{"id":1479886,"date":"2022-05-18T16:44:55","date_gmt":"2022-05-18T20:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1479886"},"modified":"2022-05-18T16:44:59","modified_gmt":"2022-05-18T20:44:59","slug":"jonathan-isaac-talks-with-megyn-kelly-about-how-his-path-to-faith-led-to-him-refusing-to-kneel-for-blm-in-new-book-why-i-stand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jonathan-isaac-talks-with-megyn-kelly-about-how-his-path-to-faith-led-to-him-refusing-to-kneel-for-blm-in-new-book-why-i-stand\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonathan Isaac Talks With Megyn Kelly About How His Path To Faith Led To Him Refusing To Kneel For BLM In New Book \u2018Why I Stand\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">52<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjonathan-isaac-talks-with-megyn-kelly-about-how-his-path-to-faith-led-to-him-refusing-to-kneel-for-blm-in-new-book-why-i-stand%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1479886&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/05\/Jonathan-Isaac-2.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>NBA star Jonathan Isaac explained to Megyn Kelly why he decided to open up about his past struggles and his journey to faith, which led to standing up against Black Lives Matter and COVID-19 vaccine mandates in his new book \u201cWhy I Stand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During SiriusXM\u2019s \u201cThe Megyn Kelly Show\u201d podcast, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/espn-host-posts-poll-is-it-funny-that-1st-nba-player-not-to-kneel-an-ordained-christian-minister-suffered-season-ending-injury\">Orlando Magic power forward<\/a>\u00a0told the host about how he grew up as a child in the Bronx in New York with his \u201cmom, my dad and \u2026 three brothers and one sister. \u2026 Everything was great.\u201d He said they \u201cwent to church all the time \u2026 church was just tradition for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Isaac said when he was \u201c10 years old, my parents split up, and that\u2019s when kind of everything started to go wrong in my life. \u2026 My mom took us kids and left my dad \u2026 and I went to Naples, Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI went from black New York to white Naples, Florida,\u201d the professional basketball player shared. \u201cAnd I really struggled with fitting in and making friends and kind of getting adjusted to everything. So I really developed a sense of self consciousness that I never experienced before \u2026 anxiety and fear about getting my peers to like me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I found basketball, and basketball pretty much became my identity because it got me everything that I thought I ever wanted,\u201d he added. \u201cThe girls liked me now. The guys wanted to play ball with me, so I started to have a sense of belonging. But I still struggled with that anxiety and fear behind the scenes because I always felt that I was going to be the one to mess it all up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/nba-star-jonathan-isaac-talks-faith-reveals-why-he-refused-to-kneel-for-black-lives-matter\">The NBA star<\/a> said he went on to college and then got drafted to the NBA in 2017 by the Orlando Magic, and explained that it wasn\u2019t until he got drafted by the NBA that he finally thought \u201cwow\u201d and realized he did have skills and was talented. But he admitted that he \u201cwasn\u2019t all the way there with God when I got drafted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Isaac told Kelly how his mom, \u201cthis tough\u201d woman, always affirmed him when he did well, but when he did poorly, she would say things like he \u201cwasn\u2019t playing up to his potential, or you\u2019re being weak.\u201d\u00a0He shared how he would later meet two people who would prop him up \u201cno matter how he played\u201d or \u201cwhat the scoreboard\u201d said, and that\u2019s the woman who would be his wife, and the man who called himself Doc.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe biggest thing for me \u2026 was just coming to the realization that God loves me for me, like I don\u2019t have to perform for his love, I don\u2019t have to be perfect for his love,\u201d Isaac told the host. \u201cAnd that was the first time that I had this sense of calm and peace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe that God uses people, and in my story God definitely used people; he used Doc, he used my wife, he used my church family, he used my family to kind of help foster that in me and teach me what the love of God was like on a personal level \u2026 having bad games in the league and still being encouraged, still being affirmed. \u2026 That was the turning tide for me,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>The Orlando star explained how he met Doc, this guy who just stopped him in the elevator, who didn\u2019t know him, and told him, \u201cI can tell you how to be great. \u2026 Doc didn\u2019t know anything about what I was going with behind the scenes or anything that I was struggling with \u2026 but God knew. \u2026 From then on, my life honestly just gets flipped upside down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Doc ended up actually being a pastor and Jonathan said he started going back to church.<\/p>\n<p>Fast forward to May 2020, after George Floyd\u2019s death and the Black Lives Matter movement hits. Isaac becomes the first professional basketball player in the 2020 NBA bubble to remain standing during the playing of the national anthem, even when his teammates kneeled in support of BLM.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, what happened to George Floyd was obviously tragic \u2026 what I tried my best to do was to take a step back and say, \u2018What is the right way for me to respond in a way that can bring the most change?\u2019\u201d Isaac shared, as his teammates decided to kneel and wear a Black Lives Matter t-shirt for the movement. \u201cAgain, I couldn\u2019t see, you know, seeing all the things that were going on at the moment, I\u2019m thinking for myself what is the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd for me, I didn\u2019t see what was going on with kneeling for the national anthem and wearing a t-shirt. \u2026 And so, as I looked at my own life and said, \u2018I know what has changed me, I know what has helped me, I know what has helped countless people \u2026 that\u2019s the gospel and that\u2019s the love of Jesus Christ,\u2019 if we\u2019re willing to show it and share it,\u201d he added. \u201cThat\u2019s why I decided to stand. \u2026 Racism is not the only thing that plagues the hearts of men. But I know that the gospel does changes the hearts of men.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Later, Kelly asked the NBA star where he was politically, and she said he sounded \u201cconservative.\u201d He said what he\u2019s tried his best to do is let his Christianity guide him when it comes to voting, so \u201clet people pick from that where they may.\u201d When pressed further if Isaac would ever run for political office, he definitely made it sound like a possibility, someday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I see what people have to go through \u2026 I don\u2019t know if I would be up for subjecting myself to something like that \u2026 but at the same time, I see the need for leaders who are willing \u2026 can speak and can be vocal and have a moral compass and courage and all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not something that I would throw away,\u201d he added. \u201cBut right now, I\u2019m just playing ball and I am just trying my best to walk out my Christianity the best I know how.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy I Stand\u201d is available in hardcover from DW Books <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Why-I-Stand-Jonathan-Isaac\/dp\/1956007067\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NBA star Jonathan Isaac explained to Megyn Kelly why he decided to open up about his past struggles and his journey to faith, which led to standing up against Black<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":219,"featured_media":1483612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1479886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/219"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1479886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1483612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1479886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1479886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1479886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}