Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 59 | Is Decency Dead?

Episode Date: December 4, 2018

I remember President George H.W. Bush and honor him for who he was: a judicious leader, a successful statesman, and a decent man. I'll talk about the significance of the death of another member of the Greatest Generation. Then, I'll touch on Lauren Daigle's recent comments. Copyright CRTV. All rights reserved.

Hey guys, what's up? It's Ali and this is relatable. Today we are going to talk about two things, maybe other things. Who knows what's going to pop into my mind on this Tuesday afternoon? We are going to talk about George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States, who passed away on Friday, November 30th. And then we're going to touch on Lauren Daigle. This is something that a bunch of you guys have been asking me about and asking me to address. So I am going to touch on that at least briefly. And then I might be able to answer some of your questions. It just kind of depends on how much time we have.

But before we go into all of that, I need to remind you yet again how great my pillow is. So I was speaking somewhere last week. And one of you who may be listening right now came up to me and said, okay, Ellie, like, do you really love these pillows as much as you act like you do? And I said, yes, I do. Yes, I do. And that is why it is so difficult to travel because I don't have my bolster sleep pillow. So I feel like I don't sleep as well at the hotel because you know, they only have those feather pillows, which I used to sleep on all the time. But I didn't realize how much I was

missing out until I got a bolster sleep pillow. It keeps its form all night. It's made out of this material called tin cell, which really makes it not only just comfortable and sleek and nice, but also it keeps cool all night. So there's no like flipping over to get the cool side of the pillow. You always have the cool side of the pillow. It gives you enough support, but not to the point where you feel like, oh my gosh, I can't be. It doesn't give me any give. It doesn't conform to my head at all. It was so great that my husband got one for himself because he kept on stealing mine. So we both have our bolster sleep pillows. They're awesome. Every time you buy a bolster sleep pillow or a bolster sleep product, they also sell mattresses. You are also helping people in Haiti.

They help them get jobs and train them to get practical jobs to be able to support their family. So it's really just a cool thing all around. You can go to bolsterisleep.com and then you can use promo code Ali. That's A-L-L-L-I-E. You get 10% off a pillow. Really good deal. It also makes for a really good gift because it's practical and it's also just something that maybe not someone wouldn't buy for themselves. So go to bolsterisleep.com. Use promo code Allie, great Christmas gift for yourself or someone else. Okay. Now that we have covered that. And by the way, if you hear that I, am a little bit even more nasally than usual. It is because I'm a little bit under the weather.

If you guys watch my Instagram stories, which every time I go speak somewhere, I swear, every single person who comes up to me is like, your Instagram stories. I don't know what it is about them. I just kind of put out there what annoys me in my traveling experiences because I travel a lot. And one of the things that I spoke about was that there was

this woman, and this kind of happens a lot who was coughing into the air when I was going through security, just coughing freely. And she was telling people, oh, this is not contagious. Don't, don't worry. I know it sounds really bad, well, it's not contagious. And then, but her husband was also coughing. So is it just a coincidence or is it really not contagious? Plus, I don't really care. I don't care what you have. I don't want it. And I just don't want your germs anyway. Like, I don't want your breath on me. I don't want your spit on me. I don't want your germs coming. direction. I am a germaphobe. I just have always been like super freaked out about that. So I hope she saw me like covering my face with my sweater because I do not watch your germs. That is just

one of my peeves when people cough out into the open or when they go somewhere and they get their get their germs everywhere. I just don't like it. Anyway, all that to say, that's probably why I'm sick right now. I don't know if it's because of that woman or just because planes are gross or I shook someone's hand who was maybe sick. I don't know. But I am feeling a little under the weather right now, but nothing could stop me from talking to you guys, which is my favorite part of my week because I love you, which is just a reminder. Sometimes I like to tell you guys this from time to time, just how thankful I am for you that you actually listen to this podcast that you follow me on any various channels that you follow me on. You guys are awesome. I love,

love when I get to meet you in person. When I go speak, I was at two different colleges. last week and I got to meet so many of you, such great turnouts, such awesome, respectful and engaging questions from people on both sides of the aisle. And there's nothing, even though it's really sometimes difficult to travel, there's nothing that gives me more energy than talking to you guys. I love what I do. A lot of you guys ask me, you know, you deal with hate or criticism or whatever it is or how do you not get bogged down in politics and just the craziness of the world and this feeling that the world is going to hell in a hand basket because of you guys. Because you guys keep me motivated.

