March 2, 2015 Podcast

Show open and episode rundown

The host opens from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proper on the Truth Network 99.3, previews the night's topics — an article on 'seven lies Christians tell,' hard questions from nonbelievers, a Dear LFTP letter preview, and special studio guests. Dave Herrick is addressed by name to kick off the article discussion.

Night's topics previewed in the studio

Studio preview banter: reactions to the 'seven lies' article's confrontational tone, legit questions a co-host has been asked by nonbelievers at work, and a Dear LFTP preview about a husband who snuggles pets more than his wife, spun into a 'grand prize game' riff.

Guest interview: The Israelites on how they met

The host introduces husband-and-wife musical guests The Israelites, who stay for the whole show. They tell how they met as Olive Garden coworkers in Milwaukee in 1996 after parallel life paths from Mississippi (both born 1967) through Chicago to Milwaukee, and share that they have eight children (seven living, the youngest 17) plus two grandchildren.

The Israelites' music: from worldly songs to seven gospel tracks

The couple describes their musical pasts — the wife sang worldly music as a girl against her mother's wishes; the husband sang in 1992 and once nailed a Luther Vandross song — then how they wrote seven songs in ninety minutes in the studio around the concept 'seven ways to get to heaven' (find Jesus, call on him, build a home, make him head of life, leave the raggedy life, gladness, glorify). They point listeners to soundcloud.com/theisraelites.

Seven lies #1: pretending to be more confident than we are

The hosts work through the article's first lie: Christians posture as if their faith life is totally satisfying when it is often dry or cold, hiding doubts to protect God's reputation. They argue the opposite is true — non-Christians are drawn to honest, struggling faith — and that posturing misrepresents God's character.

Seven lies #2: pretending the unexplainable is explainable

The article's second lie: Christians offer tidy metaphors for the Trinity instead of admitting God's transcendence. The co-host addressed on air as 'Buva' tells of failed attempts to evangelize coworkers with scientific answers ('God made it so it's not weird'), and guest Greg adds that showing 'Jesus' face' through actions beats arguing. The host compares knowing Jesus to meeting his uncle Rick — once you've met him, you stop asking whether he exists.

Seven lies #3: refusing to acknowledge our doubts

The third lie: Christians won't admit that hard questions — the destiny of the unevangelized, the origin of evil, why God started the human story at all — are emotionally taxing. The host says he tells his eight-year-old daughter some questions are 'God questions' Daddy can't answer, and argues that demanding a human-sized answer for everything makes God too small.

Seven lies #4: pretending the Bible doesn't say brutal things

The fourth lie: Christians dodge the Bible's hardest passages — the host reads the article's examples of commanded genocide and Psalm 137's 'happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks,' plus the flood and the conquest of Canaan. The hosts agree God operates on his own level and that dismissing these texts is dishonest; the host quotes Francis Chan on assuming every biblical command (like caring for widows and orphans) is for you instead of sitting around waiting for the Holy Spirit to carry you. The remaining lies are held for next week.

Hard question: why do bad things happen to good people?

• Why does God keep doing bad things to good people, and why do good things keep happening to bad people — why is there pain, suffering, and death if God is loving and all-powerful?

The co-host addressed on air as 'Buva' brings questions nonbelievers keep asking him at work: why bad things happen to good people, why the wicked prosper, why a loving all-powerful God allows hunger, disease, and death. The wife guest answers that all answers are in the Word and urges spiritual nourishment; her husband adds 'God don't bless no mess' — blessings on the wicked come from the devil. The hosts push back on the vending-machine view of God, argue pain is often the only time people listen, and say brokenness is what qualifies Christian leaders.

Testimony: pain, healing, and twenty years clean

The wife guest testifies: years of bodily suffering, a swollen brain, wrong medications, and two years of unidentified liver pain taught her she is 'filthy' and drove her to nightly prayers for mercy. Pain humbled her and made her appreciate God more; her son's retort 'supposed to be a Christian' became one of their songs; she closes noting she has been clean from heroin for twenty years.

Pain, gratitude, and the vending-machine God

The co-host addressed on air as 'Buva' shares how pain shattered his checkbox faith and taught him 'God doesn't give you more than you can handle — he does, because you're not the one supposed to handle it.' The hosts warn against treating God as a blessing vending machine, note the inequity of resenting the prosperous wicked when 'I am that man,' and close grateful for unnoticed blessings — breath, waking up, rain on the just and unjust alike — with the guests' comic testimony about learning anatomy through liver and gallbladder pain.

Dear LFTP: the fiancé who loves the pets more (signed 'Insulted')

• My fiancé 'Bubba' (a pseudonym) claims he is too tired or busy to show me romantic affection but stays up late snuggling our two dogs and cat — am I petty for feeling jealous, or justified in expecting the same affection from the man about to make me his wife?

Mike, addressed by name on air, reads a letter from a woman whose fiancé 'Bubba' (a pseudonym) claims he's too tired for romantic affection yet stays up late snuggling their two dogs and cat; she asks if she's petty for feeling jealous. The verdict: she's not petty — the man is weird, needs help, and must learn to honor his wife-to-be; the Secular persona advises her to reconsider the engagement before marrying into affection starvation. Guest Greg gets roped into a running joke about a promised horse that became a goldfish, plus the 'Tyrone' riff.

Radio sign-off and podcast-only transition

The host signs off the Truth Network 99.3 radio audience, points radio listeners to livefromthepath.org and the complaint email info@livefromthepath.org, and plugs the Israelites' SoundCloud. For podcast-only listeners, guest Greg performs the theme song and is jokingly 'hired.'

Dear LFTP: the estranged son and the postcards (signed 'Forgotten mom')

• Our adult son cut off all contact three years ago after we refused to cosign a house loan; I keep sending loving postcards — should I stop and leave him alone as he asked?

Mike reads a letter from parents in their seventies whose son, in his fifties, cut off all contact three years ago after they refused to cosign a house loan that would have bankrupted them. They send loving postcards; he asked to be left alone. The hosts' verdict: keep sending the postcards — his behavior doesn't dictate theirs; the Secular persona agrees there's nothing wrong with the occasional postcard.

Dear LFTP: the uncomfortable cat person (signed 'Uncomfortable cat person')

• I am a cat person uncomfortable with dogs that jump, lick, and soil clothes — what should I do when visiting someone whose dog behaves like that?

Mike reads a letter from a self-described cat person who dreads visiting homes where dogs jump, lick, and soil clothes. The advice: have grace and call ahead to ask the owner to put the dog away — people aren't jerks about it. The Secular persona agrees, adding that for a guarantee, meet in a pet-free place (cue jokes about meeting at McDonald's).

Closing: friends of the show, sponsors, and sign-off

The host shouts out Jess Anderson's YouTube cover songs and the band Silversyde's new EP, celebrates former sponsor Bob Eisenlauer being voted a top Des Moines realtor (eisenhowerteam.com), and plugs sponsor Westfield Veterinary Hospital. He thanks the Israelites, repeats their SoundCloud link, and closes: 'Be faithful in the means and God will handle the ends.'