Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. You are live from the Path. And you're listening to Live From The Past. We're coming from the Pat Louis Studios here in Seattle.

Now then a couple things happened. One, somebody is completely blue, and then one of the screens fell down and hit my feet. Oh. I just wasn't prepared for any of it, Jonesville. Don't understand that stuff. Alright. Alright. Alright. Here we go. Here we go. I think we got this all straight down. Here's what we got coming up on the show this evening. There was a article on oh, what was it? It was on the christianpost.com,

and it had to do with basically, Christian's kinda whining, like, when will this be over? It was oh, man. Hold on. Let me I had it up and then I lost it. Hold on. Let me see if I can find it real quick. Oh, yeah. It was it was by Matt Moore who does a lot of opinion pieces for for the Christian Post.

And was called Christians Prepare for Lifelong War. And here's the opening. It says, when will it end? This question pours endlessly into my email box. And I I, like, immediately right there, I thought, yeah, people do ask that stuff all the time. Like, it it could be a multiple things. I think he's writing more on a the effects of or the temptations of sin in in people's lives. But like, you kinda get that from Christians in general. It's like, hey, man. We're having to fight the culture wars. When will it end? And it it just I have some thoughts on it, but like I I thought we'd talk about a little bit about his article and see as if he kinda strikes the right note and and what's what should our reaction be to kind of this constant pressure that I think folks are feeling. So we'll hit up that article. Also oh, there was another article. Hold on. Let me see if I can dig this one up too. Oh, the the the triple x church guys.

There was an article that said three things about porn that you won't hear in church. Any any guesses any guesses on what these three things are? They sell your credit card information. So you're specifically going with not be something talked about in church. Pornography websites. Oh, right. I mean, do people actually pay it for it on legit paper? You know what saying? Like, it just seems as a logical transaction. It's foolish.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Alright. That's it? Well, I mean, I haven't thought about it very much, man. Yeah. Three things. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I got nothing. Alright. We'll hit we'll hit up those three. Well, I mean, what do you want? Me and Mubba coming in and be like, yeah. We've been thinking about porn all week, and here's what we think to do this. Wouldn't that be a problem? Well, no. I don't expect you to say, like, the the proclivities of what are in the porn. I'm just saying, like, what are some things that you think that the

the church the church is not talking about pornography that they probably should? Well, one, most of you are doing it. Yeah. I was gonna say There we go. Most dudes are struggling with it in some form or another. Okay. There we go. Up the leadership chain all the way. Yeah. No. No. That's true. That's true. In fact, there there have been multiple studies that have bore out that pastors are are really no different when it comes to the amount of people in the congregation that are looking at pornography and frankly, the church is not any different than the rest of the world. That sounds about right. Yeah. Yeah. They just they just tend to hide it a little bit and certainly not better. They're just not in here's the deal. They're just not in mixed company where people are asking them about it. Where where people believe that it's not a moral issue, they tend to talk about it openly. But where you believe that you're that it is a moral issue and you're hiding it, then no one actually talks about it and then you actually you don't make progress on something that you actually should be talking about openly because it is a problem. So we'll see if that shows up in the article.

We also have some advice on Dear Life for the Path. Mike, is it a previous this week or we'll see just see what happens. You know, I was kind of thrown off base by that porn question, and I I haven't even looked to see what's hap I'm sure it's deplorable, Ben. No. I understand, Ben. I I here's what we're gonna do. I need you to fill in for about, I don't know, five, ten seconds why I act like I already knew what was up. No. I don't think there's any I mean, we don't really have to go in any type of preview if you don't have one available. No. I'm guessing someone is stuck in some kind of social awkward situation and has no idea how to get out. And the base of our advice is going to be, hey. Just go and talk to them. Yeah. Okay. Now hold on. It seems to be the generality. There's a there's a lady that she's an Anglo woman, and she's using Spanish. And she fears she may be out of line for using the Spanish because she is not Spanish. Did you say Anglo woman? That's how she described herself. Oh, okay. Gotcha. I am I am

am I am what around here is called parentheses Anglo. Does anybody actually call you that? Like, what are those where's that Anglo at? Yeah. You know That seems racist. Yeah. Maybe I mean, can we give up that mean, the the the Saxons have been gone for a long time. Right? Like Saxony has not been a country. I I mean, I don't know their specific demise, but I feel like it's been a long time. I'm a descendant of a Germanic tribe is probably the best way to put it. But but, like, I I mean, is that is that is that really a distinction we need to keep moving around with? I think it's socially acceptable to just say white, isn't it? I had this come I'm a white guy. This week, my one of my kids was was acting particularly stubborn, you know. And then someone's like, well, that makes sense because you're part Dutch. I'm like, does it does it now hold on a minute. Like, maybe I don't understand character traits or the human experience as a whole. But, like, I mean, you really feel like the the Dutch are a noted to be the most stubborn people ever, and you've carried it over a train ride, a boat ride, and and 15 parents to equal. Now you're just a hair stubborn on occasion because you part Dutch? Oh, it must be the Dutch in him. I mean, that I mean, that don't make any sense to me. I suppose I mean, granted now, I I've I've had this discussion with a couple of folks who are like, well, you know, I have a proclivity to, you know, certain addictions or certain lifestyles or this way because it it's that my whole family is that way. And I'm like, well, I mean, some of that is nature and some of that is nurture. But like Right. I'm not gonna say that you don't have like a a a bent as a as a family structure, you know, to addict in one way or act a certain way. But like, that dog only get big when you feed it. So

Yeah. I I mean, some I mean, I hear what you're saying, you know, bad stuff or or whatever. You were I was born with this and this and I'm like, yeah. But still, like, you recognize the fact that it does run-in your family and you keep shoveling it lettuce and meat and you're like, why is it getting worse? My family was always this way. Well, no. I don't think it was. It's a dutch in me. Yeah. Part of my behavior, I had an ancestors that came over on the Mayflower and he was an ass. So, you know I really like bright colors. I had Spanish in me. I'm sorry. So the Ducce Of Saxony was originally was settled by the Saxons in the late Middle Ages. And it sounds like it was incorporated in Germany by, like, 1296. So I'm I'm just saying, I I I it just seems like a non distinction anymore to be like, I'm Anglo Saxon. You know, you're not. Like, why would in fact, that's a weird lineage to hold on to. They were they were subdued and conquered by somebody else hundreds of years ago A long time ago. And you're pouring back to your lineage of a prime people who were overtaken.

You know what? Here's another deal I ran into with a with a race racism this week is I'd I was filling out some immigration paperwork and it asks you if you're, like like, it has it has African American and then native Indian and then white slash Hispanic and then other. And I thought, did did someone sue? You know what saying? Like, white and Hispanic are notably different. Yeah. So maybe maybe those are the only two fellows that haven't sued.

So they they can't We don't need our own one. Forcing them out, and then, like, so far, a Hispanic guy and a white guy haven't sued anybody. So, like, they're still in the the box together. You know, that actually makes the most sense. In in general, there's not a whole lot of plight for the white person, and so, like, I I don't think they need to sue to get their own box. Yeah. And it's not it's not like I like, I'm like, hey, man. I wanna be identified as a white man. I could care less. But, like, when you say white slash Hispanic, like, they're the same, why would you even make the distinction of two words if they're the same? You know what I'm saying? Just say, put everyone else in the other. And what what are you other anyway? You know, are you I mean, are you from Iceland or do you not count as a white slash Hispanic then? Hey, man. Everybody everybody asks for that stuff. What are they doing with this data? Like, they do we do a census. Right? So, like, our our national data comes from a census of when we that they do every ten years and they get this type of information. What is the DMV doing with this? Well And what is it, like, I I Well, is it possible immigration office, a guy with the name Mike Foust could roll in there as a Hispanic? Because I checked white Hispanic and they're like, yeah, that's him.

You know what I'm saying? So so it's not to validate who you are. You're just trying to screw the Hispanic Mike Foust? Well, but that's what I'm saying. That's how if it was for illegal purposes, right, to to help identify me in cases there was a fraudulent claim against someone else claiming to be Mike Foust, like a Mike Foust black man couldn't show up and a Mike Foust, you know, what was the other option? Oh, native Indian couldn't go in there. But a Mike Foust Hispanic, he could roll right in and no one would know the difference. Yeah. And definitely not a Mike Foust other. I'm just saying like like there's there's there's attempting to categorize people and then there's a helpful way to figure out whether I am the I am the real Mike Foost. Well, that's also just base demographics to set up. Like, yeah, we took the census every ten years, but maybe this company wants their information that's a little bit more fresh than Well, I just eight years. Don't I guess I don't understand what they're doing with it. It doesn't have any teeth except for tickets. Yes. But I mean, it's one category among probably 20 that they're trying to figure out exactly who their demographic is of who's doing what and That's and in what my question though. So like what exactly are they doing with it? The if it's just a like a person for a bunch of market research. Like a sec well, you think so you're saying you don't think it's for security reasons? No. You think it's for, well, we might as well get this information while they're we're having them plow through a bunch of paperwork. You have to you have to put that on pretty much everything. Any I that's the question. Any government thing you're doing, any any basic if you're signing up for a new email thing or if you're hooking up with a new app, you have to sign into a new account with. Half the time, they ask you what's your gender and what's your, what's your nationality or what's your race or something like that. It's probably just their high level market research for who's using their product. Yeah. But doesn't the tail wag the dog if you're like, well, whites and Hispanics use the email like this?

I'm not saying it's right or if it's actually accurate. I'm just saying that's probably If you fail to identify with the the the origin, you're more likely to click phishing links. Like, I I just I don't know. I just If you're other, you definitely use the Yahoo. I I guess I yeah. I guess what I'm just interested in what it is that they're actually doing. Hispanics stay within Gmail. Okay. Alright. Who knows? Anyway, Ducci Saxony. It's been too many years. It's time to give it up. Hey, man. Would you accept someone who says they're Ottoman? That was only, like, sixty years ago, wasn't it? No. Ottoman Empire collapsed in the late what? Eighteen hundreds? No. Yeah. Was was around in the nineteen hundreds. But but no. Because they they oh, they split it up after World War one. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So it would have been 1918.

So ninety years ago. Hundred years ago. Yeah. So I mean, that you could have a living Ottoman. It's very old. Yeah. Alright. Anyway, three things about porn. You won't you won't hear in church. From the Ottomans to porn. Here we go. As pornography becomes more and more normalized in American culture, the church as a whole is starting to realize that this is no longer an issue to be ignored. That's great news. Yeah. I'm very excited about that. But even as churches become more open to speaking about this issue, there are still some things you can't count on hearing from the pulpit. Here are three things the church won't teach you about porn. One, it's becoming more culturally acceptable, especially among young people.

Is that I mean, is that necessary to say for the pulpit? Because I feel like every No. Everybody knows that. Maybe we don't know that. It says, you might hear about this in conjunction with the long rant about culture's declining morals, but it's highly unlikely that your church will let you know just how acceptable pornography is becoming in American society. A recent watch of the basic television No. That's not what they A recent in-depth survey by the Barner Group has revealed that porn use is on the rise among teenagers and young adults. In-depth, And that is less and less seen as morally wrong to use porn. In fact, among young people surveyed, only 32% said that viewing porn was usually or always wrong. I'm surprised at how high that number is. Yeah.

