Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 396 | Big Reasons to Rejoice: The People Push Back, Jesus Defeats Death

Starting point is 00:00:08 Hey guys, welcome to relatable. Happy Thursday. Tomorrow is Good Friday. This weekend is Easter. So I thought it would be fitting to talk about good news. Of course, the best news of all, the news of the gospel, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, what that all means. That's how we're going to end the episode. We're going to talk about less good news, but still good news, more temporally good news first. I asked, you guys on Instagram, what you preferred for this episode. And most of you said that you wanted me to give you good news of things that are happening across the country as far as legislation goes, as far as the organization of citizens go and standing up against the things that they don't believe in and standing up for the things that they do believe in. And so we're going

Starting point is 00:01:00 to talk about that. We're going to talk about really good bills that are coming down the pipeline in several states. Some bills that have been signed into. law by particular governors. We're going to talk about organizations that maybe you can decide to support that are, for example, for protecting good and moral education for our kids. And then we're going to talk about some feel-good stories that just reminds us of our common humanity and reminds us of the compassion that still exists out there, even in the craziness of all of the news cycle. and then we're going to end with just reminding us of what Easter is and why it's so encouraging and why even in the midst of all the chaos that seems to characterize our world right now

Starting point is 00:01:51 and our culture that we have every reason as Christians to rejoice. And so I'm super excited about this episode. There are a lot of bad things that I can talk about. There are plenty of bad things that have happened this week. There are a lot of things to be concerned about. There are a lot of things to be anxious about. There's a lot of terrible legislation, a lot of awful activism, a lot of just absolutely horrifying moral changes, cultural changes, political changes that are happening. And so if you just wanted to be anxious, if you just wanted to be worried about the country in which our kids are going to grow up, I can definitely give you that episode. And honestly, that's a lot of what we talk about, because I want us to,

Starting point is 00:02:34 be aware of the things that are going on. It's important to be concerned. I do think that we have a responsibility as people living on earth in this time that God has placed us in, in this country, that God has placed us in with purpose. I do think it's our responsibility to pay attention to the things that are going on and to infuse every sphere that God has placed us in, every sphere that we occupy with as much light and wisdom as possible. And so it's important, to talk about the scary things. Like it's important to talk about the concerning things, which we do very often. But it's also important to celebrate the winds big and small. And of course, it is so important to remind ourselves of the transcendent good news of the gospel always and to set our joy,

Starting point is 00:03:22 to set our sights, to set our hope on that. So that's what this episode is. Let's start with some temporal, temporal good news, with some earthly good news. By talking about a couple organizations that have been brought to my attention. Now, I don't know everything about these organizations. I'm giving you the names of these organizations so you can look them up and you can research them and you can decide if these are organizations that you want to support. If you like their work, I'm just giving you examples of different coalitions of parents that are trying to stand up for the things that I know a lot of you guys care about.

Starting point is 00:04:01 In particular, when it comes to curriculum in public education. You guys also know, I've done a lot of episodes on the teachers unions, on the corruption that exists in public education. And I have also advocated for if there's any way possible, which I understand maybe not for everyone this is possible. But if there's any way possible for you to get your kids out of public school and for you to homeschool or for you to send them to a Christian school, then I highly recommend that. I know a lot of people out there are big supporters of public school. they say, oh, this craziness with critical race theory and so-called comprehensive sex education, which is really just left-wing indoctrination in both of those cases, it's never going to reach my school. I live in a conservative suburb or I know my teachers.

Starting point is 00:04:48 They go to my church. And then every day, I get a message from a public school teacher who there's so many, so many wonderful in Christ-like public school teachers out there. And many of you listen to my podcast and I'm thankful for that. And yet you understand what's going on. You message me and you said, you know, I never thought that this would come to my county. I never thought that this would come to my public school. But hey, the teachers are being forced to denounce our whiteness or to categorize ourselves

Starting point is 00:05:19 on tiers of privilege according to our race, not actually according to our experiences. And we are being told to teach our kids from that perspective. that is coming to your school. Like that is coming to your school. It is coming to your county. I don't care how conservative your county is. I don't care how Christian your county is, how Christian the public school teachers are in your county.

Starting point is 00:05:43 It is coming from the top down. This is an orchestrated effort to fundamentally change even more our public education system. So kids primarily view the world and view themselves through the lens of race. It's meant to divide. It's meant to tear down. We've talked about, for example, woke math, where people of different races, students of different races are held to different standards when it comes to math where they're not actually expected anymore to find an objective answer, a solid answer to a math problem.

Starting point is 00:06:15 But you actually have to do math according to your background and privilege and race and intersectionality and all of that. I promise you that is coming down the pipeline for your public school. and private schools are not perfect. Home school curriculum is not perfect. We live in an imperfect world. But the thought that your public school, being a secular public school, is neutral, is wrong. Like there's no such thing as neutrality.

Starting point is 00:06:45 You need to understand that. Progressives are extremely dogmatic about their ideology. And they tell you, they try to shame you as a Christian to not try to influence your child or not try to influence their education with your Christian or conservative values. but they have no problem with influencing your child with their progressive values. Secularism is not neutral. Public education is not neutral. So do you want to have to fight against what your kids are learning from a secular perspective

Starting point is 00:07:14 eight hours a day when they come home at night? And are you honestly really doing that? Probably not. I think it would be a lot easier if your child has an education that's incongruence with the worldview that you would like. them to hold. Your child is not meant to be a missionary in third grade. Your child is not meant to be on the front lines of the Christian battle when they are 10 years old. Your job, and I'm saying this is someone who knows a lot of moms that are more experienced than I am, and a lot of you who have way more years

Starting point is 00:07:48 under your belt when it comes to education and when it comes to raising kids, I'm not pretending like I'm the expert in all of this. But what I've learned from people who are much older and wiser than you, is that it is our job as parents to raise our kids in the way they should go, to raise them to love God and to love their neighbors with a biblical worldview for as long as we possibly can. And then they go out into the world, then they are on the front lines. And they are salt and light. And they do become missionaries and evangelists and all of these things and the different spheres that they occupy.

Starting point is 00:08:22 That's not their job when they're six years old. They don't have the equipment to be able to fight against. something like a curriculum that says gender and sex are independent in that in seventh grade, you need to be able to decide what identity you are when it comes to your so-called gender identity. And I think it's cruel to put them in that position in many cases. And so all that to say, while I do think it's important, if parents can, to try to give your kids an education that is characterized by a biblical, worldview. I also think it's important for parents of kids who are in the public school system

Starting point is 00:09:05 to try to influence that curriculum as much as possible by pushing back against things like critical race theory, like the 1619 project, which we've talked about so many times, how toxic and how dishonest this curriculum is. And there are parents, for example, in defending education. Its parents defending education is one organization. They're a national grassroots organization working to reclaim schools from activists promoting harmful agendas through network and coalition building investigative reporting litigation and engagement on local state and national policies.

