Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 499 ｜ NBA Star on the Vaccine, BLM & Following Jesus ｜ Guest： Jonathan Isaac

00:00:00.000 hey guys welcome to relatable happy monday i hope everyone is having a wonderful day i hope you had

00:00:15.720 a wonderful weekend today i have a treat for you guys i am talking to nba player jonathan isaac he

00:00:23.480 plays for the orlando magic he is an outspoken christian and the reason you might know his name

00:00:29.780 is because he has gone viral twice over the past year plus the first time he went viral was because

00:00:36.980 of his response at a press conference about why he was the only player on his team to stand up

00:00:43.280 during the national anthem and he was the only player not to wear a black lives matter shirt so

00:00:50.000 before i go into why i'm talking to him today the second time he went viral over the past year i want

00:00:56.180 to play you a little clip of him talking about why he stood for the anthem last year i think when you

00:01:02.840 look around racism isn't the only thing that plagues our society that plagues our nation that plagues our

00:01:09.160 world and i feel like you know coming together on that message that we want to get past not only

00:01:14.340 racism but everything that that plagues us as a society i feel like the answer to it is is the

00:01:20.720 so i mean he is so extremely clear just about his faith about his beliefs he uh doesn't stumble

00:01:30.840 doesn't fumble doesn't caveat doesn't apologize doesn't try to make it so nuanced to the point to

00:01:37.560 where you know people won't think he's controversial i mean he just lays it out there so much respect for

00:01:43.080 that i had so much respect for him last year when i originally shared um that video and now he is

00:01:50.800 in the spotlight again because he is uh giving his reasoning for not being vaccinated and not only

00:01:57.540 that um he is talking about the what he believes is the injustice the unfairness the inconsistency of a

00:02:05.260 lot of the restrictions surrounding the vaccine so i'll play you a little bit of his uh take on that

00:02:11.540 i'm grateful that i live in a society where vaccines are possible and we can uh protect

00:02:17.600 ourselves and have the means to protect ourselves for the first in the first place um but with that

00:02:22.100 being said it is my belief that the the vaccine status of every person should be their own choice

00:02:28.680 um and completely up to them without the without bullying without being pressured or without being

00:02:33.560 forced into doing so so we're going to talk to him more uh about his stance why he believes what he

00:02:39.520 believes where all of this boldness came from and i'm super excited for you to hear that conversation

00:02:46.460 but first i want to give a little bit of context because he's not the only one in the nba who is

00:02:52.760 speaking up about this now typically we don't look to nba players to tell us our political views there's

00:02:59.740 been people like you know lebron james saying some ridiculous things that obviously i don't believe

00:03:05.680 and don't agree with and are just factually wrong um and yet we have seen many nba players stand up

00:03:13.060 and say hey this coercion this manipulation this assault on true bodily autonomy isn't okay kairi irving

00:03:21.400 um is uh he's being accused of leading a coalition of anti-vaxxers now i'm sure that that's not an

00:03:30.240 accurate description by the media uh but he is speaking up about this he is talking um about

00:03:38.860 the importance of freedom of choice when it comes to this and not only kairi irving but there is also

00:03:44.540 draymond green um he plays for the warriors and i'll play you a little bit of his response on this

00:03:51.960 you know i think there is something to be said for people's concern about something that's being

00:03:58.380 impressed so hard like why are you pressing this so hard like so much you're just pressing and

00:04:05.160 pressing and pressing i think you have to honor people's feelings and and their own personal

00:04:10.920 beliefs and i think that's been lost um when it comes to vaccinated and non-vaccinated and then the

00:04:19.680 most shocking of all to me was lebron james now lebron james says that he was vaccinated but he also says

00:04:26.720 he thinks that it should be people's choice so here is lebron james saying that i think everyone

00:04:31.220 has their own choice um to do what they feel is right for themselves and their family things of

00:04:35.700 that nature so uh this is i mean this is a wonderful pleasant surprise as we have talked about many times

00:04:42.740 no matter your vaccination status you should be able to use your common sense your knowledge of any

00:04:48.640 bit of history at all just a tiny semblance of a moral compass to see that where this is headed

00:04:54.480 where it has already come um is scary it's it's wrong it's not based in science it's not based in

00:05:01.820 logic it's certainly not based in any form of uh compassion and it is um unfortunately robbing

00:05:09.280 people of dignity robbing people of autonomy robbing people of their ability to um to provide for

00:05:18.060 their families and as we'll talk about with jonathan it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense

00:05:22.780 especially the part that so many are ignoring and this is the part that was apparently the most

00:05:29.360 controversial of what jonathan isaac said natural immunity so there is this crazy trope out there

00:05:35.920 that the media is trotting out that there's no such thing as natural immunity which is just plain false

00:05:41.180 i mean we've talked about the giant preprint study coming out of israel that's not the only study

00:05:46.780 but that's one of the most recent studies saying that natural immunity is stronger and longer lasting

00:05:53.160 than immunity from the vaccine especially if you have not been infected with covet um now the study

00:06:00.440 also said that hey you might be able to get some an extra boost if you've been infected and you get one

00:06:05.640 dose of the vaccine but if you have never been infected and you've just gotten your two pfizer shots or

00:06:11.820 whatever versus being unvaccinated and having been infected um you don't have a strong of immunity as

00:06:19.520 that person who has been infected jonathan isaac brought this up and joy read you know i had to

00:06:25.720 mute joy read on twitter it was uh just my way of trying to maintain my sanity uh but i happened to see a

00:06:34.760 screenshot of her tweet and she quote tweeted uh she quote tweeted will kane from fox news who tweeted

00:06:43.160 out jonathan isaac's explanation and she said oh so sticks and stick to sports doesn't apply when it's

00:06:50.620 stuff y'all agree with got it also natural immunity is not a thing it's not a thing talk about a science

00:06:58.160 denier i mean this is the same joy read who by the way tweeted a year ago that how could we possibly uh

00:07:04.120 how could we possibly trust a vaccine that was approved by the fda i mean she was the true

