Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - REPLAY： The Dire State of American Theology

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Wednesday. I hope everyone has had a wonderful week so

00:00:15.960 far. As you guys know, most of you know anyway, I record my podcast on the previous day, which

00:00:23.460 means on Tuesday night, as I'm saying this, there were the debates between President Trump

00:00:30.940 and Joe Biden, which means that I could talk about that if I were recording this on Wednesday.

00:00:36.620 But because I'm recording this on Tuesday morning, I do not have the prophetic ability to be able to

00:00:43.260 comment on the debate. I'm sure it was very entertaining. I would guess if I could

00:00:52.200 if I could wager that Trump was fact-checked, that Joe Biden was not, that the questions were skewed

00:01:02.720 toward Biden. But my guess, as I'm sitting here right now on Tuesday morning, is that Joe Biden

00:01:09.300 was very well prepared for this, that he had been preparing for this for a long time. President

00:01:13.900 Trump was a little bit busy campaigning and running the country, but hopefully that fared well. And I

00:01:20.480 will give more commentary on that today on Wednesday on Instagram, because I'm sure that I will have a

00:01:28.460 lot to say. There are a lot of different news stories that we could talk about. We could talk

00:01:33.040 about Trump's taxes. My overall thought about that is that there is no proof of illegality there that

00:01:39.840 he paid the lowest amount of taxes that he possibly could. That is what a lot of rich people tried to

00:01:46.180 do. It also showed that there was no Russian, Russian collusion in his finances or anything

00:01:54.240 like that. He is not in Putin's pocket, as far as we can tell from the tax returns. I really don't

00:01:59.640 think it's that big of a story. We could also talk about Hunter Biden and how he is being connected

00:02:04.840 to Russia and China and possibly trafficking, sex trafficking there. And so there's a lot to talk

00:02:12.480 about, but I got a request from at least a few of you on Instagram to take a break from the news and

00:02:19.300 to focus on a biblical topic, to focus on theology. And I want to do that. It's still going to be

00:02:25.580 relevant to everything that is going on, certainly, but I want us to take kind of a step back and to

00:02:30.520 take a deep breath and to just kind of sigh a sigh of relief as we remember who is in control. And so

00:02:37.640 we're going to talk about a couple studies. We're going to talk about a study from the Cultural

00:02:41.940 Research Center at Arizona Christian University that said that millennials, only 2% of millennials

00:02:48.780 hold a biblical worldview. And then we'll talk about the Ligonier study that they conduct every two years

00:02:55.040 called the State of Theology that assesses the theology of the U.S. population in general,

00:03:01.520 and then professing evangelicals. And we'll talk about what that means. And then I'll give

00:03:06.280 some encouragement at the end. I'm really excited about this episode. I love the episodes where we

00:03:11.420 focus exclusively on theology. And I know that you guys too, before we get started, if you guys could

00:03:18.420 do me a favor, if you love this podcast, could you please go on iTunes and leave me a five-star

00:03:25.360 review? You don't have to leave this long and lengthy review. You can. I read them. I love them. They mean a

00:03:31.300 lot to me, but you certainly don't have to do that. I know a lot of you are busy, but

00:03:35.080 if you have the time and you are so willing and you love this podcast, if you could go on iTunes

00:03:41.580 and leave a five-star review, it really helps us out a lot. Also, I haven't talked about my book in

00:03:47.420 a while, but you're not enough. And that's okay. Escaping the toxic culture of self-love right now.

00:03:53.500 It's actually sold out on Amazon until I think just a few days. I think it's back in stock on October

00:03:59.020 4th. And so you can go ahead and order that. And I'm sure it will be at your doorstep soon. If that's

00:04:04.180 something that you're interested in, but you can also go to AllieBethStuckey.com book and you can

00:04:09.160 see all of the places where you can purchase it. A lot of you, so many of you, hundreds of you,

00:04:14.360 thousands of you, maybe tens of thousands have reached out to me personally and have told me

00:04:20.300 what this book has meant to you. And I take no credit for that. I praise the Lord that he has

00:04:25.960 allowed me to have this platform that then allowed me to write a book that was meaningful for a lot of you,

00:04:31.300 a lot of non-religious, non-Christian people read this book and it impacted them. And I really do

00:04:38.660 praise the Lord for that. He is so good and using us as vessels when we don't deserve it. And so

00:04:45.240 it's freeing to know that we don't get to take credit for the things that he does,

00:04:49.420 that we can just turn around and give him all the praise for that. Okay. Let us talk about some of

00:04:54.960 these studies. So the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, they conducted a

00:05:02.680 study about biblical worldviews among millennials. What they found is that while an estimated 9% of

00:05:09.740 adults in both elder and boomer generations, defined as ages 75 and older in those 56 to 74 years of age

00:05:17.340 respectively, have a biblical worldview, that figure drops to 5% among those in generation X.

00:05:23.280 So ages 37 to 55 and a mere 2% among millennials. Millennials were born anywhere from 1981 to 1996.

00:05:33.080 So I am a millennial. I was born in 92. I know all of you who were born in 1981. And in those early

00:05:39.980 80s, you do not want to associate yourselves with the 90s millennials because we really are kind of a

00:05:46.140 different subset of a generation, I would say. But alas, here you are. We're all in here together.

00:05:51.300 It's okay. The Christian Post reports about this study like this, quote, 0.51

00:05:58.180 A biblical worldview, as previously defined by Barna, includes believing that absolute moral

00:06:04.300 truths exist and that such truth is defined by the Bible, as well as firm belief in six specific

00:06:10.620 religious views. Those views are that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life. God is the all-powerful and

00:06:16.080 all-knowing creator of the universe, and he still rules it today. Salvation is a gift from God and

00:06:21.440 cannot be earned. Satan is real. A Christian has a responsibility to share their faith in Christ with

00:06:26.520 other people. And the Bible is accurate in all of its teachings. So only 2% of millennials actually

00:06:33.320 hold to those views which define a biblical worldview. Compared to other adults, millennials are significantly 0.58

00:06:40.600 less likely to do these things. 1. Believe in the existence of absolute truth. 2. Be deeply committed

00:06:47.940 to practicing their faith. 3. Contend that human beings were created by God and His image. 4. Believe

00:06:54.140 that God is the basis of all truth. 5. View the purpose of life to be knowing, loving, and serving God.

00:07:00.340 6. Consider the Bible to be a reliable source of moral guidance. 7. Believe that God loves them

00:07:06.580 unconditionally. 8. Seek to avoid sitting because it breaks God's heart. Am I on 9? I don't even

00:07:13.180 remember. Possess a biblical view of the nature and character of God. 10. Say they have a unique calling

00:07:18.680 or purpose from God. So all of these things that people with a biblical worldview who follow Christ

00:07:24.040 believe and say and hold to. Very few millennials agree with this. Millennials are less likely than the

00:07:32.180 previous generations to hold to these beliefs. This study also found, which this is interesting,

00:07:38.440 I think unsurprising for most of us who are in the millennial generation or who share social media

00:07:44.620 platforms with the millennial and Generation Z generations. Millennials are less tolerant and 0.96

00:07:50.880 respectful of others than previous generations. Millennials generally are seen as tolerant, yet the study

00:07:57.620 findings show that millennials, by their own admission, are far less tolerant than other

00:08:03.220 generations. In addition, they are more likely to want to exact revenge when wronged, are less likely

00:08:08.640 to keep a promise, and overall have less respect for others and for human life in general. That doesn't

00:08:13.420 surprise me. That is what characterizes the entertainment that we watch and we listen to.

