Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. You are live from the path. And you're listening to Live From The Path coming from the Pathway Studios here in Johnston proper. It is, I mean, borderline delightful

to be with most of you tonight. And so thank you for hanging out on the the program. Would just get I know it's only like a few seconds in, but this is the time to bail. Yeah. Like, don't there's no reason to put on ears here. You're faceless and I I I don't know whether you hate the program or not. And so, like, maybe you wandered on here accidentally and you've just realized your mistake, especially if you're you're an introspective and possibly what do you what do you call the folks who are very they're not introverted.

Mennonites. Yeah. No. That's not right. Well, no. Yeah. Same problem. Hey. Yeah. Actually, shame on you, sir. You're not supposed to be using the technology. And I know how it works. Here's every time I run into a Mennonite, they're skirting the laws of this technology. They're washing somebody else's phone. Yes. Or they're using someone else's generator. Yeah. Or in somebody else's van. Here's I I never quite understood this. Like, they basically, like, look. I don't wanna drive this car. I have to go to hell. But you, can you give me a ride? Like, I'm gonna give a rip. What happens to you, Bruce? Yeah. You might as well carry this pemmican with you.

I can eat it later on. Can you put this steak in the foreman grill for me? Eating them the apple. Go ahead. Did God really say drive that van? Alright. Alright. Okay. So here's what we got going on the show this evening. You know what the best part about those jokes are? No. The likelihood of us losing Mennonite listeners is very low. Right. Actually, and if one's offended, we have you, sir. Yeah. Like, for the same thing we started about. We were right the whole time. Okay.

Actually, said I put a okay. Well, first, I'm gonna tell you what the show's about, and then I'm we'll come back. We're gonna do some advice on Dear Life and the Path. Mhmm. We we've we haven't played in a while. We're gonna do Secular versus Sullivan. Yes. This is America's Asterisk's fastest going Internet game show unproven. And if you've not heard the program before, if you play the the home game, here's here's how it works. I'm gonna give you a proverb, a bit of wisdom. Okay? And you gotta tell me where it's from. Here's the thing. We gotta figure out where these things are coming from. You gotta know what source before you start ascribing to it with your life. Most of the time, I get Christians who are like, hey,

I follow this. God helps those who help themselves. And then I smack him in the face like a mean Batman and say, listen, sir, the Lord did not say that particular bit. Yeah. And so that was Ben Franklin, and that man is nobody's Jesus. And so I just need you to be careful and know where your wisdom's coming from. So I'm gonna give you a proverb, a bit of wisdom, and you're gonna tell me, is it a from Solomon or a biblical bit of wisdom? And if you know a rough area of what chapter may be, you can venture it. Buva tends to do that. And be wrong. And Like, epically. Yeah. So you could try that if you want to for bonus points. And or you tell me it's secular, and then I wanna know the country of origin. Like, where do you think where do you think this wisdom is coming from? What country? Okay. Okay. So let's see. I feel like I'm gonna dominate this game because I I do we do have a special guest in tonight, Dawson Schrader. Dawson, how are doing? I'm doing quite dandy. Yep. That's up for debate, and we will know if that's true or not by the end of the show. So Dawson was gracious enough to come on the show, fill in for Booba while he's out and about. So, Dawson, before I forget before the show was over, appreciate you coming out. Yeah. Thank you. It's car. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So we'll see. It it is a light crowd here in the studio tonight. So it's it's gonna be a Dawson Mike showdown. Yeah. Mike, if you wanna go you can you don't have to go by Mike though. For the purposes of the game, what nickname would you like me to use?

Ruff Ruffsaw. Like the dog from Ruff Ruffman? Is that is his name Ruffsaw? No. It's Ruff Ruffman. No. Okay. Ruff Ruffman real fine. Yeah. Ben Sale Ruff Ruffman in. Or call me pocket snickers. I'm good with that too. Wait. Wait. Okay. Okay. Dawson versus pocket snickers. Okay. I got it. I can handle that. I get my own name. I I do not participate in the game because I have the answers, and that that just it feels cheating. Oh, I'll change chairs when it's game time. Otherwise, I can see all the answers. Okay. Yeah. You can't look. Okay. Well, there are a couple interesting article out there today. I saw one that three it's in quotes, but it's in a single quote. I'm not sure what this mean, but three Christian teachings that Jesus didn't teach. Oh. What are the things that people are like, yeah, that came that Ben Franklin thing I said. Maybe, like, maybe it's on the list. Who who said pulling yourself up by your bootstraps? Is there is that a famous quote from somebody? I don't know. Also not Jesus though. Right. He didn't have boots. I'll put the Internet on it. They use dirty sandals. Sounds like a fisherman. Yes. It does sound like a fisherman. Yeah. Even teach a man to fish. That's not Actually, I don't think I own a pair of boots with straps on it. And if I do, they cinch around the top part of the boot to keep water out. You don't pull them up. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. What kind of boots are these? Italian leather. Alright. Okay. I'll do some research. Alright. Anyway, so we're gonna talk about that. Also, there was what was there? Another one? Blah blah blah. I don't know what that means. There's all kinds of stupid articles. I'm gonna repeat to you if you listen to the program with any frequency.

95% of Christian media is just a bunch of cackling. Like, it's just gossip. Just it's got the it's got a cross painted on it. And so just I mean, for the most part, stay out of it. I'm trying to filter through it, but that that this is why we have sometimes unless something's going on in the personal situation, some of these articles are just terrible. And so I would encourage you to stay away from that. If you need to kick off a fast or something, that's that's the type of thing to leave behind. Okay. Hold on. Quick intercession. Who's this guy? Two colloquial phrases that I've discovered the origin of in the last fifteen seconds. Let's go. Let's have it. One, bootstraps. Mhmm. It was originally brought up as a physics problem in an '18 late eighteen hundreds textbook, and the the physics question is was, why can't a man pull himself up by his bootstraps?

Oh, yeah. It's a good idea. And then it got it got slowly moved over into a socioeconomic like advancement is the is Wait. Was it so the the science problem was that it's impossible, and instead we turned it into some sort of societal encouragement? Like, hey. Why don't you do the impossible? Yeah. America. Okay. And the bootstrap is like it's that tag in the back by your heel. That's the bootstrap. Oh. That's a bootstrap. Yeah. I'm assuming they were more prominent back in the day. Now they're just there for flare because no one actually does anything with these. But, like, yeah, like the thing in the very back of your heel that's just a little tag that you could put I use it every time I put on my shoes. What? Yep. My finger goes in the hole and I rip it up. Really? Mhmm. He also has his own engraved shoe horn. Do you really? I do not. I don't know where that horn. It's all costume. Go on. Yeah. That'd be awesome. I you can't believe anything you see on Reddit. That's that's my fault. I I did I was gonna check that out, and I didn't forgot to ask.

Shoe horn, not right. I got seven other questions actually, but we'll follow-up after that. Hold on. Second colloquialism. Okay. Hit me. A hangover. Oh, yeah. Yeah. When people would get a star and drunk Yeah. Right, they were were too drunk to walk all the way home. And so, like, there would be like a like a a building that would just have a rope strung across the building. And so, like, you'd pay them a little bit of money, and then you could just pass out over the rope. Oh, yeah. You didn't even have to be drunk, actually. It was like a poor man's hotel. Yes. If you had nowhere to sleep for the night, you could rent a spot on the rope and drunkards tend to be the guys on it. Yes. And that's why they call it a hangover. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Lay on a rope. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But calling a guy a rope player or can't think of a Rope player. A different I I've never called a man that, actually. He's a he's a real rope player.

Okay. Alright. Well, inside I'll I'll be cautious. Might slip of the tongue. I don't wanna You think there'd be any opportunity for a business like that anymore? No. Hey. I tell you this. Maybe. Maybe not on rope. I suppose it depends what's made out of. But I I thought about we used to work downtown, and I thought if someone were renting out hammocks for about for $5 or something for half an hour, I'd totally go pay $5 to go sit in a hammock and and take a nap outside in like somewhere downtown. If a guy had like 50 hammocks set up. Oh, boy. I don't know. The the other people that would be willing to like, I just don't know. I think this draws the wrong element. You think it's not safe? I'd be violated? No. I just don't know if I wanna share hammocks There we go. With all the people in Downtown Des Moines. Oh, like it might be greasy. It might be a little greasy. Yeah. I think Dawson's got the ticket this thing. It is hard to disinfect jute. That's

a good point. It's a good point. Hey. You could start a secondary business making jute disinfectant, and then all of a sudden, you know I'm saying? You got you got money. Somebody's gonna grow a tail after all the chemicals I gotta put on this thing, and I've been sleeping it. Okay. Maybe I didn't think through it very far. I just thought I'd like to sit in a hammock for heaven's sakes. I thought, doesn't Japan have, like, them nap boxes where you give them, like, $10, then they put you in some kind of pod for a couple minutes? It's like a tube, like a test tube. Yes. I do not understand that one. I think it would freak me out. But if they played white noise in there, I'd probably pass out. I could probably sleep. Do you guys sleep with a with a thing at night? Like, do you have a white noise machine or a fan or something? No. Just straight silence? Yes. Oh, boy.

I hate having little lights in my room even. I I try to I try to cover the little lights in my room. Do you have a legit alarm clock or do you use your phone as an alarm? I use my phone as alarm. That but I usually wake up a few minutes before that, which that's another story. Yeah. I yeah. I'm I'm a sound machine plus fan. I got, like, my DVD player, which is also a VHS player. Wow. A two for one combo. Oh, yeah. Money well spent, sir. Oh, yeah. But it has, like, a little light for the power button. Why we need a light on if it's off? Not sure. But Fair. There's a light there and I'm like, I I always wanna try set something in front of it. Wait a minute. Like, you haven't followed through on this? Like, with a piece of tape or a stuffed animal or a Oh, no. There's socks sitting in front of it. Okay.

