Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. You are live from the path. And you are listening to Live From The Path, coming from the Pathway Studios here in Johnston Proper. It's

a good night. Hope you're enjoying your night. We got a big show for you tonight. I mean, so I guess suppose if you weren't having a good night, we're here to tickle your wick just a little. Yeah. It's big by by even our standards. Our standards are bloated, I bet. Here's what we got going on. So Mike's got some Pope style advice. Mike, any any previews on the Pope style? If you've if you've never put your your your walk with Jesus Christ in perspective of a crappy Volvo and a metro transport,

today's your lucky day. Here it is. Okay. Alright. That's, Mike's Pope style. And so just to in case you're new to the show, the, the premise of Pope style advice is someone has mistaken you for the pope. They've shown up at your place. There's masses. They're sitting out on your lawn, and you have to come out and give some sort of advice or something relevant to your and their walk with Christ, before they'll actually leave your lawn. Mike is the mistaken pope this week, dealing with the pope style advice that's what we got going on, with that. We also got some I saw an I saw an article this week about the statistics of domestic violence,

man on woman and then woman on man. And there there there was a social experiment where, people have two very differing reactions when it is a man getting ready to, assault a woman versus a woman getting ready to assault a man. And, I I just wanted to kinda chat through that and see what the basic sniff on that is. Is Buva okay? No. Yeah. He's gonna be fine. She she wasn't wearing any jewelry at the time. I'm all good. Yeah. Okay. Alright. So, we'll try to hit some of those. And, Booba's got some latent parenting advice. I mean, we'll be scraping the barrel, but we might get to that. We'll see what happens on there. And eight and Dan, I think, Dan, you saw this. There was the guy the the pastor that had, was accused of hate speech for putting Oh, yeah. Yeah. About folks going to hell on his on his side.

And so I kinda wanna chat through this because I've seen what I consider to be the normal, reaction of Christianity to this guy. I'm not sure that, my first reaction is what I would consider to be the, is the same reaction. So I kinda wanna chat through that and see, get some thoughts on that. But most importantly, the the shining redemption of the show, what I consider to be something that can can save it from the grave is David Shedlock. David's

David is joining us. He's the author of the book, with Christ in the voting booth. And, I you know, David, you you can probably talk about this better than I can introduce it. So I'm gonna give you the just have you do so. Tell me a little bit about the book, and and just tell me, like, what what caused you to write it? I was thinking about this earlier today that, if you go to the bookstore, some of the beefier section are the, religion section and the politics section, and you're standing in both. So looking out on that playing field, what caused you to write this book?

Well, I, started to write the book with one goal in mind and when I was done, the book had changed me. Even though I wrote it, I ended up with different perspective on politics from when I started. My intention early on was to write a book, defending Mike Huckabee in possible preparation for a second run at the presidency in in 2012.

Yep. And, he decided not to run and and so I decided to take the book a little different direction. It ended up being a good thing because what I did was I searched the scriptures and see what the scripture had to say about government, about people's responsibility, and how the fall of man

affects government and political decisions. And so it's it's really, it's thoroughly

more a book that uses earthly illustrations to to show the bible,

what the bible is teaching in these areas. So I came out with a different perspective of politics and a different view of government than I thought I would have. And so

maybe nobody else got anything out of the book, but I did. That's interesting, that through the process, you came with a different view. How as how as as believers should we look at the political process? I I I think you have a lot of folks that are people that are willing to bail on it and say this that there's other things of the kingdom going on here, and then there's other people that are invested in it, as as as something that that frankly sometimes I I think is a little bit idolatrous. And so I think you have a couple spans there. What's the appropriate role of of Christians and how should we view government in today's age? Well, I fall actually, I fall closer to the

it's not necessary to become active in politics. The book was re originally written for people who don't eat, drink, and sleep politics every day. Yeah. It it was written for the person who only starts paying attention

to elections during presidential years and sometimes then not till after Labor Day. Right. And so it's written for them to give them a feel for some of the things they should be looking for and and some of the attitudes that they should be taking into this. I have sections in the book on government too big and government too small and then a different one called government too important.

And I think that's the the the part where Christians fall too much is they expect too much out of the government. Mhmm. Whether it's conservative or or liberal. Yeah. The conservatives expect if we get a good government in there, suddenly everything will be fine in the country. And I I I came away from my favorite scripture on this to know that man has fallen

and and even Christians sin. And to have too high expectations of what your government can accomplish

for the kingdom or even for restraining evil is is somewhat limited. So if you like, do you have some some guiding principles? Like, if someone's trying to evaluate I I think well, we've actually talked about this before a little bit where where sometimes you're walking into you you try you're participating in the process,

and you're like, Jesus is not on the ballot here. And so and and and I like that because I I was thinking about that even as I was thinking through your title, and he's not on the ballot. So, I mean, what what are some basic principles we should be looking at when we're approaching to try to choose what ultimately is is a lesser of not Jesus? Right. Don't be misled by the title that I think, that Jesus speaks to you in a voice,

an audible voice to tell you who to vote for. Yeah. This is my candidate and and it's Well, that'd be helpful, wouldn't I? David. You know I Yeah. It would be helpful. It would be helpful. Could you maybe approach him on that? I've been doing kind of the light bright thing. You know, I just go in there and start punching things till a pattern emerges, and then I smile and leave. When I when I first started voting when I was 18 or 19, on all the races but the president, I just vote on a name that sounded honest. Smith. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You

know? And so I I didn't have much discernment at that point. Greg Larsony gets absolutely no vote. Exactly. Exactly. But but really there are are

some things that I think are important. I I believe the candidate's positions on abortion and

homosexual marriage are important. I I personally, for my own convictions, can't vote for somebody that's not a Christian. And

you you may come out of that after reading my book and and just totally disagree with me. I I I try to make that case in this from the scriptures. And sometimes that narrows the candidates down to none. Right. Especially when you're down to two in the presidential race. Yeah. And I was telling my wife on the way here,

I didn't I didn't vote for president in the last election. I I perhaps I did vote now. I think about maybe for a third party candidate. Yeah. But I took a lot of heat for that. I didn't condemn anybody that voted for Romney. Yeah. They have their reasons for voting. They think it'll make a difference. That's that's their business. But,

for for saying out loud that I wasn't going to vote for Romney, I I took a lot of heat for that. That I was turning the country over to to Obama. Yeah. There is there is a lot of noise about that, especially when there are when there are two candidates of different factions of what is a con otherwise, the same party, where if you if you opt out that you're you're handing it over, that you're contributing to that. Is that the is that the wrong way of thinking about it? Well, I put it this way. A lot of people told me a a vote

not voting for Romney was voting for Obama. I heard that a thousand times. Yeah. Literally. So my response my first response to that was I didn't vote for Obama either, so that's a vote for Romney. That's a sell yeah. Yeah. I didn't think about it that way. You're like a wordsmith, David. So sweet. So

I I came I I came out of this with voting is acceptable, but it's not always required. It's not always, necessary that you you cast a vote in every Maybe you go into the ballot and only vote for three of the offices And and some of the others, you shouldn't vote if you don't know. You know, if you're just going on the Going by the name? Going by the name or or tossing a coin or or something like that. But,

so I I think that choosing not to vote for a particular candidate. Let's just step back again for a moment.

Mitt Romney is a Mormon. And I could see where that a person could simply say that

the spiritual damage that will be done to the country by affirming Mormonism by electing him. Yeah. And a lot of people said, well, you're not voting for a pastor. You're voting for a political leader. But at Mitt Romney's

con convention, Republican convention, about half the speakers were Mormons and and they put forth really a defensive Mormonism in his convention. And I'm convinced that he would have done the same thing as president.

It would have elevated, Mormonism in the eyes of folks. Well, And I think like you have to accept that if otherwise our expectation is someone that that if certainly for me, if someone claims to love Christ, I I would expect that it influenced their life. I mean, that is guiding their life. And so anybody with a with a true belief system, whether it's mine or someone else's, I should expect that that should be reflected in in every decision they make. Sure. And I and I suppose it's a little bit hypocritical for us to to expect someone to have a belief system but not have it influenced them. Oh, I agree on that. In fact, that's one of the premise of my book is that, you understand that

moral decisions are made in government and, someone has to have a, some sort of background that guides them. And so, that's crucial that you consider those things. Tell you what I, what really, I debate myself on this quite often. I wish I could tell you I had my firm, you know, stance on on one thing or another. What what usually trips me up is when I find someone who who in a representative type of government who truly represents me, I'm about 99% sure nobody else will vote for that person. Because

I have a pretty conservative view on things and I have a pretty high moral standard and I just know. I mean most of the country isn't there. So then I'll kinda back off of politics and think, okay. My job is to make disciples. So I'll go after making you know, I I worry about that, and everything else will fall in the face. So so I kinda go back and forth on on that. Yeah. But it sounds like you're wrestling with the right questions. Yeah. You know, that's that's the thing. A lot of times, I I certainly don't have all the answers, but I provide a lot of questions that people should consider when they go into the voting booth. Mhmm. I I made a comparison with going into the voting booth as going into the prayer closet. Not

because you in the in the voting booth, you're you're worshiping anybody Yeah. But because that vote really is something between you and God. That's what my mother used to say, that a vote is a sacred thing and that it's nobody else you don't answer to anybody else. And that's one of the premise of my the book is you answer to God.

