February 16, 2015 Podcast

Show open, studio intro, and the garage-mechanic hat

Produced intro ('live from the path' / 'from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper') opens the episode, followed by a studio intro where the lead host jokes that his wife tried to throw out his old-man talking hat, which makes him look like a guy who runs an auto garage out of his own garage.

Tonight's topics: persecution, 50 Shades of Grey, Dear LFTP, leading like Jesus

• What does it mean to lead like Jesus, and how should that shape everyday life in family, work, and ministry?

The lead host previews the episode's subjects: the right Christian response to the beheadings of Coptic Christians; a Gospel Coalition article by Joe Carter on an 'industrialized' view of sex amid the 50 Shades of Grey coverage; Dear LFTP advice letters (one heavy, one about a husband angered when his wife does not answer texts instantly) — a host previews the letters, addressing another host by name ('Mike'); and the question of what it means to lead like Jesus outside a corporate self-help box.

Sponsor block: Bob Eisenlauer's realty team and Westfield Veterinary Hospital

The lead host reads sponsor copy for Bob Eisenlauer's realty team (rendered in the transcript as 'Eiselin'/'Eisenhower'/'eisenhowerteam.com') and for Westfield Veterinary Hospital (online appointments), with a riff about pets aging and deteriorating like people and needing age-appropriate food and care.

The limping dog, the one-eyed stray cat, and the deer carcass

A host tells how his wife fell for a stray one-eyed kitten and nursed a pus-filled wound (using his beard trimmers to clear the hair), tying it back to the Westfield sponsor. Another host recalls the couple's earlier rescue dog — adopted after it attacked its own reflection on a Channel 13 News segment — that hid food behind doors and once dragged a three-month-old deer carcass a quarter mile into the kitchen, looking heartbroken when it was taken outside.

Sex as communication, not a technique to master

The hosts discuss Joe Carter's Gospel Coalition article prompted by the 50 Shades of Grey coverage, centering his line that sex is 'not a technique to be mastered, but a means of communicating' — a nonverbal expression of commitment, openness, and trust. They refine the claim (a healthy view holds both truths), compare it to faith-versus-works honesty, note that married virgins have no technique comparison problem (Adam and Eve 'figured it out'), and land on sexuality as connection — the loneliest places on earth being thought-of-as-sexual places devoid of connection.

The church's 'high horse' reaction to 50 Shades of Grey

The hosts agree they have not read the book or seen the film and do not intend to, but criticize the two weeks of Christian internet outrage as opportunistic and disingenuous: the content is already everywhere on computer screens, posting articles does not move the needle, and 'we look silly' — concluding that the opportunity is in someone's struggling personal life, not a broad-scale internet war. One host's argument here is later referred to in the audio as 'Dan's point'.

The beheadings of the Coptic Christians: what is the right response?

• What is the right Christian response — personal, group, and government — to the persecution and beheading of Christians?

Prompted by the news of Christians beheaded while seeking work, the lead host frames the episode's central hard question: between 'kill them all and let God sort them out' and 'pray and let the cards be what they may,' what is the right personal reaction, the right group reaction, and the right government reaction — and are those the same? He admits he discussed it with his wife before the show and is not sure, with a strong inkling in one direction he is a little afraid might be right.

Flee or fight: Revelation, democracy, David, and Goliath

Hosts work through biblical examples — reading Revelation under persecution, David fleeing to the hills from Saul, Jesus slipping through crowds laying hands on him, John the Baptist allowed to be beheaded, and whether David killed Goliath for God's blasphemed name versus Israel's protection. One host asks whether atrocities move the needle on democratic freedoms; another concedes the David-and-Goliath example was not a solid one.

Can a Christian nation's conscience differ from personal conscience?

• Can a Christian in good conscience hold a nation's highest office if that office may require sending troops into war?

The discussion turns to blurred lines between the believer and the nation: can a Christian president of Egypt order bombers while personally saying 'send them in' feels wrong? Hosts weigh OT examples of God commanding total destruction against loving enemies, with one host asking whether he should reject public office entirely, and another concluding God has said both 'go to war' and 'do not' at different times — so there is no black-and-white line. A host (addressed in the audio as 'Buva') sits out, saying he honestly does not know.

Love, pray for, bless — and the situational gray area

• Is God pro self-defense, and where does loving your neighbor extend to protecting them from physical harm?

