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

And you're listening to Live From The Path. We're joining from The Pathway Studios here in Johnston Proper. It's like listening to the non original Broadway cast of Jesus Christ Superstars. It's not it's not gonna be what you think. You know what I'm saying? No. I've been disappointed by that multiple times. Like, I went digging for some sort of revamped Jesus Christ Superstar.

And mhmm. I mean, here's the thing. Like, it's just it's just a it's a good soundtrack. You know what saying? Like, every time someone says, hey, we redid this tune, think, yeah. They've got it all figured out. Right? It has every possible element to rock and do cool things if they want, and they always just cheese it up so bad. And plus, what was that guy's name that that played the original Jesus, Ted Neely? Yeah. It was the guy from who sang Smoke on the Water? Deep Purple. Yeah. He was he was the lead singer for Deep Purple. I mean, he's a monster. Yeah. He's a monster of a man. You know I'm saying? And I don't I don't He's a he's a real skinny wiry fella. Well, that's what I'm saying. Yeah. Mean, like, stature wise, he's not a monster. But I mean, he's got, like, the craziest, screaminest

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Voice you'd done ever heard, you know. And, like, I feel bad for anybody trying to audition for this thing. In fact, I went and saw the play version of Jesus Christ Superstar when I was, like, 12 or something with one of my mom's friends, you know, they said, we're gonna go see this. And I actually love the soundtrack at that age. And so we go see this thing, and Jesus is wearing khakis and a white t shirt. And I said, what is this? What what is this? That's not my Jesus. No. My Jesus don't wear no khakis. That's not my Jesus. Right. And then and then the band was like, there was only, like, six guys in the band. Yeah. That's the years do. You they once they leave Broadway, they they let go of the 40 piece musical and they send you with a guy with a synthesizer and like a a snare drum. Yeah. They don't charge quite as much when they get to the Civic Center as they do in the, you know Yeah. That's what I'm saying. They can't pay the professional oboe man to make the make the bus. The professional oboe man. So I've never actually have seen it. Yeah. I was gonna say, I don't think I've ever seen it either. Am I missing out? I remember I was singing some of the songs in my head, like, some some of the parts of the tunes that stopped myself and I'd be like, wait, can I be singing this? Is this blasphemy? I don't know. Well, don't don't recognize it. Wait. So Ben and I were talking about this earlier. There there are parts of that, like, when it came out, obviously, it was considered sacrilegious,

you know, almost across the board. They made some insinuations about Mary Magdalene. Yep. And, you know, the character of Jesus was was marred at you know, it's something that from an outside of a biblical world view that, you know you know, I could see how they would extrapolate about Jesus. There it's not true. But like Right. There are things that they that they took into account of his character that weren't true. This really is not your Jesus. Yeah. But there are there are parts of of that movie where they nail theology that that, you know, a lot a lot of churches won't won't touch. Right? Like, nailed

you know, the the Ben was talking about this earlier about, you know, Christ's coronation, his his kingdom establishing when he was on the cross. And and, like, they nailed that part. They got that part right. Yeah. The the the the visuals around that and the audio around around his kingship, they got better than I've seen it done in a lot of places. Like, a lot of especially,

crucifixion narratives. Like, they're so focused on the suffering and not the out not the outcome, not what is You haven't seen our Easter play. No. That's true. That's true. Perhaps it's coming around. Yeah. Every church I've been to that that has an Easter play thinks that they're the first guys to come up with this trapeze string operation. This will be great. You know, like, if Jesus flies out of places, you know, like, you know, boys, you could probably just to pack that in. The khaki Jesus convinced me, and he wasn't on no string. Yeah. I mean, I I suppose here's the deal. It's like, don't get my theology from Jesus Christ Superstar just like I don't get it from The Shack. Right. You know what saying? Like, I don't run any risks having picked up something from either one of those things because I'm not looking for it to replace my body. I I can't wait for the Facebook fights on The Shack. Oh, it's gonna be outrageous. Have you read The Shack? Yes. I'm excited for that one. Boo boo boo gonna see it? I have not read it. I I never read it. Mostly because I read books. Yeah. So now, Booba, after having read it Yes. Did did you have, did you have a repulsive reaction to some of the, some of the contents like some people do? I well, so when I read it, I was actually kinda really new in my faith, and hadn't really had a lot of of foundation of of true biblical study. And So this is a good start? I think No. Was accurate. Of course, I didn't know accurate. No. No. Ultimately,

I I don't think and and I actually I I got it from a friend of mine that, that gave me the, the CDs of it. So I actually listened to it in my truck while was driving. Yeah. Or my vehicle while was driving. But, it it did not replace any theology for me, and that's why I wasn't upset about it. Well, you put it in his context. Yeah. What I allowed it do, was make me think. That's it. That's that's all I was allowing it to do, was, well, this is an interesting take on this. Like, if you've not read it, I I I liked it quite a bit. I like the different caricatures that are that are, put forth,

for the character of Jesus in his physical body and for the holy spirit and for God, and everything like that. And it was a it was a interesting play on that. It didn't deepen my understanding in God. It didn't deepen my emotional relationship with him, but, it certainly made me stop and think about my relationship with him, which drove me to my Bible to look for more and drove me to people around me. Yeah. It's like reading the message as opposed to a translation. Right? Like, it's it's not I don't think you should study the Shack. Like, I don't think you should look for it, to be exactly like you said, it's not your replacement bible, and it's not another translation of your bible. What it is is it's something that can make you think and go, that's kind of a cute way to do that. Or, oh, I I thought that storyline was interesting or that was a really interesting turn that that made that character do that thing. And, and that's all it was. It was just personifications

of of who I knew Jesus to be. And it it drove me back to my bible to to, either fight those thoughts, with it with, like, biblical sound doctrine or

kind of look into, well, what does that really mean here? How do I how do I look at something differently based off of what I got from that? And if you look at it from it's a creative piece, from someone that wanted to give a different perspective, great. But Like the like the book of Eli? Yeah. The the The Dizzell Washington. Yeah. Absolutely. If you take that and think it's something to do with the bible, well, no. But, I mean, it's kinda cool to think about at the very end when he's doing his thing. So is is the author of the shack a believer? It was at a Christian publishing house and everything? I thought they saw it in, like, Christian books It is. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And so and and, like, some of the some of the the there's major concerns around how first of all, the personification of God in general. Right? Like, creating an image of which people then are are dealing with God the father.

This is This wasn't that an African American woman? Yeah. Yeah. It is. It is. It was a hedge of my money. What's here Nice. It could have been an old white dude. Like, the the premise of their argument is, like, someone has created an image of God and put it onto the screen. Well, so was every, like, dude who you know, Gary Larson cartoon where somebody is speaking from the heavens or Yeah. Was gonna say, know, that's Who do you think Gozer the Gozerian is? What? I don't think that's supposed to be God. Are you a God? What is Gozer the Gozerian? From it's from Ghostbusters one.

Oh. When someone asks if you were a God, you say yes. Apparently, fan of that movie Ghostbusters is the original shackle.

I haven't seen this book haven't seen this movie or read this book. I'll probably see the movie just because I never read the book just to kinda see what, you know. Yeah. Don't know if I yeah. That seems like a weird argument that someone's creating, an image of God. Yeah. They well, you mean, it's odd. Well, mean, here's to think of because you're not trying to create an image of God for people to worship. Well, so they right. Right. So so, like, I mean, that's kinda where the weird is it is it worse than, I don't know, watching Girls on HBO?

