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

And you are listening to live from the path. We're coming to you from the Pathway Studios still in Johnston Proper. It's good to see you on this evening. Mike, I feel like it got a lot darker. Yeah. It's creepy like a basement. It looks darker. Sorry. We're

if you could see this at home so you can catch a little bit of it, but but we're getting settled in our new joint. And it's so we painted the walls all black. I don't know if this was wisdom or not. But but but it it can get a little dungeony.

Kinda like a cave. Yeah. It it has the potential for cave like activity. I've seen a lot of people pull off all black walls and maybe we're just not suited for it. Don't know. It looks so and here's the thing. It it doesn't translate over video as well. You know, like like, as you see it, as you walk up the stairs, it looks pretty uptown. But after that, I don't know what Maybe we shouldn't be wearing all black clothes. Well Craft, you know, I thought about that. And that is a risk on my part, because I always have a black shirt on. Almost always. You know, I tend not to wear things that really pop. Zing. You know what I'm saying? That's just kinda not me. But, I mean, I could consider it if it will help, you know, negate the mistake of maybe painting all the walls dirt black. Was I gonna say I can start wearing hot pink if I absolutely need to, guys. I'm willing to take that hit if I Yeah. Make the It's hot pink, Dan. Yeah. But I like to call it salmon. Alright. Alright. So here we go. Here's what's here's what we got going on the show tonight. We'll have some advice on dear life and the path. There's no better way to to get us rolling in

the new place without giving them some worldly advice for people that make mistakes like, you know, set up a studio that's completely black. Wow, man. What was I thinking this week? There were there was a couple things that were on my mind this morning, And now I've got and I've completely forgotten what they were. You know, I was listening to a gal on the radio today. They were talking about the ALS ice bucket challenge. Yep. And she had called in and was discussing

that that, you know, one of her family members had died of ALS when she when she was younger, like in the seventies or whatever. And she was just outraged at the stance that the Catholic church had taken because of the embryonic stem cell research. Yep. And so and and, like, it was we might talk to that just a little bit because it was it was it was odd the way that she was talking about the fact that the Catholic church was not listening to the people. And like, I thought I thought, man, I just I feel like it's not up to debate. Good job, Catholic Church. What the Right. On how the people feel about it. Right? I mean, I I feel like we talk about time and time again that your emotions just flat out cannot be trusted in certain areas. But, like, it's a it's an interesting conversation. And, the the the gal from the local

ALS chapter out here had had a fairly decent rebuttal to what she said. So we might talk about that a little bit. Okay. Alright. That sounds good. Also, so I I did let me start with this. It it kinda had a little bit to do with some of that ALS stuff. And, let me try to think here's warning.

Not everything not everything is not everything is mega offensive to Christ Just because there isn't a, just because his name isn't on it, it doesn't mean his work isn't being done.

And I think there's this segment of of Christianity that says, any anytime you see a broad culture moving towards something or or rallying around something, and and especially when you see churches start to participate in it, I think you get these beacon people who who wanna make sure that you're not sinning in it. Right? And I don't mean, hey. They're looking out for your best interest. I think they're the they're naysayers.

They're just people that wanna take a crap on something that otherwise, you know, people can agree on, and say, well, you better be careful because you might be making that an idol. Ice bucket. Idol. Yeah. It's it's this group that that that jumps up a lot and says, see, I'm smarter than you. And and they they they like to kinda continually prove that. That's that's kind of a that's the feel I get often when when you hear that, I'm gonna write a blog. I'll show you guys how you're all wrong and I'm smart. Yeah. And there's, like, a there's, like, a superiority thing to it too. It's like, hey, I I know you thought you were doing a good thing, but you might be sinning. It's actually and it's it's I I I've I've just been it's I have some I have some folks on my Facebook feed that are like this, and they're pretty consistent with it. And I I I I don't know. I just got really kinda kinda pissed out of the day because I thought I thought there there were two or three things that were going around that people were getting involved with. And and I could almost count on this this small handful of people to post something from a some obscure blogger somewhere that condemns this in one way or the other where you didn't know that you were offending the Holy Spirit by participating in it. Yeah. And I thought I thought, you know, actually, this ties to something else I was talking about. Hold on. And here's another thing. I got I got more stuff. This is just another Facebook item that I got kinda cheesed at this week. I see the stupidest Jesus questions on this Facebook. And I don't mean, like, people saying like, people who don't know Jesus trying to get to know him. I mean,

people talking about dumb stuff that I could care less about. Actually, I feel like I saw that exact same conversation on Facebook because we shared a lot of the mutual friends. And it was an exercise in every way to discuss Christ but do nothing. I mean, it was an absolute hamster wheel of theological debate. Oh, man. I mean, it was just ridiculous. There was a the word exegesis came out. There was people writing in actual Greek. I mean, it was it was obscene

on how far that this thing had gotten. And I'm like, you know, you're not making any gains here. Like, you could have taken the thirty minutes that you've spent coming up with this rebuttal and fed a guy. You know? Like That's exactly what I thought. I thought, hey. You know what? Go feed a man. Hey, you know what? There's a naked guy out there somewhere. Go go clothe him. Yeah. Yeah. Boy. And and here's here's what I I guess what I was thinking. And and I see this actually pretty consistently in certain theological circles. But, like, do you revere your theology so much

that you actually don't live in a kingdom? You're like a biographer of the kingdom of God, a guy that writes about it. You know what I'm saying? But, like, you you hold your theology higher than the action that the theology is to point to. Right? I spend more time studying Jesus than trying to be like Jesus. And and I don't there's a there's a risk. There's a serious risk in that. And and I I think I saw that. And and this is to say, like, whoever's involved in the conversation isn't doing that, but, like, I wasted my time having even looked at it. No. No. No. And here's the deal. Here's where it kind of ties in. It was funny because I saw the first time I saw Les Mis, I saw it this week. Right? And I saw it in the movie form. It was okay. I was somewhat disappointed at the how Master of the House went down. I thought it was better than the original,

you know, English action. But, like, I walked away from from watching that movie. You guys all seen Leave It Is? Mhmm. Yeah. Okay. I have not. Yeah. Okay. So, like, I mean, if you haven't seen it, the crux of the story is is it's a musical. And this guy had done, like, nineteen years in prison for stealing bread for his I think it was his sister's, you know, young son in, like, 1800

