Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proper. You are live from the path. And you're listening to Live From The Path. We're coming from the Pathway Studios here at Johnston from her.

Merry Christmas or happy holidays if you're booba and you're you're a chicken. Hey. I've saying Merry Christmas this last week. Don't care. I wanna make it shine. What the heck? I don't care. It's rude. I don't Why do you care about me, pansy. Okay. Here's what I got going on the show this evening. I don't I don't care. I have a random I have a random rant. I'm gonna get on I'm talking about it in just a second. It probably it's in in most ways, it's probably not surprising. It has to do with we were reading an advent devotional at my house. Oh. And I have some thoughts on it. Also, Buvva's got a couple questions. We we did not get to

John's treatment of Judas Yes. Last week, and so we'll pick that one up. You had you had another what was the other question? Was there another one in, like, Philippians? No. Not that it really came into Philippians. I I thought I had one, but it was it was a good book. Okay. So that's that's that was my takeaway. And we had a couple other questions, but I don't know if they're they're show ready. Okay. Alright. Maybe we'll pick them up. I do have a few different articles. There's somebody, posited what would it be like to have, a phone free church. And and not just, I think, pulling it out of, your Sunday gathering, but, hey. We refused to livestream and stuff like this. And I I I was kind of an interesting thought exercise. Okay. And so may I thought maybe we'd walk through that and get some thoughts. We're gonna do we're gonna pull out a trivia? Yes. I'm gonna see I'll see if there's a I wonder if there's a Christmas trivia option. A Christmas trivia. Yeah. We'll we'll see. I'm the worst guy at trivia.

Dead is no good. Yeah. I mean, you've that's not true. A lot of times that we do trivia, you have the random answers that, like, none of us thought of. And that, like, it's a it's a weird thing about Abimelech or something we don't we didn't think of. And you're like, wait a minute. I remember that from 1984. It's not fair. Dan did his dissertation on Abimelech. You know what's true? To know. That's true. Honest to any of that. Abimelech focused quizzes because he's like, I know it all. As a matter of fact, he he had two daughters, but I if he had if that son came along, it was gonna be Abimelech Hudson. Abimelech Hudson. Okay. And then we'll do some advice on dear life from the path, and then we'll cut you loose. There's no reason to spend any additional time listening to the program that what you've already committed. By the way, if you are either either we're being scammed, which was talking before the show to the fellows, and I feel like this is completely possible.

We're being scammed or the the listenership on the show has generally been increasing over the last number of months. So if you are a new listener to live from the path, I I need you to let you know about the initiation. This is and it's not for you. It's not at you directly. It's just anybody who starts to listen to the program. Once you listen to three, you're not obligated, but you should feel a moral guilt to go buy something from the Life From thepathshop. Yes. You can do it for Christmas or birthday or whatever, but go to lifefromthepath.org

backslash shop. Or if you go to just lifefromthepath.org, choose the shop option at the top. And there's a bunch of random goods in there. We make almost no money on them. It's just expensive to, like, print things one at a time because I don't trust enough that we could run 500 shirts and 500 people would want them. It doesn't seem likely to me. So if you want them that bad, you gotta pay a little premium for it. But I just you I ordered a few Yeah. For for Christmas gifts. They're good products. Yeah. Yeah. They they're I I did I actually have just so you know, I do test these things because I I'm a little bit persnickety on the shirts. And so there's a tri blend in there that it wears well. It's comfortable. It fits it's it's generous to to fellas, and that's it's a it's a high quality shirt. So I almost bought the playing cards the other day and the problem is I couldn't remember the password for my PayPal. Oh, no. Because I I was either gonna charge it to the church or to me and I thought, well, that'll be awkward charging it to the church. So I wanna you know, wanted to make sure I Can't justify this purchase Then I forgot about it. On the church budget.

Okay. Don't Gambling. It's okay. Don't be a bem like Hudson and forget to go buy these playing cards. Actually, I almost bought the playing cards because they're like, if you're here's the deal. You wanna tip your toe in and you don't wanna spend too much money. I think they're $5 or something. Like, they're 7 something. Were, like, 16. Oh, no. Sweet Moses. No. That's Man. Maybe that was just for me. Oh, maybe it was the stickers. The stickers were like a dollar. Anyway, just go out. Heads up. If you listen to the program, you really Stickers. You should buy. Nobody buys anything. I'm just I made that up, but you should. You The hat's nice. That's all I know. Hey. The hat's out. The supplier for the hat is done. Ugh. Again? Yes. Like, gone completely. Like, I can't I couldn't even replace it because I was gonna order one. I need a new hat. Mine's in rough shape. I know what. I'm disappointed. Anyway, do whatever you gotta do. Do we have beanies still? I We should get beanies. Okay. I'll I'll check on it. Alright. So We're gonna start with phone free church.

A thought experiment inspired by a recent Atlantic piece. What if we banned phones from public worship? My goal here isn't to persuade you this is from Mere Orthodoxy. My goal here is to persuade you that phones have done lots of bad things in society. I think Jonathan Haidt, Gene Twinge, and others can give you the data evidence for that. Boy, I was thinking about that on the drive in. I I my phone is just killing me. As a matter of fact, social media is killing me again, and I'm being and I'm I'm pretty irritated about it. Even like, we run it for the show. I we're on TikTok because the the when MT Smith was here, he said, hey. People are responding on the TikTok. I said, well, shoot, man. I'm cutting the clips up anyway. I should put them on the TikTok, and it's going fine. Mhmm. I don't know. They're getting some five, six hundred views every time we put something out, which is great. That's fantastic. Thank you for watching. But, like, I have to go on the TikTok to to to put it in there. And then I find myself, like, I just because it starts, you know, putting something on there. I'm like, like, I went on there the other day to post a life in the path video, and someone was trying to crack into they bought an ATM,

like, that someone had abandoned. And then they wanted to see whether there was any money in it. I thought, well, crap, man. I wanna know if there's any How you even in this thing? I watched three videos. They're, like, beating it up with a hammer and trying to open up with a grinder, and I was I was captivated. And I thought, well, shoot. This means nothing to me. I didn't I don't need to take this in. And Are TikTok TikTok. TikTok videos generally, like, really short? A lot of them confusing it with the the reels. A lot of them are, but I they've extended it. I think you can go up to, like, a couple minutes. Oh, okay. Because that's pretty quick to try to get into an ATM. Oh, yeah. Within a minute. They had multiple videos. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You had to watch multiple to get through it. Anyway oh, sorry. That was a distraction. Rather, I want you to think about what it would like practically for churches to not simply turn off our online streams but actually purge phones from public worship. Oh, it went the other way than what I said. The necessary caveats up front. I don't support any kind of plan where churches have ecclesial bouncers at the door confiscating phones. The reality of our world is that many of our neighbors live on their phones. Many are addicted and confiscating phones from strangers would create some significant and unnecessary burden to people visiting your churches. Okay. That said, what happens if we frame the issue like this? Our leadership has been spending time praying and thinking about the place of smartphones in our life together as community of Christians who are dedicated to following Jesus.

For a variety of reasons, we have come to the conclusion that smartphones are often a hindrance to the development of thick community and even ordinary conversation. So I guess for starters, do you believe that that's true? Is phone smartphones are a hindrance to the development of thick community and ordinary conversation? I mean, a jar of peanut butter can be too. It's

sure. You can you can find all kinds of examples of how that is a hindrance. Yes. Yes. But but it it you know, we make it what it is. I I'd rather work on the discipline of not letting it be a hindrance. Okay. Like, might be I don't know. Things you think about your kids, like, could whatever we still track. I was thinking about this last week. I I I track time, technology time on my kids, and my oldest daughter's 17. And, like, I mean, she probably overuses it to be honest. Like she, in fact, definitely does, but I do. And

to a certain extent, like, I don't know, she's gonna have to make her own choices in her life and be her own discipline. And at some point, I'm not sure where it is. Although we're aware of it, I'm not sure it's actually helping except for being a significant rub point on the monitoring of the technology. At some point I got, she's just gonna have to turn over to her own responsibility. And I think some of those things are as like, you're protected in some way in the church where like, you can't get into this thing and we restrict all this stuff, but like, you're gonna leave. So, you know, there,

There's something in there where like, are we preparing people to live out in the world as opposed to being just protected in here? Mean, forty years ago, MTV was what was causing all the division in the world and the whole church was gonna collapse, that was a smart film. I mean, it's always something. More of the the discipline and self discipline and and and that I just think that's more key. Is there a difference between like, so that's a good example on things that people argue about. People weren't watching MTV in the service. Like, your phone so there's is there something about unique about the phone that it's tangible? Even though we've invited people like, hey. Follow along on your phone. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Scripture and stuff. I guess, have you guys ever done that? Did you ever used your phone as part of engaging in the whatever your worship experience is or something?

Very rarely. I might if I'm in a I'm, like, in the seat, I might I'll use it as my bible, but I Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Other than that, I don't. Have you ever taught using a phone, Dan? And not probably not I I assume maybe not on a Sunday morning, but, like, at a camp or, like, something like that? Probably yeah. Like, in in Africa. I mean Yep. But, usually, I'll have because I don't know if I'll have I won't have service, so I'll have screenshots Yeah. That I have used before. But I've used my phone work during teaching before. Yeah. Like, when I'm doing if I'll if I if if I write out a lesson plan, I'll usually do it on my notes app, and so I have my phone to kinda keep a guideline. And then a lot of the times, I'll just use my physical bible to do scripture, but, yeah, I've I've taught from my phone before. Okay. Interesting. I I I have well, iPad for sure. I think phone maybe once and I really hate it. Yeah. I really don't like it. It does what a phone always does to me which is it pulls me away.

I hold onto it and I reference back like I'm gonna miss something, especially because the screen's so small that like I'm constantly scrolling to make sure I'm in the right spot. Right. And like I get it, a paper can do that and like even if you teach from your Bible, you look down, you read from the Bible, it feels like the same thing. For me, tangibly, is not. It's like teaching from a phone is significantly different. I'd rather do nothing. Think now, it could be personal though. Don't prescribe that, but like, I just know that I've tried it and I thought it feels like what I would do if I was jacking around. And so I can't fix the things. It's a psychological thing where you're like, oh, this feels like I'm being not insincere or insincere serious. Well, I also feel like I was driving. I used to have a thing where my phone, there's like a holder that you can plug into your CD player and it holds your phone up. And I find that super handy. And I was taking apart the dash to fix something and I never put the thing back. And so my phone was next to me and I did not realize how often I look at that phone

and for like the time or to see if I often keep my phone on do not disturb them like I don't want to bother me except for I'm looking at it anyway. Right. Just every and I noticed it there was on one particular drive I thought I need to be conscious about this and I realized I was looking at it so often that I would look at and it would be the same time the second time I looked at it. Like, it had not gone a minute before I had glanced over to see and I thought, boy, this thing is just like, I'm a grown man who makes decent decisions in life. And this thing has got me roped up. I'll look at it like surely someone's important calls coming in and like, I'm not expecting one or a big message on social media. Surely that's coming my way. No, email. Yep. No, no. I'm gonna look again though to make sure. Yeah. Yeah. I don't So, yeah, so I guess I could see, I actually would find it hard. I would rather hold a physical Bible if I were to go visit someone's church and they were teaching or someone else was teaching, not because I'm a puritan about it, but because I I've as soon as I pull up my phone, if something shows up, I'll see I'll look. Mhmm. I know I will. As and, like, like, I get work emails. Like, there's people that are working on Sunday morning. A lot of the executives are working Sunday mornings. They're pretty consistent about it actually. And like, I'll look because not only is it, oh, look something, but like who it's coming from. Oh, look. I'm fired. Yeah. Oh, interesting.

