Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proverb. You are live from the path.

And you're listening to Live From The Path. We're coming from the Pathway Studios here in Johnston proper. Beep beep beep for port. That's that wasn't necessary to say that. Backs hitting them. Here's my deal. Because we haven't had a show in a number of weeks, I'm gonna I'm gonna do my best to keep this train rolling. That was that was it. That worked. Yeah. Yeah. Right right on the tracks. Good.

I'm gonna blow my nose in if this is what we're doing. We'll suffer nothing. There's no rescue on this pony show. I can't even if I try to do a ride, it's just not possible. There was an article on Christian Post that says most adult US Christians don't believe Holy Spirit is real. That's a mistake. Is that That explains a lot. Is that surprising?

Well, now here's the thing, is I could be accused, with my words of believing in the holy spirit. Maybe some of my actions would portray that I don't. Right? Depending on things that I'm not willing to trust the Holy Spirit with. Right? If I was gonna use it as a, like, a counseling session with a dude and be like, look, man, practically,

you claim to believe in the Holy Spirit, but like, with all your actions, you pretty much act like the Holy Spirit got nothing to do with it. Yeah. So I suppose, that's one of the questions. Like, what do they mean? So it says, of an estimated 176,000,000 American adults who identify as Christian, just six percent or fifteen million of them actually hold a biblical worldview.

What? The finding was published by the Cultural Research Center of Errors. I don't care. Does that mean they're not Christian? Yeah. I don't I I'm just I kinda well, it depends. I think it depends. If someone goes, hey, do you believe the Holy Spirit? For someone to go, boy, I just I'm not I don't know. I I don't know enough about it. Like, I'm not sure that's a denial of the Lord Jesus saving them. I think it's a I don't understand how that works in and of this world. Well, I'm just going from the whole biblical worldview though. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. Like, don't That was a stinger of a headline. I don't know why you're saying that. Like, I guess the question is, is that fair? If someone if someone said, hey, I don't understand the Holy Spirit Yeah. Or the Trinity in general. Like, I don't know how do I think about it? Does that make them not a Christian? I don't I don't think so. Right. Right. Yeah. So I think it kinda depends on what they mean. But if you don't have a biblical worldview, you're like, hey, I'm a Christian, but I don't do a single thing that Jesus said to do. I'm not a follower, and I don't really care. That's right. Then it's like, well, then you're not a Christian. Well, yeah. That's way different. Yeah. Just get a new title. Yeah. I could be jumping to big conclusions. Let's see what they say. The study shows in general that while a majority of Americans self identify as Christians, including many who identify as evangelical,

The heck is the difference? They believe that God is all powerful, all knowing, and is the creator of the universe. More than half reject a number of biblical teaching and principles, including the existence of the Holy Spirit. Strong majorities actually, kinda wanna look at the survey. Strong majorities also errantly believe that all religious faiths are of equal value. People are basically good and that people can use acts of goodness to earn their way into heaven. Oh. I mean, at least a few of those are biblical tenants. I think that people are basically good is a contended item within,

smart people who love Jesus. Like, not that it's it's the the definition of good is is what's problematic. Right. Right. But, like, I I'm not sure that, like and I I get it. That's why this is a worthy discussion on, like, hey, you're sinful from your from your mother's womb here. But

I think anyway, that one I'm I'm open to, I guess. It says, too often it seems people who are simply religious or regular churchgoers or perhaps people who want a certain reputation or image embrace the label Christian regardless of their spiritual life and intentions. I find that super odd. Like, someone who would go, you know, I don't believe any of this, but, like, I just want to be a Christian. Is it a cool thing to do? I don't know it's a cool thing to do. I've I've got I was I have a fellow that I work with over for Din Din recently.

Yeah. And we got to chatting after dinner, sitting out on the front porch or back porch rather. And I forget how it came up, but we were talking about

religious beliefs. And he said, actually, I'm a baptized Christian, and you wouldn't know it from anything that this fellow has ever said to his entire life. Right.

But that's what he said to me. He said, oh, yeah. I'm a baptized Christian. And I said, okay. So, you know, how's that going for you? And he's like, well, you know, when I was a kid, I was in the church and stuff, and now I'm an adult and I have my own views. Oh. I said, okay. So I think he's just like basing that off of like what happened to him as a youth. Uh-huh. He was

but, you know, he's still kinda holding on to What and what other things besides Christianity does this happen? Like like like, could you if you played let me ask you this quick. Dan, you played football in high school. Right? Right. Yeah. If people go, hey, Dan, are you a footballer? You're like, yeah. I play. Yeah. Like, would you say that? You represent yourself as a football player? Absolutely not. Okay. It seems to it's like, yeah, I when I was younger, I did, but I just don't do it anymore. I've fallen away from it. Now I do, I make toast or something. I don't know. Maybe they they look at it as an identity thing, like, if you're Irish. Or, you know I'm saying? Like, just because you don't live in Ireland, you still are have a Irish heritage. Maybe they look at Christianity as more as heritage or a I come from a long line of footballers. Like Yeah.

But but wouldn't it matter, like, if you're proud of it or not? Right. Like, let let's say, I'm trying to think of another action of which you do it a lot as a kid. It some semblance of your identity and then you walk away from it, but you would still want to be associated with it. Bedwater. No. Skateboarder. Yeah. What what what Skateboarder. Skateboard. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So yeah. Similar to the football examples, like, it was a lifestyle of sorts. Yeah. Yeah. Everywhere. It's how you go to stores, how you get around town Yeah. How you go to school. But like but like, let's say you now disagree with the punk culture

related to skateboarding. But like, would you still introduce yourself as a skateboarder? If you met a a fellow skateboarder, maybe you would. You'd be Because you wanna you think you'd buddy buddy with him. I used to ride the turnstiles, bro. Yeah. But you said used to. Yeah. Oh, true. I ride the turnstiles. I'm a skateboarder. Yeah. Oh, you're right. I'm a I'm a baptized skateboarder. I'm in the club. It just seems weird to me. It's it's it seems like an odd dichotomy. Like, I I don't know why people

what the motivation is for someone to go, yeah, I used to be a like, I am a Christian. Even though you're absolutely you're not really. You don't believe or follow it. Your views have changed. Like, can't we just say like, talking about in the past tense makes sense. I guess, theologically, that maybe they got he's onto something and just doesn't even realize it. Like, I'm a I'm a I'm a member of the kingdom. I'm just, you know, I'm just thinking through things. Who knows? I don't know.

But anyway, it just seems weird. It seems like a like, and and it seems unique to Christianity. I mean, there are people who claim to be Jew I mean, I don't know if this directly Cora, it's because Judaism is also, you know, a heritage yeah. That People group. But they claim to be Jews and are, you know, not practicing. Yeah. Yeah. That's what the river that's what the John says. Some claim to be Jews who are not. Yeah. They are the synagogue of Satan. Philadelphia. Okay.

A closer examination of the data on Christians showed that while some groups of Christians, like self identified born again Christians we gotta get rid of these hyphenated things. Yeah. Hold views that were more closely aligned with the biblical worldview, the survey still found errant beliefs among groups. From a sociological standpoint, self identified born again Christians are the siblings of self identified evangelicals. There's tremendous overlap. I don't care about any of this. While the groups aren't considered despite using different terminology to identify themselves, self identified born again and self identified evangelical Christians

possess nearly identical views on most of the beliefs evaluated across more than a dozen attributes studied the average different I don't care. Self identified. Self identified. Okay. Here we go. More than 999% of that group

see, as the ground raving American worldview inventory surveys have demonstrated, just 6% of US adults possess a biblical worldview. Labeled integrated disciples for their demonstrated ability to assimilate their beliefs into their lifestyle, this group consistently, albeit imperfectly, comes closest to reflecting biblical principles into their opinions, beliefs, behaviors, and preferences.