English or France or something. Anyway, he goes to jail for, like, nineteen years of hard labor, comes out. And finally, you know, he bumps around. No one will hire him because he's got bad papers that says he's a felon. And he ends up staying at a church stables at a church one night. And the pastor the the priest man invites him in and says, look, you can stay here. You can enjoy the comforts. And he's he is trying to steal all the silver. And then he runs out of the he runs out of the place and tries to hawk it, and the guards who are running the place bring him right back and say, we caught this guy with your silver. He's trying to see the what do you wanna do? And the priest is like, no, no, no. I gave it to him. And I can't believe you leave without the most expensive item. And he tried to give him, like, these silver candle sticks or whatever. And so, basically, it was a picture of grace. Right? Like, the guy was dead nuts guilty. He he had totally stolen the stuff. And the pastor man's like, look, no no, I gave it to him, you know, do a good thing. And the guy's like having this this inner struggle. And so, anyway, the the long story short is is, like, he realizes what what God's grace looks like and the opportunity that he's been given and he spends the rest of his life, and we're talking years, being faithful to that and helping people and and and, like, being faithful to just the simple thing of, is I've been given grace, others get grace, I'm gonna do good here and I'm going to I'm gonna I'm gonna care for other people. And, like, I walked away from from from after watching that movie and thinking, crap. Like, I've never wanted something so much in my life. Like, to spend the rest of my days being,

like, dead faithful to helping other people. Like, that just sounds like an awesome life to me. Like, and you get to the movie, the guy dies, he's done a bunch of great stuff or whatever. And and and he's just he's just sitting there looking around, he's like, you know, God, bring me into your bring me into your grace. Bring me into your glory. I'm ready to come home now. And, like, can you imagine the sigh of relief that a guy who has lived his entire life walking with God and loving other people, that just feels in that transition? Right? Like, I've done what I was sent here to do and and and, like, that's and and and, you know, now this kinda ties into what we're talking about, but, like, nowhere in Les Mis was there a theological debate, you know? It was, God showed me grace, I'm showing grace to others, I'm gonna help people the rest of my day. You know? And sometimes, it was ugly and sometimes, it was kind of rough, but, like, I don't know. Like, I walked away from watching that movie a little bit more energized than I have and taking up in a lot of Christian media. I just felt like, man, if that's what we're designed to do, I could totally throw down on that. Yeah. Yeah. No. The the counterpoint to that is another character who's in that is the essentially, the sheriff who's who's pursuing him. He was the

what was he? DA or something? Attorney of some kind. John Jean Valjean. Jean Valjean. Yeah. That's him. He he's he's chasing the guy around knowing this dude is guilty. And like, everywhere he's looking, he's trying to get this guy to trip up and he's just looking for ways to to get after him because he's just trying to follow the rules as he knows them. And he's just applying

these rules and and that's what he's doing. And I I think this is kinda tying back into that conversation that you guys are looking at where you've got these rules lawyers who who are debating religious topics instead of actually living the life that that Jesus has actually presented. So they'll debate the meanings and the words and all these subtle nuances that have nothing to do with going out and actually feeding people and and living the life that Jesus called them to. Yeah. Yeah. And and I think, you know, what that broadly points to is is I think someone would retaliate and they would say, you know, it's important. These these distinctions that we're making are important. Yeah. And I'm not disagreeing that that distinctions are important. Right? Mhmm. And and I'm not shattering over the the, there are some some certainly interesting Israeli things, discussions to be had coming out of scripture. But when when Christ came

so he could have just done whatever he wanted to do and called that the salvation move. Right? But he did something. There was a physical act in doing so, and he did it in a specific way. And I I think we sometimes we miss that. Like, we call it an event, and we recognize that of all the ways that God could have could have completed this transaction, right, could have represented to the world, how his how his redemption would come, how this transformation of the world back from where it fell to where he created it to be would come.

Jesus could not have died any other way. But there is a reason he died the way that he did. Right? There is a reason he lived the way he did. There's a reason he died the way he did, and there's a reason that is an action. Not I mean, he spoke creation to existence. He could have just as easily shown up and said, I'm God. Here's the deal. Redemption's yours if you hear my voice. Yeah. I mean, it's not it's not out of God's purvey to have done that. Right? Mhmm. But he walked to the earth. He taught us how to live. He lived it, and he took action. And so I I think sometimes we miss the perspective that treats the the Christ event as as, as just a piece of history that we are to that we are to study and understand

versus it is also an ethic. It's something that teaches us how to live, and he did it in that way for a reason. And I I think sometimes we miss that. We say, well, he couldn't have died any other way. I mean, based upon how we set it up, that's true, But you gotta take into account that he he actually could have done whatever he wanted to. He chose to do it this way, and it pointed to something more than just, hey, that happened. Let's kinda fight about it. Well, that I mean, that that's exactly the scope of the book of Hebrews. Right? The book of Hebrews is talking about why Jesus is is now qualified to be the the the most high priest. Right? And and and if you look at if you look at his life, like, I mean, what's the the brass tax of what we generally point to the cross is is, like, he lived a sinless life and died and and and took took on our iniquities, which which put us as blameless. Right?

