Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proper. You are live live from the the Pathway Path.

Hey. You're listening to Life of the Path coming from the Pathway Studios. You're Justin Crawford. I heard Justin Crawford. Oh, man. Yes. Yeah. We don't go over there. Okay. That's where people that don't love Jesus are at. We're gonna say we define it, but They've been saying Johnston proper for years, and I don't know about this Johnston improper. That's what I was asking about.

That's the start of the show. Brought to you by Boova. Here's the deal. If you were expecting something other than cheap laughs, this is not the show for you. It's not. Read Romans or something. Spend your time and you can do better.

As a matter of fact, if this in any way, like, pacifies you as if, hey, I got my Jesus fixed this this week, like, you've set a very low bar and it's time to reorient your life. As matter of I repent often to the show. You just you don't catch it because you're not my accountability man. You're listening alive from the path. You make mistakes in life. Here's what I got going on the show tonight. We shoot. So here's what I had planned for the show tonight. I'll put it this way. We got to we ran into the guys from Unseen Patrol over the weekend. And I've got some stuff for them. I'm gonna post it on the web, but we're not gonna get to it tonight. I just didn't have time to get it cut for you guys. And because we weren't on a live show, it simply has some weird intros and outros with people talking. So it's not palatable for human consumption. So I'll get that thing cut up so you can take a listen to. They did a good job. Very interesting stories and a very cool guy. Go to unseat Yeah. Patrol.

Yeah. They did a great job. They were in for worship on Sunday and they did some some stuff for you in here live in the studio. And yeah. Yeah. I'd be interested to they they got an album that they're looking towards the end of the year. Single's already out on iTunes. Yeah. I'll get you some more information on them, but unseatpatrol.com for for that kind of stuff. And they're yeah. Yeah. Make sure to check them out. They're they're working hard for Jesus. So other stuff that's on the show tonight. Mike, what's in the so here's the deal. I don't I I don't like saying what's in the news with Hobby Lobby because it brings up a certain

thought of what we're gonna talk about. But, like, what'd you run into? Well, I just saw a couple articles on Facebook this week concerning people getting upset that Hobby Lobby continues to call themselves a Christian business. Yeah. They're fighting tooth and nail to get certain aspects of the health care law, under thumb and say I shouldn't be bothered with that because I'm a Christian business. But a lot of their goods and wares have non Christian,

origins. And people are like, hey, how can you call yourself a Christian business when you're peddling a bunch of sinful wares? And I feel like that'll be a round robin. Everyone will talk about it.

Okay. Alright. That's coming up. Bubba, what do you your big question of the week is what? Yeah. My big question of the week is how do you talk to someone who says that they are believer but does not go to church anymore? They don't think that they need church. They think the church is irrelevant and old fashioned and is not necessary because they can believe as much as the other guy just by not going to church. You know what? Can I just answer this now? No. You can answer it as a group later on. You know what Patrick Swayze used to say? Hit him in his knees, they'll drop like a stone.

So you want me to hit this person in the knees? I didn't say that. So Patrick Swayze wants me to hit someone in the knees? I'm just saying that's what he said. Can't you discern good advice, Pooh? That's my question, Ben. Okay. Okay. That's on the table. Got it. By stone.

We also have advice on on dear life from the path. Oh, I thought I had another article. I might have another article. I'll to check, see what I got going on in life. And Dan, you got some what's trending with Dan? What's happening? I I've got I've got some stuff. A a girl named Party Girl had a funeral. And Donald Trump has a big sign in Chicago. And the KFC, maybe you've seen the restaurant kicked a girl out of the restaurant because they didn't like her face. Oh, man. Wow. I'm surprised I've never gotten kicked out of a KFC.

Pudoom. Hey. Cheap lash. I can't Not everything is about you, boova. Yeah. No kidding, though. Hey. How can I draw the attention from some poor girl that was chucked out a restaurant back to me? Yeah. She was attacked by dogs. See how humble I am. Check out this joke I told. Boova Swayze. Yeah. Maybe you guys should deserve good advice and take it not Here's the deal. If you wanna listen to a good show, last week's program was excellent. Yeah. It Yeah. May may be real iffy. The hearing from god episode actually was pretty stellar. So I would say go back and check that out. It's it's okay to bail now. That's quite alright. Alright. Let's I I wanna hit Mooba's thing. So tell me the exact nature of this conversation, Mooba. Okay. So talking to a gal that I've known for a couple years but I've never really talked to. I went to high school together.

I started talking to her about the show. She asked about this, and she asked how I got started in the radio show and things like that. I said that it started with the church and and that I kinda just randomly started hopping off on one day, and they kinda let me hang out ever since. Going from that statement straight into a long post about why she doesn't like the church anymore, why she doesn't like being in the church, and why she doesn't, doesn't do the church thing anymore.

And my first my first inclining from from a standpoint that I've I've lived for a couple years not really trying to bring people to Jesus was, I got a joke. And I typed out, well, you can come to my church. I'm sure sure Jesus would love to see you. And then after realizing how awful a joke was, I deleted that. And then I actually just started asking her, you know, hey, do you believe in God? And she said, yes. And I said, do you believe in Jesus is is the son of God? She said, yes. I just don't like church and I don't see the concept of of why church is there and why need church. And

I don't, I I think it's outdated. I think it's it's it's old fashioned and doesn't apply to me. And then made the comment that, she can believe just as much as the other guy that goes to church even though she doesn't go to church. And the premise of where I'm asking this question comes from, I've been spending a lot of time in the word and and learning, you know, God's heart on how to talk to someone who does not believe in God. And it talk to someone who does not believe that Jesus is the Christ. And and I've get gotten better at at how to to rebuttal with that. Not to to come at them from a a factual standpoint of trying to disprove their theory, but honestly come from the standpoint of, you know, I got a a god that loves you. And and, there's there's a man that was that was murdered for you, and that cares about you more than you can ever understand.

And I've been coming from that standpoint with someone who does not believe in God and who does not believe in Jesus. But I've never, after looking back, honestly run into this this situation where someone believes in both of those things but does not want to be in the church. And that got me thinking. I don't think I've ever really thought about how to talk to that, how to talk to someone about, about where the church comes from, what church is, and everything like that. And and I gave them an answer, and I have an answer. But I'd like to see,

just from you guys' standpoint from other believers on on how you would talk to someone who you've approached, about God and about Jesus that says they believe in both but does not believe in the church. Can we ridicule your answer first? No. I want you guys to give your answer. Dang. I mean, that takes a little bit of the spice out of I feel like that's I feel like that's everybody I've ever met. Really? The girl that you're talking about. Yeah. She just picked a different she just picked a different subject. Right? Like, everybody likes to claim Christ as their savior. Very few accept him as their lord. You know what I'm saying? Like, you can say I believe in god. That's probably I suppose that's true.

I think that probably more accurately described you believe in the idea of god. If you believe in god as a whole, then you do read his Bible and seek to see what he what he wants, what he's created, and what his kingdom is to look like and that's where the church came from, right? The church, it was god's idea. You know what I'm saying? You can't be like, he's a he's an all knowing sovereign lord and he loves me and and he sent his son to die for me and and and he's amazing. I'm not really interested in anything that he has to say but I do believe that he's there. That's that's what it sounds like to me. Okay. And that may be a gross generalization but like it's that you'll find the same the same attitude on folks that find tenants of the faith outdated and decide that they don't want to deal with those anymore either. They're more than willing to go to the building but that, you know, that one thing that Paul said, I don't about that anymore. That was kind of old school. I feel like we've moved on from that. This is just a it's just a hyper, you know, hopped up version of that.

She's just happened to use it with church attendance opposed to the issue of the day. That's that's what it sounds like. Oh, and there's there's probably a distinction in here about first of all, I mean, she could be be straight up right. I mean, like, she could have been had a bad experience somewhere in the church and people that that, you know, didn't love Jesus or did and still burnt her. It's not like the bride of Christ is always gonna handle things perfectly. No. That's not possible. She also I mean, there's a distinction here about

the church as as as the bride of Christ versus the church as an event or as an organization. That that was my thought that she has come to the conclusion that the event

that she has attended in the past is church, and the event is what she may be turned off to. And she needs to be reintroduced to the community that is the bride of Christ. And You're right. People can't become outdated. That's like saying, hey. My grandma's out of date.

