Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. You are live from the Pathway

Studios. And you're listening to live from the path. Coming up to the Pathway Studios here in Johnston proper. It's good to see you tonight.

It's a sparse studio in here. Here's the deal. Me and Dan are kind of on our lonesome tonight. It's been way I think it's been a good year and a half since we had to do the Ben and Dan show. I I think you're right. You're right about that. It it seems I feel like there's an echo. Can you maybe turn the reverb up on the mic so that it it just Sounds like like there's more folks in here. Have a good time. Alright. Here's what we got going on tonight. The show must go on. So, man, it's it's a rough night for no one to be in the studio because we are at our very last proof from godisimaginary.com.

Do you think do you think maybe this this, god is imaginary guy chased everybody away? I you know? Did they believe him? Maybe maybe they did. Maybe they they what shoot. Well, I forgot what the last one was. I didn't feel like it was very strong. He's like, look at your preacher, think. Watch your ministry. Yeah. They just decided, you know what? He's right. They're right. Actually, I was looking on there was a story about a reality show which is like the ministers of LA and it's like, oh, it's so terrible. Is that like coming up or is it already happening? No. No. No. I think it's I think it's coming up. Oh, I'll see if I can find the story, but it's like, you know, soup like super rich, you know, ministers in in Los Angeles. Oh, come on, man. And in fact, I have not seen

I wonder I I I just wonder what the public consumption would be if you actually followed a minister around, like a guy that's doing the work of the Lord. You know, a matter of fact, this is what I thought of on the way here, Dan. I because it's just you and me tonight, here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna interview you. Alright. I'm gonna so because here's here's what I think is is interesting, and I was talking with this about someone earlier today, is, like, it's it's it's tough it's tough understanding the life that that, like, a that, like, a pastor leads. I think sometimes you you have an idea of what it is. A lot of misconceptions, probably. Yeah. So I thought maybe I may just be interesting to to kinda go through some of those, some questions, about what that actually looks like. Like, the the the average life of a normal pastor, what what does their life look like? I think there'll be some things that will surprise you.

You know, some things about about things they do, things they don't do, and that kind of thing. So I I don't know. I think that's what we'll do is we'll we'll see if we can we can get in on that a little bit because I I think there are some misconceptions there and both both positive and negative. Sure. And so yeah.

I think we'll talk about that. It's alright. I was gonna look at this I'm gonna see if I can find that story about those guy. Like, was it was just embarrassing. I I saw it and I thought, oh, there it is. Okay. Oh, this is not good. Here's okay. Here's the tagline. This is from christianpost.com. It said, Preachers of LA trailer teases with lavish lifestyles of six mega pastors.

Fast cars, lavish mansions, and swanky neighborhoods, infidelity, and angst filled episodes are on full display in the prosperous lifestyles of six mega church pastors, featured in the upcoming, reality series. They're serving as pastors? Yes. And there's infidelity and That's what it sounds like. Yeah. Wow.

I don't know. I don't I don't know. That's embarrassing. I've always told my family I was gonna put up webcams in every corner of the house, and and we would sell a a web based, you know, living in the preacher's house thing. And they're like, there's really nothing to see here. There's nothing to look at. Oh, look, there's there's Shanna reading the book. I I love it. There's dad watching the news.

Oh, they're making popcorn. Oh, man. How do you know I suck? That's that's terrible. Someone's on YouTube already, and they said that that I suck. How do you know that? You've bear you've barely met me. I feel like you're probably alright. I don't know. It sounds like someone has some some pretty good I was hoping they didn't even give me a chance. That's some quick judgment. Alright. So anyway, we're gonna walk you through the 50 we're proof number 53 from the proofs from godisimaginary.com,

and we'll be hitting that one this week's shoot. No. No. Now I better go back to it. No. I'm gonna be really good. This is awesome. Everything has started off fine. And so it's it's apropos of what's going on in the in the culture this week, and I'm gonna throw this out there that this is the topic

well, generally, leads to the topic that I just hate talking about because I feel like it doesn't it doesn't get anywhere. However, I'm sure it's gonna slide in. Proof number three is think about marriage as described in the bible. So we'll walk through that. Yeah. Oh, it flies out with the Rick Warren quote. Excellent. No, not funny. Well, whatever. Stop watching the show.

Oh, maybe or they've seen the show, then they would know better. So, so we'll talk about that proof number 53. That's coming up. Or else can do, advice on dear life and the path, and, we'll go through those. It will be not as good because it would just be Dan and I. And I think we have the best advice, though Yeah. Generally speaking. We'll talk about that. Hey. If you, if you caught the show last week, make sure you go out and and, hit the clips from Chandra Knudson on the life fromthepath.org. They were excellent. She did a great job in studio, and it was it was very fun to have her on. So go definitely go check that out. Share that with your friends. And she is coming up. She's playing at the Clyde Fest here in at Point Of Grace here within a couple weeks. So Yeah. You can check her out live there. Full band and everything. It should be very, very cool. I really wanted to say her her voice was like butter, but I thought that would just be creepy. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of a Saturday Night Live thing, but It might be. Here's like, but It's like she she was smooth. She was. She was. It was very good. She was she was tons of fun to have in, and that was great. See and you can also check out her

her stint on secular versus Solomon. That's out there hanging on the website too. Yeah. Life of the Path is brought to you by the Eisenhower team, and, I I love the guys. I love, Bill and Bob Eisenhower. Bob's been on here a couple times. He's just a just a cool guy, and he knows his stuff when it comes to real estate. So you can go to eisenhowerteam.com and find out more about him. Those guys are, easy to work with and to beat. Definitely check them out, and, and that should be a that should be a good experience for you if you're trying to buy or sell a home, or if you just like to harass realtors, I suppose he's your guy. You can do that. Yeah. Sure. So, anyway, that's, that's what we got going on the show tonight. We're gonna we're gonna talk to Dan. We're gonna walk through the proof number 53, and we're gonna hit our dear dear life from the path. That's oh, hey. And I got some pope style advice. Oh. I got pope style advice. I'm yeah. I'm ready for it. I'm excited. Here we go. Proof number 53 from goddessimaginary.com. Think about marriage as described

in the bible. Here is what he says. Most Christians consider marriage to be a sacred act created by God in the bible. For example, and he gives a web link that says, you can see Rick Warren stating, I'm opposed to to redefinition of a five thousand year definition of marriage. At many weddings, you will hear Bible passage like Genesis two twenty four used to show God's view of marriage, which quotes, for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and they will become one flesh. There's also the commandment that forbids adultery. If digging deeper, a Christian might selectively pull out other verses from places like Ephesians as described in this article which is a previous one that he used which is what does the Bible say about marriage. In doing this, however, the Christian is ignoring the rich tapestry of marriage types condoned by God and the Bible. Here's where I feel like this is probably gonna go askew. I bet so. For example, there are many examples polygamy in the Bible. All of them condoned by God. King David, for example, had many wives. Seven of his wives are listed in first Chronicles three. In acts thirteen twenty two, God says, I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do. And many other characters in the Bible had two or more wives, including Jacob. The case of Jacob described in Genesis chapters 28, twenty nine, and thirty is fascinating because it shows several other attributes of biblical marriage. For example, Jacob earns his wife as payment for seven years of work done. It is a contract between Jacob and the woman's father. The woman is mere property in a transaction that has no say in the matter. However, the man that Jacob is working for tricks Jacob by giving him the wrong sister and corrects the problem by letting Jacob work for another seven years for the second daughter. Now, Jacob has two wives. But the second sister is barren, so the second sister gives Jacob her slave to sleep with and have a child. All of this is done as part of God's plan and with God's active intervention. For example, God makes the second sister barren. The idea of giving a slave to be a child bearer for a barren wife is also seen in Genesis 16. Clearly, God is fine with polygamy as well as with sexual relationships with slaves. In Deuteronomy twenty one eleven through 13, another form of biblical marriage is described, female prisoners of war can be taken as wives without the woman's consent.

