Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 809 | The 'Trad' Movement Isn’t Biblical

Episode Date: May 22, 2023

Today, we're talking about a movement within both the secular and Christian Right, which has been called the "trad" movement or, in some cases, the "Red Pill" movement. It perpetuates views that could easily be seen as hateful toward women. Many of the men in this movement complain about women and equate masculinity with physical fitness and ultra self-sufficiency. In some of these circles, these men emphasize the importance of finding a traditional, service-oriented, submissive wife. But it's not just men. Twitter and TikTok are littered with "trad" women complaining about feminism and claiming to be the antidote to it as "trad" wives while simultaneously representing some of the worst forms of feminism themselves: being loudmouthed, using foul language, and showing off their bodies in a way that is by no means traditional. We talk about why this is not a biblical view of women and why this actually perpetuates hate toward them. We take another look at those in the Christian patriarchy crowd who think only men should be fighting the political battles and who appear to have an issue with the very nature of this podcast. We give our message to them. Then, we share a tribute to Tim Keller, who passed away last week and left a great legacy. Memorial Day Merch Sale: use code 'REMEMBER' for 20% off the entire shop at alliemerch.com. --- Timecodes: (00:57) 'Trad' movement / Red Pill movement (10:18) 'Biblical patriarchy' and micromanaging women (14:23) A woman's highest calling (18:24) This podcast / speculation (25:37) Covetousness (33:30) Encouraging messages from the pod (39:10) The Bible is also for women (43:39) "Men should fight battles" (50:30) Tim Keller --- Today's Sponsors: Good Ranchers — get $30 OFF your box today at GoodRanchers.com – make sure to use code 'ALLIE' when you subscribe. You'll also lock in your price for two full years with a subscription to Good Ranchers! Pre-Born — will you help rescue babies' lives? Donate by calling #250 & say keyword 'BABY' or go to Preborn.com/ALLIE. Help us reach Blaze's goal of 70,000 ultrasounds in 2023! Constitution Wealth — align your values with your investments through your financial management. Go to ConstitutionWealth.com/ALLIE and schedule a FREE consultation! --- Links: New York Times: "The Rev. Timothy Keller, Pioneering Manhattan Evangelist, Dies at 72" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/nyregion/the-rev-tim-keller-dead.html --- Relevant Episodes: Ep 797 | Can Women Teach the Bible ... at All? https://apple.co/3ovJfls --- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise – use promo code 'ALLIE10' for a discount: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey

Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort.

We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. The Red Pill movement, the Trad movement, and the Patriarchist Movement are all trends happening on the secular and the Christian right that I think that we should be really concerned about. And I've got a response to it today, particularly those who seem to be very concerned about me and how I spend my time and the things that I say. And then we will be paying tribute to pastor, evangelist, apologist, theologian, author, Tim Keller,

and look at some of the most poignant things that he has written over the years. This episode is brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers. Go to Good Ranchers.com. Use code Alley at checkout. That's good ranchers.com code Alley. Hey guys, welcome to relatable. Happy Monday. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. So I spent a lot of time over the past couple days thinking about what I really want to discuss today, how I want to approach this topic. We are going to talk about Tim Keller, the pastor, the author who died late last week. And I'm going to talk a little bit about his legacy.

and the impact that he had on me and my growth in the faith. But first, I did want to address something that's going on online. And if you're not really online very much, particularly if you're not on Twitter, you might have no idea about what I'm about to discuss, this trend, this movement that I'm about to talk about or how any of it has to do with me in this podcast. I don't want to make it about me. I don't want to make it about me. I want to make it about encouraging you, encouraging Christians, particularly Christian women. I've seen a movement both within the secular and the Christian right. I consider myself on the Christian right. I am a conservative. I'm on the right side of the political, cultural spectrum. I am a Christian. I consider myself a

conservative Christian because I believe that what is referred to as a conservative view of the Bible is actually just a biblical view of the Bible and faith. But the movement that I'm talking about within a segment of the Christian, right, could maybe be called like the Trad movement or in some cases the red pill movement. These things aren't necessarily the same. It's kind of hard to parse out. And again, you might not right now recognize where this trend is or where it's going and that's okay. and I'll give you some examples. I don't want to give too many specific examples because there are so many different caveats that I have to put like this person is kind of part of this movement.

This is not. This is a tweet that kind of represents it, but it doesn't. But those of you who are in conservatism, certainly conservative media or who just consume it, you've probably seen the direction that all of this is going. And particularly if you're not on Twitter, you may not have seen it. But I'm going to try to explain it the best I can. and there are good chances that you at least have a feeling about what I'm talking about. So you'd think that the Red Pill movement, as I called it, would just be kind of becoming a conservative.