00:07:09.680 anti-vax science denier a year ago saying that we shouldn't trust a vaccine that is developed by

00:07:16.660 donald trump or something like that i mean it's this is why i had to mute her because she is blue

00:07:22.460 anand i mean she is a conspiracy theorist truly and so her latest conspiracy theory is that there's no

00:07:29.080 such thing as natural immunity when we know that there is and we know that it is very strong

00:07:34.540 in fact our secretary for health and human services xavier becerra who was just demolished

00:07:42.960 by rand paul the other day you need to go search that uh online if you have not seen rand paul we

00:07:48.160 don't have time to play it right now rand paul just completely eviscerate xavier becerra becerra

00:07:53.500 our hhs secretary you need to go see that because our health and human services secretary is not um

00:08:00.960 it's not a health expert he's not a scientist he doesn't have any degree in science he is not a

00:08:05.580 doctor he is never he has never met with a patient why because he's a lawyer and he was attorney general

00:08:11.640 at one point of california like he doesn't have he doesn't have any experience in this realm and of

00:08:17.100 course rand paul called him out in that um on that in a hearing uh in the senate because xavier

00:08:24.240 becerra said in a speech last tuesday on an online forum hosted by the foundation for a healthy kentucky

00:08:31.440 that uh my friends the earth really is round because some flat earthers especially those in

00:08:37.400 places of influence choose to peddle fiction we're losing more loved ones today than we were a few

00:08:43.240 months ago uh what we have to do isn't rocket science he said get vaccinated and what he is

00:08:49.040 talking about in the context is people who say that there is such a thing as natural immunity and that

00:08:54.180 natural immunity can actually protect you from reinfection and especially severe infection and

00:08:59.520 hospitalization that is the hhs secretary we are being run by science deniers actually this is a 0.99

00:09:06.000 cake histocracy a cake histocracy is when the idiots are in charge i'm sorry i know someone's going to say 0.99

00:09:11.620 that that like tone was rude or that i shouldn't have said that i'm sure actually these are very 1.00

00:09:16.640 smart people maybe that's the bigger danger about this is that these are not stupid people they're 0.85

00:09:22.140 not dumb they are very smart but that makes it seem like maybe they're actually malicious and the 0.96

00:09:28.880 longer all of this goes on the harder it is not to put that um uh put that malintent on them uh nba 0.98

00:09:38.580 legend kareem abdul jabbar said that unvaccinated players should be removed from teams and so they're

00:09:46.240 not messing around these players of course everyone but in particular in relation to our conversation

00:09:51.480 today these players are up against a lot they're up against a lot they're not just up against some

00:09:56.300 people in the nba um but they're up against our health bureaucracy anthony fauci is actually saying now

00:10:04.560 that we might not be able um or he says this that he doesn't think that we should be able to

00:10:11.880 celebrate christmas this year here's anthony fauci saying that but we can gather for christmas or it's

00:10:17.080 just too soon to tell you know margaret it's just too soon to tell what in the world like does he not

00:10:24.560 have does he not have a tell like does he not see that there are stadiums full of people every weekend

00:10:30.740 with tens of thousands of maskless people cheering and uh saying some other things about our president

00:10:38.060 of the united states like there i think even if you're a liberal there are very few people who are

00:10:43.000 actually abiding by what anthony fauci says i mean we haven't not since you know the beginning of 2020

00:10:49.700 um and so people are not uh they're not going to follow whatever kind of i don't even know if this

00:10:59.040 counts as a rule it doesn't count as a mandate i guess just the advice of anthony fauci i mean people

00:11:04.920 are living in a completely different reality most people are living as normally as they possibly can

00:11:10.380 a lot of people don't even wear masks in uh in many places and actually we're seeing in places like

00:11:16.620 florida the spike that they were having um has dropped by now 95 just in the last few weeks

00:11:22.760 that's because as we've been saying it's seasonal the more you're inside the more the virus is going

00:11:28.780 to circulate the more those case numbers are going to go up it's very hot in the south in the summer so

00:11:33.600 a lot of people spent their time inside that's why you saw higher case numbers we're going to see a

00:11:38.340 switch of that we're going to see the northeast which we're already seeing um they're they're going to

00:11:44.220 get a spike their cases are going to rise even though they are highly vaccinated that is my

00:11:49.120 prediction based on the data that we have anyway and you will hear silence coming from um the media

00:11:55.920 um nevertheless uh dr fauci is saying that we might need to uh we might need to rethink this whole

00:12:03.480 personal liberty thing here he is saying that you have got to look at it and say there comes a time

00:12:08.740 when you do have to give up what you consider your individual right of making your own decision

00:12:16.240 for the greater good of society which is funny because last year he said this if someone refuses

00:12:23.080 the vaccine in the general public then there's nothing you can do about that you cannot force someone

00:12:30.280 to take a vaccine so we wonder why there's distress like we wonder why there's hesitancy people are

00:12:36.760 constantly accusing the right of politicizing this when it has been political since democrats figured

00:12:41.900 out that they could use it as uh you know a tool to try to defeat donald trump it's been political

00:12:49.460 since we heard the democrats in february of 2020 call trump a xenophobe for saying that hey maybe we

00:12:56.540 should restrict travel from china it has been political since then and it has not been predominantly

00:13:02.540 the right who has politicized the actual virus we do realize there are political implications to the

00:13:10.000 measures to allegedly stop the spread of the virus because it is political like that is political

00:13:18.060 um and we do want to follow the science that's all most people have been asking for a very long time

00:13:24.620 but unfortunately we have flip-flop fauci and uh we have the public health bureaucrats who are changing 1.00

00:13:31.700 their mind not based on science but based on the teachers unions based on political opinion

00:13:37.160 based on some i don't know some desire for control that i personally i just can't i can't relate to it

00:13:42.960 all right i just wanted to give some context of uh what we're talking about jonathan is mostly going to

00:13:48.200 talk to us about um his faith and how we can be bold and standing up for the things that uh that we