00:08:19.260 Self-fulfillment, doing what you want to do no matter what, no matter who it hurts,

00:08:24.400 shunning any idea of self-sacrifice in favor of self-absorption and self-centeredness,

00:08:31.360 narcissism is glorified. Narcissism is a destructive force that is going to want to exact revenge and

00:08:39.040 get people back when they have wronged you rather than give grace and forgive, knowing that you have

00:08:44.140 also wronged others and, most importantly, you have wronged God. I was just reading this morning

00:08:48.500 in Ephesians 4, how we are called to forgive one another, and not just that, but as God in Christ

00:08:55.080 forgave us. Well, God in Christ forgave us in the most radical way. We were dead in sin, enemies of

00:09:01.320 God, hated God before Christ, and then by grace through faith, God saved us, not because of anything

00:09:09.140 we had done, but because of His own goodness and mercy, and we had sinned against Him immensely,

00:09:16.360 enough to condemn us all to hell. And God forgave us, again, not because of our goodness, but because

00:09:21.620 of His goodness. And the Bible is saying we are to forgive other people like that. Whenever someone

00:09:26.760 wrongs us, what I try to remember is that I have done worse against God. And that is true of all of us.

00:09:33.960 And God Himself tells us that we are to forgive other people as God so radically and lovingly

00:09:39.860 forgave us. And yet, millennials, because they do not hold to a biblical worldview, they are not going

00:09:46.220 to have that perspective. They're not going to have that desire. Millennials are also less enthusiastic

00:09:51.500 about America, not just this study. It's not just this study that has found that there have been

00:09:56.520 several other studies like Gallup, who have said the same. Patriotism is low among millennials,

00:10:03.600 all of these things, by the way, go hand in hand. That is not to say that Christians are supposed 0.98

00:10:10.200 to idolize our country, but we are supposed to, as we'll talk about in this podcast, as Jeremiah 29

00:10:15.940 says, when God is talking to Israel that is in exile in Babylon, that you are supposed to seek the

00:10:22.720 welfare of the city that you are in. It is good to love your country. That does not mean that we put

00:10:31.080 our country above God or that we think that Americans are more special or more important

00:10:36.520 in their value than people from other countries. But it does mean that you have a special care for

00:10:43.380 and a special attention to the people in your country. And again, we'll talk a little bit more

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00:13:24.080 They demonstrate millennials' little awareness and interest in government and politics and are far 1.00

00:13:29.660 less informed about current political conditions and events other than either busters. I've never 0.99

00:13:37.200 heard it called that. The silent generation. Or, oh, I guess, no, that's the Generation X than either

00:13:43.420 Generation X or boomers. They are far more accepting of socialism than other generations. So I would say

00:13:50.800 that millennials, just in my experience, that they are aware of what's going on generally, politically.

00:13:57.780 Like, I think that young people know the latest outrage and they know, like, the latest headline.

00:14:03.440 But really, all they all they have is what they heard from someone or what they saw on Snapchat or

00:14:09.480 what they saw on Instagram or Twitter or whatever, whatever headline they might have seen on Facebook,

00:14:13.940 which says, like, you know, Trump only pays X in taxes. And that is because of tax fraud and tax

00:14:20.200 evasion when that's not really true. And I think most young people do not take the time to actually look

00:14:25.460 into those claims. And so their minds and their awareness of what's going on are really just a

00:14:31.200 bunch of clickbaity headlines that shapes their view of what is going on in the world. That's

00:14:37.020 actually often a very inaccurate picture. The fact that millennials are far more accepting of socialism

00:14:42.560 than other generations directly is correlated to their lack of real knowledge, I think, of what is

00:14:50.020 going on, their lack of knowledge of politics, how policies work, how the economy works. Socialism

00:14:56.040 sounds good if you don't think about it. It also makes you feel virtuous without ever having to get

00:15:00.720 off the couch because you can say that you care about the least of these by voting for Bernie Sanders

00:15:05.140 without ever forking over any money or any of your time and energy for other people. And so socialism

00:15:11.060 is very appealing for people who don't think very hard about the consequences of it,

00:15:15.380 who don't know the history of socialism and communism, don't realize that it is a limitation

00:15:20.700 of freedom and everything you love is from capitalism. And so it can be extremely appealing

00:15:28.180 for people who are not very knowledgeable, not just in history, but also in policies today.

00:15:36.820 Also, we know, and people, you know, they get mad when I say this, but it's just true. It's not a

00:15:42.000 coincidence that millennials are the most godless generation, the least likely to have a biblical 1.00

00:15:46.960 worldview, and that they're most likely to be socialists. There's a reason why, according to

00:15:51.220 Pew, 75% of atheists in the country voted for Bernie Sanders in the primary. That worldview goes hand

00:15:58.280 in hand. So if you are someone who believes in socialism, who identifies as a Christian, 0.89

00:16:03.140 as I've said many times, you should ask yourself why you have the same worldview as every atheist that

00:16:08.960 you know, the people who don't believe that human beings are made in the image of God and that every

00:16:13.200 human is valuable because of that. That's just at least a good way for you to start digging into

00:16:19.840 your worldview and asking yourself why you believe what you believe. Go back and listen to my episodes

00:16:25.120 on socialism. I will include them in the link here. And I talked about why socialism isn't biblical.

00:16:32.020 It is its history is wrought with with suffering and injustice and inequality, the exact opposite of

00:16:40.100 what socialism promises. And also, we have to make sure that we're actually talking about what

00:16:44.500 socialism actually is. When we say socialism, I'm not just talking about some social programs or some

00:16:49.420 welfare. Scandinavia is not socialist. It has actually a flat tax, whereas America has a very progressive

00:16:55.940 tax system. You pay a larger and larger percentage the more money you make rather than just a larger

00:17:03.460 dollar amount, the more money you make. But in Sweden, they have a flat tax. Everyone pays 60%.

00:17:09.460 It's not socialist. You just pay a lot in taxes. It's basically a welfare state. But they do have a

00:17:15.580 private market and they do have capitalism to be able to fund the welfare state, which, of course,

00:17:20.140 is necessary. As Margaret Thatcher said, the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of

00:17:25.640 people's money. And so if you're going to have a welfare state, you have to have capitalism to be

00:17:29.200 able to fund it. That's something that socialists don't seem to understand. So anyway, the worldview

00:17:35.180 goes together. The socialist atheist worldview goes together. Karl Marx, of course, believed that religion

00:17:40.220 was the opium of the masses. He hated Christianity. He hated belief in Christ. He really hated religion in 0.95

00:17:47.960 general. He believed that it inhibited people from true happiness, that it gave them a sense of

00:17:54.280 delusion, a delusion type happiness, that if they just got rid of it, they would be able to realize

00:18:02.160 real happiness. Well, let's look at the history of officially atheistic regimes. Have they valued human

00:18:08.760 life? Has it led to happiness? Has it led to plenty? Has it led to prosperity? No, we can see that in

00:18:15.220 every single Marxist regime that has ever existed. We see that today in China. Officially atheist regime, 0.81

00:18:22.400 they care nothing for the individual lives of their citizens. They only care about productivity. I

00:18:29.120 mean, that is why we have seen so many egregious policies end in famine, end in poverty, end in

00:18:36.020 suffering and persecution and the loss of human life there. Because atheism doesn't know how to value

00:18:41.440 the individual. Only Christianity can do that. Millennials are increasingly distinct from other 1.00

00:18:47.740 generations in the area of faith. The study shows surprisingly, six out of 10 millennials consider

00:18:52.180 themselves to be Christians. Yet, when asked about their personal beliefs and faith practices,

00:18:56.900 they differed significantly in many areas from other generations. For example, millennials are

00:19:01.400 significantly less likely to believe in the existence of absolute moral truth or that God is

