Ep 545 ｜ A Call to Courage in an Age of Liars, Cowards & Fools
Episode Stats
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Summary
In this episode, Allie talks about the Supreme Court's decision on the controversial vaccine mandate, and how children are handling it, and why it matters to us. She also talks about a man who identifies as a woman named Leah Thomas, and what that means to us as Christians.
Transcript
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Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy 2022. This show today is sponsored by our friends
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at Good Ranchers. We get all of our meat from Good Ranchers, Better Than Organic Chicken,
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Kraft Beef. We love them. We're thankful that they are sponsoring this show. Okay,
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we are back. We've got a lot to talk about this week. We're going to talk about the SCOTUS
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vaccine mandate hearing from Friday at least a little bit. That may be decided today. I am
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recording this on Monday morning, January 10th. By the time this comes out, usually around 3 p.m.
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Eastern time, it may already be decided. So if you're listening to this after the decision was
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made and you're wondering, well, why didn't Allie talk about this decision? It's because as I'm
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recording this, the decision has not come out. That is one drawback to not having a live show,
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even though there are a lot of pros to it. I'm unfortunately not able to give you
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the most up-to-date to the second information when it comes to things like that. But of course,
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we will be talking about it tomorrow. As soon as we know the decision, we will start preparing
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that episode. We're going to talk about today how children are handling all of this madness because
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there have been new claims and new data that has come out, some new articles that I think are
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pertinent to this particular issue. Sometime this week, we will also discuss probably the insane
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analysis of January 6th of the impending threat of Christian nationalism. I've got a lot to say about
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that. If you follow me on Instagram, you know a little bit of what I'm going to say, but there's
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more. There's more that I need to say. We'll probably talk about the UPenn swimmer we talked about a few
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weeks ago. A man who identifies as a woman named Leah Thomas who just lost to another transgender
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swimming in a swim meet. It's very confusing. We'll break all of that down. I also really want
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to get into the big voting bill that Democrats are going to push through since the Build Back Better
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bill did not happen, what that all means, why it matters to us. Now, of course, all of these things
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are dependent upon what happens this week. So as always, we'll roll with the punches. And as always,
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please tell me what you guys want to hear about. Whenever we, as a collective, relatable family,
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want to take a step back and just say, you know what? There's a little bit too much talk about the
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news. There's too much going on. We just need to take a step back and talk about something that's
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evergreen. We need to just focus on a theological subject. Then we can do that. And today we are going
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to talk a little bit. Well, it's definitely evergreen, but we're going to take a little bit of a step back
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and just kind of get our bearings and remind us of what is most important as Christians. But if you
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just need a week where we do that, if you need a whole episode where we do that, where we don't
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focus on the news at all, we can do that. Of course, we do try to analyze as much as we can everything
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that's going on in news and culture because these things matter. As we often say, these things affect
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people. And as human beings, as Christians especially, we care about people. Also, I just want to say one
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thing. I hope you guys enjoyed the episodes that we put out while we were gone. We had two awesome
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interviews with Victor Davis Hanson and Brett Weinstein. Those are two just brilliant guests
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that brought a lot of insight. And several of you messaged me saying that the Brett Weinstein
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episode was glitchy. And I thought that maybe it was just a thing that happened to a couple of you
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because that's actually happened to me where I've been listening to a podcast and it sounded glitchy,
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but really it was just something on my end. So that's what I thought it was.
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And I gaslit some of you when you messaged me about it. I said, no, I just, I think it's on
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your end. But then I listened to it myself and it was very glitchy. That really should not happen
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on a professional podcast. So I'm sorry for that. It's embarrassing for me when stuff like that happens
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because it's my name on the podcast. So I just want you to know, even though I accidentally gaslit
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some of you, I take that seriously. I'm grateful for you for understanding it's fixed now. Hopefully
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that won't happen again. Okay. 2022, Lord willing, this is going to be Relatable's best year yet.
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And here's what I mean by best year yet. This is where we kind of take a step back and get our
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bearings. This is going to be, we are going to be by God's grace, the most clear and the most courageous
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that we've ever been. And those are two things that I want to bring, of course, by God's grace,
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again into my life, but also into your life. I want to bring clarity and I want to bring courage.
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Why? Because our current age is characterized by confusion and cowardice, even it seems among those
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who profess Christianity. Christians have this amazing privilege that we should access. We have
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this amazing privilege to be intimately acquainted with the source of courage and clarity. Over and
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over again. We see in scripture, we see God tell his people, do not fear. Do not be afraid. Do not
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worry. Do not be anxious about anything. Look to me, trust me, follow me. So the Christian does not
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fear. And there are six things specifically, actually seven things that Christians should not
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fear. Seven of many things, but this is when I was preparing for this. These are the seven that I came
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up with that I see in scripture. The Christian does not fear bad news. Psalm 112 7 describes the
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Christian, the one who follows Christ. He is not afraid of bad news. His heart is firm, trusting in
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the Lord. Number two, she does not fear man. Proverbs 29 25. The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever
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trusts in the Lord is safe. Three, she does not fear rejection or criticism. Galatians 1 10. For am I now
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seeking the approval of man or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were trying to still please man,
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I would not be a servant of Christ. Number four, she does not fear persecution. 1 Timothy 3 12. Indeed,
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all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. And Romans 8 35 through 38.
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Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or
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nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written, for your sake, we are being killed all the day long.
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We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors
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through him who loved us. Number five, she does not fear poverty. Matthew 12 27 through 31.
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Consider the lilies, Jesus says, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you,
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even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass,
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which is alive in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you,
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O you of little faith? And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried.
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For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them.
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Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Number six, she does not fear any trial.
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James 1 2. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that
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the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And then number seven, she does not fear death.
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Matthew 10 28 through 31. And do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul.
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Rather fear him, God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?
