March 25, 2013 Podcast

Show open, weather banter, and station plugs

A host opens the show from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proper with brief banter about the weather, shorts in winter, and a recent trip to Texas, then gives the show's air times: Monday nights 10-11 PM at livefromthepath.org and Saturdays at 7 PM on 99.3 KTIA, noting the hosts had lunch with the KTIA crew that day.

Tonight's lineup and guest welcome

A host previews the night: the band 30 Below is in studio for an interview and two songs, the show moves on to proof #40 of the godisimaginary.com series, and there will be Dear LFTP advice letters where the band helps the hosts give better counsel than the 'secular advice' the letter writers received elsewhere.

Interview with 30 Below

The hosts interview the sibling band 30 Below. Spencer introduces himself as the oldest (but shortest), with Chase on guitar and Zachary on bass (also drums and keyboards); the siblings have been playing together since high school and have been 30 Below for a couple of years after all being classically trained on piano.

Song intro: 'All This Time' by Britt Nicole

• Does God really see our heartaches and failed plans?

Spencer introduces the band's cover of Britt Nicole's 'All This Time' as a song about God being present through heartache, failure, and broken dreams, reassuring listeners that when plan A falls apart it does not mean God is absent or that His plan was not the better one.

Rise of the Guardians tangent on purpose

Before the song, a host shares an anecdote about watching Rise of the Guardians with his kids: Jack Frost does not know why he exists until the moon reveals his purpose, and the host reflects that once you start looking for God-centered themes you see stories of purpose and belonging in unexpected places, mirroring what Spencer said about God's presence.

Music performance: 'All This Time' by 30 Below

30 Below performs a live in-studio cover of Britt Nicole's 'All This Time,' a song about God's constancy through heartache, failure, and broken dreams.

Post-performance plugs for 30 Below

A host directs listeners to 30belowlive.com and especially the band's Facebook page, noting there are several copycat '30 below' pages so fans should search '30' plus the word 'below' to find the right one.

Proof #40 premise: 'Understand Christian motivations'

A host reads the premise of proof #40 from godisimaginary.com: since evidence shows God is imaginary and never answers prayer, the question is what motivates Christians to keep insisting He is real and answers prayers daily. He reads the site's five premises (no scientific evidence for God, prayer, or answered prayer; the Bible as primitive; 'etcetera' as a bullet point) and sets up the site's five proposed psychological motivations.

Proof bullet 1: Christians believe because they fear death

• Does fear of death motivate Christian belief?

A host reads the proof's first proposed motivation: Christians invent answered prayer because they fear death and cling to Jesus' promise of eternal life. A host addressed in the audio as Dan Hudson responds that because he knows Jesus he actually looks forward to death, but concedes he would fear death terribly if there were nothing after this life, prompting the observation that the proof at least pegs him on that point.

Proof bullet 2: Christians believe for the ego boost

• Does believing God cured you amount to an ego boost?

A host reads the proof's second proposed motivation: crediting God for a cancer remission is a huge ego boost, since the surgery and chemo did the work. A co-host addressed in the audio (transcript renders the name 'Buva') rebuts that God made the surgery, the chemo, and the people who invented them, and that answered prayer produces humility and 'why me?' rather than pride.

Proof bullet 3: God as a community-sanctioned invisible friend

• Is God just an invisible friend for lonely adults?

A host reads the proof's third proposed motivation: lonely people invent an invisible friend to cope, and prayer heightens the illusion. Spencer of 30 Below counters that God is often silent, so He makes a poor imaginary friend; two hosts add a riff that if they invented a friend he would be less hard on them and have no rules, capped with a footprints-in-the-sand joke.

Proof bullet 4: the un-outgrown parental slot

• Are humans born with a slot for an all-knowing being, or does that point to God?

A host reads the proof's fourth proposed motivation: humans are born with a place for an all-knowing, all-loving being that some adults never outgrow. The hosts call the claim scientifically and philosophically unsupported, counter with the 'God-sized hole' framing, joke about animals whose parents abandon or eat their young, and one host speculates the proof's author was hurt or disappointed by church or God as a younger man.

Proof bullet 5: answered-prayer one-upmanship at church

• Do Christians exaggerate answered-prayer stories to impress their peers?

A host reads the proof's fifth proposed motivation: Christians invent answered-prayer stories (a dog's skin sores, a vacation paid by a credit card offer) to be the center of attention in their peer group. The hosts and Spencer answer that real Christian community rejoices together when one person wins rather than competing, calling the proof's picture a pharisaical, culturally narrow view of the church.

