lot of you have been asking me about Jordan Peterson

00:34:08.960 and what I think about Jordan Peterson. So Jordan Peterson is, you guys probably know, he's a

00:34:17.080 psychologist, I believe, from Canada. And he's written several books and his talks on YouTube

00:34:25.340 have just gone viral. And he truly has helped a lot of people. Like if you read the testimonies,

00:34:32.520 for lack of a better word, of people who have read his books, like 12 Rules for Life, for example,

00:34:37.700 or have followed him, listened to his lectures and have decided to apply his Rules for Life to their

00:34:44.960 own life, like their lives have changed for the better. They became more responsible. They let go

00:34:50.980 of their addiction to porn, addiction to drugs. They reconciled with their estranged father,

00:34:55.320 whatever it is. There's a lot of people that attribute to Jordan Peterson in some ways,

00:35:03.300 and I'm using intentionally these religious terms, their salvation. And that is because I think

00:35:09.480 Jordan Peterson, whether he realizes it or not, and I think in a lot of cases he does, he espouses a lot

00:35:15.180 of biblical ideas, biblical ideas of personal responsibility, biblical ideas of forgiveness and

00:35:21.540 reconciliation and putting your life in order of working hard. And so I think the helpfulness and

00:35:27.960 the effectiveness that Jordan Peterson gives is not primarily, it's not just philosophical,

00:35:33.460 but it's actually theological and biblical, even if he is not ascribing his advice to the Bible.

00:35:42.040 Now, he does actually reference the Bible in a lot of his work. I think that he likes a lot of parts of

00:35:48.320 the Christian worldview, even if he wouldn't call himself a Christian. Now, I don't think that any

00:35:53.820 speaker or any author is ever going to be a replacement for Christianity. I appreciate how he has 0.60

00:36:00.940 pointed so many young men, it seems like, in the right direction. I don't know if you guys heard, but

00:36:05.500 Penguin Random House in Canada, when they heard that apparently Penguin is going to publish the next

00:36:11.000 book, Jordan Peterson's next book, there was wailing and gnashing of teeth, literal tears, by a lot of the

00:36:17.400 employees because Jordan Peterson has apparently negatively affected their life. Now, that is

00:36:23.000 probably because he has talked about things about how white privilege he doesn't believe is real. And

00:36:29.780 so people are offended by things like that. But it's amazing how polarizing he actually is when

00:36:37.100 he doesn't come across as a polarizing guy at all. So yeah, I appreciate a lot about what Jordan

00:36:42.520 Peterson is and does. And I agree with a lot of what he is. But he's not coming from a biblical

00:36:47.320 perspective. So I'm certainly not going to agree on all of it. And I would encourage people to make sure

00:36:52.180 that anything that he says or offers anyone, not just him, that contradicts the Word of God,

00:36:57.680 if you are a Christian, then that's not something that you need to abide by. Anything that anyone 0.69

00:37:03.020 advises you to do, whether it's me, him, someone else, or points you in the direction of that is

00:37:09.120 not biblical, that's something that you want to reject. So Jordan Peterson or me or Ben Shapiro

00:37:14.560 or anyone else is never a replacement for Scripture, is never a replacement for following

00:37:20.520 Christ. But of course, anyone who is not coming from a biblical perspective, then everything that 0.98

00:37:25.640 especially then needs to be weighed by the Word of God. But I'm very thankful for a lot of the good

00:37:32.940 that he has done, just telling men to get their life in order and to clean their rooms and to care

00:37:37.980 about relationships. I mean, that's just good practical advice that I think is really helpful for men who are

00:37:44.220 searching for meaning. He realizes there is a crisis of masculinity, especially in the West,

00:37:49.300 and that men need purpose, that they need order. And that, in a lot of cases, they're not getting

00:37:55.280 that kind of tough love from the world. And he has provided that. He has become like a father figure

00:38:00.400 to a lot of men who feel like they're just wandering and purposeless. And I think that is good in its

00:38:08.360 place. Obviously, that doesn't heal the soul sickness that only Christ can heal.

