Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proper. You are live from the path. And you're listening to live from the path of the from the, Pathway Studios here in Johnston Proper.

I don't know where you're Like, mean, I don't know where you're where you're at. Like, are you sitting at your you could here's here's the things I have in my mind that you could be doing. So the show, if you're listening to it in the car, it's not live. So it's on a Saturday night. You put the kids into the babysitting area, and you're probably heading out to the to the Panera Bread because that's what's in my mind. Okay. So that's welcome. Welcome. Enjoy your time. The Panera is overpriced. You don't need to go to that place. Find something better. Let's see. You could be sitting in your underpants at the computer

listening to Ford how many guys we got? Five guys chatting on the Internet. That's a mistake. You need to find something else to do with something better. Hold on. I'm trying to find the right guy where I'm like, yes. You belong here. Put some pants on, dude. What? No. That's he's in his own place. I don't care. It's still weird. You don't have a right to pass judgment. Here we go. Wait. You you let me ask you this, Buva.

Personal question. Personal question, Tom. Have you ever sat at the computer in your undies? Yes. Do you regret it today? Yes. Okay. Well, fair enough. At least you're consistent in your life. Here's what I got going on the show, this evening. Hey, man. There's a group of dudes who said the world was gonna end last week, and I find them funny.

And wrong. Here here's I I here's I'm a I'm a double minded man on this thing, and and I'll tell you why. Here's here's why I'm a double minded man. It's because I wish I wish these people would shut up. Okay? But because so many people have been so stupid and got it wrong so much, I feel like reasonable people are not listening anymore. And so it may not actually be having a negative impact on the kingdom because it just assumes that there's that they're dumb. Is that am I thinking of that wrong?

No. That sounds about right unless they're just particularly young, and this is the first time they've heard it. Yeah. Alright. So I suppose they can catch, like, a fresh crop of of gullible people. Mhmm. But, like, like, I just I I I never thought I'd say to myself, god, please keep sending the wackies so that people will implicitly ignore the wackies so that we don't have to have this conversation more as I because here's where I have a problem is I have to make it sound like me and this guy believe the same thing a little. Yeah. And the truth is is that, like, if we do, that's not my fault. Like, I didn't do that. And, I don't wanna have to defend a wacky. And so if people could just dismiss them out of hand, it would really make my life easier. And we can get on to the business of like following Jesus as opposed to me having to justify that guy and what comes out of his mouth or or shows up on his web page. It was like like every year or two, there's a new prediction or even more frequently for for as long as I've been alive and beyond that. There's just every once in a while, I don't know how how is it that some get popular and some don't. Know, some some make it to the marketplace and people talk about it. And most of them we never hear about. I'll read about in some article like, what? You know, that this dude's but but at this nonetheless, at what point do you say what yeah. This isn't what happening. You know? Maybe I won't fall for the next one. Yeah. I don't I don't know. Like, that's a good question because you're you're right. I suppose if you were to really scour the net,

it seems like you would find tons of people who are guessing the end of the world incorrectly. Right? Yeah. I I I did research this, I don't know, long time ago. Some some sermon. Don't even remember what it was. And I had all these dates, specific dates that that so and so had predicted. And I was like, I didn't even know there were that many predictions until I had done the research and and, you know, I had to kinda dig it up. I'm like, and every once in while, like, say some some well, so what was that? The dudes that that got all the the The RVs and buses and guys. RVs. That that went big. Oh, yeah. Thought it a radio guy that was So so these guys kind of had some had some link to those folks because they said, if you go to their website, and I'm not gonna tell you it because you I don't want you going there. It says for biblical evidence support, 05/21/2011 was indeed the beginning of god's spiritual judgment on the whole world. Please see the series of tracks living in the day of judgment, hyperlink.

So so that that is a validation of that that was the Herald Camping date, 05/21/2011. So then they just counted twenty three thousand or two hundred and what is it? Two thousand three hundred days after that, and and here they are or what? I I don't know. I it doesn't make any sense. Like I said and here's the thing we're talking about just before the show started, which was, like, the way that they discussed this, like, they they provided, like, a a refutation as to a a response to being incorrect with the prediction.

And one of the things they said in the description is they I'll I'll just read the first paragraph of it. For some time now, e Bible Fellowship and myself have been looking towards October 7 as the likely end of the world. We believe there was a strong likelihood, that God would complete his judgment and bring about the world's destruction on that day. There was much biblical information pointing to this date, and we freely shared it with all yet consistently stressing throughout the entire time period that the world ending on that day was a strong likelihood. Since it is now October 8, it is now obvious that we were incorrect regarding the world ending on the seventh. And so here's the here's the question. It's like, what kind of what kind of god do you have to you serve or, like, what type of

integrity of scripture is there if we if we're basing things off, like, I may or may not know whether the world is gonna end. And that this is ignoring the fact that Jesus specifically says you do not know. Okay? So let's ignore that for that's dangerous, but let's just ignore that for a But, like, I like, what was the I I just don't see God acting this way. When when he wants to show the priests of Baal, like, he sends down the fire and it licks up even the water. There's there is no doubt that God has made his presence known. And we're like, well, it's a strong likelihood that, could be this day. Like, I just I don't I don't understand this Christianity. I I don't know. It's confusing to me. That was a horrifying accent. That's that's how they speak, Bubba. I can't help how they are. Sound like you're gargling asphalt. Just wrong like this. It's horrible. I I if that that's my audition voice for a Muppet,

which we didn't pass, by the way. Apparently not. It's the new Muppet character, incorrect Christian. You know, it sounds like some kind of standard form letter. It's like, you know, every time a prediction comes, they all just end up recycling the exact same message saying, hey. We're wrong, but here's why. It's interesting to see what those guys consider a success. Right? Like, if they they look at another guy that failed to predict the world correctly, and they're like, well, after he was wrong, he seemed to handle the fallout well. Let's do what he did. It's just a it's a it's a very it's a very small world that I'm not I don't know much about, I guess. It's that world of people. Some handled it very well. There's at least a number of cults that started because of this sort of thing. So Actually, so here's here was the question.

And this is this is a broad question. Audience, feel free to, answer. Twitter's probably the right, the right place to to take this question on. But here here's the question. Is it wrong to start a cult based upon the a false premise that you know when the world will end? Propagate it well, Collect the crazies and the gullible, all in, like, a single basket area. Hold, a either get yourself a compound or at least some sort of online area. K? And then once you got them, so now you know who you're dealing with, the type of people that believe such a thing, and then try to set them straight. Is that is that is that a fault? I mean, is it wrong to bring people together on that premise? I I think it's futile. And you're you're talking about a lot of tinfoil hats and whatnot, and you're trying to get them back into normal land or or at least somewhat Yeah. They think you've got liberals or something. You know? Yeah. Yeah. What if you could convince them that the real truth is the actual, like,

all the other conspiracies exist to hide you from the real truth of Jesus, which is biblical? I I think the key characteristic here, unfortunately, isn't integrity. It's charisma. In order to actually pull this plan off, you're you're gonna need someone who who's a particularly charismatic leader in order to really get this going. What is it? Mubo, you're kind of a charismatic guy. So How did I know that was gonna happen? Because you're wearing the half suit. You're looking good today. You're the closest thing we have. True. So

so, and you don't have to answer this directly, but what is it about, like, if people have charismatic people tend to, people are are drawn to them. Right? They wanna be they wanna be near them. They wanna talk with them. They wanna be associated with in one way or the other. Like, is that a is that a poison to a certain extent where, like, you have to elevate what it is that you're producing for what people want? Because because, like, it does seem like all the all the big things that happen, like, where you're led by a charismatic leader, they they seem seem to go into destruction. Like, it always takes some wild eyed guy to convince 200 people to jump into a river somewhere or drink poison. And you're like, why couldn't he just convince them to do landscaping in his yard?

That's a difficult question to answer. I feel like I'm setting myself up, man. Thanks. Answer me, Charisma, man. I know. Right? So through my years of of Being very charismatic. Of being very charismatic through my, charismatic time in my life.

No. You you try and make sure that everybody's, getting along and having a good time and is intrigued and and engaged in what you're talking about. When you're constantly trying to be,

the person that everybody's paying attention to and constantly trying to be the person that everyone's, you know, listening to, it is very easy to go overboard with that. Because just having a a mundane conversation about the weather or, having a random thing that's just could be perceived as boring. For some reason, charismatic people always try and overcompensate for that and then come up with crazy things for people to do.