And it it can't be on the basis of my vote counts. That's a modern way of saying everybody should vote because your vote counts. Well, in the last election, I'm not sure of exact figure, but I believe Obama won by about 8,000,000 votes. So if you sat out

and and he won by 8,000,000, what if he had gone and voted? It'd just be 7,909,999 votes he'd lost by. Yeah. So in the sense of counting the vote, it really doesn't matter that much in a presidential election.

What matters is have you pleased God? Have you pleased God in how you voted? So if I'm if I'm thinking to this correctly, the the proper way we should approach voting or even interaction in the political process is the same way we'd otherwise approach any other aspect of our lives as people that follow Christ.

And and the way that we get out of balance is sometimes we we become otherwise beholden to the process, is we say, well, here's what I would do if it was just if I'm just following God on this thing, and I feel like there's I can, in good conscience, vote for this candidate who otherwise affirms values that I feel like should be perpetrated, then I will vote. And we we get out of balance when we say, well, god, there isn't anybody like that, but I do have to vote. And that's and that's the out of balance that says, I'm gonna participate in this thing because I have to even though I can't do it in otherwise what I would feel like is a Christ affirming way. Yeah. That's excellent. Okay. That's excellent. That's the way that's That smells right, dude. That

smells right. Yeah. I hope it's right. So where where where can people pick this book up if they're interested in having to read through Well, Christian Book Distributors. A lot of folks out there get that catalog. It's not I it's not in the print catalog yet, but you can go online there. Of course, amazon.com,

Barnes and Noble. Mhmm. All three of those carry it. They also carry it for the Kindle or the note. I picked up the Kindle version. It's handy. Handy. You can keep notes in that thing. I like it. I like reading all that stuff. I didn't think I would. So there's some something about having a physical book is really appealing to me. I'm kind of an English guy. But when you're when you're, you know, trying to comprehend ideas and take notes on things, that Kindle's actually pretty handy. I like it. Yeah. So I was I was thinking about this as you had you had finished the manuscript. We're talking just a little bit before the show started

in in 2012, mid two thousand twelve. Has anything changed for you? You know, coming through political cycles keep coming. We're getting ready to ramp up on another one. Has anything that that otherwise you put in the book or kind of your thought process, has any of that changed

over the last over the last year or so? I I don't know if I said this on the air or off off the air, but the book changed me. Mhmm. And and the person I was at the beginning is not the person I was at the end. I moved to a, I hope, a more biblical understanding of politics and and less thing is important. I I I

was one of those who ate, drank, and slept politics. Yeah. At the time I was beginning to write this book. And of course that came in handy in writing a book about politics. Yeah. Right. But by the time I was done, I was moving away from the importance of it. It really awkward when when the American politics didn't show up in the Bible?

Yeah. Was that kind of your your what what you kinda started? We we have this this feeling that the American way must be the biblical way. Mhmm. And I I take issue with that. There are there are many political things going on in the Bible. If you read through the the the book of the books of Samuel and and Kings and Chronicles, those are just stories of political

things going on. Yeah. And I actually spent at at length analyzing those kinds of stories which are true in this book. And particularly the story of

Jehoshaphat. And that is an interesting story there that you have two groups that could really be compared with the Democrats and Republicans of today. Liberals and

and and more conservative. But but I think the scriptures take issue with both of their attitudes towards, what government's for. Yeah. So alright. The, the book is, Christ in the Voting Booth excuse me, with Christ in the Voting Booth. The author is David Shedlock. David's gonna hang on, and he's gonna be hanging out the rest of show. If you guys are on the chat and have questions for him or if you're listening on KTIA and you got some questions that you'd like us to to pass on, I'm sure David would be much obliged to do that. Sure. But I would encourage you to go if if this topic is interesting to you and you're not gonna have a choice, it's going to be interesting to you kind of real soon if it hasn't hit you already. I would, I would definitely pick it up and and and get some more of David's perspective on it. Thank you very much. Alright.

Mike, Pope style. What's your pope style advice for this week? Okay. Here's the deal. So as the synopsis stated, people were looking for advice from the pontiff, and they asked around.

And some doofus I went to high school with thought it'd be funny just send them to my house and say, hey, man. The Pope's in there. That's where you're gonna get this information from. And so here they show up. It's 10,000 people on the front of my lawn. Like, man, we want some Pope style advice. Where is he? And I'm like, man, they're not gonna leave until I produce something. And so here I am. I'm walking out to the to meet the 10,000 and give them a little bit of wisdom that hopefully will pass on through their week. And so I was talking to a couple fellows here this Sunday, and I I always I like really good analogies that bring points home to me. You know, things to make me help my help me understand something in a clear way. And, for some reason, it hit me this week. I was trying to think where I was at with my, you know, with with in the kingdom of God depending on, like, where I was at compared to where I wanna be and what I had going on. You know? And and for some reason, the analogy hit me as in people treat their relationship with Christ very similar to the way that they treat mass transit,

like the the bus system. Like, it sounds like a good idea to people who don't take the bus for people to take the bus. They're like, yeah. Why don't you just take the bus? But, like, what's the number one reason that people don't like taking a bus? It's dirty. I don't think that's the number one reason. Sitting next to strangers. Yeah. There could be creepy people there. Yeah. People that you don't you're not necessarily ready get to to talk to. I feel like you're pretty excited about David's contribution. You kinda stepped on mine. Well, David's was decent, and yours was stupid. That was the difference. Fair enough.

Carry on. So so, anyway, yeah. It's it's it's being around people that you weren't set up to be around, and and frankly, the loss of personal freedom. Right? Like, you're okay with the beginning, which is where they picked you up, and the end, which is when you arrive. But, like, let's say, you know, people are like, well, what if one of my kids gets sick and it's not time for the bus to come get me? What do I do? I don't have the option to get up and leave and go check it out and and, like, I have to go wherever the bus goes. And I thought, this is very similar to what the kingdom of God is inviting you to. Right? The kingdom of God is gonna come and pick you up, and and and and most people would rather drive in a crappy Volvo behind that bus and follow it where it goes than actually get on it. Because the holy spirit could lead well Yeah. So the like, the holy spirit could lead you in such a way that, like, you will be around people that are you're uncomfortable to be around. You will also be probably put in situations that you were not totally prepared for and would like the option to bail at any time.

And these are not, decisions that that you're willing to trust Jesus. You ready for the metaphor to come around? I can't wait. The driver of the bus. You're not you're not willing to trust him with. You know what I'm saying? You're what you wanna do is sit in your crappy car behind the bus and go, why don't you just tell me where you're going, bus? And I'll meet you there. And then if you take a turn into a dodgy part of town, maybe I'll go a different way because I'm not really excited about dodgy parts of town. And then I'll just meet you when you get there. And I thought, this is a poor this is a poor decision because that because, like, really, when it all comes down to it, I'd rather drive the Volvo. That's my choice. Right? I will drive my own car. Doesn't matter how crappy it is. I will ask Jesus what he's got going, hopefully try to follow him around and see see if I can grab on some of the bus's greatness. But, like, once he starts to go in the dodgy part of town or want me to sit next to a guy that, you know, chews a lot of gum, I'll be like, you know, no thank you. I'm gonna bail. Yeah. I wanna go where the bus is going, but I wanna do it in my own my own comfortable way, in the way that I wanna go. And I want the ability to detour every once in a while and meet up with you later if it looks like the road isn't what I want it to be. That's that's exactly right. Crap. Yeah. So

here's the deal. I love this metaphor. Like, I was really happy with it on my way, and I'm like, I'm I'm convicted right now, and it's my own metaphor. Really need to leave. Yeah. This is great. And so but I thought I thought really what is legitimately I we were talking about it. Me and a couple of the fellas, we were talking about it. We're like, what's stopping us from getting out of the Volvo? Like like, let's do it in black and white counter steps, know? Like, what's gonna what's gonna get me to stop and to get out of the Volvo and start and start getting on the bus? And I thought, the the number one thing that I'm missing right now, and this is personally for me and it may apply to 10,000 people, I don't know. But one of the guys I was talking to suggested, he goes, by the way that you're talking, it sounds like you have a problem letting other people drive. Not just Christ in general, other people. Like trust? Yeah. And I thought, yeah, that's right. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. What about it? Yeah. I was gonna say that. Don't boss me, you know?

