Renewing Deuces and Fearing God

Show open and flu-vaccine banter

The show opens with the standard studio intro, then the hosts riff on a flu-vaccine study claiming the shot is not very effective on the young, the old, or the overweight, joking that a neighbor coughing in your face would save the drive.

The dead complaint line and on-air regrets

A host notes the complaint line has gone quiet and owns a recent on-air embarrassment: his remarks about a comedian's misconduct came out sounding like he blamed the victims. The co-hosts pile on with their own past missteps and dub themselves the shock jocks of Christian radio.

Is there no fear of God anymore?

• Is there no fear of God anymore?

The hosts ask whether anyone fears God anymore, arguing that modern accountability infrastructure tries to replace a missing fear of God. One host tells of a church member who wanted accountability from someone intimidating, and admits he once avoided sin only to dodge an embarrassing accountability conversation.

Confession, the temple, and public sin

• Is it okay to put up proper fences, like accountability structures, given human fallibility?
• If public confession were the road to repentance, would you do it anyway despite what others think?

The conversation turns to public confession and the hosts' discomfort with it, then to how public the temple sacrifices were: everyone watched who walked up with which animal. They joke about a temple gossip mill and note the early church held things in common, including, uncomfortably, sin.

How do you get the fear of God?

• How does a person get more awe, respect, or fear of the Lord?

The hosts wrestle with how anyone cultivates awe of God in a Western culture with no ultimate authority to respect. They land on correct teaching of who God is, contrast avoiding God after sin with confessing to him directly, and note that God's forgiveness means the sin is gone while human memory keeps score.

A dream of standing in God's presence

A host recounts a vivid dream of being in God's presence in a tinkerer's workshop, seeing only his back like Moses in Exodus, too afraid to ask whether he could stay until the room's warmth convinced him of God's faithfulness. The hosts connect it to Isaiah's reaction and to God's pattern of saying fear not rather than leading by intimidation, then to Jesus giving the disciples room to choose.

Justice, mercy, and the weight of sin

The hosts argue you cannot under-color God's forgiveness or over-color his justice, compare today's churches to Malachi's priests who called evil good, and insist the fear of God cannot be forced into anyone; it is a recognition of reality that produces submission.

Renewal proposal: Wednesday prayer meetings

• Do we have to gather in person to pray, or can everyone just pray at home at the same time?

Returning to the church-renewal proposals, the hosts debate reviving Wednesday evening prayer meetings when only one or two percent show up. They cite the line that the prayer meeting tells you how much people love Jesus, weigh praying at home against gathering, and conclude faithful people should pray together regardless of turnout.

Renewal proposal: a cross in every sanctuary

• Have we made too much of the symbol of the cross and forgotten the act?

Proposal five, a cross in every sanctuary, gets a cool reception: the hosts agree the symbol is fine but warn against investing in the symbol while forgetting the act, drawing the same line with communion elements versus actual remembrance.

Renewal proposal: four scripture readings weekly

Proposal six calls for four scripture readings weekly, including a psalm as a call to worship and paired Old and New Testament texts. The hosts like more Bible in the service but worry that jumping texts loses kids and adults alike.

Renewal proposal: fasts and feasts

Proposal seven encourages Lenten and Advent fasts alongside real Easter and Christmas feasting, with collective fasts and churchwide celebrations like line dancing and food trucks. The hosts like the communal angle but doubt non-Christians would come celebrate something they do not believe.

Dear LFTP: the babysitter in the bed

• How should a daughter-in-law approach the babysitter who naps in the couple's bed and wears the husband's clothes?

A grandmother writes in: the babysitter naps in her son and daughter-in-law's bed and occasionally changes into the son's clothes. The hosts debate whether either is actually a problem, land on the clothes being weird, advise the son to deliver one direct warning himself rather than loading it on the daughter-in-law, and read the blunt Secular answer.

Dear LFTP: trick-or-treating in another neighborhood

• Is it rude to take kids trick-or-treating in a neighborhood you do not live in?

A rural family got a passive-aggressive windshield note for trick-or-treating in the grandmother's neighborhood. The hosts side with the family, mock the note-writer, and read the Secular answer about the neighborhood witch. The segment closes with a Wicca tangent and a mock-chronicle bit built on one host's rambling stories.

Close and sign-off

The show closes with the complaint-line number, a mention that a guest is coming in a couple of weeks, and the sign-off to be faithful in the means while God handles the ends.