Help Me Figure This Out

AD Robles

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May 10, 2023

Recorded this monday. Forgot to publish. I love you all.

00:04: Welcome back to the channel. God bless you. I hope you had a wonderful weekend.
00:09: Good Lord's Day. Good everything. I definitely did and guess what? I got some new chickens.
00:15: Here they are. Now I got these guys from the assorted layer bin so I'm not even sure what breed they are.
00:23: It looks like they might have some Australorps, maybe a Barred Rock, Plymouth Rock.
00:30: And I think I might have even a Silky in there which is kind of strange. Maybe not.
00:36: I don't know. How many chickens have down on their feet? Because this one has down on its feet as well.
00:43: I don't know. We'll see. We'll see what happens. It's kind of like a grab bag. I got seven new ones and well,
00:49: I'm looking forward to it. That being said, I did want to just kind of do a...
00:55: I want to solicit some responses from you guys. I think that this
01:01: YouTube audience is pretty good. Pretty smart people follow the A .D. Robles YouTube channel.
01:07: Game recognizes game. You know what I'm saying? And I haven't really quite figured this one out yet.
01:14: Obviously I've been talking about memes and there's been a lot of responses about these memes.
01:20: And a lot of people are saying, hey, it's a generational thing, A .D. There's a generational thing going on here. It's the boomers being boomers.
01:27: I don't like that. Personally, I don't use the word boomers in that way. I find it a little dismissive.
01:34: And in my opinion, it can come across as disrespectful. I'm not saying that all you guys are using it that way.
01:39: It's just not a word that I typically use. And there's some of that. I think there's a lot of boomers that get it though.
01:46: And obviously that doesn't negate the fact that maybe most don't. But I'm just not satisfied with that being the answer because I think that there's something else at play here.
01:58: And, you know, this isn't going to be as coherent as my normal videos, which, you know, depending on who you ask, maybe those aren't coherent either.
02:09: I'm trying to think this through and I need some help. So there certainly seems to me to be a kind of implicit bias that a lot of the anti -Christian nationalist perspective holds.
02:28: And it's this idea that really the things that matter most or the things that we should really be concerned with as Christians, all of us, are things like exegesis, theology proper, preaching the gospel.
02:48: These are the most legitimate things that a Christian can do. And I know that they would never say this.
02:57: I'm not accusing G3 of ever saying something like this. But the attitude is almost like, and everything else is kind of, if it matters, it only matters a little bit compared to preaching the gospel, doing exegesis, and theology.
03:17: There's almost an elevation of the role of a pastor well beyond its borders.
03:28: And I don't know if it's a matter of self -preservation or just kind of misunderstanding, but I get this kind of perspective all the time.
03:38: Let me give you a stupid example. Over the weekend, a bunch of the
03:43: Christian nationalist memers, in a spirit of generosity, they said, you know what, let's make some anti -Christian nationalist memes.
03:50: Let's help these guys out. Because we saw a few people starting to get into the meme war, and the memes that they were putting out against Christian nationalism were abysmal, just objectively awful memes.
04:01: And so some of the Christian nationalists out there started making their own anti -Christian nationalist memes, and there were some good stuff out there.
04:09: And what I did instead of doing that is I just started offering a little bit of advice. And one piece of advice that I offered,
04:15: I said, look, we're trying to meme well here, right? And memes should be easily understood.
04:22: You've got to be able to look at it, read it real quick, and instantly get it, because that's the power of a meme. It's like a quick hit, it's funny, it's memorable, and all of that, right?
04:31: That's the power of a meme. And I had seen a few memes that referenced scripture, not like they didn't have a scripture on it, but they had the reference of it.
04:42: So it would be like 2 Samuel 13, 23, right? And I was like, look, if you're going to do that, it's got to be a verse that everybody knows, like John 3, 16, right?
04:53: You could put John 3, 16 in a meme, and it would not lose its effectiveness because nobody has to look up John 3, 16.
