From the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper, you are live from the Path. On Facebook, that's the start. That's the kind of stuff I'm talking about. I think that's the start of a great show. Yeah. Now, here's the deal. There's no reason for us to falsify or phonify what's going on here. Our great technical commander, who I like to refer as the Vishnu of the computer area, because he's out on vacation. Ben's gone. Ben's gone.

And so it takes literally eight hands to start the computer and do the YouTube business and run the sound thing. Yeah. I didn't realize we paid him that well. I was going to say, I didn't realize that Ben was this talented. I knew he was a talented dude. Yeah. Here's the downside of what I've seen so far is he's a fool, because he does a lot more work than I do, right? I come jauntering in here. We're going to show up.

Oh, you have no idea. You know, I feel like Ben's a fool for the abuse that he puts up with. But in either case, you're listening to Live from the Path on livefromthepath.org, broadcasting Monday nights on the website. And we're also broadcasting. Now, listen, here's the big shebang. Wait, we need a drum roll. Big news. Do you have sound effects on that? No, no. Well, I'm sure we do, Dan, but I certainly don't know how to do it.

Can you hear this? Yeah. So we're moving to Saturdays at 7 o'clock for our KTIA broadcast. That's 99.3 KTIA. 7 o'clock? That's like prime time, isn't it? Here's what you don't realize. The 10 o'clock slot, that's for the amateurs. Right. You know what I'm saying? Or the guys that are like, well, they seem like nice fellas.

We don't want to hurt their feelings. We'll let them broadcast. That's the trial period. But the 7 o'clock, that's downtown. That's big time. That's big news. People are awake. Yeah. So I'm excited. I feel like it's going to garner at least four to five more people to the show. Hey.

And so I'm pretty excited about that whole shebang. So look forward to that. Tonight on the show, now we got big things planned. Apart from, now you should expect some small amounts of technical difficulties, low amounts of camera shot moving, and random audio problems. Apart from that, here's what you can expect. We have GodIsImaginary.com. This guy, we're walking through 50 proofs that God is imaginary. And we're on proof number, what is it, 32, talk to a theologian. Yep. And basically his deal here is, we're going to go through it.

There's a long conversation. As Ben would say, I'm going to give you the opening salvo, and then we're going to try to truncate him down because he talks like he's reading a dictionary. He goes on for a while now. He's long-winded. Yeah, yeah. So we're going to, basically he's got 50 proofs that says, here's why God's not real. Here's why the whole thing is a farce. And today he's talked to a theologian. And he's basically going to say, why does it take a preacher or a theologian to interpret the Bible?

Why can't the regular man figure it out? Right. So we're going to walk through that and see what would come out on the other end. We also got some advice on Dear Life from the Path. A long-awaited game show that we don't do a whole lot around here because, one, Dan is not dependable. And two, if you've read Deuteronomy a lot, the game's not fun. But we're going to play Deuteronomy Dan. Deuteronomy Dan. Yeah, see? Deuteronomy.

You remember that? That's good. Now, see, we do have a sound effect for that. Not going to happen today. Not going to happen. If I have to do it, I will. We don't know where it's at. So we're also going to get Pope-style advice. I actually have a little bit of Pope-style advice sitting in this week. And so it actually ties into, Dan's been on a fasting kick, talking about fasting and what its place is.

And, you know, I feel like it ties in with a lot of self-control issues, too. Good stuff. And so we're going to talk about that a little bit. But, and we're also going to talk about Christian boycotting. Boycotting. Christian boycotting Christians. And so we're going to see exactly what's going on there. I'm going to make a sign. Yeah. And so let's see. Against picketing.

Yeah. So, you know, we got some good stuff happening. Good show tonight. You know, let's open up. How's your week been going, Troy? I need this, Troy. You know what I'm saying? I need this. I understand that. It has been, on the grand scheme of things, it's not been the best week I've had in a long time.

I will say the good Lord has given me breath once again today, which I've, yeah, I've come to learn. That's actually a really good blessing. Been going awesome for the most part. Actually hitting my diet pretty hard lately. You're looking good. Thank you. I appreciate it. I think this month alone, I've lost about 28 pounds. Wow. How much are you down total?

Total now, I've lost, I think I'm about 270. Wow. That is impressive. 270 pounds. Yeah. That is impressive. I'm going to keep going. Wow. I've lost an entire mic. Three of them. I'm like 74 of him.

I'm 175. I pulled my own weight. I've eaten something bigger than 175, so that's okay. I call that supper. I call that dinner. I call that burrito. I make the joke every once in a while that I see someone that everybody, for some reason, thinks they're big, and some people, it's just downright mockery. But I look at them and do the whole, you know, I've had meals bigger than you thing. And I think, Mike, I think that's a fair statement if I say, Mike, I've had a meal bigger than you.

Yeah, I could buy that. I've heard some things. I won't say I'm proud of that, but I'll own it. Just reporting. Just reporting. I'm going to report that. All right. Thanks for biting the time. Absolutely. So here's what happened. I didn't start streaming on YouTube.

So if you're just grabbing us on livefromthepath.org, it's nice to see you. Thanks, YouTube. Everything's up and running. If you're having a hard time catching the show, I'm just going to type this in the chat here. Just go ahead and refresh your browser, and everything should be up and running. I'm going to put in a spelling error, and Ben is going to be upset. Ben's not here. He can't do anything. How about we just avoid the spelling errors there? He can type and think and talk and produce the thing at the same time.

He's got eight arms. That's fair. Here's the thing. They will probably bail after this week's episode, but let's not forget our sponsors here. We've gotten involved with some companies and some organizations that they really have the heart of Jesus on this thing. It's not because of our outstanding talent or entertainment that we're even trying to offer here, but there are some great companies who love Jesus and just want to see some stuff happen in his name. So we're sponsored by Valley Services. For all your cleaning needs, commercial, residential, they might do auto cleaning.

I don't know. I'm not really sure of the breadth, where it goes and where it doesn't go, but call them. I mean, if you already got the cleaning tools, I feel like they would probably do it for a reasonable price. You know, I don't know. Something to think about. All right. We're also sponsored by Kipana Coffee up in Ames. Troy Engeldinger, you've actually just been up there recently. I did. And you tried the gelato.

I did. I realized that I had never myself had gelato, and I realized that someone from the show should probably go out and try their gelato so someone can report on this. And I will say, it is better than ice cream. Better than ice cream? I'm not kidding. You know, they make that claim. There's a lot of stuff that goes for, hey, you know, gelato is 10 times better than ice cream. It's more nutritious, better processed how to make it. I will say, I tried gelato.

