Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. You are live from the path. And you are listening to live from the Path. We're coming to you from the Pathway Studios here in Johnston proper.

Good to be here. Why do you say that? Because I this is one of my favorite parts of the week. Oh, I just I love to be I love to be here with my friends. And then yeah. Here's what we got going on. So so there has been there was like a there

was like a contest. Wait. Wait. Wait. Yeah. Maybe the right contest is the right way to talk about it. There was a group of atheists who wanted to come up with a basically 10 better commandments or new 10 commandments. Okay? So there was a 10 non commandments contest in which atheists were asked to offer modern alternatives

to the current 10 commandments, the biblical 10 commandments. And to sweeten the pot, the contest offered 10,000 cash to the winning would be Moses. Okay? So we're gonna go through those tonight. And I I kinda wanna talk through those. It's like, what are they I don't know. Are they are there something that we can agree to? Mhmm. Not as a replacement, but like, okay. Yeah. We can dig on that. Mhmm. Or what what's potentially problematic about these particular commandments and as far as someone trying to live their life according to them. K? So we're gonna hit those. Those are the 10 the 10 new commandments.

Also, it was a couple weeks ago that Pope Francis had reportedly said that that there's room in heaven for all God's creatures. And it came out that he didn't say that, but there was a lot of news going back and forth about dogs going to heaven, the presence of animals in heaven. And so this is a question that comes up from time to time. And and so they would just I thought we'd give it a give it a round and see what the the general thought is on how likely it is we'll see Fido

jumping around or in the the streets of gold. Mhmm. Also, got some pope style advice. There is some advice on dear life from the path. People still got troubles in the world, and we're we're late night Internet radio who is here to help. And we're also gonna be pondering continually what is it that Jesus is saying. Herrick, give me a heads up on what we got going on tonight with that. Alright. Well, it seems like tonight Jesus is telling us that we're blessed

and He's also saying that people are gonna hate you. So we'll go into more depth on that one later. Boy, that seems like rough times, Buba. Really does. I don't know I don't know what to think about that just yet. I'm excited to hear what what Jesus is fully saying. Okay. Alright. I think that sounds alright. Alright. Here we go. Let's alright. Let's let's talk about this Fido business. So so the way the story was is that there was a kid that was upset and the and the pope was nearby.

And and that that the pope Francis had gone by him and said paradise is open to all of God's creatures. And he'd said that to the distraught boy whose whose dog had died. Now there were some follow-up news stories that basically said, I mean, someone had said that in the past, but it wasn't him, and it wasn't in this circumstance. He didn't really say But but it does bring into question, you know, how we should think about animals and heaven. So, Buva, what what is your first reaction? A small child comes in and says,

hey hey, Boova. I've just lost my puppy. Oh, man. Help me understand more about dogs in heaven. You're making me say this directly to the child, really? Yeah. That's who's gonna ask the question. Alright. Fine. I I don't think that that heaven is for dogs. I just I don't see it. I I mean everything you see in in

the bible has nothing to do with with the animals and and them having everlasting life or even a soul. You mean with God's creation? For that matter. For that matter. Excuse me. I just I really don't see it happening. It doesn't really matter to me, but from what I've seen and what I've read and what I've understood, it it's not for animals. So when it says all creation will bow down because Jesus Christ is Lord, you're just discounting the rest of creation besides you? I don't think that means You're a pretty self important dude, boo. I I am. And we've all determined that over the past couple years. But I I don't see that that the animals are are there in heaven. What about the assortment of creatures mentioned in revelation that are are there praising and worshiping God?

The assortment of creatures praising God in revelation. So the four like beings? Are you talking about like four beasts that Yeah. You know, are are there. They're they're in the throne room. They're praising God. I

guess I don't really know that that represents like beasts in like my dog Fido. I just don't see how those equate all of animals in all of existence go to heaven. Well, maybe I could just read the bible and decide whatever I want. Fair enough. That sounds like a good decision. I guess I'm the new Noah. Well, I so so then let me ask you this from a counter perspective. You take the the animals or the all of God's creation as as there are animals in heaven? Yeah. I'm just saying that I I would say probably. Yeah. I mean, says he closed the lilies of the field. You know I'm saying? Like, he made the stuff. I fear I feel like he's it's not just a a use once and toss. It's not a gas station visit. It's a creation. There's integrity in it, and it's made to last the ages.

Okay. That means that I'm gonna go up there and there very well be a buffalo with trays on their back serving stuff. I don't know what's gonna happen. Are they gonna be McDebels that serve That's Spike's vision of a restored creation is a buffalo with a tray on his back. Right now, he's a wild crazy beast that can't be dealt with. The Lord will redeem him to be a tray server. When he was created and it was good, he was serving man with a tray on his back. He may be serving the Lord. I don't know. I'm just saying that, like, I don't think there's enough language in the Bible to say that, like, for sure either way. Like, I get it. They don't have souls. Blah blah blah. They don't need redemption against their sinful ways. But they are part of the Lord's creation. And if, and if heaven comes down, then, it stays as it is. Okay. I could see that. I still think they're not there. I feel like I've produced a lot of stuff to back mine up. And you've said nothing. I I feel like I covered everything that I need to cover. That sounds right. That yeah. I would agree that Buva has produced everything he could produce to defend in his own defense. That's

probably a valid point. Let me tell you the amount of time I've spent on whether or not Fido's in heaven. About the amount of time that we've been talking about it here. I do not care. Because why you've talked so long. I don't care. Just do not care. I don't see the point. I have no idea. Let me prattle for a bit about it. Yeah. Actually, so I'm inclined to I'm inclined to agree. He's he he created these things. He said it was good. At the restoration of all things, I believe they will be around. Yeah. Yeah. I I'd be inclined to say they're probably in the new Earth. Yeah. The new heaven. Maybe maybe perhaps not the not the heaven, the interim Right. Yeah. Okay. I can get on board with that. Mhmm. Alright then.

Boob, you look like a real boob there. I'm alright with that. Did I miss the first part? Was there some small child that tugged you on the shirt and asked you these things? Yes. Yeah. And Boob basically said, no. Yeah. I looked right in Johnny's face, and I said, shut up. Your dog's fine. Refused. Get a new dog. Guess what? They're free for half the world. I said turn or burn, not turn turn turn lay down and burn. I didn't say roll over and burn. Hey, dude. Like I mean, sometimes I wish for Bubba's perspective because there's a bit of dog or two that I've owned that I would prefer. Mean, I he come running up to me when I get up to heaven, I'll be like, dang it. A freaking dog's here? Now I understand redemption. That's right. I'll get up with I'll get a brand new white robe and he'll pee on it directly.

The holy spirit has decided to show you what what mercy is when he sends a stupid dog your way when you won't get up to heaven. You are redeemed, but still stay humble. Dog pee on your way. Great. Thank you. Welcome to heaven. Here's Fido. The lord is funny just like I thought. He missed you for the past forty years that you haven't missed him. Guess what, Mike? Guess what? New creation.

Yeah. That bit I put in revelation. He didn't mean literal lion. He meant me. Alright. So there was there was a contest by a group of atheists to try to create a 10 non commandments. The 10 non commandments contest. And they were to offer modern alternatives to the 10 commandments in the Bible. And so there were a bunch of submissions, 2,800 submissions from 18 countries and 27 US states, which is interesting to me. Like, half the states participated.

You couldn't scrounge up an atheist in Delaware to submit something? I I'm more interested in the only 18 countries. That's a tenth of them. No. That's true. That's not a less than a tenth. Yeah. But, I mean, that's the thing with atheists. Like, they they hold a very small margin. Like, it's not just, hey, we're we don't we don't buy into Christianity. You're also saying you don't buy into to is Islamic religions either. Right? Now you're really outnumbered. You know what saying? Like, there's more people on this earth that breathe that that believe in a a single god than not. That's true. Yeah. Yeah. By quite a bit. Yeah. By quite a bit. Yeah. Okay. So anyway, here were the 10 there was a team of guys, 13 fellows, judges who selected 10 serious submissions, and these were the winners for the 10 non commandments. So what I wanna do is kinda can we get on board with any of these? Not, again, not to replace our command with the the legit 10 commandments, but, like, you know, can we agree with any of this? And what's problematic about them? Alright. So here we go. Number one, ten non commandments chosen by the winners. Number one, be open minded and be willing to alter your beliefs with new evidence.

Yeah. I wholeheartedly endorse that. Yeah. I feel like you can there's a bit about that at the tail end of James three, if I recall. Yeah. About having some conversations and being peace peaceful and and, open to reason. And, yeah, I feel like James addresses that, and, it's done and done. Yeah. So far, we're in with number one. Okay. Yeah. Come friends. Number two, strive to understand what is most likely to be true, not to believe what you wish to be true. I agree. Yeah. I agree with you. Yeah. So far, we're two for two on the non commandment. Take an objective approach instead of Great job. 18 countries in 27 states. Hey. Things are rolling. Number three,

the scientific method is the most reliable way of understanding the natural world. If you would agree that that's also true in the fifteenth century, sixteenth century, seventeenth century. Like, if if you if if you're gonna say that, then you have to agree that that was true at whatever point in time a man lived, of which the theories swayed wildly. I would have to say 75% agree.

Mike's partially in. I feel like the scientific method can method can certainly prove the way God has done something. But any alteration to that, I feel like is a bit bit wrong. I I would agree with Mike. It it has some limitations like it it it requires repeatability, so it can't really explain a singular phenomenon.

If you can't reproduce it in a laboratory setting or some kind of an environment and show that it happens over and over again, you're kind of hosed. So you're saying we could agree that it's reliable in the field that it plays in, but it is the field that it's able to play in is limited by by the basic nature of what it is. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, it would be like when whatever the apple fell from the tree that that that story that instead of saying, hey, I think there's a pool within the earth that's causing this, I would say apples love ground. And it doesn't matter how many times that I take an apple or where I take it to, it seeks ground and gets there. And I could have stood on that principle for the last two, three hundred years. It loves the ground even more in the fall. And I I could have proved it I could have proved it repeatedly,

and I could have said, yes. This is absolutely the case. Alright. Alright. Yeah. So we're we're, oh, we're partial in for number three. Here we go. Number four, every person has the right to, to control of their body. That's an interesting one, given the number of people in prison. Have you ever shackled a man to take him into jail? Because I feel like you just denied him that. Yeah. So no. Yeah. Disagree. They're against incarceration in any form. I mean, if if by I mean That's not atheism. That's anarchy. It could be an if and then when it's like he had control of his body not to commit a crime, and he chose to, and then therefore we've taken that away from him. It doesn't seem like that's the case. It seems like it's an at all times. No. I'm a I'm a solid no then. Yeah. I I I that can't even pass a basic sniff test. Hey. Hey. My kid walks towards an outlet with a fork. I feel like it's time for me to take control of the kid. Don't push my rights down. You

don't own me. Don't tread on me. Yeah. That one certainly has limitations. I think that that has that's an attempt to solve what is a social problem Mhmm. With a very large swath that I just I don't think it's tenable in natural society. Yeah. And I wouldn't use the word tenable there because I'm not sure of its definition. It's not attainable. That's fair enough. It it can't actually be pulled off. Okay. Alright. Here we go. Number five. God is not necessary to be a good person or to live a full and meaningful life. To be a good person, fulfill meaningful life. A full and meaningful life.

