November 27 2012

Special primetime show open

A host opens a special Tuesday 7 p.m. primetime broadcast from the Pathway Studios in Johnston, noting it is a first for the show and feels a little awkward broadcasting in daylight instead of late at night.

Episode agenda rundown

A host runs down the night's agenda: week 26 of the GodIsImaginary.com proof series ('shouldn't the Bible really wow you?'), the Pope's Christmas book versus the manger scene, a ChristianPost.com quiz measuring how much you love Jesus, 'non-biblical signs of the apocalypse', some Dear LFTP advice, and a tease of a large LFTP event announcement before the show ends.

Sponsor read: Valley Services

A host reads an ad for Valley Services (ValleyServices.net), a cleaning service, pitching holiday cleaning help with a 'fifth cleaning free' sign-up offer, joking that listeners should make the dessert and pay someone to clean the bathroom.

GodIsImaginary proof 26 presented

• Shouldn't a book written by an all-knowing God leave you in awe and wonder?

A host lays out the weekly framework (50 proofs, answered week by week; 'God's 25 and 0' so far) and reads proof 26 in full: 'notice that the Bible's author is not all-knowing.' The proof argues a God-written book should stun with brilliance, but the Bible produces 'dumbfoundment' instead, citing Genesis 38 (Onan), Deuteronomy 25:11-12 (the wife seizing a man's genitals), and Luke 14:26 (hating father and mother) as examples.

Hosts rebut proof 26

A host asks Troy for initial thoughts, then the hosts dismantle the proof: the Bible is written for all people, not the literary elite; unbelievers cannot be wowed by a story they deem fake, citing 1 Corinthians 1 ('the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing'). They liken an unbeliever reading the Bible to a layman reading a brain-surgery manual, argue that disagreement presupposes the text means something (so it can't be 'nonsense'), use a pogo-stick exercise analogy ('it's only useless because you are not using it'), and push back on the proof's 'primitive men like you would find in the remote regions of Afghanistan' line as offensive, naming Socrates, Plato, and John Locke as counter-examples. They close the proof with a preview of week 27: 'think about life after death.'

Pope's Christmas book: calendar blunder and manger animals

• Does the Pope's nativity debunking (birth date, animals, singing angels) matter to your faith?

After a station ID, the hosts discuss Pope Benedict's new book 'Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives': the claim that the Christian calendar is based on a 6th-century monk's miscalculation of Jesus' birth date, and that the Gospels give no evidence cattle or other animals gathered around the manger. The hosts shrug ('that's kind of old news') and joke about throwing out half their Christmas decorations, noting they have cattle in the basement from last year's Christmas play, addressed as Dan's.

Did the angels actually sing at the birth?

The hosts take up the Pope's debunking of the claim that angels sang at the birth, a staple of Christmas carols. They note the angels were plainly present (Luke 2: the shepherds, 'glory to God in the highest'), whether singing or proclaiming, with one host musing the news may have been rapped ('I'm not a rapper') and another recalling a creepy 'holy, holy, holy' rendition from a Bible-on-CD in a prayer room years earlier. They conclude it makes no difference to them.

The magi were not three guys with trinket boxes

Asked whether the Pope's book covers the wise men, the hosts riff on how inaccurate the nativity scene is: the magi came years later in an armed caravan bearing shiploads of gifts, which is why all of Jerusalem was abuzz and why Herod gave them an audience. They compare movies' inability to capture reality, doubting the nativity, the Sermon on the Mount, or the crucifixion (the Passion of the Christ 'didn't actually go as far' as the real violence) can be filmed accurately.

Pope's intent and the donkey tradition

Reading a CNN piece, the hosts note the book's animals-at-the-manger detail was apparently added in later centuries, and find the Vatican spokesman's line odd: the Pope 'doesn't want people at all to change their traditions' ('you're wrong, but keep it'). They argue the Pope's real aim is to show Jesus as a real historical figure, not a fairy tale, then joke about selling a 'Catholic ordained nativity' for $29.95 with the donkeys removed.

