The Skeptical Bible Survey

Show open from the Pathway studios

A host opens the show from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper, then introduces the night's framing: a feeling of despair about the moral state of the culture after last week's discussion of an adultery survey.

Cultural despair and the shifting abortion debate

A host describes a new sense of despair after listening to talk radio and reading surveys: moral degradation everywhere. The hosts recall how abortion used to be debated only around extreme exceptions, while now the framing has shifted to treating the practice as an unqualified good.

Grieving for a generation

A host remembers grieving in high school for friends and for a generation steeped in the sexual overtones of the music, then recounts nearly weeping at a barbecue restaurant when an 80s song glorifying casual sex came on.

Arranged-marriage reality show and the marriage metaphor

A host describes a commercial for a show where strangers marry on first sight, matched by data experts, and reflects that data will tell you anything. The hosts discuss how marriage is the Bible's image of Christ and the church, and how a culture that treats marriage as disposable and a generation without fathers lose the metaphors God uses for himself.

The skeptical Bible-reading survey, part 1

A host reads from a survey, 'the skeptical state of bible reading in 2017': 52% call the Bible a good source of morals, about a third call it helpful/true/life-changing, and 81% told the American Bible Society and Barna it is the actual or inspired word of God. The hosts note the gap between calling it God's word and living like it.

Would you shoot the robber? Property vs a man's life

A host recounts a workplace argument: asked what he would do if someone broke in to rob him, he said he would just give them the stuff, since killing a man over a TV values property over a life that still has time to know the Lord. The coworker said he would shoot the man in the face. A host's response: 'You're arguing with God on this one, not as much me.'

Believing God without being changed by him

The hosts press the survey's tension: people acknowledge God exists yet show no reaction to it, keeping two incompatible thoughts in separate bags. A host argues that when the Bible says 'believe,' it means tangible response, the way the disciples gave up everything and followed Jesus, not mere mental assent.

The stool in the room

A host offers the stool analogy for belief: you can say you believe the stool is in the room, but if you never sit in it, you don't actually believe it is there, because nobody would stand for fifteen years when a stool is available.

'Written by men' and the manipulative-book claim

A host reads more of the survey: 19% say the Bible is only teachings and stories written by men, and almost four in five of those skeptics say it was designed to be manipulative or controlling. The hosts counter that Jesus lived homeless serving people and warned against worshiping money, so any such manipulation only shows up when people are not following the book.

Antagonistics vs skeptics: demographics and hot buttons

A host reads the survey's split between 'antagonistics' (avg age 41, largely unmarried non-Christian males) and softer 'skeptics': 9% of antagonistics and 25% of skeptics are open to reading the Bible more. Notably, antagonistics are more bothered by being called intolerant (25%) than immoral (21%).

Stop qualifying, just share the gospel

A host pushes back on the survey numbers: knowing statistics does not tell you how to talk to a real person. The hosts land on sharing the gospel without pre-qualifying people, illustrated by a host's dating analogy: treating evangelism like asking someone out only after triple confirming they would say yes.

The Catholic coworker foot-in-mouth

A host recounts criticizing a Catholic doctrine in front of a coworker without realizing the man was Catholic, and the awkward walk-back. The hosts joke about running into Hillsong people and a transubstantiation one-liner.

Do the surveys change anything?

• Does knowing where Bible skeptics stand change how you share the gospel?

Asked how three weeks of survey reading has changed anything, a host says probably nothing changes except knowing Jesus, loving people, and being in real relationships. A guest who plants churches in a Mormon context is cited: you don't need to be front-loaded with cultural information; changed lives and kindness, like the former Islamic terrorist won through dreams and kind Christians, are what tell the story.

Mistaken for the Pope

A host tells how he was mistaken for the Pope at the get-and-go, and, cornered into giving advice to the people following him, told them: 'You need to serve people.'

Serve-people Tuesdays

A host explains his practice of designating a 'serve people' day, usually Tuesday after the radio show: looking at everyone as someone with inherent worth to serve, from the supply closet to calling a friend he has not seen in months, and how deciding to dislike someone blocks him from serving them.

The light burden

The hosts reflect that serving brings replenished energy because God helps carry the work he assigns; carrying your own burdens leaves you miserable and out of energy. A Christian, they note, cannot write people off the way others can; the burden for the world is broader, but it is light because Jesus helps carry it.

Dear LFTP: the lamp joke

The Dear LFTP mailbag opens with a gag letter: 'Dear live from the path, I'm dating a lamp. My wife is okay with it. Is it really adultery, though?' — a callback to last week's adultery survey.

Dear LFTP: the friend who won't accept gifts

• Why does my longtime friend refuse every gift and offer to pay for it?

A listener writes that a longtime friend reacts to every gift with 'oh, no' and offers to pay for it, and the friend's daughter has learned the same habit. The hosts suggest talking about it, reading it as meekness rather than hostility, or simply quitting the gifts. The Secular answer suggests she feels unworthy and traces the behavior to her mother.

Dear LFTP: the eighth-grade romance

• Should we keep our relationship if we won't be able to see each other as often?

A listener 't's in love' writes that he is in eighth grade and his girlfriend is starting high school at a good school downtown; should they keep the relationship or break up? The hosts counsel industriousness over drama: get a bus pass or ride a bike, stay connected, calm down. The Secular answer says to let it play out and discuss it in the fall.

Close: faithful in the means

The hosts sign off: be faithful in the means, God will handle the ends.