What is gelato? Gelato. So, I will not do it justice in explaining this concept, but it is pretty much the Italian word for ice cream. Okay. I thought it was like a good pair of shoes. Well, I can't say yes or no to that, to be 100% honest. I'm not the good guy to go to on shoes. I kind of pick out the size that fits and say, I can find an outfit to go with that. But, the gelato, it's frozen at a higher temperature, and it's smoother, and the crystals are different than an ice cream.

And it was downright good. I took a couple people with me, and we had all across the board good reviews on that stuff. So, Caponis, go there for some gelato. Great coffee, great gelato. Good stuff. Good. Caponis Coffee. You can find them on Lincoln Way in Ames. It's well worth the trip, whether you're in Ames or Albuquerque. Take a plane, take a bus. Get there.

Try that. Gelato. Gelato. We're also sponsored this week by the Eisenlauers. Now, listen. We've had Bob Eisenlau in here a couple times. I've used them personally for my real estate transactions. I say that to make it sound like I've had a million. I've had a couple. You know, I've bought one. I've sold one.

Whatever. You're kind of a tycoon. I think that's fair. I mean, seriously, the easiest transaction. I was scared to death to sell this house, because I'm always assuming someone's going to put the boots to me, you know? Tell me a bunch of stuff. Charge me a bunch of money. You know, it just scares me getting involved with big money, because I think that people who deal with big money know how to hide little amounts of it. Not the Eisenlauers.

I mean, seriously, he was honest. If things were going bad, he said, look, things aren't going great. If things are going great, he says, look, we're going smooth. They were honest, easy to deal with. They're good-hearted guys. Bob's been on the show a couple times talking to Jesus with us, so go ahead and check out the Eisenlauer team for all your real estate stuff. And don't forget On Purpose Promotions. If you need that, your t-shirt's made. They might make press-on nails. I'm not sure about that either.

This is kind of just me guessing what they do. But shorts, t-shirts, hats. I've taken a look at that website. They do quite a bit of things. I actually couldn't get through the whole website. Yeah, actually, I got tired of looking at it after a while. Oh, I didn't. I just ran out of time. Yeah. Yeah. There was so much stuff.

I ran out of time. There's a ton of stuff going on. So anyway, check out all four of those sponsors. They're fantastic folks, and they're all good friends of the show. So let's check out our proof. We're on proof number 32, God is Imaginary, at godisimaginary.com. Proof number 32 is talk to a theologian. I don't know that we have any registered theologians here, so we'll see how this goes. We'll see if any of us fits the bill. All right. So here he goes.

Have you ever noticed that when you read the Bible, it often makes no sense? For example, you can read Matthew 17, 20, and Jesus clearly says, nothing will be impossible for you. And yet, you know for a fact that that statement is wrong. Lots of things are impossible for you. If you ask a Christian about this discrepancy, the Christian will say, ah, you see, you're not interpreting the Bible correctly. You need to talk to a theologian. He will set you straight. I've never said that. Yeah, I've never once directed someone to a theologian.

I've said that first part of the, where you're not interpreting the Bible correctly. I said that. I said that, definitely. But I don't know that I know any theologians offhand to send them to. C'est la vie. Here we go. Isn't it odd that the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, perfect creator of the universe has written a book, but he was unable to write clearly, so we need human theologians to interpret it for us? Why would a perfect God say, nothing will be impossible for you, unless he meant, nothing will be impossible for you?

Surely God knows how humans interpret sentences, so why didn't he speak the truth? The reason why God speaks so unclearly, and why God fails to speak the truth so often in the Bible, and the reason why we need theologians, is because God is imaginary. You could see that in the following dialogue with a theologian. This ought to be classic. Well, I don't know which one's a theologian yet. It's between Norm and Chris. Norm says, hello, Chris. It's nice to meet you. I understand that you are a theologian with a PhD in theology. Chris says, yes, I am.

A trained theologian. How may I help you? Norm says, can you answer a question for me? Does God answer prayers? Yes, certainly. He has answered hundreds of my prayers. Norm says, pray for him to put $10,000 in my pocket right now. Chris says, it does not work that way. I said God answers prayers, not that he is a cosmic genie. Norm says, so in Mark 11, 24, when Jesus says, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

What did he mean? That sounds like you can have whatever you pray for. Chris says, he means that you pray for something, and if it is his will, then you shall receive it. Jesus is under no obligation to answer any prayer, nor is he obligator to provide the answer that you expect. There are thousands of ways for Jesus to answer a prayer indirectly. Norm says, if it is his will, aren't I going to get it anyway? Why pray? Chris says, ask and you shall receive. You have to ask.

Norm says, and then you should receive. Jesus does not say, ask and you might receive if it is my will. His statement has no conditions. Chris says, he meant that. It is implied. You need to see Jesus in the context of the rabbinical doctrine in the early 1st century AD. Norm says, okay, why does God never answer impossible prayers? For example, if I pray to fly like Superman or to restore my friend's amputated limb, why will it never happen? Chris said, it is not God's will.

It would eliminate faith in God if God answered an impossible prayer, as you are suggesting. Our God is a God of faith, that his intention and is clearly stated throughout the Bible. Norm says, so why did God part the Red Sea? Surely that took away faith. Chris says, you clearly have no understanding of God's intentions or purposes in the Bible. At the time of Genesis, under Mosaic law, God's relationship with mankind was completely different than it is today. Norm says, I see. So in Matthew 17, 20, when Jesus says, nothing will be impossible to you, why isn't flying like Superman or $10,000 in my pocket right now part of that? Well, Chris says, quite clearly, you have never bothered with any sort of exegetical understanding

of the Bible's promises on prayer. God is under no obligation to answer any prayer. Norm says, so when Jesus uses the example of moving a mountain, which is clearly impossible, what did he mean? Chris says, Jesus clearly was speaking metaphorically, as was common in the first century. Norm says, so when Jesus uses the example of moving a mountain, no faith can move a mountain, that's what he's saying? No. Then who can move a mountain? Chris says, God can move a mountain. And Norm says, but he doesn't do that.

