2016 Episode 32

Show open and studio banter

A host opens the show with the standard station identification from the Pathway Studios in Johnston. Two other hosts join with a deliberately garbled alternate-station riff. One host notes on-air technical trouble: a co-host appears blue on the monitors and a screen fell onto his feet, then runs through the evening's lineup.

Culture-war exhaustion: previewing the Matt Moore article

• When will the war against sin end?

A host previews a Christian Post opinion piece by Matt Moore titled 'Christians Prepare for Lifelong War', about Christians asking when the war against sin and the culture will end. He summarizes Moore's angle — weariness over the temptation of sin — and frames the show's discussion: is the author's note right, and how should Christians respond to constant cultural pressure.

Porn article teaser and joke guesses

• What are three things about porn that you won't hear in church?

A host introduces a second article from the XXX Church team: 'three things about porn that you won't hear in church.' The other hosts offer joke guesses — stolen credit-card data, paid subscriptions — and admit they have no real guesses. One host offers an early thesis: pastors struggle with porn at the same rate as everyone else, and the church's silence means no progress gets made.

Dear LFTP preview and the race-categorization riff

While previewing the Dear LFTP letters, a host mentions one from an Anglo woman worried she may be insulting Hispanic neighbors by speaking Spanish to them. This sparks a long comic riff: questioning why anyone still says 'Anglo-Saxon', blaming stubbornness on Dutch ancestry, researching the Duchy of Saxony, and mocking an immigration form whose race choices lump 'white / Hispanic' into one box. The hosts joke that checking one box lets a hypothetical Hispanic 'Mike Foust' pass as the host Mike.

Porn point one: porn is culturally acceptable, especially to the young

A host reads the article's first point: porn is becoming culturally acceptable, especially among young people, backed by a Barna Group survey showing only 32% of young people say viewing porn is usually or always wrong — versus 56% who say failing to recycle is wrong. The hosts laugh at the imbalance and one rants comically about hating his recycling bins.

Porn point two: people in the pews are struggling, and accountability pairing

A host reads the second point: plenty of people in the pews struggle with porn but would never admit it at a potluck. The hosts debate whether the church is failing or whether individuals are failing to tell anyone: one argues the fix is private one-on-one conversation, another compares a formal 'Saturday at ten' porn program to being recognized in a church parking lot. They discuss one-on-one accountability pairings, whether a struggling sponsor helps or hinders, and the awkwardness of confessing to another man.

Porn point three: pastors struggle too, and honesty from the pulpit

A host reads the third point: a majority of pastors (57%) and youth pastors (64%) have struggled with porn, with 55% living in constant fear of discovery. The hosts argue a pastor's problem is separation from Jesus, not image management, and that congregants should expect leaders to be human sinners. One host says he doesn't trust a pastor unwilling to admit imperfection, while another cautions that Paul's qualifications for elders mean leaders should have most of it together.

Parables tangent: ears to hear and the dishonest manager

A host observes that Jesus communicated through relatable parables, unlike a pastor disconnected from his congregation. That sparks a tangent: listeners who hear Jesus's parables without understanding, a host joking that his failure to grasp a parable is temptation toward Reformed theology ('maybe I'm not the elect'). Another host confesses he has never understood the parable of the dishonest manager — it reads like the thief was praised.

Article conclusion and practical advice: public honesty and mile markers of freedom

Finishing the article, a host reads its call to move from talk of 'victory' to 'lasting freedom' available to pulpit and pew alike. The hosts share practical advice: men serious about quitting live publicly — never deleting internet history or texts, handing passwords to their wives, installing XXX Church accountability software that alerts a partner. One host calls open living 'mile markers of freedom': celebrations that remind you what you'd give up by going back.

Pamela Anderson's op-ed, Anthony Weiner, and the photo bit

A host cites Pamela Anderson's Wall Street Journal op-ed with Rabbi Shmuley warning about pornography's dangers, then notes Anthony Weiner's sexting scandals show he's no different from the average churchgoer — just caught. One host orders the women out of the room for a 'men only' bit: women do not want photos of men's penises, and men who send them are creating backed-up, undated embarrassments. The bit ends with a joke about a Live From The Path app button that plays a voice saying 'you made a mistake two seconds ago.'

Reading the Moore article: 'Christians prepare for lifelong war'

• When will the war against sin end?

A host reads Moore's article at length: struggling saints ask 'when will it end?', wondering whether persistent sin means their flesh-combat strategies are ineffective or whether they are even saved. Moore admits the doubt-laced arrows have hit his own heart, and asks whether the divine blood of Christ shouldn't have freed him more from sin's presence. Another host complains the author is paid by the word.

Galatians 5:17: the flesh versus the Spirit, and cowardice

A host continues Moore's article: the normative Christian experience is unceasing war, citing Galatians 5:17, and reads the verse aloud in the NIV. The hosts agree that scripture promises battle, not ease, and that the expectation of smooth sailing is a false premise. One host reframes the problem as cowardice: Christians refuse to 'put on the armor of God' because it weighs '60 pounds of badassery', preferring gossip and porn to the fight.