You know, I suppose if you provided definitions of all three of those things, characteristics, and I suppose that could be true. My definition of what is a full and meaningful life may be different than I think that's a perspective issue. The so the I think the operative question here is is is they've inferred some things that otherwise not provide guidance on how to infer, such as what makes something good. Right? If God is not necessary to be a good person Mhmm. What is good? And how do you know what good is?

Especially if you're leaving every person the right to control their body and you disagree on what's good. Yeah. I feel like you might be looking at Shiv. Yeah. You know what's good for me? Pear naked taxi driver. That's what's good for me. You know who else does disagrees? Everybody. Yeah. Get out of the taxi. And so so as a matter of fact, all three of those quantifiers, good person,

full life, meaningful life Mhmm. Because we don't have a a way to otherwise gauge what is good, what is full, and what is a meaningful life, that you this may be a problematic outcome Yeah. As a commandment. Yeah. Yeah. I don't feel if I can live by that. It it would leave a it's essentially a nontheistic answer to all of those. So what's your life person purpose? You can just make up your own life purpose. I wish to kill people. Well, then you can My life shall have meaning

as I kill folk. Yeah. Murder. Yeah. And No. I mean I mean, granted, like, that's the that's the extreme nature. But Well, maintain is evident. Go ahead. Say say, you know, your goal in life is to do what's best for you. That doesn't inherently mean that it that is not to the detriment of someone else. Right? That's the nature of rape. Is it not? Right. Right. You like, hey, this is what's best for me. I will do what's best for me. Well, mean, that that brand of thinking has brought innumerable amount of corporate scandals,

let alone crime. But on the other hand, if you live a life where you say I will do what's best for others, the only one that actually tends to get taken down a notch is your kingdom. Not even necessarily you, but just the kingdom you were attempting to build. So that one I'm going say is tricky. When I say God is not necessary to be a good person to live a full and meaningful life, I'm I'm more likely to to to, I don't know, argue with definitions of good, full, and meaningful, and the disparities between people on those things that I think makes that on its on its face problematic. I I think to be an atheistic list, though, you kinda need a statement like this. No. That's true. You do. But but, like, I mean, isn't this showing the dirty laundry in your wardrobe? Right? Because, like, of the of the things that are problematic about even if you ignore Christianity and you say any type of system

that revolves around a higher authority that passes morality on and say, I, it is the authority that determines what is good and what is not good. Mhmm. This is actually this is the dirty laundry in the wardrobe that says, this cannot be reconciled because it's subjective at every level Mhmm. And thus will always be in confrontation. So I questionable is a commandment. I mean, there's honesty to it that says, this is what we think. Mhmm. But it is problematic about how it plays out. Yeah.

Alright. Number six. Be mindful of the consequences of all your actions and recognize that you must take responsibility for them. Yeah. Yeah. That sounds like So small children aren't allowed in. Yeah. Okay. Well, wait a minute. Maybe me and Booba agreed too early. Hey, Herrick, speak first and me and Booboo will talk to you in a second.

So so that's a weird it's a weird commandment to say be mindful of the consequences. Yeah. It it would be nice if everyone in the society played by that rules but obviously small children would have to be trained in that. Right. So in that sense, can at least agree with them on it. I'm I'm for it. I agree. I wish that everyone could, but I'm also willing to accept people who are incapable of that. It's also a bit intangible. Is it not? Like, being mindful of consequences and recognizing

that you should take responsibility for them are both intel they're cognitive things. Mhmm. I was aware. Yeah. And if you've had brain damage, you're out. You're you're out. Or if you're just at the root nature, if you are not a good person Mhmm. And are aware of consequences Mhmm. But continue down the path anyway, like, this doesn't negate any type of that behavior. Right. Like, all we're just saying is, do I recognize this is socially unacceptable and this will harm other people? Yes. I do. Do I recognize that I should take responsibility for that? Yes. But it is detrimental to me, so I refuse. Yeah. But hold on. To be fair, like, we take our 10 commandments as a package and then say these things followed toe in a whole should produce x. And like so it is it is slightly unfair to pick one of their commandments and, you know, apart from what they're coupled with

and and and pick it one by one. Do know what I'm saying? Like, like, it'd be like looking at our at at at God's 10 commandments and saying, you know, do not do not commit adultery. Yes. And if and if you nail that, then everything should be fine except for the other nine that you're ignoring. No. No. I I actually I I think what I was saying was is like, in with everything else they pointed out, this still isn't solved that. Right? Like, that that is the rolling issue. It existed in six. It exists in five. Like, it it actually is a is a compilation. Like, all those things are pointing to something that still is is a problem. I'm not saying you're not making sense. I'm just saying you're not making sense to me. I think that's fair. Okay. Okay. As a as a commandment, these seem to be things that just kept do I understand

consequences, and do I recognize that I must take responsibility for them? Mhmm. I mean, those are those are things that happen in your head, but don't necessarily influence

ultimately how you behave. And which makes it, I I don't know, like a weaker commandment relative People to don't do this thing. People could be completely mindful of the consequences and say, look, if I do this, I will gain a promotion. This other man will get fired unjustly. I'm gonna do I'm gonna do that anyway. That does not produce a good. Yes. Correct. Okay. Correct. Correct. Because there are people that do that all the time. Right? And, like, the death row guys will say, yes. I knew what I was doing, and they still did it. They still ended up doing that. And so, like, that is an abates nature isn't a very good way to evaluate good, not good. Here we go. Number Wait. So what are we at? What what how many have we agreed with so far? Six. We're on with the first two. Open minded and willing to alter your beliefs with new evidence. Yes. Strive to understand what is most likely to be true, not to believe what you wish to be true. Agreed. Scientific method is the most reliable way of understanding the natural world within its playing field. We generally agree with that. Every person has the right to control of their own body. There are problems with that one. God is not necessary to be a good person or to live a full and meaningful life. That is very dependent and contingent on your definitions of good, full, and meaningful. Mhmm. You can easily drop God from that if you define all three of those things without Him.

If you define it with Him, obviously, that's an issue. Mhmm. Be mindful of consequences of all your actions and recognize that you must take responsibility for them. At least me, I have a I take that as an issue for me because that is not a tenable do, don't do. That is simply, am I aware? And people can be aware and still do things and still do the wrong thing. So, like, I that's not much of a guide. It's not much of a commandment. It's just a I don't know. Yeah. It it also kinda undermines the the social fabric when you have people who are specialized in one role, and so they will do that really well. They may not fold their sheets very well, but, you know, they can swing a baseball bat. So they'll hire someone to fold their sheets for them. Are they taking responsibility or are they passing it off on someone else? Yeah. So there is a whole gray area involved in what does personal responsibility look like. Don't know any way to really flesh that one out and actually enforce or even look for and evaluate that. It's a nice ideal, but

how that works How well does it guide behavior or produce because that's probably the big question here is is to be to be fair to the list. The question would be, what does it produce to all 10 together? Does it produce a functioning member of society that atheism would look at and say, that's a success for a life? Mhmm. And I and I think that's where these become like, obviously, there's there's gray areas even from a faith perspective where you're like, you're you're wrestling with those things. But I think functionally, are we producing

good people? Like, if that doesn't do this, what what what is the purpose of the list? What does it actually produce? Okay. Alright. Here we go. Number seven. Treat others as you would want them to treat you, and you can reasonably expect them to want to be treated. Think about their perspective. They just plagiarized Jesus on that one. Yep. That's Jesus theft. Let's actually, Jesus theft. Let's So I agree with them on that. Yeah. Well means. But they they did alter this a little bit. So let's look at the alteration too. And you can expect. Treat others as you would want them to treat you and can reasonably expect them to want to be treated.

Okay. Think about their perception. So, I mean, are are they creating a caveat for the guy that likes to get punched in the face or something? And he's saying, like getting punched in the face. I'm gonna return the favor to my local friend. Or the flip side, if I expect you to give me a thousand dollars every time we we interact and Right. That's not reasonable. So therefore, I don't have to treat them the way they want to. That's right. I would sure like to receive a thousand. Exactly. Yeah. They they they it seems like they took the statement and reduced brevity, but instead instead tried to tailor it more towards the towards whoever it is that is on the other side. I'm gonna I'm gonna give you a perfect example. So I was talking to a fellow at work today, and his brother-in-law is a genius, and here's why. So the man for Christmas, here's what he's done. He set up he set up everybody asked him what he want for Christmas for Christmas, and he says,

I collect silver silver coins. And, like, so here's the here's the genius move of this guy. Right? It's like, I wish I had to come up with this. Right? But for like, for every Christmas, he's like and they ask him what he wants, and he always says, I collect silver coins. Silver coins are outrageously expensive. And if you wanna get the man what he wants, you have to buy him this extremely expensive thing, you know? Oh, yeah. And so I thought, it's this is this is extremely foolish to me because I should have told everybody that I collect a $100 bills. They're like, what is your passion? I collect a $100 bills. And so, like, every Christmas, I know I would be at least getting a $100 from somebody. You know I'm Oh, yeah. That's a that's a genius move. Everyone's like, well, don't worry. Don't get me nothing, or you can buy my kids something, but don't worry. He's like, yeah. I I I collect silver coins. So, you know, if you really wanted to give me something, you could buy me a really expensive silver coin. And he left no caveat as to get him anything else. You know, that's that's genius. He's done it. You know what saying? He's figured out this this this life, and he basically claims to collect something very expensive. That is the only way you could make him happy is to buy it for him. That's pretty sharp. Yeah. No doubt. Pretty sharp. I think he just won the materialism game. Yeah. He did. Anyway, just for you guys, just just for a heads up, collect a $100 bills. Think that's fair. So hey. You only need one need to know one people pleaser to make that worth it. That ain't no doubt. Yeah. Okay. Here we go. Number eight, we have the responsibility to consider others, including future generations. Yeah? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. We're on board with that. K. No problem, sir. Number nine, there's no one right way to live.

