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From Joke To Woke
11 Plays26 days ago
In episode 2, Paul and Dustin discuss the cultural shift that has taken place from the PC movement to the woke movement and how it affects what is and is not acceptable to say in a "free speech" society.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Answering Pilot' and Transitioning from 'Joke to Woke'
00:00:13
Speaker
Well, Dustin, good to be with you today, and we welcome everyone into Answering Pilot, the podcast. and we're going to be talking about From Joke to Woke okay and Back Again Today, and hopefully it'll be informative and challenging, and we'll see what what the Lord does
Critique of Political Correctness and its Cultural Roots
00:00:34
Speaker
with it. But I came across an article in the American Thinker from J.B. Shirk.
00:00:39
Speaker
Okay. I didn't write down the title of the article. I should have, but it was something to the effect, political correctness ought to be put in the dustbin of history. And he gives us a little bit of history and background.
00:00:51
Speaker
um You know, if you're listening to this, i mean, you're familiar with wokeism. at least to a certain degree, and and regardless of your age. But maybe, you know, a lot of our folk were very young when when we started to see changes in the American culture.
00:01:09
Speaker
Maybe they were a little bit older, but nevertheless, or maybe it was before they were born. But he he sort of traces, just in sort of a highlight form, um how wokeism came to be, at least a the cultural, um what is it, worldview of the day? Mm-hmm.
00:01:25
Speaker
And the thing that everybody has to buy into. And I think that started a little bit before, no doubt. But somewhere in the early 90s, as he says, we did witness a um transformation of political correctness in real time.
The Evolution of Political Correctness into Social Norms
00:01:42
Speaker
And so we just want to hit on that background just a little bit and then obviously talk about ah where Where are we now? Where should we be? How can we get to where we should be? Yeah, I definitely remember hearing about the PC movement, as it was called. That's right. That political correctness was definitely a buzzword term ah in the 90s. You know, i was I was a teenager in the 90s, and so um I definitely heard about that.
00:02:09
Speaker
And it was usually just used in a way to say, um you can't say things that are offensive. Yeah. um Because it's not politically correct. Right.
00:02:19
Speaker
I thought it was really interesting in the article. He kind of delves into the background because... I was just thinking about it myself that that term, it was so ubiquitous. ah But what did it mean? Right. where did why did Why is it called politically incorrect yeah to say these things? And I thought it was really interesting, the background that he gave there. Yeah.
00:02:42
Speaker
In fact, Americans in general, when it first came out, Yeah, that well, that's not American. Right. but we you know We made fun of it. Right. We made fun of the whole concept of political correctness. And, yeah you know, um we we kind of likened it to, you know, the types of things that were going on in in communist countries, the Soviet Union in particular. And, of course, the Soviet Union fell. Right.
00:03:09
Speaker
came apart what 1991 berlin wall fell in 1989 but nevertheless you know we're still remembering i mean that's the way we were raised at least i was raised and again i i'm i'm i certainly love the russian people but we're talking about communism right and um you know there's a big difference so we all recognize at least over here if you're in the soviet union there's a big difference in what's true and what's officially true. Yes. There's a big difference in what you might say in private versus what you could say in public. Because you said the wrong thing in public, it could be put in prison. Right.
00:03:42
Speaker
And so in our culture, we we kind of made fun of political correctness like, well, that that that comes from communism. and And it certainly does. It comes from Marxism and all the rest, as we've learned over the years, cultural Marxism, et cetera.
00:03:57
Speaker
But like you noted, you know, over time, while we still recognize that, you know, this is not a good thing, um, it's becoming a little more popular and a little more
Comedy's Role in Normalizing Societal Ideologies
00:04:12
Speaker
accepted.
00:04:12
Speaker
And so those of us who are sort of resisting, you know, we'd say things like, well, now I know this isn't politically correct, but right. Right. Yeah. Right. And so that was kind of the terminology is kind of our language. Um, you would hear people,
00:04:26
Speaker
use that kind of language and they wanted to say something provocative. Or I remember, and you you remember this too, you just look at the average ah TV sitcom, you know, 30-minute situation comedy. One of the bigger shows back in the day was Seinfeld. Right. And I remember them, you know, they were talking about um homosexuality.