And that probably facilitates some random people asking, like, hey. Let's go jump into a river or drink some crazy Kool Aid. Like, I'm I'm not saying that all charismatic people eventually get there. I'm just saying that based off that personality type, you're always trying to overcompensate what you think everyone needs to be having a good time or engaged or having fun and blah blah blah blah, and then you'll come up with whatever you need to to make that happen. Well, I I think in the context of of a church leadership, it is after a while a charismatic leader starts believing the hype. You know, they they get complimented and get all the kudos because they with no preparation, they come up and say something that they in their heart of hearts know wasn't really accurate, maybe biblically or or was really just a poor exegesis of the text. But they everybody comes in there in tears. No. You're great. You're wonderful. And pretty soon, they convince themselves. I don't really need to prepare much of anything. I can just get up there and and spew things out, and I can go do my other stuff during the week. And and then you could down a slide pretty soon you start believing your own stuff. And and I I could see how you could start sliding into any kind of crazy. I mean, I I I worked at at a church once for a short time where there was a very charismatic leader. And I would sit there as a guy who has actually read the Bible and and and, you know, has a high regard for scripture. Sit there and think this guy just threw a whole load of crap out. I mean, was nothing more than crap. And then that that that was to being complimentary of it. And people were like, boy, he's a great speaker, isn't he? This is in a church. And I and I didn't I didn't even know how to respond. I was I I would come up with small group questions based on his scripture, but he he half the time, couldn't find a scripture, and I have no idea what he said. He was just doing one story after another blah blah blah, and everybody was fall. So so I had the charismatic thing could be kinda can kinda get your and then he did end up really getting himself in trouble too. So,

he believed the hype. So how oh, how do you keep, how do you protect against that? Like, let's say you're a person that just is, you know, naturally charismatic. How do you how do you protect that? You you gotta surround yourself with people who Yeah. Don't really think of you as charismatic. Yep. That they can see through it and just and call you on the carpet and just say, yeah. You're just a dude.

Believe it not, for me, it's you guys. You guys keep me pretty grounded on on making sure that I know that I'm an idiot, and shouldn't have people following me generally. If if we're impressed with you. Mister Charisma, man? Really? Always wanted people around me who aren't impressed with me. I mean Yeah. You've you've gotta have that. No. That's a valid point. I think that that you have to keep yourself grounded in in the fact that you're not special.

Because charismatic people are able to find their uniqueness in every situation because we're normally incredibly full of ourselves. Me included in that very much. And I've had to surround myself with friends and and people that keep me accountable to make sure that I'm not going crazy. In high school, I didn't care what lie I had to tell. If it was a good story, it's a good story. Like, I came up with ridiculous stories of of, like, what happened on my weekend or whatever just because every morning at school, I kid you not, I would sit

by my locker, and there would be 15 people around me listening to me just talk just randomly about nothing. And so to keep them interested, I felt like I had to lie about what I was doing and all these different stories. And since deciding to grow up and become more of a man and not just lie my way through a stand up comedy routine every morning, it's helped to keep people around me to make sure that I know that I'm not special,

in that regard. Could you start And I don't need to beef up. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Completely. You start telling them even though you know they're untrue, and you start thinking, wait a minute, is this a true story? Am I fibbing on any of this piece? Anything like that. So, yeah. Absolutely. Alright. I like the way that Jesus handled it. I mean, when he was tempted with the, you know, popularity and whatnot, he he just quotes Deuteronomy. And and let's be frank, for for those of you who read the Bible on a regular basis, honestly, when was the last time you were in Deuteronomy? That would just puff me up. Yeah. I got Deuteronomy down. Yeah. Exactly. But I mean, that's good there. That's not the way he's handling it. He he instead, it's like he's using Deuteronomy as his way of grounding himself and saying, hey. This is who I am, and this is what my mission is, and this other thing that you're tempting me with, I'm really not interested in it. I I just for some reason, I feel like I would use if I had any charisma, which I do not, that I would use it for selfish foolish gains, like having someone get me something from the store. It's difficult not to.

I have a hard time restraining myself. No. And I mean that To use your influence? And I mean that being blatantly sincere on that. It it is it is difficult not to knowing that and this is not meant to be pompous. Please don't take it this way, but I know you're going to. Mister Charisma here, being able to influence people to do things is an awesome thing. Like, it's incredible. Like, I can at my work or in my social circles, I can influence most of the people around me to do most of the stuff that I want them to. Because I'm a persuasive guy, and I'm mister charisma apparently.

And it works. Like, it really does. And the the stupid lizard brain that I have that says, oh, I want this and I want this now, and I don't care who I have to step on to get it, sometimes tries to give into that. But, you know, I have to ground myself in Jesus to make sure that doesn't happen. You have a lizard brain? Yeah. That explains the tongue. I try to be charismatic

occasionally, but it usually ends up failing because usually it worked for me. It goes, hey. Hey. We need to get this done. Wanna race? That is awesome. You're right. That doesn't really fall into the cares, man. Where did it go? Andrew Carson's influential perspective is, hey, man. Let's turn this into a race. You gotta know your limits. Alright. So, anyway, I I'm I feel like because there's been enough of people that have guessed this thing wrong, I'm less concerned about the broad world thinking, oh, Christianity is ridiculous. I feel like they're just ignoring them, and maybe we can get back to some other reasonable conversations about what's happening in the world.

So so what's a reasonable conversation when it comes to a lot of times, these come out of apocalyptic style type literature in the Bible. So what's a a reasonable way of approaching those sorts of things? What was like, what are they what do you mean? What are they asking? Well, like, what's what would be a healthy conversation

that uses some of those, like, revelations type scripture or or Jesus talking about end times ish things?

Well so I I would say if I if I'm gonna go to the Bible and and start talking about those types of things, it wouldn't so much be about the particulars about the end of the world. It would be about the particulars as to why I don't care. Like, why I'm not worried about it. Right? Yeah. That's the conversation I have more often than not is why that's not actually a big deal. Well, yeah. Like, it let we're let's say that I I thought anytime anybody comes up and says, hey. This is gonna be the end of world. The date is I don't think it's right, but it also it's not something I'm all that concerned about one way or the other and why that's the case. And and, frankly, how we can understand even these these big events and these, cataclysmous things that Revelation would describe, on how how the faithfulness of God to his people, and through his his sovereignty kind of this this will work out.

That's that's a sense of comfort and, and and an anchor in the time of which everything else is thrown into disarray. And so because if that's the case, if I'm holding on to if I have something that I'm anchored to, the timing of the disarray is not so much relevant to me because the problem has already been solved. And that that's really the thing. It's like someone when when it's as Christians, we get all in tizzy about certain things. Like, we're getting into in a tizzy about the problem, and we already know the answer. Like, we already know that the answer to the problem. It's like sweating a math test, when you you've been studying for years, and you're well prepared.

And so, I think that's the right conversation. And the truth is is that, like, if someone's concerned about about there being any authenticity to it, perhaps now would be a good time to actually talk about reality, which is as you sit right now, regardless whether it's true or not. If if any of these things are accurate, you have to have a reaction to them right now, regardless of what happens a week from now or two weeks from now. It is a cataclysmic thing to accept the truth, that there is a god that created the universe and that loves you and sent his son to die for you. Like, that is a life changing truth to agree to, and, that that is not a, hey. We'll wait a couple weeks, and we'll shake it out to see whether I think that's accurate or So I don't know if anybody sit down for that length of a conversation, but, that would be the one I'd like to have.

Alright. Alright. Let's see. What hold on. What was the, those guys were funny. What else do we have here? Oh, hey. I saw there was a there was an article about mom's viral response to an outrageous Islam homework. So the the the title of the article was mom's viral response to outrageous Islam homework has got 118,000

people going, heck yeah. That's the grabber of the headline. Here's the story. A California mother is outraged over the teaching of Islam in her child's seventh grade world history class. In an assignment titled Islamic beliefs and practices, students were asked to list the five pillars of Islam, watch a YouTube video featuring the call to prayer at the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, and summarize what they learned in that chapter of their textbook. Alright. So here's my first pause. Is that something you need that that we're concerned about? No. No. No. No. Dan? No. No. Okay. So far, I can't I can't in the context of learning world religions? It's yeah. So, yes, World History Club. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Tara Kelly did not approve of the lesson and made sure the teacher knew her son wouldn't be completing it. She marked up the page with her displeasure. Seriously, miss Kali wrote under the QR code which would take students to the video of the Islamic call to prayer. In the section asking students to list the five pillars, Kali wrote, here we go, my son will not be part of this in any sort of way. This is bad teaching material. He will not partake. If you have a problem with it, call our lawyer. Ephesians six ten, Isaiah four forty thirty one, Mark twelve thirty, second Corinthians twelve nine to 10, Psalm forty six one, Psalm twenty two nineteen,

unnecessary end quotation. Finally, the mother used the section for summarizing the chapter on Islam to say, how about Christian practices? That sheet has never has never came home this year or last. California has a statewide curriculum, and religions are meant to be taught only in the context of history. The textbook used in the Bakersfield Public School and across the state covers the fall of ancient Rome through the age of enlightenment. The textbook also includes chapters on historical prominence of various world religions, including Christianity. Miss Scally's controversial Facebook post has been shared by more than 118,000 people. Reactions have been mixed as the topic of teaching religion in schools remains a highly contested issue.