Like, is it is it is it any worse than the the types of things people are taking in? Because I I would agree it's not it's not actually presenting a god to worship. Right. Is it, is it is it including I've I've not read it, but I've read enough. I was surprised at some of the harshness of some of the reviews. Yeah. So I did read some of the reviews. And, like, I I I understand where people are coming from. I totally get it. But, like, I I don't know anyone who's actually read that who was looking to say, how can I know god differently? Hopefully, the shack can inform me. Right. Uh-huh. Right? Like like, it's it's it's affirmed things that they otherwise believed about God without otherwise changing

like, true things they understood about God from the Bible without changing things that they already believed. And so, like, I I don't think I mean, did you have to be careful taking stuff in? Anything like that? Yeah. Of course. Yeah. Absolutely. I'll say, of course, just a a cautious thing. Yeah. Sound doctrine, when you you gotta be careful. You have to be careful. And there's so much crap out there Yeah. That I suppose people are gonna come down hard just just to scare people away Yeah. And protect them. Kinda like the Pharisees. Yeah. Yeah. I was gonna say Right. I feel like they're

a dick. I'm just saying that they don't They meant well. Yeah. But That's true. It does it creates the 10 steps back, for fear of taking the one step over. Right thought, wrong pass probable reaction. And frankly, I mean, if it's if it's a good opportunity to say what's right doctrine, just like it is just like you would if your if your kids are going to a unless you're teaching them at home, anytime someone else has other influence over your kid, you have the opportunity to say, hey, what did you learn? Okay. Here's what's right about that. Here's where we would disagree. That was a regular conversation in when my girls were in school. Oh, yeah. What what was happening? I was specifically, hey, what happened in science today? Yeah. Oh, you had a counseling there, you know, the the counseling group, they call that when they all got together with the counseling. What did they talk about? Yeah. And then I'd say, oh, well, that's kinda silly because this is, you know Right. Here's what we know. Here's why we wouldn't we don't care about like that. Slam against the wall and say, what? And then I just What's his name? I'll be up shortly. Yeah. Yeah. Like, there's I mean, you can Reprogramming. You can say that that no one can have any exposure to anything, and I mean, that that's not a biblical perspective.

It just you you correct where you have to correct. If if if people read something and otherwise get them talking about it and then you otherwise you have to spend time making sure that you're filtering it through the right filters, I mean, yeah, that's life. That's life in a fallen world, friends. I don't it doesn't mean now you could take that same discussion and say, well, then we should all go to the strip club and then figure out how we should have dealt with it. That's not the that's not the right thought. We'll meet Joel Osteen there. Why why is he at the strip club? He's got money.

He can't do anything. He's money to burn. Oh, man. That's the poor Christians I know. We can't even go to the strip club. I thought I didn't go for more reasons, apparently, just because I'm broke. Yeah. You can't afford the only thing that's been stopping me is my pocketbook. I read The Shack and I can go. I don't

and Jemima Jesus. I'm all set. I haven't read it. That's a joke. Take don't take that harshly if you love The Shack. Yeah. I mean, I And that kinda just throws away all Christian fiction. Like, I I love Yeah. Yeah. I I'm a huge fan of, like, Ted Decker and Frank Peretti and guys like that. Like, I'm I'm a big fan of reading those Christian fiction novels. Yeah. There you go. And, like, you don't have to take that as doctrine. It's just someone's interpretation from something. So the distinction they would make is that they would generally say that those people aren't creating heresy. Right? They're creating false, or fictional accounts that otherwise accurately reflect god. Right? Whereas, the concern with the shack is that it is, it does not reflect God correctly. It's not there there is not sound biblical doctrine in parts. There there's implications of, either universalism,

lack of any justice on God's behalf that he simply doesn't care about justice. Like, there there's some things that yes. I have a biblical problem with. It doesn't represent God correctly. Yeah. But here's the thing. I don't go to the shack expecting it to. Right. I don't expect it to get, like anything anything outside the Bible, probably not gonna get God right universally. That's the risk of reading anything outside of the scripture. Well, yeah. When's the last time you saw a movie anyway? That that even the set of it was biblically biblically accurate, it it they aren't. I mean, they just aren't Right. Yeah. Like, Noah? We talked about Noah. Yep. Oh, man. Noah's Ark, you know. Noah's rough. Yeah. That yeah. Yeah. I finally saw him when was on TV or something. I'm like, oh. No. He's like, yeah. We we

Christ followers believe in giant rock giants. Almost lost my faith though. You know what I said? I really like the look of these rock giants. There are no statues in the backyard. None of them moved. I was like, oh, man. This is rough. And what the the sad thing was is I had people talk to me about that movie and go, wait a minute. Is that what you actually believe? I'm like, dude, don't that's that's No. Just stop. No. I mean, here's the deal. We believe some outrageous things. We do. Because god But I'm I'm willing to fight for the real outrageous things that I believe in. That's right. Yeah. I do not believe that Joan and the whale was a cute story about some deal. God sent a big old fish. Alright? I am a firm believer in that deal. Some people say, oh, no. The whale was a whale was a story. I'm like, no. No. There's nothing symbolic about my lord god going, hey, man. You know how I created you big whale? You get over there. You swallow that dude, but you don't eat him. And the whale goes, alright, father of everything. Let me do that. That's true. When people say like, rock people, that's ridiculous. Eyes for legs and six wings and five heads, I'm in. That's the difference. Yeah. Know. We're kinda silly, Arlen.

It's like I should leave rock people in the text. But I read Revelation recently, and there's some sweet stuff in there. So Jesus put that gal by the hand and said, get up, and she did. Yeah. I'm in. He raises people from the dead, but he sure doesn't make rock people. Beast sin woman. I can see her do that. Yeah. I know that woman. That's definitely real. You better stand out, people. I'm a little taken aback. And then it's kinda funny, though. It's like, they go, you really believe in these rock totally got that. That's the part that threw you off? The guy that came down, died, rose back to life? You're completely cool with that. But the rock people? Rock people threw off. Not the whole great flood thing and all the different stuff. Animals coming two by two completely in order. No worries. No, man. I don't like rock people.

Whatever. You know what? You think that, you think the fish swam by the boat or they had, like, free rein because they weren't on the boat, so they went wherever they want? You know what I'm saying? Were there two beluga whales following the ark around, or they're like, we own the sea, bro. We have fallen somewhere. They doesn't bother us a bit. Exactly. They're We are all set. Yeah. I mean, I just wonder how what kind belugas were the elitists that were looking all the animals on the ark or just like, yeah. God didn't destroy our domain. We used to live in it. Yeah. Your demonstration of kingdom living isn't rolling around on the grass. You go into the water because that's where the purity is. Yeah. It's where the fish got to live. I mean, can

you imagine He added to our domain with this. It's the piety of these sea creatures. Right? Like, god tried to destroy us with our own home. Try to breathe in this. Oh, wait a minute. I guess we're fine. You probably Oh, look. More of what I live in is coming down. I'll be just fine. I feel like the manor from the sky. I'm like, oh, no. More sustaining life. Bring it off. God, you really brought it on this one. I I always figured we probably lost a few fish in the strong currents, That's you know, don't know. Who knows? They shouldn't have been around anymore. Yeah. That's we should take a moment. Yeah. Moment is for all the fallen species in the because there's some fish fossils, you know, that are, you know, suddenly buried by soil and everything. I think, oh, that's probably Yeah. Maybe so. Here's the deal is is he probably probably left the water creatures intact because he was growing a big fish to swallow Jonah. He's like, hey, man. You realize he's eat a lot. It's gonna take a while. If I start over again, it's gonna take too long to get to that Jonah story. That's right. I wanna throw these guys off with a bit of evolution, so you guys Too bad. I can just imagine God sitting there with this time schedule. Hey, man. If I don't make that big fish in a while, I think we're gonna have to push Jonah back about a thousand years. So If I gotta cut him in half and have him eaten by two fish, this story is really gonna take a turn.

Zacchaeus was a wee little man. Could Jonas be too? Jonah be one too? Two hungry red bass nibbled at Jonas. And then Three straight days. They threw him up on the shore, and he reconstituted. He was slightly irritated. That is only

slightly more sturgeon showed up. Slightly more outrageous than him living in the fish. So here's the things, I will accept either. Hey, man. God works in whatever voice he wants. Whatever scripture he wants. On a scripture. That'd be kind of fun. Now we've we've painted Jonah to be this master of the sea. He's

Aquaman style is riding on the shark. He's got telepathic powers. He's like, no. No, whale. Just eat me half the whale. That's why he agreed to be thrown over. He's like, you know what, go ahead. He's like, don't worry, boys. This is my domain. They're my friends. We talk. I'm like I'm like the Triton. I'm the Triton of the world. Alright. You're listening to live from the Shack. Thanks for hanging out. I gotta say, we we just kinda went there, didn't we? That's

how it happened. Don't read Hey, man. We should read it's like a virus. Hey. Have you read the new comic where Jonah is actually Aquaman? To bring to bring this to a fine point, if you're coming to life from the path for specifics on your theology, you may have come to the wrong area. Please run it through scripture first. Turn on that filter. Jonah as Aquaman. Check.

Pious secret here to avoid flood. No. Hashtag not my lord. I'm not afraid of this. Actually, this is hashtag not my Jonah. This is apropos. So there was a there was a story on Christianity

Today, and it was Americans warm up to every religious group except evangelicals. But we keep saying it with the face.

