March 19 2012

Show open: Dan is out, a jerk confession, and tonight's lineup

The hosts open the show from the Pathway studios noting they are a man down: Dan is absent. A host confesses on-air that he has been 'a big jerk' for two days and made derogatory comments about Dan's comedy in his sermons. Another host introduces himself on-air as Ben. The hosts then run down the night's topics: Jimmy Carter's new study Bible, Rick Santorum's anti-pornography campaign plank, a Tennessee church claiming the fire code does not apply to it, and atheists scrubbing a Florida road Christians had anointed with oil.

Jeff Arendale recap and the Green Grounds coffeehouse

A host recaps last week's in-studio guest Jeff Arendale and his band, saying he listened to the rebroadcast and found it solid, and points listeners to the show's YouTube channel for the musical clips. He also reports having seen Arendale play at Green Grounds, a coffee shop in the Valley Junction area hosting Christian artists, and says he hopes to get the person who runs the place on the show. The hosts joke about befriending people who can provide free coffee.

Troy's security contribution

Troy, who is in the studio, is asked what he can contribute to the show. He answers 'security,' standing at the door so no one comes in. The hosts riff on the bit, noting they can barely get anyone into the studio anyway, and compare him to a garbage man.

Two-year anniversary show and Newsboys concert announced

The hosts announce next week's second-anniversary show: an open-studio night with fresh-baked cookies, free soda, and a two-year clip compilation, plus musical guest Adam Cates performing from his new CD. They also announce they will broadcast live from the Newsboys concert the following Thursday, with Troy on security and Nathaniel running camera. A sidebar about a guest named Wayne Stewart and the 'First E-Free' naming follows.

The anointed highway: Polk Under Prayer vs the atheist road scrubbers

• What was the point of anointing in the Bible?

A host reads a news story: County Road 98 in Polk County, Florida was scrubbed by members of the Humanists of Florida Association, protesting the 'Polk Under Prayer' campaign whose supporters had poured olive oil on the road a year earlier in an anointing ceremony to ask God's protection from 'ne'er-do-wells and evildoers.' The hosts debate what anointing biblically means: God told prophets to anoint kings like David and Solomon to set them apart for a God-given task, and it was also used for hospitality (Jesus anointed in the Pharisee's house, Luke) and medicinally. They conclude anointing a highway looks foolish and dangerous, though they find the atheists' symbolic scrubbing mildly funny rather than offensive.

Anointing oil for sale, tabernacle incense, and a mailed communion sampler

The conversation moves from the highway story to the commercialization of religious practice: whether anointing oil can simply be bought at a Christian bookstore, what substances count as anointing oil, and whether the tabernacle's holy incense (the recipe given to Moses, with some ingredients withheld) could even be made today. A host recounts receiving an all-in-one sealed communion cup-and-wafer sample in the mail from a sound-equipment vendor, the vendor's pitch about freshness, and his own full communion taken at home from the sample.

Bricks engraved with Psalm 37, a shunned parking lot, and a verdict on the campaign

A host ties up the Florida story with the sheriff's office quote ('this claim is so ridiculous, I'd rather not comment') and reports the Polk Under Prayer members buried bricks engraved with Psalm 37:9-11 beside the twelve major roadways into the county. The hosts read the NIV passage and judge the campaign's mindset backward: instead of praying for sinners to find Jesus, it prays to be protected from them. Banter about peanut butter cups, gummy worms, and an oil-stained 'sacred parking lot' punctuates the segment.

Tennessee church claims the fire code does not apply to it

• Should a church-run daycare be exempt from fire codes and child-care licensing on First Amendment grounds?

A host reads a news story about a Tennessee church whose Bible school/daycare (about 60 kids daily) was cited for fire-code violations and operating a child-care facility without a license; the church claims religious exemption and that the First Amendment bars state interference. The hosts argue it out: one side holds the church must obey the law of the land and get licensed ('Johnny Big Government'), the other pushes back on burdensome codes, and they land together that calling the fire inspector and then rejecting the result is absurd, and that the First Amendment does not cover putting 60 kids at risk.

Two-year anniversary promo and clip tease

Back from the fire-code debate, the hosts plug the upcoming second-anniversary show again: open studio, cookies, Adam Cates performing, and a one-year-anniversary clip they may preview. A comedy bit about a fire marshal story involving Daniel is teased for after the break. A host does an impression of Troy ('I'll be completely honest with you...'), and the hosts joke about a 'best of Troy' compilation. The hosts tease the next topic: the Jimmy Carter Bible.

