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Reality Shifting, Bored Kids & Churches That Said ‘No’ to Helping
23 Plays7 days ago
Escapism isn’t new—but the way Gen Z is doing it through reality shifting, AI chatbots, and online fantasy worlds is different, and it’s telling us something about boredom, depression, and how disconnected young people feel. In this episode of UNSOLICITED PERSPECTIVES, Bruce breaks down why kids are escaping, why parents don’t always catch the signs, and how overconsumption of tech can actually make us more miserable—then pivots right into the viral story of a woman who called dozens of churches for baby formula…and most of them said no. Yeah. We’re talking about faith vs. action, church hypocrisy, Christian nationalism, and what Jesus actually said about helping people.
Then Bruce and J. Aundrea close it out with a messy Reddit “Am I overreacting?” about a friend who shared a private convo in the group chat—was that a small mistake or a trust violation? Watch, comment, and tell us where you draw the line. #realityshifting #escapism #churchcontroversy #churchaccountability #mentalhealthmatters #unsolicitedperspectives
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Chapters:
00:00 Escaping Reality, Facing Faith, and Finding Ourselves 🏃♂️✨🙏
00:19 Welcome to Unsolicited Perspectives 🎙️🔥
00:47 Reality Shifting & The Church: Helpful or Harmful? 🌀⛪🤔
01:57 Escaping Reality: My Childhood Fantasy Worlds 🎮✨💭
05:26 What Is Reality Shifting? The Viral TikTok Trend 📱🌀🤯
07:49 We All Escape: Sports, Books & Mental Getaways 🏈📚🧠
10:17 AI Chatbots & Teen Tragedy: A Dangerous Connection 🤖💔⚠️
14:18 The Hidden Depression: When Parents Don't See It 😔👨👩👦💬
18:00 Why Kids Turn to AI Instead of Their Parents 📱👪😢
22:12 Boredom Is the Real Enemy: Too Much of Everything 😴📲🎯
25:08 The Science: How Tech Creates Boredom & Depression 🧪📊😞
28:37 Churches Refusing to Help: The Viral Experiment 🚨⛪💔
31:33 90% Said No: When Religion Fails the Needy 😡🙏❌
36:20 Faith Without Action: The Hypocrisy Exposed 🎭⚖️🔥
39:14 What Jesus Actually Said About Helping Others 📖✝️💡
45:23 Christian Nationalists vs Christ's Teachings ⛪😤
49:38 Am I Overreacting? Friend Shared My Private Messages 😠💬🤐
54:46 When Trust Is Broken: How I Handle Betrayal Now 💔🚫👥
01:00:13 Men Are Messier Than Women: The Truth About Drama 🎭👨😂
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Transcript
Introduction to Escapism and Church's Role
00:00:00
Speaker
Escapism, when is it helpful and when is it detrimental? And the church not helping the needy, we gonna get into it. Let's get it.
Introduction to Unsolicited Perspectives Podcast
00:00:19
Speaker
Welcome. First of all, welcome. This is Unsolicited Perspectives. I'm your host, Bruce Anthony, here to lead the conversation in important events and topics that are shaping today's society. Join the conversation and follow us wherever you get your audio podcasts. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for our video podcasts, YouTube exclusive content, and our YouTube membership. Rate, review, like, comment, share.
00:00:41
Speaker
Share with your friends, share your family, hell, even share with your enemies.
Episode Preview: Reality Shifting and Church's Aid
00:00:45
Speaker
On today's episode, I'll be talking about reality shifting, the church not helping the needy, and me and my sister are going to talk about a Reddit post.
00:00:55
Speaker
But that's enough of the intro. Let's get to the show.
Personal Escapism Through Imagination
00:01:06
Speaker
You know, I'm going to be on one on this episode. I'm going to be on my pulpit. I'm going to be preaching. I'm going to be lecturing. I'm gonna be hopefully teaching. Speaking of teaching, when I was in school, I had a problem focusing.
00:01:21
Speaker
I used to daydream all the time, y'all. I still daydream all the time. If I'm in a lecture, if I'm taking a walk, my mind is somewhere else. Sometimes people even talking to me and my mind is somewhere else. And I daydream and dream very vividly. I dream in color.
00:01:37
Speaker
I have this really great imagination i always had, even when I was a little kid. I would often play with my action figures or my wrestling men and create you know wrestling events that I've talked about before that I had my brother sit down and watch.
00:01:51
Speaker
These fantasy worlds where they would have these conversations. I would play video games, typically sports games, and create a franchise mode where I were hiring and and firing staff and signing players and trading players. And even when I wasn't playing this video game, I would sometimes still be in the realm of being the GM talking about, you know, I need to make this move, that move to improve the team.
00:02:16
Speaker
My mind is often in fantasy world. I snap back to reality relatively quickly, right? Because reality is reality. Like you have to live life. You can do this escapism and that's okay, but you gotta snap back into it. And part of my escapism is,
00:02:39
Speaker
Part of my daydreaming, part of my imagination comes from various
ADHD, Trauma, and Escapism
00:02:43
Speaker
different things. Now, undiagnosed, but so people swear up and down I have ADHD. And the more symptoms that I read about ADHD, I'm almost positive that I've always had it.
00:02:54
Speaker
Always had a very, very difficult time focusing. I've also had trauma, things that have happened in my life. Some stuff I've talked about on this podcast, some stuff you guys will never hear about.
00:03:06
Speaker
It's not life or death trauma, but you know everybody has trauma and people are affected by that trauma in different ways. I would escape you know and go into this fantasy world often by myself. I would go in the house go to my room that was off the distance from everybody else just because the house, the way ah our living situations were set up.
00:03:29
Speaker
I was typically away from everybody. And I would go into my little area and I would disappear for hours into my little fantasy world. It was a coping mechanism. would snap back out of it because you got to deal with reality. But I learned that I could be safe in that fantasy world when reality was hitting too hard.