Starting point is 00:09:45 We are fighting indoctrination in the classroom and for the restoration of a healthy, non-political education for our kids. So even though I advocate for giving your kids an explicitly Christian education, if you can, I also think it's important to make sure that the kids that are going to public school are not being saturated with politics and activism on a daily basis, but are rather given a non-political based in fact education. I think our entire society benefits from that. There's also another organization. and no left turn in education.

Starting point is 00:10:26 They say that their goal is to revive an American public education, the fundamental discipline of critical and active thinking, which is based on facts, investigation, logic, and sound reasoning. So like I said, I think the entirety of society would benefit from things like that. And these organizations, these kinds of organizations, are popping up everywhere because the past year has really given us a good look into the problems with our education system,

Starting point is 00:10:53 how the teachers unions and some teachers that are represented by the teachers unions really pit themselves against the well-being of kids. It's really kind of taken the cover off of a lot of corruption that many people have known exist within the public education system that works against the education of kids, in particular in poor communities, which happened to be black and brown communities. I've talked about before if you really care about social justice, like if you really care about called equity and you really want to try to close the gaps of success and outcome, you should be for school choice. Like, you should be for opportunities that help these kids who are in these failing public schools with corrupt teachers unions working against them, who are only indoctrinating

Starting point is 00:11:42 them with activism. You should be for the opportunities for them to get a better education elsewhere. And we'll talk a little bit more about school choice. But these organizations, like parents defending education, no left turn in education, are popping up in particular this year. Parents are joining these organizations and droves to try to push back against what they see as anti-education measures in public school. So even though I'm not the biggest fan of our public education system, I still think that these reforms are very good for our whole country. No left turn in education. That organization is also trying to restore parental function. public education and elevate the family as a core teaching unit of society. They're trying to

Starting point is 00:12:28 educate the public about the radical indoctrination in K through 12 and its existential threats. It supports parents in trying to talk to their school board or talk to their administration in this. They want to use all forms of media to expose this kind of indoctrination. They have different chapters in every state. So this could be a good organization. A lot of you guys ask me, what can I do? I don't know what to do as a public school teacher. I don't know what to do as a principal. I don't know what to do as a parent. I want to push back against this stuff and I don't know how.

Starting point is 00:13:01 And these organizations could be very good tools for you. They could at least point you in the right direction. I got a wonderful review the other day. And I love all of your sweet reviews. And if you love this podcast, I would love for you to give it a five-star review on Apple podcast. That would mean a lot to me. I got one in particular that had been a lot to me the other day.

Starting point is 00:13:23 And it was from a public school teacher who listened and said, hey, I really didn't like what you had to say at first. It was actually really offensive because I'm a public school teacher and it seems like you were railing against public school. And then the review said, but as I listened to more, I realized that the things that you were talking about and that your guests were talking about were actually true. And that a lot of these problems or all the problems that you were talking about actually do exist. And I'm so glad that I kept listening.

Starting point is 00:13:49 I'm so glad that you kept listening to you. Those reviews always mean especially much to me when someone says that I listened and I was mad, but I kept listening and I agree. I just think that's awesome. That just shows a lot about the listener. And it just shows also that minds can change. My mind has changed when I start listening to someone and maybe I'm mad at first, but I keep listening.

Starting point is 00:14:12 And I'm like, oh, that's true. That has certainly been the case about theological things in the past and maybe even political things too. And so thank you. If you are listening to this, thank you for that review and for talking about how your mind was changed and heart kind of softened through listening to this podcast. Because when I talk about the problems with the public education system, it's not a knock on a lot of public school teachers. It's not a knock on every single school. But it is a knock on the system.

Starting point is 00:14:42 And in general, the inaptitude of a lot of the schools that, are, I think, underserving students by not teaching them well. There are a lot of wonderful, wonderful teachers out there. So many wonderful teachers. And there are a lot of bad teachers of private schools, by the way. But I do think it's important that we look at the problems that we're facing the public education system and that we push for reforms and that parents are empowered to speak up about these things. There's also a Chinese American group that is coming against critical race theory. You guys know what critical race theory is if you've talked, if you've listened to this podcast for any amount of time. It starts with a fundamental premise

Starting point is 00:15:28 that America is systemically racist, that every system, every institution, almost every interaction between a white and a non-white person is steeped in racism, specifically anti-black racism, and that it's not enough to just be not racist, that you have to actually be anti-racist. And part of that is actually acknowledging your privilege as a white person, how you have been at the very least complicit, if not active in oppression. And we're talking about telling this to young kids as well. And having non-white people understand that they are on the side of the oppressed. And whatever can be done in order to even the scales or equalize the outcomes has to be done, even if that means discriminating against, for example, through affirmative action,

Starting point is 00:16:23 white and Asian students or changing the standards for particular races of students so everyone has equal outcomes. This is toxic because it forces people to view people according to their race. It muddies the definitions of oppressors versus oppressor. It lays responsibility at the feet of people who have not been oppressive and who perhaps don't have a whole lot of privileges themselves. It creates resentment. It creates division. It creates self-loathing. It creates loathing of other people. And it gives a false representation of what America is. It's not an accurate assessment of real oppression that has existed in America. It is the assertion that America is systemically, endemically, pervasively racist down to its core and must be fundamentally

Starting point is 00:17:16 revolutionized and done away with in order for things to get better. That's a false premise that is not a good basis for change. Those kinds of so-called liberation revolutions have always ended in death and destruction, never liberation inequality for the people that it claims to be fighting for. And so that's why parents are speaking against this because it's harming how their students see the world, see themselves, and see other people. So this Chinese American group called Chinese American Citizens Alliance Greater New York, according to Fox News, said that critical race theory, CRT, has predominantly entered workplaces in educational institutions under the guise of anti-racism and diversity, equity, and inclusion when it is, in fact, racist, oppressive, discriminatory. and divisive. This doctrine teaches that people are inextricably linked to their race, that blacks are oppressed, that whites are oppressors and any unequal outcome is not only unjust,

Starting point is 00:18:20 but also racist. So that's a really good summary of what I just said. The group cited examples of this doctrine seeping into work spaces in schools, instances where white employees and students were subjected to diversity training seminars or, and that's in scare quotes, diversity training seminars or curricula that essentially ask participants to admit their complicity in an inherently oppressive system. Another part about critical race theory is it's muddy definition of what morality and responsibility is. Responsibility and agency is never ascribed to people who are not white or seen as not privileged or on the side of the oppressed. And all agency and all responsibility, the collective responsibility is given to people who are white.