And so I I I just I I think I wouldn't. I think I do the old school paper still Mhmm. Partly because I think when I first tried to go to the iPad, like, the Internet was just unreliable. Oh, yeah. Well, what do I do if I can't have access? You you know, I just I I never had a reason to not do it, I just didn't. Or now, like, often I'll be playing bass. It was the same iPad had. Oh, yeah. I would use it. And I'll be playing bass and all of sudden my notification pops up. Hey. How much have you used the iPad? And it's like, oh, last Sunday's the last time I used it when I was doing this dumb thing, you know? Yep. And I get away from there. So, yeah, it's it's distraction. All of sudden, you you forget you're playing music or something and you're like, gotta get get get that Yeah. Notification out of the way. Gave two they gave two options here. The that this is a major cause of concern for us for two reasons. And, that's a hypothetical. Like, here's something you might write if you're crafting a policy like this. First, we live in a world that is lonely, anxious, and deeply uncertain about what things are worth living for. I it's it's interesting that they brought that up. I didn't tie that to the phones, but, like, I think we were having this conversation maybe off air about how how I it feels like we're having a hard time

confronting is not necessarily the word that I want, but, like, reaching topics of, like, of sin with people or like calling to account of things, it feels like we are becoming more fragile and not just like in our emotional reactions to things but like I am more concerned that in reaction to some sort of call to repentance someone might harm themselves than I ever used to be and like it could just be I'm more sensitive to it because I'm getting older. I don't think so though. I feel like the option of becoming desperate

and taking one moment and making terrible decisions in that moment when it comes to like self harm, whether it's suicide or something shy of that, it feels like it's more it's easier to get to. I don't know, Dan. Maybe I'm just feels like that in my mind. Does that feel like that to you? I think the longer you preach, the more you get feedback on things that will filter through your mind. There are people that are on the edge and it won't take much to push them over. And you're like, you're trying to be sensitive of that while at the same time, bring

the truth of God and yeah, it's quite a rub sometimes. It's sitting on me anyway, so like, I think when they say that we're in a world that is lonely, anxious, and deeply uncertain about what things are worth living for, I and I even think about this as, you know, you look about high suicide rates in people with certain lifestyles or people who believe certain things. And, like, although I think the attribution of those is is wrong, I think we attribute like often they're attributed to, well, it's because you're not accepting. I'm like, it may be a confusing way of looking at the world to start. Like, that's probably more of the rub. But anyway, I I I do feel that. So they say given the unhappiness and frequent suffering of our neighbors, we want our church to be a place where they can go to find respite, encouragement, and life through the preaching of the gospel and the sacramental life of the church. Okay. Agreed. Second, we live in a world where Christian discipleship is very hard. The things pulling us away from community are everywhere. It's quite easy to become enslaved to the lust of the flesh, to the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. So we need each other to live the Christian life well, but we won't have each other if we are too busy for regular being together and too distracted for ordinary human encounters to take place.

So the premise then is that the interactions that you're having on the phone otherwise are removing you from what they would describe as regular being together and ordinary human encounters. Is that do we believe that to be true? I don't know if you could blame it on the phone. Like, I I feel like that's just where society's going in general is is being more

cloistered and and not living outside of your own four walls Mhmm. Societally. Like, I feel like I don't know. If this if this is sitcom logic or whatever, but I just I feel like society used to be very different even twenty years ago when I was a kid, not even fifty years ago. But, like, you just don't see the same kind of, oh gosh. I'm gonna sound like a sitcom, but, like, you just don't see the same situations where, like, communities get together and, like, you know, block parties aren't a thing anymore, and people aren't getting together for backyard barbecues in your community very often anymore. It's like it's such a stretch and a push to get people to even, like, look outside of, like I said earlier, their own four walls to see that there's more than just their immediate nuclear family. I do think I I think you are right that it's not I think the phone is a symptom, but not a cause. Yep. Yeah. Frank, I think busy scapegoat is is a cause. Yeah. Yeah. Like Fair. Which includes,

like, just all your time is sucked up. Yep. And it used to be that, like I mean, when you run into this kids kids stuff is just so dominating. Like, I well, like, we my wife and I have talked about this. Like, we you know, you had a friend group when we were when when our our kids were little, like, I used to see these people all the time and, like, it's like trying to find time where I get like, you're you're lucky to find once every three months where you could get a group of three or four families together because of how their schedule is. Gosh. Right? And and frankly, ours ours at times has started to look like that and we're like, nope. Like, we can't we we cannot be that tied up. So, like, I think it's one busy in being scheduled with just stuff and, like, it's those that and we've talked about this show, so I won't belabor the point. But, like, it's not that it's unrighteous stuff. Like, none of this stuff is like, oh, well, we're busy on Tuesdays and Thursdays at this at the Satan Statue. No. No. No. It's like they're doing hey. We're playing basketball just like someone played basketball fifteen years ago. Like, we're we're we're playing we're doing a a piano practice and we are doing dance and, like, these are all things everybody has has done for decades. Right. They're but they are getting more consuming. They're asking more days, more hours, more practices and pictures, and all the things that otherwise are coming into it. So I think, like, the structured stuff is taking up more time. But then with whatever rest, leisure, nonstructured time that you have,

we are, pardon me, pissing it away on things that actually don't create any relational value Yeah. Either. Yeah. And that that's not denying that, like, there are aspects to a to, like, digital relationships that are not entirely bad. I I think that what we're running into is that is we don't do a very good job of keeping them in balance. They're easier to come across. You can consume them as you wish without having to do the timely and kind of costly thing of direct engagement, meet a guy somewhere for x amount of time. Yeah. To even talk on the phone for forty five minutes or something, like, again, like you would have done readily twenty years ago to, like, oh, let me catch up with this person. My options are either exchange text messages or see you every six months. I'm not open to a phone call. And that's probably something substantively wrong with that because there's a great connection hearing someone's voice and interacting with them. Yeah. So I agree. I I think it's not like, the the phone facilitates

something that we are prone to. Maybe that's how I would think about it. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's fair. Okay. Because of these reasons, our church is taking a few steps to try and remove distraction and busyness from our gatherings. So beginning next week, we have a set of lockers in the welcome center, blah blah blah blah blah. Okay. So then he says we're gonna he's gonna field a few potential objections. What about families with children in the nursery or Sunday school? What that that seems easy. Like, they put the you put the number up on the thing. Yeah. Yeah. So that's yeah. That's the that that was done before. We've got the technology for it. You fixed it. How would the phones be stored? Nobody cares. No one's gonna steal the phones. Don't care. What about interactive elements of the service that might require phones? Sometimes churches will hold q and a times, often questions via text message. Okay.

We're just gonna go back to how we used to do it. I was gonna say. Raise your hand. Right. What do you think, Ted? Hey, boss. Got a question. Yeah. Yeah. Or yeah. I mean and even if, let's say, you got a really large church, One, you're probably not doing random Q and A. Right. But even if you were, just put you know, we used to have now you're running churches lean on ushers, man. You got, like, three maybe running all over the place. Used to be you got 50 guys in there standing at each you got extras. Some guys guarding over the first quadrant of us, sure, sewer gathering the money. And so just give them all the microphone and have them take them in sections and do that if you have to. Okay. I don't know. I'm not I'm not married to that. I just thought it was interesting to think about, like, is it possible? Would it provide I think nondistracted

is is good. Right. Intentional use of your community time is good. So, like, actually, I wouldn't even put this on for Sunday morning. I think you should probably put your phone away. Like, as soon as you hit the parking lot, you it's probably a good idea to turn it off so that you meet you talk you know, hit people in the eye. You greet them. You're not worried about something else that's gonna come up. But, like, you should also do that when you go over to their house for the barbecue. Like, it's the same it's the same premise. I'm not sure there's anything particularly distinct about the worship of which I wouldn't say, go ahead and just apply that broadly. The thing is anything can distract you. Say the phones are gone. When when I was a kid, I would sit next to my mom in church and she had a snake bracelet. Like, it was why is she had a snake? I don't know. I was just about to ask that question. But I I spent my time playing with that little snake and and and making little stories, and I even at the time thought, man, this seems kinda weird like a Genesis two thing to be, why are you bringing a snake into the church? It's a caduce.

But but I have no idea what was going on because I was playing with the bracelet. Right? You know? And and and you can you can you can, in your mind, go anywhere you want. I'm a I'm a, you know, imaginative guy. I can sit there and be in Hawaii while I'm supposed to be at church. So I did I didn't I don't need a phone to do that. Yeah. That's true. I you don't think there's something there's distinctive about, oh, hey. Look at that snake bracelet. I wanna touch it. Or your phone, which is essentially going, hey, Dan. Hey, Dan. Hey, Dan. I'm gonna see a picture of a snake. Yeah. It feels it does feel like a little bit more pernicious or at least persistent. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Okay.

Alright. Maybe if you got any thoughts on that, hit up the old life from the path. Bob Eisenhower complaint line. (515) 517-0085. Call or text, and we'd love to hear your thoughts. I don't know. Do you like, I mean, don't go on, like, an epic rant about phones in general. Mike we'll have Mike back in. Mike could come in and do that. But I but, you know, as you think about it within the context of gatherings, church gatherings or whatever, like, are they help harming more than they're helping? Or if would you agree with Dan to say, look, if it's not a phone, it's it's something else. So you got a peanut butter or a snake bracelet. Yeah. These are those those two seems like some, like, out there examples, Dan, to be honest with you. Well, you know, that's true. You did say anything could be a distraction. Yeah. It could be a peanut butter or it could be a bracelet of a snake. I mean, we all know it's really the little blue haired gal three rows up to the left that's singing off key really loud. I mean, that does it too. That is also Amazing

grace. Thanks, Ethel. And now Ethel will also balance her checkbook. Like, she'll she'll take the child. She takes care of it. Yeah. Yeah. So Dan's not wrong. Redeeming quality. The child running back and forth in a pew. Yeah. That's true. I think the stuff. Yeah. I'm gonna come out at Dan's church church here next Sunday. If there's 50 people with jars of peanut butter in your pews, Dan, I'm gonna repent completely. Oh, that can't happen. We don't have pews. This makes plenty of sense. Yes. This is a much more prevalent problem than I realized, conjecturally. It's everywhere. I know where Dan's coming from. That's my new book. Alright. Put a lid on the peanut butter. Oh, let's see. Alright. You're listening to live from Darn Skippy. Hey. There was

I think that Boob and I were talking about this, I think, yesterday, but one of the guys who wrote Despacito was Yeah. Daddy Yankee. Daddy Yankee. He came to he came to know the lord. He came to Jesus. Dad, are you familiar with the song Despacito? Maybe if I heard it. It means slowly. Yeah. But, Buba, give us a There's no there's nothing that is gonna get me to sing Despacito on this radio program. Man, I would do it. I need $5. I don't know the words past.

