2016 Episode 2

Show open and parenting banter

A host opens the show from the Pathway Studios in Johnston and previews three Dear LFTP letters (an infidelity letter, a helicopter-parent letter, and a grandma-suspicious-of-a-generous-gift letter). The hosts trade jokes about a host's daughter looking ten years older with curled hair, riff on Paul on hair and David Koresh, and land on a running joke about a future suitor named Brian or Dale and fifty acres in Texas.

In-studio guest: Daniel Johnson and the 9119 brand

In-studio guest Daniel Johnson describes leaving music in 2013 and launching 'ninety one nineteen,' a streetwear brand (hashtag #dreamerswelcome) that funds and mentors musicians until they are ready for a bigger label. The first clothing line is planned for April, screen-printed in-house, with social media going live in February.

John Piper's seven reasons not to play the lottery

• Should Christians play the lottery?

A host introduces a John Piper article listing seven reasons not to play the lottery, written as the Powerball jackpot neared $1.5 billion. The hosts agree to react to Piper's actual reasons rather than their gut reaction.

Reason 1: spiritually suicidal (1 Timothy 6:9)

Piper's reason one: playing the lottery is 'spiritually suicidal,' grounded in 1 Timothy's warning that those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and ruin. The hosts agree the desire for sudden massive wealth would corrupt them, citing how even small freedoms (snacks bought alone at Walmart) reveal their lack of self-control.

Reason 2: embezzlement — stewardship, talents, investing vs gambling

• Is investing in the stock market just gambling like blackjack?

Piper's reason two (a kind of embezzlement: managers don't gamble their master's money) sparks a long debate: the parable of the talents and its historical background, whether churches playing bingo undercuts the argument, whether stock-market investing is just gambling like blackjack, and the key distinction that in a mutual fund your managers are your allies while in gambling the house is your enemy.

Reasons 3-4: fool's errand and the system needs losers

Piper's reason three (a fool's errand: infinitesimal odds) draws pushback from the guest, who argues that 'don't try because the odds are long' would kill every musician and athlete. The hosts concede the point stands only inside the lottery's adversarial context, and fold reason four (the system needs most people to lose) into the same thread.

Reason 5: it preys on the poor

Piper's reason five: the lottery preys on the poor, citing a report that households taking home $13,000 or less spend 9% of income on tickets. A host who grew up in that bracket agrees people are believing the lie that money will fix their lives, and tells of paying off credit-card debt three times without fixing the underlying spending.

Reason 6: a better alternative; reason 7 skipped

Piper's reason six (a better alternative: invest the average $500/year in an index fund for twenty years and have $24,000) gets skepticism about the math and the point — hopeless people want quick money, not twenty-year patience. Reason seven is skipped as too convoluted, and a host asks Boova (addressed by name in the audio) what he would do with $1.5 billion.

Fantasy spending: what $1.5 billion would do to you

• What would you do if you won $1.5 billion?

The hosts fantasize honestly about winning $1.5 billion: Boova says he would spend it on himself, family, and friends and tell no one; the guest admits he would stop trying to be a Christ-centered man in dating; analogies pile up (Nintendo is to life as Game Genie is to lottery); a host tells the Martin Shkreli $100-tea Tinder story; and the bit lands on 'you can't buy people.'

Dear LFTP: wife's infidelity, paternity, and conditional love

• My wife cheated and only one of my children is biologically mine — how do I move forward?

A Dear LFTP letter from an army veteran whose wife's affairs left only his youngest child biologically his — he loves them all but feels his life destroyed — draws counsel not to let new information change how he feels about the kids, to continue counseling, and to recognize conditional love. The secular answer (get private counseling, then rationally decide) is read and judged unhelpfully divorce-leaning.

Dear LFTP: the flower-girl snub

• Am I wrong to be upset with my sister-in-law for replacing my daughter as flower girl?

A Dear LFTP letter about a sister-in-law who replaced the writer's four-year-old daughter Emma as flower girl draws counsel to name the hurt, not let the daughter stew in the parent's anger, and to tell the sister-in-law plainly that she owes the little girl an apology — then let it go. The secular answer largely agrees.

Dear LFTP: court settlement — tell the friends how much?

• Should I tell my friends how much money I'm receiving from a court settlement?

A Dear LFTP letter from someone about to receive a court settlement asks whether to tell five loyal friends the amount. The hosts advise a playful 'big money' dodge, praise Eric/Herrick's advice to ask each friend twice whether anything is owed, confess their own stinginess toward friends who have money, and turn the corner into learning to receive gifts and grace without a sense of debt.

Sign-off and guest social media

The hosts plug livefromthepath.org, the guest shares the est.911nine social handles going live in February, and the show closes with the sign-off line: 'be faithful in the means, God will handle the ends.'