Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 55 ｜ Christian Persecution at UC Berkeley

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, it's Allie. Welcome to CRTV's Relatable. We've got a good show for you today. We've got a

00:00:06.420 really good, interesting conversation. So we are going to talk to Isabella Chow. She is a student

00:00:12.220 at UC Berkeley, a part of the Student Senate. You might have seen some articles floating around

00:00:17.100 about her on Fox News, on The Federalist, and she is making waves because she did something that is

00:00:22.900 now considered extremely scandalous. She stood up for Christian values in the face of a lot of

00:00:31.100 opposition. So just to give you a little bit of context, at UC Berkeley, there was an alliance,

00:00:37.800 and the alliance is called Queer Alliance Resource Center. And this alliance demanded or wanted the

00:00:46.300 student body to vote on this particular resolution that would symbolically, doesn't actually do any

00:00:52.880 thing, but symbolically condemn the Trump administration's decision to define men and

00:00:57.800 women as men and women in relation to their sex that is assigned to them at birth. You've probably

00:01:04.660 seen a lot of backlash over that, that Trump is erasing trans people, but that has been completely

00:01:10.760 debunked. That is not the case at all. This is talking about biological sex. So the Queer Alliance 0.98

00:01:17.540 Resource Center wanted this resolution passed, the student Senate, of which Isabella is

00:01:22.860 apart, had to vote on this. And this is live streamed. I think this is might even be before

00:01:28.340 the student body. And she decided that she wasn't going to cast a vote and she was going to explain

00:01:35.920 exactly why she's not going to cast a vote. The political party that she was a part of on campus

00:01:40.780 had released a statement saying, you know, that they support the resolution. She felt like it didn't

00:01:46.620 represent her views. So she got up in front of the student Senate and she said why she was not going to

00:01:52.060 vote on this. And she said in a very kind, you can go online and read Isabella Chow's statement.

00:01:57.540 It's on the foxnews.com article. It was very kind, very gentle, very compassionate. But she said,

00:02:02.620 I love these people. I, you know, accept them as friends, but I do not agree with this lifestyle.

00:02:09.220 I do not agree with the multiple gender identities. And again, I love them, want to be their friend,

00:02:14.040 but I don't agree with them. And what has happened since then? She has received unbelievable,

00:02:21.580 unbelievable hate. They're calling for her resignation from the student Senate. She was 0.99

00:02:27.640 kicked out of the political party that she's a part of on campus. The name of the political party

00:02:32.040 slips my mind now, or it's a political organization, but I think they call it a political party.

00:02:37.620 And she, this has been like two and a half weeks and people are harassing her, are saying horrible

00:02:45.040 things to her. Things like, you know, F you go to hell, all of these terrible things simply because

00:02:50.840 she stood up for what she believes in. So we are going to talk to her. We're going to get her

00:02:56.780 perspective and hear a little bit more about what's going on. But first, before we do that,

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00:04:26.000 You can thank me later. Now that we've covered that, we are going to talk to our friend Isabella.

00:04:31.140 Isabella, thank you so much for joining me. Hello. Thank you so much for having me here.

00:04:35.600 Yeah. So tell me, tell me what exactly happened. I've read a few of the articles,

00:04:41.540 but I want to hear it from your perspective. Yeah. Essentially what happened was it started when

00:04:47.080 I brought up these two bills at caucus with my political party. And caucus is a time where we,

00:04:54.860 you know, discuss bills and we're very clear that we don't block vote as a party, but we allow each

00:04:59.440 senator to have, you know, freedom to vote however they want. But we do want to, you know, discuss

00:05:04.360 bills with each other. And so I said, you know, as a Christian, as a senator who campaigned to,

00:05:09.140 you know, get votes mainly from the Christian community here at Berkeley, I'm not sure if I can 1.00

00:05:14.260 fully support this bill that asks me to promote the LGBTQ identity and lifestyle.

