Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 240 | Bad Theology

Episode Date: April 20, 2020

Jen Hatmaker's Instagram post reveals a dangerous form of theology pervading the Christian women's scene. We discuss why, biblically, it's so bad. Today's Sponsors: Get $25 off your first box of Daily Harvest! Go to https://www.daily-harvest.com/ & use promo code 'RELATABLE' Objective Wellness focuses on targeted solutions, giving you the support exactly where you need it. Go to https://www.objectivewellness.com/ & get 20% off your first order using promo code 'ALLIE'

Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed. You can watch this

D-Day Show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Hey guys, welcome to Relatable today, as you can tell by the title, we are talking about bad theology. I discussed last week wanting to do a segment from now on titled Bad Theology, where we would just talk about something that I saw that is theologically erroneous. Today we are going to dedicate an entire podcast episode to that. And it is going to be represented by someone by the name of Jen Hatmaker as seen in a recent Instagram post that a bunch of you guys sent me and asked me to respond to. So that's what we are going to be breaking down today. This is one of you guys's favorite things that I do in

this topic is a topic that you guys love to hear about. But we're going to come at it from a different perspective. I always like to give you something new. Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular.

This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this T-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. This is the second caption, Instagram caption of Gin Hatmaker that we have discussed specifically on this podcast. There is actually an episode titled Gin Hatmaker's Instagram post from maybe a couple years back at this point. So in case you don't know who she is, although. she is very well known in the female Christian world, but just in case you're not familiar with her, I will give you a little bit of background on who she is and why we're talking about this.

This is not about calling a specific person out. This is an example of a kind of theology, and I put that in scare quotes that is rampant, especially in the female Christian world. And that's why it's so important for us to talk about it. So Jen Hatmaker, she's an author that really blew up a few years ago, although she's been on the public scene for a really long time. Her family actually started an HGTV series a while back as well. She successfully became known as kind of like the go-to voice for stressed-out Christian women and specifically moms. She is amazing.

She truly is. She's amazing at relating to this group. Her writing is very unique, very in her voice. So it's readable, it's relatable, it's very down to earth. and she has this way of explaining things genuinely that makes you go, I've never thought about that before and kind of makes you look away from the page and think about things. And so she's very effective and very successful in her communication.

She is extremely charming, like I said, extremely relatable. And so it's really easy to see why so many women are attracted to her and see themselves reflected in her. It's truly a gift. And at one point, she was regarded as very mainstream. And really, for a lot of people, a solid theological voice, I'll be honest, I was never like a follower or a reader of Jen Hatmaker because when she, when her star was rising, I was younger, I would say, than her target demographic.

But I knew who she was in college. And I certainly don't remember having any qualms with her, anything like that. But she shifted around 2016 when she started. being a public advocate of gay marriage. There was an interview in 2016 when she said that LGBT relationships and marriage are wholly, just as holy as any heterosexual relationship. She has openly supported gay marriage regards gay relationships. Like I said, it's just as biblical, just as holy as any other kind of relationship. Now, if you are new to this podcast, maybe you don't understand why that's a big deal, or maybe you're just in a different place than I am.

you don't agree with me ideologically and theologically. And so to you, you're like, that's not a big deal at all. Why does it matter what she thinks about marriage? Her Instagram caption wasn't even about that. But I'll explain to you why I'm going to address her perspective on marriage a little bit more in depth because it is pertinent to what we're talking about today. So you can go back and listen to episode 126 of this podcast titled biblical marriage. the reason the biblical definition of marriage as between a man and a woman is so important

is not because of a couple verses in the Old Testament or even in the New Testament, although we shouldn't discount those verses just because culture says they should be discounted. But I explained the reason why it's so important very thoroughly in that episode, episode 126, but we're going to rehash it a little bit today. I have an alliteration for the reason the definition of marriage matters so much to the Christian world view and to biblically accurate and sound theology. And it's important that we know that Jen Hatmaker doesn't hold to the biblically sound theology on marriage. And I'll explain why that matters to what her Instagram caption said and why it matters to how we should approach what someone like her says about God in the Bible. So the reason why the definition of marriage matters, and it matters what Jen Hatmaker thinks about marriage as a professing Christian is because the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman is rooted in creation.