00:04:48
Speaker
And, you today, mean, you talk about it very differently than you did then. Right. But they were talking something the effect, well, you know, he's gay if it were... Not that there's anything wrong with that. not that there's anything wrong with that. Right.
00:05:00
Speaker
Yeah. So they were basically on the one hand saying, well, maybe there is something wrong with it. He's gay, but... um we're going to have to say not that there's anything wrong with it. But not only are attitudes changing, but but certainly even even situation comedies are like a pedagogical tool.
00:05:19
Speaker
You know, they're, they're um well, for lack of a better word, sort of, and They're teaching, but it's not just teaching. It's changing the whole mindset. Yeah, comedy was really a way that a lot of the ideology that grips us so tightly today got introduced into culture. And it started out because you know early on, you know in the 60s and 70s, there would be no homosexual characters on television. note None of these things would even be...
00:05:52
Speaker
ah Most people would probably be shocked, at the very least put off ah at the notion of of these types of things. But then gradually, it started they started to be introduced as comical characters.
00:06:06
Speaker
yeah And if so it was something that you would laugh at. And so, yeah, there was that, there was that PC thing to where, okay, we're going laugh at it. We don't want to be offensive. But at the same time, it also put it in this package that was not threatening. Yeah.
00:06:20
Speaker
Yeah. Because, oh, that guy's just funny. Uh-huh. And, you know, more and more so, yeah. you started seeing it become more and more prevalent in television programming, in movies.
00:06:37
Speaker
And then it suddenly started to change from, okay well now these aren't people that we can laugh at. Right. And then it became, you know, now we have to understand their trauma that they're living through because of this identity that, that they have chosen. Yeah. We would say, ah but they would say that they're born with and they can't help Mm-hmm.
00:06:59
Speaker
And then all of a sudden now they start to assume that victim status. um and And then it proceeds on to where we are now to where you can't you can't speak anything ill of certain classes, certain groups of people. That's right.
00:07:15
Speaker
Because... Yeah, it's politically incorrect. Like we said, in in in Soviet countries and in communist countries, um literally politically incorrect meant that there there were political or real-world consequences if you were caught saying things against what the state would say that you could say.
From Political Correctness to Woke Movement: Impacts on Free Speech
00:07:37
Speaker
That's right.
00:07:38
Speaker
And so we're... We're now moving towards that now that even though the term itself has kind of faded into obscurity, we don't really use PC anymore, politically correct anymore. Right. Like said, the woke movement had kind of co-opted the language that was used there, but it's still the same. We're we're progressing towards that whole concept that if you say these things that are offensive, you're there's going to be real consequences. for Yeah. Yeah.
00:08:07
Speaker
And you see it not just with, you know, we use the the comedy situation and homosexuality, we you see it with with more and more, as as you alluded to, issues and dynamics. so Right after 9-11, for example, you know, regardless of what we think about 9-11 at this point, who was involved and who wasn't and how it happened and all that, maybe we can talk about that sometime. But,
00:08:32
Speaker
but you know There were were certainly those who were involved and and perpetrated it, and you actually flew planes into the of the Twin Towers, for example.
00:08:44
Speaker
And so these are ah committed Muslims and from that part of the world, the Middle East. And um you know at first, you know you could you could actually talk about that.
00:08:58
Speaker
Because that's what happened. But then very quickly, because I remember, I remember a West Wing episode talking about television. Yeah. Where, you know, on the one hand, you've got Toby, one of the main characters. If you haven't seen the West Wing, it would, you really wouldn't want me to explain, but...
00:09:18
Speaker
you know He's kind of angry at Islam, but others are calling him down for it. And and and you know the whole show's able to talk about it. But shortly after 9-11, all of a sudden, in in most circles, you're not allowed to even...
00:09:36
Speaker
say anything negative about Islam. Right. For example, our soldiers found that out real quick. who We're coming home from the, you know, Iraq and Afghanistan. And, you know, so often, I mean, you know how you're you're in a war, you're you're fighting, you know, the enemy.