00:19:06.840 the basis of all truth. To believe that human beings were created by God in His image and that He

00:19:11.240 loves them unconditionally, pray and worship regularly or seek God's will for their lives. And so a lot of you

00:19:16.500 have asked me, you know, like I have this friend who calls herself a Christian and yet she's posting this that

00:19:20.860 is totally unbiblical. Why is that? Well, it's because they don't have probably the basic foundations of

00:19:26.760 a biblical worldview. A lot of people identify as Christians. That's called nominal Christianity. 0.73

00:19:32.260 Christians in name only. They were raised to Christian or they have adopted some kind of 0.98

00:19:36.960 spiritualism that vaguely resembles Christianity. And so they identify as a Christian, but they don't 0.95

00:19:45.580 reflect at all what Christianity actually is according to God's word, according to Christ

00:19:51.660 Himself. And so that is going to color their political views. That's going to color their views

00:19:57.100 on right and wrong, their views on morality. And so if you're wondering why there's some cognitive

00:20:01.820 dissonance there, that's probably why. Now, they might just be early in their faith. They might be in

00:20:06.760 early stages of sanctification. It might not mean that they're not really a Christian. And you should

00:20:11.980 definitely be praying for them and spurring them on to love and good works and to speak

00:20:17.540 the truth in love. Absolutely. Or they could just not be a believer at all. And they have unfortunately

00:20:23.560 believed a false gospel and have deluded themselves into thinking that they follow Christ when the person

00:20:28.240 that they follow isn't Christ at all. And so in that case, you still, you pray for them and you love

00:20:34.320 them and you point them towards their creator. So none of this is really surprising for any of us,

00:20:40.100 again, who spend time on social media. But it's also a little bit comforting to realize. I think

00:20:45.700 a lot of you have said, what is happening? Like, what's happening to the church? I turn around and

00:20:49.800 all these people that I thought that I trusted, they're saying things that are unbiblical, 0.98

00:20:53.560 not just when it comes to politics, but when it comes to sin and repentance and holiness and

00:20:57.760 all of that. Why is that? Well, the gate is narrow, my friends. The gate is very narrow. And so

00:21:03.860 the fact that there are only 2% of millennials that actually have a biblical worldview,

00:21:07.760 that just goes to show that, yeah, the vast majority of people who we see, the vast majority

00:21:14.280 of people who identify as Christians that we see don't actually believe in the Bible. They don't

00:21:18.940 actually hold to that. Again, they might just be in a season of error in one thing. We've all grown.

00:21:24.180 No one becomes a Christian and has a perfectly biblical worldview. Like we're all going to be

00:21:28.680 learning our entire lives to conform ourselves to the likeness of Christ through the power of the

00:21:33.700 Holy Spirit and to become more obedient to him and his word. And so I'm not saying that in order

00:21:38.760 to be considered a real Christian or to have a biblical worldview that you have to be perfect

00:21:43.120 all at once. But we also have to realize that there are people who their whole lives,

00:21:48.020 they will call themselves a Christian and never actually align themselves to God's word. The gate 1.00

00:21:52.820 is very narrow, as the Bible says, which transitions us to the Ligonier state of theology. This is a study

00:22:02.980 that they do every two years. The description is every two years we take the theological temperature

00:22:10.400 of the United States to help Christians better understand today's culture and equip the church with

00:22:16.060 better insights for discipleship. And so they look at some questions are to just the U.S. population

00:22:22.940 in general, obviously a sample of the U.S. population. Some questions are just posed to people

00:22:28.820 who identify as evangelicals. And some questions are posed to both groups. And so I'll go through some

00:22:35.900 of those questions. It's really insightful and revealing just the worldview that we have that

00:22:41.860 Christians versus the rest of the population have. So they have to agree or disagree with a particular 0.99

00:22:50.140 statement. First statement is this. Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God. The U.S. population,

00:22:59.000 52% agree with that versus 36% who disagree. The discrepancy there is in people who are just unsure.

00:23:07.440 So the majority of the U.S. population believes that Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God.

00:23:13.980 And of the people who disagree, you also have to wonder if they are disagreeing. You don't know

00:23:19.840 which part of the statement that they disagree with. Do they disagree because they don't believe

00:23:23.060 Jesus was a great teacher at all? Or do they disagree because they believe he was God? And so I'm

00:23:27.500 not even sure if that 36% of people who disagree are all Christians. They could be people who don't think

00:23:33.840 Jesus was a good teacher at all. Among evangelicals, 30% agree. 30% agree that Jesus was just a great

00:23:43.940 teacher, but he was not God. 66% disagree. So obviously the majority of people who identify

00:23:50.200 as evangelical Christians believe that Jesus was himself God, but 30% think that he was just a great

00:23:59.760 teacher, but he was not God. Okay. Let's look at what the Bible says about all this. John 1,

00:24:05.940 1 through 5 and verse 14. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.

00:24:13.340 He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything

00:24:18.240 made that was made. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory.

00:24:24.400 Glory is the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. For some reason,

00:24:28.520 I just got choked up a little bit reading that. I just love scripture. I love the book of John.

00:24:34.060 I love the beginning of John. This is such a great introduction to who Jesus is and was.

00:24:41.600 Colossians 1, 15 through 20. I also love this passage. I love reading scripture on this podcast

00:24:47.220 because you guys tell me that you love it too. And it's just so refreshing and powerful. The word of

00:24:52.420 God really is like a lion. You let it out and it defends itself. He is the image of the invisible

00:24:58.400 God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him, all things were created in heaven and on earth,

00:25:04.420 visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created

00:25:10.100 through him and for him. And he is before all things and in him, all things hold together.

00:25:14.640 And he is the head of the body of the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,

00:25:19.800 that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell

00:25:26.900 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace

00:25:32.720 by the blood of the cross. So obviously Jesus was God, according to God's word. God's word is where

00:25:40.820 we get our basis for what Christianity is. I encourage you to get systematic theology. A big book by Wayne

00:25:50.340 Grudemant might be an investment for some of you. It is a little bit more expensive, but this is a resource

00:25:55.420 that you will have your whole life. Had Wayne Grudem on my podcast several weeks ago. He is a

00:26:00.840 wonderful theologian, has written lots of great resources. But if you're wondering why we trust in

00:26:06.920 the Bible, how the biblical canon came together, why evangelicals, why Protestants don't have the

00:26:14.400 same Bible that Catholics do, how that decision was made and why the canon that we have was inspired by

00:26:21.060 God. Get systematic theology. Also, gotquestions.org is a great resource for those kinds of questions

00:26:27.460 as well. So if you're just wondering that very basic question of why we even trust in the Bible

00:26:33.360 to answer these questions, then you can go look at those resources. Maybe I'll do an episode on that

00:26:37.980 in the future. Second statement, God chose the people he would save before he created the world.

00:26:43.320 Among the U.S. population, 26% agree versus 50% disagree. I am actually kind of pleasantly surprised

00:26:53.160 that 26% of the U.S. population believes that God chose the people he would save before he created

00:26:59.040 the world. Evangelicals, 38% agree. So really not that much more than the general population versus

00:27:05.920 44 who disagree. So, and then there's a good chunk in there who say they're unsure. So a large

00:27:13.300 proportion of evangelicals disagree with the statement that God chose the people he would

00:27:18.320 save before he created the world. Obviously, this is a very contentious topic, but I've talked about

00:27:23.860 predestination. There's an episode titled Predestination. And if you need to go back and

00:27:29.000 listen to an episode and you don't know how to find it, just type in wherever you get your podcast

00:27:33.660 Relatable Predestination. You might need to type in Ali Stucky too. It just kind of depends on what

00:27:39.320 comes up, but just type in the title of an episode that I give you on the podcast when I make a

00:27:46.760 suggestion like this. Relatable. Scroll down. It'll pop up. The Bible is very clear about this. Now,

00:27:53.540 there is some nuance in this in which, you know, Bible-believing Christians, all true Christians,

00:27:59.600 disagree on. But again, the Bible is clear that God does choose the people that he would save before

00:28:07.780 he created the world. Ephesians 1, 3 through 6. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus

00:28:13.960 Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as

00:28:19.340 he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before

00:28:24.760 him. In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to

00:28:31.400 the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us

00:28:35.860 in the beloved. Amen. Romans 8, 29. Those of you who memorized Romans 8 with me will recall this verse.

