Humble Faithful Idiot

Show open: intros, the like-and-subscribe bit, and the missing joke punchline

Ben opens the show from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proper on a Monday evening and introduces Dan Hudson. The hosts do the 'like and subscribe' bit they claim covers them for ten years, then ask the complaint line for a punchline to a joke whose setup (three priests) nobody remembers — ideally a punchline with no premise, so they can pair them up. Halloween is coming and they need a good joke.

The docket: 'but why not?' and the Mars Hill re-listen

• But why not? Why does God permit what he could prevent, and withhold good things that align with his character, like children for faithful couples?

Ben lays out the two main topics. First, the hardest question for a genuine follower of Jesus: 'but why not?' — when God's character and blessings (offspring, land) seem clear, yet he permits or withholds things that don't align, like faithful couples praying for children with no answer. Second, Mike's re-listen to the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast prompts a question about personal responsibility: when a church leader fails, how much blame can be offloaded before it becomes an abdication — 'don't make me raise my voice at you' at home being the domestic version.

Mars Hill: character is made, not given

• When a spiritual leader falls and hurts people, to what extent are followers victims — and where does personal responsibility begin?

Ben works through his re-listen of the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill: Mark Driscoll's teaching did real work in his life as a younger man, but the story is one of aggressive leadership and bad stewardship. The missing piece on the podcast is personal responsibility — faith is something God gives ('increase my faith'), but character is made, not a gift. The integrities tend to fail as integrity problems, and 'they can put the clothing on, but they still walk like a wolf.'

Church hurt: don't farm out your faith

The hosts push back on the 'church hurt me so I deconstructed' frame: a leader's fall shouldn't touch your identity in Jesus any more than a coworker getting fired makes you quit your job. One host tells his PTL Club story — sending Jim Bakker money as a kid, the PTL Bible, the latch-rug logo — and when Bakker's scandals broke, 'never once did I think, he stole my $25, my faith is ruined... I gave my money to Jesus.' Dan tells how the pastor he came to Des Moines to plant with fired him over an affair and embezzlement; he kept his mission.

Noah built the boat alone; Apollos is not the point

Ben draws Noah: mocked as a moron while building the ark for years, he wasn't dependent on the world's agreement — 'God said to do a thing, I'm gonna do a thing.' The apostolic rule stands: 'I follow Paul or I follow Apollos' is exactly the wrong frame; 'follow me as I follow Jesus, and when I don't follow Jesus, don't be following.' The warning is against baking your identity into a person, brand, or church label instead of Jesus himself.

'Humble faithful idiot': the gospel thrived on weak vessels

The episode's thesis lands: 'your gathering of people who love Jesus should be able to survive a humble faithful idiot.' For most of church history the only leader around was a humble faithful idiot who could read John 3:16 and pray — and the gospel survived and thrived. That is the caution: if your faith needs a talented man on the platform, it was never built on Jesus. The JFK-ISH aside: people come to a church to see what it can do for them instead of what they're doing for it.

Come to consume or come to participate

The hosts take apart consumer Christianity: the church was never designed to relieve you of the burdens of discipleship — those burdens are the discipleship. 'How can you not do what the Father's doing?' If you understood the gift, you'd go 'how can I not tell other people?' The culture instead dumps everything on a talented few — 'just get them to Mark, he'll do it' — and the early church turned heads precisely because 'all their things are shared amongst everybody else.'

Takeaway: the brothel thought experiment and 'am I a fool?'

The takeaway question: is any of my identity tied up in a human edifice? The show could stop tomorrow and Jesus is still good. Ben tests it with the brothel thought experiment — if Dan and Mike opened a brothel and said it was all a show, he'd grieve, then come back and say 'frickin' Mike and Dan have gone nuts... Jesus is good.' But honesty demands the flip side: 'am I a fool? Have I believed something because I wanted to, or because it's true?' Being disappointed by a fallen leader is not being wounded; and he is more likely to deconstruct watching his own behavior — 'If there's a God, I don't know why he's tolerating this.'

