Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 341 | Christmas Encouragement & Listener Questions

Episode Date: December 21, 2020

Today we're offering some uplifting thoughts regarding Christmas and the miracle of God's love for us, as well as answering listener questions on all topics from Santa Claus to Jordan Peterson. -- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey

Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Hope everyone is having a great day. Today, I'm going to give you some Christmas encouragement. And I'm also going to answer some of the questions that you guys sit me on Instagram. I know that you're probably tired of hearing people say this, but it's just, it's just true. I don't know if it's just cathartic to say it, but it's been a crazy year. It's been a crazy year. I don't think any of us could have anticipated that, all of this COVID madness would have lasted as long as it has. I think most of us thought that it would be two weeks to slow the spread. And then by Easter that we'd be done with all of it,

I remember thinking, surely by summer this will just be over. We went on vacation in June. And it really felt like it was over. We were at the beach going to restaurants. There was no one that was wearing masks. This was actually before people were wearing masks. And it really felt like, okay, there is a weight that's,

it off of our shoulders and things are getting better. And then we thought, okay, well, it'll be by the fall. Kids will go back to school. Things will go back to normal. And then a lot of people said, oh, no, it'll be after the election. And here we are still going back and forth with all of this, not just the virus, but also the regulations that have come along with it. And there have been a lot of negative repercussions associated with it that have really strained people's lives. it strange, their mental health, their emotional, and spiritual health, their financial situation, in addition to the physical toll that all of this is taken on people. And so some of you have lost people that you have loved, if not to the virus. Some of your friends or family members,

maybe they died by suicide because of isolation-induced depression. You haven't seen your grandparents in several months. Or maybe you have people in your family who, are scared to go into public. They're scared to have human interaction. And so you haven't been able to see them. I know people that typically are very stable, emotionally stable people who have had to go on antidepressants. They've had to go to therapy or at least virtual therapy because they find themselves crying alone at night, not knowing how to deal with the uncertainty and the loneliness that this year has caused. And it's heartbreaking. The reality is we have to regard the entire person. We are not just clumps of cells. We're not just material objects. We're not just

physical beings. We're spiritual, emotional beings as well. And the public policy that completely disregards those parts of human nature in favor of just protecting, maybe possibly, protecting the body from a virus with a high survival rate, is not good public policy. And we have been dealing with the consequences of that for months. Now, here, is the good news in all of that. While one, there's just some political, practical good news is that I do think that there's a lot of people who have woken up to the fact because of some of the arbitrary and discriminatory policies that some of these politicians have pushed forth, that the government is not your moral arbiter, they're not your caretaker, they're not your friend, and they're certainly not your God. If the government is your God, you will discover the hard way that they are not a merciful God, that these bureaucrats, who are empowered, very often do not have your best interest at heart, that while they are putting harsh rules and restrictions on you, your business, and your family, they are not following them themselves. And that hypocrisy, I do think, is open the eyes of a lot of people to realize that, okay, these earthly authorities

are not worth my trust. Like, they're not worth all my admiration and all of my obsession. Yes, I think it's important to vote as best we can based on all the information that we have. But it's also important for us to not put our hope in the government and for us to remember time and again that no matter who is in office, Jesus is on his throne. And that really is what Christmas is about, that Jesus is on his throne, that he is in charge. That's why I love Isaiah 9-6-7 so much. Those of you who grew up in the church are probably familiar with this passage, for to us a child is born, to us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counselor mighty god everlasting father prince of peace of the increase of his government

and of peace there will be no end on the throne of david and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore the zeal of the lord of hosts will do this so very often on this conservative podcast, we talk about how the growth of government always leads to human suffering because power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That is just a part of human nature. The more money and power, authority. Therefore, size we give the government, the more human beings suffer. The less free we are, the less we flourish because of that inherent nature of power. It corrupts human beings. that is true of people that is not true of Christ. Christ is the only one that can take all the power,

that can have all the power and the authority in the universe. And he just gets better and better, in human terms anyway. We know that he is immutable and unchangeable. That as his government, that as his power, as his authority increases, so does peace. So does justice. So does righteousness. He can be totalitarian, if you want to use that word, in his authority. And things just get better. Things just get more peaceful. Things just get more satisfying. Life just becomes more pleasurable.

