Can We Always Be Like Jesus?

Show open from the Pathway Studios

Ben opens the show live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston; Mike jokes that he is lucky to be alive. Ben frames the night's core question: is Jesus always the example, or are there things Jesus does that Christians are not meant to exemplify?

Is Jesus always the example?

• Is Jesus always the example? Is there anything Jesus does that we are not meant to emulate?

Ben poses the series question: is there anything Jesus does that we are not to exemplify, whether from inability or lack of intent? Mike raises healing: Jesus knows whether he will heal, while Christians pray without knowing the outcome. Ben counters that the New Testament presents Jesus's interaction with the Spirit as similar to ours. Mike adds that Jesus knew his mission, turning his face toward Jerusalem, while most Christians feel unsure what they are supposed to do. They agree to take turns bringing examples of Jesus's behavior and testing whether each is exemplary, possible, and normative.

Rundown: guests in studio, Dan and Boova out

Mike notes the Foust ladies are in the studio as guests after a kid swap; Dan is out on a plumbing issue and Boova's whereabouts are unknown, prompting Kaibo King jokes. They preview the night: a Dear LFTP letter about a husband who will not lock the doors, a round of Is This Love with Ella, and a question from Sunday's church discussion, teased as 'did you find the cheesecake,' which never resurfaces.

The Cheese King rabbit hole

A riff on people who call themselves king of something, Smoothie King, banana king, Kaibo King, leads Ben to Google the king of cheese live on air: Dr. M. S. Reddy, chairman of American Dairy and Food Consulting Laboratories. The room debates his nationality from his photo, reads the Urban Dictionary definition of Cheese King, a crown of mozzarella, cheddar, and Swiss, finds a 1950s Milton Bradley board game called King of the Cheese, and fails to load kingcheese.com. They task the Foust ladies with researching the Cheese King for the next show.

Jesus invites out rather than berates

• Does Jesus invite people out of sin more than he berates them for being in it?

Mike brings a point Ben made at church on Sunday: Jesus invites people out of something more than he berates them for being in it. They wrestle with the difficulty, you cannot invite someone out of something they do not think is wrong, as with the Pharisees. Ben refines it: Jesus invites people into the truth, not merely the good. He does not go around the room naming hatred; he teaches that hate equals murder. After the Mount of Transfiguration he calls the disciples a faithless generation yet keeps teaching them instead of giving up on them.

Calling people into something better

Mike's alcoholic-friend example: if someone sees no problem with their behavior, all you can offer is something better. Ben extends it to marriage, people test-drive casual relationships yet still marry, reaching for something deeper. Mike cites Ecclesiastes' Preacher on honor and wealth never satisfying; Ben cites the woman at the well, whom Jesus does not shame but calls into something greater. Ben shares his own story of deleting roughly 1,500 illegally downloaded songs the day he recognized it as theft.

Sneaking snacks into the theater

Ben's piracy confession detours into a debate with the girls over whether sneaking snacks into a movie theater counts as theft: carrots and snap peas versus Raisinets, organic apples the theater does not sell, and whether popcorn is a high-decibel food.

The patience of Jesus

• Is it possible for us to have the patience of Jesus?

Ben states the pattern: Jesus calls people to true things with patience, John the Baptist's 'brood of vipers' directness being the exception, and grows exasperated only with those who know the truth and refuse it. He plugs the Bob Eisenlauer complaint line, (515) 517-0085, for counterexamples. Grace observes, 'We are not Jesus, and we don't have his patience.' They ask whether Christians can share Jesus's patience, Ben says yes, though it requires extreme humility, and they work a clean-your-room example with the girls: reminding and inviting beats lecturing, and Jesus expects people to take a principle and apply it rather than demanding specifics.

Performing integrity versus living it

Mike confesses that Christians are skilled at making love and integrity look real, birthday calls, grand gestures, while phoning it in; the real joy is in actually putting others first, prompted by the Holy Spirit. The room agrees that people try to cheat the gospel, performing the appearance of integrity rather than living it.

Game: Is This Love?

After a brief lost-thought 'poof' transition, Ella hosts her recurring game: she reads scenarios and the room votes love or not love. Round one: a girl talks to her ex at the grocery store, the room says no, Ella reveals yes, she wants to apologize and they get back together. Round two: a man brings his wife flowers, unanimous no, the flowers are poisoned deadly nightshade. Round three: a man introduces himself as Dewey Skaggs and the girl laughs, yes, it is love, she laughs whenever she meets someone attractive. The bit repeatedly derails over the man's name, Dwayne or Dewey. They close by asking listeners to weigh in via the complaint line and re-task the girls with Cheese King research.

Dear LFTP: the husband who will not lock the doors

• How can I get my husband to take locking the doors at night seriously?

Mike reads a letter from a 37-weeks-pregnant mother of a toddler: her husband repeatedly leaves the sliding patio and garage doors unlocked and brushes off her concerns by citing their two large dogs; she asks how to address it. The room advises: be firm but do not threaten, threats assert power, which Jesus never does with people, only with demons; frame it as 'this matters to me, will you humor me'; recognize nine misses in roughly 900 days is 99 percent success and thank him for the 891; set an alarm if he agrees; have grace for misses since it is not top of mind for him. Ben ties it back to the night's theme: Jesus is a teacher more than an authority figure, inviting people into Yahweh's ways rather than commanding compliance.

Secular answers the door-locking letter

Mike reads the Secular answer: the husband's carelessness about his family's safety is shocking and immature; she will have to lock up herself, should consider remote locks, and could hire a dog trainer to stage a break-in through the unlocked door to test the dogs. The hosts say Secular overplays the hand, reasonable people differ on locked doors, and Mike admits he does not lock his own doors because he would rather a thief walk in than kick the door in.

Sign-off

Ben asks listeners to leave comments and reviews, thanks Jessica for hers, and closes with the show's benediction: 'be faithful in the means, God will handle the ends.'