Chris says, it is not in his will. And keep in mind that God must remain hidden. Let me make sure I have this straight. Here's what Jesus said in Matthew 17, 20. You will say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible to you. But here's what you think he meant. Nothing will be impossible to you, as long as it is possible, and as long as it is my will. Is that right? Chris says, you are completely clueless and an idiot besides. No biblical commentary and no Christian denominational body agrees with any of your interpretations

of these passages, and neither do I. Norm says, answer the question. Is that what he meant? This is irrelevant to the conversation. Norm says, here's what I don't understand. What Jesus said in the Bible is obviously wrong. If God is perfect, there's no reason why God would put something that is completely wrong in the Bible. Why do we need human beings like you to interpret and massage and explain what God might have meant in the Bible? Why wouldn't an omnipotent, all-knowing, perfect God have written it in the way he meant it,

in an understandable, clear, unambiguous, truthful, correct way? There isn't anything vague about, nothing will be impossible for you, or, ask and you shall receive. Yet, it is completely wrong. Explain that to me. Chris says, you are completely missing the point. Here's the sum up. And so on. Most people can see the problem that is apparent in this conversation. There's no reason why an all-knowing, perfect God would write down, you can move mountains, or nothing will be impossible for you, unless he meant that.

Unfortunately, the reality is that no one can move mountains, and thousands of things will be impossible for you. Not even Jesus moved a mountain. In fact, not one of Jesus' supposed miracles left any evidence for us to examine today. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The reason you can't, why you can't read the Bible yourself, and the reason why only trained theologians can interpret a book written by God, and the reason why the Bible is actually concretely incorrect so many places, despite any interpretation, is because God is imaginary. If God were real, and if God had actually written a book, the book would be brilliant and inspiring. The book would say things that are actually true, and prayer would work as it actually

described by the Bible. People would be left in awe by what they read in the Bible. That is what being perfect is all about. Troy, what do you think? So, I read this earlier today, and I was, I tried to take the right tone in reading it. I tried, this was one that I got a little upset about, I'm going to be honest. First off, I'm not sure if this was a mock conversation with this theologian that he made up in his head, or if he was on the phone with a theologian. No, I feel like it's mocked. Yeah, and… It kind of has that feel.

Yeah, it seems like no one's going to say, you know, you're an idiot. Either that or we don't pay our theologians enough. Right, exactly. I would say our theologians are really upset with their job. They would probably agree with that. So, hi, I'm from a slanderous God website. I'd like to record this conversation. So, we're going to go to the first portion of that, where Dan and I both kind of commented. We don't think we've ever sent anyone to a theologian for the interpretation. So, that kind of already starts off on the wrong foot with the whole proof. If you really look into all the passages he took, I think it was Matthew 17, 20.

He took, the asking he received was, is Matthew 7, 7. Then he took, I believe, a passage from Mark where it says, you know, if you pray and believe fully, it will happen. I'm paraphrasing there. I'm not quite sure which one that one is. But, you know, he's taking every single one of those out of context. Doesn't put into the fact of, Jesus talks about having faith in all of those things beforehand. It's not, prayer is, you know, I want $10,000 in my pocket. And just because I'm praying, and that's the only thing, I may not believe entirely what I'm doing. You know, even if I may think I'm believing entirely that if I say, you know, God, I want $10,000 in my pocket right now. And I fully believe what's going to happen. You know, that doesn't mean it's going to happen.

And he takes that as, since every one of our, obviously, materialistic prayers that this guy is having where it's $10,000, it's the amputated arm, it's the Superman powers, it's moving a mountain. Just because he's not getting the answers he wants means that the prayer didn't work. It means that it wasn't real. Isn't that kind of his point, though? Right. That, you know, you say he's taking the scripture out of context, and he says, why should there be any context to be met? Shouldn't it be that straightforward? Absolutely not. No. I would disagree entirely with that. I think that you don't have to be a theologian to understand the Bible.

I think that the Bible was written perfectly because I don't claim to be in any way, you know, a wise man. And I think that really a lot of people, a lot of Christians that are reading this book don't claim to be theologians, don't claim to be scholars or anything, but can read this Bible and can take things from it. Well, that was one of the criticisms early on is that the scripture in the New Testament was written in the common man's language. And that the, you know, educrats were like, oh, come on, seriously, Koine Greek? I mean, you know, that's the fisherman's language, you know. It is written for the common man to understand. So I agree with you. Yeah, absolutely. It's, he's taking it as, he's pulled three half verses. He didn't even quote a full verse, I don't think. Well, maybe the Matthew 17, 20 was the full verse, but I know that the.

But pulled it out of a story. Right, pulled it out of some, you know, either something Jesus was saying or I think all those were something Jesus was saying. But he pulls those portions out, pick those out specifically, and says, because we can't interpret that to be true. And because that's obviously not true, because every time, you know, I ask for $10,000, I'm not getting it. Therefore, the entirety of the Bible makes no sense. And it was written imperfectly. And therefore, God is imaginary. Yeah, he, you know, the odd brand with this cat is, is that he's done this before. Like, he likes to center around problems with prayer. And he's used these verses before in reference to them. You know, like, here's how God, he really thinks God is imaginary because, mostly because of the prayer situation.

Like, we've gone over this three, four times now. And while I do, I do feel like on the, from the outside looking in, you know, sometimes the Bible is hard to get the grasp of. You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't know that I, that I received the full counsel of the book until I read it, like cover to cover, until I kind of got half the, half the full counsel when I read the story and thought, okay, now that I've seen it in its entirety, you know, I can go back and start picking some things out. But, you know, here's the deal. The Holy Spirit wrote the book. The Holy Spirit interprets the book when I read it. You know what I'm saying? I'm open to God's instruction when I'm reading that Bible. That's why that Bible's not confusing to me. You know, I mean, there's parts of it where I'm like, you know, in fact, when Cain killed Abel and he's like, I got to get out of here, people are going to kill me.

You know, and he says, you can't make me a wanderer, God. People are going to kill me. I'm like, who? Who's going to kill you? Who are those people? You just killed your own brother. It seems like there's like four people. That's pretty much it. Who are you hiding from? Mom, dad, and your brother. Yeah, and so I thought, okay, that's worth looking into.

That seems like a discrepancy to me. So, you know, there's some situations where I can look into it and say, okay, there's got to be a reason what's going on here. Where do these theologians come in real handy? You know, they've done some legwork and said, you know, Adam and Eve, I mean, these guys live to be 800, 900 years old. This could have been five generations in. Exactly. And when they found out he killed Abel, they're going to hunt him down. You know what I'm saying? They're going to come after him. That's my brother. And so, I mean, we're talking five generations in, 500 years later.

You know, there could be a good thousand people on the earth, you know? We don't know. Exactly. But, like, when you read, if you're fairly new to the Bible, you read that and go, who? He just killed the only other guy that was around. Right. I feel this is ridiculous, you know? And so, anyway, you know, I don't think he has a whole lot of leg to stand on. Mostly, if I had to answer this, you know, straight, I would say, look, when I read the Bible, I pray and I ask the Holy Spirit to interpret for me the things that he seeks to interpret. But it's the reason why, when you read the Bible, a section that you've read a million times, for some reason, it pops out to you as being different this time. For some reason, a verse stands out to you and you're like, wow, you know, that's the Holy Spirit tapping on the shoulder going, it's you.