'But why not?': the crisis of faith over God's permission

The second main topic opens: Ben once hit a crisis not over 'God causes all this bad' but over 'God allowed it.' God's blessings are clear — offspring, land, 'go forth and multiply,' the knitter in the wombs — yet faithful couples lose pregnancies and children die young. Stephen Fry's atheist objection gets a hearing: the parasite in the eye of a starving child in Africa, built into creation's mechanisms. 'My heart's aligned with his heart. I believe he can, and I know he wants it — and it didn't happen. I think that's the hardest question.'

Fallen world, Job, and 'he owes me nothing'

One host answers from loss: he and his wife lost two children between the two they have. The base is a fallen world — 'any life we have is a blessing and a positive, it's a plus' — and Job's question stands: 'where were you when I...?' God owes him nothing, which gave no warm fuzzies but kept the faith unshaken. Ben's robber analogy: if Mike watched a thief ransack your house and then offered to hold your hand, that's what 'God will walk through this with you' can feel like. C.S. Lewis's nouns-and-adjectives reframe: we are descriptors of the God in heaven, not the main point.

Eternal perspective and the mourning we were built for

The hosts add layers: an eternal perspective — 60 years is nothing against 20,000 years of a soaring soul; he fully expects to see his two lost babies in eternity. God is not capable of not-good, and Jesus wept over Jerusalem — his heart breaks over the design gap. And mourning is right: we are built to want what God designed, so 'your heart has to catch up to what your mind knows in faith' and 'there's pain in the middle.' Right answers can be true without being emotionally satisfying.

Trusting the mystery, not explaining Eliphaz-style

The landing: never do Eliphaz-style explanations on God's behalf — 'you don't know any of that, shut up.' The comfort is a stone pillow: God sees from a different perspective, is faithful, and 'will not be thwarted from doing the thing that he wants to do.' One host reframes deconstruction as renovation — chucking out furniture that no longer makes sense, not tearing the house down. Israel's cycle, the grafted vine, and God's promise-keeping ('when I make a promise, I keep it') mean faith can survive the mystery. Then the Bob Eisenlauer complaint line plug.

Dear LFTP: the birthday-gift pressure

• My friends insist on giving me birthday presents I can't reciprocate. Shouldn't my wishes have been respected since it's my birthday?

Mike reads the first Dear LFTP letter: a part-time worker paying her own health insurance asked friends to skip presents at a triple birthday dinner; they refused, saying she needn't reciprocate. Counsel: her wishes were respected; the conflict is internal pressure — 'at the end of the day it's a pride thing... you're fighting a fact.' The Secular answer: 'please don't feel disrespected by their generosity.' And: if they're friends, have honest conversations; if not, stop calling them that. A kid acting 'zesty in a Walmart' illustrates the same point.

Dear LFTP: the spontaneous husband and the 7 p.m. date

• My spontaneous husband starts a project at 5 p.m., fails to cancel our 7 p.m. date, and shows up late in work clothes. Please advise.

Mike reads the second letter: a planner wife of two years whose spontaneous husband started a household project at 5 p.m., agreed to cancel their 7 p.m. date, never told the other couple, then showed up 45 minutes late in work clothes. The hosts rule the framing unfair: the problem isn't planning styles, it's rudeness — 'he's wrong because he did not tell the other people.' She's owed a conversation, not punishment, and should manage his fallibilities instead of trying to teach him a lesson. The Secular answer: his behavior was thoughtless and rude; her biggest mistake was fibbing to cover for him.

Close, benediction, and the outro song

The hosts close: thanks for listening at livefromthepath.org, YouTube, or the podcast feed, and the complaint line (515) 517-0085 for feedback. The standing benediction: 'In the meantime, be faithful to the means. God will handle the ends.' Then a short outro song plays — 'Go to those at ease who sing idle songs... The Lord won't relent till justice is fair.'