00:05:19.660 Right. People, I expected a little bit of hesitation and opposition, but not to the extent

00:05:28.900 where, you know, what actually happened was after several days of meetings, they told me you either

00:05:35.840 fully promote this bill and you fully promote the LGBTQ identity or you're out. And so obviously,

00:05:41.600 you know, before God and before my community, I couldn't, I couldn't in good conscience vote for

00:05:46.960 the bill. And so I got ousted from my political party. Um, what, after I abstained, um, and made

00:05:53.400 a statement regarding my abstention, my political party released a statement disaffiliating with me

00:05:59.800 and, um, the, another Senator who sponsored the bill that I abstained from released her own statement,

00:06:06.200 essentially calling me a homophobic and transphobic Senator.

00:06:08.860 Okay. So tell me, tell me exactly for those of us who don't know, tell me what this bill was,

00:06:16.360 how it was presented and why exactly you had to vote on it.

00:06:20.740 Yes. So, um, the main bill in question was largely symbolic. Um, it opposed Trump's title nine

00:06:27.540 proposed changes, proposed changes to title nine and specifically, um, the portion where he proposes

00:06:34.640 to define one's gender as one's biological sex. Right. Um, the bill, the symbolic bill largely

00:06:42.840 advocated for freedom from discrimination and harassment for LGBTQ individuals, which I'm

00:06:48.100 totally fine with. But at the end of the bill, the action items were to fully promote, uh, the

00:06:53.940 queer Alliance resource center here on campus and the gender equity resource center among other, um,

00:06:58.940 organizations. And the primary purpose of these organizations is to promote the LGBTQ identity

00:07:04.300 and lifestyle. Okay. Gotcha. So you, as a student Senator, you were called on to, to vote on this.

00:07:12.220 And when you had to vote, were you in front of the student body? Were you in front of the student

00:07:15.960 government or what was the context? Yes. This was during our weekly Senate meetings,

00:07:21.040 which are live streamed and open to the public. Okay. And so did everyone get up and make a statement

00:07:27.760 about how they were going to vote or did you just decide, okay, I just got to do this. This is on my

00:07:32.760 conscience. Yeah. So a lot of people have asked me, you know, why didn't you just vote and not said

00:07:37.480 anything? Um, the reason why I chose to make a statement because you don't have to, um, I chose

00:07:42.840 to make a statement because I knew that my political party student actions, um, press release was coming

00:07:48.460 out the moment the vote was over. And in that press release, they, you know, I didn't feel like they

00:07:54.200 completely represented my views accurately. Right. So I chose to make a statement. Yeah.

00:07:59.580 So student actions was part of the political party that you were a part of on campus.

00:08:04.000 They released the press release and you said, okay, well, this is not exactly what I think about

00:08:09.040 this bill. So I'm going to stand up and I'm just going to represent myself and maybe the rest of the

00:08:13.940 Christian community about this. And I read your statement and basically what you said, of course,

00:08:20.300 I'm coming from a Christian perspective and I just agree with everything you say. So,

00:08:24.100 but even so, even if I disagreed with you, you started out by saying I'm against harassment.

00:08:30.240 I'm against discrimination. I see you. You're valid. I love you. Jesus loves you. And then you

00:08:35.920 had one paragraph basically, I think that said, I just don't agree with this. I don't agree with,

00:08:42.040 you know, the LGBTQ lifestyle. I don't believe it's best for you. I do believe that, you know, 1.00

00:08:46.940 God made a man and a woman that sex is supposed to be between a man and a woman in marriage. And then 0.95

00:08:52.320 you ended again with, I still love you. You know, I'm still your friend. I still see you.

00:08:57.860 And yet the vitriol that you're receiving, it's like you got up there and said that, 1.00

00:09:03.780 you know, everyone who isn't like you is a terrible, horrible person that's burning in hell. 0.92

00:09:08.460 And that's not at all what you did. Were you surprised? 0.98

00:09:11.660 I was, I mean, I expected backlash, but not to the extent where every single student on campus

00:09:18.480 knows about it and is talking about it. Right. And much less like the entire country,

00:09:24.620 you know, because this has become a national story, which I think is great because you are

00:09:30.060 getting, uh, you know, I'm sure you're getting some support from people who do agree with you.