00:13:54.260 believe in and he's going to give us a lot of encouragement but he's also going to talk a little bit

00:13:58.580 more about you know why he stands where he stands on this particular vaccine and the mandates that

00:14:04.260 have come down the pipeline jonathan thank you so much for joining us i know who you are and have

00:14:15.480 known who you are for a while but i wanted to look you up on wikipedia just to you know find some details

00:14:21.120 about you and i learned that your birthday was yesterday you turned 24 did you do anything fun or was

00:14:26.320 it just just work it was just two uh i got married two weeks ago so oh my gosh congratulations that is

00:14:34.960 awesome thank you very much but i practiced yesterday and all that so i just wanted to just relax oh well

00:14:41.320 happy birthday and thank you for taking the time to talk to us today you are in the news you've been in

00:14:48.740 the news before this time you're in the news because of your stance on the vaccine um but before we get

00:14:57.560 into that i just want to hear a little bit about you like tell us your story how you came to faith how

00:15:03.160 you came to be so bold and sharing your faith fill in those details for us so i i grew up christian

00:15:09.100 my dad was super christian we were in church all the time like it felt like every day we had to

00:15:14.840 memorize whole psalms to recite them in church um and a church really just became so traditional

00:15:20.560 and you know i didn't understand the lifestyle of it or that god was something that was tangible

00:15:26.200 and my parents had split up when i was 10 and i ended up in florida with my mom with my four

00:15:31.220 brothers and one sister um and basketball just started to take over my life i started to play i

00:15:36.060 started to it started to get me uh you know what i was searching after love and and and respect and

00:15:41.920 notoriety and all that started to come to me through basketball i became the number one player in the

00:15:47.080 state of florida um and i it just it just rolled on i ended up uh being drafted to the nba as the

00:15:53.480 sixth pick to the arando magic and i had this picture in my mind even through college and high

00:15:58.780 school but like what a man was and it was like somebody i was who had the money who had his choice

00:16:03.720 of women who had the stuff um and then once i was able to attain those things i quickly figured out 0.97

00:16:09.280 that it wasn't all that they were chunked up to be and i found myself a lot of the time just

00:16:13.880 wrestling with who who are you um you know you're either doing this or doing that to please the

00:16:18.800 people around you or to to have yourself come off a certain way i just i just wasn't happy um and

00:16:24.460 do something like god given like uh just uh what's the word i'm looking for intervention um where i

00:16:31.260 ended up getting hurt um my rookie year and at the time i thought it was some terrible thing but it

00:16:35.720 turned out to be a blessing in disguise i had went to a chapel uh one time and the chaplain said

00:16:41.720 uh why do you call me lord lord and not do what i say it's luke 646 and i can remember just being

00:16:47.280 like man like that is me luke 646 is me and i would think about it during the game i would think about

00:16:53.120 it before i went to bed and i came to this conclusion where i was like listen i'm gonna search

00:16:57.600 this thing out and either i'm going to commit myself to it because it's true or i'm gonna throw it

00:17:03.180 away so i dove into like christian apologetics uh uh uh frank turek and and robbie zacharias and uh

00:17:10.540 all these different people uh john lennox i just dove into it um and it was trying to rationalize

00:17:16.160 it that way but it still wasn't really a heart thing it became like a mind thing okay this makes

00:17:20.900 sense and this makes sense so i'll go there um and then i one day i was stopped by me on an elevator

00:17:26.360 and he said to me he said i know what's going to make you great and i said what he said you gotta know

00:17:30.440 jesus and i was like man i know jesus and i began to i began to to to to just see this man all the

00:17:36.540 time we began to hang out and he really he taught me the love of god like like love like how how love

00:17:42.760 is not when you're good um uh that that real love is when things aren't going right like real faith

00:17:47.820 real faith isn't when everything is good it's when things are bad if you can believe then or if you

00:17:51.800 can love then that's true love and that's godly love and i started to figure out that god loves me for

00:17:57.040 me god doesn't love jonathan for nba jonathan or what god what jonathan does on the court or what 0.80

00:18:02.120 jonathan does that's impressive god loves jonathan for the jacked up uh hypocritical just crazy jonathan

00:18:09.540 and i began to fall in love with god and i started going to church um and it turned out that that man

00:18:14.440 was the pastor of that church and i just began to grow and just glean from him and to you know to

00:18:19.820 where i became the man that i am today praise god well thank you so much for sharing that um would you mind

00:18:25.980 telling us since you just got married if you don't want to share that's okay but i know that people

00:18:31.080 would love to hear how you met your wife i met my wife at that same church you did oh and it's it's

00:18:38.440 funny and it's it's telling and uh it makes a lot of sense when i like break it down but like i got i

00:18:43.160 got to church and there's this there's this beautiful girl just who carries herself with such poise and just

00:18:49.420 just just a mighty woman of god right and uh i see her and i'm like oh you know she's beautiful but

00:18:54.700 she's not attractive to me in that sense because of what i'm just coming out of i'm just coming out

00:18:59.660 of the world i'm i'm trying to get myself acclimated to faith and believe in god and what what god likes

00:19:04.940 and all that stuff and so she's not all over me i'm an nba basketball player coming to church and

00:19:10.260 she's not giving me the time of day yeah but as i began to as i began to grow as i began to see things

00:19:17.800 not you know through the flesh but through the spirit she became the she started to become more and more

00:19:22.800 attractive to me and i was like man those are the values those are the principles those are the

00:19:27.100 that's the heart posture that i believe you know god likes and god honors i'm like that woman could

00:19:31.580 be my wife one day so i started to pursue her and the more that she saw me grow as well the more

00:19:35.840 attractive that i became to her and she started uh she started giving me the time of day and then

00:19:40.040 i had it all in my mind i was like you know we're gonna date for a year we're gonna be engaged for a

00:19:44.460 year and then we're gonna be married uh and barring covid pushed it out four months but everything