Justice increases, righteousness increases. And that is what we have to look forward to. But that's also the reality that we live in right now, that yes, we are given earthly authority. Romans 13 says that God establishes that earthly authority. Daniel 221 says that he sets up kings and he takes them down. And so we do have a responsibility to submit to a certain extent, of course, to earthly authority as long as it is not causing us to sin. But God is on his throne right now. He is in charge right now. He's king of kings right now. The government is on his shoulders right now. And so we already live under submission to that king. That

is what gives us peace. That is what gives us hope. And we know that one day he will rule in perfect peace, that he will defeat his enemies once and for all, that there will be no parties, there will be no partisanship, there will be no politics, there will be no elections, there will be no two sides to this, there will be one ruler, one authority, one, one kingdom, and one king who will rule over all in perfect peace. And his justice and his righteousness will have. have no end. So in all of the calamity and the chaos that we have experienced this year, all of the untrustworthiness of our politicians, all the people in power that we roll our eyes at, all this petty tyranny that we have witnessed over the past year. Yes, it concerns us,

of course. And yes, we do have a part still in this country and trying to vote out the people that are not working towards our best interest. This is still a government for the people, by the people of the people. But that is not where our hope lies. Our hope does not lie in these elections. They certainly don't lie in these politicians. Our hope lies in the fact that God is ruling and will rule and complete and total peace. And that is what Christmas reminds us up.

That hope. God made flesh. God with us. Emmanuel. Coming to live a life, he didn't have to live, to die a death. He didn't have to die on behalf of. rebellious sinners like you and me so that we could be forgiven forever through his death on a cross, defeating death when he was raised up three days later, so that we could live forever with a God that

we are now reconciled to through Christ. That is what Christmas is about. That is why we have joy no matter what. Even under, especially for a lot of Christians around the world, even under real tyranny. here in America, we still have a whole lot of liberty, a whole lot of privilege, a whole lot of opportunities to worship freely and to speak freely. That is not true of most Christians around the world. And yet even those Christians have hope and have joy. More so than any person who does not know Christ who is in a prosperous and free country. The Christian who is suffering under the Chinese Communist Party, who is worshiping under the threat of being killed, of being imprisoned, of being tortured, has more joy, has more peace, has more assurance knowing that Jesus is

his king than the person in America that has all the freedom and opportunity and privilege in the world. That is the reality that we live under. We have more in common, you and I as Christians, we have more in common with our brothers and sisters in Christ in Afghanistan, in Syria, in China, and North Korea than we do with people who do not know Christ here in America that share our same constitutional, political, cultural values. And that is where, that is where we look when we feel weighed down by the burdens of this world. That is our transcendent hope in the body of Christ that will survive the craziness of this world, that will survive tyranny, that will survive persecution, that will survive viruses.

That is our hope. That is our assurance. I'll read you a little passage from Luke 2, 8 through 13. And in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.

And the angel said to them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. for unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord and this will be a sign for you you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and line in a manger and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying glory to God and the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased Charles Spurgeon the the prince of preachers, as he is called. He had mixed feelings about Christmas. He didn't like how it was becoming secularized, how it was becoming commercialized. He said there is no biblical foundation for celebrating the birth of the Savior in this way, but he actually loved it as a family institution.

He loved it for the rest that it gave the working man, for the fellowship that it encouraged among believers and among, of families. And of course, he thought the birth of Christ worthy of adulation and of celebration. And he says, and I'm just paraphrasing, I read a quote by him about Christmas the other day, saying that if we are going to celebrate Christmas, let us celebrate it in the same way that the angels did, giving glory to God and declaring his gospel. That is our posture this Christmas, whether you have decided that you're going to gather with your family or whether you are going to spend this Christmas alone. I hope that's not the case for you, but if that is, it is still our

responsibility and our great joy to give glory to God in the highest. To share his gospel, to remind people of the hope that we have in Christ, that this world is fading away, that it is withering away, that one day there will be a new heaven and a new earth where Christ will reign totally, completely imperfect peace. And unless you have that hope, your hope is going to be in this life. And if there is anything that 2020 has shown us, this life is really not worthy of our hope. It's really not worthy of our trust. It certainly isn't worthy of even all of our best laid plants because life is unpredictable.

