Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 635 ｜ Responding to Chris Pratt’s Religion Comments

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable Happy Wednesday. This episode is brought to you by our good

00:00:04.640 friends at Good Ranchers. Go to goodranchers.com slash Allie for American meat delivered for a

00:00:11.300 discount. That's goodranchers.com slash Allie. All right guys, so I heard you on Instagram when

00:00:28.160 I asked, what do you guys want to talk about today? You all are feeling similar to how I'm

00:00:34.260 feeling. My brain is kind of fried right now with all of the information we've been taking in,

00:00:39.440 all of the arguments that we have been forming and rebutting since Friday. I mean, it's just been a

00:00:45.940 nonstop onslaught of stuff, of propaganda, of things that we have to rebut and refute and break down.

00:00:54.900 And I feel like I just haven't allowed my mind for very long to have a break from that. And we

00:01:00.340 all need a break. We're going to talk about substantive stuff today. We're going to talk

00:01:04.800 a little bit about that subject, but we are going to kind of shift gears a little bit. It's going to

00:01:10.420 be kind of a lighter episode. There are going to be some lighter things that we talk about. We're

00:01:15.480 going to talk about Chris Pratt, his interview with Men's Health and how he says, oh, religion is

00:01:20.220 oppressive and I'm not a religious person. I thought that he had a really interesting interview.

00:01:25.240 We're going to look at that. I'm also going to just encourage you and give you some positivity

00:01:32.240 and some optimism, some reminders to rejoice and to be glad that this is the day that the Lord has

00:01:40.020 made. And even though you are exhausted and overwhelmed and burdened by all of the lies that

00:01:44.600 the people around you seem to be believing in particular, when it comes to Roe and Dobbs and

00:01:49.180 abortion, there is every reason to be grateful, to be light, to be joyful. And I'm also going to

00:01:55.260 start out by telling you about something that has nothing to do with the news, nothing to do with

00:01:58.700 culture, just to kind of start us on that light note. And that is the Backstreet Boys, because I

00:02:04.080 realized this morning that I have not had the opportunity to tell you guys about the Backstreet Boys

00:02:08.800 concert that I went to. So I'll start there and then I'll give you some encouragement,

00:02:13.040 just a reminder of where we are and why we can be happy, why we can be grateful, why we have every

00:02:18.000 reason to be courageous and confident in this so-called culture war that's really a spiritual

00:02:22.320 war. And then we'll talk about the whole Chris Pratt thing, which I really think is interesting.

00:02:27.280 And there are a lot of theological points that I want to make in all of this. I don't know if I

00:02:31.120 have a theological point to make when it comes to seeing the Backstreet Boys concert. Maybe I'll be

00:02:35.540 able to come up with the one. But let me just tell you about that experience. So if you don't know,

00:02:41.760 which if you've read my book, and if you've been listening to this podcast for a long time,

00:02:46.580 you know that I grew up as the biggest Backstreet Boys fan to ever exist. Now I'm talking like

00:02:52.540 eight, nine, 10 years old, I wasn't allowed to listen to Britney Spears. I wasn't allowed to

00:02:58.080 listen to Christina Aguilera. And when you look back at some of their album covers, like it's pretty

00:03:02.840 obvious. I mean, it's kind of weird when you think about it, that eight, nine year old girls were

00:03:07.260 listening to Christina Aguilera. I mean, look at what she was wearing and what she was singing about.

00:03:11.760 And some of those songs. But to be perfectly fair, when I listened to some of the songs that

00:03:17.540 the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC and 98 Degrees were singing back then, they weren't morally that much

00:03:24.340 better. They may not have been quite as sexual, but they weren't like, like morally good, something

00:03:30.320 that an eight and nine year old should be listening to. However, I was listening to them. I had a Backstreet

00:03:35.760 Boys nightgown. I had, I think three or four Backstreet Boys posters in my room. I had Backstreet

00:03:43.040 Boys t-shirts. I used to sit in our game room and I used to listen to the black and blue CD

00:03:48.840 and cry thinking about the possibility of never meeting the Backstreet Boys. That was at that

00:03:55.600 point in my life at eight years old, like the worst thing that I could possibly think of happening to me,

00:04:00.600 not meeting the Backstreet Boys. I used to think about what I would wear if I went to a Backstreet

00:04:06.240 Boys concert. Like would I want to wear something like super cute so that they would notice me out

00:04:10.300 in the crowd and be like, wow, that's an awesome looking person out there. Or would I want to wear

00:04:15.240 a Backstreet Boys shirt so they know that I'm a really big fan of them. And just so you know,

00:04:20.260 20 plus years later, I did decide to wear a Backstreet Boys t-shirt this time. I ordered one

00:04:29.680 off of, I don't remember where I ordered it, but it was like a retro Backstreet Boys t-shirt.