More than 99% of this group believe that the Bible is the accurate and reliable words of God, believe that God is all knowing, all powerful, and just creator of the universe who still rules the universe today and say they have a unique god given calling. Significant minorities still held beliefs that challenge the biblical worldview. Those include 20 okay. Here there's the interesting part. 25% say there's no absolute moral truth. That means one out of every four people walking around claiming to be Christian would say that would go be on the opposite side of the conversation we had a few weeks ago when the girls were in. That there is no objective reality. There's no objective truth. Yeah. Okay. That's one out of four. That's not good. 33% believe in karma. More people believe in karma than the holy spirit? I feel like they haven't done any research into karma. They just have the pop culture generalized version of karma. It seems acceptable. Yeah. Do good thing, good things will happen. Do bad things, bad things will happen. It's the secret. Yeah. Secret. 39%

to contend that the holy spirit is not a real living being. Look, man. The only time that Jesus get all fired up, I mean, like, real fired up, is when you start dabbling in what's going on with the Holy Spirit. I'm just saying, you just need to be careful here. Look. That's Sid where he's like, look, man. You do this thing. You don't attribute works of the Holy Spirit to something else. Actually, this is perfect. 39 content that the holy spirit is not a real living being, but is merely a symbol of God's power, presence, or purity. Now to your point, the Bible talks about not grieving the Holy Spirit. Yeah. So like, there's a like, there's number of personifications of the spirit.

Now, hold on. Could this just just be bad theological teaching. Right? If they don't believe it's a living being, but it's merely a symbol of God's power presence and or purity. I mean, when you start talking about spiritual things, like like facts start to get real firm ground seems hard to land on. Even when you're teaching it or or people are taking it, doesn't matter how firm you teach it actually. Like, when you call something a spirit, then they go, is that a real person? Well,

I don't know. Yeah. Living even living being is a little bit difficult. Yeah. Because you talk about holy spirit. And it depends on what you mean about living. Like, if they're always living, like, that might be a little more semantical than they're like the concrete. Mhmm. Right. We found the the holy digger hair. Like that seems a little Yeah. It's kinda like like a like a bowl of Fruity Pebbles. Like, I'm not sure exactly what's in there or how it works. I just know what it does. Coming up with a lot of great analogies today. I

just had to wait. I I need to make sure it was appreciated. Yeah. Okay. Footballers, Fruity Pebbles. Hey, man. Nathaniel's been promoted to the best support man in the biz. I think that's fair.

Oh, yeah. Sorry. I don't take this wrong. You were never in the running, Mike. Oh. You're not much of a you're not much of a support you're more of an antagonist. Yeah. Okay. That's also fair. And Dan's more of an observer. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And he has the beliefs in his mind, what some support, some antagonism, but largely keeps them to himself until the time is right. Yeah. Nathaniel's willing to support with his foot in his mouth just to be part of the game, and I like it. Yeah. Okay. So anyway, so I I I actually think some of that's fair. I think I think if you think of notions of how do I think about the trinity as

beings or separate entities, I think you it's the Bible would even basic Bible reading would get you a point where it can't just be like a symbol of God's power. Mhmm. So like, how you landed on that would depend on whether the survey just gave them the option. Do you think it's this or this? Because if you didn't know, that might be the option you would choose. You're like, I don't wanna overdo it and make it look like a like a ghost. Right. Holy spirit, a, walked the earth. Yeah. B, helped create the earth when it'd be in Genesis. C, is a symbol of God's power, presence, and purity.

See? Yeah. So it's all attributing it to God. So Yeah. I mean, they're just a misunderstanding Yeah. Of the I think that's just poor teaching, think. What happened to the Holy Ghost? I feel like people used to say that a lot. Now it's all Holy Spirit. Think it's all King James stuff. Yeah. I think it's the Liberal translations have taken us away from the truth. That's that's right. See what it's done to the polling? That's right. You think living being, you thought wrong, it's a ghost. Yeah. It's a Casper. Well, that's the problem with the word ghost is is like the the connotation of ghost in our society is it was supposed to be dead, but it got left behind because it has unfinished business. I'm not even sure it's like a really good translation. Right? Like what's it's pneuma. Right, Dan? Like what's the I think the spirit is and like I I the context of ghost and how we think of that's that's the Hebrew, Mike. Yeah. Said that's how we think of ghost. Like, we just don't talk about ghost in the myth, like, meaning

Yeah. Spirit in the same way. We think of, like, haunting ghosts. And I think it's a wrong connotation. Something somebody left behind. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Although a helper. Shoot. Maybe that's right. Maybe the ghost has got it right on. Someone Yeah. But God don't leave stuff behind. He said it's on purpose. Oh, that's true. Yeah. That's His body resurrected and and the ghost is still here. Yeah. It's not like a like a It's not a remnant. Yeah. That's right. It's not a consequence. It's an action. Okay. So so I think actually of it to I wouldn't overreact to that part. I think that's there's there's mysteries of the faith of which the notion of the holy spirit, although there are a lot of tangible things that that are known, I think it is not it's perfectly okay to be like, you know, I just don't have a firm grasp because it's a it's a being in holistically not me, not like me. And so I don't completely understand it. And it seems fair. I I I've never in my life heard a an a description of the trinity that I thought, okay, that nails it. Yeah. Because yeah. It is. It's mysterious. It's it's like yeah.

That's right. Yeah. I think that we prepare we should be prepared to be wowed. When we like, when you when you figure this out and like you you get to get the revelation of it at the end of the end of the days, and you're like, oh, yeah. That makes way more sense. We were we were off. Just like every Jewish guy should have been when they thought, hey, I know what the Messiah is gonna do and be. And like they see Jesus like, oh, boy, I just didn't see that coming. That fits though. Shoot. And there was let's see. 42% believe that having faith matters more than which faith you pursue.

Oh. 42%? You just have to believe in something? Something. I I really I'm really into Zeus. Good for you. Great. I believe it's there's like a heaven scoreboard that says, yes, but he believes something. Greatest Artemis of the Ephesians. Yeah.

That's weird. Yeah. That's here's and that's not even a Christian like, this is coming from Christians. I'd be interested to see what this what the survey would be like for non Christians in the same question. Because like like, this doesn't even make any sense. It it it it it I see it. I think I see it in how people behave. Hey, I just need to believe in something. Really? It's okay to believe in anything?

And that's better as long as you got some level of belief, it's fine? No. Because I mean, all that can hold is your bucket of belief, and that's not impressive at all. Right? Like without works of the Holy Spirit, without Jesus' redemption, But I mean, I really got nothing. My belief has failed me multiple times. Now Mhmm. Now here's the thing. If 25% believe that there's no absolute moral truth, then I would expect that bucket to be in this bucket as well. So 42 25% of that 42 are probably people who are like, how how can it matter? Because no particular religious thought can have a line on what is true. And if you can't know what is true, then the fact actually, that fits exactly. If you can't know what is true, then it can't matter specifically what it is that you believe. But we still have some weird, like, vestigial tale of a virtue thing that says it's good to believe in something.