00:03:50
Speaker
And everybody does it. When you listening to me right now, you say, damn, Bruce, that's kind of crazy. But you do it. You escape in various things. Sometimes it's reading a book. Sometimes it's television shows. Men do it in sports.
00:04:03
Speaker
You know, every time I talk to to men, my age, younger, older, doesn't matter. They're like, Bruce, what are you doing on Sunday? You watching the games? And like, man maybe sometimes their own. I used to be an avid sports fan.
00:04:15
Speaker
That was my escape. I don't need that anymore. You know what part of my escape is? This podcast, you know, the the podcast has become a form of therapy and escapism.
00:04:26
Speaker
Even though I deal with reality on this podcast, it is a form of escapism and men. tend to escape in the sports. Why are men so obsessed in sports? Well, we're competitive by nature. Well, everybody's competitive by nature. I'm not going to say that's solely on men because I know a lot of women who are way more competitive than I am.
00:04:47
Speaker
But men have to like get that that aggression out, and we do in the sports, sometimes entirely too seriously. But you've got to realize that men are stunted in our emotional development We don't know how to express our our emotions, though we are getting better.
00:05:07
Speaker
And the only way we can escape those emotions is by paying attention to sports. Why am I talking about this? What does this all mean? Because I started off at the top of the intro talking about reality shifting.
00:05:23
Speaker
And this is kind of part of reality shifting.
Understanding Reality Shifting
00:05:26
Speaker
So a friend of mine introduced me to reality shifting. They were like, hey, have you heard about this? I was like, no, I haven't. And immediately I did some research and I was fascinated by it. So because I'm fascinated by it, it became a topic on the show.
00:05:38
Speaker
So reality shifting is a trending practice among young people, particularly online, where individuals attempt to move their consciousness or awareness to alternate realities, sometimes imagined realms like those found in popular books or movies, using various techniques such as meditation, visualization, and scripting.
00:05:57
Speaker
Though popular on platforms like TikTok and YouTube, there's no scientific evidence that reality shifting enables actual travel to other worlds beyond dreams or vivid imagination. It's essentially a form of lucid dreaming or intense daydreaming that some use for mental escape. So as I start to talk about reality shifting and older generations say, these young kids are crazy, think about that last point.
00:06:25
Speaker
mental escape. And think about what I earlier said, we all do escapism. Some adults actually lose themselves in these realities that they've created.
00:06:41
Speaker
I'm not going name no names, but we have a leader in office that people say that he's a liar and he is, but I also believe he's created this world in his head that makes absolute sense to him.
00:06:56
Speaker
This fantasy world in his head that makes absolute sense to him. So he knows he's lying, but he convinced himself it's the truth. And we do it every single day.
00:07:07
Speaker
You know that you've been in that relationship. You convinced yourself that it was working. It was not. You knew that you was lying to yourself. You were living in a fantasy world. You weren't living in reality. What the point I'm trying to make is everybody does this. So when I explain to you what the youth are doing with this reality shift, don't judge.
00:07:30
Speaker
Don't judge because though you may not do this exact thing, you do it. Prime example, as I was reading this, And it was described to me through, you know, various different sources, what reality shifting is.
00:07:48
Speaker
I said, oh, it's daydreaming. And that's what it's described as. It's daydreaming. And we all do it daydream. And sometimes you do it purposefully. All my people out there that practice yoga, mindfulness, how often are you meditating in yoga or just meditating in general?
00:08:07
Speaker
and you go to a another place that relaxes you, a beach, a rainforest. Maybe it is is even in outer space. That's what this youth are doing. It's nothing new.
00:08:21
Speaker
The avenues in which they're getting there and interacting in these worlds is a little bit different. different Because though we may meditate and try to go to a place and may actually put ourselves there,
00:08:37
Speaker
With reality shifting with the youth, they are taking themselves to fantasy worlds like Game of Thrones, right? I don't pay attention to fantasy like Lord of Rings or The Hobbit, but think all of that stuff, right?
00:08:49
Speaker
They create in their mind these characters of which they are and go to these worlds as they're daydreaming. problem is, is that some of them actually believe that they are in this world and are leaving their consciousness there to still live in the world as they come back to reality.
00:09:08
Speaker
Now, these are kids, right? And I'm not going to say that I didn't do this as a kid because there were times where I was daydreaming. Like I said, I was creating these franchises and i would be in everyday life still thinking about having my mind there in that fantasy world we all do it the problem is is that as adults supposedly we're able to snap ourselves out of reality uh snap ourselves back into reality
00:09:42
Speaker
and realize this world that we've created, even though we may teeter on that fantasy reality, that this world that we've created is actually a fantasy world that we can't actually get to because if we did get to, we'd be in an asylum.
00:09:59
Speaker
Okay. So how are people getting reality shifting to these fantasy worlds? And why do I feel like it's important to address it on the show?
AI Influence and Youth Responsibility Debate
00:10:14
Speaker
Is there a connection with AI? There is. So there's been some recent cases of young people, and I'm talking 16, 13, unaliving themselves with AI chatbots and this reality shifting, trying to, with these AI chatbots, create this fantasy world and then get to this fantasy world.
00:10:36
Speaker
Okay, so over the past year, there have been at least two widely publicized cases where young people died by unaliving themselves following extensive interactions with AI chatbots. These cases have sparked international concern and lawsuits alleging chatbot companies bear responsibility for failing safeguard vulnerable users.
00:10:56
Speaker
I have the notes of the two young people, but I'm not gonna put their names out there. There were two young people, one in California and one in Florida, 16 and 13 years old that unaligned themselves. One young person that unaligned themselves in California, I believe.
00:11:12
Speaker
was chatting with an AI chatbot and felt suicidal. Initially, the AI chatbot told this person to seek help. Now this person was interacting with this AI chatbot, creating this fantasy world that they would live in this fantasy world with this AI chatbot. And this AI chatbot was the other person in the fantasy world. They created this whole world and the AI chatbot was like helping them create this world.