00:09:53
Speaker
And regardless of whether not we should be there not, again, another topic of discussion. But they're going to have their own language about
Shifts from Affirmative Action to DEI and Racial Dialogues
00:10:00
Speaker
the enemy. I mean, regardless of the war. They're seeing things that we don't see. That's right.
00:10:04
Speaker
That's right. the battlefront. Right. yeah And so they come home and they find out ah things have morphed from, oh, we're we're making jokes now to when you say something, now you're like, you can't say that.
00:10:19
Speaker
And they're like, wait, what? i'm i'm just i'm I'm literally risking my life over here and and people are shooting at me and my friends have been blown up and I can't say this? And so, again, there's all this ah political pressure and those those types of things. And then, of course, you've got different kinds of, for lack of a better word, because this goes back even further, but, but it kind of morphs. You got all kinds of affirmative action programs. Now we call it DEI and things like that.
00:10:52
Speaker
But, uh, I think one of the things that, that came about, we're talking about a development ah of, of, of, a progression. Um, today, yeah you know, it's as if, uh,
00:11:06
Speaker
the the The way that black people are treated in America is just as bad as they were treated. ah I mean, and and not just here or there, but all over. It's just as bad as it was in the nineteen sixty s Right. I mean, in the 1960s, you know, and then the Democrats were in large measure responsible for these laws. Right. But you...
00:11:31
Speaker
Black folk couldn't eat the same restaurant with white folk. Couldn't drink from the same water fountain. Right. And, of course, that's where Rosa Parks and the bus and the ah and all this stuff came from, the civil rights excuse me civil rights movement. but um I had someone say to me recently,
00:11:53
Speaker
And it's almost like they just woke up. do Do you realize that white people did ABC to black people back in the eighteen fifty s I'm like, well this is news to you? Right. and And I don't mean that ugly. And obviously we abhor slavery.
00:12:12
Speaker
We abhor mistreating people simply because of the color of their skin. or hating people just because of the color of their skin. We abhor that. But what we're talking about here is equating um what injustices there may be in our culture with as one-to-one correspondence with the injustices of the 1960s or the 1860s when you've got just as many injustices, actually more now, being perpetrated on white people.
00:12:45
Speaker
yeah So it's kind of like come full circle. Now, there again, I'll hasten to say, white people not treated the same way that black people were treated in the 1960s right so yeah regardless of you who you are or what you're talking about you know we need to be honest and we need to be dealing in truth and dealing in facts rather than political talking points so um again not to get too too bogged down because we do want to make some You know, where are we going with this? But, uh, you know, there is a development. So now it's not only that you can't say certain things now, it's not now, but it becomes hate speech and then hate speech.
Cultural Shifts: Toxic Masculinity and Multiculturalism
00:13:28
Speaker
Uh, all of a sudden now you've got hate crimes, right? And so now certain things that you do or say, or not only you can not only, you're you're not only canceled, but you could be arrested or you could get a different kind of prison sentence if you're deemed to have committed a hate crime.
00:13:47
Speaker
Say you murdered somebody, whether they're homosexual or whether they're black. Well, you don't just get a murder sentence. you You get a hate crime sentence, which is worse.
00:13:58
Speaker
Yeah. you you eight you didn't You didn't just murder them, but you you murdered them. Hatefully. Yeah. Which it's I don't understand. yeah i don't know how you could murder someone, any person, no matter what they look like or what they sound like or where they came from. i don't know how you could murder someone without hatred. Yeah.
00:14:20
Speaker
So, uh, right. All murders would be right. Hate crimes. But yeah, we've created this whole new category. So, and, and in one sense that also,
00:14:31
Speaker
that kind of pushes down the severity of other crimes and it elevates this now political crime. We use the PC vernacular there.
00:14:45
Speaker
That's actually worse. So now it's actually worse if you murder people. a black person or a gay person than if you murdered a white person. Yeah, yeah, that's exactly right. And they're both evil. They're both yeah wrong.
00:15:00
Speaker
They're both against God's word. Right. But now we've created something that somehow is, it's it's a new class and it pushes down the severity of these crimes against these people who aren't in the protected class and elevates that these crimes against others that are in a protected class as somehow being worse. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
00:15:20
Speaker
And, of course, what you're touching on there, protected class and all that. now Now we're into critical theory, which is the sort of the the full flower of the you know the seeds that were planted way back when. And, um and you know, you cancel culture.