Compare that to the percentage of those who felt the same way about not recycling. 56%. What? Hey. It is actually quite the imbalance. I kinda I kinda get railed when I don't recycle appropriately. I'm like, these are the things we're worried about? You know what saying? Here's the problem with recycling. I don't wanna get on a tangent here because we're talking about the porn, but you have to keep a whole another bin for this stuff, especially when it comes to recycling cans. And then the recycling can bin gets full, and they're like, what do we do with it? And no one knows where to put these cans. And then they end up out in the lawn or something in a bag or taking a precious, you know, closet space. And I'm like, could you just throw it away? Will you just throw it away? I just want them gone. Who's with me? Yeah. Yeah. No. I understand. Hey. Hey. If you could if you could help save the earth, what Mike's like, hey. What can I do? I I'd like to help God's creation. You need to walk roughly 15 feet into this box and put stuff in, you're like, man, let's try. I'm not gonna work. I'm not interested in that. I don't like the color of that bin. It's not really worth it. It's taking up too much space of a place. That green is too ironic. I understand, Mike. Alright. Plenty number two, plenty of people next to you in the pews are struggling with it, but that doesn't mean everyone in church is all fine and dandy with using porn. In fact, there are plenty of your fellow churchgoers who struggle with porn, though you may never know it because they would never admit it. These are the kinds of things that get admitted on anonymous surveys, but they don't tend to come up at the latest potluck.

Well, most That'd be a weird place to talk about it. Yeah. Yeah. Most people don't just vet out the stuff that they're struggling with next to the to the weenies wrapped in bacon. Okay. So here if your community is based off of an event that happens on Sunday morning, and in that event where there's a 150 people in a room, then no one's talking about, hey. I watch porn six times this week. I can understand why that's a problem within your church. But, like, if you have a basic understanding of, hey. You know, we can talk besides just right now. And, hey. Do you wanna get together, like, maybe once this week and talk about what we're really struggling with? Not just me and the other 149, just you and I. It it's no longer that big of a surprise. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. That'd be weird to be like, hey. I watch porn. Past the scalloped potatoes there, Earl. Hey, man. Do you have the offering plate coming up? Yeah. Hey. I watch porn. Yeah. Because even though the church has made inroads into becoming safe places for people to admit their weaknesses and failings, there are still far too many in the church who feel like they must keep their happy faces firmly in place. So so, I mean, I I get what we're saying here, but that's a distinction between a private conversation and a public conversation regardless of what the public is. That's not exactly a fail of the church. One, that's a fail of the guy not to tell anybody. Right? Like, if find another dude in there who seems like they got their stuff together and be like, I'm struggling with this thing. If you haven't tried that, you can't really point fingers at 75 people and be like, they're not supporting me. And I feel like it's not the right time to bring it up to potluck. Well, you're right. It is not the right time to bring it up to potluck. Yeah. Find someone else. If, like, 68% of the, of the nation thinks it's okay to look at porn, and and even a marginal amount of those people use the post office, and we're still not talking about pornographic use at the post office, and, like, how much you look at porn during the week.

I feel like this is a false standard that we're looking at Yeah. To be putting that on the church. It says, sadly, even though most churches are aware of the breadth of the porn problem in their pews, that I think is not true. Very few churches have any formal ministries or programs in place to help their members deal with their porn problems and find freedom from it. You think you think you think people would go this is just a question of mine. Like, do you think people seek out that in a program form or is that is just flat out better done with an with one other guy? To ask that same question. I feel like that's the creepy program you go to that nobody really wants to go and sit around a a table and talk about what they're dealing with with 15 strangers. Like, that's a that's a very intimate conversation. Yeah. Whatever. Hey. Hey. If you're struggling with porn, come here at Saturday at ten. You tell me there's not at least a few onlookers who happen to be dropping off dishes that day so they can take it easy. See who the purr I'm a 100% certain someone's gonna drive by the church parking lot to see if they recognize cars and be like, oh, Stan has a porn problem. Yeah. And this is the same guy that's not gonna tell his wife straight up, because he's going to the program. Right? So he's like, well, I'm gonna go hang out with these dudes, You know? Oh, yeah. The porn thing's going on. Well, I can help people there. You know? Exactly. I'm gonna go there and I'm gonna serve coffee. So I I actually talked to a to a a cat, the I don't know. Man, about six, eight months ago, we we were talking about this. But like, he was there was a men's group at his church, you know. And like, he had just started going and he's like, well, you know, I can hook up with the men's group. And he goes, I had to stop going after a couple months because all they did was wanna talk about porn. Everywhere I every time I went, it was like a giant porn discussion. I'm like, well, you know, truth of the matter is, it's a pervasive problem. He goes, we never got past it. We never wanted to talk about anything else. We didn't talk about loving our wives. We didn't talk about, you know, raising godly children. We didn't talk about work and how how that that struggle balances out. And he goes, yeah, I I get it. It's a problem. But like, if your entire men's group and this this is actually what men's groups turned out to be. They want to talk about exercise, weight lifting, and shooting guns, and then porn. Yep. And they're like, this is it. This is the depth of the modern Christian man. This is all we can talk about is firing a weapon and and lifting weights and porn. This is it, you know. And and nothing about any of the rest of your life to to to actually encircle these these these sin issues. And like it works just like I was talking to my father-in-law this week about his lawn. His lawn is looking pretty uptown. He had a dude come out and start spraying the thing, you know. And I said, why is this tall? You know, he goes, well, they do the weed and feed, you know. Like they shoot the they shoot the all the weeds so they start dying off and then they fertilize it so the grass will take over where the weeds used to be. And I'm like, this is how Jesus works. You know what I'm saying? Jesus is the weed and feed for the for the American man. He shows up and he says, hey, this stuff has gotta go, but I'm a replace it with something so it don't grow back. Right? It it feeds right into the to the to the the evil spirits in the house. Yeah. Right. Yeah. You know, story that he tells, you know. And so like, that that's the problem when you have men's groups that all they do is talk about is porn is a problem and you're still sucking at it and you're terrible and you failed again, but there's hope and redemption for you in Jesus Christ and that's where it stops.

Right? Like it has to be, give me another dude, give me his phone number and I don't wanna do this once a week thing. Like I'm gonna battle this by the minute and by the hour and by the day until I can battle it by the week. And I ain't ready to battle it by the week yet. So we're gonna do it in the minute and the hour and the day. And that's where you get one other guy to do that. I feel like that is way more helpful to do that on a on a one on one fella basis opposed to a week of basically, you know, 10 guys sitting in a room admitting they look at porn. Whatever. It's not a big shocker, you know. So so wait. So what's the what's the ground to that though? So if the if the if you don't need a formal program, if it's best handled individually, but it sounds like people aren't doing it individually. That's because they're scared. Otherwise, they wouldn't be calling for a formal program. It's difficult to set up that kind of trust if you if you don't, if you don't walk into that realizing that, hey, man. We are both screwed up. We're probably dealing with the same kind stuff. Like, it's difficult to walk up to a dude you don't know and go, hey. Nice to meet you. You know, my name is blah blah blah. You know? Hey. Let's talk for a couple of minutes, and then, oh, by the way, I watch porn 15 times a week, and I'm really struggling with that. Can I text you every time I'm thinking about looking at porn? Yeah. Like, that's a very difficult thing to set up unless you are serious. No. Like, very serious about, hey. This has gotta go. So do you think it's, this this is where I kind of struggle is, like, like, my general fallback is to say, look. Find a guy that you trust and and who's a godly man and then pair up with that dude. But, that's even harder to tell that guy. Especially, like, if you let's say you're having a one on one conversation. Right? Like, is it better to have,

you know, that that accountability with another guy that looks porn too? Or is it better to find a guy that does not struggle with that? Yeah. And then and then, you know, you can hit him up and, like, it's embarrassing every time. But, like, if you're serious about it, I I feel like you'll do that. Yeah. You know, where if you get if you if you get another Christian man who means well and you're like, we'll be accountability partners and keep an eye on each other's usage, you know, give me a call when struggling or whatever. And you call him up, he's like, yeah. I I'm I'm struggling too. We're probably good. You know I'm saying? Like, is there a risk where you get two guys that have the same proclivity that they'll just give in and and fall in on each other, you know? So, I mean, AA always chooses a like, your your sponsors a dude that's gone through it. Right? Sure. I don't know. That seems to work for that. I mean, may probably make sense for a dude that struggles with it, but has lack, at least, in essence, likely conquered it to kinda walk them streets with you. I mean, that seems to make sense. And frankly, it doesn't sound like from a from a survey perspective, we're not short on dudes.

Right. We're we're actually I guess we are. We're short on dudes who have actually conquered the thing. No. And that guy can't have 15 people texting him every day. Yeah. He gonna have a lot of friends. Right. And, unfortunately, that guy's gonna be thinking about porn porn a lot more often if he's got 15 dudes texting him every day that says, hey, man. I looked at porn. No. Yeah. Thinking about looking at porn. He goes, hey, man. It's been two years. Stop telling me about it because cause now I want to. Yeah. Yeah. That's tricky. Alright. Now, number three was a shocking percentage of the people on stage struggle with it. Once more, we turn to the Barna survey which shows that the majority of pastors, fifty seven percent, and youth pastors, sixty four percent have struggled with porn either in the past or currently. Those who do struggle with porn say it negatively affects their ministry probably because it's a sin. Sorry, that's that's not what it said. It says it negatively affects their ministry probably because fifty five percent of those pastors say they live in constant fear of being discovered. I feel like you could say the same thing as if you were a kleptomaniac.

Like, if you're a constant Compulsive liar. Yeah. Like, it's a problem in your ministry simply because it separates you from Jesus. Well, yeah. Well, there it is. Right? Who's the head of your ministry? Yeah. Exactly. That that should be the thing. It's like they say, I'm worried it's ruining my ministry because I'm not following God. Right? Like, I'm worried about the separation from Christ when these things are going down. Yep. But I hope someone doesn't find out. The kind of the kind of people that are surprised by these surveys is the kind of person that'd be surprised by the same survey that says 100% of your pulpit, speakers are actually sinners. And they go, wait a minute. What? That pastor's not perfect? Like, I thought that was one of the prerequisites. Prerequisites. But then just a a cursory reading of pretty much any part of the bible gets the whole concept of, hey. Yeah. We all kinda screw up and, oh, by the way, even your pastors. That is included in the word all. He's a human being or she's she's doing this and stuff like that. I just I don't get why this is something that's so surprising. It's because no one talks about it. That's the thing, though. Yeah. Yeah. This is where it all wraps up. It's like, you'll you'll find, you know, pastors that will when they're given a message on, gossip or something, they're like, I've been guilty of this. They're like, yeah. I can understand. He he really is just human. But if he stands up and goes, I've struggled with porn in the past, they're like, He's not How dare he? He's a dirtbag.