00:11:39
Speaker
And the person said, I wanna go to this world. The AI chatbot was like, well, come to this world. And the parents are suing the AI chatbot companies because they're saying that there's no safeguards on the AI chatbot.
00:11:54
Speaker
AI is only programmed to... AI is not sentient, right? So I don't believe these AI companies are responsible for people unaliving themselves.
00:12:12
Speaker
I don't. and And there's, because I understand the technology. If you don't understand the technology, you need somebody to blame. I don't have any children. I don't know what it's like to lose a child.
00:12:27
Speaker
I do know when tragedy happens, no matter what type of tragedy, people need something to blame to make sense of the tragedy.
00:12:39
Speaker
This young person that unallied themselves, there had to be signs that this person was not happy, that this person was distant.
00:12:50
Speaker
And as I read the article about the investigation into what happened to this young person, very much they withdrew, was in their room more often, wasn't socializing.
00:13:05
Speaker
And this speaks to a bigger issue that I'm going to get into later about the youth, boredom and depression. But I'm not blaming the parents.
00:13:18
Speaker
Being a parent is a tough job because not only are you trying to take care of yourself, dealing in this world. reality that we live in, this existence that we live in, which we also try to escape because life is crazy, life is real, life is hard.
00:13:38
Speaker
You're also responsible for molding and shaping a younger person a a young person, a child, into a functioning and thriving, hopefully adult.
00:13:55
Speaker
It is beyond a doubt the toughest job that there ever is or ever was created by a person. Being a parent, being responsible for raising a life to be successful.
00:14:14
Speaker
Some stuff may fall through the cracks. I had a conversation with my father and in that conversation i was talking about the depression that i had when i was around 16 years old really really depressed it was a lot of things going on i'm not going to get into it on the show but but i was going through a lot if you look at some of the top stressors in psychology i had four of the top five going on at the same time and my father said ah i i had no idea
00:14:45
Speaker
and course he would have no idea because some of those same stressors he was going through, right? And I'm not the type person to share.
00:14:58
Speaker
It's still a problem today. My ex-wife said, Bruce, you just don't tell me what's going on your head. I know there's something going on. You just don't, just tell me. I don't feel safe.
00:15:09
Speaker
That's where that escapism came from as a child. I don't feel safe telling people how I feel inside. Most people don't. Most people hold it in.
00:15:20
Speaker
So how are parents supposed to know what their kids are going through? ah One way is to constantly be in their shit. And I don't mean in like an aggressive,
00:15:32
Speaker
you know, invasive type thing. It starts... when the kids are young and it's hard to do, right? It starts with indulging every stupid activity and dumb question that they have, even when you don't have the time or patience to do so.
00:15:54
Speaker
Because by doing that, the children know that no matter what you do as far as discipline, um not to the extreme, but even when you have to discipline them, they know they can feel safe around you, that they know that they can come to you, but no matter how crazy the idea it is, and feel safe around you to talk about it. That's how you develop openness with children. You can't try to try and start that when they're a teenager.
Parental Challenges in Recognizing Struggles
00:16:24
Speaker
Right. You need to start that when they're young. Now, you can try to reestablish if you've never established it. You could try to establish it in their teenage years.
00:16:35
Speaker
But you have to you have to allow young people to make mistakes, no matter how dumb it is, because we were all young and making mistakes.
00:16:47
Speaker
I'm not blaming the parents. Because being a parent is a tough job. But to say that an AI company holds responsibility when an AI chat is only, you're giving it something and it's giving it back to you. That's all it is.
00:17:08
Speaker
That's all it's doing, right? What are... some of the issues with AI chatbots, because there are some issues with AI chatbots, but not the way in which you think about it. So the growing trend of yeah of the youth using AI chatbots for social, romantic, and emotional sports amplifies the risk, as these bots sometimes are available 24 seven, providing affirmation and companionship that can be dangerous dangerously influential, especially for isolated or distressed teens. Now,
00:17:43
Speaker
When I say that, it could be influential. It's because teens are expressing things to these AI chat bots and AI chat bots are responding.
00:17:57
Speaker
This goes back to my point of developing a relationship of communication with your child. The reason why these children are going to AI chatbots, there's variety of reasons, right?
00:18:10
Speaker
Not solely parenting. It could be isolation from social peers. That's a whole different thing with the younger generations because of technology. But also, and these are my Gen X and millennial parents, and we're supposed to be evolving emotionally and mentally.
00:18:25
Speaker
We have to allow the young people, no matter how bad the situation is, to come to us and talk to us. I have a goddaughter. My goddaughter in her youth, she's listening to the show.
00:18:41
Speaker
She was ah wild child, much like her godfather. That's the reason why we bonded. We are very similar in our personalities. Whenever she did something that got in trouble that got her in trouble with her parents, granted, it's not my daughter, but got in trouble with her parents, she would come and talk to me.
00:19:00
Speaker
No matter how crazy it was, never judged her, never ridiculed ridiculed her, I just sat and listened. And if she asked for my advice, I would give her my advice.
00:19:11
Speaker
If she tried to drag down her parents for not understanding her, I would say, well, let's examine what you did and how that response from your parents is justified.
00:19:24
Speaker
But the key is, is a lot of reasons why these children are going to these AI chat box or reality shifting more so than maybe previous generations because they're feeling like they're not being heard.
00:19:40
Speaker
Surveys estimate that as many as 72 adolescents have interacted with AI companions at least once, while one in five high schoolers have had romantic connections with ai bots or known someone who has.
00:19:55
Speaker
This has led to mental health experts, parents, and lawmakers to talk to offer urgent regulation, warning that chat box can validate harmful thoughts and quickly shift to inappropriate or risky territory.
00:20:07
Speaker
Or adults could be more involved with these young people. Instead of blaming something else, perhaps just a thought You can interact with your children, your nieces, your nephews, your little cousins, your students, and give them safe spaces to talk and not judge them.
