Gospel Coalition Has a Message For You Boomers Out There!

You guys want to read a Gospel Coalition article? Oh yeah,

I saw this one. This one is going to be good. This is by Brett McCracken. What's crackin'

Brett McCracken? I don't know, but this is the guy who wrote the article about how it's so counter -cultural to wear your mask and to get your vaccine and to do everything that CNN tells you to do.

That's actually how to be a counter -cultural Christian. Because all the celebrities are doing it, all the sports figures are doing it, they're putting out

PSAs and all this kind of stuff. So that's counter -cultural, to go with the culture. You see, you're so counter -cultural that you do a 360 and you're going with the counter -culture.

So you're going with the culture so you're counter -cultural, you see what I'm saying? So Brett McCracken obviously is a bastion of wisdom.

And so he's going to talk about how to navigate the generational divide in politics.

And of course this picture is just classic. This is classic Gospel Coalition propaganda.

It's really good. We've got the white guy with the white beard. You know, the sign of respect and things like that.

He's earned his wisdom, he's got some white in his beard. I've got a little bit, a little bit of wisdom, kind of right there. Anyway, and then we've got the darker person here talking down to him.

And the white guy's just like, I'm just trying to drink a coffee here. And this guy's talking about, well, you're evil because you have a

MAGA hat on and all that kind of stuff. So let's read this article because I'm sure that this Brett McCracken has some tremendous wisdom for you.

And, well, let's just dive right into it. He starts, he says, The 2020 election is already a trying season for the

American church. And among the dynamics at play is a growing generational divide among conservative evangelicals.

Yeah, that's really where the divide is. There's a lot of conservative evangelicals that there's a big divide there.

And we really got to worry about that because they're so conservative that, you know, they might have to vote for Joe Biden.

This is like that countercultural thing where you're like you're so countercultural that you're doing exactly what the culture tells you.

But when you're so conservative, like some people are too conservative to vote conservative, you know what I mean? Like they're so conservative, they've got to vote progressive.

They got to vote communists. You know what I mean? They're commies. That's how conservative you can imagine. Imagine being so conservative that you're actually commie.

That's what Brett McCracken is talking about. There's a divide between like the fake conservatives and then the real conservatives that are so conservative that they're not conservative anymore.

That they got to save conservatism by voting against it, you see. Anyway, he says, I'm hearing more and more young conservative.

There's really nothing to say about this. I mean, this wisdom is unassailable. There's really nothing you can say to this.

I'm sorry. Let me try to read this. I'm hearing more and more young conservative -leaning evangelicals express disappointment at the political behavior of their conservative parents.

A growing concern that they're being radicalized into a conspiracy spreading far right by a steady diet of Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and Ben Shapiro.

Ben Shapiro. You guys know Big Bear? Yeah, Big Bear's funny, man.

I don't recommend Big Bear's content. In fact, I don't even know where you're going to find it anymore. He's been banned by so many things. We need to call him

Ben Shapiro. Ben Shapiro. But this is funny because, like, you know, if you watch

Fox News, then the concern amongst the conservative -leaning young evangelicals is that you're a conspiracy theorist.

Rush Limbaugh, same thing. Ben Shapiro, the anti -conspiracy theory conservative? Well, that's a conspiracy theory right there.

You're so against conspiracy theories that the guys that are against conspiracy theories are conspiracy theory.

That's how against conspiracy theories you are. And you're so conservative that any kind of – any possible conservative media is a conspiracy theory.

That's how conservative you are. You're so conservative that you're no longer conservative. That's the wisdom here from Brett McCracken.

What's crackin', Brett McCracken? But this is funny. This is funny. You can see the play unfolding here. Like last month we have that bastion of wisdom,

Joe Carter, telling us that if you believe a conspiracy theory, then you might as well be a

Satanist because you're doing the devil's work. And then this month we've got Brett McCracken telling you that if you listen to Fox News too much and you spread

Fox News and Rush Limbaugh and Ben Shapiro, then you're a conspiracy theorist.

So if you are this way, if you like Fox News and you believe too much of what they have to say, well, then you might as well be a

Satanist. You put Joe Carter together with Brett McCracken, all of a sudden you've got a false religion.

