February 13 2012

Show open: snowstorm and a wide-open agenda

• What counts as a doctrinal deal-breaker?

A host introduces himself as Ben Foose and welcomes listeners from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proper on a slick, icy evening. Mike is out of town for work and may call in on Skype; Dan Hudson is in the studio, and another participant, Troy, is expected shortly. With a wide-open agenda, the hosts invite wide-ranging questions from the chat.

The 'gay is not okay' church sign

The hosts discuss a south-side Des Moines pastor's church sign reading 'gay is not okay' and the swift backlash it drew, including a protest organized on Facebook. A host says he knows the pastor, prayed with him before the sermon, and believes the sign was simply the sermon title rather than an intended provocation. The conversation turns to knowing your audience, whether such signs are effective communication, and how churches welcome people while holding to biblical truth — with one host's core value being that intimacy with God changes people.

Deal-breaker doctrines: the Elephant Room and the Trinity

• Is misdefining the Trinity (modalism) a deal-breaker?

Prompted by the Elephant Room gathering of pastors, a host asks Dan whether misdefining the Trinity — specifically modalism, the view that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one being expressed three ways rather than three distinct persons — is a doctrinal deal-breaker. The hosts agree the Trinity is beyond full human comprehension and that a different understanding of how the three persons relate does not ruin the core message of Christ, but they draw a hard line at denying who Jesus is. They worry that hair-splitting over secondary doctrines can obscure the gospel and exclude people over distinctions that will not keep anyone out of heaven.

The Kylie Bisutti story and the 'Modest is Hottest' debate

A host reads the story of 2009 Victoria's Secret model-search winner Kylie Bisutti, who quit lingerie modeling over Christian conviction and wrote the essay 'I Quit Being a Victoria's Secret Model to Become a Proverbs 31 Wife,' then reads a Christian blogger's lukewarm response criticizing her immodest ABC interview outfit. The hosts call the reaction sad and graceless — comparing it to telling a crack addict who quit to leave because he swore — and argue for celebrating one step at a time and letting the Holy Spirit do his job. Troy joins the discussion, and the segment extends into a 'Modest is Hottest' shirt-slogan debate and a reading of 1 Peter 3 on the hidden person of the heart.

Dan on healthy theological dialogue and new-believer culture

Asked to summarize the answer, a host describes his last ten years in a new-church setting full of new believers, where the culture is 'don't throw rocks at each other' and correction happens privately, in love, between believers. He contrasts inspecting fruit to help people become fruitful with judging people to make oneself look better, and warns that churches without new believers become ingrown and chase newcomers out. The hosts agree you can be committed to truth without acting like you are God in the process.

Theology debates vs. reaching the lost: trichotomy, Calvinism, end times

The Trinity discussion resumes with a seminary story about a half-hour argument between a trichotomist and a dichotomist, which convinced a host he would rather reach the lost than win theology debates. The hosts extend the point to Calvinism and end-times views: good to study and discuss, but not worth fighting over, since they will not keep anyone out of heaven — while denying Jesus' identity or ignoring parts of Scripture does cross a line. After a comic bit about a giant hand on camera, they agree churches are too often soft on doctrine, 'preaching a pansy Jesus,' and that sound doctrine matters even when hair-splitting does not.

Reading the Bible backwards, Jeremiah, and how to discern interpretation

• How do you discern where interpretation of Scripture is allowed?

A host shares his Bible-reading project — nearly three-fourths through, reading the Old Testament backwards starting with Malachi, currently in the first 26 chapters of Jeremiah, whom he calls the weeping prophet whose experience mirrors today's truth-tellers being called bigots. A chat question asks whether God telling different people different things about the Trinity means someone is not listening to Jesus; the hosts answer no, God is as clear as he intended to be, and offer a discernment rule: interpretation is fine as long as it does not make God a liar, stays consistent with the full counsel of God, and does not degrade his love and grace. They commend the Berean example of checking everything against Scripture yourself rather than trusting snippets from sermons and lectures.

Online arguments and the atheist-convention prayer room

The hosts riff on the futility of marathon online arguments, with one host describing a Facebook provocateur and Troy recounting a 170-comment, six-day Facebook discussion he exited with an agree-to-disagree. They recall holding a prayer room at an atheist convention about a year earlier, mingling unrecognized at breakfast and overhearing honest conversations, and one host's awkward run-in with a badged coworker who attended the convention. The takeaway: recognize which trees want to grow, do not waste time on the spooky old ones, and go have a barbecue with your neighbor instead.

Show business: anniversary show and the YouTube milestone

Show business: the program airs Monday nights 10 to midnight on livefromthepath.org, the YouTube channel is about to hit 100,000 views, and a second-year anniversary show is planned for the third or fourth week of March with popcorn and a live audience. The hosts lobby Pants to make his four-day gumbo for the party, settle for gumbo pizza, and joke about giving away a signed compilation of live in-studio artist performances.