05:00: We understand, we already know, right? But if you put like 2 Samuel 13, 24, you know, maybe it's a great meme if you knew that verse, but very few people do.
05:10: They're going to have to look it up, and then they're going to have to read it, and it's kind of, oh, I get it. But you see, in that process, the meme loses its oomph, right?
05:19: It loses its impact. That's just the rules of memes. I mean,
05:24: I'm not saying that looking up scripture, but this is the response I got. I got a lot of people that said to me, oh, so I guess memes are more important than scripture, huh?
05:37: And I got a lot of variations of that, right? Oh, you say you shouldn't look up scripture?
05:43: Is that too hard for you? It's like, no, but the point of the meme is so that you don't have to look, you know, obviously scripture is more important than a meme.
05:53: That's obvious. But it was, like, that's a stupid example.
06:00: It's like, well, memes aren't legitimate because scripture is more important. That doesn't make any sense.
06:06: That argument doesn't make any sense, right? It's just perspective. It's just really dumb, right?
06:12: Like, obviously, we talk a lot, and we don't, we're not just quoting scriptures to each other all day, right?
06:18: Even in the book of Nehemiah, you know, I was reading it lately because I really love
06:25: Ezra and Nehemiah. And, you know, Nehemiah, they, at one point, they're reading the book of the law to the people.
06:33: And it specifically says in that area, it's like, well, they were reading it.
06:38: And then there were some priests and Levites giving the sense of it so that they could understand it, right?
06:45: So they obviously weren't just quoting it. They were quoting it, but then they were like, and here's what that means.
06:51: And in context, that's what was going on, right? So there's a lot of extra that's important, that's helpful to regular
06:58: Joes like me and you. And so, you know, obviously, you know, scripture is our final authority.
07:06: And, you know, it's words directly from God. So, of course, it carries ultimate weight. We get that.
07:12: But there's more to life than exegeting the text. Like, there's a lot of stuff that we have to do day to day that is legitimate, that's important.
07:21: And here's the thing, we have to do it Christianly. Besides exegesis, besides theology, besides preaching the gospel.
07:31: Like, there's so much that we have to do in any given day that's not those things.
07:36: And that is very important stuff. And we have to do it Christianly, right?
07:41: We have to do it before the face of God. And I'm thinking about this, like one of the prime criticisms that I've seen of Stephen Wolfe's book, like this is supposed to be like the big gotcha that a lot of these guys are emphasizing.
07:58: Well, he doesn't even exegete the text. And I'm like, what does that assume?
08:04: It assumes that exegesis is really the only legitimate thing that Christians need to read about or to understand or to master.
08:11: That doesn't make any sense. That doesn't make any sense.
08:18: Can I write a book about political theory or can I write a book about social theory or can
08:24: I write a book about anything, like any topic, right? Without exegeting the text and it still be legitimate?
08:32: I think some of these guys think, no, it's not a Christian perspective unless you're exegeting the text.
08:41: I don't get that. I think there's something, there's a disconnect there, right?
08:47: Because the role of a pastor is important, but it's not the only important role. The role of a pastor is a high calling.
08:56: But there are other callings that are legitimate, that are necessary, that we need competence in.
09:02: And there's a ton of other callings that we need competence in. And I think that there's certain people that have a perspective that's really like, yeah, yeah, yeah, you can be a plumber, but your real task, your real task isn't plumbing for the glory of God.
09:18: Your real task is exegeting the text. It's like, well, I mean, yeah, our plumber should be reading the scripture and should be hearing from the words of God, you know, at church and things like that.
09:32: But it's almost like that's the legitimate thing, right? I don't get that.
09:39: You know, one of the other kind of criticisms that during the
09:44: G3 podcast that they just did, that they had about Stephen Wolfe's book is, and this was again, this was presented as, this is a fatal flaw, gotcha.
09:54: Like, this is the thing that should concern you. Send alarm bells off. Like, that's how it was presented.
10:00: Like, this has a lot of weight. It was like, I saw nothing in here about forgiveness in Christ.