So there was a they did, like, a thermometer rating. It's hold on. The only thing I didn't check on was, okay. This is only over the last two years. So 2014 to 2016. They basically took a took a poll and, like like, what are your thoughts on these religious folk? K? These types of religious folks. Jews are up 4%. Oh. No. Good for them. Oh, wait. It's it's No Jews. It's expressed in a means temperature. Oh. Like a thermometer. Okay. So the Jews are at four degrees. Oh. Catholics Is that equal to a percentage or no?

No. I don't know. I don't know what the Fahrenheit or Celsius? It's in Fahrenheit. Okay. I don't know what the top degree go to Curvais in. Got some sweet Kelvin in there. Let's see. Catholics are up four degrees. Oh. Mainline Protestants are up four degrees. Buddhists are up seven. Woah.

Hindus are up eight. Wow. Mormons Mormons are making progress at six. Atheists are up nine. Yeah. Right. People are 50 degrees on atheists. This is a weird way to express this. Muslims are up eight. Evangelical

Christians flat in 61. We didn't move in the last two years. Let's see. Here we go. So, Pew's feelings thermometer survey of more than 4,200 adults found that even without any increase, evangelists evangelicalism

remains one of the most liked faith traditions in the country behind Jews, Catholics, and mainland protestants. However, the movement's popularity is largely due to positive ratings from evangelicals themselves. Yeah. We're alright. Motor sales. Yeah, boys. Doing like us? Yeah. Alright.

Hey. How do you how do you feel about your fellow evangelicals? I'm a 61. Does that mean some people are like, not for them. We're not even room temperature? I find it funny that, like, the like, the the Buddhists and the Hindus gain you know I'm saying? Because people read into that religion more than is actually there. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, we make a bunch of inspirational memes and whatnot, and then they're like, yeah. I'm a I'm a free thinking Buddhist. I'm just looking to find myself. You're basically just saying I'm a do whatever I want, and I'm a call it Buddhism. No. Yeah. That's true. I mean, Christianity has the same issue. Right? I don't I don't do that, Ben. Well Otherwise, I'm not reading that Bible correctly, I think. I would say perhaps other other,

quotes, parentheses, Christians, perhaps have the same issue. Right? Like, identify as, oh, yeah. I'm a Christian, and then it doesn't look anything like Christian. All these all these, these religious catalogs and whatnot. Have you read The Shack, Ben?

I I read excerpts. You gotta let it Have you read the new Jonah Aquaman Jonah Aquaman feature? So Okay. Hologram? I kinda hesitate to say this, but I'm going to because hopefully no one's gonna ever watch this. Right on. No. Alright. Promise, Don't share there's any words here. So I I got a friend on Facebook who's lately been, like, doing some live videos from the capital where they're having some some major

legislation on, like, life and and stuff. So I would I would I I don't even I honestly haven't investigated that deeply, but I assume I would probably agree with, like, some of the legislate legislation. Yeah. Mike begins to come set up and stuff like that. Anyway, I I haven't really watched the video, so I'm I'm I'm speaking a little bit, you know you know but but my understanding is, like, they're they're seeing hymns Oh, right. At the courthouse. Yep. And and have to say that embarrasses me. They're excited, and they're applauding and saying, look how cool we're winning, and I'm thinking that that kinda cools the temperature for me a little bit. I'm like, I don't I don't know if am I weird? Am I just a Shaq guy now? I'm just No. I think it's just weird. So I I think I agree. I think that actually coincides

with, you know, remember what we were talking about a few weeks ago about the long term effectiveness of the political landscape through executive orders. Right? When we talk about, like, you you you you may have won the battle, but it's I'm hesitant as to whether you're actually positively impacting the war Right. Through how you're winning the battle. Yeah. And so it's it's a little bit like, same thing. You may, that legislation and stuff is otherwise things I agree with, but how you're doing it isn't actually helping people understand why what you think is important is important. It's it's just kinda

I don't it's not dominating. Don't how to explain it right, but, like, I I think there it's a similar thing, whereas how how you're accomplishing the right things doesn't mean that long term there's a benefit because how it's being done, you're like, I don't I don't know about that. I don't know. It's just it's just some it doesn't quite smell right to me. Like like, mean, it was one thing if, like, you're they're about ready to start the church on fire, and they're gonna burn you to death. Start singing, and it's like, hey. We're worshiping. You it's like, okay. This is it. You know? Yeah. And it's a spontaneous I I okay. I'm like, yeah. Yeah. But this is like, yeah. We're in this big battle at the courthouse.

Yeah. Well, and maybe I I just don't get out of It does kinda feel that way because because think of someone's perspective on the other side of that argument. Right? Like, we fundamentally believe that they they're they're not understanding life correctly. They're just flat out they're just not taking it in as as God designed. Right? So now what you're saying is, like, not only did we win this legislation,

but you're on the other side of God. He opposes you. Yeah. He's against you. Yeah. And whether you're you're saying about that. That's right. You're not saying that. Right? But but, like, that's how I would take it in. I think that's how I the the the because, I mean, it's it's a good thing. It's it's great as we're bold, but it's like, oh, you know? Well, like, how are you winning people over for Jesus if if we have some kind of victory? And I say that in in parentheses there or in quotations there, and throwing it in their face by, hey. Now that you're wrong and might be be losing this, we're going to ascribe worth to our god in front of your faces

and make you feel even more alienated than the god we originally want you to be, a part of. So, like, it's think I think I'm a little bit with Danny. I'm a little bit on the because, like, you know, publicly like, celebrating in worship for something that has honored god, you're like, why? How could that not how could that not be right? But it does it does have a little bit of that vibe where it I I don't know how I guess maybe I I don't I'd have to think about how you would do it differently, but it but it does kinda feel like that. It does it does kinda feel like our God won. You are on the other side of that,

and you lost. But the Christians have a dual responsibility to to progress the kingdom by growing the kingdom. Yeah. Right? And that includes the people who are on the other side of that issue. I simply have always known the difference because I always I've been I've I've been raised with that perspective. I don't have to fight some of the things those people are fighting with. Mhmm. And so, like, it becomes difficult then to accomplish both. We we kinda just decided to celebrate the one, and in itself, it's not bad. Our job is just a lot more complicated than that. Right. Maybe that's something And that is Yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead. I was gonna say, think that's why, like, in general, people are have kinda cooled down maybe a little bit, or least not warmed up. Right. Right. Because we do things like that, and we don't mean it. We don't mean it like, you're gonna burn.

But but it's we are we communicate it all the time. We're bad. We're good. And some of that has to do with, like, society in general. Just they just we have thin skin. You know what I'm saying? Like, we're not only when somebody opposes us, we we don't think I wonder what their legit viewpoint is. We just think, that man's a jerk. He hates me. Yeah. Right? He opposes me. He hates me as a whole person. Right? And, like, I I mean, I think that, and I don't need and I know better. You know what I'm saying? When someone disagrees with me, I'm like, he hates me from top to bottom. We're enemies now. We are not friends. And, like, that is that is not the case at all. Right? Right. And so, like, because we live in that society and that's the way that we operate, when you have a victory and then attach God to it and say, my our victory is is solely from the Lord. We will praise him for this. The thing the thing is is, like, how would you balance that out? You know, are you down at the capital singing hymns anyway? Just because God is God. Yeah. You're the accomplished man. Exactly. You're like, God is great. Yeah. I And even if we lose something legislatively, are you still worshiping God for being exactly who he is? Yeah. Say God will be worshiped on Zion. I don't care what law you have. Exactly. No. It just not meant I'm not a part of your kingdom. I'm part of his kingdom. And regardless of what legislation you come up with, he still reigns supreme. I'm still gonna put my arms around that little girl who's thinking about an abortion and trying to love her into life. Rather do that. Yeah. Than than march on any kind of place so that we can have legislation for what we call morality. I mean, I don't know that it's not both. I I there there's a responsibility to the extent that you can influence, and that is the means to which you can do it. Like, do we do we fight for protection for those who can't defend themselves? Yeah. I mean, I I absolutely.