This is what I wanted you to get out of this thing, you know? That's why we read it over and over and over again because the Holy Spirit has written the whole thing. And all it does is take a tap on the shoulder and say, hey, I need to talk to you about this part today, you know? And so, you know, I don't know. He doesn't like prayer. I feel so. Right. There are some things that just go against it anyway as far as us understanding. You know, this is a document that was written over a period of several centuries by multiple authors, humanly speaking. And, you know, I can't even read Shakespeare that was just written a couple, 300 years ago. When was that written?

1600s. I don't know what it was. And without someone telling me what, you know, it's just that they speak differently. They use words that we put through our current filter that they had a different filter back then. Different words meant different things. And so you have to do some study. You have to do some research into some of these passages. Some are obvious, you know. Hey, don't kill somebody. Okay, I can get that. You know, but sometimes you do have to kind of look at the context and study the culture at that time to kind of get an idea of what was being said.

Because what we want to get out of any piece of scripture is the message of God to his people. So first you look at what did he mean to those people. And then you say, okay, what's the application to me? And you look at these prayer verses and you look at it and say, what was Jesus saying? Well, we are communicating, accessing the power of the one who spoke everything into existence. Yes, anything is possible. I mean, if he can say, let there be, and it happened, you know, if I'm asking God to put $10,000 in my pocket, yeah, he could do it if he wants to. Right. Yeah. I honestly believe he could. But I don't ask for it because it's, you know, that's just not.

Well, here's the thing. And I think the main thing, like when he sits on things like that and says, look, if I ask for $10,000, God doesn't give me $10,000. Obviously, he's not in control of $10,000. God loves you more than you love yourself. Right. He has a higher perspective and a higher knowledge of what that $10,000 is going to do to you. And, I mean, that irritates the living crap out of these people when you say stuff like that, when you say things like, it's for your own benefit. And they think, I know it's for my own benefit. Right. You know what's for your own benefit between you and the mirror. That's what you can figure out.

That's your mental capacity. You could care less about the people around you or even your own benefit. Otherwise, you wouldn't be asking for $10,000 free dollars. Right. You know, and so it's hard to, and mostly it's because they don't see a good example of what Jesus, of who Jesus is and of God's heart. Right. Like, I can try my hardest to try to explain God's heart and the sacrifice that Christ made to my kids. Right. But, like, I don't understand the love of that forgiving. Right. At all.

You know, like, I assume and I do my best and I try to put God in a category all his own. But, like, if you had to say, do you understand the love of Jesus Christ, I'd say, I've been trying. It's never going to happen. Right. I don't understand that type of forgiveness. I don't understand that type of grace. I don't. I'd love to say that I practice it, but I can't. I just don't have that capacity. Right. And so it's really hard to look at a God that the Bible describes and a sacrifice that Christ made and say that I get it because I don't.

Oh, yeah. You know, I mean, we almost have to watch things like the passion of the Christ because we can almost relate with the physical beating better than we can the heart. You know what I'm saying? Like, ow, that cat of nine tails looks like it really does some damage. That flogging doesn't sound fun. Right, right. And really, it's Christ's separation from the Father. That's the hard part. The bearing of the sin, that was the brutal part. Right. But we don't get it.

So we have to watch the beating and go, ooh, that seems terrible. Yeah, that sounds painful. Yeah. So, you know, we don't think like that. I mean, and it takes opening your heart up to Christ to even know that you don't, to even understand that you don't think like God does. And you have to get past a certain amount of pride and past a certain amount of bravado before you go, okay, I get it now. You're holy. You're set apart. I work for you. Right. You know, I'm loved by you, and I still work for you.

And, you know, I'll just keep doing what I think you got me doing. And so I think that's where probably generally across the board he misses all the point is God's heart in almost everything that the Bible puts out. Right. I'd love to sit down and have a conversation with the guy because you can just sense that he's been disappointed somehow. He's been hurt somehow. He's bitter. He's angry at God. You don't go to this kind of work, you know. Yeah. This isn't a leisure day. Unless you're something personal.

Right. This isn't something you're born with. This isn't something that, you know, I wouldn't even say this is something that you're taught growing up. This is something that I honestly believe that he has had a deep hurt through. You know, maybe he just never knew God and tried to run at a hurtful time in his place, and he didn't get what he wanted, and that caused him this kind of pain. Or, you know, maybe he at one point in time did, you know, think he honestly had an honest relationship and was disappointed and hurt by most likely men. Yeah. We're jerks. We're idiots. Yeah. We are schmucks as a whole.

Well, that's the truth anyway. The human condition. And we, it's so sad that we do it, but we take what God's doing, and we just trample it sometimes. Yeah. And luckily, we don't have the power to really stop what God's doing. We don't. But, you know, I feel like sometimes we really, you know, I wish that I could just get out of the way entirely. It's like, God, just take, just do what you're doing. Let my big old self just get out of the way. Yeah, no doubt. And you take a dare.

Let us drive. All right. So we, that's proof number 34, or proof number 32, talk to a theologian. I don't know that many. I'd just say read your Bible. And if you ain't getting it, call somebody. You know, have a call. Here's the thing you have to assume when you're reading the Bible. God's right. Yep. Yeah, that's it.

You know what I'm saying? Whatever the Bible says, that's the deal. And if you start from that point and work your way back, you can figure out a lot of things a lot faster. Another thing you can assume, if you're looking for a theologian online, it's probably not really a theologian. Yeah, I wouldn't trust Google for a theologian. 1-800-THEALO. Hi, this is Thealo. Extension, Jen. You've got Thealo on the line? Thealo. Yeah, you caught me when I wasn't busy.

Amazing. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know how you got it. Perfect. Next week, we're going to look at proof number 34, examine your health insurance policy. Here is, as Ben would call it, the opening salvo. If God answers medical prayers, then why do you need health insurance? Simply think it through. If what Jesus says about prayer in the Bible is true, and if all the stories about medical miracles and inspirational literature are true, and if your belief in God and the power of prayer is true, and if God has a plan for you, then why do you ever need to visit a doctor or go to the hospital? Why don't you simply pray for your cure whenever you get sick?

Ain't that something to think about. Ain't that something to think about. I'll ponder that for a whole week. We'll reconverge about that. Yeah, so keep that in mind. Yeah. Coming up on the show, still, we're waiting. I think we're probably going to hit this next. I think we've got a little game action with Deuteronomy Dan. Deuteronomy Dan. I'm very excited to see how this plays out.