00:09:35.260 Now you're probably getting a lot of hate too. That's just common in the whole Christian world,

00:09:40.220 especially when it comes to views of sexuality. But how, how are you dealing with all of this?

00:09:45.840 I mean, it's gotta be kind of overwhelming. It was definitely overwhelming the first two weeks.

00:09:50.300 Um, because, you know, obviously now that the story has gone national, I've received,

00:09:56.160 you know, countless emails and messages of support, which really have carried me.

00:09:59.580 But then the first two weeks I relied so heavily on the Christian community here.

00:10:03.920 Yes. You know, just honestly asking them for encouragement and prayers and being very open

00:10:08.880 and honest about what was going on and what I was facing.

00:10:11.800 How did you get the strength and bravery to go up there and say that? Because gosh,

00:10:18.700 there's a lot of people who think the same way you do probably a good number of people,

00:10:22.160 even on UC Berkeley's campus who just wouldn't have said anything. Why did you feel like I can't

00:10:28.840 just be quiet about this?

00:10:30.780 Yes. And this ties back to the reason why, um, I chose to run for Senate last semester.

00:10:35.960 Um, what I told the Christian community was, you know, in such a liberal campus,

00:10:41.120 especially in student government, there rarely is a voice that speaks out for

00:10:45.680 values that the Christian community upholds and what we believe to be the truth.

00:10:49.680 And so what I told them is if we don't have a Senator in the ASUC

00:10:53.420 representing the Christian values, then who else will be there to speak the truth? 1.00

00:10:58.100 Right. And so when the time came for me to make the decision, of course, it was absolutely hard.

00:11:03.640 Like, um, yeah, some suggested, like, why don't you just walk out of the room when we vote and just

00:11:08.900 come back in so that, you know, you're not complicit in voting and your name is not on the roster,

00:11:13.140 but you don't have to say anything. You don't have to deal with, you know, all this mess.

00:11:18.160 But I asked myself, like, was I elected to a position to remain silent? And the answer was no.

00:11:24.860 Wow. Wow. That's really amazing. Have you talked to your parents at all about this? I mean,

00:11:32.140 what are they thinking?

00:11:33.780 It's a lot for them to go through. Um, last weekend, uh, last week when we had the Senate

00:11:39.940 meeting where the protesters came and essentially yelled at me in the mic for three hours,

00:11:43.960 they were there sitting and watching all of it. And I can't imagine how hard it must be for them.

00:11:50.000 Yeah. Yeah. Because for me, you know, sitting there,

00:11:52.680 I was expecting it and I'd already been going through it for, you know, a couple of weeks at

00:11:57.080 that point. But for my parents to watch me go through that, it was hard.

00:12:02.840 Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure they feel extremely defensive of you and they want to protect you.

00:12:08.420 Gosh, I bet that's hard. Uh, what do you do from here? Like,

00:12:13.180 what does it look like going forward for you?

00:12:16.040 Yeah. I think what's difficult for me is that, you know, even with the amazing response I've

00:12:22.920 received across the country and even across the globe on a day-to-day basis, I still have to sit

00:12:27.700 next to classmates who were the same classmates that yelled at me last week. Yeah. I've been,

00:12:32.960 they're just cursing at you, right? Just like saying these horrible things about you. I read

00:12:36.880 that someone said that, you know, they're going to see you in hell or something.