That's the part I find odd. If there is no moral truth and it doesn't matter what you believe, why do we even care that you have any firm faith in anything? What does it matter? Yeah. That's that's the part that's probably that's weird, that lacks logic. And 52% argue that people are basically good.

I I that's an odd starter. That seems they just wanna fight with certain segments of Christianity about that. Yeah. I don't again, I I think that that the good is a loaded term. If you think about it, what percentage of the population has murdered a man? Well, it's not that many. Right. What what percent of the populations are puppy kickers? And so, like, it depends on what your moral load is. Yeah. So you could get there. But if you're asking what percent of the population

has failed to meet the standards of good of which God has created and called us to, well then, yeah, then nobody meets it. And then that's where you get that a proper rendering Yeah. Where all fallen short. But like My neighbor's a nice guy. Yeah. And he keeps the yard clean and And and I'm not sure it makes it. I'm not sure that makes a particular point either. Like Yeah. If if I'm trying to share the gospel, hey, did you know that inherently everybody's awful?

Like, I I think there's a much more it's much more connecting case to be made that, like, God creates a world and he creates it perfectly, and anything that we do that doesn't match how the how he created the world to be misses the mark. Mhmm. And then and then and that creates a gap, a break that we can't fix. Like, that makes sense to me. And I think that's I think people need to know obviously that you've separated yourself from your creator. But, like, if you when you lead with, hey, I think people are inherently evil, what do they think of? Well, their grandma. Their grandma make an applesauce on the stove when they were nine years old. And they're like, grandma's evil? God thinks my grandma's evil? Y'all okay. I mean, you guys gotta digest this stuff with some context. Yeah. Alright. The survey results clearly demonstrate how careful you have to be when interpreting data associated with a particular segment of people who are labeled as Christians. Political polling in particular may mislead people regarding the views and preferences of genuine Christ followers simply based on how those surveys measure the Christian population, which I suppose goes to a broad point, which is

this is true from Christian perspective. It's true from from any perspective really, is that when they say, hey, most Christians believe, just know the bucket of Christians includes some guy who goes, I don't really care what you think as long as you think it hard. As long as you believe in it strongly, Zeus is probably I'm a Christian, but believing in Zeus seems just fine. Just be genuine about it. Yeah. So like, this is the swath of stuff of which we're getting critiques. I've

been I've been preaching through Revelation churches to Asia chapters two and three, and I've been really thinking about this. Like, the church in in Sardis is you have a reputation of being alive, but you're dead. And and I thought I thought to myself, like, that could be like most churches. I I mean, how would you even know you're in a dead church if the reputation is alive? Like, everything's happening and, you know, you if there's growth, there's there you have budgets and you have, you know, staff and great programs. Everybody in town thinks you're cool.

Yep. And that this is kind what you're describing is is how many people are in dead churches. They've gone to a church and they thought, yeah, this is great. But they obviously haven't taught the doctrine. They haven't taught Right. Truth. They haven't taught what the gospel really is, but they're part of a great church. Or are they? Yeah. Yeah. Shoot. You know? I you know, that's interesting that you brought that up because I've actually been running that through my mind lately. And so this is this is I I think in my particular context, it's been hitting me. I think it's true for for many contexts.

Is that, like, you know, we've spent a lot of our time focusing on faithfully worshiping, praying together, and studying scripture. And then every once in a while, I just you hear about some stuff that other churches are doing. I'm like, boy, that's cool. That seems pretty cool. And, like, there there there's good programs and good things that they like that the whole church goes through and and and stuff like that. And I think, you know, I just don't have

I just feel like there's so much scripture to teach that I I just don't like I don't get diverted what feels like a diversion to me. But then I think to myself, boy, I I you know, are these things that people actually need? Like, it wrong is it wrong or too simplistic to go, this this is all people need, is we need scripture, and we need prayer together, and we need worship, and then you need a sense of community. Like, very basic four basic ingredients. Mhmm.

But then I hear things like this, and like, again, none of that stuff is implicitly wrong or or bad. It all could be centered on perfectly right things. But like, it just causes me to to think about, like, the main thing is the main thing for a reason. And, like, everything still has to be kind of centered on all that stuff. And then you can, yeah, you can totally layer things on top of that that then are then supported by those four things. But, like, if you if I hadn't if you have a finite amount of time, like, I care about nothing else primarily except for those four things. And then everything else I think just, again, kind of stacks. But I think it's one of those things where

to your point, Dan, if like, if you look at and say, boy, they got a really great church. Well, what do we mean what do we mean by that? Yeah. But I think yeah. What does it mean to be a great church? Like, people are are engaged. Well, okay. That's good. But are are they engaged in the right things? Are they motivated by by true things? Is it it's a place they want to invite other people to. Well, great. I I like to invite people over to my Super Bowl party. But like, why? Yeah. Right. And and like the why totally matters, and like I just I I get so nervous that we get the the the second thing right without getting the first thing right that I very I'm just super cautious about dipping my toe ever into second things, which I think is probably wrong in some way or another, but like it's just the thing that hangs in the back of my mind. Mhmm. There

was there was another oh, what is this? Never mind. I don't wanna sort through this. There was there was the maybe I'll find this for next time. There was an American Worldview inventory for this year that they released the top five most prevalent seductive unbiblical ideas embraced by Americans. Actually, here. Let me just hit them real quick. Just see if any of it are surprising to you. The top 10. Number one was the spiritually inclusive idea that having faith matters more than what faith you have. K. We talked about that one. Two, all faiths are of equal value. Three,

belief in karma, the idea rooted in eastern religions that, you get what you give. Four, the dismissal absolute truth. Five, commitment to personal subjective morality. K. We talked about that. People are basically good. We talked about that. Success is determined by happiness, comfort, goodness, or fulfilled potential. So we we didn't talk about that. How do you define success? Not not like that. How how would you do it? If it's not, am I happy? Am I comfortable? Am I good? Or have I fulfilled my potential?

I mean, all those are subjective. Right? What did you think your potential was to begin with? How do you level goodness? Hey, man. I see you're sitting on your butt. I'm making the most of my life. It's comfortable for me Oh my god. Like not having to work, or it's comfortable for me like I make a good paycheck when I do go to work. You know what saying? Like and and happiness is like I mean, that's totally in the eye of the beholder. Oh, you know, I think the problem like, one of the things we should have an issue with here is these those are implicitly self centered. Yeah. Am I happy? Am I comfortable? Because my to to your to that point,

my comfort could be the ex at the expense of someone else's, I don't know, high tax bracket. Or I like to sit on top of six people when I watch a movie. And so, like, I'm comfortable and I'm just gonna have six people sit underneath me. I'm just gonna sit on them like a couch. Right? I mean, I know it sounds like a ridiculous example, but like, if that's the only way you're measuring it last week. I do. It works. If you're only measuring things like that, what then then, yeah. I mean, it's it could be completely out of bounds. And plus your comfort starts to be the drive for why you do things. Right? Like, hey, my my grandma's at the hospital. I should go see her. That's uncomfortable at that hospital. I'll stay where I'm at. Right. I don't people don't ever get stretched out. Like, humanity doesn't progress. Nothing can have to collectively or communally

