Ep 437 ｜ Does Conservatism Have Room for Both Christians & Atheists？ ｜ Q&A
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
167.36584
Summary
In this episode, I answer a question that has been on my mind a lot lately. Do you think the church has done a good job of talking about physical health in the context of sexual purity in the Christian church?
Transcript
00:00:00.000
Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy whatever day it is. As I'm recording this, I don't
00:00:16.340
know what day this episode is going to come out. I hope you guys have been enjoying our
00:00:22.100
evergreen episodes, all of the interviews and some of the topics and the Q&As that we've
00:00:29.080
been doing. You guys ask awesome questions and it's been fun to answer them. Today, I'm
00:00:34.420
going to answer some more of your questions. You guys sent me some fun ones and I'm going
00:00:39.840
to answer this question, which I thought was interesting. I've never really thought about.
00:00:44.680
And the question is, do I think the church has dropped the ball on talking about physical
00:00:50.260
health? That's probably true. Now, as I answer these, I typically answer them pretty extemporaneously.
00:00:57.380
Like I'm just kind of answering as it comes to mind. And so I'm not, you know, I haven't
00:01:03.040
sat down and written out my entire answer for this. But as I'm thinking about it, it does
00:01:07.900
seem that, yes, we talk about sexual purity in the church, which is something obviously
00:01:14.720
that I think is very important. The Bible emphasizes that. The New Testament, Jesus himself emphasizes
00:01:20.700
that. And so of course that's important. But if you look at one of the verses that we typically
00:01:27.620
point to when we're talking about sexual purity, 1 Corinthians 6, 19, that our body as Christians
00:01:32.980
is a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit. That also means if our body is a dwelling place for the Holy
00:01:38.420
Spirit, as Christians say, like our body is a temple and we're supposed to treat it as such.
00:01:42.380
And one of the ways that we treat it well is by avoiding sexual impurity and sexual immorality,
00:01:49.980
then it would also follow that we should take care of our bodies in other ways as well.
00:01:56.120
And obviously, I think that there is a balance there. I certainly don't think that we're supposed
00:02:00.920
to be obsessing over our bodies, which are wasting away. Like we will die one day. I think it's
00:02:08.100
a sin. I think it's idolatry to idolize our bodies out of a fear of degeneration, because that's just
00:02:17.820
going to happen. Like we're going to get old. We are not going to be as strong or as good looking
00:02:25.520
as we were when we were young. And that's just going to happen. And I think that that's okay. I
00:02:32.820
think that we have to balance exercise and eating well and being good stewards of our body with also
00:02:39.620
enjoying the time that we have and realizing that we are wasting away. Our outer self, as the Bible
00:02:46.080
says, is wasting away. And so I'm not sure that necessarily the church has done a very good job
00:02:53.700
in talking about that. I mean, there's a lot of pastors. Remember the pastor that we talked about
00:02:59.600
not too long ago who said that like women need to be trophy or maybe they don't need to be trophy
00:03:04.820
wives like Melania, but they still need to look good. They shouldn't look butch or something. And
00:03:08.900
that pastor was like obese and not attractive at all. I would say there's probably not a whole lot
00:03:15.820
of that going on in the evangelical church anymore. But certainly that kind of hypocrisy, I think,
00:03:20.820
not just turns people off, but is also disobedient to what scripture tells us about how we are supposed
00:03:25.640
to talk about our bodies and how we are supposed to think about appearance and how we are supposed
00:03:30.000
to steward our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit, as a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit.