Here's the quote, if you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and attracted to her, you may take her as your wife. Bring her into your home and have her shave her head, trim her nails, and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month, then you may go to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. Deuteronomy twenty two twenty eight twenty nine offers another even more vile path to marriage. If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay the girl's father 50 shekels of silver. He must marry the girl for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives. This law appears not once but twice in the Bible. It is repeated in Exodus twenty two sixteen. If a man seduces a virgin who has not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride price, and she shall be his wife. Note that according to the Bible, the only valid marriage is to a woman who is a virgin. The law is laid down in Deuteronomy chapter 22 verse 13 through 21. If a woman is not a virgin, she must be put to death. Also note that if a man commits adultery with another man's wife, both man and woman must be put to death as described in Deuteronomy twenty two twenty two. Why do Christians ignore all of these forms of marriage which are quite clearly allowed in the Bible? Why do Christians not kill people who break the commandment forbidding adultery as the Bible demands? Because God is imaginary. If God were real, Christians would do what the Bible actually tells them to. To any rational person standing outside of Christianity, the Bible's position on marriage proves God to be imaginary because the Bible is so obviously ridiculous.

Alright, Dan. Alrighty. Boy, he has a lot in here. Basically, I would say most of his issue where he goes astray is he's not understanding

the literature of the scripture itself. He's looking at a history part of a of a a book of the bible that is telling the story of so and so had x number of wives. It's not God saying it should be cool, you know, if you have seven wives. It's just historically documenting the fact that he had multiple wives. So he's he's kind of taken liberty with that saying that god approves of it or god condones it. Yeah. Yeah. And that's not that's not at all what god is saying. Matter of fact, scripture when it talks about,

it really really gives you the idea of one spouse for life. You know, it's really the the biblical mandate.

Yeah. Not everyone has followed that. And David messed up pretty badly at times. That that speaks well of the grace of God that he still could say, he's a man of my own heart. Yeah. I've always found that amazing my myself. I mean I mean David really messed up at times. Right. Just as have I, not to the extent

well, I shouldn't know that. That kinda sounds bad. David messed up a lot worse. I mean, I have not killed anyone, you know, at night like like David is how he got one of his wives. He he basically killed her husband. Yeah. And so so that speaks to the grace of God. It also speaks to the history portion portion of the scripture. It doesn't say it condones it. And so so really he's he's mis stating the scripture, think, is is

really what it boils down to. Well, yeah. I mean, it's not even, yeah. He's definitely confusing condone, with with permit or with with the design. Right? And actually, I've been thinking about, a lot about that myself because it's it's it's true. It it's true that god, god did not directly punish

polygamous behavior. Now, it all it ended poorly for every in every documented case. There was strife because of it. Yeah. It was the natural consequence of going outside of God's design in marriage had a negative consequence,

for the people that were involved in it. So it's it's it's kind of, a lot of people say, well, God didn't strike it down. Well, there's there's a lot of sins that God didn't strike down. Mean, God had tons of opportunity to strike down everybody, and he simply didn't do it. Right. Right. And so it's but but to represent it as being condoned simply because it was represented in the Bible, is is is a fallacious argument. It's actually a weird thing to say. Like, that's one of the things about scripture is it's fairly transparent on how on how dubious these characters are. Yeah. Yeah. Like reflecting or revealing,

the character and nature of God through some very, very fallible people. If you were trying to to represent yourself and not leave your religion open for attack, I can think of, you know, a 100 stories at least that I would have cut from the Bible Oh, yeah. Because it reflects poorly on God's people. Exactly. Yeah. But but ultimately, see that again, if we we misunderstand that, if we don't recognize that the reason those things exist is a, because they're accurate, and b, is because it reveals ultimately the gracious and just nature of God. Mhmm. That those fallible people

are more like you and I than some sort of Adonis that we wouldn't recognize. Right. And and through them, can learn about the gracious nature and the character of God. Also, on the other side of that, his justice. And, you know, and that that that speaks to the reality of the scripture to me that I just I can't see any reason to to misrepresent it. Like, God has simply laid out what happened and the fallibility of even the people that he chose. You're right. And even some of these people are in the genealogy of Jesus himself. It's it's pretty amazing that he came through the lineage of of some some pretty flawed people and and, you know, that that's encouraging.

You know, even also the part about the rape, he's making it sound like us, No big deal. See, you just wanna marry someone, you rape them. Well, that law is talking about taking responsibility for your action. Yeah. You don't just rape the person and and go on. Now you're gonna pay the full full price for for a bride. Part of it's meeting the culture at the time as well, and and you're gonna you can't divorce her ever. So guess what? Think twice before you just go in and rape this girl because she's with you the rest of your entire life. Right. I mean, that that's that's pretty big time there. Right. You know, the idea was to also discourage that from happening, you know you know. So it's one of those you you you misrepresentations

of scripture and and kind of going with it. And he's done that several times. He's he I would assume is not a bible scholar. I mean, he doesn't believe the bible, so he, you know, he he reads it kinda like I would read Shakespeare, you know, like, oh, I saw the movie, you know. Yeah. And, you know, I've played with it here and there, but I I I'm certainly not a a a student of of Shakespeare, but I could probably take some lines out Yep. And misrepresent the play, you know, of of Romeo and Juliet, you know, if I I tried to. So and that's kinda how I see some of the stuff he says. He's like, he's played with it, he doesn't really know it. Right. And and here's the thing. This is like even a guy who who who believes every word in that bible, I can read through stuff especially in in Deuteronomy. I'm in Deuteronomy now. Mhmm. And there's like, you know, I I don't understand. Like, I I don't understand what it's getting at, and and I have to study further to recognize what it's telling me about the character of God and about the people at the time. And here's the thing, it's like a lot of times, especially in a marriage discussion, people wanna go back to Deuteronomy

or or, you know, Leviticus and things like that and point and say, you know, why aren't you doing that today? And and and and again, that's that's taking an ignorant position of the Bible, or or at the very least naive in in acting like Jesus didn't come and things didn't change. Like, again, if if if Jesus came and nothing changed, what was the purpose? Right? You don't you don't send God down to the earth and then get upset that he can he's the guy that can change things. Yeah. Well, you know, Jesus is sitting is standing, and and a woman who's been caught in adultery is brought before him, and and the the religious leaders are wanting him to sentence her to death following the law, some of the scriptures that this this man has quoted here.

And and what does Jesus do? He basically says, yeah, whoever has not sinned, you cast the first stone, you know. Yeah. He is he is he righteous? Yes. Will he ultimately judge? Yes. But he's also came to usher in grace and and forgiveness and and a second chance, which is incredible. Yeah.