This is amazing because the conservative -leaning young evangelicals, they're very disappointed in their conservative conspiracy theory

Satanist parents. And so they don't really know what to do. There's a divide. There's a divide here, guys.

Let's talk about this because this is something that I think is very important for our culture today. Brett McCracken continues.

He says, one young pastor shared that as much as his peers want to glean the wisdom from their parents' generation, it seems that there's little wisdom left.

Like guys, you can't make this stuff up. Well, I guess he can because he made it up.

But I desperately, like this is definitely how I feel. Like sometimes I talk to my dad. I'm just like,

I just I really want to learn from you, dad. Like I want to glean from your wisdom. But the problem is you're too stupid.

Dad, I really want to learn from your wisdom. Why don't you go get some? Yeah, that's exactly the attitude that I have with my father.

You know what I mean? When in the first commandment with the promise, honor your father and mother. Like I want to do it.

But the problem is you're so disappointing and stupid and gullible and Satanic. I mean, what can

I say? Oh, man.

You know, I heard that on Twitter, the Gospel Coalition made it so that you can't reply to this article unless they tag you, unless they pre -approve your participation.

I'm starting to see why. We're not even through the second paragraph yet.

This is just so this is so wise. It's so wise that it's stupid. Like you can be so conservative.

You vote for Democrats. You can be you can be so into your parents' wisdom that you call them stupid.

So I guess you can be so wise that you just spout nonsense constantly. And it makes sense to me.

Makes sense to me. In the words of one pastor friend, quote, they've given they've all given themselves over to the foolishness of America.

When Michelle Obama said American. You know, there's some people that think

Michelle Obama is a man. Did you know that there's a there's a there's a movement of people and they've got some convincing sounding arguments that say that Michelle Obama is actually a man like a trans transgender.

You should watch it. It's pretty interesting stuff. When Michelle Obama said American kids are, quote, looking around wondering if we've been lying to them this whole time about who we are and what we truly value.

Her words resonated with so many young evangelicals. You see, this is what I'm talking about. You're so conservative that you believe

Michelle Obama's propaganda. I mean, what we've been lied to our whole times. I mean, listen, it's not like you can't be angry at your parents.

Right, because it's just that they're that they're just too stupid. They don't understand. And they've bought into the conspiracy theories peddled by Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and Ben Shapiro.

Let's continue. Let's continue. I don't know if I'm going to make it through this article, guys.

I'm going to try. I'm going to try. But I don't know if I can. This is too good, man. The thing is, if I laugh too much,

I get some I get serious asthma attacks if I laugh too much. Like, especially around now, like when the weather's changing.

I always have really rough breathing when the weather changes over to colder weather or whatever.

But so, yeah, I can't laugh too much. So if you see me turn off the video, it's because I probably can't breathe.

All right. He goes on. Brett goes on. He says, for many of us, the disappointment is not primarily that our parents, pastors, or role models would vote for Donald Trump.

Oh, here we go. So it took him three paragraphs to get to the point. It's about Donald Trump.

Given the extreme pro -abortion policies, Maoist enforcement of speech codes, and guillotine optics of the other side, we can understand why

Christian voters might find Trump the lesser of two evils. What's disappointing, though, is when our elders don't seem to find any evil in Trump.

When they enthusiastically support him as the God -sent street fighter and protector of Christian America.

When they refuse to denounce any of the morally debased words and actions they would have been quick to call out in a

Democratic president. What's confusing is how so many who in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, for example, insisted on morality as an irreducible presidential qualification now see it as negotiable.

What's alarming is how not alarmed many older Christians seem when

Trump trots out a Bible as an apparent photo op prop or when Vice President Michael Pence riffs on Hebrews 12 to suggest that we fix our eyes on old glory alongside

Jesus. Yeah, you know, there's a lot of people like that. Like, I've noticed that, like, there's a lot of people that are like, you know, like,

Trump was a sexual degenerate. And they're like, well, no, no, no, no, that's fine. Sexual degeneracy is totally fine.

His degeneracy is fine. It's no problem. Yeah, and we can change

Hebrews 12 into old glory. Oh, yeah, definitely we can do that. Yeah, it's not an issue. It's not even an issue.

