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

And you're listening to live from the Path. We're coming from the Pathway Studios here in Johnston proper. Put it, Mike. You decided to join the program? I got kinda excited there. Why is it always gotta be a zoo around here? Mike's got his foot up on the desk. Boova's wearing some sort of Tom Cruise glasses. I've decided that, that this is the new cool Boova I'm gonna show up on as on the show. You decided poorly. Yikes. Hola. I thought we set up a phone tree for you to make these decisions. I decided not to call you guys. I decided to make an executive decision. This is what happened. I just have a hard time seeing my phone with these glasses on. So I was gonna call. I just couldn't get it straightened out. I have a large face and they're really skinny on him. It looks awful, but I'm gonna rock him. Alright. Here's what we got going on the show tonight. First of all, welcome to the Life From The Path. We're generally talking about honest faith, fierce grace, and sometimes donkeys because you can love Jesus and talk about breakfast cereal donkeys

and the occasional problem with your vehicle. And so that's what goes on on the program. If the show is not for you, I can't force you to turn the radio off, but I would question your life choices if you insist on listening to a show that you know you're not gonna like. Here's what got going on the show tonight. So it sounds like we got some iffy pope potential pope style. So here's the deal. If someone is mistaking you for the pope and you have to give them some bit of information, wisdom from your life to get them to go away and leave your lawn just like the pope does when he stands out on that balcony thing. So it sounds like Andrew may have some pseudo pope style, and Mike may have some pseudo pope style. Yeah. That all sounds right. Okay. Mike, get give me a preview on your Pope style. Well, here's the deal. I just got back from a a pretty fun trip to the Disney World. And Disney World seems to have the monopoly on whimsy.

And I feel like Jesus should have the monopoly on whimsy. And so we're gonna talk a little bit about that. Jesus should have the monopoly on whimsy. Yeah. Yeah. I'm excited for it. Andrew, preview on your pop style. Well, lately, I've been feeling useless to the kingdom, and I'm looking to fix that. Okay. Brilliant. I'm excited. You ain't gonna fix it with Whimsy. Jesus has a monopoly on Whimsy. These are rough times. Also, so I'll tell you this. I was

it's it's a Monday. If listen to live show, it's a Monday night. And so the the Paris stuff kinda went down late Monday late Friday. And I've been kinda processing it over over the weekend, and I it came to a head. And I don't some reason, I just had this strong impulse today that I just wanted to think about it. And it's a weird feeling that just says, I I just would like to sit somewhere and I and just let let things flow in my mind to think about something. Because I feel like I I I must have read 50 things, be they be it news pieces, be it blog posts, be it Facebook and Twitter, people kind of opining one way or the other. And and I I I was simply I'm not satisfied. Like, I'm not satisfied. And usually, if something happens, I got two or three primary voices where someone will speak, and I'm like, oh, okay. Alright. I'm aligned. Right? I know how how I can digest something like this. I feel like I can safely move on. And and

just today, I just I was I was I was finding myself deeply unsatisfied with the information that I was taking in. And

I don't I don't I kinda wanna I'll I'll go into that a little bit more later, but, like, I I was sitting around just trying to think through these things. And and I I one of the biggest holes so far, I think, me trying to digest the the reaction to the the bombings in Paris, the

the impact that that has on, say, accepting Syrian refugees into your country, and how how you view good, evil, people that believe differently than you, just a whole bunch of different things. And I think the only thing that I came to at least this afternoon was is that we are simply being disingenuous about how much gray there is here. We are being disingenuous on when we speak, we seem to speak very authoritatively

on a a a very small slice of the pie, and then people bail from that. And and then I think, well well, now what? Like, the people are not having full conversations. They're having very short one-sided conversations. And I get it. Like, that's how that's how you digest media. Okay? I understand that's the medium. But, like, I I I've seen other conversations where I feel like this has been done better. But this particular instance, I felt like I got a lot of a lot of propaganda stuff. I got a lot of people who wanted to speak about a specific thing who I was extremely interested in hearing their reaction to the other side of the thing.

And so I thought, well, where's a where's a forum of which, like, longer conversations happen when you're actually able to kind of interact and and and and talk about multiple multiple sides of the issue? And I thought, well, hot niggety dog. I run a radio program. Yeah. So, like, this seems a place. So you guys, I'm hoping that you could help me of just just to to kinda parse through some stuff that's going through my mind on the as a reaction to some of the the the stuff that happened in Paris. So I I I wanna do that. That's that I think is gonna eat up quite a bit of the program. So I I I'm I'm interested in, Mike, probably your pope style to start. Otherwise, I I feel like I'm gonna end up in a quagmire with some of this Paris stuff. Yeah. Okay. So

the the the famine and I went out to a a vacation at Walt Disney World or whatever. The whole family her side of the family went and they invited us to come along. And and it it was awesome. Like, it was just it was flat out a good time, you know. Was it was very cool. And and while we're tooting around the the the the theme parks or whatever, I kinda I kinda started to notice a couple things. And I thought

Disney runs a a a fairly tight ship on what they're selling. And basically, they're selling a a vacation from from your life. Right? And and then they're truly like, just as they sell it, a magical way. Right? Like you when you go to one of these theme parks or whatever, you feel like there is no way that it is as special every day as it was the day that you were there. Like and you you get there, you're like, it's they just did everything so well. They they paid attention to me. Everybody was over the top kind, not even in a phony way where it irritates you. You know, but they they had nonstop things to do, and, they just do an amazing job of of just creating an alternative, imaginative, just whimsical world, you know. And I thought, man, here's

the thing. Is is is and I noticed it when my, my five year old daughter, we had to leave a little bit early one of the nights to to go back to the hotel or whatever, we missed the fireworks. During the fireworks, Tinker Bell comes out and, like, rope lines from the top of the Disney Castle. I mean, like, a half a mile away somewhere across the park. And she's glittering and stuff, throwing stuff, and she's claiming to to grant wishes. We could hear it on the way out. And my daughter was so disappointed that we didn't get to stay for that because she was convinced that Tinker Bell could could, you know, make a wish for it and then it was gonna happen. And I said, well, what did you want? You know? I you know, she goes, well, I wanted a new puppy. And I I want and I really think this is gonna happen. I said, hon, I you know,

yeah, I mean, you certainly can can see if it happens, but I feel like we're not gonna get a new puppy. You know? I feel like Tinkerbell is not gonna not gonna do this. She can't really grant wishes, you know. And but she was very convinced that this was gonna happen. And I thought to myself, here's the deal. It's like I was I I know what the corporation is. I know what they do. I know what they stand for. You know, I'm I'm not saying that I agree with everything that Disney Corporation does. But what they're in the business of doing, they do very, very well. They do very well. And I thought, here's the thing. It's like everybody says at one point, I'd like to go to Disney World or my family went to Disney World. We love Disney. And I thought, what is it that they have going that that that that God's people don't don't have an alternative to? You know what I'm saying? Like, they they have a a that some of it's because, everything's about me. That's why I live in there. You know what saying? People like it because it's about you and your dreams and your magic and all this stuff and and blah blah blah blah blah. But, like, I I I feel like the major thing that I came down to is, like, Disney is is is is selling whimsy, you know, like a like like really giving you, the feeling that maybe my dreams can come true. Maybe there are cool things that are above my ability and knowledge level, and they're just magical. Right? And I thought

the standard thing that that I that I turn to when I think of something just like that is God. Right? Like that's kind of what he does. He's a God. He does things that are above my ability, that are that are crazy and unfathomable. And and they're they're they're huge in my own estimation. And I thought where where have we where have we screwed this up? That that that like even a Christ follower like myself goes to goes to Disney World and I I get a bit energized. I'm like, you know, this is this is a whimsical world that they've created here. And I go back home to my regular life and I don't feel the same whimsy. Like, when I know that the provider of any type of whimsy is Jesus. And so I think here's what my Pope style advice is, what it kinda all boils down to, is, I actually know that in my heart when I leave Disney World that that they're just very good at what they do. They're very good at the show. They're very good at creating an alternative reality for me that lasts about four or five days, and then I leave and go back. And, if I were to attend that same park every day of the year, the whimsy would slowly die. I would notice that they're like, you know, that's a that's a different Cinderella. It's not the same one from yesterday. And the fireworks are pretty much close to the same. And so but

I I think what what I was trying to fight through was is I was trying to figure out is if I know the actual source of things bigger than me and things greater, to not put it in a box, to not put it in what I think it's designed to do. Most of the time, I feel like as as, Christians, we like to say, God does this, God does this, and this is all that God does. And we believe he can do greater, bigger things. Yeah. But most of the time, we don't see it, and we're not a part of it. And I think some of that is is closed eye. I think I think a lot in fact, I think a lot of it is closed eye. And I think if you can look at it from the perspective where you can take a lot of the things that you call coincidences and look at them as the bigger hand of God doing something, I think you'll be reintroduced to where the whimsy is and and and look at the at the greater world that I think God truly interacts with in a in a much more impressive way than maybe sweet fireworks and fairy dust. So that's my Pope's out by. What think? Fellows agree? Yeah. I mean,

I spent some time this will sound weird, with a guy who spent some time with, like, some Disney execs. You know? Sure. And and it's it's the same stuff I've been saying for years at at the church. They do things with excellence. Right? They do. Every board is painted. Every rock is picked up. Every mean, there there is no slop. There is no thrown together. Let's just make it happen. It it it is excellence. They create an experience. And and it like, the the the guy I was talking to, like, he applied it in the church area. Like, the people who put the nursery together, he says, I want you to get on your hands and knees and crawl around that nursery because that's the perspective the children will have. You know, they they go the extra step, and they don't just say, hey. We got what we need. We got a changing table. You know, looking through the adults' perspective. Yeah. They looked at it from the people experiencing it.