10:06: I saw nothing in here, you know, preaching that Christ died on the cross for your sins. I saw nothing in here about regeneration.
10:14: And I'm like, but that's, again, like, if I wrote a policy book about how to manage a city, why would you expect to find a treatise on regeneration in that?
10:33: Like, that's not what the book is about. Like, I just, I don't understand that perspective, because look, a pastor certainly is concerned with men's souls and regeneration and preaching the word that leads to regeneration.
10:49: A pastor should be concerned with faith and things of that nature.
10:55: Hold on. Sorry about that. I just heard some loud music all of a sudden. Like, of course, that's the realm of the church, right?
11:05: That's the realm of the church, and the church has authority over those things, so of course they're going to be rightly dividing the word and applying it to here and there and guarding the flock and feeding the flock and all of these things, right?
11:22: But the civil governing authority doesn't have the keys to the kingdom.
11:28: So they're concerning themselves with executing God's vengeance upon the evildoer, and that's their concern.
11:35: So if there was a godly Christian magistrate, and his role involves signing the death warrants for people that commit murder and are found guilty of murder, and that's what his role is, and there's no mercy there, because that's the prescribed penalty for committing murder against your fellow image bearer.
11:58: And he never ever shows mercy. Is that like he's not a faithful Christian?
12:07: Because in his role as the civil governing authority, he executes God's vengeance upon the evildoer, and he doesn't even mention regeneration?
12:15: That's not his job, though! So they've really created this sort of environment where they're like, you're mixing spheres of authority, right?
12:26: So you're giving the state the keys of the kingdom. And we're like, no we're not.
12:31: In fact, here's my book where I exactly don't do that. And then they take the book and they say, well why don't you mention regeneration?
12:43: So I didn't do that, I didn't mix the keys of the kingdom with the sword, and now you're criticizing me for not mixing the keys of the kingdom and the sword.
12:52: That doesn't make any sense. And I'm trying to figure out, what explains that?
13:01: I can't imagine they're doing it on purpose, right? Because that seems like, I'm not cynical enough for that, right?
13:09: So what explains that? There certainly seems to me to be a perspective from some pastors where it's like their job, not only is it the most important job, but it's like really the only legitimate job that ultimately matters.
13:27: In the grand scheme of things, it's the only job that ultimately matters in the long run, and I don't think that that is defensible biblically.
13:36: I don't. And so what we end up with is people that are very competent, or they're very skilled at dividing the word, and that's great, but they're not pastors.
13:49: They do other things, right? They have other jobs. So we've got a lot of people that know a whole lot about theology, but their actual job is over here, and they don't have a whole lot of knowledge on how to do that Christianly.
14:06: We've got this glut of, and I realize I'm speaking about myself here, we've got this glut of podcasts and Christian content and stuff, and we're just gorging on it, but is it moving the needle in real life?
14:20: I think in some cases it is. There's a lot of really good Christian parenting stuff out there and Christian family stuff, and I think that one of the best things about people that are either
14:32: Christian nationalists or theonomists or whatever, there's a lot of focus on the family and ruling your family well and those kinds of things.
14:40: That's exactly where it needs to be at this stage in the game, right? But most of our effort's gotta be there. But there's a disconnect,
14:49: I think. There's a weird disconnect. Because the fact that those kinds of criticisms are presented as, like, these are show -stopper deal -breakers, he doesn't even exegete the text in this book of political theory, that to me shows there's a big disconnect here.
15:08: A big disconnect. I think that a lot of ministry leaders and a lot of pastors don't really have much for regular
15:22: Joe Christians. They don't have much regard for regular
15:28: Joe Christians, right? The guys that go to work every day with their lunch pail and they come home and they're leading their families the best they can, and they work late and stuff like that, and they didn't read the latest release from Crossway Publications or whatever.
15:47: Not Crossway. What is it? I don't know. They didn't catch the last journal of Christian ethics.
15:54: But they're still there and they're faithful, they love the Lord, they're trying to do the right thing.
16:03: They know enough. I don't know.