But one thing is sure, and that is Jesus Christ. As Hebrews 13 8 says, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. that verse has been the verse that I have clung to over the past few months when it just seems sometimes that we are on sinking sand. I remember that Christ is our solid rock. And I'm so thankful for Christmas to remind us of that foundation, to remind us of God made flesh in the gospel of what God did for us when he didn't have to do it. He humbled himself, even to the point of death on the cross for us, people who wanted nothing to do with him. Thank God for that. Thank God for that. We have every reason, even in this hard year, to rejoice and to give glory to God in the highest.

Okay, I just wanted to start the podcast with some of that encouragement in the podcast with some of that encouragement as well to get us in the Christmas spirit, which we really should be in all year round, because it really is just the Holy Spirit and thanking God for everything that he is and has done. but I want to answer some of the questions that you guys gave me on Instagram because I told you that I would. So one of you guys, and I think I've probably answered this before, but I'll answer it again, you ask me what I think about Santa. And you didn't ask me, you know, if we're going to tell our kids about Santa or what we're going to do. But, you know, obviously my husband and I have talked about this.

I think that Santa is the same thing as Christmas in general. There is no, there's obviously no biblical support for Santa. There's no biblical support for giving gifts on Christmas. There's no biblical support for Jesus being born on December 25th. There's no biblical support for doing stockings and washing it's a wonderful life and Christmas tree and all of that. All of these are celebrations that we have added on to this day that don't necessarily have an explicit biblical basis. But I would argue also are not sinful. There are lots of things that we do throughout our lives that can't.

be used for the glory of God that aren't necessarily explicitly in his word telling us to do these things. I would include Santa in that. I think Santa can be used in a way that glorifies God. I think it can be used in a way that is deceptive, that is manipulative, and that doesn't glorify God. Now, there are a lot of different perspectives on this, and I'm not going to pretend like I am the end-all be-all when it comes to talking about Santa Claus. There are a lot more experienced, and godly or mothers that you could talk to about this, and that could give you wisdom. Personally, I think how probably we are going to handle Santa when the time is right is that this is a fun story.

I think we can read books about Santa. We can look at pictures of Santa. We can go take, you know, a picture with Santa at the mall or wherever you do that. I think that it can all be a part of the folklore of Christmas and say, you know, this is a fun Christmas character. Rudolph is a fun Christmas character. Personally, I don't think that we are going to say this is a real person who gives you your gifts. One, because I think it's important for kids to know where the gifts actually come from, not just from parents, but also from from the Lord. I'm looking up this verse, so I just have the exact, so I have the exact reference. James 117.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. I would much rather direct my children's gratitude towards the giver, the actual giver, the real giver of good gifts, which is the father above, which is the father who sent the greatest gift, his son, than directing their gratitude or their awe or, even in some cases, their worship towards really a figment of our imaginations. Now, again, I am not judging you if you have decided differently. This is how we have thought through it.

And this is how we think, at least right now, we're not to the stage yet, how we are going to approach it. Because I think it is very easy to get kids to a point of almost worship and awe towards this figment of their imagination when really that, worship and awe and that adoration and even that feeling of, um, of mystery and intrigue can be directed towards this God that we are trying to get them to, that we are trying to get them to seek with their whole hearts.

And so I think Christmas is, uh, an opportunity to direct them towards that rather than to direct them towards this person who isn't real. And if you think about it, like he almost is a replacement of God. Like he is this, this guy that you can't see. He has supernatural power because he can,

you know, he can travel the world in just one night. And he knows what you're thinking. He knows if you're being good. He knows if you're being bad. He holds you accountable for those things. And he gives you gifts according to the saying, like it's actually a much worse version and a much more legalistic version of the

Father in heaven that we have that gives us gifts according to his goodness, not according to our merit. So I think Christmas is an opportunity to share the gospel with our kids. And I almost think it's a missed opportunity if we are replacing the real good giver of gifts with this not so good giver of gifts in Santa Claus. Again, I'm not going to, you know, teach my kids to be scared of Santa or to say the Santa is evil. I think he's a character of Christmas. You know, just like Rudolph and whatever, Frosty, the Snowman, I think, you know, that's all fine. And that can be fun. I think it's important for kids to have imagination, for them to hear stories, for them to tell stories. I think that's all really fun. But I think that it's even more important for us to direct our kids towards what is real.