So I can't figure out why I mean, it's it's a posturing. There's the there's the verses. There's the Bible verses that follow. Like, what is the concern here? Probably the the the fear of of things political

correctness, probably. Okay. Let let me put you on on a different angle. My wife works in a school, and she happens to be in the grade where they teach a lot of this stuff. And they'll spend I might I'll have the number of weeks wrong. Say, three to four weeks doing all the history of Israel through Christianity through today and Christianity, and they'll do, like, eight to ten weeks on Islam. Uh-huh. So that's, like, out of proportion. Like, why do you need to know that much if it's supposed to be a a basic, you know, here's all the world religions. So it's probably someone reacting to that, angry at the political correctness or whatever more than why that I I I can't go to her heart of of of the reason. But I was gonna look at the verses. Anybody got a anybody got, like, a phone on you that can check it? Ephesians six ten would be, finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power, put on the full armor of God,

gets into a struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the principles, and authorities. I feel like she's good. Struggling against flesh and blood. Yeah. It seems like that's what she's pushing up against. What are the other verses? Psalms 22 what was it? 19. 19. Yeah. That's Jesus talk. It is. Yeah. It's one of the prophecies about Jesus. Say that's prophetic. Let's go, like, in Isaiah forty thirty one. Twenty two nineteen.

But you, oh lord, do not be far off. Oh, you, my help. Come quickly to my aid. Is that what it was twenty two nineteen? I feel like this is an overreaction. Yeah. And then what was the Isaiah one? Isaiah forty thirty one. Isaiah forty thirty one is, but they who wait for the lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles.

They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Yeah. It it sounds almost like she's trying to encourage herself. But she said to call the lawyer. Didn't say no. She says, if you have a problem with it, call our lawyer. She didn't say, hey. Talk to me. I will be I will have wings like eagles and and walk and not grow weary. She said, call the lawyer. I feel like he needs to the wings of the eagles. Anyway, I saw here's I I saw this, and I and I just I couldn't figure out

I didn't understand what the concern was. And may may Dan's probably right. Like, this it's probably a reaction. If I'm giving her the benefit of doubt, it's to a greater context. Yeah. Possibly. I'm assuming. But, like, I still I don't know. I would here's the deals I I would, yeah. We've said this on so far. We homeschool. I would tell I would tell my kids, a basic understanding of of Islam. I can't I can't I don't know why I wouldn't do that.

Is it possibly a fear of of the child, gaining, I don't know, intelligence into that religion rather than Christianity? Well, possibly, I guess. But, like, that that has to be I guess, with the Bible, with the verses that she's posted,

would if they're coming from a point of honesty, it should be, saying I'm firm in my foundation of faith. I I'm not concerned about the these pillars. Right? Like, that's why I would teach my kids that is because I don't have any concern that that someone's gonna make a better case than Jesus. And so it's just it's information. All it is is information. Okay. Anyway, I thought that was interesting. You know what else I saw on the interstate? I couldn't I I I should have written it down to get the exact language of it, but it was basically,

one in three one in three children will have, first graders will have diabetes in their lifetime. Have, contact the presidential candidates and ask them what they, capital they, underlined, are prepared to do about it. And I thought, what the heck? Like,

what why? What is the thought process? Like, do I not I I Mubi, you stop me here. But, like, isn't this a nutrition item? Not always. Or it's it's all or is it a Well so diabetes comes in different forms. You got you got type one diabetes, which is norm and this is this is generalizing this. Please don't don't think that this is the exact science on it, but, type one is normally it's it's, genetic, and it's it's you're born with a kind of deal. You know, it's not based off of nutrition. It's not based off of a poor diet or anything like that. It's just based off of your pancreas not creating insulin Yep. Or,

it's creating something your body rejects. K. And so it won't work. Type two, which is, more of the adult onset diabetes is a lot of the time, especially in America based off of diet. It's based off of nutrition. You will eat to the point where your body

has too many fat cells, the insulin in your body cannot, compensate for either the amount of sugar and carbs you're putting into your body, or it doesn't have, the the lasting effect because of all the fat cells you have, and how large they are. And then, of course, there's gestational diabetes and stuff like that. So it's not always, a diet or nutrition thing. So I think So it's either biologic, like, doing being passed down to you or

it can't be predominantly, it seems to be a, how you eat. I I don't know if I'd be willing to go as far as say predominantly, but, yeah. Type two for the most part, yeah, is gonna be based off of of of the diet you have. Well, that's what I'm saying. So like, that's the one you control. The other one is passed down to you. Right. Right. Yeah. So in the realm of things you can control, it would seem to be what you're eating. Yes. I would agree with that. So, within diabetes, I understand depending on the mind of the person who put it up,

we're obviously fighting for a cure for diabetes. There is no actual cure for diabetes right now. It's based off of just you take insulin or you take the medication, and hopefully your, your pancreas starts working again, or you lose the weight and then it just goes away hopefully, which normally doesn't happen. So if they're of the mindset that that they're pushing for the presidential candidates to be pushing for more research funding and and funding for, coming up with the current here? Absolutely. But if they're just talking from the perspective of they think diabetes is an epidemic that presidential candidates can handle, no. We need to, educate our country more often on actually how diets work. Unfortunately,

we are a society that is surrounded by absolute crap. We live in a society where it's more expensive to eat healthy, and it's more of a burden to eat healthy. Yeah. It's not an education problem. It's a personal choice problem. I mean, everybody knows. I mean, it's like nobody who pick gets a pack of cigarettes says, man, I bet, I wonder if this is good for me. I mean, it's it's a choice. You know, every time I eat French fries, I'm not thinking, boy, this could be really helping me out. Well, then, that might be what they're calling for is that the surgeon get general somehow gets involved in every time you They don't do sugary soda. Well There's a giant warning on it or something like that or I I a picture of an obese Yeah. You know, something. I don't know. I'm against the surgeon general getting involved in it, but I think that the generalization of everyone knows is actually not correct, Dan. I think that, yeah, obviously, your morbidly obese people that are gonna eat nothing but fries and and McDonald's all day are definitely the kind of person who'd no education is gonna work for them, but that doesn't mean there aren't people who do the education. Anybody. Well, anybody is a big word. It is. The average person in America thinks that, like, french fries are good for you? I mean, is there anyone out there who who has been in education at all? I tell my wife it's a potato. I I don't know if they would I don't know if they would say it was good for, like, if they're handed a an orange and then a bag of fries and they say, which one is healthier?

But I don't know if people honestly understand how unhealthy. Like, I would agree with the statement that, yes, people understand that fries are generally bad for you. We're we're just awful. We're just awful with self self control. I'm I'm talking about myself. I mean, I know I know how to budget, but I don't budget. I spend my money I don't I know what I should eat. I eat the opposite because I like M and M. Yeah. I mean If if you go out and you try and find the kind of food that's good for you, it's more expensive and it's harder to get. Yeah. Yeah. Because we we live in a society where everything has to be either fast enough to where it's not inconvenient, cheap enough to where it's not inconvenient, or we just don't care about where it comes from. I don't think people have enough of a mind to understand that, yes, there's some bad stuff about eating fries, but you don't realize how bad. Yes. There's bad things about eating nothing but fast food, but you don't realize how bad. Don't know. How is that possible? Well,

when people walk through their supermarket and they think that everything in there just because it's not fast food means that it's okay is incorrect. I mean, do people really think that? Yes. Mhmm. Absolutely. You'd be astonished. Different people than I do. You'd be astonished how many people are willing to walk through a supermarket and just because it's not fast food means that it's good for you. Even if it's in a box, even if it's been Processed. Completely processed to the point where it's not even recognized as food or any kind of macronutrient nutraining. And they honestly believe this has gotta be healthy. They're Yeah. They're willing to say that it's healthy healthier than fast food. Therefore, it's a good choice. And you're talking about the the adults who are actually sitting down and considering it. You're not even talking about the segments of population where they they basically were 14 years old, and then all of a sudden, they're a parent, and that's been the cycle for their generation. And that's the the people that they grow up around are, you know, getting pregnant at very young ages. So now teenagers are making choices for children

on what's health not even considering what's healthy. They're just trying to keep their lives together, raising kids. And the kids are yeah. Exactly. It's here have some McNuggets because you know that that's healthy, processed chicken. Yeah. It's good. On top of that obesity is is such a big deal in The United States nowadays that

being a little bit overweight isn't that big of a deal any longer. Being a lot overweight isn't even that big of a deal any longer. We see it constantly. It's glorified in in our society. I'm not saying like morbidly obese people that are hundreds of pounds overweight are not looked at as hundreds of pounds overweight, but you see people constantly that 30, 40, 50, 60, and I'm not just talking about from like a body mass index perspective. I'm talking about just generally health wise. I tell you. People see that. It's a generality, and they think it's normal. Yeah. But also, they lose credibility with me when when the the the medical community does or whoever it is comes up with these charts that call things Yeah. It's ridiculous. A few years ago, I lost so much weight. People thought I had cancer. I mean, they literally thought I was sick. Yeah. I was skinnier. I at that weight, the doctor's charts said I was obese. Uh-huh. I'm like, I had, like, nothing. There was nothing left of me. And and I it was kind of like, well, shoot. If that's obese, I might as well enjoy it, you know, and. Right. Mean, it

it was insane. I thought, I couldn't have lost any more weight. Most of those charts were created back when we did not know as much as we do now and that's unfortunately what stuck and and I mean, and I'll call one out, the body mass index. At my height and my age, I should be like a hundred and eighty five pounds. My bones weigh more than a hundred and eighty five pounds at this point in time. Okay? Like, I will never get down to that weight, but that's why as in a society, we need to push for health rather than weight. We need to push away from this weight mentality. Unfortunately, from a health perspective, we think that our goal should be a weight, like a goal weight. I'm gonna call the president.