Alright. I don't know. I didn't see anything. I mean, the the broad the broad discussion was basically pointing at, at Old Testament and how marriage was represented. And are you coming at, what why aren't Christian well, here's the thing. I guess here's here's where I'd agree with him. I would say there is an unhealthy portion of the Christian church that does not hold marriage in the in the status that it should, does not treat it, like it should be treated, treats treats divorce lightly. You know, when when

it talks about in Ephesians that that a a man should love his wife like Christ loved the church, I mean, if that doesn't knock you on your behind as a dude, you're simply not paying attention. Right. You know what I'm saying? And like, I I I don't I don't know how you can be I don't know how you can you can claim to love God and read his word and see things like that and then and then be lazy and mistreat your wife or not provide for your family and not recognize the full weight of responsibility that's on you as a husband. And that's and the thing is is, like, I I probably meet out of out of ten ten husbands,

I meet nine that completely don't get it. That completely don't get it. Like, they're they're selfish and they're self centered, and and they look at their wife as someone to win an argument over as opposed to one to serve and love like Christ loved the church. Yeah. And that's a that's a total miss. And that's a and it's it's a debt. If you think about it, it's like he has set a very high bar that you cannot meet, but that you have to strive to meet. And, like, I I we just don't get it. Like, guys just don't get it. They don't treat marriage correctly. You know, I think with all of these 50 proofs and the bonuses,

every once in while, at some point in our discussion, I usually kinda take a step back and say, wait wait a minute. This doesn't disprove God. Once again, really, it just it just proves this guy doesn't like

what he understands that he believes what God said. Right. And generally, he's a little bit incorrect in what he said. And that that's the case here too. He's he's just basically saying, I don't agree with the Bible and and Christians don't act like they do either. And I agree with both those statements. He does not agree with the bible, and a lot of believers don't live like they do either. So Yeah. I I I can I can concur with him on the fact that many people are weak on scripture? Yeah. Well and, you know, I I've been seeing that more and more this week.

I'm pretty sure this has been talked to death in most circles, so I I don't know that we need to spend a ton of time on it. But, like, one of the things that's been been heavy on my heart, I think, over the past week is is misrepresentation of scripture, both by by by, Christians and non Christians alike. I I don't I'm just like, my mind is confused and my heart hurts

for, for picking and choosing the scripture. I just I I don't I really don't understand it. I I I feel like the scales really should be way fewer Christians, way more non Christians as opposed to these, like, half Christians who are like, well, I kinda like some of this stuff. I'll take this. But here, I'm gonna I'm gonna reject this completely. Like, here's the deal is if God is wrong, he's not God. Right. Right. If the bible is wrong, it is not a worthy piece of literature, you should chuck it. And you shouldn't base your life off anything that's inside of it if they're a part of it that's wrong. That's just simply you know, I I don't I don't get the middle ground. And I and I I've been reading the just just some folks who are reacting to some of the stuff that was in the courts,

with marriage. And and when I'm reading it, I'm like, I I just I I don't understand it. I don't understand the the fight to try to make scripture something that it's not. Mhmm. Like, if you if you're willing to chuck parts of it, I don't why are you holding on to any of it? It's a fake. It's a fraud. Just like I would say that if you were following some other god. I would say, why Yeah. Why would you waste your time? If I thought if I thought there were parts of scripture that that were simply not true, I'd bail on the whole thing. I have no reason to hold on to, like, certain parts go, well, the red lettering, I think I'll believe, but I'm willing to chuck the rest because the Holy Spirit is a fallible entity. Yeah. Right. It's it's just simply not worth it. I I don't

I'm I'm having trouble with the motivation. I mean, I think I get it. I think people have a have something innate to try to to try to connect with the higher power, to seek out God. But but, yeah, you to recognize that that when you're picking and choosing what out of scripture you will believe and won't believe, that is the a one definition of building a God in your own image. Yeah. Yeah. That's what was gonna say. It's they're building a a God and based upon their desires, and that's not a God. That's your imaginary friend. And and here's the thing. I

I thought of this when I was I was trying to think through this, like, I would say to somebody who who I'd seen kinda writing some of this stuff over the last week. And I thought, you know, when it comes down to it, if you and god agree on everything, that's not God. Exactly. I mean, you were saying something like Yeah. Like, if God thinks exactly That's you a God. Exactly. If if God thinks exactly like you think, that's bad. Yeah. That's bad. I mean, now here's the things. I would say where I there there are there are things me and God and I don't disagree on anything, but there are things that God cares about that I don't. That's the truth. Mhmm. That I that my in my maturing faith, I want to care more about because obviously God cares about it and it's worth caring about. But there is a and I'm gonna put this week's court ruling in with it. I don't care. I simply don't care. It's it's it's something where, like, it's a separation from God, it's an issue, but it's not the king of all issues

in that you we treat it differently. Like, just is it's a problem like anything else is a problem. Let me tell you where I've kinda come down on this. Okay. I've been really processing this, and and and I've come to more peace about this, maybe even today than than I have in my twenty eight years of of doing ministry. Yeah. The whole marriage in general. Kinda not even talking about the issue with the courts. Right. It's always been a little bit odd to me that if if I go if I sell a house and I have legal documents, I have an attorney involved or I have a realtor who has a license to do that, involved. They sign things. I don't know what they're doing. Know? If I if I have a will I wanna create, I go to an attorney. They do the legal you know, there's a legal side, and I go to an attorney to do that. Yeah. Why is it that

I sign legal documents at weddings Yeah. As a pastor. You know, I thought it's it's it's just an odd thing Yeah. That there's a strange to use the word marriage, it's a strange marriage between the pastorate and and the state. Yeah. You know, that that the state has involved us, we we never asked for this. Right. And and so I've kinda come to a conclusion that I I will never again sign a state document. They are irrelevant to me. I could give a rip what the state thinks about marriage. That's true. It it has to do with taxes and their personal contracts. They do what they want with that. It has nothing to do with my job as as a pastor Mhmm. Giving spiritual advice and spiritual counsel. So when people come to me and want to get married, I say, here's the deal. You take care of your legal matters before you see me. Yeah. Just like if I have a house warming party,

I'm not gonna sign all of the real estate, you know, documents at the party. I'll have that taken care of before the party. Right. And then I'll say, looks like we moved in, we're gonna have a party. I'm gonna tell that to people who wanna get ready. Here's the deal. I I will I will have a covenant celebration

Yep. With you. You come you you take care of the state stuff. I don't care. That's that's not that's not me. It's just not your business. You hire you DJ. You hire you. You get your state license. That and I'm not an attorney. Don't do that. I will represent God and I will only marry people who are in a a what am I what am I trying to say? Biblically affirming? Well, that are that are

in membership in good standing That's what I'm saying. Within our congregation, who understand who God is. If they are two heterosexuals and sexual sinners, forget it. Get that get that worked out before before we get you know, it has nothing to do with with gender and all that stuff. It has everything to do with are you right with God? We'll get you right with God first. Yeah. And then let's celebrate marriage. And it has nothing at all to do with the state. State is irrelevant. Marriage has been going on long before this little country was ever made. And once this deteriorates, it's gonna keep on going. It's I'm just not worked up for And and that's that's that's where I'm at where I say, it's irrelevant to me. It's because they're making a they're making a decision on a in a government level,

and that's that's, like, that's a government's role to fight. Like, coming from from a from a pass through perspective, not a US citizen perspective, it's it's just not it's just not relevant to me. Isn't that nice then? They have they have contracts now. Well, they you know, I don't know what happened that you know? Okay. It doesn't change my job. It doesn't mean, I was yeah. It's a yeah. So Which which and I guess the the only reason, this this just it gets a lot of it gets a lot of noise. And and I I think because we've we've we've missed a distinction in there, which is because of how the country was founded under the the auspice, the beliefs of the people that that founded the country, we've mistaken it as if it's religious institution. Yeah. And and and as if that is what needs to be protected. Here's the thing is, like, god's god's god's word will not be corrupted. God's way will not be corrupted.

