Examining DEI Through Biblical Teaching

[00:00:00] I have a question which is also kind of [00:00:02] a disagreement but I want to build it [00:00:04] up. Okay. So, of course, you just said [00:00:07] Jesus is the most important thing for [00:00:09] everyone out here. And so, can you [00:00:11] please explain to everyone out here what [00:00:13] Jesus stood for and especially the [00:00:16] qualities of love, how to love your [00:00:18] neighbor even if they don't agree with [00:00:20] you. [00:00:20] >> So, what what is your name again? [00:00:22] >> Tiss. [00:00:22] >> Tiss. That's a beautiful question. I'm [00:00:24] glad you came up to ask it. But I want [00:00:26] to also just add something because [00:00:27] you're right. Jesus fully embodied two [00:00:30] things simultaneously that showed his [00:00:32] divine and his godly nature because not [00:00:35] thus Jesus said good things, Jesus is [00:00:37] Lord, Christ is king, and Jesus is God [00:00:40] on top of just being a guy with a lot of [00:00:42] good ideas. [00:00:43] >> So John 8, if I'm drawing from memory [00:00:46] correctly, best embodies both Christ's [00:00:48] mercy and love, but also his commitment [00:00:52] to truth. And sometimes in the modern [00:00:54] gospel, we overemphasize the grace and [00:00:58] we underemphasize the truth. [00:01:00] >> Yeah. [00:01:00] >> And so we are far too willing to say, [00:01:02] "Hey, Jesus loves everybody." But we [00:01:05] don't get to the second part of the [00:01:06] conversation that says Jesus doesn't [00:01:08] want you to live in sin. [00:01:09] >> So this is in John 8, it's best [00:01:10] embodied, right? Almost every Christian [00:01:12] in this audience will be able to tell [00:01:14] you the first part of this, which is a [00:01:15] bunch of Sadducees and Pharisees are [00:01:17] sitting around standing around with [00:01:18] rocks and they're about to stone um the [00:01:20] prostitute woman. And Jesus comes up and [00:01:22] says, "Let the first among you without [00:01:24] sin cast the first stone." And everyone [00:01:26] starts dropping the rocks. But what [00:01:28] comes next shows that Christ is not just [00:01:31] grace focused. He's simultaneously [00:01:33] truthfocused. He goes up to the woman [00:01:35] who had a career in selling herself for [00:01:38] sex and said, "Sin no more." Now imagine [00:01:43] today how much trouble you would get in [00:01:45] if you would go up to somebody and say, [00:01:47] "Stop sinning." That, "Oh, you're being [00:01:49] too judgmental." No. No, no, you're [00:01:51] actually being Christlike. So Jesus [00:01:53] stood, he was 100% grace and truth. And [00:01:56] that tension is very hard in a modern [00:01:58] world because we want to overemphasize [00:02:00] grace when in reality Christ loves us [00:02:03] too much to have us continue to live in [00:02:05] sin. He wants us to try to elevate our [00:02:08] actions to glorify God in all that we [00:02:10] do. [00:02:10] >> I agree 100%. Um, and so to build on my [00:02:14] question, I really want to talk about [00:02:15] DEI. And so with our Christian I will [00:02:18] agree with you a lot of I read the Bible [00:02:21] for myself so I knew what that scripture [00:02:23] said but my question is how can [00:02:25] Christian teachings on love equity and [00:02:27] justice inform and shape discussions on [00:02:30] diversity equity and inclusion in [00:02:32] today's society and so to also Jesus [00:02:35] hung out with sinners he did not judge [00:02:37] he told the truth and so I think that a [00:02:40] lot of people in society today when we [00:02:43] talk about political views that are [00:02:44] opposition we judge them and I want you [00:02:46] to talk about that. [00:02:48] >> So, so and then I'll connect it to DEI [00:02:49] and I'm going to make a case. I don't [00:02:51] know if it'll be persuasive to you why I [00:02:53] think DEI is unbiblical and I'm going to [00:02:55] try to make that case. Okay. But first, [00:02:57] let me talk about let me comment on your [00:02:59] astute point which is that Christ wants [00:03:02] us to be around people that are not like [00:03:04] us. This is why I go to college campuses [00:03:06] but more and more I go to college [00:03:07] campuses and I'm getting a lot of big [00:03:08] crowds. So, it's kind of unus I used to [00:03:10] go here and you know get heckled and [00:03:12] have very small crowds. But let me [00:03:13] demonstrate this in an unusual way. [00:03:15] Almost every person in this audience [00:03:17] would say Christ wants us to be salt and [00:03:19] light. Now what are the two [00:03:21] characteristics of salt and light? They [00:03:23] change the environments that they come [00:03:24] in contact with. They do not affirm. [00:03:27] They do not conform. They change for the [00:03:30] better. It's very important everybody. [00:03:32] We as Christians are called to change [00:03:34] the environment that we come in touch [00:03:35] with. Now as far as DEI and why I [00:03:38] believe it's unbiblical. Now I'm going [00:03:40] to go down to just the academic textbook [00:03:42] definition of DEI. You might have a [00:03:44] different um idea of what DEI is. You [00:03:47] might have a different perspective. I'm [00:03:48] willing to hear that. But the actual [00:03:50] textbook definition as authored by [00:03:51] people like Kimberly Krenshaw and Derek [00:03:54] Bell as it came out of critical