Yeah. I got a solution for this. I need it all dark and then I leave my window open because that's when the light hits me. Yeah. Have you wait a minute. Have you ever have you used that VHS player? Oh, no. Yeah. Okay. Just the only DVD player we had. Yeah. Right? DVDs are difficult to try to fall asleep with the DVD running, Cause it'll finish playing the movie and then go back to the go back to the opening thing and just spin. Yeah. Well, and play music. If it's the right movie, it'll play music on that title screen. Yeah. No. I actually I remember the kids are always trying to talk me into some kind of Harry Potter marathon, And I'm like, yeah, sure. I I mean, bet whatever the whatever the movie is, there's one where they get on the night bus. You know which one I'm talking about? Oh. Yeah. It's like It's it's got the it's got the talking shrunken head. Yeah. Yeah. I I'm just trying to think of which episode that is. That's the that's the opening of the DVD thing. Something happened. I I don't do a good impression of the voice. Something night bus. But anyway,

that thing probably spun for four hours because the I fell asleep while the movie was running, and then it went back to that thing and just kept these big noises and this bus going back and forth. And, like, I I was just too tired to go fix it, so I just tolerated it. And it was terrible. Did did it influence your dreams at all? No. I don't think so. Oh, interesting. No. I I used to do that. As a kid, I would sleep on a top bunk when I was sleeping with my brother, but there would be no reason ever until the morning I would get down from my bunk. Yeah. Even if the movie that we turned on to fall asleep kept going. Yeah. So that'd be nice if we watch the SpongeBob movie and after all you hear is the bump, bump, bump, bump, and I would have to learn to sleep with that because there's no way I'm getting down. Because I ain't moving. Yeah. Nope. I am in bed, and I'm ready for bed. I'm not moving. Yeah. I don't know what it would take for me well, actually, I'm a married man. So if there if a a decision has been reached by one party that someone needs to go check anything out, that's what I would get out of bed for. But, other than that, I'll let just about anything go. Yeah. I can't I mean, I've heard have you guys ever heard, like, foxes in the middle of night? Sounds like someone's being murdered. Yeah. Yeah. Right? When a fox is out there screaming? Yeah. And I'm I I think I heard that when I first moved out to the country, I was like, there's someone being killed down the way. I'm like, well, what am I gonna do now? Sounds like they're about done. It's too late. That's terrible.

Alright. You're listening to life from the path. Hey. I I am kinda curious. Just hit us up on the old life from the path complaint line. (515) 517-0085. Call or text. Like, do you have something unique about your sleeping habits? Like, a sound machine, waves, you gotta have the TV on, you gotta have it pitched like a prison. You gotta do like, Dawson does a prison situation. Yeah.

How do you Do you bring, like, a extra pair of socks to the hotel when you stay out of town? Because you're like, I'm a cover up everything in here. No. No. I just yeah. I don't want a pillow over. Why didn't you just don't you just take a Sharpie to it? Yep. Oh. Okay. You need better friends. That's a rudimentary idea. I do not need a light to tell me if my DVD player is on. Let's we're getting away from the matter. The matter is Here's what I know. Toshiba is out to get me. I had Buuva stay at my house, and you'd think he was constructing the Higgs boson. You know what I'm saying? Like, he he shows up with, like, fans.

He's like, I gotta have a cattle fan on. I mean, it looks like we're cooling down the half the fair. Actually, I we went on a work trip one time, and we had different I I remember, like, he brought a giant fan with me. Like, a whole fan. Now, like, I run the fan at the hotel for sleep. Like, it helps me sleep to just have that full blast letting the fan the the room fan go. But, like, he brought his own. Yeah. Like, giant fan. Yeah. It looks like he's gonna collide particles in there. Yeah. He's got a whole apparatus. Yeah. Anyway, alright. Bubba, it's 51551515170085. Call or text. Listen. Are you still behaving this way now that you're a married man? Yeah. You have this giant fan in your room, and how does your wife tolerate it? Hit us up on the Life and Path complaint line, boo. We'd love to we'd love to hear from you. Alright. Here we go. Three Christian teachings that Jesus didn't teach. Let's see let's see if I agree with these. Okay. There's been there's been a wave of assorted memes and photos

Facebook created around the Timothy Bible verse. For the time is coming when people will not put up the sound with sound doctrine and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. Second Timothy four three to four. One is a shot of the verse on a well marked I don't care about any of this. The comments blah blah blah blah are more interesting. I don't care about that either. Alright. As far as that goes, we in the Christian community have turned away from the truth and wandered into myths for years. Yeah. That's true. I was do we maybe we talked about this on the show recently, but I can't remember we're having a conversation around. People are like, oh, it's getting worse. Oh, yeah. People are like Christian persecution for one. I don't wanna say like, there's people who just for saying they love and follow Jesus are are losing their lives. That's bad for sure. And true. Yeah. It's true. That it it is is actively happening. In places where like, we're not you don't really see it. It's not like happening in America for the most part. But like, certainly, there's parts of the country we'd I know in many pastors or missionary friends who've like are part of this. They're close to this. This is actively happening. But put to say that it's like worse than it's ever been, it's just simply not true. Like, Christians were, you know, in the time what Nero used Christians to light his garden at night, would light them on fire and just let them burn to light his garden. There are Christians who were tortured even like within the hundred years of that,

where like for being if you admitted to being a Christian, they might put you in a sack with like, I can't I can't remember. It's like a cat and a fox and a something else and then just throw it all into the river. Like, that's bad. It's a bad way to go. And so like, there is something about people I'm gonna say this oddly, but then maybe I can correct it. People look on their own lives very nostalgically and they're like, whatever it is, how I remember life being when I was young, it has gotten worse. Just what, like, from whatever perspective, like people are harsher or like the world is getting worse or like whatever true values I had when I was young, I think the world is deteriorating. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And like it can be bad without being like, hey, things have gotten worse. Because like your perspective is limited to your own life. Mhmm. And not only just like over time, but like over parts of the country. So like, you get this from

what I would consider to be a bad doctrine related to Christianity on like, hey, the end of the world will be preceded by tribulation. Well, most people judge tribulation as to whether it's happening here, like in Florida or something like that. Oh, we're not seeing much tribulation. It must not be, I don't know, the end of the world. When like, I don't know. There's plenty of places in the world where they've had tribulation. Where there's earthquake and famines and people dying and like, you're like, the end of the world can't be. We're living the high life. I'm like, ask the people in Pakistan. It's too narrow. Rough living. Too narrow. Like, you can't judge the world by your own front door. And so anyway, it's just it's the caution. Okay. Here we go. Here are the here are the the Bible teaches us to obey. Who wouldn't believe oh, sorry. The Bible teaches us to obey authority. This is one Christian teachings that Jesus didn't teach. Who wouldn't believe this one? Given that significant evangelists with political and corporate ties keep repeating it. Okay. Romans 13, Titus three, Hebrews 13 Peter two are few of the favorites. Some people have managed to twist Ephesians six two, honor your father and mother into a new testament command to honor, follow, submit to, and pay obeisance to all authority. Before genuflecting with our foreheads to the ground, it's worth exploring the meaning of the word authority.

Secondly, common sense interprets the idea that we avoid problems by not agitating the rulers. We submit not because it is a joy to do so, but because we're less likely to incur the attention and wrath of a system designed to subdue and subjugate. What the heck is this guy on? I can't understand anything you're saying right now. Yeah. Okay. So anyway, he he's he's the contention is, does the Bible teach you to obey authority? Yes. Yes. Yes. It does. I his his contention their contention? I didn't read. Seems to be that, like, does it mean, hey, whatever someone says, I automatically do and treat them as a moral authority. No. No. It it doesn't mean that. Respect for somebody does not mean agreement. It does not mean that I do everything they always tell me to do. It's it's a recognition of responsibility

more than anything. Respect is very different than obey. Yes. Yeah. And like but even Paul would say, hey, like, there an obedience to your authorities. And actually, I mean, the posturing of America would be this too is we'd say, look, if you don't like the laws, you gotta change the laws, but you don't get to just pick and choose which laws you disobey. You can't just go, I think the speed limit should be 80, so I'm going to go 80. Because like that is the foundation of chaos. Yeah. It's like everyone who does what's right in their own eyes, you got a very wide interpretation of what's right in your own eyes. And so but where where America's at least situated better is like the people do have the ability to influence the changing of those laws when if you're talking about a more hierarchical or monarchal system, like, can't nobody cares what you think. So I think I think Paul is saying like that in service for for this is from Romans. If just because you serve Jesus does not give you a encouragement to then completely disregard

the laws of the land around you. And so for Christians that became very delicate because at times there was an expectation like, do you show honor to the emperor? Yes. We like Christian early Christians would recognize that the emperor is the authority in the Roman empire. Would they make sacrifices to the empire? No. They would not do that. And many Christians lost their heads because of it because they refused to do that. And so even at the time, Jewish folks said, hey, what if we like or the Christians would say, what if we said on the emperor's behalf? Like, we'll we'll go and pray, but we'll pray for the emperor. We just won't pray to the emperor. Deal? And then the and the Romans like, well, okay. It seems alright. Like, I think No. No. That sounds pretty good. Yeah. And so and I I think this is very

this is this is subversive. And I think difficult at times, actually, if you look back from some of the New Testament writers, because what we what people often want is is for God to go just blow up the whole thing. Just blow it all up and do it all differently. And God doesn't generally do that. He he's like, look, these are the this is the way which humans understand each other. It's how they understand how they interact. Like, and there was a certain amount of like asking that, like God take over puppeting the whole world.

And and he's not done that. Like, God has given people the choice. He's like That's right. Because he would basically be withdrawing free will. Yes. And like with free will does come some chaos and does come some bad choices. Yes. And and and for God to not allow that, like, would also be not allowing genuine love. Yes. And so he's not going to pull that out. Yes. That's correct. And so and so what's interesting then is like, we actually one of the one of the hardest parts I think at times to walk through is in the in the book of Philemon, it's just like one chapter, and it's about a guy whose slave the slave has run away. And it was a debt slavery. Again, you gotta be careful in in bible slavery and even slavery of the Near East is not the same thing as we think about, like, nineteenth century civil war slavery. It's not it tends it's debt slavery. So, I mean, you got there because you owed and couldn't pay, so you worked it off. It's not great, and it doesn't mean everyone treated each other the same, but it's not the same thing as, like, stealing someone from their land. It wasn't that. But anyway, what what we want is for the writer for Paul to write to

the guy and go, hey, just set the slave or to the slave and go, like, just be free. Just be completely free. And Paul doesn't do that. He goes, hey, you should go back and you work off the thing you're supposed to work off. And like, you honor the person who is your master. And the the what then happens is he ends up talking to the guy who owns the slave and he's like, look, I don't want you to just set him free and send him away. I actually want the bigger thing, which is like you accept him back as a brother. That's different. Like, one is the thing with the, like, how do we navigate the laws of the land from like a societal perspective? And then Paul was after the bigger thing. He's like, I don't want you to just, like, me to say, set your slave free and that solves the problem. He's like, that that would be great for the guy and you could relieve his debt. But, actually, I want to I want the 10 steps further than that. I want you to at this man as if he's your equal.