00:12:40.200 Yeah. Yeah. Um, it's difficult, you know, um, to be treated that way and to not be respected for

00:12:50.520 a minority view, because the problem is the, the LGBTQ community here has a difficult time

00:12:56.300 reconciling how I can say, I love you. And yet, you know, not fully support what they consider to

00:13:02.220 be a fundamental part of their identities. Right. Right. And so instead of taking my statements at face

00:13:08.780 value, they're taking my statements about what I believe and twisting that to mean I'm homophobic and

00:13:14.760 I'm transphobic. Um, and so it's just a difficulty for them to fully understand where I'm coming from

00:13:23.420 as a Christian. Right. And instead of giving me the benefit of the doubt or understanding, um, I mean,

00:13:29.460 yeah. Right. Which of course is, uh, you know, a little bit ironic, a little bit hypocritical that

00:13:36.040 they're demanding absolute tolerance and inclusion, uh, from you, even though you don't disagree with,

00:13:42.300 you know, their way of life, but they are not willing to give you the same tolerance and inclusion

00:13:48.420 that they are demanding that you give them. They are choosing to exclude you because you don't have

00:13:54.380 a lifestyle that they agree with. So what I see a lot of times, and this is not really a generalization,

00:14:00.240 but a lot of times I see this kind of idea, uh, among progressives that yes, we want freedom or

00:14:07.400 we want the appearance of tolerance and inclusion until you disagree with us. And then once you

00:14:12.940 disagree with us, then you're not just wrong, but you're a horrible person and we're going to harass 0.98

00:14:16.860 you and we're going to break you until you apologize. Um, I can't imagine having to deal with 0.99

00:14:23.660 that. Like you are, uh, on an everyday basis. Uh, so what is your reaction been in the face of all of

00:14:31.280 that? Yes. Um, a lot of what I've been reminded of, um, since last week is to stand by my statement

00:14:38.400 from, you know, October 31st. Yes. And that doesn't just include the statements about what I believe,

00:14:43.980 but my statements about loving and accepting everyone, even if I'm not treated and given the

00:14:48.880 same treated with and given the same understanding and respect, um, I will still stand by my words to

00:14:54.660 accept everyone and also to love unconditionally. Right. Um, the way that Jesus did. Exactly. I was

00:15:02.040 about to say, that's exactly what Christ did. He was maligned. He was persecuted. And he actually

00:15:06.860 tells us, he promises us that in this world, we will have trouble, but take heart of overcome the

00:15:11.720 world. He says that we will be persecuted. And I'm not saying necessarily the things that you're

00:15:16.680 going through or the things that I go through necessarily as a conservative, as a Christian,

00:15:20.580 or the same exact thing is what Jesus went through. I'm not saying that, but it is a form of

00:15:25.040 persecution. And I just want to take a second to commend you for standing firm in the face of that,

00:15:30.620 because it is not easy. I spoke for one hour at UC Berkeley. I spoke to a class and that was one of

00:15:37.800 the hardest speeches that I've ever given just because the vitriol and the reaction and the yelling that I

00:15:42.120 got, that was one hour of my life. And I was emotionally spent after that. So for you standing

00:15:47.700 strong in the midst of all of that and choosing to love people and choosing not to be bitter or

00:15:53.200 resentful, but like you said, choosing to accept people the way that Christ accepts us when we're

00:15:58.020 imperfect, it's really amazing. And I just want to encourage you that you, your story and what you're

00:16:04.780 doing is going to strengthen thousands and thousands of people that you will never meet. 0.95

00:16:09.640 So even if right now this seems like, wow, this, you know, this really sucks, which it does suck.

00:16:15.080 Just know that it's doing something, not just in your life, but also in the lives of so many other 0.92

00:16:20.640 students who feel the same way you do. I would love to hear just as a final thing, if you could,

00:16:27.540 if you could give a little bit of encouragement or just a piece of advice to someone who might be going

00:16:33.720 through something similar or who is struggling to stand up for their own views.

00:16:37.860 Yes. I think my biggest piece of advice would be to stay grounded in your faith and to stay grounded

00:16:45.360 in your community. The reason why I was, you know, able to say my statement with absolute conviction

00:16:52.800 and absolute, you know, gentleness and respect was because even before I ran for Senate, I talked to

00:16:58.220 many mentors about, you know, the intersection of faith and the LGBTQ identity. And, you know,

00:17:04.680 I did a very thorough survey of theologians from both sides of the aisle, affirming and non-affirming.