And the reality of the gospel is much better than the story of Santa and the North Pole. I also think that there is a possibility for discipline. appointment. I remember when I found out, I was six when I found out that Santa Claus was real. It was actually the tooth fairy first that I found out wasn't real. And then I kind of, you know, I used that deductive reasoning to say, okay, what, what about the Easter bunny? And what about Santa? Because they're probably not real if the tooth fairy isn't real. And I was really mad. I remember being really mad when I was six years old at my at my mom for lying to me. I think I was also like embarrassed. I developed that like self-awareness very early on in my life to where I didn't want

to not be in the know about something or I didn't want people to think that I didn't know something. And so I felt like I had been hoodwinked. And I was pretty mad about that. I don't know if my kids will feel the same way. But I also think that that is easily avoidable. It's easily avoidable by telling kids the truth about Santa. Now, I also don't want kids to be those kids to go to school and declare on December 1st that Santa isn't real either because there'd be a lot of disappointed parents there. But I think there's a way to strike that balance and to teach our kids well. So that is my, that's my thought about Santa Claus. Take that as you will. I am not the arbiter of what you should do for Christmas. So there's a lot of questions as well about the coronavirus

vaccine that I got on Instagram. That has nothing to do with Christmas, obviously. this is well, I mean, maybe it does because maybe you think of it as a Christmas gift. It's obviously a testament to the industriousness of American companies. It's also a testament to a public-private partnership, Operation Warp Speed, that was started by President Trump and these vaccine development companies. But I know that there's a lot of mixed feelings about this right now. Even if you do not consider yourself an anti-vaccine person, I think that there is, there's cause for concern when something goes.

goes through this quickly. There's typically a much longer, more stringent process for testing the safety and efficacy of vaccines and this. But there's a bigger conversation to be had about vaccines that I don't want to do extemporaneously that I have. So I've actually done two episodes on vaccines. I talked to a very pro-vaccine doctor. And then I talked to, I wouldn't even say an anti-vaccine doctor, but a vaccine skeptical doctor and one who is very empathetic towards. vaccines skeptical and anti-vaccinating parents. So I had those two different conversations over a year ago now, maybe even a year and a half ago now. And those were very popular episodes, but I never went in. I didn't go in personally and analyze the different sides

to the vaccine debate. And I think that I might do that in an upcoming episode and talk about whether or not, you know, the different size, the different perspectives on taking the COVID-19 vaccine. A lot of people have questions about fetal parts being used to develop these vaccines. How is the Christian supposed to think about that? And so I think I will analyze that. I'm just, I have to prepare myself for more blowback than ever because even when I did those two episodes, I mean, most of the negative reviews that I got from that were. actually were from the anti-vaccine crowd or the vaccine hesitant crowd. Not everyone is anti-vaccine on that side.

It was questions about vaccines, but a lot of hate from that side just for interviewing someone who disagreed with them. And I'm just going to have to, I'm just going to have to brace myself for that and understand that that is what's going to happen on both sides of the issue. No matter, no matter what I say, there's going to be hate for that. So I just have to make sure that it is very thorough, that it is very well researched and prepared. So when I do that episode, I will answer the question about this particular COVID vaccine because there are so many questions that I've gotten about it. But I just want to make sure that I answer in the best way that I can.

