Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 6 ｜ No, Christians Aren't Called to ＂Social Justice＂

00:00:00.000 What is up everyone? It's Wednesday. We are halfway through the week so good job for making it this

00:00:06.560 far. It's a big accomplishment. Hope everyone is having a wonderful day. You are either like me

00:00:12.440 and you're finally enjoying spring for like a consistent amount of time. Maybe if you're in

00:00:18.180 the northeast you're enjoying it for the first time. I'm not actually sure what the weather is

00:00:23.320 like there but last I heard it was a little bit warmer but if you're in Texas like me you are

00:00:30.540 finally finally finally enjoying like a few days of consistent weather. It's been like back and forth

00:00:36.660 like 45 and rainy and then sunny and 80 but I love when it's hot outside like I'm totally okay

00:00:42.660 with sweating just a little bit and being just like slightly uncomfortable. I'd so much rather it be

00:00:49.840 hot than cold. I know I'm probably going to be regretting this in a few weeks because it gets

00:00:55.220 like 157 degrees and it's an ungodly amount of hot. It's stifling. You can't even go outside.

00:01:04.480 Even the pool is like bath water. There's literally no relief but anyway all that to say I'm so excited

00:01:11.520 for the summer. I can't wait. I also just realized how totally lame it is to start a podcast talking

00:01:19.540 about the weather. Like who talks about the weather? You talk about the weather with people that you

00:01:24.060 don't know. That's like how you bridge the gap in an awkward conversation but I do know you guys.

00:01:30.600 Y'all are my friends and I have a lot to say so my apologies for that introduction but it was just

00:01:36.120 what's on my mind. Also to add to this introduction just a reminder that this is a podcast that comes

00:01:42.780 from CRTV. You can go to CRTV.com slash Allie to watch my weekly videos which are hopefully informative

00:01:49.700 and entertaining. If they are not we have a problem and you should probably tell me. So anyway to get

00:01:55.080 us started I need to back up just a little bit. I want to continue on a little bit what we talked

00:02:01.860 about last week and use it as kind of a jumping off place to talk about what I think is a bigger issue

00:02:07.740 within the church and that is this quickening journey to Marxism within mainstream Christianity.

00:02:16.020 So bear with me as I go over some race stuff again first and if you didn't listen to last week

00:02:21.980 I would encourage you to listen to last week because it'll make a lot more sense along with this but

00:02:27.860 just know that I'm just going to talk about the race stuff and the MLK 50 conference as a leaping

00:02:33.180 off point into the rest of the podcast in which I won't focus explicitly on race. Also I promised

00:02:40.080 a Q&A section and a Q&A section you shall get at the end of this podcast. Okay so those of you who

00:02:48.820 did tune in last week know that we talked about racial reconciliation within the church and how it's

00:02:54.420 a movement that is seeking I think in my opinion to relegate the gospel to second place and instead

00:03:00.420 put quote inclusion in first. But what this quote inclusion actually looks like right now within

00:03:07.920 this movement of racial reconciliation within the church is white guilt. So we saw this prominently

00:03:14.680 at the MLK 50 conference hosted by the ERLC a couple weeks ago where we heard some otherwise I think

00:03:21.820 extremely sound Christian teachers call on white people to fix this problem of racial division within the

00:03:29.200 church. The problem is that of course that isn't exactly biblical. What is biblical is that the gospel

00:03:39.120 the good news of Jesus Christ and him crucified has already answered the problem of racial division.

00:03:46.200 First by obliterating racial ethnic socioeconomic and gender divisions within the body of Christ making us

00:03:53.120 one in him and then by working out in our hearts any feelings of bigotry and racism which

00:03:58.600 are of course sins and antithetical to a life characterized by discipleship to Jesus. Now of

00:04:06.040 course that doesn't mean I'm not acknowledging or I'm not saying that racism doesn't exist or that it

00:04:12.100 doesn't exist within the church. It obviously exists in the secular world and I think it exists in

00:04:17.920 Christianity as well and as I've said many times racism is a sin that should be addressed. Where we go

00:04:24.820 wrong though is treating it differently or even worse than other sins and thereby offering solutions to the

00:04:32.020 sin of racism that are not found in the Bible. Like for example a particular pastor at the MLK 50 conference

00:04:38.700 said that he hires black people over white people in his church even if the white person might be