00:04:35.380 Went to a Backstreet Boys concert with two of my friends who also were fans of Backstreet Boys growing

00:04:41.780 up. And it was, it was very strange. Like the experience was strange. On the one hand, surreal,

00:04:49.460 actually seeing them in person, waiting a couple of decades to actually do that. Because even though

00:04:54.260 I was allowed to listen to them when I was younger, I wasn't allowed to go to a Backstreet Boys concert,

00:04:57.940 which was honestly probably a good thing, considering some of what I am about to say in a

00:05:04.520 minute. But first, so it was cool seeing them, very surreal seeing them in person. We had really good

00:05:08.680 seats. And so we were pretty up close. Also kind of strange because like the oldest member of the

00:05:13.120 Backstreet Boys is 50 years old. I'm 30 years old. Technically, like that person could be my father,

00:05:19.280 a young father, but a father. So kind of strange seeing people that age up there, like moving around

00:05:25.980 and dancing and singing songs about like breakups and heartbreak when really all of them have been

00:05:30.640 married for a long time. Which by the way, kudos to them. I think all of them have been married to the

00:05:35.760 same woman for a long time and have kids and honestly seem like pretty wholesome in their

00:05:39.680 personal lives. And that's cool. A little odd seeing them though, like dance up there and like

00:05:44.440 grabbing their crotches and doing like a pelvic thrust. Like that was a little weird. And some of

00:05:49.480 the jokes that they were making about like taking their clothes off or like changing backstage. I think

00:05:56.760 AJ at one point talked about like girls throwing their underwear and bras on stage. And I was like,

00:06:02.100 wow, I'm really glad that my parents didn't allow me to go to this concert when I was young. And like

00:06:08.280 that was weird, right? Because like they're all married and they have kids and they're old and who

00:06:13.440 really wants to hear or see them doing any of that? I don't really know. All of that said, though,

00:06:19.020 I was extremely impressed by their ability to still sing really well and their ability to dance and to

00:06:26.160 move around. I mean, that's hard to do night after night, especially when you are that age. Some of

00:06:32.020 them are in their early 40s. So I'm not saying that is old or super old or anything, but it is an

00:06:37.100 older age than being like 16 when you have a lot more stamina. So I was impressed by that. And they

00:06:43.660 were singing one song that I didn't even realize I knew every word to. Let's see. Can I can I think

00:06:49.680 of it what it is? It's that one about I think it's about cheating where they're like, my battery is

00:06:56.680 low. So, you know, I'm going to a place nearby. Gotta go. I had no idea that I knew every single

00:07:03.220 word to that song that I probably haven't heard since like 2001. And yet I did. I was like singing

00:07:08.360 it, belting it. And I just thought about the fact that, wow, I had no idea what this was talking about

00:07:14.160 when I was eight or nine years old. Why was I listening to this? I mean, I guess it's a good

00:07:18.120 thing that it was going over my head. The other slight critique that I have is that they did not play

00:07:25.440 enough of the hits like they played a lot of their new stuff, which I understand you're pushing a new

00:07:31.640 album. I get it. And you're proud of the work that you're doing. You're proud of the songs that you're

00:07:36.500 writing. So I understand wanting to play some new stuff and pushing that new album. I think it's

00:07:41.360 called DNA. But come on, like we know why people go to a Backstreet Boys concert. You go to a Backstreet

00:07:48.060 Boys concert for the same reason. Some people go to like a Rolling Stones concert. You're not there to

00:07:53.060 hear the new music. You're not there to hear the new stuff at all. You are there to scream like a

00:07:58.320 banshee when they play. I want it that way. That is why you are there to sing along. You don't want

00:08:04.080 to hear the new stuff. You don't want to hear the new slow ballads or anything like that. You want to

00:08:08.380 hear the stuff that they played 25 years ago. And so that was my only beef as much as I loved them and

00:08:15.860 thought that they put on a great concert. And I was like really appreciative of their enthusiasm,

00:08:20.080 despite them having done this for so long. I'm sure it can be tiring and sometimes boring.

00:08:24.460 They were really kind and like hospitable. But man, play the hits. Play the hits. There

00:08:30.220 weren't enough hits played and I was sad about that. But it was an amazing experience. Still

00:08:35.320 a Backstreet Boys fan. If you don't know the story that I wrote about in my book that I've talked about

00:08:39.440 several times. I was such a big Backstreet Boys fan. I got sealants on my teeth in, you know,

00:08:45.660 at the dentist when I was probably eight or nine. And I remember the hygienist telling me,

00:08:52.840 oh, yeah, we're putting invisible NSYNC stickers on your teeth. And I was like, NSYNC? I am a

00:09:01.340 Backstreet Boys fan. And she was like, oh, I meant Backstreet Boys. I meant Backstreet Boys. Backstreet

00:09:06.020 Boys, invisible stickers on your teeth. And I was so excited about that. It did not occur to me until I

00:09:11.540 was probably 15 years old that she was lying to me. Like, it really didn't occur to me. It's not

00:09:17.560 like I had been thinking about it forever and just thought that it was true. But it really didn't

00:09:21.660 occur to me until I woke up one morning when I was a teenager and was like, I really don't have

00:09:25.840 invisible stickers on my teeth. I think I spent many a morning when I was eight, nine, ten years old

00:09:30.420 trying to see those invisible Backstreet Boys stickers on my molars. And I was never able to

00:09:35.320 succeed in that. So anyway, long history of being a Backstreet Boys fan. If you have the opportunity to go

00:09:40.960 to a Backstreet Boys concert, I encourage you to do so. It was super fun and just reminders of

00:09:48.900 a different era, a different era in American history when the worst thing that your parents

00:09:57.020 had to worry about was you hearing AJ from the Backstreet Boys say, oh my God, we're back again.

