Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 432 ｜ Was Jesus a Capitalist？｜ Q&A

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable.

00:00:11.660 Today we are doing a Q&A where I answer the questions that you guys sent me on Instagram.

00:00:18.760 Thank you guys so much for sending me such thoughtful questions.

00:00:22.280 Here's a good question.

00:00:23.500 Someone asked, has humanity changed since biblical times?

00:00:27.160 I would say no.

00:00:27.900 I would echo Ecclesiastes in saying that nothing is new under the sun.

00:00:32.680 Now has technology changed?

00:00:34.580 Yes.

00:00:34.920 Have societies changed in some ways because of technology and just because of globalism,

00:00:40.720 the discovery of the world and the interconnecting of different cultures and different kinds

00:00:44.880 of people, the evolution of language?

00:00:48.360 Yes, of course, those things have changed.

00:00:50.860 But of course we know that one, Jesus Christ stays the same.

00:00:53.900 He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

00:00:55.660 Um, and also like we know that, you know, God is the great I am.

00:01:01.800 So he's suspended in the eternal now.

00:01:04.140 He's not I was, he's not I will be, he is I am.

00:01:08.040 He transcends time and space.

00:01:10.140 And so what we see is a long length of time.

00:01:12.780 For him, for him, it's just a blot.

00:01:15.040 It's just a dot on the span of, um, of eternity.

00:01:21.120 Humans have changed in the ways that I just explained.

00:01:24.600 But human nature, I don't think has changed.

00:01:27.960 Like if we look at some of the ancient cultures and we look at some of the ancient societies

00:01:33.220 and the ancient sins that were written about in the Bible that were written about, um, by

00:01:37.980 historians.

00:01:38.920 If we read about, for example, like Pompeii, some of the terrible degeneracy and the perversion

00:01:45.760 and the sexual immorality and the enslavement and the barbarism that was pervasive in, for

00:01:52.720 example, ancient Rome in the, um, in the, in the, in their forms of entertainment.

00:01:59.680 I mean, that was barbaric immorality, probably what we would see at its worst.

00:02:06.900 If we see, if we look at what Nero did to the Christians and how wicked of a leader was,

00:02:12.320 he was, if we look at, um, a variety of different events and different kinds of kingdoms and regimes

00:02:19.000 over the span of history, we see that evil has prevailed for many years and many different

00:02:25.260 times in, in many different regions of the world and things have gotten better than they've

00:02:31.820 gotten worse.

00:02:32.740 And it just seems like the different forms of immorality and the different forms of perversion,

00:02:39.840 the different forms of degeneracy and hatred and war and violence have gotten better and

00:02:45.780 worse, better and worse throughout history.

00:02:49.000 God has remained the same.

00:02:50.780 Human beings just simply, simply go through these different, uh, cycles of societal downfall

00:02:58.460 and then societal improvement based on the principles that they decide to build their

00:03:04.040 civilizations and their societies and primarily their families on.

00:03:08.520 Um, and I think it's the same today.

00:03:10.500 Again, we have different tools.

00:03:11.880 We have maybe different curriculum.

00:03:13.440 We have different language.

00:03:14.820 We have different, uh, technology, but it's still the same.

00:03:18.520 Like we are still striving after idols.

00:03:21.300 We are still allowing ourselves to devolve into degeneracy, whether it's sexually or

00:03:28.300 otherwise.

00:03:29.480 Um, and so I don't think that there's anything new that is happening today as wicked as it

00:03:34.300 seems, um, um, that has not happened or is not happening.

00:03:37.920 It hasn't happened in other parts of the world.

00:03:40.160 And even in this part of the world at various points in history, evil just kind of takes on

00:03:45.720 different forms according to different people, different culture, different times. 0.98

00:03:50.900 Um, but it's all the same recycled garbage. 0.98

00:03:54.080 I remember hearing someone say that like Satan, the serpent might be clever, but he's not creative. 0.88

00:04:00.900 Like he doesn't really come up with new ways to tempt us.

00:04:04.460 Every temptation since the garden of Eden, like every spiral into immorality and rebellion

00:04:10.680 from God has started with the question that he asked Eve, did God really say?

00:04:15.800 And that's the same thing today.

00:04:18.980 When we are questioning God's authority, when we are questioning his definitions of what is

00:04:23.440 right, what is wrong, did God really say that it will always lead us to calling evil good

00:04:30.020 and calling good evil.

00:04:32.340 And I certainly think that we are, um, we're running fast in that direction in this country

00:04:37.860 today.