theory [00:03:56] is essentially this is that instead of [00:03:58] having a goal of race blindness, they [00:04:02] want a goal of race obsession and race [00:04:04] consciousness. That we should talk about [00:04:06] race more, not less. I believe the [00:04:09] scriptures tell us firmly in many [00:04:11] different verses that I could quote, but [00:04:13] one in particular when the apostle Paul [00:04:15] wrote, he said, "Neither slave nor Greek [00:04:18] nor Jew, but we are all one in Christ [00:04:21] Jesus." Essentially stating that racial [00:04:24] differences are indifferent or mean [00:04:26] nothing to the almighty God. It's saved [00:04:28] or unsaved are the only things that [00:04:30] matter to Christ Jesus. So therefore, [00:04:34] and let me finish the point, what DEI [00:04:36] does through hiring practices, racial [00:04:38] quotas, and many other different ways [00:04:40] that I could list is that it has an [00:04:42] emphasis on things that the Bible does [00:04:45] not categorize as important. In fact, it [00:04:47] says the exact opposite, that we should [00:04:49] only care about character and the soul [00:04:52] of an individual, not the melanin [00:04:54] content in their skin. [00:04:55] >> So, I agree. Well, I actually don't [00:04:59] agree because in Acts two, it talks [00:05:01] about how when the Holy Spirit came upon [00:05:03] the apostles and when the Holy Spirit [00:05:05] came into the region that a lot of [00:05:08] people who spoke different tongues that [00:05:10] they could understand each other. And I [00:05:12] think when we talk about the Bible, we [00:05:14] talk about the spread of the gospel. You [00:05:17] see that these people are going to [00:05:19] different regions not only learning [00:05:20] about their culture but adapting so that [00:05:23] they could again spread the gospel. And [00:05:25] I think that is important. And I think [00:05:28] people get confused that DEI is only [00:05:30] about race. It's it's about learning [00:05:33] somebody's background. I'm not from a [00:05:35] state. I'm from a territory. DC is not a [00:05:38] state. However, DC is majority black. [00:05:42] But black experience in DC is completely [00:05:44] different from black experience in the [00:05:46] south. So, if you're going to stereotype [00:05:48] a black person, you can't because black [00:05:52] people I would say people everywhere, a [00:05:54] white per a white person from the north [00:05:56] is different from a white person from [00:05:58] the south. So it's about [00:06:01] talking to people and learning different [00:06:03] perspectives and I think the removal of [00:06:05] DEI doesn't do that. [00:06:07] >> Okay. So I don't want to debate it too [00:06:08] much. I will say that [00:06:10] >> but that was my perspective. [00:06:12] >> Fine. And I'm happy to send you a lot [00:06:13] more literature to look at it. What DEI [00:06:15] means in practice is the vehement [00:06:18] hostile treatment of white straight men [00:06:20] to no longer be in institutions and to [00:06:23] be actively discriminated against. You [00:06:25] don't have to agree on that, but that's [00:06:27] what it looks like in practice is that [00:06:29] and and I will I will prove this in in [00:06:32] let allow me to prove this in the best [00:06:33] way I can. I don't know if this is going [00:06:36] to work or not, but do you think [00:06:40] Friedrich NZ used to say that every [00:06:42] society has a central piety that you [00:06:44] cannot touch? Something you're not [00:06:46] allowed to make fun of? Are you allowed [00:06:49] to make fun of white men or black people [00:06:51] more easily in America? [00:06:52] >> You shouldn't do either. Which one get [00:06:54] will get you fired? [00:06:56] >> Making fun of a black man. [00:06:58] >> Okay. So, but what if you make fun of a [00:06:59] white person? Will that get you fired? [00:07:01] >> It could get you fired, too. [00:07:03] >> Probably not. Actually, will probably [00:07:04] get you a professorship at your local [00:07:07] university. [00:07:08] >> You know, I'm being sarcastic. What I'm [00:07:10] getting at is that the the influences of [00:07:12] DEI have actually inverted the piety [00:07:15] away from the promise of what MLK said, [00:07:18] which was race blindness [00:07:20] >> towards race obsession. what you are [00:07:22] talking about is very admirable which is [00:07:24] understanding people's backgrounds. [00:07:26] We're just going to not not even [00:07:27] disagree. I don't necessarily have time [00:07:29] to build out what DEI has meant in [00:07:31] practice. And what the problem with DEI [00:07:33] is it's taken a lot of well-meaning [00:07:35] people like you and then taken you along [00:07:37] to support it when in practice it's [00:07:39] something completely and totally [00:07:40] different. But here is something I will [00:07:42] encourage you to do as a Christian. [00:07:44] >> Okay? care less about people's shared [00:07:46] racial experience and look at them [00:07:49] instead of just as their soul as God [00:07:51] made them. We should try to strive [00:07:53] towards a blinder race nation, not one [00:07:57] that talks about skin color all the [00:07:59] time. [00:07:59] >> I agree 100%. [00:08:00] >> And I think DEI does make us talk about [00:08:02] skin color more. [00:08:03] >> Yeah. Okay. [00:08:03] >> Thank you so much. Very sweet question. [00:08:05] Thank you.