The hosts converge on the three commands Jesus gives for dealing with enemies — love, pray for, and bless them — while granting everything beyond that is secondary and situational. They float the 'ideal' Jonah solution (parachute preachers into Nineveh instead of armies, with joke about strapping parachutes on blowhards), frame the targeting of Christians as a religious form of genocide the UN would treat as an intervention trigger, and close with the honest wrap: answers are clear within the kingdom of God, but we live in a gray area; Christians who actually faced these situations seem to have had moral clarity, and 'it's God's prerogative.'

Lead like Jesus: direction, focus, and never too busy

• What does it mean to lead like Jesus, and how should that shape everyday life in family, work, and ministry?

The hosts name characteristics of Jesus as a leader: a leader must be going somewhere and have people following — Jesus knew where he was going and kept rolling calmly despite the rabble; he was focused and purposeful (everything leading to the Great Commission); and he never said 'I'm too busy for you,' stopping for the needs in front of him even as Luke's gospel shows him journeying to Jerusalem from chapter 9 to chapter 19. Corporate leadership books are dismissed as selling people on their corporate jobs.

Jesus the constant teacher: meeting people where they are

The hosts dwell on Jesus as a perpetual teacher — patient with the disciples' foolishness (no 'Peter, you're an idiot,' aside from the situational 'get behind me, Satan'), meeting people where they were rather than demanding they come to him, and refusing to merely declare 'I'm right, you're wrong' in the John discourse with the Jews ('Moses was pointing to me'). Leading is defined as grabbing people and helping them see, not grandstanding from the right answer; one host confesses he applies this badly with his own kids.

Succession, servant leadership, and praying before big decisions

The hosts note Jesus trained his replacement — telling the disciples they would do greater things — and served those he led, doing the heavy lifting first (refusing to call angels at his arrest) while training the disciples to sacrifice too, which 'is not a comfortable thing.' They add that even as the Son of God he went to the Father in prayer before big decisions, including choosing the twelve, and close the topic agreeing each of them has something in his own life to change.

FM break: the 'Buva' exchange and the Truth Network outro

Banter closes the radio portion: the lead host teases the host addressed as 'Buva' about needing to change his life, and signs off from 99.9 FM The Truth Network, thanking listeners and plugging the sponsors (Bob Eisenlauer's team and Westfield Veterinary Hospital) before the podcast continues.

Back from the break: Dear LFTP mail setup

The podcast portion returns ('that's a heavy show... last week was a valet of party hats and roosters') and the lead host asks for the advice mail: 'What do you got for some advice, Mike? Here we go. Dear LFTP.' — the reader being the host addressed as Mike.

Dear LFTP: the husband who demands instant replies

• My husband demands I always be instantly available by phone and leaves nasty messages when I'm not — what's your opinion?

The host addressed as Mike (speaker-2) reads a listener letter from a woman whose husband is obsessed with her instant availability by phone — leaving nasty messages when she cannot answer at work or in the bathroom. The hosts call the husband a schmuck/jerk and selfish, suggest grace plus a quick 'got it' acknowledgment (or a disingenuous-looking auto-reply, or Facebook Messenger read receipts), and note he may just be worried but expresses it as anger. The 'secular' answer says to ignore his nasty comments like an immature, demanding child — which the hosts say is the wrong response to childish behavior.

Dear LFTP: the 25-year-old grandson staying for a master's degree

• Am I selfish for feeling my space has been invaded by my husband's grandson living with us through graduate school?

The reader takes a second letter: a woman asks whether she is selfish for feeling her space has been invaded after her husband's grandson 'Kyle' (in quotes) has lived with them two years through his bachelor's and will stay two more for a master's, while his uncles grumble that their kids never got the same treatment. The hosts side with perspective-change — call the mourning of an idealized American life what the prior week's show (what a host said 'Ben' described) called treating something that wasn't true as true — and say two years flies and it is a blessing to help. The 'secular' answer agrees the generosity is nobody else's business, and this time the hosts agree: 'Secular takes a swing and knocks one out of the park.'

Show close: contact info and Matt Baird mention

The lead host closes: contact the show at info@livefromthepath.org, check the website for clips including clips from today, and notes that Matt Baird was in the studio recently with an album coming out both solo and with the band Spoken. 'Be faithful to me, and God will handle the ends.'