A Southern Baptist viewer writes to Pastor Ben with a heartbreaking question: How do you speak up about racism, immigration, and Christian hypocrisy when your own brother is deep into MAGA politics? In this episode of Hey Pastor Ben, we explore what it means to tell the truth without destroying your relationships — and how to hold your ground without losing your soul. If you've ever felt outnumbered at the family table or afraid to speak what you believe, this one’s for you.
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Become a patron! http://Patreon.com/thebpdshow
Or support via: Paypal.me/HeyPastorBen
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here's another email we received. It says, hey, Pastor Ben,
I just saw you on Secular Talk and what you
were saying made sense to me. I am glad that
you are a fellow Christian. I am a Baptist in
the South. It is especially hard because all of the
Christians around here are Republicans and therefore pretty much racist
or at least bigoted. My brother, who believes that the
(00:22):
USA a secular nation, is a Christian nation, just proved
to me yesterday how racist he really was. When I
was talking to him about the Muslim candidate for mayor
of New York City how they are trying to deport him.
He said good and insinuated that all Muslims make their
women wear burkas. One of the fathers of my two
(00:42):
nieces is Muslim. He never made my sister wear his
job or anything like that. Two of my sisters were
born in another country. How can I broach this subject
with him, that not only our sisters but nieces and
nephews could be deported because of all of the craziness
going on with IA without setting him off and starting
an argument. I mean, he claims to be a Christian,
(01:05):
but I guess he forgot about the parable of the
good Samaritan, as well as the things that Jesus preached,
such as love your neighbor as you love yourself, and
other things of that nature. My mom won't even listen
to me about these things because it causes too many fights.
I am out numbered as a Democrat, more like a
moderate really, by a bunch of far right wing people
(01:28):
who'd rather see our country be controlled by a fascist
dictator than be even slightly socialist. He also doesn't understand
what quote defunding the police means. He thinks that it
means that there will be no police. How can I
explain these things to him gently without causing harm to
our friendship slash brotherhood and still get my point across.
(01:49):
I don't want to be like I'm right, you're wrong
about this. Thank you for your time reading this email
if it even gets to you. Concern Christian, Dear Concern Christian,
let me say that you are not crazy, and you
are not being dramatic. You are in a real conflict,
not just a political conflict, but a personal, spiritual and
(02:10):
moral one. You see that people you love are defending
things that could hurt others in your family and that's
not something that you can just ignore. So this isn't
just about disagreement, it's about integrity. You're trying to follow
Jesus in a house where his name is being used
to justify fear and cruelty, and that's a heavy and
(02:32):
a difficult place to live. My friend, You've been trying
to keep the peace, but it's costing you something. You're
asking whether or not it's the way. There's a way
that you can speak without blowing everything up, and there is.
But it's not about persuading. It's about telling the truth
and just letting it stand, not arguing, just witnessing. I've
(02:54):
learned through many years of getting it wrong that sometimes
all you can do is drop one clear sentence and
then step back and let the sentence speak for itself.
For example, when your brother says something cruel about immigrants
or Muslims, you don't need to argue. Consider saying something
like this, does Jesus want us to be holy and
(03:16):
hateful at the same time? You can't be cruel and
christ like. You can't be bigoted and still believe it's
the Spirit speaking. Maga tells you that it's possible. Jesus
never did, I'm not trying to fight. I'm just concerned
about your soul. And then just let that stand, Let
(03:36):
it fall however it falls. Don't argue about it because
it's simply the truth and they have to deal with it.
When your mom tells you to stop bringing this stuff
up because it causes too many arguments, you can answer
her calmly and clearly say something like this, Say Mom,
I know you don't want arguments, neither do I, but
(03:57):
I need you to understand when we don't talk about
these things, it doesn't mean that they're not hurting people.
It just means that we're not looking keeping the peace
while others suffer. Isn't love, its abuse. And if someone
in this family gets hurt because we stayed silent, I
don't think I could carry that. I don't think that
(04:17):
I could live with that. Could you? Now, when someone
in your family talks about politics like it's just a
matter of opinion, remind them that this isn't abstract, it's personal.