00:03:36.480
So I think that we can take common sense measures, of course, to be as healthy as we can, while also
00:03:43.600
realizing that some of the things, and I've talked about this, of the so-called body positivity
00:03:49.760
movement are true. I mean, they're true and they're applicable to us in that your number on a scale
00:03:56.000
is not necessarily indicative of how healthy you are, how well you take care of your body. Same thing
00:04:02.880
with where you land on the BMI chart. There are other indicators of those things. And I think the
00:04:08.260
most important thing is that we are being obedient with the right mindset, the right mentality
00:04:12.900
of what it means to take care of the body that God has graciously given us. And the inspiration,
00:04:20.640
the motivation for that is not vanity, but actually to be able to honor the Lord that He has so
00:04:26.260
mercifully given us a body in which we get to live in this life to carry out whatever He wants us to
00:04:33.360
carry out. And we show our gratitude to Him by taking care of ourselves in a way that demonstrates
00:04:41.220
that. All right. Let's move on to another question. That one was really interesting. I hadn't really
00:04:49.920
thought about that before, but probably true. How do you typically prep for your show is the next
00:04:58.860
question. So I can't remember if I've talked about this before. It depends on what we're talking about.
00:05:05.340
So this show is a little bit difficult, honestly. It's not just a little bit difficult. It's very
00:05:12.840
difficult to produce. And I'll tell you why. Because we are not a typical news show. That's
00:05:18.960
not what you guys come to me for. That's not what you guys want from me. I always say, and it's true
00:05:23.680
that you guys are my executive producer. So I am often asking on Instagram, what do you want to talk
00:05:30.220
about? Like, what do you want to hear about? Or I just go through my DMs, which I get a lot of messages
00:05:35.480
every day saying, hey, will you respond to this? Will you talk about this? Are you going to address
00:05:40.100
this? And I obviously can't address everything that you guys send me or respond to every post that you
00:05:45.060
guys send me. But if I am starting to get like, if I'm starting to see a lot of buzz from you guys
00:05:50.720
about a particular subject, then I try to base an episode on that. And what you guys typically ask of
00:05:57.340
me is not to just say like, hey, will you talk about this latest news? Like, will you talk about
00:06:01.460
Hunter Biden? Or will you talk about whatever this, you know, latest viral story is? Sometimes it's
00:06:08.660
that. But very often, you guys are asking me to dig beneath the surface of some theological claim,
00:06:15.800
of some political claim, and then approach it from a theological point of view. You guys want
00:06:21.740
substantive analysis and biblical analysis of what's going on, which is what I love to give.
00:06:28.900
Like, I love that kind of stuff. But that takes a lot longer than a typical news episode where I'm
00:06:35.840
just saying, okay, here's one headline, here's my take on it. Here's one headline, here's my take on it.
00:06:40.340
Those shows are wonderful and awesome. That's just not what this show is. You guys want something
00:06:46.000
deeper. You guys want something from a biblical worldview. You want something that's relatable
00:06:51.640
to you, that you can understand in a way that makes sense to you, that applies to your life.
00:06:57.160
And we really do strive to do that with every episode. That takes a lot of time to do four days
00:07:02.880
a week. That's really like, I think a lot of shows that are like this show, which I would say there's
00:07:08.280
not any show that's exactly like this show. But a lot of those kinds of shows are once or twice a week.
00:07:13.860
But ours is four times a week. So it takes a lot of time to not just curate and pick the right
00:07:21.960
stories, but to draw out of the stories what I think you, this specific relatable audience,
00:07:29.640
wants to know. And also, I am someone, you guys know, as I say, I'm very verbose, but I'm not just
00:07:36.160
verbose for any reason. The reason why my podcast episodes have gotten so long is because we're
00:07:45.880
dealing in all the news stories that we're looking at and with all of the different viral videos or
00:07:52.380
claims are being made, whatever it is that you're seeing on social media. We're dealing with some
00:07:57.040
very fundamental, basic questions about what truth is, about what morality is, about what God is,
00:08:05.540
about what justice looks like. And so when we dig beneath the surface and when we try to answer
00:08:13.320
those questions in every single show, it can take a long time. For me, if I want to really
00:08:22.220
write out my analysis of something, which very often I do, like I will verbatim script sometimes
00:08:30.260
my entire episodes, especially if it's just a theologically specific episode, like if it's a
00:08:35.740
most misused episode, or if it's a topic that I'm trying to tackle from a biblical perspective,
00:08:40.680
I will write everything out. Now, I'm like a very quick writer when I'm thinking about the things that
00:08:45.240
I want to say, but that still takes me, you know, five hours. It might take me six hours.