00:28:44.140 For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that

00:28:51.420 he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Romans 9 is also a great explanation of this as well.

00:29:01.640 Now, here are some questions that Ligonier asked just the U.S. adult population or the statements that

00:29:09.100 they made to them and asked them to agree or disagree with. The Bible, like all sacred writings,

00:29:14.040 contains helpful accounts of ancient myths, but is not literally true. Among the U.S. population,

00:29:21.240 48% agree, 41% disagree, 11% are unsure. So a larger proportion agree that the Bible

00:29:31.600 is not literally true, which is unsurprising. I mean, it's a little bit troubling to think that

00:29:38.780 a large proportion of America doesn't take the Bible literally, doesn't take the Bible probably

00:29:44.140 seriously at all. But it's ultimately, I mean, I think it's unsurprising, especially in this day

00:29:50.740 and age. Another statement, religious belief is a matter of personal opinion. It is not about

00:29:57.220 objective truth. 54% agree with that. So religion is not about objective truth. It's just a matter of

00:30:04.300 your truth and my truth. This is a myth that we tackle in my book, You're Not Enough. The myth is

00:30:12.260 that you determine your own truth. We talk about why that is faulty and why that leads to wrong views

00:30:18.140 about things like morality and justice and politics and all of that. But here's something interesting.

00:30:24.400 54% agree that religious belief is just a matter of personal opinion in 2020. But in 2018, 60% agreed

00:30:31.660 with that. So it's gone down about 6%. I don't really, I don't know the cause of that, but maybe

00:30:37.380 that's encouraging. Maybe people are starting to care a little bit more about theology because they

00:30:42.040 want to put their feet on solid ground. Now among evangelicals, here are some questions that were

00:30:48.260 opposed directly to them. The vast majority of evangelicals disagree with the idea that science

00:30:54.760 disproves the Bible. So that's good. This disagreement has actually gotten stronger over 0.79

00:30:59.860 the past couple of years. So I would say that's encouraging. Here's a statement posed to evangelicals,

00:31:05.460 professing evangelicals anyway. Everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature.

00:31:10.500 So everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature. 56% in 2016 agreed with that,

00:31:18.300 but only 46% in 2020. So that percentage has dropped by 10 points, which again, I think is very

00:31:25.320 encouraging, but, but it's still troubling. That's almost half of self-identifying evangelicals

00:31:33.220 who do not understand that we are dead in our sin without Christ. If you miss that,

00:31:39.760 then you don't understand your need for Christ. You don't understand salvation, which means that

00:31:44.220 you miss the gospel entirely. And this is what happens in my opinion, when, when pastors are too

00:31:51.220 scared to talk about sin, when they're more concerned with the self-esteem of their congregation

00:31:55.760 than the salvation and sanctification of their congregation. That has eternal implications.

00:32:01.700 Isaiah 64, six, very clear. We have all become like one who is unclean and all our righteous deeds

00:32:08.540 are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf and our iniquities, like the wind, take us

00:32:14.100 away. Ephesians 2, 1 through 5. And you were dead. Y'all, y'all know, this is one of my favorite

00:32:20.000 passages. I've probably read it 50 times on this podcast. And you were dead in the trespasses and

00:32:25.440 sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of

00:32:30.140 the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in

00:32:34.540 the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children

00:32:39.360 of wrath like the rest of mankind. But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which

00:32:46.560 he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by

00:32:52.180 grace, you have been saved. And so, no, we are not all basically good people. We are depraved. Now,

00:33:00.600 that doesn't mean that everyone who is not a Christian acts in a way that is immoral all the

00:33:04.860 time. That doesn't mean that everyone who is not a Christian is the worst that they could possibly be

00:33:10.640 and that people who do not profess Christ are just going around and stealing and murdering people.

00:33:15.940 That is not what that means. That means that the ultimate state of our heart, the state of our soul

00:33:21.500 is corrupt and depraved, that we are dead in our sin apart from Christ. It doesn't matter how many good

00:33:26.720 deeds that we've done, that we are still sinful people, and we need the work, the atonement of

00:33:31.920 Jesus Christ to be saved. If you miss that, you miss the entirety of the gospel. What's also troubling,

00:33:40.100 the decline in number of people who agree with the statement, evangelicals who agree with the statement,

00:33:44.880 God counts a person as righteous, not because of one's works, but only because of one's faith in

00:33:50.380 Jesus Christ. 91% agreed with that statement. In 2018, 84% agree in 2020. So that's still a vast

00:34:04.160 majority and that's good, but I'm concerned that there are 16% of identifying evangelical Christians,

00:34:12.160 not Catholics, identifying evangelical Christians who think that we have to add to our faith to be

00:34:17.140 counted as righteous. Again, you misunderstand this. You misunderstand the gospel. You misunderstand

00:34:22.520 Christianity altogether. Galatians 2.16, yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law,

00:34:29.220 but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified

00:34:34.920 by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law, no one will be saved.

00:34:42.040 Now, a counter that we typically hear is James 2.14. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he

00:34:51.920 has faith but does not have works? Does that faith save him? The idea, you know, faith without works

00:34:57.900 is dead. That is typically how people counter that, hey, you actually do have to prove your faith. You

00:35:03.800 have to earn a bit of your salvation. However, I think Ephesians 2.8-10 reconciles those two ideas

00:35:15.540 and shows that they're not contradictory at all. Ephesians 2.8-10 says,

00:35:20.000 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God,

00:35:26.620 not a result of work, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus,

00:35:33.140 for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So God prepared the good

00:35:40.220 works that we are supposed to do through our faith beforehand. So we can't even take credit for those.

00:35:45.800 And so I think what we learned from that is that true saving faith always comes with works. That does

00:35:51.660 not mean that we are earning our salvation, but the faith that was given to us by grace will by nature

00:35:58.120 produce good works. The good works that we did or that we do, God already prepared for us beforehand,

00:36:04.860 so we don't get to take credit for them. They don't add to our righteousness or deservedness

00:36:10.360 in becoming saved. Christ is our deservedness. We don't deserve it. It is by grace, as Ephesians 2.8-10

00:36:17.940 says, that we have been saved. The Holy Spirit through Paul takes special pains to emphasize to us

00:36:24.520 over and over again, that it is not our work. It is not your own doing. This verse says, it is the gift

00:36:31.140 of God, not a result of work, so that no one may boast. And it says that we are his workmanship. God

00:36:38.660 prepared our good works beforehand that we should walk in them by faith. Again, that's a big one.

00:36:45.460 You don't understand that, then you don't understand the gospel. You miss everything.

00:36:49.020 Um, here's another statement. God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity,

00:36:54.800 Judaism, and Islam. In 2018, 51% of professing evangelicals believed this. That is the majority.