00:15:35
Speaker
um Again, all of these things, you know, you you see in the political arena, there's always been, you know, animosity or some of it hasn't. The rancor hasn't. It's way worse now than it was.
00:15:50
Speaker
you know, when I was younger, but there's always been fighting between the parties, but you know, the Republicans and Democrats could get together after a floor battle and have a drink. Right. You know, that doesn't happen now, at least as far as we know. Now we do know there are folk behind the scene. It's almost like there's a whole, again, another topic, but the uniparty, you know, we know the Bushes and the Clintons, they're, they're, they're all big buddies, but we'll, we'll actually deal with that at some point. I imagine.
00:16:18
Speaker
yeah But I guess the point I'm making is you just you're using, whether you believe it or not, you're using wokeism to crush your political opponent, right for example, in in our culture now. And so um you know all of these things, maybe if we could just tick off a few very quickly, now we have ah toxic masculinity.
00:16:42
Speaker
and And it's not just a subset. I think there's an entire generation or more of young men who've been told, of particularly young white men, you know, your whiteness and maleness, but even just maleness is toxic. Right.
00:17:00
Speaker
and And young men are being marginalized. um And this is not our our topic per se, but there again, you've got more women graduating college now than men.
00:17:11
Speaker
And that that that's a problem. Right. Why is that a problem? Well, we'll talk about it at at some point, but part of the problem is men men are checking out because they don't have a place in society anymore, which which is a massive problem. Yeah, we've we've definitely feminized our culture um in a lot of ways, and um you know a lot of this too is it's It's the outworking of this this sexual revolution, the LGBT movement, um because it's it's perfectly acceptable and considered enlightened now to be an effeminate man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. but Like you were saying, if you're if you're a masculine guy, if you like to shoot guns and you like to, you know, whatever. be a man? Yeah, be manly.
00:18:00
Speaker
Yeah. What we always considered manly, that's that's toxic. Yeah. yeah And so that makes you a dangerous person. i don't know I don't know if you heard about the whole thing that was going around the internet um a year or so ago ah where they would ask a woman to make a choice. If you're alone in the woods, would you rather come across a man or a bear?
00:18:21
Speaker
I do remember that. and yeah And all the women would say bear over the man. Insanity. Right. Because somehow a man, especially if he's a masculine man, yeah is more dangerous to a woman than a wild animal. Yeah.
00:18:36
Speaker
Tragic. I mean, a real man in that situation, he's going to give himself up for that woman so she can get away. cause Right. Anyway, um just tragic. And so, yeah, now everything, you you're you're racist, you're sexist, you're homophobic. This this is the fruit of, um you know, ideas and and and ideas that have been foisted upon us. And I remember back in 1999, I was reading and studying a little bit about multiculturalism, which is, of course, is a subset of ah cultural Marxism or critical theory.
00:19:15
Speaker
And, you know, it had been around for a while, probably 80s, maybe, maybe late 70s, but certainly 80s, but it was only in academic circles. And, of course, I was actually studying for ah for a degree, and um I remember...
00:19:32
Speaker
you know, talking about the the problems with multiculturalism. And I remember people asking me, well, wait a minute. i I thought we, you know, the the gospel breaks down all barriers and people from different cultures and whatever. So socioeconomic levels, male, female, et cetera, coming together in Christ.
00:19:51
Speaker
Yeah, that's all true. That's all true. Uh, well, what about the melting pot? Excuse me, that America is supposed to be. thought that was a good thing. Well, You got to define melting pot first off, again, another subject, but at the same time, that's not what multiculturalism is all about. It's not about the melting pot. Multiculturalism is about identity politics multiculturalism about men to maintaining your culture um... and it plays into that that uh... you know whether you're whether you're muslim or whether you're black or whether you're homosexual or whether you're you know uh... poor i mean but if you're if if you're black female lesbian poor
00:20:40
Speaker
If you got these four categories, that's where, um what what's the word? It just ah just went out of my head. But you you're you're in four different groups that are that are being oppressed, to go back to the language that you were talking Yeah, protected class. Yeah, protected class.