And maybe it was at one point, realizing that the mainstream narratives about everything, race, gender, economics is just wrong. But it's actually now kind of morphed into a strange collection of perpetually online men who complain about women and equate mass. to physical fitness and ultra self-sufficiency. And what I mean by that is like in some of these circles, it's looked down upon to be a monogamous in a monogamous relationship or in a marriage at all. In some, they emphasize the importance of getting a trad service-oriented submissive wife. And these are often represented by Twitter accounts, constantly posting TikTok videos of girls saying stupid things or stories of girls betraying their boyfriends or girls at the gym wearing scandalous clothing, angry that guys are looking at them. Basically, this group, both of

those who are like, no, I'm non-monogamous. And I think, you know, being a strong man is really just kind of sowing my wild oats everywhere and the side that's like, oh, no, we need to get married to like the most submissive trad wife out there. Both of these groups, it seems, from kind of they're saying, they view girls or depict girls, women, as dumb, as promiscuous, all as radical feminists. They believe that feminism is the cause of all of our problems. They're really not that different than in-cells, involuntary celibates, who think the same thing, girls, women, that's the, they're the core of all of our problems as a country. And speaking as someone who knows and has talked about the modern female propensity to be overly self-focused,

and to be duped by any political narrative that plays upon our feelings to the detriment of our country. The first one was the basis of my first book, the trending narcissism that I talk about a lot. The latter, the over-emphasis on feelings when it comes to political and cultural decisions is the focus of my second book coming out next year. So I'm no codler of women. I'm no feminist. And yet I see and I'm concerned by the different flavors of women. hatred. I see an online discourse today. Yes, of course, from the left in the form of elevating men who pretend their women, excoriating every discontent white woman as a Karen. Yeah, we know that progressives hate God's design. They hate true femininity and true masculinity. And so I'm used to and

expect a kind of a form of woman hatred from a lot of people on the left. But also from the right, some of whom, some people on the right, love to play. The women are dumb and have caused most of the societal problems that we have today. Trope. They love to play on that trope. And there is crossover between this and the, that's the red pill. And then the trad movement, which is also just a weird part of conservatism, which claims to be a push for traditional ways of life, traditional marriage. And of course, I am a huge advocate, the biggest advocate of traditional marriage. And we should elevate it. But this online sect that I'm talking about that you've probably seen before isn't necessarily talking about biblical marriage or biblical gender roles. There is a strange over emphasis in this community, if you will, movement, trend, whatever, I think it's a grift, but a strange over emphasis on the need to subdue with it. And on creating this almost like 19th century aesthetic in your home and way of life, there's a lot of criticism from this crowd, women who, a criticism of women who work in any way that is not strictly domestic. And here's what I mean

when I say that this group is not necessarily Christian, even though they're quote unquote trad. There was a young woman the other day who tagged me in her Instagram story. She was very angry about something that I said. I don't even remember what. She's an influencer, I guess. She's got a small following. I didn't respond to anything that she said, but she claims proudly, publicly, to be a trad wife pregnant with her first child so she can be a trad mother. Great. I'm glad that she's married and having a kid. I think those things are beautiful. She claims to be a Christian. And yet her page is filled with half naked pregnant pictures of herself. She's cussing in her story about me, calling me annoyed, et cetera. Like there's nothing Christian that I saw, at least in this snippet that I saw of this

person. Of course, I know many women who work who are much meeker, more modest and godly. than she seems to be, even though she calls herself this trad woman, trad wife. Judging by her words and attitude, I would venture to say that she doesn't know Christ at all. She doesn't represent the gospel in anything that she is saying or doing on her account. And so just because someone is trad and trying to bring back tradition doesn't actually mean that they are talking about biblical marriage, where the husband loves the wife as Christ loved the church and that the wives submits to the husband as to the husband. the Lord, this like beautiful relationship that represents the love and the submission of Christ

and the church. That's really not what's going on here. It's really more about, it's really a reaction to modernity, a reaction to feminism, which I understand to some degree, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's Christian. Same with some of the other trad accounts I see on social media complaining about feminism constantly claiming to be the antidote to that as a trad wife or a trad family. But while representing really some of the worst forms of feminism themselves, being loud mouth, using foul language, showing off their bodies in a way that I guess I don't know it's supposed to be traditional. It's very strange. It's a very strange world online. And again, if you don't know what I'm talking about, that's okay. Now that you've heard me describe it, you'll probably

see it, but it's actually very secular in nature. These people may say they're Christian or they're Catholic because they see that really is a part of tradition. But a lot of these people don't know their Bibles. They likely have spent no time getting to know the person of Jesus at all. Again, it's just a reaction. And as I said, it's really a grift. Like you can kind of get a following by saying the most ridiculous things like just ridiculous things. about how terrible women are and all of this stuff. Again, that's strange over-emphasis on the submissiveness of women. It's very creepy and very porn-like. Then we have actual Christians who I believe do know their Bibles, who take on a form of this. They don't realize that they've actually been

influenced by the secular red pill culture. They may or may not know that they're joining in on this kind of grift. But they are Christians. They take on a form of all of this. in a way that I believe is equally misguided and cringe. And these are the ones you'll recognize. And these are the ones who have taken special interest in criticizing me and using my name over the past few weeks to try to get as many clicks as possible. These are Christian men who care a lot about masculinity or they talk a lot about masculinity, but their focal point when talking about biblical masculinity isn't.

typically strong manhood, but actually submissive womanhood. Like they too seem to believe that feminism is the cause of all of our problems, whereas I would say it is a symptom of our society's underlying sin and rejection of God. And their biggest concern is what women are wearing, how women are acting, the tone of voice women have, whether women are stepping outside the bounds of what we're supposed to be talking about, how we're spending our time working versus being with our families. Like there's a lot of micromanaging of women that they don't know or even ideas of women online. Rather than actually talking about what masculinity is, they spend a lot of time micromanaging women online and speculating about their lives and if they really should be working and if they're really being obedient to the Lord by talking about some things publicly.