00:08:49.460
Um, and so very often I am up late at night trying to add my original analysis. I don't really like
00:08:57.460
to do things extemporaneously, spontaneously for you guys when it comes to my podcast,
00:09:02.560
especially when we're talking about the word of God, because I don't want to say something
00:09:06.280
flippantly, or I don't want to say something incorrectly and then lead someone astray when it
00:09:11.840
comes to something so important. And so I put like the, I have, um, a team that helps me research
00:09:20.460
some things when it comes to the news. But when it comes to the analysis, I put in a lot of time
00:09:26.740
and thought for each episode, which is really fun and rewarding for me. It's like very fruitful for me.
00:09:34.320
It's truly what I love to do when I feel like I'm called to do. And I figure out how to do it in my
00:09:39.400
schedule. Typically it's kind of like late nights because I want to hang out with my family in the
00:09:43.400
afternoons. I want to hang out with my husband in the evenings. And then I just kind of sacrifice a
00:09:47.420
little bit of sleep to try to get everything done, um, at night. And so that, I hope that answers your
00:09:52.860
question. Like that is typically the process. I have people that help me research things. If I'm
00:09:58.820
wanting to look at a new story, if I need some data and then adding my analysis is what takes like
00:10:04.040
the biggest chunk of time, I would say, especially four times a week. And plus from January to April,
00:10:11.500
we were pre-recording these episodes that you're watching and listening to now on top of our regular
00:10:18.180
four day a week episodes. And that was a lot after maternity leave. It's going to be that burden is
00:10:25.200
going to be alleviated. And it was totally worth it by the way. Like I really enjoyed creating the
00:10:29.840
content and interviewing the people. So you guys could have all of these episodes while I'm on
00:10:34.520
maternity leave. Um, but so yeah, we're kind of looking forward to after maternity leave, not
00:10:39.880
putting so many hours in every week. And people ask me, and I think I've already answered this on
00:10:45.940
a Q and a like, Oh, how do you balance everything? Well, I feel incredibly fortunate, incredibly blessed
00:10:51.740
that yes, even though it's a lot of work that goes into every podcast episode, I also have a lot of
00:10:58.940
flexibility and a lot of freedom to be able to spend the spend my time doing what's most important
00:11:04.500
to me, which is, um, spending time with my family. And so like I am most of my day, honestly, besides
00:11:13.260
those like late night hours is dedicated to my family and is dedicated to doing the things that
00:11:18.380
I need to do to be with my family, to serve my family, to do, you know, whatever I need and want
00:11:25.100
to do with and for them. And that's a beautiful thing. And that is a huge blessing. And I'm so
00:11:31.360
grateful for that. So how do I balance it? You have to sacrifice something. I typically sacrifice
00:11:37.500
some sleep, um, in order to get everything done that I need to get done, but I'm all good. I mean,
00:11:44.500
I make up for it sometimes on the weekends and like my husband is just so, we really are such a team
00:11:50.560
and he's so helpful and he is always so good about helping me, you know, find rest when and where I
00:11:58.600
need rest. And that's what, that's what a good husband does. And he is a great, fantastic, wonderful
00:12:02.700
husband and father. And I wouldn't be able to do anything that I do, uh, without him, without his
00:12:07.980
support and without his leadership. And yeah, he's just, he's, he's just the thing that God has given
00:12:17.000
me to allow me to do, to, to do what I do. Um, I just wouldn't be able to, I wouldn't be able to
00:12:26.540
try to even balance anything if it wasn't for his support and his leadership on top of everything that
00:12:32.940
he already does. So I feel very fortunate. Um, all right, let's see. Next question.