Here's what he suggested, and I thought it was a really good suggestion. Actually he goes, you're gonna need to let someone else make decisions for you for a week. And I said, a whole week? And he's like, yeah. I said, don't know about this, you know? But then I thought about it, and I thought, you know what, I think I can do that. So so I I had to think of somebody I was gonna trust and I I picked my wife, you know? Now here's what happened. So so

so I thought, okay. So when I when I left after this conversation, I was gonna say, okay, wife, I I need you to make decisions for me. I'm gonna try to keep like the pity stuff out of there, like, what pants should I wear for the day? That's kinda determined. But, like, things that, like, hey. You know, my boss called at 03:30. I have the option to say yes to some overtime or I'm coming home. You know, what do you wanna do? Tell me what you do. And and and, like, the the part that he added to it, which is was actually the kicker for me is is that, if I'm gonna give her that decision making, power, I need to make that happen. So whatever she says, then I make that happen, and I do it with joy. And I do it with and I do it without being mad or upset. I just say, okay. I'm letting someone else drive. I I could I could find joy in this, and I'm gonna make it happen. And so I was supposed to be a week. I told my wife three days. Good trust. This is what happened. I was out of the Volvo walking towards the bus. I'm like, heck yeah. A week. I got looking at my wife in the eye, and I said three days. That's what I said. And I thought, crap. Back at the Volvo. So this is unfortunate. So now I have to amend this this weak thing and get it back to where it belongs. But but I I think the the basically, that was feet to to pavement thing. Right? Like, what's legitimately stopping me from getting on that bus? Am I afraid of the people? I don't think so. Am I afraid of the dodgy part of that part of town? Not really. Right? I I I'm really just afraid to let someone else drive the bus. And and and and mostly,

the god of the universe because he can take me to much dodgier parts of town and set me by much crazier people than I intended, more than even say if my wife was in control. You know? And so I think my pope style advice is is get out of that Volvo, man. Like, I I I know why you want it. I want it. I know why you wanna stay in that Volvo. I'm just saying you gotta get on that bus. You gotta get on that bus. There's great things on that bus, and either you believe that or you don't. And and and I gotta tell you, like, if you have any experience with with Jesus Christ, the holy spirit, or god the father, you gotta believe that bus is better than Volvo. Like, every gut instinct you have is telling you to stay in there, and every everything in the bible and from a kingdom of god particle is telling you to get out of that Volvo, get on a bus. And so that's my pope style advice. Get out of your crappy Volvo. You know, make a right. Have them pull over. Jesus open the door. Get on the bus and be happy. Happens once you're on it. Dan, I I I don't know. Does that ring true for you? You ever been in the jalopy trying to follow the holy spirit bus around?

I I used to until I heard that song, Jesus take the wheel, that changed your life. Then I put And I said, that's a good idea. You know what? I'm not even gonna get out of the car. Jesus will drive my car because I'm dead. I don't have to get on your kingdom bus. I think that's part of the tension of life. You're always going back and forth and grabbing it back and jumping back, you know. Yeah. It's it's a part of the tension of being a a Christ follower, I should say. Going back and forth. See. And here's what here's the deal, I feel like that shit I like like we accept that tension too much. Do you know what I'm saying? We're too comfortable with that tension. Yeah. The people that smell like Jesus smell like that bus because that's where they stay. Like, they may try to put a foot off there or go to the potty every once in while. But other than that, they're riding that bus around. But but Why did they have to go potty? What what what's another legitimate reason to get off the Holy Spirit bus? You know what I'm saying? You saw $5 on the ground? That's not a good reason to get over there. We justify it, though. We find good reasons. Yeah. We'll we'll back off for a little bit. He'll understand. He'll forgive me. What whatever it is that goes through our mind. Yeah. And but here's the thing. Like, when I was when I thought of this metaphor, was I was thinking about it a little bit more on my way home, actually. I've wife and I talked about it, and I thought, I I will most likely try to turn this to a sin bus. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm not talking about what I will look at it and say, I'm following Christ. Meaning, I I've got my sin in a nice, you know, package that I can maintain. There's still some, but it's not as bad as it was. Yeah. And that's what I will characterize the bus as. That is not being on the Holy Spirit bus. Right? That is being on I'm trying to manage my sin bus. And that bus is that that thing's a clunker. That thing don't even run. Right. And so and so, like, they're they're they're completely different things. And I think if we can wrap our minds around that, I think that makes that distance between the Volvo and the bus a lot shorter. Is when you stop thinking that that the bus you wanna be on is the manageable sin bus. It's a junk bus. The bus you wanna be on is the kingdom of god bus because that bus on its own tends to stay out of the the sin category,

you know, a lot until you get off, but it generally does it on its own. There was a there was a question on the chat, and it was how do you ride the bus with a driver you don't clearly see or hear all the time? Well, here's the thing. Go ahead, Dave. Tell him. Dave Herak. Go

ahead. Well, let's see. What are some of the biblical examples for listening to God? Gideon comes to mind. He threw out a fleece and, gave a couple of tests just to determine God's will. So he clearly saw. He clearly saw in some way or some way or another, but he it it would almost seem like he invented his own vocabulary

for God speaking to him. He came up with some kind of system and said, alright, God. Here's what's going on. And it wasn't just a, hey, you know, if you don't want me to do this, then make sure that the circus comes to town. He was actually pretty realistic about what was going on on both sides and and did some error correction in it. But I mean, does the does the seek and ye shall find, does that come into bearing here? Does it knock and the door will be open to you? Is that is that what we're talking about? Like, are we saying if you're not hearing from the Holy Spirit or hearing from from God on that bus, are you, I mean, are you essentially saying that you're not looking? You're not trying? You're not seeking? Well, I mean, I mean, the scripture is a revelation of God. Right? So, like, sometimes I think we have an expectation of I I I don't kind of what Dave was mentioning, we expect some kind of booming voice from somewhere and says, do this. Mhmm. Where, I mean, we have a revelation to God where he's, do this.

And so I think I think the premise of this and I and I I get the tension here. I do. I get it because we're used to we're used to tangible things. Some of the nature of faith is say, I believe in the bus. I believe that God is driving it. And and the path that he's taking will otherwise guide me in in the right place. And and, you know, it comes back to to the the bigger discussions that we've having. And, actually, I would say that I I noticed I noticed this theme in in David's book as well is, like, sometimes we're trying to orchestrate ends, and God wants his faithful in means. He's asking for means. And so our means are get on the bus. That's our means.

I have to have faith that he will he handles the ends. He is the orchestrator, the sovereign orchestrator of the ends. Those will be taken care of. And so do I have enough in scripture of means to be faithful in those? I do. I do. Actually, you know, and and and some of the things, like, we talk of the opposite about the opposite of the sin the manageable sin bus. Like, some of it is just following the commands in which he's given anyway. And we're not talking about, like, you know, don't do these things. We're talking about a proactive do these things. And and, Dan had given a sermon on, Corinthians, like, big, the the what was it? Four through seven? 13? Four through seven? Chapter 13. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's the big wedding one. You know, love does not boast, what is not envy, whatever. And so he he was giving a sermon on that a couple weeks ago, and, like, it had occurred to me that, like, I don't love that way, like, at all. That's just not how I love. I know how I feel. I love my wife. I love my kids. I don't love biblically how God says love this way. And I thought,

there's literally no room for my current personality in that description of love. There just isn't. And I thought, crap. What what is missing? Right? Well Get on the bus. A lot a lot of that has to do with riding that bus. This is not about we're not we're not talking about sin right now. Right? We're talking about loving like like God designed love to be. And like so so, you know, for example, if I was gonna say, look, I'm having a hard time finding direction from God. I'm trying I I I'm trying to make a move, and I'm not hearing back from him. Well, let's let's try a couple things. Like and and stop trying to eradicate sin. I feel like that if you if you do the proactive things and and and follow Christ, it will it will start to take care of itself. We like to we like to target practice sin. Right? That's that's our benchmark for American Christianity most of the time. Yeah. And so instead of doing that, let's try to love like god has described love to be. That's what the that's what the bus looks like. The bus looks like loving like god loves. And so and I feel like doing those things, that that some of the other stuff will just start to to leave on its own. When you get a heart like God's heart, then sin doesn't sound so appealing. Right. I mean, what did you say? The summation of the law and the prophets. Love God. Love love people. Mhmm. You know I'm saying? And so he he didn't start off with, by the way, eradicate your own sin. I kinda had to die on the cross for that because you weren't capable of doing it. Right? He's a love God, love people because that ultimately points to the right. Those things diminishing,

living like living like people in the kingdom of God with those two things summing up the law and the prophets. And and you're right. Sometimes what we do is like, well, no. I know these two these are two things you said to do, God, but I I'm gonna target practice these sins. I'm gonna clean myself up a little. I that there's a there's a bit of a, I don't know, an excitement, right, when you start to when you feel like you're eradicating sin in your life. It's it's a it's a misnomer. That's not really what's happening. You're like, oh, I took that one out today. Yeah. Congratulations. I think that probably answers the the question on the chat.