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And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are
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all numbered. Fear not, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows. So, the Christian is
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courageous. And courage is not simply a feeling, kind of like love. It is a choice. It is a willed
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remembering of the God you serve, the purpose that he has for his children, and the hope that we have
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in heaven. It is a constant convincing of your mind that he is in control, that he is good, that he sees
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you. He hears you. He knows you. He knows what you need. And he is going to do exactly what he wills,
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whatever gives himself the most glory he will do. Courage is not dependent upon our understanding
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of God's will. It is only dependent upon our willingness to trust it. Now, I say all of this
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as an admittedly fearful person. I am fearful of the world, of the future, for our country, for my
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children. There have been times when I feared COVID, when I fear the government. I am fearful of
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every single thing that I just said that Christians are not to fear. When I wake up in the middle of the
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night, my mind gravitates toward what I am scared of, the things I'm anxious about, the things I can't
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control, the things that I can't predict or figure out. And my propensity is to dwell on these things
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and then to try to minimize as much risk in my life as possible to keep my family in a bubble so
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no one ever gets hurt or sick or rejected or is made to go through anything hard. That is my natural
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inclination. And yet, I have to ask for the strength to get up and simply do the next right thing that God
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asks me to do. I don't have to have it all figured out. I just have to do the next right thing in faith
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and with joy. And I have to trust that God has got it. So maybe your natural inclination
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is to only say and do that which you know will earn you approval with most of the people in your life.
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Maybe you fear going against the grain or stating your opinions about something or sharing your faith
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and expressing your values because you want the people around you to like you. And we've all been
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there. I've certainly been there. That is fear. So we should ask the Lord to help us commit
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to courage. May the fear of God make us bold and brave before everyone else. Cowardice, I've learned,
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leads to compromise every time. Our crippling fears of a virus, of the government, of the future,
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of other people's opinions, of the million random what-ifs that we're afraid are going to ruin our
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lives or kill us, they'll lead to compromise because we will be so paralyzed that we won't do or say the
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thing that we know that we're supposed to do and or this fear will steal the joy and the gratitude
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and the love and the generosity that we're told Christians are supposed to have in spades.
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So let us not be cowards. If you look at the world right now, you'll see that the world is marked by
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paranoia, masked as virtue, by the way. Just stay home a little bit longer, just one more month,
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just one more regulation, one more mitigation measure, and then the government will give you your
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freedom back. And if you don't do these things, then you're just selfish. We've heard that ad
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nauseam over the past two years. And you know, Satan is so clever. He's so clever driving people
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into isolation and anxiety and despair and convincing people that that is loving your neighbor.
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Satan is also so clever in convincing us that being scared to say what is true, whether it's the truth
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about God's design of male and female, the truth about life in the womb, the truth about any
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controversial subject today is love. Satan tells us being silent about those things or mimicking what
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the world says about those things is love. That somehow dancing around the truth is more compassionate
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than simply repeating what the God who is love, as 1 John 4 says, what he says in his word.
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And as we've said before, we cannot out love, out compassion God. Saying something that is true,
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if God says it is true, is the most loving thing we can do. So we're courageous in the power and the
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truth of God. And we're also clear. We're so clear, as much as we can be anyway. I watched this stunning
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video that was actually put out sometime last year by McLean Bible Church. This is David Platt's church.
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And look, I've talked about the drama and division at that church, but I was really careful
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not to make it seem like I was calling out David Platt. I know maybe some of you would
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want me to do that. I'm not someone who has gone after Platt or written him off or anything like
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that. I was surprised to see the video that I'm about to describe. And I'm going to link the video
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in the description of this episode. I want you to watch it for yourself so you can see, oh, Allie,
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you know, she didn't describe that correctly, or you actually agree with the episode. I want you to be
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able to watch it for yourself. Don't just take my word for it, but it's long, so we can't play the whole
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thing right now. This video, it was about, it was apparently about how to love transgender people.
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And the reason why I say it's from McLean Bible Church, the reason why that's important is because
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I'm not talking about some left-wing church that doesn't know the gospel and doesn't rely on
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scripture. Like, I'm talking about a church led by someone that a lot of us trust and have benefited
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from for a very long time. This is considered a conservative church. This video about, apparently,
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about how to love transgender people did not say anything about Genesis 1, anything about why God
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made us male and female, what it means to be made male and female in God's image, how the God who is
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love made our bodies good, and how it's a lie from the pit of hell that it's possible for a person to
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be born in the wrong body, or how the deception of radical gender ideology is wrecking people's lives.
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Instead, it said that Jesus suffered from a form of body dysphoria, since he was God who became flesh
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and felt the consequences of sin on the cross and separation from the Father. Even if that is some
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kind of way to try to understand this gender issue that is so convoluted and confusing and totally
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devoid of any practical advice or clear truth about how the gospel and scripture informed how we think
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about this issue. There was nothing about how we should think about pronouns or how we should talk
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to people in our lives in this situation. Plus, he gives into the entire premise of gender ideology
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by using the term, quote, sex assigned at birth. Sex is not an assignment. It's not a social construct.
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It's the biology that God gave you at conception. Switching that language is incredibly significant.
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And like I said, go watch it. Maybe you'll have a different opinion than me. But to me,
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it was totally devoid of clarity. It was confusing. It was chaotic. It was convoluted,
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trying so hard to avoid saying what is just simply true. It is possible to speak the truth
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in love, but it is not loving to be intentionally confusing because you are scared of being called
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a bigot. If you want a crystal clear biblical analysis of this issue, by the way, read Love Thy Body
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by Nancy Piercy. I did an episode summarizing some of her book and adding my own analysis in an episode
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called The Biblical Telos of Gender, which we will link. I encourage you to go back and listen to
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that. So here's what I fear. And this does tie into everything that we're talking about today.
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Here's what I fear. That Christians are trying to, quote, nuance and, quote, empathy,
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so scare quotes around those things, their way out of saying culturally inconvenient things.