You guys and your support make me feel so encouraged and remind me that even this small, tiny thing of what I do, which is a podcast that relative to the rest of the world reaches like a grain of salt, that it's important to some people. And that is motivating. So again, just thank you guys for being who you are, for following me and for your constructive criticism, your feedback, your support, your encouragement. all of that. Just thank you for that. You even get me through these sick days that I am dealing with right now. Okay. So let's move on from that and talk about what we're actually going to talk about

today. And that is George Herbert Walker Bush. So George H.W. Bush, he was the 41st president of the United States. But that's not all he was. He actually had a very significant career and would have lived what would be considered a remarkable life, even if he had a. never become commander-in-chief. So he was born in 1924, which means he was part of the greatest generation, or what used to be called the GI generation. It's the generation that fought in World War II. He was one of the people who fought in World War II. A few months after his 18th birthday, or maybe it was right at his 18th birthday, he volunteered for the Navy. He was a naval pilot, And I've heard so many stories of people.

And this is just such, such an interesting point about the greatest generation is their eagerness to fight that men who were denied the ability to actually go overseas and fight for their country committed suicide just because there was this such, there was such a sense of honor and a sense of duty that was associated with fighting for your country and defending the values that your country stood for, completely different. time. But there was no doubt that George H. W. Bush was one of those passionate patriots who wanted to fight for his country. He put off Yale. He was already accepted into Yale, was going to Yale, but he decided to put that off for a year so he could go and serve his country. He was the youngest fighter pilot at the time at the age of 18 years old, and he happened to be a really, really good naval aviator. He was a decorated pilot. He was shot down by Japanese anti-warcraft or anti-aircraft fire. Two men with him died, but he survived. He felt so guilty about this. Maybe not guilty, but just confounded, confused, sad, no doubt. Maybe there was a little bit of guilt and a little

bit of responsibility. He was actually flying the plane. He wrote a letter to the families of these men who had died and the sister wrote back and said, look, there is absolutely nothing to feel guilty for my brother time and again told me that you were the best pilot out there. And so you have nothing to feel guilty for. You know, thank you for everything you did. And I think that just speaks to not only who he is as a person that he wrote these letters at the age of 18 years old. I mean, how selfish are all of we at 18 years old, but also that he was competent in his work and that he was a man of courage and that he was a man of valor, a man of honor, that he was not only strong and brave, but he was also empathetic.

And we really saw that throughout his career. We know, obviously, he was married to Barbara Bush for 73 years, 73 years longer than many, if not most people live. So they were married in 1945. They stayed married until she died earlier this year in 2018. A lot of people thought that he was going to die very quickly, maybe even weeks after that. Sometimes that's how it happens.

When people are so intertwined and so close and so in love, the way that Barbara Bush and the way that George H.W. Bush were, it's very normal for one to die right after the other, particularly the man. It's just a very interesting part of male nature that they can't exist very long on their own. That's why men get married faster. That's why they die faster when they're alone. They just can't function very well without the woman that they have been depending on for so long. So we were all surprised, quite honestly, and even the people closest to him were surprised that he lasted as long as he did.

but apparently when she did die in April, he said that he wasn't ready to go yet, which is pretty remarkable considering the life that he had lived. He is survived by his five children, 17 grandchildren, eight great grandchildren, and two siblings. They did have another daughter named Robin, who actually died at the age of three of leukemia. I encourage you guys to go read the story. I'm sure it might even just be on the internet. somewhere, but a really, really good biography of George H.W. Bush that I've read and loved is by John Meacham called Destiny and Power. You really get a comprehensive look at George H.W. Bush's

entire life, and especially his presidency. But I just remember reading the story about Robin, dying at the age of three when she had leukemia. And of course, then, you know, there were no treatments for, or no adequate treatments for what she had. It was basically just like make her comfortable until she dies and reading just how distraught they were and how absolutely broken they were over the death of their child. I remember just being in tears over that. I think a lot of times we think about older generations being more stoic, being more okay with death, not being quite as feeling as we are.

