Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 412 | DeSantis 2024? | Q&A

Episode Date: April 29, 2021

We've got lots of great questions from you guys to answer today. Topics include the idea of purgatory, the possibility of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis running for president in 2024, and "The Office." Today's Sponsor: Annie's Kit Clubs: Give your kid something worthwhile to do besides stare at a screen all day! Visit AnniesKitClubs.com/ALLIE for 75% off your first order. --- 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. Welcome to another maternity episode, a Q&A episode. You guys sent me your questions on Instagram and I will be answering them. If you guys love this podcast, if this podcast has meant anything to you, it would mean a lot to me if you could leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. You don't have to leave a long review, but it would mean a lot to me if you left that review. It helps us out a lot. So thank you so much. And if you have it subscribed on YouTube, make sure that you do that as well. The video version of this podcast comes out about 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 5 p.m. Central Time.

So you can always watch it. You can pull it up on your TV while you're cooking dinner or something like that. And I will be there telling you what you need to know or answering your questions as I am doing today. All right. Here's one question. Do you believe in purgatory and or limbo? No, I don't. Protestants don't believe in that.

We don't tend to believe in that. That's a Catholic belief, but I don't find any biblical support for that idea. Maybe it's in the apocrypha, but no, I don't believe in any kind of purgatory or any kind of limbo. I think about, for example, the passage that says to live is Christ and to die is gained. Do I want to die and go and be with Christ? Or I do, I want to, I'm paraphrasing, do I want to stay here and get. continue my ministry for Christ and continue to live for Christ. And the immediacy with which he says that he would go and be with Christ as he died,

that makes me believe. That's just one example that makes me believe that, at least for the believer, that that is automatic, that that's immediate after death. Now, for those who are, I don't know, in the middle, I guess the belief goes, that rather than go to heaven or hell, there is kind of this waiting middle ground, middle place. But again, there's just no biblical support for that idea. So no, I don't believe in purgatory. Do I think, I don't know if I've already answered this on a Q&A, do I think that we could see DeSantis run for president in 2024? I think it is a very good possibility.

That's just my own opinion. That is not. that's not, you know, I don't know for sure. I don't have any like insider knowledge. I don't know any of his staff. No one's told me that. I don't know of a campaign forming. I know a lot of people want him to. At the same time, like, I think that we want Florida to stay awesome. We want a place to move when things go downhill in our state. And so he's doing a good job of running Florida. No matter what the media says, he's doing a really good job. Like he's how he's, how he's, how he's, keep the economy afloat by not closing everything down and his numbers are comparable to equally popular states who have had very strict restrictions and have shut their businesses down and have hurt their economy. And so he's doing a very good job. I see why people want him to vote or to run for president. Absolutely. I think he'd do a great job. Now he's got executive experience. Why not? But at the same time, like if he is doing a good job as the governor of Florida, like we still want that as well. I just can't even imagine if Andrew Gillum, especially after everything that came out about him after the election, if he had won, what a mess, Florida would be right now.

Another question, do you write in your Bible underlying highlight? Yes, I do. Now, I kind of almost wish I didn't because I have bad handwriting. And I'm not very good at underlining straight. And so my Bible doesn't always look very good. But yeah, I don't know how you could not underline in your Bible. It write in your Bible. I depend on those notes. later in that underlining. And I think back to why I thought it was important. But I mean, obviously, that's not necessary. That doesn't make you more holy or something if you write in your Bible. People have a way of remembering things. People journal. People have sticky notes and things like that. But I personally do. I write directly in my Bible underlying highlight. I don't know if the concern there is that it's like blasphemous in some way. But no. Like the word of God is living and active. It is not static. Yes, the pages are important. But that's not like the truth is alive and active. It's not only contained in those pages. And so it's okay,

I think, as far as I can tell, biblically, to write in your Bible. What do I think about the book Uncomfortable Conversations with the Black Man? I've not read that book. So I can't tell you what I think about the book. I've watched the interviews, though. And I will say Emmanuel Occo is someone who has perpetuated the narrative that, for example, most of the disparities and most of the issues that are pointed out in, in particular, the black community are linked back to slavery and the facts just don't hold up. For example, he has asserted that fatherlessness is due to the fact that just a few generations ago, black people were treated as property and there just hasn't been the time or the ability to form the black family. And while it is true that just a few generations

ago, black people were treated as property in parts of the country. And while it is true that even fewer generations ago, that there were Jim Crow laws, that it was separate but equal, so called separate but equal in the South. And so there's no doubt that there have been injustices that have affected black people and the black community. But the idea that the disintegration of the black family or the 70% fatherlessness rate of the black in the black community is due to slavery and is due to Jim Crow just doesn't hold up when you actually look at, for example, when you look at the studies that show the rate of fatherlessness in the country, it doesn't start at the height of Jim Crow.