00:04:38.280 If we're not already there, maybe we're past the point of no return.

00:04:42.460 John MacArthur has talked about that this country is already under judgment and we have wicked

00:04:49.200 leaders making wicked decisions.

00:04:51.100 We're in a post-truth society, and this is just another season of world history of, um,

00:04:59.160 that's going to lead to, um, that's going to lead to major suffering because of human rebellion.

00:05:06.360 So we don't know what's going to happen in the future.

00:05:09.380 We don't know if God will have mercy on us and spare us from that kind of fate.

00:05:13.720 I pray that he does.

00:05:15.040 I pray for our leaders all the time, that they would have wisdom and compassion and make good

00:05:18.600 decisions for the people in this country, that they would execute real biblical justice,

00:05:24.280 that they would seek real biblical truth.

00:05:27.340 Um, that's not what we're seeing exemplified, of course, from our leaders right now.

00:05:31.880 Um, but that is what I pray for.

00:05:34.400 So I don't know.

00:05:35.380 It's kind of comforting that human nature hasn't really changed, that there has been this kind

00:05:39.280 of wickedness before, but it's, I mean, it's also obviously very troubling, but through

00:05:43.980 it all, the answer to the wickedness that is in the human heart has been and will be

00:05:49.840 Jesus Christ.

00:05:50.980 Like it will always be God's redemption.

00:05:53.400 It will always be God who can make hearts of stones into hearts, uh, of flesh, hearts

00:05:59.380 that want to follow him, hearts that want to emulate him, hearts, um, that wants to create

00:06:05.440 a community that is based on the biblical values of love and charity and generosity and respect,

00:06:12.420 uh, that, uh, that Christianity gives us, that the Bible gives us.

00:06:18.480 And so because human nature doesn't change and because wickedness is always going to be

00:06:23.120 here, it's Christian's responsibilities to be that light that Jesus calls us to be, to

00:06:28.220 infuse every sphere in which we occupy with the light and the truth of the gospel, um, without

00:06:34.420 any trepidation and without any shame at all.

00:06:38.000 Um, all right, next question, um, generational trauma.

00:06:45.240 Is that something that is real?

00:06:47.680 Um, it depends on the context, I think.

00:06:50.880 So generational trauma in the sense that like your mom, for example, went through something

00:06:57.200 really traumatic and that experience then affected you and your family, or it affected her to

00:07:04.020 the point to where it affected you and your family, or even just hearing her tell about

00:07:09.260 some traumatic incident that she, uh, that she went through.

00:07:12.600 That's it, that could in effect traumatize you in a certain way.

00:07:18.080 Like that could have a negative effect on your mind.

00:07:21.220 And then you could deal with like secondhand trauma, um, or like listening to a grandparent.

00:07:28.240 For, for example, if you are someone who is black and you listen to a grandparent talk about

00:07:33.420 living in the Jim Crow South and talk about real institutional systemic racism and injustice that

00:07:38.860 existed then, you know, being hosed down with a fire hose for just trying to vote in the

00:07:44.620 Jim Crow South, that kind of story could affect you and could traumatize you in a certain way to

00:07:50.040 where you are carrying something that other people whose grandparents did not experience that

00:07:54.740 are not carrying.

00:07:55.920 Now there is also this kind of superstitious, um, talking about generational trauma that

00:08:02.840 I, that I see.

00:08:04.200 And that is like this idea that your ancestors have like spiritually passed down trauma to

00:08:11.200 you.

00:08:11.580 And just because like you hear a story about something that your great, great, great, great

00:08:15.840 grandmother endured that you are like carrying superstitiously, spiritually, like that piece

00:08:22.200 of trauma that you inherited it, that again is superstitious. 0.68

00:08:26.920 That's, that's nonsense.

00:08:28.220 Yes.

00:08:28.440 It, it could affect you mentally to hear that story, but to say that you have like inherited

00:08:34.260 the trauma from your ancestors and that that is burdening you and you are living that out

00:08:39.180 today, that is like a form of, um, I would say like necromancy.

00:08:44.340 That is a form of witchcraft and superstition that is not real.

00:08:48.780 There's certainly no biblical basis for it.

00:08:50.400 And of course the Bible speaks against necromancy and calls it evil and says that we shouldn't

00:08:56.060 have a part of it, but that is, that's more like that's mysticism.

00:09:01.140 That is, that's not real.

00:09:03.060 That's, that's just not real.

00:09:04.660 We don't have that kind of ability to inherit experiences of our ancestors.