00:17:11.320 And, you know, to have that theological and to have that faith grounding was really what kept me

00:17:18.100 through all of this. And furthermore, to have that grounding and community where, you know,

00:17:22.700 my fellowship was praying for me right before I went into the Senate chambers and my staff was coming

00:17:28.760 with me. And, you know, just being there with me the whole time, like I wouldn't have made it this

00:17:33.960 far without them and without their prayers.

00:17:36.520 Yeah. So you would encourage people to stay grounded in the word because you're right. Without

00:17:41.280 that, everything in our head is just an idea that is, you know, can be contradicted by anyone. But if

00:17:47.000 it's grounded in the word of God, then we know that it's true. And then, like you said, being surrounded

00:17:51.700 by community and the power of prayer is something right now that is so mocked by people as useless,

00:17:57.500 you and I know, and especially you right now, really know the absolute intangible consequences

00:18:03.300 of being prayed for. So that's amazing. Thank you so much for sharing this. And I will be praying for

00:18:10.380 you too. And I will, I always am praying also just for college students in the same situation,

00:18:14.920 because I know it's, you know, it feels like a battlefield, but especially for you. So thank you so

00:18:20.800 much. Is there any other information or anything else you would like to tell the audience before you

00:18:25.460 go? My final takeaway would relate to what has really been in my heart the past two and a half

00:18:31.800 weeks. I've really been praying throughout all this that, you know, one, the church would continue to

00:18:37.960 dialogue and even dialogue more about the intersection of faith and the LGBTQ community.

00:18:43.400 What does it mean to, you know, not necessarily agree 100% theologically and practically,

00:18:49.320 but to talk about our differences, to talk about our beliefs so that, you know, we can better,

00:18:54.400 we're better equipped to serve, you know, the LGBTQ community. And two, what does it look like for

00:19:00.600 the church to manifest the love and the truth of Jesus to this community? And, you know, I don't have

00:19:07.060 answers for that, right? As somebody who, you know, does identify as heterosexual and straight,

00:19:12.080 I don't necessarily empathize with what, you know, the community goes through on, you know,

00:19:19.440 a 100% basis, but I can rely on brothers and sisters who identify as LGBTQ and are non-affirming 1.00

00:19:26.980 or brothers and sisters who are affirming and ask them, like, what do you believe? Like,

00:19:31.820 how does this affect you? And really, how can we serve this community better?

00:19:35.640 Right. And I absolutely agree with you that the church traditionally has kind of failed in that

00:19:42.040 realm. And there's a lot of slack that we can pick up. And I think that you're doing a great job. So

00:19:46.460 thank you so much for that message. And thank you for joining me.

00:19:49.620 Thank you.

00:19:50.640 So I thought that that was an extremely, gosh, it was, well, it was a hard conversation because it was

00:19:57.900 hard for me to listen to this young woman who is obviously dealing with so much persecution,

00:20:07.420 so much discomfort, more than probably a lot of us have experienced. I don't know about your

00:20:12.840 college experience or just what your life has been like. I don't want to assume that you've never had

00:20:16.760 persecution. I personally have never been in the face of something like that, where I am sitting in

00:20:21.840 it, walking in it on a daily basis. That's a lot. And she is strong and she is confident in the midst

00:20:29.720 of that. And I'm telling you, I know that you guys know this, who are Christians, that does not come 1.00

00:20:35.100 from yourself. You cannot withstand that kind of hate, that kind of vitriol, that kind of absolute

00:20:43.360 nastiness, the maligning of your character when you know you've done nothing wrong, unless you have

00:20:49.880 Christ, there is something deeper that anchors you. She talks about staying grounded, being with a

00:20:57.100 Christlike community, people praying for you, staying in the word. And gosh, that's so true. You have to be

00:21:01.900 surrounded by truth. Every time in my own life or in my friend's life where I've seen people veer off of

00:21:09.000 the Christlike path or pursue something that they know is not Christlike, it's because they are lacking

00:21:15.240 those two things. They don't have people that are holding them accountable and praying for them,

00:21:18.940 and they're not reading the word. We don't veer towards truth. We don't veer towards strength.