Starting point is 00:19:10 So that means you've probably seen this. When we see, for example, a person who is black commit a violent crime against a person who is Asian, you've probably seen a lot of these assessments and analyses from the media from blue checks on Twitter saying this is still white supremacy is still to blame. Or when, for example, the Muslim man shot. several people at the Colorado at the Colorado grocery store, still there was a way to try to blame whiteness and white supremacy. That's what critical race theory does. It prohibits us from actually seeing the world as it is. And for us, it prohibits us from being able to assess things

Starting point is 00:19:56 clearly, intellectually, and morally, because we are unable or unwilling, according to that world view to say that someone is responsible for their actions based on their skin color. Don't you see how that's a problem? And don't you see how if you have a justice system that is based on that, then you're incentivizing bad behavior. You're incentivizing irresponsibility. And it's unfair. It's biased. It's partial. And as we've talked about so many times on this podcast, God hates partiality that is not his definition of justice. Again, it's all. only leads to more resentment. This particular organization, this Chinese American organization, it notes that third graders

Starting point is 00:20:42 at a Northern California elementary school math class were told that they lived in a dominant culture of white cisgender educated Christians, and this culture was created to hoard power. The third graders were told to check themselves off victimization categories to see whether they were oppressors or oppressed according to, according to Fox News, this is what this organization is saying. So you see how this only creates resentment. This only creates hate. And that's what progressivism is. It only knows how to tear down. That's what it doesn't like. It doesn't know how to build. It's just not in its nature. There is also an organization. It's actually a website called criticalrace.org.

Starting point is 00:21:27 It was started by a law professor that I've had on this podcast from Cornell Law School, and it tracks critical race theory in colleges. It's a free resource for parents and students concerned about the negative impact critical race training has on education. And so it has a database of over 200 colleges and universities to learn more about critical race training on campuses nationwide. So that's criticalrace.org. I will link to the interview that I did with this professor in the description of, this podcast and I will also link to all of these things in the description of this podcast and so you can read them for yourself. But this is good. This is very good that people are starting to

Starting point is 00:22:07 understand the dangers of this and that they are feeling empowered to take matters into their own hands and to be educated about it, to educate other people about it and to do something about it. Because critical race theory started as this very academic, very, very esoteric idea that has only now started to manifest itself in tangible ways and enter into the classrooms of your kids. And so it is absolutely your right and your responsibility to know how this is going on, where this is going on, why it's going on, and how to push back against it. There's also a new organization called Fair for All. It was started by Christopher Rufo, whom I've had on this podcast twice.

Starting point is 00:22:50 He has been leading the charge in a lot of ways against critical race theory. and he is a wonderful journalist, and he has been wonderful in informing the public about what's going on and the dangers of this. And he helps start fair for all. It is an organization that says it defend civil liberties and rights guaranteed to each individual, including freedom of speech and expression, equal protection under the law and the right to personal privacy. They advocate for individuals who are threatened or persecuted for speech. who are held to a different set of rules for language or conduct based on their skin color, ancestry, or other immutable characteristics. Fair for all also offers guidance to parents and educators.

Starting point is 00:23:35 It connects advocates across the country, develops curriculum, and works to make sure that your school lives by values of fairness, understanding, and humanity. So it advocates for true equality. It advocates for seeing people as they are. It advocates also for merit-based systems and structure. that were told are actually racist because they could produce disparate outcomes. But this is what it means to have a fair and truly equal society. It's against discrimination.

Starting point is 00:24:07 It's against viewing people primarily by their race, which is something that's going to tear our society apart. So fair for all is another good organization that you can connect to. So many of you message me and say, I don't know what to say. I don't know how to stand up. These are all organizations that you should connect to that can hopefully provide you with those tools. There are also lawyers now and legal teams that are suing against critical race theory. In particular, when it comes to students or when it comes to employees being forced to say something or being forced to, for example, denounce their privilege or say that America is systemically racist in order to keep their

Starting point is 00:24:52 job. There are lawyers now that are going after companies that are forcing speech in this way. And so this is a fight that people on the right are taking on. And it's not just people on the right. There are a lot of people in the middle. There are people who are leftist, left wing, in a lot of ways that I've had on this podcast several times, who are against critical race theory and the kind of victimization and cancel culture that comes along with it. And so this really is a very diverse and broad coalition of people that are coming together and pushing back against this, even in legal ways. And then we're also seeing this affect some state legislation and executive orders.

Starting point is 00:25:36 For example, in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis, he issued an executive order to block critical race theory in public school. The New York Post says, critical race. theory will be explicitly excluded from Florida's new statewide civics education. The Republican governor addressed the academic study while discussing his proposed $106 million initiative to support a new civics curriculum for students at a press conference Wednesday afternoon. He said that high quality education begins with high quality curriculum.

Starting point is 00:26:07 We are going to make sure that students have the best civics instruction standards possible. And so they're going to incorporate the foundational concepts, with the best materials that they can that does not include this kind of divisive rhetoric and curriculum. Texas is doing the same thing. There is a bill that has been put forward by state representative James White, HB 4093, an education bill looking to end teaching of critical race theory in public schools throughout the state.

Starting point is 00:26:38 It would make it illegal for any teaching administrative bodies, including school districts and state agencies to require teachers, administrators, or employees to teach courses on concepts such as one race or sex being inherently superior to another. And this would have been so obvious a few years ago we would have read that. And we would have said, yeah, that's racist. They shouldn't be teaching this. So this is simply saying this bill is saying that an administration in a school cannot

Starting point is 00:27:06 force teachers or employees to teach this kind of stuff. Oklahoma, they passed a bill, a state. Senator or is bringing forth a bill, Shane Jett, Senate Bill 803 to ban critical race theory in school. This is according to the Blaze. It would explicitly prohibit the teaching of critical race theory and its components in the state of Oklahoma. It's teaching divisive concepts in ideology to young people. Jet told the Blaze.

Starting point is 00:27:39 It is Marxist in origin, true, and it's designed to cause children to instead of looking at what makes us unique and special an American, it causes them to pit themselves against each other based on the color of their skin. Rhode Island might not expect this. Rhode Island, there is also a bill in the state legislature to ban critical race theory according to the daily caller H-60707-O, introduced into the state's house in early March, seeks to prohibit the teaching of divisive concepts and would mandate that any contract grant or training program entered into by the state or any municipality include provisions prohibiting teaching divisive concepts and prohibit making any individual feel discomfort, guilty, anguish, or any distress on account of their race or sex. Now, shouldn't that be

Starting point is 00:28:26 obvious that any curriculum that intentionally tries to make a student feel uncomfortable about their race, about their melanin count, about their sex, that that's bad for students. That's probably psychologically damaging. That's societally damaging. And yet, the left says, oh, no, no, no, we actually want that. Like, we want that kind of discomfort because they see it as help. They see that as doing the work. Well, I'm not for it. These legislators aren't for it.

