2017 Episode 1

Show open — first Monday of 2017

Produced musical intro followed by the live show open on the first Monday of 2017. A host welcomes listeners, commits to 52 shows this year after a spotty 2016 of missed Mondays, and restates the show's tagline of honest faith, fierce grace, and donkeys. Contact info is given for listener email.

Tonight's show roadmap

A host previews the episode: a New York Times interview in which columnist Nicholas Kristoff asks pastor Tim Keller whether he is a Christian, plus a rebuttal to Keller's answers; a Dear LFTP advice segment to ring in the new year; and an interview with Basecamp founder Jason Fried on protecting attention.

Protect your attention

Inspired by an interview with Basecamp founder Jason Fried, the hosts discuss guarding attention: Fried runs his business from a single 13-inch laptop at full screen, counts the real cost of meetings, and the hosts connect it to phone notifications, email, news refreshing, and social media owning their focus. They talk about anxiety from constant connectivity, a parenting story about refusing to feed things that own their kids, and a Mark Driscoll counseling quip before asking listeners to rate the show on iTunes.

Kristoff interviews Keller — the questions

• Am I a Christian — can someone be a Christian while doubting the virgin birth and resurrection?

A host reads through the Nicholas Kristoff interview of Tim Keller: whether the virgin birth is essential, whether the resurrection must be taken literally, and where that leaves a doubter — a Christian, a Jesus follower, or a secular Christian. Keller's answers are read in full, including his Greenpeace-boundary analogy, the women-as-first-eyewitnesses argument, N. T. Wright on the birth of the Christian movement, and his line that rejecting the resurrection or other Apostles' Creed beliefs puts one outside the boundary.

Hosts react — doubt, grace, and why churches settle for community

Mike (addressed by name on-air) responds to Keller's answers: he holds grace for genuine doubt while insisting that rejecting Jesus as the Son of God leaves only a moral philosophy, not Christianity. The hosts ask why someone would want the Christian label while rejecting its core tenets, and discuss how churches engross people in warm community while failing to produce committed Jesus followers.

Reading Peter Enns's rebuttal

• Is it okay to doubt? Can doubt coexist with genuine Christian faith?

A host reads the rebuttal by Peter Enns, who argues Keller's answers sounded dismissive rather than pastoral: the resurrection accounts genuinely differ, the virgin birth appears only in Luke and Matthew, and a pastoral response should begin with empathy and respect before drawing lines. Enns contends mainstream evangelical answers inadequately address faith's pressing questions and have driven people away unnecessarily.

Pushing back on Enns — miracles are supposed to be hard to believe

A host disagrees with Enns's call for a more political answer: Keller answered the man's actual question, and miracles are hard to believe by definition — that is why they are called miracles. The hosts argue that if Jesus is God, neither the virgin birth nor the resurrection is a problem, cite the unmatched attestation of Jesus' exorcisms, and say they follow Jesus not because he was wise but because he is the Son of God.

Why do you want to be a Christian? Boundaries and truth

The hosts press the inclusivity question: what draws someone to the Christian label while rejecting the virgin birth, resurrection, and miracles, when a Unitarian church would welcome them? They argue definitions provide exclusivity, doubt is healthy when answered God's ways first, and the virgin birth is theologically necessary — with an earthly father there is no sinless atonement. They close the topic by recommending both the interview and the rebuttal, affirming skepticism while refusing to soften truth, and inviting listener email.

Dear LFTP — grandparents, a money request, and cut-off grandchildren

• Should we loan our daughter and her husband money for rent and electricity?
• Can we fix this relationship? Will our daughter come around?

A host reads a listener letter: the writers' daughter Doreen and her husband John moved their four grandchildren away after being cut off financially, and now demand a loan for rent and electricity while a sister-in-law bars contact with the grandchildren. The hosts call it holding the grandchildren for ransom, advise verifying the facts and refusing the loan, but suggest offering direct help once — paying the power bill to the company and bringing groceries. They read Secular's answer (emotional blackmail; the daughter will come around when she needs them) and agree with it.

Sign-off — be faithful in the means

The hosts close the first show of 2017, ask for iTunes ratings, and sign off with the show's recurring line: be faithful in the means, God will handle the ends.