Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proper. You are live from the Path.

And you're listening to life from the path on life with thepath.org broadcasting every Monday night from ten to eleven. Sometimes it is a gift from the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it's a huge mistake. Tonight, I feel like it's a gift. So here's what we got going tonight. We got a ton of stuff to talk about. One, Christians are having a hard time in Syria. There seems to be kinda getting the boot, really. There's a lot of there's a lot of deaths. They almost feel like they're they're targeting them. And, and it kinda it kinda brought me to a broader question about, I don't know, a world mindedness that I that I think that, I as an American don't generally tend to have and almost their perspective back at us. You know? What I I I realized that there's a generally a negative opinion, mostly,

maybe about America in general, but I'm not so much interested as their thoughts about America as I am you know, how those thoughts reflect to Christianity, you know, as they as followers of Christ, you know, do we end up in a big cog called America where we don't we we look like, like we're not following Christ just merely because of where we live. And so, we I thought we'd talk about that a little bit. The the article's, I don't know. It's kinda wordy. So I'm gonna try to truncate it just a little bit, but, we're gonna talk a little bit about that. There's an article on the CNN belief blog about millennials leaving the church. That is people that were born, say, 2,000 and up. I think we all kind of have

a semi bit of a guess on why some of this is happening, but the man who wrote it, I don't believe, is a Jesus man. And so we'll get his take on it, what he thinks and what he thinks were kinda cheesy. One of the art of the things that he mentioned is the marriage of Pat Robertson and YouTube is not doing the Christianity community much of a favor. And so we're gonna we're gonna talk about that.

We got some Pope style advice, little bit from Rick Gray, maybe a little bit from me. We got some dear life from the path. And actually, we're gonna we're gonna open it up just a little bit. We don't do this a whole lot, but I'm gonna ask for a couple quick prayer requests. John Buba the third, generally our our solid wingman, he's out tonight. He's just not feeling right. And so I I you know, if you guys just wouldn't mind saying a quick prayer for him and that he can get up and rock and he can be thinking straight and everything can kinda settle out there for God's glory. And so if you wouldn't mind praying for that. And also our our captain of the ship, Ben, is on his way back into the country. And if you just pray for safe travels for him. Frankly, the show will be lesser because they're missing, but then increased because of our special guests. And so tonight, you're joined by mister Dan Hudson, Rick Gray, Dave Guaran,

and Tessa, who will be jumping in to give us some advice on later tonight. So we're gonna get started. We'll go and talk about a little bit about this Syria thing. Now I'm gonna I'm gonna, you know, kinda give you a heads up. I'm not a global thinker. I'm not good with general world. I I have a general idea of where Syria is, but not a ton. I just don't quite think like that. So when things come up and I I say them incorrectly, that's probably the reason. So

it says Christians are being singled out and massacred from Pakistan to Syria to the Nairobi shopping mall. It says Christians in The Middle East and Africa are being slaughtered, tortured, raped, kidnapped, beheaded, and forced to flee the birthplace of birthplace of Christianity. One would think this horror might be consuming the pulpits and pews of American churches. Not so. The science has been the the silence has been nearly deafening. As Egypt's coops have battled the worst attacks on the Christian minority since the fourteenth century.

The bad news for Christians in the region just keeps coming. On Sunday, Taliban suicide bombers killed at least 85 worshippers at All Saints Church, which has been there since 1883. Christians were also the target of Islamic fanatics in the attack on the shopping center in Nairobi that killed more than 70 people. The Associated Press reported that the Somali Islamic militant group, Al Shabaab, confirmed witness accounts that government separated Muslims from other people and then let the Muslims go. The captives were asked questions about Islam. If they couldn't answer, they were shocked. In Syria, Christians are under attack by Islamist rebels and fear and extinction of Bashar al Assad fall. This month, rebels overran the historic Christian town of Malula, where many of its inhabitants speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. That's pretty cool. Reported that the residence of Malula called her fiancee Sel and was told by a member of the free Syrian army that they gave him a chance to convert to Islam and he refused. So they slit his throat.

As a Leila Gilbert is the author of Saturday People, Sunday People, which details the expulsion of 850,000 Jews who fled or were forced to leave Muslim countries in the mid twentieth century. The title of her book comes from the Islamist slogan, first the Saturday People, then the Sunday People, which means first we kill the Jews, then we kill the Christians. Gilbert wrote recently that our Jewish friends and neighbors in Israel are shocked, but not entirely surprised by the attacks on Christians in The Middle East. They are rather puzzled, however, by what appears to be the lack of anxiety, action, or advocacy on the part of Western Christians, as they should be. It's it's inexplicable. American Christians are quite able to organize around issues that concern them, yet religious persecution appears not to have grabbed their attention despite worldwide media coverage of the atrocities against Christians and other religious minorities in The Middle East. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Ton of stuff ton of stuff here.

Finally, it says, they were talking about a couple representatives from California and named one of them named Wolf. And Wolf has complained loudly of the State Department's lack of attention to religious persecution, but nobody's really listening. When American leaders meet with the Saudi government, whereas the public outcry demanding they confront the Saudis for, fermenting hatred for Christian Jews and even Muslims minorities, where where is it? Why are they not upset? Basically, the the article kinda goes on to say, look, there's there's a lot of persecution against, you know, the Christian nation. A lot of it they might be kind of targeting it towards the Muslim faith, which some of it is attributed to, some of them not so much. They, you know, depends on, you know, which pin is writing the story.

But but really, think what they're getting at is is, you know, the Christian, we have Christian brothers and sisters that are are, you know, they're basically being slaughtered for their faith. And I don't know that I've given it much of a thought, You know, like, I see it in the news. I'm like, boy, that sounds terrible, but I don't know that I that it really struck me. And actually, the what what it borders on the question for me is, is there something to do? Or, I mean, it's it's biblical. Like, we knew this was coming. Right? That persecution was gonna happen. Are you Job style just happy that that it's not you? You know? I think it's been happening, I mean, since the first century. You know, it's just it's nothing new. It's it's been going on. It it it's pretty intense right now. I've I've been I I pray regularly about it. I I I've I've talked about it at church, and and people kinda have these glazed eyes. You know, they they look at me like, you're just silly. They that's not going on. And I was like, well, yeah, this here's pictures. Well, no. That's, you know, something else. I I I've been asked small group leaders, and when we had questions based persecution just just with a couple months ago, and I said, well, how was your small group? And and and and, like, the general thought was, well, that doesn't really happen here. Like, really? That's that's that's it? That's all you I mean, really? For one thing, yes. It does. But secondly, do you see your brothers and sisters in Christ? And you're like, yeah. Well, you know, as long as we have, you know, basketball

for our kids and the tennis court at the church, that's really all I care about. Yeah. I mean, isn't that such a isn't that such a an odd an odd mindset, I guess. Right? You know, is it is it just an odd an odd perspective to take that? Like, if it's not happening to me, it's not happening to anybody. You know, like, do do you think we generally it's not happening to me, there's nothing I can really do. Right. You know, and actually, here's the the flip side of my question was kinda be turned over to to to Dave and Gauron is is,

you know, are we are we seen like that? Is is America in general I'm yeah. Like I said, I I really want towards it right towards America, but, like, you know, are are are the Christians of America basically seen as, you know, watered down? Not really much worth their weight? Seen by whom? Well, I would say probably the The Middle East in general or maybe other parts of the of the of the world. Do they even care? Do they even have an opinion either way in your experience?

Well, first of all, we should say who who he how how would you know? You you've you've lived there. Yeah. I I mean, I You're you're not, like, just a guy down the street like like I am. No. Yeah. I I spent a couple years in The Middle East. You know, most of my neighbors and and friends are are from The Middle East. So Sure. Just thinking about it from their perspective. And, yeah, they they very much think about America, but they think about American culture. And I don't know that they have a real accurate understanding of how Americans see them.

And and it the divide between how they think Americans see them and how we actually see them is almost as as great as wow, the divide between the American the way Americans look at themselves and their lives and the way that they see the Middle East. I mean, it's like a totally different planet. And so it's almost like it's just, like you're saying, not not really happening. You know? I I imagine most of the people in The Middle East think that we're closer to the cognitive forefront of or that their lives are more on the forefront of American minds, and most Americans don't really care

other than when we get involved in wars. No. No. I you know, I'd say that's probably true. Right? That's that's true on my end. Right? Like, it's it's not that I suppose that I think, you know, good or bad either way. I just don't really think. You know? I just assume that, you know, what goes on and and, you know, I'm I'm think I that's probably a little bit of a selfish perspective, obviously, on on my part. But, I mean, can can most of this be tied to I don't know what what what America represents, or or is it just or is it just a plain old fashioned, you know, your god against my god? It's not always just something as simple as just what's what's the religion and is it our religion versus their religion. I mean, politics is a huge part of it as well. And probably the unfortunately, the the bigger

driving factor between East and Western relationships is the politics involved, not so much the the religion involved. And, man, it's more Is it deeper than I think?

