Truth Unites - Trump Gaza, Andrew Tate, and Why Christians Must Critique Both Right and Left (Third Wayism)

Episode Date: February 28, 2025

Gavin Ortlund lays out the case for Christians seeking the "third way" amidst the bifurcations of the modern world. Ed Feser's article: https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/feser-trump-s-gaza-proposal-is-gravely-immoralChris Watkin's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@christopherwatkin9627Chris Watkin's article: https://au.thegospelcoalition.org/article/the-third-way-is-dead-long-live-the-third-way/Truth Unites (https://truthunites.org) exists to promote gospel assurance through theological depth. Gavin Ortlund (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is President of Truth Unites and Theologian-in-Residence at Immanuel Nashville.SUPPORT:Tax Deductible Support: https://truthunites.org/donate/Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/truthunitesFOLLOW:Website: https://truthunites.org/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truth.unites/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gavinortlundFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/TruthUnitesPage/

Like many others, I was very disturbed watching President Trump's recent sharing on social media of a video about Trump Gaza. I'm not going to show it here. I'll show you a portion of it where you can see some of the golden Trump statues. I don't even know where to begin in terms of expressing my concerns with this. And one of the problems is people, a lot of times it feels like with all due respect, people just minimize things. And so evil gets normalized because people say, well, he's just trolling people and this kind of thing. Even if that were true, it comes in the context of his actions and his words, for example, about taking over that region, which, as Ed Faser argues, is an immoral prospect for multiple reasons. So it's not just the video. So, you know, after I watched that this afternoon,

I was talking with my wife, and I'm just wrestling with this question of, what does it look like to be a faithful Christian right now? Because I'm, you know, I'll just kind of put my cards on the table in this whole video. I'm not a liberal person, though sometimes people, accuse me of that. I'm pretty conservative. I don't think that's the answer, but I'm seeing real problems on the right right now. And the thing that sort of exacerbated it is while we're having that conversation, we discovered that Andrew Tate and his brother arrived in the United States. If you don't know Andrew Tate, he's a social media influencer who's currently facing charges in Romania, including rape and human trafficking, sex with a minor, trafficking of minors. And if you could describe him as the

kind of person who is predatory and yet boastful about being predatory. That'll give you a flavor of who he is, put it like that. And frighteningly, he has massive influence on social media. So now it's unclear exactly why he's here. So I'm filming this the day of, the evening of. I've been thinking about this throughout the night, putting my kids to bed, thinking about this. I want to share my thoughts here. But he did tweet earlier this month. The Tates will be free. Trump is the president. The good old days are back. That's kind of ominous. One article notes that the Romanian foreign minister said a Trump administration official expressed interest in the Tate's case, but insisted that no pressure was applied to lift restrictions

on them leaving Romania. So we don't know exactly what's gone on that causes them to be here, but time will tell, and it looks weird, and it's just, you know, the reality is Andrew Tate has been platformed by some very influential conservative commentators, and it's disturbing how much he influence he has. And so all of this raises a question that I've been wrestling with a great deal, and I think we all need to wrestle with. Those of you who are following my channel who are followers of Christ, you know, what does it look like to be a Christian right now? Because we are in a very unstable and rapidly polarizing world, and there are real evils on both the right and the left. And our modern world is increasing.

pressuring us into one of those two directions. The trajectories are powerful. They're powerful currents. And social media accelerates it. And the reality is faithfulness to Jesus requires us to resist things on both sides. And what I find very challenging about talking about this is that, especially for us in the United States, if we express concerns about problems on the right, people accuse us of being a leftist. If you criticize the Republicans, you must be a Democrat. if you criticize President Trump, you must be for Kamala Harris, this kind of thing. People said this about me, even though it's not true. I don't support the Democrats.

I don't support Kamala Harris. I just have concerns about Donald Trump. And this is the challenge that in the sort of increasing binaries of the world, the right versus the left, if you criticize one side, then you're often perceived to be joining the other. And the problem is, following Jesus doesn't fit neatly into these categories that the world has given us. And Christians need to be able to call sin sin. And that's going to mean we're swimming against the current in multiple directions, and we're fighting on multiple fronts and so on and so forth. That's what I believe. And so I want to talk about that. This video will be fairly simple.