And the church has a ton to learn from that. I I try to do things, which is maybe a a slight variation from what you were saying, but that's what I connected with Yeah. The the Pope style. I I try to to look at things through someone who comes for the very first time, you know, because because we all we're all whatever the building you're at, the experience, the worship leaders, whatever. You know, we just get used to stuff, and it's no big deal. But but I wanna try to create an experience. I have not done nearly a job good job of, like, casting that vision though to our people involved in in the areas. Well, it's funny because, like, the things that I, like, I agree with you to probably 75% of your point, except for if you except for taking it out of the the Sunday morning church experience. Right? Like, because the exact thing that you're talking about is getting down on on that level. These are the end users. That is exactly how God created the earth. Right? He got down to our level and looked at how things would interact with us, how we would be using things, and and how that would work and designed it that way. And sometimes I think that, like, our,

you know, the gifts that God has given us, basically, our our ability to love on other people, like, the way that we are generous to people. Not in a way that is programmable, but a way that is tailor made for the guy that needs the generosity. And the way that we love people, can can all be done that way, you know? And like it's just a it's just a level of of thought and integrity that I I think we just count for granted. Like when we say, hey, look, you guys need to go feed the homeless. Well, we bring whatever the cheapest sandwich we can get down there and small bags of chips and go, yeah, we're really doing the right thing here. Well, I mean, maybe maybe you are. They are indeed getting food. But like, if that's not what you feed your family on a regular night, you're not feeding them. Right? You're just throwing food at them. Mhmm. And and like, I I don't know. There's the there's just a there's an amazing amount of thought

and into what they do and how they do it. And like, it's funny because, I like to look at them and say they do a really good job, but really they're patterning how God did it for me. You know what I'm saying? Like how he created a world in a perfect way for us to use it and interact with it. And we we indeed took it for granted. But, like, I don't see any reason why the why the the the church can't operate as a as a shadow of what of what God created. We're not gonna nail it. But I mean, man, we could put some we could put some thought and love and effort into it, and it'll be pretty solid. Well, it's too bad that organizations have to have, like, a say, a scan away hunger or whatever. So that that while you're at the grocery store and you're getting groceries, yeah, throw an extra $5 on there that's going to generically and thrown into the wind, hoping it ends up at a homeless camp. Like you say, it it's the real intent would be, hey, why don't you take this out to a homeless person and sit down and have a meal with him? That's a whole different ballgame than, you know Yeah. Because actually, you know what they do now that you say that, you know what they're doing is is like they're getting down to the brass tacks of what's desired. And and, like, what is desired is not that I don't wanna feed homeless people. Right? Like, that is not my desire. My desire is to help somebody change their life if that's what they want. Right. The food is just sustaining them until they hopefully get to a spot where that could happen. And so we're stopping at the first barricade and going, yeah, we've totally done enough. This will sustain him for another crappy day of life. Yeah. Well Yeah. So it it changes basically our works into a into a commodity versus a revelation of who God is. Yeah. Right? So there's difference when you have a lifestyle where where simply you go out revealing who Jesus is by by what you do,

And and that is that is what actually, you know, moves the world as opposed to commoditizing commoditizing our our actions that said, fed the homeless, check a box. You know, loved on the neighbor. First of all, don't say love because that seems like it's a forceful attack. Yeah. And two

Like like a puppy and a leg. It's it's weird. Yeah. And so like but but but it's not that that's not revealing Jesus. Right? That's that that's marking off things. And so, yeah, like, if our lives are an intentional revelation of God versus we're just stacking up commodities, it is a way different experience. Primarily, would not I suppose not just for us, but for the world that we're interacting with.

And and maybe that's our big issue. Right? Like, we don't do things. There's not that level of whimsy because we've we've we've boxed it. Right? Like we've it. Yeah. We've made it cheap. Yeah. Like like and and everyone's had, you know, done a sermon or sat through someone where they're like, you know, one of our what the the second greatest commandment is to love people. Right? Well, how do you do that? And then here come the bullet points. Right? There's only one bullet point. How they need love. Right? Yeah. And there's if that's a that's a big swath and you're like, but that's not very that's a lot of gray. And you're like, man, people are gray. That's that's tough rocks. You gotta know them to know how they need loved on, and then you gotta do it intentionally. And I'm not saying that, like, the time that you brought a freezer meal over for someone who just had a baby doesn't count. Yeah. It counts. You're trying to love on them. Right? But, like, I mean, if that's where the barricade stops just because you're lazy and figure you're checking a box, that's lame. That's that's not Disney World. That's a broke down oceans of fun. Boo. That's not cool at all. I'm just saying that that, like, what they're doing while it blows me away while we're there, while we were there is frankly just because you don't see it anywhere else. You don't see anybody doing things with that intent, and and and with the the thoroughness. Like, you're right. I mean, like, I'm a, an electrician. And so I'm electrically minded. I I I looked at every outlet in the place. Not one of them was missing a cover. Not one was gone. Not one screw was not pointing the right direction. Like, when when you pay that much attention to even the smallest detail, it it just blows me away. Just makes me very very impressed with your operation. And like, I'm not so much pushing that on like, what is the the the show of the Sunday morning service. Right? Because it was really all that is to like, the Sunday morning service is is designed for a couple intentions.

And, but you gotta focus on what the intentions are. Like, we're there to worship as a community. Yeah. We're doing that. We're there to teach people about Jesus. Yeah. We're doing that. So you can't just check off a box and say, we did this. We did this. We did this. We're good. But we can do it with some integrity and make sure that we're we're really hitting our end goal, not just our ability to keep you in the building or make you think that you like our paint or something. You know what I'm saying? Like, our end goal is to get you is to help you learn to learn about Christ if that's what you're here to do. And and really as long as we're focused on that and we do with integrity and some really honest ability to do it to the best of what God gave us, I feel like it will run its own. Yeah. Yeah. No. I agree. I agree. Get off Mike's lawn. So they've wandered over. So so now, actually, this seems apropos here, mister Carson, about what you were running into this week. So hit hit me up with what what with what you're talking about. Alright. So this is what happened.

K? I was at work cleaning up at the end of the night, and the conversation between myself and the coworkers turned to what our greatest fears were. Okay. And personally, my greatest fear, as I told them, were or what is to be seen by another person as useless. I just I just can't bear the thought of someone looking at me and being Andrew Carson is the most useless human being I have ever seen. Seems like a harsh judgment from whoever you're dealing with. Can I say from experience, you get used to it after a while? It's no big deal. Indeed. So, you know, I spend quite a bit of, like, at work, especially like doing,

you know, this or trying to look better than whoever Right. And stuff. So I get home that night, and I'm laying in bed kinda restless, and God shows up. And he's like, your greatest fear is to be seen by another human being as useless. What about me?

Why should why don't you fear being seen useless as me or by me? Some someday, Andrew Carson, you and I are gonna look at each other face to face, and you're gonna try and hand me your life and be like, this is what I did for you, and it's gonna be put through the refining fire. And you're gonna try and hand me a pile of ashes and be like, this is what I did for you, God. And that just I mean,

at that time, like, oh oh, dear. I was terrified for I'm the rest of the going to Disney World. Want to feel better. I need I need something in my life. Man. So, you know, the next day, I'm like, well, I have to fix this. I can't be seen by useless as God. Right now, I guess, I'm like, you know, as to the body of Christ, I'm basically the,

you know, the dead flesh on the bottom of the foot. That's what I am right now. So I go to work, and I'm like, hey, coworker. Yeah. You wanna go to church next Sunday? He was like, alright. And of course Are you kidding me? Did they say yes? Yeah. They they said, yeah. They wanted to go. And

and he seemed really enthusiastic about it and stuff. And so, of course, I go to pick him up. My father and I go to pick him up, We can't find him anywhere. Of course, me being the dingus I am, I, you know, don't have his phone number in my phone or anything. Hey, man. That's woefully unprepared, man. So gotta get a phone number. Please tell me you guys are, like, running around yelling his name trying to find some random guy. Knocking on doors. I'm desperately I, like, I got out of the vehicle and I wandered around the apartment complex looking for this guy. Oh, that's awesome. Wake up, Timmy. Have you seen Gerald? Deal though. Andrew, you were you

were obedient and responsive. You know I'm saying? Most people were like, I really gotta change my life and then went back to watching Netflix. I'm gonna think about that for a while. Yeah. I'm gonna think about it. Realized my life. Perhaps, you know, call you know, dragging people to church may not, you know, be necessarily what I was supposed to do. So That's not a bad start, though. No doubt. Important you were doing. So yeah. Wait. Wait. So have you seen this cat since?

Well, no. I haven't. But next time I see him, I'm definitely gonna apologize to him for giving up, I suppose, instead of wandering the block until, you know, second service. I mean, he didn't like he didn't like quit his job and flee from you. Right? I don't think so. No. I haven't been to work since. Not proven yet. Okay. Hey, man. I really I I'm a feel bad if this is true, but I really hope he was like one apartment down and was just and and walked out as you walked away from him, and he saw you just leave and go away from him. I I would love to hear about the office battle

royal that happens if you just left. Like it might as well be dramatic. That's deal. Like if this is gonna go down, it needs to go down dramatically. And I think it'd be really funny if he was just like, I waited for you, Andrew Carson. And I watched as you walked away. I waited for you and I watched as you walked away. Then why wouldn't the atheist call and be like, hey, I'm over here. You left me and I never went to church. Wait. Did not maybe he didn't have your phone number either. No. He didn't. So I'm gonna fix that. I'm going to fix that. You know that technology you keep on you at all times so you can keep contact with people? Yeah. Use it. This seems alright. So I'm gonna Yeah. Okay. Fix that. What is that is that the is that the broad lesson for this week? Well, I mean, I suppose I mean, yes and no because the broad lesson, you know, if you feel useless, go out and do something. Don't just wait on your couch for God to call you to, you know, do whatever.

Boom. Is that a let let me ask you this, fellas. Is that a is that a right is that a right reaction? Is is to expect that that God has created something in us that says, hey, you something should be moving. Absolutely. Like, an natural drive. It works to work If you've if you've read the Bible at any time in your life, God's already told you, you know, go feed the homeless or go visit the prisoners or go clothe people or. Yeah. I mean, most of the stories of people doing nothing for God didn't really make the Bible. Right.

Jim sat on his butt for years. And Benjamin heard from the Lord and he slept. In Ezekiel seven omitted. Yeah. I don't know. Don't Jonah made it. God says, do this with me. I'm gonna go out. But that's so that he did it. And then God intervened and went, yeah. Hold on, though. That's still an action. That's him saying, no. I'm not gonna do it. And then subversively running the wrong way. We're talking about a man that literally does not do anything to dude that just goes Yeah. He's the guy in Proverbs that says, oh, but there could be a lion in the street. Oh, I better stay here. Yeah. Well, you know, that's the guy that fell asleep and then ended dead because he fell out the window. That's because Ben slash Paul was windbagging it. What'd do for Jesus? Why took a nap? Why you gotta put me on there as the windbag preacher? Hey. You and Paul have a lot of the same characteristics.