00:20:58
Speaker
ah Intersectionality. Intersectionality. Yeah. so But the whole idea was that if you're not... black, if you're not a woman, if you're not a lesbian, if you're not poor, there's no way that you can understand the suffering that I've, that i've that my lived experience, you don't have my viewpoint, my standpoint.
00:21:20
Speaker
I don't even want you as an ally. right we're gonna just be our own little group over here and now you've got a splintering culture yeah cuz it's not just that you don't understand me you don't have the right to speak on this there you go yeah that's right that's right so you put all of these things together and I I remember saying that this this idea of multiculturalism I'm talking about back in 1999 not that I have any prescience or that I'm that um brilliant To me, it's obvious if if you've got people, you know, all of a sudden we're fighting for our little group and we're not talking about, um, an American society. We're talking about all these other little societies within this big landmass that just happens to be called America. We don't have shared values.
00:22:11
Speaker
It doesn't take a genius to figure out this is going to create problems It's going to create more and more division. I said in 1999, and by the way, race relations, just just for anyone who's you know younger than I don't know.
00:22:30
Speaker
race relations from the early seventies up until, um, president Obama, when was he elected? Oh, 2008. Oh eight. Yes. We're improving.
00:22:43
Speaker
And, um, I'm not saying there weren't racists around. If you want to use that terminology, ah KKK was active here and there and in certain places, ah I guess, in the late 70s or
Race Relations and the Backlash Against Woke Culture
00:22:58
Speaker
80s. There might be some group out in the woods somewhere. I don't know. I'm just saying. And i don't want to be naive, but it's not it's not what's driving our culture.
00:23:06
Speaker
i don't I don't see any hooded Klansmen hanging out on the corner, which I did see because, again, I was born in 1964, so I've seen it before, but I was very, very young.
00:23:18
Speaker
Right. hit him Excuse me. Sorry. I got something in my throat. Shouldn't even mention it. But anyway, if I hadn't mentioned it, maybe they wouldn't notice it. Probably not. Yeah. But anyway, um, what I'm saying is race relations,
00:23:33
Speaker
I mean, we we got to almost, we will ah can i use this metaphor? We almost got to the promised land. we We elected a black president. right Now, I didn't vote for President Obama because I disagree with him um policy-wise and you know politically, but at another level, and ah we were doing a radio broadcast at the time, live call and talk show every day, and I remember saying on the air,
00:23:58
Speaker
No, I didn't vote for President Obama. In fact, i we had a chance to interview him because of another co-host that we had, and he he got the interview. like, don't know how you did that, but cool.
00:24:10
Speaker
I didn't do it, but anyway, but I did get to ask him some challenging questions, not in an ugly way. He really didn't have any any answers for it, but anyway, that's another topic for another time. I tend to ramble a little bit, but I remember saying on the air, it's actually a good thing that we've come to a point where we can elect a black man president.
00:24:34
Speaker
And you know what? Even saying things like that now, still in this culture, and we're coming to some pushback, But I, what I'm saying and talking about is probably in in progressive circles, it's probably setting their hair on fire.
00:24:49
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. You know, that I can just talk about, Oh, well, the the black man president and talk that way. It's somehow not PC it's is somehow racist. And that's the problem. Everything we say and do now, uh, is racist, but I think, um, you and I both agree That ah this kind of philosophy is killing our culture, is killing our country, among a lot of other things.
00:25:17
Speaker
But a pushback or a backlash has begun. Yeah. And that's, I guess, you know, the title of our... our broadcast from joke, we used to joke about it to woke, didn't hardly say anything. No, no, some of us didn't, didn't ever stop speaking because right.
00:25:35
Speaker
Christians are called to speak the truth and love no matter what the consequences, but more and more people are starting to, uh, push back. And obviously I, I think that's a good thing. Um, now when, when you talk about pushback and, and that's a good thing, um,
00:25:54
Speaker
Why is it a good thing? well Well, for one, it leads to a battle. Not that I'm looking for a battle. I prefer just a dialogue. I think serious people ought to be able to, so should, not ought to be able to, but ought to, ought to sit around and have serious discussions yeah about big ideas um and and and and try to come to ah the truth.
