Latest / Beliefs, Ballots, And BullDawgs / September 15, 2026
Transcript
- Greg: What's up everybody? It is Tuesday, September 15th. I'm your host, Greg Miller, and this is the latest episode of Beliefs Ballots and Bulldogs. I ain't gonna lie to you guys. I tried to release this episode yesterday, and after three different takes, it just occurred to me that my brain wasn't working and I couldn't get through it. It just wasn't flowing, it didn't feel right. So after about 20 minutes of trying and starting over and trying and starting over, I finally just said, scrap it, I'll just do it today. So we didn't do one yesterday, but here we are today, and we're gonna talk a little bit about the dogs. Beat Western Kentucky 70 to 20. That's now two football games and a total of about 130 points, 130-something points. Gunnar Stockton once again played less than a half and threw five touchdown passes. And as good as we look, Kirby Smart came out of the game saying, We got some shit to fix. Love this man. He he's like my wife. Nothing's ever good enough. Can you imagine being married to Kirby? You spend eight hours pressure washing everything. Driveway looks new, the deck looks fantastic. Everything is perfect and spotless. And Kirby gets home and walks around and goes, You missed a spot behind the gutter. Son of But here's the thing: he's right. we weren't trying to beat Western Kentucky. That wasn't the goal. Georgia's trying to win a national championship, and that's two completely different standards. And that's really what I find interesting, mostly after after two games with this team right now. Is if we're being totally honest, and and I always try to. We don't know anything about how good we are yet. We beat Tennessee State 60 to three. We beat Western Kentucky 70 to 20. We have essentially spent the last two football Saturdays just committing football crimes against two schools that couldn't do anything about it. But now it's over the the preseason, the warm-up is over. And but Georgia rolls into Arkansas on Saturday. And and I know that Arkansas hadn't exactly looked great either, but it it's the SEC. It's the first SEC game, it's the first row game. And at least this time the guys on the other side of the ball will look a little bit more like the guys in our uniforms. So maybe now we finally start to learn something about this team because look, it it doesn't matter that Gunnar threw five touchdowns in the first half against Western Kentucky. But what we need to find out is what's Gunnar gonna do when it's third and eight in the opponent stadium in the SEC. And everybody in the stadium knows he's gonna throw it. What's gonna happen when we finally get punched in the mouth? And we will. It it may be Saturday. Maybe Arkansas shows up and shocks us. I don't expect it to be competitive, but maybe Arkansas shows up motivated for a home game and the big team rolling in. Maybe it doesn't happen until Oklahoma rolls in next week to Athens. Maybe it's Alabama after that on the road. At some point, Georgia's gonna meet with some adversity. Somebody's gonna hit us in the mouth. And that's the moment where I think we really decide to find out who this team really is. And look, I I think that's why Kirby was irritated Saturday after the game. He doesn't care what the scoreboard says. He's he's coaching against the Georgia standard. And if we're honest, there's a pretty good lesson for that outside of football, too. Sometimes in life you can be fortunate enough to get a really good result, but you know you didn't go about it the right way. Sometimes everybody around you is congratulating for what you accomplished, but you know deep down there's some things you need to clean up. The scoreboard may say 70 to 20 or 63 to 3. There's still work to do. So look, let's call it what it is. Enjoy 2 0. Enjoy 130 something points. Enjoy Gunner looking like he's playing video games. But now we're about to find something out about the 2026 Bulldogs. SEC play starts this Saturday. Georgia goes on the road to Arkansas. And Kirby Smart's already pissed off. Sounds perfect to me. Let's go. All right, guys. I'm gonna talk about something that we've this is another one of those subjects we've kind of hinted around at, but this is something I've been putting a lot of thought into. It's You know, we are essentially living all in the same world still, but we are seeing everything through completely different lenses. And and we see this when we try to communicate with people, you know, what what seems so obvious and black and white and just commonsensical to me may look completely different from you. I've been thinking about it a lot lately, and I I think this explains a lot of why it's just so hard to communicate with the people anymore. We're looking at the same world. But we are looking through completely different lenses these days. It's the same country, the same president, the same economy, the same laws, the same wars, the same cultural of issues, issues, the same events. But we live in a world now where two people can look at the exact same thing and somehow see it completely differently. And our immediate reaction as human beings is like, how in the world do you not see this the way I see it? I know I think this all the time. And I'm sure you have too. Some story happens, you you read about it, you watch the video, or you listen to somebody talk about it on a podcast. And to you, the clarity seems obvious. The answer seems obvious. And then somebody presents a