00:20:38
Speaker
So often, older generations are always judging younger generations. It's like the Gen Z stare. What does that mean? The Gen Z stare simply is, what the hell are you talking about? Because what you're saying makes no sense.
00:20:53
Speaker
That's all it is. I do the Gen Z stare and I'm not even in Gen Z. Instead of brushing young people off, saying that they don't know what they're talking about, they haven't lived lives.
00:21:06
Speaker
Listen to them. Because the fact of the matter is whether more or over, these younger generations have more information.
00:21:18
Speaker
They're either more informed or over-informed. And they have something to say. I was a young person that had critical thinking skills. I had something to say in high school.
00:21:30
Speaker
I had something to say in middle school. Luckily, my parents pushed that. And there are times that I hid stuff from my parents, but there's a lot of times, even still, I go to my parents for counsel.
00:21:47
Speaker
They created a safe space. I know I said that I used the escape because childhood trauma, but they still created a safe space.
00:21:58
Speaker
Look, the AI chatbots is connected to reality shifting because when you are doing romantic and companionship with AI chatbots, that's just going into a fantasy world.
00:22:15
Speaker
That's reality shifting. Okay, and we all did it. Some people out there had long distance relationships. How often did you see that person? Right?
00:22:27
Speaker
Same concept. You were just chit chatting, talking on the phone, whatever. That's what these AI chatbots is doing. Instead of judging the young folks, understand why they're here.
00:22:39
Speaker
I approached what my theory was to a person and they said they didn't agree with me. And my theory for not only why kids are reality shifting is because they don't have safe spaces.
00:22:56
Speaker
I think it's boredom. There's boredom and it leads to depression. Now, all my older generations are gonna say, well, why would these kids be bored?
00:23:07
Speaker
They have everything, we didn't have everything. When there was a movie that we wanted to watch, if it wasn't at Blockbuster, if it wasn't at the video store, if it wasn't coming on TV, we were SOL. We had to wait.
00:23:21
Speaker
There was a long wait from movie theaters to the video. It was almost like six, seven months. If you miss it in the movie theater, you had to wait. Nowadays, kids don't have to wait. So if you're saying that kids with technology have access to everything, how are they bored?
00:23:39
Speaker
Therein lies the problem, overconsumption. When you have so much of everything, you don't have anything. Prime example, how many rich people do you know deep down the side are very unhappy?
00:23:53
Speaker
They'll have temporary happiness because they have things, but how often are they happy? See, things don't make you happy. They don't, they give you temporary happiness, right?
00:24:05
Speaker
But they don't ultimately make you happy. You know how I know? Because I used to have a Jordan addiction. Every time a pair of Jordans would arrive and I would buy two a month. Every time a pair of Jordans would arrive, there was this euphoria.
00:24:18
Speaker
Euphoria would last for a little while until the next pair came. The shoes didn't give me happiness. Peace of mind gives me happiness. So no matter, I've got, I don't know, I've gotten rid of a lot. I've got like 30, 35, 40 pairs of Jordans right now that I hardly ever wear.
Technology, Overconsumption, and Youth Depression
00:24:36
Speaker
Overconsumption did make me happy. Same thing with technology. Overconsumption can make you bored. Let me explain.
00:24:48
Speaker
There's a significant correlation between mass technology consumption among youth and increased experiences of boredom and apathy supported by both experimental and longitudinal research findings. Look, I know I didn't say that word exactly right.
00:25:02
Speaker
Y'all know got speech impediment, let's move on. So what is the evidence of this correlation? Multiple studies indicate that while young people often turn to digital technologies, such as smartphones, short form video platforms and social media to alleviate boredom, this coping strategy frequently backfires and can intensify feelings of boredom and apathy over time.
00:25:23
Speaker
For instance, consuming digital media through constant switching, skipping between videos or browsing social feeds, paradoxically induces more boredom, lower satisfaction and diminishes meaning and attention.
00:25:38
Speaker
Boredom is indeed lead to depression when research showing a significant correlation between boredom proneness and depression symptoms.
00:25:50
Speaker
Studies indicate that people who are more prone to boredom also tend to exhibit higher levels of depression through boredom and depression are distinct emotional states with some overlapping features.
00:26:03
Speaker
Boredom proneness correlates with depression symptoms. This is suggesting those who experience boredom frequently or intensively are at an increased risk of depression.
00:26:18
Speaker
Boredom can disrupt motivation, reduce ability to experience pleasure, and interfere with goal-directed behavior, all of which can be attributed to the development and worsening of depression symptoms.
00:26:31
Speaker
I say all this to say this. The reason why these kids are reality-shifting because they're trying to escape. The reason why they're trying to escape is because they're bored as hell.
00:26:44
Speaker
That boredom has led to depression. Kids are depressed because they have so much of everything. Just like rich people that have so much everything, but are depressed.
00:27:00
Speaker
When you have everything, you have nothing. Things have to matter. Relationships, experiences matter. Interactions with loved ones, friends, family, whoever, matter.
00:27:16
Speaker
These kids through technology are losing that. Not only are they losing that from their peers, they're losing it in the home. So before everybody blames AI chatbots, why don't we all collectively as older humanity take a bigger influence, take a bigger presence in the younger generation's lives.
00:27:45
Speaker
Let's get them off the phones. Let's get them off the iPads. I saw a young kid, four or five years old, on his iPad in the hallway of my building. He ran directly in the ladder, bumped off the ladder, looked up, saw it was a ladder,
00:28:02
Speaker
went around the ladder, went right back to his iPad. Before he went around the ladder, his eyes were going directly back to the iPad.
00:28:14
Speaker
Let's get back to human connection. That's what's going to help these kids.
Church's Reluctance to Aid in Social Experiment
00:28:30
Speaker
The church ain't helping the needy, y'all. Here in the U.S., the church are not helping the needy. Now, I'm speaking in specific terms, not generalities.
00:28:42
Speaker
Like, obviously, at a macro level, more churches are helping than hurting. But this idea that we're this Christian country.