00:19:49.380 else was on on yeah oh my gosh well i love that story congratulations and thank you so much for

00:19:55.020 sharing your your testimony of faith as well i know that alone if we were to stop the conversation

00:20:00.660 right now that alone would encourage and edify a lot of people so thank you for sharing that a lot

00:20:06.580 of people i know can relate and have a very similar story to you maybe not the nba part most people

00:20:12.340 don't have that as part of their story but they can certainly relate to being just inundated with

00:20:17.400 worldliness and only relying on god kind of when things are hard or treating him a little bit like

00:20:22.780 a genie in a bottle um and then realizing having that conviction like wait oh he's god he's not a

00:20:29.820 genie he doesn't just exist for me but if he's going to be my savior he has to be lord too and it sounds

00:20:35.600 like that's what you discovered right 100 percent yep um okay that's not why you're making headlines

00:20:43.040 necessarily now you are you're making headlines the rolling stone wrote an article and included you

00:20:49.200 um talking about you know your so-called um anti-vax stance they accuse you of being an anti-vaxxer

00:20:57.260 and i want to talk about how they describe you and just get your reaction to that so jonathan isaac is

00:21:04.300 known less by the average basketball fan for his play than for being that guy who stood up with his jersey

00:21:09.260 on during the national anthem in the nba bubble while every other player on the court took a knee

00:21:15.100 and a t-shirt declaring black lives matter amid a global reckoning on race and police killings

00:21:20.340 i'm not going to sit here and point my fingers at one group of people um isaac who is black tells

00:21:26.400 rolling stone i would do it again so this much of the article we haven't read the other part of the

00:21:31.900 description seems pretty accurate i mean you were the only person to stand up or to stand for the

00:21:38.120 national anthem and not wear a blm shirt last july can you talk about why i know you have in the past

00:21:44.000 but just for people who may not know your reasoning yeah i would start with the the article even with

00:21:50.020 that short segment it is pretty um you know off-putting to not not just the words but to the

00:21:55.520 heartbeat behind you know why i decided to stand it wasn't in a uh you know a vigorous i'll do it again

00:22:01.340 and i'm you know i'm this person that right uh you know wants to stand out or wants to wants to go

00:22:06.960 against the grain it was really um from a heartfelt posture and saying that man i see everything that

00:22:12.760 goes on every the reason why everybody's mad about the black lives matter but there are tons and tons

00:22:17.880 of things that go on every single day um that hurt people that harm people that harm each other um on a

00:22:23.720 grand scheme and i'm saying man i know that jesus has been the answer for me and i know that he's the

00:22:28.320 answer for the world and if we can take a moment to step back and say man i've played a part in this

00:22:33.380 too and the bible says it clearly when it says we all fall short of god's glory and are in need of

00:22:38.360 his grace um and so it was it was a humble posture to say you know what i humbly we i've seen enough

00:22:44.160 division you know i've seen enough going back and forth the white the black um but there is no color

00:22:49.420 in the spirit and i know that god is trying to get us all to unite and we can unite if we all can

00:22:54.020 understand that man my evil uh is just as prevalent is just as potent than anybody else's evil

00:22:59.720 and the problem usually is is that i can see the evil and no one can see mine and so uh that that's

00:23:05.720 that's what i believed and that's what i decided to stand on to say man we can come together

00:23:09.420 and uh the verse that was playing in my mind so much was uh second chronicles 7 and 14

00:23:14.220 where god says that if my people who are called by my name would humble themselves seek my face

00:23:19.160 pray turn from their wicked ways i'll hear from heaven i'll forgive their sins and i'll heal

00:23:23.720 their land and i know that my land has been healed you know with my heart and my understanding

00:23:27.700 of who god is and that god wants to heal the land of america and really the world right right and

00:23:33.040 you're right rolling stone didn't really pick up on the posture or the heart behind what you were

00:23:38.140 doing when you're the only person to stand when everyone else is doing something else especially

00:23:43.040 when they're in a posture of kneeling someone who doesn't understand you or is committed to not

00:23:48.000 understanding you might think it's actually for the opposite motivation that you're trying to make

00:23:52.040 some kind of prideful political statement and that's not what you were doing at all right

00:23:57.940 for sure and he knew what he was doing you know he knew uh just just the same way that i'm explaining

00:24:03.760 it to me it to you i explained it to him right the standpoint of you know i would do it again

00:24:08.560 it's just saying that if the if the opportunity did arise i would come from the same heart posture

00:24:13.400 um and would take the stand again for for christ and not myself yeah and you know we can't

00:24:19.320 necessarily expect someone i don't know the religious beliefs of this particular reporter

00:24:23.500 but i know journalism in general probably if i were to guess he doesn't share a belief system and so

00:24:29.500 maybe it was purposeful but also he probably simply doesn't understand can't comprehend exactly

00:24:37.980 where you are coming from um which which probably explains the next part of uh this article which

00:24:45.040 we know for sure um is inaccurate because you've responded to it but just uh for the people out

00:24:50.440 there who don't know this is what rolling stone said the orlando magic's 23 year old 24 now this

00:24:55.960 was written before your birthday 23 year old starting ford is deeply religious and proudly unvaccinated

00:25:01.400 when nba players started lining up for shots in march isaac started studying black history

00:25:06.400 and watching donald trump's press conferences he learned about antibody resistance and came to

00:25:11.120 distrust dr anthony fauci he looked out for people who might die from the vaccine and he put faith in

00:25:16.940 god at the end of the day it's people isaac says of the scientists developing vaccines and you can't

00:25:22.720 always put your trust completely in people is that an accurate description of the conversation that you

00:25:28.260 had with him uh no uh you know not not by a long shot uh when it came to talking about trump and you

00:25:35.540 know if we talked about trump at all was it was talking about how at first when the vaccine was first

00:25:40.520 introduced and obviously it was during the trump administration that you know everyone was so

00:25:44.680 hard against it um you know that there's no way to come out this fast or it can't you know it can't be