00:04:45.540 slightly more qualified. Another author at the conference said that we white people need to take a

00:04:52.360 back seat and just be quiet for a little bit. And then the other things that were offered as so-called

00:04:58.740 suggestions were just totally and completely vague. So here are some quotes from certain speakers at the

00:05:07.000 conference and by the way just just a note I don't want to call out people's names here not because I'm

00:05:12.840 scared. I highly doubt they listen to my podcast just because I think it's unnecessary. It pits people

00:05:17.380 against each other. I'm not trying to necessarily call people out. That takes away from my main point

00:05:22.660 which is that the movement itself I believe is leading us astray and I think some of these people

00:05:27.900 that said the things that I'm about to say might be even unwittingly caught up in it. Anyway some

00:05:34.600 quotes from the MLK 50 conference that was held by by the way the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission

00:05:41.660 the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Commission. I'm saying this as a Southern Baptist

00:05:46.240 which is the largest denomination within Protestantism. So here are their suggested

00:05:52.100 solutions to racism and how Christians can really help. Quote you have got to say something there is

00:06:00.020 no way for it if white pulpits won't talk. Another quote the question is not so much where do we go from

00:06:07.600 here but why haven't we gone from here? Another one and I think God is standing back and saying to the

00:06:14.940 church you all know what to do here you really know what to do. It's the courage and will to do it and

00:06:21.320 to be it and to pay that price. And another one we have got to speak out. Okay I know I didn't read

00:06:30.960 those quotes necessarily in context but I listened to some of the conference and I don't think that I

00:06:38.160 need to. I'm not trying to purposely deceive you but those were the solutions offered and I didn't get

00:06:43.920 anything from that. What does that even mean? Talk about what? Where is here? What are we supposed

00:06:52.000 to do? Speak about what? What really is the local thriving gospel-centered church not doing to reach

00:07:01.480 people of other races and backgrounds? I mean I personally don't know a single church and I don't

00:07:07.060 know every single church but I don't know a single church that truly preaches the word of God that relies

00:07:11.940 on the gospel as the source of all its wisdom and strength that doesn't already do everything it can

00:07:16.780 to unite people of all different backgrounds. I mean I have watched like I said some of the conference

00:07:25.940 and I've read about a lot of the conference and I can tell you that from what I've read and from what

00:07:31.200 I've seen I wasn't there there weren't any real tangible solutions offered. That's because I don't

00:07:37.160 think that any of these people actually know. Like we hear these white pastors and teachers standing

00:07:44.140 from this pulpit at the conference saying you need to do something you need to say something.

00:07:50.260 Okay well what should we say outside of what the Bible says? I mean I think that they're jumping on

00:07:57.920 this trendy social justice movement because they think that's what they have to do to make the church

00:08:02.380 look more quote tolerant and loving by the world's standards. I listened to a really great podcast

00:08:09.540 called the Just Thinking Podcast this week and it was it was so good. The two men who host the show

00:08:15.520 which I need to note they are black men because I think that's relevant to this particular conversation.

00:08:21.920 They did a really great job of critiquing the conference in a very gospel-centered gentle but I

00:08:28.000 think straightforward and strong way and they asked such a compelling question which I think sums up

00:08:32.720 everything that I feel about this conference and everything I feel about the racial reconciliation

00:08:37.320 movement within the church right now. What do these people at the conference want white pastors to say

00:08:44.420 that Jesus hasn't already said? And that's that's my whole problem with this is that we're talking

00:08:52.180 about this problem of racism that's apparently so much worse today than it used to be

00:08:57.060 and instead of offering Jesus as the solution to it we're offering vague white guilt and not just

00:09:04.220 personal white guilt by the way but guilt for what your ancestors may or may not have done

00:09:10.360 if you read the gospel coalition article that we were talking about last week

00:09:14.820 that's not only unbiblical it is counterproductive to the work of the holy spirit within the church

00:09:21.900 so why are we treating racism which is a sin differently than any other sin if white people

00:09:28.820 are all complicit which is the new buzzword right now are all complicit in racism are all women

00:09:35.360 complicit in abortion are all men complicit in pornography sexism domestic violence should I be mad

00:09:42.180 at men because their grandfathers had more rights than my grandmother did should I be mad at my husband

00:09:49.220 about the fact that women used to not be able to vote should we shame men and women for the sins of