00:37:03.660 That's crazy, man. But in 2020, 42% believed that. So that number went down. Again, I would say

00:37:09.620 encouraging. I would say encouraging. I do think, I've seen over the past few years, the church

00:37:14.660 start to take more seriously theology. And I've seen more social media accounts correcting the

00:37:22.400 record on bad theology, speaking out against bad theology and saying, we got to get to our Bibles,

00:37:27.000 folks. Like we, we got to get back to what is true and to what the gospel actually is. And so

00:37:31.620 I'm encouraged, um, by that change for sure. Now, 42% is a big number of professing evangelicals

00:37:40.240 who believe that God accepts the, uh, the, the worship of all religions. John 14, six,

00:37:46.580 I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. Jesus said that

00:37:53.300 pretty exclusionary. Uh, first Timothy two five, for there is one God and there is one mediator

00:38:00.320 between God and men, the man, Jesus Christ. Uh, now here's something that is actually encouraging.

00:38:07.280 I would say praise the Lord for this. So the statement was given gender identity is a matter 0.95

00:38:12.920 of choice in 2016, 32%, almost a third of professing evangelicals agreed with that, uh, agreed with

00:38:19.980 that statement that gender identity is not something that's inherent. It is not something that you were

00:38:24.020 born with that God gave you. It is a matter of what you decide in your mind. A third of evangelicals

00:38:30.580 agreed with that in 2016 and 2020 that's down by 10%, 22% agree with that again, still

00:38:37.000 still, still too high, uh, when the Bible is so abundantly clear. And we're going to kind of go

00:38:41.780 off on a tangent for a second here, uh, because people ask me to talk about this all the time.

00:38:45.900 I have talked about it several, several times, but it is so important. So I'm happy to re-explain

00:38:51.020 and to re-emphasize this. Genesis 1, 27, very clear. So God created man in his own image. In the image

00:38:58.840 of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. So there's no fluidity there. He made men

00:39:05.320 and women distinct. He made them different and with specific purposes. Uh, we see this reiterated 0.94

00:39:11.140 throughout scripture. We see it in Proverbs when over and over again, Solomon says, listen to your

00:39:16.760 father and your mother. That is an important distinction, an important dichotomy that is

00:39:22.500 not just arbitrary. It's purposeful. We see this from Jesus in Matthew 19, four, when Jesus is answering

00:39:29.440 a question about divorce, he says, quote, he answered, have you not read that he who created them from

00:39:35.040 the beginning, made them male and female and said, therefore, a man shall leave his father and his 0.81

00:39:40.260 mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one

00:39:45.880 flesh. What therefore God has joined together. Let not man separate. People love to say that Jesus never

00:39:52.060 talks about gender or the definition of marriage. First of all, he clearly did. I just read it. Secondly,

00:39:58.920 when people say, oh, well, Jesus never talked about X. And so it must not be important.

00:40:03.800 That's a red flag that their theology is confused because a Christian believes and knows that Jesus 0.97

00:40:10.160 is God. And therefore, anything that God says in scripture, Jesus also says. Ephesians 5 talks

00:40:17.460 about the relationship between the husband and the wife, how the husband is to love and sacrifice

00:40:22.580 himself for the wife as Christ sacrifices himself for the church. And the wife is to submit to her 0.98

00:40:29.620 husband as to the Lord. This is the greatest biblical support, I think, for the purposefulness

00:40:36.900 and importance of the distinction between the two genders and the specific definition of marriage

00:40:43.000 by God as between a man and a woman. Because God is saying this is not just a physical union.

00:40:49.560 It is a spiritual union that reflects the gospel. And the way God says that marriage reflects the gospel

00:40:56.720 is by the husband representing Christ through his service and sacrifice to his bride and the bride

00:41:03.300 representing the church through her submission to her husband. Those are particular roles specific

00:41:09.040 to particular genders. God doesn't do things or say things arbitrarily. To say that God doesn't care

00:41:16.100 about gender or the definition of marriage is to say that God is flippant, that the creation of our

00:41:22.580 bodies actually didn't mean anything, that Jesus didn't really mean what he said about gender and

00:41:27.080 marriage in Matthew, that God's depiction of marriage is reflective of the gospel is meaningless.

00:41:32.240 Well, that is a misunderstanding about the nature of God and who God is. I would venture to say if

00:41:36.240 that is your perspective of God, you do not know him. God does not do things arbitrarily.

00:41:42.660 God made our bodies. He made them good. He made them distinct. He made them purposefully,

00:41:48.120 both for practical, procreative purposes, but more importantly, to bring him glory. And this is

00:41:54.860 precisely why when you see Christians start to go soft on the issues of gender and marriage,

00:42:00.860 eventually their entire theology falls apart. Because to claim that God doesn't really care

00:42:07.060 about gender and marriage is to ignore what we read throughout scripture, to misunderstand

00:42:11.940 understand the unchanging and purposeful nature of God. And in that way, misunderstand the gospel

00:42:17.420 entirely. This isn't one of those peripheral issues. This is a big one. God cares about it

00:42:24.180 immensely. And again, yes, you might have friends that are not right on this because they're in a

00:42:28.820 certain stage of their sanctification. And so I cannot judge their soul. That is certainly not my role.

00:42:34.880 I don't want it to be my role. And so I'm not judging their salvation. Maybe they're early

00:42:39.680 Christians. Maybe the Holy Spirit is working on them and convicting them of this, but this is still 1.00

00:42:45.000 a big issue. God says that it's big, that the definition of gender and marriage is rooted in

00:42:51.400 creation. It's reiterated throughout scripture by Jesus himself. It is reflective of the gospel

00:42:59.920 because it is representative of Christ and the church. That is the alliteration that I typically

00:43:05.620 use to explain why the definition of marriage isn't just coming from random verses in Leviticus

00:43:12.000 or even just the creation account. It is a reflection of the gospel. The specific definition

00:43:19.740 of marriage as between a man and a woman is reflective, representative of Christ and the church.

00:43:25.820 It is a really big deal to God. I highly recommend the book Love Thy Body by Nancy Piercy.

00:43:31.160 Such a good book in so many ways. I mean, she's got amazing resources. I've also had her

00:43:35.820 on my podcast. But if you want to learn more about this subject, I think I'm actually going to read it

00:43:39.980 next with my book club on Facebook, Women's Book Club with Allie Stuckey. So feel free to join along.

00:43:45.440 A really, really good book. I have a pretty strong feeling that if you ask the 22% of self-proclaiming

00:43:52.040 Christians who say that gender is just this arbitrary thing that God doesn't actually care about or

00:43:59.000 define, it's just a matter of choice, if you ask those 22% of self-identifying Christians to share

00:44:04.040 the gospel with you, to explain who God is and how he redeemed people through Christ,

00:44:09.620 I have a pretty strong feeling that they would not be able to do it. I don't know that for sure. I

00:44:14.720 could be wrong. But again, I just explained why it actually shows a huge misunderstanding

00:44:20.260 about the nature of God. There was a tweet by Adam Wren, who is a liberal journalist who reported

00:44:27.580 for Politico that Amy Coney Barrett, quote, was a trustee at a South Bend private school that

00:44:32.380 described, quote, homosexual acts as, quote, at odds with scripture and said marriage was between

00:44:38.360 one man and one woman years after Obergefell versus Hodges. That last part of his tweet just makes me

00:44:45.720 laugh. As if a decision made in 2015 by the United States Supreme Court changes what Christians from all

00:44:53.100 over the world have believed for millennia. True Christians will be defining marriage how God 1.00

00:44:57.740 defines it 200 years after Obergefell, centuries and millennia and eternity after Obergefell.