It's and right. So so, like, that that does come from a perspective that's it's gotta be either the event or, like, how they maybe I mean, they could think that the organization is as patriarchal. Like, there's there's ways to look at it and and get that impression. But, like, as a community, people don't go out and date. Based off the story that I got, I I was assuming that she she got tired of the show. So so what yeah. Exactly. I get that. That's one of the things that I commented on. So so how would you speak to someone about that? That got tired of the show? Yeah. So they They would be like a modern church. They've been involved in in the show that is church before and were felt they felt like their church was disingenuous and that there was no point. Because you got two ends of the spectrum. Some some go to a church that is so

nineteen fifty. It is definitely not a show, but it's an event that they don't connect with. And then there's some on the newer spectrum and the newer churches that can put on such a show. A lot of people are also getting disenfranchised from that disenfranchised from that saying, I don't you know, I want more than in sparkle. You know, I need something to to belong to here. Maybe doesn't matter, but would you say she was more than in the contemporary? I honestly have no idea. Okay. Well, it's not just a polar issue of you're either in the nineteen fifties or else, you know, in the 2000 whatever decade we're in now.

There there's also just tense. Well, yeah. I guess present tense. Yeah. There's also just the fact that we're either doing something very mechanical or we're doing something very processed and produced and very polished. I didn't mean for the alliteration there, sorry. But it could be that they're looking for a community where they can just really connect with people heart to heart and see and walk alongside each other and encourage each other as as faithful followers of God. And usually, that'll take a a smaller type of a format, but it's still a church, nevertheless, and it's still a community of believers who are working alongside and and helping each other as well trying to learn and follow Jesus. So any of those are are different options in terms of how church can the type of form that a church can take. I mean, it doesn't

there isn't, like, one size fits all when it comes to the church. Mhmm. Right. Right. And so, I mean, like, honestly, most people that are coming from that perspective, there's some validity to how they're to how they're feeling. Like, they feel that way when the question is is, like, you know, what what what has caused that? Is that a true picture of the church? Mhmm. Are there is what you're looking for what a, are you looking for the right thing?

And b, you know, what, what what is what is the root of what's causing that, you know, ease like, I and I think I think Mike's right, though. Like, I it's hard for me to name a person who who doesn't feel like they were burned at a church one way or other. Now here's the deal. It's like sometimes they're reacting to Jesus. Sometimes, like, they just don't they don't like what Jesus asked them to do. They don't like the life that he's calling them to live. And and they blame it on the church cause it's hard to shake your fist at God because that's a step that people are more hesitant to take. They they so they wanna say things like, I'm with Jesus. I'm just not with his people. But you can't you can't say, hey, this is my friend Bob, and then spitting his wife's face. Like Right. That's not gonna fly with Bob. That sounds outrageous when you say it like that, Ben. Which is basically, like, when you say, I'm with Jesus, but I'm not with the church, like, can't get on board with that. If if if we are the representative bride of Christ, you're gonna have a hard time being friends with Jesus who loves his bride and you spit in her face. However,

like, have having problems with organization or having problems with the church as an event, I mean, if it's just a matter of preference, you're gonna have to find somewhere else and kinda get over that. But, like, if it's a matter of I just don't I don't like these people getting into my business as an example, that's your community, man. What you're saying is I don't care that people care about me. And, like, if you don't want that, then you really don't want a relationship with Jesus and what he's offering. So I don't know. You're gonna have kinda bail on the whole thing, but you have to deal with it honestly. If you don't if if you're upset at God, don't blame it on the church. That's a pansy move. If you're upset because of the event or the organization didn't go the way you wanted, you could have been in a rough situation.

You could have brought that to the table, or you may just need to go somewhere else and, like, find a vibe that that that fits what you're looking for. But have the right expectation about what what Jesus is offering and how he looks at the church. If you can't look at it that way, you at least have to be honest about the fact that, like, you and Jesus ain't where you think you are if you look at his church and and say, I don't I don't need to be a part of that. Go ahead, boovah. Summon up.

So that's what you guys would say to the person? Yeah. Yeah. It'd take a while. Probably fifteen minutes at least. I was gonna say, I think we've broken down the concept of her idea, but I don't know if we've said anything we'd say to them. But alright. So, ultimately, this is this is what I talked to. I talked to those points as well. I I said I understand the concept that that a lot of churches have become a show. And, I understand that, that a lot of times it seems like,

they're not really part of the body of Christ and not really making up the bride of Christ. They're not they're not showing God's true heart. And I said, I know that that a lot of times you can be involved in places that that the church gets in the way of god. And and I honestly believe that. There's a lot of people that can stand in the way and I know I do it sometimes too and I'm sure there's things that that our church does this too on. Obviously, we try to eliminate those. But I said, I completely understand that but I will tell you that that that's not the intention of the church. I mean, god's intention of the church is completely different from what you've probably run into. That this is meant to be the body

of Christ, the one who died for us. This is meant to be the the people that god works through. We do the acts here. We we work our god works through us. We're meant to, you know, called to to feed the poor and and help out the widows. We're called to to be there and make disciples of all nations. We're called to do so many things. And all we do is sometimes we put on a show on Sundays, then we leave on Sunday, and that's it. It seems like all we do is the two hours on Sunday, and then the church is gone. And it disassembles for a week, and it comes back on Sunday. And I said, I'm I'm sorry if that's what you've run into before. I'm sorry if that's the the idea of the church that you've been, subject to in your life.

I think that that's completely wrong from what god intended it to be. And I can't take back those situations, and I can't take that back. But what I can tell you, is that I believe that I go to church, that tries to to battle that. And that tries to honestly embody what god wants us to be. And honestly wants us to be or honestly believes in what god wants us to be is more than just a show on Sunday mornings, but as a community of people that that, are believers in Christ and believe that Jesus was the Christ, the son of the living god, and that do works and do acts through that, and that put that out rather than just a show on Sunday morning. We we exist throughout the week. And and I I want to invite you into that. I can understand where you've been burned before.

I know that I've been burned, even in the the small amount of churches that I've gone to. And I've been pushed away by some of the churches that I've been in. But the one that I'm in right now, I honestly believe has has done a good job of trying to interpret and trying to follow exactly what God wants us to be and is doing our best as humans to do that. So that was my answer to this person. And then followed with a, well, if you'd like to come, I would love to have you with me on Sunday. We can even sit in the back, where no one will see you. Because she talked about she feels like she's been judged before in churches, and and she feels like, like all it is is people pushing their agendas on her. And I said, we can sit in the back where no one even talks to you. Well, it depends on what their agenda is. If it's Jesus, then I feel like they're doing their job. I agree. Yeah. Yeah. I go there, all they wanna do is talk to me about Jesus. Come here, you're god. Every time I go to church, I was like, oh, man. It's Jesus guy. He's everywhere. Ugh. I'd recommend you not sitting anywhere near Mike Foose, though. I agree. I'm the welcoming committee. No. No. I've I've heard some of the welcoming noises sometimes are are K. You're the accountability committee. I should tell you story. Now I gotta tell a story. Blaketon. I had an unfortunate bodily incident at the church a couple days ago a couple weeks ago. It was very unfortunate. I had been staying up way late, and, I had a rough time, and I fell asleep during the church service, which is embarrassing.

But then I woke myself up with a bodily function. Like the dog does. And it was mean, that helps. That is amazing. It was it was But godly I love that several people heard it and ran outside laughing. That people left immediately. I mean that too. Right? If we were one of those churches, I would have been shunned. Hey. You know who didn't laugh? The guy sitting right in front of him, aka this guy. Yeah. It was yikes. Those terrible cats. Yo. She she's welcome.

Sitting in the clouds. Oh, that's awful. Alright. So that's what I said. Alright. Yeah. I mean, I'd give your answer, like, a five out of 10. It was alright. Thanks. Appreciate that one. I mean, I might come to your place based on that. I might. Here's the deal. It's like I was expecting less than a five from you. Yeah. That's pretty good. It's above par. This is great. Here's what I can't do is I can't overpromise. Like, you know who goes to church? People like me. That's true. People like Mike who win during the service. Like, you know I'm saying? And and as a collective body, whatever it is that you're afraid of, you're is going it could happen. Yeah. And I mean, that's the nature of living in community. Like, whatever your family is, it's that except for we we have good intentions. Yes. And we're hopefully submitting to Jesus. I was gonna say, I've woken myself up not from bodily function. Well, from bodily function, but, like, I've woken up myself from snoring so loud. Like, I passed out in the middle of church, and I've actually You're making the church sound very compelling. Both of you guys. This is a long time ago.

