April 27, 2015 Podcast

Show open and tonight's lineup

Ben opens the live show from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proper and previews the night: Mike's Pope Style advice ('How to Say No'), a Relevant Magazine article on Christian cliques, 'Five Practices We Need Back in Our Lives,' and Dear LFTP.

Silversyde in-studio preview

Ben announces the band Silversyde (ASR 'SilverSide') will be in studio next week, recalls past appearances including an acoustic set and their version of 'Hallelujah,' and urges listeners to catch the episode live or podcast it.

Sponsor spots: Bob Eisenlauer and Westfield Veterinary Hospital

Sponsor reads for realtor Bob Eisenlauer (ASR 'eisenhowerteam.com') — the complaint-line namesake — and Westfield Veterinary Hospital, with a running joke about bordetella sounding like a pasta dish.

Needtobreathe music plug

Ben plugs the Needtobreathe song 'Able' (sung to tease his one-eyed cat Mabel), and recommends the live album 'Live From The Woods,' singling out 'Difference Maker.'

Article read: Don't Isolate Yourself in Christian Cliques

• Can Christians build deep friendships with people who believe differently, or should they stay in Christian cliques?

Ben reads the first half of a Relevant Magazine piece by a New York barista who hid her Christian faith from her coworkers, fearing judgment for her imperfections once her beliefs were known.

Discussion: friendships outside the church

Eric says friendships with non-Christians gave him perspective and filtered church rhetoric; Mike describes explaining his fast to non-Christian coworkers and coins the gap between 'church Jesus and street Jesus.'

Discussion: vulnerability, judgment, and the us-vs-them mentality

Continuing the article, the hosts debate whether the fear of judgment is real or church-created, the implicit judgment of abstaining from fun, and Jesus being called a drunkard and glutton. Boova rejects an us-versus-them mentality, joking that when friends head to the strip club he offers to be the designated driver.

Ben's Scientology story and the golden rule

Ben tells of a young man drawn into Scientology, whom a teacher-pastor told: 'One day, L. Ron Hubbard is going to let you down. When he does, I want you to call me' — years later, he did call, and is now a professor at a Baptist university. The hosts conclude Christians should get 'as close as you possibly can' without facilitating harm, and Ben reflects on the golden rule's humanity.

Balls and strikes, and 'don't be the dam'

The hosts discuss judging others — kids correcting friends' words, 'calling balls and strikes' in other people's lives. Eric frames hoarding blessing inside the church as religious inbreeding: 'If Jesus is the living water and we're the dam, that's a problem,' and Ben turns it into a slogan: 'Don't be the dam.'

Article 2 intro: Five Practices We Need Back in Our Lives

Ben introduces the second Relevant Magazine piece, a listicle by Paul Perkins on practices modern Christians have lost.

Practice #1: Silence

Ben reads the silence entry; the hosts trade stories of being unable to sit in silence — Boova's phone dying on a six-mile walk, Mike's boredom driving without the radio, Ben checking his phone in front of his kids. They land on the wonder of 75-year-olds who read nature instead of a weather app.

Practice #2: Purposeful conversation

Ben reads the 'masks' entry on superficial conversation; Mike is declared the wrong audience for it. Ben tells the junking story about an 80-year-old woman in a Toyota Scion collecting toy fire trucks from the trash to resell at her yard sale.

Practice #3: Selfless service

Ben reads the service entry on social media's affirmation-seeking. Boova defends his long videos as ministry while admitting the likes mentality, and the hosts riff on his yellow-shorts gym photos (someone addressed as 'Troy').

Practices #4 and #5: intentional adventures and mutual encouragement

The hosts reject the article's romanticized childhood of pickup games, afternoon swims, and whimsy — Eric is the only one who actually bridge-jumped at Clear Lake, Iowa; Mike jokes about wearing overalls because 'God is overall.' The mutual-encouragement entry gets read and abandoned. Includes a 'Knock Three Times' aside.

Radio break: KTA sign-off and transition

The hosts sign off the KTA radio audience ('I grant you a reprieve'), then fill the transition with banter, a Boo Radley sermon-example riff, and Dan's giant blow-up hand mattress story before Mike's Pope Style.

Pope Style: Mike on his first fast — 'I can say no'

• What advice would you give someone contemplating a fast?

After the Pope Style setup (a crowd on Mike's porch demanding pope-like wisdom), Mike tells of his reluctant first three-week fast with his wife — beans and water. He expected a revelation that God is king, but instead learned, two days before it ended, simply that he can say no: his sins don't control him. Boova asks what advice he'd give someone contemplating a fast; Mike answers with his table metaphor of holding back parts of his life from Jesus.

Dear LFTP: should she tell her brother's probation officer?

• Should I report my brother's crimes to his probation officer?

A listener's brother is in and out of prison, steals, writes bad checks, and leaves her number with collection agencies calling at 4am; she found his probation officer and her dad is furious she's considering telling. Dan says turn him in; Eric and Mike draw lines at non-violent crime but will share contact info. The hosts wrestle with 'am I my brother's keeper' and the Old Testament wayward-cow law. The secular answer: 'Your father's obviously a moonshiner' — contact the probation officer. Mike warns against vendetta motives: 'Vengeance is his.'

Dear LFTP: compulsive talkers in their sixties

• How should I handle compulsive talkers who dominate conversations?

Mike reads the letter (pausing to ask Boova his age — '48'); the hosts chalk the behavior up to hearing loss and recommend patience, walking away, or a touch on the shoulder. The secular answer: avoid everyone in their sixties, they're 'sappers.'

Close

Ben gives the email info@lifefromthepath.org, plugs next week's Silversyde visit and their new album 'Casting Shadows,' and closes with 'be faithful in the means.'