Okay. Let me look for another question. So someone asked me, why is no one talking about Dr. Soros. Who is he? Is he really the conservative boogeyman? So I would not say that no one is talking about George Soros. I think that he is almost, he is seen as a conservative created boogeyman by people on the left, but he's not. He is billionaire. He calls himself a philanthropist, but he's a political activist and he is far left wing and he pumps lots of money through his open society foundation into left-wing causes, namely things like Black Lives Matter, and to

various politicians and district prosecutors, district attorneys here in the United States. He is always supporting with his money, Democratic initiatives, liberal initiatives, and Democratic politicians. That's just a fact. That's not some conspiracy theory. I mean, he's a real person. It's verified on Twitter. He's got a kid who helps him with all this stuff.

when I say kid, I mean, he has an adult son. So yeah, he is a billionaire. He's very influential. He's very involved in liberal politics. And he funds a lot of liberal policy makers and therefore liberal policies. Now, maybe there are some more sinister conspiracies about him that aren't true. But he has his hand in a lot of left wing chaos. He has his money in a lot of left-wing chaos. He's a left-wing guy. He supports left-wing causes. That's who George Soros is. Maybe some people give him too much credit.

Maybe some people almost see him as like Big Brother. They see him as this like ubiquitous figure. He's not. He's just a human being. But he does have a lot of power and he has a lot of money and he has a lot of influence through his various organizations. So that's who he is. That's the kind of influence he has.

And he's behind a lot of last. left-wing prosecutors and politicians that, of course, I would argue, are very destructive for our country, but do I think he's behind every bad thing or every left-wing thing that happens? No, I think that that is probably impossible. Would you travel back in time or to the future? If I had to choose between the two, I think I would travel back in time. I don't, I think there's a reason why the Lord allows us to have memories, but doesn't allow us to be able to see into the future exactly anyway. And I think we wouldn't be able

to handle it. I don't think that we would be able to see the state of the world, the state of our lives, how the people that we love turned out, things that happened to them, things that happened to us without being completely disturbed and anxious in the present. And so, as CS Lewis talks about how the best place for our minds to be is in the present, is in the now because that is that's the only that's the only reality that's the only place that we really exist sometimes we think about the future or our imagination of the future as if it's real and it's it's really not and Satan would love us to exist in a state of imagination of being disconnected from our reality so we're ineffective where we are the Lord would have us

focus where we are right now and I think that that is purposeful that he has obviously made us that way. And I don't want to travel to the future. That freaks me out. I already worry, you know, struggle with worrying about the future. So I don't think that I want to see. I don't think I want to see how it turns out. I think I would travel back to like, I don't know. I love the World War II era, but I don't know if I've just romanticized it so much in my head because of different movies and books that I've read. That's like my favorite era, at least in the past 100 years. And I would love to go back to that time. It seems like it was a good time in American in history, but I do wonder if I'd go back and I'd be like, oh my gosh, I don't like,

I don't like this. Like, I don't like not having access to all the things that I love. I think that in 2020, we've got it accustomed to a very luxurious, accessible lifestyle that I would probably be missing out on if I went back to the 1940s. Is love a feeling or a choice? I think it's both. C.S. Lewis also talks about this in mere Christianity. If you haven't read mere Christianity, please do.

This is not a book that you need to listen to an audio. book. You got to get you a copy. You got to read through it probably slowly and read it a few times and underlined and take notes and all of that. Very important book to read, especially if you're a new believer, but if you've been a believer for a long time, or if you're a skeptic, I highly recommend mere Christianity. He talks about how when you fall in love with someone, when you fall in love with your significant other, and you get married. Eventually, those feelings of total rapture and obsession that you feel 24-7 when you're dating that person. Like, you just can't get enough of them. You can't eat. You can't sleep because you are just thinking about them so much. You're literally

love sick because every moment that you're not with them, you miss them. Those are good feelings. It's like God gives human beings the capacity to feel that way because it tethers us to people in a way that human beings are made to be tethered. Now I think God intended for us to be only tethered to one person that way. And in our messed up world of serial dating and hookups and promiscuity and things like that, we tether ourselves emotionally and physically to too many people. And God didn't create our hearts to be broken that way. But that initial just obsession that you have with the person, especially the one that you end up spending the rest of your life with is good because it attaches you to them. It encourages you to make promises to them, to stay with them forever. But we make those promises