00:38:14.220 Okay, let's see. So someone asked, if my company has put CRT, that's critical race theory, 0.95

00:38:23.440 in its mandatory yearly training, what should I do? So I think that, so we've talked about this a

00:38:30.200 little bit before we've talked about, we did a whole episode on critical race theory,

00:38:33.240 done several episodes on it now, and different interviews and things from experts. But I think that

00:38:40.460 one thing that you can do is you can see if there's anyone who shares your concerns, you can kind of

00:38:46.260 prod around and see if anyone understands some of the dangers of critical race theory. And you can see

00:38:53.540 if you can band together and to address your concerns to your employer, or to simply ask questions in the

00:38:59.480 training, to ask questions, okay, clarify, ask for the definition of terms, ask for, okay, if they're

00:39:06.800 saying that, wow, this company has been systemically racist, ask how? And ask, ask questions about the

00:39:14.260 practices that they are proposing. Unfortunately, what we've seen through studies is that, quote,

00:39:19.380 implicit bias training has actually resulted in some cases in explicit bias training because, or explicit

00:39:27.380 bias, because people, when they're told that they're actually implicitly racist, well, they start

00:39:34.460 obsessing with that. They start to resent themselves, and they start to resent other people. They start

00:39:39.300 fearing being around people that don't look like them because they're afraid of accidentally saying

00:39:43.680 or doing something racist because they've just been told that subconsciously they're racist people.

00:39:48.480 And so all of this CRT training is only going to create more disparate outcomes. It's only going to

00:39:54.520 create more bias, unfortunately. It's only going to create more division. Remember, CRT as a subset of

00:40:01.040 Marxism does not, in its nature, have the power to reconcile or to build. It only has the power to

00:40:07.020 deconstruct. It is a deconstructive worldview. It seeks to divide people into different categories,

00:40:13.760 and as such, by nature, it does not have the ability to bring together. So it will tear apart

00:40:18.240 companies. It will tear apart countries. It will tear apart families. So I would encourage you,

00:40:23.600 if you can, to resist it, to speak up in a way that is thoughtful, in a way that is kind,

00:40:28.840 in a way that comes across as curious and not bombastic and not dogmatic, and to see if you

00:40:34.900 can form any kind of alliance in your company to push back. That doesn't mean that you can't talk

00:40:40.100 about racism in your company. That doesn't mean that you can't talk about treating everyone fairly

00:40:45.920 and honorably and equally in your company. I think that that is all a good thing. But make them be very

00:40:51.580 specific in identifying the problems that they say that their company is having. Make them be

00:40:55.560 very specific in subscribing to certain solutions. Make them define all of their terms. Ask clarifying

00:41:02.500 questions at every single turn. There's a chance that people will get mad at you because people just

00:41:08.500 like imbibing mainstream nonsense so as not to stir the pot at all. But I think, obviously, that is an

00:41:18.400 issue. There's so many other questions. So many other questions that I want to answer, but I think

00:41:24.600 that we're out of time. I do want to leave you with a little bit of encouragement. So I gave you guys

00:41:30.900 some recommendations for Advent Studies. It's in a highlight bubble on my Instagram. I know it's kind

00:41:39.520 of a little bit late to start Advent Studies, but recommendations for next year. You can look

00:41:45.540 into that. I think that even over the next few days, as we are listening to sermons, as we're

00:41:51.560 reading books, as we're looking at different posts on Instagram about what Christmas really means,

00:41:56.960 that we need to remember to weigh everything that we read, everything that we hear, including on this

00:42:02.180 podcast, another podcast, any social media posts that you hear. Ask yourself if what this person is

00:42:09.100 saying about the meaning of Christmas, is it pointing me to the glory of Christ and who he is,

00:42:14.120 or is it trying to point me to myself? Is it emphasizing me and my identity, either my failures

00:42:24.120 or greatness, or is it pointing me to glorify and to worship Christ? Is what they're saying biblical?