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Because we so badly don't want to come across as harsh, religious, loveless zealots. We are so quick
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to accept the world's premises, their language, their arguments and definitions. Then maybe we'll
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add a Bible verse onto it to make it sound Christian, whether it's about race or justice or abortion or
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gender or marriage or sex or whatever it is. Christians are scared. We've all been there. I've
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definitely been there. So we embrace secular chaos and we call it tension or nuance or love or empathy.
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Now, there is tension in this world for the Christian. For example, there is tension between
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caring so much about what's going on in the world and knowing that it will eventually pass away and
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that Christ will declare victory. There is nuance in this world for the Christian. For example,
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we could say that there are many harmful gender stereotypes that cause people to distress about
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how their bodies and their personalities seem incompatible. And maybe those are worth societal
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examination or reconfiguration. But that doesn't mean it's possible to switch sexes by mere self
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declaration or even through surgery. Or there's nuance in that I'm so proud of my country, but I realize
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there is injustice that has existed here. Or yes, abortion is grave evil. But some women who have them
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are victims themselves. There is also, yes, a time for empathy for the Christian when we just listen
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and comfort and try to put ourselves in someone else's shoes rather than correct or provide
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pushback or center ourselves in the conversation. There is definitely a time when love for the
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Christian looks only like soft-spoken gentleness, an affirmation of a person's worth as a person made
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in God's image. But, but what I'm afraid of is that many Christian women stop there, that they use
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these realities to stop themselves from speaking that which is true. Because a subject is complicated,
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they won't be clear on it. That's not helping anyone. That's just fear. You can realize these are hard
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topics and still be so clear using God's word on what is good and right and true. It's okay to simply say
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without a million caveats, abortion is evil. God made us male and female and he said that it was
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good. Kids need a mom and dad. Sex is for marriage. Social justice isn't biblical justice. Yes, there's
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more to all of these things. We spend a lot of time on this show explaining our why behind them and
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analyzing the different angles. But you don't have to be scared to say them just because they're
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complicated and they're going to solicit pushback. These are not primarily political and cultural issues
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for the Christian. They have become culture war issues, but they're pre-political for us.
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They're biblical issues that have become political and cultural. So you are not being divisive by
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talking about them. Or maybe you are. Maybe you are and that's okay. The truth divides. Now, I don't
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abandon or I don't recommend abandoning friendships and relationships over these disagreements. But I also
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think you shouldn't stay quiet about them because you're scared of upsetting someone. So all this to
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say, let this be the year that the church is so incredibly, consistently, persistently, courageously
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clear on these things. And more than just the things that we just listed, also about the proper
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role and authority of the government versus the church versus the family. I'm thinking about the
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so-called conversion therapy ban bill that passed in Canada. We talked about a Canadian pastor about
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that. It actually restricts the speech and the services of Christian professionals. It's not a ban
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on just barbaric electroshock therapy. It is a ban on even helping children who are confused about their
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gender, love their own body. Even someone who wants help dealing with unwanted same-sex attraction
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cannot get help because of this bill, this law now in Canada. Someone apparently cannot be counseled
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through detransitioning. So in the midst of things like that, the church cannot waver there or elsewhere
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in saying what is true, not just because we want to be right, but because this has intense,
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immense consequences on people, especially children. Puberty blockers, surgery, even social transition is all
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destructive of a person's body and true identity and a child's psychological well-being.
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Not to mention the vulnerability of women and girls who are being forced to accept men into their private
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spaces and athletic competitions. Who will speak up for these people if not the church? The church,
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at her best, is a refuge for the most vulnerable people. Not just the poor and the outcast and the disabled,
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although that's true as well, but for the young, for the confused, for the lost. We stand in their stead
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by standing steadfastly on the Word of God in clarity and courage. So when I say clarity and
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courage are my goals and relatable, I am speaking as someone who is actively seeking these things,
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not as a person who has obtained them. I do have clarity and courage in some areas, as we all do,
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but my goal is to pursue and emulate these things better and better as time goes on, with the help of
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God, with the help of you. And my hope is that we can learn to do that together. Now, why am I so
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passionate about Christians speaking up about issues that to many people seem unnecessarily
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political and divisive and just culture war issues, religious liberty, free speech, parental rights,
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the makeup of the family, gender, abortion, the role of the government? Because you guys know it by now,
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because people matter. And politics affect policy and policy affects people. Because politics matter,
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because policy matters, because people matter. That's why. That's why I care about being courageous
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and clear on all of these issues. And we're going to get into now, finally, how this relates to some of
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the things that we're talking about today in relation to what was said at the Supreme Court in relation to
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the policies that continue to come down the pipeline that are disproportionately negatively affecting
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the most vulnerable and marginalized population in the world, and that is children.
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We have seen over the last two years how deeply policy affects people, maybe more than ever,
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at least in our lifetimes, especially when it comes to children. So in March of 2020, many states locked
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down, Republican and Democrat. Soon, however, that changed. It became partisan. Most Republican states
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opened up, went back to school, took off masks, opened up businesses, and many Democrat states
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did not. They mandated curfews. They issued lockdowns. They closed businesses. They enforced
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mask wearing, et cetera. You guys know. You've lived it. And truly, to no avail. Over the last two years,
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the blue states overall have not performed any better than the red states as far as cases and deaths go.
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Some red states have done really poorly. Some blue states, like New York, have done really poorly.
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For example, New York's seven-day average death rate right now was higher than it was last year,
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despite New York City's vaccine mandate, despite the passport that's required for the vaccine in New
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York City, despite the mandate for health care workers, despite all the restrictions put on schools
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and businesses. Remember, last year, almost no one was vaccinated. We're seeing similar patterns
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with countries around the world. Countries with very draconian laws and high vaccine numbers
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still have high cases and high deaths. Australia, the country with some of the heftiest restrictions
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in the world, it looks like a freaking police state right now, and very few exemptions allowed
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for people for the vaccine. The cases have skyrocketed to an all-time high. We knew early on that lockdowns
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were not helpful. We saw the data from the get-go. Even the WHO was not recommending full-on lockdowns.