It is reiterated in both the Old and the New Testaments. It reflects a relationship between Christ and the church and therefore reflects the gospel, which means, consequently, if you get it wrong, the rest of your theology is very likely going. going to be off. So first one, biblical marriage is rooted in creation. Genesis 2, 18, 14 through 18. Actually, I think that I got the reference wrong when I wrote it down. So I'll go back and correct myself on that. But it says, then the Lord God said, oh, it's 18 through 24. Then the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper fit for him. Now, out of the ground, the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living

creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam, there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man and while he slept, took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rid that the Lord God had taken from the man, he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. So that is Genesis,

218 through 25. Does that sound, this is a rhetorical question, but I guess it's kind of not, depending on what your perspective is, does that sound arbitrary to you? Does that sound from that passage of creation? Does it sound like God unintentionally or arbitrarily put male and female together? Does it sound like male and female are interchangeable in this passage? Does it sound like the marriage relationship or the gender binary for that matter is up for debate. Is subject to cultural change or human whims? No, of course it doesn't. God made woman in marriage specifically for man and vice versa.

He created their relationship as between male and female specifically, purposefully, intentionally, and beautifully. A biblical marriage is reiterated throughout the Bible, not just in the Old Testament, in the laws for Israel, but in the New Testament as well. Jesus reiterated the creation of marriage in Matthew 19, 4 through 6. Haven't you read, he replied that at the beginning, the creator made them male and female and said, for this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate. So for those out there, the what I call the hipster Jesus Christians who say that Jesus never had anything to say about today's controversial social

issues, I would venture to guess that they are not reading very closely. Again, the question we should ask those who say Christians should embrace gay marriage, so they're not only saying that creation itself was arbitrary and basically meaningless, but also that Jesus' words about marriage are arbitrary and meaningless. And we should just ask if that's the view that they really hold, that Jesus' words don't really mean what they clearly mean when you read the text. But Ephesians 5 makes clear why the creation of marriage was not arbitrary because bringing us to our third reason, biblical marriage reflects Christ and the church. So Ephesians 522 through 24, wives, submit to your

own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also So wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. And then Ephesians 531 through 33. This gives deeper meaning to the creation of marriage by saying this. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

However, let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband. So the marriage relationship, according to this passage, according to the Bible, between one man and one woman is rooted in creation, is reiterated in both the Old and the New Testament, and by Jesus himself, is reflective of the relationship between Christ and the church. And in that way is representative of the gospel. The gospel is Christ laying himself down, sacrifices. himself for the church for the body of believers.

Ephesians 5 says that that is how husbands are to love their wives radically, sacrificeally, and wives are to honor their husbands, submit to their husbands in the same way that they submit to the Lord. So marriage between a man and a woman is reflective of the gospel. And finally, ultimately, gloriously, we see that all of this ends. All of this ends with Jesus coming back for his church, which is depicted in Revelation 19 as a marriage. A wedding feast between what the Bible says is the bride, the church, and the bridegroom Jesus. So the definition of marriage by God as between a man and a woman

isn't arbitrary. It's not according to God, the one who made marriage up for grabs or up for debates. It is depicted throughout the entirety of the biblical narrative as a purposeful, intentional, symbolic pairing. Male and female are not. not interchangeable, therefore the definition of marriage is not malleable. Which is why, when a professing Christian gets this wrong, it is catastrophic for the rest of their theology. Marriage is not a small part of the biblical narrative. It's not this throwaway aspect of God's eternal story of redemption. It is hugely meaningful. And when we try to manipulate God's intentional design of gender and marriage, we are saying that we don't believe God and that we don't trust God and we think that we know

better. So for a professing Christian to say that it's mean or it's bigoted or wrong to define marriage how God defines marriage is for that professing Christian to say that God is a bigot and they are more compassionate than God. But newsflash for every single one of us, no matter what, every single one of us. We are not more compassionate or more loving or more kind than God is. If our good, faithful, and all-knowing God says that something is one way, then far be it from us, fallible, short-sighted, finite, sinful people to say otherwise. If you are willing to discount what God says about something as significant as marriage, if you're willing to discount what he says about marriage, this hugely important thing according to the biblical text?