Jimmy Carter's Lessons from Life Study Bible

The hosts discuss Jimmy Carter's newly published 'NIV Lessons from Life Bible: Personal Reflections with Jimmy Carter,' reading the Amazon listing and reviews (two five-star, one one-star from a reviewer who clearly never read it). Discussion ranges widely: Carter's Sunday-school teaching at Maranatha Baptist Church, his habit of reading Scripture nightly with his wife Rosalynn, his claim to be a 'disciple of President Jefferson' (and a digression into the Jefferson Bible, which cut out the supernatural), and a long debate over personal branding of the Bible: whether a study Bible's commentary should sit beside the text, The Message paraphrase as a reading aid, and one host's view that the Bible should be a set-apart book with commentary kept at a distance.

Music: Jeff Arendale performs 'Most High'

The hosts play the live recording of Jeff Arendale's song 'Most High,' from his appearance with his band the week prior. Afterward they praise the rendition, call it a standout track, and note his CD is coming soon with a possible release party.

Rick Santorum, pornography, and legislating morality

• Can the federal government effectively eradicate pornography through obscenity laws?
• Does legislating morality win people for Christ, or is it ineffective?

A host reads reporting on presidential candidate Rick Santorum's pledge to vigorously enforce federal obscenity laws to eradicate pornography, including a legal analysis from UCLA professor Eugene Volok. The hosts then spend a long stretch debating whether legislating morality is effective or biblical: removing access does not remove temptation; prohibition-style bans create black markets; obscenity is subjective and today's standard could be turned on Christianity itself; government enforcement delivers only the 'rod part' of Christ without the love. The discussion extends to gay marriage, abortion, and murder laws, with the hosts concluding everyone bargains over which moral lines they will stand on, and that standing for truth must not be decided by fear of man.

Promo break: Facebook friends and Troy's 2,600 friends

The hosts plug livefromthepath.org and the show's Facebook page, then riff on Facebook friend counts: Troy has about 2,600 friends, and the hosts joke about deleting friends at random to see who they miss.

Persecuted Christians in Laos and Penn Jillette on sharing faith

A host reads a Worthy News story about Kamla, reportedly the only known Christian in his rural district of northern Laos, who was summoned before about twenty officials and told to abandon his faith or be expelled from his village. The hosts connect it to Jeff Arendale's band's missions trip to Laos. The host then recounts Penn Jillette's YouTube video about a fan who gave him a Bible after a show: Jillette, a longtime atheist, said he respects proselytizing because withholding the news of salvation out of fear would be profoundly unloving. The hosts use this to examine their own fear of man in sharing Jesus.

Dear LFTP: the playwright whose wife is unimpressed

• How should I respond when my wife is indifferent to my accomplishments?

The reader reads a letter from an amateur playwright who has won his local theater's playwriting contest four times, a record, but whose wife says he writes the same play over and over; he asks how to respond to her indifference. The hosts tease him as an 'over-emotional saucepan,' debate whether the wife is being unsupportive or honestly evaluating his work, and settle on: enjoy your accomplishments for yourself and don't look to your wife for validation. The secular advice agrees: take your bow and accept that the less you look to your wife for validation, the happier your life will be.

Dear LFTP: the jealous fiance

• Am I being naive about my fiancee's trip with her gay friend?

The reader reads a letter from a man whose fiancee Jane is planning an island trip with her attractive gay friend Christine; he asks if he is being naive. The hosts quickly judge the letter-writer a 'perv' for describing Christine as 'very attractive' and fixating on the trip, but agree the bottom-line question is whether he trusts his fiancee: if not, he should rethink the engagement. The letter, the hosts note, did not garner much conversation.

Dear LFTP: the brother who won't leave home

• How can I help my parents finally be free of my brother who lives off them?

The reader reads a letter from a listener whose brother has, in his telling, taken over their parents' lives for twenty years, living on disability and refusing treatment for depression and agoraphobia while the parents approach seventy. The hosts joke about killing him, then give the real take: they distrust the one-sided description, the problem belongs to the parents who keep enabling him, and unless the parents set conditions the situation will not change. The secular advice: unless the parents make living there conditional on counseling and medication, nothing will change. The hosts mock the secular advice's ultimatum logic as comedy.

Dear LFTP: the psychic social worker

• I believe I am psychic; how should I manage that as a soon-to-be social worker?

The reader reads a letter from a soon-to-graduate social worker who believes she is psychic, sees spirits, and asks how to manage her ability with clients, including whether she must report abuse she 'picks up' on. The hosts are unsparing: from the Jesus worldview there are no psychics, and seeing spirits everywhere signals either a serious mental illness, a spiritual problem, or compulsive lying; she should leave the psychic claims at home and just be a social worker. The secular advice encourages her to use her 'gift' as a spiritual helper during interviews. The hosts debate whether a college can refuse to graduate someone who passes all requirements but announces something like this.

Sign-off: anniversary invite and Wayne Stewart send-out

The hosts close the show, inviting everyone to the open-studio two-year anniversary show the next Monday at the Pathway studios (6510 Rohe Road, Johnston, 10 to midnight) and joking about bringing a psychic social worker. They send the show out with a song from Wayne Stewart's appearance two weeks earlier.