But I don't think that there is anything to get used to or anything to be desensitized to when it comes to especially the death of a child. I've heard that it is the worst pain that you could ever have, worse than losing a spouse, worse than losing a parent, sibling friend is losing the death of a child that is part of you in a way that no one else in the world is. And just the way that they have held on to her memory,

I could start crying right now. I'm not going to. The way that they've held on to her memory, apparently over the years is really touching. And of course, that's part of the hope. You don't know for sure, but of course Barbara and George Perfer, profess to be born again Christians. And so if that is true, they are in heaven. And we don't know

exactly what the mystery of heaven will be like, how much we will recognize one another, or how preoccupied we will be with reuniting with people that we knew here on earth. I'm not entirely sure. But there is hope, maybe even just in a human sense that Robin and Barbara and George are all together, and that they are all reunited, and that they are. sharing in that joy of Christ together. There, of course, is joy and hope and peace and solace found in that. And I hope that's the case. And I don't want to be theologically incorrect in that.

And maybe it's just my human, fallible sense of wanting our earthly definition of joy to be made manifest in heaven. I don't know how exactly that happens. But there is just, that's a nice thought to have. And I hope that they are reunited. and I hope that they are all at peace in Christ. So a little bit more about his life because a lot of you messaged me just asking to know more about him. So after he went to the war and was obviously very heroic in the war, he came back.

He went to Yale. After Yale, he moved to Texas. He got into the oil business. So a lot of people wonder, a lot of people think, I think that the bushes are a Texas family and they are, but they really started up north. that has not been forever and ever. So he moved to Texas to get into the oil business. After that, he went into politics.

He was a representative. He was actually CIA director. He was an ambassador to, I think, the United Nations. Then, of course, we know him as vice president to Ronald Reagan during both of his terms. And after that, he became president. And at the Republican National Convention, 1988 is when he talks about that thousand points of light. And so we hear that phrase thousand points of light a lot. President Trump actually recently mocked the thousand points of light.

It later became a nonprofit organization. I think it was nonprofit organization that promoted volunteerism and humanitarianism. That was a really a big part of George H.W. Bush's and Barbara Bush's life was volunteerism in helping those that are in need. And so that's what thousand points of light became. But it at first was in this 1988 speech that he, gave at the Republican National Convention. He really talked about his Christian values and the agenda that he wanted to push when he

was president. He was against abortion. He was for capital punishment, for prayer in schools, for the Pledge of Allegiance. He also said, I think it was pretty sure it was in this speech when he said, no new taxes. Well, he ended up breaking that promise. That's why you see a lot of people saying that they didn't really like George H.W. Bush. And there were a lot of conservatives saying that. that. And there were a few more reasons for that that I'll get into in just a little bit.

So he was president from 1989 to 1993. He was the first president. And I think it was 152 years who was an incumbent vice president who became president. You can see why this is pretty rare. After about eight years of a president, they're usually not just ready for a new administration, the people, but they're really ready for a new party and a new vision. So it's pretty incredible and really speaks to the popularity of Ronald Reagan, a very innovative and popular president that George H.W. Bush was elected to carry on that agenda and really carry on that message of hope that Ronald Reagan so successfully pushed. But he did lose in 1993. He was defeated by Bill Clinton, Bill Clinton, the unconditionally charming guy that offered

something new and something fresh, something different. It probably wasn't so much that George H.W. Bush wasn't a good candidate or didn't do a good job running. It's just that Bill Clinton was new. Everyone liked Bill Clinton. People liked Bill Clinton a lot, not his entire presidency, but pretty steadily in his presidency. And he still has a good reputation despite all of the crazy stuff that he did. But under President George H.W. Bush's leadership, a lot of things happened that sometimes we over Look, the Cold War ended under his leadership. He helped create conditions for the elimination of the federal deficit that happened under Bill Clinton.