00:10:05.380 Now we have to worry about a lot more than that. It's a lot more complicated. Anyway, okay. I just

00:10:10.840 wanted to tell you that experience. I know you guys are excited for me because you know what a big

00:10:14.640 BSB fan. Sam, Samuel Say, who has been on this show several times, I love him. He is awesome. Him and

00:10:22.000 his wife are fantastic. He is also a huge Backstreet Boys fan. I think that we could have some kind of

00:10:27.220 like head-to-head competition trying to figure out who is actually the bigger BSB fan.

00:10:44.020 All right. So I want to give you guys just some encouragement because I hear you. You are

00:10:52.280 overwhelmed. Isn't it amazing? Like, isn't that what Satan does when there is a clear victory, when

00:10:58.220 something is achieved for the side of goodness and justice and righteousness? Isn't it just like

00:11:06.320 Satan to try to steal the joy from that, to try to hide the light of that? And I think that's what a

00:11:12.600 lot of you have felt. This is a historic victory. The overruling of Roe v. Wade is something that

00:11:18.440 Christians that pro-lifers have been working toward for 50 years. If you want more information

00:11:24.820 on this, please go listen to yesterday's episode. Go listen to Monday's episode. We talk about what

00:11:32.360 is actually in the ruling, what is actually in these bills that are banning or restricting abortion.

00:11:39.400 Does it restrict the treatment of ectopic pregnancies or miscarriages? The answer is no.

00:11:43.560 But we talk about that in Monday's episode, Tuesday's episode. We talk about the shameful

00:11:48.400 evangelical response from a lot of leaders who are refusing to celebrate what is so clearly a

00:11:53.700 just ruling and overruling Roe v. Wade. So go listen to Monday and Tuesday's episode. We're not

00:11:58.760 going to get into all of the details of that today. You guys are discouraged. You're disheartened.

00:12:03.440 You're just exhausted because you constantly feel like we are on the defense. We are constantly

00:12:09.740 having to refute propaganda, to rebut lies. And that's just how it is when you're not in the

00:12:15.660 mainstream. When you don't have the cultural power, conservatives don't. And this just also,

00:12:21.240 it just reminds me how just kind of like delusional. Honestly, a lot of people on the left are, they

00:12:26.900 always think that they're the underdog. Like they always think that they are the little guy and

00:12:34.340 they're fighting against this like system of power. That's why they create this boogeyman of

00:12:38.800 Christian nationalist fascism as if progressivism doesn't dominate almost every single institution

00:12:46.360 that we have from the White House to Congress to academia to public education to Hollywood to big

00:12:55.480 tech to major corporations to the WHO and the UN in most of Europe. Like progressivism dominates

00:13:03.640 almost every single national and global power structure in the world. It's even dominating a

00:13:12.060 huge portion of what calls itself the church. And yet progressivism, because its nature is to

00:13:19.300 dominate, its nature is actually totalitarian. Its nature is dictatorial. I mean, you can just look

00:13:26.140 at the history of communism and socialism to tell you that. It is always looking for conquest. It is

00:13:32.920 actually, ironically, even though progressives call themselves anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism,

00:13:38.820 they are constantly, they are constantly looking to conquer new entities, whether it be the church,

00:13:45.620 whether it be the family, whether it be a school, they are not okay. Progressivism is not okay with living

00:13:52.140 and letting live. They are not okay with tolerance. They are not okay with you just living how you want

00:13:58.780 to live. That's why they're mad about the overruling of Roe v. Wade, because the overruling

00:14:03.840 of Roe v. Wade just allows states to decide. And so the constituents in that state get to push their

00:14:11.400 state legislators in one way or another. So that means in liberal states, abortion is going to be

00:14:16.680 extremely accessible, unfortunately. But that is the thing that they say that they really care about,

00:14:21.960 which is democracy. But they don't really want democracy. Progressivism is always authoritarian.

00:14:26.400 It is always looking to infiltrate. It is always looking to infect. It is always looking to take

00:14:31.880 over everything that used to be neutral, everything that used to be good, everything that used to be

00:14:36.420 Christian, everything that used to be conservative, and then conform it to its own image. That's what

00:14:42.740 progressivism does. And so they're not happy that now some states simply have the freedom to be able to

00:14:49.080 restrict or ban abortion because they want to impose their moral will on you. And they are willing,

00:14:57.100 they are willing to use whatever means possible to do that, even if it is not democratic means,

00:15:04.200 even if it's not honest. They are willing to use straight up propaganda. They are willing to lie.

00:15:08.700 They are willing to deceive. They are willing to manipulate at whatever cost because progressivism

00:15:15.760 believes that the ends always justify the means. Now, every single law, as we've talked about,

00:15:23.240 is moral. Every law goes back to a particular worldview. There's no such thing as a neutral

00:15:27.860 law. Someone said to me on Twitter that laws are based on facts, not beliefs. Absolutely not.