Don't worry about it. Dan, your servants gave me wings. I was fortunately, I was not preaching that way. I I legitimately fell asleep and it's someone one of your servants. Some I fell asleep and someone I woke myself up once from from snoring so loud and violently. And then one other time in the twelve years I've been going was

was I was woken up by another member of the church because of my loud snoring. They kinda just went, hey. You woke me up. You hello. You're snoring There's church going on around you. Do you have any more stories about yourself you'd like to tell? Yeah. So a long time no.

You're listening to life of the path on lifeofthepath.org. Your church is the same as ours. There's all kinds of folks going to that thing. You know I'm saying? But they all intention is to love Jesus and figure out how to get where our place in the kingdom is, and we're gonna do that as a as a slow moving bride. And so that's what's happening. Speaking of what's happening, Dan? What's happening? Alright. Alright. We're gonna start with a sad one. I think this is sad. A

KFC restaurant employee asked a three year old three year old to leave because her facial injuries disturbed the other patrons. The gal was attacked by a pit bull back in April. The dog's broke her nose, her jaws, cheekbones, right eye. I mean, she's really a mess, and she's needing several surgeries, has had some. She's lost sight of her right right eye. Anyway, there's a mess. Case KFC posted an apology the next morning. They gave a $30,000 gift to the family for medical bills through a big picnic for the family. They're doing as a corporate, you know, they're trying to help out. So here's the question. What would you do if you're Victoria's parents getting asked to leave?

A, suit the pants suit the pants off the owners, the KFC Corporation, and anyone else associated with the event. B, understand it was probably a poorly trained employee with a less than perfect manager on duty and teach your daughter a painful life lesson. Or c, it's hard to tell because you'd be in jail for assaulting the employee who said that in the first place. Oh. Boo Buvo, you're up. Alright. So first off, I wanna apologize for my joke earlier. That is awful. I didn't realize that was the situation, and I made a joke about it. So Hell. I mean, you didn't know. But the scale's life has been altered. Right. Oh, absolutely. Hey. This ain't Donahue, man. I don't Repent later. Oh, no. I So my answer's B.

Yeah. Okay. There you go. I think poorly trained. Ultimately, I would I would fight myself not to hit the person if that were my daughter. I would I would honestly have to fight that, but I wanna say that my answer would be B. Painful life lesson for your daughter. That's b? That's your choice? Well, b was just deal with the situation. I mean, not retaliate against There will probably be more in the future. Situations where people will look at you differently and talk to you differently. A's retaliate. C's retaliate. B's

go on realizing that humans are stupid. Okay. That's Bouva's answer. Dave Herrick.

I'm trying to think of any reason why I wouldn't go with c other than, you know, just it's outright physical violence, but it's my daughter. That's right. Depends on who the guy is saying it is. I'm sorry. No. I I first off, I don't see any liability for KFC other than their names on it, but the this is like one minimum wage employee. I mean, they don't represent the whole company. I understand that much. But the one minimum wage employee, he's in my crosshairs. I mean, whoever it was that said that to my daughter, you owe her an apology and even more so, I'm not sure where it would stop. But Yeah. No. The potato wage. You owe an apology, and I will collect.

More coleslaw, please. Yeah. I feel like I feel like I'm probably in the bee camp except for I feel like I wouldn't leave. I mean, you don't have any legal right to throw me out. I feel like I can well, what if I'm just ugly, naturally born ugly? You're gonna chuck me too? You know I'm saying? They reserve the right. Yeah. But he not him. They have to do it as a collective body. I wouldn't know Then there were other patrons, by the way, who were complaining. That that's that's actually where I'm at. I would be interested to know, like, tell me who. Point to me out who is complaining about the about my daughter. Yeah. I guess I I hate to interrupt your world class meal at the KFC with my daughter's face.

But, like, I I actually probably leave I'd say, look, I will leave gladly. First, I need you to tell me who has the problem that may address it. Show me the man. Show me their car. Yeah. I mean Here's the here's the deal, Rick. The employees should have handled it differently. Right? Yeah. Absolutely. They were put in a weird position. I mean, again, they they have a there's a better way to handle this. But, like, somebody brought it up and said, hey. I'm trying to eat here. That girl's distracting me. I'm more interested in that person. Mhmm. Because, like, when you're put in a bad spot, you're young, you're, you know, you're probably not the most experienced guy. Like, you're prone to handle things incorrectly. But whatever boob this is that brought it up in the first place, I'd like to talk with that person. And frankly, I'd probably bring my daughter over and say, I want you to stand right here and kinda look at this and kinda slowly inch closer and closer to their mashed potatoes. You know what? I I probably make my daughter apologize to that guy. Apologize to the guy that your face is messed up, and we'll watch him take it. Now let's go out to eat a real place. Let's go. Maybe a play a Popeyes chicken. We'll go to play place.

I don't know. That's that's just a rough ugly situation all the way around. Yeah. You'd hate that. I mean, I don't know. You'd expect that like in junior high, but this is like an an you know, an I had a kid's three. Like, she she could feel it, but she's not feeling the brunt of it like you are. You know what I'm saying? Like Yeah. Did. She went home crying. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It it messed her up. That's pretty bad. Yeah. It's a sad. That's that's I just whole thing was just a a sad and I I happened to read it on online. There was a bunch of comments. Everybody was, you know, ripping on KFC. Yeah. And it's like, it's really not KFC didn't do this. No. You know, it was a cultural thing, though. Like, you know what saying? Like like, every bad decision started at the top somewhere, you know? And, like, it's never one rogue guy. It's never one mistake. It's always the CEO Yeah. Heard that a three year old came in with a with a that needed surgery, he's like, kick her out now. You know I'm saying? Like, that guy didn't he has he probably doesn't even know We have standards here. You know? Yeah. It's part of the region. He looks at the regional number and goes, they do pretty good as a region. We're fine. I'm not getting my business. It's a culture of incompetence at KFC that allowed them to hire Middle East worker. That's so I I That guy is the face of KFC. Attack him. Anyway, that's that's that's just sad. I I pray for the girl and the family. We should pray for the I I don't know if I have. I say I prayed. That'd a lie. Okay. I feel I have felt bad. Thanks, Dan. Yeah. You and you and Moova can rent a corner. We have repented.

Okay. Here's another one. Donald Trump puts up a 20 or a sign with 20 foot letters in Chicago in his Trump Tower there, the mayor, a bunch of people are upset because it's all his ego, and it's ruining their skyscape and all that whole stuff. And it was just kind of interesting conversation as people were going back and forth on on how they were upset about his name on there. I've been in churches where there's like plaques everywhere. If you ever been to one of those. I've to a

church once where like every 20 feet on a pew, there was someone's name had paid for it or or on a on a wing of a building and so forth. And so, here here's the question. When a Christian I kinda turned it away from Trump, but but there's still ego involved. When a Christian gives to a church, how much recognition should they expect? A, none. They're just doing what God expects them to do. B, plaques for large gifts are great if they help bring in the cash.

Or c, we should keep a running tally of the top 10 givers in the church on our website to motivate competitive giving and shame those who don't. Competitive giving. There's Did you see my tithes this month? Talk about that. There was there's a church that keeps, like, a bulletin board with the top 10 givers. More than no. It's not the it's not the good. It's the people who don't give. Right? I think that's who is on the board. I know of churches that will send out lists of their their top