Starting point is 00:28:55 There are a lot of parents that aren't for it. And then when we look on the federal level, we will probably, will probably remember that President Trump had signed an executive order to make sure that this kind of divisive concept is not going to be infiltrating our federal agencies. and of course, Joe Biden quickly reversed it as soon as he became president, but Tom Cotton has introduced legislation, the senator from Arkansas, to ban critical race theory and the military, which again, should be a given. According to Chris Rufo at City Journal, quote,

Starting point is 00:29:31 the bill would prohibit the armed forces from directly promoting the core tenets of critical race theory, that the United States of America is a fundamentally racist nation, that an individual by virtue of his or her race is inherently racist or oppressive. All of that is what critical race theory teaches, and that an individual because of his or her race bears responsibility for the actions committed by other members of his or her race. That is what critical race theory teaches about white people. The bill also includes a provision against segregating members of the armed forces by race, which has become common practice and many CRT training programs. Now, this legislation is probably not going to pass, but it's important.

Starting point is 00:30:08 I mean, Democrats often do this as well. You put forward legislation to start a conversation. You'll hold on to it. You hope that it gets past at some point. I think it's very important that he proposed this legislation and we should be all for it. Now, if we go across the pond, there are also efforts in Britain, for example, against critical race theory. According to the BBC, there is a race report UK not deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities, which is exactly what CRT assert. Of course, it's an American theory because we have so much luxury. and privilege in this country that we actively are thinking of ways to try to create and capitalize on oppression. But this also exists in places like the UK, which would say that

Starting point is 00:30:59 the UK is fundamentally deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities. And the UK is saying, no, no, no, we're not. The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities said family structure and social class had a bigger impact than race on how people's lives turned out. And of course, we absolutely know that that's true. That doesn't mean that racism has never existed in people's past or that it doesn't exist right now. And America has been systemically racist in the past. The question is, how do those horrors affect today? How do those atrocities that America endured and perpetuated actually affect the outcome of people? lives today. And there is a narrative that the legacy of slavery is an unbroken thread that is still

Starting point is 00:31:48 plaguing particular communities today. And the facts just don't back that up. Probably not in the UK and not in the United States. Again, that is not ignoring the atrocities of systemic racism that have existed here. But there's not a lot of data. And actually, there's a lot of counter data. to, there's a lot of data that pushes back against this theory, against this assertion that every racial disparity or every bad circumstance that is experienced by a non-white person today is because of slavery or because of systemic discrimination. As Thomas Sol often points out, if you look, for example, at the 1950s, crime rates among black Americans, low, marriage rates among black Americans high. There was a point in the 1940s and 50s where the fatherlessness rate

Starting point is 00:32:46 among white families was actually higher than that of black families. When did that change in the 1960s? That is when these gaps started to grow even more. And by the way, fatherlessness among white families also started to increase dramatically in the 1960s as well. You've got the sexual revolution. You've got the welfare state. If it was true that there's this unbroken thread, of slavery that is still affecting just as much people today as it did in the 1950s. And that's the reason for fatherlessness. That's the reason for crime. That's the reason for broken families in black communities.

Starting point is 00:33:24 Then that would have been worse at the time of Jim Crow in the mid-century than it is now. But the fact of the matter is, fatherlessness has gotten worse since the time of Jim Crow in black communities than it is today. And so that doesn't make that doesn't make. that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. There have to be other causes that are factored in there than historic racism. And of course, we know if you look at, for example, the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics, the median household income is correlated very strongly with the fatherlessness rate.

Starting point is 00:34:05 So if you look at, for example, Asians, according to this study, their median income is $98,000. That's a median income for Asian Americans, much higher about $20,000 more than the median income for white Americans. And the share of birth to unwed mothers in 2019 was only 11.7% among Asian Americans. And if you look at white Americans, the median income is $76,000. And the fatherlessness rate is 28.2%. So a lot higher fatherlessness rate, a lot lower median income. If you look at Hispanic Americans, $56,000 is the median income with a 52.1% fatherlessness rate. And then if you look at black Americans, $45,000 median income, with a 70% fatherlessness rate.

Starting point is 00:35:06 And so we see a very strong correlation. And we can't necessarily prove causation from this graph, but we can look at a correlation and probably assume, based on the context that there is a causal effect there. So the UK coming out with the study saying, look, it's actually a family structure. It's actually a lot of other factors that go into someone's life outcome that have a much bigger impact than race, that's also very likely true here. It is true. I mean,

Starting point is 00:35:38 from every study that we see, even the Brookings Institute talks about this as well. And so it's very good. It's good that the UK is coming out with this kind of stuff and just is willing to say, hey, look, this is not rigged against people of certain races. I think it's important for the United States to also take that stand. That is a direct assault on the assertions of the divisive critical race theory. All right. We've also got bills protecting girls sports in Tennessee. According to CNN, Governor Bill Lee signed a transgender sports bill into law Friday,

Starting point is 00:36:16 requiring students to prove their sex at birth in order to play middle school and high school sports. The bill states that a student's gender for purposes of participation in a public middle school or high school, interscholastic athletic activity or event be determined by the student's sex at the time. of the student's birth as indicated on the student's original birth certificate. Again, this is just common sense. The differences between boys and girls, as we've talked about, many times are fundamental and they only grow more pronounced as kids go through puberty and it creates an unfair playing field, literally playing field between boys and girls when girls are forced to compete against boys who naturally have greater bone density, greater muscle mass, greater

Starting point is 00:37:09 aerobic and anaerobic capacity. We've looked at these studies several times before, as if we need studies to prove something that has been obvious for all of human history. But we have looked at a variety of studies that compare female athletes versus male athletes in how the non-androgenized body of a woman just cannot compete with most. men. Doesn't mean the women aren't awesome athletes. It just means that men and women are different, and girls sports now have to be protected from boys who were born boys who identify as girls competing against them and competing for their scholarships and competing for their state titles. And it just protects their safety as well. We've talked about some of the injuries that have

Starting point is 00:37:56 been endured by professional female athletes who have been forced to play against biological men. And I hate that phrase, but sometimes we have to say it for the sake of clarity. And so this is about protecting girls' safety. This is about making it fair for girls. This is about making sure that girls are still able to fairly compete for things like scholarship. So that's in Tennessee. This is also happening in Arkansas. Arkansas, according to Fox News, became the second state this year to ban transgender athletes

Starting point is 00:38:25 from participating in sporting events Thursday. That's a very negative way to say that. Fox News, Governor, A.C. that Hutchinson signed the Fairness and Women's Sports Act after the measure passed to the state house with overwhelming support earlier this week. The law simply states that female athletes should not have to compete in a sport against a student of the male sex when the sport is designed for women's competition. Hutchinson said in the statement on Thursday proponents of the bill argue it will ensure females have an equal playing field when it comes to sporting events as biologically born males have a physical advantage over female competitors. True. And so it's good. Again, parents are speaking up about this kind of stuff. And this is not to say that transgender athletes can't play sports because you're going to see the ACLU say this is a ban on transgender athletes playing sports. No, it's not. Everyone is allowed to play a sport according to their sex as long as they make that team.