Yeah. This is terrible. That guy can't be teaching me. I just, man. It drives me it drives me I don't trust a pastor that's not willing to admit that. Like, I don't trust a dude that's that's not willing to stand in front of people and be honest to a certain degree. Now I'm not expecting the guy to walk up there and say, hey. Here is the nitty gritty details of exactly what struggles I've had with porn before because, I mean, ultimately, that's just an overshare, and that's gonna freak a couple of people out. But, like, a guy that's willing to go up there and just be honest about this kind of stuff, I respect that. And I feel like there there, of course, will be casualties of that where people will go, well, obviously, this pastor is a sinner, and I can no longer go to this church. But you will get serious people that go, okay. It's it's a refreshing thing, not necessarily a good thing, but refreshing thing to realize that my leadership in this church and and the and the people that are supposed to be helping shepherd me and and and are supposed to be leaders among, above me

are also dealing with this kind of stuff. And it's not just, I'm in the I'm in the dirt and they're way further along than me. I feel like there shouldn't be that disconnect. And unfortunately, is. Yeah. The the only hesitation, I guess, with with that, because I think I would tend to agree with that, is that, I mean, when you start looking at the way that Paul describes people that should be deacons, elders, you have the pastors, you know, they they do seem to have most of it together. So so there's probably there's probably a distinction between the guy who's like, I don't know who

your pastor should be be pursuing righteousness, like, if he should, but like, no in no difference than what everyone else should. It's it's, I suppose, it is just the nature of, like,

let's it is hard to tell people to to preach scripture to humans if you are acting like you are not a human. Right? So there's an honest there's an honesty that that's built in to say, look, if if if none of this stuff impacts you, like, you just have no connection with anybody. Right? If if if you're gonna teach on something and it it just simply isn't relatable, people aren't gonna hear themselves in it. And and Jesus did the opposite of that. Right? Jesus told, you know, folksy stories or parables that people could recognize themselves in or, like, things that they would understand. And if you're telling giving examples or telling stories or have such a disconnect from society, like, that's a problem, and and you're not an effective communicator. And, and that's that's your barrier as a as a pastor,

not being a, being honest about that, but being able to communicate it in an honest way. Do you feel like some of those people that listen to Jesus' parables, they say, hey, man. What did he just say? And the guy says, I don't know. I don't have ears to hear. You know what saying? Like, he was like, yeah, I just I just I didn't get none of it, and I think that was on purpose. Actually, no. I've had that thought before. I I like, I've read through I've read through it, I thought I don't like, thought, oh, okay. I get this, and then I've heard someone else explain it, and it was way better. And they understood the takeaways were a little bit different than what I came from. And I thought, shoot, man. Maybe I'm trying to hear this, and I won't get it at all because I don't have ears to hear. Yeah. You're like, Jesus, give me ears to hear. Goes, no. Uh-uh. No. No. No. Not yet. No. This is the hey. Here's the the if I ever have a temptation on

on the moving into reformation thought as if I am not the elect, it's my inability to process the parable. I think, hey, I don't get this crap. Yeah. They were right. I feel that way every time I read The Dishonest Manager. I'm like, well, he seems like he did the right thing. I mean, it seemed wrong because he stole, but he did get praised at the end, like he was shrewd and made good business moves. I don't know what I'm supposed to take away from this. Like, do I mean, should I be more shrewd or should I not steal from people and tell lies about how much people owe me? I don't get it. I'm confused completely. It says, the fact of the matter is your pastor is more than likely someone who is currently struggling with porn or who has had an issue with porn in the recent past. This can make them understandably less likely to talk about it, but hopefully this fact can also give you grace for them and for yourself if you're someone who struggles with it. Here's the thing, it's like, I've actually had the opposite the opposite deal. Like, I've this has been a struggle for me in the past and like, you can hardly find a guy I've met with it doesn't know that.

Right? Because like, I you know, it's just something that is going on with me. And it's something that if I'm if I'm, like, working towards, like, rooting some of those temptations and stuff out of my life, they just know about it. Yeah. It it this is this is the an area in particular where you can find the guys that are serious about it. Right? Like, because it is on in secret, you have to go above and beyond and out of your way to kill it publicly. Publicly. Like and and be because you could you could kill it all you wanted to in secret,

and then it would just come back where it came from. It just returns back. And so, like, most people I find that have struggled with with, you know, looking at porn in the past, Yeah. It's it's not a secret that it's been a struggle for them, and they will go out of their way to kill it publicly. Right? You know what I'm saying? Like like, there's a lot of people that mean business. You'll these are the same people that don't delete their Internet history anymore. They just don't do it. It's it's just not something that they do. They don't delete their text messages ever ever because they wanna say, look. You wanna look? Look. You wanna see anything? See anything. It's it's here. And say, if you ever catch me deleting my Internet history, you come find me because I've been up to something. Yeah. And, like, these are the guys that mean business. They're they're they don't leave themselves any doors, for a path back to where they came from. And and like the guys that that that really are trying to get out of this thing, they will do it in a very public manner, in a very open and honest way with both, you know, their their wife and then probably a couple guys around them to say, look, I'm I'm leaving everything open. Here's my passwords, my emails, Here's I I'm installing a triple x church onto my onto my web browsers. And then they put up like the your accountability guy. This is my favorite part. Right? I've had a couple of guys come up and say, look, I'm I'm putting this this software on my computer that hits people up with an alert. You know, if they catch me, looking at something I shouldn't, they send an email to that person. And it's like, who should it be? I don't I don't know if I wanna send it to my wife. I said, well, here's your options. You can either send it to your wife, which I think is the best idea, your grandma, which is, I think, the second best idea, or you can pick the girl that you had a crush on in high school and you didn't tell her and send her. Then and you're gonna send it to her. Which one do you wanna do? They go, well, I guess my wife sounds best. I said, yeah. I think you should pick your wife. Yeah. Yeah. But, like, the guys that are serious would be like, okay. I'll pick somebody. It's going. I'll I'll pick my wife out of those three options, but I'm gonna do it. Yeah. And and here's the thing. It's like those aren't

the the reason those are good is because they are there's there's snapshots, they're photographs of of freedom, of mile markers and freedom. It's to say like, I'm not if you're a guy like that, you're not you don't delete your Internet history or your text messages, not because you wanna you wanna have to be able to say, hey, see see I didn't do this, it's because it's a it's an earmark. It's a it's a benchmark that says, I want freedom. And and that that's where those things come from. And so, more open you live those things out, the less likely you're going to stumble back into them because,

what you're running around with milestones, with celebration markers that say, yeah, yeah, the minute you reach up as if you're going to delete that, you are reminded of the freedom of which you're giving up by engaging in whatever scenario has caused this. And so, like, those are positive things and, like, they live more free and less change to things that, like, reasonably, you wanna delete your your text message, you could, but, like, they'll go that extra mile because there's freedom in that that says, really do not care. I I don't care that it's here. I don't care if you look at it. And so yeah. No. No. I would agree with that. So so I let's let's talk about well, let me finish the article. No. I think, well, let's see if there's some next steps here. So it says, one thing the the church at large loves to talk about is victory, but we prefer to see the church start talking about lasting freedom, something that is available to everyone whether they're in the pulpit or the pews. They can start with my pilgrimage, a groundbreaking way of thinking about pornography that will change the church, the world and you.

Porn is here. It's growing but it doesn't have to. It's time for the church to get the word out. So proper next steps fellas, is it maybe like, first of all, let's let's let's be honest about where we're at with this thing And then it it sounds like we need to be having close conversations with people that we know, like things that we may think are awkward. We just go up to a fellow and say, hey, you you struggle with pornography?

I mean, like Kath's been. Here's the deal. That's always the way. I was trying to think of a different way to do that, but, I mean, he may be taken aback, but just I mean, do it in in proper private private quarters. But, like, either he's gonna say no or yeah. Yeah. So I mean, either way It's either no or nervous laughter? And then yeah. Oh, and then yeah. Okay. Because he's not gonna nervous laughter and say no unless he's lying. But Yeah. You should ask him those questions in succession. Yeah. Like, are you having a problem with porn? No. Are you a liar?

Are you having a problem with lying? Let's start Apparently. Would you like to go back to step one? Yeah. Do you just lie about porn or do you lie about other things? Liar. This has turned from a seeking an accountability partner to a, hey, Speck. I'm Log. Nice to meet you. I chew through accountability partners pretty fast. No. No. I because I'm not I wouldn't I'm not denying the, log in my own eye. Okay. I suppose that's fair. I'm just, know, we're gonna take a selfie with it, snuggle up to a guy with a speck and say, hey, Let's both look at that. Let's chat.

Yeah. Ultimately, there's a there's a certain level of, if you're serious about this, awkwardness really doesn't matter. Like, if this is an issue and you're honestly and earnestly seeking out accountability and are looking for a way out, which I've talked to I have talked to many people, and there is. There's honestly another there's a side to this where you're not,

stuck in this in this crap that that is porn, that is lust and stuff like that. Like, there's there's a certain level of, yeah, you give up comfortability to, to seek that that purity. Yeah. Yeah. No. I I agree. And I think that's that that's that's right. The the first step is really saying, this if if your hesitancy is, I think this is gonna be awkward, it's like, you're right. Yeah. It sure is. Yeah. But I mean, the awkwardness stems from the fact that you've been looking at porn. If you want to move away from the awkwardness of having to hide that you look at porn, the right step is to start talking about it so that you don't hide it. See, here's the is you can't stop the fact that you've already looked at What you can do is stop hiding it. So let's do the things that you can control. You can control hiding things. So start talking about them out loud and then start working your way to freedom. Right? But, if you want freedom from this thing, you ain't gonna get it hiding hiding in your room at, like, one in the morning, and I wish I could be free of this. Click click click. You dummy. Yeah. And here's here's where I think most people

fail at this, is is once you tell somebody this thing, you have to be ready to accept some consequences. Right? Mhmm. Like, you set them up to be, you know, your accountability person, they're gonna ask you. And don't you can't be getting all offensive, say, three weeks in where you're like, look, man. You gotta stop asking me that or or, you know, come on. It's embarrassing. You know what saying? You you you're gonna get it from your wife. Your wife's gonna ask you. She's gonna see that you're sitting in the computer and she's gonna know what you're doing. And you're gonna feel like she's coming down on you, and she's giving you a hard time, and she's always tracking with what you do. Well, listen, you you looked at porn. You know what I'm saying? It it's coming with the redemptive territory. You gotta give some people some grace to to to be able to help you without you getting offended. Like, your ability to be offended about people asking you about this problem has got to go right out the window. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. You've got to be alright with that because what because what you're going for is is is death. You want the sin to die. Yeah. And if it takes people asking you a question every week for the rest of your life, but the sin died, you won. Right? You won. Totally worth that. That's all that's all that it takes. And and it'll subside. It'll get better, and you won't feel this way all the time. But be careful because when you start feeling better, like people ain't paying attention to you no more, this is when your fellow that you used to know likes to come showing back up at the house and be like, hey. It's your old buddy from college. Maybe I could scratch at your place for a couple of weeks. Yeah. You're like, well, I don't see any harm in that, You fool. No. That man is not allowed in the house no more. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. I agree completely. It's it's interesting that this is this conversation is happening

in kind of the context of Pamela Anderson Anderson had a an op ed in, I think it was the New York The Wall Street Journal this week about the dangers of pornography. And, like, again, that's an odd source. Right? She was in she's been a couple of highly public sex tapes, has been on the cover of Playboy more often than anybody else. And she was she did, like, a joint auth article with Rabbi Shmooli. Do you guys remember him? He had, like, a Oh, yeah. Absolutely.