Probably. Yeah. The thing is the reputation of American Christians is being developed in the minds of Middle Easterners by the American government. In In other other words, words, it's it's our our government that's basically

standing for what America, the Christian nation, means in The Middle East. Well, that's a terrible representation. Well, that's what happens when the church doesn't get involved. Really? We're basically outsourcing our reputation. I actually I I mean, I I agree with that on a lot of fronts, not only our the way we represent ourselves to people outside our country, but frankly, how we represent to people inside of our country. Right? We we do that a lot. We leave it a lot up to, like, the bigger organizations

and, you know, the, I don't know, the people that we think have firepower and really it's best represented by you sitting down and talking to a guy. Mhmm. You know? Like, I mean, that seems a lot more honest, a lot more real and and and not near as manufactured. People would smell a pamphlet coming a mile away. Oh, yeah. Yeah. They hate pamphlets. Mhmm. I don't even know why we still put them Like, people are like, do you and some here's the deal. I had a guy at the gas station give me a gospel tract. Right? Right. And so I was I was just walking to my car or whatever, and he's like and he didn't say anything. He just handed it to me and let me walk. And I I looked at it, and I'm like, it's about Jesus. And so I turned back around at this guy. I'm like, were you gonna talk to me about Jesus or just hand me this brochure? He's like, I'm just trying to do my job, buddy. I'm like, get off of this corner. You stick at this. You know? Like, seriously, you can't invest a little time in a guy? What if I was really interested? It's good thing I love Jesus already, but, seriously. Yeah. You get that Yeah. With that pitch, he was gonna be like, I was saved by that guy that gave me the bible track. That's right. I care enough about you to hand you a piece of paper. Yeah. That's how much I love you. You know? Seems a bit far reaching. So so what how how are we represented by the government? How is the church American church represented by government? Well okay. Because they they look at our culture as homogenous even though we're not. We're a very diverse culture. Yeah. They they think everyone is somehow related to whoever is president, and so any American you can talk to has direct access to the White House. That's kind of the some of the mindset that goes on going.

So whatever US foreign policy is in The Middle East, that's representative of everyone and the church. And so the two dominant factors of US foreign policy are the wars that we go off and fight in The Middle East, and the other one is Israel, which most people in the American church have no idea what's going on in terms of Israel and Palestine and and everything else there. Yeah. So

the church has no clue what's going on, and, you know, we have a a horrible reputation among Arab communities because of the stance that The United States takes on Palestine. So Hold on. We're just gonna let the silence sit. I don't know what to do with that. I'm not smart enough. Is it I here's the question. Is there is there an action to be taken? Right? Like like, are we are we responding correctly by no response? Or, I mean, can we even can we mask an effort? I mean, could would the effort be even beneficial? You know, or is it something effort be. Yeah. Are you just waiting for for for God to put it on on a, you know, on your heart to start doing it? Or are you purposely not asking God if he wants you anything involved with it because you don't want to be involved? Well, I I think step one for the church has to be prayer.

That's where we get our marching orders. That's where God comes to us and says, hey. I I need these people. They need your help. Go get involved. And it's through prayer that churches get together and they adopt people groups and that they come up with missions and say, hey. Let's actually go out and do something good. Syria, I don't know how to get into Syria. I mean, I've been in and out of the Middle East. I don't know how many different times. I've flown all around Syria, not in Syria, but I don't know how to get into it, and especially not with the civil war going on. Right. But what I do know is there's a good 2,000,000 people on the borders between Syria and Lebanon and Jordan. Right now, the fourth largest city in Jordan is a refugee camp, fourteen months old. There's over a half million people there. They have no basic

infrastructure. They have no health care. I mean, you know, as a church, let's say you've got maybe a couple of doctors or someone some people who can go over and administer antibiotics, go over to a refugee camp like that, set up you know, just help out the people there and get ready for the time when peace does return to Syria and then jump into Syria. Yeah. Now what kind of, a church and what kind of reputation are we actually building at that point? So, I mean, I think the action steps will will come, but start with prayer. Get involved in prayer. Get an idea of what the needs are. I mean, this was just me researching online for the past hour looking at what's going on in Syria and realizing, okay. Health care in those refugee camps is a huge deal.

Well, a church that might have a couple of health care professionals. And it's not like, you know, health care professionals are real eager to continue to their jobs in this country. Right. So Yeah. True. It's not looking it's not looking real fancy. Why not try another option then? You know, I've often heard that when fellow believers are under it's like the intense persecution like you read about, Mike Yeah. That the

the best way to pray for them is not to pray that they are that they escape the not escape the word I'm looking for. That they Deliver. That they don't have Yeah. Persecution, but that they're strong through it. Yeah. I I mean, this I I have this conflicted conflicted prayer. Prayer. I I I probably pray at least once a week for for the the situation because I read things and I'm, know, and it just it just cuts my heart. Like, I just what can I do? And so I have this odd prayer where I'm praying, okay, God protect him. Well, I mean, well, at least we'll keep him strong. It's like but I that temptation is that to to God protect him from getting persecuted, but that's also what strengthens the church. You look at the New Testament, the church always grows in persecution. Right. I mean, always. You you know, it's it's like when we're lazy that we don't grow. It's when we're persecuted that that the gospel spreads. So it's this really odd prayer I have. I'm jumping all over the place, kinda like my conversation right now. I'm like, oh, god. I mean I mean, what I mean is protect him. No. What I mean is really you know? How

do you pray for them? Well, first off, they're the church. They've already been exposed to the gospel. They're Yeah. The Holy Spirit's living in them. I mean, if death comes to them, it's a victory. Right. Right. I mean, in as much as it's a tragedy, it's also victory because that's just that's who we are. That's what God does is he does that sort of thing. It's their neighbors is what's really the concern on my mind, and I imagine, for those who are really truly following Jesus, it's the concern on their mind as well.

True. The persecution's going on towards them, but it's their neighbors that they're really concerned for. And these are also the people who can be kind of that boots on the ground logistical support for a church that really wants to get involved. So if you wanna start sending people over and getting involved, then you start con contacting the Christians who are on the ground in in Lebanon and Jordan and whatnot and say, hey. We're we're trying to help out with these refugees. I mean, their governments are asking for help as well. So you can go in and partner with Muslim governments to go out and help out Muslims who are dying because they just can't get the health care they need. So, like, like, our local church here Mhmm. Could do something

where we would, like, ship supplies type of thing? Oh, I'd send people, but Oh, people. Okay. You could certainly send supplies as well. Yeah. They That's it. Because you don't know where that's gonna go. Right? You can't Actually, I have people I'd be willing to ship pretty soon. We have yeah. We've huddled this. Yeah. For a while. I mean, I I I wouldn't just wanna send supplies because that's I mean, you have no idea what's gonna end up happening with that. Right. It's what I'm wondering. You really want you want someone with eyes, who's gonna get there and take a look and see what's going on and really kinda take ownership of the project. And for something like that, you would want someone who has a health care background and who maybe an RN or someone, I mean or a doctor or someone who maybe they've just retired from the health care profession. He whatever. But someone who can actually kinda get there and get involved. Well, here's the thing. Like, Jesus builds people for that. Right? Like, when he says I knew you, I created you. Right? You're you're a creation of God. He he he builds people to fill roles and he builds people to do his work because he likes to see his work done through his people. And so, like, it's not like this person doesn't exist. It's not like there's not a guy or a gal who loves Jesus that won't fit this bill. You know? It's just being it's being willing to do it, you know? And not be and and being willing to not take it off the table, like, I'm pretty sure that's not God's call for me, you know? But on on the other hand, I I mean, I think that's a lot of people's biggest fears. They're like, I don't wanna be sent to the Middle East. Don't send me over there. I don't want to do it. I don't want to be a missionary. Know? Well, here's the thing. God usually gives you the heart for the things that he wants you to do. Right? And so he's generally not of course, hold on. He picked Philip Philip up and threw him across the way. Mhmm. I I might be losing my point slightly. But still, like, he puts you where he wants you to be. He gives you a heart for being there. And, you know, and the I I would back off your biggest fear as as as being that God's gonna force you to go somewhere you don't want to be. Now, you're gonna be in situations that that, you know, might be a little anxiety ridden and and might be, you know, a strengthening of your faith to get through. But that certainly doesn't mean that he doesn't want you there. And actually, I I feel like we we might I don't know. We might be putting a little bit more thought in this. I feel like it's something that I've skipping by. Maybe it's just because I'm getting advanced in age and and not so self concerned as as maybe I once was. But, you know, I I I feel like there's a there's a heart in it. You know, there's if we're if we really are Christ's Church, then they're us, you know. It's not like the the border or the water makes any difference, you know. It's all it's all the same. So anyway, I just thought it was I thought it was interesting and and and there's just a there's a lot going on and there's a to to take in in the world and and, you know, we we have a big God. So, I mean, he can cover a lot of ground. And so I I don't know. I just thought maybe it would just be an interesting time to have a look at it, look at the perspective and see what we're you know, that we might be missing with our, you know, with our