00:26:23
Speaker
So ah I think it's it's promoting a lot more dialogue, but I call it a battle because... you know as well as i that we're in a spiritual battle i mean god tells us this and um in this battle i mean paul says things like the weapons of our warfare well that's battle language right right that's war language obviously the weapons of our warfare but what does he say excuse me he says the weapons of warfare are not carnal but they are mighty
00:26:57
Speaker
And then here's what I wanted to key on. They're mighty to the pulling down of strongholds. Okay. Well, what strongholds is he talking about? Because I know even Christians have lot of notions as to what that is, but, but particularly in that passage of scripture, he defines what he means.
00:27:15
Speaker
He says the the the weapons that we have are mighty for the pulling down of strongholds and every idea that exalts itself against no the knowledge of God, the knowledge of Christ. That's right.
00:27:31
Speaker
And that's why he goes on to say we should take every thought captive in obedience to Christ. So Christians need to have A biblical worldview. By worldview, I mean the lens through which you interpret reality and everything. And and ideas are part of that.
00:27:48
Speaker
um And so we need to have a biblical worldview on everything, and we need to have a biblical worldview on the ideas of our culture. And, um you know, our culture, our society, government, everything should be rooted in truth, should be rooted in a biblical worldview. Now, Christians can debate, okay, what exactly with reference to government, what exactly does that look like? Sure.
00:28:14
Speaker
But we can't we can't disagree And say, well, it's it's just got be some kind of neutral, you know, zone.
Public Policy, Free Speech, and Gospel Motivation
00:28:25
Speaker
Well, i sometimes people use that word the wrong way.
00:28:30
Speaker
But again, i want to highlight the reality in the realm of ideas and and in the realm of how we implement and what we implement, there is no neutrality. Right. Either what you legislate, what you make public policy, what you enshrine in law,
00:28:48
Speaker
it's It's rooted in somebody's worldview. So is it rooted in a biblical worldview or is it rooted in someone one else's worldview? Right. Or another worldview, a false worldview? Yeah, and that's what, as Christians, we do need to be careful to, um because like you said, the backlash is happening.
00:29:08
Speaker
um And obviously in a lot of ways that's a good thing. And it's it's good for the gospel um to push back against this.
00:29:22
Speaker
But there's a lot that are involved in this backlash. that are not motivated by the gospel. Right, right, um right. You know, I think about, you know, we we we we started out talking about comedy and how, you know, that kind of crept in Well, now there's a lot of comedians, for example, at the forefront who are pushing back against all this cancel culture that's out there, like a Dave Chappelle, for example.
00:29:52
Speaker
Uh-huh. But Dave Chappelle, we're not going to see eye to eye on pretty much anything with him. He just wants to be able to say the offensive thing. Ah, okay. Yeah, gotcha. Right? Yeah.
00:30:05
Speaker
And I think it's important to qualify that... We're not, we don't want to just be able to say the offensive thing. Right. We're not looking to offend.
00:30:16
Speaker
Correct. But what we do want is for there to be able to be this ah discussion of ideas that you were talking about. Right. We need to be able to talk about true things. Right.
00:30:29
Speaker
in public without that being canceled as offensive. yeah um And so I think it there is a distinction that we need to make as Christians that the reason that the reason that we're for free speech is not just so we can go around offending everyone. exactly that's that's not what That's not Christ-like to go around offending everyone, but at the same time we want to speak the truth, so and the truth may be offensive. Yeah, that's right. um But again, just like in in some of the censorship movement that took place, a lot of Christians, I think, back in the day, to use that term, who were on board because the things that were being censored are things that
00:31:15
Speaker
Or not Christ honoring. They're things that we we don't want our kids hearing. yeah um And so, yeah, it's that that's good. But there were also people that were involved in that movement that had no motivation of Christ again. And so they just wanted to use it as a method of control. And so now that there's a pushback, ah we need to we need to be careful not to just link arms with the Dave Chappelle's of the world. Right. Because we want to be able to make a funny joke that offends everyone, but we, but we do want to be able to speak the truth. Yes. Without it automatically being outlawed because it's offensive to someone. Yeah. Even though it's true. Yeah. No, I think that's, uh, that's exactly right. Um,
00:32:02
Speaker
I think to your point, um well, you've you've made it. I don't i don't really need to ah elaborate on that. I just know that when a biblical worldview is is put forward and a biblical worldview is embraced more and more.