There have been a series of voices of these men and some women over the past few weeks claiming that I should not be talking about the things that I do because that should be left. up to the men. Women, they claim, are only to teach about homecoming and homemaking and childbearing, and we should be leaving the politics and the culture warring and the biblical exegesis up to the men, period. I did an episode on this a couple weeks ago. I'll link it. I don't want to rehash everything I already said about what scripture tells us about women's roles in the family and in church. but as most of you already know if you have been listening to me for any amount of time, I am extremely conservative when it comes to gender roles. I do not believe women can be pastors.

I don't believe they should preach on Sundays. I don't believe they should be exegeting scripture to a crowd of men and women. I've done several episodes on wide biblically. Go back and listen to those before snapping at me. By the way, if you're more on the egalitarian side of that, just go back and listen to that episode. I say this as someone who has the capability of preaching. I have the capability of preaching. I could deliver a more biblically sound persuasive and dynamic sermon than most men in the

pulpit today. And so could many, many other women. But just because we are capable of something does not mean that we are called to it. Women are not called to pastor. We are not called to preaching church over men. I happily submit to that standard that God has set for us in this, even if my sinful pride wanted to argue with it. He roots these roles as we discussed, as we cited a couple weeks ago, maybe it was last week, I don't even remember, not in current culture, but actually in creation.

Therefore, I trust that God, who loves me, who made me, who gave me these communication gifts knows best. Yet scripture does not tell us that women can't talk about the Bible, study or teach theology at all. It does not say that outside of the church that women should be quiet. It does not say that discussing politics and culture exclusively is a man's realm. This effort by some people to limit a woman's role and capacity beyond what scripture actually teaches is unbiblical. Now, should a wife and mom prioritize her marriage and family? Our marriage and motherhood, my primary calling is I seek to glorify God, yes.

Now, as we said also last week, this was last week after Mother's Day. I don't believe, and I, because I don't want to say, as I've seen a lot of people say, that motherhood is women's highest calling because a woman's highest calling is a man's highest calling, which is to glorify God. And that means in every stage of your life, no matter how old you are, no matter what phase you're in, you can fully live the abundant life that Christ has secured for you as a Christian. you can use the spiritual gifts that he has given you no matter what stage of life that you're in. Because if we say that motherhood is the highest and most Christian and most Christ-like calling that a woman can have, then that means that the single woman is in this forever waiting period, that the woman who has never been blessed with marriage, who has never been blessed with motherhood, who will never enter into those things that she's less than a Christian than other women who are married.

or have kids, and that's just not true. We just don't see biblical support for that. We see biblical support for the beauty of marriage. Absolutely. I mean, there's eternal and spiritual significance to that. We see that so clearly, both in Revelation and Ephesians 5, really throughout Scripture. And there's beauty and sacredness to motherhood, too. But a woman's highest calling is to glorify God.

Women who never marry can glorify God just as much as the married mother can. Now, Titus 2, 3 through 5 is also clear. Other women likewise are to be older women, likewise, are to be reverent in behavior, not slanders or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good. And so train the young women to love their husbands and children to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind. It's submissive to their own husbands that the word of God may not be reviled. There's so much good stuff. I think we read that passage again a couple weeks ago. There's so much good stuff in there. And we should read. read that for what it is. We shouldn't try to bend it. We shouldn't try to caveat it. We shouldn't

try to get away from it. But we also shouldn't go beyond it. To say that that verse means that women shouldn't be talking about complex theological things, that women shouldn't be talking about the Bible, that we shouldn't be talking about these culture war subjects or these political subjects. That's not what that passage says. That's not what that passage means. Hey, this is Steve Deast. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself.

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

You can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. And particularly to the like very weirdo critics out there who have found time in their busy schedules to personally try to pick apart what my daily schedule must be like because I am a mom and because I have this podcast, I will say what I said on Twitter is that. to the Christian men and women who think basically that it's simple for me to have a podcast because it is outside of the realm of what women are supposed to do. There's a lot of, I think, strange fixation here. There's a few things going on, just to be perfectly honest. Like, I think there's like a hyperfixation on someone.

I think, two, that there is hypocrisy. And three, I'll say again, I think it's a grift. So one, I think that there's a hyperfixation on me because I am the only one with the podcast like this. I am. I am the only woman with a podcast like this because we unapologetically interweave theology with politics and culture. There are plenty of conservative commentators who might bring up faith from time to time. There are plenty of Christian commentators and podcasters who may bring up politics from time to time. but we are the only or certainly the biggest, I will say, by far the biggest female podcast

with a large majority of female listeners that talks about the things that we do in the way that we do. And so I think that's probably why I'm held up as an example of this. And two, there's hypocrisy going on here, especially from the women who are concerned that I talk about politics and I talk about theology and I don't just talk. about a sourdough starter, which there's nothing wrong with that. I love following those kinds of accounts. That's just not me. And you think that I should only, if I'm going to talk about things publicly, that I should only talk about homemaking. Look, ladies, and I'm thinking about

a few of you who have been kind of relentless online and criticizing me, you spend way more time on social media than I do. You spend, it looks like your whole day, sharing on Instagram, sharing on Twitter, going back and forth with people, gossiping. about other people that you don't think are living up to your standards, speculating about what working women's schedules must be like. If you're so concerned about homemaking, go make your home. Get off Instagram. Get off Twitter.

And by the way, I also see you talking about culture war stuff. Don't act like you don't talk about President Biden or you don't talk about the state of affairs. You don't talk about politics. You don't talk about culture at all. Like you've never talked about abortion or you've never talked about gender. You talk about those things too. Just because you don't get paid to spend time on social media, just because you do not earn money by creating content, doesn't mean that you are not working in a way that distracts you from what you are saying should be the woman's exclusive responsibility, and that is working at home.