Java Joe's on the way to church on Sunday, you know, just just something to think about. So you got any you got any, passing stuff on the on the way out of that? Just, you know, the initial question was what about, Christians who are actually being targeted? And I know in in Pakistan, and I know that in,

in Kenya, they specifically were targeted. For that, just pray for encouragement. I mean, those are those are some very extreme moments that those people are living through, and just, you know, pray for the presence of the Holy Spirit. I mean, it's amazing to see believers go through something like that and have the kind of peace that only the Holy Spirit can offer, during those times. It's it's unworldly, and it's something that people take notice of. And it's it's a great testimony to the Holy Spirit. So just pray for that they can be encouraged encouraged

because it's increasing. I mean, it it has increased this century. There have been more, Christians killed because of their faith this century than in every century prior to this. So,

you know, it it it will increase, but it's something that God will use for his glory. I like that phrase. It's unworldly. I like that. Yeah. I'd like to be unworldly. I kinda caught that too. Was like, You know what? It is unworldly. This show's been called that, but not in a positive way. You're listening to live from the path on livefromthepath.org broadcasting every Monday night from ten to eleven on live from thepath.org and also on

KTIA ninety nine point three on the on the legitimate radio. And so you catch that show Saturday nights at seven, and we'd love to have you there. If you want more bonus content, it's all found on the website. It's found on the podcast. We do about I think we do a solid hour for KTIA, and then they're like, look, your money's no good here anymore. You fellas need to go. But we just keep on talking on the Internet because it's free and there's really no filter. People just let you do whatever you want on the Internet, good, better, and different. And so that's what we got going. We're gonna we're gonna hit this we're gonna hit this article on the millennials. I Man, it's always a touchy subject for me. I can't sometimes I get really interested. I'm like, why are people leaving the church? You know, I got kind of involved in the youth group, I'm like, hey, people. What's why? What's wrong with you? You know, what's what's happening?

And like, only to realize that I only left the church because I didn't like being bossed around, and I thought God didn't know what was best for me. And so, there's a lot of people that think that, but this dude's taking a stab on it. Like I said, I I took a quick run through it. I don't believe he's a Jesus man, but I think we'll be able to vet that out as we go along. Yeah. So it says, why are millennials leaving the church? Try atheism. Articles and books about why millennials are leaving Christianity often focus on what churches are doing wrong. They're anti gay, anti women, anti science, anti sex education, and anti doubt, to name a few of the most common criticisms.

Most of those are not true, if not all of them. None of those are true, really. I don't disagree with those critiques, but there's another side to the story. While Christians have played sloppy defense, secular Americans have been showing off some impressive offense, giving young Christians plenty of reasons to lose faith in organized religion. For instance, atheists dominate the Internet. I got a comment. We're gonna wait on that. Rallying to thriving websites and online communities in lieu of physical meeting spaces. Even a writer for the evangelical magazine relevant admitted that while Christianity enjoys a robust online presence, the edge still seems to belong to its unbelievers. Atheists outnumber Christians on popular discussions forums like Reddit, the subscribers to the atheism section number more than 2,000,000. The Christianity section is not even 5% of that. The Internet based Foundation Beyond Belief, which encourages atheists to donate to charitable organizations, just celebrated raising 1,000,000 for worthwhile causes.

Moreover, blogs and websites espousing non religious viewpoints Christianity draw tons of Internet traffic these days. Every Christian apologist argument, it seems, there's an equal and opposite rebuttal to be found online. If there's a let's see. Christians can no longer hide in a bubble, shelter from a poisoning perspectives, and church leaders can't protect young people from finding information that contradicts traditional belief. There's an open comment thread to be found on Christian's YouTube video or opinion piece online. There's inevitably going to be a pushback from atheists.

We've experienced that front hand and yeah, it's kind of it's kind of rough. Let's see. There's among other things, this proves that the anti atheist stereotypes aren't accurate and just as important that atheists aren't alone in their communities. There's the Richard Dawkins Foundation. With its Scarlet A badges, there are atheists encouraging billboards in 33 states. There's a 1800 hotline for people recovering from religion. But more than anything else, Athen's best advertisements may be the words of Christian leaders themselves. When pastor Mark Driscoll believes women, Rick Warren argues against same rights or Rob Bell equivocates on the concept of hell. We amplify those messages for them and it helps us make our point. It goes it goes without saying that the pairing of Pat Robertson and YouTube has been great for atheists.

Bummer. Pastors are no longer the final authority on the truth and millennials know it. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Here we go. Here it finally starts to to rail up here. To believe in Jesus means believing that he was born of a virgin, rose from the dead, and performed a number of miracles. There's no proof of any that any of that ever happened and atheists place those stories in the same box as the young earth creationism and Noah's great flood. To be sure, if Christians followed the positive ideas Jesus had, we'd all be better off, but it's very hard to separate the myth from the reality. In short, there are many reasons the percentage of millennials who say they've never doubted God's existence is at a record low and nearly a quarter of adults 30 no longer affiliate with the faith. The church has pushed young people away, yes, but there are also forces actively pulling them in the other direction. It appears that atheists and Christians are finally working together on the same task, getting millennials to leave the church.

Wow. Whiz bang, says the atheist man. We got all kinds of problems. One, the message itself, anti gay, anti women, anti science, anti sex education, and anti doubt, to name a few. I

Okay. Go ahead. Somebody else open it up. Got you. That guy sounds like the same dude who who wrote the the 50 what what was that website? The 50 proofs that got us a prisoner. It's just this circular thing that I don't agree with them. So therefore, of course, everybody's leaving because they're not agreeing with me. So and by the way, we're all on the Internet. Okay? I'm not I'm never going to church again because there's atheists on the Internet, and they gave a million dollars.

I mean, that's that's Actually, Dan, well put. Yeah.

People will That's just silly. I wonder what the average church offering is in in the mill you know, per per week. I wonder what they're I don't mean the average church. I mean, altogether, total. Christians are given tons of money to help people feed the poor, clothe the naked. They're also keeping a lot of the money for They are doing silly things with the I'm not good. Deny that. Okay. But but there there's a lot of good things being done by the generous believers. That's that doesn't because that's happening, doesn't draw them the church. Just like because atheists are given to some whatever good cause is, doesn't make them leave the church. I mean, that's that's nothing that it's it's not connected. So why are they leaving the church, Dan? Well, some of the churches have become irrelevant and they're and and they they they should be left, to be honest. I don't know what he's defining the church. There's a lot of churches that need to be left. Well, I would just assume he's defining churches that claim to be churches. I don't think that he's dissecting it maybe to the to the point that we dissect it. You're probably right. But but does he have a point? Like like, do do I mean, a bit people are people are the the young adults, the millennials are leaving the church, not only because of the message, but because of the environment. Is there is there some truth in that?

The environment of the church Yeah. Being unwelcoming to millennials? Yeah. Do you mean just they stopped coming to the building? Yeah. Yeah. They, yeah, they stopped being an active part of the church. Maybe they weren't an active part of the church to begin with. I don't know. But, like, I I mean, that's true across the board. I mean, numbers for for people ages 18 to 30

they're not good. They're never they they they And it's I don't think it's ever been good. I mean, it's it's it's a tough demographic to reach no matter what. You know? There's there's a a point where you if you grow up in a church, then you reach an age where you finally get to feel like you're making a choice,

and it's oftentimes choosing to not go to church. And you spend

a decade or so wiling in your own mistakes and get to be about 30 and, like, this really isn't working. Is that the formula? I it's not a I I've seen it played out time and again. I mean, I'm not saying that's what happened to me. I'm not saying that it's that it's okay, but I I know that I'm not alone. I

