December 10 2012

Show open and name-change banter

The show opens from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proper. A host introduces himself as Ben and jokes about renaming himself 'Ben Faust' for a classical edge, sparring with his brother Mike, who opposes it; the bit closes with welcome-back banter and a cookie gag.

Coming up this show: four segments previewed

The hosts preview the episode: Pope-style advice later in the show, week 28 of the GodIsImaginary.com 50-proofs series (proof 28: 'notice how many gods you reject'), the Secular vs. Solomon game (Solomon = biblical wisdom, secular = name the country of origin), and a discussion of Paul's church tribunal in 1 Corinthians 6.

Sponsors and the $90 King's chair

Sponsor reads for Valley Services Cleaning (valleyservices.net, 515-277-5611) and On Purpose Promotions (Jared Roy, OnPurposePromos.com), followed by a long banter about a giant king's fold-out camp chair seen at the Spirit Midwest Music Festival and a running 'back hair' cleaning-line gag.

Paul's church tribunal: settling disputes before the saints

• Should Christians institute a Paul-style church tribunal (1 Corinthians 6) to settle everyday disputes instead of taking each other to court?

The main discussion: one host reads 1 Corinthians 6 on lawsuits among believers and asks why no church seems to institute Paul's tribunal. A co-host recounts a failed attempt to mediate a nasty divorce. The group lands on the diagnosis that believers avoid it because a Jesus-filtered process would likely end with 'why not be defrauded?' — letting go rather than winning — and jokes about needing robes, a gavel, and 'church thugs' to enforce rulings. They close by tying the pattern to Moses' father-in-law Jethro appointing judges in Exodus 18.

Station break and Christmas extravaganza announcement

After a station ID (livefromthepath.org Mondays 10pm Central, Truth Network 99.3 KTIA Saturdays 10pm), the hosts promote the Live from the Path Christmas extravaganza: Wednesday the 19th at 7:30 at the Crown Point Community Center in Johnston, with house band Jeff Arendale and guests including Sean Covington, Chris Roloff, Kevin Lindgren, Daniel Brown (Saved on Sunday) and members of Sanctified.

Internet-only joke: the end-of-the-world elbow

• What part of the body is most likely to have an ailment for a guy that fears the end of the world?

Post-break filler: a host tells a joke for internet-only listeners — 'what body part is most likely to have an ailment for a guy that fears the end of the world?' — landing on 'the left behind.' It gets no reaction, which becomes its own bit ('we just dropped 10,000 viewers').

Proof 28 read aloud: 'notice how many gods you reject'

The host reads GodIsImaginary.com proof 28 in full: with thousands of religions on earth, a believer arbitrarily rejects thousands of gods and believes one; the author (citing Stephen F. Roberts' 'we are both atheists, I just believe in one fewer god') argues a true god would produce obvious statistical blessings (longer life, wealth, answered prayer), and since none exists, all gods are imaginary.

Rebutting proof 28 and a preview of proof 29

• How do you know your God is the right one?

The hosts answer proof 28: the counterfeit-dollar analogy (one true answer among 20 wrong ones isn't disproven by the crowd), the category error of lumping the biblical God with wish-granting gods, and the rejection of the 'statistical blessings' test as demanding a god-as-pet; one host recounts a personal evangelism story about a man who read Jesus feeding the 5,000 and concluded 'everybody just shared their food' ('fish in their pockets'). The segment ends with a preview of proof 29 ('think about communion'), the score 'God 28, imaginary man zero.'

Game: Secular vs. Solomon

The full game round: the host reads proverbs and calls on Mike, Boova, and Dan by name to guess whether each is biblical (Solomon) or secular (and name the country of origin). Rounds include 'no one knows a son better than the father' (secular, China), 'do not rejoice when your enemy falls' (Solomon, Proverbs 24:17), 'whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool' (Solomon, Proverbs 28:26), 'the fool folds his hands' (Solomon, Ecclesiastes 4:5), 'stolen water is sweet' (Solomon, Proverbs 9:17), and 'do not give your strength to women' (Solomon, Proverbs 31:3), with running gags about Scott Baio and Malabar, India.

Now on Stitcher Radio

A short announcement: the show is now on Stitcher Radio — listeners can search for Live from the Path in the Stitcher app — plus a reminder of the audio player and old shows at livefromthepath.org.

Pope-style advice: Big Brother Jesus and grace

The host gives this week's Pope-style advice: a recent prayer-walk image of Jesus as a big brother with a hand on his back saying the thing he's been carrying 'is taken care of' — 'stick with me, and it will never happen again' — a simple, non-cheap-grace picture of forgiveness that brought him comfort and peace.

Outro: support the sponsors, pray for the show

Closing: the hosts ask listeners to interact with the sponsors who keep the show on the air and to pray for the show.