I want you to look at that man as if he's your brother, and then you couldn't possibly enslave him. You wouldn't even think about continuing to do it. And like, that's what the letter focuses on. And it it takes a lot of heat because people are real they're real pissed about it. People are like, hey, he didn't condone slavery. I wanted him to condone slavery. And Paul's like, I mean, if you were to ask so Paul the apostle Paul sitting right here, he would say, well, of course. But he didn't say the of course thing. He said the thing that actually changes your heart so you don't look at another human like Yeah. Right? And it gets back to like some of if you think about even how God so when the when Abraham's lineage, Israelites go like go into this land and they get all their different parts and pieces. And they've got this

this jubilee. So you can buy and sell your land. You can kinda carve it up. You get into debt. You sell. You like figure it out or whatever. And then every seventy years, the table resets. Fifty years. Seven seven sevens. Forty nine. Yes. Fifty. You're right. So like it resets. And like this is built this in to say, yeah, people are gonna have struggles. You gotta be able to pay your bills and like you're gonna have feasts, famines, and all this kind of thing. But then at the end of the time, all the land goes back to the original holders of the original families because you have to have a way to make a living, you have to have a way to feed yourself, and we're not gonna end up in this situation where you've got like three primary landowners and all these other people who Like the have and the have nots. Yes. Mhmm. And so so, like, God actually built a situation where he's like, yes, I like, temporal or temporary, like,

things will require this recarving up of this land that produces for people to survive. But it cannot be that way permanently. And it gets reshuffled and distributed back out. And so people bought and sold with that. They're like, I don't know. I'm about three years away from a jubilee, so I'm not gonna pay you the full worth of the land because I know I only get to keep it for three years or something like that. But the point is is that there's an there's there's a normalization to it. You don't start looking at people who are in your way of taking land that you may then capitalize on and be your empire. You recognize it as temporary means of solving temporary problems, but that like everyone had like, there's an equity to the opportunity for people to have their land back and otherwise go back after it. So anyway, I just I the the I I say all that to say when we go back to this authority thing, like, you do you obey the people that are in charge in your governments? Yeah. I think Yeah. You do need to do that. I think where where I've noticed, like, a lot of people struggle with this is, like,

they want to both usurp authority and then not pay the consequences for it. Right? Yeah. Martin Luther King Junior was pretty classic for this in the opposite realm. Yeah. Right? Like, that dude got arrested all the time. All the time. He's he's out there doing marches and and, like, he's preaching. And he's out there just, like, yelling god's word, asking for equal rights, and then they'd come to arrest him. He'd be like, fair enough. And then hands go back, and then he goes, and they haul and he writes letters from the Birmingham Jail. Birmingham Jail. Yep. And, like, that is so good if you haven't read it by the Great. But, like, like, now like, this this comes from a western culture thing a lot. It's like, we're, like, we'll go out and protest or we'll go out and get a bunch of signs out or we'll block somebody from doing something, and then we're just incensed that we got arrested. I'm like, you broke the law. Yeah. Like and you should have been well aware of that. And when like, when the authorities showed up and said, cease and desist. You're blocking this. You should have put your hands behind your back and went to jail. Yeah. Because that's what you that's what you did. You broke the law. And so, like, you should

pick it. You should, like like, charge against things. You should I'd like I was just somebody was talking about this last week, and and it was confusing to me a little bit because, like, someone had done something that, like, they deserve jail time. Hell yeah. And and and, like, they we were we were talking about it and they somebody was talking about it. And and anyway, they're like, we're we're praying that he doesn't go to jail. And I'm like, I pray that he does actually. Like, he broke the law. Like, you know what I'm saying? And, like and so, like, it seems some of this is is odd. Like, we want to do the big thing or the rebellious thing and not expect the consequences. I'll give you a quick example from work. Right? One of my one of the tenants of the place that I work is is you have to make impact in things. Mhmm. Right? They want you to, like, to shout from the rooftops all the great things that you've done. And fundamentally, I can't do this. Mhmm. Like, it's it's just a thing, like, both within my personality and and like god says, like, don't left you let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Like, I'm not gonna get a hold of 75 people and tell them what I did. Yeah. I'm just gonna do the thing I'm supposed to do. But I know, like, inherently, like, when I when review time comes up, that affects me negatively. Yeah. And I'm accept I'm okay with those consequences. Yeah. People will succeed doing far less than I do because they are willing to do that. And I'm flat out just not willing to do it. And so I'm like, if I eventually, like, lose my job because my performances aren't what they should be, because I refuse to participate in some kind of self aggrandizement scheme. Right? I'm okay with that. Yeah. Like, I will take those consequences, but, like, it would be it would be ridiculous for me to go,

like, I didn't do what you asked me to do, and I can't believe these are the consequences. I can definitely believe those are the consequences. You said those were the consequences, And that's where authority starts to come in. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, when authority says, this is what happens. Like, as long as they don't start messing with the way that, like, god said, this is what I expect out of my people. You're going to follow me and you're gonna act a certain way so you're bringing light into a world and you're gonna reflect my goodness. Right? And as long as you don't make me stop doing that, then I will pay your taxes. Yeah. It makes me think of have you guys seen Hacksaw Ridge? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's a good movie. It's that. Right? Like, he like, the the goes, look, I'm not he didn't believe. He's a Quaker. He's like, I don't believe in killing people, but, like, I'm I still will serve my country and here's how I'm gonna to do it. Like, that Yes. That's it's subversive. It's in the it's subversive in the way Jesus is subversive. Jesus is subversive in service. He's subversive in, like, he knew he was causing trouble with the Jewish authorities. He knew it was gonna be a problem with the Roman ruler, and he accepted all the consequences in it. Yes. And so, like, I I yeah. So, there's no there's not an obedience like, obviously, you're gonna choose whatever Jesus is telling you to do. You're going to do that, but you're not gonna grouse about the impact of a world that's got laws that like, Jesus is not, like, not the president here. He's not your mayor. He's not your lawmaker. And so, like, all the stuff's not gonna look like you want it to look. It's it's perfectly right to to try to, change those types of things, but you do need to stay within them. And frankly, a lot of like, it mattered the example matters within the confines. So, like, that, the example of the Hacksaw Ridge guy never gets shown if he just goes, look, I just won't fight. Or, like, I just won't show up to the army then. Like, I won't You're not gonna let me do I'm just gonna bail completely. Right. Right. So, like, it it's sometimes, like, it's more impactful because of the contrast.

I'll go anyway. Yeah. I'll you know, like, I will do everything in my power to do the thing that you're asking me to do. Here's what I won't do, but I'm willing to sacrifice myself, my time, my money, my whatever in in trying to adhere the to the thing that that that is the That matters. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. So, yeah, I just be careful. I this gets this person's on a little bit of a rant. I think it's more nuanced than what they're making it sound like. Okay. If who believes this? Number two, if you pray it, then God's gonna do it.

Okay. Well known prosperity preachers are not the only ones who latch on to this concept. Finding, speaking, declaring, announcing, and claiming promises lifted from scripture as if no one prior to this, including god, realized that they were there. And because it's a promise, we tell God, you promised, you've gotta come through. God who didn't foresee this loophole is thereby forced to comply. I don't I know no one that thinks this. I don't either. I I actually I I'm trying to think through that a little bit. Like, some of the some of the harder things to do within the Bible is to know which promises belong to you Mhmm. And which ones belong to somebody in a historical context of which they were given. Right? Like, when God is speaking to a group of people Mhmm. And says, I will save you or you can do all things, like like, whatever. And so, like, all of these things are good,

evidence of God's character, that he does have a saving heart or he does have a mighty right hand, and he does care about the hairs on the head of his people. And all those things I think are completely fine for understanding who the god you're dealing with. But if you feel like you got him in a barrel because you really like circus and, like, he has to let you be a circus ringmaster because you really want it and you asked him about it, you're misunderstanding the way that this operates. You know? Circus stick together. Circus stick together. Circus stick together. He's not a genie. You can't be asking for three wishes. Exactly. And the thing is is, like, god is is this is gonna sound trying to make sure I'm phrasing this right. But, like,

God doesn't he doesn't change. He will always act in his own character. So, like and I think we were talking about this earlier today. We were talking about a guy that, like is like, hey. I wanna help start an orphanage. Let me take a $100 to the casino, and then we will have a million dollars, and then we can start the orphanage. Right? And, like, that's not a reflection of God's character. The helping with the orphanage thing sure is. But the way that you got there, like, God is not just a a means or an ends guy. Right? The the the he cares about the way the means got you there because it all has to be laced with his integrity and his goodness and his presence. And so, like, just being like, this is why, like, people will beg God to tell them an answer, and he won't. Because our general, our general stance is if God would tell us the thing that he's doing, we would try to run and beat him there Mhmm. And not get there in the way of which he designed it to work out for his his glory and our joy. Right? We would be like, god if god were to tell you when you're 20 years old, hey, you will eventually be running an orphanage in Pakistan. Yeah. We would be like on we would at at 21, we would be like, I gotta sell everything and head to Pakistan. And God's like, actually, the way I was gonna do this, you would have gotten there when you were 45,

and you would have had enough money because I blessed you in a way to walk right over there and actually do the good. Instead of going over there and getting shot in the middle of a civil war because you hauled up and decided to do it on your own. Yeah. Yeah. Following Jesus is almost almost completely means don't you don't almost don't ever orchestrate the ends. Like, it so the this is where like, most of the things like, if you look at the the letters in the New Testament, like, where where somebody is writing to a church somewhere to encourage them, like James is doing it, Paul's Paul is doing it, Peter's doing it. They're focusing a lot on personal behavior, not because they're like a schoolmaster trying to wrap you on the fingers. They're like, here's what you can control, my man. And, like, how you do something

matters more than, the thing that actually got done. Because the reality is is, like, I actually don't control other people. I can't I I can only control the things that I that with are within my hands and feet and eyebrows and elbows of like how I can influence the world around me. But like how you do those things mattered. Humility in people, like, finding helping people make peace, how you speak to your spouse, how do you speak to your kids, how you serve your friends, how you serve your community. Like, these are the things that build up a life that follows Jesus. And your attempt to go to, like, accomplish an end and then go, look, God, are you happy? He's like, no. You stamped on everybody's face to get that burned. No. I am not happy. I'm not impressed with it. And, like, it it right sizes us a little bit where, like, we don't have to contrive.