or even in the service of others if those are your measures of success. Yeah. You know what's comfortable? Not going to work. You know what's comfortable? Not going out in the rain. You know what's comfortable? Not driving in the winter. So so, you know, like like, you know what's comfortable? Not cleaning up your kid's puke. When your kid comes to get you up at two in the morning, you're like, hey. I'm I'm about throw up. Like, you're on your own, pal. It's two in the morning and I am comfortable. Yeah. That lacks goodness. It doesn't make me happy. I'm uncomfortable. And frankly, my my potential for sleep will be impacted. Yeah. That can't be the measurement. Yeah. Yeah. That's terrible. Next, sexual relations apart from marriage are morally acceptable. That was not particularly surprising, don't think. But I think that one goes back to success. If you measure your life's success on happiness, comfort, goodness, and fulfilled potential,

then things that otherwise make you happy or comfortable or seem good to you, then become morally acceptable. Because if your morality is driven by what you think or feel, then the things that otherwise contribute positively how you think or feel have to be morally acceptable. But I think it's it's think or feel in a confined bit of time. Right? Like, I if I stack up a successful

marriage with one sexual partner for fifty years, if I stack that up against the minute happiness you found with sexual partners, multiple sexual partners, like, you're not actually doing that. You're not actually talking about them in their entirety. You're talking to them as in bits of a good time. Right? You're putting the moment

up against something else when like that didn't include, hey, remember that awkwardness when you had to dodge that girl's phone calls for six weeks because you just wanted to have fun and then and then bail on it? And you remember having Well, you got southern gentlemen. Yeah. Yeah. When you got the southern gentlemen. I mean, here's the thing. There's there's they're not having a fair discussion. Right? Like, there's nobody that's gonna go, hey, man. It was exciting and new to have sex with someone that I hadn't had sex before. Yes. I would probably agree. That probably was exciting and new.

If I had to stack that up against a good marriage for fifty years with one sexual partner, I'll take that one. That one has come into fruition for me. That's that's like exciting and new every time for me. Dan says this is yeah, Mike, your your your sex life sounds real lame. Yeah. Okay. So I I've explained this poorly. Crap. I'm really gonna regret this path that I've got on.

I don't mean that. I guess I guess what Southern gentleman. Yeah. You know, so when I I prefer the bold ball and chain. The old predictable. The old, you know No. You're taking me out of context. I guess what I'm saying is the entire love that more, I say. The total package that I get out of my marriage, I feel like it doesn't

even come close to stacking up against a random one night whatevers with people. Like, I just yeah. And but that's not how we're ever talking about it. They're like, I should I feel like I should have the freedom to have sex with whoever I want. So here's the thing is what you're saying is, I should have the freedom to take from people without, giving them anything. Because success is determined by happiness, comfort, goodness, or fulfillment. Correct. I want to think go ahead. With with that argument with with the whole argument, it is that both sides haven't experienced the other. You what I'm saying? Like, I've only been with one person. That's right. So I can't I can't I can't compare that to 14 people over three weeks. Right. And I don't want to. And and they don't they can't compare

what, you know, thirty years of the same person is is like because they've never done that. I mean, so you go back to God's word and say, well, this is I trust I trust what it says. Yeah. That's the thing. It's like overall, like, of course, all these things are a flat out mistrust of what God is saying. Right? You're taking your finite amount of time on this earth, and if you are not 80, right, like, let's say that you're you got thirty, forty years of this thing. So you've had thirty, forty years of looking at this world and you go, I've got this nailed.

Based on my experiences, the things that I've seen, this is the deal. And like, it's absurdly arrogant, and based mostly on how you feel about something or how something went.

You know? And so where God says, look, this is an overall truth. And and tell me what God's reasoning would be to to confide you to one sexual partner if it was not best for you. Right? Why would he actually care? Like, why would why would he he get in the middle of it and say, I want to control this. Just like I don't want you guys eating macaroni and cheese three more than three times a week. Right? There's a reason God steps in and goes, look, this is this this is what is best for you. It's what will bring you the most joy. It's not to shackle you or or to to shut down the fun experience of life. It's to get the most out of life. Mhmm. Right? You're willing to settle for gum off the street. And God say, I have a factory of gum, and it will produce gum all of its lifetime, and it is the best, and it's fulfilling, and it'll be great, and it will will give you more than you could ever even bargain for, and you're willing to start taking off Subway Gum. Right? And you're like, but I love Subway Gump better than the factory. You're a liar. No one likes Subway Gump better than the factory. You're literally changing reality to match your lowered expectations. That's not the way that this works. Yeah. That that's a good point. It's like the the the comparison is not what makes a human happy. A human, to Dan's point, doesn't have a concept of

the extent of happiness that's available if you've not experienced it. And so who do you trust to tell you which level of happiness is best and attainable? And that's that's where you're trusting God's perspective on it. Yes. Number eight was rejection of the notion that people are inherently sinful. Now, I think the gap here is, again, is the use of the religious term sinful. If if if you were to say, are people inherently

Not not God. Right. Or or like do do it people inherently fall short of of acting perfectly? Yes. Well then, yeah. I think everybody's in. Mhmm. Like if you were to ask or ask the opposite question, hey, man. Are are people bent towards perfection and then just so happens that some people fail? Or does everyone fail at acting the way that they should? Right. They'll say they'll say that. So I think I think the load is the sin part. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, total absolute depravity every day of every hour. Oh, no. Nobody's like that. No. Right. Right. Right. Right. And I think it's too bad that we've

I think both undercut the notion of what sin is, but then overload on it too. We're like people people think of sins as specifically things that are like

morally reprehensible to them personally. Yeah. Or something that they feel that they feel like they should feel shame of. But again, it's it's just self centered. It's a wrong way to define what God's talking about here. What also bisque characterizes God's view of us as sinful creation. Right? Like we say, when you say a phrase like, people are inherently evil or whatever, and like, that is not the view that it's it's a logical view that God knows about me, but it's not a feeling that he has towards me. Right? Like, it's not my interaction with him that he looks at me all the time and goes, evil evil evil evil. It's all I see is evil. Right? Like, he's not disgusted by his creation. Correct. Like, and he's not letting he doesn't let it define his creation. Right? That's right. His creation is defined on with with love and grace. Right? And so like, as much as sometimes we want to settle in, it's like you need to realize that your go to is your way not God's way. I think that's fair. Yeah. I I think when you struggle or when you lose

a calm calm, gracious mind, you will make a quick decision that is in your own best interest and miss the good thing that maybe God had for you. Yeah. But like, God is not literally sitting up on his throne going, I'm so disgusted with all these people. Right? That's not his posture to us. It is, I you're making choices apart from what is best for you. Please come back to me. You know? And so like, it's just it's the connotation of the way that it's said that I think is probably the most offensive. The way that that that we're using it. It's like, need to realize that you're so evil. Well, God's the final authority here, he said that I'm full of grace. And I can have grace and mercy and be and sit next to him. That's what God said about me. So I hear the thing that you're saying, and maybe you're right. But like the main point is just like we don't focus on Satan all the time. Right? He got four lines in the New Testament. Grace gets way more lines than than than humans' depravity.

And so it's just an odd focus to me. Well, I I think sometimes like you you have to wreck this is what makes it hard to talk to bring good news to someone who doesn't realize that their situation requires good news. Right? Like, if you say, hey, man.