Starting point is 00:39:22 So just like everyone else, they are able to play sports according to their biology. That is what is fair. It's not according to identity or declaration or feelings. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense when you're talking about physical sports, especially physical contact sports. And so it's good that states are taking these measures. Moving on to vaccine passports, which we're going to talk about more thoroughly next week. I know a lot of you guys are concerned about that as far as privacy goes.

Starting point is 00:39:52 And there are a lot of states that feel those concerns and are hearing those concerns. Florida is one of them. Governor Ronda Santas said that he plans to, issue an executive order forbidding businesses from requiring so-called vaccine passports across the state, says business insider. DeSantis said at a news conference on Monday that he would introduce an executive function designed to prevent businesses from refusing to serve customers who are unable to prove they had been vaccinated while seeking support from the Republican legislature to enshrine the act into law. Now, I will be surprised, honestly, if vaccine passports

Starting point is 00:40:27 become as pervasive as we are afraid that they are, because I've been listening. to this and they're actually concerns from the left, even from the ACLU, which I'll read in a second about the equity of this and how this is going to disproportionately negatively affect Americans that are living in poor communities, which happen to be predominantly black and brown Americans in many cases. And they're afraid that people without a vaccine passport are going to be treated like second class citizens. And that's especially concerning to these organizations, if that includes

Starting point is 00:41:00 black and brown Americans who they would say are traditionally marginalized communities, they are going to be further marginalized. So because that there is that concern, I'm actually interested to see if there's going to be as much support from the left as Republicans think that there will be. Ohio is another state that's coming out against vaccine passports. Fox News says as America's mass vaccination campaign against COVID-19 continues to hum along to Ohio state legislators are planning to introduce a bill

Starting point is 00:41:32 that will preemptively ban vaccine passports over concerns about privacy and government overreach. Rep. Al Kutrona, a Republican who represents parts of eastern Ohio, told Fox News the vaccine passports mandated by the government would create privacy concerns that should be startling to anyone.

Starting point is 00:41:48 A vaccine passport, a unified centralized system for providing or denying access to everyday activities like shopping and dining, would be a nightmare for civil liberties and privacy, and it would exist. exacerbate existing social disparities connected to wealth, privilege, and race, which is exactly what we just said. Jay Stanley is a senior policy analyst with the ACLU's speech privacy and technology project.

Starting point is 00:42:09 ACLU is very left wing, but sometimes they are on the good side of things. Jay Stanley said that he fears that a vaccine passport would be overused. While there are legitimate circumstances in which people can be asked for proof of vaccination, we don't want to turn into a checkpoint society that outlast the danger of COVID and that casually excludes people without credentials from facilities where vaccine mandates are not highly justified. He's absolutely right. And that, of course, is the concern with all of these restrictions, all of these new developments, that he says, would be a checkpoint society that outlast the danger of COVID. and actually exceeds the danger of COVID, I would say. And so it's good. We've got different organizations on the left and the right that are coming out against

Starting point is 00:43:01 this stuff. And the fact that there are states, I wouldn't be surprised if other conservative and Republican-dominated states do the same thing. They're saying, look, you can't deny someone's service just because they don't have a vaccine passport. It goes along with this idea that if you don't have a vaccine, you automatically are carrying that disease? I mean, that's just not true. That's not even logical. And if the point of the vaccine is to create at least enough immunity for society to be safe, there's no reason to ban everyone who doesn't

Starting point is 00:43:32 have the vaccine, who is not even sick from entering a place of work, especially as we have seen COVID cases go down so much, even in states that have lifted the mask mandates and have lifted business restrictions and things like that. There's no reason. There's just no reason for this. Moving on to abortion legislation, there is a fetal heartbeat bill in the state of Texas that has been approved by the state Senate. It approved six anti-abortion bills, according to USA Today, including a proposal that would outlaw the procedure once a fetal heartbeat is detected. The second measure would become law. Oh, there's another measure that would effectively ban the procedure completely. The second measure would become law if the U.S. Supreme Court, Court reverses earlier decisions. Legalizing abortion, abortion opponents have pledged to push an aggressive agenda to severely limit availability of the procedure with an eye to the changing power dynamics of the Supreme Court, where the conservatives now hold a 6-3 majority. That is untrue USA today. Conservatives do not hold a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court. At best, it is 5'4. Roberts is not a conservative.

Starting point is 00:44:45 Just because he was nominated by a Republican does not mean he's a conservative. He does not have a conservative track record. So the U.S. But Texas is, according to USA today, looking to the majority that conservatives do mostly in most perspectives have on the Supreme Court to try to challenge abortion as much as possible. Abortion is the killing of a human being. That's what it is. It can't be described in any other way. You can try to euphemize it. You can try to sanitize it. You can try to normalize it. You can try to glorify it. But that's what it is. It's the killing of a human being. And Texas is trying to push back and trying to lead the way and banning that as much as possible

Starting point is 00:45:28 to protect life inside the womb. That does not mean that we don't care about the mom. That doesn't mean that we don't care about the baby after the baby is born. That is a myth. That is a lie. Go visit your local pregnancy center and see how many resources and how much love and how much help is poured out for families and crisis on a daily basis by pro-life organizations. people who say this is about controlling women's bodies.

Starting point is 00:45:52 You don't know anything about pro-lifers. You don't know anything about pro-life activists. You don't know anything about these pregnancy clinics that help women get the resources and the connections and the education that they need in order to survive and thrive. Go check it out before you launch that attack at pro-lifers for saying this is about controlling women's bodies and this is about just being pro-birth. Nothing could be further from the truth. I love this from the Huffington Post.

Starting point is 00:46:20 2021 is already the year of anti-abortion legislation. The Huffington Post, I was obviously very mad about this. And they say, according to a report, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, who is responsible for the killing of hundreds of thousands, about 300,000 unborn babies every day, disproportionately black unborn babies, by the way, which I only note because the same people who say that they care about inequality of outcomes don't seem to care about that disproportionate rates among black Americans. And by the way,

Starting point is 00:46:54 that disproportionality is I think we talked about yesterday, according to Jason Riley of the Wall Street Journal, exists even when you control for income in education and employment and things like that. It is disproportionately high among black Americans the abortion rate. And again, the same people who say that they care about inequality of outcome in other ways don't seem. to care about that gap there that should tell you something. So continuing, legislation limiting abortion in 2021 has skyrocketed in comparison to a similar time frame in 2019 compared to bills introduced from January through mid-March 2019 medication abortion restrictions and bans have tripled to 33.