What else are you willing to discount? What other parts of scripture and the redemption story are you willing to throw out because it's uncomfortable or it's culturally inconvenient? The answer is, as we see time and time again with people who hold this view and profess to be Christians, the answer is a lot. You're willing to throw out a lot. Whenever we see someone compromise on the definition of marriage, we always, I will say, always, as I have seen anyway, see some kind of compromise in other areas of theology as well.

Because if you are going to redefine the very institution that both starts and ends the Bible, why shouldn't you pick and choose other parts too, according to what you think feels good? You will see them the people who hold this view, who evolve in their views of marriage beyond what the Bible says marriage is. You will see them soon scoff at the idea of sin as a whole. whole. They will downplay the importance of holiness and obedience. They will start labeling anyone who actually regards the biblical definition of marriage as fundamentalist, this big scary word that they use to try to demonize people who believe the Bible is anerrant. Their philosophy will often be one of moral relativism. And eventually, the content that they write or produce will no longer

resemble theology, will no longer resemble the gospel, but will, resemble or will be what I call meology, so not theology, but meology, by redefining, discounting or ignoring what the Bible says about male and female and marriage, along with everything else. This is not the only issue. This is not even necessarily the most important issue, along with everything else that the Bible says, if we discount anything that the Bible says is true or not true, good or not good, we are saying that we know better than God. that we are better than God and consequently placing ourselves on the throne of our lives, giving ourselves the power to determine what's good and what's not. That means that we are bowing down

to the God of self, not the God of Scripture. And that's not to say that genuine Christians don't ever get it wrong because of course we do. I've gotten many things wrong. I will continue to be wrong on things. But at the end of the day, for you and for me, for the Christian, we've been ourselves to the unbendable truth of scripture, not the other way around. I am always willing to be wrong in the face of the truth of God's word. When we binge scripture to fit our opinion, we are effectively making ourselves God and we are not good gods. All of that leads me to Jen Hatmaker's recent Instagram post, which doesn't have anything to do with biblical marriage, but does give us a solid background of why her theology,

has gone so off rails and has led to this Instagram post that is that represents so much of the terrible meology that we see pervasively among Christian women. Jen Hatmaker's Instagram post, it is a quote from her book, Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire. And a lot of you guys send it to me and you said, please, can you tell me, I know this is off, but can you tell me why this is off? So, fears free and full of fire is basically, I haven't read the book, but from the synopsis and what I can tell from the quotes that she has been posting, it sounds about the exact opposite of what I believe in my book, which comes out August 11th, by the way, the quotes on the Instagram post is this. Now, there's a cuss word in it, and I won't say it, but I'm just warning you. Women are the baddest of bad days, she says it.

Women are the baddest of bad days, and there's nothing they cannot overcome in a couple. The caption is long, so I will just read you portions of her caption without decontextualizing anything. Of course, you can go and read the caption for yourself so you don't think that I am trying to pull things out and make her mean something that she doesn't actually mean. I sincerely believe, she says, we women are the answer to virtually everything that ails society. I trust our instincts and desires and gifts. We want things that are good and true and lovely, no matter what this world has always said about our design. desires. Trust yourself this week. She says, trust what you care about and what you want and need.

Your body is taking good care of you. I believe in you right now, sisters, you are so good. Fierce comes out a week from tomorrow. I wrote it because I love you and I love us. You deserve this investment in your own beautiful D-word life. Of course, she says it. All right. So this is exactly why I wrote my book, You're Not Enough, which I kind of wish was coming out right now, it's a response to the kind of stuff that is apparently in gin hatmaker's book, but we'll just have to wait until August. This is meology. This isn't theology because it has nothing to do with God at all.

And just a reminder, the Jin Hatmaker bills herself as a Christian podcaster, author, an influencer, and she always has. If she were just a secular person, I wouldn't, I mean, I'd probably be talking about this, but I wouldn't fault her for not promoting sound theology. but she bills herself as a Christian author. So I think that this is fair game to weigh her words against the word of God. So this has nothing actually to do with the Bible at all. It has nothing to do with the word of God, which is why it's not theology.

It is meology. This isn't godly. This is not Christ-centered. This is not glorifying to the Lord in any way. This is me-ology. This is me. What I say is true and what I say feels good. This is the ology that she is putting out.