It's it's often the separation from God that that the good news is actually rescuing them from. Speak that to a, you know, an American culture of which, you know, the average household is making $80,000 a year. No one's wanting for food. They're not wanting for shelter. Basically, you know, $80.80 percent of Maslow's hierarchy needs are being fulfilled here. And so they're like, hey, what is this what why is this news good to me? I don't need any of this. And so I think there is there is something that you miss by helping by not helping people understand that like, there are

their existence is falling short of something. But like, again, I sorry. But I I I would agree that it's not the prime it's not the prime cut of the story. The only reason you that I think that's necessary is because it helps you, one, understand God better, and then two, understand the gift that you're being given on his behalf. Sure. Number

10. And the conclusion that the purpose of accumulated personal wealth is unrelated to God's purposes. I don't know which bible you're reading. People have come to the conclusion that the of accumulated personal wealth is unrelated to God's purposes.

Wow. Well There's some major portions of scripture that I feel like you're you're adorking. What does this mean though? Interesting. When it comes to life outcomes, the views people have of biblical worldview and those who are don't are diamet let's see. Four out of five people with the biblical worldview believe that the personal accumulation of wealth has been entrusted to them by God to manage for his purposes, 81%. However, just one out of five other adults embrace that belief. I don't I guess I don't understand. That makes sense. If four out of five embrace it, then the that would have believed what. They believe that the personal accumulation of wealth has been entrusted them by God to manage for his purposes. That doesn't sound like what they said. No. Because that sounds good.

Adults with a biblical worldview were nearly universally agreed that success is best indicated by consistent obedience to God 98%. Well, that's right. Yeah. Across the nation though, just one out of five people bought that perspective. In their mind, success was more likely to be defined as being a good person.

Experiencing happiness or freedom or living a healthy and productive life without economic oppression. Yeah. I mean, once again, that's a real movable target. Yeah. Okay. Well, anyway, a lot of those were crossing. Hey, you've been listening live from Thanks for hanging on with us so far this week. If if you wanna contact the show, you have feedback for us or maybe a question that you want us to answer, we'd love to be able to do that for you. You can call or text the live from The Path, Bob Eisenhower complaint line, (515) 517-0085.

(515) 517-0085. We would love to hear from you. It's always encouraging to do so. And if we read your question or comment on the air, you get a free

hallelujah from us. Oh. Wow. I like that. Yeah. Generosity does do best. That's what I'm saying. Like, here's the thing. I would promise to send you something, but like, I don't I I forget to mail in the Menards rebates. And they probably get me for multiple hundreds a year because I forget to mail them in. And so I'll say that I'll send you something, but I just won't. I've got this actually, I got some edamame, some dry roasted edamame that's been sitting on this counter for about a year because I think I bought it as an impulse buy and it's terrible. Just awful. And

so I may I'll send those to you maybe. If you give me your address, I'll I'll send them to you in the mail. That's no problem. You ready? Wait. Don't you wanna know eight reasons why we can't follow Jesus apart from the church? No. No. Nathaniel agrees.

What'd you wanna go? You wanna go to bed? Yeah. You go to sickness? Yes. Okay. You're making everybody sick. Okay. I'll pick this one up. Next week, we're gonna talk about that this this is a a running theme of, is this really a Christian problem? Because there's a guy that wrote wrote a thing that said, basically, evangelicals

gave a pass to Lord of the Rings and then got all upset by Harry Potter. When many of the themes and magical arts and spirits and things were equivalent among the two. That sounds like a real dog starter.

Who cares about that? What do you mean? Is there people up at arms about this? That's well, that's the question. Is I I came across this and I thought like I mean, I know there's people who don't let their kids like read Harry Potter. Right. Because they're like, well, there's wizards and stuff in there. But then like Hey, there's wizards in the Bible. I like who? Who's that? You mean like the Chaldeans? Well, the Chaldeans for one. I mean, the Charlotte's for sure. Well, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, you got the witch of Indore. There we go. Witch of Indore. I yeah. She's not a wizard. I mean, he's good. Very well the same. I don't know the actual definition of a wizard. I think it's certainly not a witch. I think witches and wizards are different. Yeah. They're both magical people. Hey, wait a minute. What's never mind. So so I like that that was part of the question for me is that like we're I I know that people make this distinction. I I I've never had. My kids read Harry Potter. I don't care. It's like, to the extent it's fake, we just call things fake and we move on with our lives. Like playing Monopoly. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's just a weird thing to get fired up about. There ain't no actual free parking.

You've been to Boston? But I I guess that was the thing that this is a real long this is a real long article and I'm like, I don't like, are we having are we having this problem? Like, know people who do this, but like, I'm not sure it's a broad problem.

And and I I just like the the things that that get Christianity gets paid in with, the sometimes we've talked about a few different articles over the last six to eight weeks that where we said, hey, is this really do you remember the one about dudes crying? Yeah. And there was something else we talked about. We're like, is this really is this really going on? But but then again, based upon the survey that we just read, like, it's there's all kinds under this Christian banner.

And I mean, do we have to actually speak to some of this stuff and go, hey, look, knock it off. I would think people debate, like, on the the Harry Potter Yeah. Deal. It it is like what the intent of the author or the belief of the author. So they're like, well, this guy is a person of faith and he meant it as a Christian thing, and the other person is not a person of faith and therefore, they can't be meaningless Christian like, and so therefore, you can't read that. Yeah. And that was one of his points, which I think is goofy. Yeah. It's like, because just to say yeah. Right. There's still wizards and still, know Well, and I don't know what news article you're reading that's written by a Christian. I don't know what, you know I'm saying? Like, I don't know what sandwich from Blippi's you're getting that's made by a verified Jesus dude. What's your intent to this sandwich, sir? Yeah. Are you putting the Holy Spirit into this sandwich or are you your own pagan beliefs? What? Right? That's ridiculous. Right. Just to sacrifice the idols? Well, and like even CS Lewis, like, would fall into that category. Right? Like any any fantasy or fiction book, you're suspending some level of disbelief and they're like, well, this this other worldly thing points me away from Jesus. Well, stop watching Star Trek. Like like, just pick your things that says that proposes anything that isn't Jesus dying on the cross in the human world. But like, I think we're our our imaginations are meant for something bigger than that. And so like, I like, I get it. I get the restraint.

I just I and I think there is a righteous call to say, look, are you being hypocritical about this because you knew that Tolkien was a Christian and he intended it for Christian purposes? Well, like, is you tell me like your your ten year old's reading the book going, boy, as long I really hope this is a Christian who intends it's a Christian purposes. This may fulfill my life as opposed to actually, I I I can't speak to it, but JK Rowling says she is and says there are Christian themes in Harry Potter. I think there are, actually.

But like, I I just like we get kind of weird about and goofy about that kind of thing. And I just I don't like it. This felt like this guy had a point and then he went off on a real tangent. But like, I didn't like it because I'm like, we look silly in some of these things. And then I don't know. Yeah. It's like the videos going around like, you can't sing songs from a particular church because, well, the preacher there preaches x y z. Therefore, all music is bad

and therefore, you can't, you know, sing anything from that church. It's like, well, I think you could say that about the old hymns too, you know. It's like, oh, that came from a bar, that, you know Yeah. Person didn't really believe what they were writing. I mean I mean, we're not trying to put it in the canon. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. It's just a thing I took in. A thing I saw. And if it's leading you to sin, you should stay away from it. Who's the guy who wrote It Is Well? Horatio

somebody? Yeah. What was that? Horatio Rosoro. No. No. It's not. Whatever. The the guy who wrote It Is It Is Well Zoro. Stop stop saying that. Anyway, so like I've read like, it's a cool story where he writes the writes the song after his his family perishes in between the Chicago fire and the boat crash or whatever.

