December 26 2011

Show open and Christmas service recap

The show opens with the produced intro voiceover and a Merry Christmas greeting from the Pathway Studios in Johnston, Iowa. The host introduces himself on air and notes that Dan is out sick after sounding bad at the Christmas service. The hosts recap their Christmas service, held this year at a hotel conference center instead of the usual school, which made it feel relaxed — though the lack of coffee was a disaster.

Show agenda and Paul's letters

• What counts as a hill to die on — which truths are worth fighting over?

The hosts lay out the night's agenda: holiday stories, a 'midnight Jesus' Christmas Eve story, follow-up on last week's studio guests from the dive and the Goofy Pink Bible, Bart's 'hill to die on' question, and Bible reading notes. They discuss the apostle Paul's letters and his direct, fiery, unschooled preaching style — 'love Jesus, here's why' — with no interest in church-growth technique.

Christmas traditions

A host asks Pants about his Christmas, which was quiet since the family leaves the next day. They compare family Christmas traditions — grandparents on Christmas Eve, Santa on Christmas morning, church, then presents — and note the last few years have become 'free-range,' with everyone doing what they want.

Chicken-sitting

A host recounts being volunteered by his wife to chicken-sit for new country neighbors over the holidays, including a panicked moment when a chicken slipped under the wire. He describes collecting a dozen big eggs a day and his unease eating farm-fresh eggs without government oversight, though the cooked eggs were good. The segment closes with the hosts joking that he would prefer corporate, medicated chickens.

Facebook Jesus posts

The hosts complain about Facebook faith chain-posts threatening that Jesus won't bless you if you don't repost, and about confrontational 'don't take the Christ out of Christmas' posts. They argue person-to-person evangelism on social media comes off as judgmental and factional, comparing it to a billboard: 'burn in hell or love Christ, those are your options.' One host notes the only online faith statement that lands is simply 'God has really blessed me.'

Taking Christmas for granted and God-designed personality

Reading a chat comment from Bigger Street about needing the Jesus part of Christmas, a host reflects on taking for granted a childhood where Christmas was celebrated for Christ's birth, and the danger of forgetting what the season means to others. He extends this to God's relational nature: God designed each person's distinct personality, and the area of one's greatest pull toward sin is usually where God has entrusted them to work for him. The takeaway: look at your proclivity to sin and turn it toward Jesus — like becoming a locksmith for Jesus.

Sin as guidepost

The hosts argue against tackling individual sins one at a time as a moral checklist, saying that produces only morality, not the love of Christ. Instead of making the sin the guidepost, they say, make Jesus the guidepost: pursue Christ and the sins fall away, since victory over sin is Christ's victory, not ours. They close with Jesus' words, rendered here as 'I am the way, the truth, and the light.'

Troy's Christmas and beards

Troy joins the conversation and describes a mellow Christmas — a relief after the last two years, which fell shortly after his mother and father died. The hosts riff on a Slate.com article titled 'Why Does God Love Beards,' debating whether beards make old men look robust, including one host's wife's grandpa who shaved for a job at Adventureland and looked like a Galapagos tortoise.

The mystery ham

A host tells the story of a creepy bearded old man who left a thermal tote on his porch and drove off in a white cargo van with a greyhound. Inside were three nested garbage bags containing a Christmas ham with an unreadable tag mentioning Southridge Mall and a new battery. The hosts debate whether it was a blessing or a poisoning, who the intended recipient was, and whether receiving an unwanted ham counts as looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Troy fits the armchair

Troy announces a milestone: he now fits into one of the studio's regular armchairs instead of the armless chair. He credits watching what he eats — no fast food, no pop — while pushing back on people who police his diet at work. The hosts joke about Dan's Christmas message on gorging yourself on apples.

Wise men, nativity art, and Noah's flood

• Did God flood the entire world or only the region where mankind lived?