He negotiated NAFTA. And I think more than anything, the thing that people really remember George H.W. Bush by was his decency, was his ability to just be congenial, to be conciliatory, and to reach across the aisle and to put politics aside when he needed to. He was a politician, but to put politics aside when he needed to and remember that the person across the aisle, his so-called enemy or adversary, was a human being and was an American. Like I said, that doesn't mean that he didn't fight hard. It was certainly when he ran for president. He was adversarial against his adversary. But he remembered that the people that he was competed against were people that they were

Americans. And at the end of the day, that's really what mattered to him. he wrote a letter to Bill Clinton after he lost January 20th, 1993, and he said, Dear Bill, when I walked into this office just now, I felt the same sense of wonder and respect that I felt four years ago. I know you will feel that too.

I wish you great happiness here. I never felt the loneliness some presidents have described. There will be very tough times, made even more difficult by criticism you may not think it's fair. I'm not a very good one to give advice, but just don't let the critics discourage you or push you off, push you off course. Sorry, I'm trying to read his handwriting. You will be our president when you read this note. I wish you well. I wish your family well.

Your success now is the country's success. I am rooting hard for you. Good luck, George. I mean, if that doesn't make you wish for another time, like, I don't know what well. That is just that display of class and of grace and the remembrance that even though we might disagree on everything, everything fundamental, maybe even moral, spiritual disagreements. Maybe we disagree in the core of our being that you can look at someone else and say, he didn't say this, but just the implication is that you are made in God's image. You have just as much value as I do. And on a more surface level, you were fairly elected as the president of the United States. And I will respect your leadership, even if I don't agree with all of your decisions.

If we could just get to that point in our politics right now, we would be so much. better off. That doesn't mean we have to agree. Doesn't mean that we have to forsake our values or forsake our principles or stop calling people out on the other side when they're wrong. But if we could just at the end of the day, be able to put it down and say, you're an American and I love you despite your politics just because you're a human being and our relationship as human beings transcend all of our disagreements, we would be so much better off. And you know, sometimes I think that actually most Americans do think that way. Actually, most of the Americans do feel that way. But man, you log on a Twitter for 15 minutes and that hope will be shot down real fast. But you have to also wonder,

what's reality? Is Twitter reality or is how you interact with your next door neighbor reality? I think that the second is reality. And maybe we need to get more plugged into that. And I don't want to blame everything on social media, but I don't think it's helped in bringing our country together. And you just look back at the time that George H. W. Bush led, that Reagan led, then you look back even further towards the towards World War II and all of the things that really brought us together. We were a different people. We were a different character. We had a different moral makeup than we do now. We are so fragmented, so divided, so individualistic. And that is why I am so emotional when these people die. So it's been a big year. And I don't even know

if it's been all in 2018. I can't even remember. But I cried this hard when Barbara Bush died, when Billy Graham died, when John McCain died, and now when George H.W. Bush died. My husband could tell you that I bawled at everyone that I cry so hard whenever I'm reading anything about Ronald Reagan. I have a very intangible, but real attachment to this period in history and to this generation, to the greatest generation for holding and for representing what I think makes America great. And it's also just this fear and this anxiety that it might be gone. And it's also this sense of heavy obligation, heavy responsibility that, okay, well, I'm still alive. I'm still here. I have a voice. I have the ability to carry this on. What's stopping me

from carrying on some of those characteristics and some of that moral fortitude that we see from those people into this generation. And then you think about that. And it seems like, whoops, I just hit my microphone. It seems like such a daunting task. And I think that's why I get so overwhelmed that I cry because I didn't know any of these people as people. I don't even agree with all of their politics, probably of just guessing. But they represent something bigger than that. And they represent a task, I think, for all of us who love God and believe in the biblical moral order and also love America and feel that burden to carry it forward, that we feel the heaviness and just kind of the sadness. And I think sometimes a sense of despair because of that. But I don't think

that we should feel despair. I think that we should look at the life of someone like George H.W. Bush. Look at the life of John McCain. Look at the life of Billy Graham and Ronald Reagan. All people who, because their people are imperfect, maybe have politics that we don't like, but they all represent this kind of courage that I think all millennials and all young people can learn from and that we can take with this and that we can hold in our hearts

and apply to our lives and carrying forward the values that have made America good and made America great and the things that we believe in. I don't think that we are that far off. I don't think that we are completely hopeless. You know, Ronald Reagan always said that liberty is one generation away from dying. Well, it can't die in this generation because there are too many of us that are like us. There are too many of us who do care about liberty. It might not

always seem like that, but we do exist. Any of us who care about the passing of someone like George H. W. Bush and can look at his life of public service and say, yes, that's what America is about, even if I didn't like every single policy that he put forward. If we can do that and attach ourselves to the goodness of the Americans that have gone before us, especially the Americans in the greatest generation, I think we'll be okay. But we can't lose that. We can't be afraid to fight the moral fight.