I know that I've seen people fall away from the church, and I, you know, pray for them, hope that they come back. But it's it's unfortunate. You know? I mean, it's

it's it's hard because as as a parent, maybe you try and instill

your faith into the child instead of having them have a relationship with God, then you want them to have your relationship with God. And then they feel like God is a grandpa instead of a father. I don't know. I mean, you have to come to a point where you make the decision for yourself. And if you, you know I mean, so but I mean, a lot of his points are is that, like, Christians can no longer hide in a bubble, shelter from opposing perspectives, and church leaders can't protect young people from finding information that contradicts traditional beliefs. Like, are are we skipping a lot of the, of the apologetics? Are we skipping a lot of the brass tacks that like I mean, look at look at the look at the gospel of Luke, right? Like, that's that's groundbreaking apologetics works for for for a man. Right? Like, basically said, here's the here's the hope and the faith that that you've been given, and here's a a systematic, theological point by point, fact based accounting of what went down. Are are we are we missing that for the, you know, give me the Holy Spirit with no basis? I think I think a lot of, like, youth group driven ministries,

and this is a I'm painting with a broad stroke here, but a lot of them are so focused on on, like, getting a big number that they, you know, maybe don't add a lot of substance to what they're doing. So, you know, we're having a party night and and, you know, we got the fog machine out and and but I don't know how many churches are legitimately really training, making disciples with the youth. It's almost like well, we do that with adults, but youth, entertain and give them ice cream and and and we play games. We expect them to have a short attention span. We expect them to not grasp

the deeper context of things. So we've given them nothing to stay connected to. It's just like, well, here's this sponge You usually have the milk sheet thing. Them milk over and over. Yeah. And then They eventually hate milk? Right. Rather than challenging them and and teaching them and training them and and So the man has a point. What do think, Dave? Well, I think churches

are kind of just giving up the one thing that the church has, and that's the gospel, and instead is trying to replace it with entertainment in general. That's what this show is, Dave. Take it easy. I know. But but and it's not like we're gonna as a church, we're not gonna compete with Hollywood for entertainment. Right? So It's like an arrow to the soul. Keep keep talking. It's like come on home. Seriously, they they've been at it for a a lot longer. What we have that essentially, our special sauce, if you look at it as a business model, the reason why a customer would come to us is the one thing that we can offer that no one else can outside the world, and and that's the gospel, that we can offer a right relationship with God. And, you know, that's something that we can offer. And the less of that we offer in the church,

the more we're replacing that space with entertainment. And, you know, we're we're That's pamphlets. Yeah. Pamphlets. Everybody yeah. Pamphlets. Here's a pamphlet. Full color pamphlet. Here's the thing. You can go to Wikipedia for Dan, you're think gonna twice about ever printing up a pamphlet again. You're right. My

pamphlets encourage conversation. It will mean nothing if they give it to him. Hey, page one. Stop reading this pamphlet. Why don't you talk to a guy? Here's the thing. One of the things he was talking about was like a not like the atheists have an awesome Internet presence. That's impressive. Like, hopefully, the Christians are busy talking to some other guy, you know, like, hopefully, they're not sitting on the Internet by themselves on the middle of a blog spot. It depends on what you're searching because any everything I search is just filled with all kinds of of sometimes ridiculous Christian stuff, you know. Because sometimes I'm I wish some of our Christian people would stay off the Internet because they just make us look silly. You know, like like Pat Robertson maybe would stay off the YouTube, that that'd probably be good. But they're they're there. They're they're there as well. Oh, I'm sorry. I got this. You're listening to Life From Path on lifefromthepath.org.

We're talking about why millennials are leaving the church. I am not a millennial. I'm an old man. I go to church because God told me I had to because you had enough of my faltering ways. And so that's enough, Mike. I want you to come back. And I said, okay. Is that is is is is atheist man right? Is that the only way that it's done? We we get to be 18, we bail on it, we live life and we're like, man, I feel like there was a something better offered to me. And then we we stroll back in. I I had this conversation with some fellows in our youth group and I I I think I flat out asked them. I said, look, when did you plan on really following God? You know, like, after you had a got married or after you had kids or what were you thinking? And they were they were honest and and and they're like, yeah, maybe after I had kids. None of them were like, I'm going to Syria or I'm ready to to to kick this in the caboose and get started. They're like, well, I feel like after I take on some responsibility, then maybe I should go to church and and and realize the the right way to live. Right? And it seems like it all feeds into a phony condition of adolescence that's not real. You know, like like there's a there's a place in time between say, 16 and 26 where it's your free years to waste like a fool, so you have something to repent of when you finally come back to Jesus. Right? And like, we lose so much

time in that ten year span and so much, work that can be done and so much, spreading of the gospel just because they're of that ten year span. Right? Like, what happens after you get married? Well, now your time's kinda divided. And and the Bible supports that. And it says, love your wife like Christ loved the church. That's gonna take time. You can't just do a fly by pamphlet on your marriage. You're gonna have to devote the time. You start having kids. Now it's your time. Now it's your turn to start leading your family and, and and and growing them in the spirit. You're basically in charge of discipling the people in your household. That's gonna take time. Right? I had a lot more time to to witness and invest in relationships before I got married and before I had kids. Is that a good or a bad thing? Right? I'm I'm not saying it either way. I I wouldn't trade the the the discipleship opportunity that I have with my wife and kids for anything. Right? It's a it's a glorious responsibility. But what I bemoan is the fact that I wasted ten years to get to it. Right? Like, I could have talked to a million people. And I I could have gone to a lot of places and and they could have said, look, I'll meet you at 12:30 at night over to Come and Go. I'd have said, fine. I'll be there because I don't have anywhere else to be, you know? Like, what else am gonna do with myself? And, like, I it it it's not like that's every opportunity, but it's it's got to be some. Right? You know? And maybe we just haven't engaged to that generation, you know? We we went to we took a group down to Oklahoma

after the tornadoes hit this past summer and and to do some some some help, you know, helping people literally take their house piece by piece to the curb. And some of the people who came were teenagers, and my first thought was, oh, man. This is just gonna be bad. You know? This is this isn't like youth group. You know? We're not not having, a party. You know? This is, really work. They they out worked all the

everybody. The old people. Yeah. Was just I mean, like, I was the old guy, but but I mean, they they they just out worked everybody. They they they were into it. They I had to tell them to stop and take breaks once in a while or or they wouldn't. I mean, they they just were they were just working. And and I think maybe the the church, we need to give them some some tangible tasks like that to put put put, you know, some skin on Jesus and say, here, this is you being Jesus to these people. You don't even know who they are, but but their home's in rubble right now. And and it helps them process it maybe a little more than than just, well, let's let's have a flannelgraph little bible study tonight. You know, than let's let's do something. Yeah. I feel like I could do a flannelgraph drive, and really, I could make something cool. You know, like, some of those old have you ever seen the Gremlins? Remember the Gremlins two? Oh, yeah. They took over the office building. They had a bunch of old school TVs all placed together and I always thought, one day I'm gonna do this thing. I'm gonna make a giant, you know, 15 TVs TV out of this thing. I feel like I could do the same thing with flannel graphs. We don't use them much anymore and I could make one heck of a landscape out of them, you know, almost on a whole wall if I wanted to. Yeah. You're listening to life from the pathonlifefromthepath.org. Listen, if you're if you're between the ages of 18 and 30, you should go back to church. Amen. I don't know that I have

a I've talked to here's the deal. I've done some man, I've had a rough Jesus day. I've had a lot of talks about a lot of people about Jesus today. And some of them were heartbreaking when they got over because they weren't interested. And and it gave me something to pray for, which was great. And and but, like, it was breaking because they were not interested in listening to the gospel, and they basically just said, I you know, I'm gonna do what I wanna do. Like, dang it. Okay. That hurts. But, you know, I'm I'm sad. And then I had a couple conversations where they they were open to it, they wanted to talk about Jesus and ask for some prayer, and and everything was awesome. And, you know, I I feel like you gotta go you gotta go through both. Right? And sometimes at when you get involved in a church family, you take the easy road of being like, okay, what's everybody's prayer request? I I that's very nice of you. I mean, don't get me wrong. The power of prayer is pretty amazing. Right? But, like, if that's as far as your outreach ministry goes, that's terrible. Like, that just stinks. They know Jesus. Right? Pray for him because you love him, and then and then move on. Talk to somebody that doesn't know Jesus and and and, you know, put yourself in some awkward positions. And I promise you, it it it it's very awkward. It's very awkward. And it's gonna make you sad and you're gonna feel burdened with it. And, sometimes that's what the shape of the cross is that you carry daily. It's a emotional burden, for the people that aren't interested. And, that's okay. That's that's some of the things that Christ has set out for you. You know, not everybody's gonna be Syria.

And and I I pray for their families and he's right. The first place we go is prayer for, for strength in what they're doing and and I'm I'm sure it's probably one of the most amazing things to see is someone dying peacefully for the name of Christ, right? But like, that that's not gonna be everybody. It's not gonna be everybody you know. Some of that is is is dealing with some emotional burden and, and and carrying that cross, you know, to Jesus with with prayer requests for people that aren't interested in him. And and, you know, I I don't know. I just I just ask you to change your perspective a little bit that that the 18 to 30 year old range is not one that we just go, well, everybody jumps off to rebellion for a while and we have a hard time getting back. Because frankly, that's that's that's lame. It's cowardly and I think we can do better than that. And and I think if we were willing to invest in some relationships very much like we were willing to invest in some of the other, you know, Christian goings on throughout the world,

I don't know. I feel like the hands and feet get a little bit bigger. And that's all. So I it's just something to think about. You're listening to Life From The Path on lifefromthepath.org. The the chat has dared me to find 15 flannel graphs. And I feel like I'm gonna start an Internet campaign just to show the atheists what what. I used to have a big box of them. I'm so proud of that thing. I never used them. I just thought I should have it. Yeah. Actually, it'd be weird to put the flannel graphs in a box and then write on it with a Sharpie because the flannel graph was used to announce things to people. And Paul was always tall,

taller than other people. And it was it was oddly done. Did anybody say you ever see the flanograph Paul? Like, was always like Yeah. Was the shortest one in the box. Yeah. I I don't know. I I like flanographs. What is the life of From The Past. Here's what we're do. We're gonna move on to some Dear Life From The Past. We've got some advice to take care of. Can we swing that microphone over to Tessa? Tessa's gonna give us some lady

type advice on what's happening. And so here we go. The first one is oh, I'm sorry. I forgot to tell you about our sponsors. Here's the deal. We're not good enough to be on legitimate radio without sponsors. People pay for us to do things. Right? And so there's a couple of people that are currently holding down that bill. One is Bob Eisenhower with the Eisenhower team. He's a real estate man and frankly, he's the best in the business as far as I'm concerned. Copyright Mike Foust. Bob Eisenhower is fantastic. But I used him to sell my house. He's a great guy. He's gonna be on the show in the next couple of weeks. I'm just gonna saying that until he eventually shows up. I've been saying that for three weeks now. He eventually will come on the show. I think it'll work. Yeah. But he's a he's he's a solid Jesus man. I love getting to know him and he's he's helped keeping us on the air out at KTIA.