Was free in the mail. Okay. If you didn't get it by that, Dan, you're not gonna get it. Yeah. That was that was spot on. All I could think about was peanut butter. I can I can name that tune in 50 mispronounced lyrics? Skippy. Give me four more minutes. Anyway, I Give me a bag of cool ranch to read to. It was a I will say that if you translated the lyrics, you would not generally let your children No. Sing or enjoy this tune. No. And so, anyway, he he has come to the to know the lord, and he says, I'm not doing I'm giving up the rapping, and you should place your faith in Jesus. And I can't keep doing this because even though it's bringing me all the worldly stuff,

why would I wanna of give gain the whole world and forfeit my soul? That's a heat that was his quote as concert, and then he's he's done. Wow. So we got Rob Schneider coming to Catholicism. Yep. And we've got daddy Yankee Yep. Hitting up our side. Now Justin Bieber was involved in the Despacito, and so it feels The American version. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe he's been witnessing to the papa Yankee. Papa Yankee? Why'd you make it creepier? You say Like, it's daddy Yankee. Like, it's not how I say it. It's his name. I feel weird about it. It's like saying your name's Ben. How do you say that? Oh, it's Ben. Oh, no. I like that. You should you should do that. I like the way you're doing. Ben. Yeah. It's daddy and papa Yankee. That's creepy. Daddy Yankee. Heading the other direction,

Lil Nas X, who drew that remember, we talked about him in 2021. He created the Satan Shoes. Oh, yeah. And he has recently announced that he is entering the Christian era of his music career, but he says it will not impact his sexuality. He's a he's a gay fellow. Yes. So He's also saying era because of Taylor Swift. Yeah. He's I don't believe anything about it, but I think I can make some cash.

Yeah. Lil Nas X, I feel like throughout their career, his career, he's he's changed genres and and, like, groups of people that he is

is pandering to essentially, the rap community. There's a country aspect of the community then came out as as as gay and then now is in his Christian era. Like, it's base I just it feels commercial. Like, it just feels like, well, this is the next group I'm going to identify with so that I can try and get them to believe or buy my albums. Is that, like, the old country stars who used to always have a gospel album as well? Yeah. I don't know. It just because I always thought, I just feel like out out of all the artists that have just reinvented themselves so many times, Lil Nas X is out now on, like, four Yeah. In a career that's less years than that. Yeah. This is not like, I the the the only reason I brought this up one is it's a interesting counterbalance to to follow Yankee. And

secondly, it like, like, you gotta be cautious here. The man is mocking you. Yes. The man is mocking God. As a matter of fact, I are you familiar with the actor Tyrese Gibson? Yeah. What was he in? Tyrese Gibson was Fast and Furious. Right? Okay. So he was he got on the old Insta, he says, y'all gonna learn to stop playing with god. God is not to be played with. From shoes with devil signs and devil's blood in the soul, We can we can all change. I get it. But I feel a way about people making a mockery about Jesus. Do you live your life. Do what makes you happy, but y'all better stop playing with Jesus out here. He's not wrong. No. He's not wrong. I mean yeah.

So anyway, I I thought it was it's just interesting, like, just because just because, like, he's either he's trying to get your money. Don't be stupid. Which is yeah. And we're not we're not like again, we we talked about this before. Like, at the at the mild some like, presumption that someone might have come to Jesus, we're like, finally, we we got him. Mel Gibson is ours. One more for the tea. Yeah. Whatever it is. Like, calm down. This is not your personal victory. The god's the gods kingdom is either moving or being, like, not moving. God's so and just making it a part your man. It's a real thing. Yeah. But, like

because a lot of times, even our reaction to that is not like angels celebrating heaven. It's more like a I don't know. It's not healthy. A lot of the ways I've seen that. So, anyway, don't don't rush out and buy the Lil Nas X album. And and realize that the the kingdom of heaven isn't more excited because it's a celebrity. Yes. Like, that's that's something to keep in mind too. Just because you recognize the name doesn't mean that it's a weightier soul that just found its way into the kingdom. The angels celebrate a little heart. It's like, wait a minute. Elvis is one of ours now? That's awesome. It's like, yeah. No. Well, more Elvis Duran is one of ours now? Awesome. No. That's not that's not a thing. Right. Right. Okay. Anyway, you're listening live from the path. Bubba, let's let's hit your toe. The question was around Judas and John. Yeah. I just so reading through, and this goes back to the same conversation or the similar conversation we had last week where I had kind of, slammed

through the gospels, if you will, just getting my normal, daily reading done. And I was reading five chapters a day, so I was I mean, I was swimming through them. And by the time I got to John, there's just such a difference in that gospel versus the others. And very specifically, there's there's just a I don't wanna say, like, a heavier narrative that's placed on Judas because, obviously, all the narratives of Judas are heavy, but, like, it just feels aggressive more than the other gospels against Judas. Like, snide comments, maybe that aren't snide. I'm just reading them weirdly of, like, talking about obviously, we recognize that Judas was the was the the the catalyst, at least earthly catalyst of the of the,

the traitor situation, and Jesus being betrayed. Excuse me. But, like, I don't know. It just felt odd as I was reading through that. Like, was there something that I'm missing culturally where, like, John being written so many years later that, like, it was just an accepted thing that there was a lot of animosity towards Judas at that time that would have made its way into his gospel? Was there more context that he had having been later on? Like, we talked about, like, forty years past some of the other gospels that were written. Like, where is this coming from that this just seems to be a different and heavier and more, like, I don't know, aggressive vibe versus Judas by John than the other gospels? Yeah. I I think it does relate to some of what you said. I again, when John is writing significantly later than everybody else Mhmm. He continues to see

the impact of the progression of the gospel throughout the world. And, like, I'd probably and he's had a lot of time to I mean, he was close. Right? He was close. Right. Super close to Jesus. Feels it's actually, it's interesting now that I'm saying it out loud and I'm hearing myself talk about it. Is that, like, to a certain extent, you'd feel like John would start coming to conclusions like, well, it it did have to happen. That's what I was thinking exactly. Have a you're saying that. Right? Like have a deeper appreciation. Exactly. You would make sense. All happening. Yeah. Yeah. If you've been if you've been so far removed from it, you've seen the the true ripple effects of of what happened with the crucifixion and, like, where that went. I mean, he's been he's been privy and witness to so many things And, like, a change and shift in the following of the way and, like, how it's is permeated through the area. And, like, even though most of the leaders were murdered in gruesome ways, it's just it is still catching fire Yeah. And still going. And yet you've got this weird Jude or this this John Judas relationship where he's like, I it's it's wrong to say mean, but, like, it seems kinda mean. Well, yeah. Yeah. He's going like, he calls him a son son of perdition. Yep. When it comes up to like, you you you get a sense for Judas maybe up to nefarious stuff, but it's John who goes, he was stealing from the person. Like Yeah. Yeah. He's very specific. Not impressed for sure. Yeah. He he and it was specifically at the not selling the the bottle of of incense Yeah. Or whatever it was, the the anointing oil. Yep. He was like,

you should have sold that, and we could have had more money. But Judas would have would have taken it for himself because he was the one who was actually in control of the coffers. Yeah. It's like, why is that necessary other than to build this adversarial thing with Judas from the start? I think I think that just a thought. I mean Right. Yeah. Maybe it's more for the readers to understand this is who I'm talking about. It's it's the bad guy. It's the bad Judas. Mhmm. You know? I mean, because he John John was better I mean, John John's better than that as far as it being a personal dig. Right. You you know? I I just don't see that being the case. I think

I could see him feel when rejected, like during the three days of the tomb, but about the second the resurrection, he's like, oh, thank you, Judas. Because this wouldn't have happened. Yeah. Right. Yes. You know? I mean, and that's just my, you know, random thoughts on it. Okay. Although Jesus will say like, isn't where he goes like, woe to you through who this has been like, so there is still a sense for like, I don't know, the way of which God is accomplishing it. Like, you could you could say, well, I mean, god did it. So, I mean Right. Why do we even hold Judas accountable? Yeah. And and I and I've heard, like, discussions around that lens trying

to figure out to to what sense is Judas culpable. I I I actually don't think that's even a necessary argument to the extent that that, like, we we get a sense for god knows it's going to happen. Right? So, like, he Jesus is in situations and doing things in such a way that, like, this is the outcome without otherwise forcing Judas' hand in the matter. I I don't know. I'm not I'm not convinced I'm not convinced that I have to go, like, god made me do it Right. With with Judas. But I I I will I do think I don't know. I it does feel like John is I don't know if it's outside of the realm for him to be holding on to some level of irritation

about it. That's right. Yes. And I that's what I was trying to figure out. I was like, is there something that I'm missing here that, like, whether it was a cultural thing or whether it was a relational thing that, like, specifically John had a stressed relationship with Judas or, like, because it's been so long since it happened that, like, he knows he knows the ripples of this stuff. So, like, he can speak on authority at the fact that, like, Judas was this kind of dude this whole way. But then I've also heard an interesting it's not so much of of a misunderstanding for me by in the gospel of John, but, like, I've also heard that, like, one of the reasons that Judas would have even betrayed Jesus was because he was trying to force his hand. Like, that's that's one of the narratives that I've always been told That is true. Of, like, Judas was was expecting a coming king like like the other Jews in the situation were expecting a king to essentially rebring the golden age of Israel. Right? Solomon time. And, like, the he's just not seeing that. And so, like, why wouldn't he set up an adversarial situation in which Jesus would have to be forced hand to, like, go, no. No. No. You're not taking me. You're not you're not going to bring me into custody. Like, this is my kingdom now, and then, you know, this is Sparta's house, kicking somebody in the chest. Right? Like and if that's so, that seems to be a very different narrative than what John is is is deriving here because, like, he's going all the way back to going, Judas has been this rough dude this whole time. Oh, well just that. I I think that is true.

I I like, obviously, I accepted his truth. John tells me that he is a thief. But, like Right. I I actually don't know that those are exclusive in any way. He can be a thief and then also be someone who's willing to try to to to the think of it this way. He's doing the exact same what what Judas is guilty of is the thing that Satan tempts Jesus on Yes. In Matthew chapter four. It's the thing where he tells, like, Peter to get behind me, Satan, which is there's a way to accomplish this, the thing that I want out of the messiah. This is what's going to happen. Right. This is the way of which it should happen. Yep. And, like, the the the betrayal at the last supper, like, it's it's at the doorstep. Yep. So so and so Jesus know like, he's telling that this is exactly what's going to happen, and Judas is like, this has to be stopped. That, like, this is going to Yeah. Thwart the way of which this is supposed to go. I And so I I do think that narrative actually makes the most sense for me. That does make sense. Which which means though that, like, you know, John in fact, John is it John that describes and said Satan enters him? Yes. Right. So, again, that's not a surprise if you look at the way that the scriptural narrative says it is Satan who's behind trying way any ways which tries to get Jesus to be a different king than what he was sent to be. Yeah. Right. Right? And so that that all that all actually still makes sense to me. He is still responsible for that. He like, where Peter backs off after Jesus rebukes him, he doesn't like it. Right? But he doesn't try to to subvert Jesus.