We can't be afraid to fight for the goodness of America. We can't be afraid of those things, even when we are bullied, even when we are pushed aside, even if we do live in the most polarized time in American history, that just means that we have to be more bold. That means we have to have even more fortitude that maybe we were actually made to be part of this generation to face these kinds of challenges.

So I'm just encouraged by his life. I'm encouraged by his strength. I'm encouraged by his commitment to decency, to integrity, and to honesty. Now, you will hear probably if you're someone who doesn't know everything about why people hate George H.W. Bush, hate George W. Bush, even hate Ronald Reagan. The reason is because of this term called globalism. And they believe, people who oppose them, these are. conservatives who oppose them, by the way.

Liberals oppose them because they're Republicans and they were anti-abortion and they were Christians. That's why they hate those people. But the reason why a lot of conservatives don't like these people is because they believe that they are globalists and that George H.W. Bush pushed something called the New World Order. Let me tell you right now, that is a conspiracy theory. That's a conspiracy theory. There is no truth to it whatsoever.

I've gotten so many messages over the past few days saying, you know, you know, you know, you you shouldn't be honoring this person. He was part of the Illuminati. He was a Satanist part of the New World Order. Like, give me a freaking break, people. Like, get off YouTube for one second and just read some actual history about the man. Like, check your primary sources. Come on.

So it's this conspiracy theory. So September 11th, 1990, George H.B. Bush gave a speech about a new world order. This was the end of the Cold War. he was talking about a new world order that would be a new world peace, there would be a different way for us to operate together. People take this as there being, as him advocating for a new world order, for open borders that we all operate under one currency,

which a lot of people believe are, they think it's, you know, it's a sign of the end times, that that's a biblical sign of the in times. And so that he was a part of that, that he was 80 the Antichrist. And that George W. Bush, especially since 9-11, happened, on September 11th in the same way that this New World Order speech did in 2001,

that there is some mysterious crazy conspiracy to that. It is kind of crazy that Big Gazi also happened on 11th. But anyway, they believe in this crazy conspiracy theory that he was this horrible Sataness and that he's going to hell because of that. Literally, get out of your mom's basement, get off YouTube, read some history. There is no truth to that. There's no proof to that. No, I'm not saying that every policy he had.

advocated for it was perfect. I'm not saying that we probably agreed on everything. I don't think that we probably didn't even agree with Reagan on everything. And that is saying a lot. I just don't know if I do or not. But our honoring of these people are not because we agree with every single policy that they put forward. But for the strength of their character that was really underneath that. And you know, a lot of people have said, you know, he's not in heaven. We don't know if he's in heaven. Sure, we don't know if anyone's in heaven. He professed to be a born again Christian. There's a lot that's recorded about his faith as well as Barbara Bush's faith. So I'm certainly not, I don't say anyone is anywhere necessarily, but I am going to assume because he professed Jesus Christ,

is his savior that, yes, he is in heaven with his wife. And I think that that's okay. So everyone who has their panties and a lot about this, just calm down. It's not only conservatives. Conservatives also had at some, I say conservatives lightly. People on the right also had a freak out. about John McCain, too, saying that he was part of all of that globalism stuff, whatever. It's just crazy and it's rude.

But of course, people on the left are doing the same thing about George H.W. Bush, there are some people. A lot of people on the left are honoring him, but they're definitely journalists, particularly at the Atlantic, who are trying to paint him as this just privileged guy who was born into wealth that really didn't do anything on his own. one headline actually questioned the moral courage of George H.W. Bush saying that, sure, he was charming and nice and polite, but did he really have moral courage? It's funny because the person who wrote that, I don't think, I don't think volunteered for the Naval Air Force or for to be a

naval pilot when he was 18 years old, put off college for that, risked his life for his country. But we need to question whether he has moral character. George, H. W. Bush had moral character or had moral courage. Okay. Okay. Yes. Let's ask a member of the greatest generation, a World War II vet, a decorated pilot who was shot down by Japanese anti-aircraft fire if he has moral courage. Okay. So we definitely have people on the left who were questioning just who he was. You can question his politics, but I don't think you can question George H. W. Bush's character and his patriotism, which is what we are honoring. and what we should be proud of.