It's like, you know, I hope that Trump has sex with more women besides his wife. I mean,

I see a lot of people like that. That's very true. We definitely have a problem with that. And so it's like, you know, you got to be disappointed in your parents because they're just so debased morally.

You know what I mean? Like, they're stupid, and they're gullible, and they're satanic because they're spreading conspiracy theories, and they're morally debased.

I mean, let's just be honest. Like, everyone that was born before, let's say, 1975 was a moral monster.

I mean, back then, they didn't even allow gays to get married. How backwards can you be? Oh, well, okay.

Again, reasonable arguments for Christians to vote for Trump can be made. Ask Ken arguments to vote for other candidates.

Oh, yeah, that's right. That's right. So the thing is, like, you can make an argument to vote for Biden, right?

Because, like, you know, he might not have had sex with a porn star, you know.

But, you know, like, that's just the same thing as advocating abortion for all, even after they're born, no matter what, because it's cool to kill babies.

Like, it's the same thing. It's definitely the same thing. Like, you just pick your poison. It's like, okay, abortion's legal or having sex with Stormy Daniels.

Like, it's the same exact thing. Definitely. Yeah, you can make the argument. I mean, Biden's a decent man.

So is Barack Obama. He's a decent man. Oh, wow.

What's frustrating is when our leaders suggest true Christians must vote for Trump. That is frustrating.

That's definitely frustrating. I agree with that because, you know, the Bible doesn't say you must vote for someone.

The Bible doesn't say you must vote at all. So I'm frustrated by that as well. But I'm still waiting for the conspiracy theory part.

Like, I'm not really understanding how this all fits together, but maybe he'll finish it. We'll see. Thereby anathematizing the many believers who can't square a vote for Trump with their faith.

Yeah, that's true. I see a lot of that too. Like, I've seen people say that you're actually going to hell if you don't vote for Trump.

There's a lot of Christian leaders that are doing that. I can't think of any off the top of my head, but Brett McCracken is saying so.

So I guess it must be true. Brett McCracken. He said it. It's got to be true. It's got to be true.

All right. On top of all that, when prominent evangelical leaders, quote, who defend Trump's extramarital affairs, turn out to be engaging in their own sordid sexual triads and alleged predatory behavior, it all starts to feel like a sham.

Yeah, this is a very little weaselly kind of thing.

The weasels are at it again. No question about it. The weasels are at it again because what he could have done is specifically mentioned what's -his -face -by -name.

That guy, whatever that guy's name is. What's his name? The Liberty guy. I don't know.

He could have done it, but he didn't do it. And by not doing it, he allows the option for people not to know that these are links and not to click them and then to just put whoever they want to in here.

And they just throw shade everywhere. That's how a Christian does it. You see, a Christian doesn't really typically name names.

A Christian just throws shade on everybody. Every Trump supporter now has shade thrown on them.

Is he talking about me? I don't know. I mean I don't think I have a sordid sexual triad and all that kind of thing, but, you know, there it is.

And, of course, there's alleged predatory behavior as well. That's the worst kind of predatory behavior, the alleged kind, the alleged predatory behavior.

That's definitely the worst. Can we trust our faith leaders or is everything really just about political power all along?

I don't know, but I know who I do trust, Michelle Obama, because she was right.

We've been lied to. I'm so conservative that I love Michelle Obama. That's how conservative I am.

Even as younger evangelicals ask these valid questions, they should also ask themselves some critical questions.

If you're frustrated by your parents or older leaders' politics, ask yourself, how can I follow the biblical commands, not suggestions, to love, honor, and respect them in spite of my frustration?

That's a very good question. How do you learn how to love, honor, and respect people that are just so stupid and gullible and evil and satanic?

That's my question, right? You need to ask yourself that. How do you do it? I want to learn some wisdom from them, but they're just too stupid.

That's my big problem, so I need to ask myself, how do I do it? Here we go. This is my favorite part of this.

I don't know if I'm going to finish this. This is just way too long. I don't have the big boy brain enough to really understand this stuff, so I'm just going to read a few more sentences and we'll kind of take it from there.

This is the section called, Be Disappointed Without Being Disrespectful. That's probably pretty good advice.

Let's check this out. He says this. He says, Seek to understand. Seek to understand.