Judas continues to persist. And so he I he is responsible. He's liable for that. Okay. That makes sense. I can accept that. That's that's a different way than I've heard it before. And so and so to to flip it here and not to go to a, you know, five year old question here, but I I am going to. Judas, having been the the initiator of this Jesus betrayal, but then that led to the crucifixion. Right? Like, there there are sides of the story that you would accept that, like, there was a certain way this had to happen. Right? And, like, there were I mean, even Jesus talks about the fact that he's like, if this cup can pass over me, great, but, like, I'm I'm here to take it no matter what. Like, if this is the way that you wanna do it, Lord, I will. Right? But, like, is Judas

exempt or the only person that's exempt from, like, the concept of being forgiven by god? Like, I don't and that that's a that's a bad way to ask that question. Well, there was obviously some regret. Yes. Oh, absolutely. So who knows what happened between him and god in those moments? Okay. Yeah. I guess, like, I don't wanna ask the kindergarten question of is is is Judas in heaven? Is you in heaven? Right? Like, because I frankly, I don't care. Like, I I don't care that much Yeah. From the perspective of, like, I'm not the one who would call the bolts and strikes on that as Mike would say. Right. Right. But, like, I'm just I'm interested from the because the and I'm

remembering now that, like, there's some verbiage in John that I'll have to find. I can't find right this second, but I should have beforehand. But there's some verbiage that makes it seem like Judas was was destined to be this this one that would be adversarial to Jesus. And, like, maybe I read too much into that to be like, did

if god set a or allowed a plant, whatever you wanna call it Yeah. For Judas to be adversarial enough to have, like, betrayed Jesus so that he is then taken into custody that leads to his murder and execution. But then where do where do you stop? Where do you draw the line? Is what about the soldiers who counted and nailed And that's what I'm thinking too. And we know the heart of Jesus when he looked down and said, father, forgive them. They don't they don't know what they're doing. Right. Judas didn't know what he's doing either. And I'm not defending him either, but but No. And I recognize that. Him in heaven Yep. And I can see him not, but that will let god worry about it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I guess it just it seems to be like a setup by John of, like, almost as though and, like, this was destined to happen, and he he had to do it this way. And, like, did god destined someone to sin against him so that he could redeem the world through his son? Like, what that seems I mean Yeah. Right. It just it's it's it's it's it's a leaky boat for me. Not not to say that it shakes my faith or anything like that. It's just an interesting thought process to go, god accomplishes his his his goals and his plans and his will however he sees fit. I believe that wholeheartedly. I believe that God is just and good. There's nothing in me that's shaken on that. But, like, it's just an odd thing to think that, like,

God has used humans for generations and centuries for his good and to continue to move things. Broken people, doing the will of Yahweh is the whole story of all 66 books of the bible. Right? But, like, did God set up a destiny or a will or or a plan or something for someone to just be flat out against him? Well, yeah, I mean, do do is that not at least in some ways applicable to Nebuchadnezzar? Yeah. I mean, he's not a worshiper of Yahweh when when he facilitates the exile.

I I'm I'm actually open I'm open to to either I've heard to, like, multiple explanations. Depends on where you fall on free will. If if god I I think it is totally acceptable to me to believe that god knew that this is what humans would do. Yep. And so Jesus is born where he's born for the reasons in which he's born, dealing with the people that he's born, you know, around and whatever Mhmm. Because he knew this was the outcome. I mean, it it requires a lot of chess moves, but, like, who could do it better? Like, Yahweh obviously is capable of it. It also it doesn't bother me one bit to to say god subverted someone's free will. It's generally what I'm praying for. Almost always when I'm praying, I'm saying, god, like, Take this away their free will. Right. This person is going to do this, and so I want you to change it. I want you to keep the man from hitting the lady. I want you to supernaturally kick the car off the road so it doesn't hit the lamppost. Yeah. I'm I'm asking for this kind of stuff all the time. If I was praying if I was asking another human to do it, this would be highly suspicious and dangerous to me. But, like, if God cannot be trusted to subvert human free will to accomplish things

that we have that he wants accomplished in the world, I don't know what I'm trusting in anyway. So I actually do not have a problem with an explanation that said he set Judas up for this as long as he can be trusted. And so not like, well, Judas would have been fine, a faithful of Yahweh except for God turned his heart to stone. Right. Right. Yeah. I wouldn't I'm not buying that. Pharaoh's heart. But he did use it for he did use it for good, which is the thing that James tells us he's gonna do. Mhmm. So I'm I'm okay with that. I don't have any I don't have any feeling trouble with that. And you can't help but wonder maybe some of the tone that you talked about earlier of how John treats, refers to Judas. It's almost like the husband who's speaking about his ex wife who at one time they had a great relationship and then things fell apart and then they got divorced. Now it's fifteen years later and he's like, you know,

the things he said, it's like, I don't know. That just kind of came to my mind. I don't know if that's, you know Yeah. I I I don't think it's beyond the beyond the pale for John to just, like, to be irritated. It was a it was close friend. Like, especially if he was if you think about it, he's not at the major of he's not at, like, the he's not the three that are showing up to, like, the transfiguration and stuff like that. But, like, if he's dealing with the money, dude's around all the time. Right. And would have traveled with him or whatever. So, like, to feel betrayed by a friend I mean, he's the art he's the Paul Simon to the Judas' Art Garfunkel. Okay. They just it's not feeling right anymore. They were close. Now they're not close. Okay. I can accept that. Okay. And that's a it it made me think of of god hardening the heart of pharaoh. Like, it says specifically, like, god had commanded Moses to go and, like, and have him just tell him, like, one, tell pharaoh who I am and that I am sent you, and then tell my people that I am sent you and and you're coming in like but, like, it says specifically that god hardened the heart of pharaoh, and pharaoh did not change his ways or let his people go. And the the I mean, the plagues continued to happen, but, like, there is a there is a perspective. Like, god hardened his heart so that he would not change those ways. Like, is that is that god exercising his will against the free will of a human?

I would think so. It's think it's possible. Okay. I think it's I think there's there's there's ways to read that where I'm sure. God is just using pharaoh the hardness of pharaoh's heart. And it's not like an active verb that I'm reading into in my translation? Yes. I but he but, again, here's what I would say. I you should give up having a problem with it. Yeah. That's what I was gonna say. Right. I have no issue with that. I I like, I did I I did struggle with it because, like, I thought if if if humans do not have complete, like, freedom and choice,

then it's not love. God then god is, you know, puppeting people around and he's puppeting some people to eternal separation from him, which is frankly would be the same thing. Why didn't I just buy into he puppets all the things. Like, if I'm gonna buy that, what keeps me from believing that? But, like, I don't that isn't it just isn't the way that the narrative reads to me. I think it it appears that god out of love has given choice and that predominantly that is the experience of human beings. Otherwise, again, like, the New Testament is wasted. Mhmm. Paul's completely wasted. Right? Why is he gonna say, hey. You need to change this. You should act this way. Like, what do you mean? I don't have any choice to do anything. What's why are we even talking about this? Right. So, like, I think most of the instruction in the New Testament is wasted if we don't if we aren't people of choice. However, if he is not a complete if he's not if we're not deists, if we believe that he is active into the world, then in in any action god's god takes has to be in some way or another a violation of somebody's free will. Right. Miracles are a violation of of something. Right? The kid should've died. The natural progression, some somebody should've died. Protection unnatural protection. Peace where it doesn't belong. These are all things of which Yeah. Like subvert some either natural process or some human choice. And the only reason I can trust that that's okay is because I trust that it's God and he's good. And so and if we can't trust that he's God and he's good, then I don't know who we're worshiping. Right. It throws everything out. Yeah. And so, like, I get it. It's not it's not a clean I I I think it it causes trouble for people because they're like want a very clean theology. Their god touches nothing or he touches everything. I just it's just not that easy. I don't think that it is more gray than that, and I don't have any reason not to be okay with it. The problem of putting god in a box is he does what he wants. It's great.

Our boxes can't Lord, we have two boxes. I don't know why you won't stay in them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So some of that, I guess, as an encouragement though, when you're a lot of times our faith is tried when we hit something like that. The faith like, you're good and then you and then when you hear that God did something, you're like, ah. Or when there's the story of where he someone sent an angel was sent to deceive somebody. I don't know who I'm thinking of. It's in I think it's Daniel. Who wants to go? And someday just like, I'll do it. Like, I'll deceive him. And you're like, well, I don't this seems like morally ambiguous. Here's the thing. All of it hinges down to like, if the resurrection is true, Jesus rose from the dead,

contextually start to take capture in and say the rest of these narratives were true, then there has to be a realm of which this is fine. And God can be trusted for even deceit, which means we should stop you know, the classic argument is like if the if the SS showed up at your door if you were Anne Frank, would you rat people out because you can't tell a lie? God was willing to accomplish his his righteous means by going, yeah. Let's deceive this evil king and and then that'll get us the way we wanna go. And so, like, again, sometimes we're just super tied up, like like it's not that God isn't clear in places. I'm just saying we're we're thinking too narrow. Mhmm. Like, we're we're we're just getting tied too far down. We do that because that's where we're comfortable. I would much I were talking this before the show started. I I do be honest. I'd be real thankful if god just wrote out the whole thing I was supposed to do today, and I just had to go, okay. Got it. Nailed it. Checkbox. Yep. This freedom thing is causing me consternation. I'm not good at it, but I think we do have it. And so I think, like, sometimes in the presence of what we believe to be moral ambiguity, the first question is, is it from god and is god good? If those two things are true, then I start to reshape how I can take in the world. And and to Dan's point,

try not to believe that you've come up with the proper boxes to stick god in. God will do as he please. Yep. Okay. You're listening to life in the path. Okay. Okay. Let's do this. Let's let's do let's do a quiz. Yes. Okay. I was gonna look for a Christmas quiz. They have a Jesus's birth. You wanna try that one? Sure. Let's see how let's see how we do. And if it's if we breeze right through it, maybe we'll do another one that seems a little bit harder. Here we go. Number one, who is the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary? Jacob, Eleazar, Azor, or Jechonias?

I think it's Jacob. Jacob. Jacob, father of Joseph. Totally forgot. Yeah. I don't know. Okay. If it's not Abimelech, Dan doesn't know. Number two, which angel appeared to Mary? Gabriel. Gabriel. Gabriel, the angel of the lord, Michael, or Gideon? Gabriel. K. We're gonna go with Gabriel. Three, who was promised that he would not see death before he had seen the lord's Christ? Zacharias, Joseph, Simeon, John the Baptist? Simeon.

Yeah. I'll go for Simeon. K. Everybody's in with Simeon. Number four, who was the king of Judea at the time of the birth of Jesus? Herod, Pilate, Caesar, Barnabas? Herod. Herod. Yep. Herod's correct. Number five, I'm just assuming. I'm gonna say that. Five, where was Jesus born? Nazareth, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Egypt? Bethlehem. Bethlehem.

Bethlehem. Good. We're gonna rock this one. It's where all the other lambs were. Number six, how did the shepherds who visited baby Jesus he capitalized baby. That was didn't seem necessary. Maybe they called him baby slaves. Like, I'm a dope. Capital a, adult bim. Daddy Yankee baby Jesus.