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We also knew early on that kids going to school in person needed to be a priority.
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How did we know that? Because every other country in the world was prioritizing it, except for us.
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And we saw right away the detriment to their mental health from remote learning.
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Most countries in the world didn't even require masks for kids under 12. The WHO didn't recommend
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them for kids under 6. What did the United States do? We required kids as young as 2,
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in many cases, to wear masks. We knew that throwing kids already so impressionable at such an unstable,
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unsure, vulnerable, hormonal for teenagers time in their lives, that they would have a hard time
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adjusting to their world, being thrown for a loop. And so most people, conservatives in the United States
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and a lot of different kinds of politically affiliated adults in other countries said,
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no, kids are going back to schools and they shouldn't wear masks. In the U.S., we have this
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scourge, this curse upon our land. And it's called the teachers' unions, who, no matter what they try to say
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now, no matter how they try to memory hole, what they fought for and what they said and what they did
00:24:25.660
for the last two years, no matter how many New York Times articles and puff pieces are written about
00:24:32.600
Randy Weingarten and the teachers' unions, they fought to keep schools remote. Now, listen, I got to caveat
00:24:39.980
this. There are a ton of great public school teachers who wanted to teach in person. But the
00:24:48.320
teachers' unions in cities like Chicago and L.A. and in Arizona, they protested, they rallied, they fought
00:24:55.040
to keep schools closed. They staged fake funerals for themselves. They claimed they were going to die
00:25:00.120
if they had to go to school, despite the fact that millions of other people had continued to go in
00:25:04.740
person to their jobs for the entirety of the pandemic. But because Democrats are owned by the
00:25:10.340
teachers' unions and associations, they listened to them. So many Democrat-run districts stayed remote.
00:25:16.000
And what happened? Kids fell through the cracks. Child abuse numbers went up. Child suicide numbers
00:25:21.040
went up. IQ went down. Their aptitude in English and math went down. And what did we hear from the
00:25:26.480
teachers' unions and people on the left? Kids are resilient. How cruel. How cruel. So this began
00:25:33.400
to be a losing battle for the Democratic Party when they realized that even progressive parents in the
00:25:39.980
United States were starting to get upset about their seven-year-old sitting in front of a computer
00:25:44.840
screen all day. They realized that they needed to get kids back to school so they could be voted for
00:25:50.900
and win elections. So they kind of struck a deal. They said, OK, let's appease the teachers' unions,
00:25:57.120
which have us by the throat, and let's try to appease our voters who are starting to get a little
00:26:02.100
bit ornery about this whole thing. So they promised teachers the first round of the vaccine back when
00:26:08.640
it was rationed. They said, OK, teachers need to be safe. So you should get the shots first so we can
00:26:14.640
open up schools and everybody will be happy. We were told this would be the end of this whole thing.
00:26:19.940
Teachers got their shots. What happened? Well, we saw this fall an epic battle about masks.
00:26:26.720
We saw schools filled with teachers, filled with a vaccine that they said would protect them against
00:26:32.700
the virus, insist that everyone wear masks and continue to social distance. We know from the
00:26:39.460
reporting of David Zwick in New York Magazine first and then The Atlantic that the CDC studies
00:26:45.240
supporting mask wearing were completely misleading and that the data does not actually support the idea
00:26:50.620
that mask mandates in schools is actually mitigating the spread at all. And even if it did, this is my
00:26:58.780
commentary now, even if it did, who cares? Because the vaccinated teachers are theoretically protected
00:27:03.880
and there is a 0.001% chance of the kid even going to the hospital with COVID, much less dying from it.
00:27:12.340
I mean, that's from the health, the Department of Health and Human Services in the United States.
00:27:16.480
Okay, that's a real number. 0.001% chance of a kid even going to the hospital with COVID.
00:27:25.380
So why should we hinder kids' ability to socialize and communicate and learn a single bit with masks
00:27:31.960
when teachers are, as the unions insisted they should be, protected?
00:27:36.420
And let me just add to that with findings from a study from the UK government.
00:27:41.440
The study says, this particular study says that masks can mitigate the spread if masks are worn properly.
00:27:48.760
It does not talk about whether or not data shows that the mask mandates have actually been effective
00:27:54.020
in mitigating the spread more than other measures. They just said if worn properly, masks can mitigate
00:28:00.540
the spread, which I do think is true. The problem is the numbers do not show at all. If you look state
00:28:06.220
to state, school to school, that mandating masks actually has any effect whatsoever on case or death
00:28:11.480
rates. We've gone through that many, many times, but here's what the UK study says.
00:28:16.180
Quote, wearing face coverings may have physical side effects and impair face identification,
00:28:21.720
verbal and nonverbal communication between teacher and learner. This means there are downsides
00:28:26.700
to face coverings for pupils and students, including detrimental impacts on communication
00:28:31.160
in the classroom. A survey conducted by the Department for Education in April 2021 found
00:28:36.620
that almost all secondary leaders and teachers, 94%, thought that wearing face coverings has made
00:28:41.820
communication between teachers and students more difficult, with 59% saying it has made it a lot
00:28:47.860
more difficult. Research into the effect of mask wearing on communication has found that concealing
00:28:53.140
a speaker's lips led to lower performance, lower confidence scores, and increased perceived effort
00:28:58.300
on the part of the listener. Moreover, metacognitive monitoring was worse when listening in these
00:29:05.480
conditions compared with listening to an unmasked talker. A survey of impacts on communication with mask
00:29:11.540
wearing and adults reported that face coverings negatively impact hearing, understanding, engagement,
00:29:17.520
and feelings of connection with the speaker. People with hearing loss were impacted more than those
00:29:22.440
without hearing loss, of course, because they have to read lips in order to understand.
00:29:26.180
The inability to see facial expressions and to read lips have a major impact on speech understanding
00:29:33.040
for those with hearing impairments. The worse the hearing, the greater the impact of the mask.