And and maybe that was my question. I was trying to figure out first of all, I didn't quite I didn't have a good grasp of what it is that they thought should be influenced. Right. That was not a personal choice. And then beyond that, like, what is it that you expect someone at that level to do? And that that that that was kind of my my thought process. And I I I think what I was what I was thinking about was there are but, well, first of it's kinda broad, like, one in three in their lifetime. That's just one in three people. I don't know why you gotta say first grader. That's unnecessarily manipulative. Yeah. Yeah. But but Serial tactic. But but the the truth is is I think I think there is there is, a, a nature of education and and, b, the impact of having access to and, frankly, the prioritization

of good foods. Good foods. And here, I I'm gonna use and I'm I'm gonna use this example, and for heaven's sakes, I don't wanna argue about this. Alright? But I I'm just gonna use an example because it's easy to to make the social point that I'm trying to make is so we just we just had a we have a newborn. We just had a baby within the last few weeks, and, we breastfeed. And the deal is is that, like, the kid eats every two or three hours. And so, like, the baby is attached to my wife. K? But but the thing is is, like, it it calms the baby down. The baby has access to food whenever she needs it.

And so, like, we we just have the baby is a baby, so it gets upset at times. It gets feisty at things. But, like, for the most part, it's relatively easy to calm down, and we have always have access to something. And so I thought about, like, now put put a newborn into the hands of a working single mother. Right? Not only does she have the burden of caring for this baby on her own, it's very difficult for her to breastfeed, which means she's having to bottle feed. And the truth is the kids kids getting upset. It takes a lot longer to prepare the buy buy, the bottle than it does to put the baby onto the drinker. Okay? And so, like, your your kid's, upset and screaming,

and you're having to wake up in the middle of the night and prepare the this stuff. And I guess what what was in my mind was is, how how much of an added burden is it upon this woman who's trying her best to raise her children in the right way, oftentimes because hospitals don't educate very well on on breastfeeding. Just it's not a focus from a lot of hospitals. And, like, that that could be easier. It doesn't change her being a single parent. Right? It doesn't change all the stuff that goes into that. I just thought how much of a small thing we're, like, if I'm holding this baby and it needs to eat, I don't I'm not, like, a minute and a half in trying to to warm the bottle. The the the baby can just eat directly. She calms just that much faster. K? And, like, some people can't feed. I I get all that. I'm the point though is is that is that there's an aspect of education whereas are there people who are living a much

in the tangibles of life or living a more difficult life than they have to because they don't know? And a lot of times, our education campaigns aren't necessarily focused on, they're not maybe not hitting the right audience. Or, like,

we try to solve we solve the right big problems without following through to to help solve the kind of the the follow-up problems. I asked my wife because she she does, like, breastfeeding education. I said, you know, do you know of anybody that where that happens? Like, are there people who go into lower educated or people who don't have access to that type of information to to help teach those types of things? And it didn't sound like there was something like that. And so I guess I was thinking along the same lines when it comes to, like, food choices and like, a lot of times,

you'll run into kids who are, like, know, they're, like, my my kid's out of control and he's hyped up. Well, the problem is all you you feed them sugar. Right? You feed them a bunch of junk and then, like but the problem is you can only afford the junk. And so you have a perpetual cycle of a hopped up kid eating junk food who then you can't deal with very easily because they're hopped up all the time. And, like, it's and and that's the added burden on the people that tend to end up in that situation are people who don't have the the money to buy the right food or the knowledge to understand what they're purchasing. And so, like, in addition to everything else going on alive, they their kids are more rambunctious than the average kid, and they they're having then they know that there's a deficit there and they don't know how to fix it. And I thought, like, there's just a a knowledge gap in there that we we like to shove money at a problem,

but it's it's a lot of it's time. A lot of it's time and education and caring for people to help them learn. Not not not because, like, our way is a better way. There's just it's just a there's some facts on on things you could know better to raise your family differently that may help improve your situation without otherwise you're still gonna be a single mom. You're still not gonna have a lot of money. Right? But I I just that that's that's what I was thinking when I was trying to figure out if if this is a legitimate problem. A, I don't think it solved it, like, the presidential candidate level. But but where it is a realistic problem and where it's not just like a goofy personal choice where people are actually impacted with this, and they're probably overshadowed by the people who are simply making dumb choices. Yep. And they don't get their the right amount of attention. But, like, what do you do? How could you actually help those circumstances as opposed to because that billboard really didn't help that woman. No. You know what saying? So so anyway, that that that's what I was thinking is I I tried to put it myself from, my instant reaction was kinda handsome. Like, there's just people. They're not controlling their diet. Don't yell at the presidential candidates. Why don't you just change your diet? And and I think in all honesty, that is true, for people. Yes. But if the we always get lost in those types of debates where, like, everybody needs help and we're like, well, I don't think anybody really needs help here. They just need to change their ways. My guess is there's always like a there's a middle subset of which who legitimately has help and their needs help and their circumstances have put them in a place where it's very difficult to get out of, and they're lacking actually a substantive conversation because we're we're talking about kind of the peripherals, which are most people, but we're missing the people in the middle who actually are impacted by that. I feel like Iowa is a strange place to bring up a question like that just because I

would imagine the single greatest contributor to diabetes in terms of diet is this substance called what is it? High fructose corn syrup. Yeah. Yeah. Produced here in Iowa. It yeah. I yeah. There was a disassociation. It it goes like it's a capital they. It wasn't like, hey. Let's talk about let's talk about diabetes. Right? Let's let's let's make a progress on this conversation. It was you call them and tell them that they need to do something about this, and I thought, I feel like nothing's gonna It's ridiculous. No. This this this problem is handled the way that problems need to be handled in the homes. This needs to be dealt

with by parents to kids, parents to kids, parents to kids. You know, if we need to educate the parents to educate the kids so that in the next generation, we're no longer dealing with this, or in two generations, we're no longer the most obese country in the entire world. It's not something that we do, because if you look at all these health campaigns, they're let they're launched where? Most likely for kids. In the schools. But are they really actually moving the marker, or do we launch that with the parents to help with the kids? Yeah. Anyway,

just a just a billboard I saw. So Dan had posted, an article, to the fellas about 14 habits of highly miserable people. So I I wanna read through these, and I don't know. Did you get did anybody else read this article before tonight? Yeah. So did did you did you recognize yourself in any of these, booba? Quite a few. Yeah. Did you? I did. Okay. Alright. So here we go. Be afraid. Be very afraid of economic loss. No. I don't really That's not me. Yeah. Don't run into that. Okay. Nope. God's got it. Practice sustained boredom. Cultivate the feeling that everything is predictable, that life holds no excitement, no possibility for adventure.

I quarter on this. Do you? Yeah. Depends on the day, I suppose. It's could it depends on the day. So do they give do they give exercise? Force yourself to watch hours of mindless reality TV programs every day and read only nonstimulating tabloids that leave you feeling soulless. Avoid literature, art, and keeping up with current affairs. Do you do you find that those things

energize you, Herrick, in those circumstances to to and embrace literature, art, keep up with current affairs? Yes. Well, literature and art. Current affairs, I couldn't give a rip about. But yeah. I could've get that, I think. Yeah. Okay. Alright. Give yourself a negative identity. Allow a perceived emotional problem to absorb all other aspects of your self identification. If you feel depressed, become a depressed person. So hey. So there's an interesting question about this is when, it was it was an example of sins that tend to taint you longer.

You commit adultery once. You're an adulterer. Mhmm. You know what I'm saying? Whereas other other other sins don't seem to carry some the levels of stigma that it is an identification of your character. And sometimes these are helpful. Like, you have a a a guy that, was a predator of a child. He's labeled a child predator, and you would wanna know that. Right? Like, these are the things that we help us make decisions about how we deal with people. But it's just interesting that some things carry with it the added weight, of actually seeming to dominant dominate your identity more than other things.

And so I I suppose if we if we say if you feel depressed, you become a depressed person. You take this thing on and say this is actually who I am, not just something that I am going through or something that I'm feeling. You guys run into that? I talk to a lot of people who verbalize that. Yeah. So what is, what is it is it just a micro focus that does that? Like, it is basically an an inability to see beyond your current situations.

And I I say that I I think I tried to use that word carefully. It's an inability, not necessarily like a desire. Right? Like, those people aren't sitting in that circumstance saying, I don't want to see out of my circumstance. Like Yeah. They don't know how how to look beyond it. Right. They seem it's not that they're incapable. It's at the moment they are unable of seeing beyond their current circumstances. So it comes with it, an identity, or it could just be a nature of of of repetition. I've been depressed. I've I had depression depressive feelings,

you know, once a week for the past twenty weeks. It must be something that indicates something about my character as opposed to things that I'm going through. Or, you know, maybe I'm just eating poorly back to food. You know, like, there's The truth. The chemical reaction in your body that says I ain't feeling right. You know, maybe it's the let down of those, pumpkin roll ho hoes you bought at the bought at line of the Menards. As a sidebar, our listeners here, if you currently do not think or realize that your food choices completely affect your emotional well-being, go educate yourself on that because you don't realize how much you're putting yourself down by eating that crap. Say thus saith the boova. Thus saith the boova. Okay. Alright.