Alright. How did the shepherds who visited baby Jesus know where to find him? One, they were told in the dream. Two, an angel of the lord told them. Three, they read it in the scrolls. Four, a messenger from the East informed them. Angel. Yep. Angel of lord agreed. Number seven, how did the wise men who visited baby Jesus know where to find him? A star. Followed a star in the East. Eight, which was not a gift the wise men brought to Jesus? Myrrh, frankincense, silver, and gold. Silver. Alright. Silver and gold. Sorry. I won't come back to Jesus. I don't know why you wouldn't do despacito.

I almost did it again. No. With those dulcet tones, you should have humored everyone. No. Number nine, to escape from the king, the angel of lord told Jesus' family to leave and go where? Egypt. Syria, Egypt, Bethlehem, or Palestine? Bethlehem. Egypt. Bethlehem. Egypt. Good. 10, where was Jesus raised after they returned? Bethlehem, Egypt, Syria, Nazareth. Nazareth. Mhmm. Okay. Let's see what we did here. Nazareth. We're just gonna scroll down to the bottom. Save us okay. We got we nailed it. Oh, 100%. The quiz has been taken 127,000 times, and the average score for this quiz is 83%.

Hey. That's higher than normal. Yeah. So I I I'm guessing that's like how many questions are there here? 10. I bet people are missing number one. They're they're forgetting the name of Joseph's father because that's a bit obscure. Okay. Alright. You wanna hit another one? Okay. Yep. I'll be back. Okay. Let's see here. Let's do oh, bible general. Bible general?

Oh, okay. Hold on. Oh, no. Oh, let's do let's do the early church. Oh gosh. Okay. And we can choose holy cats. Look. I'm gonna choose the one where the average score is the lowest. Oh, no. Okay. And it is Paul's shipwreck. Okay. Oh, boy. 12 questions. Okay. 12 questions. This has been a while. I'm not I'm not feeling good, boo boo. Neither am I. Let's see. Good about this. We'll just beat the average. When it was decided that they were to sail for Italy, they transferred Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan cohort. What was his name?

Publius Julius Cleophus Jairus. I think Cleophus. Yeah. I was that's actually my gut too. Although which is interesting because that's the name of

the reverend in the first Blues Brothers movie. Reverend Cleophus. The guy who's played by James Brown. Yeah. Uh-huh. Okay. So I we're we're either good at this or we remember the Blues Brothers. We're gonna go with him for good luck. Cleophus. Okay. Alright. Two, Paul advised him that the trip would be, one, easy as god has promised that he will spare us, two, dangerous, Three, with danger and much heavy loss of the cargo. Or four, with danger and much heavy loss not only of the cargo and the ship but also our lives. Four.

Yeah. I think that's I think that's right. Four. Yep. Where was this crew planning to spend the winter? Oh gosh. Fenice? Probably Fenice, La Salle, Salmon,

or Fair Havens? I think two. La Salle? Yeah. Do you think differently? Yeah. I don't know. I would just be guessing. Let's go with two. I think two. Yeah. Yeah. Number four. After they had lowered the sea anchor, what did they do on the next day? One, they began to throw the cargo overboard. Two, they began to load up the raft. Three, they began to take pieces of the off the ship to use for rafts.

Four, they began to cast lots to see who was on the ship that was bringing this misfortune to them. I think it's I think it's the throw the car cargo overboard. Cargo was the second move. Okay. Number five, have you read this recently, Buba? Yeah. I read acts, like, three two and a half weeks ago. Okay. Okay. Number five, what had they not seen for many days that made them abandon hope of being saved? One, birds. Two, the sun of the stars. Three, land. Four, other ships. Oh gosh. It wasn't land, and it wasn't other ships.

I don't think. So it's either gonna be birds or the sun of the sun of the stars? I think it was sun of the stars because they were in storms. Okay. Let's try it. Six. Because that was how they were navigating. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. That makes sense. Although, I yeah. They were anchored. Yeah. Okay. Whatever. We'll see we'll see how it goes. Number six, Paul was confident to tell the men that they would be saved because an angel told him that it would be so. Two, he could see the sky clearing from the west. Three, he could see land. Four, he felt that he should try to be an encouragement to them. I I'm laughing, but I four is hitting me right, but I don't think that's right.

Do read the options again. Angel told him that would be so. No. He could see the sky clearing from the west. Maybe. Three, he could see land. Oh, no. Four, he should try to be encouragement. I think two or four. If you wanna make the call, you can. Look. So if we said Or if it's different. The sky clearing would align with five, which means they were unhopeful because the sun they couldn't see the sun of the stars. Yeah. Let's get okay. Let's do that. So if we're we're going down if both of them are wrong We're doubling down. Okay. K. Number number seven, how many days were the men without food? Three, seven, fourteen, twenty one. Without food, I think, was fourteen. K. Let's go fourteen. Number eight, what did Paul do? Dan, we need some we're in some rough shape here. Gosh. Yeah. Okay. So we chose a quiz from the early church category. The quiz was about Paul's shipwreck.

Oh, very specifically. This was the worst performing one. Average score is 51%. Oh, boy. Okay. So we're gonna I'm gonna run these through you real quick, Dan. One, when it was decided they were to sail for Italy, they transferred Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan court. What was his name? We said Cleophus. Other options were Pubulus, Julius, or Jairus. Yeah. Yeah. I had no idea. Okay. Good. Two, Paul advised him that the trip would be, we said, with danger and much heavy loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also our lives.

Does that sound right? Uh-huh. Okay. Good. Number three, where are this crew planning to spend the winter? Fenice, maybe? Fenice, La Salle, Salmon, or Fair Havens? Boy. I don't, yeah, I don't recall. Okay. Good. Number four, after they lowered the sing a sea anchor, what did they do the next day? We said they started to throw the cargo overboard.

Other options were load the life raft, take pieces of the ship, and use for rafts or cast lots. Yeah. I think you're right. Okay. Let's hope It's hard not to confuse it with Jonah. That's what I'm saying. That's a I think that fourth one intentionally did that. Yeah. Number five. What what had they not seen for many days that made them abandon hope of being saved? Migratory birds, son of the stars, land, or other ships. We said son of the stars Yeah. Under the presumption that it was, like, there's just a big storm. And then dumbed down the next answer. Yeah. So number six, Paul was confident to tell the men that they would be saved because, one, an angel said it would be. Two, he could see the sky clearing from the west. Three, he could see land. Or, four, he felt he just wanted to be an encouragement to them. Angel. Okay. Dan says angel.

I'm fine. I'm I'm fine switching. How do feel pretty good about that, Dan? I feel good about it, but that doesn't you know? That's right. We're just going off of guts and glory here. Yeah. Alright. Seven. How many days were the men without food? Three, seven, fourteen, or twenty one? We said fourteen. Yeah. Sounds good. Okay. It was a it was a way like, it was a lot of days. Seems like it. If I remember correctly. Okay. Alright. We're back out. Number eight. What did Paul do to try to encourage the men to eat? One, nothing. Two, he just kept reminding them of what the angel had said. Three, he just reclining them reminding them of god's goodness to their ancestors. Four, he took bread, thank god, broke it, began to eat. It was four.

He took the bread, broke it? Yep. Because he Yeah. He had abstained from eating as well and but then something switched to where he was then able to eat, and so he was telling them that he could eat by doing it himself. Okay. Number nine, how many people were on the ship? One, we're not told. Two, a hundred and fifty three. Three, two hundred and seventy six. Or four, three hundred and twelve. I don't think we know. I don't think I think we're not told. K. That seems like an oddly specific thing to be in that section. Three more questions. I'm not feeling good. No. Not good, Bubba. 10, what happened to the anchors that they cast off? One, they floated. Two, they put markers on them so they could retrieve them later.

Three, as one fell, it struck the captain and he died. Or four, they were left in the sea. They were left in sea? Suppose they were left in the sea. I feel like I would remember either of the other three answers. Right. Exactly. Remember that time that they cast out the anchor and it accidentally killed the captain? Yeah. That was awkward. And what was he doing? Why was he Why was he anywhere near these cast out anchors? Okay. Let's hope it's that one. Number 11. What worry. Was going to the bathroom. He was swimming. What did the centurion order the men who could swim to do? One, jump over the side and see if they could find the anchors that had been cast off. Two, each one to swim beside a nonswimmer to help him. Three, not to leave the ship until they were sure that the non swimmers were tied to the life rafts, or four, jump overboard first and make for the land. I think three. Don't leave the ship until the non swimmers were tied to the life rafts? Because it It was four. And Dan says jump overboard first and make for the land. I'm cool moving to four then. Were they worried about the the the prisoners getting away? Yes. They were because Yeah. They were like, we can't abandon everybody and let these guys go. That was the centurion's. So that would vote for number three. Oh, okay. Okay. Well, let we'll see. I remember them worried about the non swimmers, you know? Well, not non swimmers. It was prisoners. But, yeah, you're say you're saying that because the verbiage of the question is non swimmers. Yep. Alright. But they were worried about the prisoners. Yeah. Yeah. What was the name of the island that the ship landed on? Cilicia,

Melita, Crete, or Pamphylia? I think it was Crete. Isn't it Crete? Okay. We feel good about Crete. Yeah. It's a Crete. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Oh, I see oh, I see red on the page. Number one, when it was decided that they were to sail for Italy, they transferred Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan cohort. What was his name? We said, right reverend Cleophas. That is incorrect. The answer is Julius.

What? Julius. Alright. Like, remember the titans. Question two. Paul advised him that the trip would be, we said, with danger and much heavy loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also our lives. That was correct. Where was the ship planning to spend the winter? We said La Salle. That answer is incorrect. Correct answer is Fenice. It's because you kept saying it weird. Is you don't think it's La Salle?

No. It's because you kept saying the correct answer weird. Fenice. Fenice. The question is for I N E C E? No. No. P H E N I C E. Oh, okay. After they lowered the sea anchor, what did they do the next day? We said they began to throw the cargo overboard. That is correct. What had they not seen for many days that made them abandon hope of being saved? We said the son of the stars. That is correct. Nice.

Paul was confident to tell the men that they would be saved because Dan had us change it to an angel had told him that would be so, and that is correct. Nice job. Number seven, how many days were the men without food? We said fourteen. That is correct. Question eight, why did what did Paul do to try to encourage the men to eat? He said he took bread, thank god, and broke it, began to eat, and that is correct. Question nine, how many people were on the ship? We claim to not know because it wasn't told. That is incorrect. It was very explicitly 276. Question

10, what happened to the anchors that they cast off? We said they left them, and that is correct. What did the centurion order the man who could swim to do? We said not to leave the ship until they were sure that the non swimmers were tied to the life rafts. That is incorrect. Oh, no. Dan's proposed answer, jump overboard first and make for land, was the correct answer. Dang it. We should've gone with yours, Dan. I'm sorry. Yeah. Question 12. What was the name of the island that the ship landed on? We all all very confidently said Crete. Oh, no. That is incorrect. The correct answer is Mylita. Oh, yeah. Dang.