It's there there's not a, know, four steps to to no one be able to see the bus driver. It's it's comprehending the scripture, reading it, meditating on it, learning it, and and just just doing your best to live it. And and everything else kinda falls in place. That's that's that bus driver. The I would say the bus driver is kinda like the word of God, you know, and and and his spirit communicating to you in ways that that

that it just it's a guide. It's a path to your life. And the more you read it, the more you I mean, really read it. Not just read it to check it off and go on. The more you read it and let it soak in, the the more you just kinda get it. Well, I mean, how many times we heard that verse? You know what I'm saying? The first currency is $13.04 through seven. How many times you heard that thing and be like, yeah. Love sounds pretty great. You know? Everybody loved me like that. But then you kinda look at yourself and go, crap, man. I don't love anything like that. Like, what's coming out of me is not the love of Christ. And so, like, one, people around me deserve much better. And two, I I I need I need to start providing this way. Right? And and, like, I I'm I I just know that, like like, scripture is packed full of those things that that taken at at first glance, you go, that is a beautiful picture of God's character, but it's nothing to do with me. Then on the other hand, you look the way he describes love, for example, and go, that has everything to do with me because really what I'm comparing is how I'm loving comparing to how God loves and saying, I'm falling short. I'm not loving how he's loving, and there's a huge difference here. We're not talking about a sinful difference. We're talking about I'm missing out on the full capacity of the love that God is offering for me and people around him. And so that that that is my is my Pope style advice. One is get out of your Volvo and get on a bus. Two, if you're having a problem figuring out how to do that, let's start proactively doing the things that god modeled in in his word and and and stop fighting that sin so hard. I'm just telling you, you're not gonna win that battle with you and a clenched fist. Like, I've tried it. It's not it doesn't work. It just doesn't work. Yeah. You need you need the holy spirit back up, and you need to be on that bus. And that's how that sin goes away. You know, this was something that Mike and I were talking about a little bit after the show last week is

is is what you're ultimately fighting for. Like, whether the connotation of fighting to to stay in the jalopy, have this this part of you. And you say, when Mike says I don't love like that, some of the I think some of the thought process is to say, well, you know, God has made me a certain way, and this is the way I behave. Mhmm. As opposed to, if I don't love like that, parts of me have to die. And and sometimes we're we're so un we still wanna hold on to aspects that we feel like, especially societally, like, they don't change. No. That's my personality. Well well, God bless you. He's gonna change that. And ultimately, and this was the beautiful part, is is is it's through your it's it's when you are weak.

It's your weakness that God uses. Right? And we wanna demonstrate to God where we're strong. No. I'm a pub I I'm a public speaker or, you know, I'm really great with people. God will use those, and sometimes he does. I'm not saying that he doesn't. But, you know, you gotta be open to the thought that, hey. Here's the thing that I kinda stink at, and God's gonna rock with that. Because through that weakness, he will do as he pleases. And I don't know. That that that's a that's an exciting thing because I there were there were parts there's been things even in my own life where I thought, you know, that I've closed doors on God and said, no. He doesn't want me here. He doesn't want me here. Doesn't want me here. I didn't pray about that. I just said, I'm not skilled for this. I'm not skilled for this. I'm not skilled for this. God obviously wants me to use my skills. Spiritual gift like, we take those spiritual gifts class to do that very thing. And I'm not

don't don't hear me as saying that that's implicitly wrong. But what I'm saying is is, like, don't close doors just because you're gifted in something. God may be using your weakness to show his strength. And that's something that we have to be open to, as opposed to, like, systematically saying, well, this is what God's gonna have me do. I'm I filled out the questionnaire, and, you know, God's I'm gonna work as a as a tightrope on how that may The church feels helpless that way. You know what I'm saying? Like, in a very good way. But, like I mean but but think about how how how most organization organized religion does things. Right? They vet people, then they get people looking, and they're like, well, how do you feel about who's good for youth group or greeting ministry? Well, this guy seems pretty friendly or this guy has kids. And then we start to shove him in buckets, and then we approach him. We say, hey. Do you wanna be in youth ministry? They're like, yeah. I love youth ministry. And they're like, decision made. Done. Right? And and, like but but that's exactly what we're doing. You're you're almost taking all the power out out of the lord doing anything in his weakness and categorizing

the exact same things that we're telling everybody to bail on right now. Like, seems antithetic, doesn't it? You're you saying what I said back to me and then Clay asking me to rebuttal. I'm just saying I'm just saying that, like like, what you just said, doesn't that pretty much fly in the face of the way that we currently Yeah. Organize people to do things in the body of Christ? Yeah. Hell. Yeah. Yeah. It does happen that way. So you're personally responsible? That's what I'm waiting to hear. Here's here's here's what my intention is, though. Like, I like, there are

I I think there there are times obviously, I think God uses there are people's strengths, and he and he does allow their strengths to serve his kingdom. It's it's foolish to think that that doesn't happen. I think our issue is that we so we start closing doors. As we start putting ourselves in buckets and saying, God won't do this. I think that's a mistake in in any movement, in any church denomination where we put God in a box and say he this is how he will behave. Now we have we have ideas, like, based upon scripture. I I think we have ideas of what his character is, and we can recognize when someone's trying to say, god will act outside his character. But when we stick him in a box and say, he will not do this, he I'm a warrior. He will send me on warrior's task as opposed to writing poetry, that's foolish. That's foolish. That's God in a box, and that's and that's foolishness. And we gotta be careful on on what we what doors we close on God even under the guise of it being in his service. And I think it's dangerous. Alright. You're listening live from The Path. Hey. Thanks for hanging out with so far tonight. A big shout out to our our sponsors,

Bob Eisen. Hey. It's Bob's birthday this week. Did you see that? Yeah. Was tell him happy birthday. I was gonna Facebook him, but then I'd be that, like, third wheel creepy Facebook birthday man. Here's the deal. I wasn't gonna do it. People love Bob. He's got a lot of people that say happy birthday to him, and I don't It it when you get too late to the game, you do feel a little cheesy like you're bandwagoning. Yeah. That's why that that's why I mean, I got a couple of guys that are like the early adopter happy birthday on Facebook, the 05:30AM guys. I I I can't be one of those guys, so I think I bail instead of doing the happy birthdays. Anyway, happy birthday, Bob Eisenhower. Yeah. If you go to the eisenhowerteam.com, if you're looking to buy or sell a house, this is the time to get a hold of Bob. He's awesome. Mike's Mike's done business with him. I've done business with him. He's a he's a great guy. He's been on the show a few times. Just a just a solid dude. And he'll be honest with you with the house buying process. He'll help you get the the best price, get it sold quickly, but he'll also be honest about it. He's not gonna tell you you're gonna make $200,000 on your, your mobile home in Carlisle. It's just not likely.

K? So, I I love Bob. Give him a call. Go to the islenauerteam.com. You can learn more about Bob and, get ahold of him. And, I don't know, sell your house. Maybe it's a good time. Maybe it's not. Bob knows those types of things. Also, Westfield Veterinary Hospital. Go to westfieldvethospital.com. That's right here in Johnson for all your your pet needs. We we recently you've heard me tell this story before, but we've we usually had our dog in there. It was just an awesome experience. So I had to get some sort of weird growth taken off the back, something where I look at him like, I'd pay someone to handle this thing. And they went in there, and the dog was great. And she's been sprightly. I thought she was on the death's door is what I thought. I thought that dog's on the way out. But apparently, this growth on her I don't know. It's it's sprung new life into her being gone. She's a half a pound lighter. Wow. And so, I mean, Dan, you know, if you're feeling in the dumps, just have something taken off at the Westfield. I I think my dog has a half a dozen of those. There you go.

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Just great service. We felt really taken care of. So westfield vet hospital dot com here in Johnston. You can set up an appointment online. I love here's I'm not a people guy. I that's what I'm afraid of. By the way, back to our last discussion, is I have it in my mind that I'm not a people guy, and I feel that's my weakness. And I think, crap. The Lord is gonna send me into a crowd. A crowd of people. And I like, I want his strength to show, but boy, this makes me nervous. So anyway, westfieldvethospital.com, please check them out. If nothing else, even if you don't need to sell a home, even if you don't need to fix your dog, give them a call, send them an email, give them a text message, write it on your stomach, go by their office and just say, hey. Thanks for advertising on Live From The Path. I really enjoyed that show. Alright. So the article I saw or it wasn't it was it was like a short video. Okay. Yeah. Move us on. So it was it had to do with violence,

like domestic violence. And the basic nature was it was they they there were some actors that went out into a street in England, I think. And they they did this this action where the man was having an altercation with the woman and, cons like, acting like he was gonna do physical violence, okay, to see how people reacted. And then they did the same thing where it's same altercation except for it's the woman that's going after the man. And here was the reaction. So when the man is going after the woman, people are stopping left and right. They're inserting themselves into this situation. They're like, you know, what's the matter with you? Did you never anybody teach you how to act? This type of thing. Okay? And they're stepping in in between the man and the woman to kinda stop this action.

Same situation. The woman is attacking the man. Nobody steps up. Nobody walks in on this deal. Most people are laughing. They're laughing at this guy getting Is she, like, bigger than him? No. No. No. She's smaller. She's smaller. He's probably a head taller. He might be he might be two he might be two hundred. She's probably one what? Buck fifty maybe?

He's got some pounds on her. So anyway so the question is and then there's there's this graphic. Okay? There's this graphic that shows up at the end and said forty percent of domestic violence is woman on man. And I watched that, and I thought, I'm having what I feel like is probably gonna be considered the the sexist position.