00:12:40.620
You guys ask some, like, I'm just scrolling through the questions. You guys ask some like
00:12:46.860
really personal questions that you guys should probably know at this point, I'm not going to
00:12:53.080
answer. Like I'm, I'm just not, I do. I think I try to strike that balance of, okay, I'm going to
00:12:59.920
share with you personal things about me so that you can relate. I'm not going to share with you
00:13:05.100
personal things like about my family or like my health and things like that. But, and I think
00:13:11.880
it's different because a lot of influencers do that. Like a lot of lifestyle influencers do that
00:13:18.800
on social media. I'm not a lifestyle influencer guys. I am a podcast host and an author and we talk
00:13:28.040
about subjects and I do talk about me and you know, my life sometimes, but I'm sorry, I'm not
00:13:35.400
going to be able to satiate your curiosity on all of the personal questions you guys asked me. I just
00:13:39.840
like sometimes shake my head when I am looking at some of the questions that are sent to me. Now,
00:13:45.220
here's a very important, profound question. Favorite Disney princess. Now I am not like,
00:13:52.080
I feel like they're even just adults that are huge Disney fans and obsessed with Disney. That is not
00:13:58.760
me. I appreciated, liked Disney growing up. So my favorite Disney princess growing up, probably
00:14:05.920
Pocahontas. I just loved the Pocahontas movie. I'm sure it's like very politically incorrect and
00:14:10.880
problematic today, but she had the best voice in my opinion. Colors of the wind, a masterpiece.
00:14:17.660
Um, now little mermaid also very good, but you know, Ariel was a little ditzy. Like she was a
00:14:27.200
little flighty. She was a little bit of an airhead. I didn't like that. I didn't like that. Whereas
00:14:31.880
Pocahontas was very wise and she was very strong. And I liked that. I think I liked the leadership
00:14:39.840
that Pocahontas, uh, demonstrated. So she was probably my favorite. Of course I liked Cinderella.
00:14:45.880
I liked all the Disney princesses, but you know, my favorite movie when I was little was not Disney.
00:14:51.380
It was Swan Princess. Swan Princess. I remember every time my older brothers would go to Blockbuster,
00:14:57.020
like on a Friday or Saturday night, I would always ask them to please get me Swan Princess every single
00:15:01.640
time. All right. Next question. This is kind of interesting. Why did the country turn red
00:15:15.780
for Reagan? Was he that great? Book recommendations on him. So I don't know that the country necessarily
00:15:22.280
turned red for him because Jimmy Carter, even though, yes, he was a Democrat, he wasn't some like
00:15:29.860
far left progressive, uh, but he was also a bad president. Like I think that people were tired of
00:15:36.400
the failed leadership of Jimmy Carter. What a lot of people saw as the failed leadership of Jimmy
00:15:40.240
Carter. Some progressives now think that's contested history. And then you had someone
00:15:45.380
like Ronald Reagan come in. Not only was he from the, a different party, but he also had executive
00:15:51.700
leadership experience in California, probably led California through some of its best years ever
00:15:57.760
probably hasn't, um, hasn't ever come close to its, uh, prosperity and prominence and, and, uh, beauty,
00:16:07.700
uh, that it had when Reagan was governor. And so I think people saw that kind of leadership and saw,
00:16:14.640
um, his ability to even be bipartisan in some ways, very appealing. And plus he was so charismatic.