And I think I think this is actually, even beyond I don't know. Even beyond, things like, like depression, there's a lot where we can take a micro circumstance and it becomes something that becomes part of our identity. It could be, hey. I heard that one person doesn't think that this thing that I've done something well, and now it's it's the broad concept that no one thinks that I do things well. Or now I'm no I'm not under the impression that I do things well. And so, like, even, giving things more credence than what they're worth, they're not treating them as, they're not necessarily isolated, but they are distinct from

who you are as a person or where your identity comes from. And I think we adequately combat that by being reminded who God says we are. You know, when you're when we're reading the bible, we need to get good, we should be coming away with a good handle of who God is, what he wants, and and a good idea of who we are and how God sees us. And, that seems to be able to to, at points, combat the taking on a negative identity that does not belong to us. But sometimes that's even tough because, again, in a micro circumstance, that's the only voice you're hearing. Right? You're not even hearing God's voice to, like, help control that identity.

Alright. That was number three. These are the 14 habits, highly miserable people. Number four, pick fights. This is an excellent way of ruining a relationship with a romantic partner. Once in a while, unpredictably pick a fight or have a crying spell over something trivial and make unwarranted accusations. Pick fights. I've done that with my brother. Is it just for funsies? I think I just needed some kind of confrontation to explain why I was upset. Like, I felt like I was upset and didn't have a reason to, and therefore, wanted to have a reason to.

So you wanted to have a conversation, but you didn't know how to start it? And so you started a fight? No. I was generally just upset about everything and had no idea why I was upset. And I thought, hey, man. I should pick a fight with my brother and then have a reason to be upset. Oh, you just justify whatever it is. Legitimately, that would, that would justify my current emotional state. Yeah. So I would go and pick a fight with my brother, and we would fight, like, tooth and nail, angry. And it made me feel better because I finally had a reason and an explanation for how I was feeling. So so going back to the other, the other example then, whatever it is you're feeling, you can either take it on and and say it identity like it is now your identity. Or if you know it's unreasonable, you need to change your circumstances so that it becomes justified. Yep. Okay. Fair enough. That's it. Yeah. I I having a family of all girls, I I have, over the years, watched

number four happen quite often. They're always picking on each other and jabbing each other and I'm like, then they come to me, what? Help me out. This is everybody's being mean. It's like, stop it. Yeah. I feel like you picked a fight there. I feel like, how can I defend you? You're supposed to defend me. I can't defend that. You've not given me a defendable position. Exactly. You put me in a really rough spot here. Oh, man. I've had that conversation more than once over the past few weeks. We're like, so some child has, done a bit done the wrong thing to the other child, and the other child then, like, punches him back or hits back or something, and then they wanna complain about it. And I said, here's the deal. You want me to yell at your sister, but I can't. You've put yourself in the way of me actually being able to discipline your sister because you've done the wrong thing. Exactly. If you could have just backed away, my full force and brunt of parenting could've lit on that that one over there. And then you could've enjoyed it from the corner. What a satisfaction you could've had. But you decided you were gonna take a kickback or say something you shouldn't have or make a pinch or steal something, and now what? Now I'm having to deal with you. And it's especially the older one because I hold you liable for knowing the difference. So every time she's like, well, but then but she acted this way. I'm like, well, if you could have kept yourself out of it, you could have enjoyed her getting in trouble. But now look where you are. What a mistake. Alright.

Alright. I can't just for the record, fellas, as a as a husband, I can't I cannot think of one fight that I've ever picked with my wife either because I thought it was valid or not where I didn't look back the day previous. I'm like, what a waste of time. I really like, I lost out of four to six hours, not because we're fighting that long, but because we talked for thirty minutes. My wife probably got bored with it, and I and I soaked for another five and a half after that, which is that's how I handle things. And I look back at the next day. I'm like, oh, man. What a what a waste. Like, whatever it is, I whatever satisfaction I had in the moment, I I I would not trade for the five hours of wasted time that I put into it. It totally wasn't worth it. That's exactly where I'm at with my brother. Yeah. Like, I have no reason to fight him any longer because I'm just like, hey, man. If we end up putting each other through the fridge, one of us has to buy the other one a fridge. Like, that's how this ends, and there's we didn't fix anything. He hates it, though. He absolutely hates that I can walk away from a fight now. Like, I think he wishes we'd go back to our 16 year old selves where we just go and, like, throw each other through walls. And nowadays, I'm like, alright, Trey. See you later. And then just walk out. It is a is a big letdown, though.

Right? It's like you think someone's coming out for an encore, and then they don't need You're expecting for a while. Right. You're expecting the fisticuffs, and you don't get nothing. Yeah. Yeah. Bummer. Alright. Let down. Alright. You wanna be miserable? Pick a fight. If you wanna be miserable, attribute bad intentions. Whenever you can, attribute the worst possible intentions to your partner, friends, and coworkers. Take any innocent remark and turn it into an insult or attempt to humiliate you. For example, if someone asks, how did you like such and such movie? You should immediately think he's trying to humiliate me by proving that I didn't understand the movie, or he's preparing to tell me that I have poor taste in movies. Man, I tell you what, almost every communication breakdown I run into where there's some sort of,

like, tough about something rather. It's because someone decided they knew something about somebody else Yeah. That could not be taken at all from what they said. Yeah. I I can do that one too. That you do that I will make myself miserable with that. No. I mean, not not off of it. Probably out of all of these, that'd be the one that that That sticks out? I have to go like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's what they meant. Yeah. But I know what's in their mind. Hey, man. I I run into this all the time. And I think it's it's more of a mentality of I think people are always making fun of me. Like, always. For some reason, like, if anyone is laughing around me and I don't know why, I immediately assume that they're laughing at me. Is it because we're always looking your direction? No. Like, this is just like even if I'm at a restaurant. Oh. Like, if someone behind me is laughing, they could have very easily been having a funny conversation. But I immediately think to myself, hey, man. They're calling me fat over there, and I therefore need to go over and eat them. Yeah. Yeah. Said That's bad for the diabetes. Yes. But that's bad for the diabetes because people are super sugary. And I also realized that I do this based off of,

my work. Like, I think if anything goes awry, I automatically think the worst thing. The other day, was setting up our Xbox because we were doing a game day for our associates, and everybody was really? Well done. And then we were gonna play, Super Mario Kart in one of the training rooms. Like, everybody, when they came in on their break, they can go and sit down and play Super Mario Kart for a bit. And I get out the Xbox from our safe room, and I can't find the cord. And I immediately walked over to our HR and said, hey, someone stole the cord.

And she goes, what? Undermining me. Someone stole the cord from the Xbox. She goes, don't you think we might have just lost it? I said, no. It was stolen. I'm certain of it. She goes, you want why do you immediately think it was stolen? I said, I don't know. I just have this feeling that says it was stolen. And then I said it to another manager. He goes, oh, yeah. It was probably stolen. I said, yes. I'm not the only person who thinks immediately that these things were stolen and not lost. Turns out it was just misplaced. Well, yeah. That sounds right. Yeah. Yeah. I I I think this this is probably true for most people, and it just depends on what kind of mood you're in. Right? Like, you're fighting with someone, you just assume everything they have to say is negative. Having a neutral third party,

that's Jesus, is very helpful for this. True. Because then it becomes irrelevant. Like, I I found that most of the time that I'm having this and he here's my wife is a great leveler. Like, I I can have a a very good conversation or argument with with a lot of people, and I'm pretty good at it. But my wife can seem to have some kind of wizardry upon me of which she I feel like a like an idiot.

Right? Two sentences in. I'm like, I'm going down the wrong path. What did I say? I've already jacked this up. I'm not gonna get it right. I'm gonna lose the argument with my wife. Then And it occurs to me because I'm in that exact position that I do not necessarily this that's not a thing to win or lose. I just need it resolved. I should stop fighting with my wife. And, but it's it's it's always I find myself trying to defend what I thought about her intentions in a conversation, and it's simply unprovable. And then I'm I just look like a fool. I just look like a guy grinding an axe for no reason. And I don't know how I got in this place or how this woman was able to dominate me in such a way, but it happens every time. And so if we could just walk upon circumstances

without having to invest more than what's there and even give people the benefit of the doubt and assume like, here's here's another example. This is a kid example, but my, like one of my my youngest daughter was just having a a a day a couple days ago, acting like a real weasel, man. And, like, she was whining and crying about something, and I looked at her for a second, and I thought and my first reaction is, hey. You need to stop that. You should stop whining. It's irritating to everybody, or at least do it in another area of the house. But what I thought was, I I looked at her, and I thought, what is going on in her life that this is what she's doing right now? Yeah. Like, why is she whining like this? What is what is going on in her mind? No one wants to feel whatever way that she's feeling, and she doesn't have any other way. She's just expressing it out loud to the pain of everyone. And so as opposed to sending her away to another part of the house, why don't I just say, hey, man. What's up? What is going on with yourself that you're feeling like such a I'm not a lie to you. You're whining. But, like, where's that coming from? You doing alright? Can I let's just go with a big hug for now and then see what happens later? And that frankly worked out a lot better. And because the truth was is I wanna just blame her and say control your actions. And there's there's some, I don't know, there's some reality to that at some point. Right? But, like, it's an expression of something. Something is going on in her life. And of all the people that care, I care. I wanna know what's going on and what has caused this. And so can I ignore the fact that she's irritating everyone with her whining for a moment and think it can't be positive for her either? And so if I can help her solve that particular problem, doesn't everybody benefit? So let's do let's solve the everybody problem as opposed to the everyone but her problem, which is the stop whining or go into the other room and do it because we don't wanna listen to it. So, hey, here's the deal. It's a it's a I I know it's a it's a go to parenting technique. If you're gonna do that, do it somewhere else. I get it. But I don't know. May maybe give the old, maybe you don't have to suffer as well and see if that might shake out. They might dig their heels in and you might still have to do something.