00:28:55
Speaker
has been turned on its head. And it's been turned on its head by a woman named Nicolae Monroe, who's recently gone viral on TikTok for conducting a social experiment where she called dozens of churches and other religious centers across the United States, posing as a mother in desperate need of baby formula for her infant.
00:29:15
Speaker
Her efforts have been sparking widespread discussion online because most churches refuse direct help, highlighting the gap between religious rhetoric and community action.
00:29:27
Speaker
Y'all know I've been on this show numerous times talking about the hypocrisy of Americanized religion. And I say Americanized because I don't know what the religion is like in other countries.
00:29:43
Speaker
I can only speak to what I know in America. I can only speak to what I know because I grew up in the church. My father was a pastor. My uncle was a pastor. I literally grew up in the church. When I say grew up in the church, I've expressed it before.
00:29:59
Speaker
Sunday mornings, I would wake up, catch a bus to Sunday school before my parents were even out of bed. We go to Sunday school, we do the church service, we do after service, we eat dinner, breakfast, lunch, dinner at the church every Sunday, not including on Wednesdays. I grew up in the church. Now, I'm not saying the church that I grew up in was hypocritical.
00:30:22
Speaker
I'm saying that a lot of people that call themselves Christians, are not Christians. I'm gonna get into that later, but I'm more interested in exposing what Ms. Monroe did with the social media experiment. So Monroe called churches nationwide, claiming she had a two-month-old baby who who hadn't eaten since the previous night and needed urgent help securing formula.
00:30:48
Speaker
She deliberately included a sound of a crying baby in the background to stress the urgency and authenticity of her plea. the reserve The results were eye-opening. About 90% of the churches declined to assist her, often citing policies, referring her elsewhere, or responding curtly.
00:31:10
Speaker
So major Christian churches, especially in the deep South and other large congregations, typically rejected her requests, stating they only helped church members or directing her to external assistance like food banks or pantries.
00:31:29
Speaker
Some staff explained they stopped helping directly years ago, while others claimed there were restrictions due to laws around formula distribution. A minority of religious institutions, including a Catholic church, two historically black churches, a small church in Appalachia, and some Islamic centers offered sincere help or said they would go out of their way to provide formula. Now, I don't know what the legal implications is of going in and getting formula.
00:32:01
Speaker
But I do know If that woman randomly butt dialed me or dialed the wrong number with a crying baby in the background, and I'm not at i'm not a member of any church, okay?
00:32:15
Speaker
Crying in the background, or if I'm at the grocery store and there's a crying baby, because that's how that's how people that stand outside the grocery store always get me They got the kids. I'm like, I'm gonna feed them babies.
00:32:26
Speaker
There's been numerous times that I've taken people that are standing outside the grocery store with those signs that are saying, hey, I need some food. And they got the kids with them. And I'm like, let's let's go in here go get you some food.
00:32:38
Speaker
Or I will go in there and get them a gift card and say, go get go in there and get what you need. It's $50, $100 on here. Go get your new, feed them babies, right? I'm not a member of the church.
00:32:49
Speaker
I'm a Christian, but, you know, I mean, I'd be dibble-dabbling in a lot of sin, right? But I would help these people. And churches, megachurches turning down because they say legality reasons.
00:33:04
Speaker
At the very least, you can give somebody money so that they can go buy formula if the legal reasons are you can't go buy formula and give it to a child. Which, by the way, what laws say don't feed the kids? Oh, that's right.
00:33:21
Speaker
Every single law that Republicans are trying to push. Taking food out of kids' mouths. Don't believe me? Don't believe me? Courts have forced the Trump administration to provide the SNAP benefits to help feed those people that are in need.
00:33:40
Speaker
Courts have. The Trump administration have appealed that because they don't want to feed the needy. You know who the needy are? The kids. This is the same political party that say they are pro-life.
00:33:55
Speaker
They are not. They are pro-control. They want to control you. They don't give a damn about life unless it's theirs.
Religious Claims vs. Community Aid
00:34:05
Speaker
Anyway, let me get back because I'm preaching right now.
00:34:10
Speaker
but I'm going literally be preaching in a minute, but let's get back to the social media reaction. So the TikTok series now featured across Reddit, Instagram, and Facebook. I found it on Instagram has led to a robust conversation about the true role of churches in supporting families in need and accusations of religious hypocrisy.
00:34:30
Speaker
Many users have expressed disappointment and the reluctance of churches to provide basic aid, especially while publicly advocating for pro-life and family values. Hmm. I just pointed that out, didn't ah Some noted that mosque and Buddhist temples were quicker to offer practical help than churches, fueling further debates about community support across different faiths.
00:34:52
Speaker
The experiment also triggered community commentary on boundaries, nonprofit regulations, and the limitations of religious charity, along with a few criticisms about possibly staging and authenticity, though Monroe has posted nearly 40 call recordings as evidence.
00:35:11
Speaker
This viral experiment has shined a light on real world challenges faced by people seeking emergency help and is in broader reflections on the comparison within organized religion in America.
00:35:23
Speaker
I have often said that the problem with religion in America and a lot of the founding religions of America. What I mean by that is there's denominations in Christianity.
00:35:36
Speaker
And I'm just like, oh, okay. Like you did an offshoot of Christianity. That's nothing new. But your version of Christianity is deliberately discriminatory.
00:35:48
Speaker
and And I'm not saying that you only find it here in America, but a lot of the times these new denominations, Mormonism, you know, Jehovah Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists,
00:36:01
Speaker
evangelicals, typically are extremely discriminatory. So how can you be a follower of Christ when you are discriminatory? I often call people out on their hypocrisy.
00:36:15
Speaker
There is a difference between calling yourself a Christian and in actually living like a Christian. And this is a prime example of what I've been talking about. This is a woman that's calling for help with a crying baby, a baby in the background, not asking for direct money, just asking for help to feed the baby, not even feed herself, feed the baby and is being rejected.
00:36:42
Speaker
I don't give a damn. what the rules are if I'm a church member. If I answer that phone, I'm defy those rules to help people.