Because my first reaction at the 40% statistic was and, like, it's supposed to be a powerful video that says things are different than you think. And, like, I'm having trouble reconciling this in my mind. And and Dave, Herrick, and I were talking about the show. Here's where I think this methodology is coming from. Is anything that you would consider to be man on woman violence would also be considered woman on man violence? So, like, if a guy shoved a woman, you would consider that violence. Right? If a woman shoved a man, they would also consider that violence. And that that, I think, is probably where the 40% is coming from. But my first reaction is, I don't consider that domestic violence if the lady shoves the man.

Am I thinking about this the wrong way? Is there some sort of pig headedness in my mind, some bravado that needs to go that I'm thinking of this wrong? Or is there a double standard for a reason? Oh, man. Go ahead. David Shedlock, I feel like this is all you here. I think

that the civil government's handling of that handling of that situation might be different than how we would view it in interpersonally. Okay. In other words, I think the civil government probably has a duty to see

them the same. Yeah. Without distinction. I think it's our natural inclination to see that the men are generally bigger and stronger and that the idea of protecting the weak,

the weaker, it isn't, it's a natural inclination. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Okay. So I think your instinct or your gut reaction to that

study is to say that doesn't quite seem like real life to you. For one thing, in many cases if the woman were to shove the man, if the man controls his temper, it probably will come to an end pretty quickly. Uh-huh. But the man if he doesn't control his temper, he's likely to beat her to a pulp. So

we we look at it differently, I think. Now she gets the traditional rolling pin or frying pan out. Uh-huh. And starts going at him with that. I think we all have some sympathy for for that fella. Yeah. No. Yeah. I would agree. I feel like So Pepper Chef makes those rolling pins nowadays just for beatings. You know what I'm saying? Like they're weighted for beatings? I mean, they're outrageously heavy. You know what I'm saying? So is it, is it is it appropriate then to think that, like, basically, it was my second part of the question was, is there a double standard for a reason? I mean, do I look at the is is it okay to look at those things differently and say they're just they're just different?

We're we're fighting for an equality that is unnecessary in that situation. I I don't know if there's a good reason, but it's sure there. I mean, I watched a video the other day of of some gal who is like a cage fighter or MMA, whatever it is. Uh-huh. And she's at a movie watching the movie and there was like four couples behind her and they were just very rude the whole time and anyway at the end the guys were trying to impress their girls and they like were pushing her and she's like this isn't gonna end well you know they didn't know who she was and she's like, just let me leave, you know? And they wouldn't let her, and she just beat the snot out of them. Just the whole I mean, the she just absolutely beat these guys up, and the the police came, and they thought it was kind of funny, and and, like, I'm thinking this is awesome. Now if it was opposite, I'd be thinking that is terrible. Yeah. Right. Right. They beat up that poor girl. You know? Well, she was a she's a fighter. I mean, she they had they had no chance. You know? And she tried to be

nice. To settle this reasonably. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I thought it was funny. So so I'm I'm just as guilty. That's what I'm saying. Like, for that guy getting his comeuppets. You're like, yes. Yes. You deserve everything. I wish I could have seen that. Yeah. But if there was two if there was two ladies hounding a a big burly dude at a movie and causing him trouble and and, you know, and irritating him and he he swung the tornado That's never acceptable. No. It's wrong. You're wrong, man. Dude, you gotta control yourself. Yeah. Yeah. Here's the deal. Just for the sheer fact that everyone agrees that that's the way it is, I feel like that's right. And we're just gonna roll with it. Well, I don't I don't even know if it's right or wrong. No. I feel like it's right. I just I can't Am I supposed to feel sorry for the poor victim guy or what's their point? What if they want to Exactly how you tell the story, you're like, dude, you should have been quiet and stopped fooling with a cage fighter lady. And then the second example, you're like, hey, man. You gotta control your temper. They're just gaggling ladies. Why are you getting so upset? That's right on. So here's my confusion. Why are we drawing a difference here?

Why is there a difference between a girl hitting a guy and a guy hitting a girl? Okay. Let me ask you one question, then I'll answer yours. Okay. How do you feel about those situations? I think they're the same. I think a guy hitting a girl is the same as a girl hitting a guy. I don't care who's weaker in the situation. I don't care who's getting hurt. If I get punched in the face by a girl, I'm probably not gonna get hurt. If I punch a girl in the face, I'm probably going to hurt her. But that does not make what she did okay versus what I did. I think there's room for you in Canada. Okay. So I answered my quest or your question. My answer to your question is there should be no confusion. Most reasonable people feel like it's different. And then that's fine. That's the end of it. So we're doing it because most people do it? Yeah. Martial law style. Chivalry Has that ever served us in a good way most of the time? Populous.

Okay. Does chivalry play into this in any way? Is chivalry dead as a result of of Chivalry? What's chivalry? Can you spell that? I understand what you mean by chivalry, but what do you mean by why how does it play in?

In other words, is it more acceptable because of differing standards, between men and women of is it more acceptable for a man to take a beating than it is for a woman to take a beating? In other words, if the sink if the ship is sinking, is it women and children in in the rafts first, or is it anyone can jump in? I I don't think there should be a difference between a guy getting hit and a gal getting hit. Okay. Regardless of of which gender is hitting who. You're you're a pacifist. You're saying you want no one to get hit. Right. But I I would I would stop it either way. I've been in altercations where I have stopped a girl from hitting a guy. Mhmm. And I've been in altercations where I've stopped a guy from hitting a girl. I don't look at them as different. I look at it as someone is being hit by someone else. His question the second part of his question was about the the ship.

I I guess I just don't get the reference. The the the idea is that in the Titanic and in other places where you have a ship going down, they generally put, the women and the children in the raft to be saved and the men stay behind with the sinking ship. If there's enough room for men, they go too. But men have And and that's the reason why women were not allowed to be in combat for for the longest time is because

men have a natural protective instinct with women. Mhmm. And they might go to protect this woman and let the rest of the troop of men,

you know. In other words, it can be distracting to their their duties as a soldier. Can be. And so that's kind of where his question was going is, and then how does that fit in with the analogy of of swinging the fist? I I guess I I I'm not seeing the correlation between the two. I think that that I don't feel like he could make it any clearer. No. Okay. So here, I understand that that the Titanic and the whole we've seen the movie and it was probably how it went as well. Was women and children first, then the men.

I I get that that's how that went. But I don't think that was the difference between equality between the two. Why? Why would you let women go before men then? I think in most cases, men are gonna be much better at surviving dealing with, dealing on their own. And that's that's

Women can handle pain better. Shit you boob! What's everybody doing? It's what do mean? Everybody dies. They're more likely to to to live on a sinking boat? In the surviving in the water. Surviving in the water. Yeah. Absolutely. Ben, what do you Why do you think that?

We're bigger. We float. You sexist That's not good. They have webbed feet? I don't understand. Explain yourself. Okay. So first first thing, the man and woman are fighting. Who do you think wins? No. Answer the previous question. I was I was given a situation where I asked it. I was asked a question. Was asked 40% of the time and the women. 40% of the time women are gonna win. 60% do fine. 60% dudes, 40% ladies. Go on. Who's armed? Way way to answer that. That was great. Thanks. So it may be sexist me to say that, but most people are going to go to, I think the dude's gonna win because that's the way that we've been trained. That's the way we think. A lot of people think that way, and that's where people would stop a gal from getting hit by a guy, but wouldn't stop a guy getting hit by a gal comes from. We think that more hurt is going to come from the girl getting getting hit by a guy because we think more damage will be done. Yet when we see a girl trying to hit a guy, we don't do anything. We laugh at it because we don't think damage is going to be done. So

how is that different from me saying that I think guys are going to be statistically better at surviving? Ben, I don't know what to say here. Yeah. I I you're you're that's because you you've just agreed with our point, not yours. Yeah. Doesn't make any sense, Buva. There there there's a complete difference as to whether a guy if someone's gonna waylay me in the arm,

that's a woman, versus whether I survive a sinking ship, that is a that is not even close to an apples to apples comparison. It's outrageous. It like, that's that was the distinction that you made, and it doesn't make any flying penguin of a sense. Although, I do wanna I do wanna defend him a little bit because he has a he actually has a point on that one. In a in a hypothermia situation, women's bodies are better adept at surviving that, but they're gonna sink and they're gonna drown because it's water. Guys will will, keep their extremities in place and women will lose their extremities quicker, but they'll keep the center mass Why do you even know this? What do you do with your free time?

He's a lifeguard in Alaska. Yeah. So I guess I didn't I didn't state my point well enough. I guess that that when it came to the the women and the children on the boat, I don't see how if I can't make the distinction between the two things I was talking about, how that was brought up in the first place. Because ultimately, we're going back to the guys getting hit, gals getting hit, society acts differently. Right? That's the question here. Yeah. Is it more acceptable for men to be hit or for women to be hit? K. Then where was the correlation coming from where the boat came into it? The And how was I not able to use the same correlation? The idea behind the boat was that you've got a limited number of space, so someone's gonna take a hit. Someone's gonna end up staying on the boat and dying. Man or woman, or are we just completely neutral on that? And in previous generations, it had been the men would be the ones to stay behind, they'd take the hit, and so it's socially more acceptable for men to take a hit based on a life and death type of a situation. So now we're just kind of looking at it,

as that's a chivalrous type of standard. How does that apply to, a man and a woman in a domestic situation? Same sort of a question. Is it more appropriate for a man or a woman to take a hit? I don't think it's appropriate in either places. I don't think we should be arguing more appropriate or less appropriate. I think that we should be taking the standpoint that in no case it's okay.