00:25:50.460 right or whatever and then you know as soon as the other office took over it's kind of been a complete

00:25:55.300 reverse uh and you know everybody needs to get it this is the this is this is a crisis and things like

00:26:01.120 that um yeah yeah and so where but where did he get that the reason for you not getting the vaccine was

00:26:11.080 because of watching donald trump press conferences and studying black history i mean did he just

00:26:16.200 totally make that up or is that kind of was that pretty much decision making when i uh when i mentioned

00:26:22.360 about uh how i said how uh when trump first talked about well when the trump administration was first

00:26:28.380 in and they were talking about bringing the vaccine out that uh you know everybody was against it and

00:26:33.080 now they're for it he took that as that went into making my decision uh so it's pretty pretty pretty

00:26:38.340 far-fetched um to get there and so when i was reading the article myself i was like what in the world

00:26:44.360 and i i was just glad that um i was able to i had i knew i had an opportunity coming to be able to share

00:26:50.380 and just rationalize where i was coming from on the monday press conference i was coming up

00:26:54.520 yep and we already played some of that and of course that's been making its rounds on twitter

00:26:58.980 and social media and i know that's never your intention when you have these kinds of press

00:27:04.760 conferences but you do kind of tend to go to go viral have you always been someone who is able to

00:27:10.800 communicate what you're thinking well because not everyone has that skill not at all not really

00:27:17.960 and to hear you i'm so serious to hear everyone like oh he's so he's so articulate he's so this

00:27:24.520 he's i'm like yo you guys have no idea who you're talking about um how i really used to struggle

00:27:30.080 terribly with anxiety and fear and just self-consciousness and god has been steady working

00:27:36.060 on me and my heart to just find my boldness my trust my confidence all in him um and it really

00:27:42.020 people who know me from my time in college or my time in high school would be like jonathan

00:27:45.780 would never in a million years get up and want to talk in front of everybody so to be now to be

00:27:50.520 ministering to be you know able i know it is nothing but the power of the holy spirit and god

00:27:56.180 on my side yeah well it has to be because it's not just that you're standing up and saying what you

00:28:01.200 believe but you're you're against a lot yes there are other nba players we already talked about before

00:28:07.240 we started talking that are saying the same thing as you um but as far as you're definitely against

00:28:13.720 the media the mainstream anyway you're against a lot of politicians you're against a lot of the

00:28:19.240 bureaucrats at some of these health agencies and um i don't know if you also feel like you're kind of

00:28:25.920 against a lot of people at the at the nba do you feel that the nba is supporting its players who

00:28:32.360 have the same stance as you do uh you know i really wouldn't say i'm against uh you know anybody i

00:28:41.720 think that i'm always up for having a conversation and i just mean sorry i just mean that your

00:28:47.200 particular stance is against the stance of those entities that i just listed not that you are trying

00:28:52.280 to oppose them just that you have a different view than them for sure you know then i would agree

00:28:57.560 with that uh when it comes to the league i think that you know i think that there can be you know

00:29:02.800 there should be more conversation around what's happening now especially with the the vaccine and

00:29:07.320 you know uh them not having a mandate but at the same time trying to make it difficult um you know

00:29:13.840 for unvaccinated players to kind of live in the nba in a in a real way and so uh i would say i i would

00:29:23.400 want more support or just more room to have conversation to talk about you know what's going on

00:29:27.480 yeah i think that's what a lot of people want i mean i'm sure you've seen a lot of the posts in

00:29:41.700 the news articles about the nurses about firefighters about doctors who have been on the front lines for

00:29:48.720 the past 18 months police officers servicemen and women who are basically asking the same thing that

00:29:53.460 you are they don't see themselves as against science or against any politician but simply saying

00:29:59.320 hey i'd like to be free to have a choice and unfortunately people they just they just don't

00:30:06.260 have they don't have that choice and i'm very i'm thankful for people like you who are speaking up for

00:30:11.560 them but what would your what would your encouragement be for people who maybe don't have the platform that

00:30:15.900 you do who want to be able to relay though the same message and be as bold as you are but

00:30:21.480 they're scared or they just don't know what to do do you have any encouragement for them

00:30:26.580 you know i i want to say to hold the line you know i know that's that may be a you know dramatic

00:30:34.240 wording but uh you know i i really do think we're at a point in time where of like a pivotal time in

00:30:40.680 history where more than just you know we're talking about a vaccine but more than that i believe that

00:30:45.540 uh you know this government is setting a precedent that in in light of any emergency that uh that you

00:30:52.520 know your personal autonomy uh your god-given convictions your your your uh your religious

00:30:58.540 freedom and ultimately your freedom as a whole is is then up to negotiation um and i would just say

00:31:04.740 that at this point in time it is going to take courage it is going to take boldness to stand up for

00:31:09.700 um what it is that you believe and to say it proudly and to say it loudly um and so i would

00:31:14.680 just say to trust your convictions to trust who you are and decision that you're making and try your

00:31:20.140 best to relay that um in the best way but i think that even more than that um when things like this

00:31:27.200 happen a lot of times they continue to snowball as good people people who have you know sense and all

00:31:32.720 that stuff they they they see what's happening but they don't say anything um either out of just no

00:31:38.060 personal uh reservation or uh not wanting to stir anything up or stir any feathers or people that

00:31:44.100 even are vaccinated that see things and say well you know this really isn't as reasonable as you know

00:31:49.580 a lot of people think it is and i think that we really forget what we're talking about here we're

00:31:54.400 talking about a a virus that has pretty much as close to 100 survival rate as you can get and then on top

00:32:02.080 of that a virus um that does not stop infection or transmission and um you know the sad thing is

00:32:08.440 the vaccine that doesn't yeah the vaccine that doesn't stop uh infection or transmission and the

00:32:14.000 sad thing is that you know people who have been you know quote unquote weaponized um to you know

00:32:19.620 weaponized out of fear to go around and to you know with their clubs and to beat people over their

00:32:24.040 head who are asking questions who are hesitant um the sad thing about that is it's just about right now