Don't go anywhere while we're doing Deuteronomy Dan, because we've still got some Pope-style advice. And we're going to talk about Christian boycotting. I ran into a little situation. My daughter is in the Girl Scouts. Apparently, the Girl Scouts support some things that are not Jesus. They do. And so, I have a couple conversations about it. I thought it was, you know, she wanted something to do. Nice gal said, hey, why don't you have her in the Girl Scouts? I said, great, go make some friends. Sounds good to me.

And then we got kicked back, because it's cookie-selling time. And so, we're going to talk about that a little bit and see where we're at. But I tell you what, Dan, let's do some Deuteronomy Dan. Deuteronomy Dan. Okay, here's the deal. I've got five different statements. Some of them may be, from the book of Deuteronomy, out of the law of God. Some of them may be out of my own imagination. Deuteronomy. Either the reiteration. Or Dan.

Or Dan. All right. Dan's done an excellent job of setting this up. I'm very excited. I'm very proud of you. That was good stuff. So, number one, if there is, in the skin of one's body, a boil, and it heals, and in the place of the boil there becomes a white swelling, or a reddish-white spot, then it shall be shown to the priest. Deuteronomy, or Dan. That's Deuteronomy.

John Booth III comes in with Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy. You know, I feel like I'm going to go with, that's pretty detailed. The dude puts out the details, and Moses is a man of detail. I'm going with Deuteronomy. You're both correct. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that was probably too easy. I'm actually excited. Actually, it's Leviticus, but it's the law, which is Deuteronomy.

I've actually been through Leviticus and Deuteronomy this time around, so. Yeah, that's one of those things that kind of sticks out, because you're like, why the priest? Yeah, there was a whole situation on blemishes of the skin. You know, I wonder if they always talk. Cleanness. They talk to themselves like, hey, so do you think it's turned white enough that I can go to the priest now? Come on, Mark. Look at this. Is that like an off-white, or is that like a…

You think they tried to fool him like you did with your mom when you read the temperature… Take some chalk. You put the thermometer underneath the sink for like 30 seconds, you're like… It's turned white. Your mom's like, you have a temperature of 115, man. I don't know how you're breathing. I'm just saying that I'm pretty glad things have changed in the New Testament covenant time, because no one ever brings their sores to me to have them look at it, you know. Hey, Dan, we need to talk. Yeah.

I think it'd be hard to keep a wife that way. It's no wonder the Levitical priesthood was set up the way it was, because I can't imagine your wife's like, you're going to have another leper over? You know it's my job. Really? He's walking in? Really? Yeah. But they leak toes in here every time they come in, Dan. They leak toes. All right.

Okay, number two. Number two. Deuteronomy or Dan, you're playing the… It's got to be the second fastest growing internet case. I think it is. It's taking on a rage here. It's getting there. If your servant falls and is injured while working in your household, you must pay seven times his wages. If your servant falls and is injured a second time, you must give him the firstborn from among your cattle.

You know what? I'm going to take the first step here. I'm going to say that's Dan. Yeah. I'm going to call Dan on that one. Here's the reason I'm suspicious of it. The seven's in there, and the firstborn cattle's in there. Yeah, the holy number, firstborn calf. I feel like I'm being hogwashed, Dan. Dan, I'd agree. It's Dan.

Yeah. I'm too easy. I'm transparent. Mike and I are getting this down. Good luck. We're just reading the Bible lately. Yeah, exactly. We are the champions at Deuteronomy, Dan. You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the Lord.

Ooh, that one's got some statement to it. I'm going to jump Deuteronomy. You're going with Deuteronomy? I'm going to go Deuteronomy. I am the Lord. That's a statement. That is one. I'm going to go with Dan. It's Deuteronomy. Three for three. Man.

Who's going to do that? Let's put the stumbling block before the blind guy. You don't think that to be in a dire shape when the Lord's like, all right, I feel like I'm going to set some ground rules here. I'm cursing this deaf or you can't hear me. Where were the tribes at where they were like, okay, seriously, guys, don't put stumbling blocks in front of the blind. It's like, Moses, you really got to stress this one. Obviously, it was an issue. Yeah, exactly. You really got to put this one down there.

You imagine Moses just like, are you sure about it? Are people really doing that? Stop tripping the blind guys. We started with the 10 commandments, and then we had to sift this flower down to something that maybe you guys could understand. This is the fine powder. No stumbling blocks of the blind. No cursing the deaf. People complain all the time about the Mosaic Law. They're like, it was too inclusive. It was too overbearing.

It's too this and that. Here's the deal. If you weren't tripping the blind guys, God would have to bring it up. It makes me think of the stupid laws that we, you know, you hear about the stupid laws that are everywhere. Like, don't tie your giraffe to a light post in this town. It's just like, those were made? Because someone did it. Because someone was doing it. They're like, how do we stop this? We obviously have to make a law that this shouldn't happen anymore.

That's where it's at. You know what? I was reading this thing this week on, it was an apologetics theologian website, actually. Talk to a theologian. I can't remember why. Like, whatever the opening question was interested in me. But the guy started talking. And it had to do with parts of the Mosaic Law. I think it had to do with the fabric. Why would God say, look, you can't wear two different kinds of fabrics at the same time? So whatever, they were talking about it.

And some guy came on and he said, there's a quote by, I think it's G.K. Washington is the guy's name. And he said, here's how you can separate yourself, here's how you can separate an intelligent man from just a regular old guy. A regular old guy, let's say there's an idea like, hey, you can't wear two fabrics together. We'll call it a gate in front of a road. There's a big gate blocking this road. And this guy walks up to it and he goes, well, there's a gate in front of the road. I feel like we should, you know, I want your permission to get rid of it. And the guy says, I tell you what, you go home and you think about it and you tell me why that gate was there in the first place. And then I will think about telling you why you need to get rid of it. And the reason that I remembered that is because I thought the same is true with most of the Mosaic Law, right? Like, I don't understand why they don't have, why you can't wear polyester and cotton at the same time back in the day.

Who knows? You don't have any idea. But that's the point, right? Like, before I get rid of that law, I got to figure out why it was there in the first place. So the intelligent man looks at the gate and goes, somebody put this gate here for a reason. Why did God do this first before I say it wasn't necessary? We don't need to do it. That sounds dumb. Yeah. Right? And so anybody who takes a theological perspective and looks at the Mosaic Law and goes, well, these seem like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, weird cultural laws, blah, blah, blah.