And so like, it's a cool story. And then and it's encouraging to think about the song and how he reaches and clings to the Lord. But then like, I've seen follow ups where they're like, I'm not sure the rest of his life actually looked like that. And I thought, well, that's sad for him, but I don't care. Like, I'm not sure what that what does that matter to me? Yeah. That doesn't destroy the song. Yeah. Like, the song still is like it was a well, hey, well, it didn't work. Well, I'm not it's not magic. It's not a magic tune. It's supposed to remind you of true things already. So it's a human expressing in their own words something that reminds them of of something that they know to be true or needed reminded of being true that came from scripture. And so do I expect them that, like, the human effort to be some sort of level of magic of which it means this guy's gonna live a perfect life and never doubt the Lord because he penned this tune? Like this it's just a weird expectation to have. Like, I'll I'll find any way I'll find any means or thing at my disposal to be able to be reminded of a true thing that God said or did and to praise him for it. I you can get that from a secular tune on the radio just fine. There've been a number of songs where I'm like, I mean, I wouldn't I probably wouldn't like sing it in a church because it was not

it's not worshipful. It's not us to him. It's more like reminders of who we are type of thing. But like there's been plenty of songs where I listen to it. I'm like, you know what? That reminds me of a true thing that God said about me. Or think true thing that God did that impacts how I think about myself or the world around me. So yeah. I I dig on that. And like,

that's totally fine. Like, just just because the guy that wrote it didn't intend in fact, there's a song. I can't remember what it's called. But there's a guy who wrote it too and they called let let it get high let them get high, let them get stoned, everything will be alright if you let it go. It's like the chorus. And so it's not good. It's not it's like a cold, it's okay to do the drug use. But like, the main thing is like he's he's he's talking about like, Jesus, go go to my friends. If they knew you, then their lives wouldn't be the same. And like, I don't know why this what this guy meant. I don't I think I read an an interview. He's not a Christian dude, but I listened to it. I'm like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This guy's right about this this particular verse here. I sing with gusto and in praise to the Lord Jesus.

And like, I don't care what his state of mind was. It doesn't matter. And so like, we just we just where do we stop being weird about it? Alright. I covered the mic. Shut up. You ready? Go ahead and read We can still read it. We can read your problems next week. They're alive from the path. A friend of forty years is always saying what she can't afford, yet she owns property, has a four zero one k, always finds additional work in her field, and buys the cheapest groceries. She won't spend a dime even when it's necessary.

In a recent text, she was going on again about money when I jokingly quipped, you're probably a millionaire by now. She jumped on me as if I called her the b word and went off on a rant. I was dumbfounded. I apologized because she felt I badly offended her by calling her a millionaire. When she didn't respond, I left it alone. This was a few days ago. This morning, I got a text from her as if nothing happened. I'm no longer feeling like I'm her, quote, friend. Looking back, she was never a good hostess when I flew out of state to visit her nor has she ever treated me for lunch or dinner, although I was happy to treat her to lunch when she came to visit. I don't feel the caring, generous, giving aspect that usually goes with long term friendship. When she was down financially, I offered. I have experience to save from her. I feel shot down and ready to call it quits. Your expert advice is most appreciated and needed.

Yeah. I mean, your friend's a cheapskate. Okay. But like, she's trying to move on. Listen, I don't get it. Yeah. She she I mean She acted as if nothing happened. Well, good. Yeah. Let's move on then. Are you wanting her to draw it out? Should you really think I'm a millionaire?

That's a really weird reaction to have to somebody. This person acts like they're 12. How can they have a friend of forty years? Yeah.

It's like, I've invested forty years of my life into you. I don't think I'm I don't think you're worth it anymore. You haven't taken me out to dinner. Yeah. I don't this seems real weird. It it is. Tell me who doesn't do this when you have a fight with your wife. Right? One slight of thing happens and then you're sitting on the couch going, you know, actually, overall, I'm mistreated. I'm not valued in the things that I'm doing and whatever. This is you know I'm saying? Like, this is just classic stuff when you got in a roast, and then you're like, maybe I was right or wrong about whatever this was. But the general pattern is that I'm alright. And everybody, especially this person right here, has been taking me for granted. This is what a regular fight between two people care about each other looks like. And like you're trying to put some kind of finality to it like a I don't know, like a some kind of drama buster. Yeah. I mean, hey, she never takes me out to lunch. Well, I mean, if you didn't have a problem with it last week, I don't know why this week is coming at you. Yeah. Well, you care. You said something that you thought was a joke over text message, which can obviously be miss mistaken in.

She took it offensively for one way or the other. You learned your lesson that she's pretty soft on this particular issue, and now she's not gonna belabor the point. You've been given a gift. Yeah. It's time to move on. You should ask yourself why you're friends with this person in the first place. Right? Like, you listed all these these things that are supposed to be like the idlers. But like, I got plenty of friends who are cheapskates. They will never they just treat everything. Right? And they will order, like, the cheapest thing on the menu. When you're going out to, like, a Texas roadhouse, and they'll get a sandwich, and you're like, what are you doing? We go to the Texas roadhouse. They're like, I got a sandwich and water. This looks good. I'm like, it does not look good. We're getting an appetizer, and I'll pay for it. So like, I I mean, you had a friend like that, it's like going out with Nathaniel. Right? You just assume. Yeah. Not not cheap. Nathaniel, what's your take on this?

I mean, yeah. She said she had a four zero one k and you can't be like taking that out before, you know, you're old enough. So she can't be spending all her $40.01 k money on lunch. Yeah. I don't think it's actually makes you a curmudgeon to have a four zero one k. They give those out like candy when you work. Yeah. It's free money. Yeah. You'd be fooled not to have one. Yeah. Yeah. I won't take your blood money.

The lady who wrote in. She'd be she'd take it as too seriously. Also like, you know, if someone calls you a millionaire, you don't need to get all offended about it. You think I have money? I I mean, I suppose Yeah. Yeah. Do. But like, what does it matter? Yeah. You should be a millionaire by now. Yeah. I'm like six times over. Wow. I mean, again, it just it kinda depends on how close of friends you are. Like, I I don't have a a I assume that most people that know me within it, like, that are close to me have a rough idea,

like, in the ballpark of how much money I may have. Like, you can look at a guy's house and go, he must do okay. He's got a big place. Or, you know, probably not they're probably having a rough go of it. They have of a small place. Like, there's ways you can take it in. It's not like it's a crazy surprise. I I do well at my work. I would I mean, I don't have a problem saying we do alright. So, I mean, I don't know. Like, it's just a weird thing to get all ganked up about. Yeah. I mean, I might follow-up and say, hey, I didn't really mean to make you mad, but I'm kinda wondering why you're so sensitive about it.

Who do you feel about? I do great. Look at me. I said, I do alright. I got a big house. May be a millionaire. I have multiple cars. I have more chickens than you. I bet. Your chickens keep dying.

Yeah. We we get robbed by the coyotes. The the yotes. Hey. I'm insulated from the troubles in my environment. The coyotes don't even bother me. They see that I'm wealthy. I my daughter went to a hunter safety course, and, I I went along as the guy that drove her there.

