January 7 2013

Opening banter: Christmas extravaganza recap and tonight's lineup

The hosts open live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston with banter about 'subtractive edition' editing, then recap the recent Christmas extravaganza (poorly attended Wednesday night in a blizzard) and a low-key New Year's Eve year-in-review broadcast. A host lays out tonight's lineup: Onyx 2 in studio, proof 30 of the God-is-Imaginary series, and Dear LFTP advice on buying raw milk from the Amish.

Sponsor reads

Sponsor mentions for Capano's Coffee and Gelato in Ames on Lincoln Way, Valley Services Cleaning (ValleyServices.net), and OnPurposePromos.com (Jared Roy does the show's shirt work). The hosts riff on mocha with cinnamon and an imagined gelato fight.

Interview: Onyx 2 introduces themselves

The hosts interview Christian contemporary duo Onyx 2, Denise Forney and Suzy Robes-Wongerman. The women explain they met around 2008 singing backup at a local church, started playing as a duo around 2010, and released their first CD 'Lessons Learned' at the end of August at the Iowa State Fair. They explain the Onyx 2 name: the onyx stone rolled away at Easter, darkness reflecting light. The 'year of the microphone' running gag recurs throughout.

'Walk Away': song story and live performance

One of the Onyx 2 women tells the story behind 'Walk Away': the chorus came to her heart and head and she wrote it on a steering wheel (on a candy wrapper) while driving, then finished the verses with her partner about a year later. The duo performs the song live in studio.

Post-song banter: 'Walk Away' and the CD

The hosts praise the performance (a host notes he's never heard Mike call something 'pretty') and draw out the song's message: at the moment you most want to give up, that is the time to actually give up and let God take care of it. They plug the 'Lessons Learned' CD, available at Cafe Hope and at live shows, and mention an upcoming Onyx 2 show at Fire Creek Grill in West Des Moines on February 27th.

God-is-Imaginary proof 30: 'Examine God's sexism' (read aloud)

• Does the Bible teach that God is sexist?

The hosts begin week 30 of their walk through godisimaginary.com's 50 proofs, reading this week's proof largely verbatim. The proof argues the Bible's God is an 'absurd, unmitigated jerk' rather than all-loving, citing 1 Corinthians 14 (women silent in churches), 1 Timothy 2 (no woman to teach or have authority), Genesis 17 (circumcision covenant with males only), John 20 ('touch me not'), and 1 Peter 3:7 ('weaker partner'), plus rhetorical questions about women disciples, elders, and Bible authors. The proof concludes that modern societies reject the Bible's sexism, which proves 'God is imaginary.'

Rebuttal of the sexism proof: context, marriage, and responsibility

• What does 'the weaker partner' mean in 1 Peter 3:7?
• Does 'head of the household' mean authority or responsibility?

The hosts push back on the proof point by point: the proof author is ignorant of what the verses mean, and the rest of the Bible humbles men too — worth comes from having a Savior who died, for men and women alike. They walk through 1 Peter 3:7's 'weaker partner' as a potter's fine-china analogy (delicate, valuable, treated with special care, not abused), Ephesians 5's call for husbands to love like Christ loved the church (an awesome, humbling responsibility), and the Corinthian context (men and women seated apart, shouting questions across the room, so 'be silent' addressed disorder). Headship is framed as responsibility for the marriage covenant, not authority, citing Malachi 2 and Proverbs 2. They argue abusive readings come from misunderstanding Christ, not from misunderstanding gender roles. Comedy bits punctuate: the Roman 'pater familius' spelling bee, Dan's purple t-shirt and 'Barney' birthday-party singing, and a caveman-club submission gag. The Onyx 2 women weigh in: God calls us to out-serve each other, and God doesn't keep score.

Proof 31 teaser and the performer's desk bit

The hosts close out 'God's 30 for 30' (God 30, imaginary man 0) and preview proof 31, 'Understand that religion is superstition,' reading its opening about an all-observing news network and the problem of suffering. They riff on a fictional Onyx 2 'performer's desk' that sponsors could fund.