I I don't have to plot to think what will make God happy with me. One, he's already done all the stuff to reconcile. Like, I don't have to do anything to, like, pay off a debt. He he took care of that. He made it possible, for me to otherwise be in a relationship with him. And then from there, he's like, here's what I created good for. Here's what good looks like. I wrote it down. I made it clear. You don't have to guess. Here's what it looks like to follow me and your, like, your life will align to my character if you do this. And so you don't have to plot the big thing, you just have to be faithful into small things, which is like, if you think of it from a broader life philosophy, even outside of like Christianity, like, you live you need to recognize you live your life like you live your days. That's all it is. You've got a series of days that add up to the life that it produces. And so every second to every minute to every hour to every day,

all those things add up and they produce your life. And so you can either try to like chess master like the thing and put it all together or you can go, if I am faithful in all these things, it will produce a life of faithfulness. If I'm kind, if I'm generous, if I'm in service to people, if I'm humble, like if all those things are true, then that will be the output of my life regardless of which direction it goes, regardless of who I'm in relationship with, regardless of what job I have. And then frankly, you get you don't get so caught up on all those different things. There's all kinds of people Christians are kinda good at this kind of thing. They're like, hey, I'm a like, I got fired from my job. Okay. Like, oh, okay. And then you end up with another thing and they're like, they're they're still it takes a while, but like, you're still happy. Like, you're still at peace. It didn't shake your whole world because like, I can be faithful sweeping the floor for sure. Oh, I can be faithful doing this thing that's got a lot of influence in in the world. That's great. But I can also be faithful over here. And we are you don't get so tied up in all of the, what it what it feels like, kind of the worldly measures of whether you have a good life or not. Like, because at your bones, you you walked you did your very best to walk faithfully in the little things that were in front of you. Dawson, do you feel like,

do you feel like you you've seen this, like like, people who are are are trying to use God as like a genie? I feel like I have in times past where people are like, well, I prayed for this to happen. Why how come it didn't Yeah. Get there? Yeah. How come I didn't make it? How come I didn't get the part? How come I didn't get the job? How come how come the things I prayed for didn't happen? Yeah. I'm like, maybe they will just Yeah. Or maybe and like, this this is where it starts to get gray a little bit. Right? Because you're like, some there there's like, you you'll start to put levels of things. Like, these are the things I pray on. God, should I move to Ohio? God, should I try for this job? God, should we have kids? God, should I go to this college? Like, you're like, these are things that God is definitely interested in. And then we try to pull them out of things like, should I take a left here or should I just go straight? Both routes seem to be acceptable according to Apple. You know what I'm saying? And, like, and and, like, there's a part of of of our design that goes, well, God gave you a brain.

It's okay to use it. Right? It doesn't have to be a wholly set apart sanctified route to get to the Walmart today. Yeah. You could just go the regular route and it should be done. God is there for guidance if you need it. That's right. And like but there are times when he will step into your every day. And so the thing is is like being available and and open to the things that God will be doing. And it will show up in all kinds of weird places. It will show up in your bible reading that day, or it'll show up on like some some prayer where like if you give God the chance to speak or like you're sitting science awkwardly, whichever one you're good at. Right? Like,

I have probably heard, like, what I felt like was was God leading me direction mostly because by the time I heard a thing, I'm like, first of all, I don't even know what that means. Second of all, there's no reason I would have ever thought of that on my own. Yeah. And so like and I actually don't wanna do it. And so like these three things sound like everything that God would be asking me to do. And so instead of going x today, I go y today. And I and like, I'm willing to flush it out because this is kind of fun. I feel like a gambler a little bit, you know, like, if I feel like God is asking me to do something, but I'm not sure it's him, I'm like, let's roll the dice. Yeah. Let's go on. It's gonna be awesome. Let's see what happens. Maybe I'm wrong and I took a twenty minute detour I didn't need to take. Or maybe this is God trying to get me to do a thing, and, like, I I have the most interesting conversation with a guy I never would have met. I've had both. I've had it shake out one way and I've had it shake out the other. And I find it to be extremely exciting when I think God has sent me on some kind of goose hunt to do something cool. How many goose hunts do you go on on a weekend? I go never on my regular goose hunts, but at least two. It is it is a caution maybe,

like, in saying that, of course, it's the wrong posturing. It goes back to that Philemon example. Is it like, I don't want you to like, I want you to see him as a brother. Like, if you feel like you've got got one over on God, like, you've misunderstood the relationship anyway. Like, you're it's the wrong posturing. But if you just think of him as a good father, and, like, not everybody had a good father, and so this harder. It's actually hard to conceive that this is, like, what does it look like to have a kind nurturing someone who, like, you're not gonna disappoint for having asked something. But, like, I got I got four kids, and I I like to think of the young ones when I think of this because they're more innocent. The the older ones might be trying to twist me over something. But, like, they're like, dad, can I have a pony? And, like, I'm not mad that the kid asked for a pony. I'm like, that's a cool thing to ask for, man. I'm we're not gonna do that for all kinds of really good reasons. But ponies are awesome. Yeah. Like, I agree. I know why you're asking, and I'm not mad that you would ask it. And I want you to ask every time. I want you to go, dad, I'm still thinking about that pony. I love it, man. I I do. But, like, if I were to give my six year old kid a pony, the pony would die.

And my kid would feel responsible because they were responsible because they neglected the pony. And the pony would trash the house and crap everywhere. And so, like, I'm not gonna do that. And so and they're like, why did why does God and and so, like, even as adults still, we we we do the same thing, but we do it more reasonably. We're like like, to your point, we start figuring out, like, what does God care about? What does he not care about? I don't know, man. Like, I like to hear all the stuff. And so just like actually, we come to this show on a Monday night and there's three, four dudes in here and they're talking about all kinds of stuff. And I care about all of it, really. I may not have do anything about it, may not change their situations around them, but I can it's the same reason I pray for anything. I was like, I'm not always asking like as if I know the best thing to happen, so I'm gonna tell God what to do. There's an arrogance to that a little bit. But it's okay to say, God, here's what I think. Here's what I want. Here's the thing that's stirring my heart at the moment. Here's the thing that seems exciting. I'm

asking, like, I am I am orienting my body and my heart and my mind to saying, like, if it's the right thing, I'm asking like What do you think, dad? Yeah. What do you think? Tell me. Yeah. Like, show me. Help me help me see. Like, if if there's if this is not the right decision for me or for my family, make it clear because like right now it feels like it's pretty good. And I don't like, I have a limited scope in the world. Or if you don't really care either way, do whatever makes me happy and this is great, then like, hey, I don't know, take the other two resumes off the shelf and let me get this one. It's orienting your prayer like a healthy relationship with a very loving parent more so than can I put my quarter in and ask that God do this thing? Yeah. And so like but once you get the relationship stuff right, then actually, like, you start to recognize you remember when Jesus says, like, my people will hear my voice. Like, you actually do start hearing things every once in a while. You start noticing something highlight from when you're reading scripture. You start when you're praying like, I know I told this story on the show week or so ago, but, like, I I walk in the dog and, like, I I was I was just praying

and not on anything super grand or anything. And it was and the the response that it felt it wouldn't hear like a God voice, but, the the phrase that popped in my mind was like, once you're done following yourself, you can follow me. And it wasn't like, God wasn't pissed or mad at me or anything, but like it was like it was convicting in a very good way. I thought I would not have we're talking this just before the show started. Sometimes you just need, a reckoning. And so so I looked at my life and, like, whatever. I pastor a church. I run a like, I host a Christian radio show. My life is oriented towards following and serving Jesus. But, like, after that thing pops into my mind, I just start thinking about various things in my life life, and I'm like, yeah. I don't even know if I gave God any space in any of these things. I'm like, well, I like this thing, and I'm kinda doing this thing. And I'm like, I'm not like kicking puppies or cheating on my wife or anything, but, like, is my life oriented to God whatever you got I'm in? Not everywhere and not in the way that it always should be. And so I'm like, thank you. Thank you for and and like, it was just such a very cool in my mind to trade off for me to have to think about that. And I said, okay. Well, let's line them up. Let me figure out where I chose me, and I didn't choose the things that were of you, and let me get that oriented. I'm like Yeah. Thanks, dad. Yeah. It was great. Yeah. It's like a father figure. Like, your father isn't gonna sit down and tell you how to play with your toys. Yeah. Like, he's gonna give you all the toys, give you the world for you to be playing with your toys and doing whatever you want with him. Of course, he'd prefer you not smash them into pieces. Yeah.

You say them fight each other. Dad, I'm gonna put them in the light socket. Dad goes, think we should steer you in a different direction. He's like, oh, look, they're getting married or like you're building something great like a cool house or something like and then you're just asking for that approval. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And like and I think maybe that's the that's the maybe the tough part. And it depends on usually, it hinges on earthly dad relationships. Right? Because, like, you're like,

you're like, dad, what do you think? And, like, there's no part of him that ever goes, I'm I I don't I don't like you. Right? I'm disappointed in you. I want you to get away from me. Right? Never is that his response. Now his response could be corrective, but, like, it's a it's a there's something about even a harsh correction that comes from a loving dad that you're like, he really meant it this time. Oh, totally. You know what I'm saying? Like, you can tell when your old man's like, he's kinda hurt. And so he's like like, he's he's amped a little bit. He's not, like, apathetic to you and just giving you, like, this blind

rule based whatever. He's like, son, no. Yeah. Like, you can hear this in his voice. Well, you and you would want it. Like, I don't you you got a kid reaching for the stove. Like, you go like, dude, you you could grab the hand and you go, you're gonna hurt yourself. And for and, like, there's people's behaviors where, like, not only you're hurt yourself, but you're gonna hurt other people. And so, no, of course, you would because that's the other thing. God actually does care about this. This is why, like, even your even the faithfulness of the means as an example because, like, think of how vast majority of people that walked away from Jesus didn't walk away from Jesus. They walked away from the church. They saw some Christians behaving in some way or another, and they go, God sucks. Yes. Because look at look at that. Based upon that, I think God's crappy. And so this is where, like, you know, your

life matters even just again, not just like a, oh, hey. Does he follow the rules or not? Like, that's it's amateur hour. That like, you're playing with two small mistakes. God's I'm trying to help. It's the same when he looks at the Israelites and say, look. You're to be a light to the Gentiles. I I expect, like, when my people are serving and loving and caring and fighting for justice and fighting for true and good things into the world, they do that so that people understand me. In like, fallibly, of course. But, like, they they understand god like and and you see this where, like, in service to what I actually we just bought I don't I don't We don't talk about this on the air very much, but, we so we're we're trying to help with some folks in Pakistan.

There are folks in some debt slavery, and they end up in brickyards in Pakistan. And so, the way to get them out and they're almost exclusively Christians because you can't do debt slavery in Pakistan with a Muslim. The Muslims own the brickyards and so you can't enslave another Muslim, but you can enslave a Christian. And so these brickyards are full of Christians who owe money that they like, it's it's like the coal mine of days going by. Like, you can never make enough money to pay off your debt. And so anyway, like, every like every once in a while, God has just blessed various folks from the show where we can just pay off debts and we can help people kinda get out of the thing. That's great. And then I think there was we we we helped a family. It was a it was a a lady and her son. The son's, I think, 25, maybe 30, but like the like, he'd never not been in that brickyard.