00:36:54
Speaker
Why? Because that's the Christian thing to do.
00:36:59
Speaker
This is the problem that I have with the hypocrisy of American Christian. And I'm not talking about every Christian. I'm not.
00:37:11
Speaker
But y'all know who I'm talking about. Y'all know exactly who I'm talking about, but I often get into debates with people that call themselves Christians.
00:37:22
Speaker
And I say to them, what ways in which you do you exhibit yourself to live as a Christian human beings, to maintain those principles of Christianity?
00:37:36
Speaker
What ways do you do it? Oftentimes it's these vague kind of generalized answers. And I said, there you can say all day that you're a Christian, but unless you're list living by the Christian principles, then you're not really a Christian.
00:37:57
Speaker
And now I get to my preaching because Jesus spoke extensively about helping others and the topic of sin. His teachings emphasize compassion, practical support for the needy and the importance of both faith and action.
00:38:20
Speaker
lot of people out there say they got faith, but do they have the action? Okay. What did Jesus say about helping people? Matthew 25, verse 35 through 40.
00:38:34
Speaker
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me.
00:38:47
Speaker
I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me. Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least,
00:38:58
Speaker
of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. Okay. So a lot of times people don't understand what the meaning is behind these verses. Don't worry.
00:39:10
Speaker
I'm break it down for you. What does this mean? Jesus identifies acts of kindness towards those in need as a direct service to him, teaching that true faith is lived out through compassionate action.
00:39:27
Speaker
Those churches that didn't answer the call didn't have compassionate action. They might have the faith that believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. They didn't have action.
00:39:46
Speaker
I got more. Mark 10, 21. Jesus looked at him and loved him. One thing you lack, he said, go sell everything you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven.
00:40:05
Speaker
Then come follow me. What does that mean? The meaning is generosity to the poor is central to discipleship.
00:40:16
Speaker
Material wealth should never outweigh compassion for others. I remember being in college. taking a communications class. It was during the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore.
00:40:33
Speaker
The push for the economy was mass consumption and waste because that would fuel the economy.
00:40:45
Speaker
The consumption of material things and not giving to the needy is direct contrast to Jesus's teachings.
00:40:57
Speaker
If we were consuming and wasting, but consuming to give to the needy, that's one thing. But we aren't. These churches exemplified that by not helping Miss Monroe get formula for her baby, it also is the same example as the Trump administration not i actually fighting to fund SNAP so people could eat.
00:41:28
Speaker
And this is supposedly the party of Christianity, the party of religion. But I'm not done. Luke 6, 38. thirty eight Give and it will be given to you.
00:41:43
Speaker
A good measure pressed down, shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Bruce, what does that mean?
00:41:55
Speaker
Giving generously brings spiritual rewards. The way one treats others will be how one is treated. I often talk to my father.
00:42:10
Speaker
My father is very generous. with his money and his time. Extremely generous. Both my mother and father have always been that way. Even if they didn't have a lot to give, if somebody was needy, they would give.
00:42:25
Speaker
And that's the reason why my brother and sister are and I are the way that we are. I could have $5 to my name, but if somebody is hungry,
00:42:39
Speaker
man, let's go over McDonald's and it used to be a dollar meal, but it's $2.50. Let's go over to McDonald's and least get you a sandwich. It'll be $2.50. It'll be half of my money and I only had $2.50 left, but I'll find some way to be back on top in a couple of days. You need this now.
00:43:01
Speaker
And it's because my father was a pastor. Giving generously brings spiritual rewards. And I talked to my dad all the time. I was like, man, you you got a lot of people you know hitting you up for things you need. Like, like I don't know how you do it.
00:43:17
Speaker
And he was like, man, I've been rewarded. I got to give back. That always hits me. But I ain't done preaching yet.
00:43:27
Speaker
Luke 12, 33 through 34. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out a true ah treasure in heaven that will never fail.
00:43:44
Speaker
For where that your treasure is, there your heart will be also. What does that mean? Acts of charity are valued eternally.
00:43:56
Speaker
Care for others reflects on true spiritual priorities. In every instance, Jesus is talking about helping the needy, not tearing people from their families, putting them on planes and sending them to prisons, not hiring Gestapo that hide their masks to round up people, not feeding people, not giving healthcare to people
00:44:30
Speaker
And I'm not attacking all Republicans. I'm talking about those conservative, nat those Christian nationalists that are in the Republican Party that are fighting to do everything, fighting against everything that Jesus told us to do.
00:44:49
Speaker
And they call themselves Christians. And that's what this TikTok viral thing did. It exposed them for the hypocrites that they are. There's difference between talking a big game and action.
00:45:07
Speaker
Remember, it's faith and action. But a lot of times people play moral gymnastics, right? A lot of times people say these people aren't worthy. What does she do that she can't afford formula?
00:45:22
Speaker
ah What is she going to so use that money that we give to her to go buy drugs and not feed that baby? is this person deserving formula? of our gifts, of our help.
00:45:35
Speaker
Well, what did Jesus say about sin? John 8, verse seven. Let him who is without s sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.
00:45:47
Speaker
That's the famous one, right? He is without sin. Meaning this, everyone has sinned. Therefore, judgment towards others should be tempered with humanity and mercy.
00:46:01
Speaker
See, you got people out here faking the funk. People out here thinking that they're saying that they're righteous and they don't sin when they sin every single day. Every day.
00:46:14
Speaker
But judge others for their sins without looking at themselves or holding themselves accountable.
00:46:21
Speaker
That's the hypocrisy that I'm talking about. That's that moral gymnastics that I'm talking about. Matthew 7, verse 1 through 2. Jesus warns not judge or you too will be judged for in the same way you judge others forgiveness.
00:46:38
Speaker
you will be judged and with the measure you use it would be measured to you jesus warns not to judge others harshly highlighting the shared human condition of s sense and the importance of forgiveness It don't matter if that person is a drug addict. addict Hypothetically speaking, it what if Ms. Monroe was a drug addict and she's calling to give formula for her baby?