00:09:13.640 And so when it comes to that kind of generational trauma, no, when it comes to hearing people that

00:09:20.340 you know, go through something real and traumatic, could that affect you?

00:09:24.160 Yes.

00:09:24.880 And it's not just people of color who would have that.

00:09:28.140 It's anyone whose grandparents, like if they were Soviet dissidents or they were your great

00:09:33.660 grandparents were, um, you know, Holocaust survivors, like having those stories passed

00:09:39.120 down, like in a tangible way.

00:09:41.380 Yes.

00:09:41.680 Of course that could affect you.

00:09:43.660 Um, that, that trauma of course should not define us.

00:09:48.340 Um, it can guide us and it can help us see things in a particular way and it can teach

00:09:54.260 us things.

00:09:55.440 Um, but we can't, we also can't say that it was the same thing as living through it.

00:09:59.760 I think that's diminishing the real lived experiences of our ancestors who lived through the things

00:10:06.340 that they are now telling us about, if that makes sense.

00:10:09.560 Um, all right.

00:10:12.500 Someone asks me, uh, what is purity culture?

00:10:17.220 So we actually did an episode titled purity culture, um, that you can go back and listen

00:10:21.660 to.

00:10:22.760 There's good parts of so-called purity culture, bad parts of so-called purity culture, um,

00:10:28.700 purity culture.

00:10:29.700 Like that's such a trend to put culture at the end of something and then to make it sound

00:10:34.480 very controversial.

00:10:35.440 So I think there are, I grew up Southern Baptist and so I know what people are talking about.

00:10:41.660 They're talking about the kind of nonsense that's like, as soon as you, um, make out

00:10:47.000 with a boy, you're less valuable.

00:10:48.500 You're not going to want to, you're not marriage material anymore and you're not worthy and you

00:10:55.120 are degraded.

00:10:56.060 You're kind of like this flower that has been picked apart that no one wants anymore.

00:11:01.140 That is a part of what young people are told.

00:11:05.560 Like you guys know, I'm not like some deconstructivist ex-evangelical who is just trying to speak

00:11:11.460 out against the toxicity of Southern Baptist culture.

00:11:15.160 But like, I remember my friends and me as, and as teenagers reading, um, reading this book

00:11:23.080 called Datable that said, basically like the more you do with a guy, the more you are like

00:11:29.180 a used car.

00:11:31.000 And, um, the more a car is used, the more their value goes down and the less someone will want

00:11:36.700 it.

00:11:37.120 Well, that is counter to the regenerative message of the gospel, um, that once you are in Christ,

00:11:45.020 once you are in Christ, your past sins, they don't define you.

00:11:48.720 They don't mar you.

00:11:50.140 They don't devalue you.

00:11:51.600 There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ and the righteousness and the purity

00:11:55.540 that you have is given to you by Christ.

00:11:58.880 So if you are someone who you had sex, you did whatever before you became a Christian, 0.88

00:12:03.960 once you become a Christian, like you're, you're not your old self anymore. 1.00

00:12:09.160 You don't carry around, um, you know, like a used car tag that says all of the ways that

00:12:15.740 you have been used, like that is not the gospel.

00:12:19.500 And if you are acceptable enough to the God of the universe, because of the righteousness

00:12:24.400 and the purity that Christ has transferred to you by his death on the cross, then you

00:12:29.980 are acceptable period.

00:12:31.880 So for a sinful man to say, you're not acceptable to me because of the things that you did before

00:12:36.440 you're a Christian or whatever, um, is to put himself in a place that's higher than 0.97

00:12:42.340 God, because God has said that you are acceptable to him through Christ.

00:12:46.160 He has made you pure.

00:12:47.200 Now, I still think talking about sexual purity is very important. 0.92

00:12:51.980 I mean, the Bible talks about sexual, uh, sexual purity and sexual immorality very blatantly.

00:12:58.740 Jesus talks about the importance of, of faithfulness in marriage as he describes marriage, for example,

00:13:05.540 in Matthew 19.

00:13:06.640 And so, and first Corinthians six, nine says that the, you know, the body is a temple of

00:13:12.740 the Holy spirit.

00:13:13.980 First Corinthians talks a lot about sexual immorality and why it's important to honor 0.99

00:13:17.680 our bodies and what holy sexuality is supposed to look like.

00:13:20.940 But I think purity culture back in the day, nine eighties, nineties, early two, early two thousands,

00:13:28.780 they focused on the devaluation of an image bearer because they made out too much or because

00:13:35.580 they had sex or something and they focused on the consequences of it and not on the why,

00:13:42.220 like, why do we remain pure in the sense?