00:09:54.940 some people who have the same gender as them should we shame generations for the sins of some of the

00:10:01.420 people their same age no of of course not it doesn't make any sense and it doesn't help anything and

00:10:08.420 in the same way I don't think that we should shame an entire race for the sins of the people who share

00:10:14.920 their skin color so to me the answer isn't white guilt and that's not because I don't want to feel

00:10:22.180 guilty I I have felt guilty about plenty of things but skin color the skin color that God gave me isn't

00:10:31.160 one of them and that shouldn't be that should be true for anyone it's not in my opinion hiring a less

00:10:38.340 qualified minority over a qualified white person it's not taking a back seat necessarily all of

00:10:45.460 those things by the way by the way for white people to suggest that we white people need to take a back

00:10:52.880 seat and that we need to be the ones in the pulpits saying something that's so ridiculously patronizing

00:11:00.120 especially the one about hiring a less qualified minority over a white person that's so condescending

00:11:06.820 and patronizing I mean it's white people saying oh you minorities can't handle it on your own so

00:11:12.900 here let me help you you're not really capable of doing anything so here's a little boost I'm sorry

00:11:20.520 but do do we think that other people regardless of their skin color want to be treated like toddlers

00:11:26.400 like is is that going to help I haven't really heard very many people of color or of of white skin ever

00:11:35.100 say that that is helpful to them and that that's something that they want because it's not the

00:11:40.140 answer isn't condescension for minorities and it's not self-deprecation for white people it is believing

00:11:46.440 in living out and sharing the gospel the gospel the reality that the king of the universe died for your

00:11:51.940 sins it changes everything everything it changes hearts and lives which changes churches which change

00:11:58.300 communities you want racism and bigotry and division to die so do I so does God by the way so let's go

00:12:08.160 share the good news of the gospel which tells us that in Christ we have no racial or ethnic divisions

00:12:13.340 and that no one is better than someone else we are one so maybe we should just go out and love our

00:12:21.120 neighbors no matter their background love them as ourselves that's exactly what Jesus calls us to do

00:12:28.140 no less than that everything we need to say and do can be found in the Bible not just for problems of

00:12:37.440 race but for all problems the Bible is sufficient for that and when we get into this very dangerous

00:12:44.400 territory of telling certain groups of people to do something and not others I think it's very scary

00:12:50.980 because I think it eventually causes further division and will eventually cause further conflict and

00:12:56.340 resentment people whether they're right in this or not but people are going to eventually get very

00:13:02.360 tired of being told they're guilty of something that they're not actually guilty of but unfortunately

00:13:09.080 this is a trend that we're seeing in the church right now not only in regards to race but in regards to

00:13:14.500 many things and what I continue to see among Christians is this exchange of the gospel for superficial social

00:13:21.640 justice and if you don't know what social justice is it's described as it's theoretically a movement

00:13:28.660 towards equity for all people by breaking down power structures that create oppression I know that sounds

00:13:35.220 very vague and a lot of catchphrases but that's what it's described as in reality what we see it as and

00:13:44.220 what we hear a lot of people talking about is oppression and elusive structures like the patriarchy but they

00:13:54.100 don't really do anything about it except just talking about that these power structures exist and then

00:14:01.020 calling everyone bigots who dare question them on this and really the biggest aspect of social justice

00:14:08.800 and the part that I just disagree with at least these days is that it calls upon the government to be

00:14:14.860 the savior of the so-called oppressed it is entirely I don't know if it's always been this way I think

00:14:21.280 social justice probably at one point uh was a virtuous cause but now it seems to be entirely dependent

00:14:29.120 on government handouts which is why social justice is very often inaccurately tied to socialism there's a

00:14:35.780 reason why social justice is a progressive cause because if social justice was just about doing

00:14:42.440 good works I think conservatives and all Christians would be on board with that but it is it is intertwined

00:14:49.360 with government dependence which is why I don't agree with it which is why the church shouldn't agree

00:14:53.180 with it the church already fights for the marginalized and oppressed by bringing them to Jesus by feeding

00:15:00.000 the poor by taking care of the orphan and the widow and showing these people Jesus and sharing the

00:15:05.460 gospel which is what the thriving gospel center church has done literally forever the church's so-called

00:15:12.160 social justice is just carrying out what the bible tells us to do which is why we have to be very careful