Well and and and you're right. I I what I heard in my mind was is is Andrew telling a story about God wants me to do something. And I heard the the the cat calls of a certain group of folk who were, but like, your works are nothing. Works are dead. But then you're you're absolutely right. Created for good works. It's gotta it's it's gotta be. Right? So like Yeah. Yeah. You're not doing it for salvation. You're doing it because of salvation. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. Brilliant. Okay. Yeah. I agree. I agree. Oh, that's a bummer. You ran into your your opportunity to run to the Lord Jesus, Andrew, and his reaction is don't give me this box of ashes. Hey. He was trying to fix it. It's it's it's a work in progress. Well, here's the thing though. It's like, you know, count count that as a blessing. Right? Because there's a lot of people that don't that don't either have any interaction with Christ at all and and and don't realize the magnitude of what you're dealing with, you know? Yeah. And like, everybody I know that's run into that point with Jesus where it's like, look, I'm part of your kingdom and I'm acting like I'm not. I'm not even participating in this thing. And Jesus has taken the time to say, yeah, you. Yeah. That's that's pretty important. Yeah. Right. Right. How many how many people genuinely

think their kingdom work is getting up on a Sunday morning, getting dressed, and going to church? And they honestly believe that was kingdom work. I'd probably say most. Yeah. Yeah. There's that's a good majority of people who call themselves Christians. It's like yeah. I I you got a big crowd on your yard today. Yeah. You do. Yeah. Get off my lawn. Alright. Alright. Everybody's getting off. You've listening to live from the pothos and pope style advice. They've been mistaken for the pope and good riddance to them. They've moved on from life.

Alright. So so I I started the show with a little bit of an explanation. So I I've been kind of mulling through this my reaction to the Paris stuff. K? The stuff going on, the the bombings in Paris, and then probably more so the subsequent conversation about the Syrian refugees, because that's that's where a lot of this seems to be landing on as far as United States reaction to do you continue to allow refugees that are coming out of Syria because of the stuff that's going on in that country to come into The United States. And and I said that I was frustrated because what I feel like is is

we are having very small conversations, very distinct points of view. And and I'll I'll give you a couple examples to see if it helps kinda where I'm coming from. So someone had posted Friday night, and they had said, right kinda right after it happened, maybe an hour or so after the the news was coming out and said, hey. Let's not jump to any conclusions here about,

you know, who's responsible, whether it's a type of religion or a particular race of people or, you know, whatever. Let's just pray for Paris. Like, okay. Okay. It's the defense squad that says, don't get all amped up. We don't know we don't know enough information here. And then, you know, what's three days have gone by, and I've seen nothing else from this person. Right? So so and maybe that frustrates me, right, is because people decide to jump into a conversation, they're gonna be wisdom on something. And then now that we've not, like, jumped to conclusions, right, but conclusions have have easily walked into the door and presented themselves, Like, suddenly, there's no more wisdom here. Suddenly, there's like that part of the conversation that says refrain. Refrain from from, reacting because, you know, they're hedging against this thought product that people are gonna overreact. They're gonna blame a group of people. Right? This thing comes up. A group of people is to blame. And right? And suddenly this voice is silent here, which, like, really disappoints me because, like, as an example, this this person this

I I'd be really interested in their perspective. I'd be really interested. Like, not not like it's not a hawk. Like, it's not against it has nothing to do with, like, what they like, someone choosing a side. It's just I'm a guy who who's interested in the right way to react to these things, and I think, why are we silent now? Like, why why the silence? Like, we're we're loud and we're brash and we're ready to rock when we we think the people that don't agree with us or they're prone not to are gonna react. But soon as the thing comes to fruition, that is probably the thing that we are we are trying to get people not to react to. Soon as you know that that's true, like, no, you're not talking anymore. And I feel like this is very disingenuous. And I saw I saw a bunch of stuff today that had to do with the the various governors within the states that were saying, you know, look, we don't we don't wanna take these Syrian refugees in here. There's an honest concern

that says they get people who mean to do harm to the country could be coming in as part of this group of refugees, and so we want to not allow them to come in. K? And and I saw some of the either side of this issue, frankly, was very much irritating me for, I think, the legitimate reasons. But, like, primarily, there was the the folks who were like, they're pass this on to your governor. Make sure your governor sees this. And it was basically, hey.

You know, we will not react in in hatred or prejudice against Syrian refugees simply because something else has happened. We will treat people like people as Christians should do. May like, we fully support letting them into the state. And here's the thing. I'm not necessarily disagreeing with some of the posturing here, but, like, that is not a full conversation.

People aren't like, hey. We don't wanna let people into the states because they hate people. They're not saying, hey. We don't wanna let them in because suddenly, like, we we're not compassionate folk anymore. So, like, it it isn't because I flat out disagree with with the narrative that says sometimes our compassion puts us in rough spots. I I I think we underestimate what that does. And then I I think there is there is some level that says, if you have any type of process at all to filter who comes in and out your country, who comes in and out your house, then that's you, tacitly not putting full faith and credit that things will just work out. Right? The fact that you have a lock on your door speaks to some you have some level that you think some restraint must be you care who comes in and out your place. Alright? So let's at least be honest with our conversation where we sit where we're acting like, hey. I want you to send this on to your governors,

because we we will treat people like Christ would, and you're having a freaking half of a conversation. That really irritates me. It really irritates me because it is it's a shallow rendering of what I think is a very complex gray issue of what you're trying to understand, where protecting your neighbor and loving your neighbor go like, have to meet somewhere. And, like and you have you have people and and if if all these people are your neighbors, you're having to make what I think is a gray type of distinction. I just I cannot think of a biblical example where this this or this particular situation has been nailed to a tee, where all you have to do is post a scripture on the door and walk away.

And so I I've been really disappointed of that. I like to to be fair, on the opposite side, I've seen a lot of very crappy Christian themed American arguments about why we don't do something. Like, about why we can't we shouldn't permit this. We have to protect our own, which is very much, hey. These people are not my neighbor. That I feel like we have some some sort of reaction to.

I just it's just the the gamut has been extremely shallow. And and and maybe maybe it's just because I feel inadequate because I feel like I can't I don't have answers here. I have a big bucket of I don't know for sure. I have inklings. I have persuasions, but, like, I have a big bucket of I just don't know for sure. And and maybe because people seem so confident, it irritates me. Maybe it's a shame on me. But, really, where I'm at is I'm just feeling like I don't know, and

I feel like we're we're being very proud of ourselves for having partial conversations. And as Christians, I feel like that's very bad. That's very bad. It's disingenuous. It's dishonest. It lacks integrity. Regardless of whether what you're saying is biblically sound, it's not the whole picture. And so can we not have, I don't know, a deeper conversation than this? Can we not talk a little bit fuller? Can we go into the Bible? Can we dig into it with a pickaxe and not a pinky finger? And say, hey. We we, you know, we're, like, we're gonna have to mine this thing and figure out how to react appropriately. So I think I I I kinda wanna talk through the details of some of the situation. But in general, like,

do you do do we understand what I'm saying here? Yeah. But actually, the thing that I was thinking about while you were talking was, I don't even know that we had the ability to have a conversation like this, fifty years ago. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, what platform did you have to have half a conversation? In our in a living room with a group grudge of other people from the town? Yeah. But you could still have a deep but but that almost inherently has a deep conversation because there's other people involved in it. But when you're one-sided jumping out

tweets or Facebook posts, like, that that's innately new is the ability to have that small conversation like that. So if I is it is it is the falseness here that I'm expecting people to not, like, I'm judging the medium. It's simply not capable of having that level of conversation?

Actually, yeah. I think so. I think, you know, where did I, where did I think about that? Oh, so, a good example is, if you watch the Republican debate, whatever happened a week or two weeks ago, somewhere like that. And then if you watch the the Democratic debate. The difference was on the Republican debate, there was like fifteen, sixteen dudes on that stage. And there was really no debate. It was just a bunch of elbow throwing because you can't have a legit debate with 15 or 16 people in the room. You can only have thirty second quips where you lobbed, an insult at a guy from across the room. Now the democratic debate, there's only three people on stage. It's easier to have a debate that way because there's not near as many voices in the pot and you're not fighting for thirty second snippets. You're actually having to give and a take. And so, like, I I see the same thing to be true. I'm I'm not it's not so much the number of people, I guess, what I was getting at. But but the formats themselves

didn't lend you know, the format of 16 dudes itself does not lend to a decent discussion. It lends for 16 people vying for attention. And like the social media, Facebook, and Twitter don't they they generally that's what the platform is. It's you vying for attention. No one puts on there like a an open ended question most times. They're most likely like, here's me, Loud and proud. Here's what I think in two sentences. Wham. And right? That that you don't even leave room for a conversation in that medium. And and that's true in in any subject. You know, you can have a an Iowa Hawkeye,

someone will will put an article about, hey. We're 10 and o, and a and a cyclone will jump in. Yeah. But they're a bunch of dummies. I was like, well, what does what does that mean? Well, yeah, no. Never mind. You just can't understand. I mean, it is no conversation like, well, you're offensive. I mean, no. At some sound, and any it doesn't matter what the subject. People just they're just lobbing little bombs at each other or or or like say, being very shallow. They just throw in their opinion out like my opinion. That's important. And and maybe that's the question that has to be answered is why though? Why are we doing that? Do you know what I'm saying? Like truth is but the truth is is like if you're gonna play if you're gonna play that game and do it with any type of integrity, then you have to answer to your short quippies. You know what I'm saying? You can't throw a short quip out there and say, here's the deal. Have have have patience before you make a judgment before we blame an entire group race of people. Then it turns out it was exactly that group race of people. And you're like, well, that's probably all I needed to say. Never mind. Well, why did you I mean, you opened the door, Fred. You didn't even have to open that door. You could've left it be, but you decided you were gonna open the door and start telling people how to live in two sentences. Yep. And maybe that's the deal is is that the thought process that says, I'm gonna enter into this conversation and tell you and and how you should react. Mhmm. And then as the thing develops and becomes a little bit little bit more interesting or becomes, something that you didn't expect it to be or, like, moves forward of to which we now actually have real things that need to be discussed because, like, facts are available, and then suddenly you're not there. Yeah. Let's pretend that that is exactly who you first thought it was. Well, now what?