Yeah. But, like, I I think it's where we we fail to embrace the very broad and difficult responsibility that kingdom workers have, which is, like, we are never the gloating party because we are we are on the side of right or we are weeping with the wrong. But, like, all of it is still our work. And so I think, like, when we get too heavy on one or the other and stop administering

broadly, it's where our perspectives get real we we increase and contribute to blindness by how we've otherwise handled it. Like, can I can I mourn with people or even for people who are on the other side of this issue who, like, are looking and saying, what about the woman that is in this terrible circumstance or who was who was raped or who Right? You know, can't take another child and is in a a situation with an abusive partner and, like, they feel like they have to have the baby? Hey, man. I like, if we can't sympathize, if we can't look at that situation and recognize that people are trying to solve a problem with sympathy toward one of these parties, we're foolish. It's just that it's not the right solution to the problem, and it's not taking in a whole perspective. But if we're guilty of that same thing, we're we're actually contributing to the to the blindness on the other side. And so, I we should, we should have a, be very careful that we don't have a false sense of our own victory when there is despair on the other side of an issue like that. Well, it's true. And that I mean, I think it points to the we we were talking about this a little bit earlier this week, but, like, sometimes we forget who our enemy is. Right? Like, we like to attribute our enemy as as other people. Right? Like like, your enemy's Trump or your enemy's Black Lives Matter or your enemy's the Democratic Party or your enemy's whoever. Right? Those those people are not your enemy. Right? Those are your people. That's your community. The enemy is the one that's trying to convince them that there is a better way to live without God. And so, like, you're you're forgetting who your enemy is sometimes. And so sometimes when we gloat, we we we gloat against the wrong enemy. We nothing got accomplished there. I mean, it did. You know what? We're legislating something good and something that we believe in. Right? But but the truth of the matter is is, like, if we should never look at it as a as a victory over those sinful people or those other guys. Right? Right. Like, it's it's still a fail that they are under the impression that,

they could live a life without God. They're they're constructing Babylon on their own. You know I'm saying? So, like, that's the sad part. Our real enemy is the deceiver that's trying to convince people that that is not the deal. Right. And so as soon as we forget who the real enemy is and who the real victor is, we've now we've we've done both. Like, when we gloat in that way, we've taken the victory seat away from Christ, and then we've pointed the enemy as the guy, as the other people. Right? And, like and that's not their intention. I'm not painting those guys ever doing that as their their intention. But, like, we we we will do that. As a as a group, as a church following evangelical group, we will do that. And it will look exactly like that, and it's actually what we're meant to do. We just didn't think it through. Yeah. So I suppose the two things to be real careful of is, like, make sure we're working under the right notions of victory and the right notions of enemy, and where where we we claim,

and rightly celebrate, but otherwise are blind to the fact of what, like, what we've categorized as our victory through means,

through certain means, against an enemy has probably misdefined both of what those things actually should be. It's a much broader perspective even though it's a positive thing.

We always like like, Christianity is just is just a a very nuanced thing where, like, the minute we locate an enemy and properly identify him as such, it means that we've properly located someone who we're to treat as a friend. Right? Like or who who are we to be gracious to and who are we who we are to forgive. And so, like, our ability to identify, enemies

is only for the fact so that we know how to treat them well based upon biblical precedent and forgiveness of Jesus. And so, like, we just gotta be very careful of where we stop listening to scripture along the route and celebrate the fact that we dominate an enemy when our reaction to enemies is otherwise not supposed to be that. And so we just gotta be think we gotta be real careful with what we do and that we don't take in full counsel when we're otherwise engaging and things like that. And there is not to say that there there is benefit informing folks that they are on the other side of God on this thing. Sure. Right? Like, that's just fact. And the Bible will spell that out, which means we'll spell that out. It's just the victory in your blindness. Like like our celebration in your blindness,

that's that's not warranted. Right? Like, I would never celebrate someone's blindness to the fact that that God is who he says he is, and joy comes from where he says it comes from. And so, like, if we celebrate that, we we are we really are celebrating the wrong thing. It said that, and maybe maybe this doesn't surprise you guys, but I found this a little bit hard to believe. It said part of the reason for evangelicals middling ratings is lack of exposure. The proportion of Americans who say they know an evangelical dropped by nine percentage points from 2,014 to now down to 61%.

What? That's not surprising. 61% of people. Introduce yourself as an evangelical? Say, I think it might be just the terminology. Okay. So no. I was that I was I was gonna ask that. So, like, is it possible that, like I mean, even I don't I have trouble identifying evangelical, especially by the comparison to mainline Protestant. Yeah. Like, why don't I don't know if it may not be Right. Yeah. You just say I follow Jesus? I don't even have that I was gonna say. Preacher idol thing. Right. And they're like, what are you, man? Evangelical doesn't fit on a bumper sticker. I don't know. Wait. Like, is it bad that I are am I an evangelical?

I don't know. I mean yeah. Yeah? Okay. Let let me by their definition. You know, it's just you're not a Catholic. You're not a Lutheran. Alright. Fair enough. I just I wasn't really certain. I think we just When people ask me, I just go, yeah. I love Jesus and the bible. That sounds like an evangelical. Okay. Yeah. That's pretty much kinda where I'm at. That's their tennis. That's pretty much the way they roll. I just think we probably just don't call it that. You know what? Mostly, if people ask, what church do you go to or, you know, what kind of Christian are you? You're like, a regular one. Exactly. Follow Jesus. One that loves Jesus. I don't know why. Do you have questions? Would you like to talk about them? Because I'm prepared. I thought this this was kind of interesting because it went broken down by political party, both Republicans and Democrats' ratings for evangelicals were unchanged. However, evangelicals were the highest rated religious group among Republicans,

but the second lowest among Democrats who now like atheists and Muslims more than evangelicals. Mormons came in last. Two shakes on the Mormons. Boy, tough tough crowd. Tough is good to say. Sorry. Tough place to be a Mormon. The, the only groups to rate evangelicals positively were white evangelicals,

Protestants overall and black Protestants. Both of the latter categories include a significant proportion of self identified evangelicals. By comparison, the majority of Americans from most religious affiliations rated Jews positively. They're

the ones Jesus came from. Right? Interesting. Hey, man. At least evangelicals have self esteem. Let's see. Oh, okay. Oh. We seem to dig on us. Here in the in the non surprising category, evangelicals receive the most critical ratings from atheists and vice versa. Oh, surprising. They are the only two traditions to have chili feelings toward one another.

Hey. That's Chili feelings. Hey. That's interesting. Jews and Mormons and Muslims don't have chili feelings towards atheists. Yeah. But apparently Is it because most? Like, I don't like those people. It's now here's this true. Anybody that's put any effort into atheism at all is generally, upset with Christianity

and, neutral to most everything else. Yeah. Shy of, there's there's certain people that aren't like, well, Bill Maher's one of them. He's he's he's generally I mean, he's a hardcore atheist. Hates Christianity. Also doesn't care for Islam. Yeah. So he's he's at least consistent. But, it is true that most, most atheism,

at least expressed in in the West, is is a rejection of Christianity, not really, an agnostic towards most other things. Interesting. Kind of. I don't know that I care really about all that. I just kinda

Well, thank you for presenting it to us to let us know if we don't care. I know this article is rife with, like, temperature gauges and charts. Yeah. That are I mean, we've had I normally stray away from those. We've had a long time to try to figure out how to visually present things, especially with the Internet, you know, and they've gone with this this thermometer thing like you're a fundraising for a new a few thousands, you know. Raise the temperature. I did have a an atheist come to church a week ago.

I did a little advertising on a tolerance sermon, and he wasn't pretty happy about that. So he thought he better come and check us out. Oh, yeah. He looked pretty angry the whole time. Oh. Did you did the kid talk to you afterwards? He no. He snuck out pretty quick. He snuck in a little late and snuck out pretty quick. Did he fold his arms, like, in in in a huff? Or Most most of the day, he was Oh, yeah.

Did he eat a donut? I was gonna say, man, I don't like these Christians, but I certainly do like to piss this I gave him a copy of the shack on the way out. If you'd like to know, change your ways, buddy. Hey, man. Grab yourself some coffee and a doughnut. Jesus still loves you. I do kinda feel like that's wrong when they come in to spy on the joint and be upset, but they eat the doughnuts anyway. You know I'm saying? That's just not that's bad human behavior. You know? You walk into a place I don't like what you're doing here, but I certainly do like your food. I hate all you guys, but I'll take a cannoli. You know what I'm saying? It seemed wrong. Hey, man. I feel like that's the best place to have the donut. The atheist comes in, goes, man, don't really like this Jesus guy, but he certainly does make good I'll come back for the pastries.

I'm gonna keep showing up for these free donuts. He he he commented a couple times, a couple different weeks on my little videos I've done. And, you know, I just talked to him a little bit, like, who is this guy? Had a goat head status picture or whatever. Wait. That's legitimately his profile picture? It it was. Now it's like a a bloodied up child

that Anyway, you go to his his page, and everything he does is making fun of Christians, and and all of his friends are like, go ahead, peep you know, or Yeah. You can tell as militant. Close knit group of people who really don't like Jesus. And but he liked our page, and so he's he's kinda stalking us a little bit. I'm like, hey. Cool. Seems alright. And, yeah, he went on and was trying to pick a fight.