Same thing with the Westfield Veterinary Clinic in Johnson, Iowa. Take actually, I use those guys for all my pet needs. And so it is somewhat lame to go into all the businesses that you use and then say, hey, would you like to sponsor the radio show? But frankly, that's the advertising suave that I'm currently equipped with. And so that's what And so they were generous and they do a great job with all our animals and that's the Westfield Veterinary Hospital in Johnston. You can find them at westfieldvet.com. So here we go. Dear, live from the path.

I was divorced fourteen years ago. Afterward, my ex, Tom, hid from me because he was afraid I'd have him arrested for not paying child support. Our son is a marine and the Red Cross notified him that his father was dying in a hospital on the East Coast. My ex's aunt had contacted them to notify my son as next of kin. Tom had remarried, divorced again, and had a girlfriend. He died a few days later. Nobody is willing to pay for his cremation. I asked his sister and aunt if we could split the bill three ways, even though I realized I'm not obligated. They refused, even after being told the remains would be deemed unclaimed.

The county would dispose of him as an indigent drifter. Their excuse was they hadn't heard from him in several years. I told them they were preaching to the choir since I was the one he hid from. I do not resent my ex because I realized his death was as unpredictable as his life, but I do feel bitterly taken advantage of. When I accused his relatives of false concern, they got angry at me. How can I demonstrate honor to my son by dishonoring his father that way? What do you think, fellas?

That's weird. There's weird stuff going on here. Some kind of vagrant dad fathered a boy hid hid to avoid child support, went on some kind of unknown vagrant lifestyle for twenty, thirty years. Finally, his son figures out that he's not gonna make it. And then the ex wife from thirty years ago was stuck with the cremation bill. Yeah. I don't I don't think she's responsible for that. I mean,

yeah. I mean, the county should take care of that. I've I've done funerals where the the county just takes care of it because there's no one to to pay the bill. Well, can't they say, hey. But there is a guy. It's you because you're standing here. I feel like there's enough evidence to convict you that you knew the man. Was he actually indigent? I mean, was he homeless? Is that a legal term, indigent? I think so. I mean, how do you qualify as that? Do you have to prove your indigency?

Feel like that'd be hard to This is my box. Yeah. Like, I don't You can't find a w two for me for the last twenty years? I mean, if he's hiding from child support, then he's not working a legitimate job. He's working if he's working, he's working under the table for cash. Right. And, I mean, you you have to actively work to get off the grid. So, I mean, it and, obviously,

his ex wife isn't the only person he was dodging. So No. I do agree that I don't think she should be I response she's ponying up just so that her son feels like she's honoring her. And her son's a marine. Right? His dad. Yeah. So and I guess the son can do it. I here's the deal. Is this is this really a deal? I mean, is this really a a concern? You know, like I I mean, if the son was like, mom, I'd I'd like you to cover this. I feel like maybe you could say, okay, son, if if that would help. But, like, is it really something to feel guilty about? It sounds like she's she's wanting to do it so that she can be like, well, I took care of your dad. You know I mean? Yeah. It doesn't sound like the son is doing that. Okay. You know? Okay. What are your what are your I mean, funerals aren't cheap. You know? It's it's not like you you oh, yeah. I'll just go ahead and you know, I mean, all all the the you know, just all the expenses

and costs involved, it's just crazy. Oh. What is the actual question? What is the advice that she's giving? She was basically asking Should she be responsible? Yeah. Like, is is it the right thing? It says, I do not resent my ex blah blah blah. How can I demonstrate honor to my son by dishonoring his father that way? What do you think, Dave? I'm not sure that she's involved. I mean, once they became exes, their lives together were over.

The responsibility would actually be her sons, not hers. Exactly. Yeah. But as a mother, she could get involved and help him, shoulder that responsibility. But as an ex, she doesn't there's no responsibility she has. I usually take the opinion of, let everyone else in the equation try and do the right thing. And if no one else wants to, then I'll make sure it gets done.

But I like that. The cleanup man, the janitor. Yeah. People janitor. If no one else wants to do the right thing, then I'll do it. Right. I'll Otherwise, I wanna give someone else first crack at doing the right thing. And it seems kinda like that's what's going on. The other issue is, like Dan said, it it's expensive and they might they probably have financial limits. So, you know, she's gotta kinda weigh that one and maybe she and her son might have the cash to either pay for part of it or or something like that. But I think it's accurate to say that he was, whatever, vagrant or something. Indigent? Indigent. Yeah. And leave it to the county. I mean, that's it's accurate at least. So Yeah. I could see that. But I think that the son probably and her as well might just look at this as this is kind of a final, way of cleaning up and saying,

you know, we hold no ill will against you type of a thing. Yeah. It sounds like they do. It's like a parting gift. They do hold some ill will against him. Well, if they do, then Like, it's displacing honor to a man that that that deservedly deserves none. Mhmm. You know, which which kinda sounds like the He's acted dishonorably, kind of across the board. Agreed. He's Yeah. Hid from his own son. Yeah. Mean Yeah. I'm not saying that's a good reason to snuff the guy. Tessa, what do you think?

I really don't think it's it's the the ex's obligation to figure that out.

I mean, that that is expensive. That's that's a whole another burden that it it's not really hers to to carry out. Yeah. I actually I I think I'm I'm getting the general the general feeling is is like, look, you're you're trying to do the right thing. You're trying take responsibility for something that's not your responsibility. So pretty much, I mean, here's the here's the two sides of the coin. Right? If you're gonna do it, just be quiet and do it. Yeah. You know, if you're not gonna do it, just be quiet and not do it. You know, but like Yeah. It it seems odd to torture yourself in the troubled waters of you know what I'm saying? Just do it or don't do it. You're not you're not really obligated. If you're if like loaded and it's no it's not gonna affect you financially, then just do it. I mean Yeah. But but if it's gonna really put a crunch on you, I wouldn't. I feel like she's college educated because I I don't use the word indigent,

and I'm known in circles to be very intelligent. So here's the here's the secular advice that says, you are not the next of kin, your son is. Ask him what he thinks what would be the appropriate way to handle his deadbeat dad's remains. You made the effort to have the family pay for the burial Kick him when he's down. And that should show your son that you tried to honor his father. I don't know how long it has been since your ex passed, but this is a case where the body could have been donated to a medical school. There's nothing dishonorable about that. Hadn't thought of that. Yeah. I don't that seems You look cadabra action? Cadabra?

Abracadabra. Cadabra. Cadabra, Dan. Same thing. Whatever. I'm do I look like a medical student? Cadabra is half of a a a magical tooth. I read the bible. I don't do the medical journals. Fair enough.

Score one for the atheist, zero for the Jesus people. We're on the internet. Une educated, whatever. I could get my lawn mower to church in twenty seven minutes. Here we go. Dear life from the past.

Oh, boy. A friend who lives out of town asked me if she could stay with me for a few days. We often host each other. However, she's also mentioned that she has a bed bug infestation. Oh. I could take precautions, but some friends have said it was nervy of her to even ask because it put me in an awkward position. I honestly would prefer she not come, but I feel guilty. Any advice? Hey, I got this motel down the road. I'll pay for it. So she's staying at a house that has bedbugs? She's coming from a house that has bedbugs. I just I'd just be honest. That's

a big deal. I don't really wanna have bedbugs. I understand you have bedbugs. I love you enough to buy you a motel. I'm actually interested on how that conversation came about. Like, hey, can I come stay at your place because I have bedbugs? Yeah. How does every everybody seem to know about the bedbugs. Yeah. No. You know, as a kid, I thought bedbugs were like a fake thing. Like, my dad was like Don't let them be tight. Don't let the bedbugs bite. If they do, bite bite them back. That was always his advice. Yeah. I thought, okay. Bedbugs are this imaginary thing. I never heard anything that contradicted that until, like, six or seven years ago. Would've became a thing. And then I was like, bedbugs are a real thing. It's in the news now. Yeah. So I'm like, are they getting much worse and then people are talking about them? Is it like you know, like, I don't

I think it's baffling. Is it I've heard, like, some big What I don't know what it is. Hush motels even. Hotels are having problems with them these days. Yeah. I stayed in a hotel one time for work, and I came back from a class. And I get to the hotel, and there's a there's a inconspicuous white truck with a big old, tube coming out of it. Right? And the mattress is up against the window. And I found the guy because he was on my floor and I said, hey, dude. What's going on here? He goes, I'm sorry. I can't tell you. I said, if you were that good at being covert, you would not be driving a giant white truck with a tube out of it with the mattress flipped over. It's bugs, isn't it? No. I can't really tell you. I said, well, ain't lions.