I agree. Yeah. Okay. I'll agree because Eric did. I did. I was about to disagree. Boo Boo was mulling it over. What's up, Boo? I'm I'm just trying to I don't know. I'm trying to think about that to its to its end of there's not one right way to live. Yeah. Oh, I'm I mean, would God be upset at you if you were not an Olympic swimmer? Would you currently are not? Say is is one right way to live? Are you saying, like, life path? Like, it's okay for one person to be, you know, an Olympic swimmer and one person to be, you know, over here working on cars and one person to be over here? Yes, obviously, that's okay. But one right way to live, I I'm looking at it from the perspective of of we we believe in one path that is is the way to live, which is, you know, believing that that in God and believing that Jesus is the son of God and and is our savior and all the good stuff. I would say that is the run one right way to live. But from the perspective of, yeah, you can be a mechanic or you can be a dolphin tamer, whatever.

So I'm trying to figure out Did dolphins need taming? I'll tell you what. There's a rogue gang of them off Key West. There's only one man that ventures out there. I had no idea. You're crazy. Yeah. I mean, I I I think it is so generic that it's not helpful. But, yeah, there's no one right way to live. Okay. Okay. 10. Number 10. Leave the world a better place than you found it. I like that. Sure.

Mike Who was that, Mike? Unnecessary. Well, I feel like it say it falls in the same caveat as the as the happy and the and the whatever. Like, it depends on what your definition of better is. If if if weeping prophet showed up, made everybody mad, and everyone's upset at him, you know, did categorically, did he leave the place better did Jeremiah leave the place better than than it was when he got there? Well, no. Everybody's mad at it. Everybody's upset. Everyone's afraid of the Lord. Everyone thinks that they're on the wrong side of this thing. But the truth of matter is, they are. And they are and they are. You know what I'm saying? I was gonna say that's that's kinda subjective. That's a good point. I I may want the world to be more of a desert rather than a really, really rain forested area, and that means I'm cutting down trees versus someone else that's really excited. Yeah. You know how I leave this world better? By taking your land and giving it to me. That's what I It's a much better place because I'm richer. Woo hoo. That's yeah. See then And I'm thinking of future generations because my kids now have more money. The the this is where this all is all boils down to really is the is is the source of of why why you do what you do.

You know? And and like, when you put it into categories as broad as a that can that can insert an opinion, like if it's better or it's good or whatever, like my definition is is got to be different than yours. Right? Like I I I think I know what's better to do with my paycheck than you do Yeah. Than the guy next to me. You know, because I am surrounded by it. But like, you know, I'm guaranteeing if I had 20 guys on the street right now that think it would be better spent on them. Then it would be on where I'm currently spending it. And they they may be right in some aspects. They may be wrong in others, you know. So when you say better or good, and then have have some kind of lofty idea that that all humanity has an innate sense of good, like you know that's not true. How many people have you met? I mean, I I had this conversation with a guy a couple years ago. I was we were talking about Jesus feeding the the 5,000, feeding them with fishes and loaves. Right? And he says, I I really don't think that, you know, that he reproduced the food or whatever. And I said, well, what do you think happened? He thought, well, I just you know, I believe in the good of people. I feel like they had enough food there, they shared it. I said, how many people have you met? Like, in your life, you're 30 years old. How many people you met you think the good of humanity? People will stab you in the face. I've been looking at you, smiling, you telling you you they're your best friend. You know what you know what I think is funny? I like the the people who are willing to, like, argue with the details like that but not reject the story altogether. Like, I would be way more more likely to say, yeah, that didn't happen, than I am to say, it did happen, but, you know, they shared food. Or it did happen and Jesus swooned, as opposed to the fact that, like, no. No. It just didn't occur. Like, I'm way more likely to say that. Maybe that's a that's a, you know, the respite for the feeble minded. But, like, I just why would you accept 90% of the story and then quibble over the details like some guy went to the purpose of of drawing that stuff up. I don't get it. No. That's that that's true. I don't get it. Yeah. But it wasn't a basket though. The bible lies.

A man wasn't actually a boy's lunch. That's right. He wasn't a boy. He was 15. Jews didn't consider that guy a boy. Lies. Yeah. It was a boy's dinner. Jesus didn't really die. He hid behind the cave for a while, and he's like, ta da. You know? I'm here. Yeah. That's probably what happened. Absolutely. A ruse. A giant ruse. Not only a giant ruse, but a childish ruse to boot. Like, the type of behavior you're suggesting has to happen for these falsities. You know I'm saying? Jesus literally has to, like, hide behind the guy, sneak out of the crowd, change his clothes, shave his beard. You know what I'm saying? Hide out for three days and be like, I think it's time. And then he jumps out like a birthday cake, man. You know I'm saying? Hey. I was just teasing. Phyllis. Phyllis. What's up? I've swooned to tell no one. I just is He spent half his ministry trying to set up all the miracles. Exactly. Alright. Here's the deal. You're gonna bring out this kinda sick dude through the the roof. That's right. And he's gonna come down. I'm gonna look at him. He's gonna be great. Chuck, we're gonna use your roof. That's right. And I got the roof on a quick release hatch. Exactly. So James, you pull on his rope. Right? And the hatch will open, and they will they will send down Steven, who's really okay, but he's gonna act real sick. Hey. Pretend like you're really, really sick, even dead. That'd be great. Just lay there for a couple days. That's right. Don't really move. Lazarus, I want you to go in this cave for, like, three days, man. Don't come out of there. And I need you to sneak it. Yeah. Alright. If you don't sneak it, they're not gonna buy it. But we need to volunteer for the crucifixion. Yeah. That's exactly right. Who's gonna take one for the team? Yeah. Exactly. Now listen. There's odds are they may hurt you a little, but it'll probably be fine. It's gonna hurt. It's not what I signed up for. I'm not gonna lie. It's gonna hurt a lot. It's a guaranteed swoon. Just ridiculous.

Seriously. Somebody get my clothes from that guy. Alright. He'd had to stab himself in the hands. I I this I mean, it's ridiculous. I'm just saying, like, I there's a there's a weird subset of of people that wanna argue with Christianity that wanna buy the story as true except for quibbles of details. And I don't I don't get it. Like, you're fighting over things that nobody can prove, but you ref you're not rejecting the big hey. 4,000 people ate in the middle of the desert. Well, actually, 4,000 men ate in the middle of the desert. Double that, at least. And you wanna say, well, Jesus didn't feed them, though. They just had that much food around because I believe in people. But otherwise, the Bible's acceptable to tell that story as if they made up that Jesus part. Yeah. What is it? You you know what's funny? Like, if you play this out to its end, like, you know, there's there's a broad base of of the kingdom of God that has the same problem with, you know, Christ promises where he says sin is done. I've taken care of it. You know what I'm saying? Like, how many times can you say that story is true and I know Christ died for my sins, but, like, that one that you're really bad at, you know, you let it separate you from him because you're not really buying that it's done. Mhmm. Yep. Like, so I mean, it's true in a comical level, but it's true on a serious level too. Like like, we put we put Christ in a perspective like he he died for everybody's sins, and that's great. But that one that I'm having a real hard time with and makes me feel like a jerk, there's no way he's on board with that. I'm just gonna stay away from him for a while and hope he cools down about it. That's actually I usually have to frame things that way

when I'm when I know that I'm not thinking right, but I can't seem to let something go or I'm fighting from my perspective, not God's. I usually have to to frame it as, are you calling God a liar? Does God tell lies? Because if God doesn't tell lies, then that's forgiven. And if God doesn't tell lies, then there's mercy, and there's justice, and there's whatever. And, like, if I frame it like that, like, I'm not so bold as to call God a liar. So that that is usually what shakes something out from them that I refuse to get rid of is I have to frame it as let, you know, let everyone else be a liar. God tells the truth. And and that includes me. And that that usually shakes that stuff right out. Alright. So so anyway, that was the that was the atheist 10 commandments, the non commandments. I feel like we could talk for, like, fifteen minutes before it went south. Like, if, you know, if we had some atheist friends come in. Yeah. So, like, none of it like, except for the fact that they mentioned God in number five and said he's not necessary to be a good person or live a full and meaningful life. I I think there's there's three three takeaways for me. One, I don't know if there's a lot that's objectionable here. I mean, yeah, I mean, I get it. I think that's alright.

The the second problem or or the the second thing would be you have some sub subjectivity issues. Right? Like, you're trying to guard behavior without dictating behavior. You're trying to say, we wanna produce a certain type of person without saying this is the type of person we wanna produce. It's just, can we agree that we produce people? Mhmm. And so, like, subjective things like what is good, what is full, what is meaningful, what is better, what is right, those are all problems with the way this is. And and, again, you you could say that I think the accusation would be is that that type of of fixed determination is a is the plot for the feeble minded, right, where I have to be told what's right and wrong. I'm not able to come to that on my own, but the truth is is, like, human behavior should bear out. Mhmm. In fact, I feel feel like scientific method would otherwise do this for you. Human behavior will bear out that people do not gravitate towards the same morals of right and wrong. No. And that's why we we enter societies, even ones that we're trying to help, and and we feel like it's it's atrocious how people behave, their moral guidelines are just different. And so if you're, you know, that type of variability, you're just have to accept some things that you find morally objectionable,

and it becomes problematic, I think, from from a grounded moral belief. Yeah. People are more likely to pick a a moral system that best fits the lifestyle they wanna live. Yeah. And and they end up with competing morals, competing, you know, competing fundamental values, and so they end up stepping on each other's toes. And even if their values were entirely aligned, they give each other liberties that they wouldn't normally give to others. Right. And so whatever your values are, they they ultimately are gonna come back to bite you. Exactly. Exactly. And and and some of that, you know, when they say the be mindful consequences of all your actions and recognize that you must take responsibility for them, even that word responsibility is rooted in the fact that there's an arbiter that says, this is a bad thing Mhmm. And you are responsible, as opposed to, you know, I feel like doing such and such. It There was an action to it, but, like, that's not it's not my issue. It's not I'm not responsible for that because that's just the way the world works. Mhmm. And so that that inherent disagreement and and I'm with you. So, like, if I if I wasn't a Christian, like, and was trying to formulate something, I'm not saying that this is an easy task. I think this is extremely difficult. And

so, you know, I I'm I'm with you, atheist fellows. Like, trying to come up with this. Like, I our my critiques are not meant to be mean spirited. Right? Just saying, like, I I feel like you're up against a very difficult thing that I can easily solve with God. If you take that out of the picture, I that's a hard task. And and and I sympathize. I think it's wrong, but, like, I sympathize with you trying to do that. I you're it's just very difficult with with what human nature is. Mhmm. So Yeah. Alright. Well, there you go. There you go. Alright. Speaking of difficult stuff, Dave Herrick, what what is what does Jesus say? What's Jesus talking about? Alright. So we we've got a a statement from Jesus. It was actually in his first speech that he gives,

and he fires off his first speech with with eight. Hey, blessed are and then he'll describe a type of person and and why they're blessed. And then he gets to a ninth one and he says, Blessed are you when others revile you, persecute you, utter all kinds of evil against you and falsely on my account. So what's Jesus talking about? I've got couple of maybe questions to sort of help digest this one perhaps. Can you read that? What's the first This is Matthew five verse 11.