00:29:37.140
The WHO reports that the wearing of masks by children with hearing loss or auditory problems may
00:29:41.200
present learning barriers or further challenges exacerbated by the need to adhere to the recommended
00:29:45.540
physical distancing. So sad. These children may miss learning opportunities because of the degraded speech
00:29:51.460
signal stemming from mask wearing, the elimination of lip reading and speaker expressions,
00:29:55.620
and physical distancing. So apparently this is a marginalized group that we just don't care about,
00:30:02.020
that we're allowing to go to the back burner because of our worship of these useless rules.
00:30:10.520
And then there's more on this and the effect of masks on children's ability to learn. There is this article
00:30:19.860
in the Daily Mail. COVID rules are blamed for 23% dive in young children's development. Disturbing
00:30:27.040
studies shows scores and three key cognitive tests slumped between 2018 and 2021 with face mask rules
00:30:33.600
among possible culprits. So this is a Brown University study that they are referring to that shows that
00:30:40.180
social distancing measures, including face masks, are suspected of causing young children's development
00:30:44.920
to have dropped by up to 23% during the COVID pandemic. Results showed the early learning composite
00:30:52.580
mean result dropped by a whopping 23% from a high of just under 100% in 2019 to around 80 to 2020 and
00:31:00.520
finally 77 in 2021. The verbal development quotient also dropped dramatically from an average of 100 in
00:31:07.220
2018 to just below 90 in 2020 and around 70 in 2021. The study concluded that children born during the pandemic
00:31:16.080
also have significantly reduced verbal, motor, and overall cognitive performance compared to children born
00:31:22.600
pre-pandemic. Of course, because if they are around caretakers who are wearing masks, they're unable to read lips,
00:31:29.520
they're unable to see facial expressions. Of course, that's going to be hindered. Conservatives have been saying this
00:31:35.580
for the past two years. And the American Academy of Pediatrics had the audacity, even though they know
00:31:40.880
the truth, had the audacity to tweet out a tweet thread a few months ago saying there's no evidence
00:31:45.840
that shows whatsoever that it's going to hinder cognitive ability or any kind of social emotional
00:31:52.080
development for children. The American Academy of Pediatrics had the audacity to say that.
00:31:57.740
We knew. We knew then and we know now. It's just amazing. When you disagree
00:32:03.460
with institutions like the American Academy of Pediatrics or the CDC, you're called a conspiracy
00:32:09.280
theorist, even when it's common sense, even when they know it to be true. And then when the record
00:32:14.060
is corrected and all the people who were called conspiracy theorists for disagreeing with those
00:32:18.560
institutions are vindicated, no one ever apologizes. It's pretty amazing. So conclusion, it's not worth it.
00:32:26.480
The mask is not saving their lives because for 99.999% of them, their life isn't at risk. So there's really
00:32:32.520
no reward for them wearing contaminated cloth masks to school. But now it's not just masks
00:32:37.740
that some teachers in the teachers unions are wanting to keep them safe. These vaccinated teachers.
00:32:44.720
Now there are districts that are wanting to close altogether again and go back to remote learning
00:32:49.600
because of Omicron, which is from all available data, more transmissible, but much more mild. It's
00:32:55.580
apparently escaping both natural immunity and vaccine immunity, but it typically amounts to the sniffles
00:33:01.240
for anyone who gets it, whether they have prior immunity or not. And yet the Chicago Teachers Union
00:33:07.800
is insisting on not showing up for work. So the Chicago Teachers Union back up to no good. So this
00:33:17.180
is what PBS says. Leaders of the nation's third largest school district canceled classes for a third
00:33:22.520
consecutive day as heated negotiations continued with the Chicago Teachers Union over remote learning and
00:33:29.160
other COVID-19 safety measures. And as we speak, apparently this closure is it's going into
00:33:36.040
this week. The union, which voted this week, this is last week, to revert to online instruction,
00:33:41.800
told teachers not to show up to schools starting Wednesday during the latest COVID-19 surge while
00:33:46.520
both sides negotiate. They serve roughly 350,000 students in this district. These are students from
00:33:54.300
predominantly poor communities in Chicago, by the way, many of whom come from one parent households
00:34:01.580
where the parent has to work. So what are they supposed to do? What are they supposed to do? These
00:34:06.340
little six, seven year old kids, they're forced to stay home by themselves all day. And no, that's not
00:34:11.840
saying that teachers are just babysitters. That's just the reality. That's the reality. Kids depend
00:34:17.280
on going to school. Yes, of course, for education, but also for food in some cases, for a welfare check.
00:34:23.720
Yes, that is part of the public education system. For all of the bads that exist in the public
00:34:28.300
education system, there are benefits, especially to the most marginalized and the most vulnerable
00:34:34.540
kids. Now, there are even liberals that are criticizing these unions to their credit. Leanna Nguyen,
00:34:41.960
who has been just a fierce advocate of all kinds of COVID restrictions and vaccine passports and
00:34:48.200
vaccine verification for domestic flights. She's also the foreign plan parenthood director,
00:34:53.600
and so we, I think, have a reason to question whether or not her ostensible concern for human
00:35:00.460
life is genuine. But she pointed out on Twitter that teachers were prioritized in line for the
00:35:06.800
vaccine so they could teach in person, which is absolutely true. That's a good point.
00:35:10.860
Nicole Hannah-Jones, the author of the 1619 Project, you know, broken clocks and all that
00:35:16.600
stuff, tweeted her disapproval of teachers refusing to teach when the vaccine is available to them.