His his mom had been in that slavery. The dad had died. They just had no way to pay it off. And so we got him got him out of there. And then it was like two or three months later, our friend in Pakistan goes like, hey, is there any chance we could help them with a bed? Like, don't have a they're sleeping on the floor. I'm like, well, Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. And so like we figured out and we found some beds. We got them each a bed and they just got it over this last weekend. And like the just the joy the joy in their faces. But here's what they didn't do. They were like they're like, oh, thank you brother Ben. This is this is for me.

But like everybody recognizes that like like, God is God is responsible. Why am I sending money to Pakistan? Not because I just thought of it. Like, God held interacted and got me in touch with a guy in Pakistan. I don't know why. I make more money than I should probably, and I have it to to be able to buy a bed. And so, like, all of these things, I don't go, hey. Look at look. We're awesome. Or the guy who went and bought the bed, like, I think he's a good guy. But, like, at the end of the day, everybody in this equation goes, dude, what a cool thing we got to be a part of. Yes. Like, and for and for these guys, like, we Western Westerners, Americans particularly, are like, when we're when the Bible's got elements of, like, freedom and peace and things, these are abstract because we subsist on our own money, on our own commodities.

Right? But to these guys, they're like the the words that God has said have come true physically in my life through the hands of his people, which is exactly how it's supposed to be done. Right? They don't expect God to show up and light rays and cash to start flowing out of the thing. They have every expectation that faithful people who love Jesus will do the faithful things that Jesus does here on the earth. And so this is like, they're very very grateful, but they're like, see, God keeps his promises. Yeah. The end result is God keeps his promises. That's right. And because here's the thing. This this goes back to me walking the dog, going like, well, you're gonna stop when you're ready to stop following yourself, you can follow me. But like how much of my life is oriented or understood through the lens of what I can personally control? Right. Because you can provide your own food. You can provide your own shelter. That's right. Right? Like, you could there's you you're really making decisions based on comfort. You know what I'm saying? And, like, that's Western society. That's not just you being a a a turd. Right? Like, that's that's us as a whole. Even our poor people, like, even us growing up, like, we're we're We're doing great. In a third world country. Like, I'm like Yeah. I have shoes that are three years old, and this kid's like, what are shoes?

You know what I'm saying? And so, like Yeah. We even misunderstand our own place. And so you're right. Like, like, the bible think about that. Like, the bible reads differently to different societies and different groups of people Yeah. Where we're like peace and freedom and joy, and we're like, this should mean my boss won't yell at me. And, like, this guy's like, I would do anything for a job. Yeah. Like, I would literally cut off my foot to be able to support my family in a responsible way. You know? And, like, and like, western society struggles with this so much because we don't struggle with much. Yeah. And it but I think the like, the risk then is, like, is to go, well, what am I supposed to do? Go live like that guy? Your poverty is not holy. Just like your just like your, your wealth is not implicitly a blessing from God. As a matter of fact, a lot of the worst things we do to each other and inside our own souls has to do with we have the flexibility to do it. We've got the money to do it. We've the time to do it. Like, we do a lot of harm to ourselves and other people, things we buy, things we interact with is bad. Tebu. Right? Yeah. What yeah. No. Americans spend more on porn than almost anything else. Yeah. This is this is what I'm saying. And so like, so you've got your your wealth is not implicitly a blessing from God nor is your poverty

something to be like, see God, I impoverished myself so that now everyone else has to do something. And he's like, why? I gave you all this money to help people. That's what I'm saying. And so, like, like as opposed this is where humans get into this balls and strikes business. Like, oh, like look like that guy's got three nice cars. He must not be following the Lord. Shut up. And like or like that guy's poor. God must have done that to him. You know none of these things. Like, knock it off, but like but look at your own hands. Look at your own wallet. Like, look at your own time and go, again, am I following am I have I oriented my life to my own set of values or am I oriented my life life to the God who goes, I created you, I know what good looks like. And in some ways, what good looks like is contentious to how your society functions in multiple ways. But I'm telling you, I created you. I know what good looks like. Walk in that. And then I go, sure. I don't like yes. I have I got a a bonus from work. Pakistani. Pakistani bonus. And but here's the thing. I like, no joke. I I the reason we don't talk about this, like, I I'm not asking for someone to go, hey. Good job. I think nothing of this.

I'm so it feels very, very blessed to know this random man in Pakistan. I don't remember how we got ahold of each other. Like, he the blessing is to me. The blessing is to me that I get to be part of the work that Jesus is doing in a very tangible way that doesn't always exist everywhere. And so, like, that's lest people misunderstand. It's not I'm like, we're not advertising for this reason. I was I was just thinking that, like, even because we used to do this. Right? Like, we used to hang out a lot of homeless camps and, like, we'd we'd deliver a bunch of stuff. And, like, the amount of times they're like, oh, no. Thank you. This thing that you brought, like, are these

are these battery powered flashlights? We like the rechargeable ones. Mhmm. Oh, okay. My bad. You know, my bad. And, like, it's we're like that. Right? Like, that's not hanging a a black hat on the homeless community. That's hanging a black hat on society who is so used to to walking in political freedom and in in financial freedom that you get to make the distinction of whether the name banned Frosted Flakes that someone donated are not good enough for you because you're a honey bunches of oats guy. Yeah. Yeah. And, like, if you're gonna come stay at this shelter or you're gonna come to this hotel, you deserve better.

And, like, you do not. You do not. Yeah. Alright. I will say actually just before we leave that note, like, let's do more can openers. You guys are turning a lot of cans to the homeless and very few can openers. I know we switched to the pop tops. I'm just saying just for every 10 cans, just put your 10 can opener in there. Actually, that was very obvious when they would do can drives that no one actually thought about where they were going. They're just like, we've had these beans for too long. I can remember buying these three years ago and my family hates them. And, like, when when you could tell the people like, this is generally the Jesus people, is they're like, why would I give somebody a can of beans that I don't want? Yeah. Right. You know what moves at my house? Corn. We can't keep it in stock. So they go buy six things of corn. Yeah. Right? And they're like, this goes over like hotcakes at the Foust house. The homeless people will definitely love it. You know? But instead, people are cleaning out their their water chestnuts that people are like, everybody hates these. And so the homeless people are stuck with 15 cans of water chestnuts and no can opener. Yeah. Like, you could just give them the finger and move on. That was all the good you did. Yep. Yep. Alright. I don't care about the last thing. It's done. We're moving on. We're gonna skip it. So we're gonna move on. I don't know. That there's a lot of variety in there. Let us know your feedback. Life in the Path, Bob Eisner complaint line, (515) 517-0085. Call or text. Now I want you to get comfortable. I mean, shimmy those two cheeks into that chair.

Settle on in because you're getting ready to participate in America's fastest growing Internet game show. Hold on. I'm trying to make sure the media works like it's supposed to secular, or I'm gonna show it to you so you can all see that I'm not doing it well. Look at it's obvious. Look at there's the thing. There's these fellas right here. They're gonna play and do the thing that I said.

And nope. There's no hold on. Hold on. Think about it. Yikes. Thinking. Hug on it. I can usually cover up with this better, but we're having some technical difficulties that actually are not obvious. Like, you don't know what's causing it. Yeah. Hold on. Okay. Hold on. Hold on. Gotta go work. We're gonna start over.

Okay. There it is. There's music. If you're in the room, you just can't hear it. It's lovely music. Thank you. We're dead people. Oh, there's no pants in it. And now for America's fastest growing Internet game show, Secular or Solomon.

Dang. I didn't even find the right one. Oh, man. I not lived my life right. Alright. Anyway, you've wandered in America's fastest growing Internet game show, Secular Horse Solomon. If this now listen. If this is the first time on the program again and you're like, boy, that's clunky and terrible, this is how the show goes. Yeah. And so I don't want you to think, oh, like, I gotta give him a path. This is the reality of the situation. And so if this is not for you, I totally understand. This night is a 10 out of 10 so far. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We're rocking it. Thrift Store Priest is is a holding firm in the left hand corner, and Yeah. Dawson's keeping the place afloat. Alright. I'm floating. So here we go. Secular or Solomon. I'm gonna give you a proverb, a bit of wisdom, and you're gonna tell me whether it is a secular bit of wisdom. And if it's secular, it's come you're gonna tell me the country of origin, or if it is Solomon,

I want the I don't know. You can offer the chapter if you want to. I don't care. Mike, you're on you're on scorekeeping. Yes? Got it. Yep. I'm on scorekeeping. Okay. Alright. Let's see here. Maybe we'll It's not looking good for Dawson. I'll tell you that. Yep. Yep. Both because I'm in charge of the scorekeeping. Oh, no. Okay. Here we go. Dawson, you're up first. Secular or Solomon, don't make a mouse of yourself or else you will be eaten by cats. Oh, boy. Don't make a mouse of yourself or else you will be eaten by cats. Secular or Solomon? Give me Solomon, Steve. Solomon? You believe this is a biblical bit of wisdom? Absolutely. Yeah. I'm convinced. Okay. Me too. No. Ask me. Don't make a mouse of yourself or else you'll be eaten by cats.

That is secular, and I'm gonna guess from Switzerland. Swiss have a feline problem. They're a cheese people. Cheese people. Okay. Again, the proverb was was it don't make a mouse yourself or else you'll be eaten by cats. Don't put yourself in a position to be in dangerous circumstances, basically. Yeah. Yeah. The Swiss don't know that. Anyway, the the answer is secular Germany.

Oh, yeah. Okay. Secular Germany. I was close. It does I don't know. It does make me wonder outside of lions whether there are even any cats in the bible. Certainly no domestic long hairs. That not mentioned? I'm gonna get back to it. I don't know. Outside of lions. Not mentioned at all? I don't know. That I could this could be way off. There are certain parts that I've not read in a while. Yeah. Tell me there's not like a like, there's not a barn cat sleeping with him when he's born. Dawson says the cat is implied. Like, when I think of a barn, I think there's gotta be a barn cat there. Yeah. We didn't like, the Bible didn't even have to mention it. Of course, there's a Like, Mary went to put Jesus in the manger and the cat won't get out of it. Too busy chasing that mouse. It could be a house cat. Alright. Here we go. Secular or Solomon Mike, a gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

That is for sure, Solomon. And I'm gonna guess Proverbs eight. Boy. Boy. That smacks of someone who's not read Proverbs in a while. A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Dawson. I'm gonna prices write you. Proverbs nine.