00:13:45.940 And I don't even necessarily like that term because we're made pure in Christ, but like,

00:13:49.600 why do we abstain from sex before we get married?

00:13:53.920 Like, why do we treat our bodies as temples of the Holy spirit?

00:13:57.240 Why do we not let ourselves be used by guys?

00:13:59.620 Like, why do we honor our bodies as constant, like consecrating our bodies to the Lord is

00:14:06.400 living sacrifices.

00:14:07.460 Why do we do these things?

00:14:08.760 It's not because it's not just to make yourself more valuable to a husband one day.

00:14:13.700 Like it's not to make yourself look more presentable to a man.

00:14:19.880 It is because God loves you and you love God and because he created you and he knows what's

00:14:25.280 best for your body.

00:14:26.420 And he says, this is not just how you honor me.

00:14:28.700 This is not just how you glorify me, but this is also how you honor the wonderful and fearfully

00:14:34.060 made body that I gave you.

00:14:36.320 This is what's going to be best for you spiritually, emotionally, physically.

00:14:40.340 If you follow these guidelines for sex, God says, this is what I have for you because

00:14:45.180 I love you and cherish you so much because you are so incredibly, um, worth dying for.

00:14:54.160 God said incredibly, not because of anything we bring to the table, but because of his grace.

00:14:59.120 Um, and because I died for you and now you are mine.

00:15:02.960 I have made you my child.

00:15:04.600 I have given you a new self.

00:15:06.000 This is how you are to live in a way that brings me glory and is good for you.

00:15:11.220 So this is why it's not because God will love you less or your husband will love you less.

00:15:16.900 If you make out with too many guys in high school, it's because God knows what is best

00:15:22.400 for us as our creator.

00:15:24.480 And he knows what's best for our hearts and best for our bodies and best for our spirits

00:15:28.760 and best for our minds.

00:15:29.980 Now, I'm not saying that no one was taught that correctly in the Southern Baptist world

00:15:34.840 and no one was taught that correctly in the Christian church.

00:15:37.300 I actually think it's very overblown the toxicity of purity culture today.

00:15:43.000 And it's also the people who typically are criticizing purity culture, which we have criticized

00:15:48.700 parts of purity culture on this podcast before are typically the ones who are saying that anything

00:15:53.740 goes like anything should go as far as so-called sex work, as far as any form of sexuality, as

00:16:00.780 far as any sex or, you know, any sex partners you want to have, just go for it.

00:16:05.960 And that certainly is not where we need to go if you have problems with how you were taught

00:16:10.520 about sex in church.

00:16:11.880 Like, don't tell me that that kind of degeneracy is going to lead to whole and happy people

00:16:17.700 because it's not.

00:16:18.480 I still trust what God has to say about sex and what God has to say about the body because

00:16:23.140 he created me.

00:16:24.020 And so therefore, he knows what's best for me.

00:16:26.640 That should be the mentality.

00:16:29.000 It's not fear of worthlessness.

00:16:31.500 It's gratitude for worth.

00:16:33.780 Um, it's gratitude for the worth that God has given you through Christ.

00:16:37.640 It's not fear that you're going to be devalued or the fear that you're going to be devalued

00:16:42.560 that you don't go too far with guys in high school.

00:16:45.520 It is the gratitude for the value that God has said that you have, um, that you continue

00:16:51.480 to obey him and not just in the area of sex, but in all things.

00:16:55.060 So I think it's a shift in mentality that's probably, uh, that's probably necessary.

00:16:59.520 So next question, does it make sense to move if you don't like your state's current restrictions

00:17:18.160 or potential of future?

00:17:19.900 I think so.

00:17:21.060 I think so.

00:17:21.800 I think it's time to move to red states if you're a conservative person and just make

00:17:27.400 them redder.

00:17:28.200 I think that your life will be better.

00:17:29.760 I think that you'll be happier living around people that share a lot of your same values.

00:17:35.080 Um, unfortunately that's just kind of where we are as a country.

00:17:38.320 We're polarized and it's not getting any better.

00:17:41.220 And so you might as well keep the stronghold strong.

00:17:44.600 Like you're, if you're living in California, if you're living in Colorado, which used to

00:17:48.260 be a red state, they both used to be red states.

00:17:50.220 Interesting.

00:17:50.680 It's almost like there's a strategy behind it.

00:17:52.260 If you're living in a blue state, you're probably not going to make it red, but you can make 0.91

00:17:56.360 the red states redder and you can influence the state representatives, the state legislature

00:18:01.220 to pass good laws, um, and to affect change in the way that aligns with your values.

