Tag: faith

Dale Partridge Advocates For The Bare Minimum (In Jesus Name)

Dale Partridge has adopted or fostered approximately zero children as far as I’m aware so… faith without works is dead, brother. Funny how Christians who do nothing are the loudest online about everything Christians supposedly do.

Tweeting this does nothing to change the reality that there are indeed many unwanted children today in the foster care system and Dale is doing nothing to change this fact. It’s the equivalent of the man with leprosy approaching Jesus and being like, “Lord, if you’re willing please heal me….” And Jesus being like “yeah, I came here to heal you,” and then walking away.

My main issue though is this basically applauds Christians for doing the upmost bare minimum. James said “religion that is pure and undefiled before God is this: to take care of widow and orphans.” So like the base minimum for being a decent religious person (not even Christian) is to care about orphaned children. That’s literally the absolute bare minimum, which is funny as most modern, Evangelical Christians care about neither orphans nor widows – just look at how underfunded and corrupt our foster care system is and then look at what the majority of conservative, “Christian” politicians and pundits build their platforms on. It ain’t children or widows.

Advocating that Christians do something that should be a no-brainer is why American Christianity is dying and why the secular world laughs in our faces whenever Christians try to hold some moral high-ground over various issues.

Unfortunately, Dale is exactly like most American Christians, more concerned with getting likes and retweets online than doing anything useful, let alone doing anything Jesus would actually do. Patting yourself on the back for doing the bare minimum isn’t the flex he thinks it is. It should be a given that Christians were and are at the forefront of hospitals, adoptions, women’s shelters, etc. (if his stat is even true) not something to brag about. In fact, the Bible even tells us that our giving should be done in secret which makes this tweet doubly in poor taste.

A proper response would be that yes, the church could and should do more for expectant mothers. We could be advocating for 6 months minimum of paid maternity leave so that new mothers can bond with their children and not have to worry about losing their jobs, we could be advocating for better healthcare so new mothers don’t go bankrupt having kids, we could be advocating for better sex education and better access to birth control to limit the amount of unwanted pregnancies, and Dale could put his money where his mouth is and foster or adopt a child to prove he isn’t full of air.

But of course, that would mean actually following the Bible on which his faith is built upon and not just tweeting hot takes.

Biblical Clownery: Jesus Doesn’t Love You

Generally, I like Hannah Janel Williamson as she’s one of the few young, Christian women with a public platform who aren’t teaching that women need to stay home and have kids, and eternally talking about her season of singleness a la Bethany of Girl Defined, nor is she grifting and scamming people out of money like Brittany Dawn. That bar is admittedly fairly low. Nevertheless, she shows how one can be fruitful and multiply by evangelizing, and that yes women can indeed be preachers and teachers, and don’t have to sit around waiting for marriage or whatever, but can have a rich life of ministry, career, and relationships prior to or even in lieu of that. She reminds me a bit of Anna from Luke 2:36-38, a prophet who devoted herself to fasting and praying at temple.

That said, Hannah posted something quite inane.

What even is the point of this lol. Does this help discipline Christians, or lead the lost to Christ? No.

Jesus loves you basically is the entire gospel. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (ESV) Of course, believing Jesus is your Savior and Lord is also part of the gospel. But the core is that God loved us so much what mattered most was Him providing us a way to be with Him in eternity through Jesus Christ. If we do nothing else our entire lives but believe in Jesus Christ, we will be saved. Really, not that complicated.

Furthermore, it’s the love of Christ that compels us to share the gospel, not fear of hell fire and brimstone. Once we become saved, are we obligated to live a certain way? Yes. Slothicus 4:20 says, “And Jesus said “if you fear me, you will obey my commands”.”

Wrong. John 14:15 says, “Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them”.” Once we’re saved, there is an obligation to begin bearing good fruit but the gospel itself is basically that Jesus loves us, died for us, and wants a relationship with us. Fairly straightforward.

Hannah Williamson seems to be falling prey to this weird anti-love, anti-self-care attitude conservatives have been adopting in an attempt to not be like other girls the world/progressive Christians. The end result is saying things that are just stupid and do absolutely nothing to advance the kingdom of God, or benefit anybody regardless of what they believe in. Worst still, these things are often not even scriptural.

James 3:1 says, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” (ESV) Those whom build platforms as Christian teachers need to be careful to not just spew Christianese that sounds cool for the sake of gaining spiritual wanking points from conservatives. Rather, we should do all for the glory of God, in a manner of excellence, making sure all that we preach is backed by scripture and not just some poorly thought out “hot take”.