different side or shows the other side, and you're like, are we even on the same planet? How's that possible? How can two intelligent, articulate, caring, compassionate people look at the same thing and yet see it so completely differently? The answer is we are all looking through different lenses. And look, when I say lens, I mean everything that has happened to you up to the point that the moment of the point we're arguing about, or the way that argument was presented to you by an outside source. The influences shape so much of how we process things, how you were raised, what your parents believed, where you grew up, whether or not you grew up rich or grew up poor, your religion matters, your marriage. Your friendships shape your opinions, things that have happened to you in the past, things that have happened to people you know and love. And then obviously, you know, what you consume every day shapes you and shapes how you see things. You know, what you watch, what you read, who you follow, which podcast you listen to, which news you trust, what your Facebook feed is full of. Every bit of that shapes your lens. And look, here's what's the most fascinating, and what I think is the underlying issue. We don't notice our own lens. You don't notice it. You just think you're seeing reality. And that's the dangerous part. I didn't wake up this morning thinking, well, let me see what the world looks like through Greg's particular combination of Christianity, conservatism, life experiences, friendships, and media consumption. No, I just wake up, scroll, and say, okay, this is what's happening. And let's be honest, that's what you do as well. So look, I'll use myself as an example. I I'm a conservative, I'm a Christian. There are issues out there that I genuinely look at and struggle to understand how anybody sees them differently. Abortion, gender and sexuality, illegal immigration. There are parts of these conversations that that I just think to myself, this seems so black and white. But take abortion. You know, I believe that the unborn human life has value. I believe it deserves to be protected. So when I'm looking at the abortion issue, that's the lens I'm looking through. I see the child, I see a baby. And because I see it that way, certain policies look absolutely horrifying to me. And then I meet a good person, somebody who I know loves their family, is kind to people, loves kids, would probably help me if I ever needed it. And yet they voted for politicians who support some of these abortion policies that I strongly oppose. And I'm sitting there asking myself, how does this person support this? How can you be a decent person and support that? But I have to remind myself, and we all need to do this, that that person is looking at the issue through a completely different lens. When they hear about abortion, the first thing they picture isn't an unmore baby. They don't picture what I picture. You know, maybe they picture a woman with life-threatening issues in her pregnancy. And they've been led to believe that if we ban abortion, that these life-threatening cases of the mother won't be treated appropriately, which by the way is false. I have never once heard a single conservative argue. That in these life of the mother scenarios, that aborting the baby would not be an option. Of course it would. Maybe it's a rape scenario, or maybe it's just a doctor trying to make an emergency dis decision. Or maybe people on that are pro-abortion just see as an institution of government control. They don't want the government telling them they can't do it. Maybe somebody that that they personally know has has been through a scenario. And look, this is where the conversation usually goes off the rails because somebody hears me saying this now and that there is another side. And so it it almost sounds as if I'm saying, okay, well, both sides are right. No, I'm not saying that at all. It's not a both sides are right thing. Just because I am trying to become more willing and able to understand someone else's lens does not mean that I am willing to surrender my convictions. And I can understand why somebody might see something differently, but I can still believe that they're wrong. It's allowed. And actually, I think that is an element of maturity that most of us are lacking. Take the immigration issue, for example. I I look at the illegal immigration situation and and I think about border protection, laws, security, drug cartels, drug trafficking, human trafficking. It is a country's responsibility to know and control who's entering it. Someone else may hear the immigration issue and they immediately picture a a father or somebody trying to improve their family's situation. They see families escaping violence. They see someone just trying to build a better life. It's the same issue. But it's a completely different lens. Gender and sexuality is being discussed all over the place. You know, I immediately think about children and parents and the gender confusion and the trans sex issue. I think about women in sports that we're talking about all the time, that medical decisions that are involving minors that people are getting involved with, making major life-altering decisions for people who aren't old enough to understand what they're dealing with. But somebody else may think about, you know, a gay kid that's been bullied, or they may see it as just somebody that's been rejected by their family because they don't understand what they're going through. They