They probably are cultural probably for a reason. Yeah. They were probably there. So before you tear the gate down, why don't you figure out why the guy installed it? There's a good reason that was there in the first place. Yeah. I mean, there could be like an oddball crazy bull that sleeps behind the house and comes out at 4 a.m. And if that gate's not there, you just will give him your firstborn or he's going to take it. Yep. You know what's frightening? Is our current generation is tearing down gate after gate after gate after gate that previous generations put up.

And we're saying they're just old-fashioned and fuddy-duddy. And we're imploding. Well, that's – I mean, that's most of his – that's most of God's imaginary man's proof. You know what I'm saying? It's old school. It's for people of old who don't have higher-level thinking like I do. That's anachronistic, and it doesn't apply to us any longer. Yeah, I agree. So – Where are we at? Is this number four?

This is number four. We want number four on Troy Dune's theme song. You're number four on – Deuteronomy. Dan. Dan, what do we got number four? If you come across a cat while walking along the path, do not look upon it, for it is detestable, as are the gods of Egypt, in the sight of the Lord your God. Deuteronomy. That's definitely Dan. That's definitely Dan.

Dan, there's no cat mentioned in Deuteronomy. It's Dan. The Bible does not mention felines at all. I was going to say feline, too. I thought, uh, cat. As well as the gods of Egypt. If you would have said, I am the Lord your God, you might have had me. Yeah, that's true. In the sight of the Lord your God. No, I'm sorry. Okay, all right.

The Lord doesn't say, I see things. He says, I am things. Fair enough. Stay away from cats. All right, number five. Wrapping up Deuteronomy. Dan. Dan, what do we got? All right, when you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years, it shall be forbidden to you.

It must not be eaten. Can you read that one more? When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years, it shall be forbidden to you. It must not be eaten. Mike, I'm going to let you take that one first. That is, uh, that's Dan. I'm going to go against you. I'm going to go to Deuteronomy. It is out of the law.

Oh, yeah. Dang it. Oh, yeah. Leviticus 19. I tore that gate down when I first started Christianity. I want everyone to realize that that was an 80% score for Troy. I planted the tree. I want to eat it. I missed the cat. The cat threw me off, I will tell you. The Egyptian god, that's what got me.

Yeah. I put that in there on purpose. By the fifth year on this law, by the fifth year, you can eat it. The 33 years, you don't eat anything. The fourth year, it's all holy, an offering to God. The fifth year, you can start eating. That's pretty wild. See? I would say. But there's a reason. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

I would say why. I don't understand what's going on here. There's a lot of things I don't understand, but God knows it. I just look at the gate and go, yep. Somebody knew. That's there. I'll just do what it says. Somebody put that gate in. There's something on the other side of that I don't need to see. No doubt. All right.

So you've just been part of the Internet's second fastest growing game show right behind Secular Solomon with Deuteronomy Dan. Now, if you enjoy games like that or other games that are better than that, you can go check out livefromthepath.org. We've got clips from past shows, games that we've done before, a lot of our live events. I think Ben's got the video up from the Right to Life Festival that we were at. Here's the deal. We're brewing up for a decent spring slash summer. I think we're going to stick our faces in places that it doesn't belong, which is what we happen to be pretty good at. And so you're going to start seeing live from the past places that you wouldn't expect them,

like your local grocer's freezer, your swan man. I thought I'd get a job as a swan man and then just pass out live from the past stuff as I did it. What would our ice cream flavor be? You know what? Actually, that's going to tie in real well with what we've got coming up here, Dan. What about ice cream flavor? Who makes all those crazy ice cream flavors? Ben & Jerry's? Ben & Jerry's? Ben & Jerry's.

Yeah, so it just turns out that Ben & Jerry's is on the top 30 companies that are currently under a Christian boycott. What? They're pretty liberal. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I guess. Destructively so. And so we're going to rock on this for just a second because I kind of have a – I have some questions, and I have a stance on it, and it's put me at odds with some of my Christian buddies.

All right. So, like I said, my daughter Grace is – she put her in the Girl Scouts, right? And it was just – I think there might be four or five girls in her Girl Scout troop. There's not many. It's a small town, and they need something to do. So Grace was excited about it. She went in. Everything's going fine. No big deal. Well, they – you know, teach them respect, all this kind of jazz, you know? And then the Girl Scout cookies come around, and I thought, well, okay, you know, and we'll

sell them if they want. You know, I'll just ask random people. And so we started asking people, and they're like, yeah, I'll take some. Yeah, I'll take some. Jesus people, not Jesus people. It didn't matter. They're buying thin mints and whatnot. And all of a sudden, on Facebook, I get this thing, and, you know, they say, listen, you know that the Girl Scouts support Planned Parenthood, don't you? I'm like, no. Well, I'm not going to buy any cookies from you.

I thought, okay, you could have just said no, you know, but I suppose I'm glad you said something, you know? And then I talked to a couple more people that I know, the good Jesus people, and they're like, yeah, we're not buying cookies either. They support Planned Parenthood. And I thought, I feel like this is not an issue, but obviously it is to some people, right? And then I thought, well, where are we standing on? Because here's the deal is, I feel like once you start drawing lines like that, you're picking and choosing two things. One, you're trying, now you're deciding which sins are the big sins that you're going to

boycott now because the companies are involved in them. And two, you're going to have to start boycotting a lot more companies. Like, good luck getting a health insurance provider that does not provide abortions for somebody. You know what I'm saying? And good luck buying groceries from anybody that doesn't have someone in their executive ranks that, whatever, you know, provides abortions for other people or has stolen in their life. You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't know how far this line goes. And so I understand, like, if you, I suppose if you personally want to boycott something, that's okay. You know, I'm not against your convictions on what you want to boycott.

I'm not upset that you don't buy Girl Scout cookies for my daughter. That's not really my thing, right? But it seems to me that if you're going to boycott something and make a stance on it, then you've got a lot of people to start boycotting. You're going to spend a lot of time. It's pretty hard to be consistent. Well, yeah. So here's what I did. I checked it out. The first, the top 30. Here's the top 30 companies that Christians are currently boycotting.

Currently. One, Disney, obvious, JCPenney, Starbucks, Ben & Jerry's, Nabisco, Lowe's, Abercrombie & Fitch, Cheerios, The Learning Channel, Campbell Soup, Amazon, Armani, Victoria's Secret, Home Depot, Sports Illustrated, Nike, Pepsi, Target, Microsoft, Burger King, Subaru, Netflix, Hulu, Ford, Mary Kay, what do they do? Makeup products? Crash mix, yeah. Old Navy. What is that? Verizon Mobile, American Airlines, 7-Eleven, and Apple. Top 30 companies that we as Christians are currently, I mean,

somebody else on our behalf is boycotting these people. So here's my question, and maybe I'm just a little too liberal in this conversation because I feel like I should, if people are engaging as a company in, you know, things that are anti what God has asked us to do, like if they're pro-abortion or they're pro-gay marriage, you know, I feel like maybe they don't need my money to further that propaganda, right? But on the other hand, they don't know Jesus. I don't expect any different from them because they don't know Jesus. And, like, if I cut off everybody that took that stance, I'd have no food. I would have no health insurance. I couldn't buy gas from anybody.