00:18:07.700 And so if you are living in a state that has draconian lockdowns that has ruined people's

00:18:13.000 lives and livelihoods for no scientific reason over the past, you know, more than a year,

00:18:18.720 and you don't see any end in sight and you just see things getting worse than I would

00:18:22.940 absolutely move.

00:18:24.220 If you can, I say move to red states, move to red communities, make them even redder and 0.99

00:18:29.880 more conservative strongholds.

00:18:32.040 Let's see.

00:18:32.860 Next question.

00:18:35.420 Okay.

00:18:35.760 Do you think Jesus was a capitalist?

00:18:40.340 Um, well, Jesus was not first, let me say Jesus was not a socialist or a communist as

00:18:45.140 we've talked about many times in this podcast, socialism and communism.

00:18:48.720 Is the government forcing you to give up your capital, forcing you to give up your money

00:18:53.980 and your property, and then redistributing it that to other people who did not earn it

00:18:58.000 in the hopes of creating total and complete equality.

00:19:01.140 Scandinavian countries are not socialistic.

00:19:03.620 They've got large welfare states, but they've got a flat tax.

00:19:06.840 So everyone, no matter how much you make, pays 60% in taxes.

00:19:10.440 And most of those countries, um, are about 60% in taxes.

00:19:14.080 America has a very progressive tax rate.

00:19:16.540 Most of the taxes that are being paid in this country are actually by the top 25% earners.

00:19:22.800 So when people say the rich don't pay their fair share, the top half of Americans are pretty

00:19:27.800 much the only ones paying taxes.

00:19:30.500 Um, they're paying the larger bulk of the taxes in the country.

00:19:33.720 And so I just wanted to clear that up, but, um, socialism, it forcibly redistributes wealth

00:19:41.700 and it forcibly redistributes property in the hopes of keeping everyone the same, but it

00:19:46.360 always leads to misery.

00:19:47.580 It always leads to resentment.

00:19:49.080 It always leads to more greed and more oppression.

00:19:51.500 And the only people that get to keep their wealth are the ones at the very top, like Jeff

00:19:55.860 Bezos and all the people at the top of these corporations are not going to be the ones that

00:20:00.700 are hurt by socialism.

00:20:02.400 They're going to be able to continue to line their pockets.

00:20:05.060 The politicians are never the ones that are hurt by socialism.

00:20:07.920 That's why they're pro lockdown.

00:20:09.160 They don't care.

00:20:10.140 And these major corporations, they're pro lockdown.

00:20:12.320 They're fine.

00:20:13.460 Um, it's the small business owners.

00:20:15.000 It's the average working class people.

00:20:17.860 Um, it's the blue collar workers that are really affected by these kinds, um, these kinds

00:20:24.620 of policies.

00:20:25.160 So let me just clear that up.

00:20:27.020 That is what socialism is.

00:20:28.840 It's the forced redistribution, um, of wealth and property, hoping for total and complete

00:20:36.580 equality across the board.

00:20:37.920 It never leads to that.

00:20:39.120 We don't see that modeled at all in the life of Jesus.

00:20:42.660 He tells people to sell what they have and give it to the poor.

00:20:45.740 He encourages taking care of the poor.

00:20:48.140 He encourages you, um, even taking the clothes off your back and giving it to someone who needs

00:20:53.820 it.

00:20:54.080 But he does not advocate for the government confiscating these things, forcing you to give

00:21:00.320 up these things and then give it to other people.

00:21:01.980 The kind of generosity and charity that Jesus is calling us to is one that is inspired by

00:21:07.940 the Holy Spirit.

00:21:08.820 It is individual.

00:21:10.560 Um, it is voluntary.

00:21:13.380 It is not one that is forced by the state.

00:21:16.220 And so anyone who says Jesus was a communist or a socialist either has not read the Bible

00:21:20.980 or doesn't know what socialism and communism are.

00:21:23.740 So, uh, I would say that, that he's not a socialist or communist.

00:21:27.400 We don't see that anywhere in the Bible whatsoever, but we do actually see a protection and a preservation

00:21:33.080 and a premium placed on private property.

00:21:37.220 The idea that what's yours is yours.

00:21:39.320 What's mine is mine.

00:21:41.000 Two commandments in the Old Testament, as we've said, speak against the kind of covetousness

00:21:45.400 and theft that we see in socialistic, communistic societies, and that is do not steal and do

00:21:51.040 not covet.

00:21:52.040 So that means that God has placed legitimacy on private personal property, that what's mine

00:21:57.700 is mine.