00:32:29.960 and the time will come as this thing snowballs that it may be something that you don't agree with

00:32:34.700 um whether you you agree with it right now but something may come where you don't agree with

00:32:38.640 and you're going to be looking for somebody to stand with you someone to to be a voice and no one will

00:32:43.240 be there um and so i i really think that it is it is deeper than the vaccine it is a lot going on

00:32:49.500 um and it is going to be on the the people who are bold enough and courageous enough to stand up

00:32:54.420 and to and not only the people who have who are not taking the vaccine but the people who have

00:32:58.480 taken the vaccine there are common sense for people and good people and to say you know what

00:33:02.300 what's happening is not right um we are talking about like i said a virus with a near 100 survival

00:33:08.180 rate um we haven't had a conversation in this country about natural immunity um and i believe

00:33:12.920 that is pretty telling and so uh you know like i said it's going to take people who are going to

00:33:16.780 stand up and be bold and you know platforms like yours will bring people on to speed yeah definitely

00:33:21.620 joy reed actually responded to your speech i don't know if you know who joy reed is she is a

00:33:27.580 host on msnbc and she said well she said a bunch of things but one of the things that just struck me

00:33:34.400 that she said is that there's no such thing as natural immunity i mean that's just that's amazing

00:33:39.880 to me and maybe you don't know the answer to this because i don't really know the answer to this

00:33:43.480 either so you don't have to speculate if you don't want to but i do wonder what is behind the denial

00:33:49.300 of the reality of natural immunity you said that you've already had covid you've got those antibodies

00:33:55.120 we know from several studies that immunity to covid once you've been infected can be very strong and

00:34:01.460 very enduring even more so than the vaccine so if it really is about health and safety then why why

00:34:08.000 would we deny that have you been surprised by that i guess is my question that so many people pile on

00:34:13.320 you when you mention not uh natural immunity yeah i i would say i would say utterly surprised um very

00:34:19.760 very surprised and and what i come away with that is that it's not them um i don't remember the name

00:34:25.440 of the woman that you said that was on that that hosted show but that's not from her in terms of

00:34:30.340 knowing that natural immunity doesn't exist um she's taking that from somewhere else or from either

00:34:35.360 uh like i said even the government to not have a conversation about natural immunity um then trickles

00:34:41.240 down to people who are you know that are carrying out that message but yet i have been pretty astounded

00:34:46.920 that no one is talking about it um like but there have been people there have been scientists there

00:34:51.280 have been studies that come out and say you know what um your uh reaction to natural immunity is

00:34:56.060 robust and long-lasting um and that just hasn't been shared and to me that that that is a focal point

00:35:01.560 on people who who have taken the vaccine that have that understanding to say you know what something

00:35:06.880 is off here and a conversation needs to be had and we need to sit down and not be firing people over

00:35:12.580 yeah honestly i have to say i'm surprised not by you because i've seen your boldness before but i am

00:35:19.180 kind of surprised that there are other nba players that are making a stand about this i mean maybe it's

00:35:26.320 typically because i politically disagree with a lot of the most outspoken nba players have you been

00:35:32.320 surprised or not really that there are other nba stars who are standing up and are taking this position

00:35:41.040 i wouldn't say surprised i think uh you know nba players we can be pretty opinionated um and a lot

00:35:48.440 of times when it comes to speaking out there are they are maybe on issues that don't directly impact

00:35:54.140 us um in in a lot of ways but now we're talking about something that is you know what you have to

00:35:59.980 put this into your body and you know we're at a 95 percent uh nba vaccination rate so it's not to

00:36:06.580 say that there's a whole lot of players that are saying you know what this isn't for me

00:36:09.780 but when it does come to personal autonomy and being in the nba i'm sure you know there are guys

00:36:14.920 who even were reluctant to take and that did take it um but the guys who are speaking out it it makes

00:36:20.600 it more uh you know just point that it is something now that's not just you're not just speaking on it

00:36:25.900 but it is you know pretty much in your backyard right now the nba is saying that uh unvaccinated

00:36:33.880 players will be subject to a much stricter set of health and safety protocols compared to their

00:36:37.960 vaccinated peers including daily testing which won't be required of fully vaccinated players

00:36:43.000 um and then the league will continue its strict regulations this season for unvaccinated players

00:36:49.200 um and then says you know if you have to miss any games because you're not vaccinated in a certain

00:36:54.600 city that requires it you won't get paid for those games so is that something that i guess you're just

00:36:59.780 taking into stride and doing everything you can to kind of abide by your own conscience but

00:37:04.880 also you know submit to the regulations that are being put in place yeah i touched on it a little

00:37:12.040 bit in the press conference where they were like you know what happens when the nba does come out

00:37:15.460 with these regulations and i said the nba is free to make those regulations and you know as a member

00:37:20.460 of the nba i'm going to follow them um but my only point would be it to me it doesn't logically

00:37:25.660 follow for us then to jump on the court or for me to be at a different locker room than my teammates

00:37:30.980 but then follow into the same tunnel and to to go out to the game um it does it doesn't really make

00:37:36.280 much so you have to be in a different locker room a different part of the bus because you're

00:37:40.800 unvaccinated but then you get on the court and you do you know what play you typically do exactly

00:37:46.200 i don't know all of the regulations that have been laid out but i know some of them would be

00:37:50.560 you know i'm not allowed to uh to go to like team team functions or if the if the team is eating

00:37:55.940 at a restaurant i can't eat in the same room as them uh to me it just doesn't logically follow

00:38:00.860 for us then to to get on the court together um and then again for natural immunity to be ignored

00:38:06.620 and then again just this all of this is coming about um talking about a virus with such a high

00:38:12.360 survival rate um and and you've already had it exactly and even if you take the vaccine it does not

00:38:18.640 stop um you know infection or transmission i'm not against the vaccine i think there absolutely are

00:38:24.100 people who should take it people who are afraid um for either uh you know their their their health