Nowhere did it say in that transaction that he had to befriend people, make appearances in crowds, tell anyone about his father, go through a gruesome death. He could've just showed up and been and been killed and died. And that's it. Right? Like but he there was a lot of life interaction that qualifies him to be the high priest that says, I understand what you're going through. I get it. Right? Like, I've been there. I understand that. And so that's that's what makes him, right, obviously, the most high priest because he's gone through all those things and walked out blameless on the other side. And and so, like, that's exactly what you're talking about. That's the entire book of Hebrews is is is basically describing why he lived the way that he lived opposed to just showing up and and dying and which would have been pretty much the exchange. Right? Show up on the earth, take take all the punishment for sin and be done with it. Right. Without all those life experiences in it, without having a friend named Lazarus, without going through any type of pain at all, and could've just done it. Well, and and so I I think the right thing to hear from this is what we're talking about is is I take an extremely high view of scripture. None higher. But based upon the view of scripture that I have, it it requires you to react to it. It requires you to to do something. It's not just calling you to understand. And, and I'm not dismissing the desire to understand. What I'm asking is is like, are we fighting for something that that that grows the kingdom? Right? That's that storms the gates of hell. Because what well, the gates of hell are holding back people. My question is, is is are our conversations producing fruit that draws people into the kingdom?

Or are they or are we arguing over, you know, I don't know, wheat whiter wheat on the other side of a pearl gate? Right. And is and is the gate to hell laughing going? Yeah. That'll keep busy for a while. Shoot. See see, this is where you gotta be careful. It's it's because even that wider wheat distinction is is not a fair one. Right? Because it's not like people are not talking over things that are otherwise like, I get it. I I I do get the conversation. Because they're saying that they you know, there's a high view of scripture here. We wanna make sure that we're getting it right. There's nothing there's nothing wrong with that. No. Agreed. Agreed. But I'm just, you know, for the amount of time for what we're focusing on, you know, are we understanding something? If we understand it well enough, we should also see it as an ethic that causes us to do something. And then on the on the scale of, what is important, Christ could have talked about all these things that we debate about. Right? Now to understand me as fully God and fully man, to to understand the nature of where I went for three days, to understand, like, all this, he could have done that. That's not what he focused on. Right? That's not what he focused on. He he very much laid out, this is this is this is what my kingdom looks like. This is how you live in my kingdom. This is how I fight. This is how we die. This is what it looks like when it culminates.

And I just wonder if if we are in our discussions always pointing to what Christ is also pointing to or are we are we kind of Paul when he talks about you you get caught up and it's not the endless genealogies, but it's of a nature. Yeah. To say, here's the things that, yeah, but yeah. Okay. I mean, who else is really fighting about that? No. I don't know. No. Alright. I don't know. I get it. I do. No. No. Yeah. But I think but you gotta do something. No. Do something with yourself. Okay. I what I mean, that's the deal. Right? Wouldn't you rather live I maybe this is me personally. Right? But I would rather live the layman's lifestyle. You know what I'm saying? Even if I just know one thing. Right? If I just know that that that God showed me grace and that was enough to run the rest of my life and the way that I treated everybody after that, I feel like that's all I really need to know, right? I and maybe I'm wrong. I mean, I agree there's some finer points of scripture and what whatnot, but, like, if it let's get rid get let's say you you never had access to the Bible and all you know is that there was a God in heaven who gave gave you grace, and your job was to show grace and love to everyone else throughout the world and say, hey, there's a God that gives grace. Yeah.

I I That's pretty much it. Right? Is there do sometimes we make a false distinction as if there is a there is anything but a working man's Jesus? I just I feel like I feel like that's what he is. Am I seeing that wrong? Eric's trying to figure out what you mean by what be an alternative to that?

Well, I I don't know. Like Jesus, the purely academic or Yeah. Yeah. That I I guess that's what I'm saying is is I mean, we're just we're just studying to show ourselves approved. I mean, we're we're we're to meditate on scripture. We're we're to know it. I mean, Yeah. That's a But that's different than what you're talking about with everybody arguing over the finer points. I mean, that's is fruitless. Yeah. I mean, I feel like that's still a working man, Jesus. Yeah. Well, Jesus addressed it himself when he talked to the Pharisees. He said, you know what? You guys I mean, you you tithe over the littlest things in the law and you you get all that in order, but all the big pictures, you're just missing. Right. And Mostly justice, faithfulness. Right? Yeah. Exactly. So we're we're missing the big parts of obedience about loving one another and and entering into these small minded debates about, just,

you know, things that really don't matter that And and Jesus didn't wanna focus on them either. Yeah. Paul told Timothy to be be watch out for those guys. Yeah. Heads up, man. They were coming. Yeah. Right. There's a lot of things that are just gonna draw us off topic. So Yeah. Watch out for it. Even things within the Bible can potentially draw us off topic. You know, it's funny what this brings to mind, but I was I was talking to my seven year old daughter today, and she was she was asked to go upstairs and clean her room. And I inspected this room when I got home just to see how it'd gone. And the middle of the room was clean and the rest of the room was terrible. It looked like no one had been there. And I said,

what happened? You know? And she said, well, I didn't think you'd care about the corners. I said, when you when your mom said clean your room, you know, I mean, I feel like that meant the whole room, you know, from all the colored walls up to the doorways. That's kind of your territory. She goes, yeah. You didn't say that. You just said, clean my room, and so I didn't didn't think you'd have a big deal about the corners. Now, here's the deal, like, I'm acting kind of nonchalant about this. She was weeping at this point because I was not understanding where she was coming from, and she was very frustrated already because she said she did the best or best best that she could, and it was a it was a girls do this, and I wouldn't understand because I am not a girl.