I just told you not to think who you might think it might be. Well, it was. That see, isn't that the thing? It's it's not only the conversation, but it's the thought process that stops. Yeah. Right? Because if you would have thought, hey, I hope people aren't overreacting to this thing and assuming it's x group of people. Right? But then your mind will start to wonder, like, but what if it is? How can I lead people through that? Yeah. But you didn't think that far. You just kinda stopped and said, hey, man. Don't do this. Yeah. Your whole point was don't think about it. Don't do this. Okay. Now now you should have done it, but now it turns out you're right. Now how do I process this? Yeah. I didn't overreact like you told me to, but it turns out that my gut instinct was correct. Now how do I live? Now what kind of decisions do I make? Where was your now where's your leadership now? Where's your voice of reason now? I mean, and that that's the thing. It's like and maybe that's it's too big of a burden to say, hey. Look. You have to talk on everything. No. No. I get that. So, I mean, that's not what I'm saying. I but I I think it is just I mean, we we seem to wanna talk about the things where

we we are a voice of reason because to keep people from reacting to things that we we think are not true or for causes that we care about. And then when it turns out that maybe we're not quite right or, you know, maybe there is evil in the world. Maybe there's straight up evil. No matter how much I I love somebody. No matter how much I think that that you can Saul can be a Paul and that you can love people into the kingdom of Christ. Like, is there not evil in the world? And and is is our is our reaction is it to hug the guy with the bomb? Because, like, I I that's that's where I'm I'm struggling is, like, we are not we're not talking about nuanced gray areas here. Like, people wanna talk about here's the deal. Is that you have

let's put them in a in a manageable figure. Let's say you got a 100 people fleeing a country. Right? Somebody morally, I feel like there is a responsibility. Their country has, is not is no longer responsible for them. They fled for whatever's going on. I don't care what you think caused it. I don't care if you think they were part of it. They're fleeing their country. Right? They have to go somewhere. Alright? Is there is as as a world, do we have some sort of moral responsibility to say there are people without homes fleeing a war torn country? We have to react in some way or another. Okay. I think we have to do that. Now maybe you think that five out of the 100 are nasty people and are and are willing to cause trouble. Maybe they are. Do I can I write off a whole group of people and say we won't do anything because I think five of them are bad? Like, is I mean, did our there are more responsibility in because someone might pervert something? Like, it's too simple. It's too simple to say, hey. They're all they're all solid citizens.

They're all salt they're all women and children who've gotten who've got troubles in life, and we just need to step in. It's not that. They're not all that. No. Some of them some of them like what did they they were doing a a account and like there's a lot of them that are young men. Military age men. Young men. Some of them are criminals right now. Now, yeah. Now, here's the thing. Some of them aren't. Some of them aren't. I don't know. I I don't know. So, like, it's it's it's some of this is the posture is to say is to look at the guy, and maybe because I'm maybe I'm being personally offended here. And I frankly think I lean more liberal in in this conversation where I I I think I'm willing to take the risks on some of these things. Like, helping people takes risks. Evil people will manipulate good processes. You can't stop doing good things because evil people might get in might try to get in there manipulate. Like, I think you have to be wary, but I I just like, you're there's always risks in those things. So I'm I'm gonna fall, I think, on a pretty liberal view of this thing. But, like, the the people that come out and say, because you there's a hesitancy to say, you know what? One of those guys might be nefarious. We need to we would need to try to get a better handle on who we're who we're letting in somewhere or who we're keeping an eye on to so they they don't even hurt the people that are coming in with them. And we're like, you hate and don't act like Christ? Seriously? Like, that's our reaction? You hate and don't act like Christ? Maybe I disagree with you. Maybe I think you're being overprotective. Maybe I think you are too cautious with and not trusting in God. Maybe I think that's true. But does that

did I really reach the right conclusion that you hate people and don't wanna act like Jesus? Like, is that is that the reality of our situation? No. Because I fall on the opposite side. I'd be more I would be more conservative on it, for the same things you said earlier. To we we owe we have to protect our citizens. We and see, this is where I get it gets fuzzy when people start interjecting scripture into a national thing. Well, if we're gonna do that, let's do it all the way. So but what does that do with gay marriage? What does that do with abortion? What does that do you know, well, we throw the Bible out for those things. We only want it for the ones that are convenient like loving people. You know, it's like, well, let's just throw it all out. I mean, let's just say, what do we do civilly? Here's the thing. Is is like, when that brain of conversation comes up, you're basically not saying love people. You're saying love that guy. Because Yeah. Because let's say you don't vet that guy. Well, how much do you love the people that have to be around him now? You've basically just put their lives in danger Right. For not having vetted him. So you loved him. True. You did not love the five people that you just put in danger now. Right. And so like. That's right. That's the side I would I would go on. Yeah. You gotta, I don't know what to do with them. There's gotta be an answer.

It's it's the thing is is like there there's definitely an answer. It's just not easy. Yeah. It's not a black and white across the board. Let them all in or don't let any of them in. It's not that. Right? But if we just sit at both sides of the issue and yell at each other, we're not having the conversation. Yeah. We're not coming to a solution. And and maybe that's that's why I'm irritated. It's like, I I maybe this is wrong of me, but I expect more from Christians. I I I expect not to be so not to be so foolish and like, it it's the, we're we're beating people in the face with scripture. It's the very it's it's the liberal section of Christianity who would generally accuse everyone else of being the pharisee. And you're gonna beat someone in the face with Matthew 26,

because you hate people because you there's a there's a something that says, if I wanna love my neighbor, that includes everybody that's here. And if we're letting in someone that may blow them up, perhaps I I love them to kind of vet that out without ignoring like, I I I think we have a broader principle than our borders here. I I I think there is a moral responsibility that says, we can't just say, not our people, not our problem. I think that's wrong. And and frankly, I'm four people coming here. I just I just feel like it it's the it's the finger pointing from the people that are like, you should just let them in. Like, you don't believe that. You freaking locked your door. You're you're you're being you lack integrity. You lack integrity. Someone came on, someone who I generally would would agree with and trust and said, hey. There there there's a vetting process. Right? They're doing these 10 steps, and they're being vetted out, and, know, it takes it takes a long period of time. I'm like, was two months. The this thing came up, and there's people in New Orleans two months later. That that can't be a robust process. And and, like, I'm not saying that, that, yeah, that no folks in is the right solution. I frankly, letting anybody in, that's not a right solution. There has to be a measure of thought, but it's it's this putting a burden of hate or un Christ likeness because someone is trying to weigh through the implications of a full council of scripture,

and it's frankly pissing me off. Well, yeah. I mean, it it break it down to something really simple. Right? Like, you live next door to a guy named Greg. Another dude says, hey, I'm gonna move into the neighborhood. I kill people named Greg. Yeah. Love on him. Let him in. Well, guess who you just killed? Greg. Greg is officially dead. I realize that's that's a fairly black and white simplistic answer. But are you not literally doing the same thing? You're saying love a guy at the peril of another guy. Love a guy at maybe the peril of another guy. Well, how much of that maybe has to be true that you are now choosing which one to love more? Like, what is love anyway? Right? Is it just saying I like you, come next to me? Is that what love is? Is it choose like like we talked about this a couple three weeks ago. It's choosing someone over you. Right? Do you have the authority to choose someone else over you? You know what I'm saying? Like, if he says he kills Greg and my name's Sam, and I say, yeah, go ahead. I don't give two craps about Greg. I love you. Now Greg's dead. Now I I I realize that has bigger connotations, but but it's it's hard to say that love equals allowing someone to do what they want. Because that's not what it is. Love does not equal that, especially if it has the effect on somebody else.

It doesn't affect you. Maybe it does affect somebody else. I'm not near as worried about, terrorism in general, because I live in the middle of the country where nothing is really important here. Right? And so my my my opinion on on some of that thing is really hard to be realistic because I don't live in the in the in the bellwether, locations where they could probably cause some real damage. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? It's not as real to me. I'm not saying that I don't recognize it, but I'm saying that conversation does not carry the same amount of weight as it does to the people that live in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles. You know what I'm saying? Those are different conversations there because the actuality of that going down is probably way higher.

There's been a a an interesting duality that I've seen within, you know, my social media world of Christians and and Christ followers that are are having this weird identity crisis of which kingdom to to think about more. And I I see people that are not necessarily

forsaking scripture in any way because I I don't know. I'm kinda with Ben in the situation where I I've I've been trying to figure out, where God's heart would be on this situation. I I don't really know practically how to take what I know about God's heart and put it to, well, this is our actionable items and this is what we do from this perspective. But what I've seen is I I see people that have the duality between do I care more about my kingdom in America

or do I care more about my kingdom in Christ? And you've got the people that are willing to say that for America's sake, you know, forget everyone. Absolutely not. They're not coming into our our country. There's no way they're coming in here because we're forsaking the safety of the people who are currently here. Yeah, man. But does that does that what's best for America? Because if you took that tack, no one would live here. Well, that's what I'm saying. So so here. So you've got Christians that are saying that, you know, I I care about America and I care about American citizens. There's nobody who's gonna come into this into this place because of the fact that someone may be unsafe. Someone may be militant and could hurt somebody. But then you've got those people that are also trying to figure out how to do that and also align themselves with the kingdom of Christ,

which doesn't have the border problems that we have in America. It doesn't have the problems we have with, you know, this is our country. You need to stay out because you're not here. Well, ultimately, that doesn't matter. God's kingdom doesn't have borders from that perspective. There's there's no there's no thing we have to worry about with who do we let in. It's we let everyone in. There is there is no stopper for anyone. If if they have that relationship with Christ, that's their way to get in. Well, but that's the thing is We can't put a wall up to people in the kingdom of Christ, but they're willing to say we can put a wall up in the kingdom of America. Yeah. But we there is a wall up in the kingdom of Christ. You have to be agree to be in this kingdom and act as Agreed. But we're not willing to completely push away everyone from the sake of possibly anyone getting hurt. The opportunity is there for everybody. Or in the kingdom of God, that's what missions is all about. If they're not welcome into my physical country, then I will go to them. I'm just saying that's an apples to apples comparison. You know, we say, look, you can't say everybody is welcome into this country to do as you please and then compare it to the kingdom of God because that is obviously not the Yeah. Dynamic. We say, look, you are welcome into the kingdom of God. The people who live in this Wherever you live, act this way. This is how they act. Well, that's a restriction right there. You can't just come in here and act however heck you want and expect to stay. It's not as loosey goosey and some kind of fairy tale land in America is this terrible, you know, you're gonna come in here, you're gonna act this way, you're gonna speak the language, you're gonna blah blah blah. People act like that's terribly restrictive.