Yeah. Totally. I know exactly who's talking He had a reality show. Favorite rabbi? He had a reality show on, like, TLC or someone. It was like Shalom with Rabbi Schmooey. And he was he he That's trustworthy. He did, like, counseling stuff. Anyway, so they she said, if anyone still had doubts about the addictive dangers of pornography, Anthony Weiner should have put them to rest with his repeated self sabotaging sexting. That guy, he's gonna be the dumbest guy alive. Well, kidding. However, like, he is the same guy as every other person. It's just the rest of the dudes don't happen to get caught. He's he just doesn't do it right. Publicized. Yeah. I mean, that's the thing. It's like his his sexting with someone

and whatever his proclivities are are no different than the guy, like, whoever's listening to this or sitting in the pew next to you that has these same problems. You just don't nobody cares that you're sexting someone. It won't make the newspaper. Like, somebody, like, somebody could find out that that, the average guy in the church is looking at porn and it's not gonna make the the register or the tribute. Right? But he does because of his position and because frankly, he got caught doing it multiple times and he's an idiot. Oh, he's such an idiot. Yeah. So so but here's the thing, it's like he's no different. He's he's just more public. And so, like, we wanna look at this guy as a moron, but like you're in that same boat. You're doing the same moronic behavior. It's just fewer people care and sometimes, some some reason that gives you a sense of

peace when it should not. But it said, what is required is an honest dialogue about what we're witness witnessing, the true nature and danger of porn and an honor code to tamp it down in the collective interest of our well-being as individuals, as families and as communities. And it, Pamela Anderson says that pornography has is having a corrosive effect on a man's soul and on his ability to function as a husband and by extension as a father. This is a public hazard of unprecedented seriousness given how freely available anonymous anonymously accessible and easily disseminated pornography

is nowadays. I agree. I agree. I think that's true. Yeah. It's true. And I might I might tell you something else, boys. Just for this is just for the men folks. Ladies, you leave the room for a minute. Women do not want a picture of your penis. No. Yeah. I mean, I I mean, seriously, they the women do not work the same way you work. Like, I you know, I'm I'm sure there are certain things that they're like, yeah. That's that's that's cute or whatever. Don't want a picture of your penis. No. Yeah. It's a guarantee. Most of them find it odd looking, weird, and they're like and then they have to immediately delete it off their phone and hope no one wants to borrow their phone because your penis is on it. Nobody wants that. I mean, in a even in a let's say you're in a Christian loving marriage and you're just a good loving husband who's been a man of of of one woman his whole life, that woman still does not want a picture of your penis. Nope. That's just not the way it works. Okay? Get it through your head. Yeah. Yeah. Broad shoulders, abs, maybe. Yeah. No penis. No. I mean, do you know how many guys at work I've had to talk to about this?

Like, I do like just sent her a picture of my penis. I'm like, what? Why? Did she ask for it? No. No. I just sent it to her. I'm like, you're an idiot. Thought it would really rile her up. Yeah. It don't work. Makes no sense. You wanna rouse her up when you're responsible. You know what saying? And you stop acting like an eight year old boy. Take care of your kids. Read them a story and make them smile. I guarantee you that'll work a lot better. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You send your penis somewhere. You just caused the problem. A, your penis is on somebody's phone. B, it's probably being backed up to like the Google Drive, on like because they don't assume that they're gonna get penis pics, and they delete the thing, and then they go to look at it, their Google Drive photos or I two, I photos or whatever, like, three weeks later, there's a penis on there too. Yeah. You're hiding penises all over the place, making yourself feel bad. Plus, yeah, mean, you've never got to judge whether the picture was any good. And now what are you doing? You're sitting around by yourself looking at a man's penis. Right. Gauging the light, gauging the substance of the photo. Taking a picture of a penis, and now you're staring at it and trying to decide if it's good enough to send. Yeah. You, sir, are are having a bad life. Yeah. You're a weird person. Just stop doing that. Oh, man. I'm having sex.

It's definitely a conversation I didn't think we'd be having, but in a it's definitely needed. It's one that has to happen. I've read way too many stories. Trust me. Among my generation, it is so much worse and it's unfortunately, it's it's not married men to their wives or anything like that. It is it is dudes that are out there, trying to talk to fifteen, twenty chicks at a time and unwillingly or, like, unwantedly send that stuff just to as many people as possible in hopes of someone going, oh, hey, great. Would you like to come over? It's so it's bad. So they're using it as the wrong filter. You could if you're gonna do that, if the somebody responds and says, hey. Yes. I'm interested. You've just got a definite no. If you get, like, take them off the list of people that you should be dating Right. You get someone that says, that's disgusting. Do not do that to me. They're gonna call you out in twenty years when you're a fool and have kids with her. That's what I'm saying. Like, consider trying to date that person. Yeah. They seem You're filtering it incorrectly.

Freaking dudes. Yeah. Yeah. That that's a great picture. She's totally gonna dig on it. Are you kidding me? What? You know what I'm saying? What's the matter with you? Look. You're in your own bathroom, you know. Like, I mean, seriously. I just don't understand people. Wait. They're doing it in the house that their wife is in? Well, I'm not sure how it's gonna be. It's worse. Well, it'll be worse. Hey, sweetheart. On a business trip, could you you could

is it making Miss you. The camera roll noise. I don't know. Once again, I don't I'm not really sure how Some cell phones are still old enough to have the shutter noise that you could put on. That's what we're talking about. Alright. Alright. Can the ladies come back now, Mike? Yeah. Ladies can come back in. I'm sorry about that. Don't let seriously, don't don't listen to that, ladies. I'm just telling you, that was for the fellas. It's it's gotta stop. It's gotta stop. Fellas, go back and listen to that again. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Here we go. It's an article. Oh, wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. So the the takeaway though was no. It stopped.

Hey. We're gonna put that on the app. Remember, we we did the live from the Path app. The one was the picture where you take a selfie and then it automatically produces a photo that says this man cannot be trusted. Yes. That was the first one. Then Destroys pride. And then we can I suppose we can do a a penis pic butt button where you click it and then you just hear Mike going Yeah? That would deter anyone. Does that Luke ride? No. How's the lighting on this one? And just produces it just produces a screen that says at the whatever time you press the button at 10:50PM, you made a mistake. You

made a horrible decision exactly two seconds ago. Call your accountability, man. You're falling off the rails. Alright. So it was a Christian Post article by Matt Moore. It was Christians prepare for lifelong war. When will it end? This question pours endlessly into my email box. Struggling saints wearied by the constant haunting whispers of their sinful nature. Long to know how much longer they must fight before the evil thing is beaten into lifeless silence. Are they doing something wrong?

Are their flesh combating strategies ineffective? Are they not reading scripture or praying long enough? Are they even saved? Every time they get some level of victory over a specific sinful disposition or habit, it seems a new or previously unrealized manifestation of the flesh surfaces in its place. The endless activity of their indwelling sin sends them spiraling into skepticism, even skepticism about the truthfulness of this great salvation in Christ Jesus. How can the powerful redemption the scriptures speak of be real when the sin within still feels so powerfully alive? These doubt laced arrows of the enemy have penetrated my own heart. I have at times found myself considering the possibility that Christianity might just be a set of pleasant but fictional ideas that produce a sense of peace and hopefulness that are merely psychologically induced.

As the activity of my flesh persists, I've wondered if the seeming lack of sin silencing power in my life evidences the non reality of the faith I profess and the grace in which I think I stand. If God has really sprinkled the divine blood of his only son over my soul and implanted his own spirit into my heart, shouldn't I be freer from the presence and influence of sin that I am? Does that ring true for anybody? Yeah. I mean, he used way too many fancy words for me to follow exactly what he's saying. I understand. It sounds about right. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Same boat. Okay. And, man, do you wanna help people, you just wanna sound smart? Because I feel like you can really help me, but you have done bloated this thing completely up, and where I'm missing what you're getting at. Sprinkled the divine blood of his like, come on, man. Hey. He gets paid by the word. Alright. That's true. That's true for most guys on the net. That's why everyone blow hards. Now the comment section is free. Don't know what goes on there. But like the yeah. The articles themselves. You could tell the guys that get paid by the click are paid by the by the word. Alright. I tend to think so. However, though I might intuitively assume my flesh should be a bit more docile, the bible tells a slightly different story. One in which the normative Christian experience is characterized not only by the joy, peace and power of God, but also by unceasing war. The Holy Spirit has created within us believers a new nature that is inclined to God and suited for holiness. But our old nature, weakened yet still quite lively, declares war on the supernatural redirection of desires as stated in Galatians five

seventeen. Hold on. Let's look. Let's see what Galatians five seventeen is. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right on. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other so that you are not to do whatever you want. I kinda like how that new international version does it. There we go. Though the spirit is always about his illuminating and quickening work within us, the flesh likewise works double time to entice us back to the idolatrous altars at which we formally bowed. And until our cursed bodies are swallowed up by glorious immortality,

this inner tension will persist. Some seasons will be less intense than others but the remaining sin within us will never cease in its God hating and faith opposing activity. So the I I this does seem like a struggle that I myself and I think the some fellows that I've talked to have had where it's like, how can I how can this still be

if I feel like my reality is supposed to have changed? If if the holy spirit is here to, at the at the at the barest sense, help me conform to the image of Jesus and per perhaps beyond, you know, how can I continue to struggle with the things that I struggle with? And if I do, what does that mean about the presence of the holy spirit in my life, my submission to that or lack thereof or the the truth of the gospel message entirely?

I think I think I don't know. Those I think those are legitimate legitimate struggles. Yeah. So I I guess the question, what was his what was his summation on is his summation that, yeah, this is just gonna happen?

Yes. As when we accept and expect continual conflict, we aren't shrinking back from battle. We are simply protecting ourselves from unbiblical expectations of struggle for ease and the paralyzing doubts that will surely accompany those expectations as well as embracing a mindset that is prepared for war and thus more capable of waging it. It was basically saying, I don't know I don't know where that expectation came from, but it's a false one. The the there's a falseness that says

with the presence of the spirit or in your your relationship with Jesus does not mean that you will not have struggles. It does not mean that's that sin will not at least attempt to persist in your life and that you will not have to fight it. Basically, it reminds you that there's still a battle going on on this on this side of eternity And

you it is the wrong expectation and the wrong basis of evaluating validity of what scripture talks about as to whether there's a presence or the persistence of these temptations in your life. Yeah. So so classically, what what it really boils down to is the truth of the matter is that we're just we're not good at doing hard things. You know I'm saying? Like, you're right. The struggle is going to be there, and it will be a persistent struggle. We're just not good at fighting it. We just go, that's the best I could do. You know, I made it, three hours. Or someone came and told me what this other person did over the weekend, and I feel like I gotta tell at least one guy. Yeah. Right. I mean, I'm I'm I'm not telling 10.