I'm a trust his gut on that one. Shrewd. Boy. Boy. And, I mean, Dawson's he's got the key to this game, Mike. Take it. He's picked up on us so far. He's listening to him. That's not true. No one listens to this show. Alright. A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger is indeed Solomon Proverbs 15. Oh. I did places right on 15. It's not closest without going over though. You're still wrong though. Your arrogance has betrayed you. No. I I got a point there. Nine is closer than eight is. You're not the scorekeeper. Oh, Alright. The Right now, it's 30 to negative four. Oh, listen, man. It's a difficult situation you're in. Style points. I'm sorry. Alright. Here we go. Secular or Solomon. Dawson, the heaviest rains fall on the house that leaks most.

Oh, secular. Secular country of origin. That's Australia. It's always written. Bold answer. I mean

Poor construction in Australia according to Dawson. Absolutely. Okay. Here we go. Mike, the heaviest rains fall on the house that leaks most, secular Solomon. That's definitely secular. K. Mhmm. And from The Congo. The Democratic Republic Of The Congo? They've since independentinized. Yeah. Are they really? Unknown to me. Unknown to you. Geography and world political situations are neither things that are on Mike's bingo card.

Talk to me about the Internets. They've come out with a perhaps red ribbon. Okay. The heaviest rains fall on the house that leaks most. Good day, mate. It's not. It is secular China. China. China. Is The Congo it is not. Dang it. No. Okay. He prizes writing me on geography as well. Yeah. Yeah. I did.

I just covered more space. He was closer for sure. Dang it. Although China is a bit of a cheat answer given its size. China and Russia, if you're gonna prizes write someone on geography, those are the options. Yeah. That's true. Alright. Here we go. Secular Solomon, Mike, do not be quickly provoked in your spirit for anger resides in the lap of fools. Secular Solomon. Come on. Solomon, Proverbs nine. Solid. Dawson, do not be quickly provoked in your spirit for anger resides in the lap of fools. I am

am most definitely provoked. Proverbs Sticking with what works. Yep. This man is a cheap imitation of a man guessing. Absolutely not. He merely waits till I throw a guess out and then bests me. He's the Lucent Technologies of his of his generation. I wish I owned a white glove. We would do. Okay. Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit for anger resides in the lap of fools. It is indeed Solomon

Ecclesiastes seven. Oh, you didn't even know that was a book. No. Just had a look on my face again. Yeah. Ecclesiastes. I've only let let met one Ecclesiastes in my life, let alone a couple. Yeah. Right. They rarely get together. Yeah. I thought that was the isn't that a tendon in my foot? What?

The Achilles' talent? No. If you have an Ecclesiastes in your foot, you're the only man Nah. And someone has put it in there nefariously. Hey. It's time to hit the Internet, boys. The Ecclesiastes foot. Alright. Secular or Solomon Dawson. Dawson.

A fool takes no pleasure in understanding but only in expressing his opinion. Well, that's most definitely secular. But Country of origin? That's from here. That's my hometown. Okay. US. That's it.

Fool takes no pleasure in understanding but only in expressing his opinion in Pleasantville. Mike? I'm also gonna agree it's secular. K. And I'm gonna say, stop it. I don't believe you. It feels like Italian proverb to me. There are there are so many fools in Italy for not listening to this program. Am I right? Am I right? Okay. A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only expressing his opinion. These two fellows in the room have missed the earmark

of a Solomon proverb, which is the presence of the word fool, Proverbs eighteen two. Dang it. If there's a fool to be had, Solomon is after him. That's almost that's one of the rules of the road. Yeah. I thought it was a trick one. What was what was the tail end of that one? Fool takes no pleasure in understanding but only in expressing his opinion. That's where I I've got don't think I ever have recall reading the word opinion That in the bible. That's where it threw me. Yeah. You got blinded. You think there's too many cats in there. Do you ever, like, look at words in a sentence and I'm like, this seems like a new word?

Opinion does make me feel like it's been around for a long time. Yeah. Like, you stare at it and you're like, I don't know where you came from. That's gotta be new words. They added that. I don't use new words. I do. Solomon also doesn't speak English. Just to clarify. Opinion.

Like, I I it's a new one. Holy cow. That was Eastern Bloc Russia at best. Here we go. Secular Solomon Mike, you can't chew with someone else's teeth. Excuse me? You can't chew with someone else's teeth, secular Solomon. I'm gonna go secular. Also, it was a fever of teats.

Yeah. This doesn't lack cultural insensitivity. Go ahead, Mike. Lebanon. Lebanese, they've always been a tooth people. Alright. Dawson, you can't chew with someone else's teeth, secular Solomon. I hope it's secular. And let's go Iceland. Bold. Mhmm. Bold.

They don't even need them. You can't chew someone else's teeth. It is secular Israel. Yeah. Israel. That's pretty much Lebanon. Modern day Lebanon. I don't Hey. Isn't it in isn't an Israel proverb pretty much biblical wisdom? Is I wouldn't say that. That seems to be a lot of the contention that Jesus has with the Jews of the day. Right. I've joined a rough crowd. Yeah. Yeah. Understood.

Alright. Here we go. Secular Solomon Dawson, even in laughter, the heart may ache and rejoicing may end in grief. Oh, let's say that's most I think that's Solomon. K. Go ahead. Spin the wheel. Spin wheel.

Do you know how many chapters are in Proverbs? Be careful, my friend, if you go too high. If you go too high. 76. These sounds like the later the later ones. You'll show your cards. What what's the one? Corcorulations?

Ecclesiastes. Foot. The foot book. Is that what you mean? Foot book. Cornelations. Okay. I'm gonna help you. It's either Proverbs or Ecclesiastes. These are your two others. Yeah. There we go. Achilles foot. It was said by a Cornish game hen who had had three drinks too many and confronted an uncle who never gave her a birthday party.

They sent me another rosary. Mike, even in laughter, the heart may ache and rejoicing may end in grief. Secular Solomon. I'm gonna go Ecclesiastes two standard. I got a bookmark. It says the exact same thing. Alright. Even in laughter, the heart may ache and rejoicing may end in grief. It is indeed Solomon Proverbs fourteen thirteen. Dang it. Well,

it was a cheap bookmark. They could've had it wrong. Alright. Here we go. It's also in Hebrew. Secular or Solomon. Hey. If you're playing live on the YouTube, go ahead and put your put your score there in the chat so I can kinda see how things are going on over there. Yeah. What's our score? Right now, I'm up a 102 to 14. 14. 2,014. I would love to know how I got 14 points. Most of them were sympathy points. Sympathy? For whatever foot condition you have. Yeah. I'll be honest. You you were trying to chew with someone else's teeth. That's what got you into this situation. Here we go. Mike, secular Solomon, a bad workman blames his tools.

A bad workman a bad player at secular versus Solomon blames his goalkeeper. A bad workman blames his tools. Mike, secular Solomon. Secular and Chile. Chile. Yeah.

Do wait a minute. No. Nope. Nope. Is this gonna be inappropriate? You keep it. Seriously, someone from Chile listens. I gotta my friends my friends, don't say these things. Don't say these things about me.

You give me a bed and a slap in the face. Yeah. Mike, we're moving on from you. Dawson, a bad workman blames his tools. I think that's secular. K. Which country do you think has bad workman? Country? Oh, careful. You're on thin ice, bro? The Bosnians are a lazy people. Say Liverpool.

A specific town Yep. Who currently had an attack today. Today? It comes with the chair. Dan Hudson does that same thing. I asked for a country. That's all I want. He's like, I don't know. Chicago. Or like the Indian Ocean by a man who's passed out in a canoe.

Alright. So England? Yep. Okay. Alright. I guess. Secular. That's what they're putting in Liverpool nowadays. A bad workman blames his tools is indeed secular England. That's Yes. I'll never hear the end of this.

This is outrageous. Get that man a Charles to chew. Was cool. Just one one over on you. It's too bad that that happened to be the reverse point question. It was actually worth negative. No. It wasn't that. It didn't dare lie. Dude, how unfortunate is it? Yeah. You rolled snake eyes, my friend. They don't call the game craps for nothing. Alright. Secular Solomon, Dawson, a cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

Dries up the bones? Yep. Yep. That's poor bones. Cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries at the bones. Secular Solomon. Solomon. K. I don't got a book for you. No? No. I don't. No. I'm still glowing from my How about Liverpool win. Give me a new testament. Nope. Nope. Solomon's an old I get this here. Okay. Hey. If you're listening, I'll just mute That's what I meant. Mute the computer for just a second on your phone. I could just just me and Dawson talking. Dawson, I gave you there's two books, man. It's Proverbs or Ecclesiastes. That's it. Nope. You get one of those two. You get you you fished in a in a sewage pond,

and there was a lake of fish right in front of you. Genesis. Two fishes here. It is the chair. Right? Okay. You can come back on now. We got that straightened out. Okay. No book, A Cheerful Heart is Good Medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. He guessed the wrong book. No. I didn't. Drewed his guess.

Genesis, he said. After he offered up the whole New Testament of which Solomon had been dead for thousands of years. I tried I tried to be a pal. I feel like I'm using someone else's teeth. I'm going Solomon. K. Chapter 18.

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. It is indeed Solomon Proverbs 17. Woah. 17. So I was on the dot. So I guess Genesis, I guess that's a little low. The numerical value system on the completely wrong book is hard to identify. Alright. Here we go. Secular or

Solomon. Dawson. Wait. Mike, here we go. Last one. As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly. Oh, that's Solomon. Secular Solomon? Solomon?

Solomon, Proverbs 17. K. Proverbs 17. Same chapter as last one. Okay. Dawson, as a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly. Secular Solomon. Folly. But dog, we were just talking about cats aren't in the bible. Mhmm. Mhmm. So why would dogs vomit in there? Cats for sure. Lions definitely Yeah. Are in. Mhmm. Yeah. You know what's in the Bible? Fools and folly. That is true. Come on. But also,

the Bible's been around for a bit. And I am pretty sure other people picked up that lingo from them. The conspiracy that you're trying to put forth is madness. You wanna think it is? I'm gonna say secular. Bold. Okay. Yeah. Bold. And

give me I like chili. I like that for my lawyer. To eat? Nope. I like place. Yep. The country. Chile. Chile. Not Chile. I like it. As an aside, I love toast. Yeah. Toast. Zero parts of the show about my eating likes and that changes now. Yep.