If you're really so concerned about women ensuring that they are focused at home, stop talking about it, stop posting pictures about it, stop tweeting about it, and just do it. Now look, I have no problem with homemaking influencers. I don't. I don't have any problem with people sharing about how they homeschool and how to keep a home and women using their platforms to teach younger women, how to love our husbands and how to raise our kids. I have no problem with that. But do not do that and then tell other women not to also spend their time talking and

doing things because you are too. You are too. let's just all be really real here, all right? Is that a lot of the women out there who criticize me for working, you probably spend more time yip-yapping all day on social media than I do, okay? So let's just check our own heart. Okay? Let's just make sure that our own lives are in order.

And as for the men who are publicly opining, feigning godly concern over what my schedule and what the demands must be like for me to do what I do and also be a mother. You have no idea. I don't have any idea what your life is like. You have no idea what my life is like. I saw someone say, well, I'm a media professional too. And so I know how long it takes to do a podcast. Look, I've been where you are where I have recorded, set up my own camera, edited my own

podcast before I had kids. That's what I was doing. I was setting up my own podcast. I was editing. I was doing all the research. I was doing all the writing. So there's no shame in that and what I'm about to say. I am not shaming that. I'm not belittling that every single podcaster has been there. I have been there too before I had kids. But that's not where I am now. You don't know what it's like to have a whole team of people. When you get to the point of having a producer and a director and an editor and a researcher and a social media person and an assistant, then you can speculate about how much time I might spend working versus home. You have no idea. You don't know. And so I would just take a chill pill and again, make sure your own family and your own church and your own life is in order. And maybe consider

how much time you spend talking about things that do not matter, getting into meaningless kerfuffles online about things that are not ultimately consequential or eternal. Now, am I saying that everyone who criticizes me or everyone who disagrees with me having a podcast, everyone who doesn't like me or like how I talk about things or questions, the biblical nature of what I do, that you're all evil, that you're all like wrong? No, I'm not saying that. Like there are people who can respectfully disagree, who have respectfully, disagreed. And look, when it comes from a fellow believer, I take that seriously. It's one thing to be

criticized by the progressives, even those who call themselves progressive Christians. Yeah, that happens every day. I really don't take those criticism seriously because they don't know God. And I remember what it's like to not know God. That's a really miserable feeling. It's a really miserable way to be, whether you realize it or not. And so you're constantly taking out your misery and other people. You're projecting your own insecurities onto other people. And so I actually have a lot of sympathy for these progressives who are criticizing me. And I just don't take their criticism seriously because it's not coming from a place of truth. But fellow believers who disagree with me, who give me constructive criticism and who push back on me, like, I care about that to a degree. I mean,

I can't care about every criticism out there. But I care about those things. So I'm not dismissing every person who has ever criticized me or questioned me or anything like that is just being hypocritical. That's not true. I am saying that. that this movement that I'm talking about that is actually very influenced by the secular right, whether they know it or not, who is so concerned about the quietness of women, I do think that there's a lot of hypocrisy. And it's not just that. It's not just the hyperfixation.

It's not just the hypocrisy. But if I can say this, I also think there's a sin of covetousness there. There is that I talk about the things that they want to talk about. I have the platform that they want. And so the reason also I think why I mentioned is because they want me to mention them by name. They want me to say, so-and-so said in his podcast, so-and-so said in this article, so people will go click on it. Well, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that.

One, because I am not going to give the attention that some of these people, again, not all, some of these people are seeking. And also, there is a huge disparity of influence here. Okay, we're talking about like a few hundred people listening to some people versus the number of people that listen to me. And that feels like punching down, which is not fun. But because I actually think that this is like a growing movement and I see this hypocrisy, I see this covetousness. I see this hyperfixation on making sure women are as limited as possible beyond the biblical scope, beyond the biblical limitations that we see. I think it's important to talk about it. And look, I am going to be here behind this microphone as long as God calls me to it. Thankfully, like by the grace of God, I work so much less than I did before I had kids.

I have to. I have to go back and look at the content that I produced in like 2018, 2019, probably like 2017 to 2019 when I was doing like the most stuff. Look at like the videos that I did, the sad. tire videos that I did, the post that I was making, the blog post that I was writing and all that stuff and like how much I was traveling, how many times I was on Fox News and all of this stuff. I was doing so much now, not that I feel like I have to justify myself, but the ratio of me sitting behind this mic, which yes, of course takes work. Everything that I say is written by me, it's come up with by me, but I do have a lot of support. I get to come in for a couple hours each day, talk about the things that matter, educate and empower a Christian audience, primarily a Christian

female audience, to think through as critically and as biblically as possible, the chaos and the craziness of this world. And then I get to go home. And I'm with my kids. And yes, there are sacrifices that are made in that. That doesn't mean that everything that I need to do in a day is done in those two hours. That's not true. Yes, I'm writing a book. Yes, sometimes I go speak. Yes, I prepare for this podcast. What you don't see is me working from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. on a Friday night because I want to make sure that I'm there with my family and there with my kids and still able to do the other things that God has called me to do. That's what my life looks like. It looks like sacrificing sleep. It looks like sacrificing some

other things. So I don't have to sacrifice my family and I don't have to sacrifice motherhood. I spend more time at home than that. than some so-called stay-at-home moms do. Just because I get paid to talk, just because I get paid to do these things, doesn't mean that I am less dedicated to my family than the person who maybe spends time just posing things on Instagram or, like, out with her friends in the middle of the day

or running errands or something like that. Just because I'm spending my time doing one thing and not other things doesn't mean that I am not as dedicated to my family as the mom who might be absent for different reasons, but technically does not work. And it's also strange, I think, like, the criticism of my particular work when there are a lot of women who do have side jobs, who do have e-commerce jobs, who are in multi-level marketing, or who make money in different ways.