And so the struggle that you had to not tell anybody, you thought, well, I'll cut that struggle in half and tell one guy, and then it'll be fine. Or I'll cut this I'll cut this struggle in half, and I won't have to worry about treating my girlfriend super nice so she will eventually marry me. I'll just go look at porn and treat her however the heck I want. Yeah. No struggle. You know what I'm saying? Like and I think that's actually the deal when you when you boil it all down, we got spine. Yeah. We've got no backbone. We don't have the the full armor of God where we say, look, we put this armor on because we meant to. And I know it carries 60 pounds of of badassery, but, like, I'm not gonna put it on because I don't wanna mess with hauling it around. I would rather just do what I want and move a little free or not have to have the struggle. This is totally off topic, but I now wanna get a tattoo of the 60 pounds of badassery across my shoulders and then just have the mark to Ephesians. Armor to God. 60 pounds of badass. Here's the thing. It's like we I I read articles like this and write like they hit me with a lot of truth. There is a lot of truth in what he's saying and and and it it does affect me. But really, the more if I were to sit down and think about it for not two more minutes, I would realize that I'm just a coward and I don't like to fight.

That I I've I it's I've I've looked at the ends and I've looked at what's gonna come out of it. And for some reason, in my sinful thought process, I go, it ain't worth fighting that. I guess, worth fighting a little or worth telling other people to fight for. Or or I I guess, to to someone what he's getting at too, if it's not easy, then it's not that I should fight harder or that I have to continue to engage in this battle. It's that the validity of scripture may not must not be true. Right. Or it's true and I'm not part of it. Again, the the most likely reason for me to take on a reformed theology. I I can't I I keep I keep sinning in a certain way, and I think, well, damn it. The Muslims is not elect. Yeah. I just can't. Thessalonians, I'm I understand you. I I get that that's not quite the accurate representation of, like, what that thought process is, but, like, I'm not occurred to me a few times. I think I so I've seen I've seen or myself have gone into this kind of two different ways. I've seen people have this question from the perspective of of kinda like Mike was talking about from, like, a we don't wanna do hard things perspective of, you know, hey, man. When is this battle over? Because I'm really tired, and I don't wanna do it anymore. And in that case, yeah, shut up. You you it's gonna be going on forever. Just just deal with it. You gotta realize that there's gonna be a lot of work to do. You're not gonna be lying around a nursing home when you're 85 and go, man, I'm super excited it's done. Like, oh, buddy. I remember all those bad thoughts I used to have and all the stuff I had to deal with. It's so much it's so much better nowadays now that I've gotten through it.

It doesn't exist. But then I've also heard from the perspective of, you know, when is this gonna be over from that that, guilt and then conviction perspective of I really want to have a purity in my soul, and I want it I want to look more like Jesus, and I want to be, on that level where I can say that with confidence that I'm made in the image and likeness of God and and am able to say that with confidence. Right? And I think that there's a certain level where you just gotta step back and realize you

have a lot of guilt in this perspective, but you gotta realize, god loves you entirely through this. Like, this really boils down to, yeah, you've got guilt, and you've got this perspective where you wish you were done with this, and you wish that you were no longer in the in the dirt and no longer dealing with all this sin. But, like, the first step you've got to realize is, yeah, you are in the dirt, but God still loves you entirely through that. Like, sees that sin and loves you for everything that you are. He hates it, but he still loves you as his son or daughter entirely. And until you can get to that place where you're you're not

constantly blaming yourself for everything, you're not constantly stuck in a rut because the fact you can't get over how bad you are, to where you start to look at the the light and the, the identity that you have in Christ. Like, you have to take that step to where, yeah, you're going to be dealing with this forever. It's going to be something that it will happen on a daily basis, on a weekly basis, or monthly basis for the rest of your life. But that doesn't mean God loves you any less, and you just fight. You keep fighting knowing that, okay. I'm dealing with this sin. This does separate me from God from that perspective, but I'm still his son. I'm still his daughter. I still can, identify

myself as loved and cherished by him. And I can get through this knowing that that's my foundation. It's difficult to walk into a a sin battle not knowing that God loves you. Yeah. Alright. I think I think you want you want a little help in this. You know, I I would I would mold your para life to to follow it. You know know what I'm saying? Like, would specifically say, you know, God, give me the fight. Give give me the fight. I wanna fight it. I want this is what I wanna do, and I don't wanna give in so easy, and I don't wanna just lay down and have this be what it is. I love you, and I'm willing to fight for it. I'm asking for extra strength for the fight. Yeah. And some of that is just calling stuff for what it is. Right? Like, if you're running into a circumstance, like, things that I've

maybe it's a a sin that I'm struggling with or maybe it's just I don't know. Keeping myself on kind of on the right path, like, I just gotta call that stuff out and be like, god, that's what that's that thing right there that we were talking about. Right? Like, things that I try to handle internally just don't seem to be very effective, like, I I have to if I say things out loud though, generally, it's with a nope or a no, it's nuts. That's the thing we were saying. Like, it just helps me process it as a normal part of the day where I'm just, like, talking to Jesus about whatever is good that's going on and saying I I I need some help on this thing. He's putting up a he's putting up a a beast of a fight on me today. And and and it's I don't know. It's powerful. Those are powerful things, like, in in praying constantly about that kind of thing. And and I suppose setting your right expectations, like, can't expect to be wandering around on a battlefield and not have some shots fired at your head.

And and and I and I I suppose to put that though in the terms of the article, like, you get you get concerned, but like, hey, there's people firing shots at me, and you're surprised as if you didn't understand you were walking in some sort of battle. But when you can look at the lives of the of the of the disciples, the early church, the instructions that Paul's given and stuff, and you're like, how could you come across thinking you were just kinda kinda lazy Sunday walk out and about on a battlefield and not had anything flying around around you? Like, that's just stupid. You're not even reading scripture right to come across with that inclination. And so it's it's it's probably more so not trying to find an apologetic for how this actually works. It's rooting out a false premise that the scripture actually won't support,

which is the thought that, everything is gonna be smooth sailing. In fact, the a lot of the the fruits of the spirit are things that happen in spite of how, people firing shots at your head. Right? True. And they also require time. Yeah. Yeah. You I mean, you can't have you could have instant peace, but you can't have instant patience. You know what I'm saying? Like, that you to for to have patience, it has to be something that's been done over a length of time. I suppose peace would would pass over that. In fact, all of it has to. Like instantaneous almost anything doesn't count as much. But like when it's sustained, that's when it can be defined as peace, patience, love, kindness. You know what I'm saying? And so like all those things are things that have to be done in in succession

to be an actual thing. Right. And they're also credited as, like, the reason they're defined the way they are, generally has to do interacting with the opposite. We love the the the the love of Jesus is special because even though or the sorry, the fruits of spirit stuff, like, though someone may hate you, you still love them. Even though you're in a situation of which you shouldn't have peace, it's not understandable that you have peace, you still have peace. Those are the definitions of the way that we look at, like, how those what those words actually explain from a scriptural perspective. And so, like, those those require, testing. Those require perseverance through testing, and they certainly don't imply some sort of ease of life of which you do not have any type of temptation or you're not running into circumstances of which peace, joy, love may must be demonstrated. Correct. Yeah. Okay.

Alright. Alright. Good. Very good. Mike, people need advice. Dear, live from the path. I am a retired librarian who lives in Texas. I am what around here is called quotations Anglo, meaning white and not Hispanic. Do I mean, do people I I I know I know we we we've kind of, you know, rode this boat ashore.

But like, do people say that to her? What's up Anglo? Yeah. Like, I like these three books Anglo and here's $22 for my fines like None of that stuff is discussed here, Ben. I'm sorry. Okay. Go ahead. She

continues on without being interrupted. I speak four languages with varying degrees of proficiency. Recently, a friend who is Hispanic told me that if an Anglo speaks Spanish to a Hispanic person, it's considered an insult because it implies that the Hispanic person is too stupid to learn English. I had never heard of this before, so I asked a retired college level Spanish teacher who is also Anglo. She informed me that the Hispanic people use the language difference as a boundary and my speaking Spanish to them was a violation of their boundaries. Oh. It came as a complete shock. This happened more than a month ago, and I'm having a hard time dealing with it. I spent a lifetime developing language skills. I I always considered speaking another language to be a sign of respect and friendship. Now I'm being told that it's insulting and intrusive. I can't believe all Hispanic people feel this way, but I don't know what to do with this information.

My next door neighbors are Spanish speaking. I've always spoken to them in Spanish because it's what I heard from them when I first met them. Now I don't know if I if I've been insulting to them. What should I do? Well, I tell you what you shouldn't do. Write a white lady. Hey, fellow Anglo. Okay. Hello, upper crust white lady. How do you feel about my Spanish speaking wings? As as a fellow Anglo, what would you think no.

Stop blanketing communication. If someone walks up to you of Anglo or Spanish or Hispanic descent, whatever, and they start speaking to you in English, speak to them in English. If someone walks up to you and starts speaking to you in Spanish and asks if you speak Spanish, speak to them in Spanish. Yeah. Right. Because the only That's it. If they They are gonna give you their preference when they start talking to you. Right. If they if they speak English to you and you start speaking Spanish to them, like, yeah, that's awkward. They're obviously speaking you're just you're just showing off. Yeah. They just come up, hey. How are you? They go, And

they're like, good. We're doing great. How are you? Like like you're being creepy now. Yeah. And it sounds like you're just showing off to them. Hey, by the way, I can tell you speak my language, but I also speak your language. Just a heads up. That's weird. If you haven't noticed, I'm not the Hills Brothers bean bite. So can we just speak in a regular Turkish accent? I may be a a blanco, but I I can speak to you. It's like, no, that's that's weird. Just let them come to you with their preference, and then don't throw your thought processes of what is good based off of what their communication is. You're being weird

and awkward and rude. Yeah. I would agree. Well, well, I can you just talk to your neighbor? Right. Like Hi, Steven. Do do you mind well, do you mind, like, is it offensive to you that I speak in Spanish? Oh, no. We like it. It makes us feel welcome. Great. We'll continue to do so. Yeah. I like to hear people butcher my language all the time. My accent's not great because I've never left Iowa. It's ridiculous. If I

if someone comes up to you and they're going to give you their preference, just stop being awkward about it. You can always And don't take a picture. Well, you always tell how far someone got in, like, their Spanish class or whatever by how they engage in speaking to someone who speaks Spanish. It's like throwing out vocabulary words that are completely unnecessary.