00:21:23.800 We don't veer towards holiness and confidence in the way, you know, in the holiness and the

00:21:29.580 confidence that Isabella is portraying right now. We don't veer towards that. That is deliberate.

00:21:33.880 It's the power of the Holy Spirit. And I just commend her. I think it's amazing what she's doing.

00:21:39.880 If you are able to reach out to her, I don't know, via Facebook or however she's able to

00:21:44.980 get communication, encourage her, let her know that you're praying for her. We need more people

00:21:49.820 like Isabella. And I know it's hard. Whenever I speak on college campuses, I always, you know,

00:21:55.540 I tell people, yes, of course, it's good to just speak up for what you believe in. Of course,

00:22:01.220 it's good. Of course, it's good to be the person who brings the complaint about, you know, anti-Christian, 0.99

00:22:07.400 anti-conservative discrimination to the administration. But I always warn people, you know,

00:22:12.400 pick your battles. If you got to get into med school and that's the plan for your life and you got

00:22:16.540 to be a little bit quieter about your political and religious beliefs, then I'm not saying you

00:22:20.720 should deny what you believe. I'm not saying you should be scared. I'm not saying that you should

00:22:25.060 lie by any means, but you might have to pick your battles and be a little bit more gentle.

00:22:31.040 Of course, live your life in a way that is in accordance with Christ. But, you know, you might

00:22:37.120 not have, you might not be able to confront your teacher as, you know, loudly as you want to.

00:22:43.100 I say, pick, pick your battles and be wise about that. But the truth, the fact of the matter is,

00:22:48.600 is if we all set up the way that Isabella stands up, we were willing to sacrifice everything. We

00:22:54.800 talk about, you know, Nike says that Kaepernick sacrifices everything. No, not really. Isabella

00:23:00.640 did though. She sacrificed everything. Now, I mean, she's still going to school. She still has her 0.61

00:23:05.700 position in the students in it, but I'm sure all of that is pretty precarious right now because she

00:23:10.460 stood up for what she believes in. And it's really amazing. And it's so, it's like clockwork,

00:23:15.520 the leftist reaction to ideas that they don't like, particularly Christian ideas. They don't 0.93

00:23:21.680 realize they're the bigots. Like they don't realize that they're the hateful ones. They don't realize

00:23:26.520 they're the exclusive ones. At least Isabella stood up and said, I still love you. I still accept you.

00:23:31.660 I just don't agree with you. They say, I don't agree with you. And you're a horrible person who's

00:23:35.460 going to burn in hell. I don't know any Christ, Christ following Christian who says that to someone. 1.00

00:23:40.820 And yet these people who call us bigots and who call us the wrong ones, us, the immoral ones,

00:23:47.260 they, they are tolerant. They are inclusive. They're on the right side of history.

00:23:54.200 I mean, it really is so predictable at this point. It's a joke that intolerant, tolerant left.

00:24:00.320 And I think they kind of realized that too. I've noticed that they've dropped the whole tolerant 0.97

00:24:03.840 thing. And I'm just wondering when eventually they're just going to come out and say, look,

00:24:08.800 look, let's be honest here. If you don't agree with us, we're going to try to ruin your life.

00:24:14.100 Look, we don't really care about inclusion. We don't care about ideological diversity. We don't

00:24:19.020 care about religious diversity. We care that you ascribe to progressivism and nothing else.

00:24:23.620 And if you do not bow down at the altar of progressivism, at the altar of far leftism,

00:24:29.140 at the altar of moral relativism, then we will do whatever we can to take you down.

00:24:35.880 I wonder when they're just going to come out and say that instead of, you know, operating under the

00:24:41.800 auspices of, oh, we're loving, we're kind. We just want unity and peace. No, you don't.

