October 31 2011

Home-run prayers

• Is it appropriate for athletes to pray for wins and claim God told them they would hit a home run?

A host opens the episode with a hard question about whether athletes should pray for personal success: if a welder or lawn-mower worker prays to be the best for God's glory, should a baseball player pray to hit a home run for God? The hosts debate whether God 'gives a rip' about who wins, and whether public God-thanking after wins moves any nonbeliever. The chat raises whether onlookers actually find such credit-giving credible.

Does God care about the small stuff?

• Does God intervene in the granular, day-to-day details of life, or does he let things spin?

Framing Dan's welder example, a host asks the broader question: is God involved on a granular, day-to-day level, or does he let things spin? They discuss Josh Hamilton telling the press 'the Lord told me' he would hit a home run in the 10th inning, and whether people project their own intuition onto God in a 'stoic voice.' The discussion lands on: God can do whatever he wants, including small things.

Discerning God's voice from your own intuition

• How can you tell whether a thought or impression is God's voice or your own intuition?

The hosts wrestle with how to tell when a thought is God speaking versus one's own conscience reflecting the Spirit after constant prayer. Peter's 'I feel like God wants me to jump out of this boat' and the Deuteronomy test for a false prophet are invoked: you only know a prophet is false after his word fails. One host argues inconsistency with Scripture is the earlier tell.

Granular providence: Elijah's widow and feeding the 5,000

A host cites Elijah and the widow with the cakes as a genuinely granular example: God met her daily needs without changing her status in life. Another host offers Jesus feeding the 5,000, reframed as one small need — a meal — met 5,000 times. They close with a sung riff: 'God can be in the big stuff, he can be in the small stuff.'

Small vs God-sized work; pray and move

• Is there a danger in justifying small, seemingly unfruitful work as 'reaching the one' when God may not be in it?

A host turns the granularity question inward: is it dangerous to justify small, seemingly unfruitful work — like their own modest-audience show — by saying 'we're just reaching the one'? The answer they settle on is continual asking and seeking, because God measures differently; one host cites how Pathway Church was set up through prayer rather than loud-voice voting. Biblical 'move and check' examples follow (Israel stopping to ask God, Joshua's defeat at Ai, Saul refusing to wait for Samuel), ending with the motto 'pray and move.'

Halloween talk: costumes, candy, and Courageous

Halloween debrief: Pants's mom handed out candy, one host saw the movie Courageous as a Halloween tradition, and another dressed as a Viking warrior (with a toga) to go trick-or-treating with Ann's family. Courageous is reviewed as the best Kendrick brothers film yet — '97% realistic, 3% cheese' — and they note the recurring cast overlap with Facing the Giants.

Knock-knock jokes

A comedy bit: a host performs three self-written knock-knock jokes — Abraham Lincoln, Kung-fu with a 'chopper jam' action, and Cash — with the other hosts rating them. The interrupting-cow joke closes the bit before the show returns to Halloween evangelism.

The American Tract Society's Halloween tracts

• Is dropping evangelistic tracts in children's Halloween candy bags an appropriate way to share Jesus?

A host reads aloud a news article about the American Tract Society's Halloween outreach: millions of gospel tracts (Peekaboo Jesus Loves You, Light Up the Night, Costumes Are Cool But Heaven Is Awesome, Sweet Treat) dropped in kids' candy bags, plus the ministry's history since 1825. The article quotes Reverend Rick Warren urging Halloween evangelism and ends asking whether pitching faith to strangers' children is appropriate.

Tracts are for cowards: lazy evangelism

The hosts savage tract evangelism as lazy, cowardly, unloving religion — a passive dodge instead of building a relationship at the door. Dan delivers a sarcastic riff imagining Jesus handing out tracts at the well, in the temple, to the thief on the cross, and Peter distributing them at Pentecost. They read the actual ATS tract titles, note the $250 price, recount a father's million-dollar-bill habit, and conclude tracts betray 'lazy, cowardice, unloving' religion.

24/7 prayer room update: the throne room

Broadcasting from their prayer-room location, the hosts report the 24/7 prayer room lapsed Saturday overnight and is now simply open, not 24/7. They reflect on the 'throne room' installation — a chair on a table with movie-theater curtains meant to evoke God's throne — plus the dramatic audio-Bible voices, the cross, and last year's Holy of Holies room. Their consensus: 'what you put into it is what you get out of it'; one host describes praying with his family on the floor and picturing the real throne they will one day see.

Penn Jillette's atheist Ten Commandments

A host reads atheist magician Penn Jillette's book God, No! and the ten 'commandments' Glenn Beck challenged him to write: highest ideals are human intelligence, creativity, and love; don't put things or ideas above human beings; say what you mean; rest and think; be there for family; respect and protect all human life; keep promises; don't steal; don't lie; don't waste time envying. The hosts' first take: if human intelligence, creativity, and love are the ideals held 'above all,' society is in trouble.

Reacting to the commandments: bug nutty

The hosts work through commandments two through ten: 'don't put ideas above human beings' is read as an attack on faith; the 'say what you mean / don't lie / keep promises' trio is counted as one; 'bug nutty' sends them to dictionary.com and becomes a running gag. Their summary: man-driven guidelines stink because of man — the ideals are inconsistent because people define intelligence, creativity, and love differently. 'We are not as smart as we think, not as creative as we think, and not even close to as loving as we think.'

Dear LFTP: couples who won't spend a night apart

• Has our culture made married couples insecure and unable to spend a night apart?

The Dear LFTP letter: a married woman asks whether culture has made couples insecure and unable to separate for even a night, citing friends whose husbands won't attend events alone. The hosts call it immaturity and passivity rather than culture — the husband should 'put on a pair of pants' and go to his reunion — while noting the younger generation may conflate constant togetherness with love. The secular advice agrees: many couples operate this way by mutual agreement; it isn't a cultural crisis.

Dear LFTP: 50-year-old single man and the coworker

• Would a 50-year-old Christian man's very different background from a coworker impede a healthy relationship?

Dear LFTP letter: a single, never-married 50-year-old man raised with conservative Christian values is drawn to a coworker twice married with two children, and asks whether their different backgrounds would impede a healthy relationship. The hosts say it depends entirely on where she is spiritually: if she doesn't share his faith, don't pursue it; if she does, her past is irrelevant. A woman's perspective in the room adds: core values must match — if they match, everything else works; if not, nothing will. The secular advice stresses a meeting of the minds as well as the hearts.

Troy on singleness and God's will

After skipping a poor question and noting internet connection trouble, Troy — single and addressed by name on air — talks honestly about not wanting marriage or a relationship right now: he is focused on himself, his walk with God, his work, and getting healthy, and feels he isn't mature enough for a relationship. He stays open: if God wants it, he will go where God leads, including family or even missions. The hosts accept the answer as healthy.

Dear LFTP: wife walking around naked in front of the boys

• Should a mother cover up around her young sons rather than walk around nude or topless?

Dear LFTP letter: a father of three boys (11, 8, 3) says his wife walks around the bedroom and bathroom naked or topless in lacy underpants and asks whether she should cover up. The hosts unanimously agree she should cover up around the boys: parenthood costs some freedom with naked business; locks on doors, not strutting around. The secular advice agrees — a touch of modesty is the best policy; keep the door shut and have the boys knock.

Sign-off: guests thanked, next week's guest

The secular advice for the nudity letter is read, then the show closes: thanks to special guest Pants Whetstone, to Troy, and to Ann for the lady's perspective. They tease next week's guest — Shane Vanderhart of Child's Heart — and close with a quacking bit and a sung 'I'm all out of love.'