If they wanna be stubborn and harmed and cause that problem, I I mean, I get it. But, like, I don't know. Maybe give them a shot to to resolve. Like, they can't be enjoying themselves. That's true for everybody that's ever offended you. Every jerk at work, like, in the moment, he probably enjoys being a jerk. He probably is vindicated. He feels he belittled you, and he really enjoys it. Right? But, like, I don't think it's the caricature that he goes and weeps in the corner, but there's gotta be something in his heart that he finds joy in other people's pain. Some something somewhere is a problem for him. And without being the pithy Christians, it's like, I weep and pray for you at night, which you should. But, like, I don't know. I actually care about the man. He does have something jacked up about his life. And why are you investing all your energy into caring when a guy who obviously sees life in a real weird way thinks and cares about? Like, that that's the wrong person to think that guy's opinion really matters to me. He thinks of the world wrong. It's it's it is not a rational way to interact with folk. So don't attribute bad intentions. I think Dan, think everybody's guilty of that. I think that's a pretty common human error right there. Yeah. That probably dominates the list of something fierce. Alright. Here's the deal. You've been listening to the Truth Network ninety nine point three FM and Life in the Path. We wanna thank you for hanging out with us. Big thanks to Bob Eisenhower with the Eisenhower team. Call Bob and his team if you're looking to buy or sell a house. And if it's (515) 979-2883, go to eisenhowerteam.com,

or you can email Bob directly at [email protected]. He's just the right guy. Him and his team are to to help you try to to either pick up a house or if you don't even know whether you wanna get in the market, Bob would be the guy to, I don't take a look at your place and see what he what the price would be and what other options are out there for you. So he's just the right guy. He's a good friend of the show, and we very much appreciate his sponsorship. That's why we get to stay on the air. So big thanks to Bob. Make sure you give him a call. If you're listening to us on the True Network, we do have to let you go. And so we're gonna do that. If you're on the podcast, we will be right back with you. We got some more advice. We have a few more miserable habits of highly highly miserable people. Just you can pick yourself out and know what you're doing wrong in life. And I think that's what we got going on. So thank you so much for listening to Life From The Path. Be faithful means. God will handle the ends. Please hang tight for the podcast. Thanks for listening. Alright. Alright. Dose.

I think they're laughing at me. You're you know, so I thought well, welcome back to the podcast. So here's what I wanna do. I wanna do one more let's do one more habit of highly miserable people. And then you have a you do have a question from a new believer, Bubba? I do. Okay. And then we'll take that, and then maybe we'll hit hit a couple of bits of advice. Hey, man. I like this camera shot. It speaks to you. It really does. It's my job to define you as a person.

You're you're very welcome. Hey, man. You need to take that down. Here we go. Quite a charismatic smile about you. I know. I really do because I'm digging on that picture. Number six, have 40 have 40 and a is a highly miserable people. Number six is whatever you do, do it only for personal gain. Sometimes you'll be tempted to help someone, contribute to charity, or participate in a community activity. Don't do it unless there's something in it for you, like the opportunity to seem like a good person or to get to know somebody you can borrow money from someday. Never fall into the trap of doing something purely because you want help people. Remember that your primary goal is to take care of numero uno even though you hate yourself. Yeah. That altruism, that sounds like bad news. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. That's a real bummer. How would you ever do things for other people? Isn't everything inherently selfish, though?

Yeah. I find philosophy class? At work, I even I'll go, I'm going to I'm done with my stuff. I'm gonna help you so I can get out of here sooner. That's what I'm talking about. It's inherently selfish. Or you do it because you have a burden to you, you feel like you should, or because it makes you feel good. Or they won't let you go. Yeah. But just because you it makes you feel good doesn't mean that your motives are selfish. Wait. Isn't that the very nature of selfishness? What I'm saying is, like, like, when you try and help somebody, knowing that it's gonna make you feel better, but the most important factor is the fact that you're helping the person. Just because you are getting something out of it doesn't make it a selfish thing to do. Okay. Bubba, here's what I want you to do. You're gonna tell me that you're gonna come help me move. K? And then explain it to me using both justifications saying, some to the extent of, it is very, I will feel very good about this, but ultimately, I'm doing it because I, wanna help you. Go ahead.

I'm ready. I I just wanna I wanna see if it sounds compelling to me. Go ahead. Okay. Hey, Ben. I'm gonna come help you move. Thanks, buddy. How come? Well, I'm super excited to help you because ultimately, I'm gonna feel good about this. Yeah. That sounds right. That's what I said. You've affirmed what I said. No. Yeah. You did. No, man. I'm saying what Just because you get something out of something doesn't mean your motives are selfish,

ultimately. Like, I when you help somebody just for the sake of helping them, if you wanna make somebody smile That's what you tell yourself, but would you feel guilt if you didn't help them? No. I don't believe that. You do it for selfish motives. Oh, you say, hey. Hey. Will you help me move? No. No. Like, I help people move because I'm a big guy and I can do it. I know I'm gonna make the situation easier. Okay. So that's where you're lying. If that feeds into the your self propaganda. When you when you open with, I help you move become because I'm a big guy, you like that.

It it makes you feel powerful. Then and you realize you're a teacher in some capacity. Right? Yes. Okay. You you basically just had Buva take a quiz. He answered it correctly. And then you said, no. That that wasn't the answer you meant. You meant c, and that's wrong. So I'm gonna score you wrong. No. He answered what I expected to answer, but then he didn't say he didn't give I wanted to hear it where it's coupled together. What do you say what I what is what is true, which is you do it because you wanna do it, then but you're also trying to convince me that it's because you're altruistic about it. I I think those are two mutually exclusive items. Anyway No. You you're looking for altruism I disagree. Completely void of any kind of personal gain whatsoever. Just because I'm gonna get something out of it doesn't mean it's selfish.

And you're saying that inherently is selfish? It doesn't selfish, so what you're saying is selfish doesn't mean that you benefited from it personally. Right. Okay. Okay. I think I can get on board with that. I don't yeah. I don't think that's actually true. I just was interested to see whether what your thoughts were, Boothie. Thank you. Sweet. Glad we did this. Thanks for sharing with the clan. Thanks, Ben. Spent a lot of time on that. It felt good. Actually, so the here's the reason that popped in my mind though is I had that conversation. I was probably 21 or 22, and I spent probably three months trying to figure that out. Like, thinking of, could I find a circumstance of which, was completely altruistic, of which I did not benefit from it, either either what I thought about the circumstance

or, do have, like, personally or physically or whatever benefit from a from a thing? And that that that's the truth is is that you're right. It doesn't just because there was a benefit to me in some tangible way or another does not mean it was done out of selfish motive. Right. It just my other my motivation was doing it. I happen to also be positively impacted. Right. And that's certainly alright. Short of getting shot in the head for someone else. And even then, I could say, it's because I couldn't live with myself if I didn't. That's still there's still some selfishness to that. But that that's that's kinda where that came from. There's Fair enough. There is a philosophical argument, like or that's not just not an original thought. Somebody somebody's talked about that before. I just don't remember who it was. Alright. Anyway, go ahead, boo. Alright. So question

from a new believer. So a guy I know, recently had a conversation with some people, actually, a crowd of people, about Jesus

in the Bible. And What? A crowd of people? Yes. A crowd a crowd of folks. Okay. A grouping of people. And was the word attacked is way too self righteous. So was confronted,

from the perspective of how can you believe in the Bible it being literal. I'm a Christian, and I believe in in the bible as a a book of stories, but they're not actually true. As a new believer,

talking to someone and being confronted by someone who says that they're a Christian, among people who say that they're not, that you're trying to talk to about Jesus, how do you handle that situation where, someone is is confronting you saying, hey, I believe the same things you do, but I believe the bible is a book of stories. And, you know, there's no way Jonah was real. That whale that you can't exist inside of a whale for three days, blah blah blah blah, all this different stuff. And there's no way those stories were true today. We are in a much more scientific perspective, and we know way too much to know that those are all fake.

How do you speak to that person, who says that they're the Christian? And then is there any way to try and salvage that conversation with the person who says they're not? I feel like they've got a very small picture of God.