And I'm just thankful that he served our country. I'm thankful that he was a member of the greatest generation that lasted so long. That's such a fascinating generation that we all need to know more about. And that's, okay, so that's all I'm going to say about George H. W. Bush. I'm praying for his family. I'm praying for comfort. I'm praying for peace. I'm praying that all of them would come to know Christ and that Christ would be glorified

through his funeral and through the memorial and everything. This is such a difficult. time, even though he was 94 years old, it doesn't necessarily ease the pain of the people that have known him for so long. So I'm just, I'm grateful. I'm grateful for his life and everything that God did through him. So I'm just going to quickly touch on Lauren Daigle. You guys told me that she wanted me to talk about that. I saw on the Christian post that she had an interview where she was asked about her stance on homosexuality and that she, there was also this audience. recording that I heard of it.

And actually, I'll just, I'll, I'll play it for you. Do you feel that homosexuality is a sense? You know, I can't honestly answer on that in the sense of, I have too many people that I love, that they are homosexual. I don't know. I actually had a conversation with someone last night about it. and I can't say one way or the other. I'm not God.

So when people ask questions like that, that's what my go-to is. Like, I just say read the Bible and find out for yourself. Because, and when you find out, let me know. Because I'm learning too. So she said that she didn't know whether or not homosexuality was a sin. Now, let me say first, I don't really understand why she would. was asked this question. Like, I do think it's weird that this has become like the question

that prominent Christians are asked. I just think it's odd. Like, are you trying to trap them? And it makes it seem too, like we think that homosexuality is like the sin that's leading all other sins. It just is kind of odd. Now, it probably was because she was on the Ellen show. some people had contention with her being on the Ellen show. And so when she said she doesn't know if homosexuality is a sin, go read your Bibles and figure it out for yourself. I think that was just confirmation for a lot of people. I asked your thoughts on Instagram, what you guys thought?

The vast majority of you sent me the same thing saying, wow, I really wish that she would have just spoken the truth. And I wish she would have realized that speaking the truth is actually the loving thing to do because you'll notice that she said, you know, I love a lot of people who are homosexual. so I don't really know if it's a sin. Go read your Bible and tell me what you learn. Well, the question is, of course, why isn't she reading her Bible? She is a prominent Christian who has influence over Christians. She's seeing songs that many of them are founded in scripture. And so it just kind of makes you a little bit nervous if someone with that kind of influence is going to tell other people to read their

Bibles, but she's not willing to do it on her own. Now, I completely understand this is a really awkward and uncomfortable question to answer. It totally, is, especially when she is kind of woven her way into the mainstream. She doesn't want to make anyone mad. I totally get that. But as Christians, of course, First Peter 315, I think it is, tells us to have an answer for the hope that we have. And we are supposed to approach the Bible, not just in obviously a loving and a personal way. We talked about this last week, but also in an intellectual way and a desire to know. And knowing these things and knowing our Bibles and knowing good theology is virtuous. It is what we are called to do. It's actually to be.

demanded of us to know the word and to hide the word in our hearts. Now, if you don't know something, you truly don't know something. And that's fine. And owning up to something and saying that you don't know it, okay, maybe that's a sign of humility. But there really is no excuse for someone who has been walking with Christ for a while not to know pretty prominent parts of the Bible in what the Bible is really clear about. And it is really clear on homosexuality. Lividaic is 18. 18, 22, Leviticus 2013, 1st Corinthians 6, 9, 1 Timothy 110, Romans 126 through 28. So it's in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. There has been a lot of effort by progressive Christians to say that the Bible doesn't