00:15:32.960 A law against murder is based on the belief that it is wrong to murder. That's not a fact. That is a

00:15:38.440 belief. And that belief happens to be rooted in this Judeo-Christian idea of the Imago Dei,

00:15:45.420 that human beings are not just clumps of cells. They're not just balls of matter, but that we

00:15:49.340 actually have meaning. We actually have value and we actually have purpose. Therefore, it is wrong to

00:15:54.960 kill a person or assault a person or rape a person. And of course, we would include abort a person as

00:15:59.220 well. It's just logically and morally consistent. And so it's not wrong for anyone on either side

00:16:10.360 of the aisle to want to influence the law with their worldview. It's not wrong for a progressive

00:16:14.560 to want to do that. It's not wrong for a Christian to want to do that. But we are told that Christians

00:16:19.080 are the only ones who are not allowed to influence the law with their worldview. That is fascism.

00:16:24.980 That is authoritarianism. That is Christian nationalism. That is totalitarian. But when

00:16:30.060 secular progressives try to impose their pseudo-religion, which says that it's okay to kill

00:16:36.300 a child and that we should be paying for gender transition for children, that's not a neutral view.

00:16:42.600 Like, that is a moral view. When they try to impose that on everyone else, when they say that we need

00:16:47.580 to have drag queen story hour at the local library that is paid for by the local taxpayer, that kind of

00:16:53.060 imposition of a particular moral worldview is apparently fine. But when Christians try to

00:16:58.160 influence the public sphere with their worldview, oh no, that's scary. So you just need to see that

00:17:02.760 myth for what it is. You should be totally unafraid and totally unabashed in trying to influence every

00:17:10.580 sphere that you occupy with the love and the light and the truth of Christ. That doesn't mean forcing

00:17:14.760 people to believe what you believe. But if we believe that God is the source of truth, God is the source

00:17:20.080 of morality, God is love, then we have every right and actually every responsibility to infuse that

00:17:25.900 light and truth in every sphere that we occupy. Everything is God's, whether we acknowledge it or

00:17:33.100 not. And that is part of being salt and light. Engaged Christians who are engaged in politics and culture

00:17:39.760 have been the biggest force for good in all of history, in all of the world, and it doesn't even

00:17:46.140 come close. It doesn't even come close. It doesn't mean the people who profess Christianity have been

00:17:50.500 perfect by any means or that there haven't been any serious mistakes or injustices that have been

00:17:55.340 perpetrated. But Christians have been the greatest force of humanitarian good in the world for all of

00:18:01.320 history. And again, it doesn't even come close. So all of this to say, remember that you are coming

00:18:18.740 from that position. Remember what you are up against, that this is a spiritual battle. There's really not

00:18:24.080 a nuanced conversation to be had about whether or not it's okay to kill an innocent human being. That's

00:18:28.760 what it comes down to. One side believes that's okay. Our side does not. So once you've armed

00:18:33.340 yourself with facts, listen to Monday and Tuesday's episode. Just remind yourself, remind yourself that

00:18:38.560 this is a spiritual battle. It's not right versus left. It truly is light versus darkness. Remind

00:18:43.900 yourself of the evil of what abortion is when you're being emotionally manipulated and simply stand

00:18:49.500 firm. Stand firm. I've been so proud of you guys. I've been so proud of you. Those of you who have

00:18:55.540 sent me screenshots of conversations that you guys have had with people who disagree with you,

00:19:00.120 people in your life that you have asked really good questions. You've asked them to cite their

00:19:04.020 sources. You've asked them to define their terms. You've asked them how they came to the conclusion

00:19:08.500 that they did. And you've gotten very predictable responses in a lot of cases. They just get flustered

00:19:13.980 and they call you names or they shut down the conversation. But some of you have had productive

00:19:17.840 conversations where you've actually been able to listen to one another. And maybe you didn't change

00:19:21.880 someone's mind in that moment, but you planted a seed and you were obedient and that's all you're

00:19:26.800 called to do. Read Tactics by Greg Coco, by the way. But I've been really proud of you, how you've stood

00:19:32.700 firm. One of you sent me such a wonderful message and I love messages like this. Thank the Lord by the

00:19:38.820 grace of God. I get messages like this a lot. One of you said that you were pro-choice until 2018 and then

00:19:46.680 you started listening to this podcast and God used this podcast to change your mind on that. And

00:19:50.720 you've very much kind of, even though you've been pro-life yourself, you have not really said

00:19:57.560 anything publicly about it, but now you feel the need to. So we just kind of talked a little bit

00:20:01.820 about what that would look like and how to do that in a courageous way. And look, guys, I know that

00:20:06.160 that's not easy when you have pro-abortion people in your life who are so ready, people who you thought

00:20:11.320 you trusted and knew and you thought trusted and knew you and know your character and know

00:20:16.360 that you're a kind and generous person. And yet now we're calling you names and calling

00:20:20.040 you anti-woman just because you are against the slaughter of unborn children. That is not

00:20:25.080 easy. I understand. So I don't want to minimize that, but I am proud of you for those of you

00:20:31.160 who stood up anyway, for those of you who have been courageous, for those of you who the first

00:20:35.240 time maybe you've reached out to your pro-life pregnancy center near you and you've said,

00:20:38.720 how can I help those of you who have donated the money that you have, which is not easy

00:20:43.440 when prices are really high right now, when you've got to provide for your family and yet

00:20:46.480 you trusted God with the resources that he's given you to try to provide for people who need

00:20:50.500 even more. So I'm proud of you. I'm proud of your effort and your bravery, and I'm encouraging

00:20:56.720 you to continue standing up and to continue telling the truth. Look, you're on the right side.

