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All right well let's jump right into it today because this might be a long one. I saw this video clip from Woke Preacher Clips on Gab and you know if you follow Woke Preacher Clips you know that he tends to post outlandish things or funny things or just wild speculations from all kinds of woke sources.
But this one's a little bit different and he presented it a little bit different and I really respect actually very much agree with his analysis. This is Brian Loretz and he's speaking at a church and he's talking about reparations.
And this is how Woke Preacher Clips presents it. He says this is fascinating. It's essentially the same verse as an outline as Eric Mason's reparation sermon but by someone with message discipline. It addresses much of the backlash Mason received and skips his pitfalls such as the 10 plagues was protest and 10 years or 200 free years of free college tuition and all that kind of insane stuff.
Yeah I agree Woke Preacher Clips this is way better probably way more effective than Eric Mason's stuff. A lot of people really are influenced by Eric Mason. I can't imagine why his presentations are so clownish so often.
But Brian this video from Brian Loretz way better. It's way better. He makes a much stronger case in my opinion for reparations. I still think he fails but I thought it would be good for us to go through this to see someone who is not as preposterous as Eric Mason how to respond to it a way that you could potentially respond to it.
The reparations chapter in my book that's coming out this year is a great chapter. I really like it. I think you'll find it very helpful. Not my favorite chapter in the book. I've got a personal favorite but I think the reparations chapter will be the most helpful to a lot of people because this is one issue that is not going away.
In fact it's going to come to a head at some point very soon I think. But anyway let's watch this and we'll start and stop like we normally do and hopefully you'll find this very.
Helpful. It's hard to argue reparations biblically. I'll say. The Bible speaks more to restitution than it does reparations. Reparations is more governmental in focus while restitution is more individual.
The concept of restitution is seen in several places. For example in regards to a person who has wronged another God says this in Numbers chapter 5, he shall confess his sin that he has committed and he shall make full restitution for his wrong.
Watch it now adding a fifth to it and giving it to him whom he did the wrong. All right let's stop there for a second because this.
Is how he's framing this. This is very very important to get at the outset. He's using scripture which I appreciate. Eric Mason also used scripture. If you remember the videos we did on Eric Mason's stuff he was almost like as he was reading the scripture realizing that it didn't apply to what he was trying to make it apply to.
What Brian's done here though is he's trying to make a distinction and this is an important distinction because I actually agree with it. Restitution and reparations. Reparations is dealing with the government paying people and restitution he says is dealing with individuals paying people.
And he admits that it's hard to argue reparations from the Bible and I would agree because the Bible actually doesn't make this distinction. This is an important distinction in reality because the way that people talk about reparations oftentimes they'll just replace reparations with restitution.
In fact that was one of the things that the podcast oh who are those two guys KB and Amin that's what they did. They were just saying reparations and they were replacing restitution with reparations in their thinking.
And so a lot of people tend to do that but you can't really do that because they're two separate things. Brian's admitting that but the point he's going to use what he's going to try to do is say reparations are still okay even as you can't make a biblical case for it.
I would disagree because the Bible does very clearly give us what the government is supposed to do as they take revenue from people through taxes or whatever. Well it's really just through taxes. As they take in revenue there's only certain things they can do with that revenue according to scripture.
So Brian's point here of distinguishing between reparations and restitutions, I agree with him. However the point he's going to make is actually not going to work if you follow the Bible everywhere. So anyway let's continue.
Notice that he not only has to.
Pay it back materially but has to add interest to it. This is telling because restitution is so much more than giving back what was taken. It is more so about acknowledging that if I had not taken what I did you would have been further down the road thus interest.
Yeah so that's a good point.
As well. Brian makes an excellent point about restitution and he is making the point about restitution. So let's give him credit for that. He's not saying this is reparations but listen this is why God's system is so great.
Restitution is way better than prison sentences for thieves because not only does it make the person you stole from whole plus interest because he's right you would have been further along at least theoretically if you had the money that was taken from you or the or the cattle or whatever it was.
So you need to pay more than what you stole. Not only that but it also makes crime not pay. In other words crime the risks of crime of having to pay back more than you took make it a bad decision for any criminal.
People would probably still choose it because people make irrational decisions all the time. But the way it stands now is okay I steal a hundred thousand dollars. I go to prison for a couple years. Well I mean I'm still kind of making out because I took the hundred thousand.
I lost a couple years of my life. Yeah but I got room and board for essentially free and all of this kind of stuff. Everyone else paid for the way I live. So you actually made out. Crime did pay in those situations.
You know getting arrested and going to jail oh that's you know that's a that's a that's just you know a risk that you take. I mean people that go to the work in the mines take risks with their lives as well.