And yet, they're never criticized for being working women. It's like there are certain jobs within this trad, Christian, patriarchist world that are okay for a woman to do. It's okay for a woman to make money in certain ways to write certain kinds of books and things like that. But it's not okay if it, I don't know, looks like this, which is where I think covetousness in some of these cases does come in. I saw someone say,

I did not like that my wife was listening to, this is like a pastor, I guess. I did not like that my wife was listening to Allie Stucky. It's not because of what she said. All these people say the same thing. What she says is right. What she says is true. But I don't like how she says it.

Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. Boo-hoo. That's what I hear. Wea, we. You sound just like the little high school progressive girls with their pronouns in their profile who say, you have a mean tone when you say true things. That's exactly what you sound like. I didn't like that it sounded like this, even though everything that she was saying is true. Okay, look, I hope that by God's grace that he increases your influence and platform if you are saying things that are are edifying and true. I hope that he does. And there may be a day where God totally diminishes my platform where he takes me away from this, where I am no longer talking behind a mic. I no longer have

influence. And maybe all of you guys out there who I think largely are grifters, maybe you will be very successful in building your influence and building your career and building your platform and all of that. And I will just go quietly into the night. is a total, total possibility. Like, I'm not looking to claim any kind of victory here. All I'm saying is that as long as God calls me to what I'm doing, now I'm going to continue to do it. And look, by God's grace, like he has used this podcast. He has used this podcast, okay? Like, I'm not saying that I have done it. He has used this podcast to bring people to himself. I mean, I could read you. thankfully, I mean, people are so sweet. The body of Christ is so sweet and so encouraging. And I got so

many, I guess a lot of you kind of saw this criticism that was circulating. And a lot of you took the time to send me such encouraging messages just reminding me or telling me kind of what God has done through this podcast for you or through my book. And I do want to, I just want to read a couple of them. Because this is why I do what I do. Yes, I'm called to it. Literally since I could talk, I knew that I would be doing something like this. God placed a fire in me. He placed the ability to do this. I knew that I was going to be doing something like this.

Again, as long as he calls me to it. That could change. That could change very quickly. But he has also, by his grace, used it in a way that has changed people's hearts and minds. And I just pray that he continues to do so as long as I'm called to do it. So this sweet person, I love this message, said, I have to tell you this right now. because my twin sister was just messaging with you. I have to tell you that you were her gateway drug.

Three years ago, we were barely speaking because she was swallowed up by the BLM movement. My husband and I wouldn't budge on our convictions or change our worldview. It was devastating to have lost my best friend. She thought that I was crazy and racist and brainwashed. Two years later, she saw you by accident. At a conference in Atlanta where we live and the rest is history, you gave me my twin sister back. You opened her mind and heart and our loving God used you to speak truth to her when she wouldn't listen to me or anyone else that didn't subscribe to woke ideologies.

There was a similar story, and I won't say the name, but a lot of you guys know this pastor who basically was estranged from part of his family, was estranged from his sisters because of very deep theological differences. And then they ended up reaching out to their brother one day, which he thought was random. they got together, they started talking, and he was wondering, you know, how did this reconciliation happen? Why are you guys not mad at me? Why do you guys not hold this resentment and bitterness that I know that you guys have had for had against me because of our theological differences? And I cried when he told me this story. And he said, and they said, oh, it's because we listen to relatable.

We listen to relatable. And we understand that about a lot of these things that you were actually right. And there are a story after story of this. And I'm continually humbled by the stories that I receive of people who say, especially after 2020, I think that was like the moment that a lot of people's eyes open and that they came to this podcast, people who say that they thought about killing themselves. But then they heard the gospel for the first time on this podcast. People who said that they just wanted to pursue a career or travel and not have kids. And now they're on baby number two.

I am like so often the first person who receives these pregnancy announcements because of how many of you told me you decided or you knew that it was actually sinful of you to prevent yourself from having kids when really it was just for self-serving reasons and you want to let me know that. There are many of you who have gone back to church who have started reading your Bible, whose eyes have been opened about the evils of abortion or gender ideology, who have started to take seriously your child's discipleship and your child's education, not just because of the things that you've heard me say, but that most of all, probably, the things that you've heard my guess say. I have like the most brilliant and godly people and the godliest people in the world

on this podcast. And a lot of you have been inspired by the things that they've said. And so God, by his grace, has used this podcast to make a lasting and eternal and spiritual impact on people and their lives. I mean, when you're talking about someone changing how they raise kids or changing their decision about having kids, I mean, this is a multi-generational. thing going on. And I could go on and on about the different reviews and the different feedback and messages that I've received. But look, like a few naysayers who are not even really, like pretending to be worried about my obedience to the Lord or how I'm spending my time, when I am like, I am so thankful for the balance that God has given us for how much time, how much