00:15:20.860 in latching on to this worldly movement of social justice that really Christians don't need and actually

00:15:27.940 should resist because it makes the government savior instead of Jesus

00:15:32.060 we are called to do good works I hope that in nothing that I'm saying here it sounds like I'm saying

00:15:42.260 that we shouldn't be doing good works we should Ephesians 2 says that we were created in Christ Jesus

00:15:49.540 for good works James 2 says faith without works is dead we are supposed to fight oppression and advocate

00:15:55.860 for justice but like I said the church has always done that this isn't new Christ followers have

00:16:01.660 always fought against these evils the only difference is now the church feels like they need to call

00:16:07.580 the work we've been doing for centuries social justice and racial reconciliation so as to fit in

00:16:12.740 with a cool progressive crowd we got to use terms like tolerance inclusion to make sure we're hanging

00:16:18.740 with the cool kids the church has been fighting for justice as Jesus founded it I mean this is going to be

00:16:27.000 very politically incorrect but how many Hindu missionaries do you know how many Buddhist groups

00:16:34.360 do you know that go into villages in the Congo share their faith and provide people with means to live

00:16:39.280 how many atheists do you know who have founded organizations to eliminate sex trafficking the answer

00:16:45.220 might be a few it might be I'm not saying that these people don't exist there are humanitarians in every

00:16:51.040 religion because compassion is a part of the natural human makeup no matter what but predominantly it

00:16:57.160 has been the Christian church who has led the charge for love and justice that is why so many hospitals

00:17:03.100 bear the names of saints that's why so many non-profit and humanitarian organizations were founded by

00:17:09.500 Christians and churches we have been on the front lines of goodness and and justice our entire existence

00:17:17.260 we should continue to do those things while never allowing them to be our thing these things mean

00:17:26.320 very little if not accompanied by the message of the saving grace of Jesus Christ Jesus asks what

00:17:34.240 good is it to gain the whole world but forfeit your soul while it is crucial to address physical needs I

00:17:42.120 mean we see that reiterated over and over again in the bible and we saw it we saw it um we saw it as

00:17:48.620 an example in Jesus's life it actually does very little these good works if our banner if our message if

00:17:57.480 our purpose isn't centered on the message that Jesus is the son of God and came to save us

00:18:02.540 some Christians act as if all God told us to do was to do good and be nice to people

00:18:09.800 sorry but that's not the great commission Jesus's primary call is of course to take up our cross and

00:18:16.880 follow him and after that he says go and make disciples you make disciples by sharing and cultivating

00:18:24.720 the good news of Christ and those around you that's not a black white gender socioeconomic thing

00:18:30.200 that news transcends all of that we cannot place the pursuit of social justice above or in place of the

00:18:38.420 gospel works do not save you works do not save anyone actually but Jesus does but here's the thing

00:18:48.060 I think that fact makes a lot of people understandably uncomfortable the idea that you have to be saved

00:18:58.740 for one is weird for people I remember when I was a freshman in college I said something to my friend

00:19:06.780 who was Catholic about someone being saved and she said she didn't like that term because it implied

00:19:15.960 that some people are not saved aka some people will go to hell and be separated from God forever and of

00:19:24.980 course she was right that is a very uncomfortable reality but it is reality at least according to the Bible

00:19:32.100 and the reason it's inconvenient is because if it is true that without Jesus people are unsaved and are going

00:19:38.280 to be stuck in torment for all eternity when they die then it is the most compelling and important message

00:19:43.820 for us to convey if the people around us are bound to hell without Jesus then we need to tell them about

00:19:50.840 Jesus but see we don't like to do that because in order to tell people they need Jesus and the salvation

00:19:59.220 he brings we have to talk about this really awkward subject one that we will avoid at all costs in 2018

00:20:05.860 and that is sin you don't need a savior if there's nothing to be saved from and the thing Jesus saves

00:20:12.640 us from is sin and its consequence which is which is eternal separation from God when we die so in order

00:20:18.940 to talk about why people need Jesus and why Jesus is so great we have to talk about sin because Jesus

00:20:28.840 came and died to save sinners he didn't come just to be a good moral teacher a philosopher an example

00:20:34.260 of how to be nice and tolerant he came to reconcile sinners to God through his gruesome death which was a