This is an ode to the god of self. And quite frankly, it's not even remotely compelling. I would say a lot of her writing is compelling and interesting and charming. This not so much. However, because a lot of you guys send it to me, I want to address it. Women are the baddest of bad days, she says, and there is nothing we can't accomplish. So we'll start with that. Look, first of all, I agree that women are awesome. I love being a woman. I've always had really awesome. and admirable girl friends and people that I look up to, God thinks women are awesome in all of their uniqueness and beauty and ability to nurture and nourish and beautify and teach and have and raise children. God thinks that we are awesome. He made us fearfully and wonderfully. We just read in the creation account how specially and specifically God made us. So of course, God thinks that women are beautiful made in his image. He made us with special gifts and capacities and abilities that men don't have and vice versa. He made men with capacities and abilities that we don't have. We are created to compliment one another. I do think that women are capable of incredible things. God uses

women throughout the Bible in wonderful and special ways. And that's an amazing, that's an amazing thing. We should be thankful for all of that. However, Are there things that we can't accomplish on our own? Yes. Are there things that we cannot overcome on our own? Yes, because we are fallible human beings. Jin's message is a message of self-empowerment. This is a different way to say the refrain that we have heard and have debunked on this

podcast a million times. You are enough. In this quote, Jin is saying, women, you are enough. that you have all the power inside yourself to do whatever you put your mind to. But it's not true. You're not enough. You can't accomplish anything on your own. I don't know if you're the baddest of bad.

I have no idea. The fact is, if you were enough, if you were amazing and perfect just how you are and you could accomplish everything on your own, you wouldn't need Jesus. You wouldn't need his salvation, his sanctification, his strength. But the Bible says that we've all fallen short of the glory of God, that we all need Christ. The gospel is that is not that you are a bad A who can accomplish anything. The gospel is that you and I are bad, period, and we need Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins.

As Psalm 162 says, I have no good apart from you. Therefore, it is not comforting or helpful at all to hear that we can accomplish anything. No, we can't actually, ultimately and eternally. there's nothing that we can achieve on our own. We are completely helpless. Ephesians 2 says that without Christ we are dead in our sin, but good news because of Christ we are made alive. We are saved by grace through faith and are empowered by the Holy Spirit to do good works. Ephesians 2.10. She says, I sincerely believe we women are the answer to virtually everything that ails society. What an amazing statement. She says, I trust our instincts and desires and gifts. We want

things that are good and true and lovely no matter what this world has always said about our desires. Really? Women are the answer to what ails society? Jen, girl, have you read, have you read about the Garden of Eden? Like, can I introduce you to Eve? Do you remember that? Like, women are not the answer to what ails society. Men aren't the answer to what ails society. Women and men are what ails society. Like who else is causing the problems besides men and women, sinful men and women, we are causing the problems. We are what ails society. Christ is the answer. Christ is the answer to literally all that ails society. That's what the Bible is about, that Christ is the antidote to our ailments, not women, not any human being. Now, if Jen, like I said,

we're not a professing Christian, I wouldn't expect her to know all of this. I wouldn't be spending my time on this at all, but she is. And she is sharing with her 472,000 Instagram followers and however many readers she has, something that is not just a little theological off because we've all been there, we've all made mistakes, but something that is completely counter to the gospel and a message that she wrote an entire book on, a message that she has been consistently pushing for years now. She says, I trust our instincts and desires and gifts. We want things that are good and true and lovely, no matter what this world has always said about our desires.

Trust yourself this week. She says, trust what you care about and what you want and need. Your body is taking good care of you. Why? Why does Jin tell all women to trust themselves? I don't trust myself unconditionally, and you shouldn't either. I do not always desire what is good and true and lovely, and you don't either. Sometimes I, because I'm a sinful person, still being sanctified by Jesus,

desire what is selfish, what is wrong. Sometimes I am envious. Sometimes I'm unjustifiably angry. Sometimes I'm lazy. Sometimes I'm prideful. Very often, I want things that are not good or true or lovely, but whatever suits me. I don't trust your desires. You shouldn't trust your desires.

You shouldn't trust all my desires. I don't trust Jen's desires. I don't trust anyone's desires all the time. Jeremiah 179 says this, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it? Romans 7, 8, for I know that nothing good dwells in me. That is, in my flesh. You are not trustworthy.