00:35:24.440
Lori Lightfoot, Democratic mayor of Chicago, who in general does a very terrible job, is telling
00:35:29.620
teachers to go back to work, which I think is just a political ploy to pretend like she's actually
00:35:34.380
fighting with the teachers unions. I'm sure there's shady stuff going on behind the scenes, but
00:35:37.760
the city and this union are at least, from the outside, it looks like they are fighting right now
00:35:45.700
at the expense, again, of hundreds of thousands of children. I just, I don't understand. I don't
00:35:52.280
understand. I mean, I do. Teachers unions are corrupt, so that's how it is. But I mean, the science
00:35:59.420
is so obvious. The data is so readily available that the vaccine significantly lowers the chances of
00:36:06.640
serious illness. I mean, I think that the data shows that pretty well. It does not stop infection
00:36:12.500
or transmission. It looks like at all. But it seems to help people get less sick. Seems. Now,
00:36:18.680
I do know people who are vaccinated who have had a very serious case and lots and lots of unvaccinated
00:36:23.780
people who barely had a cold because, again, in general, the chances of anyone, no matter your
00:36:28.760
VAX status, getting serious illness is less than 1%. So the question stands, what is the problem here?
00:36:34.840
You're vaccinated. And if you're so pro-vaccine, prove it. Go out in public and do your job like
00:36:40.800
most people have been doing, a lot of people for the entirety of the past two years. Now, again,
00:36:48.620
most teachers don't feel this way or act this way. But most of the teachers unions do and many
00:36:54.840
teachers do within these teachers unions, unfortunately. Now, one silver lining is that
00:36:59.760
parents who can are going to pull their kids out. Bad news. Lots of parents can't. And they'll
00:37:06.100
be stuck with this lack of education for their kid who will fall further behind. Like, if you thought
00:37:10.800
that we had bad education and income gaps between the rich and the poor before, just wait till the
00:37:16.100
data comes out in 10 to 20 years that people with means are making sure their kid doesn't fall behind.
00:37:20.260
Of course, the single working mom doesn't have that option. And in some schools that are open,
00:37:24.980
teachers and administrators are so paranoid that kids are actually being forced to eat their lunch
00:37:31.020
outside in 38 degree weather. Like, I don't really, is that better that they're actually going to school
00:37:36.820
in-person learning, but they're being forced to eat outside? I don't know. So here's what this
00:37:43.580
article says in mynorthwest.com. Jodi Isaacson, she's a mom of kids at Lakeview Elementary School
00:37:50.980
in Kirkland, Washington. She is raising awareness about this, that her kids, her elementary school
00:38:00.860
kids are being forced to eat their lunch outside in 38 degree weather because apparently them eating
00:38:09.000
inside could potentially spread COVID germs because they'll have to take their masks off to eat. So
00:38:15.860
this article says, or Jodi Isaacson says, according to this article, our kids are political actors in
00:38:20.940
a show they don't want to be in, she added. So true. Great way to put that. When we are putting kids in
00:38:26.060
38 degree weather because we want to put on a show and pretend we're doing something about COVID,
00:38:30.060
it's just completely absurd. They only have 15 minutes for lunch. They have to socially distance while
00:38:35.840
eating. They're not allowed to speak in outside voices because apparently that contributes to the
00:38:40.740
spread of COVID. Now she posted, I believe this is the same woman who goes by the predicament on
00:38:49.080
Twitter. She posted an email that she got from the principal at this elementary school and she posted
00:38:57.880
the bottom part of it. We'll show the tweet if you're watching on YouTube. It says, on Sundays during
00:39:03.700
January through February, I will send a brief message indicating whether students will be eating
00:39:08.640
indoors due to frigid weather in the coming week. This week, students will remain eating outdoors as
00:39:13.540
temperatures are expected to be above 38 degrees. She signs off. Stay warm, Heather.
00:39:22.240
Stay warm? Oh my goodness. My, you know how I told you last year that I try really hard and I pray for
00:39:31.280
the strength of the Holy Spirit to help me not to cuss and certainly not to call people names that I
00:39:36.220
shouldn't call them. I'm trying. The Holy Spirit is working really hard and I'm trying really hard.
00:39:42.380
Stay warm, Heather. Stay warm, Heather. Are you kidding me? When kids are being forced to eat in 38 degree
00:39:50.180
weather? Stay warm, Heather. Oh, the audacity of this principle, guys. That is, I mean, it's cruel. It's cruel.
00:39:59.260
I don't know what else to call it. Heather Frazier is apparently the name of this woman. Oh my goodness.
00:40:07.160
This is how we treat children. This is how we treat children. I think the pandemic has shown us once and
00:40:11.980
for all that our society hates kids. Then there's also this article in the Daily Mail talking about how
00:40:21.120
the same thing is happening in New York City. In 39 degree weather, elementary school students are being
00:40:26.140
forced to eat their lunches outside. There was a Brooklyn mom who raised awareness about that
00:40:31.460
because they've been eating outside since August and apparently there is no, um, there is no sign of
00:40:37.820
stopping. Kids in Balmere, California are also being made to eat outside, which is not as bad, but
00:40:42.740
still like they shouldn't be allowed to eat inside. This is so unscientific and just nonsensical. I mean,
00:40:49.620
what are we doing here? What exactly are we doing here? Why are we sacrificing the well-being of kids
00:40:55.860
for the comfort of adults? Because we're cowards. That's why. Because we're coddled cowards.
00:41:03.100
Did y'all see the story out of Houston about the English teacher whose son was found in the trunk of
00:41:09.700
her car? She drove him to get a COVID test and she put him in the trunk. Okay, we're not just talking
00:41:16.940
about, we're talking about like a car, like it's enclosed. We're not just talking about in the very
00:41:21.700
back of the car, which would be irresponsible too, because he needs to be buckled up. We're talking
00:41:25.280
about enclosed. I'm, I'm pretty sure from the description, that's what it seems like. Um, I think
00:41:31.680
they would have probably specified if it wasn't because she said she wanted to limit her exposure
00:41:37.880
to the virus. She has been placed on administrative leave. I think she's talked to the police. I don't know
00:41:42.200
if she was arrested. I don't know that whole deal, but she put her own child into the trunk of her car
00:41:48.580
because she didn't want to get exposed to COVID. Can you imagine? Like when my kids get sick, I am
00:41:54.460
all up in their business. I don't care. It's snuggle. This is, this is part of the, this is part
00:41:59.660
of the deal. Snuggle time with mom on the couch for 12 hours a day until they get better. Cough in my
00:42:04.480
mouth. I don't care. It's my child. They're like extensions of me. If they got COVID, I would not do a
00:42:10.040
single thing to try to limit my exposure. That's what I signed up for. When I decided to become a
00:42:15.360
mom, I bear their burdens, whatever they are happily. But COVID has brought out the most psychotic
00:42:21.500
and selfish characteristics in people. And yet the same people, by the way, this is rich. The same
00:42:28.060
people forcing kids to sit in 40 degree weather, to eat their sandwiches and stuffing their preteens
00:42:32.600
into trunks of their car are the people who will call you selfish for not getting vaccinated.