The kingdom of God is very much the same way. When you come in here, like, if you wanna stay in the kingdom of God, God says this is how my people act. When you don't act that way, you are no longer in the kingdom of God. Is that not true? That is true. That is true. Yes. I wouldn't disagree with that statement. But because I laid out a very good point. Nice. What I and I'd I'm not saying about, about once you're in the kingdom that there's not exclusivity for being in the kingdom. There are certain expectations of how you live. I agree with that. But there there's no

there's no border control from from that perspective. We're not invited because your race. Yeah. Exactly. There's no one that's excluded from the ability. Right. Opportunity for all. Right. Opportunity is there for everyone but Which has kingdom god, the kingdom of god people. That means it just may be harder for us to reach them. It has nothing to do with letting them into our physical country. Those are two different worlds. That's true. But how how do we care about those people then if we're willing to turn them away? Go live with them.

Is that they're where where do they go? Where do I don't know. That that's the problem that we're facing right now. We're really that's what church needs We need to go love on them, and yes, we need to spend our time Maybe we need to go buy an island. We we. I'm in. For me. They just lost their country. Right. Oh, yeah. I I know. There's gotta be a place. That's what I'm saying. People have no place to go. Mhmm. We need to, as Christ followers, love on them, care for them, take care of them as our neighbors, which I think is not in any way an exclusive statement. Neighbors means everybody. We're willing to say that we need to love on them, but how do we do that without even allowing them to come to where we are and helping them in that way? But that's that's the crux of the conversation is is like,

like, it it's not a carte blanche. Everybody gets to go or nobody gets to go. I think I think the heart of the matter is is that that you want to be able to provide safety and shelter for as many people as you possibly can without compromising the safety and shelter of of of the people who are providing the shelter. Yeah. We don't wanna sacrifice our safety. Yeah. We can't provide safety if we don't have safety to to to offer. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's the truth. Is it is it not? We can't offer we can't offer people off the street a place to live if we don't have a house. We can't offer people a safe haven if we don't have a safe haven to even offer. But the question is is like, the problem is it's just like we talk about when people do house churches. You know what saying? You love your safe haven so much that you're not willing to take any risks to to allow others to have that same safe haven. And like that that is a vicious circle, and it is something you have to be wary of. And but but it's not an easy black and white decision. Yes. We let everybody in or no no one comes in. We love our safe haven. It's how can we grow our safe haven in a safe way? The the difficulty that I have and and what I've seen a couple of people that have have expressed this is we're called to to have radical compassion. Like, we we are called for radical compassion within within, you know, the the tenets of of being a Christ follower. Like, we we call upon,

you know, Christ's example of loving every single person, and he wasn't exclusive to anybody. And I I don't feel like he would have turned people away from the perspective of possibly, eliminating safety for for the people of this kingdom. And

I just I I don't I don't see, that's that's my biggest struggle is because I don't know how to mold that over is how do I, as a Christ follower, represent the heart of Christ who loves every single person and sees that every single person is inherently evil but has the ability to be redeemed in him. How do we see that, offer that radical compassion, but at the same point in time, we don't put ourselves and the ones we love completely out of safety. And is that something we just accept as not necessarily an occupational hazard, but as

as a hazard to that that that radical compassion, that radical mercy, that radical, you know, love that we are we are called to show every single person. Well, I I I think that goes back to whatever your definition of love is. Is love completely foolish and stupid? But once again, you can't project that on the state because God tells me to love, then you need to love people by letting them in. We're we're doing the same thing we have argued against with all the social issues out there of saying, well, what's the big deal with with with all the social issues? You know, well, you can't force the Bible on them. Well, now suddenly, we wanna force the Bible. Yeah. But are you happy because of that protection that you don't have to invoke God's compassion and it keeps the safe prop off that? That just means more sacrifice for us. Maybe that means we we go get drop lifted onto that mountain where the Christians are are are hanging out, they're all gonna get shot and beheaded or starved to death. Hey. Look at that extremely white guy. Where'd he come from? Don't worry. Had a helicopter, dude. He looks like he's from the Midwest and America. That's not normal. I'm just saying it it it just you know, rather than trying to make the state do it for us, it's still our job, not theirs. I I don't Agree. Yeah. But I that's a false that's a false dichotomy, though, isn't it? Like, it's the question isn't

it's not making the state do it. It's can I do it? Do I have the freedom to can I bring someone to live in my place? Well, if that's one of the restrictions, then then we'll know. But then you then maybe you need to move your place is my point. Yeah. But I but why not? Why can't I bring people into home? Because the state says we're gonna protect our nation. We're gonna protect our people. Yeah. So I so maybe this is that is, I guess, where I would have a problem is I don't know I I I don't know. That that that seems actually counter to our tenants. Yeah. So here's what would be interesting if they if if if basically the let's say our state said, look, there are 5,000 possible refugees that are looking to come into our state.

If if we have 5,000 homes that are willing to house them, we will vet whoever you agree to take in. So if you agree to take in 3,000 of them, we will vet the 3,000 that are coming this way, and they will have a place to live. The interesting part would be see how many people raise their hands. Do know I'm saying? That says, the state says, look, we would be willing to we will we will we will vet the people that are coming to live with you, but they have to have a place to live first. And so I wanna see how many people in this state sign a petition, send an email. I will accept x number of refugees, and we will vet those two and send them your direction. Yeah. I I'm I'm far less concerned about the state's reaction than I am about Christian's reaction to the to the opportunity that exists. Like, Dan, are you saying that to to pull the state out of it, say the state you could do whatever you want. Are you saying that is not something Christian should be doing is bringing people here to be able to live as part of the country? Oh, no. Not at I'm saying that if it's our job to love people and to reach out to people, then that's that's our job. It's not the state's job. I'm saying if the state has said no, then it doesn't, know, then then okay. But then we don't do that, but then we find another way to reach them.

Yeah. Okay. Well well, I mean, I suppose you you have the ability to attempt to influence a state. Like, it is a hypothetically, at least the government of the people. Right? So, you know, so I mean, the process of saying we would appreciate, like, of petitioning your government, petitioning the governor of your state. And I think it's questionable whether they have the legal authority to block it or otherwise. But, like, petitioning the governor to say, hey. We want you to allow these people in here. I feel like we shouldn't overreact. We think this is an opportunity. We should we need to do this, so you should permit it. Seems like it's a completely reasonable reaction.

I'm a little bit I was irritated with, from a Christian perspective, these are Christian people who are otherwise demonizing anybody that has any level of, hey, perhaps we should be just a little bit cautious with how quickly this goes, make sure it's done correctly. Like, I I just I don't I'm not sure scripturally that I've I I agree that that our gig is to throw caution to the wind and say, at the expense of the 10,000 neighbors here, we need to make sure we bring in the two neighbors here without any any betting at all. Like, that that's what I don't understand. Like, it's it's the waiting of

I I think it's dangerous for to lift up Americans and say, we should I saw that quite a bit, actually. We should deal with our own homeless first. Well, I mean, yeah, do both, Christian. I'm sorry. Because it's just, like, your weight got bigger, not just first. And so, like, both of those things are gonna have to exist. And so I just I I I think it's okay to say, to try to petition the government to say, bring people in,

that I think this is okay. I just it's disingenuous as Christians for us to demonize caution, to say we're trying to otherwise protect our full in level of influence, not just I care entirely about the amount of people that might might seek refuge in The United States and nothing for the amount of people that are currently in The United States. Like, that that seems to be a bit of a blindness and not necessarily what Christ is calling us to. Be blind to things that are actually around you. Because, like, there's still pagans here, you know. Like, they could die in the bomb. And I don't even know if any of them would, like, I think it's unlikely that terrorists I I don't know why terrorism don't go don't get they have white guys. Like, send those guys in there. I feel like they are less like, well, they would pick them out less than what during the screening processes. So, like, I don't know why they keep sending them in with it with to to fit a stereotype. But, like, I I just I just don't understand why,

why we got the sense that people that we that aren't around us suddenly don't matter anymore over the people that we are that we are highlighting. Like, it's still both. So, like, we let's find a way the the right context to deal appropriately in love with both as opposed to to doing a counterbalance and demonizing whoever you don't love this week. And and maybe that's one of biggest my biggest qualm is with the conversation. It's been fascinating for me just on a slightly different angle of that is, like, I'm part of the the the one of five people who didn't put a France flag on my Facebook post. You know? I'm like, my heart goes out for what happened in France, but, like,

that it it happens every day. You know, that's not, like, one little story. What well, I don't know why that has captivated our nation when when over the past six months, I mean, there I've seen pictures of people being beheaded on beaches. I've seen people burned alive. I mean, there's been they've been crucified. They've they've you know, children have been stolen out of villages in South Africa. I mean, every country has had this stuff going on. Why why are we so I I and I'm not it's an honest question. I don't know. Is it because all the media people have been to Paris and they're like, that's where they had their honeymoon or something? I mean, I don't know why suddenly we're like, oh, it's Paris though. It's like well because Paris looks like us. Recognizable It's yeah. It's a recognizable thing and it's it's it's a it's a scary scary thought. Thought. I mean, all those little children being sold into the the the sex well, I'm thinking two things, sex slave, marriages, you know, with with ISIS and stuff. But I'm thinking, that's happening every single day. You know what? You have that's a really solid point. Right? Like, are worried and we are concerned because Paris looks like us. Yeah. South Africa, they get a bunch of a bunch I mean, it was like two or 300 girls were We don't you know, but it's too bad. Can't we can't relate to that demographic,

but we can relate to the the the white people and friends. Alright. You're listening to live from the path. Hey. If you're the truth network at nine eight point three, you're really fired up. You can complain about the show by shooting us an email, info live from the path dot org. Here's the deal. If you send me an email and you're all hot about this conversation, it will vindicate exactly what I'm saying is that, like, let's have a let's have the right nuanced gray conversation. I feel like that is the responsible Christian conversation to have. Your job is not to demonize someone who doesn't agree with you. And and I'm I still got a big bucket. I don't know. If you're on the podcast, we could still got plenty more to talk about. We'll be right back with you. Be faithful, it means. God will handle the ends. You've been listening too live from the back. That is a really good point. I I mean, the truth is and I saw that quite a bit. Actually, I got kinda irritated with the with the stuff too. I