see it as some form of discrimination. They they see some of these LGBTQ plus people as people who just want to be treated with dignity. And again, I don't have to change what I believe, but maybe I should understand something. They are not looking at what I'm looking at. And so suddenly the question changes for me. It's it's not a an issue of how can this person believe that. Maybe it's more of I need to figure out what they are seeing that I'm not seeing. And that's a much more interesting question. And look, here's where life gets a little bit uncomfortable for all of us. It is very easy to identify someone else's lens. It's a lot harder to admit that we have one too. You know, it's easy when we disagree with somebody to think, well, they've just been influenced. But I have arrived at the truth. They watch a my a biased media. I watch people who tell it like it is. They have been manipulated by the algorithm. My algorithm just happens to continually show me evidence that I'm always right. It's convenient, isn't it? And this isn't where the Bible come along and just ruins all of our fun. Proverbs chapter 18, verse 17 says, The one who states his case first seems right until the other comes and examines him. We've used that verse before because it's an incredible verse. Scripture acknowledges something very powerful about us. The first version of a story we hear can sound completely and totally convincing until somebody challenges it. And this is where Christians have to be careful. We can't be timid. We can't be afraid to have convictions, but we need to be careful because if I claim to follow the truth, then I should care more about whether something is true than whether or not it helps my case. In the book of James, chapter one, verse 19, we are told, Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Do you know anyone that is those things? And good Lord, we we we've almost become almost all of us are the complete opposite that we are quick to speak, quick to anger, and the whole listening thing, most of us don't even worry about that. We don't listen on the off chances that we are listening to anybody. We're not even listening to understand. We're listening just long enough to figure out which argument and point we're gonna use next. Hey, look, I'm guilty of this all the time. I can tell you that when I'm when I'm on the show with with David, common sense superheroes, as I'm listening to him roll through his field, my immediate thoughts are what am I gonna say next? you know, we we all do it. So if somebody starts to explain what they believe and before they've even finished their second sentence, I've already decided what my response is. I'm not listening in that case. I'm reloading. And and that is not. Conversation. That is absolute combat. And that's why we're all exhausted and why we're tired of trying to even talk to each other. And look, here's another thing that I've been wrestling with and thinking about a lot is what if somebody else's lens isn't completely wrong, but it isn't complete either? What if mine isn't complete? What if there are things that are missing in mine? Because the truth is, that's likely the case. None of us sees everything. It would be impossible. There are eight Billion people on this planet. Millions of things are happening every single day. I experience a microscopic fraction of them. And I bet you do too. The rest of the stuff, it reaches me through other people. It reaches me through the news channels, social media, friends, podcasts, algorithms, headlines, and videos. So maybe one of the most dangerous things we can say or even think to ourselves is that I know what's going on. Do you? Do I? We know some of what's going on. And That's a big difference between I know what's going on and I know some of what's going on. And humility for us begins by recognizing that difference. We don't know everything. We don't see everything. Now look, I make sure one thing is very crystal clear here. I am not saying the truth is relative. I'm actually saying just the opposite. There is truth. Jesus says to us in John chapter 14, verse 6: I am the way, the truth, and the life. Christianity makes enormous claims about truth. So this isn't a version of what we hear all the day. Well, you have your truth and I have mine. No. There's truth, there's reality, there's right and there's wrong. But here's the distinction: my perception of truth is not automatically the same thing as the truth itself. I'm human. I can misunderstand, I can lack information, I can be manipulated. I can absolutely let emotion cloud my judgment. I can believe something just because I desperately want it to be true. And yes, it's hard for me to say this as a man. I can be wrong. That's why I need the scripture. That's why I read the Bible every day. That's why I pray every day. It's why I need wise people around me. And occasionally, as painful and much as I don't like it, I need people around me who disagree with me. Because the truth is they might just be seeing something that my lens hasn't allowed me to see. Proverbs chapter 18, verse 2 tells us a fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion. Now, that sounds a lot more like the people I know. It might be one of the most relevant verses in the whole Bible right now. The fool doesn't necessarily lack opinions. He's got plenty. They all do. His problem is that he doesn't want to understand anything. And maybe that's the question we all need to be asking ourselves. When