I don't see anybody boycotting the gas pump because all the oil is held over in Islamic terrorist country, right? They're still buying the gas. Here's how I kind of look at it. I don't get too jumping up and down excited about boycotts. However, if there's something, if someone is in my home with an empty shotgun pointing at my daughter, I'm not going to feed them shells and say, well, here, go ahead and let me help you finish her off. Right. So if I know of particular companies that are doing, I mean,

going overboard trying to undermine the culture, then I just choose not. You mean trying to support the culture? Well, trying to support an ungodly culture that undermines Christianity. I mean, I don't expect them to be Christian companies, but if they're actually actively working against things like morality. That's everybody, though. Well, it may be. Then I go to a maw and paw shop. I mean, I do everything I can to not support it, but I don't go crazy because it would be impossible to be. Like you say, you can't be totally consistent.

But if I've read correspondence between CEOs of a particular corporation and some Christian group or something, and they're just defiantly saying, whatever, I could give a rip, I think, well, then why should they pay you for that? That's kind of how I look at it. But I agree with you. I mean, we live in a pagan culture, and it is politically correct to be pagan right now. There's probably 100 Christians working for that company. Right. Like this is where I have a hard time drawing the line.

Like let's say that Disney has a track record of being pro-homosexual, pretty much, right? They're pro-gate. So I know Christians that work for Disney, right? Like my money is going to support their livelihood. And as a company, like the CEO is probably, you know, he's the biggest talker, the biggest bigwig of the company, and he does a lot of the flapping. But, I mean, the 10, 15 guys directly underneath them probably don't give a rip. The 10, 15 guys underneath him are probably not nearly as staunch. And you start going down the line, it's like it really is just one big guy.

That's the soapbox he wants to stand on. He doesn't know Jesus. I don't expect him to know any different. He's not particularly anti-Christian. He just doesn't know Jesus. So he acts like everybody else acts, right? It's not like he's out attacking Christianity. He just doesn't know any better. So he's pro-whatever everybody else is pro for because he's a dunce. By boycotting whatever company it is that we're going to pick out of the 30 for being pro-gay rights, pro-planned parenthood or anything like that,

how is that winning over souls for Christ? How is that furthering the advancement of God's kingdom in all honesty? What is it doing by you refusing to give business to that corporation for whatever hill they're standing on right now? What is it doing honestly to, just like I just said, furthering the advancement of Christ? And that's why I don't get vocal about it. Right. Because of that reason, it becomes a negative. I would just soon not feed them. Right. And I can see where you're coming from where if they're openly saying, you know, if a company comes out and says, you know, I openly go against all Christianity and everything Jesus-related

and I refuse to support any of it. And because of it, I'm going to help to further the advancement of every other thing. So everything that goes against said religion or goes against said belief system. You know, at that point, if they're being that blatant and attacking, you know, our God, I can see not going there. You know, I can see not giving that company my business. But like you said, if it's just this thing that obviously the company has taken a stand on, and maybe not even the company as a whole. Like you said, one person, you know, on the board of directors has stated in a press release, we're going to start giving money to this charity. Yeah. We're going to start giving money to this organization.

It's like, why don't they just do business? Exactly. Why don't they just stop it? You know, and there's a flip-flop on that too. You know, how many of these organizations are going to help out, you know, really awesome programs? Yeah, let's say 5% of their money is going to help Planned Parenthood. Let's say that 25% of the money is feeding homeless people. Right, exactly. You know, we don't know. One of them serving, like, now are you like, here's my biggest problem with this, right? The reason most people are against companies like this is their stance on abortion and it's like sanctity of life and homosexuality.

Here's the thing that we've talked about over and over and over again. You don't get to pick God's top 10 sins. You don't get to pick which ones God stands on. So the same companies that you're saying, I don't want to have anything to do with because of their homosexual stance or their anti-life stance. I mean, the life carries, that's a big situation, right? Right. Like, I think most people are going to understand the gravity of that and with or without God in it. But, like, here's the thing. If you're going to start picking sins because they're not following the Christian lifestyle, then you have to get out of every banking institution you've ever been involved with because they've been sued for fraud at some time. Like, they're thieves. So you say, well, stealing's not as bad as homosexuality, says you.

Yeah. That's what you say. Where does God stand on that? You don't get to make that choice, right? And so I just – and it depends on the heart of the person that I'm taking it from. And, frankly, it just made me do a little introspection on my own heart, right? I'm looking at it like, why don't I care? Like, still to this day, I just don't care. Buy the cookies, don't buy the cookies. I don't care. My daughter has five friends.

They have a good time. They talk about – they still say the Pledge of Allegiance with God in it. You know, I'm half happy that even goes down, right? Yeah. And so it's not – I just – like, people say stuff to me like that. I'm like, what are you trying to say to me? Are you trying to tell me that I don't love Jesus because I bought a Girl Scout cookie box? Because I feel like that's a bit much. You know what I'm saying? They're like, well, I love Jesus, and I'm not doing that. Oh, okay.

I went to the BK last week. That doesn't mean that I'm supporting their support of abortion. Yeah, and here's what I'm not saying. I'm not saying that anybody I've talked to has come off that way. That's not what I'm getting at. But I just – it just makes me look – you know, I turn around and look at my own life, and I'm like, why don't I care that I'm giving money to these guys? And then I think about it, and I'm like, I'm giving money to sinners all day long. That's all I do is hand over money to people who are – you know, they're rejecting God's word. They don't want the salvation of Jesus Christ. Every guy that I see when I pass the stoplight, every guy I buy gas from,

every guy that I get a soda from, every guy that I stop and get something to eat for lunch, right? Odds are they don't know Jesus. And so what am I supposed to do? Hide in a hole? Right, exactly. Stay away from every person. I have to commerce with people. And the thing is I'd rather be in the thick of it than in the skinny of it, hiding underneath a sheet somewhere, acting like Jesus loves me in my sheet. I'd rather be out spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. And let's say I buy a cookie from a pagan, you know, and he supports his pagan ways.