00:38:29.940 status um their uh their lifestyle or just you know what i want to take this chance i want to i

00:38:35.380 want to take this step to protect myself further if i do come in contact with the virus again i'll be

00:38:41.140 protected and i want to say if you do come in contact with the virus not an unvaccinated person

00:38:46.080 and i think that's what's been misconstrued that if you come in contact with an unvaccinated person

00:38:50.680 um that's the issue but you it doesn't matter unvaccinated or vaccinated you're going to come

00:38:55.920 in contact with this virus again um it's not going anywhere and then it's your decision to take that

00:39:01.160 step to say you know what i want this vaccine to help protect me i help protect people around me but

00:39:05.880 it should be everyone's right yeah and you're you're absolutely right i mean we've seen several

00:39:10.280 studies that it doesn't actually stop the transmission and you may also get infected if you've

00:39:15.140 been vaccinated what it does seem to do is reduce the chance of hospitalization but hospitalization

00:39:21.400 rates for people who are infected without the vac or without having had the vaccine are extremely low

00:39:27.980 anyway so like you said it does make sense for it to be a personal choice because you are taking a

00:39:33.240 measure that will hopefully mitigate your risk of having serious illness but you still you could spread

00:39:38.820 it to someone else um and so it doesn't seem really like this um societal responsibility that

00:39:46.760 we're being told that it is i've heard several christians say that if you don't get the vaccine

00:39:51.240 then you're not loving your neighbor and if you're not loving your neighbor of course jesus says

00:39:55.560 you know two great commands love the lord your god and love your neighbor as yourself then that's

00:40:00.020 basically saying if you're not getting the vaccine you're not a christian and so a lot of people

00:40:03.920 are feeling pressure from that kind of theology some people are feeling from their pastors or

00:40:08.820 whatever christian influencers that if they don't do this thing that they don't want to do and maybe

00:40:13.340 they feel like they don't need then they're not really following the lord or they're not loving their

00:40:18.680 neighbor what would your response be to that you know there's a uh there's the verses in the bible

00:40:26.580 where jesus is talking about the pharisees and he's like uh you know you can discern the weather you can

00:40:32.500 discern these natural things but you can't discern the signs of the times and i think that's so

00:40:37.740 you know needed right now you know just in the conversation of just the church and just christian

00:40:42.480 people where it's like listen you know no one is saying that the vaccine is wrong no one is saying

00:40:47.060 that the vaccine is is deadly or anything even though there is a chance of adverse effects even that

00:40:53.420 conversation is not really being um had where people in this country who have who have died people

00:40:59.040 who have come away with um you know different ailments because of taking the vaccine um and

00:41:04.120 maybe even they felt pressure to and didn't want to in the beginning but what is said to them if they

00:41:08.360 walk away with an adverse reaction to the vaccine but um you know no one is saying there's anything

00:41:12.500 wrong with the vaccine but i really do think that this is a time for spiritual discernment to look

00:41:17.740 at what's happening to look at the precedent that's being set and it as this thing snowballs and as

00:41:24.160 there aren't people you know christians or non-christians to step up and say you know what

00:41:28.220 this is not right um it sets a precedent for in the future we're going to look up and say well what

00:41:34.160 about my religious freedom and there won't be any um and that's not that's not to preach a a a glooming

00:41:40.180 message because at the end of the day jesus is in control jesus is sovereign and i completely believe

00:41:45.000 that um but i do believe that if we're not careful with what we're saying if we're not careful with

00:41:50.020 discerning the signs of the times we can walk ourselves into uh not having religious freedom

00:41:55.860 or having our reasons for not doing things or wanting things a certain way to be delegated and

00:42:02.100 and uh for the the government to be the the judge during execution on if our reason is is real or not

00:42:08.040 yeah and so it it is it is crazy um you know i don't think that you are any less christian if you

00:42:14.560 take the vaccine or not um but i would just ask for um just spiritual discernment to say you know

00:42:19.940 what something is off um and as christians we have to be vigilant and we have to be um understanding

00:42:25.720 and discerning of the times to to stand for our brothers and sisters who have taken the vaccine

00:42:30.160 or haven't yep i totally am with you i mean it is an area of christian liberty like you said it's not

00:42:37.380 unchristian to take it it's not unchristlike not to take it what i do find unchristlike is this kind

00:42:44.060 of pharisaical burden that some people are trying to put on others by saying hey you're not really a

00:42:49.640 christian and you don't really love your neighbor if you don't take this particular vaccine you

00:42:54.600 mentioned the pharisees it reminds me of the pharisees too those burdens that they placed on 0.97

00:42:59.400 people to try to say you have to reach this standard in order to be holy in order to be loving when they

00:43:04.520 themselves weren't even truly obeying god from faith um and it reminds it reminds me of that as

00:43:10.260 well um and like you said it doesn't matter vaccination status you can be able to see what's

00:43:16.340 going on and still hold the line and still push back against it knowing that it's never wise to

00:43:22.880 exchange a tiny possible promise of a semblance of temporary safety for all of your liberty it is

00:43:30.720 never worth that absolutely you you said it beautifully you said it beautifully that's great

00:43:36.340 can you just end on some encouragement you've already given a ton of encouragement but people

00:43:47.120 are feeling like okay we're losing our liberties and yes there are people like you who are speaking

00:43:51.800 out but a lot of people feel super powerless and um they're just looking at the state of the country

00:43:57.940 and they're wondering okay is it all going to hell in a handbasket it's it's crazy like the conversations

00:44:03.880 i even have with my friends one of my friends who has had covid who is not getting the vaccine

00:44:08.240 at least right now she was like i you know i wanted to go to new york with my friends and she can't she

00:44:14.680 i mean she won't have access to places she won't be able to go to a show it's crazy that we've gotten

00:44:19.900 there so quickly and that some people don't see what's going on and understandably people are feeling

00:44:25.540 hopeless so can you give us some hope can you remind us where our hope lies yeah i would say that at the