He was trying to pick a fight on Facebook. I said, here, dude. I'll I'll sit down and have a conversation. I'm not gonna engage here. Right. You know? Hey. Good job, Dave. Let's let's talk. You know? Hey. Well, I don't understand why people don't show up for that. Like, there was a guy who was really upset at the election. He's like, I wanna talk to a I wanna talk to a pastor

about this election. I'm like, okay. I mean, that seems how can I help you? Seems awesome. Let me in. Because I wanna talk about Jesus. He must talk about the election. I thought, certainly, we'll run into each other at some point during the conversation. And he's like he's like, yeah. And then he then

he never showed up, and I was real disappointed. Like, was bad. I thought, okay. I'm ready for this. This seems alright. The room. I can No preparation at all. I feel like we can do this. This seems great. Hey. Hey. Do you guys remember Sinbad, the comedian? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Take name me one movie that he was in. The president the White House or what? The president's son or something like that? Sinbad and the seven seas? No. Sinbad was the he was the he was the secret service guy with the president's son. Wasn't he a genie?

No. That was Shaq in Shazam. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I think no. Sinbad, he was what was that called by the press? I believe I believe Shaq's movie was called Kazam. Kazam. Thank you. Okay. Now He was a comedian. I know. So here's He is. So check this out. I'm I'm glad this came up. Is one of the this is from, Relevant Magazine. This is one of the strangest Internet stories you will likely ever read. There are people on Reddit and Twitter attempting to find a movie called Shazam, which starred actor and comedian Sinbad as a friendly GD. Yeah. According to those who claimed to have seen this movie, it came out before Shaq's critically panned comedy called Kazam and was relatively enjoyable nineties comedy.

The only problem is there's no record of such a movie ever existing. Oh, that's awesome. And Sinbad himself says he never acted in it or even heard of it before random people on the Internet started asking about it. The freaking Internet. The magazine you made up a movie. But here's Mike did Mike not say it? Yeah. Mike's Mike offered it up as an option. Sam was like a a weekly show back in the seventies or '80 seventies. Probably. Comic. Like, was Isis and Shazam or, like, back to back. Did you say Isis? Isis. Yeah. Crazy. The goddess Isis. Not that way. Yeah. No. They had Shazam. Welcome to our Saturday morning TV program. Oh, man. No. It was like a weeknight thing. It was it was a, you know, quality the $6,000,000 man, Shazam. Yep.

So it says greatest American hero. Shazam. Yeah. Sorry. It says the magazine, New Statesman, has just published a fascinating investigative article about the conspiracy and some theories as to why so many people have vivid memories of watching a movie that there's no evidence has ever existed. It is awesome. Literally, there are no records of the movie ever being made. No photos, no old VHS tapes, nothing. That's despite cash rewards from people eager to prove it is real. Some people believe the group is falling victim to the social contagion of memory. Essentially, all of the talk about the movie is creating realistic false memories in people's minds. Yeah. Some people believe the movie was disappeared because Sinbad himself hated it. Some people believe it is an example of the Mandela effect, which essentially states that multiple realities have existed and splintered versions sometimes converge. In this case, in one reality, Shazam was real.

Hey. Now here's the thing though. Mike did not fall to this social contagion because he does not involve himself socially with other people. Agreed. Which means Shazam was in his mind. So it must be Mandela effect. Yeah. This is what I'm talking about. You have to remember who your enemy is. He's the father of lies. He says Shazam existed. That's that's it. That's the That's the TV show back in the day.

Well, that's not Sinbad. Is that Jim Nabors? There was a TV show. Yeah. No. That was Jim Nabors. What is it? The DC character Shazam, I think? I can't answer that. I just knew Captain Marvel, and I'm shut up. Yeah. Okay. I've had It was just made up thing, but, yeah, I don't know. I didn't read the article, but I'm gonna I'm gonna save it for later. I'd like to read the investigation. Now I wanna figure out what that movie he was in was called. What movies was he in, man? Do a Wikipedia on him. Okay. Hold on. Look. There's ISIS.

Because I know he was That doesn't say ISIS. You guys you guys missed out. No. My ISIS has been corrupted. Hey, man. I've typed in Sinbad, and immediately that thing came up where was he in this movie called Shazam? Okay. Here we go. Sinbad. First kid. That's what it's called. There they are. They came. He was in jingle all the way? Yep. He was the other dad. He was in a different world.

Michael Bolton's Big Sexy Valentine's Day Gross. Good night. He was in Coneheads. Coneheads? Really? I thought he really was in, like, a Sinbad thing, though, because I thought that was kinda funny.

He's in, like, Sinbad and the Seven Seas? Yeah. Yeah. I thought that He was okay. Hold on. I'll let you check. He was on Cosby, Good Burger, First Kid, Homeward Bound two, House Guests, Aliens for Breakfast. He was on the Sinbad show. The Sinbad show. Did he do a skit of which he was a genie? Oh, he did the Cherokee kid too. Keep on cruising, the Red Fox show? No. No. I don't see any He was in Good Burger.

I don't see anything with him as Sinbad the sailor. What was he in Good Burger? Anyway. Well, that's something to that's something to I remembered first kid. So he was gonna walk in. Shazam, Mike. You've been taken in by society. I know. Universe. I'm telling you. Splintered realities. Wait. Is that him? Sinbad as a genie.

What the heck? See? Did somebody make it? I think someone someone did the Photoshop. Sinbad onto it. I'm gonna read the investigative piece. I'll post it out on the Facebook. You guys can read it too. Alright. It looks creepy. Creepy. Okay. Alright. Anyway, hey. We we're we're debuting a new a new segment on the program.

Oh, shoot. What was it called? What was it called? Buva, what was it called? What did say? What what to do with Buva? Yeah. No. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The the segment is called what to do with BUVA. What to do with BUVA. Okay. Oh, man. BUVA, what's the what's the premise?

I'm gonna do it again. Hold on. I'm on the edge of my seat. What to do with Moova. That was good. That was good, Moova. You live up to it.

Alright. Here's the deal. So, something recently happened to me that I'm trying to figure out how to react to. I've gotten the first actual kind of debate with my girlfriend.

Alright? K. Now we've been together for a little over a year. Was it about your beard? It was about my beard. Thank you for knowing that immediately, Mike. No doubt. No. We've been together for a little over a year, but most of that time has been spent apart because she's in Madagascar. But, she sends me a tweet the other day

and asked for my reaction, which we sometimes do. Like, we'll send each other random things and see, hey. You know, what do you think about this? And so we kinda had completely different reactions to this tweet, but it sparked a conversation between us that I kinda wanna figure out what you guys' reaction to is, and what you guys think about it. So we kinda started having the conversation of, can you love someone, the way that Jesus wants you to, right,

but not like them? K? So, like, can you can you just, like, straight or just not like somebody, whether they're annoying, whether they're, just a a mean person, or just just something about them you don't like and still love them biblically and love them like Jesus does, right, or like Jesus calls us to do. And so, we we kinda started talking, and she her argument is, no. You cannot.

You cannot love someone without liking them. And I said, well, that seems kinda ridiculous. What if we're married someday and, and at times, we're not gonna like each other? That's kinda guaranteed in a relationship that's gonna happen. Does that mean in that time that we don't like each other? That means that our love for each other is not there because we don't like each other? And she kinda came back with the whole concept of, well, I feel like if you're loving people the way that Jesus loves them and you're trying to see through his eyes and hear them through his ears and things like that, you are going to find the things that there that is there to like them for. And,

therefore, if you love them the way that Jesus does, you will like them. And so I wanna see what you guys think about just that general premise and and and how you would react to that conversation or how you would react to that statement or question of,

can you love someone the way that you're supposed to and not like them? Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. 100%.

Any backing towards those statements, guys? That's the way I feel. Oh, man. You're ready for arguments in the twenty first century. Third chapter of the shack. Well done. Sarah Hugh, who represents the holy spirit in the shack, says that it's fine. I mean I mean, you know, I I can see her point. If you are loving people the way God says to love people,

they'll be keeping no record of wrongs. He's patient. He's kind. All all those things. Yeah. However, you're still a human being, and human beings just don't like people sometimes. I can still love you and sacrifice my life for you, but I'll cut my arm off to save you or whatever, you know, but it doesn't mean I have to like you. Does that mean I might not like you at the time? I mean

Well, okay. So so kinda going against that though is if we are loving the people the way that Jesus does, are are we going to be willing to overlook those things and not be the human perspective. Yeah. That's what's allowing you to love them even though you don't like them. Yeah. You you over you overlook those things when it when you have to, when it's to their benefit. Okay.