I'm gonna go talk to the front desk guy. He's like, yeah, it's bugs. No kidding, you know, like seriously. But but Yeah. I here's the deal, like, I don't know how long you've been friends, but, I mean, if we're any kind of friends at all and you're like, hey, I wanna come over and stay at your place, I have the bedbugs, I would say, have a great tent for you to sleep in, or I'll go have these with you at the best Western That's kinda like saying, hey. I got lice. Can I use all your kids' combs?

I need to brush my hair. I mean, know no. No. Really? I mean, they come with you? Or they're not in your They I mean, they're on your travel. Person. Yeah. Yeah. They come with sleep in your bed, then you have bedbugs not too. Yeah. Okay. That's how it spreads. Okay. That's how the motels get them. Dan, you don't know anything about them. Hey. I know? I know that. And abracadabra. Nice. Abracadabra.

Yes. Secular's advice is yes. Tell your friend you would love to see her, but in light of a revelation, you think it would be better if she stays in a hotel during this visit. Unless you are absolutely sure that her home and clothing are insect free, entertain her away from your dwelling. Bedbugs can cling to everything. Suitcases, clothing, you name it. Hostess, protect thyself. You know, that would be here's the thing, like, I have some really good friends, and I can't imagine this I would I would play this up like, hey, let's go out to dinner tonight. Like, keep up a charade. I'd like, seriously, dude. You have bedbugs.

You're not coming in If you I mean, if you're that worried about hurting their feelings, you're not actually that good of friends. Yeah. I here's what you're Yeah. I mean I want you to slip down to your cadaver. Right. And then I'm gonna give you some clothes to wear, and then you can come in here. Other than that, you are not coming in this house with him. See, I one of those disinfecting fan floor things. Yeah. There you walk into that too. If they were that easy to get rid of, she wouldn't still have them. You know? I mean, so she's You would think. Yeah. Yeah. So it's like, we wanna keep them away from the house. You're you're listening to life from the path on lifefromthepath.org. We got time for one more. It's gotta be kinda speedy. We're coming up on the KTI

bump. And so let's try to roll through this real quick here. It says, dear life in the path. I've been in an on again, off again, long distance relationship with a guy for a year and a half. This smells like trouble. I have broken up with him and taken him back six times. Wow. It's always for the same reason. We are not compatible as a romantic couple. I have explained that we would have been better off as friends, but when I try to leave, he cries and begs me not to go. I'm afraid he could be suicidal based on past reactions. I love him as a friend and I want him to be with someone who can love him the way he wants to be loved. How do I let him down easy if there even is such a thing? I'm afraid I might ruin his life. I guess my question is, when you know in your gut that things won't work out, when is it okay to throw in the towel? You are not ready for children. Yeah.

Mean, just put it mildly. If someone cries and that's your that's your trigger, you are not ready to raise kids. That ain't no doubt. You know what the answer is? Yesterday. That's when it's a good time to do it. Yeah. Six times. Seriously. Alright. Hey. Here's the deal. Most couples that I know, they've had, like, one weird blow up somewhere in the middle. And then, like, I that was Baudiat. You know? And then and then that that's it. They're done. But six times, I you know It's a bit much. Seriously, dude. Crying and begging, you know, like, I wouldn't wanna hang around with you either. You know, I'm gonna trust you with the rest of my life. This is the way you're gonna react. It's not gonna get better. She needs to just cut it off. Right. And and Cut it. I mean And, yeah. I sometimes if it doesn't end badly, it doesn't end. I mean, I'm not saying be malicious, but Yeah. You know, I mean,

you if you try to leave it open ended, like, I wanna be his friend, that's not gonna work. It is it there is no you know, I had somebody that I dated off and on again for six times probably. Yeah. And there was a span of, like, six months where we didn't even talk to each other. Did you cry when you broke up? No. Could this be Yes. Yeah. Yeah. She was writing that about me. Yes. It's terrible. But, you know, it like, the thing that we'd get back together, and then it's, like, a weekend, and it's the same problems, exact same problems as you know, it's like like no time had passed. Yeah. We were mutually incompatible.

So we just made each other crazy. Are you moving on? Here's I don't understand this perspective. What are you holding on to? The hope that he might be somebody completely different? You know what you could do? Date a guy that's completely different. Right. You know, like, I don't know what you think is gonna happen. There's gonna be some of etch a sketch shake on the man, and he's gonna stop being some kind of weird noncommittal crybaby. I feel like it's not gonna happen. Well, you gotta cut her off. Yeah. It's it's it's boy, it's time. I I don't know. That's that might be kinda hard. Here's the deal though. Like, you hear this a lot. People are like, hey. I'm gonna break up. Well, I'm I'm gonna hurt myself. Oh, I guess we'll stay together. Yeah. That's the basis for our strong happy marriage. You

know? Some kind of symbiotic relationship where, you know, it's a it's basically blackmail for the next fifty years. See, I'm kinda heartless. I'd be like, well well, can you make sure and put me in the will first? Because, you know Do you have someone to cremate you? Because I don't wanna be codependent. At least don't be independent. That's

terrible. That's Can you wait till I'm out the before you hurt yourself? Because I don't wanna hear it. That is not Jesus. Yeah. Here we go. Here is the advice from secular. After six breakups, your long distance romance is well past its expiration date. When there's a lack of chemistry between a couple, it's no one's fault and is usually a deal breaker. The problem with letting someone down the way that you're trying to is that it prolongs the pain, like removing a a sliver halfway, then jamming it back in because the person is wincing. Oh. Ow. Ow. Well, that seemed uncharacteristically

not not needed. The threats of suicide if a romance is unsuccessful are attempts to control the partner who wants to leave through guilt. Mhmm. The time to throw in that towel is right now. Yeah. Wow. Five breakups ago, actually. That ain't that ain't ain't no doubt. You're listening to Live From The Path at livefromthepath.org.

Know, here's the deal. We've really enjoyed the time, but if you're on KTIA, that train is slowing down and the trapdoor is about to fall out. And you, sir, will be moving yourself a happy location that is not on Life From The Past. The podcast is going to keep on rolling. We got a couple more Dear Life From The Past to go. I'm currently getting ready to play a tune on the way out, but it's a free service and they're playing commercial. So I'm trying to skip by it. So if you could just hold on for the low rent part of the show to move by, I will

No. It's not done yet. I will wait till the tune is ready and we will go ahead and kick you on out of here. If you want to check out if you want to check on, you know, more information about Life on the Path, please visit lifeonthepath.org. And you know what? We might just have to sing you on out of here. What's a good song?

Let's see. I'm gonna do do do around me. Oh, yeah. Okay. Now we're talking. Okay. So, anyway, you know, lifeinthepathonlifeinthepath.org. News calls.

Advertisement. Be just a second. Nope. Still waiting for it. The walking date. Nope. Alright. You know, Just listen to the advertise. Wait just a minute. Only on AMC. There's stuff on AMC. Who? It's real bad. Now we're talking. Yeah.

Here's the deal. Ben Foust is coming back into town. You can expect a you can Yes. You could expect a higher rent show, not a not a not a rent to own like I'm currently offering. But thank you for listening to live from the path on livefromthepath.org. We will catch you next week. Okay. That was all. That was embarrassing. That was awesome. That's a classic that was as awkward as that girl's third breakup with that guy.

Issue is when should I break up? Because it's gonna happen. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Make sure you don't take him back after that. Uh-huh. That is that is terrible. Okay. We're gonna We should advise her to go ahead and get bedbugs. That'll just solve everything. Yeah. It looks like we got him bedbugs. Yeah.

I got a couple bits of advice. Being searched out from a 13 year old. Here we go. Tessa, this might be more up your alley. I don't know. It's coming from a 13 year old lady. I I I don't I don't know how to answer this. Here we go. I'm an expert there. It says, dear Tessa. Wow. I'm 13 years old, and I recently enrolled in a new school. I have met two boys, Jake and Corey, and I have been crushing on both of them. Boys are no good. I really like Jake for everything, but I'm not sure he likes me back. I like Corey for his looks and popularity, and I'm positive he likes me because he said so. Okay.

Hold on, man. It's not over. Be quiet now. This is our this is our demographic that's leaving the church. Ship it up. Here we go. I don't know why we're laughing at their emotional trauma. Question is, should I ask Jake to go with me first? And if he says no, rebound to Corey? Wow. I can't take this.