It doesn't start all the way back at the time of slavery. actually the divorce or the fatherlessness rate among black families was lower in the 1940s and 50s than that of the white family. That gap didn't start to really grow. The fatherlessness rate didn't start to really increase in the United States until the 1960s. And by the way, the white fatherlessness rate also started to increase in the 1960s, but not as dramatically as the black fatherlessness rate. So if that's where we start to see the gap, like if that's where we start to see the huge uptick and fatherlessness in, in particular, in the black community, then it doesn't make sense to link that back to slavery or even the height of Jim Crow because if that were the case,

then fatherlessness would logically have been at its highest point when systemic racism and slavery was its most popular. But that's not the case. not the case. We actually see that really start in the 1960s. What happened in the 1960s? We had the sexual revolution. We also had the beginning of the welfare state. And so it doesn't make sense if the black fatherlessness rate is higher than it's ever been. You can't say that America today is as affected by slavery as it was in the 1960s. That's just obviously not true. And so to try to blame something like fatherlessness or crime on that, when really those things have gotten worse only in

the past half century, not in the half century before that, that just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. We've got to look at the other causes. It's not always, the cause isn't always this unbroken thread of the legacy of slavery for every disparity in every problem in minority communities, that mentality, which again is not based on facts. And this is something that discrimination and disparities by Thomas Sol talks a lot about that actually causes us to avoid looking at what could be causing that problem, like what could be causing black fatherlessness that leads to other problems. When we just say, well, it's slavery. When we just say, well, it's just, it's just systemic racism. And then we don't actually look at the timeline and look at the facts, that could

cause us to miss what the real source of the problem could be. And it inhibits us from actually being able to find effective solutions to that, if that makes sense. And so I think that, you know, I've watched all the interviews. I think that there, I think that he is well-intentioned. I think that he probably has a very good heart. I think that, you know, he's trying to bring people together. I think that he perpetuates, though, some of the same false narrative. that we see from, you know, any critical race theorist. And I don't think he necessarily means to. I don't think he wants to.

I certainly don't think he's some kind of bad person or anything like that. But I think that he perpetuates some false narratives that, again, lead people to avoid seeking out real solutions to real problems. I highly recommend Thomas Sol's discrimination and disparities. I highly recommend his quest for cosmic justice, which talk about some of the things that we just talked about. about when the fatherlessness rate actually started to go up and why it has continued to increase recently, even as civil rights have advanced, even as there have been programs and

laws put in place specifically for the elevation of minority communities. And so I think it's important for us to make sure that we are deciphering everything that we're being told and we're discerning based on facts. Okay, next question. Which office character do you most identify with and why? Tough question. Hmm. Identify with. Well, maybe Jim, because I feel like Jim doesn't start taking something seriously. Like he doesn't start taking his work seriously until he starts a company. and starts a job that he really likes and he's really passionate about. And so he is kind of like apathetic before then. And I think that I could be that way too.

It's actually really hard for me to focus on things that I don't want to focus on just for the sake of focusing and for the sake of like working on something. I actually think that's an amazing character, characteristic of someone who they just work hard for the sake of working hard. They complete a task well for the sake of completing the task well. I think that's an amazing quality in people. and it's a sign of immaturity when people can't do that. I would say that has characterized me in my life that until I started doing this

and doing what I really love and feel like I'm good at, it was very hard for me to focus and to actually care about the work that I was doing just for the sake of working hard and for the sake of caring. And so maybe I relate to Jim most in that way. Also, like I roll my eyes too at what people say a lot. if I had a camera and could like break the fourth wall of my life. I know that logic doesn't really work and like react to things that people say, which is basically what I do on this podcast.