You know, it's not it doesn't have to do with self defense in this case. This is someone being hit to start an altercation. That has nothing to do with chivalry. That has nothing to do with a sinking boat. We're talking about is it acceptable for a guy to get hit or a gal getting hit. And I don't think it's acceptable at any point, so I don't think our reaction should be any different whether it's a guy getting hit or a gal getting hit. Socially though, we look at it as different because in my mind, it has to do with who's gonna take the bigger damage. Is a guy getting hit by a girl going to be hurt more than a girl getting hit by a guy? That's what a lot of the times we're basing this off of. That's why when people saw a man going up to hit a hitting a woman, they stopped it because they knew the consequences. But when a girl went to hit a guy, no one touched it and no one stopped it because they didn't think there would be any consequences. I agree with those people. I think. Why? Yeah. I think I just do.

I don't think there's this primordial ooze to boil this down to of, like, where my motivation is coming from. I I I just agree with them. So I think that the thing that we can boil it down to is is physical violence acceptable in any way? Yes. When it's not self defense. When it's not self defense. When these people are when these people are not defending their families, they're not defending their faith, it has to do with someone just getting We didn't say why there was a fight going on. In the premise it was just a domestic altercation. Was because of faith. It was someone was about yeah, okay. I think the biblical idea of a man honoring a woman is like in the Christian worldview any way is why we would be more troubled with that. K. That that I mean, there guys, men and women are not equal even though the public school system would like to say they are. We're created differently. We're wired differently. We're plumbed differently. There's everything about us is different. And it's the responsibility of men to protect, and to honor and to to elevate women. And, we

have tried as much as possible to erase that in in younger generations. So that's probably why that even if you do that same test ten years from now, it'll be a different result. It'll be more like yours probably. Okay. Now that's not good or bad. I'm just saying that's what it is. Alright. So so the man is supposed to be the protector, the the spiritual leader of the house and things like that to the woman. The woman is supposed to submit to her husband. We are making a statement for men to make sure that we have a moral ground for them saying they're not to hit a woman. But how is a woman submitting to her her husband by her hitting him? We're not saying it's okay for people to hit people. We're we're asking why people react differently to those situations. That's why I'm saying they shouldn't. Well, we all agree on that. Boom. It doesn't seem like it. I'm just saying But I think it's funny when a girl hits a guy. I'm just saying like I'm just serious. All in agreement on the base, like like, the the natural reaction to start swinging at people due to to a disagreement is generally viewed as poor. But like, if it's gonna happen, I'm more concerned for a man beating on a woman than I am about a woman beating on a man. That's just the truth. Because you think that a man is going to cause more damage to a woman most likely. I Hold on. That's exactly what you said. You said, if a woman hits me like, if I hit a woman, it's going to hurt her. When she hits me, it's not gonna hurt me. That's exactly what you said. I'm not debating the fact that that is going to happen. That's the truth. I'm debating our reaction to it.

Why is our reaction different? Because it's true. Be be Because it's true. That's the whole point, Hoover. What you said was the truth. Our reaction is different because that's the situation. So we're reacting because of the physical damage that can be done, not because of a moral ground standpoint that it shouldn't happen in general. It's the same reason why I'm less likely to run like, I'm not gonna run away from a guy with a jump rope, and I might run away from a guy with a gun. That's the distinction. The truth is exactly what you said. You said that if she hits me, it's gonna be different than I if I hit her. That is the truth. It's okay to have a different reaction to that. But our reaction isn't just different. It's it's it's it's not a moral approval, but it's truth. It's one is to stop the altercation, and one is to laugh at it. No. No. No one's saying that the laughing is appropriate. We're trying but we're explaining as to why they're I feel pretty bad about the laughter. You you just said you'd laugh. I know. I feel bad about that. Okay. As long as you feel bad about the fact that you're gonna laugh.

Maybe that I'm not getting you guys' point, because I'm feeling that that you guys are reacting differently. You're not gonna do anything to stop the woman from hitting a man. Who said that? That's kind of maybe that's just what I derive from it. My my perception take longer to assess the situation. Yeah. I would if I saw a guy a guy getting ready to waylay a woman, I would I would have no hesitation. I'd be in there. If she if a woman went to take a smack of a man, I might wait a punch or two to see what's happened. Yeah. I think he probably cheated on her. He he he's just a a nasty guy anyway. He deserves it. Yeah. That makes it okay. I like how the chat has claimed that dudes are more hearty, and they can take some kind of whooping. I agree with that. I like that word. Yes, indeed. I I don't doubt that. I will not. And he doesn't want battle scars. They're great stories.

Yeah. I don't want battle scars. Okay. I'm not debating the fact that statistically speaking, a woman is going to take a bigger beating than a man. That's a lie. That's exactly what you have been doing. No. I have said it multiple times that that's not different. What I'm saying is our reaction should not be different. I don't think I would wait longer to stop a girl from hitting a guy than I would stop a guy from hitting a girl. That is my standpoint. That's my thought. I would. Yeah. Yeah. I definitely would. And that's where we're disagreeing. Agreed. My reaction would be different to yours because I don't think there's any difference between the two. I disagree with you. Okay. Great. You've listened the live in the past. What a mistake in life.

Hey. Don't hit anybody. If you're on KTA, we've got to let you know. Big thanks to David Shedlock. He's gonna hang out for the podcast stuff. But make sure you go check out the book. You can find it on Amazon. Find him on Facebook. Check out that book. David, thank you so much for hanging out with Thanks for having me. I'm going to I'm gonna take a quick break, then we'll be right back with the with the podcast. Thanks for listening to Live From The Path. That's all. No. Just had to get that out of my That's fair. I'm sorry. You guys are all laughing like you think that I should feel defeated. I I'm not changed in any of my thoughts. No. But you very much entertained me in the process. Good. I'm glad. That's the good part of this show is it's meant to be entertaining. Right?

Booba from the world is here and apparently doesn't see a difference in violence. But we should all be equal. Do not like I don't think I can represent the word equal. You're representing, like, half a discussion. See,

what why I was trying to talk about the difference between how civil government would handle and how a family or an interpersonal relationship is when I see a woman hit a man, I do see a disrespect. Oh, sure. That is in a in a way in a way that disrespect is is more contrary to what the scriptures teach. Yeah. I

don't think either one can hit the other without violating the the command of the man to love his wife as Christ loved the church. Or

the woman hitting the man and that she's supposed to respect him as the church is to obey obey Christ. Uh-huh. So either one is is wrong from a moral standpoint. So but that's different than how even the civil government to go the the other direction, I think civil governments treat it differently. Yeah.

I agree. I so here's here's what my hesitation is, Buva. When I was when I was in my second year of marriage, my wife hit me with the top of a garbage can. Should I have called the police? She domestic she domestic violence to me.

I mean, I wasn't hurt, but she did hit me. No. I don't think that the police should've been called. Now hold a minute. What if I hit her with the top of a garbage can? Would you call the police on me? Don't you lie. Would you feel threatened? So this is where I was okay. So yes, I would. I I that in this situation, yes. So what I'm saying is what I said the whole time Well, that I was gonna say game set match there, but you go ahead. That's fine. What I said was the physical damage is probably going to be different. Correct. But from the standpoint of they're both wrong, that's where I stand. Nobody's ignored. I don't think anybody is agreeing to saying that they're not both wrong.

Okay. That's what I was stating the entire time. You guys is the reaction is different for some reason, which I don't see why. The reaction is You just You said the reaction is different. Not You do see why. No. You came up with the same reaction. Going further as in calling the police is different. But me stopping your wife from hitting you with a garbage can, and then me stopping you from hitting your wife with a garbage can, I would've done the same thing? I would've stopped you both from hitting each other. It's it's So that's where I take the reaction. Okay. That's kind of an irrelevant distinction, though, because you're But willing that's what we were talking about. You're willing to take a hold on. You're willing to take a step to call the police on me, but you would not call the police on my wife. You are making a distinction as to what happened and who did it. Because you probably physically hurt her more than you she she would have physically hurt you. That is absolutely correct. That's why I would have called the police. The underlying discussion. She got taken care no. The underlying discussion was the reaction to to stopping it. The entire video, the entire thing was the reaction to stopping it. People stopped the guy. People didn't stop the girl. It wasn't people called the cops on the guy, and people didn't call the cops on the girl. I don't understand. It was one person stopped them, one person stopped them. I don't understand the distinction you're making. It's going further to the consequences of the the action rather than stopping the action in the first place. That's the distinction between the two. One is you're stopping the action from happening. Uh-huh. You're stopping the gal from getting hit. You're stopping the guy from getting hit. And one is you're going to further consequences of you're calling the police on the guy or you're calling the police on the girl. But why did you make that distinction here? But I'm I'm interested in your police distinction because what what basically, you're not treating the same situations equal. You're right. Because what I call most likely because one was one was hurt more than the other. Here's what I think I would think. If I was watching this happen, I would think the girl needs some help. She's probably physically

weaker than the guy. Mhmm. The guy, if you wanted it to stop, could make it stop. And if he wants to, and when he wants to, he will. That's probably what's going whether it's right or wrong, that's probably what's going through my mind. It's not like, well I mean, I I wouldn't Yeah. That's probably what's going through my mind. Okay. I I'm saying that my reaction initially to stop the violence wouldn't be Now if the the woman was twice the size of the guy See there, we're putting a size distinction on whether If or someone could get really can't stop her, then I would think, well, maybe he needs some help.