And I thought, oh, man. Touche, seven year old. Having having two daughters, she might have something there. Yeah. And so, you know, I I mean, I said I said, look, you know, there's some things I understand, but, like,

I I don't know, the the way it came kind of into into that arena is, like, she's a bit on that side of it. You know what I'm saying? Like, very much on on a a need every piece of information. You really didn't say, I I need the finer points here. Clean by room means the middle section or enough to get a walkway through. And then everything else is pretty solid, you know? And it's none of my business to figure out past that. And I thought, you know, like, in some regard, I kinda like her thinking. Yeah. You know, because, I mean, she walked in, she's like, yeah, I I did it and you were pretty good. Now, obviously, I can't let that fly as her father, I gotta do something. But, I mean, she was content with it, she was happy with it, all she knew is that a part of her room needed to be cleaned, She did that faithfully and then went back to her business with puzzles. And I thought, you know, I mean, on some level, I I enjoy her heart there. On another level, has to clean a room because I said so. No. Yeah. Solid.

All right. Mike, so wait, what was you? What was that lead talking about? ALS challenge? Oh. Yeah. So anyway, they're having a discussion about the ALS challenge. They had a representative from the local chapter of the ALS, and then they had a national person on there or whatnot. And basically, you know, they were telling a story. Some some people called in and talked about their personal relationships

that they've had that had passed away from the disease, and and it's it's it's a pretty tough deal. It debilitates very very fast. And, you know, one day you can be able to butt in your pants, and the next day you can't. And it's it's it's a pretty rough deal to go through both for the person and the family. And there's there's certainly no doubt about that. So this lady was kind of she called in. She'd been reliving to some of this because it happened during the seventies with her grandpa. And she was just she was just so upset that the Catholic church had taken a stance on not On the ice bucket challenge. The Catholic church has basically come out and said, look, you know, we're not for this because the money's gonna go to embryonic stem cell research, which is where they're they're doing their research to fund

finding a cure for ALS. And she was just crying and very upset, and she's like, I just, I don't understand why they've taken this tact, I don't know why they've made this decision, and I'll probably have to back out more from the church than I have because they're just, you know, can't they see that we want something different and this is not something that, we don't support their decision. And I don't know, my heart kinda went out to this lady because, like, I get her source of pain, and I get what she's saying.

But, like, she has she had such an inaccurate view of scripture in the Lord, you know, like like the Lord is to be bargained with and and his his ways are not to be acceptable. Now, you know, the the lady from the local ALS chapter, to be fairy butted and said, listen, they have they they're doing

embryonic stem cell research with one laboratory, and that is strictly funded by one person. Most of the organization is done through adult stem cells. And so, you know, if you can kind of direct where your money goes if you're not interested in being part of that, blah blah blah, you know, I I get that. But but, like, on the other hand, like, you know, we we probably would have a legitimate issue

with aborted embryonic stem cells. Yeah. You know, that's a problem. And and it's it's a problem because, you know, because the Bible relays it as being an issue, you basically killed something, you know? And so the fact that you think that that like, the Catholic church is one to be bargained with because its source is the folks is a that's that's a real issue, right? Like, that that's how you turn a church into a into a political party really, really fast when you follow the will of the people. We don't do that. We follow the will of the God that created it. And I thought, man, I just feel so bad because her heart was, it was honest, you know? And and and it was true, like, the pain that she was feeling was absolutely absolutely

true. But you have to have a fairly skewed vision of God to think that the church has made a big mistake by following him. Right. Right. And so, I I don't know. I I mean, you do you do you find that as commonplace?

Like, people feel like the the like the the church or maybe denomination should be able to move as the people change, as the society moves about and says, here's what we're looking for. We're looking for more of this. You know, can we do that? Well, it's very commonplace. I mean, it's very commonplace for for society to say, the church is outdated on this

because they haven't moved when when society has. And and there's there's actually a lot of churches that will say, you know, like, we we've been behind all the times and it's about time that we we catch up with where other people are at and we're gonna change doing this and we're gonna start doing this. And we're gonna be a little bit more lenient on who we permit to do whatever. So yeah. Yeah. I I think that's very very pervasive. In fact, that that that's the biggest

I would call that that the biggest challenge to the church as a as a body is basically allowing the outside culture to tell you how to act, right? Because like what makes a what provides definition

of a Christian but the things that we accept, right? The things that we have accepted. We've accepted Christ and what he has done. We have we have identified ourselves with a certain way of living. Like our community is defined by the by the rules that govern it, by the guidelines that govern it. And as those shift outside of what other whatever God has laid out,

our community is less distinct. And frankly, you can make the case that not the same community at all. Right. So yeah. And and that that that is that is pervasive and that that's what makes it difficult. That's why you can go you can drive down a main street of a big church or excuse me, of a big city and you can see 15 churches and and it's a crapshoot as to whether you walk in one and those guys are teaching the Bible. Right? Or and even if they're using the Bible, I mean, are they using it faithfully? I mean, you might have a two and ten

of getting that. Because but but they otherwise but the the community branding is the same. We're still a church. We might even be God's church. We're a this. We're a that. Right? And we have we have all the show. We wear what the community wears. We we we our our people dress in the robes and we have the right books and the the door has got an arch on it because that's what Jesus people have. Right? But they've but they've changed how the community lives. It's been altered from what it was and, like, that's how you could tell a that's how you tell a Christian or not a Christian. It's basically what what community you're submitting to and when those barriers start coming down, I mean, you just you start to lose definition of who you are. And and if Jesus doesn't give your identity, then I I don't know what Christian means.