00:42:37.820
Even though your vaccine scientifically has no effect on them at all. All of this that we are
00:42:44.860
doing and allowing for our kids is really affecting them. It's really affecting them and not just
00:42:50.500
academically. Kids are really struggling when it comes to mental health. This is according to the
00:42:54.640
New York Times, quote, among emergency department visits by girls ages 12 to 17 in early 2021, there was
00:43:01.800
a more than 50% increase in suspected suicide attempts compared with the same period in 2019.
00:43:06.940
In the first six months of this year, children's hospitals across the country reported a 45%
00:43:13.180
increase in the number of self-injury and suicide cases in 5 to 17-year-olds. 5 to 17-year-olds
00:43:20.140
compared with the same period in 2019. Now, this is according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
00:43:26.240
This study also had a lot of just political nonsense in it, but I thought this part was pertinent.
00:43:30.300
Quote, rates of childhood mental health concerns and suicide rose steadily between 2010 and 2020,
00:43:36.360
and by 2018, suicide was the second leading cause for death among death for youth ages 10 to 24.
00:43:43.500
The pandemic has intensified this crisis. Across the country, we have witnessed dramatic increases in
00:43:48.660
emergency department visits for all mental health emergencies, including suspected suicide attempts.
00:43:53.960
We have a responsibility as parents, as adults, as any adult, to help our kids and to help kids in
00:44:02.480
general have as stable and normal lives as possible. Your cloth mask, your kids' friends' cloth masks,
00:44:09.600
and your kids' teachers' cloth mask are doing very little to protect them from a virus that is far
00:44:14.880
less dangerous to them than getting in the car every day. Their remote learning is far more dangerous
00:44:20.120
to them holistically long-term than them going to school and possibly catching a cold. They're more
00:44:26.660
likely to die in a car wreck or from a host of other causes than they are from COVID. We really
00:44:31.820
need parents to understand this, to understand that the data behind mask mandates for schools is not at
00:44:36.340
all supportive, to understand that the risk of COVID to kids is extremely low. We really need to start
00:44:42.540
prioritizing the well-being of kids. It's just so ironic in an age where we're constantly focused on
00:44:47.140
mental health and therapy, how the mental health and well-being of kids seem to be pushed to the,
00:44:52.680
seems to be being pushed to the wayside. Parents of teenagers, I think we got to get our kids,
00:45:00.360
I mean, my kids aren't to this age, but kids got to get off TikTok and Tumblr and Instagram,
00:45:04.700
at least constantly. It's destroying their brains. Talk to them, make them go outside, read a book,
00:45:10.500
let them hang out with friends, take them to church with you. I know it's easier said than done. I know.
00:45:15.000
I don't have teenagers, but I've been a teenager. I know. But your child's mind is yours to steward.
00:45:22.320
You are still tasked with shaping them and influencing and teaching them while we still have time.
00:45:27.700
We talked about a couple of weeks ago, we're still 22 months closer to death than we were
00:45:33.620
when this pandemic started. That's true for kids too. Their childhood is wasting away. They get one
00:45:39.180
childhood, one chance at all of this. Parents, unfortunately, though, continue to isolate their kids
00:45:45.900
and act in paranoia when the CDC releases statements like kids with COVID are more likely
00:45:52.840
to then be diagnosed with diabetes. And so parents understandably freak out. But let's think about this.
00:45:59.560
Like what kind of kids are likely to get really sick with COVID? Obese kids. What kind of kids are
00:46:04.520
also likely to be diagnosed with diabetes? Obese kids. Also, it doesn't help that we're telling
00:46:10.820
people to stay inside by themselves, thereby encouraging unhealthy weight gain. Also, viruses
00:46:15.560
in general can cause other diseases like diabetes. So it's possible, but it's not reason for parents
00:46:22.260
to live in more paranoia. Or how about our wise sage Justice Sotomayor, who said on Friday in the hearing
00:46:34.080
about the vaccine mandate, that 100,000 children are in the hospital for COVID, many of whom are on
00:46:39.000
ventilators. We'll fact check that in just one second. So PolitiFacts actually corrected
00:46:46.320
Sonia Sotomayor, which is amazing because they're left wing. They fact checked what she said. They said,
00:46:52.680
no, no, the number is actually about 3,000 of pediatric hospitalizations with COVID,
00:46:58.540
which means many of those are incidental, meaning they're in the hospital for something else.
00:47:03.560
And they happen to test positive. Okay, so that's not 3,000 kids, which is a tiny, tiny,
00:47:09.880
tiny, tiny fraction of the number of kids in the United States. The vast majority of that tiny number,
00:47:17.500
respectively, is not, they're not there because of COVID. It's incidental. They happen to have COVID
00:47:24.780
and they're there for something else. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC director, and she is pretty
00:47:30.100
consistently, she's pretty consistently factless and a fear monger about this. But she even fact
00:47:39.420
checked Sonia Sotomayor on Fox News Sunday. And she said, no, we don't even know of a single child
00:47:47.600
on a ventilator right now. She also reiterated that 3,000 number, that it's 3,000 kids who just happen
00:47:53.720
to be COVID positive and none on ventilators. And she also, so on Fox News Sunday, this is a different
00:48:01.160
than the pediatric conversation. She was asked by Brett Baer, how many of the people who the CDC
00:48:08.220
says have died from COVID, over 800,000 now, how many people died with COVID and how many people
00:48:16.100
actually died of COVID? That is a distinction with a difference. And she said that data is forthcoming.