So you're saying that a girl hitting a guy isn't abuse though? He could stop it at any point in time, which means that it's not abuse, which means he Should could put risk speaking? I I just I guess, I don't see that. Yeah. I still see that as abuse. Someone is being abused by the other person. We put a we put a gender distinction on it because we think one is going to get hurt more than the other. Yeah. I think that that that may be true, but that shouldn't stop our initial reaction of trying to stop it from happening. So it's okay because the guy can respond with violence of his own that might deter Well, not even necessarily respond with violence. He he could He can subdue the threat, which means we should put it this way. Should help him. When my wife tries to tickle me because she knows I I I just don't like that, all I have to do is hold her arms and she can't move.

Right. I don't sit there and go, oh no. I'm You know, mean, I just Assault. I'll move up. Exactly. I wish I could do something, that just wouldn't be right. I just stop her. You know? Of course, I'm twice her size. But Let me ask you this to maybe clarify. I'm more ticklish than that. Let's make this distinction between

adults and children. If you see a six year old go up and punch his mommy in the belly or starts hitting on his dad, do you call the police that that child's abusing his parents? I think that that's the the designation there is one is a child acting out and needing to be disciplined, and another is an adult acting out, not needing to be disciplined, but needing to be stopped.

I think the child needs to be disciplined by the parent, and I'm gonna let that happen. But I don't think I'm going to stop the You just took a swipe at his parent. How do you know the parent can defend themselves? They could be with her. I never made the distinction of could be could defend them or not. That was a weaker okay. I'll I'll word it in a way that you have to So agree with a six year old is Make about it 12 year old. It's irrelevant. A 12 year old is about to punch out his mom. Yeah. I'm a stop him. If I think that the mom is actually going to be physically hurt, I'm gonna stop them. You're making a distinction as to whether you think they will be physically hurt as to whether you step in or not. Because this is not a this is not the same thing as an an adult man and an adult woman. This is a child and an adult. Why? Those are two very What's the age difference when it comes to evaluating whether they or will will or will not be hurt in the action? Mental status? The person being there to You don't know the mental situation of the man or woman in the involvement? But I I I in most situations, I would assume that there would be more than her mental status of that man is. You're right. I would I would assume that that the man is going to be more responsible and more adept than than a 12 year old. Why would you assume that? Maybe that's my fault there. But I think that there's a difference between two adults and a woman and an adult and a child. I'm just trying to vet I'm trying I'm interested in your mind, Buva. I know. That's why I'm You're an anemic to me. I'm glad. I I'm really glad that I am. Alright, Mike. What do you got over there?

I'm tough, man. I don't have anything to say in that conversation at all. No. No. No. Do you have any you got any dear life? Yeah. I'm working on it. It was a segue. Take it easy. Okay. Do want me to give my parenting advice now? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Hit me with your parenting advice. Now that I'm an enigma, would anyone like to unravel the mind mind of Buva and talk about my parenting I'm gonna give this microphone back to Herrick, but but I'm gonna keep it pretty close to me based on what I think is gonna happen. Who knows this is gonna be good advice for Alright. Buva, go. So today, I got to spend a lot of time with my goddaughter. She is five months old and is amazing. She's adorable.

But I I learned something very valuable today. As I was holding her, I found out after she had done this that she is now in a curious stage of her her development where she thinks beards are really fun. And she grabbed on to my face with both hands

and legitimately almost ripped my beard out. Uh-huh. She just no holds barred. Would you call that abuse? I would call that abuse. Yes. I I actually called the police. I stopped the physical altercation. The parents were angry that I called the police on a on a five month old. But I I said, you know, we're taking into account the mental status of the child. That's that's what we need to do. But

so that happened. And that was one of the more painful things I've experienced in my entire life. How a five month old with with not a lot of strength could could bring me almost to my knees in pain. It was a lot of fun. And then also she she she had had her bottle, and I was having fun, not really thinking about the fact that she had just had a bottle. And if you are jumping around and all that different stuff right after you have a bottle, I think we all know the the physical reaction that happens from a baby that that could happen. It's why you have rags if anyone's really wondering into it. I'm not gonna say it specifically. But this Yeah. Because we've said nothing worse than spit up here on this show. Fine. She threw up Okay. On me.

And this is this is really hard for me to admit. It was in my beard. That's rough. In it was one of the most disgusting things that's ever happened to me in my entire life. Uh-huh. And I realized that that I'm excited to be a dad because five years ago, I might have freaked out and handed her to the dad and been, like, freaking out. Like, dude, that's disgusting. Blah blah blah. But I just looked at her and smiled. And I said, oh, you spit up a little bit. Are you okay? Having spit up running down my beard. And got up and walked into the house, handed the baby over, was laughed at hysterically, and then shampooed my face Mhmm. Today and conditioned my face with with shampoo and conditioner that is meant for head hair rather than facial hair. Does that mean you never wash your beard? No. Do that all the time. It's just like not having to wash stuff out of it. It's more along the lines of just in general hair care. Uh-huh.

So I learned today that that when I do have children, I have no intentions to have a beard, because it caused me nothing but trouble today. And it was one day in this child's life, and she had two very large things that that kind of ruined my day a little bit. So that would be my advice to men, women, if you want, also. Don't have a beard with a child. Yeah. They grapple, and they also throw up on you. So that is my parenting advice from a single man today. John Buva on parenting. There you go. Yeah. Care to share, fellas?

Oh, me and Eric were just talking about if that little if that little episode would even made our top 10 of the gross things that happens when you actually have a child. See, I'm sure it I'm sure it was is not coming close to the grossest things that have happened. But it it just it was one of the grossest for me, and I really had to deal with it in a way of, I'm still gonna love on this child. I'm not gonna freak out. I'm not gonna be angry or anything like of course not. That's true. You are a solid individual. I was yeah. Exactly. I have some discernment when it comes to things, but especially I was just reminded of the time that my child, you know, sourced their toothpaste from their diaper. That was a mistake. Yeah. Anyway I think the altercations I've had with kids is I have been attacked by a three year old with a Captain America shield. He hit me in the face with it, and I did not expect that because he came It was it was Olympian. He came running across our living room, jumped onto our table, and then jumped off of the table into me with a plastic Captain America shield. I seriously thought he broke my nose. And that made me realize that I'm a big guy, but I'm not completely

in defense. I mean, I could very easily be hurt, that scared me as a person eventually gonna be a parent. I think it shook him to his corpse when he jumped off the table, he said, that guy would have me arrested if I punched my dad. That's a bummer booba. Here's the and I actually I told this story a little bit earlier, but, like, here's here's what changes as your kids get a little bit older. Like, when they're five months old, you look at them and you go, oh, you had no choice here. And what are my parenting options? Right? Like, I can't talk you out of it. There's nothing for me to learn for you out of this situation and parent. Right? But they become a little bit older and say they're like three years old and you're playing a nice family game of dice rolling. And then you notice that the three year old has put the dice in in the dog's bum and pre proceeds to take it out and sniff it and look at you and say, it stinks. And you think, how do I handle this as a parrot? Because the last thirty seconds were wrong. All of it. All of it was wrong. One, we can't use that dice anymore.

Two, I'm not gonna throw away. I'm probably gonna wash it, I'm not gonna do it right now. Three, it legitimately stinks because you stuck it in the dog's butt. Yeah. Four, we need to talk about sticking things in butts. These are all wrong. Right? But, like, she didn't know any better. So you can't be upset at the at the child, but she's literally ruined game night. Ruined it. And so, like, I mean, things things are really different from, like, five month old baby status to three year old where, like, okay, hon. Let's talk about where we stick things.

That's a no. That's a no. I find I find most of our interactions very, very, very beneficial when it comes to it. I I think that it's beneficial for me to spend time with with fathers. As a single man myself, I'm excited to be learning how to father and how how a biblical man and a god like, or excuse me, a god fearing man raises children. I hope I never have to take that as a thing to learn, is how to correctly handle

when a toddler inserts dice into something it should not belong And here's what you're gonna find yourself saying, more often than you thought. I I I can't even believe this.

Or or this phrase is classic, are you kidding me? See, I can't wait for a little version of me to call me daddy. But when it comes down to it, I just really hope that never is one of the perks. I didn't see that coming. Poop. Hey, you know what? I'm gonna call you up in ten years and be like, Mike, we talked about this about ten years ago, It happened. Little Jr. Took places. They then they stick it in their mouth. Yeah. And go like, oh, it stinks and it doesn't taste good. Yeah. Oh, man. They'll say, hey. There's something wrong. I my mouth tastes funny. They don't they didn't tell you the source of what happened or how this came about. They're like, there's something gross in my mouth. And then you're investigator.