You know, that's I don't know. It's it it's it's kind of a it's kind of a it it goes back to that discussion about the two fighting over fighting over bits of scripture. I mean, to some to some extent, it is I mean, you know, like we said, it's fairly important to stay tight to what to what, you know, Christ described as what the church is supposed to be. Yeah. You know, actually, I was I was talking to wife about this earlier this week. You know, the the the picture that the Bible likes to draw between, you know, us and Christ is is a marriage picture, you know, that's fairly good marriage picture. And I thought, you know,

we do a lot of teaching on that, we do a lot of teaching out of that, like, to to love to love your spouse like Christ loved the church and whatnot. And I thought, man, in that equation, there's a perfect being and a non perfect entity,

right? Like, in the in in your earthly marriage, they're both non perfect, like Yeah. It's so it's it's I I still think it's a good point of teaching because it's kind of what we're shooting for, but, like, in that equation, there's one that's always right. You know, there's one that's correct and just and true and and and brings, you know, a loving kindness that's perfect and, like, as I can see it is as transferable to to the marriage picture, it's just don't know, I feel like maybe we jam on that teaching a little bit too much, forgetting the fact that the two people involved in an earthly marriage are they're imperfect folks, you know? And so, like, it's just it's not as easy as a metaphor as maybe I I thought it used to be. I I I don't know. That seems like a weird tangent, Mike. What do you mean? I don't get your relevance that to some to whatever we were talking about. He's saying that in in a typical earthly marriage, you've got compromise between husband and wife. But for the picture that the Bible portrays, you've got Christ and you've got the church and you don't have this mutual compromise going back and forth. We're supposed to be as the church completely submitted to him because he's Christ. I mean, he he's completely flawless. So how do you enter into a into a type of relationship that we're used to here on earth using that as a metaphor because we're used to

dealing with authorities that are gonna give a little bit of pushback or some kind of compromise in terms of, you know, what's going on. That can't be trusted for it. Maybe this doesn't doesn't receive a ring true in my life. Right? So like in the church Jesus scenario, Jesus is the perfect one, the church is the fallible. Right. In the man woman scenario, I am the perfect one and my wife is the fallible. Yeah. I feel like that's an exact comparison. I was kinda Yeah. I wasn't sure. Like, that's what said. Dan, you're not catching this either. I didn't get the same. Was like, well This seems the same. Alright. So me and Herrick's marriage is healthy. I was gonna say this kinda is how I've taken relationships so far is I'm the one that does not need to change at all. And she needs to change everything. I feel like that's under no. You know what? I should just bring I

should just bring my a bucket of sand in here, we can all put our heads in it. And maybe we can establish just about as much as we've gotten already. Okay. So I'm I'm not perfect. Alright. Fair enough. No. I actually I've had many conversations with people

just talking about the Bible itself and talking about my faith and then I've gotten the standby of, well, how are you following a book that's 4,000 years older? How many were thousand years old it is? And how is that still relevant today? And I get so many people to try and say, that didn't go along with society. Society was this way back then. That's why it was written that way. And I can challenge that. Well, what what's changed? You know, just because society has changed doesn't mean that the rule should have changed. Just because society has changed something doesn't mean that God wanted it to be changed that way.

And most of the time, people don't have rebuttal for that because they go back to the, well, it's still a thousands of years old book. Yeah. It's old. Why are you following it? You know you know what I call you know, those same people are the same guy. Well, you know Confucius says. Yeah. As their as their guiding That guy died on the too. BC. That guy's old also. Exactly. It's the how can that still be relevant today? How can that still speak into your life after society's changed so much since then? And I I don't understand where they're coming from with that because we still have we still have a lot of the same things. Yeah. I'm say society has that much. Yeah. Marriage is still around. The same way that it was back then. The Bible was saying don't do these things because people were doing them. Right. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. It wasn't like, hey, in case you ever think about this Right. Exactly. You know, homosexuality was happening. Future. You guys might wanna do this. No. It was they were doing it then and he said, don't do that. Homosexuality was happening back then. It's not a new thing we're trying out. That's true. We have we have God and people. I feel like this is saying. You're not messing up. It hasn't changed much in general. People were stealing back then. Guess what? People are still stealing today. Actually, don't do it. That's a solid point. Right? Like, it's it's the people what what they're upset about is how the Bible's reacting to it. Right? But, like, the very fact that that what the Bible addresses, it's not like it's saying, hey, you know, don't poke someone's eye out with your tablet

stamper. Right? Yeah. Don't kill people. And the guy's like, well, we're still talking about killing people. Right? We're still talking about about stealing from people. We're still talking about cheating on your wife. And we just have a different reaction to it. And, like, how has society evolved with how we deal with things when our base problems haven't changed at all? Just because the Bible doesn't mention Facebook doesn't mean that it needs to be not in in a way that it can speak in a relationship. Just like Les Mis. I'm telling you. Wow. Way to rope that one back. Oh, my people. Just like Les Mis. Yeah. I think that It's just so simple, booba. You're saying it's just so simple. You get grace, you give grace. That's it. What a life. I'm excited to start it right now. Do something offensive to me. Hey, man. That shirt a good idea? Okay. K.

Is that your twenty first century way of offending me? I didn't wanna be I didn't wanna be super rude in the ring. I figured I figured we'd try just kind of the bare bones of, hey, man. You should have said something like, your family only owns one donkey. Nice mixed threads. Hey, man. You get that boy checked out recently? Nope.