Things outside of that will corrupt themselves and will live corrupt as they do. But but, you know, none of that is relevant to to ultimately where God where God stands on. And here's here's in a in a Christian country or, well, excuse me, in America where you have free freedom to do what you want, you can completely reject that. That's that's your right to say, I don't believe anything that's in the book. I think it's false. Okay. Well, you won't end up doing a covenantal marriage ceremony in a church. That should Unless be you have a good life. Yeah. I hope I hope you I hope you As many wives as you want or husbands or whatever they are, what I mean, it's it's none of my business. Yeah. I'm I'm working with covenant people that are interested in a relationship with God. I will help them further their relationship with God and and and improve their marriage Yeah. In a godly way and celebrate that with them. I I'm more excited about that than I've ever been in my entire life. Yeah. Well, I think oh, I just it just it just it just makes sense, and I and I get I get it. Right? Like, I get where there's where there's discussions about

moral compass to society. I I can I can commit to what I think is a the the God's perspective on marriage and still, have concerns about the country that, that I live in because of its moral choices, because of what that what I think those things lead to historically, biblically, whatever? Mhmm. But but but they are two separate things. They're they're not the same thing. My my my belief is not intertwined with where I live. You could live in a dictatorial society in which Christians are persecuted. It does not change what is true. Right. And and and that's the thing. That's, I think, where I've where I've I I just have,

I don't know. Maybe it should shake me more, but like as as stuff goes on around me, either good or bad, it's just like it's it's just another day. It's another day where God is sovereign. It's another day where his word is true. It's another day where like, I can only do what I can do and I can try to serve God and people in the best way that I can in that day. Well, yeah, if if the state said there is no such thing as marriage at all, would we suddenly say, well, I guess we can't get married? No. We'd still be doing the same thing we're doing. This changes nothing. Right. Nothing. It's it's it's all about taxes. I was talking to a pretty high ranking official in the government this week, and they said, it's all about taxes. You take away the tax code, and it all goes away. That's all this is about. Then that me? Okay. And and that's not that's not my issue that I don't worry about it. I'm not I'm not a tax man. I'm a pastor. I just I represent Jesus. I don't have to worry about taxes. You worry about your taxes. I'd like to have lower taxes. I'm for that. Yeah. But, other than that, I'm not worried about it. Alright. Well, so so here's the thing is I I I think I think from proof number 53 from The Goddess Manager of Any Man, think about marriage as described in the bible.

I he left out a lot. Like, there's there's just a lot more to marriage as described in the bible that he left out. He he chose what he wanted to choose, which I I think are reasonable places to ask questions about the character and nature of God, how he used his chosen people of Israel. I mean, here's the deal. It's like there's there is sometimes they're looking for logic, especially people are trying to argue marriage point from the Old Testament. You're looking for logic where God has has simply created distinction. Right? Where he said where he's asking, for example, that you not cross two different types of, of material, textiles. Yeah. Right? That's just a distinction. There's I mean, there's not I I don't think there's anything to learn from that, on how you dress today. It's just I want this group of people, the people of Israel, to be holy, to be distinct from their neighbors. There are reasons why the Gentiles in the in the New Testament are, like, are permitted to continue doing things that they were doing before Mhmm. And and do not have to change, do not have to circumcise, do not have to stop,

doing some of the things that they were doing. It's because, like, they they're not inherently bad. Just like when Jesus is talking about the things they eat, it's not inherently bad. It was bad for those people at that time because I set them apart and I I asked them to be distinct. And, you know, you might look at that and say, well, boy, that's a burden That's a burden on the chosen people of God. I say, well, when you start with the heading, you're the chosen people of God, I feel like you should kinda try to deal with the burden. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was I had to be chosen by the creator of the earth, and he made me dressed this way. I mean

And you look at most of those things like in in Deuteronomy that just kinda you go, like, that's kinda goofy. Yeah. You you take a step back from that. Usually, it has to do with with with their health, with with cleanliness, with with things that maybe they didn't understand as people just roaming around the desert that actually it improved their lives Yeah. And made them healthier people. And this is what I stuff we just take for granted. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's like, yeah. So yeah.

Well, I'm gonna miss our man. So so broad broad look back on the god is imaginary man.

Any final any final thoughts, Dan? I think that he has been let down somewhere. I think he he has been upset with the church and or or just maybe mad at God. I think he somewhere prayed for someone

just going by reading between the lines. Someone who was very sick that he prayed for and he wanted them to be healed and they died. And he has become angry since then. And so I guess my only comment to him would be is to give give God another chance. You know, you have not disproved God through through your 53 proofs. Uh-huh. You have not disproved him. You've proved that you're angry and you're upset, I get that. Life happens, sometimes it's upsetting,

sometimes things don't go as we plan, give him another chance, get into the Bible, read it more thoroughly, maybe find someone who will disciple you and teach you what the bible's really saying, not what you think it says. Yeah. And it'll make it all the difference in the world. Well, and and I guess I look at a guy like this and I think

and I think that that this could have easily been me. I I think that there is there is not a lot separating this guy and I except for I benefited from a from a childhood of exposure Mhmm. And from being by good godly people as, as an example. And, I've spent time in prayer and in reading and in study.

And and that's the difference is because I I had a willingness, probably by what I was surrounded with when I was younger, to believe that that was true. And I think that, you know, I

it seems to me that it's probably worth a year of your life. Let's say you took a year and said, you know what? I'm I'm going to be open to this. I'm gonna be willing to believe that this is true, and you did that. You spent time reading the bible. You spent time trying to pray. You spent time around people who love Jesus and who are discipling you. And the thing is is, like, if you were wrong, you've gained you've gained an eternity. K? If you were right, you've lost a year of your life and are well armed for whatever other idiot Christian that you run into that you think is a fool. Right. It it very well seems like it's worth a year of your life to know and just know. And here's the thing is, like, I I expose myself a lot like I will well, that's nice. That came out bad.

Shoot. You get arrested for that. Where's that one girl that was harassing me earlier on YouTube? Hey. She's she's she's gotta be 13. Like, I just I was looking at her YouTube page. Like, she she's very she hates the show. Seeing how boring we are. I'll see if I can dig up a picture. It's funny. But,

so but but, like, I I read a lot of I like, I like this stuff. I like this guys that are coming up from this angle to see, like, what their what their issues are. Mhmm. Because here's the thing, is if if if the god that I believe in is the is the creator of the universe and the god of the bible, none of this is going to to shake the foundation of whether he's real or not. And so I should be able to take it. Yeah. There there were times when in my faith, where I'm like, I I I I didn't wanna read it because I was afraid that the next bit of news might come out about a dinosaur somewhere or, like, some sort of ancient text or something, and I'd be like, oh, sweet Moses. I everything I ever believed is dead. It's just simply not going to happen. Right. And so, you know, whatever. I don't have that I don't have that issue anymore. But but I don't think it's just like I I would and will continue to expose, my mind,

safe, to to to information about what people are believing and why they think that God is not real. I feel like it's worth your time if you think that God is fake to spend some time and try it out because because I guarantee that you will not leave that year the same person. Right. So alright. Well, let's we're gonna have to say goodbye to God's imaginary, man. I don't know what we're gonna do next week, for heaven's sakes. I suppose we'll have to see. You're listening live for the Pathway on here. KTIA

every Saturday night at 7PM from seven to eight brought to you by the Eisenhower team. Also, live show broadcast the Monday prior, and that's at 10:00. You can check out that live broadcast. Be part of the chat and, chat along with the live show so we can hear from you. And, and also if you miss either one of those, you can catch, catch us up during the week by going to live from thepatha.org, and there you can catch old episodes, also performances. Like I said, we got the post from Chander Knutson's performances last week, and they were excellent. You can also see Secular versus Solomon, our game section. You can go back and we did It's the End of the Worlds, We Know It, trying to guess information about the the end times that have been predicted by various guys throughout the year, and there are also the things heard to raise money on Christian radio. And if you were Paul, you would, the examples of modern day how we think Paul would behave. So that, like, don't know. Lots of fun games out there. We were gonna do a, we're gonna do another end of the world, quiz this week, but everyone bailed on me. Man. And, like, you know, it's not as fun when I have the answer, and you're the only guy guessing. You know you know what's kind of funny is even one of our most popular things on YouTube is our outstanding literature. Literature. No. That's true. That's true. The cast for sale video, and and the Jack and the Beanstalk videos are are are very well beloved.