K. So I'd I'd try and replace it with a bigger picture of God. How so? Well, they're the God that they have doesn't seem to actually interact with the world in any kind of meaningful way. K. So they're they're basically presupposing that there isn't anything supernatural. And then and then anytime the Bible highlights something supernatural that God does, they just kinda reject it out of hand. K. So I'd rather, you know, believe in a God who's bigger, who can can in fact interact with the world and can in fact do something supernatural. Okay. I see no reason to not believe in that.

As far as us being so enlightened, there's still a lot we don't know. And, you know, we we at the moment, we are aware of more absence of knowledge than we have ever been aware of. The the

sphere of our knowledge and and the perimeters and the new frontiers and all those things that are out there, the mysteries that are still to be discovered are larger than any body of knowledge that we have at at present. So it's a rather arrogant position to be sitting here going, oh, yeah. We know all these things. Yeah. Much of what we think we know today is based upon the, the initial thoughts and direction of the same people that we think are ignorant. Mhmm. You know I'm saying? Like like the we we think, oh, look at all these scientific,

breakthroughs that we're making or or look at all these things that we know. But, like, we're not coming really, we are not an age of of of new grand theories. Like, we are working on validating or extracting or or finding more explicit detail around grand theories from a thousand or 2,000 or years ago, right, or ways of of structuring governments. These are a lot not new ideas. And so, like, the very people that we would say, those were ignorant people for believing things were true. It was their ideas which the foundation of our current knowledge is established. And so, that's just pompous. I would agree. That's that's an arrogance. I I would say one one of the questions I would probably ask is is, I don't know, In the group, it's more difficult. But if someone was to say, I believe in I believe the same things you believe, but I don't believe the believe those stories are real. I would say, oh, that's interesting. Why not?

Like, I mean, why like, why? Why why aren't they? What about them isn't isn't real? Right? Because, like, I I I almost have to reject the premise that it's it's it is logical to just say, oh, they're stories. Why? Like, why why are you saying these things to me? You have words that come out your mouth, but I don't see much justification for them. I can tell you why I think they're true. Like, I have a pretty solid foundation. And what what it'll come down to is you ultimately have to reject,

god as god. It it is very much a big god, small god thing. That would just be another way to get there, which is what about what why not? What makes him not literal? Because the the truth is the things that Jesus seems to take literally, I feel like I have to take literally, and that they're always the big things that people wanna to to laugh about. An Adam and an Eve, a Jonah. Like, the things that we're most likely to say, those things can't happen. The very man who died on the cross for you and who you claim to believe in said thought those were true. And so, you know, there's a great fallibility. If he doesn't understand the Old Testament and he believes in lies, it would call the whole crucifixion and resurrection thing into question as well. And so, like, it's it's just a it's a bit of a tenuous fan foundation on what you'll accept from Jesus. When you look at the things that he he said, he seemed to validate,

the Mosaic law. He seems to think you can live in a fish. He seems to think, that, that some some form of God will come and live within you. Like, these are all things from a lunatic. And,

so, you know, if you're willing to write those stuff those things off as stories, it needs to cause call into question, why do we accept Jesus who seemed to believe in those things? And so true. I think that conversation ultimately either brings you closer to god or farther away. I don't know that you can remain neutral after proposing that type of discussion. That's fair. Dan, any thoughts on that? I would I don't know if I add anything. I mean, I what what I was thinking was that, here's a person that is basing their faith on their personal experience, and,

you know, they just need to widen their horizons a little bit to the possibility that maybe God's bigger than they are in their imagination and which is basically what you guys were saying. You know? It's a yeah. I I think that's totally fair. I I think that I kinda ran well, this person ran into the same situation when they were talking to these people, with, confronting the fact that you believe in a small god.

You believe in a god that does not have power. If you believe in the the creator of this universe that breathed out everything in existence, you kinda don't really have trouble with the fish. Like, let's be honest with ourselves. If you believe that that god breathes out suns and breathes out giant stars that are bigger than anything we've ever even fathomed

and then goes, well, that's your name. Give me a second. I got another one coming. We'd no longer have an issue with the dude that can go, hey, you're gonna live in a fish for a couple of days. That guy goes, alright, god. Well, you created everything, so it looks like I'm gonna live in a fish for a couple of days. Like, there's no there's no issue with that from a from a scientific perspective. And that's the conversation was that was had is, you know, at this point in time, it sounds like you believe in a God that that exists within the boxes that you can create and within the the parameters that your mind can handle. But I believe in a God that is much bigger than the parameters of your feeble mind.

Your mind cannot contain my god. I'm sorry. Unfortunately, you're wrong. That that was kinda how the conversation went. And in turn, with the the non believer, I I find so often

not necessarily confronting from a negative perspective, but from the perspective of education and and continual growth with believers. If you have a conversation with someone who claims to be a believer from the perspective, hey, let's talk about a god that's much bigger than you believe, you kinda skip that with the the non believer.

You skip that that that phase then with the non believer. You get a chance to have a seriously earnest conversation with someone about, hey. Here's the Jesus I believe in, and here's the god that I know that is much bigger than what you're proposing. And then you have a non believer sitting there and it gets to listen into that kind of conversation, which a lot of times can be even more impactful than trying to just set a foundation with the nonbeliever. Having an honest conversation with someone who claims to be a Christian and and trying to to help them to grow and you in turn grow also

sometimes if they can be if a non believer can be witness to that, it's a very moving experience from what I've seen. How do you end up in a conversation with a group of people like that? A party. Oh, yeah. Tricky. And and for some reason Sounds like a real wingding. For some reason, I'm the guy that is not in any way afraid to start talking about Jesus. So and if you couldn't tell, yes, the story was about me. I'm the new believer.

And I will always call myself that for the most part. But Dan, we need to go party more. Yeah. I think so. Like, I found myself at at a get together of, like, 15 people. And then at 02:00 in the morning, we started talking about this. Just randomly kinda burst out into a Jesus conversation, and I was confronted by these people saying, you know, that's a joke. You know, what you believe in, I don't understand, because this is why. And, oh, I'm a Christian, but I just don't think the bible's, like, literal. I think it's more from stories, and I I get confused by people who take it from a little literal perspective.

And I started laughing, and I said, here's the deal. If you guys wanna have this conversation, we're gonna have this conversation. And everyone kinda got quiet. And I said, alright. Sounds like we're having this conversation. And so I presented my content to the entire group of people, and a couple people went, are you kidding me? And then walked out. It was really funny. And then a couple people said, hey. I don't wanna have this conversation. And I said, well, it looks like it's happening and, continued. And then a couple people stayed and actually listened, and a couple people, you know, confronted and argued and stuff like that, but overall, it was a good conversation. I I thrive off that stuff, though. I think it's fun. Like, I love doing that. I don't understand the so so you've said they said, I don't understand the person that says I take the Bible literally. I don't understand someone who reads Pride and Prejudice and says, I now follow mister Bennett.

Like, I don't like, I I I don't understand. If it's stories, what is it that you're actually believing in? Right. Okay. Like, I I I I actually don't get that. How about that? How about that? Like, either it's accurate or it's or it's it is a story. And then, frankly, I I feel like I can find a story to follow and base my life on that doesn't require near the level of self sacrifice and lack of selfishness. Yeah. I'll do something else. Thank you very much, chicken. There's a lot better stories to latch on to than the story of Jesus and self sacrifice. That's true. It's like, meh. I'll with Jesus Jesus was a cool guy, but I'm a really big Tolkien fan. I think I'm gonna believe in in Middle Earth. You know what's funny?

That's his is largely based on. Right. No. I know. Okay. I know. That's what I'm with, though. I understand. Yeah. Good call. Candy. I feel Alright. I feel like Hinduism allows me to do a lot more with myself. Okay. Go ahead, Bo. We'll some Dear Life From The Path. Alright. We'll do some Dear Life From The Path.

Dear Life From The Path, I was invited to a small gathering of women. I arrived punctually, was greeted by the hostess, and asked if I wanted and asked if I wanted some water to drink. I accepted. As I looked around the room, everyone else had a glass of wine. When one other woman arrived a little while later and joined our group, the hostess asked her if she wanted wine or water to drink.

I've never abused alcohol. Why was I not given a choice? I later found out that all the other women had been given a show up time that was a half hour earlier than my show up time. I am hurt by the way I was treated. What are your thoughts? She's not pregnant. Right? Did they say? No. It does not does not comment on her pregnancy status. So here's the thing. I see I I would say my reaction is that you're too late.

The right time to have handled this circumstance would've been when when you saw the other people's wine, and you go up to the person who asked you the water and said, hey, man. Is their wine still available? Because all I got was the water. So you say it's an in party confrontation? I wouldn't call it confrontation. I think it's completely reasonable if there's 20 people in a room, 19 are drinking water or wine, and you offered me water for me to be like, hey, man. Is there wine available? That seems or I might ask I maybe miss that I don't ask the same person. Maybe I just ask someone and say, hey. Where'd you get that wine? All I have is the water. You can go pour yourself a glass? Yeah.

Alright. Yeah. I think that's fine. Take the bull by the horns. Anybody else? I, yeah. Go ahead. She went to the wrong wrong group of people. If she was for the group group of guys, they'd all be buying her wine. So. Thanks, Dan. Dan says, don't party with lazies if you want free booze. Women are catty. They wait for me. Dan's advice. Your gender is hot with women are catty. Yeah. Yeah. I would I woulda had the I I suppose if I have to give advice right now is it would be to let it go.