00:20:40.760 call for repentance from sin and by the way when I'm saying this I'm not saying I'm kind of I've kind

00:20:48.080 of left the topic of the MLK 50 conference I don't want it to seem like I'm lumping in all of the

00:20:53.620 pastors that spoke at that conference with this accusation of not actually preaching the gospel

00:21:00.240 that's not true like I said at the top there are a lot of teachers who were at that conference and a

00:21:06.040 lot of pastors who I think preach the gospel very well but just missed the mark at this particular

00:21:10.220 conference so I kind of moved on from that and I'm talking about this movement in general towards

00:21:15.880 social justice within the church and towards progressivism in the church which I think

00:21:21.060 really distracts us from the centrality of the gospel so I just wanted to add that caveat

00:21:26.000 but when I hear people talking about how Christians are supposed to be uber tolerant and accepting and

00:21:33.220 hush-hush about people's sin I'm like what Bible are you reading I see that exactly in exactly zero

00:21:40.200 parts of the Bible that a Christian's highest calling is to be unconditionally nice I don't even see that in

00:21:45.260 Jesus's life but that's so often what we see from liberal progressive Christians is this don't judge

00:21:51.320 people just love them as if love can be excluded from speaking the truth it can't we're actually

00:21:57.520 called to speak the truth in love which is exactly what Jesus did and what we see demonstrated by God

00:22:03.320 throughout the Bible Jesus was too loving to leave sinners as they were and we should be modeling that

00:22:12.140 not some secularized version of hipster wimpy Jesus who never talks about sin and God's wrath and

00:22:19.540 judgment and cross bearing and repentance that's because so-called racial reconciliation like all

00:22:24.840 social justice movements within the church are not actually the hard conversations that so many of

00:22:31.320 these social justice pastors are pretending they are they're not hard conversations they're actually

00:22:36.300 distractions from the hard conversation the real conversation of hey Jesus saves you from hell

00:22:42.480 that's the hard conversation that's the awkward inconvenient truth these social justice pastors

00:22:48.400 are acting like they're so brave for standing up there and talking about social justice and I'm like

00:22:53.200 who are you kidding this is the hottest trend in the world right now being a social justice warrior

00:22:58.220 you'll probably attract even more people from this because you'll get a ton of non-Christians being like

00:23:03.340 wow see they're just like us so yes we are called to good works and that does mean using the power of

00:23:12.460 the gospel to fight against injustice for all people good works empowered by Jesus serve the kingdom and

00:23:18.500 glorify God but but good works as a replacement for the message of salvation are nothing but filthy rags

00:23:27.260 they ultimately and spiritually result in nothing have you ever noticed that at unitarian churches

00:23:35.660 many episcopal churches many catholic churches uh pca churches really any church no matter the

00:23:42.280 denomination and I'm not saying that all of those denominations and all catholic churches are like this

00:23:47.840 but I think we see this most prevalently within those sections of the church um that these churches who

00:23:53.780 claim tolerance and acceptance and tout social justice also don't preach the gospel these churches

00:24:01.060 usually embrace you know all forms of sexuality gender fluidity open borders basically the whole

00:24:06.360 progressive platform and their mantra is just like don't judge and Jesus loves people but they're total

00:24:12.020 moral relativists they don't really believe in enforcing anything that the bible says except for

00:24:17.940 subjective and worldly versions of tolerance isn't it funny how those churches with fully liberal

00:24:23.260 politics also tend to be liberal in their theology like I don't think I've ever heard a pastor with

00:24:29.160 full-on progressive politics and ideology who also preach that Jesus is the only way to heaven

00:24:34.700 that's because people who put social justice above the gospel don't actually believe in the gospel of

00:24:41.720 Christ if you believe in the gospel of Christ it's number one no questions asked and the concept of sin

00:24:47.960 and the exclusivity of Jesus's salvation is paramount but what these churches do is champion social

00:24:55.000 justice progressive causes and claim to be doing the work of Christ first of all if you're fighting

00:25:00.860 for things that the bible calls sin you're working for Satan not God so like let's just put that out

00:25:05.880 there secondly social justice doesn't matter if not fueled by and coupled with the good news

00:25:11.000 so all this to say I say chill on the social justice stuff and simply read and live out the bible

00:25:19.740 follow God with your whole heart surrender your entire life to him sell yourself out to him in his