'You Are Mine': the song's origin story

One of the Onyx 2 women tells how 'You Are Mine' — the first song they wrote — poured out of her while she was crying on the couch during a hard season, after feeling urged by her heavenly father to go to the piano; Denise had just invited herself over for lunch and entered them in a talent show. The song's heart: 'You are mine, I am yours, I want you back, I don't keep score' — a God who calls the broken back no matter what they've done. The hosts tease Dan about being asked to sing along.

Onyx 2 performs 'You Are Mine' live

Onyx 2 performs 'You Are Mine' live in studio with guitar and their trademark harmonies; Dan audibly joins in singing at points ('Dan only sings suspended seconds').

Harmonies praise, upcoming guests, broadcast info

The hosts praise the duo's harmonies ('as if you're one person') and note the CD is at Cafe Hope on Jordan Creek. They tease a band that has visited two or three times without ever recording a CD, then announce Cass Lester and Double J visiting on the 21st (at the Volody Muse on the 17th with Echo, whose 'Broken Connection' album is out) and Aarondale returning in February — with a running joke that Aarondale owes a host $15. Broadcast info: live Monday nights 10–11 at livefromthepath.org, Saturdays 10pm on 99.3 KTIA.

Dear LFTP: the illegal Amish raw-milk run

• Can I buy raw milk from the Amish even though Iowa law prohibits it?

Mike, addressed by name on air, wants to buy raw milk from the Amish for his wife, but raw milk sales are illegal in Iowa. The hosts riff on the absurdity of the transaction — an undisclosed drop location, money left and milk appearing, 'Miami Vice' with the Amish — and conclude he must obey the laws of the land or work to change them (Pennsylvania or California being legal states). The banter spirals: an Amish auction story (an Amish man who buys power tools he can't use and resells them on eBay), almond milk tasting 'like toenails,' and a planned disguised road trip with ZZ Top beards to fetch milk. KTIA radio listeners are signed off for the night.

Dear LFTP: the widow cropped out of the church directory

• Am I being overly sensitive that the church cropped my late husband out of the pictorial directory?

A listener writes that her husband died a year ago; four days after the funeral she received the church pictorial directory with his image cropped out of their couple photo, and the cropped photo is also on the bulletin board with two other cropped widows' photos. The hosts say she's not overly sensitive — cropping a deceased person out without asking is invasive, though likely a socially-inept mistake rather than malice; they would have printed the full photo, since everyone knew him. They joke about church bulletin boards and suggest she tell church staff to check with families before doctoring photos. The Secular answer: tell whoever is in charge and the clergyman how she felt and ask for a replacement photograph to be taken and displayed.

Dear LFTP: the panhandlers who declined the groceries

• What should I make of the panhandling couple who declined my groceries and asked for cash?

A listener offered a panhandling couple (with a baby and toddler, sign asking for food help) her family's dinner groceries — premium spaghetti sauce, ground beef, spaghetti, fruit cups, canned soup — but the man declined and suggested she go to an ATM and withdraw cash instead. The hosts debate: raw ground beef is useless on a street corner, and the 'premium sauce' framing was a bit self-righteous; graciously accepting unusable help is the kind option. One host recounts an anecdote about 'Doug,' who offered a hungry man dinner and coffee but refused cash when the man preferred money and smelled of alcohol. The Secular answer: some families are truly in need and should be guided to a shelter; some are professional panhandlers whose tax-free money does quite well. The discussion devolves into comedy about homelessness hypotheticals, rooster panhandling, and chasing raw Amish milk.

Sign-off: prayer request and sponsor thanks

The hosts close the show: they ask listeners to pray that the show's discussion would glorify God, thank the sponsors whose money keeps them on the air, and remind listeners they're live every Monday night from 10 to 11pm at livefromthepath.org.