Then I would probably do that. I guess that he's the person that I most relate to. I'm trying to think, is there anyone who sits back and is just like what the heck is going on? No, probably not. Yeah. So he's probably the. one that I most relate to. He's not my favorite character. My favorite character,

everyone brings something unique to the table. But Michael is honestly my favorite character. I know that's not like super original, but it just is. Or he just is. He's just my favorite character. People, I got a lot of questions about what's my favorite movie? My favorite movie. I really like sad movies. My husband makes fun of me. And he's like, whenever I pick a movie, he's like, you're going to pick some, like, tragic movie from the 1980s. That's three hours long. And I'm like, yeah, I will. I don't see anything wrong with that.

I do like this sad movies. Like, Meet Joe Black. That's not from the 80s. I love Meet Joe Black with Anthony Hopkins, first of all, one of my favorite actors. And Brad Pitt, I don't remember the woman's name, but that's a great movie. The Notebook. I don't think the notebook is overrated at all. I don't know if I've already answered this question on a Q&A episode.

That's the problem with. doing all these Q&As is that I forget which questions I've already answered. But the notebook is not overrated in the slightest. It is like exactly rated perfectly. It's popular because it's an awesome movie. And I love sad movies. And the notebook is one of the best sad movies in the world. Gosh, but I like, I really like 80s and 90s movies. Those are always like my go-to. if I'm picking like a movie on Netflix, 80s and 90s, just one of my favorite eras. But it's hard for me to say like what my favorite movie actually is.

Because I really do like movies. Like my family were kind of like movie people. My dad has always been someone who likes to go to the movies and like to watch new movies, whether they're blockbusters or not. And so my family, we're just kind of movie people. My husband's family isn't really. And so we don't like watch a whole lot of movies, but I do, I do like them. I just don't watch them as much as I used to. So I'm having a hard time thinking about like what my actual favorite movie is. Let's see. Next question. Favorite vacation spot. I might have answered this one too. I, again, these favorite questions are really hard. I like the beach. I would, if I could pick a place to

go on a vacation right now, it would be Hawaii. I went to Hawaii once when I was in middle school and I really loved it. I went to Hawaii. I would go back there. That's probably where I would choose to go if I could choose to be at a vacation spot right now. All right. Next question. What are you praying for in regards to our country and world right now? So I always pray almost every day, every time that I think about it. I pray for our nation's leaders. I pray that the Lord would give them wisdom. I pray that the Lord would give them compassion, would give them discernment to care about our country, to care about what's going on and to make the right decisions. And I know you might be thinking, well, of course, like our president and our politicians care about the country. I don't have that much optimism.

I don't really believe that. I believe that most bureaucrats are very self-serving. And I actually do think that there is a faction of, in particular, the Democratic Party, who is interested in the demise of the United States as an ideological priority because they see, as Obama did, America, as this imperialistic harmful force throughout the world. And they think that weakening America is a moral position, is a good position to take, and that will actually be better for the world. They're wrong on that. A weak America means a strong China, the most totalitarian dictatorial, dictatorial, dangerous, racist, cruel regime that exists. And so they're wrong on that.

But I do think that there's a portion of the ideological left who has a vested interest in the weakening and the division of America. And they see that as a moral position. And so I pray for those people. I pray for changed hearts, man. I pray for people to change their minds. I pray for people who have some kind of allegiance to moral and logical truth. And I pray that Biden would make good decisions for our country, that even Democrats in Congress

would make good decisions for our country, that people would be willing to stand strong and be bold. I love America. I love our country. I don't want to see us crumble, although it does seem like at the rate we're going, it's just unsustainable. It's unsustainable, the kinds of. divisions that we have. And so I don't pray for just kind of like superficial unity, but I do pray for the welfare of our country. And I don't think that we deserve God's mercy, certainly. I don't think that

we deserve God's favor, certainly. We absolutely 100% deserve judgment. And, you know, John McArthur has made the argument that we already are under judgment and that it's too late for our country to repent. We have given in too much to degeneracy. We've entered too far into the post-truth era that we are receiving and will continue to receive judgment. That is something that he said that may be true. I also believe, though, that we have been put in the here and the now for a reason and that Christians have always worked for the welfare of the people around them personally through our personal lives and our personal charity, our personal volunteering and service efforts, but also politically and choosing legislation and representatives

that help the people around us and allow freedom to flourish. And so, yeah, I hope that kind of answers your question. Let's see. A lot of people ask me what I think about the series, The Chosen. I haven't watched it. So I don't know. someone said no question. Just want to say that your book was fantastic and I've recommended it to friends. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that a lot. My book is you're not enough and that's okay escaping the toxic culture of self love. It came out last August. If you haven't read it, you can get it anywhere that you get books. You can go to Alliebethstucky.com slash book. And I think the description or the link is actually in the description to this podcast. So you can just click on it. If you don't want to support Amazon, that's okay. There are other places that you can. you can get the book.