So did you can check those out. I don't even see that coming. No. No. I had no idea. No idea. People like weird stuff. Shut up with your Jesus business. Put on more cartoons. Well, okay. Maybe that makes sense. Alright. You're listening live in the bath. Alright.

So here's what we're gonna do. So as you may or may not know, Dan Hudson is a pastor, at Pathway Church in Johnston. And, we're gonna take the opportunity just to get a little bit to know a little bit about the kind of the daily life, of a pastor because I there there there may be some misconceptions about what a pastor actually does or probably should do,

and and and what that lifestyle looks like. So, maybe I'll start with the big bang question, Dan. It's like, what what do you think is the most not misconceived, is that what I'm thinking? What what do you think would surprise people most about your job? I think that most

people have no concept for what what could a pastor possibly be doing throughout the entire week. Right. You have an entire week and all you really have to do is talk for twenty minutes on a Sunday morning

and that's like about it. Maybe show up at a hospital once in a while, kiss a baby, you know, kind of like a political stuff. Yeah. You know, politician stuff. Yep. And no one has any concept what goes into like the craft of putting a sermon together. Yep. Or you know, how many hours of research does it take to to come up with with a Sunday morning message? And then you say you have weddings, then there's meeting with families and counseling with that and

and and some of the logistics that go with that and but that that's probably the biggest misconception is and honestly, I sometimes my I I'm not a great detail person. You you know me well enough to know that about Yep. And and I I can honestly fill my day with stuff, and the next day, I have no idea what I did yesterday. Uh-huh. I'm just doing more stuff today. And then all of a sudden, Saturday, and I'm like, wow. That was a whole week of stuff. And I can think of maybe big progress that's happening. I I I could manage my time better. Yeah. But

it's it's not there's there's very rare moments when you're just laying around, staring out the window, having a cup of coffee, doing nothing. Right. I mean, it's continual action, it seems like. I I love it.

The the the chat is questioning the twenty minute sermon. More like twenty five to thirty five minutes. Yeah. Yeah. I'd say twenty five. Fifteen. It feels like thirty. You know, I was I was reading this,

maybe a couple weeks ago about the, about the average time that a pastor spends. Like, even guys that have been there for, like, forty years preaching, and the average pastor is between twelve and fourteen hours a week Yeah. In sermon prep. And I think that that doesn't include, like, you know, prepping with, listening to other sermons or some of the research. That's actually like writing. Just actually writing, thinking, you know, going through that kind of stuff. And,

that, that fits that that that fits with, you know, the few that I've done. It's been twelve, fourteen hours not including some of that stuff. I mean, that's a big chunk of time, and and it actually it takes a lot out of you, sitting down doing that stuff. If you're doing a research paper every week Yeah. Basically. I don't if you ever did research papers in college, you know, when you have, like, all semester to do it. You know? Basically, you have so you have six days to do your next one. Yeah. And then everybody tells you what they think about it. Uh-huh. Yeah. Well, that was that really stunk. Right. That was a sleeper. You know? It's like, well, sorry. And here's the deal is everybody knows a pastor who they feel like covered it better. I listened so and so. They were better at it. They're a better speaker. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Alright. Well well, so that being said,

it's still a pretty sweet gig to the extent that, I mean, you you live your life, get to spend your time surrounded with serving Jesus. Yeah. Yeah. I'll I'll admit. I mean, I'm not in a cubicle.

Uh-huh. You know? I mean, there's something to that. It it's it's reading the bible. It's pray I just right before our show, every single week, we have a a prayer group that meets, and I spend an hour, and we're we just we just pray. You know? And and it's so so cool. I that isn't because I'm a pastor. There's just anybody who wants to come can come do that. And that that that is, such a need to think, but I get to be a part of those type of things. Yeah. You know? Because the idea you look at scripture, you know, the pastor isn't any more special than anybody else. They just happen to be a guy who is is paid so they have more time to do what everybody else should be doing. Right. So it's not like nobody else has to do this stuff. We're all engaged in ministry. Every one of us are responsible

for exercising our spiritual gifts and and doing what God has called us to do within the church. I just get to have more time because people kinda chip in and then they pay my salary, and then I I I get to I get to do things. Right. What was what is the hardest part of your job? Honestly,

the most difficult thing for me is is watching culture, knowing the consequences

of of whether it's culture as as a whole or or talking to individuals about sin in their life, knowing the consequences of their sin, whether we're talking big eternal consequences or just, yeah, that's gonna destroy your marriage consequences or that's gonna, you you know, just gonna just destroy you as a human being. It's gonna eat you alive. Yeah. It it it painful

to watch people go through things and and and you'll tell them, here's how you can stop that and they look at you like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's that's nice. Thanks for that pretty free advice, pastor. Yeah. This whole Jesus thing. Hope he works out for you. I'm doing fine. Levi, did you come to me with your life falling apart? You know, it's like, no. I I'll I'll find some other advice, you know. Or they'll tell you what they know they want you to hear, and they're gonna ignore it and do what they want you. Yeah. That's the most difficult thing. It is like, okay, dude. Just really stop stop with the porn, you know. Yeah. It's destroying your marriage. It's destroying your life. Stop it. Just give it up. Yeah. Well,

you know, I have needs. She's like, yeah. You need your wife. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just stop it. Yeah. You know, I I think that's probably the most most challenging because it it because it's it's it's hurting their family. It's hurting their children. It's hurt know, that's just one the issue. But it it it it most things I can kinda leave and kinda, like, you know, clock out, so to speak, and, okay, I'm I'm done with my study time. Yeah. It's still processing, but I can I don't I'm not actively thinking about it? It's hard for me not to actively think about self destruction. Yeah. You know? Because I I just you just grieve for someone. Just hurt for them. No. I I don't even mean in a judgmental way. Just in a, man, you know, I wish I could just help them. Do something. Yeah. Exactly.

Yeah. I and and I can get that. I I mean, I think I if you are, you're you're privy to just by the nature of the work, you're privy to destructive things that people are doing. Right? Like, this isn't just, oh, you know, hey. We we're having trouble balancing our finances, which actually could still come to you. But, like, it tends to be a a sin oriented thing, something that you know is separating us from God and ultimately destroying them. I I am if if you put it in, like, a a hospital setting Yeah. I'm I'm the ambulance dude. So so when the finances are blowing up, that's when I get called in. Yeah. When they're ready to actually get some legitimate advice, fortunately, they don't go they either go to someone else, not me, because I'll say, well, you know, let me tell you. But, yeah, it's it's you're generally on the front lines of of people's absolute mess of life. Which which sometimes that's even physically, you know, you're how many times have I been in the room with someone who's breathed their last breath? Yeah. You know, it's

it's it's humbling. It's it's an incredible thing to think that someone wants you there. Yeah. You know? I mean, is there a higher honor in life than than that or or the birth of a child? Yeah. I'm not usually in the room for that. Come on in. I'm not yet, I should say. But I do bring the little onesie that says pathway baby.

