Folk Ain’t Happy

Show open and episode docket

The show opens live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. One host tells Ben he is excited to be here, and the docket is set: Boova's social question about sale-item ethics (teased with Ben's made-up word “effluvium”), an article asking whether you can be holy and happy, Mike's “pope style” advice coming via Hosea, a retro edition of Secular vs Solomon built from old notes, and Dear LFTP letters. A callback to last week's “woke or toke” game rounds out the preview.

Article: why people reject Christianity, and record unhappiness

• Can you be holy and happy at the same time?
• Are people actually unhappier than past generations, or just more willing to say so?

A host reads an article arguing that beneath surface objections, two reasons top the list for rejecting Christianity: bad experiences with professing Christians who look nothing like Christ (with Gandhi's line about liking Christ but not Christians), and the sense that the Christian life's moral demands make for joyless drudgery. The piece cites a Gallup “Blind Spot” finding that unhappiness is at a record high, and the hosts begin debating whether people are truly unhappier or simply more willing to say so than previous generations.

Trauma, triggers, and gaslighting: words losing their meaning

The unhappiness discussion turns to how therapy words have been diluted: one host argues “trauma” no longer means anything when bad days and homework count as traumatic, Dan describes mentoring high-schoolers who stream through a snack room claiming trauma over ordinary school stress, and another host extends the point to “triggered,” “microaggression,” and “gaslighting” with examples of each being misused. The segment closes with a long reflection on the loss of community mindset, using the COVID response as a case study in how a self-focused culture abandoned shared sacrifice.

Self-focus vs substantive work: the article's answer

The hosts work through the article's core claim: unhappiness tracks self-focus, while substantive work for others — mission medicine, Dan's every-other-week homeless-camp ministry — leaves people oddly joyful even amid suffering. The discussion ranges across indulgent vs genuinely helpful self-care, the deadening effect of endless streaming, wealth's spiritual blindness (with the running Tangier thought experiment), a C. S. Lewis quote on real right and wrong, Romans 6 on being “slaves of sin,” Jonathan Edwards on holy affections, and Jesus' line that the hungry for righteousness will be filled — landing where the article lands: only when you are holy are you truly happy.

Mike's pope-style advice from Hosea 13

Mike delivers his “pope style” advice from Hosea 13:5-6 — God knew Israel in the wilderness, but once they grazed and were full, their hearts lifted and they forgot him. He confesses the pattern in his own life: desperate, minute-by-minute seeking when he has nowhere else to go, then drifting back to the radio the moment things ease. The counsel is simple and hard: give God your heart and attention voluntarily now, because if he has to come take it, Israel's history (and Mike Fust's) shows how that goes. He signs off with “Get off my lawn.”

Complaint-line plug and Secular vs Solomon setup

A host plugs the Bob Eisenlauer complaint line for calls and texts, then the retro edition of Secular vs Solomon is introduced: recycled proverbs notes, pithy sayings to sort into secular or biblical wisdom, with a country-of-origin guess required for secular ones — a rule aimed squarely at Dan. Banter about olive oil in coffee and Dan's non-coffee-drinking ways fills the setup.

Secular vs Solomon: the game rounds

The full game plays out. Dan, prompted first, calls “a drowning man is not troubled by rain” secular and guesses Canada, specifically Niagara Falls (answer: secular, Iran). Rounds continue through “slack hand causes poverty” (Solomon, Proverbs 10:4), “whoever works in integrity walks securely” (Solomon, Proverbs 10:9), “a monkey never thinks her baby's ugly” (secular, Kenya), “with his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor” (Solomon, Proverbs 11:9), “the bear and the bear hunter have different opinions” (secular), “hunger is the best sauce” (secular), and “anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down” (Solomon, Proverbs 12:25). Comedy detours include the Bay of Pigs, Jesus creating the first bay of pigs with the demoniac's swine, and Dan's “contested regions” answers. The game closes with a plug for more rounds at the show's website.

Transition banter: dating sites and the guitar bit

Between segments the hosts riff on non-skeezy dating profiles, landing on FarmersOnly.com as the answer, tease Mike's brand-new guitar theme bit as the reason the show is getting old, and reassure themselves that every decision they have ever made is solid gold — before the host cues up Boova's effluvium story.

Boova's social question: sale ethics, future hot dogs, and cologne

• Is it a schmuck move to buy up far more than average of a sale item?

Boova poses his social question: if an item is on sale and you buy far more than the average person, are you a schmuck? The test case is his own: four $1 hot dogs at the Hy-Vee Fast and Fresh, two eaten fresh and two eaten two hours later as “future hot dogs.” The room debates doorbuster vs consumable ethics, hears about his planned memoirs “table for one, please” (chapter 14: future hot dog) and his habit of rescuing roller dogs headed for the trash into Ziploc bags, then gets the second story — a gas-station attendant telling him “you smell nice” and a whole conversation comparing Bourbon and Ocean scents. A tangent on wives asking husbands about other men's pants and a rant about big men who dress badly round out the segment.

Dear LFTP: the unaffectionate live-in boyfriend

• Should I leave my live-in boyfriend because he is not affectionate enough?

A mature divorced woman writes that she has lived with her boyfriend for two years; he is a good man but shows little affection and their sex life is “mechanical,” and she asks whether she should leave. The hosts press on the foundation first: living together without marriage means the safety and commitment that make growth possible do not exist yet, so get married, then work on it. Other counsel: examine expectations (novels vs reality), teach rather than resent — illustrated by the curtain-closing anecdote — and communicate plainly since men rarely have the same things on their minds. Secular's answer: fill him with love and affection, ask directly for what is wanted, and teach him what was never patterned for him.

Dear LFTP: the brother who learned about his nephew on Facebook

• Should I be upset that my sister did not personally tell me about her new baby?

A listener who has not spoken to his sister in two years learned from a general Facebook post that she just had her fourth child, making him an uncle again, and asks whether he should be upset. The hosts are unsparing: it is her fourth kid, he has ignored the other three for two years, and Facebook is doing exactly what it is for. Their prescription is to be the “funkle” — show up, bring bikes or a karaoke machine, stop manufacturing hurt. Secular's answer agrees: much depends on why contact lapsed, half the blame may be his, and he should pick up the phone before they drift further.

Outro: reviews, glaucoma, and the benediction

The hosts close by begging for complaint-line feedback so the phone company does not shut the number off, ask for Apple Podcasts reviews, riff on Player FM listeners and glaucoma, credit “future hot dogs and glaucoma with Boova,” and sign off with the standing benediction: be faithful in the means, God will handle the ends.