Whatever. I don't care. Jesus sat at the table of tax collectors. I don't know. And I don't want to go too far with that either because, you know, there could be a line where I'm purposely dumping money and I'm not being a good steward of my money. And so I think the broad-reaching point was, like, if you don't feel comfortable buying Girl Scout cookies because they support Planned Parenthood, like, I get it. I do. I totally get it.

I just think it's weird. I just do. I just think it's odd because, I mean, you're not – you can't act like that one stance, you're controlling your money, and then everywhere else you do whatever you want. You buy Michelin tires. You buy Israeli gas. You know, you buy – I mean, you just – you got no control. If you're buying anything from Israel, they're a Jewish nation. They're not a Jesus nation. They're a Jewish nation, right? And so you're supporting non-Jesus behavior.

Like, England most of the time. Okay. On the other hand, okay, flip side of this, I have often gone to JCPenney to buy clothing because they have a great big and tall section, and my arms are long. I need tall clothes, that kind of stuff. Yeah, you're gangly. Absolutely. Yeah, exactly. Very thin and gangly, so I need big and tall. Right. So last year for Mother's Day and for Father's Day, the front page of their catalog on Mother's Day

featured a married – two women married with children, and the feature article was, isn't this cool, isn't it great, these normal, wonderful, loving mothers? Okay. And on Father's Day, it was two gay guys and their children, and it was a propaganda piece. They're just trying to sell me a shirt. It's like, so I have not stepped in this store since because, well, I'll go somewhere else that may support the same thing, but they don't throw it in my face and say, you need to accept this as normal when I know it is not normal. Now, but see, that's my other question is like – and I suppose people had to approve that. Oh, they went through quite a process, I'm sure. I mean, that's their marketing wing, and you know what?

They probably just did it by the numbers. You know what I'm saying? That was a poor business decision because the numbers are, what, 2%? I mean, they throw these fake numbers. Yeah, but just as many people who maybe are not homosexual like to appear to themselves to be open, understanding, and tolerant. And so they're like, as soon as they get a backlash, then they come right back at it. Yeah, what does that have to do with buying a shirt? I have no idea. It was them pushing a social political agenda in my face and saying I'm an idiot. And it's like, so I'm not going to pay for it.

They can do what they want. That is odd, right? Because that is the risk they take, and they don't inherently have to take it. I will never go again until I hear them retract that. I will never go to a JCPenney. I don't think that's going to happen to you. And that's okay. That's all right. I honestly don't think they remember that ad, to be 100% honest. Oh, I bet you do. I bet they're laughing still to this day.

Still to this day. Dan Hudson's gone, they said. Not just me. It was a smear into Christianity, and it was on purpose. And you know what? I saw that. That's, just Google it. I might have to. Yeah. No, don't Google it. Don't Google it.

That's a mistake. There's a lot of conflicting information here. Okay, so you're listening to Live from the Path on livefromthepath.org. So far, here's what we've hashed through. One, God's not imaginary. That's a bonus. Still real. Two, Deuteronomy Dan was, I don't know, I'd say 75, 25. Pretty good. I think Troy can call Deuteronomy better than I can call Deuteronomy. That'd be minus.

That's something to say. Here's the deal. If you're going to boycott things as a Christian, you know, keep it to yourself. Boycott stuff, but, you know, just don't worry about it. What's that? Oh, for heaven's sakes, Dan. Look at that. What's that? That's Mother's Day. It's not that big of a deal. Well, then it's the printed.

Oh, for heaven's sakes. Okay, Dan's trying to bring up the images. We're not, we're not, we're not hashing it out. What's next, Mike? Here we go. Listen, we got a couple minutes here. We're going to try to wrap this thing up. So we're going to hit some. Troy, do you have any Pope style advice? I do not have any Pope style advice. Okay.

I know that you do, though. Okay, I do. I do. Just real quick, we're going to try to hit this up here. I was trying to think about it this week, and I was listening to a guy talk on this. Sometimes I get caught in Catholic radio, and you got to discern your way through this thing, but there's some good stuff on there. There's a good preacher who's talking about something, and he was talking about fasting. And he wasn't only talking about fasting, about devoting some questions to the Lord and some inquiries to the Lord and just saying, look, I want to get rid of this so I can remember that you're in control and I'm leaving this decision up to you.

And he goes, here's another thing that you can also do when you're fasting. He goes, you need to learn some self-control. And if you want to be able to pull some of these things off in your life and devote your life truly to the God, you're going to have to learn to be able to control yourself. And so sometimes when you fast, people think like, I'm going to fast bad things for me already, right? I'm going to get rid of my smoking. I'm going to jog more. I'm going to fast to watch TV or something. I'm going to get rid of these things, right? And he goes, I tell you what, why don't you take something that's a little bit tougher

to deal with and to start with that. Like, why don't you, why don't you, you're going to fast not having control of your eyes. And this could go in a sexual nature, but mostly like getting general control of your eyes before you hit that road bump, right? Like, can you drive down the road and honestly not look at the billboards? Can you make your eyes not do it? Can you take control of your eyes and say, look, these are God's eyes. They don't look at billboards right now. And until you get the billboards down, good luck with the jogger. You know what I'm saying? Good luck with the sexy ads in the newspaper.

Good luck keeping yourself out of places you don't belong. Until you can control, get some self-control with the little things, don't expect to be mastering the big things. Now, here's the deal. The Holy Spirit is here to help you with all these things. And God obviously works things all out for his purpose for those who love him. So, you know, pray on it and ask for the Holy Spirit's help. But you're going to have to learn some self-control. And if you want to get started, you know, get started, get yourself fasting, get yourself praying, and start getting control over the things that you're currently letting go of. The things that you think are impossible.

Get control of your eyes. That when you walk into a restaurant, you don't dart around the room looking to make eye contact with everybody. You look at your feet. If you're going to make yourself look at your feet, you've got control of your eyes. Because most people feel awkward and can't do it, you know? And so it's just something to think about that God has given you all parts of your body to be control and for the worship of him. And so until you take control of them, don't act like things are out of control. That's why Jesus says if your eye offends, get rid of it. If your right hand ain't working, it's got to go.

And he says all these things for a reason. Because you have control of them. They're not out of his control. And mostly they're not under the things that he's given you control of. So, you know, start with the little things. If you need help starting with some self-control, you know, consider starting to fast. And fast some little things first. Get rid of ice out of your diet, you know? Whatever. You know, just do something small until you have, so you can work your way up to truly, you know, devoting what you're doing to God and getting yourself centered.

There's no reason to bite off more than you can chew and fail. That's just foolish. So, anyway, just something to think about. You have been listening to Live from the Path on livefromthepath.org. We've been listening to Live from the Path on livefromthepath.org.