00:32:25
Speaker
And we we're not under the impression that everybody in America was saved back in the beginning. There was a lot of rough people in the early days of America and pagans and all the rest. history of humanity. In the history of humanity, of course. But...
00:32:40
Speaker
but ah in in In some measure, maybe maybe large measure, we'll debate about that. I don't know. But in some measure, for sure.
00:32:51
Speaker
America became more ah rooted in a biblical worldview. That's not to say that, again, everybody was Christian or even all people who claimed to be Christian were genuine Christians, et cetera. And it's not to say that Christians don't sin.
00:33:07
Speaker
Right. Of course we do. But at the same time, you have, when you have a biblical worldview of economics or a biblical worldview of public policy, you Those are two big things. Right now, we're in economic crisis.
00:33:23
Speaker
Right now, we're in a public policy crisis. e Okay, well, when you have a biblical worldview guiding those two big dynamics, well, then here's here's a catchphrase from our day. it's It's going to promote human flourishing. So we're all about our motivation ultimately is the glory of God.
00:33:39
Speaker
We're also motivated for the good of others. Okay. And so things are going to be much, much better when you've got a biblical worldview driving the bus, as it were. They're going to be better for people spiritually, of course, but mentally, emotionally, culturally, relationally.
00:33:59
Speaker
yeah More people that have a biblical worldview, the less... um
00:34:07
Speaker
impaired are race relations didn't that's that's what i say race relations were improving for a long time the single and again i know they don't want to hear this but go back and look at the facts president barack obama um above any other individual he certainly wasn't the only one you have these large movements and right and and think tanks and all the rest but in terms of any one individual he did more to destroy racial issues in this country, uh, since the than anyone I know. And, and it's, it's, it's a tragedy, but, um, again,
00:34:47
Speaker
when you When you have these competing worldviews, there's always the potential for civil war. There's the potential for um just collapse and so many other things we could we could put on the table. But I do want to move ah quickly because, you know,
00:35:05
Speaker
We've got some things that we jotted down we wanted to touch on, and we're gonna touch on all these things in future broadcasts, and we're certainly not going to be able to touch on all of them now. But maybe we can just spend the last five minutes or so that we have on expanding on what we were saying a little bit earlier.
00:35:29
Speaker
we want We want change in our country. Mm-hmm. Um, and a lot of other people, as you said, who don't share our worldview, want change in our country.
00:35:42
Speaker
Some of them, like you say, just want to be able to say outrageous things or say the offensive thing or do things that you and I would never dream of doing. Right.
00:35:53
Speaker
Um, others are just sick and tired of being told like, look, you take a guy like Nick Fuentes. He's a young man. He's has a large influence over young men.
00:36:04
Speaker
Um, you gotta understand where he's coming from. I'm not a huge Nick Fuentes fan, but I understand where he's coming from and why he's got a lot
The Gospel as the True Agent of Cultural Change
00:36:13
Speaker
of followers. He's saying, uh, I don't know if you've seen any of the interviews that he's done or even watched his, his podcast, but I mean, I think he'll say things like somebody will call him a a racist and he'll be like, yeah, yeah, okay, I'm a racist.
00:36:30
Speaker
And I don't think he's claiming to be a racist. I think what he's doing is he's saying, it doesn't matter to me whether or not you call me a racist. you're not You're not canceling me anymore. We're not taking it anymore. What was that song? Was it Twisted Sister? We're not going to take it.
00:36:46
Speaker
it's how did i remember that i don't i'm looking a big twisted sister fan yeah remember that song we're not gonna take it yeah yeah anymore well this that again i'd love to talk more about that but that's what he said we're we're done you pc guys we're done with y'all we don't care we're taking our country well at one level that sentiment is a good sentiment it really is but As Christians, we don't want to just, quote-unquote, take our country back. Right.
00:37:20
Speaker
We do want Christ to be exalted. I think Nick Fuentes would say the same thing. We have a little different theological view. I mean, another discussion. I don't want to get bogged down.