Hannah should probably take another look at her own Instagram bio…

And actually Bring People Back to Biblical Truth.

Paul Olliges Is Upset Twitter is Pro-Life

Paul Olliges, of the Morgan and Paul show, is half of the Christian couple duo who post hot takes on YouTube from a “Christian” perspective. And by “hot” they parrot already widely popular conservative views on social and cultural issues that 100% of conservatives already agree with.

Generally, Morgan and Paul don’t have anything thought-provoking, nor Scriptural, to add to whatever they’re talking about. But Morgan has a very pretty voice, great fashion style, and some super cool tattoos so they present as more normal compared to the likes of Girl Defined and they also aren’t scamming people out of money like Brittany Dawn so… it’s something.

Morgan has been very publicly struggling with infertility for the past several years, something Paul (her husband) has neither spoken about, nor publicly supported her in, which I find incredibly odd given Paul is always talking about how people not having kids are the reason the world is ending or something (which it’s shady posting this sort of stuff when you know your wife desperately wants kids…).

Anyway, Paul is upset his random Bible verse he probably pilfered from the Bible app’s verse of the day didn’t get as many retweets as his wife, Morgan, getting pregnant after five years of struggling with infertility.

Ladies, marry a man who gets upset at your unborn child #dontsettle #kingdommarriage

Granted, critical thinking is often not many a Christians strong point and it seems Paul Olliges is no exception. But it doesn’t take a genius to recognize most people, Christian and non-Christian alike, are excited when new life is brought into the world. Naturally, Morgan’s pregnancy post is going to get a lot of attention, especially considering she’s a public figure. Also, I can legit read the Bible myself – why am I gonna like some rando’s Bible verse on Twitter?

The post reeks of jealously, which envy is one of the 7 deadly sins. However, it also highlights a larger issue I have with the majority of Christian, male influencers, which is that they aren’t at all like Christ, nor do they exemplify Biblical masculinity in the way they should. Yet their wives often uphold them as the pinnacle of masculinity with traits other men should emulate. Much discourse among these “traditional” circles is spent waxing poetic about how women should smile, cook, have sex no matter what, stay home, etc. as if these things are peak femininity when none of this stuff is mentioned in the Bible as things women have to do. Yet, very few of these circles also hold men to high Biblical expectations as it pertains to masculinity, namely God’s command that a leader is one who serves, and that husbands should lay aside their desires and lives for their wives. Paul Olliges doesn’t even have a job and his poor wife was living in a friends basement until recently. Ironically, working is actually something the Bible does command husbands do, even saying, “[b]ut if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

Paul hasn’t even bothered posting about his soon-to-be-child either, which as someone who’s repeatedly shamed others for not having more children, you would think his own child would be worth celebrating.

My bro in Christ seems to be like many popular “Christian” social influencers – a conservative cosplaying as a Christian in order to live a certain lifestyle, rather than a genuine Christian interested in becoming more like Jesus and bringing others to Christ. Of course, God only knows Paul’s heart, but from celebrating arsons burning buildings, to whining about vaccines and masks, shaming others for not having more children when he has 0, and whining about having to pay $10 to buy his wife a pizza (like seriously, it’s $10.), he certainly doesn’t exemplify many of the fruits of the spirit publicly. And people usually put on their best face for social media.

Jesus says they will know us by our fruits. Kindness, gentleness, self-control, patience, humility – these traits are evidence of a walk with God. We should expect to see these things in other Christians, particularly from husbands whom are tasked with spiritually leading families. In the absence of good fruit, we should question whether or not someone is really a Christian, or just pretending to be. Jesus instructs us to cut down every tree that doesn’t bear good fruit and to straight up avoid false prophets. As Christians, we should be careful not to support those whom consistently and publicly display behavior opposite of what Christ teaches, especially men whom should lead in displaying Biblical fruit.

No one is perfect and God doesn’t expect us to be. However, scripture also tells us that, “not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” Those who position themselves as bearers of Biblical truth online should expect to be held to high standards.

It’s important to be sober-minded and alert, and above all, knowledgeable of what the Bible actually says and expects of believers. When we know scripture, we’ll easily be able to pick out those whom are simply using Christianity for their own benefit. Paul Olliges really ought to spend less time trying to own the libs and more time trying to bring them to Christ as Jesus did.

That is, after all, what a true Christian would do.