Don't assume the worst. Don't instantly ascribe their political preferences to racism, xenophobia, greed, or some other vice.

Yeah, definitely don't do that. Definitely don't do that. And the other thing you might not want to do.

I mean, this is just me. It's just me. But you might not want to ascribe it to stupidity, gullibility, satanic tendencies, things like that.

I mean, I know it's mixed messages here, but this is the thing. The weasels at Gospel Coalition are at it again.

The weasels are at it again. This is how they weasel. I speak weasel. It's okay. You can trust me. I've learned to speak weasel over the last few years.

And when I say weasel, let me define my terms because sometimes people get upset with me for not defining my terms.

If you go to the weasel dictionary, as you can see here, weasel has a few different definitions.

The weasel can be used as a noun. And it can mean a small, slender, carnivorous mammal related to but generally smaller than the stoat.

So that's what a weasel can be. But also it can be a deceitful or treacherous person. And I'm using it in this second way.

I'm not saying that Brett McCracken is actually a small, slender, carnivorous mammal. What I am saying is that he is a deceitful and or treacherous person because you kind of have to be to work for Gospel Coalition.

You see, at the end of the day, like to try to throw shade, you know, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Ben Shapiro's way without really questioning it.

In the same publication that your major editor, Joe Carter. Joe Carter is like the major editor, right?

He's like one of the main editors. Yeah. In the same publication where he just said that it's satanic to listen to conspiracy theories.

That strikes me as a little weasel -y. You kind of have to be a little weasel -y to work for Gospel Coalition.

And since I do speak weasel, I do know how he would defend this. This is how he would defend it. Hold on one second here.

Let me silence this call. It's supposed to be working right now. But, you know, hey. Here's how he would defend it.

He would say this. I'm not saying that there are conspiracy theorists. I'm just saying that there's a lot of conservative -leaning younger evangelicals who are way smarter than their parents that say that.

I didn't say anything. I'm just reporting the news here. That's how a weasel talks. You see, the weasel puts forward an argument without actually doing it.

I'm just asking. It's kind of like remember Rob Bell when he was being criticized for something? Who knows? He's so many things.

But he was like, well, I'm just asking questions here. I'm not saying anything. I'm just asking questions.

See, that's how a weasel talks. See, I speak weasel. So you can trust me. I speak weasel. Oh, man.

Be slow to chalk up their politics to idolatry. This is also good advice. This is very true. But what he gives you with one hand, he takes away with the other.

So be slow to chalk up their politics to idolatry. While their political leanings may indeed be partially rooted in sin and idolatry, recognize that yours likely are as well.

Interesting. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. That's actually quite wise, Brett McCracken.

I'm impressed. I'm impressed. You kind of switch in and out between weasel speak and gospel speak so naturally.

It's just very nice to see that. Instead of judging them, give grace and engage in conversation.

Chances are some aspect of their background informs why they lean one way or another politically. So listen to their stories.

Many baby boomer parents who lived through the 1960s are likely reading today's events through that lens.

If your immigrant parent fled to America from some volatile or oppressive regime, inquire how their experience of this nation informs their current politics.

Everyone has a personal story that shapes their politics. Begin your engagement on that level. Also vital is a posture of humility rather than arrogance.

I hate seeing young evangelicals post graceless and presumptive pronouncements on social media. Whenever some older Christian expresses political opinions, they dislike.

Yeah, you know, that is troubling. But what's extra, I mean, I understand younger people doing that because younger people tend to be a little bit more zealous and it'll be a little bit more pie in the sky.

There's just no question about that. What bothers me, though, is when like, you know, you know, political evangelical leaders from Gospel Coalition do the exact same thing when they don't have any freaking idea what they're talking about.

They'll go out and spout nonsense all day long. They'll call you racist. They'll call you xenophobic. They'll call you all these things.

Gospel Coalition is notorious for that. And so this is why I call them weasels. Like they have to be they have to be weasels here because they know that they are notorious for this exact behavior.

And he's saying, well, I just I just can't believe when I see young people doing this. It's like, yeah, but you do this.

You do this. So you're so you're so horrified by it that you actually do it. It's like you're so conservative.

You vote Democrat. You're so you're so eager for the wisdom of the of the elderly that they're too stupid to learn from.