I have stepped back from working as hard as I used to before kids for the opportunities that God has given me and for how he has used this podcast to help other people. Like I'm not going to let some naysayers, some people in the Theo Bro community online, get me down or change what I talk about or how I talk about it or how passionately or consistently I talk about it. Now, again, if you're out there and you're thinking, I've criticized you, but I don't let me in with these people because I'm then. Okay, well, I'm not then. If it's not you, then it's not you. If what I described isn't you, then it's not you. Don't worry about it. I really just wanted to take this opportunity to, one, I want to thank all of you out there who do pray for me. You pray for me so often. I had someone

come up to me yesterday and say, I've just been praying for you because I can see these kinds of, you know, struggles and attacks and division and all that stuff that is happening. And so many of you tell me that you're praying for me. And I just want to thank you for that. Like, I'm so so grateful. Relatable truly is a community of related gals. And there is a percentage of you who are related bros. And you've gotten your wife looked on to this podcast. And I just really appreciate that so much. But really, even more than that, like, I just want to encourage you women. I want to encourage you women. Okay. I want to say a few things that one, like you have, if anyone has ever made you doubt that you have the capacity to read and understand your Bible. I just want you to push that

out of your head right now. You have the ability, you have the calling, you have the capacity to understand the Bible, to understand very theologically complex issues. And if what you talk about, and if what you do every minute of every day is homemaking and diaper changing and house cleaning, that's amazing. That is an incredibly high calling. And you are using the beautiful gifts, spiritual, intellectual gifts that God is giving you to disciple your kids and to love your husband and to make your home. If he has also called you to be an artist, if he has also called you to teach theological concepts to other women, then that's also wonderful. That's also biblical. that's also really good.

Do I think that there are forms of working that are not as good for the family when a woman does them? Yeah. I also think that about men too. Like do I think that there are hours spent away from home that are too much? Have I done that? Have I managed it perfectly? No.

I have not managed it perfectly. There are times when it's been too much where I've had to say, that was too much. I traveled too much. that was too much time spent away or whatever it is. Sometimes I've made too many of the wrong sacrifices that all happens. But all of us, all of us have to assess that. No matter what we are called to, no matter what realm we are in, we all have to assess whether we are truly dedicating our time and our energy

to the things of the Lord and ordering our lives and ordering our priorities in a way that honors him. But yes, women, you can understand theology. You can teach other women theology. You can care about and talk about politics and culture because what do we say on this podcast is that these things that we talk about so much abortion, gender, marriage, these culture wars. For us, they're not primarily culture wars. They're not primarily political.

For us, they're primarily biblical. They're primarily Genesis 1 issues. They're the first chapter of the first book of the Bible. These are biblical issues. And if you are a woman, if you are a mom in particular, that affects how you mother. That affects how you make your home. That affects what kind of wife you are. That affects what kind of neighbor you are.

That affects what kind of community member you are. The things that we talk about are all really technically within the, within the realm of motherhood. Like you need to understand what's going on in the world when it comes to gender ideology. You need to understand the bills that are going before a governor in your state that have to do with abortion. Like the history of the Christian church has been protecting children, protecting the vulnerable from going to the slaughter. The history of the Christian church has been advocating for those who are truly on the margin of society who can't speak up for themselves. The history of the Christian church has been showing women and children and men, but in particular

women and children, the honor, the dignity that is due to them as image bearers of God. And that means that we need to care about, know about, and talk about the assault on the Amago Day, especially when it comes to women and children. That's not just a man's role. That's a woman's role, too. That's a Christian's role. To continue to build the church and the body of Christ, to be a refuge of courage and clarity in an age of cowardice and chaos. And that's what I always want to do on this

podcast. And yes, I'm a woman doing it. And I love being a woman. Never want to be anything else. I never want to step outside of that realm. I love being a wife. My husband and I are always trying to live out, Ephesians 5 in a godly way. And I love my church. I love not ever being a pastor. I love not preaching in, you know, a pulpit to men. I love all of these things. And I also love this podcast. I love having the platform that I do for the time that God has given it to me. And I hope that I steward it in a way that is glorifying to him.

And I'm going to continue to do that. One thing I do want to mention, I probably should have mentioned it a couple minutes ago. But it works here. I've seen people say men should be fighting our battles. Men are equipped to fight the battles. women are not equipped to fight the battles. What I think is funny about that is that you've changed what battle means.

Like, you've changed what battle has meant historically. Like, yeah, men should be battling physically. When we're talking about war, I do think men should be in roles of combat. Men should be on the front lines. Like, men are given a particular physical, capability to be on the front lines when you are actually talking about war. But now you've changed the definition of war to be talking.

You've changed the definition of war to just be like debating ideas. And now you're saying that's only a man's job. So the war is not a war of physical altercation. But now it's a war of words that apparently women are not to engage in. Like what's the what's the, what's the, basis for that. And so like it's just, it's almost like the feminization of ironically, it's like the feminization of the battle, the feminization of war, the feminization of masculinity that a lot of these manhood grifters have taken on to say, no, we're supposed to be on the front lines. No,

you're supposed to be on the physical front lines. Most of you, though, wouldn't even go into the military. And now your war is podcasting. And only, you're supposed to be on the front lines. And only, you're supposed to be on the physical frontlines. men are supposed to do it, that's not true, ladies. The spiritual war that we are called to, the war that is against the spiritual forces in the heavenly places as we read about in Ephesion 6, that's for the Christian. Not just the Christian man is supposed to take up the whole armor of God. The Christian woman is to take up the whole armor of God too, including the sword of the spirit, including the belt of truth, including the breathplate of righteousness, including the shoes of readiness, that we are supposed to also wear the armor of God.