Boy, that's that's rough, boo. Yeah. You don't know where that what that boy is. You obviously haven't seen Les Mis. Yes. I don't have the grace that he had. Not with the way that you had. Probably not. Your list of life and the path. Hey. Thanks for hanging out with us so far tonight. You're welcome. We really appreciate it. Big shout out to our two sponsors. We got Bob Eisenhower with the Eisenhower team. Go to eisenhowerteam.com for all your home buying and selling needs here in the in the Des Moines Metro Area, including including Ames and both to the North and South. And, eisenhowerteam.com,

Bob, I've been been, looking at some stuff with Bob recently, and he's as awesome as ever. So eisenhowerteam.com, get ahold of him if you're looking at a house. If you haven't found one, you need him to hunt one down for you. He's the legs, man. He can go take care of that stuff for you. Also, Westfield Veterinary Hospital, westfieldvethospital.com. That's in Johnston, Iowa. And, yeah, boy, I you know, take care of your pet.

You know, sometimes you pet it and you feel a lump and you're like, things are gonna be fine. Then you take another pet of it, like, a month later and you're like It's like a cheese grater. Yeah. Something's not right. You gotta take that dog in, man. When have you ever found a lump on your dog and then it went away three weeks later? That doesn't happen. Yeah. Take the dog in. Get the get the teeth brushed. Get them up to date on their shots. You know, they, you have to get, like, stuff in the Polk County area, right, or they'll find you? Yeah. I don't know if you wanna go with the scare tactic, kid. Oh, well, just I gotta threaten sullen advertising. I threaten the lumps. Shoot. Whatever. You love your pet. Take them to Westfield Vet Hospital. Good people sell their pets. Westfieldvethospital.com. If nothing else, call Bob. Call Westfield Vet Hospital. Send him an email, knock on the door, and say, hey. Thanks for sponsoring Life in the Path. We appreciate you helping to keep us on the air. And, if you would go visit them, that keeps them in business, and, that's all good either way. Alright, Mike. Hey, what's on the

I don't know. Who needs help in the world? Here we go. There's all there's all kinds of solid fodder today. Here we go. Dear life from the path. My husband has a low paying job, and I'm trying to see that he gets a better one. But each step I take, he regards as pestering him. This is Is this my wife? Love Dan's wife. Although he is perfect in every way. I feel like he's wrong here. He But each step I take, he regards as pestering him. This has driven us apart from each other. It really hurts me because we are now like strangers living together.

Sorry, Dan. What do I do? Sad wife. Well, I'd start by just asking how you can support. You know, hey, honey, how can I help you in this? Or should I be involved? You know what?

I mean, it's his job. He he needs to be taking the lead in it and getting an idea of what's going on. And it's something that is gonna be very vulnerable to him because it's his job. So just ask him, hey, how can I support you in this? Yeah. Guys tend to have we tend to have our egos connected with whatever it is we do. Mm-mm.

She's kinda Thanks for the insight, Dan. Any expert advice you need, I'm here. Expert information. Dudes are like, we have two elbows. Live with it.

Yeah. That's kind of a tough subject to breach, unless he's a reasonable band. And then you could say, hey, look, you know, you have the skills and the talent, to make a little bit more money. Is there something that you don't want? You think it's gonna be too many hours? You think it's gonna keep you away from the house? Because, I mean, those are reasonable things to negotiate with. If it's just because you're lazy and a bum, then you might want to consider getting another job like I asked them. I don't know. She might might want to consider her her communication style might be it seems to be I just said it just like I said. Feel like dudes respond to logical, straightforward behavior.

And you here's the deal, everybody gives a woman the device to kind of sultry up there and be ultra sweet and be like, yeah, you're the greatest husband ever. How would you consider getting a new job, baby? Bet I feel like dudes I sure like to eat. I mean, when's the last time you heard dudes talk to each other like that? You know what saying? They show up, they state a point of fact. Hey, listen. Your shoes are terrible. You're gonna need to buy new shoes directly. That's illogical. Here's the here's the problem. Here's the solution. Get to it. I feel like I can accept that. I don't know. I'm I'm trying to think that I might, but I don't I don't know. I think I'd take some offense to that. I'm not saying I should. I'm just saying that I think, like, if my wife point blank said, hey, man, I think you're think you're not doing the work that you should be doing. Then you're defensive at, oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Here's the deal. You're gonna react poorly right off the bat, true, but it'll sink in a little bit later and you'll realize that she was right. You'll think, what have I done that my wife thinks this is something? What what what what what would be the harm in saying,

you know, hey, like, I I see I see more potential and I want I want to support you in in reaching that. How can I how can I support? I kinda liked it. I really like my current I think a a more delicate touch might be a little more appropriate here as you're getting in. Alright, Harry. You're talking about something that's pretty close to heart surgery in terms of male ego and psyche and things like that. Look, I think you could do a better job supporting this family. I I say she holds things back. I will not do the laundry until you get a better job. What if he does the laundry, Dan? What if we're out of the fifties? Then then she can get a better job. And then she You'll stay home.

Everybody's happy. What if the milkman doesn't deliver that day too? It'll be the worst day ever. Moovo, what's your marriage advice? I'm kinda mixed because I think that we're generalizing dudes in in in and of itself. I think that there's certain ways that you can say to your husband

in a way that's just, hey, sweetie. You have a really crappy job and you need to get a better one because you're better than It has to be the certain right kinda guy. I think someone can go up to Mike and say that. And he'll go, okay. That's understandable. Yeah. You think that I don't I'm not making enough money and I need to make more and I can. Let's do this. That's presenting the logic. If someone just came up to me and said that though, I think I'm a different kind of guy than Mike is. I would take offense to that. I really would. Okay. Here oh, sorry. I'm holding back to really can't not to categorize that, man.