I've heard of. I mean, I don't That's pretty rough. I here's the deal. I went to a wedding a couple weeks ago, and it was at an older an older church, and there was a there was a plaque but there was a board full of plaques and basically, they had like 50 or 60 plaques on it of all the stuff that people had given throughout the history of the church who did it and what year they did it and the very first plaque was the guy that donated the board to put the plaques on. I thought, you know, I don't want anything to do with what goes on here. Like, there's nothing that appeals to me. If I thought you were gonna take my money and buy a plaque with it, I feel like I would give it to a different church or

maybe just a dude that needed help or something. Like, I don't know. I couldn't be any more against plaques of any kind. I just I couldn't be any more against it. If you are are giving for any reason apart from either either obedience because you need that type of obedience in your life or out of generosity. Those are the two reasons I wanna see you given to the lord. Apart from that, anything apart from that is just you're not you're not giving up for the right reason. I don't think I will ever look at a plaque at a church the same again. Guess I never really thought about why the plaques are there, but that makes plenty of sense. They're off a memorial. Answer a. Yeah. I'll buy a pew, but you need to put my name on there so everybody knows I've done it. And I want two slots for the hymnal. Double? No. I've often said oh, go ahead. I think we're a around the room on this one. Yeah. I think so. Hopefully. Yeah. I've also I've often said keep the keep the tombstones in the cemetery, not not in the church building. It's it's it's insane. But I've seen I've seen it go crazy with with that stuff. I you know, here's the deal is I don't know how to have, like, a I I I talked to somebody about this one time a long time ago, and I couldn't decide on how to have that conversation with them. Like, anybody I just feel like this is gonna sound terrible. But I just feel like that anybody that finds that to be okay,

we don't have anything in common. Like, we just we come from such different camps that I just I feel like we couldn't even have a reasonable conversation about it. Yeah. I mean, could I be that wrong? I just I don't I don't feel like the plaques are guarded are a good idea ever. No. We we had a similar conversation, actually, as we were preparing a building campaign. It's like, you know, people do all kinds of things to raise money and, like, part of our conversation was is, we raise money the way we always raise money. Like, people either give or they don't give. Like, we're not what we're not gonna do is, like, offer anything. What we're not gonna do is, like, you know, try to prod them around. Like, either they're giving them because god wants them to or or and they're being obedient or, like or they're not. Like, any extra measures we have to take in, and, like, it's not blood money, but it really feels like blood money. And I, I don't

you know, just to make you about that. We're we're not salesman, and we're not called to be, and so we're not going to be. And, and there's there's there's an element of that where, like, you know, I I know why people do it. Mhmm. But it's just like, I don't you can do that somewhere else. It's it's it's a question of why is the church involved? You know, can you if you wanna memorialize, you know, put a bench out in your front yard with your grandma's name on it, like, thumbs up. Do all you gotta do. You know? Make one of those stones, put it in your garden. That's sweet. Mhmm. But, like, the church really just doesn't need to be involved in in that type of thing. So so you don't we're not gonna raise money for the communion table. Do this remembrance of build. Of yeah. I hope the church never has anything in remembrance of Troy Ingler. Of me and the following benefactors. Did you watch how Troy brought it back to himself?

Hey. By the way, can try to do that too. How can I put my name in this? Man. I need to change my voice. Rough night, Ophah. I'm sorry. That's wow. Okay. I got I got one more here. This this one was fascinating to me. That it's party girl was her name. She has one last beer at her funeral. She's remembered as party girl as everybody called her, had a a final drink during the funeral in New Orleans recently.

She was 53 years old. She loved a cold beer and occasional scotch, loved the New Orleans saints, spent her time drinking at home and in bars. And so when her daughters planned the funeral, they decided they didn't traditional religious type funeral. They actually set up a scene. They had her in a chair, with her sunglasses on, holding a beer, a cigarette in the other hand, and, it was a dance floor in front of it. And it was it was a a video of newscast. So I I got I watched it several times. It just kinda creeped me out. Mean, I was like she was sitting in the living room and

her daughters were there dancing in front of the dance floor, little, you know, what what do call those lights? Those sparkly lights were gone. Disco balls. Disco. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Disco balls. Yeah. That Dan, you could not seem any more irrelevant to the culture. Yeah. What do you call them sparkling things at Twist around? They don't call me a person. A person can now be outdated. No one has ever called me. Okay. So I'm outdated.

Have you ever seen what they call a Buick? So in this in this interview, this newscast, they talked a lot about her homegoing and different people's homegoing without really thinking through where she might actually be going home to. And here's the question. How should a Christian respond to our culture's spiritually generic view of eternity? Because even in funeral, they were taking the spiritual out of it, and they just wanted to make like let's pretend like she's at home having a beer. So a, agree that they had a great life and you hope they're enjoying their new home.

B, say nothing. Cause no waves. Just be glad you're a Christ follower and don't have to worry about eternity. Or c, tell them there really is a heaven and a hell and home may not be as nice as they think. This is at the funeral, by the way. Oh, at the funeral. Hey, buddy.

Hey. I got some bad news for you. She's looking pretty happy there. I realized someone you know just love just passed away, but here's the deal. I'm probably gonna sit with the in the b camp. I know it probably doesn't sound like the go get them Christian attitude, but, like, it's ears to hear, man. They got ears to hear that right now. They ain't Proud up with you. I probably I mean, I probably will answer any questions. No, no, Respond to any any commentary in an honest fashion. Yeah. They're in a better place. Yeah. What they say? Hey,

Ben. Don't you think they're in a better place? You know, I if they accepted the salvation of Jesus Christ, yeah. Yeah. If not, was that praying girl on that? No. No. No. I was Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like and that's probably true for anything. Right? Like, if ever if if asked directly, I'd like, we're going to give an honest answer. But, like, I think Mike's kinda right there. Like, it's it's a tough moment, ears to hear moment. Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. That they're gonna they're oh, what you don't say. You know, it's and sometimes I feel the same way about, like, this is gonna sound bad again, but churches in their bar mystery. You know what I'm saying? Like, they're like, we gotta go meet the sinners right where they're at in the midst of their sinful behavior. You know what I'm saying? Now is the time and I'm not saying that it's not ever the time. That's not what I'm saying but like,

there's a certain brand of foolishness that thinks that you're going to roll in there and read a Bible at a bar table and then people just going to come and swarm it over looking for the gospel. I'm not saying that it's not going to happen but I sometimes I think it's some of that is a is a a very huge ears ears to hear situation where you're not in there to like literally be loving on people and show them the love of Jesus Christ. You're in there to show them that you're right and they're not. And like if if that's the attitude I generally see in outreach like that and like that is not effective. That is not the love of Christ. That is I've got something figured out. You need you're messed up. You know, check this out. And so, like, I'm not saying that, like I said, I I I'm sure that it has it has people have met Christ that way. I'm not saying that it's impossible. I just feel like when you when you turn it into a pre programmed,

I'm just gonna throw the gospel out. I don't care who who's or what's or what's going on. The people involved don't matter. Then, you're you're not really you're not really preaching the gospel. You're just saying a bunch of words together. Yeah. I mean, there's not a scriptural example of Jesus like walking down the streets going like, the lord reigns. Get it here. Like, mean, there's he's teaching and people are showing up to listen to it.

Yeah. So have have you ever been to a funeral where they actually say that this this dude's probably not in heaven? No. No one hires that guy.

You know I'm saying? No one hires the truth preacher. I I've avoided it in funerals and that I've done. You know, I just don't talk about it. I'll talk about I I will often cleverly say, you know, there's a story. I'm also very clever in this way. And relative. But I'll go through the story of of Lazarus and the beggar, you know, and and and it goes

they both die and and, you know, anyway, basically, I would say if if he could come back to you, this is what he would tell you. You know, there is Jesus. There's something you you need you need to repent. Like like, was it Lazarus? I'm I'm mixing up my head right now. Was Lazarus. The rich guy. The man. The rich rich man who wanted to come back and warn his his relatives. And and, Abraham's like, no. You have Moses and the prophets. Right. There's a chasm. No. You can't cross the chasm. I so I was actually I was at a funeral once, and, the guy, he did the funeral, and he talked a lot about, about hell,

Little bit about heaven. And afterwards like it was some family members of mine said you know I just don't feel like this was the appropriate place for it. I said they hired a pastor. What else do you want him to do? I said there's no legal reason you have to have a pastor at a funeral. Right. You don't want someone to talk about Jesus, don't hire a pastor. But, like, if that's like, if you ask me to do a funeral Mhmm. That's what I'm there for. Yeah. You know? And and so, like and and and I basically told him that. I said, look, if you die, I'm the closest guy pastor you know. I will gladly do your funeral, but just know

I'm a pastor of the Lord, and that's what I will be speaking about at your funeral. If not, like, have a buddy do it. There's no there's no official rights of, like, standing over your corpse. Have someone else stay do that. But, like Yeah. Yeah. If you hire a guy that preaches the gospel and he shows up and preaches the gospel, like, this this moment of, I can't believe he's doing that is a little bit disingenuous. I actually had someone leave during our funeral once. Really? Yeah. I was doing some pretty heavy Jesus stuff, and they just got up and left. Thought, well Yeah, buddy. Yeah. It was awkward. They were right in the middle of the crowd too, and they had to kinda crawl through everybody. It was like two people and a child. And I was like, well Boy. Yeah. I guess they don't like the Jesus stuff. Get your purse, Seth. The war out of here. Yeah. I said, and you, sir, will go to hell. I didn't say that. Where are going, Bob?