How'd we do? We answered seven out of 12 questions correctly for a score of 59%, which beats the average score of 51, but still is a failing grade at any school in the country. Barely. Barely failing. Yep. When's the last time I read that one? I mean, plus. You know? That was two weeks ago for me. Oh. We were talking about that while you're gone. I read that two weeks ago. Yeah. Yeah. Rough times. Yeah. That is rough. Alright. Anyway, if you wanna hear more quizzes, if you go to our our YouTube channel and just do a search for quiz or life from thepath.org and search, quiz in the old box, it'll come up with, I don't know, times we've taken a quiz. Now here's the thing. You're gonna have to suffer through an hour and a half roughly of a show to hear us doing the quiz, but these are your own life choices. You can also if you search for a secular or Solomon,

you can hear us play the the classic secular Solomon game, We which I should do one of those. I do hear that secular Solomon will be coming out with a with either a digital or a playing card version in 2024. That's awesome. That that's that's on the docket for next year, so we'll see how it live app. Yeah. There we go. It's all the promises that Ben wanted to keep. Things are getting pricey is the problem. Hey. Speaking of which, let's say you don't wanna buy from the Life From The Path store. That's totally fine. There is a donate button up on the old Life From The Path website. We don't do advertisers, but that's probably because no one would agree to it. So it's it's not like we're benevolent. We just can't convince anybody to do it. But let's say out of sympathy, you wanna throw us some cash because, like, it does cost money to host the stuff here and just random electronic microphones and things like that. I don't know. You I I I can't promise you. There's no tax deduction. You'd just be giving it because you like to. So I recognize that this is not a probably a fiscally responsible thing to do, but it's there on the website in case you wanna do it. Click the old button and donate to Live From The Path, and we will we'll say thank you. And that's I I bet that's all we can offer you, though. Yeah. Okay. I might sing you Despacito.

Oh, really? How much do you have to give? You give a $100. I'll record me singing Despacito. The whole song? Yes. Okay. With backing track? I don't if you can help me make that happen, yeah. Oh, yeah. I can do it. Okay. Yeah. If you give it the apostle level If you $100. If you give $100 at the apostle level, you can get Uva singing you Despacito. Okay. I I have a just random random memory. Like,

I had some was it was it a few months ago, pictures popped up that I had moved around or saved because the time of year wasn't right, but it was from when we broadcast from the Midwest Spirit Midwest Music Festival. Yeah. And it oh, I know. I was and and a matter of fact, last week, I was reminded of it because I was running a hotspot off my phone. And I remember the second year we were we broadcast from this music festival, there was no Internet. Like, year one, we had this 500 foot, like, Ethernet cable that we strewn across the grounds Oh gosh. And broadcast all day. The

second one, we went out there, and there was no place to get Internet. And some dude who was helping at the festival had Verizon that was getting an a a good enough reception. What was it? This would have been twelve years ago Yeah. Or something for us to broadcast with his hot spot out in Charles City or something like it was or Saint Charles. And so and I I was flabbergasted by two things. One, the accessibility of hotspots at the time Right. To do live like, we live streamed all day. We were on the air for fifteen hours or something. Both as a matter of fact, on our first at Spirit Midwest, we did multiple days with the broadcast, and I think we didn't even shut it off till one in the morning or something. Like, we did thirty hours of broadcasting.

It was insane. But, anyway but that the guy handed his phone over for the whole day. Yeah. I thought, what would it take for me to hand my phone to a bunch of dudes and say, here, I'm just gonna leave it running. You go ahead and run your broadcast on, and I don't need it for a whole day. He was working there. That was the part that flabbergasted me more actually in retrospect. That makes sense. But, anyway, it does make me think It would be kind of fun to do a life from the path marathon as if we were gonna raise money with no expectation at all that it would actually do it. But just like, hey. We're gonna be on air for twelve hours just for the hoot of it. I'm totally down for that. Okay. I'm in for it. I'm gonna I'm gonna think about it because it just sounds fun. I'm Yeah. I don't know what we're gonna do. I'm in for a live in the past telethon. Because we blamed we blamed the music festival because, like, you know, we we would it was a it was a real ragtag operation, but, like, we would send cameras out to the three different stages. They would record

three or four songs and then run the tape back or run like the the the it was a SD card. Uh-huh. And then we would just, like, interview someone and chat for a while and then just fire up the SD card and say, here. Here's three songs from the main stage. Yep. And so it was a lot. In fact, I I I found some footage, again, two or three months ago, and some of it looks really good. Like, so someone in lent us a really nice camera and, like, the it looks real. The video footage itself is really good. Anyway,

we I'd have to think about it because we wouldn't have any musical artists to, like, take up six hours of the marathon. No. It would just be us being lights them up. Ugh. We should do it. Okay. I'm a think about it. We should our goal is to do a telephone. We we could do it for, like, something real. Would be oh, like, so we'd, Like an orphanage. Legitimately raise money. Dan, I'm you know what? I'm in on it. We should do that. Okay. I'd be willing to do that for real too. Goal for 2024 is we're do a telephone. This sounds fun. Alright. Alright. Anyway, let's let's do some advice. Alright. Dear life in the past, I'm 22 and have been dating a 55 year old man. What? Sorry. Let me take that back. Oh

gosh. I'm 22 and I've been dating a 55 year old man I'll call Gerald for a year now. Praise the Lord. 21. It's just real difference in our ages. I've been trying to find things for us to do together so our relationship can be more than just sex. Oh, no. What? Oh, no. I really love Gerald and wanted to work. Checkers. But how do I make it work when he won't meet me halfway? We really don't have any reasons to fight except for his jealous ex wife of eleven years.

How do I try to keep this relationship? Everything I suggest Gerald turns down. Is it because deep down he doesn't want to be in this relationship or that he doesn't think I'll it will go far? There is no relationship. You are a totally piece of meat for him. Yeah. You are a 22 year old hookup with a 55 year old man. Oh, what? Yeah. Yeah, darling. You're being used on this one.

And the only thing that you're getting out of this I I mean, I suppose maybe he's good company in this area. But, like, other than that, the man is just using you. He doesn't wanna do the things that you wanna do. He's not helping enrich your life, and he brought his past problems that he's created with his other relationships for you to deal with. This man does not he does not care about you. Yeah. You need to get out of this. He's tired from previous relationships, and he's looking for nothing serious. And so far, you're willing to get even in nature, you're giving that to him. Even though you're kind of questioning it right now, you're just giving him everything he wants right now, which is nothing serious. Yeah. And you You've probably been hurt before, which is what led you to this relationship and the willingness to be with somebody that's thirty three years your senior and that is not really giving you anything besides

him getting stuff from you. Like, come on. Yeah. I I I do and maybe encourage you to raise your bar a bit. 100%. So, like, your description of we don't really have anything to fight about is a far different thing than saying we get along well together. Support each other. We encourage and build each other up. I feel like this this man is for me. Like, any of these things would be helpful in contextually telling me whether you have a a a helpful relationship here. But I just like, I I think Booth was right. I don't know what your backstory is, and what you've had before. It's it's I'm sure it feels good to have someone show you the level of attention that he's showing you. I'm sure he's at a season of life where, like, you're not having to decide whether you're gonna go have hot dogs tonight. Like, he's paying for good restaurants and stuff, hopefully.

But, like, that that is not that is not a good relationship make, and it's harder work to find, the right person, but he's not it. Yeah. Okay.

Secular says, I'm not a mind reader, but it appears your silver fox is happy with the relationship just as it as it is. That's the reason he shoots down your suggestions for ways to expand it beyond the bedroom. You can't make relationship work all by yourself. Gerald has to be willing to participate. If his reaction to everything you suggest is opposition, it may be time to move on and find someone with whom you have more in common. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you're better than that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Agreed. And and I think may that's the biggest lie here is is you the if you if you believe that you this is the best you could do or, like, that you've settled for this, That's you've settled way too low. Right. And I'm sorry that that whatever has happened to you or that you believe about yourself has caused you to believe that, I'd just take my encouragement.

It's not true. It kinda screams there's dad problems, isn't it? Find Jesus. She's she's finding daddy and her little boyfriend. Yeah. Maybe. Find Jesus and root your identity and your worth in what he says and and step on that and live in that for a minute. Mhmm. Mhmm. Okay. Alright. One more? At least. Yeah. Dear live at the path, I was invited to my nephew's wedding out of state and accepted the invitation. It's a four hour drive. My son wasn't interested in attending, and my boyfriend wasn't sure he could attend due to work travel. The mother of the bride informed me that she had decided to put an elderly relative in my room with me, claiming they were now out of rooms. She's known to be miserly and dishonest. Miser miserly and dishonest? Yeah. Miserly. Miserly and dishonest. Was that better? There was no offer to share costs, and it was assumed that I'd transport, dress, and monitor the relative. I ended up declining the invitation, and I regret not being at my nephew's wedding. My boyfriend was able to attend, but by then, I couldn't make an appropriate room arrangement. Thoughts?

I don't quite understand the situation. Like, this person are they paying for their own hotel or not? It it appears as such. Yes. They they got a hotel, and then the person

the mom of the cousin Oh, maybe not because it says she's miserly. She an elderly relative in my room with me claiming they were now out of rooms. So they may have reserved a hotel room block rooms. Oh, at the hotel, And, like, they just couldn't get any more, so they put the old lady with this person. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I I mean Which apparently came with a lot more responsibility. Yeah. Now that that part, I guess, I'm a little bit I don't know. Did she didn't go? So, I mean, how does she know? Is she overreacting? Is she misrepresenting the situation? Make that sound worse. Yeah. Like, she has how does Well, maybe she was told because there was no offer to share costs, and it was assumed that I'd transport, dress, and monitor the relative. Yeah. I guess that's what I mean. Why would you have to share cost if the if the couple's paying for the rooms?

Why do like, I guess I don't know what we're talking about. Must be short drive. Might have been driving the elderly relative the four hours to go. You have to bring the old the old bag with you? It appears as though the only way that this person is getting there and can have a room is with this person that's going because they don't have anyone else in the room with them. The son's not coming. The boyfriend's not coming, so they can bring aunt Shirley. And we'll transport her, stay in the room with her, dress her, and get her to the wedding venue. Oh, I didn't take I I I guess I presumed that they had to stay in the same room, and then the lady was responsible for taking the old lady to the wedding, not driving her to the four hours. I mean, I think that assumption makes just as much sense as I'm sense as I'm assuming the other way. Okay. So, like, it could be either way. I wonder if it's a child, though. Either, like, a handicapped person or a child, someone who's disabled and can't dress themselves. Oh, it's not an old lady? Elderly relative.

Oh, yeah. Elderly relative to him. Well, thought she was the one who was elderly. No. My son wasn't interested. So the mother of the bride informed me that she decided to put an elderly relative in my room with me. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Here's what I would say. I I get I get that you might be a little bit irritated here. I would've just gone. Like, I I I it's the question is is how much do you allow a doofus to otherwise drive your decisions?

So, like, it it doesn't like, I get that it's not what you were signing up for, but, like, does it ruin it? You gotta stay one night with Ethel. And, I mean, I if it caring for seems a little bit odd, like, how does she normally get places? How did she oh, she takes care of her normal like, I'm not like, I wonder. That just seems like maybe it's just a little bit amplified.

