Where Do I Start?

Show open

• Where do I start if I'm interested in God but don't know anything?
• How do I start a prayer life?

Ben introduces himself on-air and opens the show from the studio on Des Moines Amplified, naming the night's topic: 'Where Do I Start?' — practical guidance for people curious about a relationship with God, including where to begin reading the Bible and how to start a prayer life. He invites chat listeners to share their first experiences with coming to Christ and gives the studio call-in number, 327-1007.

Beggar's Night banter

The hosts trade Halloween stories after Beggar's Night: a nine-pound bag of M&M's handed out by the spoonful, kids dressed as Justin Bieber, and a daughter's knock-knock joke ('Hatch who? Bless you'). The bit turns into a mock debate over whether trick-or-treat is bribery or blackmail, and a story about pranking a pizza delivery driver by moving his car a few houses down.

Week catch-up: wrestling, YouTube, church news

Mike, addressed by name on-air, talks about falling down a WrestleMania 6 rabbit hole on YouTube — Hulk Hogan vs. the Ultimate Warrior, Bad News Brown vs. Roddy Piper — while another host admits he could never get into pro wrestling. They note the show's YouTube channel is nearing 2,000 hits, recap last week's 'who needs the church anyway' discussion, and share news about Steve and Stacey Hartkopf of their church, whose baby was born while Steve was deployed with the army.

Bob Seger and the YouTube drummer

A host rants about searching YouTube for Bob Seger's 'Get Out of Denver' and finding, as the top result, a video of a man drumming along to it on his home stereo with no stage performance at all. The bit opens with the observation that wrestler Ted DiBiase, the Million Dollar Man, looks exactly like Bob Seger.

Setting the question: where do I start?

• Where do I start if I'm interested in God but don't know anything?
• Where do I start reading the Bible?

The hosts formally frame the episode around the Christ-curious — people interested in a relationship with God who have never really tested it out and don't know where to begin. They land on the first step: a humble spirit before God that acknowledges need, since the usual reason people avoid God is that they have made themselves the one calling the shots in their own lives.

Bad examples are a barrier, not an excuse

The hosts argue that hypocritical Christians are a legitimate barrier to belief but a bad reason to reject God: fallible people are unreliable sources about an infallible God. The answer is to go to the Bible itself, 'the great equalizer,' rather than trusting someone else's secondhand version of what God says — people will always fail you, and their failure is not God's.

Don't judge God by his people

A host tells of a childhood friend turned away from Sunday school for wearing a Metallica shirt — 'your kind's not coming in here' — as an example of churches putting up barriers Jesus never did. The hosts say bad experiences with people or churches should be weighed against what the Bible actually teaches, not treated as evidence against God himself.

Focus on who God is; follow Christ, not people

A host recounts counseling a couple who kept getting distracted by side questions — whether their dead pet monkeys are in heaven, what about starving people in Africa, what if a coconut falls on someone — instead of focusing on who God is first. The discussion turns to the danger of following people instead of Christ: a mature believer like 'Jeff' can help you grow, but he will fail you, and whole churches implode when a famous leader falls, as the Apostle Paul warned with 'follow me as I follow Christ.'

Biblical leadership vs. corporate leadership

The hosts contrast a corporate leader, who brings his own vision and direction, with a biblical shepherd, whose value is consistency in presenting God's word — 'I'm not leading you to me, I'm leading you here.' They joke about church factions splitting over trivial differences — 'the box talkers' versus the non-box-talkers — as a symptom of following leaders instead of Christ.

Faith is not weakness

The hosts push back on the idea that faith is a crutch, citing the political line about people 'clinging to their guns and religion,' and argue that refusing God is the real false strength — like calling the middle class strong after taxing the rich to fund it. They walk through Jesus' hard sayings to the rich young ruler ('go sell all your stuff and follow me') and 'let the dead bury the dead' as proof that following Christ is a life of service, not the easy way out.

God welcomes hard questions

The hosts name two more barriers: refusing moral accountability — the sense that 'I can get away with it' versus an ultimate judgment on right and wrong — and rational or scientific objections to the Old Testament. They recommend provethebible.net for apologetics and insist God is not threatened by questions; you will never ask one that embarrasses him. They contrast this with faiths such as Islam and Mormonism, which they say treat questioning as a sign of weak faith.

The Bible stands up; find someone to walk with you

The hosts argue the Bible cannot be a conspiracy: nobody sustains a multi-thousand-year lie that its own martyrs willingly die for. They retell Lee Strobel's story — an atheist Chicago Sun-Times journalist who set out to debunk his wife's new faith, said 'if you're there, let's do this thing,' and ended up writing The Case for Christ. For the new believer, they urge finding a mature believer for discipleship — 'the Jesus way always includes discipleship' — while checking everything against Scripture yourself.