Starting point is 00:47:38 Anti-abortion constitutional amendments have more than tripled to 14. And states have enacted 12 abortion restrictions this year compared to just one by this point in 2019. Overall, state legislatures have introduced 516 abortion restrictions compared to 304 mid-March 2019. Those pieces of legislation are clearly about power and control over our bodies. Original Talking Point. President and CEO, Alexis McGill Johnson says, well, I'm saying original talking point, but that was her talking point. Noting the bills disproportionately impact people of color, people with low incomes, and LGBTQ plus people. get this, she says these policies are designed to make it harder for people to exist.

Starting point is 00:48:23 That's what the president of Planned Parenthood says about anti-abortion legislation. Let me repeat. She says, these policies are designed to make it harder for people to exist. What does abortion do? It kills a human being. It makes it impossible for a person to exist. Disproportionately people of color. Oh my goodness.

Starting point is 00:48:44 to live in this kind of cognitive moral dissonance. I don't know how people do it. I don't know. But like I said, like I've said, postmodernism, godlessness makes hearts of stone and brains of mush so that this kind of dissonance can just, I guess, exist there comfortably. Now, we've talked about how abortion rates go down under Democratic presidents and people say, well, this is why we need to elect a Democrat because abortions go down. because of Democratic policy.

Starting point is 00:49:16 But Democrats don't, or not Democrats, but presidents don't set policy. We've talked about this before. We did an episode and we'll link to it. Do Democrats decrease abortions? No, that's not true. States have the most control over abortion law. And under Barack Obama, when you saw a big drop off in a big decrease in the abortion rate in America, state legislatures were.

Starting point is 00:49:44 dominated by Republicans who were pushing anti-abortion, if you want to call it that, I'm fine with that phrase, legislation. And I'm not even saying that was the cause of the decrease in abortions, but nothing that Obama did as presidents as part of the executive branch could have had an effect on the abortion rate. So that's just a, that myth is a fundamental understanding of how our laws work and how policy works, in particular abortion policy. Again, we'll link to that past episode and you can go back and you can hear us bust that myth in full. There are also lots of school choice bills that are being pushed in state legislatures, according to the Wall Street Journal. Nearly 50 school choice bills have been introduced this year in 30 states.

Starting point is 00:50:32 The article says, the pandemic has been a revelation for many Americans about union control of public schools that refused to reopen. that awakening is helping to spur some welcome reform progress, as several state legislatures are moving to expand school choice. One breakthrough is in West Virginia, where the legislature passed a bill creating the state's first education savings program. Meanwhile, in Georgia, the House passed a bill last week that would expand eligibility for the state's voucher program for special education students. The Senate, which had already passed the legislation, voted to approve House amendments on Monday. The bill is headed to Brian Kim's desk in South Dakota Republican Governor Kristi Noem signed a bill that expands eligibility for the state's

Starting point is 00:51:15 tax credit scholarship program to students already enrolled in private schools. Last school year, the program provided nearly 800 students with scholarships for about $1,800. The T-shirts unions would remain powerful, as demonstrated in Kentucky, where Democratic Governor Andy Bashir vetoed a bill last week that would establish a new tax credit scholarship program. But the state legislature vote. late Monday to override the veto, meaning low and middle income families will have access to a scholarship fund of up to $25 million financed by tax credit backed private donations. Imagine being against something like that for low income students to Arizona bills to expand tax credit

Starting point is 00:51:58 scholarships and education savings accounts have passed this in it and are now in the house. An Indiana bill created an ESA program passed the house as it has in Missouri, a Florida bill that would consolidate state scholarship programs into ESAs for some 200,000 students is still percolating in the Senate. So school choice advancements also happening in several states. All of this legislation, by the way, if it has not been signed into law by the governor, you still have an opportunity to call your state representative, to call your state senator wherever the bill happens to be and make sure that they vote yes on the bills that you care about. school choice is one of the most important civil rights issues of our time. Again, mostly affecting

Starting point is 00:52:45 middle and low income students to make sure that they have access to quality education. The lack of quality in our education system has nothing to do with funding, as we've talked about several times. That, again, is a myth. Funding to public education has only increased since the 1960s. And yet, teachers' salaries have barely gone up. And student, outcomes really have an increase under Barack Obama. Billions and billions of dollars, according to the Washington Post, were pumped in to failing public schools over the span of seven years. They saw no positive changes, no positive results from the funding of public schools. It has to do with the corruption and the bureaucracy and the administrative bloat of the public

Starting point is 00:53:33 education system that does not allow those dollars to actually influence the teachers and help the students and give them resources. It's not a lack of funding issue that we have in our public education system. It's a corruption issue. And school choice incentivizes higher quality in schools so they can continue to have students come to their schools. When the money follows the child, all of a sudden you are creating a marketplace of schools to be able to compete for for education to be able to compete for students. And that kind of competition creates higher quality as it does in every part of the marketplace.

Starting point is 00:54:14 Also, the Texas Senate approves the bill to stop social media companies from banning taxons for political views. The Texas Senate early Thursday approved a bill according to Texas Tribune that would prohibit social media companies with at least 100 million monthly users from blocking banning, demonetizing,

Starting point is 00:54:32 or discriminating against a user based on their viewpoint or their location within Texas. So that's interesting. Florida is also taking a stand against big tech censorship. So legislation seeking to increase transparency in big tech and fight back against social media censorship. It's moving quickly through the Florida House. It would require social media companies to tell Florida residents why they were banned within 30 days of it happening.

Starting point is 00:54:57 It creates a path of legal action for Florida residents to sue social media companies. And so that gives a lot of power in the hands of social media users when they feel like they are being unfairly discriminated against in Texas and Florida. We'll see if that holds up. There's some other good conservative news. For example, Nancy Pelosi and Rita Hart finally gave up on their power grab to steal a house seat for Democrats amid pressure from Iowaans. We've talked about this. Rita Hart actually lost her congressional race in Iowa. by just a few votes.

Starting point is 00:55:34 And so she asked the House of Representatives under the control of Nancy Pelosi to investigate into this because she claims that there's fraud, even though the state election board in Iowa already said that there's no fraud and that the Republican candidate actually won, fair, and square. Nancy Pelosi said that she was actually considering unseeding the certified legitimate winner of the Iowa election and giving that seat to the Democrat Rita Hart. I think maybe they realize that that's the exact thing that they criticize Republicans for doing in regards to the presidential election back in January. They said those people were actually encouraging terrorism by questioning the results of the presidential election.

Starting point is 00:56:17 Nancy Pelosi was literally just because she wanted to about to take away a seat from a Republican, give it to a Democrat in Iowa. Thankfully, she has backed off on that. So that's no longer going to happen. things are looking good in the places that have opened up like Texas. Their rates have gone down even after the mask mandate has been lifted, even after businesses are no longer restricted. Same thing in Florida, even though places like California, Gavin Newsom called this absolutely reckless,

Starting point is 00:56:48 but it has not been reckless. The results actually have been very good. The rate of infection and the rate of death in Florida, for example, per 100,000 people is much lower than, for example, in New York, in California, in Massachusetts, in various states that still have those restrictions. And so that's really good news. Okay, now I want to get into just one, like, feel good story. And then we'll end with some gospel truth.