Your feelings, your desires, if not in submission to Christ, will lead you astray. And when I say you are not trustworthy, I'm talking about your heart, I'm talking about your feelings, I'm talking about all of your desires and motives. they cannot be unconditionally trusted. Jen says trust yourself this week. Trust what you care about and what you want and need. Don't trust yourself. You aren't trustworthy to yourself. God is. Trust what you care about. I care in my sinful flesh. Here are the things I care about. I care about me, myself, and I. I care about Netflix. In my sinful nature, I mostly care about what I want to do. I care about food. I care about sleep. I care about scrolling through Instagram. I care about what

whatever I want to do right now. But that is not what God calls me to. That is not what God tells me to do. God calls me to be a wife and a mom and to do all the things that he has called me to. And that does include, of course, rest and leisure and doing things that make me happy so that sometimes does include Netflix

and eating good food and all of that. But if I were to trust myself and trust what I care about, I would be living a life completely consumed by narcissism and convenience. Trusting myself isn't enough. If I were to follow all of my feelings, I would never do anything that I don't want to do. But daily, continually, we are called by God to do the things we don't want to do for His glory. Some of them we do want to do, but a lot of the things we don't want to do. That's why Jesus calls us to deny ourselves, to take up our cross, and to follow him. So the good message is not trust yourself. You're taking care of yourself. The better message is

is do what God calls you to do. Love him, love others, seek to glorify him in all you do and trust that he will take care of you. Jesus says that he is taking care of you. Jen says that you are taking care of you. You've got a finite ability to calm your anxious mind and to ease your worried heart. You don't have what it takes to shepherd your soul, which underneath all the stress that you are feeling right now is what you really need. You don't need anything more than a shepherd of your soul who can exchange all of your anxiety for peace, you're out of control emotions for steadfastness, and your desperation for hope and your lack of knowledge for wisdom.

Gin Hatmaker is a peddler of neology. It is not biblical. It has no self-ific components to it. It is not satisfying and it will only make you emptier than before. This is a new age philosophy. this idea that underneath all of society's expectations and everything that culture tells you is something good and perfect and true that you've got this inner goddess that if you just dig down deep and unleash it you will find all of your heart's desires fulfilled it's not true

what the bible says is that when you look inside yourself outside of christ you find rotting death you find nothing you find darkness you find hopelessness but in christ you are made alive, you are given hope, you are given a new soft, regenerated heart. Remember, as we have said so many times, the self can't be both the problem and the solution. So if inside yourself you find, which we all do, if you find insecurity, anxiety, fear, confusion, and chaos, the antidote to these things won't be found inside yourself. How could it? But outside yourself in the God who made you who says cast all your anxieties on me because I care for you what a better message than you take care of you in an effort to make you feel better about

yourself Jen and other people like her so Glenn and Doyle Rachel Hollis Jen is actually weighing you down with a burden that you cannot bear and that is the burden of being your own God She says, trust yourself, take care of yourself, accomplish things for yourself, be the solution to all that ails society yourself. But you and I can't do these things. And if we try, we will be met with failure. These are burdens that you and I cannot bear and we were never meant to bear them. And there's good news. There's so much better news than this stupid Instagram caption.

The good news is we don't have to bear them. to be our own guts. God is our gut. He alone is worthy of our trust. He alone is the caretaker of our hearts and souls. He alone can accomplish all things. He alone is the solution to all that ails society. And he says that his burdens are light and his yoke is easy. And he doesn't call us to self-empowerment. He calls us to self-denial to doing not what we want to do at all times, but what he has called us to do, which is to love him, to obey him, and to love others. So that is why her Instagram caption is not biblical and it might feel good in the moment, but it's not good news. The gospel is good news and it is counter to what Gin Hatmaker is propagating. And pay attention, I won't call out

any other names right now, pay attention to who she's having on her podcast, to who is saying I'm associating with her and I'm her friend. And look, I'm not saying that we've all been perfect in all of our associations and things like that. But yoking yourself with someone who is blatantly preaching a gospel that is not biblical while calling themselves as a Christian, it's dangerous territory. It's dangerous territory. Share this with your friends who love her. Okay, I will be back here on Wednesday with some important news. Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself.

On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch the Steve Day show right here on Blaze TV, or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us.