It's in something called the Beatitudes and prior to this, Jesus was describing eight qualities that you could find in all of his citizens, in all citizens of his kingdom. They they are all peacemakers. They are all poor in spirit. So

he says, blessed are you when others revile you, persecute you, utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Alright, so my first question for you is, is this an expectation that Jesus has of all of his followers? In other words, if you were to follow Jesus and and live whatever Christian

life construct might be, if you're a member of his kingdom, is this something that's expected? Is this expected of all followers of his kingdom? Because it sounds kind of negative. But is that just a base level expectation that he has?

Second question, what even though Jesus gives three pretty good descriptions of what this persecution might look like, how would you describe it like playing out in modern life? Is this someone standing on a street corner that everyone looks at like they're annoying or someone who gets into flame wars online type of a deal or is this someone who gets into arguments over doctrinal matters? Is that the type of persecution that he's talking about? And then lastly, is this something that we should therefore seek out

or is this just a different response to something that the world would otherwise say is a very negative thing? So those are my three questions about this. Is it a base level expectation? What might this persecution look like? And is it something that we should wholeheartedly seek out? I'm ready. Alright. I'm ready for my Here you go, Mike. Alright. Mike, go ahead. I think, yes, it is a base level expectation.

Alright. What it does not say at the tail end of that verse is every day and every minute Hey, Buva's phoning. Buva, are you using the phone? I'm going He's gonna phone a friend. I'm going to the Bible. Hey. Hey. He was using he was using Matthew five's Two thumbs. Yeah. He was he was creating my Warcraft. Whatever. King King of plans, McBoole. Once again, on my Bible. Go ahead. Okay. So so what that so, yes. I think it is a base level expectation, but I think it's a base level result, not a base level expectation. Okay. I think it happens be because

you are promoting the kingdom of God in a in a kingdom that is not his at at the on on earth, then you will elicit that result. Now what it doesn't say is that's gonna happen to you all the time. Mhmm. You know, like, you should expect that that will happen to you by some. But like, if I I don't think you're expected to go out looking for it, purposely causing non peaceful behavior because now you're fighting with James. James does not say to do that. It says to find find peace with people and and, you know, explain the kingdom of God. But like, you know, if you're not being persecuted Sunday at five, doesn't mean at 05:10, you need to start knocking on doors, looking to to rattle some cages. And the third question was, what do I think that looks like? No. The second was, what do you think it looks like? The third is, should we seek it out? So the second is what tangibly does this look like? I think in general, people might think you to be a fool and say so.

And I've been called as much, you know, for my foolish, you know, beliefs in in Christ. And and and sometimes for for your motives, like even even in a day to day basis, there's certain jobs that you will not get. Mhmm. You know, there's there's certain promotions that won't come your way. There's certain maybe stature within a governmental structure that inherently has a bit of corruption in it that you probably will not get based on the way that you operate in the kingdom of God. So I would expect those inherent ones and, you know, I'd expect people to cast you aside sometimes because your belief and not take you or your ideas seriously. Mhmm. I don't know if you'll get outright yelling. You might. But it seems very unlikely.

In fact, I read something on there's on a website today that was giving you tips on how to remove religious references from your resume to make sure that you don't get, you know, singled out or or basically not chosen for a job because of the references that you put on there. Mhmm. Because they like, it's obviously illegal to use that as justification. But usually, if they're if they're weeding you out by that, they're certainly not gonna say Mhmm. Well, I see that you're a deacon somewhere. Mhmm. Well, we're not hiring you because you were a deacon. Like, they're just not gonna say that, but it doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Right. However, like, I I think

it depends it depends where you're at. It depends what in what society you're in, what part of the world you're in. Right? Because, like, being reviled in The United States with the with the infrastructure that we have Mhmm. Is much different than being reviled in, you know, Sudan Mhmm. Or Iraq. Mhmm. You know, if you're for being a Christian. And so some of it depends on the society that that surrounds you. Certainly.

Yeah. On on on what that looks like. It it maybe it is a very it is not near the same reaction here. You might someone might yell at you. Someone might you know, every once in a while, someone might shoot a guy or, like, attack a church or something. Mhmm. But that is way more consistent when you are head on with another kingdom in in especially in other parts of the world where, like, at least, and I think this is kind of part of what it's getting at is is if you're living a life that follows Christ and you're getting sort of these reactions, it means that they're understanding what you're saying Mhmm. And understanding what you're doing. Right? Because, like, it is a it is a threat. It is to say that God's kingdom is the kingdom that reigns. Is the reverse true then? Like, if you're not getting a whole lot of kickback in your life, would I mean, could you effectively say that maybe you're not explaining the gospel correctly or your life is not telling a full gospel? So I think it depends where you're at. America's a very unique perspective because it is it is a it a head on clash,

the kingdom kingdom of God up against, say, even a even a capitalist modern society. They just don't realize they're being clashed against. Like, they miss the inconsistency. Much of our society doesn't realize that it's that the there's a kingdom saying this one will not last. Jesus brings another. And we're like, yeah. No. That seems exactly like what we're doing. And it's not. But but I think I think part of that happens from America's perspective. We simply don't know the difference. We don't understand how some of what Jesus is bringing doesn't align up with what we feel like we've brought. So I I think it it's probably it's difficult, I think, from a Western culture perspective,

specifically in America, because a lot of times, I'm not sure that we understand the places in which we are potentially in disagreement with Christ's kingdom. I'm a little reserved on that just because I I've seen

it more from an outsider's perspective living outside this culture and its values and there's a lot of places where I can see the clash. It's just a lot of the representation of Christ is from people within this culture and a lot of times it's just embraced.

Things like this culture fundamentally values humanism. That's defining good based on human standards. Yep. Instead of centered around God. So if your definition of good and evil comes from God instead of what's the base level human equation, how many people are helped and served by this, that's a human approach to it. And so they seem like they're very similar but you're basically switching the first and second commandment. And our culture loves to do that. Love to go out and help that. There's a lot of ways that we can fulfill what Jesus commanded us to do and it looks great

going out and serving and loving the poor. That's great as we are obeying him. Very much resonates with the humanistic way. But then there's also ways of valuing

right and wrong, good and evil from just God's perspective instead of from human equations and when we start pulling those sorts of things out, that's when we really clash with this culture. But I guess maybe that's what I'm saying. I'm not sure that we know the difference. Right? Because we do things like that. Like, we'll say, says to feed the poor Mhmm. We feed the poor. Yeah. And that's where we're in agreement with the with our culture around us. Right. It's the places that we clash is is those are harder for us to find. So most of your but most of The United States, as an example, claims to be a Christian. Mhmm. You know I'm saying? So, like, I I think we don't sometimes we do not know the difference. We just we just simply don't know we would look out and say, kingdoms aren't clashing. Mhmm. We're and I don't I don't think that's accurate. Mhmm. But but I think that is that is when it when it comes to answer the question, should you be concerned that you are not facing

you people aren't reviling you openly and you're not running into this, are you does it mean that you're not doing what you're supposed to do for the kingdom? I guess that's why I'm willing to say not necessarily because I don't think a lot of the time that they recognize that there's a disagreement Mhmm. That that that Christ's kingdom is representing something different. They've accepted something either that's untrue about Christ's kingdom or that is untrue about themselves that they're not admitting cleanly, and so don't know necessarily notice the difference. Mhmm. And maybe maybe that's too much of a past. But I feel like that is that is part of the case where, like, you could do the exact same things you're doing here and and drop yourself on the on the streets of Tehran or in China somewhere, and, like, you have big problems. Mhmm. And you could do it here to to people that believe, you know, in effect,

the same thing as as those other two places, but you wouldn't run into the near near the same problem. Right. So maybe that's what I'm getting. Did you find it, Bubba? No. Did you win the did you win? What were what were you looking for? Well, and this is I'm not great at calling up scripture, but isn't there something that says that that

Jesus tells his disciples that you will you will suffer in my name? Well, That's it. This is one Luke six. He also says, blessed are you when people using similar rhetoric on account of the son of man. Anything outside of the attitude? Yeah. When he sends sends out the disciples to promote the the kingdom and announce that it is here, He says, know, when you stand before governors and authorities,

I forget what all He describes there, but that would be in Matthew chapter 10. Okay. So So you can find it there. And then also second Timothy says, all who wish to live a godly life will be persecuted. Okay. So from those that's ultimately what I was going through Matthew trying to find that. I think I started the end and didn't start the beginning. Okay.

But isn't that telling us that we should expect this? I mean, that in and of itself answers the question of is this something that we should we should reasonably expect being believers in Christ. Mhmm. That this persecution that's talked about, blessed are those who are reviled. We should expect that, especially if we we are ones who carry Jesus's name to other people, whether it be domestic, whether it be foreign, we should expect that. Now, maybe not specifically on the same level as if I were to go to Sudan or if I were to go to a different country. I wouldn't expect the same amount of persecution or the same kind of persecution as I would here. But I should still expect it in some way, shape, or form. Mhmm. So I think that answers the the first question. When they write Xmas. Mhmm. That has to be a small form of persecution, Ben. Right.

Xmas? Yeah. Exactly. When someone says to me, I can't celebrate Christmas. They say happy holidays. Happy holidays. What? I I think I would go much further than that for the word persecution. That may be an inconvenience or a nuisance or just you need to leave it alone and let them say x mas. Or legitimate, you know, shortening of the word. Go ahead. Yeah. So what does it look like to you, booba? So I think it depends on where you're at because the I mean, there's definitely something to be said for the situation that you're in, what kind of persecution that's gonna be. Now, am I gonna walk out of these doors and someone is going to have heard that I I believe in Jesus Christ being the the my savior and the son of the living God, and I'm gonna get shot out outside of the studio? I I don't think so. It's possible, but not likely. It's possible, but not likely. Yeah. Whereas if I were in a country that that is banned,

the any talk about Jesus, any speaking about the the relationship we have with God, reasonably, I can say if I just convene with a couple of believers myself, I could walk out of the doors that I'm in right now and I could easily get shot or I could easily be imprisoned or easily be told that, you know, you need to you need to go against the God that you say you believe in or you'll be murdered on the spot or imprisoned for the rest of your life or beaten senselessly, anything like that. Yeah. That happens. Doesn't that follow Ben's standard standard line of thinking though? It's like, aren't those countries that the countries that understand the gospel correctly? You know I'm saying? Yeah. Absolutely. You know, those are countries that understand the power behind the living God. They say not in this town. Yeah. There there's a lot of the countries out there that they're like, you know what? It's okay for you guys to gather together, worship, but just keep it to yourselves once you're out the door. Yep. It's it's the sharing of your faith outside the door. That's where they draw the line and they say, we we catch you doing anything even close to that. You're jail,

exorbitant, whatever. Yeah. What was we we shared that on the Twitter. Like, it was just such a such a deal when, like, those those kids in the past week, and and they were threatened to say renounce Christ, they and, I mean, they were young kids, and they were like, we love Yeshua, and we've always loved Yeshua. And then they were beheaded. Mhmm. I mean, what like, or nine year old kids, whatever it was. And, like, that is that is a that is a blade to the next situation. Right? Like, what is it that you what is it you believe? What do you proclaim?