00:21:58.360 What's yours is yours.

00:21:59.560 And not only am I not allowed to steal something that you have according to God.

00:22:03.840 And by the way, Christians still uphold the moral law of the 10 commandments.

00:22:08.560 These were fulfilled and doubled down on by Jesus, not done away with the way that the

00:22:13.420 ceremonial and cleansing laws were because Jesus became our cleansing.

00:22:16.560 And so we still abide by do not steal and do not covet.

00:22:20.200 That's reiterated throughout the New Testament, which means that there is legitimacy.

00:22:24.660 There is validity to private personal property.

00:22:27.880 There is validity.

00:22:28.780 There's legitimacy to what you earn and what you have being yours.

00:22:32.800 Not the state's, not mine.

00:22:35.220 And it's not even just wrong to forcibly take it.

00:22:38.900 And I'm not just talking about paying taxes, which Jesus says, render to Caesar what is

00:22:45.820 Caesar's, which is not even a conversation about taxes.

00:22:48.300 But anyway, I'm talking about, you know, actual theft and the theft of property and someone's

00:22:58.160 entire livelihood, whether it's by the state or whether it's by an individual.

00:23:02.380 That's wrong.

00:23:03.640 It's an injustice.

00:23:04.660 It's stealing.

00:23:05.640 And we're not just not supposed to steal.

00:23:07.900 The Bible also says we're not even supposed to want something that's not ours.

00:23:10.940 So that's how much God cares about someone's property is that you're not allowed to steal

00:23:15.540 it, but you're not even allowed to want it.

00:23:17.480 You're not even allowed to look at it and say, you know what?

00:23:19.900 That should be mine.

00:23:20.820 Or I really want that.

00:23:22.080 Or that's unfair that that person has that.

00:23:23.960 And I don't have that.

00:23:24.780 And I want that that's covetousness and God calls us against it.

00:23:28.260 And socialism and communism are only covetousness.

00:23:31.180 That's exactly what they are.

00:23:32.940 So to say that Jesus was a communist or a socialist, it just completely disregards any

00:23:38.040 kind of biblical theology or any understanding of what these institutions are and how they've

00:23:43.220 played out throughout history and how they play out economically today.

00:23:46.960 But the question was, is Jesus a capitalist?

00:23:51.040 It depends on what you mean by capitalist.

00:23:52.600 Obviously, I believe that he cares because he is God.

00:23:57.480 So we can't separate the God of the Old Testament from Jesus.

00:24:00.380 We believe that he endorses the commandments.

00:24:03.560 Obviously, we also see that in the Gospels.

00:24:07.400 And so, yes, of course, we believe that he cares in property and would not be for the

00:24:12.660 confiscation and redistribution of property.

00:24:15.880 But it depends on what you mean by is he a capitalist?

00:24:19.140 A lot of people equate capitalism with this love for the accumulation of wealth and greed.

00:24:26.920 And Jesus is against that.

00:24:29.340 The New Testament also says that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

00:24:35.880 So desiring to build up your treasure here on earth and desiring to hoard wealth for the

00:24:43.820 sake of your status or for the sake of your comfort and security, rather than being generous

00:24:48.640 with what God has graciously given you, is wrong.

00:24:52.160 But that's not what capitalism should actually equate to.

00:24:55.840 It's not the same thing as greed.

00:24:57.360 It's not the same thing as hoarding of wealth.

00:24:59.720 It is simply the freedom to be able to provide for you and provide for your family.

00:25:04.760 That might be a lot of money.

00:25:05.800 It might be a little money.

00:25:07.520 Capitalism allows you to be as greedy or as generous as you want to be.

00:25:11.400 It's not synonymous with being greedy.

00:25:14.100 In socialism, you don't have the freedom to be greedy or generous.

00:25:19.440 You can only be greedy.

00:25:20.840 You're only left with absolutely what you need.

00:25:23.460 And so there's no need and no desire for charity.

00:25:26.840 In capitalism, you can be extremely greedy.

00:25:29.500 That's true.

00:25:30.140 But you can also be extremely generous.

00:25:32.260 And it's the only system that actually allows that.

00:25:35.180 Um, so it, yeah, again, it just kind of depends on how you actually define, um, capitalists.

00:25:45.260 Do I think that he is someone who is like some, you know, serial entrepreneur who is trying

00:25:51.680 to make as much money as possible and instructing his followers to do that?

00:25:55.400 No, I don't.

00:25:57.200 But whereas socialism and communism are a system, capitalism is just what naturally happens.