00:21:02.460 I know it's easy to kind of waffle and to kind of wonder when it seems like you're the only

00:21:07.220 one. You're the only one that's swimming upstream. You're the only one that has another opinion.

00:21:12.040 Look, I remember a lot of you felt that way in summer of 2022, summer of 2020 TOO also is what

00:21:20.880 I'm trying to say. I remember you guys saying that in June too, and we were some of the only

00:21:26.960 people over here that were questioning the popular narratives, that were questioning the secular

00:21:30.980 definitions of social and racial justice. We're questioning this narrative that every disparate

00:21:35.620 outcome between white and non-white people is due to slavery and discrimination and Jim

00:21:41.760 Crow and mass incarceration because those things are just factually untrue. We were some of the

00:21:46.100 only people who are willing to push back against that, and even though we got a lot of vitriol

00:21:50.420 for that, I think that it paid off because it encouraged people to see things that are true

00:21:56.100 and it opened a lot of people's eyes. May God use this in the same way. Keep speaking truth.

00:22:01.200 Um, speak it in love, but don't caveat or compromise on it. It hurts. It's hard. I know,

00:22:09.320 but it's right. And therefore it's worth it. So let me read you a couple of verses before I talk

00:22:13.760 about this Chris Pratt story, which I think is interesting. Um, so let me read you one of my

00:22:19.320 favorite passages and this is Ephesians four. So let's start with verse 14 so that we may no longer

00:22:28.240 and just read, I could read the entire chapter for the entire context. Go read the chapter on your

00:22:32.900 own. He's talking about sanctification. He's talking about maturing in the Lord. He's talking

00:22:36.880 about building up the church and what growth in Christ looks like. This is Paul, God through Paul

00:22:42.840 speaking to the church of Ephesus. So verse 14, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and

00:22:48.380 fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine. Doesn't that sound like so many professing

00:22:53.540 Christians today who are tossed to and fro by the waves of every cultural moment and every false

00:22:58.780 teaching, just completely unable to discern what is true in light of scripture. So that we may no

00:23:05.020 longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human

00:23:09.540 cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. Wow. That is like everything we are seeing on Instagram

00:23:14.460 right now. Rather, this is for the Christian rather speaking the truth in love. We are to grow up in

00:23:21.180 every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together

00:23:26.900 by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so

00:23:33.000 that it builds itself up in love. We are to grow up. We're to grow up in every way into him who is the

00:23:40.280 head, into Christ. And that is building up the body of Christ. Your obedience in this matters. You're

00:23:46.320 speaking the truth in love in this matters. Even if you feel like you're not convinced in anyone,

00:23:50.660 even if you feel like you're not persuasive, even if you feel like you're not eloquent and you don't

00:23:54.420 have the right words and you're shaking even as you speak. And maybe you've compromised a few times

00:23:59.720 in conversations in the past because you didn't know how to respond. Your courage that is coming

00:24:03.740 from the Lord, the words that you are speaking through the power of the Holy Spirit, they matter

00:24:08.960 even if it is just in obedience to the Lord. That matters. Let me read you also

00:24:16.240 this verse from Galatians. Some of you are probably familiar. And this is Galatians 6,

00:24:21.780 9 through 10. And let us not grow weary of doing good. A lot of us feel very weary right now.

00:24:28.100 For in due season, we will reap if we do not give up. So then as we have opportunity,

00:24:34.000 let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

00:24:40.080 And I could go on a whole rant about that last part, especially to those who are household of

00:24:44.120 faith, because I think the church misprioritizes. We're not prioritizing correctly who we are

00:24:50.540 supposed to love and serve. First, you are supposed to love and serve the church, the body of Christ,

00:24:55.720 then the outside world. I think we so often prioritize reaching to the outside world that

00:25:01.520 we're not even taking care of our brothers and our sisters in Christ. I mean, think about

00:25:05.120 how you take care of your own physical family. Don't you care for your children and your spouse

00:25:11.000 and your home before you care for a stranger's children? Of course, because if you didn't,

00:25:17.800 if you actually fed other kids, but you didn't feed your own kids, that would make you a really

00:25:22.960 bad parent. That would make you a bad steward of what the Lord has given to you. And so in the same

00:25:28.000 way, the church really is supposed to be primarily, primarily focused on taking care of one another.

00:25:33.320 I'm not exclusively, but primarily. And so this is part of us doing good. It is speaking the truth

00:25:39.180 in love. As that Ephesians 4 passage discuss, it is doing good to these women and these children

00:25:45.100 who are in crisis. I mean, just look at each side of this. On one side, you have people firebombing

00:25:50.480 pro-life pregnancy resource centers who are simply giving free services and free supplies and free

00:25:56.080 counseling and love to these women who are pregnant and they're worried and they're scared.