And then they said, hey. You could sit in on this hunter safety course. I'm like, alright. And I mean, I learned all kinds of cool stuff. These DNR fellows, here's one thing that you don't I don't I don't know what you know about the fellows that work for the the Department of Natural Resources. Their territory is wherever they are. Right? The sheriff gets to the boundary of the county, then he's like, woah woah, You can't get me. The DNR can arrest you everywhere. Right? They're they cover the whole state. And so they they they could pull you over, on the highway. They they have the same authority as all law enforcement. They just got no boundaries. They could go wherever they want. They could cross state lines. It doesn't matter. But that's awesome. It's awesome. How do I become a deputized DNR man? You don't have the stones for it, Bill. No. I probably don't. No. You're too wrapped up in your career and how much money you make. Yeah. Do you think the coyotes would stay away from me? Do they know I'm wealthy outside of my property? Yeah. The coyotes know. That's why they won't come to your place. Yeah. They don't want it infecting their dead.

Okay. Let's let's dig on to response. Yeah. Secular sis, before ending a forty year friendship, please tell this woman she hurt your feelings, then ask why your casual comment triggered such a strong reaction. Her response to your reasonable question will tell you everything you need to know about whether your relationship is salvageable. Yeah. I mean, this I don't this doesn't feel like the end of the world, really. Like, if everything else was fine and this is the one thing in forty year run that has caused a little bit of a roast, maybe you just don't overreact on it. Yeah.

Okay. Ready? Says it right best. Take it easy. He did. Derek, they're life of the path. Nobody wants to hear this. Take your

Listen, don't read this part. No. I'm gonna read it. You ready? Yeah. Their life of the path. I was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, and I'm undergoing chemotherapy. My children are still in school. I've lost all my hair and wear a wig without the community. It closely approximately

approximates my precancer hairstyle, except it's a bit shorter with highlights. Acquaintances have seen me at events and complimented me complimented me on my hair. Some have asked questions such as, did you do something different with your hair? It looks great, and your hair looks so different. Did you do something new? I prefer not to share my diagnosis with these individuals.

One person even began touching my hair. What is the appropriate response? When I replied, thank you, they stared at me expecting more of an explanation. Yeah. Look. If you don't tell them that you had cancer and your hair is now dramatically different, just in the normal course of day, people are gonna go, oh, man. Your hair looks dramatically different. Right. What was the deal? What happened?

And then you go, thank you. Yeah. I just thought I'd try something different. You sound super fishy. Yeah. Right. Like, you don't need a fantastic

answer. You just need one that's better than being dismissive about it. Like, yeah. Yeah. Like Dan said, hey hey, are you doing something different? I'll just groan it out a bit. Fine. Yeah. I yeah. I try I'm just trying something new. Like, it's totally fine. Yeah. No one's gonna press you on it. Oh, what exactly are you trying new? Which comb did you must use? Know. Yeah. What's the exact color hex number you got in there? I want to know. Pantone, what? Like, I just they're not likely to ask. So just, you know, especially if they're the type of acquaintance you don't want them to know this, then I gotta assume that they're like, unless they're super aggressive, they're gonna be just fine with a a better like a just a halfway decent answer that acknowledges that, yeah, something's different. Because like, here's the deal. It's not fair to these types of to Mike's point, it's not fair to to look different and then have someone not mention it. It's the only thing so that they don't know what's going on in your mind. And so Or your world or anything else. Right. They don't know anything. They just know that your hair looks different. They're just being nice. Yeah. Hey, your hair looks different. I have breast cancer. Oh, well, I wish I wouldn't have mentioned the hair. I mean, I don't know. Right. Right? I didn't realize it would sense. You're you're here's what's probably true. Having breast cancer is terrible, and it has a weight on you. It's consuming your mind, the thoughts of your kid. You're like, right? It's it's your whole world right now. They're just trying to be nice. Right? They're just trying to say, hey, your hair looks different. They don't secretly know it's a wig. Or if they do, they're polite enough to be quiet about it. Yeah. I would take every one of these as a compliment that you found yourself a stellar wig. Yeah. Because most of the time, people are like, that's a rug rug tugger rug. I can look at it right now. That thing will come off in a stiff breeze.

Especially dudes. Yeah. I don't know I don't know where the lady wigs come from, but the dude wigs come from some back alley seamstress who can't seem to get any any, like, mentionable pattern of a dude's hair on. It's all of a sudden the guy was like bald, and now all of a sudden, he's like he's like a throwed out seventies man. Like, it's coming out of every pore. And it and it's real trimmed up right by his ears. Like, one believes this ever, you know? Yeah. The fellas don't know how to play it subtle with a wig. Yeah. They they really go to town on it. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I think we solved that one. Yeah. What does the secular say? K. Secular says, you are not obligated to discuss your medical information with quotes acquaintances.

Thank you should have been enough. However, because it wasn't, I'm guessing the people doing the probing probably realized you were wearing a wig. Oh, wow. Secular says, we're onto it. I discussed your question with Piety of Beverly Hills, a longtime wig maker, to performers in show business as well as cancer patients. He told me that the handling the question could be as simple as saying, you saw it online or in a shop. Thought it was cute and have been enjoying wearing it. During our conversation, he shared another tidbit. Many people wear wigs and extensions these days for a variety of reasons. So many adults have dull or thinning hair that your healthy shiny locks are somewhat unusual, which may be why people have been quizzing you. That's true. If you would like totally you don't say it upset She said it was close though. Yeah. That's true. I think from her perspective, it was close. I think I I don't think it's all that. I think she didn't know how to answer this well and so she wouldn't talk to a wig man.

There's more. Yep. That said, consider wearing your wig to a beauty salon and talking with a stylist about what you're encountering. Wigs that aren't custom made can have so much hair that they don't look natural. Particularly, if the wearer didn't have a thick hair to begin with. Hey, If I if I bought a custom made wig and they tend to come with too much hair, I would feel like these people should be better.

Yeah. I you make custom wigs. Don't send me ones got too much hair on. I ain't taking it to the $10 dude who cut my hair my whole life. I got no hair because of that. That's right. I paid $400 for a wig, and you send me to the super cuts to get it straightened out? Yeah. Yeah. By the way This is garbage. This is a wig. That's like buying that's like buying dentures that have like tartar on them. Yeah. Like what? Yeah. Or like what the dentist is gonna put a false tooth in. He's like, I got this shaded to match the rest of your teeth. I'm like, no. I want the stark white one. Like a brand new.

It's gonna look out of place. I'm like, I don't want you staining it up before you put it in there. Yeah. I want one that looks brand new like I paid for it. Otherwise, the guys at the the the car dealership first, when I try to buy one, would kick in the door. Yeah. Right. They'd be like, hey, this more matches you. Yeah. I want this to match your place. Punk. Take a swipe at the fender. That dentist is a real sneaky steak. You know what I'm saying? Hey, man. I degraded this tooth. I'm gonna go bake it so it looks like your other teeth. That'll cost you extra. Yeah. If I wanted it to look like my other teeth, I wouldn't be buying this brand new one from you. Give me the shiny one.

Put it right in front. It doesn't go in front. Yeah. It does. We put our best foot forward. Swap it out. Alright. Alright. Hey. We got one we got time for one more. You got one more? Yeah. Okay. Hold on.

I had I wasn't actually prepared for it. Here we go. No. We're not talking about Why is that one rough? Uh-oh. No. Yeah. These are terrible. Hold on.