And it well, and there was I've only done one. I did, like, a funeral. And like, the people afterwards, I had like a few people come up and said, hey, that's you really shared the gospel with this one. And I thought, which funerals are you going to? Who is not doing this? Like, we're not holding up our end of the bargain. If we were just like maintaining civil ceremonies, I mean, there's plenty of guys with an online theology degree that you can, you know That's right. If you wanted some technicality of overseeing it. Had his eyes open yesterday, and now they're not. Thanks for coming.

We should actually we should create a handout for, like, being able to if if you don't want the gospel at your funeral, here's some phrases you can use. Blessed, happier, better place. They look so good. Yeah. Like, no, they look dead. Just yeah. We could do it as They're so peaceful. They always say they look so good. We could do it as a mad lib. My grandma looked terrible. Yeah. Like, my after my grandma had a stroke and, like, at at at her funeral, like, she did not look good. And I I don't know who what kind of, like, fairy tale people are keeping up. Her soul is not in there. She is not looking great. Yeah. Nope. Alright. Alright. Here's a question. Would it be more appropriate to have the gospel at the funeral or at a wedding? Because those are usually the two events that a pastor gets called called out for.

Funeral or wedding. Actually, see that happen. Actually, I've seen quite a bit of commentary from pastors on that, and, like, most of them enjoy like, would that joy, but, like, they do funerals, we're bowing out of weddings. They're just, like, not doing weddings because people are are they they're not wanting to hear that at a wedding. That's interesting. Yeah. People will tell me, you're talking to the wrong guy. Yeah. I mean because when I read Jesus and he's talking about how, you know, he comes to give us life and life more abundantly, he's talking about life. So a funeral would seem like an odd place to do that unless

unless our theology is a little bit bent more around the, you know, Jesus offers fire insurance. And if that's the case, then it it just sits a little bit differently. But if it's at a time where we're celebrating life, that seems like the the time to really vibe. Yeah. Yeah. Bring out Jesus and say, hey. You want life? You want really abundant life? Yeah. Hey. Let me tell you about it. Yeah. But you should have stayed single. So Paul. Well, yeah. You're low rent. Yeah. I see you're burning with passion. Yeah.

That's why we're here today. We're here today. We are gathered here today because John is burning with passion. Yeah. So we're gonna keep the service going. Wait. Was that the funeral, or was that the wedding? That's rough. That's funny, though. Like I said, you know, that's not like a church joke that people who who listen there are like, what are they talking about? Like, yeah. That's true. It was our was know what was it? I think it was one Acuff's articles he put out where they were talking about the the the dudes doing Christian weddings and like the preacher always makes some kind of sex joke, you know? And like, he goes, enough. Enough with it. Right? You think it's awkward enough that like, let's say it is an actual Christian wedding. You got two virgins hanging up at the altar. You know what I'm saying? Like, they're nervous anyway. And you're making a bunch of sex jokes up there. They're like, the, you know, the. I may have done that. Back when I was irrelevant. Yeah. The girl's looking around like, you know, this is kinda embarrassing.

I don't know really the whole story. And now you're telling everybody, everyone knows I'm gonna have sex later. You know? Yeah. Just stop talking about it. Okay? You know, just be done. You just ruin the mood. Just be done with it. And then here's, you know, 40 year old preacher man. Sex is a coming. That's a good Christian sex, though, but still it's coming. He's like, that's be done with it. Just just stop talking about it. Okay? It can be over. I

went to a couple weddings where it was like that. He kept making, like, wings and stuff and, like, elbows. Awkward. Yeah. Was like, okay, dude. You know what I'm serious about? There's adults in here. I think we get it. Okay? I may have referred, like, to the song of Solomon before, but I don't I don't, like, get out into, like, sex jokes. Yeah. You didn't cut that out, Dan. I did a long time ago. Probably it's probably about ten years or so, and I thought, this is really kinda You know? Are you turning right over there? I'm very sorry. But this is my night. I will be sharing laughter. That's right. Don't hire a pastor.

Who's who stands in the middle? Dan does. Dan stands in the middle. No. I come from the John Buba School of of

pastoring. We're like, it's about you, but really, it's about me. And somewhere it's about Jesus. Because it's about me. Alright. What's happening? That's it? That's it, Dan? That's everything? We've solved the world's problems.

Alright, Mike. What's going on with the Hobby Lobby? Okay. I'm a try to truncate this down because it's a big it's a big article here. So it says, stop calling Hobby Lobby a Christian business. Mhmm. We're Christian. Hobby Lobby's president Steve Green proclaims, and we run our business on Christian principles.

That is music to the ears of many conservative Christians who rallied around Hobby Lobby when the retail chain argued at supreme court that Obamacare's contraception mandate unlawfully burden their religious beliefs. But a closer look at Hobby Lobby's actual business practices reveals this claim to be as hollow as a flute. Turn over just about any trinket in Hobby Lobby store, and you'll find a gold oval stamped with made in China, A country that is one of the worst offenders of human dignity, unborn infant life, and economic justice anywhere in the world. Those shiny stickers littering every Hobby Lobby from sea to shining sea are more than a statement about a product's geographical origin. They're also a stinging indictment against the way the retailer has sought to label itself.

Imagine for a moment a nation with nightmarish labor conditions, inadequate workplace regulation, and rampant child labor. Some provinces in China are raising their minimum wage standards, but don't rush to praise them. There are still only $293 a month.

The bible is replete with calls for economic justice. Can you call yourself a Christian business when you leverage your profits to sport an economic system that blatantly perpetuates injustice? That's basically the gist of this article. Like, I get there's there's that. There's probably another 10 paragraphs here. But here's that's basically what they're saying is is that Hobby Lobby as a Christian business and this question I'm asking is not so much a question of Hobby Lobby, but, like, they purport themselves to be a Christian business, yet their goods

are sourced from as the article would describe it, pretty much ill gotten sinful means. We'll put it that way. Sinful means. Are they like, in the view of of of which we look at it, do we have a problem with them claiming to be a Christian business? Is this an issue at all? Okay. First off, on planet Earth, manufacturing is done in China. If you wanna be a relevant business, that's just the way you've gotta get I mean, there's really no way around that one other than buy local.

But is is that the the gist of it? Is that It's it's because it's made in China Well, I think I think they're basically upset because, Hobby Lobby claims to be a Christian business, and they're fighting, against, obviously, the Obamacare standards of where they have to supply contraceptives and birth control and and but but on the same tilt that they're selling products that are that are being produced and obtained

through non, you know, biblical treatment of human life. By a country and probably the businesses that make them. Let's be honest. It's you know? Okay. I guess second reality check would be the country with the largest population of Christians today is China. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Are we so so, I mean, it's it's I mean, they're supporting businesses that employ Christians. I mean, is the guy way off? I mean, what's the what's what's the premise that he's upset about? He's upset that that It's a god and country argument.

Yeah. It's it's to say it's a it's a guilt by association. It's to say, you say that you hold the Christian principles. That's the leg you're standing on when it comes to the, contraceptive mandate. However, you don't stand on Christian Christian principles. You seem to be willing to be loose with them when it comes to buying cheap goods from China, based upon their labor practices. That's the nature of his argument. You're imperfect. Stop calling yourself Christian. It's kind of a generalization, though. I mean, how do I know that if I buy, you know, a donkey, little trinket at Hobby Lobby that that was made in China at a place that has child labor? Does every one of them have it? Right. That is correct. Like, first of all, it's a very broad assumption. Yeah. Yeah. Now granted, their labor standards are looser than ours even legitimate. Oh, yeah. However, it doesn't this doesn't necessarily mean that every trinket from Hobby Lobby is a sweatshop. Mhmm. Well, I I mean, I mean, if we're being honest, I guess the thing that stood out to me is, like, I see I see what what picture that he's trying to paint here. But, like, I don't know how you would expect anyone to to do business, let alone live

at all based on the standard that you're proposing. Right? Like, if I try to walk out of my house, I can't even look at my porch light because the guy that probably hung the transformer closest to my house providing electricity, he stole something back in fifth grade, and he doesn't even know Jesus. So then I can't use electricity. I can't drive car. I can't use gas because it's still gotten from a country that we supposedly terrorized through war. And then I can't drive on the public roads because it was funded through an asphalt company from the same oil that you're talking about. I can't buy food from McDonald's.