is with the acknowledgement that one day, we won't always have every single second, those feelings of obsession. Eventually, you're going to be okay with, you know, leaving for the day and you're not going to be just aching and longing for them. You're going to be able to eat and sleep even when they go out of town. You're going to get annoyed with them. Things that you never thought would annoy you when you were dating start annoying you. They start getting on your nerves. You start becoming more critical of them and you realize maybe you're even becoming more critical of yourself because neither of you are who exactly you thought you were when you first met or something like that. Those kind of things happen when you're living under the same roof and when you're committed to one

another and when you're sharing a space for that long with another, especially if you've been quarantining with your significant other for the past several months with children. You learn things about each other and you don't have 24-7 those feelings of obsession that you had when you are dating and you barely even knew each other. although, of course, you still have those feelings sometimes. C.S. Lewis talks about how that kind of love, the kind of love that you choose, even in the moments where you don't feel it, is the more important kind of love. That is the abiding kind of love. Love cannot just rest on a feeling or else you will call it quits as soon as you don't feel good.

Well, relationships don't always feel good. Relationships are sometimes hard. Sometimes you disappoint each other. Sometimes you persistently annoy one another. and sometimes things happen to where you really feel like you have to choose. You have to say, okay, I am in this. I am committed forever. I made a promise. And no matter how you feel in the moments, you decide, okay, I am committed to this family because I made a promise before God. I made a promise to this person. And this act of persistent commitment is love. It's not always a feeling. it is a choice of dedication and commitment. And it is also the choice.

It reflects the eternal choice, the unconditional, unwavering choice that God has made to love us. And so feelings are important. I do think it's important to actually feel in love with the person that you're going to marry. There are some people who say, no, just find a Christian and just marry them and you'll make it work. I do not give that advice. This is something I talk about in my book. There is kind of, I would say, a segment of evangelical Christianity who talks this way,

who says, just find a believer, get married, and you'll be fine. Stop being so picky. And I agree. You shouldn't be picky about arbitrary stuff. Like, if you find someone that you like who has brown eyes instead of green eyes or something like that, then I think that you probably need to cross must have green eyes off of your list of people to marry. But you need to like the person. Like I remember I've dated people, dated seriously some people that, you know, we're Christians.

We could have gotten married. And I just couldn't bring myself to love them. I just didn't feel that way about them. And I just think the Lord that I didn't marry that person. I didn't marry those people because the feelings just weren't there. And I just knew that there was this nagging feeling in me that I had to convince myself that I liked them. I had to convince myself that I had fun with them. I had to convince myself that we made each other laugh.

And really, we didn't. And I wanted someone and I had to remind myself that I wasn't shallow for wanting someone who appreciated my humor. I appreciate their humor who liked some of the things that I like, who could have, you know, a conversation with me and that I really felt like I could click with. I remember before I met my husband thinking, oh, you know, I'm just being picky. I don't need to care about those things. I just need to find someone who loves the Lord and will make it work and have babies. Oh my goodness. I'm so glad I didn't follow through with that.

You need to like and to be in love with the person that you're going to spend the rest of your life with. And there will be days, of course, where you don't feel like you like them and you choose to love them. There are going to be times when it's really, really hard where one of you is going through something or whatever it is. You're going through a conflict. You have to choose to love that person.

But I think it's a gift of God that he also gives us the capacity to passionately and romantically love the people that we are going to spend the rest of our life with. so we will then be compelled to make that choice to love them consistently and persistently, no matter what we feel for the rest of our lives. And so I would say it's both. Okay, a couple more questions. So a lot of you have been asking me about Jordan Peterson and what I think about Jordan Peterson. So Jordan Peterson is, you guys probably know, he's a psychologist, I believe, from Canada.

and he's written several books and his talks on YouTube have just gone have gone viral. And he truly has helped a lot of people. Like if you read the testimonies, for lack of the better word, of people who have read his books, like 12 Rules for Life, for example, or have followed him, listened to his lectures and have decided to apply his rules for life to their own life. Like their lives have changed for the better. They became more responsible. They let go of their addiction to porn.