00:45:04.560 The Supreme Court, thank the Lord, does not dictate what we do or don't believe. God in his word does,

00:45:12.220 and God does not change. What I've noticed in the recent coverage of many of the Amy Coney Barrett's,

00:45:17.620 of many of Amy Coney Barrett's personal beliefs about marriage and faith and the value of life is

00:45:23.300 that Orthodox Christianity is totally foreign to the journalism class. Most of them, it seems. Most of

00:45:29.240 them apparently have never read a Bible. If they have, they don't understand that there are millions

00:45:35.660 of people who believe it and actually take it seriously. Their ignorance and disdain has become even

00:45:41.340 more obvious over the past few days. You only have to go back eight years, by the way, to 2012,

00:45:48.160 according to Pew Research, to find a time in American history when the majority of Americans

00:45:52.340 were against gay marriage. 52% just in 2012, eight years ago. Now the majority do accept it. But culture

00:45:58.500 has changed very quickly over the past 10 years, while Christians have not. So this shock and dismay being 1.00

00:46:05.100 expressed by journalists over these traditional views are an indicator of their shift to the left,

00:46:10.320 not our shift to the right. I also just want to point out, this is a little aside, doesn't really

00:46:15.040 have a lot to do with what we were talking about. I just thought it was interesting when I was looking

00:46:18.180 at these Pew Research studies for all this talk on the left that evil white Westerners are the ones 0.79

00:46:25.000 that are oppressing the marginalized, including LGBTQ people. The support for gay marriage is not lowest 0.72

00:46:32.080 among white Americans. It is lowest among Black Americans, according to Pew Research. It is actually

00:46:37.560 highest. Support is highest among white Americans. Black support for it, according to these studies,

00:46:42.080 has always been lower than white and Hispanic support of it. Also, if you look at a map of

00:46:47.660 countries and their views of the acceptability of homosexuality in society, Western countries are the

00:46:52.600 ones who most accept it. Russia? Nope. Nigeria? Nope. Kenya? Nope. India? Nope. So again, the narrative

00:47:01.400 always pushed by the left that America is in particular homophobic, this cruel place against

00:47:08.620 the marginalized. It's always been incorrect. It is still incorrect. It is a faulty worldview. I just

00:47:15.240 thought that was interesting. That was a little rabbit hole. But to bring it back, to bring it back to the

00:47:19.600 whole point of this episode is that very few people have a biblical worldview, self-identifying,

00:47:26.000 Christians included. Very few people have a biblical view of marriage, of gender, of sexuality, of God

00:47:31.140 himself, of truth, of who Christ is, of the nature of scripture, which is going to affect their view of

00:47:37.220 the world, their view of politics, of justice, of right and wrong, the role of the government. As God

00:47:43.020 becomes smaller in someone's life, their idolatry of the government and secular causes typically become

00:47:49.020 bigger. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis is an amazing book. We read it together. In my book,

00:47:56.000 a few months ago, if you're not familiar with it, it is a senior demon writing to his nephew, a junior

00:48:03.520 demon. And so whenever they talk about the enemy, they're actually talking about God himself. And

00:48:09.540 when they're talking about their father, they're talking about Satan. I'm going to read you a little

00:48:14.960 excerpt from the Screwtape Letters. Again, the enemy, when they talk about the enemy, they're talking

00:48:19.700 about God. This is a demon speaking to another demon. And this goes to show what happens when we

00:48:25.920 make God small and the government or our social and political causes big. Screwtape says,

00:48:32.580 certainly we do not want men to allow their Christianity to flow into their political life. 0.68

00:48:37.720 For the establishment of anything like a really just society would be a major disaster.

00:48:42.380 So first, I want you to hear that, that Satan, that the demon is saying that they don't want

00:48:47.440 Christians to allow their Christianity to affect their politics, which is what I talk about so much

00:48:54.040 on this podcast. People believe that we should compartmentalize our Christianity from politics

00:48:58.320 because that's separation of church and state. Separation of church and state does not mean the

00:49:02.460 separation of Christianity from the rest of your worldview or your faith from the rest of your 0.82

00:49:06.580 worldview. No one does that. You should have a cohesive worldview. Everyone's politics and their view of

00:49:12.680 culture is downstream from theology, whether you're an atheist or monotheist. Okay, so let's just be aware

00:49:19.000 of that. So Satan does not want our Christianity to flow into what we think about politics. What he

00:49:26.480 does want is this. On the other hand, we do want and want very much to make men treat Christianity as

00:49:33.100 a means. The thing to do is to get a man at first to value social justice as a thing which the enemy

00:49:39.720 demands and then work him onto the stage at which he values Christianity because it may produce social

00:49:46.200 justice. For the enemy will not be used as a convenience. Men or nations who think they can

00:49:53.120 revive the faith in order to make a good society might just as well think they can use the stairs of

00:49:59.760 heaven as a shortcut to the nearest chemist's shop. Fortunately, it is quite easy to coax humans around this

00:50:05.720 little corner. So again, what he's saying is that Satan wants to get Christians to see Christianity and

00:50:11.420 Christ as a means of social justice, as a means to their political ends. And I would say this is 0.51

00:50:17.120 something that not just the left is guilty of. Maybe the left has a higher propensity towards this,

00:50:21.940 but the right does this too. I think some people on the right think of conversion to Christianity as a

00:50:27.460 way to accomplish their political ends. And whether it's on the right or the left, that's wrong.

00:50:33.140 Leftists tend to think of Christianity, their version of Christianity, social justice Christianity,

00:50:38.660 as a means of societal liberation, as a means of a new social order, as a way to usher in socialism.

00:50:44.580 We see this all the time. People on the left claiming that Jesus came to reorder society. He

00:50:50.300 came as a social revolutionary against imperialism. When no, that's not an accurate depiction of Jesus

00:50:56.340 at all. The reality is, is that Jesus reached both the societal oppressors and the societally

00:51:02.700 oppressed. He specifically reached out to people, societal oppressors, people like Nicodemus, like

00:51:11.940 Paul, like the Roman centurion, like the tax collectors, and those who were considered societally

00:51:17.620 oppressed, like the lepers and the sick and the unclean woman and the poor, because both groups, 0.99

00:51:23.280 the societal so-called oppressors and the societally oppressed had one thing in common. They were and are

00:51:30.000 oppressed by sin. Jesus came to deliver men and women, rich and poor, disabled and able-bodied,

00:51:37.420 powerful and weak from sin. He came to preach repentance from sin and salvation through him.

00:51:43.520 He came to make disciples who are then called to crucify our flesh and its desires and to live a life

00:51:50.160 dedicated to the glory of God. And yes, it's true. When people follow Christ, their hearts change. And when

00:51:56.100 lots of hearts change, society changes for the better. And sometimes that does mean literal

00:52:00.860 liberation. The abolition of the slave trade was spearheaded by gospel-powered believers.