Verdict: the proof admits it is not a proof

• How should Christians respond when their faith is questioned?

The hosts note the proof's own conclusion asks 'is this a direct proof that God is imaginary? No,' and argue the site's strong incentives do not explain answered prayer. One host testifies that his faith rests on knowing he is a terrible person with no hope apart from Christ, not on scientific evidence, and says believers need an answer ready for these questions; the group expresses genuine compassion for the site's author, reads him as someone carrying real pain and disappointment, and shares that unexplained answered prayers do happen.

Persecuted church vs Americanized Christianity

A host argues the motivations proof only describes safe Americanized Christianity: an Iranian pastor imprisoned for his faith, the apostle Paul, and eleven of the twelve disciples who died violent deaths were not inventing an invisible friend for comfort. He walks through John 6, where Peter answers Jesus' 'do you want to go away?' with 'to whom shall we go?', framing faith as truth with nowhere else to go rather than self-delusion.

The church failed to make disciples; gerbil-dad chat bit

The hosts and a band member lament that American churches have failed to make disciples, producing shallow church-consumers while culture declines, with one host's friend noting that fighting for faith in Africa deepens it and American 'persecution' amounts to censored Facebook posts. The segment ends with a comic digression as the hosts untangle the chat's running 'gerbil dad' jokes, which trace back to an earlier host's line about a gerbil dad biting off his leg.

Promos, upcoming events, and sponsor reads

A host plugs past guest clips on livefromthepath.org (Jess Anderson, Cass Lester), upcoming broadcasts at the Building 429 show in April, a possible Audio Adrenaline broadcast in Indianola, and a Revelation study April 5-7, then reads sponsor spots: On Purpose Promotions (Jared Roy), Valley Services, Cappada's Coffee and Gelato in Ames (with a tangent on curing brain freeze by pressing your tongue to the roof of your mouth), and the Bob Eisenlauer real estate team.

Music performance: 'Hold Me' by 30 Below

Spencer introduces the band's cover of Jamie Grace's 'Hold Me' as a fun, sing-along radio song, with a joke about needing backup singers who can sing in tune; 30 Below then performs the song live in studio.

Post-'Hold Me' thanks and performance clip plugs

A host thanks 30 Below for the performance, points listeners again to the band's Facebook page and 30belowlive.com, and says video clips of the night's performances will be posted on the website within the week.

Dear LFTP: the friend whose husband compares her to me

• How should I handle a friend whose husband compares her to me?

A host reads a Dear LFTP letter from a pregnant listener: her friend Eden's husband constantly compares Eden unfavorably to her, and Eden takes little digs at her. The hosts advise backing away from the friendship without a confrontation, calling the husband's comparison creepy and dumb, and suggest she tell her own husband and have him talk to the other husband; the band agrees the letter writer is doing the right thing by creating space. The secular advice read on-air is that she should tell the husband to stop using her as a cudgel, which the hosts mock as a terrible idea.

Dear LFTP: is it rude to eat a cough drop in public?

• Is it rude to eat a cough drop in public?

A host reads a Dear LFTP letter asking whether it is rude to eat a cough drop in public, since the writer's best friend finds the smell offensive and says sick people should stay home. The hosts and band agree it is not rude: they would rather smell a cough drop than hear coughing through a movie or opera, distinguish a lingering cough from being contagious, and rib a host who claims he can smell a cough drop from fifteen feet away. The secular advice agrees people should stay home if sick but rejects refunds-for-cough as unrealistic; a host adds a London Les Misérables anecdote about getting in trouble for leaving a balcony door open.

Dear LFTP: suspected fake cancer fundraiser

• What should I do if I suspect a friend faked a cancer diagnosis for a fundraiser?

A host reads a Dear LFTP letter from a listener whose out-of-state friend has been posting on Facebook about a stage-four cancer diagnosis with endless delays (no insurance, more scans, now a self-planned fundraiser), and the listener suspects the whole thing is invented. The hosts advise not giving if there is doubt, suggesting discreet investigation through family or pointed questions rather than accusing anyone, noting HIPAA prevents asking the doctor directly. The secular advice: do not contribute if you doubt her character, and if the suspicions are true the friend may be planning fraud.

Sign-off and thanks to 30 Below

A host thanks 30 Below for coming in, gives the show's air times (Mondays at 10 PM on livefromthepath.org, Saturdays at 7 PM on 99.3 KTIA), and wishes listeners a wonderful week.