Go ahead. That's fine. I I didn't mean to cut you off. Were you dead? Go ahead. I was gonna say, what they really need to do is sit down and have a conversation, go over the budget and say, here, we have two options. We need to cut spending or make more money. What do you suggest? And you can reason it out together and have an adult conversation. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But something's gotta change. You can't go on. No, that's true. But there there is there's a distinction there's a distinction, like, approaching that conversation as the wife saying, here, here's what we're gonna do versus, hey, man How am gonna do this? This is our this is our thing, right? This is this the is our life, this is our marriage, this is our finances. We got six kids. We gotta feed them. Yeah. What what are we what are we gonna And do about and like when you both come to the to come to that decision, look at your options and come to that decision, that's a way better outcome than, hey, I think you just need to get another job. Yeah. Or, hey, you know, I don't think you're working to your best advantage and we're suffering. Oh, yeah. That's a conversation starter. Hey, failure. I feel like I would get moving after that conversation.

I'm just wired different than y'all. There we go. Here's what, here's what, Segler says. It says change tactics. What you consider helpful encouragement may be regarded by your husband as constant nagging about a sore subject. He's kind of a daisy. No. Well, here's the deal. Mike What? Here's it. Do you wanna do you wanna accomplish the thing? You wanna get the job done, or do you wanna be right in the way that you approach it? I didn't say you don't have to give one or the other. What I'm saying is is like, you seem to be leaning on the on the fact that, like, I get to approach this how I want to and if you don't respect that, you're a pansy face. I didn't say that. That's how booba represented you. I didn't I didn't say that at all. I just said I would go with the direct route because I feel like it's honest. Okay. And then you to try to do Daisy. It before you call me Daisy. Would you ever give the advice to trick a guy and and and shine it on like it's something that ain't I would rather just have it straight out. No. No. I think you tell it's not that you're not telling the truth. That's not triggering. What is the difference between what you're saying and what I'm saying? One is saying is saying, let's solve this together. The second one is, hey, I've pondered this a lot. I've decided you're wrong. Change your way. Also not what I said. What you're imagining me is walking in a room, kicking over a vase, and say telling people how it is. And that is not that's not what I said at all. Just That's exactly what you wanna do, though. I just said be straightforward and honest.

That's all. That's not how Buva painted it. No. That's not how I took that at all. That's I took it as you're walking in boots to a vase. It's because you're a daisy. I'm just See what I mean? I knew it was gonna come out eventually, Why but I'm a day honesty always have to be brutal and mean? Why does why is not honesty considered the virtue that it is? Just just because I'm telling the truth about something doesn't mean I have to sugarcoat it in in flowers and and whisper something. No. No. No. That's true. Your yes should be a yes. Right? It does he didn't say, say it maybe, but mean yes. Agree. I didn't say hands on hands on hips, you know, rooster are going. I just said, just say, hey, here's the deal. And then just say it honestly. Yeah. I suppose when I hear your phrase going direct and logical, I'm thinking you walking in and be like, here's the situation,

here's what you need to fix. I didn't say say it how I'd say it. I just said, say it truthfully. No. The in a point of case, though, based upon his own explanation, Buve is kind of a sensitive fella. Yeah. So he took what what was a normal reaction and otherwise took it to heart. Probably. And then he folded a napkin across his lap and kept talking. I probably did. Hey, man. Just because I like to look nice when I'm eating doesn't mean y'all gotta call me a daisy. I can still lift more than both of you combined. Leave me alone. Let's play let's paint some false masculinity in here and say I could lift more than you. Leave me alone. I can't talk about this anymore. My Norwex order is due. Now, it it can still be honest even if it isn't blunt. So there are ways of delivering it. Say blunt. Okay. I just said honest. Yeah. Okay. I'm with you. Be honest. Alright. Yeah. Yeah. Mike, agree. Be honest. I was. Maybe none of us are honest until we get mad. Okay. And and we're interpreting it through that filter. Oh. Yeah. Well, I suggest you change your ways then. Kick a face. Here we go. Secular continues by saying, tell him you love him. Didn't didn't I don't mean to pressure you. And if you see some ads seeking men with his skills that offer a higher salary, let him know about them. No. Don't do that. That's what I would do. That's passive aggressive. Yeah. That is. Hide it under his pillow.

Exactly what I said not to do and boova was all for. Yeah. Come up with some kind of life called Jenga with a bunch of weird moves in it and unbalanced. Straightforward. Candyland. Here we go. Dear, life from the past. Our future son-in-law recently moved in with us for financial reasons. He's 27 and a nice guy, but he's a habitual knuckle cracker.

He cracks every finger of each hand twice, back and forth, every half hour or so. He also cracks his neck and wrist, but less frequently. As an added bonus, my daughter is also beginning to crack her knuckles now. I'm sensitive to noise, loud chewing, gum cracking, but I don't wanna cause him more stress. He's also a nail biter. So I keep my mouth shut. It's driving me crazy. What do you suggest? Get ahold of a reality show.

I don't Go ahead, Moova. Write him a letter. Ask him how his day's doing. Then explain noise sensitivity to him. But do it in poetry. Let me take the Mike Foose way to do this. Alright? You grab that guy by the back of the shirt, you throw him out of the house, and then tell him until he stops cracking his knuckles, he's not allowed back in. I would make him a knuckle cracking booth. Say, look, you're gonna keep this up, I would build a box with insulation in it and two of those gloves. Do it in here. And then say, look, if you gotta keep doing that, you're driving me and the dog nuts. I'm gonna need you to put your hands in this isolation booth I made. Crack away.