So, yeah, that's it's you're you're generally in in the most intense painful part of of someone's life when you're when you're called into a situation there. If communicating for all pastors in the world,

if you had to to give people something that they could or should be praying about for your pastor, what would it be? Wow. I would I would pray my mind's going in so many different directions right now. I would pray for your pastor to say stay scripturally pure.

You wouldn't think there would be any temptation out there to stray from the purity of scripture, but obviously there is because a lot of churches have just plain strayed Yeah. From scripture. So so that that that is When the pastor strays from the integrity of scripture, the whole church starts straying with him and that's how you get whole movements of people just lost. I mean, lost. They go into a building that has the name of Jesus on it and they're singing songs that talk about Jesus but they they have no clue who Jesus is. Yeah. That you were talking about that earlier. Know, people have like half the religion or something.

That'd be the biggest prayer that your your pastor stays, in the integrity. And if he loses, if he strays, that Jesus just plain takes him out. Yeah. That sounds pretty harsh, take him out, take him out of ministry. That's huge. Yeah. Yeah. Alright.

And I want would people to pray that for me too. Mean, I'm not just I wanna meet as those other people. No. No. I've actually prayed that myself. I thought, you know, if if if there's, you know, if there's something going on in my life and, like, I'll do it with kind of one eye open. I'm like, lord, just you know, if if I've taken a step even into ministry, like, I've if I've taken a step that I should not have taken, like, this is not the place for me, said, take out an arm. Like like, I'd rather not have to die for it. I feel like I could change my ways, you know, but My left earlobe. I'll get a different job. But but, you know, like, I thought, you know, it is such a it is such a big thing

to have taken that type of step. And if it's not if it's not of God, like, I'd rather I just be taken out of it Oh, yeah. Than run the risk of of perverting whatever it is or having having ultimately not move the kingdom of God forward because of it. If you ever get to a point where you lose the fact that that, like, I mean, every every single week before I preach, it it just hits me. Sometimes it's just like right as I'm opening my mouth, it just hits me.

This is the living word of the living God. Sacred, holy word that he has spoken to his people for centuries about, if

I mess this up, you know, right? You know, this this this a holy reverent fear

of of God and respect for his word. Yeah. And and if you ever lose that, get out. Run. Run. If it's just if you just mail it in, it's another sermon. No. Pull one out of the file. Yeah. You've it it It's time to bail. It's time to bail. Yeah. Do something else. There's plenty of other things to do besides, you know, preach. And I mean, you you can love Jesus to do other things. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Leading leading a flock of folks with that with that thought, Yeah. Maybe it's just time to do something else. Yeah. Alright. Alright. I don't know. Anything else, Danny? Anything else you can think of from a pastor's perspective that you'd like somebody to know? Boy, it's it's I could talk all day about stuff. I mean,

no. I could talk all day. Nothing. Nothing. Alright. Here's the live from the path that we're hanging out with pastor Dan, here in the Pathway Studios. So here's the deal is I got a I got a pope style advice. And, so the the the

thought behind pope style advice is if someone were to mistake you for the pope, let's say a group of people hanging out in your lawn, and they refuse to leave until you gave them some advice that resembled something, like like, you would say to the masses and experience from your own life, some type of advice, what would you give? And so, here's you know, here's where I'm at this week, and I hope this advice

keeps. But but for some reason, like, the last two weeks, just a phrase like, the means matter has been has been sticking around in my head because we we talk about, you know, means and an end. Right? And, and we focus on, sometimes on the end. And then the the means can can start to cause us problems because, like, the way people go about things can be very can vary between folks.

And there's there's things that are there's there's different ways that people can do things that are not a problem, and then there's ways that people can do things that are are very well a problem, but otherwise might accomplish the same goal. And here's the thing, especially, like, when it comes to I'm gonna say this across the board, but especially when it comes to, serving God, the means matter.

Like, your attitude matters. Your heart matters.

The integrity through which you do the things that lead up to a good outcome matter. We're we're working on purchasing and and renovating a church building. Every single step of that process has needs to be done with integrity. Needs to be done with not only the the need for the process to be complete, but for a love and and and and a mindful eye of the of the people opportunity with every person that we we interact with in that building. The means matter. It is not enough for us to say, oh, good. We accomplished our goal. We raised money. We built a building. We get to put ourselves in it. Like,

every step is important, and all of that is important. And so, I I think sometimes we get distracted a little bit because we we see a big picture, and it's generally good things. We wanna move the needle, and and watch the kingdom progress, but the kingdom of God does not progress off of false pretenses. The means are important.

And sometimes we don't the means are messy. Almost always the means are messy. Right? You have to deal with things that you don't wanna deal with. People are messy. People are sometimes just plain awful to deal with. They they bring junk into the relationships. They bring, crap into the processes. Processes, they they wanna wanna do things one way because that's the way they've done it, but it's not right. It's it it it lacks integrity, and it simply cannot be tolerated. And and the thing is is, like, those are awkward conversations because you're the person that has to be to peer the high and mighty that says, you know what? No. The means matter here. We're gonna have to do it the right way. And and sometimes that makes you look arrogant and makes you look like a jerk. But the means are important, especially when it comes to furthering the gospel, and and we just have to do it right. And and we and you've got to get comfortable with the fact that people will fight you on those means. Yeah. Now, here's the thing. Understanding that, you've gotta be very careful that you aren't actually an ignorant jerk. Right? That you aren't someone that has that has declared your means better than everybody else's means, and that's what you're going to do, because it's what you believe is true. Like, that needs to become be be pursued with the utmost humility.

But every step you take matters. All the means to get to the ends matter, as a husband, as a as a father, as a Christ follower, as a person, that serves the church, as a person that works. Like, just do it do it with integrity, and your means matter. The details are are are pretty pretty important. They're important. They're and here's the deal. This is like, it it is not a judgment on whether you're a detailed person or not. Right. The the thing is though, if if you have to take any movement, any motion, any step, it matters because it's a part of the process and it should be done with integrity and it should be done

with with there's opportunity in every step. And and and maybe it's maybe it's hitting me specifically because we're we're looking at at doing a building. And, like, there have been a couple times where, like, I've gotten I'm a little frustrated with some of the things, like, of the process stuff. But it's there's a way to do it wrong. There's a way to handle those things incorrectly. And I don't even mean just functionally. I mean loving Jesus. There's a way to handle that wrong, and the means

matter. Every person you interact with, that's a that's a means to to an end, and it's and it matters. So that I guess that's what that's my pope style advice is that don't back away from the means because it's ugly. Don't back away from the means because they're messy. It's important. Act with integrity and and make sure that your means matter because if you pursue a life where your means matter, it will produce an end that matters. And then you don't have to worry about trying to focus on producing the end. It will produce itself because you pursued means that matter. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. That's a good frigging bumper sticker. Go for it. You're listening to life from the path. We'll get designing that right away. Means matter. Alright. Here we go. Dear life from the path.

Oh, I'm a 16 year old girl. Oh, sorry. I am homeschooled with one friend. I'm lonely, sad, mad, and depressed. I've always wanted to go to a real school, but it's not an option for me. My parents are against it. I am always lonely. I don't know where to turn. I want to meet new people, but I don't know how or if my parents will let me do new things. I've been cutting myself for more than a year and have less all lost all motivation to do my schoolwork. I feel lost.