00:25:25.880 will for you from fellowship with God flow peace reconciliation unity charity love joy and all the

00:25:33.460 spiritual fruit that social justice alone cannot bear okay now on to the question and answer you guys

00:25:42.300 asked me some questions and now I shall answer them for you and then I have one more thing at the end so

00:25:48.460 first question is an interesting one uh the question is what role do you see godly women playing in

00:25:56.780 politics considering the power structure God lays out in the scripture concerning women in the church

00:26:03.360 hierarchy so if the question is can women lead the answer is yes the only roles that women are not

00:26:10.900 biblically permitted to play in the bible are uh one the role within the church of exercising authority

00:26:18.460 over men and then also the role within marriage of exercising authority over her husband so in the

00:26:25.100 church that means no female lead pastors and in the bible we see no mention of female deacons or elders

00:26:31.500 women can teach women in the church they can teach children they can serve in many capacities but they

00:26:37.740 are not to teach men in an official capacity I don't think that includes at conferences and things I think

00:26:43.720 that's specifically and exclusively within the church but we do see women leading outside the church

00:26:49.960 in the bible Deborah and Esther are some of the first that come to mind and women are used in powerful

00:26:55.480 ways throughout the bible Rahab Ruth Mary the mother of Jesus Martha Lydia so it's very clear that

00:27:01.420 God instills women with the capacity to do mighty things and carry out his will just as he did for men

00:27:07.600 it's just in different ways for women because we have different strengths now anyway that said I think

00:27:13.980 godly women do have a role to play in politics and I think that's crucial I think it's crucial for any

00:27:18.840 Christian to play a role in um otherwise quote secular spheres uh now this can look like uh a few

00:27:28.420 different things this could mean that the extent of your political involvement is voting and volunteering

00:27:33.600 for causes that matter to you um like at a pregnancy center that offers alternatives to abortion it could

00:27:40.580 mean volunteering on campaigns of a candidate who stands for your values it can mean doing what I do

00:27:45.880 blogging speaking writing podcasting being a voice for what you believe in or maybe you just talk about

00:27:51.520 the issues uh that are important to you on your own personal social media and then of course there's the

00:27:57.480 much bigger scale you could run for office now this could be local you could run for school board

00:28:02.600 uh local elected officials have a lot of influence on their communities uh you could run for a state

00:28:08.620 office and of course you could work your way up to DC but in 2018 thankfully all of these options

00:28:14.300 are on the table for women and although I am kind of hesitant to say things like oh representation

00:28:20.940 matters because I actually think it only matters in some ways and sometimes um but I do think that the

00:28:27.060 country benefits from female leadership because we were given by God different perspectives and

00:28:32.640 different strengths different leadership styles than men have and I think we complement male leadership

00:28:38.320 in a necessary and beneficial way um I don't believe in electing a woman just because she is a woman

00:28:44.240 but I do think that having strong female candidates and leaders is important now all of that said I don't

00:28:50.600 think any woman in any career should purposely purposely put off marriage and family just to pursue her job

00:28:57.760 and I don't think that for a man either by the way it's not just women I I'm and I'm also not saying

00:29:03.300 rush into marriage definitely not saying to settle and to be unwise just get married no matter what I'm

00:29:08.620 not saying that I'm talking about deliberately saying no to getting married and settling down and making a

00:29:14.160 commitment in order to pursue work I think that that is fruitless for anyone and I don't think it's God's best for us

00:29:20.360 of course now some of you are listening you're like I don't want to get married thanks a lot for

00:29:25.620 making me feel guilty I'm not talking to you of course there are people uh that God is calling to

00:29:30.640 be single either for a season or God is calling to be single forever and celibate forever and the

00:29:35.580 Bible actually says that that is a gift but the fact is most of us do not have that gift and are called

00:29:42.100 to commit to one man or one woman and eventually have family so basically my advice is to get

00:29:50.180 involved in politics and policy that matters to you whether that is volunteering always vote by

00:29:55.500 the way no matter what that's the bare minimum but in addition to that volunteering being a voice or

00:30:00.880 running for office yourself but don't forsake a family just to do that that goes for any career

00:30:06.880 uh the wonderful thing about um 2018 is that we are able to do all of it so that's great that's a

00:30:16.180 blessing uh another question will you ever run for office the answer is no probably not I mean who