I can't go to the grocery store. I can barely breathe the air. You know I'm saying? Like, what is it that I could possibly do in life that is not somehow connected to a sinful behavior somewhere? I think I think actually the person that wrote that would agree with your perspective, but then they would say, then, because it's not possible, stop branding yourself as a Christian company. Yeah. I suppose you get in a little trouble trying to brand yourself as a Christian

company. It it is a company. It's it's not a person. It's not a Christ follower. It is a maybe there are Christ followers who are leading this company in the best way that they can to lead a business in a godly way, but it's not a Christian company. Which which I think that's that's something where we should have a problem with. Right? Like because I would agree with that. The company has no soul. And so, like, we should not be in the business of, like, promoting Christian Christian companies. Companies. They're like, I may That's just marketing. Yeah. Like, that's exactly. Who said that? The guys from Unseen Patrol were talking about this. Heard that they are. Yeah. Anything that what's the anything with the word Christian on it that isn't what? That isn't a person A noun. That isn't a person is marketing. Yep. Yeah. If you're using Christian as an adjective, then you're using it wrong. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And so and so, like, that's and that that's the case with these companies. Like, we actually should we should have have a problem with with that,

because we shouldn't we shouldn't accept being marketed to with a with a Jesus brand on it. However, like, it's it's a little it's much hypocritical on his part, to to, first of all, use loose associations

to try to make what it is that they're fighting for, in the supreme court irrelevant. Like, it's a it's a it's just a misdirection, and and a bit of a red herring.

But but it's a way to kinda cast, say, like, if you really believe what you say you believe, you should be fighting against China. Well, Christians do. Like, I mean, just because, like, one guy is not fighting every cause. That's like it's like being upset for the guy that's that's, say, trying to help child welfare practices in China. But because he's not involved in the Nigerian sex trade, he's a hypocrite and a bastard. Like, it's it's it's irrelevant and hypocritical standard Mhmm. To to kinda place upon somebody. And and I got that's that's what he's it's basically how you're claiming to be holier now, but they're not claiming to be holier than thou. They're they're trying their best as half fallible human beings to, I don't adhere to what God has asked them to do, and that's this is one of the things that is directly associated with them. And so, I mean, it's it's a bit petty.

Mhmm. Just don't shop. Mean, whatever. You don't like the guy. You don't like them fighting the mandate. You want people to choose. Like, don't shop there. You don't think he has any point at all? You don't like like, here's the deal. Like, if I was faced if let let's say, like, us, we were faced with a choice that said, hey. You could you could open this store. There's good money to be made there. You can pay your employees well. You can operate at the way you treat your employees under Christian practices. All that. You can run it however you want. The product, on the other hand, it comes from a pretty questionable source that does not source out of Christ.

Do you wanna buy this business? Like, do you take any steps at all to say, you know what? I I feel like the Lord like, God provides, and and we'll get we'll we'll get the product from somewhere that Yeah. Oh, no. That doesn't. Definitely the means matter. And, like, as a, if I'm if I'm having a one on one with the guy that runs a company who is, getting doing anything that is not consistent with with following Christ in their business, I would most certainly say, like, whatever it is that you find important in your business, it is not worth not doing the means the way God has called you to do the means. No. That's definitely true. But okay. But but, like, from that same point of view and from the facts already heard, like, I mean, if if if manufacturing comes out of China, right, like, can a Christian sell TVs? Sure. Because not every TV manufactured in China is is done by, like, a six year old. I you know what saying? It's like they I bet a good person, Omar. They've they've painted a very what he's done is he's taken the worst thing and then painted someone with it. Yeah. He's dipped his brush in the nasty color and then, like, drew a painting of this guy with that brush. Whether it's true now here's the deal. Like, if they're unscrupulous in their business practices and they're supporting sweatshops by buying knickknacks from it, then, yeah, that's a problem. Mhmm. But I mean but that but but, like, what he's done is he's not validated that. He didn't say, here. Here's the here's the ceramic donkey that's in Aisle 7 at the alcohol Hobby Lobby. It's made by here's Pedro. Here's a picture of Pedro. He does these. He's probably Pedro's probably not China. It

could be. You could say Pedro's side. But Lee Ching. Alright. So in either case, he's making this donkey. He's six years old. Here's his mother. Here's her sad face. Mhmm. They here they ended up in these troubles. Right? A legit journalist does that kind of thing and says, here's the two things together. He did not do that. Right. Right? I'm not saying it's true or not true. What I'm saying is is, like, he didn't make any step to say this is actually happening. What he said is, this does occur. They buy from China. And although they may not be happening between these two businesses, we should think poorly of them because of it. It's very lazy. It's a lazy at least check it out, validate it, and then whatever. I'm up in arms with you because the guy's not following the means. Mhmm. Yeah. But he didn't do that. He's lazy. And so you're saying that it appears to be like a like a shot a shot over 600 yards away saying, look. You know, they buy stuff from China. There's some businesses in China that are pretty unscrupulous. He's gotta be hitting one of them. Boycott them. Yeah. I mean, here here Basically. Yeah. Here's here's where he's right. I have the same pro I have the same problem he has with people calling themselves a Christian company. I have it for a different reason. He's protecting he's protecting hypocrisy.

He wants to be able to point out that they shouldn't be able to fight for the mandate because they're not adhering to all Christian principles. Christian's not an adjective, for your business, and so that's why I would protect it. But so, like, whatever. We're both offended. Call it a day. But his reasoning for being offended is significantly less grounded than mine. Mhmm. And he's not really taking much pain to actually validate what he says. He's just trying to ramp up people that would believe whatever he wrote as long as it was against something, like Hobby Lobby fighting the mandate. And so whatever. He might as well just said it to himself and then cheered himself on and then moved to move to something else. You know what? I'm great. Now that think about it, I've said some clever stuff.

Article by Jay Boopa. I support this message. How would you describe yourself if you're trying to run an organization, a business, or or something like that and and you're trying to do do this in a Christ following way, not just for use you personally, but you want your institution to follow Christ's principles. How would you describe that to the world?

Or would you? No. No. I wouldn't I wouldn't lay it out as a I wouldn't put it in my company, mission statement or anything. Okay. Yeah. No. I would just go about my business, and it should reflect Jesus. But as a leader of an organization, how would you communicate that then to your employees?

I would well, I I don't know that it has to I think I I I I don't know. It should just reflect in the principles that we've otherwise laid out. Right? Like, I don't yeah. Like, I don't shake hands with someone, meet them for the first time, and then, like, say, here's how I live my life Okay. With the following items. I don't know. I'm not on board with saying my example is the only thing I'm responsible for. Hopefully, they see Jesus in it. Mhmm.

But, yeah, I'm not sure yeah. I I don't think I probably explicitly stay in any any part of, like, my founding company. Because ultimately, that that actually has a little bit of a sniff of a Jesus branding. Mhmm. Where, like, I can be faithful in the means, and I will try to put those out in the company. But, like, I will not otherwise try to yeah. Yeah. I probably wouldn't I probably wouldn't do that. I'm not sure on that, but I don't think I would. Yeah.

We follow Jesus here. No. Maybe you don't. That's probably the truth. It's like, ultimately, I'm dealing with the world that may or may not follow under that. And so, like, it may not in fact, I I changed my mind. I wouldn't do it because it's poor communication. Because it means something to me. It probably it may not mean something to every employee that works for me. Because if they don't love Jesus, that standard is irrelevant to them. I've not communicated clearly with them if I do that. So, yeah, my answer is probably no. Okay. Yeah. Alright then. Have we solved that problem? Is that guy sufficiently taken care of? Yeah. I don't think he's reasonable.

Probably no reason with him. I there was there was a real wait. What do we got time for here? Yeah. We got a You're done. What? No. No. No. We got a couple minutes. We started a bit late. So here, there was a there was an article. It was called I'm Southern Baptist, comma, and I love a man. But the it's one of those zinger titles. So the gist of it was, though, is, like, how how we have lost is it wait. I'll I'll read a couple lines. Right? It feels good to finally make it public. I love a man. I'm a Southern Baptist pastor, and it's true. Allow me to tell you about this relationship.