Please help me. Thoughts. Wow. Okay. First of all, this conversation really needs to happen with

mom and dad. Yeah. That's a place to start. There there are plenty of 16 year old girls out there with similar interests. I don't know what her interests are. She didn't really get into that but Yeah. She have a faith? No, didn't say. Didn't really say? Nope. Because you know, she she joined a church. They often have youth groups and there's gonna be people her age and, that that's a great place to to connect with people and and get to to know friends and and,

yeah. She needs she needs to get out. She needs to to do things. Surely, they live in a neighborhood. There's gotta be children around somewhere. Yeah. I mean, I don't know if the parents are being overly protective and and just kinda keeping her, you know Yep. Locked in the house or or if she's maybe exaggerating. I'm I'm guessing she there's some exaggerations going on. Yeah. Especially at that age, you're you know, to do like the best thing ever or the worst thing ever. Yeah. But but it's there's some deep need. There's obviously some deep need. If she's doing the cutting, she she needs some professional help. Yeah. And

I need to have this conversation with her parents. Yeah. Yeah. And I so so I

I'm in that community a little bit. I mean, we homeschool our kids, and it's, that's just oh, that's generally the main concern that people would have, like, when we said we were going to homeschools, like, oh, you know, oh, they're gonna turn out socially awkward. I mean, here's the thing, is, they can. If you if if you if you keep your kids kind of insular in your in your family, especially if you're a small family, like, it's just you and your kid Yeah. I they're not gonna know how to deal with people because you've only exposed them to a single age range of two people who have authority over them. Yeah. That's gonna cause them a problem. I I would say that we don't we don't struggle with that. We have a wide, church family. They have plenty of they have plenty of friends. You know, we're intentional about exposing as a matter of fact, there's there's some health to that is because in your, you know, in a traditional school setting, you kinda spend your time around with only people your age. There is a cool opportunity within to homeschool where, like, you can expose them to a very wide

group of people. And again Like real life? Exactly. Just like it would be in real life. When I got a job, I I only got a job with people my age. No. You're in the 24 year old section. Oh, thank you. Good. Excellent. You know, so so, I mean, there's actually a a cool opportunity for some a lot more social wit there, but you do have to do it. I mean, you have to recognize that you've you've taken away, what is a consistent social opportunity, at least within their age range in a public school system,

that you you can't you can't do that to your kids like that. They will they will be awkward if you completely isolate them. So, I mean, it's possible, and I've certainly met people that have done that. What it tends to be is larger families where, like, they have a good age range, but they do all kind of think the same. Yeah. Yeah. And so, you you know, you there's some some social awkwardness there too. But, but, yeah, I would say I would say that I mean, it could be that her parents are blind, like they like they're maybe one of the reasons they homeschool is to try to protect their kid. They're concerned about what people they will be exposed to. I'm with you. I understand. But you you know, you can't shelter yourself from a world, especially a world in which you're to make disciples. You can't make disciples. You don't ever interact with people. You're gonna have to pull on your pants and, you know, start teaching your kids how to talk to people, and that includes you can't protect them from them all the time. And so, and I don't I wish I I I shouldn't speak on it. I don't understand the cutting. I I guess I don't I don't understand I really where it comes from or like Yeah. I've talked to people in the midst of it, but but it's it's some like how it releases some

endorphin or something that I don't know. Yeah. I don't know. It's tell tell you to talk to somebody, obviously. I I talked to someone who's not me. Yeah. I I'm afraid I just don't know I'll just say stop it. Yeah. Just give it up. Yeah. You're listening live from the Path. Thanks for hanging out with us. If you're on 99.3 KTA, we've got to let you go. We'll see you next Saturday at 07:00. If you're hanging out on the chat, we get you got a few more questions to go. You're listening to Live From The Path. Alright. Hey, man. That's Tim Timmons.

You should go check out Tim Timmons. He's very cool. We interviewed him. I don't think we we didn't post it. We went out to he opened for Building 429 when we were in Erdalem, and and Mike did an interview with him. And Tim Timmons is a cool guy, and he had a lot of fun. But but with the audio on the recording, basically, you can hear people talking, but every 2.5, it's like, beep. Beep. It's like someone's recording a phone call, you know? Oh, no. And so, like, the audio is totally shot. I mean to try to transcribe it, but that's that stinks. I I listened to one interview for twenty minutes and got, like, two sentences in. I'm like, this is really terrible. I just Oh, no. What are those people that do the shorthand typing? We maybe I what's that cost? Maybe someone will type up these interview transcripts with me. Sonya, I thought that's what I thought. Maybe we'll we'll have a talk with her. So, anyway, go check out Tim Timmonsville. He's he's he's worth checking out. So, anyway, that's let let's listen to the secular advice on dear rabbi.

Oh, dear life empath. It says, most parents who homeschool make sure their children are exposed to activities within the community to ensure they engage with people of all ages. They part participate in scouting, four h sports, field trips, etcetera. There you go. That you cut yourself to distract yourself from the pain of your isolation is serious. If you have a family doctor, please bring this up with him or her so you can receive the help you need to quit. I'm sure your parents love you and want to protect you, but they appear to be doing it too diligently. At 16, you should be learning to interact with others your age. If you have a relative you trust or feel close to, I'm urging you to talk to that person about this. Perhaps your parents will accept the message from another adult. Yeah. That could be. That's solid. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Dear life from the path. My husband brought home a puppy he couldn't resist. Aw. I wanted to make him happy, so I didn't object. We already have one dog. She's calm, mature, and well trained. She's also used to our schedule. We both work full time. We've now decided to try for a baby. The puppy is only five months old, and even though it may take months to become pregnant, I'm worried it'll be too much stress to train and care for a puppy while I'm pregnant. When I try to discuss this with my husband, he says everything will work out. I want the best pregnancy possible, but I also don't want to upset my husband for by finding a new family for the puppy. What should I do?

I feel like I'm gonna be insensitive here. Everything's gonna be alright. It's going to be fine. The puppy's five months old, and I'm gonna recognize you haven't had a baby yet, but even from a man's it's a long process. I mean,

it'll be a while before the baby's there. I mean, what what what what could possibly be going on with this puppy that's gonna distract from the pregnancy? Is is the child not developing well because you're letting the puppy outside? Is it what what is it you're planning to do? What what is the perfect pregnancy? Yeah. And how does this take away from that? That's that's what I don't understand. Yeah. I think she's overreacting. Sorry. Sorry. Yeah. I mean, I I I guess maybe I get that if you're nine months pregnant and the puppy's taking a whiz on the floor and you had to, like, clean it up and that's Yeah. Yeah. Inconvenient for you. I totally get that.

But, I mean, by that time, the the dog is 14 old. I mean, then you've got another eight months to try to whip this dog into shape. I feel like it should be done. Like, if it's still a year end and the dog's naughty, you know That dog needs to go anyway then. Yeah. Send it to a class or something, and don't worry about it. Yeah. Yeah. But, yeah, I feel like you're I think he's I agree with the husband here. Everything's gonna be alright. It's I mean, I hope he's helping. I hope he's he's helping with training the dog, and then he's participating in this thing. He needs to be ready to step up if if, she's having a difficult pregnancy. Yeah. You know, then then guess what, buddy? You're on. You know? I mean, hopefully, he's on anyway. He's the one who brought the puppy home. Exactly. So, I mean, is he just is that how it's gonna be child rearing too?

Well, you had the baby. Yeah. I mean, you know, we're in this together. Baby's not a good idea. Really? Pulled off another few years. But, yeah, I I'm I'm with him. Everything will work out. Take take it easy. I mean, just here's the deal is you're not gonna have a perfect pregnancy. If you're already stressing out, you're not even pregnant yet, and you feel like you can't train a dog in the interim in in months. Yeah. That kinda concerns me. Yeah. But I'm I'm get know, it's their first one. Everything's a little different. You know? Yep. Yeah.