Starting point is 00:57:17 I know this is a longer, a longer episode. I ended up having more commentary than I thought. All right. I want to talk about this sweet story that I saw in CBS News. A 19-year-old with autism pins cover letter to future employers. The article says a young man recently penned an honest cover letter to his future employer and posted it on LinkedIn where it eventually went viral. My name is Ryan Lowry.

Starting point is 00:57:43 I am 19 years old. I live in Leesburg, Virginia, and I have autism. In his letter, Lowry goes on to explain that he has a unique sense of humor. He's gifted at math and technology and is a quick learner. He wrote the letter with one goal to get a job in animation or IT. I realize that someone like you will have to take a chance on me, he says in his letter. I don't learn like typical people do. I would need a mentor to teach me, but I learn quickly.

Starting point is 00:58:07 Once you explain it, I get it. I promise that if you hire me and teach me, you'll be glad that you did. Lowry then assures his future employer. He will show up every day and work hard and his sincerity and determination. In this letter, he touched many people. The article says the post received more than 180,000 reactions and more than 6,000 comments on LinkedIn. One of the people who saw the post was a man named Aaron Pairn. and executive at a 3D and animation studio.

Starting point is 00:58:33 Perry brought Lowry's story to exceptional minds and academy and studio for digital artists and animators with autism. David Siegel, executive director at exceptional minds. New Lowry was a perfect candidate for the academy which trains people with autism in the art of animation and helps them with job placement. Lowry will now take virtual classes for eight weeks of summer through exceptional minds.

Starting point is 00:58:55 While the animation classes are usually held an exceptional mind studio in California, the classes are virtual due to COVID. And so he gets to do that, which is one of his dreams. And I love that he was so honest about this. I loved his cover letter and just how transparent he was and how sincere he was and that he just wanted to be able to work hard and prove himself. He wasn't looking for any kind of special treatment. And I do love one good thing about our society is that I think that we have become more understanding. And in some ways, not in enough ways, but in some ways have become more accepting and compassionate towards people with special needs. And we absolutely need to highlight and continue to reward people who simply want to work hard and

Starting point is 00:59:44 want to be rewarded based on their merit. And so I just, I applaud this young man for his cover letter. I know it can be hard. I know a lot of people. I know a lot of I've known a lot of people throughout my life who have autism, and it can be especially hard for them to put themselves out there, and for them to articulate and communicate their thoughts in some situations. And he was very articulate and was able to very honestly give an assessment of what he brings to the table. And I love that it went viral, that someone reached out to him. And now that he's connected to an opportunity, I just hope it goes well for him. I truly think that as toxic as our current culture is, we are always looking for ways to bring joy to people. I do think that essentially our neighbors want to do well for each other.

Starting point is 01:00:36 Like it brings you joy. It makes you happy to help someone else, to connect someone else to something that they need. I think that we need to run after that high that generosity and charity gives us, rather than trying to push it down and find ways to be divided. I think we need to remember that most of our neighbors and most people in everyday life aren't thinking about politics. They're not thinking about our differences. Most people that I interact with on a daily basis are very kind, especially if I can tell that they have, they're in a bad mood maybe or they're not having a great day. If I'm kind to them, my tone or my smile depends on if you're wearing a mask or not, it can change their tone. A kind way turns,

Starting point is 01:01:18 or a kind word turns away wrath, as the Bible says. And I think it's the same for you, the same for everyone when I'm in a bad mood and someone's tone is kind and I can tell they love their job and that they're working hard. That can make all the difference in my day. I still think most people are committed to those kinds of interactions and relationships. I still think most people want that to be the characterization of our country. There's one other feel good story that I wanted to point to. this is according to NBC, a couple adopts seven siblings in foster care after their parents die in a car crash.

Starting point is 01:01:57 This is devastating, but also redemptive. Pam Willis was scrolling through her Facebook feed in 2019 when she landed on a news story about seven siblings in need of a permanent home. The children who ranged from age one to 12 have been in foster care for more than a year after losing both parents in a horrific rollover crash. Pam couldn't stop staring at their faces. I can't explain it. I just knew I was supposed to be their mom. Pam 50 told today parents. Pam and her husband, Gary, have been fostering kids for years, and they share five adult children.

Starting point is 01:02:28 They called the number listed at the bottom of the story, and they were matched two months later to these seven siblings. They adopted them all. In August, the emotional ceremony was attended virtually by Pam and Gary's biological children. And so I love stories of people purposely running into discomfort and running into pain. Simply for the sake of helping someone else, again, I think there are more people like this in our country, which I still believe, by the way, is the greatest country in the world. There are more people like this than there are people who want to do harm. There are a lot of bad people out there. There are a lot of bad things out there.

Starting point is 01:03:12 But there's also a lot of good. There's a lot of compassion. there are image bearers walking around that reflect God's love and God's charity and God's kindness to other people. And I think that we as Christians have the utmost responsibility to not just emulate that and to not just represent that in the world, but also to see that in other people and to highlight the ways that we see that in our communities. And so I'm so thankful for these sweet parents who decided to go out of their way to make sure that these kids were cared for. I can't imagine what these kids have gone through over the past

Starting point is 01:03:48 couple of years. And so thank the Lord for Pam and Gary for doing that. There are a few other feel-good stories that I could get to, but I know that this is already long. So I want to end with the best, with the best news of all. And that is the news of the gospel. That's what we're celebrating this weekend. Of course, as Christians, that's what we celebrate every day. Every day that we're reminded of our sins, we're reminded of our failures. We're reminded of our fate if it had not been for Christ. We talk a lot about Ephesians 2, how we are either dead and sin or alive in Christ. And Ephesians 2 says that we used to all be under the influence of the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. And we're by nature

Starting point is 01:04:35 children of wrath like the rest of mankind, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, we have been saved. We talk about that passage in Ephesians too so much because it's the perfect depiction of the gospel. We have been made alive together with Christ. And the way that we can say that we've been made alive together with Christ is because Jesus himself died and rose again. And he has become our resurrection and our life. And that's exactly what he says in John 11, 25 through 27. This is in the midst of mourning over Lazarus's death, he says, I and the resurrection in the life, whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.