Alright. Let me check this out. Oh. Okay. You gotta be kidding. We we pulled a thumbtack out of one of our girl's mouth one day. They're like, what's she doing? I'm like, where did you get a thumbtack? Oh, the joys of parenting. I'm so excited. Okay. Got time for, like, one. Dear life from the path. Here we go. I married a great guy a short while ago. It's a second marriage for both of us. He's good to my kids, my parents, and even gets along with my ex husband. Stan, he's the offender, moved into my home after we married. There's only one major problem I'm having trouble dealing with. He goes through all my things, from my mail to my closet. I have caught him going through my glove compartment, the trunk of my car, and anything else he can get his hands on. He says he has a right to do it because we are married, but I don't look at it that way. His first marriage did not go well. His ex didn't cheat on him, so I don't know where this is coming from. Life from the Path, I am squeaky clean. I've never given him any reason not to trust me. I believe he's just nosy. Meanwhile, I feel violated. I've tried talking to him about it, but he just doesn't get it. Please help before I end my new marriage.

Advice, fellas. I can't imagine this man displayed no symptoms of this prior to the marriage. You know what I'm saying? Like, if he's a scrounger who doesn't trust people, I feel like that might have been a red flag to say, hey. Maybe not maybe not I do. Well, that didn't really help her. So I think that Solid.

I'm just I'm trying to look at this from both perspectives. From one perspective, I can see where where he's coming from saying, know, we shouldn't hold things from each other. There shouldn't be things that are that are kept from me. But also, it's kinda weird that his standpoint isn't from a, hey, I need to know this because this situation is more along the lines of, I need to know everything. Yeah. So just I'm I'm gonna do the same thing you did, Ben, because I don't really know how how to answer this, but it just seems like both are kind of at fault. She seems kinda like she's at fault because she's

wanting to keep a lot of personal stuff away from him. But also I can see her wanting to keep a lot of personal stuff away from him if he's being creepy and scrounging. No. He's just a creeper. She has nothing to hide. Yeah. What what's she worried about? Lightning. Yeah. That's where I'm coming from too. She's a creeper. Okay. Well, then she probably She was a creeper. Then then I will go back to what you said. She probably should have seen a little bit of creepiness in the guy. It's not like it's not like I do. The guy goes, oh, yeah. I'm in. And then starts detective standing and going around and looking at all the stuff. There isn't thing in my possession

that doesn't belong to my wife. Yeah. Yeah. And there isn't a thing in her possessions that don't belong to me. And that's the way we both see it. Yeah. And, so I'm having trouble relating to it. Me too. It's not that I have advice for one way or the other. But I can't relate to being afraid or having something for him not being allowed We to we're in a kind of relationship where where how do I put it?

There there isn't this need for me to go out with the boys Yeah. Once in a while Yeah. To get away from my wife. I mean, that might be okay if you have that in your marriage. But it's just personally that we part of it is we've been too much through too much together and we're bound to each other. Yeah. And and we we just

Yeah. Can't live without each other and and so that's why what's The joke used to be what's mine is hers and what's hers is hers. But in our case it's it's shared. Yeah, I just have nothing to hide at. I I just don't care. Mean she can look at anything she wants. I I don't care. I can look at anything I want in our relationship. Premise Mike, you seem physically upset by what you're saying. You couple of Hallmark cards here. Listen, man. The

man just likes to search through stuff. So what? He's not a he's not a troll or a creepy man. He's a He creepy just likes he likes to move look through things. Maybe he wants to make sure the whole place. That's a creepy. Yeah. It's the glove box that did it. That's creepy. Listen. He's not as you're you're painting this man all wrong. You're thinking it was, like, from a a Gollum for some reason. You're defending him. He's just a guy that likes to search through things. I bet if you find him on Saturdays, looking through the bargain bin at the local shop and go. He's just a guy that likes to rub very niche personality. That's that's the guy we're talking about. Now here's the deal. I'm I'm in agreement with the d's on the corner. I'm in agreement that, like, you shouldn't have a problem with that. Like, you should have entered the marriage with the understanding that I don't It's our it's it's our stuff. Alright? Yeah. However, a man that has an incessant need to be digging through stuff as if he's, like, constantly checking up on his wife, that's a trust problem. He's like a prospector. Perspective, though. That she she's That's all we have is her perspective. Right. Right. You have to treat it as valid. He's a prospector personality. He's looking for gold. That is not a Whatever. Is stupid. He's fine. Glovebox? He's a regular guy. He this means he's searching the glovebox when she's not there. Maybe he sleepwalks, and he thought he's like, I can't find my keys. Wow. Yeah. That's likely. That's totally it. Maybe he's a private investigator and he was actually hired to look into her life by the ex husband. I think she's And he's going to sure there's no other room to marry her. I think this guy's alright. He's protected his his wife. Wife. He loves his wife, and he's just like to look for crap. Now I'm with Ben. I think I think the thing that stops me is the fact that it seems like he was in his wife's car without her going through the glove box. If he's just a prospector and he wants to look through stuff, do it while she's there. She can hit him. Go for a drive and then him to yeah, she can hit him and then I'm gonna run and I'm gonna stop it. I have to stop it. It cannot happen. That'll Not on your shift. Not

when Boova's security. That ain't happening. Hey, ma'am. Are you possibly about to hit that man but not cause him physical harm? Yeah. I'm a need to stop that. He's looking for his keys. I hate that. Maybe he's just inserting a secret camera. It's not a big deal. Yeah. He's he's looking for his keys in her closet. Now here's here's the proper if I had, like, legit advice, though. She's already married to this man. Yeah. There's no getting out of it. She's gonna have to let it go. She's already trying to give up the marriage. She's like Just let Just let him look through it. Just let him look through it. She's yeah. She's gonna have to become comfortable. Do yourself a favor and get a sandbox and throw crap in it. Be like, hey, Something in there. Find a I got him a metal detector and find some coins. I would start messing with him. I guess, like, if I thought he's creepy, but I'm so rubber chicken in the dashboard? Yeah. I'd write him love letters. Yeah. Oh, makes my husband the greatest guy ever. Creepier. That means you know he's there. Oh, I I I'd have, like, secret birthday presents that you're not you don't ever really give him, but they make it sound like they're gonna be fantastic. I can't wait till I get Bob's boat or something, you know. Some some big deal. And then not give it to him. You're gonna lie via No. No. It's just if he finds it. No. You you here's what you do. Without having to tell a direct lie, you buy clothes that he won't fit into to make him feel inadequate. This

is one of those many times, guys, where I get a chance to listen to you guys as married men, and I get to learn what not to do in a relationship. Get him like a small, and he's like, one day Chuck will fit into this. Can't wait. There we go. Will never do that with my wife. Be like, I'm pretty sure she's a large, but here's a small. You don't do that with ladies at all. That's a terrible idea. I'm sorry. It's okay. Here we go. I have told my wife when she gets Alzheimer's, I have all kinds of games we'll play that she'll never remember. Woah. Let's play hi, Dan. Okay. Here we go. Secular says, great guys do not rifle through their wives' mail and personal belongings after they have been asked not to. You say your husband's first marriage didn't go well, and she didn't cheat on him. Do you know what did cause their divorce? Your husband's obsession with searching through your belongings is not normal behavior. I don't I don't agree with that. He's probably just a guy that loses Yeah. He's probably just a prospect of personality. He just seems like a magnumptake killer guy. Hey. Just because he's not you doesn't make him wrong, you pious jerk. Therefore, there may be a chapter in his life you know nothing about, him, when he was a prospector. Pardon my pharisee behavior. Because you have asked him to stop and he's either unwilling or unable to, it may take a help from a licensed psychotherapist to get him to the bottom of it. Of course, in order for that to happen, your husband would have to be willing. I would put a trail of candy between your house and the psychotherapist's

candy at each follow-up. If he isn't, you may indeed have to decide whether you can live with this quirk of his or would be better off without him. No. You learn to live through it. Sorry. Whatever. You've been listening to life in the past. You can catch us during the week at livefromthepath.org. You can hook up with the podcast, watch clips from the show, and see past episodes, past interviews

with guys like David Shedlock or bands that have been in the studio. Hey. We got some big news. I mean, giant flaming news coming up within the next, I don't know, three to four weeks. Be praying for the show. There there are there's some god decisions here that that we need to make and be praying for us. But, otherwise, we got some big stuff coming up that we'd be I'm really excited to share with you if that's how it pans out. So please be praying for us. If there's a way that we can be praying for you, shoot us an email. [email protected]. Or if you hate the show, let us know about that too. I mean, it's we just need to know you're out there. I think that's fair. Big thanks again to David Shedlock. Make sure you check out with Christ in the voting booth, Amazon. You can he's got a there's a Facebook page where you can kinda interact with David there. Or if you got any questions and you wanna send them our way, we'll make sure he gets to them. Thanks again, David, so much for coming in. You've been listening to Live From The Path.