It's not going to be a long theological video. More simple, brief, pastoral, the goal is mainly just to start conversations. I'm going to have a practical challenge. It's just going to be about starting a conversation at the end of this video. That's one of the things. I'm thinking about doing is just want to talk with people about this stuff. But I want to talk about being a third way Christian. What does it mean to be, what is third wayism? You may have heard this term. And this language is very controversial. You will hear a lot of concerns about this. Frankly, some of them are valid. And we want to try to receive the ones that are valid. Third wayism is often perceived to be wishy-washy and aloof and it fails to take a stand. It's overly

nuanced, it's elitist. Probably the biggest criticism is moral equivalency. The idea is third wayism implies that the problems are equally bad on each side. So let's wrestle with those concerns a little bit. By the way, the goal in all this video is not to condemn, shame anyone, point a finger. If you watch my channel at all, you know my approach is when there's good faith people, we want to talk through our disagreements with an open heart. But the goal is just to wrestle with amidst the swirling forces of evil around us, what does it look like to be a faithful Christian right now? I believe that third wayism is something we really need to consider more now than ever before because of the polarization. And I just want to put that out there and hope this sparks

conversations and reflection about this. Let me start by clarifying two things that third wayism isn't. Third wayism is not detached aloofness. Third wayism does not mean that we should never commit to a particular political party or identify with a particular side in a culture war or a particular political ideology or vote for a particular political candidate, you could literally be a political candidate and still be committed to third wayism. I'll explain that more in a second. Second, third wayism is not splitting the difference between the bifurcations of the modern world. The truth does not always lie between two extremes. Third wayism does. not mean that the truth is in the middle of each dispute. In fact, rarely will it mean that.

It'd be an unbelievable coincidence if the truth happens to be 50-50 in the middle. Almost never does that happen. Usually, one side in a dispute is a closer approximation of truth and righteousness. And in those cases, we might either support that side and try to improve it, or we might come up with some alternative path to meet those values, or we might take some time to think about it and pray about it. It depends on how much of an approximation, right? If it's a 90 to 10 versus a 60 to 40, that'll be a little different. But the point is we don't need to act like moderation is always righteousness. That isn't. And let's acknowledge some of these concerns that come up, because third wayism is often practiced badly. At times people, I think one of the things that

really drives people crazy is sometimes third way folks can be a little bit, let's put it like this. People might experience this way of thinking is a little bit superior. And so that's why I really wanted to emphasize up front here. The goal is to try to reflect and say, Jesus, help us follow you. I mean, I really just prayed right before I started this video about that. The goal is not to make anybody feel like fingers pointing in their face. So one of the concerns about third wayism is punching right and coddling left. Okay, that happens at times.

It's totally valid. One of the things that we're going to talk about is what we need to know our temptation. Some of us are going to be tempted to punch right and coddle left, others in the other direction, just the opposite. We need to know our temptations. However, there is an old saying that abuse does not take away proper use. Okay. And the times in which we live are so crazy that I feel compelled to speak out and encourage us to consider third wayism a little bit here because of these evils on the right. And the ways that sometimes we can just, we're only looking in one direction. So at its best, what is third wayism? Let's, again, I'm going to try to be real

simple here in my thinking. Hopefully not simple-minded, but, you know, clear and brief. Best way I think about it is this. The kingdom of God does not fit neatly into the categories of the modern world. Western modernity is characterized by these various bifurcations and were frequently pressured into a choice between two alternatives when following Jesus calls us something totally different than either alternative. That doesn't mean it's going to be right. the middle of the two. And because the gospel is our ultimate allegiance, our citizenship is in heaven, that's our primary home and allegiance, we will not fit well into this world. We will feel like exiles, and we'll be swimming upstream in multiple directions. Now, my thoughts here have been

shaped by Christopher Watkins' great book, Biblical Critical Theory. In the introduction to that book, by the way, he deals with these concerns, he gives a good response. Though don't impute any of my clumsiness onto, and my thinking about this onto him, he's much better at this than I am. But I'm going to link to his YouTube channel and also a helpful article he's written on this. Here's what he says. Rather than crudely splitting the difference in this way, third way thinking is about letting the Bible set its own table, unfold its own categories, and tell its own story in its own way, rather than squeezing it in awkwardly between existing ideologies at a table set

by others, only when the Bible has first been allowed to speak in its own terms. can we bring it into meaningful conversation with secular ideologies? At the end of the day, I think let's make it really, really simple. At the end of the day, it means simply following our conscience. I mean, this is where these conversations between people who have different leanings and different postures in the culture wars and in politics and all this, they're so hard to talk these things through. Sometimes we're suspicious of each other.