And Shirley's in a in a nursing home most of the time, and this person's being responsible for bringing her to the nephew's wedding. But I guess think of it this way. If if if if if you found out that someone in your family might have might need some help and you're otherwise not encumbered let's just assume the boyfriend's not coming, son's not coming. Yeah. And, hey. We could really use your help with aunt Shirley. Would you go no? So may so I get that, like, they probably should have asked you. Right. And maybe the lady's miserly, and you regret that about her. But, like, I don't know. I probably I just I'm thinking through my own family situation. I would have been a little bit miffed about it, but I've been like, I mean, I'm not gonna miss it just because of this. Okay. I'll help. Mhmm. What what kind of like, I don't I don't demand luxury when someone else is paying for a hotel room. It's a it's gotta be like an overnight affair, and then I'm going back home if it's four hours away. Right. It's a family member in need regardless of whatever the temperament is on either of these two people we're talking about. I probably would've just done it. Yep. Okay. Yeah, you're not there on vacation. You're there for family. Right. Yeah. And like, is it gonna make, will it make sense to you two years from now to have said no?

Well, I said no because I was gonna have to help take care of my family member and not get my own personal suite. Yeah. Right. I mean, at the very least, you could just go to a different hotel and still go to the wedding. And pay I mean, yeah, you could buy your own hotel. She's like It's gonna be real backing out of everything. That's true. That's true. For as bad for as rough as you're making this sound, you could also spend the $45 and stay at the Motel six and just be you know, like, how bad could it be? Right. But, yeah, I wouldn't if you're say if did she make mention, like, hey. I I would regret missing the wedding or something? I mean, yeah, I ended up declining the invitation, and I regret not being at my wet nephew's wedding. Yeah. That yeah. You let That's on her. Yeah. You were easily these barriers were not insurmountable. You gave up way too easy. Yeah. Okay.

Alright. So the question was thoughts. Secular said, just this, because you felt the mother of the bride should have asked your permission rather than tell you her plan was for you to babysit the relative. You were within your rights to refuse to do anything that made you uncomfortable. Except for it made you a the jerk? Yeah. Well, not a jerk. I don't know. I like, I get I was I've been thinking about this a lot lately in response not only to some situations my children have been in, but, like, even situations that I have been in mostly mostly for work stuff. But I'm like, who who do I allow to dictate how I behave? Right. Like, just because someone else was a buffoon

and was inconsiderate or jerk to me or presumed something about me, like, okay. What does that have to do with me? The situation that's in front of me, let me make a decision that is agnostic of their buffoonery. Mhmm. And, like, I just I I'm cautious that too often we allow, like, the the worst kind of people to otherwise direct how you live your life. Yep. Like, it's just dumb. And so, again, I she could have been more considerate, but I don't know what that has to do with anything. You should just do the right thing the thing that you wanna do.

Okay. Let's do one more. Dear Life of the Path, I am an active retired man who has a serious problem with my slightly younger sister. Uh-oh. She's a loud and aggressive backseat driver. When she rides in my car, she feels compelled to loudly tell me what lane to drive in and to freak out over how close I am to the car in front and a variety of other issues she imagines. I'm a competent and safe driver, but her loud exclamations are not only annoying, they distract me at times, which I'm afraid could lead to an accident. Get in the left lane, she shouts, but she doesn't see the cars behind us that I see in my mirror. She knows how much this bothers me but seems not to care. Uh-huh. I've lost my temper at her for doing it. Any advice on how to get her to refrain from these outbursts while I'm driving? I'm a tell you a quick story. Tell me. I was driving. I went away back home that I don't normally go.

There's there's a faster way to go from town a to town b where I live. And for some reason, I decided I'm gonna I have a cheap trick. I'm gonna take a long way home. And so I pass a guy. It's starting to snow. It's cold out. It's it's it's actually very this was Is this a Carrie Underwood song? A few days ago. What do mean? Sorry. Go ahead. What's that song? I'm thinking takes the wheel. Take the long way home. That's what I was thinking about. Anyway, I pass a guy who's out walking by himself heading towards Town c, and he's got a long way to go. There's no town close. Direction he's going, it's like 25 degrees, about a 30 mile an hour wind. It's cold, man. Dude is not prepared to be walking out there either. He's feels like he got a windbreaker on. And so I pass him, and it's not often that I'm driving by myself. There's no wife or kid in the car where I I'm less like, little more hesitant to pick up somebody, and I think, well, I'm I'm by myself. I normally wouldn't have taken this road, I'm just gonna presume this person's here because I'm supposed to pick him up. And so I whip it around.

And I picked this guy up, and first thing he goes, I don't know why this maybe this happened to you. Picking up somebody, I would say, like, half the time, they're like, hey. Can I smoke in here? Like, this is the first thing you ask? Yep. The answer is Mind if I light up? Yeah. I'm like, no. Yeah. I've had that a couple times. You celebrate outside, like, in getting in the car. It's my daughter's car. I'm like, no. You can't you can't smoke in here. Okay. Okay. Anyway, dude gets in the car, and I said we started driving just a little bit. He was probably five, six years younger than me. And so I said, I you've been walking a while. And he's like, oh, yeah. I walked from town B from roughly my town. So he's been out there for about half an hour, guess. And I said, we've been walking long enough. Did you figure out that you're to blame for whatever is while you're out here? He's like, oh, no. Oh, no. He's no. I was I was definitely in the right. I'm like, I just I find that hard to believe. Right.

And so he eventually comes out and he says, I said, like, what goes on? He's like, well, we were going to this town to go sell our Nintendo Switch to a friend. Like, this automatically seems nefarious. For drugs. I just don't trust. Yeah. You're right. Like, I mean, I don't know. Maybe not, but, like, it doesn't because I thought I mean, $1.40 he said it's a $145. I'm like, I'd I'd pay $1.50. I don't even need a Nintendo Switch. That sounds pretty good. And he goes, we're on the way there and my girlfriend says, hey, you need to turn here to get to town b. And he kept going because he was gonna he goes, I'll get there. There's another way to get there and it's just as fast and I'll just go that way. And that fight escalated

very quickly Oh, no. With him going, fine. You cake the car, and he gets out and starts walking home. What? And I'm like, this is I said, these are not these are not for men your age, we don't do this anymore. Right. You don't throw you you two people I don't care how wrong or you believe someone else to be. We don't throw tantrums and get out of a vehicle in 20 degree weather and a 30 mile per hour wind because you're arguing about directions. Like, these are not things we should be doing anymore. We need to we need to mature. You argue at home like normal people or in the car between these two places, put on airs when you're selling the switch and then argue back on the way home. Fine. This is how normal people do it. And so, anyway, it made me think like

he felt really justified about this. Like, that him putting his feet in the ground about these directions from his lady Mhmm. That he was definitely right. The fight was definitely worth it, and that the action he took in response to that felt really justified. I thought this is no. Obviously not. Like, this is this is not justified at all. This is a really stupid, stupid argument. Frankly, you had two options, man. Either turn where your girlfriend wants you to turn just because she likes it. Who can't what do you care? What's gonna save you thirty seconds? Or, like, if she's overreacting, you don't overreact. You go, you're right. I could have gone that way, but why we're already going this way, so I'll I'll make sure to hit that up next time or whatever. Like, there's a whole there's ways that don't end up and you stalk it away. Anyway, this reminded me of this one because the big of a deal that we're making about this direction issue, I just I'm hesitant to believe it actually is is worth the amount of effort this man is putting into it. That's fair. So, Dan, what is your advice for him?

Stop taking his sister places? Doesn't that seem like an option? I mean, usually, if I'm in a situation like that, I'll I'll just I'm kind of a a jerk. I'll just kinda press it a little bit, and I'll drive a little closer than I normally would and completely ignore what they say. And and I'll usually say, like, you know, I think I got this driving thing down. I don't really need your advice on this, and I'll say it maybe in a slightly more rude way. But if they if they just keep doing it, I'll just harass them. I'll I'll I'll torture them because I think I'm I'm not anticipating this level. I have never been in an accident in my life. I've been driving for decades, and and you're telling me, like, I'm driving too fast or too slow or the wrong lane. I'm like, and I got a GPS that tells me where I'm going, and then they'll say, like, no. You gotta go the other way. I said, well, the GPS, I'm gonna follow it. It it has a better view than you do. That's so funny. Yeah. Doctor Cartesian over here. I'm gonna torture you and try close I do. I thought they're I mean, they're being rude, and and they're trying, you know, tort they were trying to torture me. It's like, I I just have fun with them.

Okay. What a champion. Then says hand it back. Bubba, what do you say? I mean, grow up in my in my opinion. You're retired. Like, you're an old man, and you're like your your your sister is is bother I mean, you've been siblings with this person presumably for fifty plus years, I'm guessing. Slightly younger than you means that this is not like a twenty year younger. Right. So, like, you've been you're retired. You've probably been siblings for sixty years. Right? Like, this should not be surprising to you. If you're willing to let her stay in the car, nothing's gonna change. Just go, okay. Like, you could be annoyed and just deal with it. Yeah. Like, your your whole life can't possibly be in a state where you're never annoyed by anything. Like, you can be annoyed by things and be a grown up in 99% of the other situations. Let this be that. Just okay. Thanks, Ethel. I'm gonna stay in the right lane. Get in the left lane. Nope. I'm good in the right I so I'm gonna I maybe I'll blend a little bit of yours and and and Dan's answer. I would just say, look, very calmly. I don't appreciate you trying to tell me where to go and how to drive. And so here's what I'm gonna do. Every time you tell me to do something, I'm going to literally do the exact opposite.

And since you're in my car, I presume that I'm taking you somewhere which you wanna arrive on time. And so we'll be in your best interest. Hey. Get in the left lane. Turn right. I'll turn right right now. I will drive us into oncoming traffic. I will do. Like, there's very hey. You need to slow down. Get the guns. How long till she figures out reverse psychology? I yeah. Maybe. Hey. Turn right. Get to the right. He went left. And they'll go, that's a great that's a great recommendation, sis. I never follow your advice, but I'm gonna do it this time. Turn right. I'd like at some point, they're gonna get tired of it, and they're gonna learn their lesson. I just it's been something also that has some both family and work work benefits is that, like, sometimes we try to accomplish the thing, and the only way that we go about it is, like, with brute force. Sometimes

you just did like, influencing people can work. You can get the thing you want without setting fire to the rain. Yep. It's just gonna take six weeks, not six minutes, but it's probably worth it. And so you just stay calm. You stay the course, and eventually, she's gonna get flustered about it and knock it off. Yep. Okay. Alright. Secular says, your sister may not be able to control herself. I'm I'm sure. Which is why she does this because you find the backseat driving not only annoying but potentially dangerous. Stop letting a ride with you, and your problem will be solved. I'm sorry. Your only suggestion is to not take your sister places? Yep. That's secular advice. I'm not saying that's not an option. I'm just saying that should not be the only suggestion. It appears as though that is the only suggestion. She can't help it? What kind of garbage is that? Yep. He can't help but be annoyed. She can't help but yell at him when she when he's driving. Now listen here. I I was having a conversation with someone earlier. May well, maybe it was late last week. And it was around

the concept of and and we I I think we've touched on this before, just maybe not in quite this context context, but, like, we reach for labels, even things like things like ADHD. Mhmm. Right? Like and I think about I think about just people and adult dudes that I know. I can think of probably five of them that would have just been absolute fires of of purgatory to have this person in an elementary school. Dude just wired. Mhmm. Right? And so they they would've I'm sure they would've labeled this dude as having ADHD.