to drugs. They reconciled with their estranged father, whatever it is. There's a lot of people that attribute to Jordan Peterson in some ways, and I'm using intentionally these religious terms, their salvation. And that is because I think Jordan Peterson, whether he realizes it or not, and I think in a lot of cases he does, he espouses a lot of biblical ideas, biblical ideas of personal responsibility, biblical ideas of forgiveness and reconciliation. and putting your life in order of working hard. And so I think the helpfulness and the effectiveness that Jordan Peterson gives is not primarily, it's not just philosophical, but it's actually theological and biblical,

even if he is not ascribing his advice to the Bible. Now, he does actually reference the Bible in a lot of his work. I think that he likes a lot of parts of the Christian worldview, even if he wouldn't call himself a Christian. Now, I don't think that any speaker or any author is ever going to be a replacement for Christianity. I appreciate how he has pointed so many young men, it seems like, in the right direction. I don't know if you guys heard, but Penguin Random House in Canada, when they heard that apparently Penguin is going to publish the next book,

Jordan Peterson's next book, there was wailing a gnashing of teeth, literal tears by a lot of the employees because Jordan Peterson has apparently negatively affected their life. Now, that is probably because he has talked about things about how white privilege he doesn't believe is real. And so people are offended by things like that. But it's amazing how polarizing he actually is when he doesn't come across as a polarizing guy at all. So, yeah, I appreciate a lot about what Jordan Peterson is and does.

And I agree with a lot of what he is. but he's not coming from a biblical perspective, so I'm certainly not going to agree on all of it, and I would encourage people to make sure that anything that he says or offers anyone, not just hand that contradicts the word of God. If you are a Christian, then that's not something that you need to abide by. Anything that anyone advises you to do, whether it's me, him, someone else, or points you in the direction of that is not biblical. That's something that you want to reject. So Jordan Peterson or me or Ben Shapiro or anyone else is never a replacement for scripture,

is never a replacement for following Christ. But of course, anyone who is not coming from a biblical perspective, then everything, especially then, needs to be weighed by the word of God. But I'm very thankful for a lot of the good that he has done, just telling men to get their life in order and to clean their rooms and to care about relationships. I mean, that's just good practical advice that I think is really helpful for men who are searching for meaning. He realizes there is a crisis of masculinity, especially in the West. And that men need purpose, that they need order.

And that's in a lot of cases, they're not getting that kind of tough love from the world. And he has provided that. He has become like a father figure to a lot of men who feel like they're just wandering and purposeless. And I think that is good in its place. obviously that doesn't heal the soul sickness that only Christ can heal. Okay, let's see. So someone asked if my company has put CRT, that's critical race theory, in its mandatory yearly training, what should I do?

So I think that, so we've talked about this a little bit before we've talked about, we did a whole episode on critical race theory, done several episodes on it now and different interviews and things from experts. but I think that one thing that you can do is you can see if there's anyone who shares your concerns. You can kind of prod around and see if anyone understands some of the dangers of critical race theory. And you can see if you can band together and to address your concerns to your employer or to simply ask questions in the training. To ask questions, okay, clarify, ask for the definition of terms. Ask for, okay, if they're saying that, wow,

this company has been systemically racist, ask how and ask questions about the practices that they are proposing. Unfortunately, what we've seen through studies is that, quote, implicit bias training has actually resulted in some cases an explicit bias training because, or explicit bias, because people, when they're told that they're actually implicitly racist, well, they start obsessing with that. They start to resent themselves and they start to resent. other people. They start fearing being around people that don't look like them because they're afraid of

accidentally saying or doing something racist because they've just been told that subconsciously there are racist people. And so all of the CRT training is only going to create more disparate outcomes. It's only going to create more bias, unfortunately. It's only going to create more division. Remember, CRT as a subset of Marxism does not in its nature have the power to reconcile or to build. It only has the power to deconstruct. It is a deconstructive worldview. It seeks to divide people into different categories. And as such, by nature, it does not have the ability to bring together.