00:30:22.560 knows I can't predict the future but I really don't think so anything could happen I'm open to

00:30:28.600 whatever God has for me but I've always known that I would be basically doing what I'm doing right now

00:30:34.620 talking and writing and I have never had the desire to actually be a politician but again that could

00:30:41.400 change I guess you never know I just really doubt it um how do you drink your coffee or tea black and

00:30:47.920 I don't drink tea gross tea is like weak coffee blech um where do I like to shop well ideally ideally I

00:30:58.020 love anthropology but that's a little little rough on the budge on the budget so that's just on special

00:31:04.640 occasions I mostly shop at Nordstrom Rack sales section or target and look I know I'm not supposed to

00:31:11.020 like target because I'm a conservative so you can take that up with I don't know not me God you can

00:31:18.800 sue me uh last question another good one so someone asked me if I had advice for someone who isn't

00:31:25.600 religious but was raised conservatively this person feels like they are less conservative because

00:31:30.440 they're not religious and wanted to know if I have an opinion on that well first of all I really

00:31:34.320 appreciate you listening to my podcast even though you might not agree or might not like the

00:31:40.240 religious aspects of it I really really appreciate that and I appreciate you reaching out to me about

00:31:45.580 this so my thought is you don't have to be a Christian or religious person to be a political

00:31:51.700 conservative I mean you can believe that the free market works better than regulation you can see the

00:31:56.920 harms of socialism and vouch for democracy and capitalism you can see that more government

00:32:01.580 overreach leads to mediocrity and suffering for people you can feel the burden of taxation

00:32:06.240 you can recognize the desire for liberty within the human spirit and you can even appreciate American

00:32:12.940 exceptionalism and all of these things can lead you into conservatism conservatism is extremely logical

00:32:19.740 and based on quite simply reality but here's the kicker and track with me we're gonna take a stroll

00:32:28.440 down philosophy lane you can believe all of those conservative ideas because they work and are true but

00:32:35.940 it's when you ask why those things work and are true that's where atheism doesn't really work that's

00:32:43.260 where atheism doesn't really give you the answers that you need see free markets are effective liberty

00:32:48.520 perpetuates greatness capitalism creates success small government leads to human flourishing and America

00:32:53.260 is exceptional because each of these recognize the inherent rights of the individual they recognize and play off

00:33:05.360 the fact that rights are innate that they are natural they are born within us not given to us by the

00:33:13.520 government because if our rights are given to us by the government then the government can take them

00:33:19.760 away and we really have no business defending the bill of rights because who are we to say what the

00:33:25.960 government can and can't give us but if our rights are inherent then we have every reason to fight for the

00:33:32.260 rights outlined in the constitution which is exactly why conservatives do so the question is if our

00:33:38.320 rights are within us and not given to us by the government as all conservatives believe the question

00:33:43.740 is who gave them to us you can't say they're just there you can't say it's just a fact of life that's

00:33:49.220 a cop-out I mean facts of life if you don't believe in a higher power completely subjective and arbitrary

00:33:54.920 so no if we are saying that we have rights that transcend government force therefore they can't

00:34:01.320 be taken away then we are acknowledging that something transcendent exists and what could possibly

00:34:09.740 transcend human authority except for a power higher than human authority the declaration of

00:34:17.460 independence acknowledge this it says all men are endowed by their creator with certain

00:34:23.420 unalienable or inherent rights among them being life liberty and the pursuit of happiness or property

00:34:30.160 the constitution and therefore all of conservatism is based on this idea that our rights were given

00:34:37.080 to us by a higher power our creator and can't be taken away they're not up for grabs and without that

00:34:43.180 idea the argument for conservatism is is shaky at best it's really vulnerable to arguments like well this is a

00:34:51.260 different time and we need to move away from the constitution the things that we hear progressives

00:34:56.200 say all the time because they don't actually believe that we have rights from our creator they believe

00:35:00.260 that we have rights from the government but we believe that our rights outlined in the constitution

00:35:05.180 are inherent therefore they are timeless and they are worth fighting for and the reason we believe

00:35:11.000 they're inherent is because we believe that they were given to us by someone bigger and higher than us

00:35:16.700 so i'm sure there's a lot more succinct way to explain that but that's why conservatism and the

00:35:25.040 belief in just a higher power now we can go into theologically why christianity is uh the only correct