This is a very sweet question. Is critical thinking always been a gift of yours or have certain people helped cultivate it? I don't know that it's necessarily a gift of mine that I have any more than any other person has. I think that the gift that God has given me and there are a lot of, I hate even saying that because people are, I don't. want it to sound like at all I am being in any way braggadocious or self-glorifying or not.

But I think that, and C.S. Lewis makes this argument, like if we are totally confident in Christ and we're confident in God and in giving him the glory for the things that we have, then we can very openly talk about our gifts as openly as we talk about our weaknesses, knowing that our gifts are not something that we can take credit for, but that are given to us by God. So when I say that, I'm not trying to self-elevate myself in any way. And there are people that, you know, probably hate this podcast who are like, oh, that's not true of you at all. You have no talents.

You bring nothing to the table. And that's okay, too. But I think that the gift that God has given me is maybe not necessarily critically thinking, although I do think that's the inability that I have. I think it's an ability that everyone has. Not everyone has been taught how to do it. Not everyone does it because a lot of people have allowed their money. to be atrophied by constant scrolling on social media and they never read a book and they

never write and their teachers never taught them how to do these things, especially kids who are young today. And they're not challenged in any way. But I think that everyone, most people have the capacity to be able to think critically. But I do think that the gift that I have, other people have other gifts that I don't have, but I think one gift that I have is the ability to articulate thoughts to articulate analysis. I have always really liked analysis. My favorite, you know, my favorite courses were always English, were always literature. I didn't even really like history. But anything that involved writing a paper, anything that involved, you know, analyzing symbolism or analyzing content and then drawing meaning from that and then

applying it in a way that is interesting or thought provoking, that is what I have always loved. I love analyzing. I love thinking. I love drawing meaning out of things. I love the Bible. I love thinking biblically or thinking about the world through the lens of scripture. And I will say I've always loved that. And that is something that I think God has given me, like that love and that passion

and the ability to then communicate thoughts in a way that for most people, not everyone, is clear and compelling. I also, like in second grade, for example, I think I've probably told this story before. I went to a Christian school growing up. And in second grade, everyone got, you know, awards, like character awards at the end of the year. And so it's a Christian school. Most people get like, oh, you're a faithful friend or you're joyful or even like you're organized. And I remember the award that I got.

I still have the little trophy was persuasive. And I remember as an eight-year-olds, like, being offended by that award because I knew that it wasn't necessarily like a cat. It wasn't like this universally positive term necessarily the way that, you know, like joyful or generous is. And I just remember my teacher telling me, yeah, you're persuasive. That means you would make a really good attorney. And I cried to my mom at home because I was like, I don't want to be an attorney.

But actually today, sometimes I do want to be an attorney. And sometimes I do think about going into that. But then I remember I have to go to three years of school and take tests and study. And I hate homework. So I don't want to do that. But I do think that God has given me a desire and an ability, which can always be honed, can always be improved. And there will always be people that, you know, have this gift, you know, more than I do.

And I'm fine with that. But I do think an ability that he has given me is the ability to communicate. critical thinking and communicate messages and to persuade people to agree with me. And so I'm thankful for that. And that's why I have a podcast. I don't know what I would do with my life if I weren't communicating in some way. That I know that I was born to do. That I know God has called me to do from the time that I was little I've known that I wanted

to do something like this. and I've never swayed from that conviction. I also think that my parents did a really good job of cultivating that in me. My mom and my grandmother, I've talked about this before, we're both teachers for several years. My grandmother was a teacher for decades. My grandmother lived with us until I was 13 and we were very close. And both of them did a really good job in teaching me. and in cultivating kind of the natural strengths that I already had.

Really bad at math. I'm really bad at science. I really don't like any of that stuff. But I love to write. I love to read. I love to think. I love to talk. I love to argue.

I love to persuade. I love to convince. I love to do anything that has to do with, you know, rhetoric and communication and things like that. And my mom and grandmother both, my grandmother has died, but are both really good at that. kind of thing. And they taught me to read from a very young age. They cultivated a love of reading in me from a very young age, a love of words. I've always loved words. And a love of memorization.

