2016 Episode 13

Show open: advice letters and news on tap

A host opens the show from the Pathway Studios in Johnston, laying out the night's plan: mainly listener advice letters, plus a random news article if one surfaces. A co-host is addressed by name in the audio.

The trouble with imperceptible miracles

• Are Christians underselling God by attributing minor, unverifiable improvements to him as miracles?

The hosts wrestle with a skeptic's claim that Christian miracle reports are always vague and unverifiable (nothing as clear as a regrown limb). One host admits the instinctive doubt about small healings like cured insomnia or a passing cold, but argues that reducing the gospel to 'being a nicer person' and celebrating minor fixes may undersell a God who is bigger than that. The discussion balances belief in God's power with suspicion of 'secondhand cheapening' of his work.

Under-asking God: the bold prayers of the saints in Revelation

• Are we under-asking God in prayer, and why do we pray so tentatively?

Picking up the miracles thread, the hosts contrast their own tentative, passive-aggressive prayers (casually mentioning an ankle or the flu, hoping God picks up the hint) with the saints in Revelation, who boldly demand justice from God's throne and are answered rather than rebuked. They ask whether viewing their own righteousness as filthy rags has made them 'under-ask' an all-loving, all-knowing God.

The guaranteed results of following Jesus

One host argues that the defensible proof of God's goodness is not debatable healings but the certain transformation when someone follows Christ: how they see their wife, children, work, and the world changes. Citing the Matthew 5 way of life, the hosts say these changes are the reliable witness they can bank on when talking with people who do not know Jesus.

Bad experiences with faith healers

The hosts recount painful encounters with traveling healers: one promised a 12-year-old with a learning disability a cure, failed, then blamed the child and his mother for lacking faith. They describe healers at a music festival whose claimed cures did not last, and Pants, who has MS, declining their 'help' with the answer that he and the Lord are fine — a response one host calls his favorite of the whole episode.

Relevant Magazine's nine things to do when reading the Bible

• What is a good reference for understanding the historical and cultural context of the Gospels?

The hosts read through and react to a Relevant Magazine article listing nine habits for Bible reading: read 'King' where you see 'Christ'; read the plural 'you' (y'all); chase down every 'therefore'; distinguish conditional from causal 'if' statements; lament freely; read prophecy as forth-telling; learn the king's idioms; remember the Bible is literature, not an instruction manual; and read to refresh the heart. They agree with most, rate some (the plural-you point gets a zero), and riff on memorizing Amos, Bible dictionaries, and the dubious 'Jesus folded the napkin' internet story.

Host additions: the whole-Bible story and reading with imagination

Adding their own tips to the article, the hosts urge readers not to drop the Old Testament — the New Testament plus Psalms gives a thin angle, and knowing where God's story comes from deepens everything Paul, John, and Peter write. They also defend imagining the human emotion in Scripture (the look on Peter's face when Jesus says 'get behind me, Satan') without turning interpretation into personal invention.

Pope Francis's family paper and the integrity of information

• Do people today twist words and take things out of context more than people did in the past?

The hosts discuss Pope Francis's sweeping paper on family issues (noting its conservative teaching on homosexual unions paired with a call to treat every person with dignity), recommending listeners read the whole document rather than headlines or partisan spin. That sparks a long reflection: were arguments of the past more trustworthy because information traveled slowly and verbally, or have people always twisted words for their own ends? The consensus: ends-don't-justify-the-means faithfulness matters now more than ever, with one host noting he keeps up with the pope's writings because they are genuinely thoughtful.

Dear LFTP: the dentist who talks politics

• My dentist talks politics while working on my teeth and I disagree with him — how should I handle it?

A listener writes that her longtime dentist has started talking politics during procedures; she disagrees with him but cannot respond with his hands in her mouth and fears spite if she speaks up. The hosts advise developing thicker skin and just enduring it — make a pros-and-cons column, tune out, memorize Amos in your head — then descend into a comedy bit about a dentist who would only discuss news from fifteen-plus years ago. The Dear LFTP 'secular answer' offers a gentler script: ask him to refrain from stressful current events.

Dear LFTP: donate or buy the broom?

• When a disabled vendor sells me something I do not need, should I take the goods or just donate?

A listener and her husband disagree over a blind man who sells brooms door to door: she donates and declines the goods, he says accept them so it is not a pity donation. The hosts side with the wife — brooms are a once-a-decade purchase, so the brooms are just a conduit for donations — and joke about sneaking the broom back into his bag and slipping him a fake 'Jesus twenty'. The secular answer agrees: donate, keep the closets clutter free. A side bit imagines handing five dollars to a McDonald's cashier as a pure donation.

Dear LFTP: engaged, but no dogs allowed

• I am engaged to the man of my dreams but refuse to let his two house dogs live in my house — what should I do?

A thrice-married listener writes that her new fiance — the man of her dreams — has two house dogs she refuses to have in her house, putting the wedding on hold. The hosts pile on: she is the common denominator in her relationship history, she is asking for a servant rather than a marriage, and — agreeing with the secular answer — if she cannot share him with his pets, she should let him go. They marvel the dogs did not come up before the engagement.

Show close

The hosts sign off, giving the contact email and closing with the show's benediction: be faithful in the means, and God will handle the ends.