Recapping the sign fallout; how to answer the 'bigot' label

• How do you combat being labeled a bigot or social Neanderthal for Christian beliefs?

Returning to the church-sign story, the hosts recap the facts: a sticker placed on the sign within hours, coverage in the Register and on Channel 8, threats against the pastor's family, a changed sign after about twelve hours, and a protest that drew around 80 of 300 pledged attendees while the pastor preached his sermon as planned on Ustream. Asked how Christians combat being labeled unenlightened bigots and social Neanderthals, Dan traces the culture's shift on truth since his parents' 1976 divorce, and Troy describes loving his gay friends as people while not supporting their actions. The hosts land on loving the person, being honest about sin, and showing rather than forcing the love of Christ.

Paul on Mars Hill: rely on the Holy Spirit, not programs

Noting that Paul preached to unbelievers on Mars Hill and throughout the second half of Acts, the hosts argue the church must stop relying on programs, music styles, or cool preachers and rely on the Holy Spirit as in the book of Acts. They critique 1950s build-it-and-they-came laziness that left churches spiritually inbred, and call out revival-praying that never moves to action. The hosts agree the answer is being the hands and feet: ask what God wants to do, then make sure it happens.

Truth, audience, and the God-arbiter argument

A host recounts a workplace conversation where an all-or-nothing view of the Bible met a coworker's indifference, and argues that picking truths cafeteria-style makes the picker into God — an unreliable deity, since two people who disagree cannot both be right. Troy jokes that if he is God, everyone is in trouble, and a host illustrates the authority problem with a Lorax God analogy: nobody changes their ways for a god they do not believe has authority. They close by urging listeners to show people what Jesus looks like in their own lives rather than beating them over the head with rules.

Dear LFTP: 'Uneasy in South Dakota' and the Byron dating letter

• Should I back off and salvage the friendship with Byron, or give the romance a chance?

Dear LFTP: with Mike absent, a host reads the first listener letter, signed 'Uneasy in South Dakota,' from a woman two years divorced who is exploring dating Byron, a longtime friend who texted that he knew 'where this was going' and disclosed abandonment issues within two weeks. After a 'Secular' worldly-wisdom answer is read, the hosts advise her to communicate once clearly, set a boundary on the overreaction, and be ready to walk away — joking that Byron has joined the live chat to defend himself.

Dear LFTP: 'Goo Goo Going Crazy in Connecticut' and the baby-talking mother-in-law

• How do you tell a well-educated, mature adult mother-in-law to stop baby-talking in public?

Dear LFTP: 'Goo Goo Going Crazy in Connecticut' writes that his mother-in-law moved in to escape a bad relationship and constantly baby-talks in public, embarrassing the family. The hosts advise that the daughter — not the son-in-law — must address it directly, while noting that a sudden behavior change in an older adult could signal dementia or Alzheimer's and should be evaluated. The letter prompts somber personal stories about grandmothers and mothers with Alzheimer's, including one grandmother who did not recognize her own husband at his open-casket funeral.

Dear LFTP: the micromanaging boss Ms. M

• What can I do about my boss Ms. M, who socializes all day while work piles up?

Dear LFTP: a listener's boss 'Ms. M' spends her days socializing in employees' cubicles, showing YouTube videos and kids' photos, so contracts slip, deadlines are missed, and the writer burns vacation time to get work done. The hosts split: one says report her since it is a professional environment, while others argue for making her visits awkward or being direct, since higher-ups who kept her this long will not act. The segment widens into a critique of corporate 'talk to anybody' culture as structured gossip that discourages adults from resolving problems face to face.

Tangent: the green movement is not false doctrine

In a brief tangent, a host complains about bloggers lumping the sustainable-living green movement in with false doctrine, arguing the green movement is not anti-God and that caring for what God provided is good stewardship. He concedes some movement leaders are wacky and people can worship the earth above God, but says the average person trying to live sustainably should not be grouped with real theological error.

Dear LFTP: Lou, Meg, and commitment

• Lou is leaving his Alzheimer's-stricken partner of twelve years to pursue me — what is the right thing to do?

Dear LFTP: a substitute teacher writes about Lou, a fellow substitute who lived with Meg for twelve years, is moving her toward assisted living as Alzheimer's develops, and now pursues the writer — asking her to lie to Meg by posing as a school calling about a job. After the 'Secular' answer is read, the hosts are unanimous: Lou is bottom-of-the-barrel, run don't walk, and it is sad her friends say it is fine since he never committed and bails at the first sign of trouble. The segment dissolves into dark comedy about introducing Lou to Byron, and Troy joking about having fun if his own wife Cheryl gets Alzheimer's — immediately flagged by the others as different because he is actually married to her.

Sign-off

The hosts sign off, thanking listeners for hanging out and promising to see them next week.