00:52:06.320 When Christianity takes hold of hearts, we see the recognition of equal dignity of human beings in

00:52:11.520 society. And hopefully one day it will mean that we will see the end of the atrocity of abortion as

00:52:17.480 well. And it's a good thing for Christianity in that way to influence society. These are outcomes 0.97

00:52:23.880 we should all hope for. But Jesus was not a social revolutionary whose goal was to rebel against

00:52:30.040 the state or reorder society or to smash the patriarchy. You will not find that in a reading

00:52:35.620 of the gospels. Jesus is brash. He is offensive to our flesh. He is straightforward. He is serious about

00:52:42.360 sin. He's unafraid of truth. He's also compassionate and gentle and kind and lowly and humble and unbelievably

00:52:49.640 loving. He was God made flesh. Our only reconciliation between a holy God and a sinful

00:52:55.340 people. Our only path of redemption. That is who God is. Anyone who tries to minimize him or to bring

00:53:02.100 him down to this crude representation of the social justice warrior, you do not know Christ. And you are

00:53:07.860 seeing Christ in Christianity as a means to an end and that is blasphemy. That's not Christianity in the 0.95

00:53:13.080 same way that if someone on the right saw Christ as a way to, I don't know, spread patriotism or a means

00:53:23.060 to their own political and societal ends. That is also blasphemy. That is also wrong. When people

00:53:29.260 follow Christ, yes, societies change. They make changes that are good for everyone. But societal change is

00:53:34.940 not the goal of the Christian. And it was not Jesus's goal. Our goal is to glorify God and to enjoy him

00:53:41.960 forever. In my family, we read a catechism together. One of the first questions is, how do you glorify

00:53:47.300 God? And the answer is by loving him and doing what he commands. That is our goal in life, to become more

00:53:53.320 like Christ in holiness and truth and in love and to make disciples. To share the gospel with the people

00:53:59.260 around us and to love them like he has loved us, which is radically. Do we attempt to have influence

00:54:04.520 over our lawmaking to ensure that our laws are just? Yes, I obviously believe so. But we have to make sure

00:54:10.860 that because we are following Christ, our definition of justice is it's social justice,

00:54:15.480 but God's definition of justice. Social justice is concerned with equal outcomes, which is impossible

00:54:20.480 outside of tyranny. Read Quest for Cosmic Justice by Thomas Sowell. Justice is not retribution or revenge.

00:54:26.700 Justice does not show favor based on skin color or socioeconomic status. True justice is concerned with

00:54:32.300 truth, with actual equity, with a fair process, with righteous judgments and punishments based on

00:54:38.400 evidence. Mercy where possible and restitution where applicable. God's justice, as we have said

00:54:43.640 a million times on this podcast, is for things that is truthful, it is direct, it is proportional,

00:54:49.240 and it is impartial. Those characteristics are very different than the kind of so-called justice

00:54:55.460 that people are raising their fists for in the street right now. So yes, Christians want and can

00:55:00.540 work for a just society as long as we A, define justice as God defines it, B, understand our role in

00:55:06.060 justice versus the government's role, being careful not to give government the role and responsibilities

00:55:10.640 that God has clearly given in his word to individuals, the church or the family. And C, we understand that

00:55:16.680 Christianity is not a means to our ends, either personally or politically. That's one of the problems with 0.98

00:55:22.320 the prosperity gospel. It sees Christianity as a means to your prosperous ends. But as C.S. Lewis says,

00:55:28.680 God will not be used as a convenience. Christianity is the end. Jesus is the end. He is the prize. And

00:55:38.480 one day we will be with him forever and there will only be joy and peace. No politics, no dissension,

00:55:44.060 no anger, no malice. Some conservatives got all up in arms when I posted on Instagram that no matter who

00:55:50.620 wins the presidency, Jesus is king. For some reason, they interpreted that to mean that it doesn't matter,

00:55:57.760 that I don't care who wins and that you shouldn't even vote because, you know, whatever. I've spoken

00:56:03.480 specifically to that fallacy so many times. Obviously, what I do is helping to get you guys to care

00:56:13.880 and to see what's going on. I want you to be knowledgeable and involved. But I am not going to riot

00:56:21.360 and burn and cry and weep and gnash my teeth if Trump loses, even though I think a Biden presidency

00:56:27.280 will be very much destructive to the country. The same God who ordained Trump to be president has

00:56:33.840 already preordained the next president. And no matter what happens, every day after the election

00:56:39.080 will be a day that the Lord has made. And therefore, I and all of his followers will rejoice and be glad

00:56:45.940 in it. And I will share this country that I love so much with people who hate both it and me.

00:56:54.020 And I will refuse to hate them back. Will I fiercely disagree with them? Yes. Will I push back on them

00:57:00.020 and their ideas when I think it's necessary? Yes. But will I hate them? No. Christians here in America 1.00

00:57:07.040 and on earth are in exile. Our citizenship is in heaven, as God's word says. What we do here matters.

00:57:14.920 How we vote matters. Politics matter because they affect actual people, especially the least of these. 0.93

00:57:20.340 But this life is not where it ends. In Jeremiah 29, Israel has been sent into exile in Babylon.

00:57:28.040 God tells them, while you're here, do this in verses 4 through 7.

00:57:32.340 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile

00:57:38.160 from Jerusalem to Babylon. Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce.

00:57:43.600 Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage 1.00

00:57:48.900 that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there and do not decrease. But seek the welfare

00:57:54.560 of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf. For in its welfare,

00:57:59.460 you will find your welfare. I'm not trying to say that America is now Israel, but just as God's people

00:58:07.560 were in exile there, Christians are in exile here on earth now. And we are to seek the welfare of the

00:58:14.160 city of the country that we are in. There's that famous verse in Jeremiah 29, Jeremiah 29, 11,

00:58:20.100 that says that God has plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope in the future.

00:58:24.380 Too many times I see people using this verse as a way to say that God is not going to let anything

00:58:28.680 bad happen to you. That's not true. He's telling this to people who are in exile,

00:58:32.980 who have gone through a lot of suffering. God is saying that even in exile, God is working to fulfill

00:58:38.340 his promises on our behalf, which is that one day he will rescue his people once and for all and defeat

00:58:43.700 evil and sorrow and sin forever. And in the meantime, we are to trust him and seek the welfare of the

00:58:50.380 place in which we dwell. I think that includes voting. I think that includes caring about the policies

00:58:56.940 that are being pushed while still understanding that God is totally sovereign and he's not thrown off

00:59:02.120 by anything. And so we are in perfect peace. Those of us who follow Christ during all of this.

00:59:08.200 Acts 17, 26 through 27 says, and he made from one man, every nation of mankind to live on all the face

00:59:14.780 of the earth, having determined allotted periods in the boundaries of their dwelling place that they

00:59:19.440 should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each

00:59:26.100 of us. So God has determined where we are to live. He has determined, by the way, the boundaries and the

00:59:31.700 borders of nations. Like nations are supposed to be sovereign and distinct. And he placed you and me

00:59:38.480 here now where we are when he has purposefully. He will equip us to confront whatever obstacles we

00:59:45.320 have ahead of us. He chose us to be born when and where he did. He chose our kids to be born when and

00:59:51.080 where he did. He doesn't do anything by accident. You are here now purposefully and in him, you and I have

00:59:56.920 everything that we need to face the days and the years ahead. Hebrews 13, 20 through 21.

01:00:03.420 Now, may the God of peace who brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the

01:00:08.460 sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will,

01:00:14.240 working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever

01:00:19.020 and ever. Amen. So don't be discouraged by the state of the world. Certainly don't be surprised by it.

01:00:24.980 The world is acting like they're meant to act. They're supposed to be anxious. They're supposed

01:00:29.020 to be freaking out. They're supposed to be putting all of their hope in the government. They're

01:00:32.780 supposed to be burning down businesses and harassing people in the street and slandering people in the

01:00:36.900 press and believing false narratives. They don't know the Prince of Peace. They don't know the source

01:00:41.720 of all wisdom and truth. They don't have the hope of heaven. They don't have the bread of life.

01:00:45.560 They don't have the living water, the well that never runs dry. They're unsatisfied and lost.