Okay. Seriously, to the panel, boys. What should she do? Hold on. Let me give you a rundown real quick. Jake is he seems like he has he's good for everything. Corey has looks and popularity, which I assume that Jake does not. He doesn't sound super popular. She's 13? She's 13. Here's my advice. You're too young to date. Wait till you're 16 at least. I agree. This is why people are leaving the church, Philip. She just gave you There's nothing good will happen. What about the looks of popularity, man? This sounds alright. This is the first bit of advice that we've given that's gonna deviate from what secular says. So I gotta I gotta agree. Yeah. Mhmm. Okay. Yeah. No gun away. You don't need a guy to make you complete. Hold on. Exactly. Now listen, fellas. She did not ask you whether she should date or not. She asked which one of these cool dudes she should date. Neither. No. Yeah. No. Looks, man, or everything else is okay. Okay. Here here's what we're do. I I think yeah. He he I mean, there's more substance with the first guy. Yeah. But people will think less of you if you hang out with huggy people. Mhmm. My wife said the same thing happened to her.

I I I was always hopelessly awkward all the way through Yeah. All the schools. So, you know, doesn't get any better no matter what you do. So don't don't worry about it. Okay. So the advice Popularities for other people anyway. Live from the path pretty much says, look, no dating. Okay. What if I move this question to say she's 22? Uh-huh. Fresh out of school. Jake has good looks at popularity. Corey he's or or Jake good at everything pretty much, but she's not sure if he likes him. And Corey has looks at popularity,

but and he definitely says that he's into her. She's crushing on the both of She should she should pursue the first one. Is it just an age thing you're saying no dating? Yeah. Yeah. She's only 13. Based on on what? Dude, dating is for marriage. You you find it in a life partner. So there's biblical marriages at 14, 15. Not in America. Yeah. Back before they had the word teenager. Yeah. Yeah. That's maybe true. Yep. Uh-huh. It's very true. Wow. I'm gonna find an atheist website that says well, give me the answer to my question. Well, you're not gonna like what they say. But it's a well designed website. Yeah. Here's here's the I have one question for her. Sure. Which of the two guys is gonna actually cause her faith to grow? That's the one you choose. Corey's got good looks and popularity. What if I said he loves Jesus too? Would that would you then make a choice? If she's 13 and says Corey is has good looks, popularity, and he loves Jesus. He's a Jesus man. Then would you okay the date? You love Jesus? Yeah. Then then you have the holy spirit and you have patience. Now hold him So you will wait. Dave just said he would he would give the date a thumbs up at 13 if Corey was a Jesus man.

Would you and you're still sticking to no dating. Just be due to the age only. Yeah. Yep. I'm with Dan. I'm still saying avoid dating, but, you know, you can be friends with a guy. Especially a good looking Jesus fan. Yeah. I like to hang out with good looking Jesus dudes. You know I'm saying? They're popular. Here's what Secular says. By the way, none of you guys are helping me out.

Secular says You're welcome. Yeah. The school year has just started, and it's a little early to be asking someone to go with you. If you take your time, say, wait a month, Jake may find the courage to tell you he likes you too. If he does not, tell Corey you're interested in him and see if he still feels the same way about you. Those are fifty fifty. And who knows, in another month, there might be a third man. Wow. She's off the babysitting list. Weird. Bummer.

Okay. Here we go. I got a couple more here. By the way, the chat says drop them both. I'm available. Available. Nick's going after the 13 year olds. Dang it, pants. Here we go. Dear life in the path. My brother thinks I eat too slow, and I think he eats too fast. He claims it's rude to eat slow and make others wait for you. I say eating slowly is healthy and is better than wolfing down your food to keep up with the people you're with. Who's right? I've always been a fast eater.

I was trained to be a fast eater because my brother is a fast eater, and whoever finished first got second. And it was always me or him. So my other brother, he just ate like a bird because he knew he couldn't beat either one of us. Yeah. And nobody else wanted to mess with it. So,

but, yeah, I mean, I used to work with a guy that he was very methodical, and it drove me crazy to go out to eat with him because he was, like, 20 bites on each side for every bite or something. He had some weird, like, artists or weird something wrong with him. Right? An OCD thing going on. Right. Right. Yeah. So, you know because that's not just a weird tick. Like, there's something wrong with that, man. There's many things wrong with him. Yeah. You know Okay.

I'm just saying, from my perspective, it was very frustrating. I've had people that were, you know, shocked to see me eat and, you know, like, oh, keep your hands away from his mouth. You don't know what's going in there. You know? I think it's personal preference. You know? I don't think that it's rude to eat slowly or quickly. I don't scarf something down because I don't taste it. I totally taste it. I you know? You know, maybe you could try the food. Maybe you could try eating at the right amount of speed. Maybe you don't have to Just like right in the middle. You don't have to be a crazy man, and you don't have to be an old lady. Why don't you just eat a regular paste meal? You know? I think it's like when you drive, you're supposed to go the pace of traffic. Yeah. You know? And and so you eat at the pace of That seems like an awful lot of effort for me to look around the line. I do probably eat slower than I used to. Yeah. And I found myself very OCD

about stirring stuff now. Right. So that's what my wife makes fun of me because I'm like Thank you. Yeah. Thank you for that piece of information. Well, no. I'm like, I gotta do something. I'm not doing this, so I'm doing this. Doing fast eating in the bowl instead of always shoveling it into my mouth. Right. But, you know, I I think everybody eats at the speed that that's comfortable for them. So Right. I think it's unfair to It's it's not fast eater, try to eat slow to make you comfortable. I I I don't try to make fat slow eaters eat fast because I'm, like, I'm ready to go. Right. What do you I'll just sit and watch them eat. How do you feel about the how do feel about speed of eating bullying, Tessa? I think eat at your own pace. It shouldn't really matter. Stand your ground. Be confident. You eat how you eat. Don't judge. Don't judge me. Dave, your thoughts on that one? Well, I was just thinking of this wedding that I went to one time in The Middle East. They have a totally different approach to eating. And

Well, I was thinking the same thing. Yeah. Yeah. I'm looking over at them, and and it it's it's incredibly fast. You've got basically, everyone eats out of the same large communal portion. Even if they have bedbugs? Because that's wrong. Oh, yeah. Yeah. They'll do that. Okay. So, you know, imagine, like, a 100 or so all party guests get together, and you've got 13 goats just sitting out on a bed of rice. And I've seen them skeletal skeletalize 13 goats in five minutes. Wow. Yeah. It's awesome. So maybe this has to do with the company you keep. Yeah. A little bit. Dan says look around, see how things are going. If if it's a rip roaring good time, you better jump in. Yeah. Lest you be made fun of. Just watch your out. I'm going. Yeah. Well, people talk about you years later on the radio because you're finicky eater. Here's

here's what the singular's advice is. You're both right. If you eat so slowly that the rest of the people at your table must wait for you to finish, ask them to proceed with their dessert and coffee so they won't have to sit there and watch you masticate. And wolfing down one's food causes some people to overeat, which is why weight loss specialists advise against it. I guess that's helpful. Here we go. We're

gonna get the hey. Pants, I didn't say no. Okay. Hold on. That word means to chew, by the way. Yeah. That's how much To chew. Talking about Jesus on this show, cadavers and whatnot. Incidentally, the chat is defending himself saying he was not saying that he was gonna date the 13 year old. It was the second scenario where the woman was now 26 in which He knew she was 13.

The chat is now interesting. I happen to be friends with him on Facebook and most of his friends are 13. Yeah. Yeah. It's an intellect thing, not so much a age thing. Here we go. Last question of the night. Well, that's not a good one. That one's lame. What do people hand out for for baby congratulatory?

Fathers used to hang out cigars Oh, yeah. Frowned on. What do they hand out now? Anybody? You got any idea? No idea. Text messages. Free text messages. That's what I said. You said you said, here's a free text message that generates No. I sent out text text messages to everyone. I see. I don't think we did. We might have bought some bubble gum thing, cigars or something just to be silly, but Yeah. Still that that that's it, though. Gron, what did you do when Baja was born?

What did I do? Yeah. I was happy. You was happy? I gave out happiness. What more do you want? Yeah. Look at me. Happy. I'm You've got joy to the world.

Oh, actually, okay. We might we might tag this on real quick. Okay. It says I'm a 14 year old girl. Keep yourself in in check there. I'm a 14 year old girl who's having a disagreement with my parents about dating. There's this guy, Connor, who likes me, and I'm very comfortable with him. His older sister and I are good friends. The trouble is my parents have strict rules against dating, and I think it's unfair. I think I'm mature enough to date, and I know right from wrong. My friends say I'm very mature for my age. Well, yeah, they're the best counsel. And they approve of Conor because he's friendly and has an outgoing personality. So does Bernie Madoff. I have tried talking to my parents about this, but I always ended up in tears. Can you tell me how I can convince them to give this guy a chance? I'm very interested in Secular's answer, but let's let's hit the let's hit the stage, fellas. What do you think?