00:16:21.260
He was so confident. There were a lot of things that he was bringing to the table. Um, and so I
00:16:28.900
think, yeah, I think that that's probably why he was so popular and ended up winning, um, in a
00:16:35.160
landslide. I really like his book in American life, his autobiography. Now, now that we see kind of like
00:16:41.980
where the country is going, I love Ronald Reagan. You guys know that I have a quote from Ronald Reagan
00:16:47.680
in my main studio that I'm typically recording from. I really love his autobiography. I think
00:16:54.280
that he was a good hearted, truly, um, truly Christ loving person. I really do not that he
00:17:01.680
didn't ever make mistakes, but I think that his intentions were good. I think that a lot of his
00:17:06.460
policies were misguided when it came to amnesty for, um, illegal immigrants that fundamentally changed
00:17:13.060
California and it changed different parts of the country as well. And it set a precedent also that
00:17:20.300
hasn't ever been reversed and we haven't ever been able to kind of make up for that. And then you
00:17:28.440
also, uh, have what I think was, uh, an incorrect view of the world in some ways when it came to
00:17:39.240
communism versus democracy. So I think because he saw the end of, uh, he saw the Berlin wall fall
00:17:48.540
and he saw the end of the cold war and he saw what he thought was going to be the forever end of
00:17:55.620
communism, that he had accomplished that and that he could, that America could continue to accomplish
00:18:02.480
the end of communism by exporting capitalism. That once people get a taste of economic freedom and
00:18:09.120
a place like China, then they will embrace all tenets of freedom. So I think that both he and George
00:18:15.220
HW Bush, um, embraced globalization in certain ways because they thought that China and then other
00:18:22.960
countries would release, uh, you know, release their, their citizens from the captivity of communism,
00:18:31.780
embrace capitalism, and then just embrace Western liberal, truly liberal values. And that's
00:18:39.100
that just didn't happen. What happened was, is that China retained its communism
00:18:43.680
and it used capitalism in order to make money and to exploit the labor of the vulnerable and become
00:18:53.620
super powerful. And so Republicans, even Republicans whose policies for the most part, I really liked
00:19:00.880
absolutely have led to the rise of one of the most repressive, if not the most repressive regimes,
00:19:06.980
um, on earth. And so I, all that to say, I really like Ronald Reagan. I really like a lot of what he
00:19:16.680
accomplished, a lot of what he stood for. I also think he was truly pro-life, but as far as what he
00:19:21.860
accomplished, like there were some policies that he pushed forth. There was a mindset that he pushed
00:19:25.920
forth that he couldn't have known at the time, but now we know in hindsight, they were actually
00:19:31.420
misguided and led to, I think, deleterious effects for our country. Um, and so yes, people are like,
00:19:39.880
oh, you're just a, you know, people who are on the other side, progressives who are critics of me think
00:19:45.040
that I'm some just like Republican talking head, which is not true. Like I think Republicans have
00:19:50.520
contributed to the destruction of the country. Maybe not just as much as Democrats have in recent years,
00:19:57.560
but they have certainly helped even when their intentions have been good. Um, all right, next
00:20:04.860
question, favorite pizza topping. Um, well, you know, I like good old pepperoni pizza. That's true.
00:20:15.620
But I think my favorite pizza period is from Mellow Mushroom. I think it's called Cosmic White.
00:20:23.060
I'm not like a red sauce person. I don't really like red sauce in general. And I think Cosmic White,
00:20:28.300
it's not Alfredo sauce, but it has some kind of white sauce. And I really liked that. And I think
00:20:33.040
it has chicken on it. I think it has pesto. I like those kinds of pizzas and Mellow Mushroom has some
00:20:41.060
Question. Have you seen a conservative who wasn't religious? Yeah, I know a lot of conservatives,
00:20:55.500
conservative commentators who aren't religious. And I know a lot of conservatives
00:20:58.400
who like hold to a form of religion or belief that isn't really any kind of like biblical Christianity.
00:21:10.300
Like I think in conservatism, it's acceptable to be like, yeah, sure. I believe in God,
00:21:16.520
believe in guns, believe in family, freedom, hunting and four wheelers, whatever the typical
00:21:23.280
conservative like bio is. I think that it's very much a part of like the conservative identity in
00:21:31.080
a lot of ways. And I think even those who identify as conservative atheists, they typically tend to draw
00:21:38.280
their moral worldview from the Bible. But there are plenty of people who are conservatives, who identify
00:21:45.660
as conservatives, who don't identify as Christians or any kind of belief. Now, do I think that's a good
00:21:52.640
thing? On the one hand, you could say, OK, well, at least people who don't know God are like they're
00:21:57.480
getting it politically right. And they're seeing some value in that kind of worldview. But at the same
00:22:05.380
time, like conservatism isn't my goal, it's not God's goal and it shouldn't be the church's goal
00:22:12.500
and it's not salvific. So someone can be correct, at least from my view, politically and culturally
00:22:19.720
and say the right things and vote the right way, according to my perspective, and still not be saved.
00:22:26.920
And ultimately, like I have nothing, ultimately, eternally, I have nothing in common with them.