Say something like this, help me to understand. Do you
not know or do you just not care that your
beliefs could hurt your own family. Our niece has a
(04:40):
Muslim father, Our sister have born birthplaces. The policies you
defend could target them. If you're willing to sacrifice them
to prove your political point, then what's left of this
family worth defending. But perhaps what's more important than what
you say to them is what you say to yourself
when and the conversation is over and you're left wondering
(05:03):
if it did any good or if it only made
things worse. Remind yourself what's really at stake. Tell the
truth to your own heart. Say something like this to yourself.
Say if I stay silent, I protect the relationship, but
I betray the truth. If I speak, I risk being
cast out, but I remain faithful to Christ. That's the cost,
(05:27):
that's the cross I have to bear. I will not
call fear peace, and I cannot let them call cruelty Christ.
If I must stand alone to love what Jesus loves,
so be it it is what it is. I will
not lose my soul to keep my seat at a
broken family table. Now you don't need to prove anything.
(05:48):
You just need to be faithful, faithful to Christ, faithful
to the truth, faithful to the people who will be
hurt if no one speaks you're not tearing your family apart,
You're trying to hold them together with honesty. That's what
real love is, and that's what Jesus really looks like,
not like everything else that you see out in this world.
(06:10):
Thank you so much for this email. There was one
other part that I did not directly address, and it's
the fact that there are a lot of people in
this country who would rather a fascist dictator than anything
like socialism. And the reason I didn't address that is
because coming up soon, I'm going to do a full
video on this truth and here it is. You cannot
(06:33):
be a Christian and a capitalist. That's coming up soon.
You cannot be a Christian and a capitalist. And I'm
using scripture, nothing but scripture, No opinion, no outside theories,
nothing but scripture. And I'll be dropping that sometime soon.
(06:54):
Hopefully I can get it out today. Listen everyone, if
you want to have a conversation with me, if you
want need to address any of your concerns, any of
your questions, things that you are wondering about, whether it
be faith, whether it be the lack of faith or whatever,
it doesn't matter. From technology, artificial intelligence all the way
to politics and family send me an email at Haypastorbin
(07:16):
at gmail dot com, and if you want to support
the work that we do, send us a PayPal PayPal
dot me for Slash Hay Pastor Ben, or even better,
become a patron Patreon dot com for Slash The BPD
Show
Here's another email we received. It says, hey, Pastor Ben,
I just saw you on Secular Talk and what you
were saying made sense to me. I am glad that
you are a fellow Christian. I am a Baptist in
the South. It is especially hard because all of the
Christians around here are Republicans and therefore pretty much racist
or at least bigoted. My brother, who believes that the
(00:22):
USA a secular nation, is a Christian nation, just proved
to me yesterday how racist he really was. When I
was talking to him about the Muslim candidate for mayor
of New York City how they are trying to deport him.
He said good and insinuated that all Muslims make their
women wear burkas. One of the fathers of my two
(00:42):
nieces is Muslim. He never made my sister wear his
job or anything like that. Two of my sisters were
born in another country. How can I broach this subject
with him, that not only our sisters but nieces and
nephews could be deported because of all of the craziness
going on with IA without setting him off and starting
an argument. I mean, he claims to be a Christian,
(01:05):
but I guess he forgot about the parable of the
good Samaritan, as well as the things that Jesus preached,
such as love your neighbor as you love yourself, and
other things of that nature. My mom won't even listen
to me about these things because it causes too many fights.
I am out numbered as a Democrat, more like a
moderate really, by a bunch of far right wing people
(01:28):
who'd rather see our country be controlled by a fascist
dictator than be even slightly socialist. He also doesn't understand
what quote defunding the police means. He thinks that it
means that there will be no police. How can I
explain these things to him gently without causing harm to
our friendship slash brotherhood and still get my point across.
