Top Bible Searches of 2020

Show open from the Pathway Studios

A host opens the show from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper, noting the studio looks like it's falling apart. He previews a couple of articles he's found, starting with a piece on the most-read Bible verse of 2020.

Bible apps, paper Bibles, and what you take in

• What is the most-read Bible verse of 2020?

The hosts discuss a report that searches on the YouVersion Bible app increased 80% this year, then compare Bible apps (YouVersion, ESV, Blue Letter Bible, Logos) against paper Bibles. A host reflects that replacing two daily social-media sessions with two Bible-reading sessions changes thought processes and the heart.

Confession of phone addiction and Microsoft's behavior analytics

A host confesses he slid back into phone addiction while working from home, describing Microsoft's employee behavior analytics that reported he opens 90% of emails within 30 minutes. He reflects on how the phone steals attention from family and work, reframes constant availability as letting anyone walk into your house unannounced, and admits the phone deceived him into feeling he had nothing to do.

The year's most-searched verse: 'do not fear' (Isaiah 41:10)

The hosts read the Christianity Today article: the most-searched, read, and bookmarked verse on the YouVersion app was Isaiah 41:10 ('do not fear, for I am with you'), continuing a running theme ('do not worry', 'do not be discouraged'). They riff on a 'do not be afraid appears 365 times' meme and joke that the command makes sense only when God's actual presence shows up.

Dan on preaching Zechariah and Gabriel's 'do not fear'

• Can angels go into the holy of holies?

Dan, preaching for 36 years, walks through Luke's account of Gabriel appearing to Zechariah in the holy place during the incense offering — bucket-list moment, 20,000 priests, the crowd outside, the blessing of Aaron. The hosts joke about how angels enter scenes and why 'do not fear' is the necessary first line.

Bible Gateway's 2020 search trends: pandemic, politics, end times

Continuing the article, the hosts read Bible Gateway's four key themes people turned to the Bible for: pandemic (disease, pestilence, plague), politics (praying for government, obeying government), and end times. They joke about searching 'pestilence' and suspect political-verse searches are people trying to prove a point on social media.

Reading Chronicles: grace upon grace

A host who just read through both books of Chronicles describes the cycle — God says 'I will be with you,' Israel goes the opposite direction, God shows up anyway — and the Asherah-pole moments that make the reader beg the characters to listen. He concludes the Old Testament God and Jesus have the same heart: grace upon grace, with justice paid on Jesus.

Exile but not destruction: God's pattern of mercy

A second host picks up the thread: God's relationship with his people is consistently exile-not-destruction as a call to repentance — Adam and Eve, Cain, Babel, Moses' petitions, the Canaanites after 400 years. The just consequence is communicated, then mercy intervenes. They add the woman caught in adultery as the small-scale picture.

What is Jesus's personality? The Enneagram says all of them

• Does reading the Bible on your phone outweigh the distraction risks?
• What is Jesus's personality?

A host poses a question he couldn't shake: what is Jesus's personality? The hosts compare film portrayals (King of Kings vs The Chosen), note Jesus is never 'playing a part' the way humans are, then check the internet's answer to 'Jesus's Enneagram' — he turns out to be all nine types: perfectionist, helper, achiever, individualist, investigator, loyalist, enthusiast, challenger, peacemaker.

Verdict on the phone Bible: it depends on who you are

Returning to the phone question, the hosts land on 'it depends on who you are.' Dan describes the empty-nest iPad hour with his wife Cheryl where they sat an hour looking at screens without a word, and the hosts agree faith habits come and go like prayer and family attention.

Hating the news: is information overload too heavy to carry?

A host describes his growing hatred of the news — two paragraphs in, all he feels is weight — and how one day lost to an event beats years lost fearing it. He wonders whether humans are built to carry the world's information, drawing a parallel to the Reformation putting the Bible in every hand: access makes every person responsible for what they now can know.

Cranky or Righteous? — the new game pitch

The hosts pitch a new game — 'Cranky or Righteous?' — for judging whether a gripe is righteous conviction or just crankiness. Dan reflects on avoiding church style battles since his twenties. They apply it to in-person vs. online church during COVID: companies run on video, but can culture survive without gathering? They plug the Bob Eisenlauer complaint line (515) 517-0085 as the place to send your own cranky-or-righteous verdicts.

Two clean jokes from the internet

A host reads two 'clean jokes' from jokes.christiansunite.com: a missionary recruit in Venezuela who imitates the man next to him and stands when the preacher announces the Acosta family's newborn, and the boy who washes his dog with laundry detergent. Laundry pods, dishwashers, and wet hands spark a digression.

COVID supply-chain woes: dishwashers, Dyson, and local shops

The hosts trade COVID-era supply-chain stories: a three-month-backordered dishwasher and three months of hand-washing dishes (which a host calls a blessing for the kid conversations), a Dyson vacuum with no phone support, and a local appliance store that fixed a pump the same week. Buy local gets the endorsement over faceless big-box companies.

Dear LFTP: the thermostat wars

• Should the woman let her fiance set the temperature since she pays all the bills?

A host reads a Dear LFTP letter from a 46-year-old woman engaged for the second time: her fiance lives with her and her two kids, pays nothing, and complains the house is too cold. The hosts warn against playing the budget game, call the us-vs-them territorialism a marriage red flag, and suggest splitting up. The Secular answer: yes and yes, and he should buy a portable heater.

Dear LFTP: the husband in sheer tights

• Is it acceptable for a man to wear sheer tights and nothing else outside the house?

A host reads a Dear LFTP letter from a woman in her early fifties whose husband wears ballerina-sheer tights and mesh shorts in the garage and in front of neighbors, promising to stop and never doing it. The hosts decide it's a line-crossing perversion problem once it affects other people, not just old-guy goofiness. The Secular answer: he appears to be an exhibitionist; check local indecent-exposure ordinances.

Outro: cranky-or-righteous survey, ratings, and sign-off

The hosts close with the cranky-or-righteous survey (text the complaint line), a plug for the December 7 show, a request for podcast ratings and reviews, an apology to YouTube subscribers for slow video uploads, and the sign-off benediction: be faithful in the means; God will handle the ends.