00:22:33.720
I have far more in common with the believer who lives on the other side of the universe than I do with the
00:22:39.420
American conservative who rejects God. Now, I don't think conservatism makes any sense outside of a belief
00:22:46.260
in God. It doesn't. It's not just that I don't think that it doesn't make any sense. Like you could say that
00:22:52.260
you're a conservative because you believe in the economic practicality of a free market. You could
00:22:57.520
say that you believe in small government. You believe in guns, like you see the benefits of free
00:23:02.120
speech. You don't like wokeism because it's another religion in itself and it just doesn't make any sense.
00:23:08.560
So there are lots of rational reasons that someone who is not religious could call themselves a
00:23:15.100
conservative. But when you dig beneath the policies, like why do we believe in the Second Amendment?
00:23:22.020
Why do we believe in religious liberty? Why do we believe that the state is not supreme?
00:23:28.740
Once you dig underneath all that and you ask yourself why, the reason is because we believe
00:23:34.060
that there's an authority higher than the government. And that authority is God himself.
00:23:39.540
Like we believe that there is a source of rights. We believe that there is a source of value that
00:23:46.200
transcends whatever rights the government tries to give or take away, that transcends the value
00:23:50.860
that the government says that we have or don't have. Like where do we believe this right to freedom
00:23:57.240
comes from? Where do we believe, where do we get this idea that there could be a government of the
00:24:03.860
people for the people by the people? It's based in this idea that there's a creator that transcends
00:24:08.640
all of us, that transcends all human institutions, including the government that has endowed us with
00:24:13.760
certain unalienable rights, among them being life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And
00:24:19.760
everything that we believe goes back to that fundamental principle. That doesn't mean that
00:24:25.360
conservative Christians can't disagree on certain policies. We understand that the Bible doesn't speak
00:24:30.000
to every single economic policy out there. But that basic principle that human beings were created
00:24:36.280
in the image of God and therefore have inherent value and therefore have inherent rights,
00:24:41.000
that the state cannot just arbitrarily give and take away. That is the foundation of conservatism.
00:24:47.360
Like, why don't we believe in the government being our moral arbiter? Why don't we believe
00:24:52.860
in the state being our nanny or being our caretaker? Why do we believe that the family is the
00:25:02.200
fundamental foundational building block of society? Like, why do we believe in hard work? Why do we
00:25:09.120
believe in personal responsibility? Why are we against abortion? Why are we for protecting innocent
00:25:15.780
life through the Second Amendment? Because we believe that human beings have value. And secular humanism,
00:25:23.980
materialism, the idea that we're just evolved matter, and that we all came from nothing, and that we
00:25:30.900
only, we don't have any real inherent significance, doesn't account for the why behind those policies,
00:25:40.240
the why behind those things. And so, like, there's a lot of organizations out there that are like,
00:25:45.140
oh, we need to make Republicans like this big tent party. We need to make conservatism,
00:25:49.940
like, be okay with all of these moral issues, and just go along with the culture on the moral stuff.