00:47:06
Speaker
There's a variety of ways in which you can make sure that baby gets the formula, but to turn your back and judge for a made up sentence you don't even know exists, or even if you do know exists, even if you do know exists,
00:47:23
Speaker
is going against the teachings of Jesus. Matthew 9, 13. This is the last one. I promise you, I'll be done preaching after this. i have not called I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
00:47:40
Speaker
What does that mean? Jesus' mission centers on offering forgiveness and restoration to those who recognize their own need. They call for mercy and repentance.
00:47:53
Speaker
That's self-righteousness. There's lot of self-righteous people that are in this Christian national movement.
00:48:02
Speaker
Call themselves Christian. Maybe in faith, definitely not in action. So Jesus' teachings about helping others and addressing sin are intertwined.
00:48:16
Speaker
True discipleship is demonstrating both love, nonjudgmental service to those in need and awareness of others' own limitations and a need for grace.
00:48:27
Speaker
Jesus elevates compassion, humanity, and generosity as the greatest expressions of faithfulness. A person could technically call themselves a Christian without fully following Jesus' teachings.
00:48:44
Speaker
But Christian tradition and scripture emphasizes that true Christianity involves both faith in Jesus and an effort to practice his teachings in everyday life.
00:49:01
Speaker
And I ask you, if you call yourself a Christian, I already know you have faith in Jesus.
00:49:12
Speaker
But are you practicing Jesus' teachings in everyday life?
Reddit Post on Friendship and Trust Issues
00:49:18
Speaker
I'm just asking a question.
00:49:28
Speaker
All right, sis, another Am I Overreacting from Reddit. And this one is a little bit different. This has to do with friendship. Now, I figured that this would be an interesting story because I'm messy.
00:49:40
Speaker
And I got a lot of friends that tell me about their messy stuff. And yeah sometimes their story, though I leave their names and information out of it, ends up on the podcast. And now recently I've been getting the, Hey, is this on the record or off the record question? Yeah.
00:49:58
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I was like, which is, which is fair. No, it's absolutely fair. And I'm like, okay, just from now on, everything will be off the record unless, unless I asked you, can I put it on the podcast?
00:50:08
Speaker
But so this post said, A friend shared my private messages with our group chat for advice. Am I overreacting? So this person had a private conversation with another friend.
00:50:23
Speaker
o And that friend discussed that private conversation in a group chat with another group of other friends. And this person wants to know if they're overreacting just from the title. Because the reason why, ladies and gentlemen, i always say just from the title, what do you think? Is to kind of teach you guys a lesson. You can read a title. You can read a headline and not get the full context of story the majority of the time. And so it's important to take that initial feeling that you have and then read afterwards to see if those two things match.
00:50:55
Speaker
But Jay, just from the title, what do you think? No, you're not overreacting. The point of the private message is because I didn't want to share it in the group chat. Like everybody's got a group chat and then you got like subgroup chats, right? Where it's like offshoots, maybe but maybe it's just you and one other person or you and two other people from the group chat. Like everybody has those. like so Yeah. The point of the private message is because I didn't want it in the group chat. So you then putting it in the group chat. If I wanted in a group chat, I would have asked in the group chat. Right.
00:51:31
Speaker
So, no, you're not overreacting for that. From the title alone, it seems like that friend is wrong. OK, so let me get to the post and then we'll come to an ultimate conclusion after reading this.
00:51:45
Speaker
Am I overreacting for being upset that my friend shared a private conversation we had, one where I opened up about something really personal with our mutual group chat, just to get their opinion.
00:51:58
Speaker
They say they didn't mean any harm and that I was being too sensitive since no one knows the full context anyway, but I feel completely betrayed. I didn't expect our private messages to become group entertainment.
00:52:11
Speaker
Would you consider this a minor misstep or a serious breach of trust? That's a serious breach of trust. well Well, first of all, if you're putting it in the group chat to get their opinion and they don't even have the full context, their opinion is useless.
00:52:30
Speaker
That's number one. Number two, asked you your opinion. All I asked was for your opinion on this very, very personal situation that I pulled you into a private conversation to have.
00:52:47
Speaker
You don't need backup. I didn't ask for backup. I didn't ask for anybody to co-sign your opinion or mine. All I asked was, what is your opinion on this situation? And that's all you had to provide me with.
00:52:59
Speaker
So putting it now in the group chat, without asking me first, hey, do you wanna put this to the group and see maybe what they think?
00:53:10
Speaker
Then I could tell you, no, it's actually something really personal and I really only wanted to share this with you. you So you did it without asking my permission. You didn't even give them the full context, which I'm glad because you I didn't want them to have it anyway because this is something I'm opening up about that's really deeply personal.
00:53:30
Speaker
No, you that's a serious breach of trust. And the thing is, honestly, if you want to put this in front of the group, then my my response is going to be in the group chat also. And the response is, hey, I really didn't want to share this with the group.
00:53:46
Speaker
This really hurt my feelings. This was a serious breach of trust. And so now I know how to handle you moving forward. because of the way you've handled me. like it so you could Like I said, you can forgive, but don't forget.
00:54:00
Speaker
like Just because you might get to a place where you forgive this person for this breach of trust, doesn't mean that they're gonna have the same level of access to you that they used to have.
00:54:13
Speaker
So yeah, I don't think you're overreacting for feeling betrayed by this. This was not a minor misstep. This was a serious breach of trust. So this has happened to me before. not Not specifically this, but me opening it up to somebody and I find out, oh, you done told my business.
Personal Story of Trust Betrayal
00:54:33
Speaker
And I don't talk to them. i don't I don't tell them anything pertinent anymore. And then they get upset with me. And it was like, yo, you you'll never tell us nothing going on. And um I did that voice in a male voice, but it's not just males.