00:35:32.720 religion but just as kind of a starting point um the belief in god is i think really important to

00:35:40.520 bolster why you believe what you believe now if you just want to stay on the surface and say well

00:35:45.040 conservatism just works better than progressivism that's fine i still think that you can fight for

00:35:49.540 those things but i do encourage you to kind of dig a little bit deeper and ask yourself well why do

00:35:54.560 these things work why is it important for us to have the first and second amendment uh why has

00:36:00.040 throughout time and culture um why have these liberties led to human flourishing and the answer is

00:36:09.040 it's because it taps into something that is innate and inherent in the human spirit that i believe was

00:36:14.080 given to us by god okay um one more thing first lady barbara bush died yesterday um my husband can

00:36:22.200 tell you i literally i could start crying right now i i couldn't stop crying um and he i mean he wasn't

00:36:30.700 being rude but he kind of laughed at me i mean she was 92 years old she lived a very full life um

00:36:36.400 and i think that her soul was probably you know at ease and i think everyone probably felt the same way

00:36:42.680 she did amazing things completely dedicated to her family and her country to literacy to fighting for

00:36:48.020 the vulnerable witty classy headstrong confident and so passionate and to me i think the reason

00:36:54.140 why i'm so sad i talked about this last week when i was reading the book about the reagans the reason

00:37:00.960 why it makes me sad when people from this era die is because i think she and and the bushes whether you

00:37:08.600 agree with them politically or not and the reagans represent a better america in which people were

00:37:15.100 optimistic about the future and proud of the country that we fought for john meacham uh wrote a great book

00:37:23.000 about george hw bush called destiny and power and in it was only uh one of if not the only uh wartime

00:37:31.500 letters uh george wrote barbara when they were engaged and this is what it said at least part

00:37:38.560 of what it said i love you precious with all my heart and to know that you love me means my life

00:37:43.340 how often i have thought about the immeasurable joy that will be ours someday how lucky our children

00:37:48.860 will be to have a mother like you as the days go by the time of our departure draws near he's talking

00:37:54.840 about the war for a long time i had anxiously looked forward to the day when we would go aboard and

00:37:59.760 set to see it seemed that obtaining that goal would be all i could desire for some time but bar you

00:38:05.620 have changed all that i cannot say that i do not want to go for that would be a lie we have been

00:38:11.080 working for a long time with a single purpose in mind to be so equipped that we would meet and defeat

00:38:17.020 our enemy i do want to go because it is my part bar you have made my life full of everything i could

00:38:23.400 ever dream of my complete happiness should be a token of my love for you good night my beautiful

00:38:28.200 every time i say beautiful you about kill me but you'll have to accept it and i just love that i

00:38:35.860 love not only the just intense and so pure love that he had for barbara i mean there are a lot of

00:38:43.860 other parts in this book where he's talking to his mom about how much he loves her and just thinks that

00:38:48.060 she is the most wonderful woman uh not only that but also uh his equal bravery uh that was really

00:38:55.940 only rivaled by his love for barbara and how eager he was to go fight in a war because of his patriotism

00:39:02.200 and because how much he loved his country um i think that's extremely rare these days uh that letter

00:39:09.480 was written in 1943 and i think sums up very well not just how they felt about each other then but how

00:39:16.900 they felt about each other and what we saw throughout their lives they were the longest married

00:39:22.180 presidential couple um ever in history i think it was 73 years or something like that um so i know

00:39:30.640 that she left an amazing legacy and i know that her family is going to miss her dearly um but i think

00:39:37.140 that she's one of those lives that we look at and we can model our own after and pursue the things that

00:39:44.700 she pursued with the same kind of vigor and and passion and anyway so i definitely am praying for their

00:39:51.580 family and i i just love the bushes i think that they are just a classy wonderful american patriotic

00:39:58.720 family so i encourage you to look into her life for inspiration and look into the life of george hw bush

00:40:04.860 and definitely look into their marriage which i think is very very sweet okay all that to say this

00:40:10.480 is a long podcast for me kind of uh so you're welcome by the way for those of you who've been asking

00:40:15.480 for a longer podcast i hope that you all have a great day and i'll see you next week

00:40:19.160 you

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - April 18, 2018

Ep 6 ｜ No, Christians Aren't Called to ＂Social Justice＂

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