00:26:00.960 They're helping the father. They're helping the mother. They're helping in so many different kinds

00:26:05.680 of ways that these finger wagging evangelicals and progressives say, we need to do more for moms.

00:26:11.640 As I said yesterday, you need to do more for moms. Don't assume that we are not doing enough for moms.

00:26:16.900 You need to do more for moms. Do not chide us, the pro-lifers, that we need to be doing more when

00:26:21.800 clearly you have no idea what's been done. Get off your couch, go outside and see what you can do before

00:26:27.920 telling the rest of us that we need to do things that, by the way, we are already doing. Go to your local

00:26:33.480 pro-life pregnancy center, take some money out of your wallet and help the cause. That has been

00:26:39.640 being fought by pro-lifers for the past 50 years and really has been fought by the church for the past

00:26:46.320 2,000 years. That's what the church has always done. We've been a refuge for women, for children, for the

00:26:50.580 vulnerable, for the truly actually marginalized. We've been a refuge of truth. We've been a refuge of safety.

00:26:56.680 That doesn't mean that we've been perfect because we are still a human institution that fails and that

00:27:01.360 sins, unfortunately. But the church, at her bash to the power of the Holy Spirit, has been a refuge

00:27:06.620 of safety and protection. That's who we are for pre-born babies. That's who we are for women and

00:27:12.120 children. And so do not grow weary of doing that good. All right. I just wanted to make sure that

00:27:18.640 you're encouraged, that you are edified, that you're built up, that you are standing firm in this.

00:27:23.540 All right. It is not you. It's not your words. It's not your strength. It's not your energy that

00:27:28.040 is meant to sustain you. It is the Lord's and his is never ending. It is unconditional. Remember my

00:27:33.680 book? You're not enough. And that's okay. That's really good news because you are not sufficient

00:27:39.440 to be your own strength, to be your own love, to be your own fulfillment. And you are also not

00:27:44.420 sufficient to be that for anyone else. The Lord is though, like he is the cup that overflows. He is the

00:27:50.480 well that never runs dry. He is the living water, living water. He is the bread of life. And so if

00:27:57.540 you are thirsty and you are hungry for the satisfaction and for energy, and you just feel

00:28:01.940 like the weight of the world is on your shoulders and you feel burdened by all the craziness and the

00:28:07.460 chaos in our culture right now, go to the Lord for your refreshment. And he will sustain you for as

00:28:13.800 long as he has decided sovereignly that you are on this earth. He has written every single one of

00:28:19.920 your days before any of them came to be, as Psalm 139 tells us, and he's got you. So keep going. Be

00:28:26.620 joyful. Rejoice in the Lord always. I think this is, yeah, Philippians 4. Rejoice in the Lord always.

00:28:31.620 Again, I will say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be made known to everyone. Another very pertinent

00:28:38.300 verse. Let your reasonableness be made known to everyone. There are a lot of people who are simply

00:28:43.560 not reasonable right now. Reasonable is a characteristic of a Christian. That's also

00:28:48.780 something that James 4, I believe, tells us. I'm okay with coming up with the book and the chapter.

00:28:56.960 I'm not always good at remembering the specific verse. But anyway, reasonableness, wisdom, love,

00:29:02.560 truth, clarity, strength, consistency, all of that comes from the Lord, and you have it in spades if

00:29:09.220 you are in Christ. All right. All right. Let's talk about Chris Pratt, Andy Dwyer. If you are a Parks and

00:29:27.820 Rec fan, he is very different than what he was when he was Andy Dwyer. He like started working out and

00:29:34.740 stuff and everything just changed. But he has also been someone that a lot of conservatives and I

00:29:40.380 think Christians admire, not because necessarily he has been like super theological or super out front

00:29:48.360 constantly with like sharing the gospel or anything like that, but one, because the left attacks him

00:29:52.740 saying that he is like anti-LGBTQ or goes to like an anti-LGBTQ church. And Ellen Elliott Page,

00:30:04.720 a couple of years ago, said on some talk show that Chris Pratt goes to like an anti-LGBTQ church or

00:30:12.300 something like that. I don't know. And so because the left attacked him, I think a lot of conservatives

00:30:16.400 defend him. But he also seems not super woke. He is a big supporter of the police. He's a big supporter

00:30:21.960 of the military. I would be surprised if he were super on board with a bunch of like left-wing ideology

00:30:28.680 on a variety of things. And he has been outspoken a few times about Christianity, about believing in

00:30:37.940 God. And he gave this speech at the MTV Movie and TV Awards a few years ago. He was a recipient of a

00:30:47.480 Generation Award. And he said something along the lines of God is real. God loves you. He wants the

00:30:53.200 best for you. And so and that's way different than what a lot of celebrities say. They make it all

00:30:58.580 about themselves. They make it about their like pet political issue, whatever it is. And he made it

00:31:04.320 about God. And that was really cool. That's really different. He seems kind of like a solid person,

00:31:09.020 especially in the crazy world of Hollywood. He's married to Katherine Schwarzenegger.