somebody disagrees with you, Whatever it is, do you actually want to understand them, or do you just want to defeat their point? Those produce completely different conversations. Give it a try. And look, understanding doesn't mean surrender. I want to make sure I hammer this home. Listening to somebody explaining their point doesn't mean you have to agree with them. Trying to understand someone doesn't call you to abandon your beliefs. You can hear somebody else. Completely consider their argument, you can understand every experience or everything that has shaped them on that opinion. And you can still say, you know what? I understand you better now, but I still think you're wrong. That's okay. Something very important happens when we do that. Now you are actually disagreeing with the legitimate human being instead of the cartoon version of the self that you created in your head. And look, that's progress. It's not great, but it's progress. And here's where I think this becomes especially important for us as Christians. In Romans chapter 12, verse 2, we're told, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Your mind is being formed every day. The question is, who and what is forming it? Is it Jesus? Is it scripture? Is it prayer? Is it wise people surrounding you? Or is it your feed? Because your feed has a lens too. Every source does, every commentator does, every show host, every podcast host does. I do. I'm not standing outside the system pretending that I'm perfectly objective. I'm Greg. I've got beliefs, I've got experiences, I've got biases, I certainly have blind spots. So do not outsource your brain to me either. Take what I say, compare it with scripture, give it some thought, challenge it, pray about it. That's all I'm asking. I'm not trying to create people who think like me. I'm trying to point people towards Christ. He can handle the rest. So here's what I'm going to try to do. When I encounter somebody who believes something different than what I believe, even if it seems completely insane to me, before I decide that they're stupid, before I decide that they're evil, before I decide that they're misinformed and brainwashed, I'm going to try asking myself, what does the world look like through their lens? What have they experienced? What are they afraid of? What information do they have that I haven't received? And maybe most importantly, what might be out there about this topic that neither of us has seen? Because we're standing in front of the same world, but I promise you, none of us have a perfect view. And that's where I think as Christians, we actually have an opportunity to be different. We don't have to abandon our convictions. We don't have to pretend that right and wrong don't exist. They absolutely do. We certainly aren't called to agree with everybody, but. We can be humble enough to listen, strong enough to examine our beliefs, and secure enough to admit when we're wrong. We need to be patient enough to understand somebody before we condemn them, and we need to be committed enough to the truth that we don't care which team it benefits. Because the truth doesn't belong to either political party. The truth belongs to God. And my job isn't to force reality through the lens that I prefer. My job is to keep asking God to help me see it all more clearly. So maybe this week, go find somebody that you disagree with. A real person, not somebody online, somebody you actually respect, like, maybe even admire. And instead of debating them, ask them, let help me understand what you see. I got a person in mind. I've been reaching out with somebody that I know is on the other side of almost every one of these issues, but I know this person to be a great person, a genuinely caring. Person, a Christian person, a loving, compassionate person, an intelligent person, an informed person. And they disagree with me on almost all of these issues. So I'm going to try to set it up. I might even do it on this very show. Help have them on there and we can talk through it together. But I want to understand what this person sees. I want to stand, understand what the other side sees. And then listen to them. You might still disagree. And in most cases, you probably will. It's fine. But maybe you'll learn something. Maybe you'll have a little bit of understanding that you didn't have before. And look, maybe they'll be gracious enough to then ask you the same question. And maybe, just maybe, for 15 to 20 minutes, two people who look at the same world through different lenses can do so without hating each other for what they see. It shouldn't feel revolutionary, but right now this whole concept kind of does. You know, it the idea of having a conversation and just trying to understand somebody seems so foreign these days. So as we wrap up here today. I'm going to challenge you to do that. Go find somebody and have that conversation and ask them to explain, help understand. Even if you come to different finish lines and see still see different sides of the issue, at least you'll have a better idea of how they got to their side. So, as always, guys, get your Bible, say your prayers, tell the truth, listen before you speak, hold tightly onto those convictions, but hold on to some humility too. And remember, we're all looking through the same, we're all looking at the same world. We're just looking through different lenses. And the goal isn't to make everybody see what I see. The goal is to make all of us see it more like God does. God bless.