He says two he said, for all these things he describes, like, all these interactions with this guy. He says, for all these things and for a future filled with more of this kind of love, joy, and Christian brotherhood, I must say, Lord, I thank you for this man that I love. Said two groups tell us this kind of love is impossible. First, the world. If I were to tell nearly anyone on the street that I felt this way for a man, they'd insist I was experiencing homosexual attraction. This is a lie. Second, the church. Many of our churches would have us believe that brotherly love, the bible encourages, must somehow develop over a bowl of buffalo wings while watching a UFC fight. This too is a lie. We as the church have conceded the kind of love I share with this brother of mine to the gay community. We are fearful, fearful of misinterpretation by our culture, feel for a fearful of vulnerability, fearful that maybe it's unbiblical. This is a lie from the prince of darkness. He wants brothers in Christ to feel uncomfortable with truly loving one another. He has perverted brotherly affection with homoeroticism and made it completely inaccessible to the believer. We as believers can no longer conceive of the kind of love Peter encourages, a sincere brotherly love, loving one another earnestly from a pure heart. Where is the love that is characterized by a humble mind and a tender heart? Brothers, if we display the love of Christ for one another, we may begin to establish credibility within the gay community. They don't believe we can love other men. Let's prove them wrong. Perhaps then after seeing the true light of the gospel, of Jesus, they will be drawn from the darkness where Satan holds them captive into the marvelous light of Christ's self sacrificial love. So the interesting part of this for me was,

is is is there is there are there elements of truth to that? We're like, we are we are fearful of being close and, like, loving brotherly love for another man because of of how the culture might see that. Do you feel like there's some truth to that? Dave Hurt? It it almost sounds like a semantic argument over the l word. Essentially, he's saying you guys could you know, he's making this division between love and attraction. And Yeah. He's saying, I love this person. And I think that's valid to say. There's nothing wrong with that. So

yeah. But but do you think do you think that do you think that impacts how we how close we are willing to get to other men from a Christian perspective because of a fear that that may be interpreted to something else? I think it just affects the vocabulary that we use. We're we're unlikely to say, hey, I love you to another guy. Yeah. Just as a culture, we we tend not to do that.

But as far as acts of love and and displays of of it, willing to sacrifice for each other, yeah, absolutely, we're willing to do that. So See. It's just Go ahead. It's just a vocabulary lesson, I think. I don't see a problem here. Me and Boober are disgusted. This is a non issue. This is a non issue at all. It's just stupid. Like Sometimes we all hold hands walking in the church. Are you kidding? I sometimes I have to put my shirt on just to come on and show. What? What's up? I I this But I also don't think that the gay community is gonna say, oh, look. Those guys tend to like each other. Liberian too. I mean Did you hear that man saying that? They're not thinking about us. I believe in God now. It's like, what? Yeah. That's ridiculous. Here's the this is what this stuff drives me nuts. Because you have to be truly non genuine

to have this be an issue. Like, if I love a dude, I say, love that guy. If I don't love the man, I say, I'm either way better. I'm afraid to say I love a man because I don't wanna be judged. Yeah. What? I think that's an article by a guy who is irrelevant to the the homosexual community. I'm trying to figure out how to reach them. Like, they're That's right. They're, like Yeah. He's the same guy Aliens. Yeah. We don't know what to do with them. That's right. He's the same guy writing cheesy youth group, you know, stuff that he's trying to sell to people. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, people, they see right through him. No. Right. Right. Actually, if I were if I were part of the gay community, I'd actually be fairly offended by his statement. Exactly. Because it's It's ridiculous. I I can be manipulated because of how you engage with other men. It's like, oh, well, maybe I'm not attracted to other men, I and can just have good friends that are men and I can love them. Yeah. Hey. Look at me. I can say love to another man. A gay community, you should love me. I get your people. Yeah. Exactly. I know where you're coming from. That's pretty embarrassing. That's ridiculous. I know. Yeah. I'm diminishing the fact that you struggle with something. I'm offended and I'm not in any way gay. Yeah. Yeah. This guy's this guy's

oh, boy. This guy's ridiculous. Just yeah. Love your brothers and Chris. That's all you need to do. Stop being afraid of him. You're listening to lot of Well and hold on. I I actually may have said something to Eric about this recently. Because he picked up a tray for me at the at the hospital and, like, took my tray for me. And I said, I don't know if that flies in this culture. I've taken another man's tray to the garbage. I mean, there's a certain real levels of protocol here. That's true. You don't stand next to a guy while he's in the urinal. You don't do turd. You're not urinal buddies. And you don't you don't while he's sitting there, take his other tray and be like, I got that for you, buddy. That's awesome. It's an awesome gesture. I mean, it does carry connotation. Ben, I'm going to do that as many times as I can now. Hey, urinal buddy. Alright. The culture's wrong, but I'm just saying that's south end work. This is a life of the path. Hey. If you're on the podcast, we gotta let you wait. Wait. Hang around if you're on the podcast. If you're on KTA, we gotta let you go. Hey. Big thanks to our sponsors, Bob Eisler from the Eisler team. Go to eislerteam.com.

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There you go. We're back. Alright. What do you need to know from the last time? What are you what? What are you talking about, man? About what? What cultural connotation is there for taking up a man's tray? Hey. Like, the other guy smiles at you, takes your tray, walks away with it. It feels weird. It's weird. It's not weird. It's got You are ridiculous. I'm not saying it's weird. I'm not saying it should be weird. But there's an element You're the ones who just said it's weird. I'm not yeah. I know. Hey. Did you did you read said it's weird. I'm not saying it's weird. I'm not saying it should be. I'm just saying that it is. From what standpoint?

It just is. Yeah. We just don't do that. Why? You look another man in the eye and take his tray and put it I mean, there's an element of, like Hey. Where where is disconnect here? Remember we had Is it looking at his eye, or is it taking the tray? No. No. We had the same conversation about you complimenting people about their commentary. We agreed that this shouldn't be weird, but it just is. It's just taking a weird offend. If it shouldn't be, let's make it not weird and do it. No. No. It's still weird. Oh my gosh. That is ridiculous. You know, I'm going to take you guys' trays and stare you right in the eye when I do it just so you feel weird because that's ridiculous to feel weird for that. Why are you turning back on music, man? We're off the station break. You're like the guy that wrote that article. Like, you're completely not you refused to validate how I'm feeling. Did you did you read the article, Ben, that was on our our that the Facebook group we're a part of that is secret and can't be named named out loud? But about gay pride, the pain before the pride,

I saw I didn't read it. It is a good read. It is it is a guy who has struggled with homosexual tendencies and talks about pride and issue of pride and the gay pride issue, and then him working through it and then actually coming to Christ at a later point. And it I I can't summarize it here without reading it. It's been a few days. But Well, can we read it, or is it on your secret hoo group? Oh, it can be read. It's just it looks really long. Yeah. I think Ben should Which is good. He's better at that stuff. Alright. I'll take a look at it and see what I can find out. Alright? It was really well written. I was just What's the name? What is I don't You know the secret one. Do they take people trays up? No. No. We're not in that group. Are you ready for this? Yeah. Yeah. Let's have it. Dear, lie from the path. I became a widower two years ago and only recently started dating.

Although I am in my early seventies, I am in great physical shape, and I have all my hair. I am also financially well off, and I think I'm reasonably good looking. My concern is, how do I avoid becoming a trophy husband? I didn't see that going. Here's a short answer. That was the greatest question. Here comes the whole alive. Every woman of that age will want you. It's it's impossible.

If you ever seen a guy at a nursing home, they're all crowned and walking down. There's there's Buddy. I mean yeah. If you guys can't tell, this is me. He's a seven year old question. Rich Adonis. Wait. Is that the end of the question? Yeah. No. That's it. Yeah. He wants to not be a trophy husband. You can't you can't can't it's gonna happen. Don't get married. There's no stopping this thing. Don't get married. There's no way you could be a trophy husband. Oh, man. Yeah. Okay. You don't tell anybody you have money, I guess. No. No. No. Here's the deal. Yeah. I I think you will be the trophy husband. Just make sure it's for the the right winner. Yeah. Yeah. Mhmm. It's alright to be an Adonis.

My wife married a trophy husband. Then how did she end up with you? Kinda odd how that work.

Okay. Here's Sekular's answer. Sekular oh, yeah. Okay. And she hit both the points. Sekular says, that should be easy. Don't reveal your financial status, and don't propose to anybody. Done. Okay. Yeah. She solved that one. Oh, that's great. Here we go. Dear life from the path. I've been dating Hank for five years. He has always been a loner. He has never been married and has no kids. I don't think they're wrong with that. I don't think that's negative in his column.