00:24:48.700 No, you don't. Nothing could be further from the truth. You know who wants unity and peace?

00:24:54.000 Christians do. And that doesn't mean we're going to agree with everything that you do. That doesn't 1.00

00:24:59.000 mean that we like your lifestyle. We might call out the sin, but we're still going to love you and

00:25:03.980 serve you. And we're going to still show you the love of Christ because we know that that's what

00:25:07.880 Christ did for us when he died on the cross when we didn't deserve it. That while we were yet sinners,

00:25:12.080 Christ died for us. For a good person, someone might die, but for a bad person, no. But Christ did.

00:25:18.540 And we can emulate that kind of sacrifice and that kind of love to a fallen world. We're not going

00:25:24.280 to see that love and that acceptance from the other side. And we can talk about the irony and

00:25:29.080 the hypocrisy of that all we want to, but from a biblical perspective, we know that that's going

00:25:34.420 to happen. Honestly, we cannot expect them to love us in the same way that we love them.

00:25:41.560 And I love talking about the hypocrisy of it. I love calling them out for that.

00:25:45.200 But honestly, at the end of the day, there's somewhat peace, I guess. Now it's a little bit

00:25:51.840 troubling, but somewhat peace in knowing that God predicted this, that we always knew that this 0.77

00:25:56.600 was going to happen, that we are going to be seen as fools in the eyes of the world, that

00:26:01.860 they are going to be seen as wise, even though we listen to the things that they say. We look at

00:26:06.700 the things that we do and we say, wow, that is so backwards. How could someone think that way?

00:26:10.360 How could someone live that way? How could they be so far from the truth and think that they're

00:26:14.480 right? That's what happens when the eyes of your heart are darkened or when they're blinded.

00:26:19.540 That's what happens when you are lost. That's what happens when you don't have the wisdom of Christ.

00:26:24.260 Not always. There are people that are Christians who still have godly, I say in quotes, but godly

00:26:30.360 kind of biblical wisdom. They were raised that way, or they have a certain kind of ideology that

00:26:34.400 aligns with that. All truth is God's truth. So you can still believe in truth without actually

00:26:39.800 being a Christian. Now you can't believe in ultimate truth and you can't be ultimately 0.94

00:26:43.720 fulfilled. But of course, there are very wise people who don't call themselves Christians, 0.81

00:26:47.760 but everything that is true also aligns with the Bible, if that makes sense. I can explain that

00:26:52.320 better later. But we shouldn't be surprised. We were told that this is how it's going to be,

00:26:59.240 that this is what's going to happen. And what are we called to do in the midst of it? It's exactly

00:27:03.280 what we talked about on Tuesday. Stand up for truth and love your neighbor. And I actually think

00:27:07.600 that Isabella is a perfect example of those two things. And she challenged me. She challenged me

00:27:13.220 to not be ashamed, to not sugarcoat. Now you might be thinking, oh, you never sugarcoat what you say.

00:27:21.480 Well, yeah, in front of you guys, most of you guys agree with me. But gosh, I don't know if I was that

00:27:27.980 bold in college. And we'd all like to think that if we are faced with that kind of opposition that we

00:27:34.040 would stand up and be strong. But I don't know if that's true, especially if we're not prepared,

00:27:39.160 if we are not rooted in God's word. Thank God for people like Isabella. I pray that more of us are

00:27:44.320 like that, that we are bold, that we're not ashamed of the gospel, that we're not ashamed of

00:27:48.440 God's word. We will be justified in the end, probably not in this life. It's just going to get

00:27:54.060 harder. What we see is that people on the left, they operate under the guise of freedom and the guise

00:28:03.160 of acceptance and the guise of tolerance. But really what they mean is that they demand

00:28:08.320 everything. And the reason, here it is, guys, here it is. The reason why being a Christ following,

00:28:15.880 a true Christ following Christian and being a full-blown progressive in the brand that they are,

00:28:23.740 I'm not just talking about having some progressive views or believing in some progressive policies,