Also, chili. Alright. Here we go. As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly. It is indeed Solomon Proverbs 26. Oh. Final scores, Mike. The total came out. It was a it was a barn burner, but I pulled ahead at the end with a score of 1,004. Oh, wow. And then Dawson, he really fell off there, and he was at negative 37. No. I doubled my points for getting on the nose with Liverpool. Alright. If you're contesting authority, you're now down at negative 50 Oh,

man. Please accept your defeat graciously. Like a dog returning to his vomit. Alright. Let's see. Maybe you hey. How did you do? Go ahead and post that in the chat on the YouTube or hit us up on the live for about complete line (515) 517-0085. Call or text. I don't need to know. I don't care about the rest of your day or anything. Don't be like, hey. I enjoyed gardening with the hubby today, 20 '7. I don't care. Just tell me how you did on secular versus Solomon. Yes. And let me know if you also guessed Liverpool. Yeah. I know we're all thinking it when we heard it. Yeah. It's it's unfortunate it happened on that negative round thing, but like, otherwise, that was wild. Yeah. It was. That was I would have been really excited for you. You just man, you played the lotto at the wrong time. Candlestly bad luck. I tell you what, Mike, let's give out some advice. Okay. Did you wanna do post style or just what you wanna sit on? Nah. We'll sit on it. Okay. Let's do some advice. Alright. Dear, life from the path,

how do you handle a friend who never stops talking? My longtime friend has always been a good storyteller, but as we become older, she hijacks every conversation when we get together. She's oblivious to verbal or body cues that the rest of us are done with the conversation that she has chosen and would like to move on. If someone is able to get a word in edgewise, she immediately returns to the previous subject. Mhmm. I come away from gatherings feeling angry and frustrated. Is there a way to address this without blowing up a lifelong relationship?

No. No. Here's the thing. Like, hey, this is it's been a long time. Yeah? Yeah. Yeah. Hey, did did we I can't remember. I didn't quite catch it. Did we get the sense that, like, she's tried to she tries to, like, casually dissuade this thing and it just keeps getting pulled back. This is where I'm gonna push back a little bit, like, she says she's oblivious to verbal or body cues that the rest of us are done with the conversation. I I would like to see these obvious body cues. How obvious do a body cue be? They'd be like Come on. Show them the shepherd's hook. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I here's the thing. Is that, like, I actually think

there's an element of this where if you've been friends with this person this long, like, you gotta you gotta take the good with the bad. Right? Some people just Some people don't stop. Yeah. It's just not gonna change about them. And there's it could be there's could be an insecurity in them. So they're like trying to redraft the conversation back to themselves. They could just be arrogant people like Mhmm. But whatever. You've been friends with them for so long. There must be some redeeming quality about them. So one, I I do want you to like put it in perspective. Their whole personality is not this thing. So just be careful that you don't overreact here. I will say though, some like, if you if you're friends with them, like honestly, you care about them, they care about you, you can say the like, not the harsh thing, but the clear thing. Hey, should able to say that and then not Yeah. Yeah. And if they and if they way overreact, then like they're not great friends to you. So like like I I know this feels a little bit we talked about this when we talked about relationship stuff like, hey, maybe you reach out and you try to, I don't know, you see someone you wanna be friends with or someone that you wanna date or something and you approach them. If they react harshly or whatever, they weren't good friends and they're not someone you wanna date. So like, okay. You learned a thing. Yeah. You learned a thing. And so like, if if she's like if you're in a situation where like, hey, we've if you've mentioned it, if you failed to mention it, you're expecting to get subtle cues. She doesn't seem like a subtle person. No. So just jump right in there and say, hey, man, this is weird. It feels like this thing's over and you keep on going. Like, do you notice that you're doing that? Okay. We and and to be fair, we give the same advice out to wives all the time who are like, my husband is not picking up on my cues. Noted. He's not gonna. Just say the thing. Yeah. Like, say the thing that you want to have happen. Right? Like, don't, like, bat your eyes or, like Don't beat around the bush. Don't beat around the bush. Like like and this is it's not always dudes, but it's classic dude behavior. Right? Like, if you want them to and they will be happy to do it if they could just figure out. They're oblivious to most things, and they walk around in a world just merely mystified of what is actually happening. And so, like, if you're like, I would really like the laundry done today. You're like, hot dang. I know what I'm supposed to do today. This is gonna be a great day. And and because the opposite end is like, the end of the day happens and goes, I noticed that you didn't even go pick up the food. And you're like, what happened?

I had no idea I was even responsible for that. Mhmm. Yeah. Is this a gal to gal conversation? This is a gal to gal conversation currently. Is it a group of gals Sounds like table? Yeah. Yeah. I'd imagine. Yeah. They should be able to tell each other to Yeah. Shut the f up if they do. Straight on. Like, just send it. I I don't know. That's gotta be a weird atmosphere if you can't, though, especially if being in a friend group for that long. Yes. Not having that comfortability with a friend to be like, hey. We've moved on. Like, there's some things that, like, if you were willing to just rip it out there that, like, people don't forget. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, when you say, look look, you just you're over like, no one can get a word in edgewise. And, like, it depends on how secure they are in themselves. Right? If they're fairly insecure, they'll shrink back and say nothing. Right? As a complete, like, opposite way of acting to be like, well, if they think I talk too much, maybe I just won't talk at all. Right? And so, like, it it depends on the maturity level of your friend Yep. And the maturity level of your friendship probably is probably the right Mhmm. Task. Yeah. But what what is what is staggeringly unfair is to get frustrated with someone who you've given no opportunity to actually mend. What about the verbal cues? The shepherd's hook and That's obviously like your belief that so you fight I think don't presume upon that. Like, clarity is clarity. Like, hey, they're ignoring my verbal cues. How do you know they saw them? How do you know they took you know, is it like all kinds of stuff where and we've talked about this before where, like, I just don't notice a thing. My wife's like, hey, you walked by this thing four times. I couldn't have told you I walked by it at all. Mhmm. Like, I I I straight up do not even recall that. And so that what it is it starts to assign a motivation to people. Like, you take what is something that needs to be resolved and then now becomes a personality issue that you've assigned to them. Look at, not only do they not like refuse to stop talking, but now they're ignoring the fact where it's obvious that all of us want you to stop talking. Okay. You've created two problems. They may both be true, but you've not taken any steps to actually affirm that. So why don't you check with it first? Give people the chance to act the way that they should by being clear instead of presuming that they've got some sort of weird attitude about it. Like you've you've not been a good friend if you spent even a half a second being irritated with them without mentioning it to them first. Yes. That's probably true. Right? Like, if to to assume that your half baked measures should have done the job and you have yet to do the full bake. All you have to do is say something, and then you go, I communicate communicated clearly on the boundaries that I wanted to have set and where I think that we're at, and then a continued

push forward into ignoring that, then, yeah, now you got a conflict here. But, like, if you did not mention it or you didn't sack up and just go, hey, man. Like, you gotta stop talking for a minute so I can get a word in here. Yeah. But that's completely unfair to be mad at somebody without saying something about it. Yeah. Yeah. They could even gateway. Like, saying, like, have you noticed our social cues? Like, have you noticed us? Like, our faces That's true. You keep going? Like, I could gateway you into, like, maybe a little bit more subtle of approach. Right. Rather than just, hey. Yeah. We're done. Yeah. You I mean, you could set this up as almost a comedy. Like, here's the deal, man. Once you get firing up the engine, that engine don't seem to slow down so I can talk in here. So from now on, when I take, like, three giant winks with this noise, that means it's time for you to slow the trailer a little bit. Yeah. This is me. I do that in this room. Yeah. I just get going on some sort of like, I'm just talking and talking and talking, and I will continue to do so. And someone has to stop me. And, like, I have to be reminded, hey. You've been talking way too long about it. It's usually me. I usually do this. And it's usually mine. And so but but here's the thing. I I will to reiterate though, like, is not you you you should when we talk about different ways in which you could approach it, but, like, again, it shouldn't you shouldn't even consider approaching it in a harsh way because why are you being harsh? If if if you if you mentioned it and it was clear and they kept doing it, I get some level of irritation. But, like, if you did not address it, you have no right to be harsh with anybody. I will say that that think of all your relationships. You get mad at your at your boyfriend, girlfriend. You get mad at your kids or something. Like, you hair triggered someone. Like, I don't know. Did you talk to them first? Did they have a chance to get it right? Or did you just irritate it out of the gate because you're like, oh, it's been you know, this is the fifth time this week. Okay. Did you mention at times one to four or wait till it stacked up and then blew up at someone? I'm just saying like, be fair to people. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Okay. So the question was,

is there a way to address this without blowing up a lifelong relationship? Secular says, I don't think there is. You stated that your longtime friend has always been a good storyteller. Is it possible that as you all are growing older that she has begun having cognitive problems? It may also be a reason why she's not picking up on social cues. I wouldn't be there first. Holy cow. Like, you know, let's talk about broad swath. Right? Like, they they just get on a fire and they won't stop talking, and you're like, do you have a mental disorder? Or or are you just real old? Gosh. That's rough. That's terrible advice. She continues.

Would her spouse, if she has one, or her children, if she has any, have noticed any changes? Start asking. And if the response you receive is that this is just the way she is, for the sake of your sanity, see her less often. Okay. Yeah. That's what I wanna find out from if, like, subversively, my friend has reached out to my family to see if I have a mental disorder. This is terrible advice. Terrible. Holy cow. Hasn't even told him to stop talking. Right. Didn't even bring it up. And all of sudden Okay. We're done with you. Gosh. Okay. One more ready. Okay. Okay. Here we go.

Nope. Nope. Yes. Dear life from the past. My late husband and I were married thirty eight years when we finally went to marriage counseling. I found out then that he had slept with my sister early in our marriage. I had suspected he'd also had an affair with his uncle's wife. They were very close in age. Holy cow. This too was confirmed in counseling. My sister was recently home because of our mom's health, and it was a struggle to be in the same hospital room with her. As far as the other gal, there are a few occasional family get togethers, which I avoid because of her. I need help. How do I deal with this after all these years?

Wow. I need a breakdown of the family tree. Okay. So so so just to recap, my late husband. So this man's already passed Yeah. Yeah. They were married for thirty eight years. Early in the marriage, apparently, he had cheated on his wife with the wife's sister. But she never knew about it until after he passed. Yeah. Until counseling, which was assumedly later in life. Oh. And he had also had an affair with his uncle's wife. This dude. This is all okay. And continuing. The sister comes in to visit every once in a while, and she's having a hard time being in the same room as this gal. And the other lady,

like, on occasional family get togethers, she likes to avoid altogether. And she needs help. How do I deal with these this after all these years? I think the the unfortunate reality

is the people who are most aggrieved in situations like this have to advocate for their own peace, and it unfortunately,

this is is the this part that's difficult, is it is often you're not where are you gonna find it? You're only gonna find it in forgiveness in this thing. It's the only place you get it because you can't deal with the husband's dead. Yep. Right? But it came out in counseling. So like presumably you had a chance to talk about it while he was still alive. Mhmm. Right? But like, what exactly could anybody say or do to set any of these things right? They couldn't.