Oh, here we go. Woman's starting to see through the boyfriend's big talking. Okay. Yeah. I'm ready for it. Oh, 41 years old. I'm experts at this one. Okay. Here we go. Dear life from the past. Ready. I am a 41 year old divorced woman. My two grown children live with their dad. I have been in a relationship with sir Talksalot for sixteen months. I've that's a quote, Talksalot. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I feel like I love him, but I'm having lots of doubts. When I don't see him, it doesn't bother me. If I made pros and cons list, there would probably be more cons than pros. And he talks nonstop

about anything and everything. If he's not texting me, he's calling me. We don't go on real dates. All we do is hang out or go out and grab a bite. He contradicts himself often, and if we argue, he is always the victim. He talks a good game, but I feel like it's all talk. I've gotten flowers once in sixteen months and no holiday or birthday gifts, but his talk game is so good that I feel guilty for thinking about breaking things off. Is it me or am I just feeling suffocated? Please give me some advice. The heck are you even talking about? His talk game is so good. You just told me he like tells lies and stuff in him. Yeah. If he was as good at the talk game, you would know the difference. He'd be smoking beers man, and you can see the smoke had the beer. Yeah. I

I think you're not really wanting to pursue this relationship any further. And you're looking for excuses, and maybe they're legit, and they probably are legit. Well, yeah. I mean, it doesn't seem like you need any further justification. Seems like a slam dunk. Break it off. I'm married. Yeah. Here's the phrase. If I don't see him, it doesn't bother me.

Yeah. Okay. Well, then I shut it down. You're not wanting to hurt his feelings, but yet it's gonna hurt him more the longer you go. Yeah. But I like it. I don't get this. What's the whole talk business about? What like, the only reason she seems to stay with him, I think I love him except for the cons list is bigger than the pros.

But he talks such a he's such a good talker, but all her complaints were about him talking. I don't understand it. I think she means like he's he he sells a good future or sell like, hey, things are great. And then then she thinks, no, they're really not great. But when she's with him, she's like, no, he's really pretty cool. Yeah. I mean, I get sucked in by that guy. Yeah. He sells the orange cleaner when he comes to my house. He's like a 100% orange. And I'm like, he's like, look, takes the stains off. I'm like, holy cow. This stuff's awesome. And then when he leaves, they don't clean nothing. Yeah. Takes it. It's terrible. It's like water. Yeah. His his charisma is what cleans the couch. Yeah. Yeah. This seems like a slam dunk. I don't know why you keep I just don't understand this. I'm I'm confounded. Can you imagine if you were about ready to leave your lady friend's house and you said, hey, I'll see you later this week. And she goes,

if I don't see you, that won't bother me much. It'd be just fine. Right. Yeah. Right then. I don't just I don't think I really like you anyway. So Yeah. I mean, why are are we just pretending here? We're getting all dressed up to go out, grab a bite to eat. I could just stop at the Arby's by myself. Mean, there's just no reason to add this type of complication in your life for no reason. I do kinda wonder though, like, when people give have complaints like the one she does, like, hey, we only go out for a quick bite. Like, we don't go out on legit dates. Like, can you just give me a like a a even a shallow play by play of the last three times you brought this up? Like, did you say, hey, man. I wanna go on a real date. And then when he refused, you said, hey, why do you why are you not taking me on a real date? Like, these seem like real basic things to ask. Yeah. Yeah. And then, what did he say? And then, like, the next night when it didn't happen, did you bring it back up? Because, like, I just I don't understand. Like, there have to be rub points where like these things came out and we talked about it, and then he said something so dumb and banal, then you would go, that's why I don't wanna be with this man. Right.

And there is something to be said about two single people in their forties trying to date. Right? Like, if when you're single in that area of life, at that age of life, it's where you're most likely making the most money at your job. Right? Like your career is is is all the time that you've spent working is actually starting to pay out. And, you know, and so the likelihood that you have a life set up as a single person,

yeah, it's harder to go, you know, to just interrupt everything and say, hey, you know, I can't go to this I can't work late tonight because I'm gonna go whatever. And so that could be totally extenuating some circumstances. Right? You know, fellas, that like you could if your wife said, hey, want you to take me out on a date, your first thought is, yes. Absolutely. I would love to do that. And then six months will go by and you did not do it. Mhmm. And because all kinds of life stuff showed up. His wife. Yeah. And you didn't mean to put it on the back burner and you did. And and she's she's not gonna be wrong when she says, you did not make it a priority. And you'll go, yes. You're right. I did not. I let all kinds of things push it off the throat. But at the end of the day, it wasn't my intention to not go on this big date with you. I just, you know, the kids had this or somebody called me here or this broke and we had to fix it. Random stuff. Right? So like, if I'm looking out at two single people at the age of 40,

can I say you're not 20 freewheeling with a ten hour work week? Like, I'm I'm just guessing that you got more going on in life than that. And so you might be being a little unfair. But then once again, if you don't even care about the guy, I don't see any reason to put any effort into it anyway. Yeah. Yeah. I bail on this directly. Yeah. Okay. Ready for secular's advice? Wait, Nathaniel? Yeah. Bail or do need to stick it out? Yeah. Get get rid of him. Nathaniel says fix it. You gotta work hard. He talks a good game, Nathaniel. Yeah. You gotta put your muscle into Just,

you know, throw your deuces up to the past. I love deuces to the past. Here we go. Okay. Checkular says, it's not you and stop feeling guilty. When someone's actions don't bear what they say, it's a big red flag. You are being overdosed with smother love, which is really less about you and more about sir Toxelot's insecurity. He can't let you have your space because he's afraid that if he does, you will escape.

It is important that you listen to your intuition because it's sending you an important message. I find this, vice, unfair and heavy handed one direction. Yeah. Dudes like to hang out. That's what they're doing. He's hanging out. Yeah. Yeah. He likes you more than you like him, sounds like. Yeah. And he thinks he's doing good things. Yeah. That's probably why he's chatting away. He's like, I'm nailing this thing. And you're not saying anything, and so he's filling the void. Yeah. He just keeps on rambling. Like, boy, she really likes to listen. She just keeps things close to the vest. That's cool. I could dig all that.

And he fires out another story nobody cares about. Yeah. He could he could I mean, I know I know at least two to three guys that fit in this category. They're well intentioned blabber boxes. And, like, they feel like they're they're they're really adding to the atmosphere, but it's not my style. And I say, look, you're just clogging up the atmosphere. You should stop it. I'm being. Listen here. I don't know why That's my impersonation of you. I could be the small house man. You don't know that. Just an example. You this is life in the past.

We gotta call it a bitchin' instead of a bitchin'. I'm sure. Okay. You listen live from the past. Thanks for hanging out with us this week. We really do appreciate it. Hey. I don't think it really does much, but we would like you to to leave a review. People say that it makes a big deal. Yeah. I don't I yeah. I'm not sold on that. But I think Open the algorithm. Yeah. We might as well stay in on it. You know what I'm saying? We might as well go through the legitimate things that other people do who run the podcast.

So if you would like like the show on give us the the whatever the appropriate rating is on any of your given podcast app, we appreciate it. And also, if you wanna leave a review, I think that would be great too. Also, if you have any feedback for us on the show, you can shoot us a a text or a phone call. Leave us a voice mail at (515) 517-0085. That's the Bob Eisenhower complaint line. (515) 517-0085. We would, as always, love to hear from you. We have we're sorry for the for the long delay. I think we're gonna have some bonus a bonus show coming out here in the next week or two to try to fill the gap where we've not been able to meet. And other than that, we're gonna try to hook up in the next week. In the meantime, be faithful in the means. God will handle the ends. You've been listening to Live From The Path.