(01:49):
I don't want to be like I'm right, you're wrong
about this. Thank you for your time reading this email
if it even gets to you. Concern Christian, Dear Concern Christian,
let me say that you are not crazy, and you
are not being dramatic. You are in a real conflict,
not just a political conflict, but a personal, spiritual and
(02:10):
moral one. You see that people you love are defending
things that could hurt others in your family and that's
not something that you can just ignore. So this isn't
just about disagreement, it's about integrity. You're trying to follow
Jesus in a house where his name is being used
to justify fear and cruelty, and that's a heavy and
(02:32):
a difficult place to live. My friend, You've been trying
to keep the peace, but it's costing you something. You're
asking whether or not it's the way. There's a way
that you can speak without blowing everything up, and there is.
But it's not about persuading. It's about telling the truth
and just letting it stand, not arguing, just witnessing. I've
(02:54):
learned through many years of getting it wrong that sometimes
all you can do is drop one clear sentence and
then step back and let the sentence speak for itself.
For example, when your brother says something cruel about immigrants
or Muslims, you don't need to argue. Consider saying something
like this, does Jesus want us to be holy and
(03:16):
hateful at the same time? You can't be cruel and
christ like. You can't be bigoted and still believe it's
the Spirit speaking. Maga tells you that it's possible. Jesus
never did, I'm not trying to fight. I'm just concerned
about your soul. And then just let that stand, Let
(03:36):
it fall however it falls. Don't argue about it because
it's simply the truth and they have to deal with it.
When your mom tells you to stop bringing this stuff
up because it causes too many arguments, you can answer
her calmly and clearly say something like this, Say Mom,
I know you don't want arguments, neither do I, but
(03:57):
I need you to understand when we don't talk about
these things, it doesn't mean that they're not hurting people.
It just means that we're not looking keeping the peace
while others suffer. Isn't love, its abuse. And if someone
in this family gets hurt because we stayed silent, I
don't think I could carry that. I don't think that
(04:17):
I could live with that. Could you? Now, when someone
in your family talks about politics like it's just a
matter of opinion, remind them that this isn't abstract, it's personal.
Say something like this, help me to understand. Do you
not know or do you just not care that your
beliefs could hurt your own family. Our niece has a
(04:40):
Muslim father, Our sister have born birthplaces. The policies you
defend could target them. If you're willing to sacrifice them
to prove your political point, then what's left of this
family worth defending. But perhaps what's more important than what
you say to them is what you say to yourself
when and the conversation is over and you're left wondering
(05:03):
if it did any good or if it only made
things worse. Remind yourself what's really at stake. Tell the
truth to your own heart. Say something like this to yourself.
Say if I stay silent, I protect the relationship, but
I betray the truth. If I speak, I risk being
cast out, but I remain faithful to Christ. That's the cost,
(05:27):
that's the cross I have to bear. I will not
call fear peace, and I cannot let them call cruelty Christ.
If I must stand alone to love what Jesus loves,
so be it it is what it is. I will
not lose my soul to keep my seat at a
broken family table. Now you don't need to prove anything.
(05:48):
You just need to be faithful, faithful to Christ, faithful
to the truth, faithful to the people who will be
hurt if no one speaks you're not tearing your family apart,
You're trying to hold them together with honesty. That's what
real love is, and that's what Jesus really looks like,
not like everything else that you see out in this world.
(06:10):
Thank you so much for this email. There was one
other part that I did not directly address, and it's
the fact that there are a lot of people in
this country who would rather a fascist dictator than anything
like socialism. And the reason I didn't address that is
because coming up soon, I'm going to do a full
video on this truth and here it is. You cannot
(06:33):
be a Christian and a capitalist. That's coming up soon.
You cannot be a Christian and a capitalist. And I'm
using scripture, nothing but scripture, No opinion, no outside theories,
nothing but scripture. And I'll be dropping that sometime soon.
(06:54):
Hopefully I can get it out today. Listen everyone, if
you want to have a conversation with me, if you
want need to address any of your concerns, any of
your questions, things that you are wondering about, whether it
be faith, whether it be the lack of faith or whatever,
it doesn't matter. From technology, artificial intelligence all the way
to politics and family send me an email at Haypastorbin
(07:16):
at gmail dot com, and if you want to support
the work that we do, send us a PayPal PayPal
dot me for Slash Hay Pastor Ben, or even better,
become a patron Patreon dot com for Slash The BPD
Show
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