Can I just share my heart, put it out on the table and say, some of us are third way, and are speaking out about the concerns with what's going on on the far right, truly because we are trying to follow our conscience. And we see real evil over here. And we're saying no. Especially, 1st Corinthians 5, 9 to 11, especially if it's in the minds of some associated with Christianity. So honestly, I think at its heart, the animating core of a healthy third wayism is, I want to follow Jesus.

And so I'm going to follow Jesus no matter what. And at times, that will make me too liberal for this group, too conservative for that group, etc. Now, I know this sounds kind of basic, but let me articulate a dynamic of human psychology that I think makes this actually really challenging to live out in the world right now, because human beings are very tribal. We are all very tribal. If we don't think we are, then we're naive. And it's very hard to critique our own group, very hard.

So one application of third wayism is simply this. being willing to criticize the groups and the causes that we're a part of even when we think they're the better of two options. Okay, so here's some metaphors. Suppose that the correct answer to a math problem is five, and you're evaluating, you're grading quizzes, you're the teacher. And there's two different wrong answers. One student wrote 15 and the other student wrote 10. So one is off by five, one is off by 10. Now, you're allowed to say 15 is worse than 10.

It is more incorrect than 10. It's off by a larger extent. But you're also allowed to say 10 is incorrect. And if you try to say 10 is incorrect, and the only thing that others keep saying to you is, yeah, but 15 is even worse, you're allowed to stick to your guns and say, yeah, but 10 is still wrong. Okay, here's another metaphor. A tank is shooting missiles at your front door. And simultaneously, there's a ninja trying to break into your house through the side window. Now, clearly, the tank is the bigger threat, but you're also allowed to be mindful of the ninja coming in.

I thought this is the dumbest metaphor. Can you tell I was once a youth pastor? Point is, if two dangers are not equally threatening, you're still allowed to talk about the lesser threat. because we as followers of Jesus are called to oppose all evil and follow him in every way and at every time and in every conversation and every moment and so forth. So what does that look like right now? I have three suggestions and then a final thought. Number one is scripture. We can ask the Holy Spirit to correct us through Scripture. Scripture is the Word of God. Scripture is God speaking. So when we hear from the scripture, it is going to challenge us and it's going to pull us out of the ways that that these modern bifurcations have gotten into us more than we realize. And if scripture is our

authority, you know, a regenerate heart like Psalm 1 that will actually delight to be corrected by the Word of God and to say, God is speaking, I submit to that, I respond to that. And so, and the Bible has a lot to say that will critique reigning ideologies, whatever our temptations are. The Bible has a lot to say about compassion for the poor and social justice. Okay, if you're following the Bible, some people will call you woke. The Bible has a lot to say about hell and God's judgment and the priority of God and the centrality of God and the sanctity of our sexuality and a lot of other things that if you're obeying, people will call you a fundamentalist.

And so what we can do is the winds are swirling around us is you cling to the scripture. You say, this is truth. This is how I, this is a light to me in the dark. Second suggestion for this is all about how do we critique our own tribe. It's kind of the thinking here. That's third wayism. You do your best, but you're willing to say, hey, you know, worry about the ninja, not just the tank. A second thing is church history. You probably, if you watch my channel, you knew this would come. I love church history. Even though church history is not infallible like scripture, it is still extremely edifying because it can expose our blind spots, because the mistakes, especially pre-modern, but even early modern. Honestly, the world has changed so much in 100 years. I did a video on fundamentalism 100 years ago versus today. Even just 100 years ago, it's like a window. It exposes so many of the eccentricities of how we think today. In my seminar on church history that I'm teaching at my church right now, we talked about the early church and their views on entertainment. And one of the

things I talked about is how they were against both the Sixth Commandment and the Seventh commandment violations going on in the Roman culture around them with equal vehemence. So they were against murder and adultery. So in the gladiator games, when people are getting slaughtered, they were saying, no, that is wrong. That's a violation of the image of God. But in the theaters, when there's licentiousness, they were saying, no, that is a violation. That is actually exploitation of the vulnerable, which it is, as is so much of the sexual immorality of the modern world. It's not harmless. it damages the vulnerable, especially women and children. So the early church was saying, we have to fight both of these.

