Turned Over Not Over

Live open: a big news week

• How should Christians react to the overturning of Roe v. Wade?
• Should the praying football coach have been fired?

A host opens live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proper and frames a big news week: the Supreme Court decisions on abortion and on the praying football coach. The hosts joke about needing black robes, claim their late-night advice-giving qualifies them for the bench, and ask Nathaniel whether he found any other newsworthy items.

Dobbs: a court ruling, not a law

• How should Christians react to the overturning of Roe v. Wade?

A host walks through the overturning of Roe v. Wade, arguing it was always a judicial ruling and the real failure was both parties punting instead of passing clear laws; interpreting the Constitution is the judiciary's job. He cautions Christians against calling the court radically corrupt and warns that the ruling didn't make abortion illegal — it pushed the fight to the states, where some will fund abortion tourism and others will ban it.

The church's mission didn't change

A host argues the church's mission is identical before and after the ruling — 'what we were doing three weeks ago is the same as what we're gonna do three weeks from today' — whether Nero, Constantine, Hitler, or Bush is in charge: make disciples and change hearts. He says he is thrilled Roe fell but criticizes Christians who 'don't know how to win,' over-celebrating like a team that rolls around after a touchdown instead of expecting to score.

Pro women, not women versus babies

A host argues Christians should be pro women and refuses to pit women against babies — 'if our conversation is pitting women against babies, we've failed.' He empathizes with women abandoned by men who walk away without consequences, notes some people now say plainly 'I'm not pro choice, I am pro abortion,' and says striking down the interpretation changes nothing about the perilous situations women face.

Dan's story: choosing the baby over the mother

Addressed on-air as Dan, a host tells of the time his family believed they had to choose between the life of their unborn child and his wife's life — and both concluded 'baby wins,' because life begins at conception and the wife would sacrifice herself for her child. He frames it as a decision made from a foundation of faith and eternal perspective, not from affordability or comfort, while cautioning you don't push that framework on someone three months into a pregnancy.

A failure of men; Christians are adopting

A host calls abortion largely 'a failure of men' — men who abandon women face no shame while the consequences fall heaviest on mothers — and says he is 'all up for shame' toward men who treat women that way. He pushes back on the 'why don't you adopt' challenge, arguing Christians do most of the adopting, fund most of the charities, and do most of the foster care, while admitting the church has room to grow.

1 Peter 2-3: witness inside a bad structure

A host teaches from 1 Peter chapters 2 and 3 — the household codes telling slaves, wives, and citizens to live honorably under unjust power — arguing Peter and Paul (in Philemon, asking him to receive his slave back as a brother) chose witness-through-example over blowing up the social structure. Applied to the news week: Christians should bless the world so thoroughly that accusers are shamed by their own accusations.

Matthew 16 at Caesarea Philippi: the kingdom replaces, it doesn't lobby

A host walks through Matthew 16 at Caesarea Philippi — Jesus saying 'on this rock I will build my church' while pointing at the Gates of Hades and temples to Pan, where worship included sexual deviance — arguing Jesus never tried to shut the temples down with Roman law; the kingdom enters hearts by the Spirit and behaviors change from within. He shares a friend's video of a mass-baptism revival in Africa as the kind of thing Christians should actually be celebrating.

Every law is a morality; is the church's giving a mirror of its priorities?

• Is America becoming a Christian theocracy?

A host argues political victories are shallow and transient — 'our God is not a swinging pendulum' — and pushes back on the theocracy charge: all laws encode some morality, including 'murder is bad,' so a law agreeing with God's position doesn't make a theocracy. He then turns the spotlight on churches, noting 80-90% of church money stays inside the walls, and calls it a good time for a health check on whether giving reflects real priorities.

Nathaniel weighs in; how shall we live?

Asked for his thoughts, Nathaniel says he is deeply in agreement and confesses he hadn't even heard the news until a host mentioned it Sunday — prompting ribbing about getting a newspaper and a joke that a host will text him 'hey, Ben. What's the news?' every Wednesday. A host invites listeners to call the Bob Eisenlauer complaint line with thoughtful reactions and asks the 'how shall we live' question: have you taken inventory of what you post, give, pray, and who you actually know?

Coach Kennedy: the 6-3 prayer ruling and Nacho Wednesday

• Should the praying football coach have been fired?

A host reads the Supreme Court's 6-3 decision that the Bremerton School District wrongly punished high-school football coach Joe Kennedy for praying at the 50-yard line after games, arguing the legal question is religiously neutral — the same reasoning that covers a boss's 'Nacho Wednesday' covers private prayer. He draws the line at misuse: fire a coach who retaliates against non-praying players, not one who quietly prays while students are otherwise occupied; be cautious about minority-report policing of what authority figures might do.

The prayer-rug test and the nudist church

The hosts stress-test the ruling's principle: if the praying coach is protected, so is a Muslim laying out a prayer rug on the 50-yard line — 'no one converted to the Lord Jesus today because that court case was won,' and the precedent cuts both ways. A host recounts a real 1980s flyer inviting him to a nudist church that cited Genesis ('naked and felt no shame') and uses it as a hermeneutics lesson: 'You were born of your father, Adam. You do have shame. Put a loin glove on, friend.'

Dear LFTP: the ex-husband living in the van in her driveway

• How do I get my ex-husband out of the van in my driveway?

A listener writes that after she and her husband bought a van, her husband suggested her ex, Paul — homeless, choosing to be taken care of — buy it; Paul now lives in the van in their driveway, crashes on the couch, works in their business, and blows his pay on junk, and she feels like a second-class citizen. Nathaniel theorizes the new husband feels guilty for 'putting the moves on this guy's wife.' The advice: be firm with the current husband, tell Paul directly he must leave (call the law if he refuses), and get counseling without Paul; the Secular answer agrees the arrangement is crazy and guests, like fish, stink after three days.

Dear LFTP: friends who want online reviews of a dishonest book and a bad CD

• How do I handle friends' requests for online reviews of a dishonest book and a bad CD?

A listener is asked to review a friend's divorce book that gossips untruthfully about her ex (hiding that she committed the adultery) and a friend's music CD she can't enjoy. The hosts advise: be honest but kind — find one true positive thing about the music, and decline the book review rather than lie ('rather than contradict you in an online review, I'm just gonna pass'); addressed as Dan, a host tells how Bob Russell graciously endorsed his self-published late-90s book of columns. The show closes with a grocery-store story about a cook who didn't wash his hands and the standard benediction: be faithful in the means, God will handle the ends.