00:54:47
Speaker
It's males and females. That's just the voice that I make when I say, you know somebody's doing all this when somebody started complaining. and yeah that's yeah That's not gender specific, okay, ladies and gentlemen. yeah I know some people out there are going to be like, is that the reason why you don't tell me anything?
00:55:02
Speaker
Mine is like, why you don't never tell me nothing? Mine is that voice. So that also is not specific to any gender. That's just how you sound to me. It's not specific to any gender, but that is ah very familiar.
00:55:17
Speaker
yeah But so is so it's mine, but never mind that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. i just I just don't tell people stuff. And now- Yeah. It's weird because when your friends betray your trust, when you decide to open up yourself and be like, this is what's going on with me.
00:55:37
Speaker
And they turn around and they tell people, not even strangers, people that that you both know and it's gonna get back to them. And if I wanted to tell them, I would have told them.
00:55:50
Speaker
if you tell If you tell your aunt a story I told you, and i'll never i i've never I'm never gonna meet your aunt, and okay, all right, I can let that slide.
00:56:03
Speaker
But if you tell our mutual friend, if we're in a group of five, like me and girls, that was four. If we're in a group of four, like me and girls, and I tell you something and you tell the other two some the same thing that I told you privately, now that means that I don't like the way you move, so I'm gonna move different around you.
00:56:23
Speaker
And so does that yeah so does that mean that you don't have the same piece of me that you had? Yes. And does that mean that maybe we're not going to be as close as friends as we once were? Yes. Because I opened myself up. And for somebody like me personally, who's not the greatest about opening up at all. I know, ladies and gentlemen, i got a podcast. You would think Bruce be talking.
00:56:44
Speaker
No, I'd be talking about a lot of surface stuff. i don't talk about no deep down inside stuff about what's going on with me. So I'm slow to open up. So if I do, and you move a certain type of way, I will never open up to you again.
00:56:58
Speaker
So, yeah yeah, this person isn't overreacting because you trusted that person. And if that was too much for that person to handle and they felt like, well, this is a lot, I need help with giving you advice, communicate that to me beforehand before you go tell everybody else.
00:57:18
Speaker
Just say that. Just say, hey, friend, I really don't know what you should do in this situation. Like, I i don't know. i I don't think I'm the person to answer this question because I honestly don't know what advice to give you because either you can't relate, you've never gone through a similar thing, or you're just not equipped to give that level of advice, right? We're not therapists unless we actually are. So, like, you know, it's okay to also tell your friend, hey,
00:57:48
Speaker
I don't know. that You might want to ask somebody else. There are a few exceptions to this rule, though. if for If one of your friends from from a group is talking about potentially hurting themselves,
00:58:04
Speaker
Right. You need to bring in as many people as you can because they make a fight in you. But it's like this is serious or hurting themselves in any way if they like purposely hurting themselves or if they're having problems like a substance abuse problem or something like that. yeah Like that is something that you say, all right, this is bigger than me and you.
00:58:25
Speaker
Other people need to be involved. If they're a danger to themselves or someone else, then obviously you need to to act on that. yeah But if it's just like they're looking for some advice, right? But it's about something personal.
00:58:42
Speaker
You know, they're not a danger to themselves. They're not a danger to anyone else. they But it is something personal and they're looking for advice. And if you're not equipped to give that advice, it's okay to say that.
00:58:53
Speaker
But it's not okay to take that private conversation and make it public. I completely agree. So, Sade, you know ain't overreacting. I called you Shorty. It didn't specify that you were a female.
00:59:06
Speaker
i don't think it did. But I'm going to assume. Nope. Not going to assume. Yeah, they didn't they didn't. They didn't. I would say that I would assume that she's a female, but nope. Guys do this. And matter of fact, guys gossip and have little catty beefs more than women do.
00:59:22
Speaker
You don't believe In fact, they didn't. They didn't put a gender for them or their friend. Okay. They didn't put an age or a gender for either. But I'm about to say that like men are more catty and got more beef than the women do.
00:59:37
Speaker
You don't believe me? i I love Cameron. All right? yeah Cameron always got a beef with somebody. Right? Most of the time, it's not him doing something. It's people coming at him.
00:59:48
Speaker
But like Dane Dash always got beef and they be bickering and putting stuff out in street and be making rap songs to be real hurt in these interviews and crying. Like dudes is messier than women. I'm telling y'all.
00:59:59
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And so the fact that you brought it to one person, you're like, this is not a, you're trusting that this person will keep your confidence. That's why I brought it to you.
01:00:10
Speaker
If I wanted to bring it to the group and you know, the group got people like Cam'ron. or damn dash or just a breakfast or ah right or just like just like you know the group chat yeah this is the group chat for all you know when we go out we have fun it's not necessarily the friend group you tell the deep personal stuff to right there there could be different levels of friendship and so if i pulled you aside that means don't want
01:00:42
Speaker
yeah everybody to know. I certainly didn't want this to be made public in a group chat. yeah So. No, you're not overreacting. Question for the audience. Is she overreacting? Is she underacting? How would you react in this situation? What are the guidelines that you like to follow? sheer them.
01:01:00
Speaker
I say what? He's sheer them. What'd she say? You said, was she overreacting? And I said, he's she or they? Oh, yeah, yeah. They. Were they overreacting or underreacting? How would you react in this type of situation?
01:01:14
Speaker
Leave your comments in the comment section and we're going to get at you. I want to thank you for listening. I want to thank you for watching. And until next time, as always, I'll holla.
01:01:28
Speaker
That was a hell of a show. Thank you for rocking with us here on Unsolicited Perspectives with Bruce Anthony. Now, before you go, don't forget to follow, subscribe, like, comment, and share our podcast wherever you're listening or watching it to it. Pass it along to your friends. If you enjoy it, that means the people that you rock will will enjoy it also. So share the wealth, share the knowledge, share the noise.
01:01:51
Speaker
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01:02:19
Speaker
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01:02:45
Speaker
Thank you. Thank you for listening and watching and supporting us. And I'll catch you next time. Audi 5000. Peace.