And I guess you're so shocked by people popping off at the mouth nonsense and assumptions about their political enemies that you also engage in that.

That's how much you love it or how shocked you are about it. It's like a 360 degree turn.

You're so countercultural that you go with the culture that that's this seems to be a little pattern here with Brett McCracken.

Anyway. So certainly there are times when it's appropriate for the younger generation to confront and correct their elders.

That's true. When Paul tells Timothy to not rebuke an older man, the political the particular

Greek verb is an especially intense version of rebuke. Translated rebuke harshly in the NIV or sharply rebuke in the

NASB. The point is that we should not never rebuke our elders, but we should avoid harsh, sharp, disrespectful rebuke.

Sadly, social media is not often a good forum for loving and respectful. That is biblical rebuke.

If you want to challenge an older person on their politics, take it offline. Send a respectful email or treat them to a coffee.

Enter the conversation, not just ready to challenge or teach, but prepared to listen well and learn.

This is good advice. I actually do agree with this, especially if it's someone that, you know, personally and stuff like that.

But what I don't want you to read this as as that when you're engaged in social media with strangers in the public forum, in the public square, you're you're in the debate situation.

Right. Don't don't shy away from from from from correcting insanity when you see it.

Right. Like if you see an older person say George Floyd was killed because he was black and it's just open season on black people.

Feel free to just have at it. Feel free to just have at it, because that's a blatant lie.

That's that's that's something that they couldn't possibly know. They're popping off at the mouth of something they obviously don't know.

And so if you want to say, hey, dude, you obviously don't know what you're talking about because nobody knows what they're talking about. It's not an insult.

It's just a fact. That's totally fine. That's totally fine. But I do recommend that if you especially if it's someone in your personal life that you handle it, not just with older people, but with younger people as well.

You should absolutely handle it in person, not online. That's a great, great advice.

I would I would say. So, yeah, I'm not going to finish this. I'm just not into it anymore.

I'm getting kind of bored. I've kind of lost my momentum here. But, yeah, this is this is interesting stuff.

I mean, it certainly seems to me to be an article of how how do you how do you how do you express your your your disappointment in your elders for how stupid and gullible and satanic they are in a way that doesn't look disrespectful?

You know, you see what I'm saying? It's all about optics here. It's like, mom, dad, you know, I'm just I'm disappointed.

I'm not even angry. I'm disappointed because, you know, you listen to Ben Shapiro. I mean, my goodness gracious.

Oh, wow. But I don't know, man. I just don't even really know what to say. Like like you're so countercultural.

You go with the culture. You're so conservative. You go against conservatives. You're so desperate to learn from your parents that you call them stupid.

It's like it doesn't really doesn't really seem to fit. It doesn't really seem to fit. And that's why I call it Weasley, because it is

Weasley. This is all a bunch of weasels. And again, just the consistent nature of Gospel Coalition to not name names, to not let you check their facts, to not even really, you know, not even it's not it's not even specific enough for you to know who they're talking about.

Just throw shade everywhere. That's that's what Gospel Coalition is best at. They just they're best at throwing shade everywhere to sow suspicion amongst brothers, to sow division amongst brothers.

That's what their articles do when you don't name names, when you don't do this the right way, when you don't confront something directly.

So people could see both sides and look at the specifics and see who's lying, who's not, that kind of thing. Like all it does is sow discord.

Brett McCracken, you should probably stop doing this. Gospel Coalition, you should probably stop doing this because it's a net negative here.

You're a bunch of weasels, and it's about time you stop being so Weasley. Anyway, I hope you found this video helpful.

God bless. Yeah, well, you might not be able to tell, but that video wasn't entirely serious.

But I don't want you to miss this because I think that, you know, this is a mixed bag. Like a lot of Gospel Coalition articles, there's some good, there's some bad.

But I think the general thrust of this article is very clear. You know what I mean? The idea here is that the

Trumpy guys are, you know, they're the bad guys. And they're just looking past all of this awful stuff and just like that.

But to its credit, it also kind of says, well, you know, but maybe you're doing the same thing.

And it's trying to do this thing where it's like kind of like trying to make an equivalent between voting Trump, voting Biden. Well, we all have our problems.