And and no one no one's likely to do that to me here. Right. And, you know, I I don't believe that all of us to kinda go into the the third question of I don't believe that all of us are called to be in that situation. I think that there are plenty of us that are called to be here in in a country where we aren't going to get beheaded for believing in Jesus, and we aren't going to get shot or other countries where it's not something that's that's so taboo that it leads to murder or imprisonment. So I think that it's not necessarily we should seek that out. What you should seek out is where God wants you. If you're that person that is expected to be in that war torn country or in that place that that does not tolerate the relationship we have with God with Christ. If that's what you're calling is, guess what? That's where you go. And that's what you should expect. If I wholeheartedly believe that God is calling me to to any country, I mean, x country when it comes to a place that I could very easily be murdered or imprisoned there, then, you know, I'm gonna go there. And it doesn't have to do with with

situationally whether or not God's calling me to it. If God's calling me to go down the road and talk to someone here in Johnston, then I'm gonna do it. And it it doesn't matter where it's at, and it's not the persecution I should be looking for. It's the fact that what I should be doing is sharing the gospel of Jesus, and sharing his name, and sharing who he is, and his mercy, and his grace, and his love to all of the people that exist. And whether or not that means I get killed or whether or not that means that I get, you know, yelled at. Yep. And That's the thing. And it it describes it in the the description of the martyrdom of of Polycarp Mhmm. In the in the second century. Like, one of the things they at the start of that account is a rebuke of a guy who was, like, asking for it. And he said, you know, he's not calling you to do that. He's calling you to go about the Lord's business, and it's the consequences that he's not asking you to worry about. Mhmm. It's like, if you do what I tell you to do, you might lose a head, you might live forever. Like, well, you know, live a human life without you'll live forever anyway. Let's go ahead and You know what saying? But, like, I could be again, I I could be doing the same thing here as somebody else in a place where where Christian physical persecution is very likely, and and both are being done in obedience. Mhmm. I would never run if if if I felt like God was calling me to say, I'm sending you

to China to boldly proclaim your faith, and you'll die there, I should do that. And if he sends a Chinaman who otherwise would be, you know, in prison for doing that there, he says, I want you to go to The United States and go to Boston Mhmm. And proclaim faith there, then he should do that even though he's not facing the same consequences. There's that's not that's not a matter of matter of bravery or it's it's just it's simple matter of obedience. You do what God tells you to do where he tells you to do it, and that's there's no reason to feel guilty about being here and saying, I really wish I could go somewhere else and die. If God's not telling you to do that, don't be a fool. Mhmm. Because that that's actually that's dumb. Right. And so, like, I think that's the deal is in the situation he was the Sermon on the Mount, that's to the disciples. He very well knew how they were going to die. He was telling them what was going to happen. It very well did happen, and that was their circumstance. It was largely true. And so I I think we are we too accept whatever the consequences are in our obedience,

regardless of where they're at and regardless of the circumstances that surround it, trusting that God will be God, and He'll do what He wants. So I think I think that's I think that that's the right reaction is the consequences, just like the ends, are not ours to contemplate. The means, and our means are faithfulness, and then God will do what he wants.

Agreed. Alright. Set satisfied here. Yeah. Absolutely. You like that? Actually, so I was I remember I did a I did some of the at the at the bible camp at one point. And that way and we we kinda talked about this a little bit. It's like

is it it I had no part in where I was born. I had no part in, you know, in saying that I get to do the things that I do in The United States and face a different outcome than someone doing the same thing in a country that is more hostile Christianity. And and so it's like, it is not mine to pine to go somewhere else to be persecuted nor for me to pray for that. Those who are being persecuted escape it. Mine is to say, to where and to what end are we too obedient to God and and then let those consequences fall where they are. Mhmm. And and that's that's largely what you see out of the underground church in China is that they're not asking

to be the persecution taken away. They're asking for stronger backs to bear it and saying this is what God has for us, and and and his kingdom is growing here, and we will continue to persist when we're more likely to tap out and say, God, please take this from me. And so, like, it does it does help your perspective, I think, to understand what faith looks like. That that if if you don't get it and subscribing to that Voice of the Martyrs is a good is a good reminder. Yeah. It's a good reminder to to and and you can read this wrong. You can read it like a soap opera, and that's wrong. Mhmm. It is it is people that are that are doing what you do for Jesus, and they have different consequences. And it reminds you the work that's going on and people that need your prayer, and and there's ways that you can support those folks. And

it it's just it's good. There was a point there's probably a point in my life, probably two, three years ago, I thought Voice of Modern is like, this just seems like a like a it's a very graphic way to do things. Right? Like, it's just a way to share stories like, oh, that guy like, everybody's getting killed. Every people are getting beheaded. People are getting shot in front of their family. It's the most horrific stories, but they're true stories. They're true stories of people facing persecution for Jesus, and it's not just a it's not only a reminder that says, hey. I want you to remember people dying for this. It's a reminder that that that's what what you're doing looks like if I simply took your life and moved you to where these guys lived. That was going to happen to you. Mhmm.

And that's a reality that I think we have to face, and it helps it does help put some of these things in the Bible into right perspective because you are we are surrounded in a culture where we don't see the same thing, and our the truth is not relative. The things that Jesus is saying are still happening. Mhmm. And so we gotta be careful not to get lost and recognize that my brother in Jesus somewhere got beheaded yesterday Mhmm. Because he loves Jesus. That's my brother. That's a guy we share the same dad, and Jesus sacrificed the same for that guy. And and that's my family, and my family's getting hurt, and I would pray for my family anywhere. And and it's just it's it's an eye opener, and it's not again, it's not meant to to gross you out or creep you out. It's it's just a reality. It's how your brothers and sisters are living, and I think we need to recognize that because I think we understand the bible better. We understand god's story better when we recognize all the pieces that he has playing in it.

Alright. Alright. Mike, people need help in the world. Here's the deal, Ben. I'm gonna ask you a quick a quick sidebar because they're asking about Santa. Who's asking about the Santa? The dear life from the path is asking about Santa. Okay. I'm ready. Okay. Here we go. Dear life from the path. I've decided that when I have kids, don't want to do the whole Santa thing. I'd rather tell them about the real Saint Nicholas and what it means to give rather than to receive. Even though I am not religious, I'll tell them about the birth of Jesus, even though he wasn't born in December, and tell them about the winter solstice.

After working years of retail, I've seen firsthand what people can be like around the holidays, especially parents buying expensive, high demand, low supply things for their kids, and parents who put themselves in debt to make their kids happy. Yep. I am saddened by stories of kids writing to Santa and asking him to get their unemployed parents money for food. Most people I have spoken with disagree with my decision. They call me a Scrooge or say I'm taking away my kids' innocence. What do you think? Do you think I'm awful for wanting to teach them about charitable Saint Nick instead of commercializing Santa Claus? No. Nope. I'm I'm completely in line with this guy. Although, I haven't gone into the historical Saint Nick. I mean, my daughter's got Buzz Lightyear doll and she thinks of Saint Santa Claus in the same type of

vein of being a more or less fictitious story about someone dropping down your chimney and delivering presents that way. She you know, that caricature of of Saint of Santa Claus, obviously, that's not real. There was a historical background of this guy, Saint Nick. That's true. But

at best, there's a loose connection between the modern day Santa Claus and that Saint Nicholas. So, yeah, I I'd leave it as a fictitious story, and she understands what what fiction means. Yeah. And I don't think there's anything wrong with being like, hey, man. Here's a here's an interesting story they tell around this time of year. Check this out. Like, I don't think there's anything wrong with it. Like, we talked about we we have we have books that have Santa Claus entered at my house. Mhmm. I'm not like I I don't have to hide that from them. We're like, hey. Here's a story of Santa. Here's how the story goes. Here's the name of the reindeer. This is a lot of fun. Mhmm. I mean but it's a story. I didn't I didn't see the innocence die out of my kid's face because it's weird to think that I'm protecting their innocence by lying to them, by perpetuating a story, make sure I'm hiding it. No. I mean, I I get it. The lie is a loaded word. But, like, yeah, I just I think that's I think it's fine. Mhmm. I think it's fine. I don't I don't it's it's not Scrooge like behavior. You're just you're dealing in reality, but it's not like a it's not like I won't ever say anything about Santa Claus. Right? It's just just know it for what it is. It's a fun story, and we read fun stories. I I I think there's a way to have to have Santa as part of your Christmas without giving him Christ like powers. Do you know what I'm saying? Like Mhmm. Like if you're if you're Santa is if your kids are writing to Santa

for your dad for the dad to get a job or food for the table. Right? Like, you've not explained Jesus correctly at your house. Right? Like and I've I maybe I should say this. Maybe I shouldn't. But, like, we're you know, we our kids think well, I I'm pretty sure they're onto it by now. But, like, they have an odd perspective of Santa that I haven't I just I don't I haven't handled it. I just don't know what to say to them. Right? They they think that Santa works for Jesus in some capacity. And, like, and, like, they don't like, they they they say enough things that that that, you know, I think they I think they know the gist that they know it's not the deal. You know, but like, they really enjoy the story. And so they play into it, you know, but like, they're like like they they don't pray to Santa. You know I'm saying? Like, they know who God is. They know what God does. And they know that that if you put Santa up against Jesus, you know that Jesus is is is the deal. Right? And so, like,

I I think there's a way, like, you know, if if your tradition growing up was having Santa in your home and you loved it and it and it spawned great memories, I, you know, I I I don't know that I'm gonna throw a gauntlet down and say you can't have that. But but, like, your your world always looks correctly when you're looking through the correct perspective. And if Christ is the is the head of your house as it should be, like, all those other things will just kinda take care of themselves. I think it's probably fine. I I agree. I don't know that I would really what you're saying is is even the commercialized version of Santa are just people acting poorly. You know I'm saying? The the parents buying high end, low supply, you know, acting like a bunch jerks. That's true. That's not a Santa problem. Right? No. That's a people problem. These are these are these are greedy people. Like, I mean, you call it what it is. Like, if you why don't you teach your kids that greed is wrong? And then tell them why that Jesus says not to worship money. And then Santa could just be a fat, jolly man that may or may not work for Jesus, It'll go away by the time they're nine. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's fine. Mhmm.