Mean I mean, here's it's not a it's not a biblical question because like is because like is not a biblical concept. You know what saying? Like like, there's not I I don't see anything in scripture that would other point me to the distinction that we're currently making between love and like. Pistis. It's the Greek for like. It's not the Greek for like. Could be. Could There's

a chance that Blake has created a Greek word? It is the Greek it's Greek for believe. Yeah. He just pulled a random Greek word that he's heard recently. Only know a couple. It means like, or faith. It's the Greek word for faith. So in in either case,

so so, like, I I think I understand the distinction that's trying to be made, but I don't know that we can land on anything firm because I I don't see in scripture that that's a distinction that scripture is making. I think what we're trying to talk through is it depends on your definition of like. Meaning, do I enjoy their company? Like, when John tries to call down ask Jesus if he can call down fire on the on the Samaritans, Samaritans, like, you gotta figure Jesus is like, you know, I don't know about these cats. He's trying to burn people. I'm trying to die for these same folk, and John's like, can we just can we just call down the fire on them? What are your thoughts? Yeah. And and and you can't tell me in that moment. Jesus isn't like, I don't sometimes, John. I just I don't care. Or he says, Peter's a little annoying. He's like, you wicked generation. Don't know who's gonna be with you. Yeah. That's true. Hey, you brood of vipers that love I very much. Get behind me, Satan things in the desert. Hey, Pharisee. I'm gonna die for you,

but I really don't like it. But I really can't. You're sleeping again. You know, I mean Like, this is the third time. Yeah. Because I mean, like yeah. Like is a is a is a it's a minute by minute, second by second distinction. Right? Like like means I want to spend time with you in the same room right now. Love meaning that, you know, I on the long haul, I would do anything for you. Right. I would trade me for you. That is true that is true of my wife all the time. Whether we wanna be in the same room right now with each other or not, up for debate. Yeah. Could could be either way. Hopefully, more good than bad, but some of the time, it's like, we're we're going to other ends of the house. We ain't seeing eye to eye right now. Yeah. But if the if the guy came in with the gun, I'm still standing in front of it, even though we're not the best friends at the moment. Right. Love persists. We're like fatigues. Yes. That's that's the deal. Life gets tired and takes nap. Yeah. Write it down. Yeah. Yeah, man. I wanna add that to our inspirational inspirational quotes. Quotes. And to be fair, when they're talking about love, like like Corinthians 13 style love, they're saying what love is, not exactly what I am. You know I'm saying? There's like, this is what love looks like. But when you say, like, keep no record of wrongs,

I mean, that's just foolish. You know what I'm saying? Like, a guy break into your house Jesus. Foolish. And he show up the next night knocking on the door. Who are you, sir? You know? It's the first time I've been here. Yeah. Do I know you? Like to come in and see what we have that role? Yeah. And he's going, hey. I forgot the remote when I stole the TV yesterday. Do you have the remote? You got some fresh batteries? I would totally give the guy that remote.

Well, that's the thing. He's already got the TV. You just won't get the remote. It's the first time I've been here, Foose. Check the record. Check the record. First Corinthians. Corinthians. Check Check the the record. Record. See all that that sweet poster you made out of which your kids' handprints will never love? Yeah. Give it a TV, sucker. Yeah. Fair enough. Yeah.

Okay. I'm with, yeah. I think you can you can not like them, but love them. But I think I think those I think the way that she's using it, though, those definitions start to blend a little bit. Here's the thing, though. The way that she's looking at it, though, like, I pine for that hope. I know. That is why I like can also be me. That's why I wanna marry this girl It's because she goes, hey, man. I feel like if I love people for Jesus, I'm gonna find something to like about them. I'm like, that is adorable and wonderful, and I love your heart on things. Yeah. But I look at this and go, I can't stand my brother right now. That's right. I wanna punch him in the face You hang out with kids all. But at the same point in time, I wanna take a bullet for him if if some kind of assailant came in, I would take the heat for it. Stop assailant. I'm

just saying Assailant. I would advise that. I will take your mood. And I are two very large gentlemen. I don't think there's anyone who's gonna case the joint, see the two of us walking in there and going, that's the place. I'm definitely gonna take on those monsters over there and see what happens. The Ingle Diggers are a dead ringer. I'm getting that TV. Hey, man. They have, like, a 30 inch TV. I bet that's worth it. Yeah. Here's the thing. I think if you if if I really thought that was possible, I would be so depressed all the time on how much I suck at loving people. I I I couldn't function. You know I'm saying? If I thought love and like had to be combined as one entity,

you know, every time that I Unloving fool. I would get irritated with somebody, I'd be like, am I do I not follow Jesus? Why can't I pull this off? Why am I constantly failing at liking people? There's a lot of people I just don't like. I'm telling you. Yeah. I mean and not not that I don't I don't hate them. I just You know, I got a great example. Actually, we were at the we were at the the farm in home or whatever buying some chicken food this week, and the gal at the counter, she's a super nice gal. Right? But, like, she she just conducts herself in a way that, like, 30 in, I couldn't take anymore. And my wife's looking at me like, behave yourself. I can see it in her eyes. She's like, behave yourself. Don't do it. And she and she keeps telling stories. She's like, and I went over to my grandma's house, and then she had, like, tea. And I'm not a real big fan of tea, and I'm like, will you just ring up the chicken food so we can get going there? You know? So here's the deal. I I love that girl at the cash register, but I don't like her. I just want you to ring up my stuff so me and my family can get on out of here. Gotta Invite her home for supper. We got a million things going on tonight, you wanna tell me stories about your grandma and her teacups and whatnot. I'm like, we gotta move this along. Actually, that that's a good point. Just because Jesus loves you doesn't mean he's on board with your foolishness. Yeah. You know, like, all the times we've been going through Mark, and and, like, especially, Jesus goes out to pray, they're like, hey, Jesus. Let's do this. He's like, nah. Yeah. Nah. We're gonna go somewhere else. Yeah. Hey. Hey. We just healed the guy. More people want want you to heal him. You go hang around? No. Well, we'll get in the boat and go somewhere else. Yeah. We go to leave now. Yeah. No. I think you should stay. No. I'm not gonna do that. I

I love you. I certainly don't like your suggestions right now. Yeah. I feel like that's honest Jesus. Yeah. I don't I see where you're coming from. Not digging on it. Hey, man. Prince of peace. Just saying. And one of he's just like, they go on without him. He's like, go you go ahead with your stuff. I'm gonna go over here. I'm a beat these fools up in the morning. Ain't no one gonna find me. I get up at five. Just give me out to the mountain. Jesus, can I come out on the water, I guess?

Well, if you want to. Not gonna tell you no or not gonna tell you And you're gonna get it. Yeah. I'm gonna be riding sharks on the other side. You can go on. Don't don't make me call Jonah. Jonah Aquaman is gonna be here the whole time. It's gonna be awesome. He hung he hangs out with that fish normally now. I mean, cool if he's down in the Sea Of Galilee all by himself. God makes one version of this Aquaman. You know? He's in the Galilee. He kinda sees cool stuff happen, he's like, I'll be here for another thousand years. I never get to do nothing. I survived the flood. I'll set up a big deal.

I thought I was gonna get around too, someone promised they never floated again. So I'm stuck in this puddle. Throw Jesus over. I wanna do something.

Alright. You're listening to live from the Shack. Appreciate you hanging out with us so far. Mike, people people need help. People need advice. How can how can we do it? Not us. We're solid. Absolutely. We're doing great in life. Yes. We're we're evangelicals. And we love ourselves.

I like you guys. Dear life from the path. I'm a mainline protestant. Most people like me in a decent temperature. I am a new mom to a sweet baby boy. I am or was very career oriented and never in a million years thought I would want to be a stay home mom. I will have to return to work shortly, and I'm really struggling. I have a hard time putting my little one in day care, but I don't have a choice. I have no idea where to begin, how to select the right day care, or what questions to ask. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Holy cow. Is she married? What? You're in charge of a life. You don't even know where to start?

I mean, there's buildings that say day care on it. Start there. Say, hey. Do you do what your sign claims? How much is it? Hey. Can you care for this child possibly during the day? Because that'd be great. Did did it did it say she was married or not? It does not It doesn't okay. I thought you I get misused or didn't hear it. Yeah. So it's I I don't mean to impress my ways upon your life, but I think you should stay home with your kid. I'd quit. Yeah. Directly.