Yeah. No. It didn't even make any sense what you're saying. Yeah. The people that got through the first month of Spanish, the ones who feel cool because they can say, ah, si si, and say, oh, I know more than just good or bad. I can be so so. Yeah. Can on the fence. I can be in the middle, and I really wanna know where you're from. By the way, where's the bathroom?

You understand me? And I the people will come up to you and say, hey, do you speak Spanish if they want you to speak Spanish to them? That's how it goes. That's how the world works. You know my favorite part? I've seen people do this before. We're like and this this is the type of arrogance that usually comes with the war of Western civilization, but, like, old people who don't hear very well and then people of a nationality that don't quite speak, fluent English. People start to talk really long and slow and loud and drawn out in a very childish, insulting way. I didn't even talk to my own kids this way, you know, but they're like, do you want the TV

on? I mean, really, I could've gotten that done with remote control, yay or nay, with an eyebrow raise. You know what saying? What do you think? Use your nonverbals. I mean, I I taught my kids to talk just like that. I'd grab the remote control and say, you gonna watch TV or no TV? And they would pick up on that and go a a head nod or a head shake. And I'd be like, well, they got it. You know? Is there any reason to take this guy who has a master's degree in sociology from Pakistan? But since he don't grab English right, I I had a mouth he assumed he's an idiot. And then I start talking to him really slow and long while he's rolling his eyes and be like, do you want this taxi cab? Yeah. I mean, he gets it when the door open. He gonna get in.

We we are terrible with language. Americans are so oh, we are we are awful. We we live in a place where we have 50 different states that have their own somewhat subcultures, but we all speak the same language. And therefore, we think that English is so wonderful, and everyone who comes here has to speak it or we we're they're dumb. It's ridiculous. You feel like God said, look. They're trying for the second Tower Of Babel. We're just gonna let them have it. Just let them keep speaking. I I have talked to too many people that go, if you come to this country, you have to learn English or you're just being dumb or blah blah blah. It's ridiculous. Well, other places in the world, people are fluent

in multiple languages because, you know, you take a day trip that's two hours and you're a completely different country. Yeah. But basically, that is not our situation to be fair. Right. No. It's not. Isn't that many languages here. And do know how much money it costs us to print up science and fight languages? Like, our economy is ticking. Mean, it's actually helping the economy. We have more people working for the government merely because we have to say no Fumar. You know I'm saying? It's like like, we gotta get five more guys working here just to pump out the sides. Like, they're pump they're putting the money back in the economy. Do you think do you think realistically there's anybody who doesn't understand the picture of the guy slipping, like, when they put it out when they're mopping, that we need the mocha Like,

do you need piece of mojaro on there or, like, can we just like, there's a guy falling down. Is that not sufficient? Right. Isn't the picture the reason why we don't have to have all languages on there? Yeah. Actually, I would agree with that. But we don't but we do. It does say no smoking, no fumar, like the Spanish man would walk up and go, looks like they weren't talking to me. They must only be speaking to sping speakers. It has a big cigarette with a cancel sign on it. Yeah. And obviously, this only applies to full cigarettes. I'll smoke a Lucy and everything will be fine. My Virginia slims are perfectly fine here. Here's what Secular says. After reading your letter, I pulled a focus group of Spanish speaking friends about it. I'd like to meet these friends. This is already a credible source. Some said it didn't bother them, but the majority explained that the reaction may depend on how long the family has been in this country. If it has been several generations, the people you are addressing might identify more as English speakers than Spanish speakers and consider you're addressing them Spanish to be condescending

because it implies that you don't think they have learned English. So the rule of thumb would be, assume that everyone speaks English, then if it turns out they don't, use their language. P s. If your relationship with your neighbor is a good one, tell them what you were told and ask if you may have offended them because if you have, you would like to apologize. In Spanish. In Spanish. Oh, so real. It's not even right. Hey, man. Did I ever did I ever tell you that story? When I was in I was in Paris for, like, two days,

and we were walking through we you know, you you take this we took the the thing, the tunnel that goes between England and France, And you get off and there's, like, metro stops or, like, it looks like a subway type of thing in in Paris. And so it's really crowded there, I was getting around and, like, probably for two days straight, I kept walking around going, like, walking past people going, pardon? Pardon pardon.

And that's not the French way to say, like, excuse me, but I just took the word pardon and did it in some sort of French accent like pardon. And I I it took me about a week. I looked back in the it was so stupid. I think they could pick me out a mile away. It's wonder they didn't pick my pocket. Like, I'm quite obviously a tourist going around using a using a word in a French way that doesn't make any sense. Hey, man. They didn't want your American dollars. Pardon? No. The exchange rate of the title is not favorable. I was carrying euros. Oh, they should have picked pocket, dude. And the And, man, I think pardon is a French word. Yeah. But I think I don't I don't think Like, it's so the whole thing,

I think that means when you do something, like, vulgar. Like, if you if you win, that's when you say. And so, like, if you're just trying to get past somebody, think part one is the correct way to put it. Wait. Am I am I being alright? Yeah. Oh, forgiveness. Forgiveness. Yeah. Forgiveness. So like these, we we we French that up way too much. That's basically, hey, man. I totally just winded next to you, and it's gonna be bad. But

if you, like, if you're walking past somebody and you accidentally bump them real quick or you're coming close to it, you say, It's fine. So oh, is that that's correct. I might have been alright. Yeah. You were alright. Look. It says forgiveness and grace is is the the second explanation. Yeah. You were perfectly fine. Spreading the good news. Nobody picked potty pocketed you because they didn't need to. Boy, I've been carrying that load for a while. You're good. They thought you were a Jesus man. Forgive me. Forgiveness. Forgiveness. Okay. Forgiveness. Oh. Grace. Forgiveness. Dear life super nice to everybody. Dear life from the path. My wife, parenthesis, Jennifer, and I just finished the project and I am so peeved.

We usually get along well. That is until we work together and then I go from doctor Jekyll to mister Hyde. Classic example. Oh, buddy. I spent twenty five years in heavy industrial construction. I've also taken classes in woodworking and metal crafts. My wife has no building skills and no knowledge of how to use power tools. Yet, only minutes after we start, she becomes an engineer and starts telling me how to do things. When it happens, I explode with cursing and throwing things. The thing I yell the most often is, if you know how to do it, why don't you why do you need me? That is the question. What?

Wait. That's the end? Yeah. Okay. He's basically just told a story where he's an ape and and not left any questions except for anyone to go, I agree you're an ape? Yeah. Wait a minute. So did he say how long they were married? No. Okay. No.

Like, love your wife and just go, okay, sweetheart. Yeah. Here I I get it. Or just stop doing projects with her. Yeah. Listen. This happens at my house. Know, all the you know, here's the deal. The wife is the idea, man. I just I just put pen to paper and draw up whatever she come up with. Right? And sometimes she come up with stuff that just cannot happen. And really, that you don't handle it by throwing crap around. You just say, look, I don't think that's gonna work like you think it's gonna. Here's where the downside's gonna be. And you explain it to her just like you explain everything to everybody else. I don't see it. Why are you throwing things? Yeah. Why do you have absolutely no grace for your wife? I mean, seriously, do you have this problem with all stuff that makes you angry or is it just project management with your wife that you heft an iron across the way? I don't understand. Are you looking to defend your behavior or condemn hers? Eat neither one of this is acceptable. Yeah. You sound like a terrifying Neanderthal that can't take someone telling him what to do in a way that you think you're better than everyone else. Yeah. You're an elitist because you've been doing it for a long time. You may be correct, but that doesn't mean you don't have patience and love and grace for your wife and go, alright, sweetheart. Thank you. I appreciate that. It's just as easy to go. If you're planning on doing exactly what she's gonna tell you to do, go, great. Thanks, honey. And then just do it. It's easy as that. So here's the deal. I I find this man suspect anyway because, like, I work construction. Right? And I I would not categorize I've spent twenty five years in heavy industrial construction. You've you've bulked this phrase up to a point where it sounds like like like you eat metal and spit nails

and you wear pit bulls as well. She she's working with a power drill and you're the one who has twenty five years of heavy industrial construction. I've been working heavy, like, gang style industrial construction, and then I also took a woodworking class and do metal crafts. Okay. Look, dude. You're just a handy guy. Okay? Just say it for what it is. You I mean, it's not like you're building a Okinawa missile

I built a nuclear silo and I'm really great with birdhouses. Holy cow. Yeah. So anyway, without you actually asking for advice or a question at all, you know, you're a lifetime boomer. You know what I'm saying? Like, you can either do don't I know how you work with anybody. Yeah. Like, is it just your wife in general that you can't collaborate with? Or or is this all people of all races, times, and colors? Like, you cannot collaborate with anybody because you have 25 in heavy industrial construction. Yeah. No. I would imagine that's the case. No one has just told him because he runs the crane or something. Like, that's probably the deal. When he like, when you say you do industrial construction,

like, that stuff is segmented out. Right? Like, you have a crane man or, like, a pipe man or whatever, like, you know, there's not, like, a general dude who builds factories and does, like, all aspects of, like, factory building I built that whole thing. I'm a factory builder. It took me twenty five years on one project, but I built that whole factory. So, like, if he has skills, like, it might be he might be heavy industrial work. Like, maybe he runs the crane, but that does not qualify him for almost anything else. No. Except for a man that picks other crap up with a big machine. Yeah. I mean and don't get me wrong, boys. There's some skill in running the crane. Oh, sure. But that don't make you the do it yourself bedroom remodeler. Right? You crane man. Be a crane man. Sit where you will put, you know. Yeah. Like, I'm an electrician. I don't wander around telling everybody that I build furniture. You know what saying? It's not what I do. If you ask if I had to write down a letter to somebody because I wasn't getting along with my life, I would say, look, I spent the last twenty years doing electrical work. You know, she's out of line telling me how to build a lamp. But like it does not cross over and say, but I can also build kitchen counters. Well, no, I can't. It's just not what I do. Alright. Here is secular's advice. Even though you're the expert, it appears your wife would like to offer some creative input. If you become so volatile that you lose control when working on projects with her, the obvious answer is to refrain from doing them together. Oh, man. Yeah. That's that's a softer answer than I would have given. Right. You should just refrain from being around people until you could straighten yourself up. You act like a boob. Yeah. You need four dudes to kick the crap out of you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Your boober is to the extent that you might need a brassiere. Hey. So we were we were talking about this on the way in. Is it it's illegal to have brass knuckles, but is it illegal to have, like, steel knuckles? There are all knuckles illegal? Can you own extra knuckles?

Did that's the question? And is it also illegal to put brass knuckles on, say, a chain around your neck so people know, yeah, that's what's up? It's because you can't wear them and swing them at people, but can you just put them on a chain and be like, yeah, I own some. Don't make me put them on Is it actually illegal to actually to even own them? I don't know. I don't think it's illegal to own them. I think it's just the use of that that you get into the whole illegal thing. So I think it's really fine if have them. Hold on a second. I I just I wanna share this because I was about to Google it, and here's the I got through, is it illegal? Oh, no. Here are the options. Here are the Google suggestions. Is it illegal to collect rainwater in Iowa? Is it illegal to kill bats in Iowa?