So it will tear apart companies. It will tear apart countries. It will tear apart families. So I would encourage you, if you can, to resist it to speak up in a way that is thoughtful, in a way that is kind in a way that it comes across as curious and not bombastic and not dogmatic. and to see if you can form any kind of alliance in your company to push back. That doesn't mean that you can't talk about racism in your company. That doesn't mean that you can't talk about, you know, treating everyone fairly and honorably

and equally in your company. I think that that is all a good thing. But make them be very specific in identifying the problems that they say that their company is having. Make them be very specific in subscribing to certain solutions. Make them define all of their terms. Ask clarifying questions at every. single turn. There's a chance that people will get mad at you because people just like

imbibing mainstream nonsense so as not to stir the pot at all. But I think obviously that is an issue. Oh, there's so many other questions. So many other questions that I want to answer about. I think that we're out of time. I do want to leave you with a little bit of encouragement. So I gave you guys some recommendations for Advent studies. It's in a highlight bubble on my on my on my on my on my on my Instagram. I know it's kind of a little bit late to start Advent study, but recommendations for next year you can look into that. I think that's even over the next few days as we are listening to sermons as we're

reading books as we're looking at different posts on Instagram about what Christmas really means that we need to remember to weigh everything that we read. everything that we hear, including on this podcast, another podcast, any social media post that you hear, ask yourself if what this person is saying about the meaning of Christmas, is it pointing me to the glory of Christ and who he is, or is it trying to point me to myself? Is it emphasizing me and my identity, either my failures or greatness, or is it pointing me to glorify and to worship Christ? Is what they're saying biblical? is the scripture that they are using actually interpreted in context in accordance with the rest of

scripture? Or are they picking and choosing verses according to what they, you know, the message that they want to relay that may or may not be biblical? So let's make sure that our worship of the Lord, that our reading of scripture, that our reading of devotionals over the next few days, that our celebration of Christmas is rooted in the gospel, is rooted in the word of God, is rooted in our desire to glorify Christ the same way that the angels did when they presented the good news to the shepherds. May we be just as an awe, just as wonder-filled, just as excited that Emmanuel has come, that God with us is here, and that he lived that life that he didn't have to live and died that death that he didn't have to die on our behalf. We should be as excited as those shepherds were,

as adoring as those kings were, as in awe as Mary and Joseph were. So, sorry, not the kings, the wise men. Okay, I want to read you, I want to read you two lyrics of my favorite Christmas songs. I won't sing it for you because I actually want you to have a good day. But I'm going to seeing or I'm going to read you some of these lyrics to um to put you in to give you some some some Christmas cheer so one of my favorite songs is come now long expected Jesus the other one of my favorite songs I know it's classic it's probably most of y'all's favorite song too oh holy night but I want to read you um one of the stanzas that I don't think is often sung of a holy night uh and I love this one he knows our need to our weakness no stranger

behold your king before him lowly bend. Behold your king, your king before him bent. I love that because he is no stranger to our weakness and yet he is a king that we are bowing down to. How many kings can we say that of today? How many rulers and politicians can we say that of today? Truly he taught us to love one another. His law is love and his gospel is peace. Chains shall he break for the slave is our brother and in his name, all oppression shall cease. I love this because this is what Christianity has always been. It's always been about making the slave and the free person equal in God's sight. It is also, it has always been about reconciling a weary world to a holy God, sinners, rebels, to a holy and wrathful God and thereby reconciling people

and two very disparate, different stations here on earth. There has always been an end to oppression where Christianity has thrived. There has always been freedom. There has always been equality where the gospel takes root. Sweet hymns of joy and grateful chorus raise we. Let all within us praise His holy name. Christ is the Lord than ever, ever praise we.

his power and glory ever more proclaim his power and glory ever more proclaim. That is what we have to look forward to. That is the hope that we have. That God is in control, that he is on his throne. Christmas reminds us of that that he is completely sovereign, that he is incomplete and total authority. And that is what we have to look forward to. And that is where our steadfastness and our steadiness and our joy

comes from. I also encourage I'm not going to read all the lyrics because we're out of time, but I encourage you to read the lyrics of come thou long expected Jesus. We are still expecting the coming of the king again here. And we are still saying, please come, rescue us from this evil and from this wickedness and from this anxiety and the burdens that the world has placed on us and free us once and for all from your enemies so we can worship you in perfect peace forever and in the new heavens and the new earth, that is what we long for. And so this come that long expected Jesus, it's not just speaking of Israel who is expecting their king. It is speaking of us, God's people today still longing for the coming again of Christ. Okay, that's all I have for us today. Merry Christmas.

I hope you have a great rest of your day.