think we need to be careful on what we decide to get invested in. K. Here's here's the truth. Like, do do I do I I saw a number of posts about the about the flag. Here's why it here here, Dan, I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna mark yours out as I think is nuanced and different, which is is is not use I saw some articles where, like, this is why I'm definitely not using the France flag. And they were like, they were mean stupid things. Like, yeah. Hey. It's not doing anything. Agreed. But, like, I mean, is is there not a people connection where you say, hey. Hey. We're we're we're with you on this thing. Right? It me it means something. Shut up. Shut you know, don't do it if you don't wanna do it. But if that's your problem, like, shut up. Just keep off Facebook for a while. Don't think that's a big deal. It is interesting, though, what you said, because that that popped up a couple different places. Right? Is that

is that we seem to we care about this when we care about it, and and possibly when it looks more like something that we think might if if it were if we're upset because it reminds us that something could happen here, then I feel like that's blindness. Right? It's like we care about it because it reminded us that we should be scared as well. Like, I it's it's the same principle that says when I see someone that is less fortunate than me or if I see a circumstance, like, the only thing that I'm reminded is how good my life is. Right? Or that my life could be threatened for something on the other side of that, as opposed to actually dealing with the problem that caused that that reminder. Like, it's the wrong focus. And so there's probably an element of this where, like, it is indeed terrible,

but, like, I don't know. Maybe maybe it's because we can only handle so much terror at once. You know, like, if you really had if you bore the full weight of the of the rough things that go on around the world on any given day, it would crush you, and you would never leave the house. Yeah. I've seen quite a few arguments for for the reaction to the to the the Paris, situation has been, you know, I've heard the, the argument of well, they're one of our longest allies, And that's why it's hitting so close to home, and that's why it's such a big deal. And then people will say, does it matter if they're our allies or not? If people are murdered constantly, why are we just latching onto this? And then you get the response of I've seen one where, well, if your buddy's getting beat up in a bar fight, aren't you gonna go run-in and help him? And I'm just like, I I I feel like that's an incredibly naive statement of of why you're trying to make that that bridge and that that,

you know, bridge that gap. But it's interesting to me that I've seen some people that are just like, I have no idea what's going on, but everybody's got a French flag on their on their profile picture. So I'm gonna put that. I've seen that legitimately on Facebook where people have said, I'm not really certain what's going on, but it seems like people are doing this. I mean So I'm gonna do it. The modern mentality. Exactly. And it drives me it drives me insane. I'm just like, you you are so disconnected and naive from what is happening. And I think that you may I think you've got a good point, Ben. There is a certain level of of terror that we can take in. There there's only so much that we can help. We can't take a cause for every single situation. You know? We can't all have have the homelessness of the world on our minds and the hunger, that it happens throughout the world in our mind at all times. And then all the starving children, all the kids with, with, you know, HIV and, you know, malaria and all this different stuff. We can't constantly be thinking about that or there would never be time for anything else.

However, I don't think that justifies the ins like, the the just enormous reaction that has happened for France versus what else happens in the world. It's been an enormous reaction from the media, from social media, from people talking about it on talk shows, from people talking about it in workplaces, but have no idea what else is happening. Airliner shot out of the sky. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. I I didn't I didn't see any Russian flags, you know, and

No. So they it should it's not disgusting the France reaction. It's the lack of reaction on the other. Right. Exactly. No. It's understandable. The reaction that we have to what's going on in France, I I I appreciate it because that means that more people are seeing the realism in the world. You know, there are people are still at willing to ask the question of, I have no idea what's going on in France right now, but because of the publicity and because of of, you know, the widespread, not necessarily the reaction to it, people are actually trying to get more informed about it. And I don't disagree with the reaction that's been happening with the Paris France thing. I think that's that's great that people are are banding together even from a symbolic perspective of putting a French flag on your Facebook. It's just like, you know, when when they lit up the, you know, the Empire State Building. That was just a big way to do that French flag on the profile picture. France did it 09:11. We've seen the pictures where they have the huge American flag that's laid out on the ground in front of the Eiffel Tower from 09:11. It's a symbolic thing, and I'm not saying that's a problem. But I agree with Mike. It's the lack of reaction to everything else. And it seems disingenuous from the perspective of I'm willing to jump on this, for lack of a better term, bandwagon about this this problem that's happened because it's been widespreadly publicized, but I'm not willing to even look into anything else.

That's what kills me is when people have no idea what else is going on, but they're willing to latch on to, like I said, for back of a literal term, the the the bandwagon of what's happening in France. And then people are blind to everything else that goes on. It is a lot, though. What do I what did I read? I read, something today. It was a it was a pamphlet. It was a a a basically, the rules of the ISIS rules of engagement when it comes to slave women. It ugh. I I knew I should have clicked on that thing. That sounds like a bait and switch right there, man. That's disgusting. Oh, it made me sick. It was you know, like, whether you can whether whether you're allowed to have sex with them if they are not yet at puberty.

It depends who the woman belongs to. If you share a woman who gets to have sex with her, like, oh, oh, this is this is grow and here's here's the thing. Here's here's what I don't here's what I wanna miss, I guess. And I I don't most people aren't missing it. I think you you cannot you can't simply cannot ignore the fact that there is a consistent belief system that undergirds the terror attack. You know what saying? Like, there is there is

there there's just a level of of blindness here. And, like, I'm still on the let let people in bandwagon. That's still me. But, like like, there's there's there's just a level of how often are you gonna change the conversation here? Like, when you're reasonably trying to talk about a circumstance, is is it is it not some level of integrity to say, you know what? We see a pattern.

We we see a pattern, and it doesn't here the the right reaction is is still Jesus. Jesus still solves this. Like, I have no good solution for a man that that is doing something like this, right, that finds value in blowing people up, that thinks that they're they're helping to bring about the the end of the world with their tactics. Like, I only know one guy that solves that problem. That's it. Yeah. I don't know a world thinker that can put a that can put a gold medal on that neck and have it resolve the circumstance like Jesus Christ can. That's the truth. Jesus is still the answer. And so I can't hate people into Jesus Christ. That simply doesn't happen. So, like, logical thinking, I I only know to introduce people to Jesus. But I just I what I don't understand is is agreeing to that.

It does not mean you're also agreeing to some level of blindness that say, hey. People that tend to actually hate Jesus do seem to act this way under this belief system, and perhaps we should just be aware of such a thing and and attempt to react accordingly for the protection of your neighbor that's not that guy. Like, is there not a level of being honest? And and maybe that's that's some of my broad disappointment, which with where I know some of this reaction is is, like, it's it's for every hot button issue that's ever come up. There's there's someone in the Christian leadership that's gonna come out and say, we've done this wrong in the past. I'm with you. We probably have done it wrong in the past. Right? It doesn't change necessarily your reality of when thing is actually the wrong thing. When the when the tie when the, the color of of of somebody's skin or when their nationality or when their belief system actually had some level of relevance to something that's going on.

And I get it. I I I it it just there are circumstances where that's true, and I don't think we're doing anybody services or any we're not doing them any services. I'm not saying that right. What am I trying to say? We're we're doing them a disservice. That's what I want. Yep. We're doing them a disservice and acting without integrity to act like it didn't matter that these guys all believe the same thing and thus reacted in such a way. No. That's true. I mean, you don't see anyone saying, listen. Who who who caused, much of the Holocaust?

The the Nazi Germany. You two faced bigot. How dare you? That's what it was. You know what, though? I I was at, a few years ago, went to Hawaii, went to the Pearl Harbor Memorial, and the big film ahead of them talks about the the zealots.

They didn't blame Japan or the army. It was just the the The zealots. The radicals the radicals in Japan. It's like yeah. Those were called the the the generals and the whatever their leader, you know, but they they just they were real specific about what they called. They didn't it didn't it wasn't wasn't Japan. No. No. It was it was the It's the radicals in Japan. But but it I mean, that is If there is the word. Truth in that, but like, it's it's just just because you belay the truth does not mean that you are stereotyping or over categorizing. Like, if you look back to to Nazi Germany and and and much of the atrocities that happened, it is not it is not the entire country of Germany that is to blame. It is true the Nazis in Germany, but it is not it is not, bigoted or stereotyping to say, hey, look, they're coming from Germany.

Hey, they're all following the same guy. Right? Like, that's you'd be an idiot not to recognize, well, how do we combat this? Well, I'm not sure because we can't attest it to one guy that would be wrong. We can't attest it to certain people, with blonde hair and blue eyes because that would seem wrong. But that's where it's coming from. That's the deal. Man, I I I even I hate this conversation. Right? Because, like, it's it's it's rife for, I don't know, dragging it in the wrong direction. But I guess the the broad point was is that, like, we are we are acting without we are acting without integrity,

I think, to not deal with our circumstances broadly. Right? Like, if you have if consistently everything consistent about, say, said attacks, right, are people that believe a certain thing, like, is it is it is simply lacks integrity to act like that is not part of the things to think about. It it and not ignoring the fact, again, like, it's it's only Jesus that solve these things. And and and frankly, I think people meet Jesus by meeting Jesus. And so, like, that that is not can you have this conversation without acting like it's advocating for something that is not right?