00:25:57.120
Like, we just need to be okay with all of these new sexual gender definitions, even like, maybe we
00:26:04.500
can just put abortion off to the side, because at least we're going to get this one liberty-minded
00:26:08.740
person who is also pro-choice. Okay, those organizations can exist. I ultimately think
00:26:14.960
they're going to fail. Because if you don't understand the why behind conservatism, if you
00:26:21.560
don't hold to the foundation of conservatism, the rest of your worldview is just a house of cards
00:26:26.560
it's going to be blown over by the slightest bit of pushback. I'm not, like, that's why I don't
00:26:33.400
consider myself, I'm not in that world of, like, political commentary completely. I'm not completely
00:26:40.940
in that world of, like, Republican Party, let's make the GOP strong, whatever. Even though I think
00:26:47.620
that's important, actually, for liberty at this point. Like, I do think that voting for politicians
00:26:54.380
who align with the policies that I think are best for the country. Of course, I think that is
00:26:59.640
important, but I've always said, ultimately, I don't really care about the Republican Party. I don't
00:27:05.320
care about growing the Republican Party, because I'm not going to abandon my principles. I'm not going
00:27:12.280
to abandon biblical values. I'm not going to put them on the back burner just to partner with people
00:27:18.300
that hate God. I'm just not going to do that. I think, ultimately, that's going to fail. And that
00:27:24.520
doesn't mean, like, I have people on this podcast who are atheists or agnostics and who don't agree
00:27:31.000
with me. That doesn't mean that I can't find common ground in some political and cultural ways with
00:27:36.820
those people, because I can. And yes, there is a diverse coalition of people who, for example,
00:27:43.040
are, like, pushing back against wokeism, pushing back against critical race theory. And I think
00:27:48.380
that is, you know, that's all well and good. If truth unites us and if all truth is God's truth,
00:27:54.580
then, of course, someone who doesn't share all of your fundamental values can be working towards
00:27:59.900
your same goal. I'm just saying that I'm not interested. I'm not interested in the sheer
00:28:07.060
expansion of Republican political power at the expense of our, of the fundamental why behind
00:28:14.500
conservatism, if that, if that makes sense. If I'm operating from a biblical worldview to push back
00:28:20.300
against what I think are the, is the disastrous effect of critical race theory and someone else is
00:28:26.480
doing the same thing, and maybe they have a different motivation for it, but they are moving
00:28:31.080
forward in truth and in compassion, then I'm still going to think that endeavor that they are taking
00:28:36.080
is good. But at the end of the day, I am far more concerned with their soul and with their heart
00:28:41.640
being regenerated by the Holy Spirit than us reaching our shared goal together, if that makes
00:28:46.100
sense. So it's a very interesting thing, navigating this world as a Christian and trying to put the
00:28:53.900
gospel first while also realizing there are practical political needs, issues that have to be met,
00:29:01.060
have to be dealt with, and not everyone who wants to talk about those goals or share those
00:29:06.060
or who shares those goals with you will have the same worldview. And yet I go back to what I say,
00:29:12.180
and I say, ultimately, conservatism is based on the idea that we are created by a creator whose
00:29:19.100
authority transcends our authority in all human institutions. Okay, last question. Did Jesus drink
00:29:25.480
wine? Is this something Christians can participate in? Jesus did drink wine. Yes. Ephesians says,
00:29:33.120
do not get drunk on wine for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. And so Christians
00:29:40.400
are warned against debauchery. We're warned against drunkenness. Why? Because whatever fills you controls
00:29:46.400
you. If you are filled with wine, if you're filled with margaritas, whatever it is, and to the point of
00:29:53.080
intoxication, to the point of drunkenness, then that which you have imbibed, that which fills you is now
00:30:00.540
controlling your mind, not the Holy Spirit. That's what that Ephesians verse does. It juxtaposes,
00:30:06.860
okay, you can be filled with strong drink to the point of being drunk, or you can be filled with the
00:30:10.680
Holy Spirit and be directed by the Holy Spirit. Everyone, well, who has gotten drunk, not everyone
00:30:16.960
listening to this podcast, but if you've gotten drunk, there are things that you probably said that
00:30:21.160
you would have never said sober. There are things that maybe you did that you would have never done
00:30:25.320
sober, because you don't have the same faculties. You don't have the same ability to think and to
00:30:32.520
navigate your choices when you are being controlled by the thing that fills you. And so we are told to
00:30:39.680
choose the Holy Spirit to fill us, not strong drink. But can you enjoy wine? Can you enjoy alcohol
00:30:47.900
without being worried that you are sinning? It's possible, yeah, depending on the context,
00:30:54.120
as long as you are not causing someone else to stumble, as long as we are avoiding drunkenness,
00:31:00.160
then I think that the Bible does permit that. And then also, as long as it is not causing you
00:31:06.680
to stumble or to sin in some way, not everyone can drink alcohol without sinning. Not everyone can
00:31:13.480
handle that, and that's okay. I think holiness and obedience to the Lord and being filled and
00:31:18.440
directed by the Holy Spirit is more important. All right, that's all I got for today. I will see you