01:00:50.760 Ephesians 4, 17 through 20 says,

01:00:53.760 Now this, I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do and in the 1.00

01:01:00.760 futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God

01:01:05.980 because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous

01:01:10.520 and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not

01:01:16.760 the way you learned Christ. So while they are, while the rest of the world is freaking out,

01:01:24.200 burning things down and feeling like the world around them is crumbling, Christians are cool. 1.00

01:01:31.000 We know who is in control. We know who is ultimately leading us. We care about what's going on in the

01:01:36.320 world. I sure do. We care about policies and politics because again, these affect the lives of

01:01:42.740 real people, but we are steady knowing that God is on his throne. What we see is this, and I said it

01:01:48.600 earlier and I'll say it again, the gate is narrow. We shouldn't be surprised that only 2% of our

01:01:54.580 millennial peers have a biblical worldview. So when you're on social media and you're scrolling through

01:01:59.700 and you're seeing your friends who profess to be Christians sound exactly like your friends

01:02:04.380 who profess not to be Christians. And again, we have all messed up. I certainly have. I have 0.83

01:02:12.220 not conducted myself always in the way that I want to conduct myself. There are times I have

01:02:18.160 snapped on social media where I sound just like the rest of the world. So I'm not telling you

01:02:23.060 to judge someone's salvation on a bad moment. But if you're wondering why you are seeing your friends

01:02:28.640 increasingly sound like the world and look like the world, even though they are professing to be a

01:02:32.920 believer, this is why. The gate is narrow. What we will see in the coming years, I believe, 1.00

01:02:40.120 is friends falling away. You're going to see pastors fall away. You're going to see fellow

01:02:44.000 church members. You're going to see your favorite bloggers and influencers and authors whom you trust

01:02:47.760 in renounce their faith, family members. The days of cultural Christianity, as I have said, 0.99

01:02:53.580 as I said, or I think he actually said in my interview with Dr. Albert Moeller, the days of cultural 0.92

01:02:59.480 Christianity are over. No matter who is president next, it's going to be less popular and comfortable 1.00

01:03:06.220 and lucrative and safe to be a Christian, I believe. And to most people, it will not be worth

01:03:11.280 it. They will count the cost and say no. 1 John 2, 19 tells us this. They went out from us because,

01:03:18.300 or but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went

01:03:24.560 out that it might become plain that they all are not of us. So it's time to count the cost. Let's

01:03:30.560 stop being lazy and complacent about our own faith and the faith of others. Pastors, preach sin and

01:03:36.160 repentance to your congregants. There are people in your churches who have sat in a pew for 40 years

01:03:40.220 and do not know Christ. Youth pastors, it is not too early for the kids in your care to know theology.

01:03:47.240 Now is the perfect time for them to understand theology. This is the time to challenge them with a

01:03:52.240 real study of the Bible. It is not too early to have them reading C.S. Lewis and Spurgeon.

01:03:56.560 Stop feeding them fluff because you're afraid that they're going to get bored. The thing that

01:04:00.680 actually started to excite me about Christianity was when I was in high school was realizing how

01:04:06.040 intellectually rich apologetics were and how much there was to learn about Christianity.

01:04:12.440 I was reading C.S. Lewis. I read Tim Keller's Reason for God. And it was those two,

01:04:19.600 mere Christianity, Reason for God, a particular pastor that I used to listen to all the time who

01:04:25.860 was just brilliant and brought everything back to the gospel, and Romans 9 that really did it for

01:04:31.260 me. It just engaged my mind and my heart in a way that I had never been engaged. It wasn't fluff

01:04:35.560 that finally did it. It wasn't another metaphor. And I'll say the metaphors are bad. I love metaphors.

01:04:40.460 But it wasn't another fluffy talk about how God thinks I'm awesome. It was the realization that I am a

01:04:46.920 sinner, and that there is this amazing, merciful God who has sent his son to die for me, and that

01:04:52.160 he wants me to know him, and he knows me, and there is so much to know and to learn about him.

01:04:57.900 Do not underestimate the minds and the capacity and the ability to critically think of the people

01:05:06.000 that are in your congregation, especially if you are a youth pastor. Your job is not to make them feel

01:05:12.440 good about themselves. They get the message of self-love from literally everywhere. Their biggest

01:05:17.600 problem, our biggest problem, is not that they feel bad about themselves. It's not that they have

01:05:21.340 low self-esteem. It's that we are, without Christ, sinners bound for hell. That is everyone's biggest

01:05:26.120 problem. And if you're not looking to solve that problem through the gospel, then you're not doing

01:05:29.660 your job. Make sure they know the gospel. Make sure they know who made them, what his authority is,

01:05:35.000 what it means to glorify him. Parents, we got to teach our kids. A lot of y'all have more

01:05:40.100 experience in parenting than I do, so you should be giving me advice. So I'll just say,

01:05:46.700 teach your kids the Bible and don't apologize for it. I am going to include a link to a list

01:05:51.740 of resources that I have on my blog in the description of this podcast. Toward the bottom,

01:05:57.060 you will see some resources that I have for kids. I love the truth and grace books that Tom Askell,

01:06:03.900 who I've had on this podcast, has written. They're just really good. Kids' catechisms and

01:06:09.160 understanding theology. Everyone else who doesn't fit into those three categories, go to that page,

01:06:15.180 read the recommended theology books, use the Church Finder app that I provided, founders.org

01:06:21.560 slash church dash search. Join a local church and share the gospel. These are all things that I break

01:06:28.140 down in my book. Also, like I said, you can find that on my website as well, allybethstuckey.com

01:06:33.180 slash book. If you are already a Christian, understand that you, through the power of God,

01:06:37.700 have the ability to help change people's minds. We don't get to take credit for it. The Bible says

01:06:43.280 that the one who plants and the one who waters and the one who gives growth, ultimately the credit

01:06:49.620 for all of that goes to God. God can use you and He will use you to help change people's minds.

01:06:59.060 Ultimately, it's Him. It's the Holy Spirit who does that work, but He will use you as a vessel.

01:07:03.380 I am just an ordinary person. And I get emails every week from people who say, I hated you.

01:07:09.240 I hated your podcast. I hated your posts. I was angry every time I listened. I was angry the first

01:07:15.400 few chapters of your book. But then something changed. And I can't take credit for that. I can't

01:07:21.500 take credit for that change of heart and that change of mind. But Christ certainly can. I got

01:07:25.580 an amazingly meaningful email that brought me to tears from someone who was raised a Muslim,

01:07:30.740 who said that she had been watching my videos and realized the distinction between the quasi-religion

01:07:35.900 of social justice and actual Christianity, and that she finally understood the gospel for the first time

01:07:40.580 and started following the Lord and joined a local church that sounds wonderful. If that is possible

01:07:46.780 through this podcast, it's possible through anyone. It's possible through you. We are not different.

01:07:51.520 We are just Christians that God has decided to use because of His goodness and mercy and not

01:07:56.500 anything that we have done to deserve that. And so be encouraged. I get those kinds of messages

01:08:02.040 every week. And if God can use me and will use me, He can and will use anyone, including you.

01:08:09.440 So God has given you all of the equipment, all of the tools that you need to disciple the people in

01:08:14.420 your life and to share the gospel and to change people's hearts and minds through the power of the

01:08:19.040 Holy Spirit. And we give Him glory for all of that. So I hope that was encouraging to you. I know,

01:08:24.420 another long episode. I've had a lot to say over the past few months. My episodes used to be like 30

01:08:29.080 minutes. That's actually how long they're supposed to be. But I just always have so much to say to you

01:08:32.500 guys. And you guys give me so much good content ideas to talk about. So thank you guys so much for

01:08:39.500 listening. I am really excited about Friday's episode. So excited. I had a conversation with

01:08:44.620 Christopher Rufo. And we're talking about how critical theory has infiltrated the highest

01:08:50.440 agencies in our country and how we can push back on it. And it was just a brilliant, amazing

01:08:56.140 conversation. He is an awesome guy. So can't wait for you to listen to that on Friday. And we will be

01:09:01.000 back here. Then have a great rest of your week.

01:09:14.620 Thank you.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - January 24, 2022

REPLAY： The Dire State of American Theology

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