Yeah. As a parent, you have the ability to decide what's really special to the kids by the way that you react and the way that you're drawing things up. And so you can either draw up in their minds how special it is to receive gifts or how special it is to give. And so depending on as a parent, you you get to choose. You you can frame those two things. So you can make it look like one is more valuable than the other. It's your choice. Yeah. Agree. Okay. You wanna get Secular's advice here? Yeah. Okay. Secular says,

dear, I agree you should talk to your children about the birth of Jesus as well as the pagan festivals that Christmas replaced, if you wish. While you're at it, also stress to them that what the spirit of Christmas is supposed to be, even if it seems somewhat lost in the commercialism of the holiday. However, wait until your children ask you about Santa. When they do, tell them the truth. That way, they will learn that when they ask their mother something, they will always be given an honest answer. Yeah. That doesn't seem too bad. Yeah.

Booba Booba's got some he needs some advice. Go ahead, Booba. Hey, man. I don't appreciate you calling me straight out. I was gonna make it seem like a dear life in the But we need some advice. I do need some advice, fellas. So there's a really handsome guy. Well, there's a two of So there's this really nice looking man. His name is Fanta. So okay. So I had run-in at a local

store where I went in to buy myself an alarm clock. Really loud, super loud like dinner bell alarm clock. Right?

And I picked this thing up and it says touch for a light. And I used to have one that it was a a plastic cover and you you pressed it and it was like a pop that you would hear and a light would come on. It was it was I liked it. So you middle of night, could pop it, show the time. So I grabbed this alarm clock and I pressed on it and it wasn't seeing a light. So I pressed a little bit hard and I wasn't seeing a light. And I pressed a little harder and I crushed the alarm clock in my hands. I broke the glass and then the glass gave way of the structural integrity of the outside and I crushed in the metal. It it was it was crushed. So I

took it I took it up and I I grabbed a second one. Took it up to a cashier and I said, hey, you know, I I have two of these. One of them is broken. It was my fault though. I broke this thing. I would like to buy it because I broke two or I broke one of them. So I'm gonna be buying two. And the gal says, okay. Well, I appreciate that. I said, didn't wanna just put it back and say, oh, well, now it's broken. Someone's gonna grab one, possibly cut themselves in the glass. So I was going to pay for it. And there was a group of people behind me in the line that were obviously waiting to pay. And someone pipes up and says, no. He shouldn't have to pay for that alarm clock. And I looked at the gallon. I said, I I understand where you're coming from, but I I broke it myself. It was an accident, but I did it. And I'd like to own up to that and pay for this. And it was a back and forth between me and her, and the cashier kept agreeing with me, and then agreeing with the person. And then finally, the cashier seemed like she didn't wanna be confrontational with anyone else. So she grabbed and says, don't worry about it, And then sets it off to the side.

My reaction was, no. I I need to worry about it. I broke it and I need to pay for this. That's that's my fault and I need to pay for it. And there was some argument going on. Eventually, I ended up paying double for a thing of batteries that I had because I felt a little bit better about that. I'm just like, well, I broke something with the companies and I feel like she's not gonna let me pay for the the alarm clock. So just bring the batteries twice, whatever. I'll I'll pay towards it. I'll I'll feel a little bit better about that. I was trying to be integritous with that because the fact that I broke an alarm clock and I wanted to pay for it. What I'm trying to figure out is, did I really need to pay for that alarm clock? Or when the gal said to me, the cashier said, no. Don't worry about it. Put it aside. Was that me

kind of fighting a benevolence that she was giving me? She was being nice to me and saying, hey, don't worry about it. I represent the company and you don't need to pay for this. And I just pushed it too far and refused a gift, if you will. Am I in the wrong? Am I in the right? I I think once the cashier said we're clear, that was it. That should have been the end the matter. The debt was was taken care of. I mean, the fact that you're willing to go up and take responsibility for what you did even though it's apparently a cheap piece of plastic. Or I'm a monster. I mean the or yeah it I think the amount that it costs your wallet is not is is not as much as what the company loses in terms of their reputation. Okay. Putting out this kind of cheap product. So So I was being a schmuck for trying to fight it. No. No. No. No. Here's After the after the cashier

gave you a clear, I think you were schmuck after that point. Yes. That yeah. After I said, like, once once the the the deal is done and she said, don't worry about it, saying, I wanna try to make this right by having you double charge me for the batteries. Like No. That was stupid. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Think A little far. No. But hold on. Now hold just a second. You you were right in attempting to pay for it. Mhmm. I think that was a solid move. Yeah. That woman does not represent the company. That'd be like the maid telling me I can have the the thirteenth century boss. Yeah. That's that is the exact same It is the exact. She is she is she's not the owner of the company. She didn't even manage the store. She's just someone that works there that wants to put this under the rug. Right. I'd like to and this doesn't work. That's like the janitor told me I can have a chalkboard. It's not easy to give a shit. She ultimately took responsibility for it as the cashier. Yeah. Don't worry. I'm gonna hide this. No. I don't she ever went to her bosses and said, hey, by the way, boss. I cover this blank amount of money alarm clock. That's why I felt like I still should pay for even though she said it's okay. I would feel like she has the power to say it's okay. I would move on to say, double charge the batteries is stupid. But, like, try to pay full price, and then she's like, no. He says, look, you're swiping my card for double the amount of sit. Alright. And but if you if you didn't feel that the cashier had the authority to give you the pass, then it's customer service is where you wanna go. I don't wanna take much of a time, man. That's a Oh, I'm sorry. So your your prudence is limited by your willingness to make a phone call? No. I would much rather just deal with it if that situation wanna deal with it. She said it's fine. I felt as though the cashier was just going whatever because of the peanut gallery that was sitting there going, no. No. Charge him for that. Hold on a minute. Hold on minute. You stepped in the mud here. So your integrity is limited to the spot. Like, why don't you just call right now? Why don't you just call a corporate Walgreens or whatever and say, hey. This woman didn't double charge me like I insisted. I want you to take my information over. And if they refuse, you book a plane, and you go to the headquarters, and you write them a check. Where does your integrity stop? I feel okay with the double charge.

The cashier has some level of authority this situation. No. I don't think that's true at all. He handles all the money. She she swipes or doesn't swipe merchandise as Uh-huh. It goes She has authority, some kind of level of trust with the corporation. Now if she uses it inappropriately, that's on her head. But she has some level of authority to deal with customers. Okay. Like for example, if one customer is jamming up the line and making it so that the company is losing profit because everyone's just standing there waiting. You know, they're they're losing dollars per second which is how retails work.

So, you know, they have at least a little bit of judgment that they can express there. Okay. So here's my secondary question. Thank you. Was I being a prideful beast? Eric? Yes. Man. I'm agreeing with you. I I okay. So so I I appreciate that. I do. I I'm trying as hard as I can not No. To You're talking to the maid. Dang it. You can't you write him a check for double the amount of sit and leave. Okay. So that so is you agree with the premise, not the double charge of the batteries. Stupid. That is completely Alright. So hold on. Follow follow boo boos' gamble though. She says, no. It's fine. I don't wanna charge it. No. It's not fine. Do it. But she she refuses. Then what are gonna do? She pretty much refused. What is the length of your integrity, man? I'm gonna talk to your manager. If that if the manager says, look. We're just gonna let this one slide, then I would let it go. So this is based upon your unknowing premise as to whether she has the ability to do that or not. It is my it is my years of experience in in workplaces In Walgreens retail. That would tell me who has accountability in this place. And I don't think it's the cashier. No. I don't I don't get that at all.

Yeah. I don't I'd I'd I'd settle with the manager. So in in Let me speak to your manager. I wish to be No. I would I would politely pay. I would walk out of line, and I would go find the manager. It's not like I'd sit there and make a seat about it or kick people or Yeah. That's right. You what I'm saying? You just say, okay, if that's what you want, and then say and then go find the manager and tell the deal and say, look, I I really wanna pay for this. Please, just let me do this. If that's your belief, then why would you even go to the retail cashier in the first place? Yeah. Go rat yourself out to the manager directly. Yeah. I mean, it because I because I I I I if I was was them double charging me. I would assume they would have just swiped them both. You know what? It'd be better if you didn't even tell it was broke. Say, look, charge I I I wanna buy both of these. As she as she grabs a shattered and crushed She says one of them is broke and you say, yeah, it's fine. Bring it up. She's just saying, I'm not gonna sell this to you. You can what? Would she not sell it to me? Because it's now in a shattered state. I wanna buy the one with the shattered state. The company's liable for it. I think I can assume that the that the cashier would have seen it and then gone, no, I'm not selling this to you. Well, exactly. Now listen. And and Okay. So You couple of boobs, you would stop me if I insisted upon buying a broken item. Yes. You would physically stop me and say, refuse to sell you this. And I say, but I want a broken one. You say, I don't care what you want. You will have this one that you don't want. That is correct. That's outrageous. Yes. I I'm not gonna sell you the shards of glass. I want the shards of glass. No. I wanna buy it. Then you buy it. I'm sorry. You break it at your home. I I broke it at your home. You go grab you go grab another alarm clock, buy it completely pristine, take it home, and crush it yourself. Here's what I expect to happen. Mike Foos, I expect you to walk into the Hy Vee. I expect you pick up a bottle of wine, break it Crush it. On the edge of the on the edge of the meat counter, take the shard of the wine bottle and say, I wish to buy this.

And I refuse to leave until you run my card. Full price. You've set up a situation for me to be a felon, and I do not appreciate it. Pooh, at this point, is trying to buy a weapon. I'd like to buy this crushed alarm clock. It wasn't crushed three minutes ago. I just like the way it's same example if you walk through the store and you grab a handful of grapes, eat the grapes, and then walk up and say, hey, I ate I ate, like, 10 grapes. I need you to charge me for these. I don't worry about it. Is that fine? If they say don't worry about it? Yeah. They have some level of authority with the store. Is the exact advice you gave on the reconciliation at the Walmart. Go to the customer service. If they say they don't wanna worry about it, then you let it go because they have the authority. If the if it was John's local hardware and you talk to John, then you're fine. If you just talk to the guy who runs customer service, that's not good enough. That's what I said. That is not what you said. Yes, it is. To tell me the same old clock's okay.