really say this or it doesn't really mean this. Of course, all of that is fruitless. The Bible is extremely clear about that. And of course, how men and women are made, it's very obvious. The only sexual relationship in the Bible that is actually condoned is relationship in marriage between a man and a woman. We see that extremely clearly in the New Testament. We see that, particularly in Ephesians 5,

that husbands are to love, their wives is Christ, love the church, and wives are to respect their husbands. There is an intentional dynamic there. There is a purposeful, complimentary relationship and a headship relationship, the man being over the woman. We don't see any evidence for the goodness

of a so-called egalitarian marriage, in the Bible in which the man and the woman, the husband and the wife, has the exact same role. And so if you think about homosexual marriage like that, you have to wonder, not only does it fall against God's biological plan for a man and a woman to literally fit together, but also it doesn't fall into this complementary headship design that God very clearly lays out for marriage in multiple parts of the New Testament representing Christ in the church. So it goes against the physical and the spiritual design of what marriage should be, and there's really no way to get around that. Now, the loving thing for us to do, the loving thing for us to do is to speak that truth,

because if we believe that God is real, that God is true, that he is who he says he is, and therefore his word is true and good and is beneficial for instruction and for a reproach, then we also believe that that command against homosexuality is loving and good and beneficial. It doesn't mean it feels good. It doesn't mean it's convenient. It doesn't mean it's comfortable. But if we believe that God's word is true, then we have to believe it's also the right thing and the best thing for human beings. Loving is actually speaking that truth. Now, that said, when people are lost, when they are without Christ, no matter what sin they're in, whether it be homosexuality, whether it be just sex outside of marriage with, you know, heterosexual, sexual relations outside of marriage, if they are without Christ,

what the Christian's job is, is to, obviously through the Holy Spirit, is to call that person to belief, to repentant into a relationship with Christ, not into quote unquote, a straight life. That's not what they're necessarily repenting from first. What the unbeliever always is repenting from is unbelief. And then they turn to Christ. And through sanctification, Christ convicts them of their sin. of course, he uses community and he uses accountability to make that happen as well. And so I'm not saying that our role is to go to our lost brother and sister who is,

or our lost friends who is caught in homosexual sin and say, hey, stop being gay. No, that wouldn't be the right thing to do. Romans, too, I believe, says that God's kindness leads us to repentance. And so it is through our love. It is through our appeal to them through the gospel in which they are saved. and Christ takes care of the sin that is in their heart, whatever that might be. But that doesn't mean when we are asked to give an answer for what we think about sin, that we just obfuscate and that we just say that we don't know and we just pretend like we don't

know. No, we can say that we know and still be loving and still be kind and still be gentle. That is exactly what Jesus did. When he spoke to the woman that was caught in adultery, when he spoke even to the paralyzed man, he said go and sin no more. He didn't just say, go and keep doing what you're doing. I love you. He said, no, like, I see you, I recognize you, I heal you, I forgive you, and go and don't sin anymore. That was the loving thing to do. Are we really going to say that Christ wasn't loving for calling out their sin? Of course not. Of course not. So in our era, we have this idea that talking about sin is not loving, that it's not kind.

but the Bible tells us a completely different picture, a completely different picture. Now, if all we're doing is pointing fingers and condemning without loving the people around us, then we are in the wrong. We're no better than Pharisees. But if all we're doing is being nice to people without speaking in truth, then we're no better than a non-believer. So just keep that in mind. Those are my thoughts on it. And I know it's a very unpopular view nowadays, but I'm a Christian. I have a lot of unpopular views. Anyone who believe, in the Bible and, you know, and is a Christian also holds that view. If you don't hold that view, then you don't believe the Bible, in which case I would evaluate your heart. So anyway,

complicated topic. I'm not saying that Lauren Daigle is not a Christian. She just might have had a moment of weakness. She might have really not known, in which case, that's a problem too, but I'm not condemning her. I'm, you know, I'm not in that situation that she is. And I hope that she repents and we should pray for that. I'm not condemning her. But in that particular answer, yes, she was in the wrong. It was not a good answer. I was really encouraged by all of you who reiterated that and told me that on social media. I probably didn't respond to you, but I appreciate all of the people who hold that same perspective. I was actually surprised at the number of messages I got about it. So just want to touch on that because a lot of you asked me

about it. Love you guys. I will see you here on Thursday.