00:48:21.840
So she didn't say, she didn't actually push back or say, no, no, no, these are all people who died
00:48:28.440
of COVID. I mean, we've known this for a long time, but once again, called conspiracies theorists for
00:48:32.960
saying that. I'm not saying that those 800,000 people who died, that they're not significant,
00:48:37.800
or it doesn't matter, or that any number of people who actually died of COVID, that that's not
00:48:42.920
significant. But doesn't that make a big difference? If this is affecting policy that is then affecting
00:48:47.880
people, especially children, like, doesn't it matter if the real number is 200,000 people
00:48:53.860
who died actually of COVID, or 100,000 people versus 800,000? I mean, that changes the calculation
00:49:01.500
a little bit, doesn't it? I mean, even with the 800,000, that still puts the death rate very, very,
00:49:06.400
very low. But if it's even lower than that, I mean, again, like, what are we all doing here?
00:49:11.920
That's the director of the CDC, not willing to say how many people have actually died of COVID
00:49:18.100
versus people who died of a million other things, heart attack, cancer, whatever, and just happened
00:49:22.080
to also test positive for COVID. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And now people are also trying to call out
00:49:28.900
Justice Gorsuch on the Supreme Court, who, according to a transcript, said the flu kills hundreds of
00:49:36.400
thousands of people a year. He was saying this in an effort to make his point. But he actually didn't
00:49:41.440
say that. If you listen to the audio, he said the flu kills hundreds, thousands of people a year.
00:49:49.460
It was a transcript error. But people on the left on Twitter were freaking out about this
00:49:54.900
misinformation and how it's so terrible, how it's so unprofessional. They didn't have anything to say
00:49:59.720
about Sotomayor grossly misconstruing the pediatric hospitalization rate. Because I've realized that
00:50:09.440
COVID fear mongers, they don't actually care about misinformation. They care about information
00:50:16.400
they don't like, whether it's untrue information or true information. They just get angry about
00:50:22.180
anything that doesn't finish their narrative. But if a lie helps them achieve their end, then they don't
00:50:28.040
really care whether or not it's true. The flu actually does, by the way, kill tens of thousands
00:50:33.720
of people every year. So I think that's significant. Sotomayor said a lot of other
00:50:38.240
things that weren't true, as did Justice Kagan. Blatant misinformation about the vaccine's ability
00:50:43.180
to end the virus and stop the spread. That's just false. It's just a lie. The data just doesn't
00:50:48.820
show that, especially now. Sotomayor also said that human beings are just machines that spew sparks,
00:50:54.860
I guess implying that we have to do whatever possible to control them. Now, this is the same
00:50:59.460
woman who said in the recent abortion Dobbs case that just because a baby moves does not mean that
00:51:04.400
she can feel pain. And even if she can feel pain, it doesn't mean she's alive. So, I mean, she's not
00:51:10.260
the smartest lady. I think everyone kind of knows that. It's almost a running joke. But she does
00:51:14.960
perfectly represent the secular progressive view of human beings, just clumps of cells to be regulated
00:51:20.080
by the government. The Christian worldview stands opposed to that. We are all people made in God's image.
00:51:26.800
Therefore, in my view, in the founder view, we are entitled to certain inalienable rights
00:51:32.540
that predate and supersede any government power. That includes the right to live, to work, to provide
00:51:40.780
for your family. I think that worldview also tells us that people are more than just machines spewing
00:51:47.640
sparks, that children are more than just sacrifices on the altar of adults' paranoia and progressive
00:51:58.380
whims. It means that there are people who matter, whose futures matter, whose lives, whose minds,
00:52:05.540
whose hearts and souls matter. And that's the whole debate that we have been having over the past couple
00:52:10.980
of years. It seems like we are, I mean, we are having a clash of worldviews, whereas one side seems to
00:52:17.140
only care about what a virus can do to your body. It doesn't at all care about the rest of the needs
00:52:23.400
that human beings have, their emotional needs, their spiritual needs. You need to be able to
00:52:27.520
fellowship. You need to be able to worship. You need to be able to congregate. You need to be able to
00:52:32.200
work. You need to be able to access entertainment. All of these things are good parts of life that are
00:52:38.600
necessary for human fulfillment. We are not just bodies. We are not just machines.
00:52:44.580
There are things to fear. In addition to death, there are things that are worse than dying,
00:52:51.340
believe it or not. The Christian worldview informs us of that. As people made in the image of God,
00:52:57.040
we have souls. We understand that we have needs to be met that are not just physical. The physical
00:53:03.620
matters, absolutely, but so do the rest of us. And gosh, we have forgotten that, especially as it
00:53:08.980
pertains to children. So we've got to be courageous. We've got to be clear on all things, but especially
00:53:14.700
on this, because we're seeing the detriment. We're seeing the consequences. And I think that the church
00:53:20.580
needs to be so crystal clear and brave when it comes to this particular subject. People aren't
00:53:27.320
standing up for kids, and so we have to. All right. There's more that I want to talk about, but it's already
00:53:33.080
run long, ran long. What did I say? I think I said runned, or maybe I said rung. I don't know what I
00:53:40.620
was trying to say. This has already run long, is what I was trying to say. And so, I mean, it's just
00:53:47.860
it's Monday. I guess I just, there's a lot. There's a lot that's going on in my head. So you'll have to
00:53:53.920
be gracious with me and some of the tongue-tie that I've experienced today in this super long
00:54:02.140
episode. But I hope you enjoyed it. We're back with a vengeance. We'll be back tomorrow talking
00:54:05.960
about other super important things. If you would, just start out the new year. Please be so kind as
00:54:10.780
to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts if you like the show. And please, if you'd like,
00:54:16.020
share this podcast with someone you know that would love it. Thank you guys so much for listening or