00:26:03.980 I'm not talking about crony capitalism, which I think we have a lot of here in the United

00:26:07.200 States, but actual supply and demand.

00:26:09.900 I've talked to you before about how the stories that I've read from North Korea, where they

00:26:15.720 are completely indoctrinated with the wonders of communism from an early age.

00:26:19.900 And they're told about the evils of imperialistic Japan in the United States, the evils of capitalism

00:26:24.720 and how North Korea is this wonderful place of abundance.

00:26:27.440 Even while they are starving and they are being oppressed and they are being jailed for any

00:26:31.940 kind of dissent or complaint, they're also being told that communism is amazing.

00:26:35.840 Well, while they were starving, particularly in the famine, I think in the late 90s, they

00:26:41.920 started smuggling or getting food smuggled from China and then selling it in these illegal

00:26:47.740 black markets in North Korea.

00:26:49.580 And what did they do?

00:26:50.580 They bought and they sold and they traded and they set the value of things.

00:26:56.220 And there was a supply and demand free market, even though it was illegal, within these small

00:27:05.260 communities in North Korea.

00:27:06.760 They didn't learn about the economics of supply and demand.

00:27:10.060 Like they didn't learn about how capitalism worked.

00:27:12.760 They didn't know anything about the marketplace or about economics.

00:27:16.040 And yet they created basically this microcosm of capitalism based on need.

00:27:24.080 That's what capitalism does.

00:27:25.500 It is a system in its natural form based on need.

00:27:29.540 Now, again, there's crony capitalism and all of these things that come into play today.

00:27:35.280 Corporatism that we see so much and so terrifyingly in the United States today.

00:27:40.360 That is not necessarily just a that's that's not just capitalism.

00:27:45.500 But if you're talking about capitalism in the sense that it's just the free market of

00:27:49.720 supply and demand and meeting people's demand with supply that you can see naturally sprout

00:27:56.580 up anywhere there isn't anywhere there is a need and anywhere there is a supply.

00:28:01.960 So that's not a system.

00:28:03.840 So I couldn't say that Jesus is against that natural occurrence of supply and demand in capitalism

00:28:12.140 that we see in countries that have never even learned what capitalism is, because that

00:28:16.920 seems to be just a part of human nature.

00:28:18.680 That seems to be a part of the mind that God just gave us.

00:28:23.580 So, yeah, but I don't I don't like putting Jesus into like any particular political or economic

00:28:29.720 category.

00:28:30.260 I don't say he's a Republican.

00:28:32.020 I don't say certainly that he's Democrat.

00:28:34.380 I don't say that he's either of those because he transcends all of it.

00:28:39.940 Like he's the creator and the sustainer of the universe.

00:28:42.900 And he's too big for our political boxes.

00:28:45.480 Like he is the God of the universe, not just the God of America.

00:28:48.440 To think that he could be in any way placed in these small boxes of our our categories of

00:28:55.760 how we understand the world is just to not not comprehend his infiniteness, which we

00:29:03.140 can't comprehend it.

00:29:04.060 But to try to make him smaller by putting him into our categories, I think, is wrong.

00:29:08.700 So he transcends all of it.

00:29:09.960 All I know is that he is perfectly good.

00:29:11.620 He is perfectly just.

00:29:12.680 He created us.

00:29:13.540 He says what is and what isn't, what's right and what's wrong, what's good and what's bad.

00:29:16.560 And I will defer to him in all things.

00:29:19.340 All right.

00:29:20.020 I think that we got time for a couple more questions.

00:29:25.340 OK, so I got two questions on this.

00:29:27.540 So apparently there's like this TikTok video going around saying that Jesus was a racist

00:29:31.400 that he called.

00:29:33.300 I think I'm not even looking at it.

00:29:35.100 I'm just thinking about this like spontaneously.

00:29:36.860 I think the video was about the story with Jesus talking to a woman who came to Jesus and

00:29:43.020 was like and Jesus basically at first answered her like, why would why would I allow you to

00:29:50.460 take part?

00:29:52.080 Why would I allow you to take part of something that is actually for Israel and basically called

00:29:57.580 her a dog? 0.77

00:29:58.840 And she was like, oh, I just want the crumbs from your table. 0.99

00:30:01.860 And then he was amazed by her faith.

00:30:03.640 Um, he I think that that is the story that he's referencing, that this TikToker is referencing

00:30:09.420 when he says Jesus is racist and then repented of that.

00:30:12.380 And he's talking about repentance.

00:30:13.860 That's not the first time that I've heard a so-called progressive Christian talk about

00:30:17.900 Jesus's repentance.