And and the problem with that was is that, like, dude just was not meant to sit around. I'm not sure, frankly, we're all meant to sit around. Right? Like like, the structure if you think of back, you know, two, three hundred years ago, the prime thing that we're doing your children are doing most of the day is they're up they're either playing or working Yeah. During the day. Formalized schools actually put them to say you're gonna sit for eight hours a day. I'm not sure that we're actually built for that. And so the guy who actually can't handle it, he might act he might be ahead of all of us. He's the guy who's not been constrained by all this stuff. But, anyway, the question would be, what value did we gain? There was a there was a lady who was talking about I can't I can't remember the how she described it, but it was like, I don't think about my husband unless he's in the room with me because I and then she there was, like, a psychological thing was, like, it's object permanence or something. Uh-huh. Yep. Yeah. Right. So, like, if he's not there, I literally never Just never pops up. Think of him. And which now here's the thing. I I'm that way with the garbage. If I'm not like, I don't think of it. I barely look object permanence for the garbage. I barely even when I walk by it, I barely notice that it's there to take out. Right? That was a a source of frustration. My wife goes, how could you walk by that garbage and not take it out? I said, literally,

I did not look at it and go, hey. I'm not gonna take that out. I didn't see it. Right? Now but here's what but over time, I find that this is important to my wife. She says this is like, she notices it all the time. She's good at this. Ladies generally are. They see all the things. We see like a 10%. And so but I'm like, this is important to my wife. And so what do I have to do? I intentionally check for the garbage. It takes thought. It takes leaving notes and things for myself. And over time, I'm now actually pretty good at this. Same thing with, like, clean dishwashers, and I've gotten much better. What I wouldn't have gotten value from is saying, oh, I have object permanence, and so this cannot be helped.

Right? Yeah. You lack object permanence. It you're right. I lack object permanence, and so this cannot be helped. Like, it would have done me no no good, and this is the barrier of some of these. I I don't I I always I struggle with this because, like, I I I don't it's not that I don't think they're not real. I think some people are wired differently. I think some people get antsy. I think some people have trouble focusing, and it could very well be a physical thing or a something going on within them. Totally. But the labeling of it risks us going, I have this, therefore, I am this as if it is not movable. Yeah. Right. And that is a fallibility. It goes back, moving to things that that that we've talked about on the show before, like, you're ADHD informed, not ADHD excused. Yep. Right? Like, whatever it is, the thing, I'm I'm lack of object permanence informed. Yep. I know I'm prone to this. Conscientious of what I have. Yes. Yep. Yes. And so I have to take steps in light of that, not go,

no, husband. I don't think about you at all. Not my fault. I don't I lack object permanence. And so this I can't help it yelling from the back seat Uh-huh. Bollocks. I refuse it. Right. Yes. You can. Yep. She doesn't want to, thinks it's funny, struggles. Maybe it's hard for her to be quiet in the back seat, but, like, there are very few things where I would accept that says this is totally you and you have zero control over it. Tourette's is a good one. Like, a lot of Tourette's type of responses, even some of that is kind of somewhat governed by what you eat at times. It can be depending on what type you have or magnesium. Yes. Like so, like, even then, it's possible. But, like, I just I like, that is the I think it is a fallibility of what is modern within the last decade or so to be, like, really reach for

I have trying to find the label as if that, like, gives you you're not trying to use it as an excuse. Like, it helps you realize some things about yourself, but it when it boxes you in and goes, oh, I can't help that. Well, I bet you can, actually. Yeah. I now see the garbage. It took a long time. I I got it. Now there are plenty of situations in which it it it is truthful to say that you can't be helped, but I think that the threshold for that being reality is way too high societally. I don't think that that's nearly as true as many people believe it is. I'm sure there's cases where it's like, nope. Your brain formed physically incorrectly through whatever happened, whatever didn't happen when you were a child or whatever. Right? Abuse is a big thing, especially within babies that can change a lot of, like, the brain structures where we would be able to to call out things like you can do better. Right? But, like, that is not the general story of most people. Like Yes. Trauma happens. People you know, parents suck a lot of the times, and, like, they're doing their best most of the time. Sometimes that's not very great because they're a product of the environment that they were raised in, whatever you wanna call it. But, like, you're absolutely right. Like, the the and we keep going back. It's it's being informed and conscientious of the things that you have, but not being ruled by them or excused by them. Yes. Right? Like, there's it it's with me, with my depression, it's it's it's I have to be informed of the fact that given my own devices, I will slip into a place where I'm sad boy and, like, everything hurts and everything's rough and all this different stuff.

I know that there are things that I have to keep in check or things that I have to do. I have to have good societal converse or good good outreach to people that can keep me focused and based in a good thing. I have to have truth in my mind that goes and battles the crap that I'm telling myself when I'm in a low place. Right? I have to be open to the people around me and and conscientious of that stuff. But it doesn't mean that I'm I am impossible to be helped or to help myself. That's a load of crap Yeah. In most characters. And and, like, we should be encouraged. Like, just think about choose a violin virtuoso. A guy who never like, at some point, another dude never played the violin. Now he plays the violin better than everyone else. Incredibly so. The humans

are designed with a remarkable ability to learn, to shift, to change. And you do not do yourself a service by taking an acknowledgment of this thing is currently true and maybe even finding the reason behind it and then declaring like, looking at it as if that is my shackle. It is not. It is an awareness. I can't I I should I I really should stay away from caffeine. It messes with me. It jacks with me. I have the choice not to choose caffeine. When I choose caffeine, it is harmful to me. I just have to be able to say no. Sometimes,

like, I know anxiousness happens to me. Isolation will do this to me, but like allowing my mind to focus on something and all the potential implications of something for more than five minutes can cause anxiousness in me. I know that. I know I'm cautious here only because of how people are gonna hear it, not because I actually think there's much of a difference. Like it is the same for me. I get to choose whether I drink caffeine. I get to choose whether I'm gonna dwell on something for more than five minutes because I know it will cause harm to me, even though it's internal. It's not like a physical thing that I did. I just know that if I sit and think about something too long, I get riled up about it. I overthink it. It causes me nervousness. And so I have to self control in the same way I have to say no to caffeine. Yeah. And it's it's it's interesting when you start to understand your own triggers and understand your own lures and understand the hooks that grab you. Right? Because it's it's rarely ever going to be a situation where I can't help myself. It may be a situation where I didn't stop myself before I couldn't help myself. Like, there was a choice that I made, then a choice that I made, then a choice that I made that led me to a place where I could no longer control because I had given up so much of my own control. Yeah. My autonomy to the thing that I know is a problem. But, like, what really happened is it wasn't zero to I can't control anything. It was zero to I didn't make good decisions all the way to the point where I couldn't control myself. Yes. And that's a that's a story for every, you know, person who's cheated on their spouse or something like, I I'm gonna grant you, like, there are times where, like, moments happen, and it's hard to get out of them. Sure. Except for you allowed every other moment that got you in that particular direction. Run.

Yeah. Run-in the opposite direction at the first sight of, oh, I know what this leads down to. Yes. It's it's the same for the recovering drug addict. It's the same for the the for the obese gentleman that can't stop eating. Like, it's never that situation. Do you want do wanna know when I overeat? When I put myself in drive through lines and when I take myself to a buffet and when I knowingly buy the wrong stuff at the grocery store. Do you wanna know when I make good decisions? When I don't allow myself to be in a place where I can make those bad decisions. Mhmm. It's the same situation with someone who's recovering from drugs. Right? Like, you have sobriety. You have broken yourself from that. There are 15 decisions that go from zero to I can no longer control this. You made the wrong one in the first 14 because at the first one, you didn't run. At the second one, you didn't freaking turn tail and run. Yes. And I and I think it's okay to recognize that for a person that's recovering from heroin use, the pull to do heroin today is a lot harder on you than it is on me. You're great.

And that's fine. And it's okay to recognize that. It's okay. In fact, as a humanity, we should have sympathy on other people, recognize that some things may be harder. Actually, conversation was happening at my house over the last couple weeks, which is like, there's people in my family that struggle with self control around sugar. This guy right here. Definitely. My wife does not struggle with this at all. If she didn't wanna do it, she'd just go, no. I'm just not gonna do it. I actually I'm not super motivated exercise. My wife is super motivated. It's like, it doesn't seem like a lot of extra effort for her. She it just she just is able to do it. But, like, I look at some of my children who have kinda have my proclivities, and I am I'm sympathetic towards them because, like, I get it. You don't have the same motivation. It's harder to say no. You're like, that looks delicious. Why wouldn't I not want to have even a little bit of that? I want to. And I get it.

Whereas I think my wife would look at it and go like, why didn't you just say why didn't you just say no? Because she doesn't struggle with it. And so like, I I think it it is incumbent upon us to be willing to recognize that no one is a lot of people are having different experiences that we were having. You'd be like, dude, why are you even messing around with that? Am I tearing a guy to be he's he's he's looking at pornography all the time. It's tearing at him. Maybe you don't struggle with that, but recognize it's it may be that it that it pulls at him and then heroin and, like, whatever all the other things where you're like, why can't you just stop this? It may be harder. It does not release you from the thing that we're talking about, which is you still gotta take step one, two, three, four, five. You always have the ability to say no. There are very, very few situations of which you physically and emotionally cannot stop yourself. There are. They do exist. Right. But from it's not as often as I think that we're agreeing to.

And I think it allows us it the the problem is that we tend to deaden it with medication and frankly, deaden it with our own belief of what we can control. We stop fighting. When you stop fighting a thing, those then you are just being dominated by it. Yep. You lose your you lose your grit for taking on the world and saying, not only will I not be dominated by this, but I'm I'm going to conquer it. Because, like, you're spending your whole life on like, it's one of the things I fear is that in trying to fend off temptation, you spend your whole life on defense. And if you're spending your whole life on defense to get that, you're not being on offense on the things that actually change the world for you, improve your life, like further the kingdom. They're not happening because you're just like, I'm just trying to stay out of trouble here. Like, that's just as good as you being trapped by the enemy because you're not being effective. And so, like, deadening yourself to going, look. I just can't help but look at pornography and take everyone. Like, under that, guys, you're the only way for you to stay off that stuff is be permanently defensive. And and you need to come around to the thought that, like, for vast majority of people, it can be helped. You do have the ability to do it. You just need to learn how to do it. It doesn't like, I don't fault with folks for going, I don't have the tools. I'm not sure how. I keep falling into this. I get that. I sympathize with that, but it's not okay to believe that it can't be done. It can be done. Yep. So stop yelling from the back seat, sister. Gotta let It helped.

Knock it off. Alright. Alright. You're listening to live from the path. We appreciate you hanging out with us on the show this evening. And, I don't know. Again, I we we may be done for the year. I'm not, I'm not quite sure. We'll see how the, the next Monday shakes out. If you have anything for us, hit us up on the Life From The Path. Bob Eisner complaint line, (515) 517-0085. Call or text (515) 517-0085. In the meantime, be faithful in the means. God will handle the ends. You are listening to Live From The Path.