I mean all work is risky to a certain degree and so in a criminal's mind well this is just this is just one of the potential risks of my job. You know what I mean? So God's system is way better. Restitution is light years better than prison time and all that kind of stuff.
He's right that it's part of it is to make someone whole plus interest because they had no they lost opportunity costs as well. Brian's 100 right about that. But the other side on the criminal side is God wants to make a system where it's actually financially irrational to steal if you get caught.
Anyway.
Let's continue. Closest thing we get to government governmental reparations in the Bible is Exodus 12. Here the nation of Israel had been in slavery for over 400 years and it's finally time to leave but God doesn't want them to go empty-handed.
Look at what happens. The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians so that they let them have what they asked.
Thus they plundered the Egyptians. No this wasn't something Egypt voted on in an effort to right the wrongs. It was done person to person and God gave them favor but the point is clear.
So Brian makes another good point that I completely agree with. This is the closest thing to governmental reparations that we have in the Bible and it's not even close. It's not even in the same wavelength as what's talked about as far as reparations today.
So Brian makes a valid point. This is the closest thing and it's not even commanded in the scripture. It's not even one of God's laws so there's that. And then it's not even close to reparations because this is the Israelites going to their neighbors, their Egyptian neighbors, and saying, hey can you send me out with some money?
I mean worked for you all these years. And they got favor in the eyes of God. I'm sorry, favor before the Egyptians through God. God gave them, the Egyptians put that in their hearts to give them stuff voluntarily and they took it voluntarily.
This has nothing to do with governments paying anything. If you notice he even says it's person to person. So I agree with Brian that this is the closest thing to reparations but make no mistake, this isn't even close to reparations.
Not even a little bit. So it's interesting that he admits this in a sermon or a speech rather about reparations. Let's let him continue. Here after centuries of slavery.
God didn't want them to go from bondage into freedom empty-handed. What's more is the New Testament. Now the closest text in the New Testament on reparations is Luke 19 again and the story of Jesus and Zacchaeus who as we just said was over a system of injustice.
Well you know the story. Jesus invites himself over his home and Zacchaeus says, you know what Jesus, I've wronged a lot of people and saying I'm sorry is not good enough. So up to half my goods I will give to the poor and those whom I have defrauded I will restore it back to them fourfold.
Hear the interest?
Yeah we do hear the interest but this is amazing as well because he admits this is the closest thing we have to reparations in the New Testament. And again it's not even close. This is a personal situation.
Zacchaeus is saying if I've defrauded someone I pay them back fourfold. If I defrauded someone, so I'm the one who did the defrauding and I defrauded a certain person. If I've done that I will give them fourfold what I took to make up for the opportunity cost with the money that I took to try to make them whole.
I can't take it back. Sorry is not enough. I can't reverse time but what I can do is try to catch you up. You know let's just assume you got a fourfold return on your capital which I think is a massive assumption in those days.
Good on him for doing that and that was an amazing loving story of repentance and restitution. So far both examples and he admitted this in the beginning. Both examples of the closest thing to reparations are actually just one of them's restitution.
The other one is essentially a miracle. The Egyptians voluntarily giving them all kinds of goods and stuff like that. Livestock hallelujah if you remember. So it's like he's right. It's very difficult to argue reparations from the Bible because it isn't there.
It's not in the Bible and so anyone who says we ought to pay reparations because we ought to love our neighbor is lying and trying to change the word of God and of the law of God rather to fit their politics.
It's completely ridiculous. Brian is kind of laying out that case here which is great because I completely agree with him. These two things are not even in the same ballpark as reparations. He's admitting that here.
I appreciate that.
Jesus responds by saying today salvation has come to your house. In other words restitution is a gospel indicator light authenticating one's salvation.
Absolutely and we ought to have if we're going to have a just political system, a just criminal justice system, we ought to embrace restitution as the foundations of our law. Prison sentences in general are preposterous.
You know what I mean? Restitution is what we ought to do. I agree with Brian. I appreciate his honesty. This presentation though I have to say still can be a little bit confusing because he is kind of still doing that thing except in a much more careful way but still confusing reparations with restitution a little bit.
Not as bad because he's admitting that it's kind of hard to argue this from the Bible though he's still using Bible verses. This is the closest thing to reparations and it's like yeah but it's not even close right?
That's like me saying the closest thing to up is down. I mean I guess but that's the opposite. You know what I mean? I don't know it just seems like a weird kind of rhetorical device that he's using here.
It's interesting but I do appreciate him being honest. He framed it the right way. Reparations ain't in the Bible. It just isn't and so we should stop pretending like it is.