00:30:19.700 Jesus did not repent.

00:30:21.400 He's never repented because Jesus didn't sin.

00:30:24.160 But again, progressive Christians often, not always, but often don't see Jesus as a perfect

00:30:30.200 savior.

00:30:30.640 They see him more as an example or an activist or just an imperfect guy who really just represents

00:30:36.940 all of us.

00:30:38.180 So he's really just kind of this guy that we can learn from that had good teachings,

00:30:42.580 but wasn't God himself.

00:30:44.360 And therefore, we don't have to hold him to different standards than we hold ourselves.

00:30:48.180 And obviously, that is a mistaken, completely unbiblical, self-contrived view of Jesus that

00:30:53.500 is imaginary.

00:30:54.880 I mean, that's like worshiping Barney.

00:30:56.640 There's like, there's no reality or substance to that Jesus when you create a Jesus of your

00:31:01.460 own imagination, not the Jesus that the church fathers understood and have always understood

00:31:06.760 through scripture and through special revelation.

00:31:10.780 And so, yeah, I've heard this before, this idea of repenting, that Jesus repented from sin.

00:31:18.700 Well, Jesus never sinned.

00:31:20.580 He who knew no sin took on our sin so that we could become the righteousness of God.

00:31:28.000 He was sinless.

00:31:29.880 He was the spotless lamb.

00:31:31.460 That is how he was able to accomplish propitiation.

00:31:35.500 That's how he was able to accomplish reconciliation because he was our perfect sacrifice.

00:31:41.660 And because he is God made flesh and died to death, he didn't have to die after living a

00:31:50.240 life that he didn't have to live and rising from the dead, conquering sin and death.

00:31:55.980 We are given, believers are given his righteousness and his perfection and therefore his acceptance

00:32:01.460 before God.

00:32:03.540 And so not understanding that, not understanding his divinity, not understanding his perfection,

00:32:08.400 not understanding his sinlessness means that you don't understand the sacrifice, which

00:32:12.280 means you don't understand what God did for us, which means you don't understand Christianity.

00:32:15.320 You don't understand the cross.

00:32:17.040 You don't understand the gospel.

00:32:18.500 You don't understand what anything about the faith is.

00:32:22.320 Anything that Jesus did, anything that Jesus said was done in perfect righteousness.

00:32:26.840 Now, I think the realization that we need to see in a story like this or in any of the

00:32:31.860 stories of Jesus is that Jesus wasn't just this nice guy.

00:32:34.900 Like people also love to think of Jesus as just this like very nice, gentle guy that

00:32:40.300 was just always like his tone was always perfect and he was just completely unoffensive.

00:32:44.860 That's not what we see in scripture about Jesus.

00:32:48.480 Like there are parts when there's times that I read Jesus's words where I'm like, man, that's

00:32:53.120 really harsh.

00:32:54.540 Like that's super intense.

00:32:56.940 That's wow.

00:32:58.460 I wouldn't have said it that way or like that hurts my feelings or whatever.

00:33:01.740 Like Jesus was not Mr. Nice guy.

00:33:04.000 He was kind, of course, exceedingly kind and compassionate and loving.

00:33:08.420 Of course, that's who he is.

00:33:10.380 God is love.

00:33:11.380 Jesus is love.

00:33:13.620 But was he this nice, nice guy?

00:33:16.680 No, I don't.

00:33:17.600 We don't we don't see that in scripture.

00:33:19.240 And so it might just be that this particular passage makes people who see Jesus like that

00:33:24.440 uncomfortable.

00:33:26.020 But it doesn't mean that he is human, that he's finite, that he's fallible and that he

00:33:30.200 sinned and needed to repent of it.

00:33:31.500 It just means that in his perfection, he chose to do this, which means that it wasn't a sin.

00:33:36.080 Like we have to start from we have to start from the knowledge that Jesus is perfect and

00:33:40.560 sinless and then go from there.

00:33:42.140 And therefore, everything that he says and everything that he does is in truth and in

00:33:46.240 love.

00:33:47.820 So I hope that's an adequate response.

00:33:49.780 All right.

00:33:50.260 I think that that is all that we have time for today.

00:33:54.700 Thank you so much for listening and we will be back here soon.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - June 03, 2021

Ep 432 ｜ Was Jesus a Capitalist？｜ Q&A

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - June 03, 2021

Ep 432 ｜ Was Jesus a Capitalist？ ｜ Q&A

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript

Ep 432 ｜ Was Jesus a Capitalist？｜ Q&A