So I I don't know. I I I don't I don't know what what to say about that, except for I just like, it just seems that there's a lack of integrity sometimes when we're talking about things, as if we wanna we wanna bring in every other circumstance and add that to the to the bowl mix as if that's what's driving the flavor out of out of protection of what? Something that lacks integrity, something that lacks lacks accuracy. Right? For the same reason that I would say

you you shouldn't be able to pin the ability to radically forgive and show radical love and grace even in the midst of times when we should be afraid and people don't have fear. They should be like, hey, man. They're acting that way because they're Christians. Christians act that way. Like, that that that's just what the it's characteristic of what we believe that we should when we should be afraid, we seem to not fear. When we shouldn't have peace, we have peace. Like, you brand Christianity like that, and I I feel like that's right and good. And those are those are good things that my religion should be able to paint to me. If there are other aspects of things that people believe and throw out it doesn't have to be a religious thing. Take just random groups of people that believe certain things. There is a natural output to those things. I don't get the offense that surrounds us saying that. Like, this is a natural outpouring. This is what happens when someone says, we believe that we it's okay to kill you. In fact, that it's right and good, and then we kill you. Like, those things are connected. They're connected things. And so I I don't know. Again, I'm not I'm not saying that that actually even changes how you interact with someone. I just think it's disingenuous that we're not having a a conversation

that has integrity that acts like that is not a thing. That has nothing to do with anything. And that's I think that's goofy. So I I mean and so maybe if I can wrap all this stuff up. I the the broad the broad concern is I feel like we are having, foolish, shallow conversations about things. We are not we're not being honest with the gray that exists, even even scripturally. I'm not saying scripture is not against itself. I'm saying that scripture is robust and deep, and we are being foolish when we're acting like we're gonna solve these problems with a sentence or two and a finger pointed at someone else who thinks something else and assume that they hate people. Like, that's just stupid. It's stupid and disingenuous. And I I was I was in I'm a little bit embarrassed from a Christian perspective to the extent that we're having these types of conversations, and we're simply doing it with no with no regard to the depths of scripture. The the the the macro discussions about about evil and grace and and love and caring for your neighbor and protecting your neighbor and who it is and where they go. And, like, it's just

it's just a lot more gray than I think we're giving it credit for. And the overall conversation just left me wanting to really dig to do scripture deep because, like, our conversations have just been, here's what I care about. I think we should we should let everybody in. Here's what I care about. We should never let anybody in because I should protect my family and make sure the vets are okay. Like, I'm I'm hearing what you're saying, but let's let's be honest that the conversations are deeper than this. And and maybe there's some level of respect that says, if we can't have the the right level of conversation, maybe we just don't really participate in that medium anymore. The only reason we're talking about it here is because we gotta I we can talk as long as we want. It's a freaking Internet. If we wanna talk for two hours on something, we can. And we're not limited by the the space on Twitter or the ability for someone to engage on Facebook. And it's not a it's it's a pulpit only to the extent that, like, everyone can't enter this room. But, like, to the extent that we can have a representative conversation because there are six guys in here, I feel like we have at least a chance at digging into something that attempts to see the heart of God. Even though I I mean, in all honestly, we're on I think we're on different

different reactions to some of these things, but I think they are God pursuing reactions. I I just what what I've seen hasn't been that, and I I I felt I don't I just felt disappointed in the conversation. Maybe it goes back to a little bit of the whimsy and the integrity. Right? Like like, what are we trying to get out of out of both these things that happened? A terrible atrocity happened in Paris. Yes. That's true. It was committed by people who don't know Jesus. That's also true. The main the main goal here is is that that their lives of everyone involved with that would all be, different

if the people involved knew Jesus Christ. Right? Like and that that's the main point. That's the main goal. And so, like, if you're gonna if you're gonna equip something on Facebook, equip that. You know what saying? You're gonna throw two sentences out. Throw out two sentences that that that's not a it's it's it's not a shallow. Right? Like when you say praying for the you you can you can pray for the people that were affected by this tragedy, and you can pray for the people that caused the tragedy. Those are pro both perfectly acceptable things. Like, you have to throw something out about it, maybe your 2¢ worth on exactly how it went down, what it went down, who did what, whatever. The truth of the matter is the people there's people involved with it in the in that per pervade the attack that obviously do not know the heart of Jesus Christ. That is devastating. There are people that died, before they got the chance to know the heart of Jesus Christ. That is also devastating. There are people that are feeling sorrow. That is devastating in its own. And so, like, those are perfectly good things to quip about that you don't need a there's no counter discussion to that. It's just I'm devastated here, and that's fine. And you can quip about that if you want to. Okay.

You listen to live from the path. Let's hey. Next week. So what I intended to get to this this week, and I think we're not gonna get it till next week. But there was a there was an article about the book

what was it? It was I think it's Jesus Calling. Hold on. Hold on. Let me let me, yeah. Yeah. So, anyway, it's it's it's basically a a woman who said she'd been hearing from God, and then started kinda writing it down and then published it for other people to read. And there were some concerns about, broad conversation was,

you know, should we does does god speak to people like that? Like, if he's produced the bible, is he talking with people individually? If he's talking with people if he's speaking to you, why do we not hold that in the same level of scripture? Is this dangerous? That kind of thing. So I I just know that that's on our docket for next week. I think that's particularly interesting for a for a group of you. And so I wanted to let you know that that that that we're gonna talk about that next week. So maybe be thinking about that. Maybe you can anticipate kinda where that's gonna go, but that's that's coming up next week. Mike, do you get some some dear life from Path? I do. Ready? Yep. Dear life from the Path.

My husband works as a bouncer at a strip club. I was okay with it at first, but then he started making friends with the dancers and waitresses. They exchanged phone numbers, and he talks to some of them late at night when I'm sleeping. I get upset and jealous that these women are getting his time. It causes fights. What should I do? Wife of a bouncer. Tell him to quit.

Yeah. Simple as that. Have the conversation that you want him to quit. You feel disrespected. You feel like he's spending more or not necessarily more time, but time that you should have with other women in any situation regardless of what it is. He should stop. She says, they talk late at night when I'm sleeping, which is probably when he gets off work. So, I mean, there's a little bit more to play here. Like, if it was a dude and he was just talking late at night, would this be a problem? Like, his job is a late night job. Like, take the fact that he's a strip club bouncer, which I obviously don't think is probably a healthy place for a married man to be. That's what I was gonna say. What what what husband is okay with that? Yeah. Employed or not, if that is where the place where you work or the place that you're just attending, either one's probably not acceptable if you want a healthy marriage.

Yeah. But if you take that out of it, the man gets off work at, 02:00 in the morning. He has conversations late because that's when he works. So here's the deal. I don't think that you could be okay with the situation of him working at the strip club at all and then be upset the fact that he gets off at two in the morning and talks to his coworkers. I feel like that's disingenuous. Yeah. No. That's that's probably too because she said she said she was okay with it. Right? Yeah. She said she was okay with it until he started talking with them. But then he started making friends. Like, it's okay if you have a job. As long as you don't talk to them. No friends at the job. What do you mean you got you're making friends with naked ladies? Who's Candy? Those are the people that work there. Naked ladies work in a strip club. This should not have been a big shock to you. Yeah. That's true, man. Okay. That's fine. I mean, either you completely lack any type of foresight in your life that you can't see. I don't even know how you walk somewhere. You take one step to go. Naked ladies. There's no way he's ever gonna hook up or meet me. He probably doesn't even notice. Yeah. He's probably just sitting there chewing sugar free gum. He's looking at IDs the whole man. Trouble. You know, that's outrageous. There's not a whole establishment of naked women behind me. I'm just gonna stand out here at my booth. Yeah. So yeah. Okay. I would agree. Her distinction is foolish. Like, to say this is okay until he started making friends and talking to people after work.

You're right. That right. The fact that he works as a in a strip club, I feel like is the distinction, is the proper one. You should have a problem with that, and he should stop working there directly. Yeah. I mean, you could bounce yeah. Really, if it was a genuine letter, she could either say, hey, my husband works at a strip club. I used to be okay with it, but I feel like it's it's not the best place for him. What do I do? That's a real question. Yeah. But the fact that he talks to his coworkers when he gets off of work, I mean, I do that crap all the time. You think she's tried to have this conversation with him yet? Like, that she's uncomfortable with it? Yeah. Because that's what I'm that's what I'm mulling over. I don't know if she's even tried to have the conversation with him. Like, hey, sweetheart, in which I love very much, I know at one point in time, I was okay with this this job that you've taken. Now my thought process has changed, and I would like for you to stop. And I'd be interested to see if she talked to him about that, and he just said no. And that's why she's messaging or, sending us a letter. Well, I mean, really

one of the things that get that I find odd is she's like, they exchange phone numbers and he talks to some of them late at night when I'm sleeping. I've heard I've heard actually, I've had ladies complain about their husbands to me before. It's like he never spends any time with me. Well, it turns out the man works the overnight shift and you're sleeping. What do you want him to to talk to your sleeping body? That is not quality time either. So, like, either your family situation has to change where he doesn't have to work that job or you're gonna have to have a little grace in the way that the man makes money. But, I mean, he's not a superman. You know I'm saying? He can't be up twenty four hours out of the day trying to spend quality time with you. He he's working the hours that that, that you're awake. And he comes home and you're sleeping. And so, like, that is sometimes a bit unfair to be mad at a man for getting off of work. You're sleeping and be like, he doesn't spend any time with me. Well, you're sleeping. Hey, man. What do want him to do? What if what if she sleep talks? Is that does that qualify for quality time? That would probably be an outrageous circumstance of which I probably would say has not happened to many people. Hey, man. It's happened. Okay. I've seen videos on Facebook. Your secular's advice. Thanks for all your help, Bubba. Yep. Secular says, is your husband placing these calls or are the women calling him? Not really relevant. Weird distinction. Tell him how you feel you are tell him you feel they are a threat to your marriage and ask Call me. Who initiated the conversation? Well, then that's just fine then. Tell him you feel they are a threat to your marriage and ask why the calls happen after you have gone to bed. Once again, he's a bouncer in a strip club. That makes sense. I didn't those places are open till 5AM. She yeah. That's a valid point. Wait. Wait. Which one is the acceptable one though? That Janice called him or that he called Janice? Which one of those is just fine? Secular?

I don't understand. That's probably okay if if they're calling him. I feel like sometimes she just talks to talk. If if he's just accepting phone calls and being a buddy, it's it's it's possibly better from a secular perspective than if if he's the one placing them the 2AM, 3AM phone Go back to bed, sweetheart. The stripper called me. So no reason to sweat this noise. Hey, Candy. Thanks for calling. Hey, man. I mean, here's the deal. When you're talking about naked ladies, you should be happy when a phone call happened. You know what I'm saying? Not taking around talking to her. They're not meeting into some kind of seedy apartment or whatever. He's calling on a phone. There's an after party I went to, sweetheart. As a husband, the best place for a naked lady to be if I have to interact with him is on the other end of the phone. That's a valid point. Yeah. I feel like this guy's not as bad as you. Yeah. We painted this guy. I painted this guy incorrectly. I apologize. He needs to stop working at the strip club. Yeah. He really does. Yeah. I guess he is working there. Yeah. I mean Dude is deliberately working around naked ladies. He's not innocent. Because he I I don't have these problems. My wife is not worried about if I'm on the phone on the other side of a stripper, nor am I in the bed late at night after working at a strip club, because I don't have a job at strip club. And so, yeah, I mean, he does have some level of control over his circumstance. However, the distinctions his wife are making are are seem a bit, foolish. So she finishes up and saying, it is possible the conversations are innocent. The women may relate to him because his job makes them feel safe with him. Many coworkers converse after work. Because a woman works in a strip club doesn't mean she's a predator. However, because the timing of these calls bothers you, ask him if he would have them call before work rather than afterwards when you would like him in bed with you. Yeah. Hey. Before anything happened, just give me a call, and we'll talk about how nothing happened yet because we haven't been to work. I talked to the fellas I work with on the way out the door. How'd your day go? Blah blah blah. Pretty good. If I get them in the morning, be like, how's your day gonna go? Yeah. I don't know.