And it's so long ago, it's even gonna feel weird to try to deal with. Yeah. You know, you're talking of decades ago. And so like the practical the practical reality is twofold and it seems like they're gonna be in two separate sides of things, but they're actually very tightly bundled together is you were you were mistreated. You like you were taken advantage of, you were lied to and deceived by multiple people who are close to you. And that sucks. It sucks to find out about it. I know that frankly, there's some of me that if I was just like being disassociated from it, I'm almost kind of grateful of it. Because like, think of how you're feeling now and repaint that over the last forty years or so. Yeah. Right. And so Mhmm. I I just I I that's not trying to get you to put rose colored glasses on. I'm telling you like there is actually some level of gift in that, but you got to know it before the man died. But here's the thing. The the you're not gonna find there's no other place to find peace. Yelling at the sister's not gonna bring you any peace. Being pissed at the uncle or his wife isn't gonna bring you peace. The guy and your husband's already dead. The only thing that will actually bring you any resolution and sense of peace is for you to take control of the situation and seek conversation and ultimately forgiveness and to extend it.

And this this is why Jesus advocates for this very type of thing. It's like there will be all kinds of ways in which the world's the the vase got broken, and you can try to glue it back together in all kinds of different ways, and it will never quite be the same thing. And so but this this is the path of which you actually end up with something greater than what you had before. And you'll you'll find this in people who can actually reconcile their marriages off of something like whether there's a cheating or an adultery or like some sort of deceit. The marriage can come back stronger because you ended up like having to do something so raw

as forgive where it is just impossible to think that you could. Mhmm. And so that I recognize fully that that is a hard answer, but I do very much believe that that is actually the answer. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. I think,

like, the it seems to be it feels like it would need to be delivered in exactly that way too. Because, like, the quick answer is you need to forgive them. But, like, delivered that way, it lacks all the nuance and weight that got us here. Right? And so, like, having that same advice to somebody, like, delivered with the same amount of empathy and care for the situation that got us here is the way that those words are heard.

And so, like, that there's a real delicate balance here in not allowing to continue to swim in filth merely because you were thrown in there. You don't have to stay there if you don't want to. And, like, it it gets to be that big of a truth that says, like, you didn't create this sewage pond, like, you didn't contribute to it, but that is where you are. And you do have an option, and it is not a pull up by a bootstraps kind of thing. You're basically saying, I'm a clean this pond up. Like, so I I I'm not going to just leave it because what you're gonna find out is, like, the stink is still on you as you left. Right? Like, we need to clean the thing. And, like, this is obviously where Jesus shines because this is exactly what he does. Your heart without him is uncapable of this level of forgiveness because you can't do it, because your kingdom matters to you. Right? When his kingdom matters and when he's calling the shots, this level of forgiveness is attainable. But when the only thing you have is to protect and glorify your own kingdom, you will never clean that pond. And you will bite and fight and claw at everything around you to to make sure that your kingdom comes out on top, and it's a lie. It will never come out on top. Yeah. You will just be the king of the swamp. Yeah. I will tell you a middle finger will cover up a wound, but it will not heal it. It'll feel good. It'll or make it feel like it went away, but it just it it won't ever heal it. It'll yeah. And so like, again,

I know it's hard. I I said a hard thing. I I and like there's to your point, I think there is a do you still do you get to express to the sister like that you're hurt? Well, of course. Like, part of forgiveness there there's an honesty in forgiveness. Like, it has to be. Otherwise, it's not actually forgiveness, which means, like, you get to say, look, I was I was I was hurt. You can't expect your relationship to your sister to get either repaired or even improved if you're not honest. And, like, she needs to respond honestly, and maybe you're gonna get the answer you want, and maybe you're gonna get a reaction that's defensive if she doesn't wanna talk about it. But that's not but you don't have to carry the weight of her reaction just like you don't have to carry the weight of your husband's behavior. But the freedom in that is the is the forgiveness part regardless of their their reaction to it. And so

just because I said it and just because I actually think it's very plainly the way to do that you need to approach it doesn't mean it's easy, doesn't mean it's fast, doesn't mean it doesn't take time in healing. All those things are appropriate. And you probably can I would actually suggest continuing down the counseling or at least a close friend route to like, hey, here's where I'm struggling? I know I'm supposed to forgive. I do forgive. But then today I woke up and I was angry. That's okay. Yeah. It's okay. Like, Jesus gets this perfectly. We're gonna struggle on that. I actually think one of the reasons that we get when Jesus tells Peter, hey, you're gonna forgive 70 times seven,

Like, it's easy to look at that and go, oh, I gotta forgive a lot. I kinda get it. Jesus's reaction to what happens to him on the cross sets a bar. So at least we go, oh, my depth of what it looked like to forgive was actually probably still too shallow. Because like we would cut it off. At some point we just go, yeah, but certainly I'm not supposed to forgive that. But like, I think the relevance

for what Jesus points us to is it starts to recognize that lack of forgiveness doesn't just withhold reconciliation with someone else. It will eat your soul because you're not meant to carry grudges that are too big for you. That stuff is too big. It's weight. People's aggrieve it like of how people can harm you is too big for you. You cannot carry all of that and it will totally eat your soul. I'm I've I've got at least two to three people that are coming to mind that I've like have interactions with this last week or two weeks that their lack of forgiveness has buried their lives for forty years. Yeah. It's eaten them alive. They've broken every relationship. They can't maintain anything solid. Their life is a constant complaint about how they were, like, hurt.

Legitimately. Legitimately hurt. They were legitimately hurt. They were legitimately hurt, but like it's been thirty years. It's been forty years and their life sucks. And they will never get away from it because they're never gonna find like, what what does your vengeance look like? It's not good. And like and it won't actually heal anything. It's the only thing that happens when you get the thing you actually want, when you want vengeance upon someone, is you're gonna get the guilt that follows. Yes. Because your your heart, the very heart, the the the center of you that God created is not designed to go, they got what they deserved. Because at its core, it should recognize in humility, you're not getting what you deserve. How many times have I cheated? How many times have I worked a thirty hour work week and I still got a job? Yeah. Right? How many times have I done a thing or like like, I I just just cheated or lied or manipulated or took in something I shouldn't have said, something I should have thought more times on something I shouldn't be, like, spending my time thinking about. To what consequence? Nothing struck me. Nobody divorced me. Like no friends parted company with me. They didn't they like they still I can still get to overtalk on a Christian radio show and my fallibilities.

Like in my heart, I know I'd have not had everything I deserve rained upon me. And so at that, I then can humbly interact with the world around me. And so anyway, whatever you think vengeance looks like, it's not it's not what you think it is. It will eat you up just in a different flavor. Yeah. And so that you gotta the forgiveness is a thing. K. Secular says, the question was, how do I deal with this after all these years? Secular says, take back your life. You have nothing to be embarrassed about. Tell your sister and the other woman that you know they slept with your husband. And at the next family get together, tell the rest of your relatives why you avoided all those previous get togethers so they don't think they were the reason. I I don't see any value in that. No? Yeah. I was gonna say there's no reason to, I guess, put all that onto the other family. Especially, I assume they're aware.

Yeah. That kind of news tends to travel. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And, like, at the end of the day, all all secular is trying to advise is that you clear the decks with your family. And, like, that didn't do anything for you. You basically took this mess and then threw it out into the open so people could shame the people that were involved. And once again, that's vengeance. Right? You're trying to bring shame upon the people who brought mess upon you and, like, understood why you wanna do that, but, like, it it it won't help. It's just like a lot of other things in this world that promise things that it can't deliver on. Right? It can't hold ultimate joy. It can hold momentary happy. It does feel cool that someone got their thing. You know I'm saying? And for, like, a day or an hour or two days. But, like, by day three, you're like, we just we just muddied the swamp even more. Mhmm. We didn't do anything here. Right? And you don't feel any better. Like, God's ways are hard for a human heart, but they are still right. And, like, you will not walk in freedom acting that way. There will be no deliverance. There will be no joy, and there will be no freedom in continuing to spread mess that was spread on you. It just doesn't work that way. Yeah. It's gonna and like, think of what it's gonna do. Like, okay, you go to the family reunion and you say the thing and then everyone shames all those people. And then what are you gonna come to one next year? And now you get this permanent divide and awkwardness, like, for what? For what value? Like, what did you get? Did it it didn't bring your husband back? It didn't make the thing not happen? Like it just in fact, it just instituted

an annual reminder of the problem. It's dumb. Yeah. Exactly. It's gonna again, it's gonna feel like a band aid middle finger and it's not gonna work. And so I yeah. Don't do it. K. Hey. You've listening to Live From The Path. Thank you for hanging out with us tonight. We very much appreciate it. I hope you did well on Secular versus Solomon. Not as good as Dawson. I thought you did better than Dawson.

Probably not. Yep. Go ahead and hit up the Hey. If you wanna play any more Secular Solomon, go check out the past shows. If if you go to lifefromthepath.org and search Secular versus Solomon, or you can also just do it on the on the YouTube channel, Secular Solomon. You actually just do Secular. It'll show up. And you can play with some of the I don't know. Some of the musical guests have been in here playing Secular Solomon. Yeah. And yeah. Yeah. Just try your hand. I am I I promise. End of the year is my dead last date. I will have the ability for you to play secular versus Solomon at home. What I'm not sure, it may be like on the website or I was working on a Roku channel. So that you Roku channel? You could do it on your Roku. How cool is Roku? Is it cool still? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's still happening. Oh, yeah. If Dawson is figuring it on whether Roku is cool or not. I am on the Roku train. I love Roku. That's what I'm saying. Like, yeah, I I have it. I actually have the life. It's not out yet. It's not public, but like, I have it working where like you can watch the shows and the clips and stuff. But I'm trying to get secular versus Solomon to work. I am doing it at home with very little skill set. And so it might be a while, but I'm working on it. Well, we'll wait. The the masses will have to just That's what I'm saying. Bay for a while. Yeah. You'd have to listen to the past I'll be Roku ing in the meantime. Okay. There we go. It's gonna happen. Alright. I well, we're gonna cut you loose here. Dawson, thanks for coming to the show, man. I really appreciate it. Thank you, guys. Appreciate you being on the program. Maybe we'll see Dawson here sometime in the future as well. And let's see. I'm not I think I'm we're gonna be dicey

for the next couple weeks. Like, I'm out of town. I don't know. There's there's, like 500 back episodes. You can I'm sure you can figure out how to use your time wisely by not listening to any of those. But in the meantime, be faithful in the means. God will handle the ends. You've been listening to Live From The Path. Sorry. We ruined it, everybody.