And I hope by God's grace, in this podcast, I'm helping us do that. I hope that I'm being helped to do that on a daily basis. And I don't claim to have authority over you. I'm a podcaster. I don't claim, I don't claim to have authority over you men or over you women. I hope that you are in a local church. I hope that your pastor is a theological authority in your life.

I hope that you don't look to me as the arbiter of truth. I hope you simply look to me for clarity and courage. I hope to change the minds of people who disagree with me. I hope to further emboldened and empower the people who already do. So that's that. I guess it's all I'm going to say about that. There's more that I could say. But I hope that it's an encouragement to you, women.

I hope that it is. God has given you the capacity and the calling to understand and talk about all of these big things that really matter. Yes, in certain contexts. Yes, in certain ways, hopefully in ways that are God glorifying. And I would just be wary. I would, I would like really watch out for this whole trad, red pill, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, movement. I think it's going in a really ugly direction. Look to Christ. Christ is better. Scripture is better. The gospel is better. The world, even those who claim to be Christian are going to continue to get it wrong. Human made movements are going to continue to get it wrong, but Christ is never wrong.

Hebrews 13 8 says Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The same Jesus who met the woman at the well, the same Jesus who paid attention to the unclean woman who was bleeding the same Jesus who paid attention to the woman who was caught in adultery. the same Jesus who attended to and befriended Mary and Martha who cared for the woman of the night who was washing his feet with her hair. All of these women he called to repentance and all of these women he loved. All of these women he had compassion for. All of these women he called to a life of boldness and godliness. And he's calling you to a life of boldness and godliness too.

What do we always say? Do the next right thing with excellence in faith. and for the glory of God. I think it's actually in faith with excellence and for the glory of God. That could be changing a diaper with joy. That could be sending an email enthusiastically and grammatically correctly. It could mean some big major decision that God has been pressing on your heart. It could be private. It could be public. Do the next right thing in faith with excellence and for the glory of God. I just wanted to pay a short tribute to Tim Keller. Tim Keller, Tim Keller died last week. And as you guys probably know, he was a bestselling author. He was a theologian. He was a longtime New York City pastor of Redeemer Church. And he died on Friday from his battle with pancreatic cancer. He announced several years ago, or a few years ago now, that he was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. Sometimes that goes really quickly. So he has been able to continue to work and produce something.

things over the past couple of years, but I think a lot of people knew that this was probably going to be a death sentence. So this was his final memorializing tweet from his son, Michael Keller, Timothy J. Keller, husband, father, grandfather, mentor, friend, pastor and scholar died this morning at home. Dad waited until he was alone with mom. She kissed him on the forehead. And he breathed his last, or he breathed his last breath. We take comfort in some of his last words, there is no downside to me leaving, not in the slightest. See you soon. Dad. It's hard for me to keep a dry eye and not have a lump in my throat when I'm reading that. There is no downside for Tim Keller for leaving. Now he is with Christ. As we read in Philippians,

to live is Christ and to die is gain. And he has gained that which he has sought for most of his life. And I am very thankful for that. We cannot even comprehend the glory and the joy and just the relief that he feels. I've often thought about like this is such like a finite and earthly depiction of what it must be like to die and to go to heaven and to hear well done good and faithful servant from the Christ who redeemed you. But you know after you've been gone for a long trip, after a long trip and there's been a ton of travel delays. And you, there are sometimes. when you're like, I don't know if I will ever make it home. Maybe you've had three kids with you.

Maybe you have a stomach bug. And it has literally been, it's felt like hell on earth. And you are so stressed out. You are so tense. And then you get home and you lay in your bed at night. And just the relief that washes over you. And the thought of, yes, this is how it was always supposed to be. And the tension and the stress just melts away.

I imagine. that that is what it's like on a much grander, much bigger, more eternal scale when we get to heaven that just all the weight, all the stress, all the sin that we have been caring for so long. It's just gone. I don't even, none of us even know what that feels like. We don't even realize like how much weight and how much tension we are caring because we live in this fallen sinful world on a day-to-day basis, even if you have a wonderful life or you're in a lovely stage and you're having a great day. I don't even think we realize that we're still carrying this just huge burden of fallenness on our backs that will not be relieved until we get

to heaven and the lightness that we will feel, the welcome, the acceptance, the joy, the feeling of, yes, this is how it was always supposed to be. I can't believe that I ever existed apart from Christ. I can't believe I ever lived outside of this presence. This is how it was always supposed to be. And that's where Tim Keller is right now. That's how he feels. And that's what we all have to look forward to as a believer. Isn't God so good that he forgave us of our sins? Like isn't he so good that we were his enemies and that we scoffed at him and that he still,

because of love provided a way for us to be reconciled to him, for us to be completely forgiven, for our slates to be wiped clean so we could be made holy and new and spend forever with him? He didn't have to do that, but he did. Isn't God so good? and I'm very thankful that Tim Keller spent his adult life in trying to get people to understand God. Now, I don't always know if this is the right thing to say because I don't want to take away from just the objective sadness of him dying or the humanity of the situation. But I also think it's important to show that you can do this. that I like, I want to honor him and honor the things that he contributed to the faith and to the church while also saying, just acknowledging that like I disagreed with him on some things, especially politically over the past few years, his approach to politics.