Starting point is 01:05:22 And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, who is coming into the world. So what's the difference in Jesus, in any other prophet, any other teacher, any other religious leader who has died. The difference, well, there's many differences, but one of the difference is the biggest difference is that he came back. He didn't just die. He's not just gone forever, is that he actually, he was actually raised again. He actually became our resurrection when he was

Starting point is 01:05:58 resurrected from the dead. And let's read that story a little bit. And we'll talk about why we can be so confident in that and why that resurrection gives us confidence and should give us every reason to rejoice every day, but especially as we go into this weekend. Matthew 28, 1 through 6. Now after the Sabbath toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. I don't know why. That phrase tickles me. The other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white is snow. And for fear of him, the guards trembled and became like

Starting point is 01:06:40 dead men. But the angel said to the woman, do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who is crucified. He is not here. This might be the greatest, most consequential verse in the entire Bible. He is not here, for he has risen as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. So Jesus was resurrected from the dead. Mary and the other Mary went to go see him to visit him in his tomb. An angel came to him and said, no, no, no. Remember, he said that he was going to rise again. He did exactly what he said he was going to do, and he has defeated death by walking out of this tomb, which was guarded by this heavy stone. How the heck did that happen? Because he is the God of the universe.

Starting point is 01:07:25 1 Corinthians 15, 3 through 9 says this, for I deliver to you, this is Paul speaking to the church in Corinth, for I delivered to you as of first importance, what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. So this is not random. It was to fulfill prophecy, and that he appeared to Seifis, then to the 12, then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. So you see that claim. It's not just that Jesus rose from the dead. It's actually that he appeared to people, that he appeared to not just the 12, but he actually appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time,

Starting point is 01:08:10 most of whom are still alive. So why do we trust this testimony? Vodi Bakum talks about this a lot because it's a collection of eyewitness testimonies, in particular of the resurrection. What is to many people, understandably, the most unbelievable part of the gospel, and therefore the most essential part of the gospel, he's saying, look, I don't just believe this, but I saw it. And over 500 people saw it.

Starting point is 01:08:35 And some of them are still alive as I am writing this. That's what gives this so much credibility. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. And then Paul says, last of all, as to one untimely born. I love that humility. He appeared also to me, for I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. And yet, as he also says in 1 Corinthians 1,

Starting point is 01:09:00 God chooses that which the world would scoff at, that which the world would reject to bring to nothing the things that the world regards as wise and powerful. God uses the unexpected all of the time in order to bring himself glory and to achieve his purposes. And Paul is a perfect example of that. Now, in Acts, we see and hear the gospel so perfectly coming from Peter in particular when the Jews are given the gospel and the Gentiles are given the gospel. I'm going to read you parts, not the whole passage because it's a little long, but parts of Acts 2, 22 through 37. So, men of Israel hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst. And by the way, that's an authentication

Starting point is 01:09:57 of Jesus's divinity, the mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him. As you yourselves know, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosening the pains of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. And then he says that David actually prophesied to this. He quotes Psalm 16. Then he goes on, brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day. Being there for a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw, David foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. That's what Psalm 16 says.

Starting point is 01:10:52 This Jesus God raised up. And of that, we are all witnesses. let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ this Jesus whom you crucified. And I love this passage. I've always loved these two verses. Now when they heard this, this audience, now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart. And they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Starting point is 01:11:28 That's what happens when you hear the gospel and God has made your heart ripe and made your heart soft and good soil for planting the seeds of the gospel. What happens is you are convicted. You're cut to the heart. You want to know, what do I do with this news? What do I do with this knowledge that this Jesus died for my sins and that was raised again by God? What do I do?

Starting point is 01:11:52 You worship. You repent. You turn to God. Acts 10, the Gentiles get to hear the good news. So this is great for all of us who are not Jewish, that Jesus also means reconciliation to God for Gentiles. So this is Acts 10, 34. So Peter opened his mouth and said, truly, I understand that God shows no partiality.

Starting point is 01:12:12 But in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. As for the word that he is sent to Israel preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all, you yourselves know what happens. throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are all witnesses of all that he did, both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him

Starting point is 01:12:50 to appear, not to all the people, but to us who had been chosen by God. as witnesses. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. So if you ever hear, by the way, someone say that Jesus isn't about judging people, doesn't judge. Jesus is the judge. First Corinthians 1, 22 through 24, for Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. That's who Jesus is to us.

Starting point is 01:13:36 That's what His resurrection means for us. It means eternal life for us. That's why we get to rejoice at Easter. We should be praying also. Remember to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world because there are unfortunately attacks that happen. throughout the world, especially in the Middle East that target Christians on Easter weekend. We've unfortunately seen that in the past.

Starting point is 01:14:03 And so just be praying for the protection of saints throughout the world and be rejoicing that we have hope, not just in this life, but also the next. We talked about all these political victories, which I think are good, these cultural victories, these good news stories, and all of those are wonderful. And we can focus on changes that are being made in that way. Ultimately, we know the world as it is is going away. It's going to pass. And so while I think it's important for us to care about what's going on in the here and

Starting point is 01:14:33 now, to be involved in what's going on in the here and in the now, to look after the welfare of the places in which we dwell, to care about the future generations and the burdens that they're going to carry, to make sure we are infusing light and truth and wisdom and goodness into every sphere we occupy. Ultimately, our hope is not here because our home is not here. hope is in heaven because our home is in heaven. And that has been accomplished to us through the reconciling death of Jesus Christ and his conquering resurrection that we celebrate this weekend. What sets Jesus apart is not just that he is a very smart guy. It's not just that he died,

Starting point is 01:15:14 although, of course, that is part of the crux of Christianity. And it's not even just that he rose again, although that is what sets him apart from all of the prophets. and all the teachers and all the other religious leaders. What really sets him apart is that every other religion tells you how to get to God. It tells you, here's the mountain that you have to climb. Here's the rules that you have to follow. Here's the way that you have to make yourself clean and make yourself right before God. Here's how you earn God's affection.

Starting point is 01:15:43 Here's how you earn acceptance except for Christianity. The gospel says something different than every other religion. The gospel of Christianity says you can't get to God. God. There's nothing that you can do. There is nothing that you can do to make yourself right or clean or acceptable to God. And because of that, because God loves you so much, he is going to come down for you. So you don't climb up the mountain. He gets off his throne. He comes down the mountain to rescue sinners, to save the lost sheep, to find the lost coin, to chase after the prodigal son, the difference is, is that God is pursuing us in Christianity. God is making us right. He is making us acceptable. He is making us pure.

Starting point is 01:16:35 He is making us clean. He is providing the sacrifice on our behalf. There is nothing we can do to become acceptable to God. God has made us acceptable through his son by grace through faith in Christ. That is the freeing, liberating, exceptional reality of Christianity and of the gospel. And that is what we cling to. That's the best. That's the best and most eternal news of all. I know this was a very long episode. That's because I had a lot to say. There's a lot of good news. and we could have gone on for a lot longer than that. But I hope you guys have a wonderful weekend. Have a wonderful Easter.

Starting point is 01:17:19 We will be back here on Monday. So I will see you guys then.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 396 | Big Reasons to Rejoice: The People Push Back, Jesus Defeats Death

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.