Two responses: exhaustion versus guilt; God's love through the dirt

A host distinguishes two versions of 'when will this end?': the man tired of doing hard things ('shut up, deal with it') and the man crushed by guilt who longs to be pure. The latter, he argues, must first realize that God loves him entirely through the dirt — hating the sin while loving the son or daughter — and then fight from that identity. The segment closes with one host agreeing and pivoting to prayer practice.

Fighting well: pray specifically, expect shots fired, grow fruit over time

The hosts give practical counsel: pray by naming the sin out loud ('God, give me the fight'), because internal handling doesn't work. One host notes you can't wander a battlefield surprised that shots are fired, and that the expectation of ease is the unscriptural premise to root out. They close the topic on the fruits of the Spirit: patience, peace, and love are only real when sustained over time and demonstrated against opposition.

Dear LFTP: the Anglo librarian's Spanish-language question

• Is an Anglo speaking Spanish to a Hispanic person insulting or intrusive?

The hosts open the Dear LFTP advice segment with a letter from a retired Texas librarian who describes herself as Anglo. She speaks four languages; a Hispanic friend told her that an Anglo speaking Spanish to a Hispanic person is insulting, and a retired Spanish teacher said it violates a language boundary. She fears she has offended her Spanish-speaking neighbors by speaking Spanish to them and asks what to do.

Advice on the letter: mirror their language; Secular's answer

The hosts advise: stop blanketing people with your communication — if someone speaks English to you, answer in English; if they ask for Spanish, answer in Spanish. They mock Americans' arrogance with other languages (slow loud talk, multilingual 'no smoking' signs) and read Secular's answer: assume everyone speaks English first, and ask your neighbor directly whether the Spanish offends them. The segment detours into a story about one host touring Paris saying 'pardon' to everyone for two days.

Dear LFTP: husband who explodes during projects with his wife

• How should a husband handle his anger when doing projects with his wife?

A host reads a second Dear LFTP letter: the writer and his wife Jennifer just finished a project and he is furious. He spent 25 years in heavy industrial construction and took woodworking classes; his wife has no building skills but becomes 'an engineer' minutes into a project, and he explodes — cursing and throwing things — shouting 'if you know how to do it, why do you need me?' He poses no explicit question beyond telling the story.

Advice: stop throwing things; you're a handy guy, not a factory builder

The hosts tear into the letter writer: he sounds like a terrifying Neanderthal, an elitist who can't take direction from his wife, and should ask whether he explodes at everyone or just her. They mock his credential-inflation — 25 years of heavy industrial construction likely means running a crane, which doesn't qualify him to remodel a bedroom — and one jokes he's not 'building an Okinawa missile.' The verdict: love your wife, say 'thanks, sweetheart,' or stop doing projects together.

Secular's advice on the letter, then the brass-knuckles question

• Is it illegal to own brass knuckles?

The hosts read Secular's milder advice: if you become so volatile you lose control, refrain from doing projects together. One host says that's softer than his answer — the writer should stay away from people until he straightens up. A joke about 'boober' bras leads a host to ask whether it's illegal to own brass knuckles, and the table agrees to look it up live.

Iowa brass-knuckles law and the Jason Eaton case

Reading from Google results, the hosts research Iowa weapons law: owning brass knuckles is legal, but carrying a concealed dangerous weapon is an aggravated misdemeanor, and metallic knuckles were removed from the statutory list in the 1979 code review. They read the 2015 Jason Eaton case — an Iowa Supreme Court appeal over brass knuckles in a glove box — where the sentence was vacated because the state never proved the knuckles could inflict death. The hosts joke about applying for a brass-knuckles permit and about how bad at fighting Eaton must have been.

Wyoming knife, knuckle necklaces, and chopped salad

The brass-knuckles tangent continues: one host looks up the Wyoming knife — a crescent blade that looks like a kitchen mezzaluna — and the hosts riff on wearing knuckles as a necklace, using a revolver to peel apples, and whether three brass rings count as knuckles. This dissolves into a Subway chopped-salad debate over the sweet vinaigrette. The segment ends with the table deciding to do a parables quiz.

Parables quiz: 9 out of 10, then sign-off

• Can the hosts score well on a 10-question parables quiz?

A host introduces an online 10-question quiz on Jesus's parables. The hosts work through the answers together — the rich fool's bumper crop, the tares among the wheat, the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price, the workers' denarius, the virgins' oil, the talents, the mustard seed, the prodigal son's gifts, and the woman's ten coins — scoring 9 out of 10 (missing only the rich fool's fate) against the quiz's 66% average. They recap Secular's earlier missed advice, then sign off: contact info@livefromthepath.org, visit livefromthepath.org, and the closing tagline.