Is it illegal to drive barefoot in Iowa? Is it illegal to dumpster dive in Iowa? No. Is it illegal to sleep in your car? Definitely not. Do you know what? I'm I'm very excited about the nonviolent form of, of most of those in Iowa. It's not really like, hey, man. Is it illegal to murder somebody in Iowa? Yeah. But It's just, hey, man. Can I go jump in a dumpster real quick? The guys the guys that are talking about how to commit crimes, they're not googling it first. They're like That's true. I'm doing this thing. Is it okay to rob from banks in Iowa? Yeah. Yeah. These are these are totally, these are totally, like, middle aged crimes. It's illegal to have a pet fox.

Yeah. This is a 20 to 40 year old person that's going, hey, man. I got a list of stuff that I really wanna do today. I gotta check to make sure these are legal in this state. Wait. Wait. These are great. Is it here's is it illegal to have starting with the letter b, is it illegal to have body armor? Is it illegal to have blue lights on your car? Is it illegal to have both earbuds in while driving? It Is illegal to have blue interior lights? Is it illegal to have bolt cutters in your car? What do you think a locksmith does? Okay. Here we go. We'll get Special permit. We're gonna get to the brass knuckles of this thing. Is it illegal to have brass knuckles in Iowa. We'll start with Iowa. Man, a lot of people have been asking this thing. I got it. This guy says, got a oh, wait. Here's this question. I got a BA pair of gold knuckles for Christmas. A BA pair. But my I mean, he said the full thing. But my stepdad told me that they're illegal to have since they are deemed a concealed weapon. So does this mean I can't even own them?

He says, I'm not gonna go around breaking jaws with things. I just think they look BA. Please include some source of confirmation. I tried to Google the answer, but to no prevail. Not this This is is Ali G walking around with sweet yellow shades and gold chains and brass knuckles. Boy, this is a weird guy. I hope someone can help me before I land my bum in the slammer. Like, said b a full full words, but bum when I land my bum in the slammer. I mean, what guy goes around pending Google advice says, well, until I hear the right answer, I'm wearing his knuckles. I'll pose you over. Hey, man. I didn't get my Google answer answered yet. Yahoo hasn't come back and ask ask Jeeves isn't even reliable anymore. So I aired on the side of, I don't care. Yeah. I aired on the side of Hey, man. These are BA. What if I wear them on my feet? Then can I have them about? Brass toe knuckles? Here we go. Technically, here's the best answer. Technically, it is legal for you to own them as long as they are carried in the confines of your own home or on private property that you possess.

Iowa does not do a very good job of clarifying this as they do not expressly mention brass knuckles or anything like them in the wording of their laws. What's What is this What about stuff you own, like your pants or my hand? Okay. So here here's Sand is my hand. Here's the law. Chapter seven twenty four four subsection one says, except as otherwise provided in this section, a person who goes armed with a dangerous weapon concealed on or about the person or who within the limits of any city isn't everything within the limits of a city? Goes armed with a pistol or revolver County. Or any loaded firearm of any kind, whether concealed or not, or who knowingly carries or transports in a vehicle, a pistol or revolver, commits an aggravated misdemeanor. Yeah. Okay. So the way that reads, like, they're pretty much concerned about concealed pistol and revolvers, but like, as long as I don't conceal that I got brass knuckles, I can have them. So you can have a brass knuckle necklace? Yeah. So I can wear a t shirt that says, I got the brass knuckles on and have two arrows pointing out towards my loaded firearms.

We'll call them a fist, and then I'm cool. I'm legal. Yeah. Yeah. I would say that unless the unless the state offers a permit to wear brass knuckles, like it would offer you the ability to carry a firearm, then it's not it shouldn't fall under the statutes, because it doesn't give you any way to carry one with a permit. I totally wanna go to a county building and just be like, hey, I'd like to apply for a permit to hold brass knuckles. Like, excuse me? It's like, I think these look real BA. I like to be in the on the right side of the law here now. I've I like to look like I don't care about the right side of the law, but I really do. Here's just a suggestion for people thinking about this now. If you don't know how to use brass knuckles, I wouldn't wear them because that's just you're just begging for people to come and tip you over like a cow and take your brass knuckles. You know what I'm saying? Like, you better know how to run them. Wait a minute. Hey, man. You just threw a punch. Wait a minute. There's an actual court here.

A defendant challenges the factual basis supporting his guilty plea for carrying weapons. His sentence was vacated. Hold on. Hold on. Wait a minute. Did he have the brass knuckles? Here we go. Jason Eaton kept brass knuckles in his glove box for personal protection. Yes. What? For that conduct, the state charged Eaton with carrying weapons in violation of Iowa code seven twenty four one, which is what we just read. Eaton entered a written guilty plea, admitting he concealed the brass knuckles about his person. On appeal, Eaton challenges the factual basis for his plea asserting the state did not show the brass knuckles satisfied the definition of dangerous weapon. Eaton contends his counsel was ineffective for allowing him to plead guilty in absence of a factual basis. Because nothing in the record shows the brass knuckles in question we're capable of inflicting death on a human being, we vacate the sentence and remand for further proceedings. So as long as you're a pansy that can't throw a punch, no worries. Hey, man. That's 2015.

Jason hey. His first lawyer was awful. His second one was gruesome. We should have him on the show. I wanna know more about his case. Hey, brass knuckles. Wanna come on? Yeah. So it looked like he was pulled over for having his license suspended. Well, no. Hold on. Already a good sign. He pulled over the Ford Ranger that Eaton was driving because the windshield was cracked. The deputy learned Eaton's license was suspended and asked if Eaton had anything illegal in the vehicle. Eaton revealed there was a set of brass knuckles in the glove box, which the deputy retrieved. He said he'd been carrying them around because his ex girlfriend had been sending her friends after him, and a couple of times, they had confronted him in public places. Wait. Ladies? He was in brass brass knuckles to chase ladies or Yeah. We need to talk to this fellow. Okay. So they charged him with an aggravated misdemeanor. He plead guilty. And then appealed it. Okay. It says, while we generally view guilty plea challenges for correction of legal error, when a claim is raised as ineffective assistance of counsel, our view is de novo. I don't know what that is. To prove ineffective assistance, Eaton must demonstrate by a preponderance of evidence that his attorney failed to perform an essential duty resulting in prejudice,

blah blah blah blah, and that it gives the definition of dangerous weapon. Second carrier is not relevant because metallic knuckles were removed from the laundry list of dangerous weapons found in the statutory definite definition before the 1979 code review. So in nineteen seventy nine, Iowa said, metallic knuckles, no problem. Yeah. Hey, man. And that did just answer our question of, is it only brass knuckles or can I have the steel? No. You can It's metallic. Yeah. If you buy aluminum knuckles, you're a fool. Oh, this went to the supreme court. I have some tin knuckles. What? Our supreme court had no trouble concluding brass knuckles fulfilled the final part of this test unlike a revolver or a knife, which could be used for target shooting or to peel an apple. There's only one purpose for brass knuckles. Hey, man. They're not taking into account our sweet necklace. Yeah. What if you like to tap on the table and really have people here? You gotta have brass knuckles. Yes. Exactly. The quarter It's a musical instrument. I'm using a revolver to peel an f hog. Okay. Hold on. What kind of what kind of gunslinger from the West are you? A

regular Wyatt Earp that's like, man, I really want an afternoon snack. Yeah. Sick shooter. Pretty sure it was the knife, Mike. I told you, I'm gun. Whatever, man. I use my knife for target practice, and I use my six shooter to peel an apple. I'm gonna have a pair of snacks, dude. You gotta wait. I have a blunder takes care of my watermelons.

I'm I'm hungry. Fire it home. Okay. Hold on. This is interesting. Says the court acknowledged some brass so the question is, can you kill someone with brass knuckles? Yes. In essence, answered its own question with it depends. The court acknowledged some brass knuckles, for instance for instance, an instrument called a waa in quotes, which featured an embedded razor blade could be deadly. I didn't know that. Yeah. But the court also envisioned metallic knuckles so flimsy, they would have little more impact on a victim than bare knuckles. The court decided the question of whether a particular set of brass knuckles was capable of inflicting death was a fact question. I'm I'm glad the supreme court were sitting around going, well, if we hit him with this, it probably wouldn't kill him. What? But this would definitely kill him. What? So it's kinda it depends on the guy. Like, is he like six two two fifty solid muscles, or is he like a one ten, like, I don't know Wait a minute. Five foot seven. Well, here we go. So our this is their evaluation of this item. Our record contains no photograph of Eaton's brass knuckles. The brass knuckles were not described in the minutes of evidence or attached law enforcement report. The plea hearing was unreported, so we do not have access to the party statements. In his handwritten statement on the petition to plead guilty regarding the factual basis for the offense, Eaton did not admit the brass knuckles were capable of inflicting death nor did he admit more generally that they were a dangerous weapon. On this record, we cannot decipher a sufficient factual basis to uphold Eaton's guilty plea. So basically, short of any photographs, they asked the man, hey, do you think these are dangerous? And he goes, no. And they went, well, alright. Let's go with all we got. We haven't seen them. So The guy didn't express it right. I could have killed somebody with those knuckles. You know what I find interesting is I wonder which one of the the supremes would be like, was it a Wyoming knife? I feel like Have you seen that sweet Wyoming knife? Nobody has any idea what that is, and so they probably called the most rough and tumble dude they know and be like, hey, let me call my cousin in Montana. He's like, it's not one of them Wyoming knife, is it? Well, it might be. Yeah. They were terrible.

Yeah. Oh, take down anything. Beezer t Jenkins. We've identified that these brass knuckles will indeed kill a man. Beezer. Yep. At least you could've just taken a poll. Yep. I killed a man with those. Well, then

Have you ever killed a man with brass knuckles? Nope. Apparently not. That means that means even the Wyoming knife cannot inflict damage if you're a pansy. Right. Like Do they take into consideration how good you are fighting? Yeah. Wait a minute. Doesn't that doesn't that beg the question though that a that a a gun is not a dangerous weapon if you're a bad shot? What's your last target practice look It was terrible. Nah. It's not dangerous. That's true. In the in the He's a stormtrooper. Of a blind man, would they say, look, that shotgun's not dangerous to hit what he's after? I would say that's dangerous, but from the perspective of he may not hit what he's looking for, but you hit something else. Right. So but, like, I could make the case if they wrote me up for attempted murder, I could say, no, officer. Actually, I just I'm a bad shot. Yeah. I wasn't attempting nothing. Yeah. Aggravated assault. I'm terrible at I don't know if firing a shotgun in the air. Yeah. I barely hit the pansy. I'm celebrating a soccer victory and I just thought I pointed at the wrong direction. Right. Tricky.