Knowing God personally through prayer and Scripture

A host urges simple, direct prayer — 'God, I don't know who you are, help me' — saying intimacy with God changes people, and warns against gambling your eternal life on someone else's word instead of reading the Bible yourself. He describes re-reading Revelation and seeing Christ as a conqueror rather than the meek figure of the Jesus movies, and cites Isaiah's 'I am a man of unclean lips' as what happens when a person truly encounters God. Real change, they say, is God's job, not the church's — nobody needs to be screamed at about their shirt.

Repentance: let God do the changing

• Where do I start in changing my life?

The hosts define repentance as a change of direction — a mental decision to start living for God — and urge new believers to let God handle the list of things to change, one thing at a time, instead of trying to fix everything before coming to him. A host describes waking up each day telling the Lord, 'I'm available' — the only thing that disqualifies you from being used by God is saying you're not. They reference producing 'fruit in keeping with repentance' as the visible byproduct of a changed life.

Chat questions: what must one do to be saved?

• What must one do to be saved?
• At what point is someone saved?

Reading listener questions from the chat — one host tosses the first to Dan by name — the hosts answer that faith is always the baseline: belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of the living God who died physically and rose physically, since 'demons believe and shudder' too. But 'say this little prayer and you're saved' is a farce, they say: repentance, baptism per Matthew 28, and a godly lifestyle run all through Scripture. Asked at what point someone is saved, they compare it to asking at what point a couple is married — the vows, the rings, the license, or the consummation — arguing the question splits hairs Scripture doesn't.

Salvation is a process, not a prize

• Doesn't Catholicism teach that justification is a process?

The hosts argue the church too often sells salvation as 'anti-hell' instead of teaching the relationship itself, then walk through a hypothetical new believer, 'Joe Blow,' from first interest through repentance to baptism. A host offers the 'sit in the chair' test: if you truly believed someone died horribly for your sins, you would sit in the chair he offers — refusing to even approach it means you don't really believe it's there. They decline a chat question about Catholic teaching on justification as a process, admitting they don't know the answer, and warn against Christians endlessly debating doctrine while 'a guy in the hallway doesn't know Jesus.'

Don't split hairs; get into the word yourself

The hosts say they would rather spend energy reaching the lost than winning theology arguments with other believers, citing Timothy on not quarreling over words. They insist listeners check everything the hosts themselves say against Scripture — 'don't trust what I say... you better be telling me the truth, Daniel' — because leaders who lead people down the wrong path are the ones who will answer for it.

Where to start reading the Bible

• Where do I start reading the Bible?

For a new reader, the hosts recommend the New Testament first: the Gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke, John — to meet Jesus, then Acts for how the church works, then the letters for how a believer should live. They warn against starting in the genealogies and say every part of the Bible serves a purpose, but 'Deuteronomy is prime rib' while new believers need milk — a beginner who opens at the begats will bounce off, where starting with Matthew meets them where they are.

Prayer: what it is and how to do it

• How do I start a prayer life?

The hosts describe prayer as talking to the living God with both awe and relaxation — like talking to your father, 'daddy,' as Romans puts it. The Lord's Prayer is presented as a pattern, not a script to repeat: worship, daily needs, forgiveness, God's will, in whatever order and at whatever length fits. They stress praying for protection from the evil one, insisting Satan is a real being with real sway on earth — 'the earth is the devil's playground' — and that while Christ wins, the devil's goal is simply to get you to stop worshiping God.

Argue less, witness more; a baptism story

After a joke about settling the Satan question with a thumb war, a host argues that debating fine points of doctrine with other believers is usually a waste of the energy meant for reaching the lost — 'when your new God is the nuts and bolts of God instead of being God, you've got a problem.' He shares his own story: he became a follower of Christ in fourth grade but wasn't baptized until years later, when reading Acts 2 on forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit convicted him, and he did it as soon as he knew he should.

Finding a home church

• How do I find the right church?

The hosts warn against picking a church for cool music, flashy programs, Kit Kats, or a charismatic preacher — comparing church-shopping to marriage: look for mutual fit and real connection, not popularity. Above all, they say, it must be biblically sound, which is hard to judge without knowing the Bible — so check the teaching yourself. One host found even a successful ministry's '25 Days of Ben' sermon series twisted verses out of context, and a BookSneeze sports devotional for men ('In the Zone') shoved irrelevant verses into its lessons.

Recap, next week, and sign-off

The hosts recap the night's answer to 'where do I start': start talking to God and ask for his help — but don't test him, joked through a bit about asking God to shave off an eyebrow and the real meaning of John 14:14 ('you may ask me for anything in my name'). They preview next week: a discussion of suicide prompted by events at Southeast Polk, and the debut of 'Fairy Tales from the Path,' a project Ben came up with, named on-air. A story about a pastor shot in church — one bullet tearing through his Bible, which led thousands to a simple gospel video — sparks talk about deacons carrying weapons. The show closes with the running gag about the made-up verse 'Luke 47:15,' a YouTube plug, and sign-off banter about antacids.