Okay. So so breaking it all down. You've done it wrong. Move on. From the perspective, I did it wrong. I'm a prideful beast. Yes. I was correct in trying to assume responsibility and ownership of the fact that it broke was broken. I need to take care of We all agree on that. At the time that the cat or the the person who worked there said, hey, don't worry about this and set it aside. I should have respected the authority that they might or might not have in saying that was okay for me to walk away with that product, and I was done and complete taking care of my responsibility. That is my inherent position. Yes. You sold your integrity to to laziness and peer pressure. And Mike says my solution of I don't wanna take a long time and I don't wanna deal with managers. I just wanna get this over with of just double charge the batteries. Yeah. I will I will work at one sentence to try to rebut, and then I guess it's fine. I'm not gonna worry about it. Now here's what I don't understand, Mike. It's like, what why why accept the the store managers? He's not the regional guy. He's not the owner of the company. Need to talk to Sam Walton. Because he's held directly responsible for the books at the store. As the he he's held directly responsible for how his store does and how it performs. So is every cashier is is responsible for their for their cash register. Yeah. Professionally, yeah. He's held responsible, but it doesn't change his pocket.

Yeah. And then potentially Yeah. The only guy enough. He has the level of authority of the store. He's the authority man. Or authority lady. But he's not the owner of the store. According to Mike, I need to go talk to the store manager and that's it. Mike has a has a reference card of store hierarchy in which he's willing to accept information from. Responsibility happens from the top and that's it. Yes. It's not it's a when when you go to the Walmart and the cash register don't don't work right, they call over manager to put in the manager code. Right? There's obviously a a hierarchal inside inside of this inside of this establish. How do you know So that's so that's the qualifying piece is I look for a manager code. Somebody that does that that that is in higher higher regard Sir, madam, do you have a manager code? Give me the highest level in here that I don't get permission. Yes. How do you not how do you know they don't have some sort of policy within the Walgreens to just handle items like that? I don't. And you just caused trouble for this young woman. The woman didn't bring it up. If she just said we have a policy to cover this, I'd have said fine. And you would have believed that because she's it's her integrity to the stars. But you will refuse to let her say, don't worry about it. Absolutely. She doesn't have the she doesn't have the authority to say whether it's alright or not. Let me talk to mister and missus manager.

I will make this right. You will not sleep me or Alright. I'm little confused at what I do going forward, but I think I have the press. Hold on. Based upon Mike's description, that should give you enough information to know whether you should listen to his advice. Yeah. I think I'm done listening to Mike I think I on this matter. Mike, think I'm gonna listen to your advice up to a How does this not make any sense? Seriously, like, just like me stopping by the I agree with these guys. The guy that takes the reservations at the restaurant. I say, look, I need a whole turkey for free. Yeah. That'll be fine. You don't you don't make that decision here. Okay. I agree. You have some weird reservations though of or some weird qualifiers of who I can talk to. Yeah. Give me the guy in charge. That's who I wanna talk to. She's in charge of the register. Fine. If you wanna take The janitors in charge of sweeping the floor. If you wanna take that to me, then I can get free stuff. At what level of management should I accept? Yes. You can go there. I see that. There's, like, four levels of management. I'd say the man with the store. It says manager. Anyone that says manager, whether that be the department manager, floor manager, manager of anything, manager of Sure. Shipments. Yes. If your name says manager title, I accept I accept what you're saying. Yeah. What if it's a seniors what what if it's a senior cashier?

What do mean? They've been entrusted with responsibility above other everyone knows that's a phone that's a phoney title. So the word senior Everybody knows that. No. Senior just means that you get more dump more stuff dumped on you. Yeah. It's a valid point. For less pay. I'll agree with that statement. I think I I talked to the manager. Alright. So going forward, still accept responsibility. Still try and accept responsibility up to a point. Yeah. And if I'm absolved by anyone in the company, whatever. Let me ask this question, Mike. Here's a hypothetical scenario. You go you go I'm trying to trying to figure out where this lands. You go to the subway as an example. I'm at the subway. Yes. You get your Sometimes there's subways and Walmarts. You fill your you've legitimately purchased a soda. Yeah. You fill it up with root beer, caffeine free root beer. You go to take a drink. You miss your mouth. Mouth.

You spill half of it onto the floor. Uh-huh. You go up to the counter and you say, hey, man. Can I get some rags? I I spilled everywhere. They said, no. Don't worry about it. You say, no. No. No. It's okay. Give me some give me some rag. Give me the mop or whatever. I'll I'll clean this up. And they say, no. No. We'll take care of it. Do you demand the mop or to speak with the manager to clean up your mess? Give me the mop, woman. No. Give me the mop. Why not? So as long as there's physical and lay labor involved, you're on you're not okay with that. I don't understand the difference between my that my example and Boomba's example. Because it's part of their job. Now if I drop the if I drop the soda onto a candy machine and it shorted out the circuits, and the guy said, don't worry about it. It's no big deal. Then that would be different conversation. It cost him money to send the labor to get Now he's already paying them. The guy's gotta work just as hard for $7 an hour. Doesn't matter what happens. No. He could be doing something else and not mopping the floor. You caused extra trouble. Yeah. But he's still he's still getting paid the same. He's not he's not costing the the company any money. Yeah. It is. He'll have to work longer. Have to work. Yeah. Because you're dealing in the company's economy, not the the person's economy. Right? That's the difference. It's because the company cares whether you take that alarm clock and give it away. The guy doesn't. The guy's not in the business of giving or not giving away alarm clocks. And he gets paid the exact same amount. It doesn't matter what happens to that alarm clock. Neither does the manager. The store, on the other hand, makes or loses money, commission man, makes or loses money depending on how the store does. I said the the subway makes or loses money on the employee costs.

They got out of their ten Which minutes are which are static. They don't change whether I dropped the soda or not. Listen, got out of there ten minutes later because this guy had to clean up your stuff because you didn't insist on getting the money. I ordered a medium soda. I and and I I don't believe that I sprayed it around the joint like a fountain. That's what you do. Ten minutes later closing the shop up. Even if it's 30 Like, I gave it to an elephant. Yeah. He poofed it around. Fine. It's three minutes more. Whatever. It's fifteen seconds more, it's more time that someone is on the payroll because you created a different mess that they're No. Gonna clean up. You've And postpone. You've made a mountain out of a go hill. Okay. So let's say that there's there's a table that needs to be clean in the back. Okay? Sure. And you drop soda. There's one cleaning dude on staff. He now has to wait to go clean the table because he has to go out and clean up your mess. Got it. That is more time on payroll because he has to go fifteen seconds here, clean up here. That is fifteen seconds that have been taken away from the table cleaning. There is thirty seconds. It doesn't matter how much. It's not static. There's still more payroll being done. You at least owe them the thirty seconds of payroll. Yeah. I will pay it. Fight for that. Yeah. I'm sure. I'd I'd like to offer you another 67¢, sir. At least you point 5¢. I did spill drinks There is a scale, I suppose, where this matters. Either give me the mop or quantify the labor into cleaning the the product. So that I will do it, Jim. Responsibility. You're a fool.

You would take any opportunity to bail on your responsibility to pay for this alarm clock. No. If I were to do that, I would have left the store without mentioning it. Yeah. If you say, hey. I'd like to pay for this at ten nada. We're So you'd like the appearance of morality without the truth. No. I I would like someone else to decide whose responsibility is Someone whose responsibility it isn't to decide. Clocks are expensive. People are free. Love Mike Foost. You wanna live a cheap life, you continue right ahead. I will find the manager. You're outrageous. Assume responsibility. Alright. To a point. What's there's no secular advice. Yeah. There was no secular advice. Unfortunately, you're just screwed. You did the wrong thing. I need to go back to that store and say, hey, can I not be charged for these batteries? Yeah.

That was that was so that was shifty. Admittedly, that was weird. Okay. Yes. It was it was Who offered up that solution? I did. He did. Did. Was the first thing I thought of because I didn't wanna be confrontational anymore. Just wanna get out the flipping line. I'm just like, oh, well, okay. Lady, calm down. Stop yelling at me and saying, you're not paying for that. Cashier, stop feeling weird about her yelling at me. Just just just I literally looked at her. I said, just double charge me for the batteries and I'll feel good. She goes, okay. Done. Pat me on pat me on the tush. Go charge me for those batteries. You send me on my way. Powder on the news. Hey, thanks. I feel better because what I did, maybe the battery thing was stupid. Thank you for your advice, gentlemen. Yeah. No. It was stupid. Next. Farm manager.

Mike Foose. Not full store manager, but manager there. There we go. Don't give me a mop. I cannot believe you would fault a man for trying to make sure the thing was done correctly. Let me speak with your district manager. I need to write into corporate. Does he have a mop go ahead, Mike.

The earlier you ask this question, the sooner I'll drop it. They're laughing at the. Oh, no. I'm I screwed it up. Dear Dear life from the path. Should I mop up my pop or not? I made a small error at the subway.

It's ruined my life. My brother thinks I'm a sham. Friend will listen to me. What do I do? Dear life from the past, my husband took up the guitar about ten years ago. I thought it was a great idea at first and encouraged his interest. Within two years of his learning to play, I was expected to sit, listen to him, and never interrupt a song. Needless to say, his demands have not gone over very well with me. This is his hobby, not mine. He plays well, but can't sing a note. When he does, he sounds like a cat in heat, and he likes to perform like he's playing for a crowd. My peace and quiet at home are gone. He says I don't support him. What is your take on this? Yeah. You don't support him because he's not supportable.

I mean, that sounds more like a a prison. Yeah. Like, are you being held against your will to listen to this man? Like, he's two years in. He says, sit, wife. I shall play for thee. Like, I don't I don't don't get it. I was listen to all of Innagada de Vida, and you're not gonna say a word. You're gonna Shut up. Thirteen minutes. You're gonna listen to thirteen sweet minutes of iron butterflies. You're not saying anything. I I think the support he's expecting is a little unreasonable. Agreed.