00:44:32.080 end of the day what's going on right now it proves without a doubt that your trust that your hope that

00:44:38.240 your identity that your that your your heart has to be somewhere that is greater than man um because

00:44:45.080 at the end of the day this is man that is carrying out this these delegations or these regulations or

00:44:49.540 these rules whatever um but jesus said even though you will have trouble in the world be of good cheer

00:44:55.400 for i have overcome the world already and so i would just plead with people to find your trust in jesus

00:45:01.080 find your trust in something that is greater than man and what is more greater than man than god

00:45:06.060 himself so i would just say stay encouraged it may feel like hopelessness but there are people who are

00:45:11.020 out here that are trying their best to hold the line and i believe that we're going to see a great

00:45:16.100 revival through this as well as people begin to eyes be opened and they understand man what i thought

00:45:21.980 before what i what i what i wanted i don't want anymore or what i thought before i don't think anymore

00:45:26.800 and they're going to be looking for salvation they're going to be looking for help they're going to be

00:45:30.580 looking for the person that's going to stand by them and so as christians be that person be somebody

00:45:35.280 who is going to stand on faith that is going to be the light in in this in this dark world that is

00:45:40.480 only getting darker and so i would just say i would say keep on keeping on keep the faith yeah just

00:45:45.060 by faith and not by sight so just be encouraged be of good cheer jesus got us yeah and can you remind

00:45:52.240 people last thing but something that struck me and just surprised me so much is when you said

00:45:56.460 that you were not someone that people used to know as outspoken or as a clear communicator of

00:46:04.980 your ideas and it seems so natural to you can you encourage people who maybe feel the same way that

00:46:11.560 you did like hey i can't speak out or i can't be bold or i can't stand up because you know like moses

00:46:17.420 i'm not i'm not good at speaking up i'm not good at communicating but yours is a testament to the fact

00:46:22.600 that god is going to use anyone that he wants to use and he's going to equip people however he wants

00:46:27.240 to equip them right for sure there's a saying that said god does not call the equipped that he equips

00:46:33.400 the called and i think that that is that is something that's really needed to be said in this

00:46:37.200 time and that god's strength is found in our weakness god doesn't need us god didn't need moses to 0.87

00:46:42.740 be perfect god moses just needed god to be god and so um in this time and it even goes into um i know

00:46:49.360 i mentioned to you through our uh messages that i'm finishing up a book right now um and the book

00:46:54.080 is called why stand oh thank you for thank you for bringing that up yes talk a little bit more about

00:46:59.380 that yeah the book is called why stand um and it does it goes off of my decision to stand in the

00:47:05.980 bubble um and it talks about how you know when it happened everyone was so you know jonathan is so

00:47:11.400 courageous jonathan is so this and even though there was a lot of negativity that came about it too but

00:47:15.740 the people who agree with me that's what they were saying you know you're so bold you're so courageous

00:47:19.680 and i'm saying man you don't know the half of the story of where i come from the things that i've had

00:47:24.480 to allow god to work out of me to work in me to deal with me on um and it takes people through the

00:47:30.720 journey of where i was to how i came to faith and faith has been the thing that has caused me to be

00:47:35.960 able to speak has caused me to be able to stand because i know god for myself i know that he loves me i

00:47:42.080 know that he's called me i know that um my faith my my salvation my confidence my boldness my trust

00:47:48.200 is all in him um and you know he's the only one that i'm trying to please and so uh with the book

00:47:54.600 it's going to become and it what's crazy too is it now kind of pales off of this uh you know this

00:47:59.920 instance this this instance as well that in this time we're going to have to stand on what we believe

00:48:05.340 whether you're a christian or not there will come a time uh you know the bible says choose you

00:48:09.720 today whom you will serve there will become a time where you have to stand on what it is that

00:48:13.900 you believe and you're going to have to know jesus for yourself or you will be swayed um or you will

00:48:19.000 go you know move like the ocean move like the wind so um why stand is going to be coming out soon

00:48:23.980 i got a conversation i got a call with uh the vice president of simon and schuster today uh later

00:48:30.080 today about picking the book up so i'm excited about that but you know everything is great i can't

00:48:34.260 wait to get it out and uh hopefully i can be back on you know ali when it does come out

00:48:38.100 definitely definitely well yes please let us know the timeline for that so we can have you back on

00:48:45.180 um i do what you just said does remind me of this passage from ephesians so we'll just end with this

00:48:52.320 because you talked about if you don't stand in jesus then you are going to be persuaded and you are

00:48:58.340 going to you know be tossed on the waves and ephesians 4 talks about that that we are to grow into

00:49:05.380 mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of christ so that we may no longer

00:49:10.480 be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine by human

00:49:16.020 cunning by craftiness and deceitful schemes rather speaking the truth in love we are to grow up into

00:49:21.280 every way into him who is the head into christ that is something that you do very well is speaking

00:49:27.180 the truth in love um so thank you thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us

00:49:31.600 and thank you for holding the line in your own way i really appreciate it my pleasure again ali keep

00:49:38.980 doing all that you do all the work that you put on the content that you put out thank you uh thanks

00:49:44.040 again for having me all right guys thank you so much for listening to that he is awesome i know i keep

00:49:54.900 on i keep saying that but he just really is he is such a great example for all of us i'm not really

00:50:01.200 a sports person but now i feel like i have someone to specifically cheer for and i know you guys were

00:50:06.900 super excited about this too again tomorrow 500th episode really excited call 682-503-1369 it needs to

00:50:15.400 be before tomorrow morning though guys because that's what time we record we record in the morning comes out

00:50:20.260 in the afternoon so before tomorrow morning leave your voicemail saying what relatable has meant to

00:50:25.260 you we might play it tomorrow uh thank you guys to everyone you know who has already already called

00:50:31.420 us we really appreciate that okay we'll be back here tomorrow see you guys then

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - October 04, 2021

Ep 499 ｜ NBA Star on the Vaccine, BLM & Following Jesus ｜ Guest： Jonathan Isaac

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