00:28:28.660 but being full-on, this is my identity, progressive, and being a Christ following

00:28:34.660 biblical Christian, you cannot be those at the same time because both demand everything. 1.00

00:28:41.620 Both demand that you deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow that way of life. 0.94

00:28:47.500 Both ask everything of you. Christ doesn't ask a little bit. He doesn't ask some of us. He asks for

00:28:53.480 all of us. He demands it. He takes all of us and he changes it and he uses it for his purpose. He

00:28:58.960 doesn't say, okay, give me this part of you and you can keep that part. He says, no, I take

00:29:03.540 everything. Full-blown progressivism does too. It says this is your new identity. This is who you are

00:29:10.840 now. You operate in a way that coincides with this or else you're wrong. The difference is full-blown

00:29:16.280 progressivism is wrong and it is hateful. Christianity is loving and kind and serves

00:29:24.640 and produces good and it sheds light. Full-blown progressivism does not. And you could say that

00:29:30.300 about all kinds of dark ideologies, not just full-blown progressivism, but both demand all of

00:29:35.200 you. That is why they cannot accept Isabella. Believing in Christina, she's not going to be able

00:29:42.260 to fully coincide and operate or cooperate with people who are like that. Now she's going to love

00:29:49.440 them. She's going to continue to reach out to them, but they will never. They will never fully

00:29:54.880 be able to get along unless one of those people, full-blown progressives, steps into the light and

00:30:01.100 says, you know what? You're right, which can absolutely happen. The Bible tells us that God's

00:30:06.260 kindness leads us to repentance, not God's wrath, though that exists, not God's judgment, though that exists,

00:30:11.440 but God's kindness leads us to repentance. And we, as the ambassadors of Christ, we show that

00:30:18.080 kindness that leads to repentance. And that's exactly what Isabella is doing. I'm proud of her.

00:30:22.580 Not that she needs me to be proud of her. I'm not that much older than her, but I'm proud of her.

00:30:26.280 And I'm proud of all of you guys who stand up in the face of all of that. If you have any stories

00:30:30.200 that are similar, please share them with me. I would love to hear them. I get a lot of encouragement

00:30:33.620 from you guys. Okay. One thought or one thing to finish this out. There's always so much I want

00:30:40.080 to talk about at the end and I don't have time, but this has nothing to do with what we were talking

00:30:45.020 about. I just want to just mention one thing and I'll go more into this possibly next week.

00:30:50.960 Michael Avenatti. Michael Avenatti. You remember? Creepy, creepy porn lawyer. That guy represented Stormy

00:30:57.800 Daniels. Yeah. Talking about running for president. He was on the believe all women train. Talked about 0.60

00:31:03.920 how he's such a defender of women. He's such a stand up, great guy. Well, he just got arrested

00:31:09.320 yesterday for domestic abuse against his ex-wife, man. And you know, the ironic thing, the further

00:31:16.560 ironic thing about this is that he also just accused completely, as far as I know, completely

00:31:22.580 baselessly accused Tucker Carlson of assaulting someone in a bar. And he showed the video and it

00:31:29.860 didn't show that. So it's just so rich. It's just so rich. Michael Avenatti is really, you know,

00:31:37.340 I pray that he comes to know Christ. I really do. He needs Jesus in his life. But as of right now,

00:31:43.360 just as all of us are apart from Christ, he's the scum of the earth. He is the scum of the earth. 1.00

00:31:48.080 God can save Michael Avenatti. He can do anything. And we know that he can. So let's pray for that. 1.00

00:31:54.700 Let's pray for his poor wife. But I just wanted to update y'all on that. The irony of all of this

00:31:59.600 continues. Those people who say believe all women, they never really mean it when those people

00:32:03.260 or when those women don't agree with them. I just wanted to leave you on that note. Okay,

00:32:08.440 guys, I'll see you next week.

00:32:18.080 Thank you.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - November 15, 2018

Ep 55 ｜ Christian Persecution at UC Berkeley

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