What I thought was like a very strange middle of the road approach to things like abortion and what is typically demeaned as culture war issues and and his view on social justice as a form of. generous justice. I really disagreed with those things. I think those ideas are damaging. And even so, I have gleaned so much from his work and from his wisdom over the years. It's okay to say, yeah, I disagreed with him on these things. But wow, none of those, I mean, none of those things matter to him in the presence of Jesus right now. And in light of everything that he has positively contributed, I can just be very thankful. Some of his, I have a lot to say. I don't have time to get into all of it.

But some of the best books I think that he's written, I've read a lot of books by Tim Keller, reason for God, prodigal God, every good endeavor, freedom of self-forgetfulness, the meaning of marriage, all of these are some of my favorite books ever, actually. The reason for God, when I was a senior in high school, we were assigned it. It's a perk of having a Christian education,

which I'm so thankful for. We were assigned it in high school. And even though I, you know, considered myself a Christian and all of these things, like God really used that book to change my life in a lot of ways to stir up in me a love for apologetics, a love for theology and awakening to just the intellectual depth of Christianity. He used that hand in mere Christianity and screw tape letters to all do that really at the same time. And so I really encourage you to read the reason for God, believe in an age of skepticism. Here's a quote from that. Oh, I love this. It is not the strength of your faith, but the object of your faith that actually saves you. Strong faith in a weak branch is fatally inferior to weak faith in a strong branch. So even if your faith seems weak, even if you have doubts, even if you are wavering, Christ does not waver. Even if you feel like you change and you feel like your faith is wax and wane. Christ does not. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And then prodigal God

recovering the heart of the Christian faith. Jesus does not divide the world into the moral good guys and the immoral bad guys. He shows us that everyone is dedicated to a project of self-salvation to using God and others in order to get power and control for themselves. We are just going about it in different ways. The real split is not between those who we see as great. We're not between those who we see as good or bad according to worldly standards. The real split he is saying is between those who are dead in sin and are trying to save themselves completely futilely and those who are alive in Christ who realize they can never save themselves and can only be saved by Jesus. Every good endeavor, also pretty life-changing for me, connecting your work to God's work. I say this all the time.

I didn't even remember that I got it from this. But in the beginning then, God worked. His book says work was not a necessary evil that came into the picture later or something human beings were created to do but that was beneath the great or created to do but that was beneath the great god himself no god worked for the sheer joy of it the book of genesis leaves us with a striking truth work was part of paradise we were always meant to work even before the fall it's not a product of sin it's not a product of evil it's fruitless toil that came with the curse and after sin but work will be with us. I think in the new heavens and the new earth, there will be work. Like, we will have vocations or we will at least have things that we are doing. We will actually be

productive that God work to create the heavens in the earth. And then he rested from that work. And we being made in his image, we're also made to work. So that means there's a divine calling for all of us to be productive and to work. And then let's see, the freedom of self-forgetfulness. And I would say that this was like a big inspiration for my life. book, you're not enough and that's okay. Because I think we sometimes think that the only options for people are self-love and self-hate when actually we see in scripture that in the end days, people will be lovers of self. So we're not really called to self-love. And we're not called to self-hate. As I've said, that those are two sides of the same self-obsession coin. But in his book,

Freedom of Self-Forgitfulness, he says that that's what the Christian is actually called to, is self-forgetfulness. He uses mere Christianity in this book. He cited C.S. Lewis a lot, which is like speaking my language. He says C.S. Lewis in mere Christianity makes a brilliant observation about gospel humility at the very end of his chapter on pride. If we were to truly meet a humble person, Lewis says, we would never come away from meeting them thinking they were humble.

They would not be always telling us they were a nobody. The thing we would remember from meeting a truly gospel humble person is how much they seem to be totally interested in us because the essence of gospel humility is not thinking more of myself or less of myself. It is thinking of myself less. Gospel humility is not needing to think about myself, not needing to connect things with myself. It is an end to the thoughts such as I'm in this room with these people. Does it make me look good? Do I want to be here? True gospel humility means I stop connecting every experience, every conversation with myself. In fact, I stopped thinking about myself.

The freedom of self-forgetfulness, the blessed rest that only self-forgetfulness brings. And then here's a book, the last book that I'll talk about, the meaning of marriage that I think every person should read if you have not read it. Single, engaged, dating, married. I read it. My husband and I read it when we were engaged. The best book on marriage, I think, that I've ever read. one of the quotes from it. There are lots and lots of good quotes. To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known

and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us. And then, of course, it is the basis for a healthy marriage. And so really encourage that, really encourage that for you to read that. There were a lot of tributes, a lot of ministry leaders paid tribute. John Piper posted a video on Instagram where he encouraged young people, in particular young pastors, where he said, be more thrilled that you are saved than that you are successful. Take more delight in the Savior than in his service, which I think is very sweet and very true. Tim Keller was reformed and he sought to bring reformed theology to the

academy, to the church, to the world. I think he did it in a very magnanimous way, a very persuasive way. And again, that doesn't mean that we all agreed on everything that Tim Keller ever had to say. And we can also acknowledge the incredible contributions that he made to the church, his life and legacy of faith. And I'm just so thankful for that. And I think that our prayer should just be that many, many, many more people come to know Christ, come to know the gospel through his work, through the seeds that he has faithfully sown. All right. That's all I got time for today. Make sure that you check out our merch if you haven't recently.

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We've even got a couple of things coming out that might be worn by the by the related bros out there. You never know. You'll just have to stay tuned and see. All right. We will see you guys back here tomorrow. Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Alley, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself.

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