I'm talking to you. It's like, hey, John. Do you wanna talk about tonight? We'll do it tomorrow. Weird. Okay. Here we go. Dear dear life from the path, I host holiday dinners and always invite my husband's side of the family as well as mine. Each time my brother's wife quotes Arlene, asks if my husband's family will be there and says if they are, they won't be attending. Nice. They are the only ones who don't show up. All the rest of the family does. When I asked Arlene if she has a problem with my husband's side of the family, she said no. She just feels we don't pay as much attention to her when there is so much family. I've tried having separate dinners, but as the years have passed, it has gotten harder to cook two Thanksgivings, Christmases, and Easter dinners on separate days. People. After thirty years of this, I'm tired of having my feeling hurt and trying to please my brother and his wife. How am I supposed to respond when she texts me telling me that if if if it's just our family, they'll attend. Tired of it in Iowa. You need to respond to them and go, yeah. They're gonna be there. We'll see you or we won't.

Yep. This will It's impossible to please everyone. There is no you should just spend absolutely no effort trying to please this woman. Here's the party. Hope you can make it. Oh, sorry. Love on her. Invite her always. Do not try and pander her. You can send her a Swanson TV

meal. What happened to your guys' crazy compassion from earlier? That's why I said love on her. Still invite her. I said keep him out. Yeah. But No. That's true. I'm consistent. Danny's closed the border. Loving on her does not mean pandering to her and saying, oh, we'll we'll we'll make a second Christmas for you. No. That's not the right way to do that. So it's it's okay to love on somebody who has possible violent ties and let them go country free. But if a man wants a dinner on his own Don't try and paint them the same situation, Mike. Get out of here. Don't even try and paint it like that. You and I both know that's not the same situation. It's very much characteristic of what you said. It is not in any way characteristic We're of known for having wild compassion, he says. Yeah. Unreasonable compassion for others. That means give them a place to come in and live even though they're cursing island. First man wants a turkey dinner. If you're gonna quote me if you're gonna quote me, use the right word. I said radical. Second off, loving on this person does not mean that you have to sit there and go, yes, Arlene, I'm gonna cook you a second Christmas dinner, a second turkey dinner, and a second Easter dinner. Or offer her lovers. Invite her, say we'd love to have you here. We would be excited if you're here. I'm also going to invite my father's side of the family. There's a chance they'll be here. I would love to see you. Have extra of her favorite dessert and be like, we have peas on pie. That makes me uncomfortable. I'm not coming over. Can we do a separate dinner for me to love on me with your radical love? Absolutely not. No. No. My radical love stops at Turkey. It is oh my gosh. You are taking my words incorrectly, my good sir. I am more accurately shining a light on what you've described. No. Radical love does not mean making this woman her second dinner. That is not what that means. But You and I both said,

you and I both agreed that the word love does not necessarily mean pandering to what they need that what they want. There's a difference between loving on people and just giving them what they want. Like, you're a refugee at home, that's what they want. That's what they need. It's a no. It's Moova's value system. That's what it is. So whatever you find important is how is is the scale of which we're gathering. This woman does not okay. Seriously, you're gonna tell me that this woman needs a second Easter? When I was hungry, you She needs a Christmas? I'll send her food. I have no problems with that. But are you gonna tell me that a ref telling me that a refugee that needs a home is the same situation as a woman that thinks she needs a second dinner. I'm just saying Try try and tell me that's the same thing, Mike. Your value system is No. I'm I'm asking you to answer my question. Try and tell me that's the same thing. I know it's not the same thing. So do I. But you have you have treated it as if it is. No. I just painted it as different situations. Said that someone is asking for something ridiculous, and so you denied it. No. No. I did not say that someone asked for something ridiculous. You're like, yeah. We have crazy questions. A refugee asking for a home is not asking for something ridiculous. As long as A woman that is willing to say, want more attention paid to me over the holidays, that is ridiculous. So what if they show Those are not the same. They show up with a home with a criminal record and and penchant for violence. Is that crazy now? No. It's not crazy. You're you're giving them something they need. You're telling me that you're trying to paint in the same light a person that may have a criminal background, that may have violent tendencies, who still needs a home is the same thing as a selfish woman who just feels like she needs more attention on Christmas and is willing to say only you don't pay enough attention to me. That's not the same thing. Yes. It is. No. It's not. Yes. Absolutely. How is that the same thing? Your secular is a butt. There we go.

Secular says, you are too kind. I wish you had asked this question thirty years ago because if you had, I could have spared you a lot of grief. The next time your self centered sister-in-law pulls that stunt, send her a text saying, sorry you can't make it. We'll miss you. Then add a smiling emoji. Did you add that last piece or was that actually on there? No, it was there. I did not have to. I did not have to edit. You got time for one more bit? Yeah. Okay, hang on. Sorry. There are multiple people watching the show until that interchange between you idiots. No one is no longer watching the show. Knockers dropped.

Shut up, Mike. You doing? I move I like that you used to let that you find it reasonable for someone who doesn't have a home, that the reasonable reaction is to give them a home 3,000 miles away. That's that's the That's what I can offer them. I can offer them that home. Like, I can offer them my home. I don't have the finances right now to buy a house for them in Pakistan.

I don't have the I don't have the ability to buy a home in Europe or in Asia right now. But you can fly them over here? No. If they're if they're knocking on my door to have a home here, I can offer them that. Oh, so That's what I'm saying. I don't have the resources to offer them home in their country. I don't. Or I would have. Trust me. That'd be a lot easier. I actually think that is a viable solution. Just buying them a home? Well, I mean, they need a place to live. It doesn't mean they have to own a home. Right? Like, what are you gonna offer? A room? Yeah. Oh, okay. That's legitimately what I can offer right now. Right. So that might be what they need in their area.

So right. So, like, the the again, that's that's where there's a bit of a great question. Right? It isn't it isn't either they don't have a home or they live in your home and we fly somebody over here. Right? I alright. Is there a span of solutions that otherwise may work? I would agree with that. I just don't have the means to buy an apartment somewhere else right now. But you can cook two turkeys. Turkeys are cheaper than apartments. Turkeys are cheaper than apartments. Away. Dear life from the past. Dear life from the past. I secretly married a man fourteen years ago. No one. Oh. Over there. No one knew about it. We lost contact for several years, but now we are talking again. I'd like to spend the rest of my life with him. He's

happy living where he is right now. But if we did get back together, people would assume I'd just let a man move in with me. I don't usually care what people say about me, but this is a small town, exclamation point. If mister wonderful gives me another chance, how should I handle this? And how should I introduce him to people kind of married? Did he know that you married him? That is the best possible question to ask. Are you certain that he's aware of your marriage? Here's the deal. I'm not sure if this is the first time you've tried mushrooms or you've been a mushroom user for a long time. But your attitude, demeanor, and thought process in this entire situation has got to be the most asinine trait of thought I've ever heard of. Like, so have a wedding? Yeah. I secretly married a man fourteen years ago. We lost contact.

Like, how does that don't lose contact with someone. You just stop talking to them. He was showing up for dinner, then all of sudden, he stopped paying any bills or being we're not in the eighteen hundreds anymore where, oh, it looks like I don't get letters from Jimmy anymore. Yeah. Like, you lose contact with that person. You stop talking. And then now have decided one day over lonely dinner going, well, hey. Yeah. I don't know. You know how we lost contact? Don't think that I just let that I just let an unknown man named Greg live with me. We've been married secretly, had no contact for fourteen years. But since we were married fourteen years ago but had no relationship at all, I think it's gonna be great. We're gonna live the rest of our lives together. Yeah. Exactly. I I've missed him the last couple years, so I'm gonna spend the rest of my life with him. This guy is a joke, and you are too. Here's the thing. Heroin's a poison, and

it messes up your body and mouth. Cocaine's a heck of a drug. You got some stuff to get rid of in your life. I'm guessing fourteen year old nonexistent marriage, Frank, might be a first on the chopping block till you get yourself straight down. Here's the deal. From a secular worldly perspective, this gives me hope that at some point in time, I might be an okay dude. Because I'm not gonna be marry a person in secret, and then for fourteen years kind of have a fake relationship where I lose contact and that person will still be in love with me and want to spend the rest of life with me. That gives me hope. I wouldn't do it in a small town because people will know. Yeah. People will know and think that someone just moved into your home that you didn't know. Yeah. Who's that? You don't think they've been secretly married fourteen years, do you? No, man. Probably not. I'd love to be involved in that barbershop conversation. Here we go. Anybody else wanna weigh in on this heavy one? K. Here we go. Secular says, there's nothing to be embarrassed about. If you never divorced, introduce him as your husband, of course. It's all the truth. If you are questions all all questioned, all you need to say is, we were married, became estranged, and now we're back together. That is the advice. Here's the deal. I would just I would start a I would start a a separate bank account right now and call it bail money.

When you finally get busted for whatever nefarious thing has brought you to the sliced. These are all huge mistakes. Mom, dad, this is my husband in fourteen years. It's just it's the whole demeanor. We lost contract for several years, but now we are talking and just talking again. I'd like to spend the rest of my life with him. That's true. How old are you? I'm just interested. If you you married him fourteen years ago, that means you have to be at least of marrying age. I'm gonna assume it's at least 18, 17, 18. Or fourteen years later, you are I mean, you, sir, are in your mid thirties. At least. Either that or their secret marriage was a pact they made when they were 11. Yeah.

I mean, it could be Alabama. You could have been married since you were nine, but, like, I don't have any proof of this. I witnessed one of those before. Okay. Yeah. That's that's that's it. That's that's all we got. Secular is the best. I love him. You've been listening to Life Thanks for hanging out with us tonight. Very much appreciate you dealing with the show. If you have any feedback for us, shoot us an email at [email protected] unless you hate the show, and then let the station manager know that's kind of his problem, not mine. And I don't know. That's what we got going on. Big thanks for for being here with us. Check out the website for past clips from the show, including performances from some of the excellent folks that we've had in. And, hey, we got some exciting interviews coming up that we hope to let you about here in the next couple weeks, and I think that'll be that'll be good for all. In the meantime, please be faithful in means that God will handle the ends. You've listening to live in the back.