00:31:13.340 They have two girls together, two babies together. And then also he was married, I think,

00:31:21.320 to Anna Faris. And they have a little boy together. Anyway, so I don't know. He just seemed like

00:31:28.100 different and more down to earth. And now he has this men's health interview that I think came out

00:31:34.120 yesterday. And he's saying all the cool things to make sure that anti-religious people in Hollywood

00:31:40.200 and on the left know that he's a cool guy. He's not like this crazy fundamentalist Christians man.

00:31:45.820 No, he's cooler than that. So he says this. He says this to men's health. Maybe it was hubris for

00:31:52.120 me to stand up on the stage. He's talking about that MTV speech that he gave, which was like totally

00:31:56.320 innocuous. It wasn't even anything super pointed about the Bible. Just God in general is real and

00:32:03.440 loves you. And then he said, maybe it was hubris about that speech for me to stand up on the stage and

00:32:08.220 say things that I said. I'm not sure I touched anybody. Like, why would you even say that?

00:32:13.360 He says he offers and he gets why people were put off. This is okay. And he uses the F4 too,

00:32:20.420 which means he's really cool. He says religion has been oppressive as F for a long time. He says as we

00:32:26.980 walk over a tiny footbridge, the words spilling out in an emotional tidal wave. I didn't know,

00:32:32.200 Chris Pratt says, that I would kind of become the face of religion when really I'm not a religious

00:32:37.420 person. I think there's a distinction between being religious, adhering to the customs created

00:32:42.880 by man, oftentimes appropriate in the all reserve for who I believe is a very real God and using it

00:32:47.620 to control people, to take money from people, to abuse children, to steal land. Interesting. To

00:32:52.900 justify hatred, whatever it is, the evil that's in the heart of every single man has glommed onto the

00:32:56.940 back of religion and come along for the ride. So not everything he's saying is incorrect. Of course,

00:33:01.780 people have used religion, a false version of Christianity, to justify all kinds of atrocities

00:33:09.120 and injustices. It can be a way to control people. It can be a way to cover up abuse. So I am not

00:33:16.780 trying to minimize what he's saying there. But to me, especially if you read the entirety of this

00:33:21.280 interview, it is very obvious that he is trying to detach himself from any kind of religious

00:33:25.980 affiliation. And he's doing what a lot of people do. He is saying, basically, that it's not religion,

00:33:32.340 it's relationship, or it's not religion, it's just some kind of vague form of spirituality. He says he

00:33:37.100 doesn't go to Hillsong Church, that he sometimes attends Zoe Church, which I don't know a whole lot

00:33:41.920 about that. I guess it's in California. And that he also attends Catholic Church with his wife,

00:33:49.100 because the Schwarzenegger family is Catholic. So he is doing what a lot of people do when they've

00:33:56.360 been slammed for being Christian, when they've been slammed for being a conservative Christian.

00:33:59.760 He's trying to detach himself from that and show, no, I'm just a cool guy. I don't care. Live and let

00:34:04.740 live. I'm just a tolerant guy, which I'm sure, you know, at this point, he really does believe. But

00:34:12.040 this to me was very obviously like a defense against the criticism that he's gotten from people that

00:34:17.980 maybe he believes in something that is for the marriage between a man and a woman. And it's just

00:34:24.240 a cop out to me. To me, it shows that like he really wants people's approval. You can see that

00:34:30.760 in the rest of the interview. You can see that he really cares about the people who have attacked him.

00:34:37.720 Like he really cares about people thinking that he is religious when apparently he's not. And I do take

00:34:44.440 issue with this kind of separation of religion and relationship. I take issue with people

00:34:50.560 saying that religion in itself is oppressive. Religion in itself is bad. I take issue with

00:34:58.080 people saying, he didn't say this, but when people say that, well, the Pharisees were religious and

00:35:07.020 religion is bad. No, the Pharisees weren't bad because they were religious. The Pharisees were bad

00:35:12.240 because they had a pretense of religiosity. Their outward appearance was religious, but really

00:35:19.840 their hearts were stone. They were whitewashed tombs, as Jesus said. So on the inside, they were

00:35:26.460 decaying. On the outside, they looked nice. So they had the appearance of obeying the law, but they

00:35:32.120 weren't obeying the law from their heart. They added all kinds of rules and regulations that

00:35:37.080 weren't actually inspired by God or created by God in order to make it more difficult for people who

00:35:43.660 are not Pharisees to be seen as truly righteous. It was actually because they weren't truly religious

00:35:50.940 enough. They were not truly pious enough. They were not truly holy enough because their hearts were far

00:35:57.200 from God. They worshiped the God of self rather than the God of scripture. It wasn't that they were so

00:36:01.760 obedient that Jesus said they were bad. It was because they weren't truly obedient that Jesus said

00:36:06.420 they were bad. So this condemnation of religion is a very common talking point, but I just don't

00:36:12.520 think it's biblically accurate. So let me read you this passage from James. James 1.27,

00:36:20.520 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their

00:36:27.200 affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world. And so nowhere in scripture do you see this

00:36:33.140 idea that religion is bad? It's religion, not relationship. Actually, it's both. Yes, by grace

00:36:38.320 through faith, we get relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ who reconciled us, who

00:36:43.660 made us from dead in our sin to alive in Christ. We get relationship and communion with the Father.