00:37:31
Speaker
But what I'm saying is we're not going to— if all we're doing is is aligning politically— And if all we're doing is fighting with these political weapons, by the way, I'm not suggesting that we don't have some political alliances with people who may not be Christians.
00:37:54
Speaker
Yeah. And I'm not suggesting that we don't have legitimate political weapons. But what I'm saying is, ultimately, if you want to change the culture,
00:38:07
Speaker
um you you you have to have something that affects real change. Hearts have to be changed. Yeah. Minds have to be changed, not just, okay, I got a majority, so we're going implement this law. Well, what happens when they get a majority? Right. I mean, we're going back.
00:38:27
Speaker
Listen, the Republicans right now, unless something, drastically changes they are done in the midterms because of people well Trump we're not talking about Trump on this episode again we will mm-hmm but he he's he's broken every campaign plank that that that that defined MAGA MAGA's gone mm-hmm it's at least yeah you know what I'm saying there aren't people out there who who aren't America first. Nick Fuentes would be America first. I'd be America first in terms of what what is meant by that.
00:39:08
Speaker
Excuse me. So there are folk out there, but Trump's certainly not MAGA in terms of how they define it, and he's he's made a ah colossal error. And the Republicans, I think, surely are going to lose in the midterms. My point being, we go back and forth, back and forth, yeah back and forth.
00:39:24
Speaker
Dems, Republicans, Democrats, Republicans. There again, a lot of that's orchestrated by the Uniparty and those behind the scenes. Another topic for another time, but um umm I'm sorry I'm rambling, but the whole point is there's only one thing ultimately that that will change hearts and minds in an ultimate sense, and that's the gospel. gospel And so when I say Christians, we need to be about the business of preaching the gospel, I mean for the glory of God and I mean for the salvation of others, but I also mean a full orb gospel, not a truncated gospel that's reduced to the ABCs of salvation or the four spiritual laws.
00:40:04
Speaker
Not only in terms of evangelism, but in terms of what the gospel is supposed to be in the world and and what it does. The gospel transforms individuals, but it also transforms families and and communities. Every aspect of life. Every aspect of life, and it transforms whole cultures, and it transforms structures within those whole cultures. Right.
00:40:30
Speaker
And by structures, I mean government and business and all the things that are, you know, institutionalized in our culture, right? So that's going to be, as always, our message.
00:40:45
Speaker
It's always about Christ. It's always about the gospel. But only when the gospel spreads do you get rid of things like cultural Marxism, which is totally destructive and history proves it.
00:41:00
Speaker
And, and we're living in it right now. And if you can't read your history book, I feel sorry for you. And if you can't see that we're living in it now and and the walls are crumbling, I feel sorry for you, but you're ah you're blind. I'm praying, you know, for a miracle that your eyes will be open.
00:41:18
Speaker
Yeah. Anyway. And it's destructive because it's anti-gospel. Yeah. Yeah. that's And anti-human flourishing. Yeah. that's that's But that's why as Christians, where we reject Marxism, yeah communism, socialism.
00:41:33
Speaker
They're anti-gospel. Yeah. it's It's not because they're anti-capitalist or any of that. Right. um But so it's both sides of the coin there.
00:41:45
Speaker
to where the gospel is the only thing that can push that back. Yeah. But that's also why we want to push that back is so that we can freely proclaim the gospel yeah because we want people to hear it. We want people to know it.
00:41:59
Speaker
We want their lives to be transformed and changed and we want cultures to be transformed. Um, and so again, it's, it's, it's a, it's a ah circular thing yeah in that, um,
00:42:13
Speaker
ah this is one of this this is ah the things that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God that we talked about. And so we want to push back against that with the gospel for the sake of the gospel. That makes sense. yeah Absolutely.
00:42:29
Speaker
Tell about advancing the kingdom and Christ is king and um the gospel overcomes. Amen. Amen. The Answering Pilot Podcast is a ministry of Randall House Church in Greer, South Carolina.
00:42:43
Speaker
You can learn more at www.randallhousegreer.com slash church. You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram at atrandallhousechurch. Don't forget to like and subscribe, and we'll see you next time.