My mom helped me memorize at a very young age, which I think has literally been probably one of the biggest helps in my life. People ask me all the time, how do you like know where to go in the Bible? I'll be talking at a podcast and I'll like reference. the book of James or something like that, and I'll reference a passage that I thought about as I was talking about something else. Well, one, I mean, I was raised in the church. I went to a Christian school. All of that helped. But my mom, when I was 18 months old, had me memorizing stuff, memorizing books, memorizing the alphabet, memorizing all kinds of different names, constantly singing with me, singing to me, teaching me jingles, teaching me rhymes,

teaching me different sayings and things like that. And so my mom and grandmother were just both dedicated to my education before I started going to school. And I really think like those just even like first few years of my life, the videos that I see of my mom, like teaching me stuff and me repeating the things that I heard or being able to like before I was to, you know, tell you what the, what every letter stands for and the words that start with that letter. That doesn't have anything to do with me. It has to do with a mom and a grandmother and parents who are dedicated to helping me learn in that way. Parents have such a huge

impact like in those first few years on your child's ability to think, on your child's ability to articulate. And if there's anything I encourage young people today to do is to make sure you can build a solid argument. Make sure you can write a solid paper. Make sure you know, know your grammar. Make sure that you can speak well. Make sure that you can think reasonably. Make sure that you can actually argue in a way that's not just emotional. Most people today coming out of college from what I can tell cannot do those things. They can't. And I promise you will continue to stand out. Like if we as a 29 year old, if I am the generation that is like employing the kids that are in like high school now, like once they are adults, then I promise you,

I at least, and I think other people my age, will still care about that kind of stuff. Like, we'll still care about your ability to carry on a conversation. We'll still care about your ability to be able to write well. I promise you I will still care about grammar and punctuation. I promise you. I will still care about that kind of stuff. I will care about your ability to communicate. And the kind of people that when I get sent resumes and things like that that stand out to

me or the people that can speak well, the people that can write well. the people that are able to articulate themselves well. And parents of young kids, like you can start that now. Like there's so many resources available for parents to just teach their kids to memorize stuff. And I'm just astounded every day at the things that, like my daughter is able to retain and then regurgitate that you might think is like,

oh, they'll learn that in kindergarten. I'm not like some parenting expert. I'm not pretending to be because as I'm speaking, I only have, you know, I've only had a, experience raising one child for a couple years. And so I'm not pretending to know everything, but just from my experience as a child and what little experience I do have and the friends that I have that are farther along in their parenting, parenting years, don't wait until kindergarten to educate your kids. Like, don't wait until kindergarten to teach your kids the alphabet or to teach

your kids how to read or to, you know, teach your kids the building blocks of memorization and analysis and things like that. Their brains, I've realized, are so ripe for learning and memorization. I really do think that that lays such a good foundation for the rest of their lives. Because if there's one thing that I can do well that has served me in this job in so many just different like random times that I can think of, it's memorization. I can memorize anything and I can memorize it really quickly. That is not me.

That is my parents and my mom and grandmother in particular, I think laying those building blocks when I was really young. So those early years matter so much. Moms, you matter so much. You impact and influence your kids so much. And the world is crazy trying to diminish the importance of intellect, diminish the importance of merit, diminutes the importance of communication, critical thinking, and argumentation. and we have to be willing to raise a generation that can do all of those things.

And that's so important also in understanding the Bible and reading the Bible and sharing the gospel, communication. Like I remember, I think it was Charlie Kirk who said something that I thought was interesting that Christianity, we are called to be evangelists. We are called to be evangelists. We are called to share the gospel and to speak. And that contrast to other faith, something like Buddhism, which puts a, a premium on silence, that the most holy thing that you can be is quiet.

Christianity is something different. I mean, God, Jesus himself is called the word made flesh. The Bible also says that the word of God will not return void. God is all about communication. He is all about persuasion. Like, he is all about words. And whether you're like me or not, whether you like words or communication or writing or not, Like that is something that God calls Christians to.

That is something that Christianity is. And so if we care about creating young apologists, creating young faithful thinking Christians, that we also have to be faithful, I think, as parents, as teachers, as Sunday school teachers, as mentors, as counselors, whatever capacity that you are in that you're influencing the next generation, ensuring that they have that ability to think critically and to communicate well. That's not a personality type. I think everyone is able to do it with the right equipment.

I hope that I answered the question. I know that was kind of a long way to answer that. But that's all I've got for today. That's all I've got time for. Thank you guys so much for listening and we'll be back here soon.