14. She's too young. Yeah. I was just gonna say she's too young. Her self analysis is is incorrect. Yeah. These are not good these are not good indications of your ability to date. Yeah. I am very mature. Look at me. Yeah. My friends say so. Yeah. All of my 14 year old friends think I don't even act like a 14 year old. Yeah. I am wise beyond my years. Yeah. I act like a 16 year old, and I hang out with my 14 year old potential boyfriend, 16 year old sister. Yeah. You know? I have older friends, so I must be mature for my age. Here here's where the parents have made a mistake. Right? Like, they've they they they didn't set the the perspective down. Right? Like, when there's they're five, especially with girls. When they're about five, you say, you will not be dating until you're 16, 17, whatever. Set an age. And call it what it is. Right? If you say, like, 19, you're being kind of a jerk. You know, they have to grow up sometimes. They need to be able to to

have you as a feedback person, you've built that relationship. Yeah. So so if they're making mistakes or you know, you need to guide them a little bit through that. So Yeah. They shouldn't be That's how you said 16. They shouldn't be so interested in in in starting their dating relationship to get away from you. Right? That's not the point of dating. And so, like and here actually, here's what I've done. I've tricked both of my younger my younger daughters into into I get to pick their husband. One of them wanted the Kindle from the car, and I said, well, I will go get it if I get to pick your husband. And they said, deal. Three years old in writing. Yeah. That one's done. Awesome. The other one wanted some chocolate milk from the gas station. And I said, well, if I get to pick your husband, I suppose I'll get that chocolate milk for you. They said, that's the deal. So we set the age at 16, and they won't start dating till 16, and then I get to pick them. I feel like I've got this straightened right up. In fact, my three year old asked me every I can't see how that can go south for you, Mike. I know. Day. She

always she asked me every day. She says, dad, are you sure you're gonna find me a husband? I said, absolutely. I'll find you the guy or you can find him and I'll tell you whether he's gonna work or not. I'll fetch him for it. Alright, Mike. Let me ask you a question. What are you looking for then? In a in a man? Yeah. Well, he's gotta be first of all, he's gotta have looks. Could be popular. He's gotta be popular. Yeah. And he has to love Jesus. Yeah. Those are the three things I'm looking for. If either of those if he's got bedbugs, we can negotiate. I feel like Jesus can handle that. Yeah. So I you know, that's not a game in here for me, But, you yeah. Actually, I'm kinda dreading that area of their life. Maybe, you know, you hear a lot of horror stories, but, like, I feel like I've seen a lot of relationships blossom that did not start with Jesus. Right? My own personal marriage started that way. We were not following Christ. And we and and we met Jesus and it was fine. Right? So sometimes it's hard for me to say,

you know, I I've been thinking about it little bit. Like, I'll I'll tell my girls that you cannot, you know, spend time with a with a boy who does not know Jesus Christ. Right? I don't know. I I feel like I'm just gonna have to pray on that and cross that bridge when I get there. I don't know the answer to it. I feel like I'm I'm gonna, you know, side pretty hard on. I expect a certain amount out of a man when he's gonna take my daughter anywhere. But, like, I also know that, you know, that I wouldn't trade my marriage for anything. It did not start out like that. And and and God bless it. So I feel like that's kind of a different conversation that you you as parents will have to have, what your line's gonna be and what you're gonna accept. But certainly, you know, I I I feel like this whole problem is is totally absolved if the parents were to said, look, you start dating when you're 16. It's not a negotiable rule. We're not gonna negotiate that. It's just the deal. And and and, you know, I hear a lot of teenagers, they they because I'm in the youth group, they like to talk about this stuff. They're like, my parents' rules are unfair. I'm like, move out. But I'm only blah blah blah. 17, 18 years old. I'm like, get a job and move out. Well, they won't let me go to the blah blah blah. I'm like, seriously, get a job and move out if you don't like it. Other than that, you still live there. What do you want me to say? Right? Like, if you were able to take up responsibility for your own doings, you do that. Obviously, you're not able to do that. Right. So you still live there. And, like, I'm I'm I'm in no way advocating that you bust out from your parents at at 17. But, like, listen, if you don't like the we're talking trivial matters, like, my mom won't let me stay late at the football game.

Move out. Right? Like, get a job, get your own place, set your own rules, and move out. Right? Now if we're talking about, like, you wanna sell drugs, that's a different conversation. Right? But, like, if it's just over parental, you know, rules, you live at their house, that's it. That's that's the end of discussion. Right? There's there's no sway to be had. I don't care if your mom yells at you five times a day and makes you clean your room when you're 17.

You still live there. Right? It's their house. Right. So, yeah, they should have just set the rules up a little bit stauncher, I think. What are your thoughts on that, Tessa? I mean, I I agree with setting, like, an age. I do think she's too young

to be dating. Sure. I mean, I know not too long ago when I was that age Right. You weren't too young. You were the right age, you thought.

I did. When I when I was that age, I was Yeah. Corey and Jake both came to the door and said, I'm happy. Exactly. No. But, I mean, I I'm glad I didn't I waited Yeah. I guess, to start dating. That way, I I understood it more,

and I knew more about me and what I was looking for. I mean, I know I'm still was still 16 and so young and stupid, but Right. Was still more mature than 13 and 14. I tell you what, though, that that also helps

you as as a daughter to to have a lot less stress. Mhmm. When when when you're in fourth grade and everybody's dating everybody and we're going together this week and that week and it's all this drama going on, And it's easy as, well, it's my dad's fault. He won't let me date. You know? And and as much as they didn't really necessarily like it, it it was also a very much a protection form. I think they appreciated that boundary. It's like That's true. It always gives someone out. Say, sorry. My dad said no. And they learn they they get you've gotta learn how to tell a guy no. I mean, if a guy asks you out, you're not you know, and he's He's just not What you're looking for, you you gotta be able to gracefully let him down, and so they've had practice. Especially if he's a a bird But maybe get to see what happens when you say no. I mean, some people

with that poorly, and, you know, it's like that You know, I don't wanna open up another can of worms here, but, like, here's the thing, fellas. Like, you ask the lady out. I don't care if that's old or traditional or whatever, but, like, if you if you if you can't roast up even enough, you know, stones to go up and ask a woman out, like, seriously, will you just do that? You know, like, is this gonna be your whole life? You're gonna be cowered away and hide from ladies, you know? Like, she deserves at least that. Hey, I think you look alright. I feel like we could get along. Do you wanna go to, like, get some coffee with me or something? And they say, no. And you're like, fail. Okay. I guess I'm out. It was nice to meet you, you know? Yeah. If you can't even do

imagine how thin your skin is. Right? You have a lot of important things to do, none none of the least of which is talking to people about Jesus. And if you can't handle even the rejection of a human woman that you've never that you've just run into, you're gonna have a real hard time getting anything done. Right? You've got to be able to have a little bit thicker skin than that. Yeah. Now tell you what, I I even though I have had a firm rule of six of 16, I have two daughters, I actually broke it with my youngest daughter because

the guy came to me and asked me first. Yeah. And I already knew him, and he was a Christ follower, and and the guy impressed me so much. I mean and it wasn't like a, you know, leave it to beaver, you know, Eddie Haske kell. Hey, mister Hudson. I mean, you know, was it was the real deal. And I just thought, you know what? They're they're they were both very mature. You know? It it's just like they can handle this, and they have. They've handled it quite well. They've they're they're just not the typical, you know, teenage Rubberausers.

Exactly. Exactly. And so, you know, you you also have to use engage your brain a little bit, you know, and and and

have some wisdom, I guess. I don't know if that was wise or not, but, I mean, it it it just it seemed okay, and it it turned out it has been okay. So Yeah. Parent your kids. Be an active parent. You'll figure it out. Yeah. Here we go. Here's the final advice here. Secular says, a sure way to show your parents you're mature enough to date would be show them you're a responsible person. Do they know when they ask you a question that they'll get an honest answer with no evasion? Have you shown them that you respect their curfews? Do you do the chores that are expected of you without having to be reminded? Is the same true about your homework? If the answer to these questions is yes, then do they know Connor? Do they know his parents? If they do, they might feel more comfortable about you seeing him if it's in a group rather than one on one. I think that's a decent comment. Yeah. I think that's that's legitimate. Okay. You're listening to Live From The Path on livefromthepath.org. We're coming at you every Monday night from ten to eleven. I'd like to thank our special guests, Dave and Guaran. Thank you for being on the program, fellas. That

that crazy goat eating story was that's the highlight of my night, buddy. Yeah. Highlight. Next week, you know, here's the deal. We're gonna have goat next week. I have no I have Mhmm. I personally I personally have goats. I was gonna have you guys over for dinner, but not after that story. My goats are pets. We love them.

Alright. I have no idea what's going on next week. Ben Foose is gonna be back running the captain's chair. I I will honestly this is no joke. Praise Jesus to be relieved of this duty is not my strong suit. Hopefully, John Buva will be back in the studio so we can get more of his commentary. And, you know, I I think we're gonna have one heck of a show. Just a just a review on what we got going on, and, I hope we'll see you next week. You're listening to Live From The Path.