Yeah. You're not gonna have a perfect pregnancy. Just just Pretty good. It's not gonna happen. Yeah. You know you know what's weird? Is most I I I'm guessing the most ladies' idea of a perfect pregnancy is when it feels like you're not pregnant. Yeah. I feel like you're walking into this a little blind. You've only gained three pounds, Will. I know. Thank you.

I'm bringing a very tiny baby in. Okay. Secular advice. Talk to your husband again and stress to him the importance of seeing that the dog starts obedience classes. That assumes that they're not doing that. While it might be tempting to foist off the responsibility of your husband, you should both be involved so the dog will obey you both. With that accomplished, your pregnancy will be less stressful. Okay. I agree. Yeah. But in either case, I think you're stressing out. You're too crazy. Here we go. Dear life in the path. I've been living with a man for ten months. He is 70, and I am 59. That's gotta be rough. That means he's retired, and she's not. I feel like that's that's that's gonna happen to me, I guess. Well, probably not.

I don't my occupation won't won't require a retirement right at 65, but, like, I feel like it's gotta be awkward if you're the older spouse and you retire and are sitting at home and, like, your spouse goes to work all the time. How do how do we know he's not at Walmart doing the carts? Well, I suppose he could be. I don't know. It it leaves an interesting dichotomy if he's retired. Anyway, whenever we go to the grocery store, he winks and smiles at all the young attractive women. Life in the Path, I am fairly attractive for my age, and I don't appreciate his making me feel disrespected this way. Other than this, he makes me happy. Most of the time, he denies he does except when I catch him red handed. Is there any hope for this relationship? Okay.

Number one, you need Jesus. Get yourself married. You're old enough. You should know better than this. Uh-huh. You're you're shacking up with the dude who's eleven years older than you. I don't really care about the age difference, but

come on. You know? Yeah. You should be old enough to know better than this. Number two, the dude's 70 years old. Winking in at some 20 year old, I don't I don't see that that he's gonna be, you know, she's gonna jump at that. Like Yeah. Oh, I think he's interested. Yeah. Of course, he's interested. He's 70. He's 70 years old. And she's breathing. You know? I

would hope that a man who's 70 years old, although he's probably playing and flirting, has more depth to him that he he has gotten beyond something that he would, you know, is thinking negatively about someone who could be his granddaughter. Yeah. Right. Yeah. You know, that that's just creepy to me. Yeah. And and I doubt it's creepy. It's probably just some guy having fun.

Yeah. So I don't know. Have we had this question before? I don't think so. I don't think so either. No, Chad. I think I think no. I think this is I think this is fresh one. I yeah. You know, here's the deal is I I'd actually be a little concerned if I were him that,

given given their ages, and, she's she's still a little insecure. Yeah. I mean Exactly. There's not it's not a threat. I'm I'm with you. Right? I mean, I'm with you. Yeah. So

I'm with you. Yeah. I mean, he whatever. He could give it up. I I mean, he there's no reason he can't stop doing that. Of course, I I I'm filtered it through. He's probably just some fun little old guy who's you know, who would never actually or probably couldn't even have the ability Yeah. Right. To follow through with anything. Yeah. It just it just makes the girls laugh. Right? Exactly. It's a matter so in the context, this is gonna sound wrong, but, you know, like, I'll harass my wife's grandma. You know, in a way, it's just like, you know Yeah. And say that talk talk to her as if I would as if she was a friend of mine as opposed to like my grandma. And, you know, old ladies like that. They say that's funny. You you and you and I were at a retirement place a few months ago, and two girls grabbed our arms and talked about them as being boyfriends. Exactly. Taking us home. It was a we all knew nothing was happening with him. Exactly. You know, I wasn't thinking, hey. Yeah. I got a shot here. What did that one lady what did that one lady say? She goes, are you gonna offer your boyfriend a piece of candy? Because there was, like, candy in the room. You know? Exactly. Oh, I feel so I called my wife immediately. I feel so dirty. Are you guys married? Yes. We are. I mean, it wasn't even really flirting. It was just silliness. Exactly. It just it just it's it's a funny situation. People get it. They're having a good time because it's because it's outrageous.

Yeah. And there there was a certain point. Okay. I'm 49. Right? So I'm just old enough. I'm not young. Not really old, but I'm definitely not young. Yeah. There came a point when it hit me, and I don't know when that was. It was in my late thirties maybe when I thought the college girls really don't think of me that way. They're not looking at you. Yes. Yeah. You're still going, that could be your dad. Never mind. That is is the curse of the man Yeah. Who is like, you can have it realistically,

you've got 55 year old guys who are looking at a college age girl thinking, oh, yeah. She's checking me out. That's right. It's the foolishness of the man's mind. Yeah. It's it's just the way they're wired. Yeah. And even if they were, it'd be like, I'm not gonna do it. Yeah. I'm happily married. Never mind. I mean, you know, it it yeah. It's just a goofy I used to tell my girls to to to look look at guppies in a fish tank. I said, that is the male right there. They're always dancing in front of the girls. Hey, look at me. Look at me. That is that is every boy in your school. Just remember whatever they say to you, whatever they have one thing in mind. That's pretty much how it is. Just just put that through the filter just so you know. You know? I don't know if that was good advice or not, but it's

it's true. Yeah. Yeah. So And most of them have no intention of doing anything. They're just still wagging the tail. Like, check it out. Look what I can do. I've got purple colors. Scare the crap out of me if she said yes. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. You know, he could probably give it up, but, you know, seriously, dude, just calm down. He's 70 years old. Yeah. And in in her defense, he he could be more respectful. Uh-huh. Even if it's just don't do it around her, but that seems kind of deceptive. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So here's the deal. I'm I I I can't I can't let this go because this is funny. So for the guys that that were at the start of the show, there was this this girl that was

hold on. Her her comments were let me let me let me pick them up just just so I have them. The comments were oh, man. Did I lose it already? You suck. Boring.

Ugh. Not funny. Dislike. That was her, Do you think we have a chance? That was that was her reaction to the first three minutes of the show. So I'm only gonna show you this because it's just it's it's funny to look at

I mean, she cannot be more than than, seriously, 12. Oh, no. No. Hold on. So I'm gonna show you a video. Oh. Oh, no. It's it's it's okay. I guess this is more sad than anything else. But here's Hang on. Hold on.

Can you see that, Dan? No. I just holy cats. Don't do no no no no no do that. Oh. Was just she can't be 11 years old, Dan.

She she's in sultry. Alright. I'm have to get rid of that. That's that's starting borderline offensive. But That freaked me out. I know. But she hates I hope I am boring compared to that. She hates the show. She hates the show. Oh, man. Anyway, I I I don't know. Like, I first thought, oh, man. How could they we maybe wore terrible radio, which is this is possibly true. Yeah. Yeah. But then I thought, holy cats, man. She's she's 11 years old. She's not all love to know. She hates the show. Alright. You know, whatever. You you guys can go. I'll say, hey. Thanks for hanging on the chat, guys. We appreciate it. Hanging out with the Dan and Mitch show. We'll have a full crew back in next week. And

yeah. Alright. Go back to go to Mitch. Yeah. Have a good night. Searching for a splash of fresh new music? How about a trip for two to the concert of your choice? Click the banner to quench your thirst for great music with Nestea's playlist refresher. Give your music a fresh boost with some cool tracks that'll have you soaking up the sun all summer long. Share with friends on Facebook and Twitter for chances to win Spotify Premium and one grand prize trip to see any concert in the country. Stay fresh all summer long with Nestea and Spotify.

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