The hosts question nativity-scene portrayals, noting the wise men likely arrived a couple of years after the birth, consistent with Herod's decree against children two and younger. They mock 'Anglo-Saxon Jesus' art, discuss the 'Prince of Peace' painting by a child prodigy, and recount a book about a boy who claimed to visit heaven after an emergency appendectomy. A host asks whether God flooded the whole world or just the inhabited region; they conclude the whole world, then riff on Dan's joking theory that Noah had modern technology, ordering gopher-wood shipments online.

Snow on the bed

A host claims polar-bear genetics — he never gets cold — and tells the story of waking up with snow on his face after sleeping with the window open. This leads to the high-school story of throwing his roommate Trey through their bedroom window, which lost its screen and became their sneak-out route. The segment ends with the sweatshirt-layered host finally stripping down and the revelation that he has 15 pounds on Mike despite the same genetic makeup.

Music news

The hosts announce a January 15th concert at First Federated Church in Des Moines with David Bush, Rend Collective Experiment, and Jesse Anderson, noting Bush refused to come on the show. They plug Double J's New Year's Eve shows, Winter Jam on January 20th at Wells Fargo with Sanctus Real for a flat $10, and failed attempts at press passes for a March Need to Breathe concert. They also note Jeff Arendell will be in the studio January 31st, Saved on Sunday has an acoustic album coming in March, and joke about Dale Tackett being too chicken to post his phone number.

Midnight Jesus: the candlelight service

A host recounts visiting an old-school denominational church downtown for a late-night Christmas Eve candlelight service after Pathway's own service. He describes the cross-and-Bible processional, a 'peace lantern' lit from a fire at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the impersonal hidden choir and brass, and leaving halfway through. The visit prompts reflection on what non-denominational churches gain and lose by skipping tradition, and the value of church history's stories of God working through people.

Pew ushers, sad Jesuses, and the basilica

The hosts roast the church's congregational call-and-response reading — the speed readers, the slow readers, the rhythm-makers — and invent a comedy bit about a pew-rope usher whose defenses get flanked. They complain that every Jesus in the building looked sad, and discuss being creeped out by saint statues and stained glass, including a Des Moines basilica visited for a high-school world-religions class, which one host says would push a non-Christian away.

Saints, Mary, and Catholic foundations

• Do Catholics and Protestants share the same foundational faith?

The hosts debate Catholic veneration of Mary and the saints, distinguishing between honoring inspiring church-history figures and praying to them as intercessors. They agree Catholics and Protestants share foundational beliefs — the Trinity, Jesus sent and dying for sins — and call those the actual hills to die on: 'Are you a sinner? Do you need a Savior?' They conclude the Catholic error is relational, not about Christ's sovereignty: missing out on a personal, loving relationship with God.

Deacon school and elder qualifications

• What qualifies someone to be an elder or deacon in a church?

A host tells the story of meeting a soon-to-be deacon at Christmas who kept pull-tabs out of his stocking because gambling is 'against my religion,' then admitted, 'I'm not 100% Bible.' The hosts argue 1 Timothy 3's elder qualifications — one-woman man, well-behaved kids, financial stewardship — are brutal, and that completing a deacon class doesn't mean your life reflects them. A pronunciation bit on Philemon ('Phil,' 'Philemon') closes the segment.

Hill to die on: the pink Bible and untruth

• What counts as a hill to die on — which truths are worth fighting over?

The hosts return to Bart's question with the Goofy Pink Bible — a breast-cancer Bible with hope verses highlighted in pink, brought by the Point of Grace youth last week. One host argues anything untrue is a hill to die on, citing Paul rejoicing in Philippians 1 when Christ is preached even from bad motives, and worrying the pink Bible gives only hope verses without sin and the Savior. They land on foundations that can't be conceded: the whole Bible is God-breathed, Christ is the only way, and one host names abortion clinics as his literal hill to die on. The show wraps with plugs for the January 15th Jesse Anderson show, January 20th Winter Jam, and a January 2nd return.