16:10: There's a disconnect. I don't really know how to articulate it. Maybe you guys can kind of fill in some of the blanks here.
16:16: I don't think it's just boomers not getting it. I don't think that that's the case, right? I think there's something else.
16:23: There's something else. It's like, the only legitimate way to engage the cultural issues of the day are to set up a $300 ticket conference where you have speakers.
16:36: I like conferences too. I've been railing on conferences lately. I go to the Fight, Laugh, Feast conference.
16:41: I like going to conferences. I mostly like them because I get to meet all you guys and stuff.
16:46: I don't know. It's like, if it's not a conference, if it's not an official...
16:56: I don't know. I don't know exactly what I'm trying to say. Maybe this makes no sense.
17:03: Maybe it makes a lot of sense to you. I don't know. But I feel like there's a huge disconnect with so many ministry leaders where it's like...
17:13: I don't know. It's like, everyone needs to act like a pastor. Everyone needs to study like a pastor.
17:20: Everyone needs to do the things that a pastor does. And really, that's the highest calling of a
17:26: Christian. When you read Ezra and Nehemiah, that's not the impression that you get. I encourage you to read
17:33: Ezra and Nehemiah, man. Ezra's like the ministry leader. Ezra's like the guy who studies.
17:39: Ezra's the guy who is very carefully curating his theology and stuff.
17:46: And Nehemiah's there, and he's so zealous for the Lord, and he's doing the
17:53: Lord's work. He's a layman, and he's a little rough around the edges.
17:59: You know what I mean? He's a little rough around the edges. And somehow, he's able to work together with Ezra.
18:07: You know what I mean? And Ezra and him have a relationship, and Ezra and him are working together to accomplish the same goal.
18:13: Look, I'm not saying we don't need exegesis, because some people will hear what I'm saying, and that's what they'll say.
18:18: Well, what do you think, exegesis is worthless? No, I'm not saying that. But we have these guys that are great at exegesis, and it's almost like they oppose any efforts outside of that, any efforts that deviate from that standard plan of exegesis, theology, and conferences.
18:35: Anything besides that is looked at with suspicion. You didn't even mention regeneration when you were talking to me about that abortion law.
18:44: I was like, why would I? We're talking about executing vengeance upon evildoers.
18:51: What are you talking about regeneration? I'm not the pastor of a church.
18:57: I'm the civil governing authority, or this is what I'm thinking about. Maybe I'm not the civil governing authority, but I'm talking about civil governing authority right now.
19:04: Why would I bring regeneration into that conversation? That's a different topic. Do we have to juke every topic?
19:14: If I had a seminar about how to plum well, would you criticize me? Why am
19:21: I not talking about the gospel? It doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any sense.
19:28: We've got an issue. We were talking about the border, right? We're talking about what should we do about the border, right? And I think a lot of guys would be like, well, the first thing we need to remember is that Christ died for our sins.
19:39: Well, yeah, that's great and all, but we're trying to figure out what the policy should be at the border, right, as Christians.
19:47: I don't know. I don't know. There's a disconnect here, and I'm trying to put my finger on exactly what it is.
19:53: There's a disconnect between our leadership and regular Joes. A disconnect that does not need to be there.
20:02: When you read Nehemiah, you read Ezra, and you hear about the—and then there were people working on the wall, and they were building it and stuff like that, and they're working for the
20:11: Lord, and they're just probably simple guys, construction workers there. They've got swords in one hand and a shovel in the other, and they're building and fighting off the enemies of God.
20:21: And I'm sure mistakes were made. I'm sure some people got a little overzealous and stuff like that. And Ezra never said, oh, we don't need those workers.
20:30: Let's just trust in God. We don't need those workers. And no, he wouldn't say that.
20:36: And likewise, the workers would be like, who needs Ezra? Who needs him? Who needs to study with eggheads?
20:42: Nobody's saying that, but we've got to figure out a way to bridge this divide.
20:49: There's a divide here somewhere, and again, maybe I'm not articulating this the way I should.