I hope she's gonna pay for that. I think we're assuming that she has a husband to take care of that. If she has a husband the modern day day care, unless she has a really nice job, it pretty much you don't make much money. Yeah. Exactly. You don't after day care. Attribute to the bottom line of the It really does turn out to be a wash. You've bumped up your own tax bracket. Say, hold up a raise your kids. On on cell phone and and going out to eat and the transportation cost and insurance and whatever. Like, you add all that together plus your bumped up tax bracket. And, I mean, let's say that someone said, look. I'll give you $5,000 to go to work all year, or you can stay home with your kid, and I'll keep my $5. I don't know a mom in the world that'd be like, $5. Sounds great. I'll stay home. Yeah. I know it sounds like we're we're kinda coming from a weird archaic

biblical place where you you stay home and take care of kids. Even if you're not on board with that, you gotta realize, like, from an economic perspective Yeah. Yeah. It it's just a better idea. Get get Your kids are gonna be better off. Home sometimes. You're gonna be better off. Start your own day care. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Take care. Watch the kids for a while. Decide it. No. No. Watching watching other people's kids is not you gotta be built for that stuff. They true up your, tempera wrap I live in a day care right now because my mom actually runs a day care out of the house, and so I I'm greeted by a bunch of kids in the morning. I don't know how she does it. No. Like, they're cute kids. I like them. They all know them by name. They say good morning to me and ask me about my breakfast and stuff like that. It's adorable. But, like, I get to leave and then go to school. I don't know how she goes, hey. That was cute. Let's do that for another eight hours. I know. I mean, I count out I count down hours on my own kids. I'm like, they're going to bed in two hours. Can make this. She's got, like, seven kids, a couple babies. I'm like, I I can't I can't do this. My girlfriend runs, like, 37 kids at a time. I'm like, I And they grow so fast. They grow so stinking fast. Yeah. I mean, I realize it seems like forever when you're there in the middle of it. But, man, it's fast. You won't figure out a way to stay home if possible. What? That Or do the part time stuff. I I I we once again, I'm not trying to impress my ways on you. Right? But, like, we did this at my house, and I would trade it for nothing.

I would trade it for nothing. There's there's this is this is sound sexist. Right? But, like, God created them women to be excellent mothers. Yeah. He made all of them to be excellent mothers. And right? Like and I feel like my wife would continually regret not staying home with our kids when when they were young. Now the kids are gonna go they're gonna say start going to school or something. You can get a part time job. You can a full time job. Right? Like, they there's they they grow. You gotta teach them, you gotta let them off the leash a little bit. You gotta give them some space, and and that's yeah. Reclaim your life. Go back and get a job, and you're you're a smart woman. You don't grab that career and have right back at it. But, like, you will never regret taking those five years. You'll never regret it. We were able to

do it arrange our schedules such a way like, we wanted our kids to have a little bit of socializing stuff outside in a secular setting, so to speak. And and so they had, like, ten hours a week in a day care setting. Other than that, they were always either with us or grandparent. We we were it was convenient. We had grandparents around. You know? So that was nice.

Yeah. Just just, you know Yeah. We we've never made that much money because because Cheryl just didn't work that much, and that was a choice. It's what you're you're ultimately, you're you're paying for the ability to stay home, and, like, it's a good value. Right? It's totally worth it. A crappy car, and I didn't care. I'd rather because I had kids in it. Yeah. I was I was I was happy with that. Yeah. We always had the cheapest house in the neighborhood. It's like, whatever. I think I'm I'm actually really excited about that. Gian and I have had that conversation already of, like, our relationship getting a little bit more serious as as actually, very quickly,

but we've kinda already that conversation of what is what is family gonna look like? What is what is home life look like? And she, without me even talking about it, she goes, I wanna stay home with our kids. And I said, great. That sounds amazing. Then I'm gonna work as hard as I have to to make certain that I can do that. And, and you get that time with our kids, and I get to come home and have daddy time with them. That's all that matters, from a biblical perspective, from an economic perspective, from the fact that I want my kids to have that time with her. Like, absolutely. So I'm I'm really excited that that's gonna happen. So I think our advice is you should do that. If if for whatever reason

or myriad of reasons that can't be done, the best thing you can do is start, the best recommendations you can get for people to care for your kids are people that also that care about your kids. Like, So, ask friends, ask relatives, people that otherwise have other folks watching who have kids in the area that have had day cares in the area and Yeah. See if can get a good recommend don't go to, like, Yelp or anything, but see if can get a serious personal recommendation from somebody in your neighborhood or somebody you trust. So I I feel I really feel for single moms. I I don't you know, man, the pressure on them and and the decisions they have to make. And No. Yeah. You that's just tough. Yeah. That's tough. That's real hard to to want. The the things that you I mean, everybody

has something like this. Right? Things that you wanna be able to do for kids that you can't do. But, like, once you get to that level, if you're a single mom and things you wanna be able to provide or time that you wanna be able to spend and, like, it just cannot happen, yeah. That's that's that's that's difficult. That's difficult. Some as every year when I when I eventually get the flu, I always think, I don't know how single moms do this. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I think that's the same thing. Yeah. I mean, they're passing out. You're you're barely you're barely coherent. You know, you got a three year old and five year old running around and, like, they do it. They nail it. I'm dying. I'm almost certain death is at the door Uh-huh. And the Lord cannot pass hoping it is. Anymore than I've currently The Lord built us to be tough in certain ways, but I don't feel like that's it. No. Sickness ain't mine. I mean, I I'll I'll I'll just pass out. I act like I've been just the worst you've probably run me over with a skid loader. I'm like, yeah. I'll probably survive that. But, like, I I throw up one time. I'm like, death's coming. I don't even know. It's not gonna I never thought I'd be so okay with death. Yeah. It sounds alright. This is not how the Shaq described it, man. I was supposed to persevere. I don't want that dog in this house at all. He's making me angry. This is ridiculous.

Alright. Secular says hey. Actually, that's funny. Last time I wasn't feeling well, was sitting in the bathroom, and, like, I got in an argument. I'm, like, yelling at the shower curtain. I was I'm, like, smacking it. I'm, get back. Get away from me. It was preposterous. It was outrageous. I didn't realize Man, thank you for giving us that shiny endorsement for being dudes that are sick. Sorry. I got angry at a shout or something. Was mad.

In the last couple of years, I didn't realize this, but Ben and I share, like, we hallucinate when we get fevers. I mean, to the point of ridiculousness. I had I had one fever last year where I dreamt I was I was hallucinating that I could only see life in pointillism. You know what I'm saying? Like, those those those pictures that are made up of just points, you know, on Like dots? Like dots. You know? Yeah. And so, like The connect the dots deal? I knew that it wasn't true, but, like, the I looked around my room and it was all pointillism. Yeah. Your whole life looks like an video. It's like it's been. And my wife was pointillism, and I'm like, I'm I'm hallucinating. I'm almost sure of it, but what if I'm stuck this way? And, like, I could not figure out how to get out of it. I'm like, this is not true, Mike. You know that this is a dream or a hallucination or something. So I put a cold washcloth on me, you know, and, like, the water coming out of the faucet was tripping. I mean, I just couldn't take it.

I thought I had Wait a minute. So the Fooseboys getting sick are either punching the shower curtain or thinking that your world is a Take On Me video. Yeah. Everything is all Some of that stuff, like, I I I remember too getting sick in the Fooseboys. It was three years ago. I got sick and, like, my hallucination was I couldn't get them a microphone. I got I I thought I was in the radio studio and I couldn't get the microphone

to be in the right spot. Like, I would move it and then I would have a sense that it's not right. How is it not right? It's moved again. And then I would move it back, and then I would have the same sense. This was on for seven hours. Seven hours. I'm like, I need to go back to sleep. This is I know this is not real, but that mic's not right. How do I I gotta move that back. And, like, I could I would see myself move it, and then it would I I would be hallucinating that it was off again. And I'm I'm, like, sweating, and I'm like, why can't I get this right? Who who can't get this right? This is not real. This is not real, Ben. Mike is not correct. Hey, man. I get that scary stuff when I get low blood sugar, but I've never, like I've never had that deal from a fever Yes. Fever. That. I get say goofy things. My family loves it when I have a fever. You say goofy things? Do you punch shower curtains or possibly points?

