December 1, 2014 Podcast

Show open and episode rundown

The hosts open over a new produced intro video that the studio itself cannot hear, leaving them talking awkwardly across it. After the show's mission statement ("honest faith, fierce grace, and donkeys"), a host runs down the episode: Dan's "What's Trending," a look at things Jesus said about wealth, and Dear LFTP advice. A host addresses Mike by name during the studio banter, and Boova's face appears in the new intro though he is not present tonight.

Atheist Christmas billboards in the South

The hosts react to an American Atheists Christmas billboard campaign in the Bible Belt showing a girl writing "Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is to skip church. I'm too old for fairy tales." They note the irony of an atheist ad invoking Santa, argue that militant atheism is anger at God and at the church rather than mere unbelief, and recount how local Christians once rented a room just to pray during the National Atheist Convention, watching attendees in priest-and-nun costumes hold an "unbaptizing." The segment ends with a running joke about a host writing better atheist billboards. A host addresses Mike by name during the exchange.

What's Trending: Random Acts of Pasta

• If you had unlimited Olive Garden for seven weeks, what would you do with it?

Dan reports the story of a man who bought an Olive Garden never-ending pasta pass and got the chain's permission to take meals to go, then walked Salt Lake City handing pasta to homeless people in a project he called Random Acts of Pasta: 125 meals given away, 14 eaten himself. The hosts answer the hypothetical of what they'd do with unlimited pasta for seven weeks (gain 15 pounds, feed the homeless, or make friends), then drift into skepticism about publicizing charity — longing to see someone do good without the blog and the YouTube channel. A host addresses both Eric and Dan by name during the exchange.

Faithful in the means vs. posturing for an audience

Sparks from the pasta story's publicity, the hosts wrestle with "plotting for an audience that does not yet exist" — building ministries for influence they do not actually have versus being faithful with what is in front of them. They contrast David (out with the sheep), Samuel, and Moses (used by God only after hiding) with Jesus's handling of the large stage: feeding the 5,000 and then preaching the Bread of Life until the crowd walked away, and refusing Satan's temple-pinnacle shortcut to instant fame. They conclude the measure of ministry is people coming to you for God's perspective, not head counts, and that much ambition is a marginalization of the Holy Spirit.

What's Trending: Disney Channel blocks the word "God"

• Was it an innocent mistake by Disney to block the word God, intentional discrimination, or does it not matter?

Dan reports that a 10-year-old's Thanksgiving message — "God, my family, my church, my friends" — was rejected by Disney Channel's site filter with a red "please be nice" warning until the word God was removed; Disney told a blogger it was not intentional and promised a team would look into it. The hosts debate the three options: innocent mistake, intentional discrimination, or "who cares." They land on intentional-but-not-nefarious: a generic profanity filter, probably set up quickly by an intern, meant to keep peace on a kids' forum. A host addresses Mike by name during the exchange.

What Jesus said about wealth

• What do we do with Jesus's statements about wealth, and what is his message to an American culture?

A host reads Jesus's hard sayings — "blessed are you who are poor" (Luke 6:20), the treasure hidden in the field (Matthew 13:44), and the rich man told to sell all he has, plus the camel and the eye of the needle — and the hosts ask how an American culture is supposed to obey them. The discussion lands on motivation over rules: money is God's tool, the Holy Spirit regulates how each person holds it, and the honest response to "sell all you have" is "gulp." A host recounts his own failed experiment of jumping to 10% giving without listening to God, taking nine months to dig out of overdrafts and credit-card debt, and another describes learning to buy tents and sleeping bags for homeless people instead of trinkets.

Radio sign-off and sponsor shout-outs

For the Truth Network 99.3 FM radio audience, a host signs off with sponsor acknowledgments: Bob Eisenlauer of the Eisenlauer team (urging listeners to vote for him in City View's best realtor) and Westfield Veterinary Hospital (best vet clinic). The podcast audience is told the show will be right back.

Dangerous prayers

Picking up the wealth discussion's thread about trusting the Holy Spirit over broad rules, the hosts talk about "dangerous prayers" — prayers that would drastically change your life if God answered them. One host shares his own: asking God to "burn the building down" during a church building project if it was not serving the kingdom, to force a job change if needed, and to take away the radio show itself if it became an idol. Another adds the postscript: "I need you to talk to my wife." A host is addressed by name as "Ben" when asked about dangerous prayers he has prayed.

Dear LFTP: mother who makes her daughters sleep in her bed

• What is the best thing to do when a mother requires her teenage/college daughters to sleep in her bed every night?

The reader reads a letter from a student (with younger sister Sarah) whose mother requires one of the daughters to sleep in her room every night, using guilt when resisted; the writer worries her mom is depressed or fears abandonment. The hosts call it too deep for a pithy answer: the mother likely needs counseling, the daughters should set a firm boundary, and fixing the sleeping arrangement alone will not solve the mother's underlying need. The "secular answer" advises the sisters to ask together why she does this and, if she cannot sleep alone, to stay until she falls asleep and then leave — which the hosts find unconvincing.

Dear LFTP: divorced after a 38-year marriage

• Is it unreasonable to still have lingering pain and anger after a 38-year marriage ended in betrayal and divorce?

The reader reads a letter from a 60-year-old woman divorced after a 38-year marriage ended by her husband's affair; she asks whether lingering pain and anger are unreasonable. The hosts answer no: the betrayal was cataclysmic, the wound will soften but never fully disappear, and her ex-husband's breezy "moving on" with a much younger woman is the unhealthy response, not the healthy one. The "secular answer" counsels steering drifting thoughts back to the present and investing energy in the future — which the hosts endorse as spot-on.

Dear LFTP: 25th anniversary party disagreement

• How should a couple celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary when they disagree about the party?

The reader reads a letter from a wife who wants a vow-renewal party with friends wearing old bridesmaid dresses for their 25th anniversary; her husband thinks it is showing off and wants a quiet celebration just for the two of them. The hosts' verdict: do both, but drop the bridesmaid dresses — they are the real problem. The husband's stated reason (offending divorced friends) is dismissed as weak, but his real objection to the "dog and pony show" is understandable; after 25 years they have figured out bigger compromises than this. The "secular answer" agrees the party is fine and suggests cocktail dresses instead of dug-up bridesmaid gowns.

Show close

The hosts close out with thanks for hanging out, a self-deprecating riff about not being able to say "I love you" to listeners they have never met, and plugs for Twitter and livefromthepath.org — ending with a final "good night" immediately undercut by "I haven't said my piece."