November 17, 2014 Podcast

Show open

Produced intro voiceover and music play ('You are live from the path'), then the hosts come in live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proper with brief loose banter as the show gets rolling.

Tonight's lineup

A host lays out the evening's plan: wrapping up their multi-week response to the time.com article 'What I Gain When I Lost My Religion,' with tonight's final installment, number 11, 'a greater appreciation for the preciousness of life.' He also promises Dear LFTP advice and a discussion of a Monster energy drink video.

The Monster can video, explained

• Is the Monster Energy logo secretly Satanic — 666, an inverted cross, 'Unleash the Beast'?

Boova (addressed on air as 'Buva') recounts a video in which a woman argues the Monster Energy logo is Satanic: the claw-mark 'M' is really the Hebrew character for six (666), a cross hides inside the 'O' and turns upside down when you tip the can to drink, and the slogan 'Unleash the Beast' points to Revelation's beast and false prophet.

Christians and the Satan-hunt

The hosts push back on the video's reasoning. Dan says he'd personally avoid the product but wouldn't judge other drinkers; another host says the video smells like Christians looking for Satan everywhere, recalling the 1980s backmasking panics when people burned albums. They agree symbols have no power over a believer — accidentally drinking a can can't nullify Christ's sacrifice — and that the real question is whether debunking marketing schemes is worth a Christian's energy.

Reading time.com article item 11

A host reads aloud the final installment of the time.com article 'What I Gain When I Lost My Religion': losing religion gave the author a greater appreciation for the preciousness of life, since disbelief in eternity makes this one life feel more valuable and motivates him to be an agent of change in the world.

Responding to 'a greater appreciation for the preciousness of life'

The hosts argue the author has it backwards: a believer has more reason to treasure this life, not less, because eternal life means this life's work matters. Dan shares how his mother's Alzheimer's diagnosis taught him to appreciate every visit. The hosts contrast 'life is a vapor' as comfort in real suffering against a life-denying 'waiting room' mentality, and reject the church's habit of telling suffering people to just hang on until Jesus returns — restoration has already begun and Christians are part of it.

Series wrap-up: the ctrl-F test

Looking back over all 11 installments, the hosts conclude the list dwindled after the first few strong points. One host's 'ctrl-F' test — the word 'Jesus' appears nowhere in the article — shows the author lost an empty religious program, not a relationship with Jesus. They call out the weaker items (better Sunday mornings, better sex, better health) as misattributed life problems, while admitting the church has its own real failures.

Sponsor reads: Eisenlauer team and Westfield Vet

A host plugs the Eisenlauer real estate team — Bob, Bill, and John, 'easy to work with, hard to beat,' at eisenhowerteam.com — and Westfield Veterinary Hospital in Johnston for winter pet checkups, sharing that his own dog is creaking in the cold. Boova needles him over the sign-off line 'write it on your belly button.'

Dear LFTP: first-time mom versus mother-in-law's wedding

• How can a first-time mom politely decline her mother-in-law's wedding two weeks after her baby's due date?

Boova reads a letter from a pregnant first-time mom: her mother-in-law's wedding falls two weeks after her due date and expects the whole family to attend. The hosts advise a firm 'maybe' — babies don't arrive on schedule — while teasing the writer for being offended the wedding was planned near her due date. The 'Secular' answer: as a new mother, her child's well-being and her own health must come first.

The home water-birth water-bill story

A host tells how, on the day of his child's home water birth, he discovered the water had been shut off because the previous tenants were two months behind on the bill. He begged the water department to turn it on that night and spent the evening heating water on the stove to warm the birthing tub.

Dear LFTP: briefs versus boxers

• Should a 50-year-old man switch from briefs to boxers because his partner dislikes his tighty-whities?

Boova reads a letter from a 50-year-old man whose 42-year-old partner says his tighty-whities are outdated and a turn-off. The hosts land on the compromise — boxer briefs: 'that's why they were invented' — and note that if the lady in your life finds something unappealing, accommodating her isn't weakness. The 'Secular' answer warns that letting her dictate his underwear means she'll wear the pants in the relationship; the hosts call that bad advice.

Dear LFTP: Texas to Florida, a family split

• My husband stayed in Texas while I moved our kids to Florida to help his parents — how do I fix this?

Boova reads a letter from a lonely, depressed mother of four girls who moved from Texas to Florida to help her in-laws while her husband Jeff stayed behind; she suspects he likes being free of responsibility. The hosts say both failed — she moved knowing he'd stay, and he refuses to put fatherhood first — and that 'moving away from my family for months at a time' is simply not an option. The 'Secular' answer agrees: tell him she's moving back to Texas.

Dear LFTP: the thank-you note manifesto

• May I share how I learned to write thank-you notes?

Boova reads a letter from a 22-year-old offering her mother's method for learning thank-you notes: stock phrases, a deal to address the envelopes until she turned 18, then an address book, stationery, and stamps at 18. The hosts note it's an anecdote rather than a question and rib the writer's pomposity for writing in to lecture an entire readership at age 22.

Lessons and sign-off to break

Closing the first half, a host recaps the night's lessons — join Kickstarter, try Fiverr, don't be pompous — and speaks directly to the time.com author: don't run from Jesus; 'check out Jesus, and then we can tussle about the church later.' The show breaks for the Truth Network 99.3 FM radio audience.

Unseen Patrol's Kickstarter, tier by tier

After the break, a host details the Unseen Patrol album Kickstarter reward tiers — $10 for a digital download, $50 for a signed merch package with the listener's name in the album credits, $1,000 for a private performance — praising crowdfunding as a way for Christian bands to fund properly recorded music. Boova jokes it will cost him $75 to produce 'Boova Plays the Kazoo.'

Dear LFTP: the baby sprinkle letter

• Should I attend the baby sprinkle for a pregnant wife whose husband is dying of cancer when I disapprove of the pregnancy?

Boova reads a letter from a woman dismayed that the wife of her boyfriend's dying friend announced a pregnancy while the husband faces a third bout of cancer; she's invited to the baby 'sprinkle' and dreads the small talk. The hosts mock her harshness with escalating sarcasm — 'so sorry your husband's gonna die, can we kill your child too?' — then one host turns serious: her reaction is heartless and unhealthy, rooted in something, and he feels sad for the dark way she sees the world.

Dear LFTP: exhausted and overworked

• Should I quit my part-time job even though my boyfriend Jared doesn't want me to?

Boova reads a letter from a recent college graduate who worked full-time plus a part-time job through school and still works both — seven days a week, ten hours a day — while her boyfriend Jared doesn't want her to quit the part-time job. The hosts tell her to quit the job, noting Jared isn't her husband and has no say, and maybe reconsider Jared too. The 'Secular' answer agrees: if Jared wants the extra income, Jared should earn it.

Outro

The hosts sign off with the website (livefromthepath.org) and email (info@lifefromthepath.org), inviting listener questions, concerns, or complaints about the show.