Here comes Dan. Popcorn for Papa Shango. Okay, Dan. Thanks, Dan. Oh, he's sick. Yeah. He's sick. Yes. By the way, don't have pants on, Dan. Get out get out of here, Zacchaeus. There you go. Hey. I'm sick of more. Come

on, sharks. We're out of here. Jonas style. Secular says, start by talking to your friends and family, asking if they know a good, day care that's good, and then make sure that any facility you're considering is licensed. Spend a little time there to see how the caregivers interact with the children. Yeah. Good luck. They're always on their best behavior. Yeah. It's shifty. Yeah. Go to babycenter.com.

What? Not what I would recommend, and search and search the word daycare. I'm sure. The magic of the Internet, boys.

Here's the unexpected results. You will find a section on daycare centers. They will give you the information you need. You should also check with your state's department of social services to be sure no complaints have been filed. I wish you luck in your search. Man, what what happened to just going, hey. Can you watch my kid? And then them going, yeah. Well, it's I think that the the this is what happened. Yeah. I can watch that boy. Come

on, man. That's what has That's what happened. Alright. Yeah. Here's some crayons in a cage. Enjoy. That's right. I can fit you in a crisper. I I'm very glad that I have a Jesus loving woman that I'm hoping to marry that is just gonna take care you. The day that we decided my wife was gonna stay home was the day that I picked up my daughter from an in home daycare. And they she told me she I can't I I went to pick her up. I went in the house, and my daughter was crying over by the stairs, crying. And I said, what is what's the matter with with Grace? You know? And she's like, oh, she does that. I'm like, well, how often? Most days. I'm like, you

what do mean? How long is most days? She goes, probably past couple weeks. I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. I said, we're done. We're done here. Sorry. And I went home and I I tried maybe Grace got out the car, my wife was home, and I said, one of us is staying home. It's probably you, but one of us is staying home. We're done doing this. Right? And, like, I had just a terrible experience. She was a nice woman. I I don't know. It's not like I dislike her. Yeah. Right? But, like, you didn't think it was important to tell me my daughter had been crying on the stairwell for two weeks? You didn't think that should've came up when I picked her up, say, yesterday? And and I thought, I can't do this anymore. I can't. Yeah. I'm I'm I'm farming

out responsibilities that I asked for. And, like, I can hug and kiss and and and sing all I want to before that kid goes to bed, knowing she's gonna spend seven hours tomorrow crying by a staircase. Nah. We're done with that. Oh, man. Yeah. Okay. One more. Ready? Yep. Yeah. Well, we're ready. Over the years dear life from the past. Over the years, the people closest to me, immediate family, friends, and a few ex boyfriends, have given me every reason not to trust anyone much. Mhmm. About a year ago, I found the courage to date again and met a man who gives me every reason to trust him to the fullest. Problem is, because of my past, I'm having problems doing it. How do I move past my issues and give the relationship I'm in a fair chance before I destroy it? Please be honest about that with him.

Please, please, please have communication open about that. You are having trust issues, but you have no reason to not or to to not trust this person. Tell them about it. Let them be your reassurance in the relationship. That's kind of one of the parts of it. You know, being in a relationship, you're supposed to understand that that person has a past. You're supposed to understand that that is that is a person that is a a culmination of actions and things that have been done to them and and experiences,

and and you need to accept those and for who they are. Like, if you need to help them move past it, but that doesn't mean you don't need to deal with it. But if you don't give this guy or gal wasn't certain if it was a guy or gal in that we're talking to here. If you don't give them the opportunity to continue to build that trust and to continue to work through that, all you're going to do is you're gonna live in the cycle that has happened to you, and you're not going to move past it because you're not working together as a relationship. You're there together for a reason.

Communicate, please. Yeah. You know, I don't I I put tell my kids all the time. It's very important to understand who you are. You know I'm saying? Where your where your shortfalls are, what what you do well, what you don't do so well. Right? And it's also very important that when you find someone you can trust that you tell them that. Like, I I know that I will when I when me and my wife disagree, I tend to move into I want to win the argument. That's just the way I'm wired, and I forget who I'm talking to. I forget I love this woman. Right? I I forget that I trust her with everything that I have. And somehow, I get myself weaseled into an argument mode where I'm just trying to I wanna win the point. Right? And so, like, I know that about me. And so when we start talking in that area,

I and I've told her that before. It's like, I I need a flag. When I cross the line, I need you to tell me because I'll do it and I won't be paying attention. I don't wanna be that way. Right? And so, like, these are things you can totally share with your new man. Say, look. I've been burned. I have a hard time trusting people. Every instinct I have is gonna think that you're lying to me and that you're gonna bail. And so I need you to be patient with me while I work through that, but realize that when I'm sensitive to certain things like you saying you're gonna show up and you don't make it, realize it's a very big deal to me when in actuality, I know it's not a big deal, but I'll take it that way. So just a heads up. And that that's fair. Give the guy a fighting chance. If he loves you, he'll fight for that. He'll get there five minutes early every time to make sure that's not an issue for you. Here here's my caution in this. There is a long history of people who have broken her trust. Mhmm. Maybe she makes poor choices. True.

I mean, I'm just thinking maybe she needs to talk to some other people first and say, hey. What do you think of this guy? I'd like to trust him, but I've trusted other people that were untrustworthy. I'd make poor choices. What do you guys think? Oh, that's true. That's Yeah. That's about part of booba's communication platform is to make sure you're talking to other people, because

you you may not be a great judge of trustworthiness. Yes. I can dig on that. Yes. That sounds something like that. It sounds right. I would do that, and then I would do what you were saying. Way to be a amicable Dan. I

mean I'd also do your wrong answer. Well, by the way, I have I'm just saying I was start saying I could be, you know, incorrect in my assumptions. I agree with the room.

Anyone else wanna shout in? I agree with him as well. What's that, Jesse Jackson? Right on. Oh, yeah. Secular. Sorry. I was just gonna laugh for another couple of minutes. I didn't actually put him on. Wait a minute. Go ahead, Mike. What's Secular got? Secular says, considering your history, it makes sense that you are afraid of being hurt or taken advantage of. However, not all people are alike. Thank you for that revelation. Allow the relationship more time to develop. Don't be afraid to talk this thing out and react by jumping to conclusions and or making accusations.

Listen to what he says and watch what he does. Oh, that's that's great advice. If the two don't match, record it as a red flag. However, if they do match, then count your blessings because you may have finally found a winner. Think she's been blind to that in the past. Yeah. She hears what they say and

doesn't see what they do or, you know, whatever vice versa. I'm going to Burger King. I brought you a Big Mac. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Minute. Weed. Those aren't the same places. You're a lying sack of crap. I'm breaking up with you. You are now a part of my trail of tears of awful and untrustworthy people in my life. I'd like known from the drug addiction.

I like the big fact that you were trying to get money on the side of the road the day we met. Still, you show up with a big back around here. That's the end. Don't tell me you're going to Burger King and bring me McDonald's.

You think did she say well, what what were the list of people that were quarrelsome in the past? Boyfriends, family brothers. It was family. Immediate families. Friends. And a few ex boyfriends. Yeah. More than two. You know Wait. Your family's untrustworthy too? You know, everybody's That's everybody. Maybe

you're paranoid. That's a good point. If every everyone in the world around you seems to be untrustworthy in everything Mom, what do you think of this man I'm dating? I think he's a drug dealer and he's he's actually carrying a machete right now. I can't trust you. I don't trust you. You don't want me to You don't to the man I like and love. He cuts a peanut butter sandwich like no one's business here. And it could be a huge peanut butter sandwich too. No problem for Machete Jim.

Forget this. I'm going to babysitter.com, search for man of my dreams. Make sure he's got a license. Machete Jim's daycare, come on down. They trust him with kids, he might be alright for me. I'll cut off the crust every time. Mom, what do you think of my of this new boyfriend I got? Yeah. He's standing on two porpoises.

And we're Like a weird Jonah Aquaman that's coming in. He seems to speak well to the fish. You hate everybody, I bring him. Says this is what it looks like to flee from the Lord's work. Remember who your real enemy is. Alright. You've been listening to Live From The Shack. Was pretty easy hanging out with us tonight. If you love the show, let us know info at live from the path dot org. If it stinks, please contact Chris Roloff at the Food Network.

I don't remember what his email address. They just Google that stuff at babysitter dot com. I'm sure you can find it there. We will see you next week. And Driven eleven in Egypt, Ali will be in. We got a we're guests, I mean, off the off the walls in in March. There's folks in almost every week. So we will see you next week. In the meantime, please be faithful in the means. God will handle the ends. You've listening to live from the shack.