Station break and Christmas extravaganza announcement

The show breaks for 99.3 KTIA, then a host tells internet listeners what's coming: a 'massive' Live From The Path Christmas extravaganza on December 19 (a Wednesday) at Crown Point in Johnston, with musical artists from the past two years playing Christmas tunes, recorded for broadcast; free entry, doors 7:30, with the show airing on KTIA the following Saturday and as the Christmas Eve broadcast. A guest compares it to a Gaither homecoming.

Sponsor reads and prayer request

Back from the break, a host recaps the sponsors: Valley Services residential/commercial cleaning and Jared Roy at On Purpose Promotions (onpurposepromos.com) for personalized shirts and business promo, joking about bald caps with tattoos. He asks listeners to use the sponsors and to pray for the program rather than send money.

Non-biblical signs of the apocalypse: game intro

• Is this news story a non-biblical sign of the apocalypse, or do we have more time?

A host introduces the game: news stories that might be signs of the end times the Lord chose not to reveal in the Bible (after telling Daniel to 'shut the book'). The theme song fails to play, and the hosts establish the verdict options: 'non-biblical sign of the apocalypse' or 'we've got a little bit more time.'

Story 1: the 100-mph driver led by the Lord's spirit

Story one: Melissa Marie Miller, 41, of Port St. Lucie, Florida, was caught doing 100 in a 30 zone in Fort Pierce, telling the officer she was 'letting the Lord's spirit guide me' and laying on her horn because the Lord told her to. The hosts joke about trumpet blasts, broken seals, four horsemen, and eating a scroll-shaped taquito, with one calling her possibly the Antichrist, before Troy rules 'we've got more time.'

How to discern the Holy Spirit's leading

• How do you distinguish a life led by the Holy Spirit from someone just claiming God led them to do something?

The Miller story sparks a serious exchange on how to distinguish someone living under the Holy Spirit's direction from someone blaming the Spirit for erratic behavior. The hosts cite Galatians 5 (the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, self-control, gentleness) as the test: look at the whole life and whether the claimed leading lines up with Scripture. They warn of danger on both sides: undercutting the Spirit's real work, or using the Spirit to excuse outrageous behavior.

Story 2: cat feud ends with stabbing

Story two: Tracy DeMasi, 39, knocked on a stranger's door in Newport Ritchie to use the bathroom, threw his cat out the window, and stabbed him in the shoulder and lower back (later accounts add a steak knife and a chase into the spare bedroom). The hosts muse whether she is a zombie, compare it to an Old Testament king stabbed on the pot, and one upgrades the verdict from 'just crazy' to the 'second birth pain,' declaring it a sign of the end times.

Story 3: confession flushed down the toilet

Story three: Patrick Lynn Townsend, 30, of Lakeland, facing drug charges after a deputy reportedly found meth in his boxers at a seatbelt stop, flushed the digital recorder containing his confession down a toilet in the sheriff's substation, then saluted the detective and told him to 'tighten up on your job, homie.' The hosts riff on the boxers search and the wasted confession; the verdict is unanimous: not a sign of the end times, 'that guy's just dumb.'

Story 4: the manatee rider

Story four: Ana Gloria Garcia Gutierrez, 53, arrested at her Sears job in St. Petersburg for touching and riding a manatee at Fort DeSoto Park, violating the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act. The hosts love it ('that is just plain awesome'; 'throw her a party'), one host shares a snorkeling near-miss with an endangered sea turtle, and the final tally is no non-biblical signs of the apocalypse, 'just some murmuring.'

The 'how good of a Christian are you' quiz

The hosts take a ChristianPost.com 10-question quiz ('changingthefaceofchristianity.com') on Troy's behalf: Bible reading frequency, listening to people with different opinions, worry in tough times, transformation in Christ, motives for doing good, the deathbed convert, the cheating friend (a host jokes 'I've never cheated on my wife. That means I'm way better'), secret sins, the homosexual friend, and angry driving (a host names Boova as the likely angry driver). Troy's result: 'spiritually mature,' with the commentary 'we need you on our team.' The show closes urging listeners not to judge their relationship with Christ by an internet quiz.