I know Zacchaeus is not paying back for things his great-grandfather did. He's seeking to materially right his wrongs. But nonetheless hear it now the spirit of the New Testament is to always go above and beyond the law.
So there's the trick right? Because this is the.
Thing a lot of times people will say this. I notice this happens a lot when you're talking about theonomy or God's law in general. Again I'm not trying to convert people to theonomy. I don't care if you call yourself a theonomist.
You are a theonomist. You're not. I just want you to take the law of God more seriously and oftentimes people that are trying to reject the law of God in the civil realm will say things like this. The New Testament is more intense.
It takes things beyond the law of God. And it's like okay but you can't just say that to mean anything you want it to mean. And so Brian here this is the kind of this is kind of tricky. It's kind of sneaky in my opinion where he's like yeah I know Zacchaeus was righting his wrongs but the way that the New Testament goes is we do better.
That's the spirit. We do more than is required. And so he's trying to low-key make this case that the New Testament, I know it doesn't say reparations, I know it doesn't say pay for the wrongs of others, your granddaddy, your great-grandparents, wherever, but to see that if you want to be an uber-christian you got to go above the law.
And so he's kind of low-key saying the Bible kind of does make this case but it doesn't really but it kind of does. I mean who doesn't want to be an uber-christian right? Who doesn't want to be an uber?
If you want to be an uber-christian you got to go above what you owe me. You don't owe me anything. I'm talking about me, AD Robles. You don't owe me anything but you know you want to be an uber-christian right?
So give me a hundred thousand dollars. I mean let's check that. How about 200? You know what I mean? Like you see how that doesn't really work. That's not an argument. That's like, that's an implied argument.
It's a little sneaky. I don't really appreciate that but at least if you're a careful listener listening to Brian here, you know that the Bible does not make this case even as he's trying to nudge you like it kind of does but it doesn't really.
I didn't like that. I didn't like that. This is a much more careful presentation. Do you see what I mean? This is more effective than Eric Mason. Eric Mason's stuff is clumsy. This is not. This is very careful because he's like he's not really lying to you but he's like making a case that's like he's not really making it but he's kind of making it.
Like you see what I mean? It's.
Slippery. The New Testament is never what can I get away with or what's the bare minimum. Do you see.
How he's presenting this? He's like Zacchaeus is doing the bare minimum and the New Testament's like well, well, well you got to do, well actually let me rephrase that. Zacchaeus did more than the law of God says but you see the New Testament ethos, the spirit of it is to do even more than that and so he's presenting like guys if you don't think that this teaches restitution, you're kind of saying what can I get away with, right?
And just think how preposterous that would be if I said that to you. I was like give me a hundred thousand dollars and if you don't want to it's like aren't you just saying well what can I get away with?
Like you would never believe that as far as I'm concerned but somehow he's trying to make this case for blacks in general or I guess blacks or do Latinos count in this? I don't know. I don't know if Latinos count in this or not but anyway you see that it's kind of sneaky and you can see how this would be effective because nobody wants to be that person that's saying what's the bare minimum, what can I get away with and he's presenting you if you're against reparations as thinking that way.
That's pretty.
Sneaky man. But the spirit of the New Testament is what leech should I take to right the wrongs because that's my brother, that's my sister. So for anyone to look at the plight of African Americans historically and merely shrug their shoulders and say not my problem is a person who just doesn't get the spirit of the Gospels nor the New Testament.
Do you.
See that? He squints really hard. I talk about this in my book. He sees the law of God and he sees what justice objectively is in that law. You can see it in the writing right? Then he's also likewise looking at the application of the law of God through stories like Zacchaeus, through stories like the Egyptians and stuff like that.
So he even sees what the New Testament presents as itself. The Bible interprets itself a lot and so he's even seeing the application of it in the life of a believer where Jesus Christ says salvation has come to this house today.
Look at Zacchaeus. Look at what he's doing and then he's saying so he sees the letter of the law. Then he sees the application of the law in the Gospels mind you and so this is pretty much everything.
We're like look at this. Look at these examples and he's saying no there's more. There's more you see because if you don't do even more than the law and the examples and applications that Jesus commends, if you don't do what I want which is reparations, then really you're just trying to do the bare minimum you see and that's not the gospel ethos.
You see you can make any argument that you possibly could want using that same framework, that same rubric and it's very weaselly to be honest. It's like the Bible doesn't make the case for reparations but you should still do it otherwise you're not following the gospel ethos.
Yikes man. That's a pretty weaselly way to argue in my opinion but anyway let me know if you want to continue this because he's going to talk about the government and the constitution of the United States in a little bit.
I think it's interesting. I don't want this video to be too long but I will do multiple parts if you guys think this is helpful. Anyway, I hope you found this video helpful. God bless.