Boy, I I mean, just I had no idea. Oh, we need to talk to this guy. Boy, what we are in luck that Eaton brought this case in up against the court last year though. That really solved some problems. It did. Hey. Except for welcome. Basically, all they said was, look, we never got a look and no one seemed to care to take a picture of it. So I guess he's free to go. It could've been a Play Doh knife. Did they, like, throw it away after the case was done? What do they do with evidence? The laziest bastards I've ever seen. Seriously. It's probably not sitting in a basket anywhere. So could does anybody have a photo of the Bratz now going back to That would be what you ask instead of going, hey, look, we need to see this knife. They're like, well, we don't know what it is, and it's not probably not this Wyoming knife. So, I mean, it's probably fine. As long as it doesn't have a razor blade embedded in it, you're good. Who makes this Wyoming knife? What kind of gruffster hits a dude with the brass knuckles? He's like, know what? This just doesn't have quite the cut and slice damage I was going for. It's like, I just I just crushed that guy's skull, like, I really was looking Hold for bit of a on. Let me get you let me get you a photo of this Wyoming knife. You have the Wyoming knife? Holy cow. Okay. Hold on. Hey, man. It looks like a mallard. What? It looks like a So, boo you're you're not gonna be able to see it up there on the on the big screen. Why not? I I don't know. The big screen's not working. Alright. Fine. I'm a Google it. Yeah. Just look at it looks I mean, right. From a from a way back, it looks like it's a hummingbird. That don't has knuckles. That looks like a whole kitchen utensil. Yeah. I mean, it's a it looks like a mezzaluna from from the subway. I googled Wyoming knife. The first thing that came up was Wyoming knife laws. A lot of people wanna figure out if they can carry this or not. I wonder what kind of dude made this thing. Hey, man. That's sweet. Can you see the low rent, non patented versions he's got in his basement, where he's, like, taped a razor blade onto a set of brass knuckles and said, This is gonna be have some downtown effects. This guy's so there's pictures of dude shucking bison and stuff with it. So yeah. I mean, it looks Maybe it's like an Oregon Trail kind of deal where, like, you were taking care of a lot of wild wildlife.

You had to have something you could hold on to a little bit better. Yeah. So some dude made the Wyoming nice. Giving it a slice. Have you got anybody had a chopped salad from the Subway? No. What? No. Isn't. No. No? You've not had a chopped salad? Hey, man. Do I look like a chopped salad Hey, get the double chicken chopped salad. It's really good. Why don't I just get the double chicken sandwich? Yeah. Because the salad's better for you. Why don't you stop embarrassing yourself? Anyway, how they chop the get the sweet vinaigrette on your chopped salad? I do I do oil and salt and pepper. So anyway You're a bit Roman, but like the mezzaludas what they use to chop the salad up, and it looks like this Wyoming man. I don't wanna talk about this anymore, Ben. Yeah. Seriously, talk talk about chopped salad. Here we go. We got one more. Ready? Yeah. Hey, wait. Hey, actually, do you wanna do a quiz? I thought there there's a quiz out here on parables since we decided we stink at them. Oh, no. Okay. Let's do the quiz. Alright. Here we go. Quick quick quiz on Jesus' parables.

We need an intro. Hey, man. Do we ever get seculars? Oh, yeah. What was seculars advice on that one? I threw my phone in disgust. Hang on. I don't have a cashew while you're Seculars advice. You we need a theme song for this deal? No. Yeah. Quiz. Gonna take a quiz. What was that? Quiz.

Quiz, man. That was that was exhibit 1.1. There's a reason that there's gonna be like a 1.7 and like a two No. No. Pop Quiz. No. We read we read this. Remember, if you become so volatile that you lose control when working on projects, you should refrain from doing them together. Oh, that's right. Alright. The brass knuckles came after. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That was just a personal inquiry. The golden tickle Can I have brass knuckles? Mike, I think we determined it's okay that you have brass knuckles as long as you suck at using them. I can't afford brass knuckles, but I thought maybe I could make some some low grade steel knuckles. I made some aluminum foil knuckles. Yeah. They're awesome. Alright. Here we go. Dear What if a guy wears, like, three rings? Does that

With a knife on it from Wyoming. Okay. I got you. You got a sweet Wyoming knife ring? Yeah. Yeah. No. Actually, that's a good thought. Like, what is the difference if you just had three big rings on you made out of brass? Why would you eat with brass? Isn't brass soft? Yeah. What so why why do people use brass? And that was just used at the time? It's dense. I think it's dense. So it doesn't it doesn't bounce. Like, it absorbs all of it, so you get the full brass. Oh, yeah. I guess that's true. Brass knuckles. Oh, real cool. Howdy hoo. Alright. Here we go. Dear quiz from the past. Number one, what happened to the man in the parable who had a bumper crop? Bumper crop. A bumper crop. What? Oh, okay. He here we go. He he built bigger barns.

He died. He donated more for the poor. He gave a party. He built bigger barns because he was gonna store it up. Yeah. But didn't he die before the barns were completed? I don't think that's the same parable. Oh. No. That's Crappy man. Yeah. That's the guy laid yeah. I think it's the bigger barns. Alright. We're gonna What does a bumper crop mean? Big big big crop. He got yeah. So we wanted more bumper is just big? Yeah. Yeah. Alright. Cool. What was to happen to the tares weeds that grew up among the wheat? They were ground up with the wheat. They were cast into the sea. They were burned up. They were abandoned with the wheat field. Burned up. Did they get separated from the shaft and thrown in the burn pipe? I think they were gathered with the Yeah. And then and then put it and then to be burned. Yeah.

They're burned up. What did the man find hidden in a field so that he sold all he had to buy that field? Treasure. A pearl, a gold chest, a treasure, a bag of coins? Oh. The pearl was the merchant, I thought, not the guy in the field. Treasure. We think he's got a treasure. It's either chest or treasure. I think it was just treasure. I don't think it's a gold chest. That's

pirate. Found a found a chest of golden doubloons. Then I got out my wilding guy, whittled my way. People are like, hey, man. Is Jesus talking about pirates right now? Would tell. Alright. Treasure. Yeah. Let's see. How much did the landowner pay each man for working in his vineyard for one day? 1 denarius. 1 denarius. Five minions. Piece of silver. 1 denarius. Yeah. Denarius. How many of the virgins did not have enough oil for their lamps? Four, five, six, or seven? I say five.

Alright, man. I don't know any of these. Yeah. They split. I think is it five? I think it's five. There were 10 virgins. Five already, five were not? I think it's five. Yeah. Okay. Let's let's go with five. The man who received five talents from his master earned how many more? Two, five, 10, or 12? Men received five? Yeah. He got five talents. I think he doubled it. I think it's five more. Yeah. Sounds Received he earned five more, not 10 more. Yeah. Right. Five more. Okay. What seed is described as the smaller than all the others but becomes greater? I agree. Mustard. Gourd, elm or mustard? Not fig. That's not a seed, is it? Don't you plant the fig? I don't know. In a fig tree, man. Well, yeah. But, like, don't you Isn't the fig the seed? Yeah. That's what I was asking asking. Well, wouldn't that be called a fig seed? Yeah. I mean, it's just like a pear. The seed is a pear. You don't call you don't plant the whole pear.

Dummy? I'm not hearing what you're saying. Nate, which of the following did the father not give to the prodigal son upon his return? Robe, ring, necklace, sandals. Necess necklace. No. Okay. You got a so what are we what are Robe and ring were definite. We got robes and rings. So we either got necklace or sandals. Did he give him new sandals? No. Sandals. Yeah. It's necklace. Yeah. He gave he didn't give him a necklace. He gave him the robe, the ring, and new sandals. Okay. Alright. Number nine. What did the merchant sell to buy the one pearl of great price? Everything he owned. 10 smaller pearls. All that he had, his golden ring or a parcel of land? All that he had. All that he had. Wait. But no. Are you sure? Isn't that the guy that bought the field?

Yeah. He went and sold all that he had so he can go back and buy the field. Well, no. This is the question who buys the buys the pearl? Oh. What did the merchant sell to buy the one pearl? I think it's still all that he had. I think they were both all that he had. Sure. Well, this is making me feel nervous on this one. 10. How many coins did the woman have before she lost one? Ten, eleven, 20, or ninety nine? Ten.

Yeah. 10. Because she was a 10. Yeah. 99 is a sheep. Oh, man. We're And that's a lot of coins. Oh. I don't care about the one. It's gonna be rough. Oh, yeah. I think we're I think we're in a real pickle here. What happened to the oh, no. What man happened to the man who had a bumper crop? We said he built bigger barns. That is incorrect. Yeah. He died. What? Yeah. See? Oh, alright. Well, point to Mike. Hold on.

Oh, well, this always shows up in the KJV. Here we go. And he spake He spake. And he spake. The Bible in basic English was two and he said to them in a story, the land of a certain man of great wealth was very fertile. He said to himself, what is to be done? For I have no place in which to put all my fruit. This I will do. I will take down my storehouses and make greater ones, and there I will put all my grain and my goods. Isn't that is what we said? No. No. That but that is what we said. It's like he did both of those. He tried to build bigger barns But then he died. And then he died. But Yeah. We missed the moral of that story. Yeah. They're saying the whole point was the man died. Yeah. No. But God said to him, you and tonight, I will take your soul from you. He didn't build the bigger barns. He intended to build the bigger barns, but instead he died. Gotcha. Yeah. Crap. And he should've just given away crop. That's kinda caveat. Two, what was that happened to the tares and weeds that grew up among the wheat? They were burned up. That was correct. What did the man find hidden in a field so that he sold all he had to buy that field? We said a treasure. That is correct.

How much did the landowner pay each man for working in his vineyard for one day? We said 1 denarius. That is correct. How many of the virgins did not have enough oil for their lamps? We said five. That is correct. The man who received 5 talents from his master earned how many more? We said five. That is correct. What seed is described as smaller than all the others but becomes greater? The answer is mustard and they certainly would have planted the whole fig, that's why that one's not right and that was correct.

Eight to eight, which of the following did the father not give to the prodigal son? We said necklace. That is correct. What did the merchant sell to buy the one pearl of great price? Come on. We said all that he had. That is correct. Yeah. How many coins did the woman have? She lost one. We said 10. That is correct. Whoo. That we answered nine out of 10 questions correctly for a score of 90%. Bam. Hey. Yeah. Hey. That's pretty sweet living. Yeah. That's that's pretty good because the quiz has been taken 55,000

times since 04/16/2003, and the average score for this quiz is 66%. Rock on. We knew our parables. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think we nailed that one. We took the brass knuckles that one legally.

Alright. Hey. You're listening to you've been listening to Life From Path. Thanks for hanging out with us tonight. We very much appreciate it. If you need to get a hold of us, shoot us an email, [email protected], and visit the website during the week, livefromthepath.org for past clips from the show and performances by such folks as light forty five. Hey, Ted Yoder's out there. He's Eleanor Rigby is hey. He he's still rocking up the charts. He he's an Esquire. Esquire.com just posted something with him. I saw it. Yeah. Congratulations

to Ted. He's rocking. Yeah. Anyway, all that stuff's out on the website, live from thepath.org. In the meantime, means God will handle the ends. You've been listening to live from the path.