And one of the things that it suggests is that, you know, you tell their story, right? You allow the boomer guy to tell his story about how he grew up and why he thinks the way he thinks.

And then you tell your millennial story about the same thing. And it's just everything's kumbaya and that's how you do it.

It's like, but that's actually not how you do it, right? Like your story doesn't actually have anything to do with how justice is defined.

And I think it's a very weird thing to just assume that someone has a certain political opinion because of their story and not because of what the

Bible says. Like you've seen those interactions. I've had those interactions, right? Where people say, well, you're just saying that because you're a

Republican and you love Rush Limbaugh. That's the typical thing. And what I find so fascinating about that is

I've listened to hardly any Rush Limbaugh in my entire life. Like never even a full episode, not even once.

I've listened to Ben Shapiro clips every now and then. Like I just that's just not my thing. I don't even have cable news.

I don't watch Fox News because I don't have cable news. You know what I mean? So I always find that so hilarious that it's just assumed.

It's just kind of a thing. But I don't want you to miss this because this is propaganda. We don't decide our politics based on our story.

It's like this is how they imagine it going. It's like, what do you mean you're against welfare? How could you be against welfare?

Don't you love your neighbor? Well, I'm against welfare because the Bible doesn't give the civil governing authority the ability to do charity.

Like that's just not part of it. They're supposed to be punishing evil doers and establishing justice.

And charity is really supposed to be more for the individuals and for the church. You're just saying that because you're a boomer. You were born in 1960s and you're a white supremacist.

Well, yeah, I was born in the 1960s. But as I said, I believe in charity. I believe in taking care of the poor.

But I just don't believe that the Bible gives the civil governing authority the ability to do that. That's again, it's for individuals and for the church.

So me being a boomer really doesn't have anything. Okay, boomer. I mean, I've had real life conversations like that. And I just wouldn't assume that your

Christian parents who raised you as a Christian, I wouldn't assume that they actually don't have biblical reasons why they believe the things that they believe.

So it actually doesn't help to tell your stories. I mean, definitely listen to your parents' stories. I mean, your parents' stories are good.

But it doesn't have anything to do with the truth of the matter. Like should I vote for Biden or not? Your story really isn't going to – it shouldn't be something that you consider.

Is Joe Biden going to establish justice in the United States or not? Is he going to establish justice better than Donald Trump according to biblical standards or not?

Like these are the questions that we should be asking, not about whether or not I'm a millennial or a boomer. That doesn't really make much sense at all.

But Brett McCracken does eventually get there. He says this at the end. He says, instead of endlessly debating politics at the dinner table or on social media and growing more frustrated with one another, perhaps spend more time singing hymns together, studying the

Bible together, and serving in church together. That's actually really good. But the thing is that the

Bible study can't just be just for your brain, right? You have to actually apply it to your life. And politics is definitely an arena where the biblical law and the biblical scripture does apply.

And so we should be talking about that. And so when you're having a political disagreement, yes, open up your

Bible. But let's seek to apply these things in a way that makes sense. And oftentimes people that came before us, especially

Christians, my goodness, Christian parents that came before us, have put time into studying this scripture.

And so they might be wrong. That's true. And we can go to the Bible and talk about it. But being a boomer has nothing to do with that.

Being a boomer doesn't have anything to do with the trueness of their doctrine. We can go to the

Bible and look to the doctrine. And we can decide whether or not the Bible does actually give the civil governing authority the ability to take from some and give to others as a form of charity.

It clearly does not. And so no matter how many times you say God's on the side of the oppressed and we've got to look after the poor, it's not going to move a boomer, but not because of political idolatry.

In that sense, you would be the idolater, because you're actually going against what the scripture specifically prescribes for the civil governing authorities.

And so don't miss that. There's sort of this idea that, well, we're both doing this.

We're both applying our stories to who we support politically. And so we can make the case that it might be okay to be so conservative that you vote for a baby butcher, when in fact it can't be the case that you do that.

So I've been joking around about this article, because there's a lot to meme on. There's a lot to joke about.

But you can see how it puts forward this idea, and it just assumes it. It just assumes it, that it's, well, it's just a story.

These are the boomers, you know. And what it assumes is actually poison. That's actually not how you decide how to engage in politics.