Okay. If it happens again, talk about it at the party. But, yeah, I would let it go. Yeah. It happens again. Awkward thirty minutes earlier, and then I thought she said someone showed up after her, though. They did. Offered wine. I mean, could it have been an oversight? It could have been. But apparently, from your statement, women are catty.

And that doesn't happen ever. Women don't oversee things. It just happens. Has she been gaining a lot of weight lately recently? I mean That's what I'm saying. I don't you guys are asking for details. I can't give you. Okay. Buva, does she have morning sickness or what? She does not. In this dear life from the past, she does not comment on any kind of pregnancy slash weight gain. Maybe she has gestational diabetes. Here's the Then we definitely know she's pregnant. That's not what I'm saying. Here's the thing. You could this this could have been entirely purposeful. Right? Intended to shame and humiliate you. Alright? A, nobody knows the difference. B, there's no way to bring this up outside of the moment without looking ridiculous.

You offered me water. You offered everyone else wine, and I think very much of that. Hey, James. Do you still have any empty bottles to lay around? Actually, maybe you do have a problem with alcohol. This is still on your mind. Hey, man. I really wanted that alcohol last week, Janice.

Yeah. I coulda really used a glass of wine that night. Buy my own. Here's the deal. It's a missed Walk in with a bag of bones farm. Open up the Craigslist. It's a missed connection. Alright? This is your A missed connection. Your opportunity has passed. You do not get to say anything about this. You not only have to let it go, but you have to act like it didn't happen and move on with your life. I feel like this is a historic day in Life From The Path because at A Dear Life From The Path, one of our advice givers said, this is a misconnection on Craigslist. Alright. You're welcome. Alright. Dear second class citizen, I think this is secular. I think your hostess could learn a few things about hospitality

because you were treated shabbily. As it stands, you have nothing to lose by asking her why because I can't imagine that you would ever accept another invitation from this woman if one is offered. Oh, come on. She's totally disagreed with you, Ben. This is wait. I'm sorry. This is a friendship breaker? Yeah. Seems like it. You either offer me wine like you offered everyone else or we're done forever? You treated me different. You gave me a 30 minute difference Wow. In start time of the party. Oh, man.

That, I mean, that is weird. I mean, you do. Sure. I I wanna know why. I I. Sure. I just wanna know. I want her to find out and get back to us. Dan, do you think that you are jumping to the fact that this gal has the worst intentions? I I that's what I would be thinking. I'd be a number four right there. I was gonna say, are we are we number four in this situation? We are immediately assuming bad intentions? Alright. I no. That's what I'm saying. Take the attention off the table. It's interesting to know why it happened. If it was an oversight, if it was some sort of, vindictive behavior. Either way, it's interesting. But like, that is a relationship that has no grace in it whatsoever. Yeah. That's ridiculous. I mean, people do that to me, but it's because I'm a pastor, and they're like, they don't know if they if I can drink. Drink. Do you do you consume alcohol like Jesus did?

She will. Give me a cup of water. I'll change it. Do you have any old doodles? Do you think Jesus brought his own water at two parties just to turn it into wine? Watch this. Exactly. You think that's cool? I don't think he needs to bring his own water. I feel like they have some available. It's just one of those things you don't haul around. See, even cooler if he's just like, hey, Does anybody have any water? No. Well, I do. And then he just strikes the ground and a fountain comes up. Simon Peter, get the jug. Moses

Moses hit the rock. We're running low. Moses hit the rock. Alright. Do we have time for one more? Yeah. One more. Deer lie from the path. At what point should grown kids in their twenties pay for their own extras? Cell phone, gas, movies, gym memberships, question mark? Andrew. In my opinion

in my opinion, if they can't afford these luxuries, they should get a second job or do without. Yeah. My husband, on the other hand, thinks they should be rewarded simply for being good kids. At this stage in their lives, I think gifts should be reserved for birthdays and Christmas only, and that we have been raising kids with a sense of entitlement that may be detrimental to their future and to our retirement. What are your thoughts on this? Odd woman out in Pennsylvania? That depends. It depends on their their level of entitlement. You know I'm saying? Like like, to the extent that they are, I think you should be it's certainly okay to give good gifts to your children.

I but I would also say to the extent that if you've created children who also feel entitled to them, then they don't get them simply because it feeds something bad in their life. So, frankly, for me, it's just it's more of an evaluation as as to whether they feel entitled to it than whether I give it to them or not. Yeah. I was given until after college. Once I graduated, I was like You're on your own gym membership? Gym membership, phone bill. I don't Yep. Whatever else. Dude. That's it. You you you aim them towards self sufficiency, and the second they're there, you say, good luck. I'm here if you need me. Except for the gym membership. Except for the yeah. Get a Get a

second job. Being in this generation right now, I feel like, no. You don't pay for anything for your kids. I don't care what they're entitled to, or I don't care how you feel like you should reward them. No. Go make them pay for their own crap. Yeah. I know. Yeah. I don't have a problem with it.

Here's the You don't think you're setting these kids up for for one day where they're just gonna start whining about how you're not paying for it anymore? You're fighting you're fighting at the wrong step, Moova. The the point is is is what is your kid entitled? Right? If they're not entitled, it's not harmful to give good gifts to them. If they are entitled, I won't give them those things because it furthers a negative thing in their life. It depends whether they're entitled or not. You want me to take you want me to take the Catholic step and find two steps back? Now the truth is is, like, you get to that point, though, by having created not creating that sense of entitlement up through the through their lives. Right. Right? It but but there's a difference between, creating a sense of entitlement and creating a sense of security to which my kids should always know that I love and will take care of them. Not because they're leaning on me and saying that, that saying I won't do anything because I'm willing to take advantage of my dad, but, like, I don't need to create a sense in their life to say, boy, I hope I don't jack up my life, or I hope that, I don't run into hard times because I know for certain my dad will not help me because he doesn't wanna create a sense of entitlement in my life. It's just it's more gray than that. Now the truth is is that as a culture, we have very much created entitled children,

who don't know how to who aren't self sufficient and frankly couldn't help themselves if they wanted to. But and that is the measure of the person who I don't contribute to. But the truth is is, like, I would not reserve from giving my child something, if they otherwise if they are handling their own affairs well or don't have a sense of entitlement, I would not withhold a good gift out of the concern that it will then entitle them. Now okay. So so I think that's fair for the statement of a gift, but do you really think that, like, paying their cell phone month every, cell phone bill every month and getting them gas all the time and gym memberships is a gift? It just depends what it is. Like a monthly gift? It depends what it Well, we're talking in the concept of cell phones, gym So gym Gas movies. Maybe gym. I I might get I might give my kids a gift of a gym membership. So because here's the deal. If they're spending all their money on cell phones and and gas, and it's something that they feel like would improve their life, and they they literally don't have the money to pay for it, I might do that. Okay. I get it. Situation is you can get it way cheaper as a family membership than them you each getting individual memberships. Well, yeah. But that's that's not the advice here.

Go get a gym membership with a family because it's a little bit cheaper. I mean, if you already have a family family membership, you're gonna kick them off saying, well, you can't be on this now. No. You're yeah. Okay. You're getting entitled. You're over. You're too old. You must pay you must pay $200 more for the same benefits to teach you a lesson. I like, that's the thing is it's it's situational. Right. I care enough about my kids that I do not want to I will do not wanna contribute to a sense of entitlement that causes them failure, so I simply wouldn't do that. But, like, because I know them or I'd be familiar with their situation, I should have a rough idea as to what contributes to that or not. And I certainly wouldn't withhold and say, will not give you good gifts because I'm concerned about you being entitled.

Right. Fair enough. Here's a second to say. Dear odd woman out, my thoughts are these, full colon. If you are truly concerned that your husband's generosity could have negative impact on your retirement savings, then he may be overly generous. If the children expect these gifts and don't realize how lucky they are to be receiving this kind of,

these kind of gifts should be stopped. However, if neither of these things is true and your husband derives pleasure from doing this for them, you should stay out of it. That's pretty close. Alright. Fair enough. I don't know the I wish she's kind of altered give till give then self sacrificial way to give as long as you're not you don't notice the difference.

So, I mean, I may have worded that a little bit differently. Yeah. But as long as it's not sacrificing anything for yourself, it's fine. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Alright. Okay. Alright. Yeah. I think that's just I think that's gonna have to shut us down. You've listening live from the past. Big thanks to, Bob Eisner with the Eisenhower team. Thanks for hanging out here on the podcast. I would say sign up for the podcast, but you're you're already here. God bless you. Thanks for being here. If you have a complaints on the show, like, go ahead and let the radio station know what's best they have to deal with that kind of thing. If you have positive things to say, I'd love to hear. Choose an email info life from the path dot org or hook up with us on Twitter, at live from the path. Say positive things, and, that would be great. I think that's all we got. If you got, anything you wanna talk about, anything you need advice on, you got some talk to the show, shoot us an email. Thanks for hanging out with us. Be faithful in me. God will take care of the ends. You've been listening to you, live from the path.