And you feel their indignation about both. And so the early church is a great model for us, because they're going to push us in different directions. And this can help us think about this. So like here's an example of a healthy, edifying practice. Find one great Christian you admire in church history. Maybe it's Augustine, maybe it's C.S. Lewis, whoever may be. and really study them, like read everything you can from them, and just really get to know them,

get to know their instincts. And then as you get to know that Christian, ask them, how would they function in 2025? You know, what would C.S. Lewis think about like these social media things? What would St. Augustine think about current politics? And again, even though the pre-modern Christians and earlier modern Christians were not perfect, they wouldn't really fit in. in the modern bifurcations either. These people would be called woke and liberal by some. They would also be called fundamentalists by others. Just look at the fundamentalists 100 years ago would be called, you know, for sale today because of their biblical hermeneutic, because of their social concern. These earlier Christians don't fit in in the modern categories. And that just gives us

some perspective. Again, it's like just a helpful light in the darkness as we're all trying to figure out how do we follow Jesus right now. A third strategy I have that I think, these are, again, I told you these are basic, is retaining friendship. So, and what I'm thinking of here is find those good faith people. The bad faith people I'm not talking about. There are some people we need to cut off relationship with and ignore. But I'm talking about good faith people that you know that they're sincere and they're doing their best. But they have some disagreements with you. And maybe they are annoying. You know, you're like, man, why do we see this so differently? Maybe you're not totally on the complete opposite ends of the spectrum, but you have enough

differences because the good mark of friendship is you have some similarities and some differences. They say you get married for your similarities, you stay married for your friendships, or you stay married for your differences. Stay married for your friendships. You stay married for your differences. Because the differences are, you know, really where the friendship gets interesting. In my book, The Art of Disagreeing, I talk about Lewis and Tolkien and how they found disagreement so intriguing and interesting in their discussions. Disagreement is fascinating, but it's frustrating too. So what I'm talking about here is find some people you see things all differently with and retain friendship. Don't divorce from the friendship. Don't cut them off. And I, especially in the

body of Christ, having a little bit more patience for each other with good faith people, as we try to figure out. Why are we looking at this so differently? it might not be that they're a coward or a compromiser or self-righteous. They might be having different background experiences, different values. They're looking at things from a different angle, and we can learn from each other. And just right now, one of the ways we can be more able to see the flaws and foibles of our own tribes is to talk to people and other tribes who are good faith people. It's a simple thing, but I really believe in that.

The last thing I'll say is I think we all need courage right now. If you're wondering, I think I can say, I think the evils of the world, this is not a normal time. The evils of the world feel exceptionally terrible right now. I really believe that. This is an unusual time. And so for those who are wondering, you know, should I speak up? What should I do? Yes.

I think now is the time to pray. Now is the time to lean in. Now is the time to speak up. Now is the time to seek the kingdom of God in awe. and I do a lot of videos talking about pray for revival, re-center on the gospel, let's shore up the gospel, let's consolidate around the basics of Christianity, this kind of stuff. That's why I do apologetics, all that. But a lot of this is overwhelming. And a lot of us are like, man, we can't solve all these problems. What do we do? I have one simple practical step that maybe just a first

step that's actually encouraging. Find another, hopefully it's encouraging, find another Christian friend that you really trust, and go on a walk with them or go out to coffee with them and talk to them about this. Say, what's going on in the world? What does it look like to be a faithful Christian right now? Talk about third wayism. Do you agree with it? Do you disagree with it? What does it look like to follow Jesus right now? There's so much that that doesn't solve. But that's actually a really good step because it makes it a little less lonely. And again, we get some perspective and we get some help going forward. Let me know what you think. When I do videos on this, I'm aware, I'll lose some followers talking about these things at all. It's costly no

matter what you say. But I just, I'm trying to follow my conscience. I'm trying to do what's right. And to me, that means being willing to speak out against evil and resist evil wherever it is happening. And it is happening in both directions right now. And we need to talk about that. So hopefully you hear my heart where I'm coming from and trying to put this forward for us all to wrestle with. And let's keep talking about it. And when there's good faith people in the conversation, we can keep growing together and improving together. Let me know what you think in the comments. I'll read the comments on this one. It might be sanctifying, but I will read them, and I will be curious what you think. Thanks for watching.