00:42:30.200 Is the scripture that they are using actually interpreted in context in accordance with the rest of

00:42:35.860 scripture? Or are they picking and choosing verses according to what they, you know, the message

00:42:42.840 that they want to relay that may or may not be biblical? So let's make sure that our worship of

00:42:47.040 the Lord, that our reading of scripture, that our reading of devotionals over the next few days,

00:42:53.380 that our celebration of Christmas is rooted in the gospel, is rooted in the word of God, is rooted

00:42:59.960 in our desire to glorify Christ the same way that the angels did when they presented the good news

00:43:06.320 to the shepherds. May we be just as in awe, just as wonder-filled, just as excited that Emmanuel has

00:43:21.260 come, that God with us is here, and that he lived that life, that he didn't have to live and died that

00:43:27.420 death, that he didn't have to die on our behalf. We should be as excited as the shepherds were,

00:43:33.780 as adoring as those kings were, as in awe as Mary and Joseph were. So, sorry, not the kings, the wise men.

00:43:45.300 Okay, I want to read you, I want to read you two lyrics of my favorite Christmas songs. I won't sing it

00:43:52.040 for you because I actually want you to have a good day. But I'm going to sing, or I'm going to read

00:43:57.420 you some of these lyrics to put you in, to give you some Christmas cheer. So one of my favorite

00:44:06.320 songs is Come Thou Long Expected Jesus. The other one of my favorite songs, I know it's classic,

00:44:11.940 it's probably most of y'all's favorite song too, O Holy Night. But I want to read you one of the

00:44:18.260 stanzas that I don't think is often sung of O Holy Night. And I love this one. He knows our need,

00:44:24.260 to our weakness, no stranger. Behold your king, before him lowly bend. Behold your king, your king

00:44:30.840 before him bend. I love that because he is no stranger to our weakness, and yet he is a king

00:44:36.700 that we are bowing down to. How many kings can we say that of today? How many rulers and politicians

00:44:41.880 can we say that of today? Truly he taught us to love one another. His law is love, and his gospel is

00:44:47.840 peace. Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother, and in his name all oppression shall

00:44:54.880 cease. I love this because this is what Christianity has always been. It's always been about making the 1.00

00:45:03.520 slave and the free person equal in God's sight. It has always been about reconciling a weary world to

00:45:14.200 a holy God, sinners, rebels, to a holy and wrathful God, and thereby reconciling people into very

00:45:23.680 disparate, different stations here on earth. There has always been an end to oppression where

00:45:30.320 Christianity has thrived. There has always been freedom. There has always been equality where the

00:45:36.400 gospel takes root. Sweet hymns of joy and grateful chorus raise we. Let all within us praise his holy

00:45:42.320 name. Christ is the Lord. Then ever, ever praise we. His power and glory evermore proclaim. His power

00:45:48.940 and glory evermore proclaim. That is what we have to look forward to. That is the hope that we have,

00:45:57.060 that God is in control, that he is on his throne. Christmas reminds us of that, that he is

00:46:03.680 completely sovereign, that he is in complete and total authority. And that is what we have to look

00:46:11.500 forward to. And that is where our steadfastness and our steadiness and our joy comes from. I also

00:46:17.620 encourage, I'm not going to read all the lyrics because we're out of time, but I encourage you

00:46:21.520 to read the lyrics of Come Thou Long Expected Jesus. We are still expecting the coming of the King

00:46:30.160 again here. And we are still saying, please come rescue us from this evil and from this wickedness

00:46:36.800 and from this anxiety and the burdens that the world has placed on us and free us once and for all

00:46:41.840 from your enemies so we can worship you in perfect peace forever and ever in the new heavens and the

00:46:47.140 new earth. That is what we long for. And so this come that long expected Jesus, it wasn't, it's not just

00:46:52.840 speaking of Israel who is expecting their King. It is speaking of us, God's people today, still longing

00:47:00.800 for the coming again of Christ. Okay, that's all I have for us today. Merry Christmas. I hope you have

00:47:07.760 a great rest of your day.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - December 21, 2020

Ep 341 ｜ Christmas Encouragement & Listener Questions

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