00:36:50.580 Yes and amen. But also it is a religion in that there are things that, inspired by the grace and the power of

00:36:57.820 the Holy Spirit, we are called to do. And it is about worship. It is about also, not as a matter of

00:37:08.540 salvation, but as a matter of sanctification and obedience to the Lord. It is a matter of works also.

00:37:14.740 It is a matter of action, inspired by the Holy Spirit that indwells us. So religion in itself isn't

00:37:21.400 bad. I really don't like when people use that as a cop-out to try to make themselves seem,

00:37:25.820 oh, I'm cooler than I am. I don't really care what people do. Christianity is a relationship,

00:37:31.840 but it is also a religion. And who cares? Yeah, people are going to not like that. People are

00:37:37.840 always going to call you, if you have like any kind of morality that comes from the Bible,

00:37:42.920 people are going to call you legalistic. People are going to call you oppressive. People are going

00:37:46.060 to call you hateful. People are going to call you a bigot. Until you believe their progressive

00:37:50.600 religion, in totality, they are going to assume that you are just not a good person. Who cares?

00:37:55.920 Don't defend yourself against them. I think Chris Pratt is super talented. I still appreciate that he

00:38:01.000 is not just like a typical woke celebrity that is going to repeat everything that they do about

00:38:05.820 the police or about the military or about whatever cultural issue is going on. See, conservatives and

00:38:10.980 progressives are so different. The conservatives just want the people who are playing sports or on

00:38:15.480 their movies to be neutral. We don't want them to make really any political statement. I mean,

00:38:19.220 awesome if he made some kind of pro-life statement. I think that's great. But progressives really expect

00:38:24.280 their celebrities to be on their political side and be so outward about that. And when they're not,

00:38:29.580 they're going to call them bigots. And so just once again, a difference between conservatism

00:38:34.560 and progressivism. But I would like for him to stand firm. Gosh, don't apologize for that MTV speech or

00:38:42.760 not just apologize, but don't, you know, walk it back and caveat it. It's true. I mean, God is real.

00:38:50.480 He does care. That is a message that you should absolutely be conveying. So I kind of found this

00:38:55.700 strange and quite frankly, a little disappointing, even though I think that he is a talented and probably

00:39:00.160 cool guy. All right. So you've heard me say that I'm super excited about tomorrow's episode. And it

00:39:16.900 was good that we took like a little midweek break from like super heavy stuff because tomorrow is

00:39:23.800 going to be a very big conversation with someone named Genevieve Gluck. She is a feminist journalist

00:39:28.580 who has done so much work exposing the underneath of the money making industry of gender transition

00:39:36.580 and the transgender ideology and the history of it and the roots of it. And I just find her work

00:39:42.400 fascinating. I have been begging her to come on the show for like several months now because I know

00:39:47.240 you guys are going to benefit so much from it. And so I'm super excited for you to listen to this

00:39:52.120 conversation. It might be a two part conversation depending on how long it goes. I anticipate that it's

00:39:57.600 going to be a long conversation because I'm going to have so many questions and so many different

00:40:00.860 things to dig into. But make sure you tune into it. It's going to be one that not only you want to

00:40:05.480 listen to right away, but that you want to share with people. These are the kinds of conversations

00:40:09.360 I find that really can change people's minds. One, because she's coming from a different perspective

00:40:14.580 than me. She's progressive in a lot of ways. She is a feminist. I'm sure that she is probably

00:40:19.340 pro-choice. I don't want to put that in her mouth, but she probably is. And so we disagree on a lot

00:40:25.480 of things. And therefore, people on the other side of the aisle may be more willing to listen

00:40:30.040 to her. And also, what she is going to say is just so unavoidably insane that it's really hard

00:40:39.420 for people to kind of not see what is really going on here when you hear the results of her

00:40:45.000 investigation. So make sure you tune into tomorrow's episode. Also, as always, as you guys do,

00:40:51.380 thank you so much for this. But if you subscribe to YouTube, that would be great. If you could leave

00:40:55.920 us a five-star review wherever you listen to the podcast, that would be great. Make sure you check

00:40:59.760 out all the awesome new merch that we have. That would be great. Thanks for following along this

00:41:04.720 week. Just a reminder, you're doing a good job in standing firm in all of this. And the Lord

00:41:08.960 absolutely will sustain you. And we are in this together. I know a lot of you guys feel alone

00:41:14.720 sometimes. And thankfully, you at the very least have a relatable community. You have thousands

00:41:21.680 and thousands and thousands of people who listen to this show who are like-minded with you. And so

00:41:26.960 at least be comforted by that. And you know what? We're thinking. I'm thinking of finding a way to

00:41:32.360 kind of like bring us together so you can have some real-life community with a relatable family as

00:41:36.620 well. All right. That's all we have time for today. We will be back here tomorrow.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - June 29, 2022

Ep 635 ｜ Responding to Chris Pratt’s Religion Comments

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