We lived together for four years, our relationship is wonderful other than his just being him, end quotes. He's kinda self centered and not very communicative. Hank just learned that his mother is terminally ill. He came home from work, told me to pack and move out, gave me five minutes of his time, and then he left. I packed some clothes and I went. I'm not sure if I should stay away or try to get him to talk this through with me. This is tearing me apart. I know he loves me, but I'm afraid that with what's going on with his mom, he's shutting me out because he can't handle it. I'm the closest person to him, but he is pushing me away. Please give me some advice. Okay. Well, first off, it sounds like you're roommates and he just threw you out. Yeah. Pretty matter of fact, I do. Yeah. You got five minutes. My mom's dying. Get out. That's weird. That is weird. Yeah.

Well, she wants advice. She wants should she talk this through with him? No? Yeah. She she give it a shot. I mean, he's he's a loner. He probably likes to process a loan, but he still shouldn't be alone right now. That's asking an awful lot. Maybe it's if you're really concerned about it, maybe it's not the time to bring up your your relational status. Maybe it's just time to be be there. Yeah. Mean, I thought that's what she was asking. Should I talk did I talk it through with this with our relationship? Not should I talk to him about his mom? No. I think he should just she should just be there for him. From the standpoint of he's he's got a terminally ill mother, I think you guys are right when you say that it's not the right time to talk about relational. But that doesn't mean you just shut yourself out. Mhmm. Well, she didn't shut herself out. She got thrown out of the house. But she has the option to try and and go back into the relationship though. She has every she's asking if she should, and that's what I'm saying. She should. No. The answer is no. She should not. If you wanna be as if you wanna be, there to cover it, that's it. Yes. I wouldn't bring up the fact that you date, have lived with him, nothing. Be like, I'm sorry about your mom. Anything I can do for you? That's it.

Counter advice, radio show moving on. No comment. Dan's texting somebody. No one's paying attention to show. What's secular show? Alright. Dan doesn't give a crap. Here we go. Secular says, no. So go seriously, Dan. You don't have to answer.

Someone just asked me to marry them. Oh, that's unfortunate. Big stuff. Okay. Here we go. It says, whether you should remain involved with Hank depends on how great your tolerance is for pain. He isn't shutting you out. He gave you one giant kick in the fanny. He also isn't kind of self centered. He's very self centered. If you're curious about his mom's health, call and ask from time to time, but do not expect to get back together anytime soon. To have ended the relationship with you the way he did was brutal. Hey, man. Secular is on the nines today. Yeah. Yeah. I thought she nailed that one. He is he is kind of a doofus. Granted, I mean I agree. That's a that's a pretty heavy time for a guy to not know how to handle something, but, like, taking it out on your lady. If that's the pattern of which your life is being set, he's a mistake. Yeah. I mean, here's the thing. It's like it's it it isn't fair to paint his whole existence by his reaction to that. Like, it's obviously a rough spot in his life. It's not like his character is not indicted because he made a terrible he handled that situation poorly. However,

to say that we've been, like, we've been together for five years. We've been living together for four. He's he's generally a great guy unless he's being who he is. Mhmm. Okay. Yeah. That's that's a measure of not a man that you want to spend your time with. Like, when he's actually acting like himself, he's kind of a pain to deal with. Well, that that's not marriage material. You're gonna have to let him go. If you insist on being a friend or, like, you're the you're you're just know that you're that's a suffering. Make sure your life is stable and that you can handle it. But from there on, I guess, like, yeah, you're gonna have to give up on that relationship. You sounds like you probably should have a long time ago. Yeah. This guy seems like a total parasite.

Total parasite. Well, here's the deal, though. I don't think he is a parasite. No. I think he's actually the opposite. I think she opposite, Boova. Because he's not I think he's just he's just a using. He's a loner. Mhmm. You know I'm saying? It's not like he's latched on to her, refuses to let go. That's a parasite. Mhmm. I'm sorry. He's just using as for as long as you want, and then when it does as soon as needs What I'm talking about is, like, the last five years. Like, she's been with this guy for five years. Been living with him for five years. It's just every time he's not himself, he's great.

But I can't imagine that's very often. So I'm saying, like, the relationship they've had. I can't imagine that he's been really giving into the relationship. It sounds like she has been and he hasn't. No. I I think she's the parasite. My guess is that she latched on to him. Okay. And she's fighting for relationship that he doesn't really care that much about, but it's it's more convenient for him to stick around. Alright. Fair enough. That's my guess with it. Yeah. Yeah. Boy, you you could have been more wrong there. Thanks for bringing it around to me so I don't have to. I appreciate that. There we go. Dear life in the path. For the last ten years, my friends and I have gotten together on a fairly regular basis. We always bring potluck to share. While Marsha and I were assembling a meal, Cindy would contribute a bag of chips. We finally told her we thought the offerings were unequal, so she shaped up. We recently celebrated my birthday at my house, and Cindy surprised me with a beautiful blueberry crumble cake, which was her specialty. I was delighted and told her I had been craving that particular treat.

As the afternoon wore on, I asked if we should bring out the dessert, but she said she wanted to wait a while. A half hour later, she announced she had to leave and wanted to take the cake with her. Well, that's rough. We often take leftovers home, but her dessert hadn't even made it to the table. When I said, but we'd have no other dessert. She said she had company coming and needed to take it with her. Oh. Then she put it in the container she had brought it in and left. Sydney is a close friend, and Marcia and I have put up with some of her quirks. But I'm thinking about confronting her about this latest ga gaffe because I'm afraid if I don't, my resentment will continue to build and our friendship will crumble. Am I being petty? Well, I here's the deal. Your description of this woman sounds like this shouldn't be such a surprise to you. I'm granting that it's outrageous. However, when you say we've got used to some of her quirks,

this is not as outrageous to you as it is to me. You I feel like you're kind of overselling it. So yeah. I mean, if you continue to be friends with Cindy, I feel like you know how she acts. At some point, like, my wife stops acting surprised when she finds my socks on the floor next to the bed. That's where I put them. It should stop, but that's how it happens. And, like, the third time she goes, I can't believe you leave your socks here. Like, that's just disingenuous. Yes, you can. I do it all the time. And so I think she fits into that category as, like, that's outrageous behavior, but I feel like you you know that. And, yeah, there's no risk no use confronting her with it. Just learn to deal with it. I think I think it's pretty obvious that she has offended her friend. She brought the great dessert that she wanted,

and then she left without serving it. So so somewhere in that afternoon, she's the other the the the one who wrote the letter offended her friend and didn't even know it. It is the weirdest lady behavior. I just don't understand women in general that would bring something and be like, I'm gonna take it with me. I I would I am more and let's say I bring a 24 pack of soda over to somebody's somebody's house. I drink four of them. I am more apt to leave the 20 just so I don't have to load it back up in the car.

And this woman has gone and taken the time to bake a whole cake, bring it over, not give it to anybody, and haul it back into the car. Yeah. I'm blown away. It's not just bring it back into the car. It's because she wants to serve it later for There's actually other people coming over. So it it's saying that these other people are more important than you guys. Yeah. Yeah. It's a a backhanded That's some real weird behavior. It's like getting someone an empty box for Christmas. You're like, well, I wanted to be represented under the tree. I I don't even know. I I'm I'm blown away. This is where we could really use a lady on the show. I have no idea what to say about something like this. If you guys did one of these things to me, I would I would ask you why you were being so foolish, and then I would ask you not to come to my house anymore. And then I'd make you sign a contract in blood.

Yeah. I don't I I would just I would let it go. It sounds like she's like that. Here's what here's what the secular says. Petty? I don't think so. What she what she did took the cake, and I'm not talking about pastry. I don't know what qual qualifies you what qualities you look for in a close friend, but Cindy apparently appears to be unusually self centered. What she said was not only rude but showed a distinct lack of empathy for your feelings. By all means, clear the air, but don't count on Cindy to change. In fact, don't count on her for anything. Who? Cha ching. Yeah.

Boy, that's rough. I don't know. You're listening to Life in the Path. Hey. Thanks for hanging out with us this week. If you have anything you'd want us to talk about or anything nasty you wanna say about us, info at lifeinthepath.org is the place to go. And we'll leave it at this week. Make sure you go to the website at lifeinthepath.org. Check out previous clips. We'll get those clips from Unseen Patrol up. You can check those out. And sign up for the podcast. Watch the watch the videos. And, hey, keep an eye for events. We got a bunch of cool stuff coming up. As a matter of fact, we got a big concert at Zeke's on July 15. We'll give you more about that next week. Thank you for listening to Live From The Back.