Tell him as such and move on. I'm so excited to learn what not to do with the hospital. Take up instruments, make wife listen, Or else. Who who is around this man? Hey. Hey. I want my wife to enjoy my guitar playing. You know what you should do? You should put her in the living room and say, shut your face while I play. Will get her love and adoration directly. And it's crazy. I don't remember asking if she wanted to listen to me. Although it's okay. No. No. No. On the opposite side to say, it's his hobby, not mine. Like,

that's the nature of individual hobbies. Mhmm. Is so if my wife says, hey. I'm very interested in this. Well, that seems like your problem, not mine. I'm watching TV. Made you a a mess too. Man. No. I know. But, like, it's just that like, the it's a weird it's a weird way to phrase her problem. Like, it seems like she has a legitimate problem. I wouldn't I wouldn't have to word it in such a stern way because I would never respond to my wife whether if it's her hobby and I wanna support her, like, of course, it's her hobby. We don't have to do it together for me to provide support. Mhmm. But, yeah, he seems patently outrageous. I think most husbands would settle for tolerance. I I if you tolerate my hobby without giving me a bunch of business, let me spend a little money on every once in a while. I don't expect you to come in and and sign the poster with me or or, you know, you sit and listen to Anagada Vito like they suggest. But like, you know, if you would support me in the way that you would permit me to do this and not give me a bunch of hassle, feel like that's just fine. Yeah. I think that's generally true. Mhmm. Alright. Segular says, your husband wants praise and validation, and you should give it to him in the area where it's deserved for having mastered the guitar. However, because his singing needs tweaking,

be honest and tactfully suggest he find a vocal coach to help him in that area. Oh, yeah. That'll work. If he reacts defensively, be sure to mention that some of the finest singers in the world get coaching throughout their careers to avoid damaging their vocal cords. Oh, what a passive and crappy way to deal with this. Or you could just lay down at the front door and be pretend to be a rug. People could just walk on you all the time. Sweetheart, you sound like a toad. Let's get you singing lessons. Yeah. It will be great. I'll have you know that Placidor Domingo also took lessons at a young age. You have mastered the guitar. I know nothing of the guitar or how it's played, but it seems to me, sir, that you have mastered it. I don't wanna listen to it anymore. That's terrible. That didn't make any sense at all. Hold on. It's a PS. PS, perhaps you should encourage him to find other musicians to start a group. That way, he'll have an outlet for his talent and you'll be free. Hey. Nothing nothing sounds more, you know, hip as a group of musicians hanging around and some guy show up and says, hey. My wife said I should find a group.

Are you fellas available for jamming? Hey. Here's the deal. I like, I used to play in a legit band. Right? Ben and I used play in a band. There's nothing that tells me that I don't wanna hang out with you more than, hey. You should come over to my place and jam. Yeah. We should we you wanna jam? We'll get together and jam. Hey. Listen, man. I'm 32 years old with a wife with kids full time job. I don't just show up places to doofus around for a couple hours. You know what I'm saying? Like, that don't sound like any fun at all. But yeah. You might wanna find a cooler way or maybe say, should go send him to a jam. Like, there's bars and stuff have jams. You said say, send him down there and try to make some buddies. But, like, don't say, hey. You should you should get a group together. That's a good way to get get beat up. Hey, man. I'm never asking you guys to jam again. Never do. I didn't realize you got No. Such negative comments against me when I'm like, hey, man. Wanna come over and jam? You should come over to my house and we'll jam. They're like, no. Are you providing food?

No. Yeah. Hey. Hey. Rude. Get all your musical crap together. Haul it into your small car. Take it out of your small car. Drag it into my basement where my mom or neighbor gets upset about it. Get a pizza bag. Let's jam for forty five minutes while you show me how you learn come together by the Beatles. And then I'll haul my crap back upstairs into my small car back to my house where my wife is upset because I haven't been home. And then, yeah, we'll do that again sometime. Yeah. How was your time with your friends? Man, I wasted my only free time going to hang out with a guy just so I can watch him play the bongos. Fine. That's not fun at all. Never jam with you guys again. Alright. Yeah. I got cancelled. Hey, man. My wife says I'm an okay singer. Jerks. Alright. One more, Mike. No. What? You're out? Hey. Did did you ever stop for a break? No. No. We blew right past it. Alright. I was gonna say, I feel like it's been We're a way past that. Okay. Here we go. It's from an eighth grade boy. This is right up our alley.

We might be able to handle this. You're alive from the past. I'm an eighth grade boy in junior high, and there's a girl I really like. Oh, yeah. My problem is I'm afraid to tell her I love her. I know she likes someone else and wants to go out with him, but I don't know if she likes me. When I'm home, I write her poems, and I want to drop them off at her locker, but I am scared to. We're in three classes together. Do you have any advice? Troy, you wanna field this one? Ditch the freaking poetry. I'm sorry. No eighth grade girl goes, oh, what a sweetheart. He makes me No. They do not. Yes. Because I was that kid. Yes. Yo. They don't poetry in eighth grade. They don't like bad poetry. Yeah. You're poetry stinks. Only person that liked my poetry, the lunch lady.

I'm not kidding. I can't make that. Give it to the lunch lady? I showed the lunch lady and said, hey. I wanna give this to a gal in my grade. What do you think? She goes, that was beautiful. And then brought me a notebook the next day to write poetry into. That was lame. That was when I had no friends. You know when I had friends? When I ditched the poetry. Hey, man. Creepy. Maybe maybe you're just What a shall I say? Maybe you're a poor poet. Whatever, man. My poetry was great. Hit me with a few lines. Hit me. Published. No. I one more hit me. I don't know it off the top of my head. Gotta sit down with a piece of paper. That doesn't even rhyme. Your poetry stinks. No wonder you couldn't get any ladies in Hey, man. It doesn't have to rhyme. Alright? He's right. You stink, bro. That

ain't gonna That's why I gave it up. That ain't gonna get no ladies in Nothing about this dude that says, hey, man. My poetry is great. I'm gonna write into I your life for the I don't see this person being a poet. Listen. You're missing the wrong point. Here's the thing. People get ladies with poetry. Right? Yeah. Especially ladies that like them and like them in return. Yeah. It helps if they already like you. Yeah. I mean, if you're just some, you know, creepy beware, you know, beret wear a dude that shows up in poetry, yeah, you're you're gonna get Yeah. My striped shirt got me ladies. Okay? Yeah. Here's the deal. When was the last time you guys were in eighth grade? Like, twenty years ago? I get it. So eighth graders do not like poetry Yeah. And I don't care what any of you say. Ben, you were in eighth grade in 1914. I don't wanna hear it.

I wrote it. I here's the deal. When I was in eighth grade, I wrote an anti abortion screed called the tripwire womb, And ladies are attracted to that. Who they're not? I didn't even care at the time. It just it sounded edgy. No. And I read it. It's the poetry. I actually read that three years ago. Thought, hey, man. That's pretty good. It's the poetry. Don't tell her you love her. Just say, hey, I like you. Do you like me? Whatever. That's it. That don't rhyme either. Judge the po How's he supposed to stand out from the pack? There's probably all kinds of dudes. Find something else besides poetry. What if he ain't no good at anything else? Well, unfortunately, he's not gonna a girlfriend till tenth grade. Okay? Tenth grade, eleventh grade girlfriends,

absolutely. Poetry, big deal. No. I hold on. That makes sense. Your life experience is not everyone's life experience. It should be. It look. Move on. Should have my life. Here's the deal. How can you look at your life and say, I'm the everyman? No. I should look at this and say, the everyman. Here's the deal. You broke an alarm clock by holding it in your hands. Yeah. You you are not the everyman. You you smashed. Exactly. You brutalized a retail item. And then try to pay for it and then double swipe some batteries. Okay? These are not these are not the average Joe's problems. Hey, man. Just because I accidentally crushed an alarm clock does not make me qual or does not make me not qualified to tell this eighth grade dude to stop writing poetry. Yeah. You and Gallagher have things in common. I want like a watermelon or an alarm clock. I don't know what else to do.

Hey. I'm gonna crush your poetry. Seriously. Hey, man. Keep writing the poetry. No. I would save it for a second date. I'd ask her out first before you would show it to her. That's what I would do. Let me ask you out with this glorious sonnet. No. Weird. Let's fix the poetry.

Because just because you're jaded with it because you're a terrible poet. Hey, man. I was a wonderful poet. I impressed a lunch lady. Do you realize how difficult it is to get affection from a lunch lady? I got doubles that whole year. Here's the problem. The problem is is your is is your your your your tack on this deal is like, a low rent terrible high school band tries for, like, a year, and there's, like, the music industry cannot be broken into. It's an impossible endeavor. When it turns out that Van Halen seem to pull it off. And you, sir, that's you. You're the crappy high school band that's like, poetry doesn't work. And and you may have oversold it too. Like, you may have tried to hit up Jennifer Aniston when you should have got the mom from all in the family.

Like, that was your So my poetry did not elevate me high enough at a league to be able to ask the girls that I was asking out out. Yeah. You may have overshot. You may have to develop a to a seven. You wanted Jennifer Lopez, you got Barbara Bush. Okay. I may be a three. Dear Barbara. My poetry may have made me a five, five and a half solid. Alright? That does not mean

that had anything to do with qualifying like I did not go for a seven or a nine that is Wrongs and made the hit parade. Those were the days. You were terrified. Even old. Hey. What was the secular advice? It was secular advice. It was poetry. Oh, you're I didn't it didn't help using it all in the family reference. Go ahead. Secular says I have no idea what that is. Secular says, yes. If you're smart, you wait until that girl is over her crush before declaring your feelings for her. The boy she has her eye on may or may not be interested in her. But as long as she is fixated on him, she won't be receptive to your romance. And it could be embarrassing if you say anything prematurely.

The same goes for anonymously dropping off her litter literary efforts at her locker. That was This is you boo right here. That sounds right. Sounds some 24 old boy. I like it.

Who's that's my poetry right now. Yep. That is my poetry. Who shows up to the lunch lady, Buba? Seriously. Dude, I sat by myself in lunch. At least a guidance counselor. I saw that. You can ask anybody. I had no friends. None. My friends were the lunch ladies because they gave me doubles on chicken. Okay? They were my friends. I wore my t shirt that said haiku is for you, and then no one would be present sat by myself all of seventh and eighth grade when it came to lunch. I had lunch ladies to talk to and poetry to write. I was a sad sad little boy or big boy. However you wanna say it. Jerks.

Alright. You're listening to Live From The Path. Poetry's lame. Eighth grade. Here's the deal. Buve, we're gonna do a social experiment. You and I are gonna go to the local school and pick out an eighth grader. And we're That's the creepiest phrase you've ever said to me in my entire life. We're gonna get a van. We're gonna pick up a couple eighth graders I have a van. And we're gonna groom them. We're gonna send them back out in the world to see what which eighth grader gets ladies.

This is like a she's all that eighth grade boy version? Yes. That's terrifying. You've been listening to Life in the Path. Hey. Thanks for hanging out with us. A big thanks. God bless Bob Eisenhower. You call eisenhowerteam.com. He's such a he's a good sport. And for all your home buying and selling needs, that is the season to purchase a house, and Bob can help you with that. Also, hey, maybe you don't know if you should be in the market. He can help you see what's out there. Also, Westfield Veterinary Hospital. Go to westfieldvethospital.com.

You can set your appointment online or give them a call. Get your pet in there. Start the year off right by treating your pets right. Go to Westfield vet hospital. That's westfieldvethospital.com. Can You catch us during week at lifeinthepath.org, including performances from last week with Matt Bear and the interview with Mary Wastie. We will see you next week. Thanks for listening to Life in the Path.