Here's the deal. I I don't think there's anything inappropriate about saying, hey, That knuckle cracking drive me nuts, man. Mhmm. And then he said, here's the deal. It's like, I'm you I don't know. You're gonna chop off his hand for cracking his knuckles, but, like Only because it's illegal. He doesn't he doesn't have the he doesn't have the right to crack his knuckles anywhere he wants to. He can't stand next to this, like, somebody that works at the Walmart doing the checkout line and just kinda stand by their heads. You know what I'm saying? Like, you just that's not your right to to do whatever you wanna do. So, like, it's completely legit. Say, hey, That really bothers me. Can you do that somewhere else? Some people don't even notice they're doing it. Say even knows he's doing it. I do it in second nature. If someone were to say to me, hey, that's that's that's really driving me nuts. Can you please stop doing that? I'd like, oh, I'm at I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was doing that. That was annoying you. He Let's have a conversation with him. It's kind of a it's kind of a sign of a pretty high stressed dude anyway. Like, you might need some. I mean, I'm not saying to look past the the the baseline of his life to say that a guy that habitually does any action over and over and over again is usually a bit stressed out if if it's not for some other reason, but, yeah, yeah, I'd build him a box. I'd say, listen, you're gonna you're gonna need to tone that down or I'm gonna build you a box and then I'd fall through with it. And then I'd build me a box. Threaten because I was build a box. I'd build that box right then, I would. Have a conversation.

Here's what Secular says. Secular says, Knuckle cracking, like nail biting, is a nervous habit that has been known to diffuse anxiety. While it may be crazy making to listen to, unless it's a symptom of an underlying nervous disorder, the practice is relatively harmless. Also, that's the question they ask. In some people, it has caused swelling of the joints or swelling of the hands, so mention that to your daughter. Because you are sensitive to noises, which your daughter should already know, talk to her and her fi fiance and ask that when the impulse strikes, they walk out of earshot. Because they are living under your roof, they should respect your request. Oh, man, it's gonna be awkward though, Especially if he's got a problem, like every three or four minutes, he gets up and he walks to the kitchen crack crack crack and then walks back in. Yeah. Here's what I think is really going on. She's gotten older and her hearing's kinda bad and she doesn't know. She's passing gas regularly. She can't hear it. Wow. He's so full of anxious and he's so full of anxiety. He's cracking his knuckles in response.

And it's just a big circular thing. They need to move out. They need to get married and move out. Yeah. Wind and crack it. Wind and crack it. Yeah. Actually, that's what keeps happening. Awful. You get yourself an apartment. You can crack them up with all you want, buddy. That's right. You sure can. People can turn the TV right up. Ain't no problems. You can even take the box I made with you in case people, you know, are upset about it. Here we go. Last one. Well, maybe not last one. Dear life from the path. I have a small home based business making baking extracts that I sell at our local farmer's market. Occasionally, a patron will look over my stock and ask me how I make them. I'm unsure how to answer that question in a way that is not a negative impact on future sales. Baking extracts are not difficult to make, but the process is time consuming and the ingredients are expensive. I don't wanna give away the details of my production process, and I don't know how to say without how to say that without seeming rude. Any ideas? Humor. Wait. I wait. I don't understand the Secret family recipe. She makes baking extracts, sells them at the farmer's market. A guy says, hey, how do you do that? And she doesn't wanna tell him because she thinks he's gonna go home and make baking extracts.

Say it's a company secret. Say it. Secret family recipe. Claim to be a wizard. Like, there's there's a million options here. Tell me that there was an old lady who told you and then made you swear that if you ever told anybody, you would forget it. So you would lie? All the direct and honest approaches that we had in the in the previous questions, you've given up on. Yeah. Yeah. I was I was I I met We're a bunch of honky. Yep. I met a witch in the forest, she said mend the ties that bind.

And then I got this recipe. I was like, I got a card with this recipe in it. You claim that you bought an extractor from the Internet. It does all the work for you. Break the bone. Seal your feet. What's that? What am I thinking of? It's a cartoon. Ah, crap. Never mind. Don't know what I'm talking about Jesus on the Internet. Sorry. Good stuff.

Yeah. Well, okay. So so what the truth is to say, hey, my We should probably leave. I don't think you need to get all serious about it. The truth is my business runs a pause upon this recipe. And if I were to give it to you, got triples. I didn't say that stuff. So I think I'm claiming to be a wizard is just fine. What's your thought, Mike? I would say no. How did you make this? No. She said they didn't want it to affect future sales. I feel like if you're just flat out saying

no. Yeah. It's like, hey, you know, I really love these. You know, what do you do to make these so amazing? Yeah. Nothing. Yeah. A there's actually there's not a lot that goes into it. I'm not gonna tell you what that Not a lot is. I'm not gonna tell you that. Yeah. No. I'm not here. Love the existential bakery. I'm

sorry. I can't I'm sorry. I can't come to the phone right now. I'd like to leave your name, number, at farmers market, like, how'd you grow that corn? Well, I put corn on the ground and whoop, it came up and I sold it to you. No doubt. I'm gonna grow my own corn. Yeah. I mean, there's probably I can think of, you know, within a few minutes, 10 folksy sayings to to to not tell them. Yeah. Let's say something witty. Yeah. How do you make that? Well listen Not even said hard work. Maybe they're not gifted in the wit part. They're asking for your advice. Well, there's little flour, there's a little eggs, and a lot of love. Here's here's what we're gonna do. Everyone has to pump out one witty saying, Ben Fusco.

Hold on. I will ask the question. How do you make those baking extracts? 90% ingredients, 10% love, 5% magic.

First off. Alright. Listen to You If you don't wanna tell me, just say so. Boo. Hey, man. You kinda stole some of mine. That wasn't cool. I know. It's awesome. I felt really good about that. Good luck. Just say it's a it's a secret family recipe. But what if it isn't? Pasta it sure isn't 5% love. Actually, he was 90% something. 10% love, 5% magic. Okay. Fine. Then it's definitely not 5% magic. But you're calling me out at secret family recipe. Alright. Really? Is that what you're saying? It's a secret family recipe. Secret family You wanna follow that up with a wink or something? Yeah. It's a secret family recipe.

That's what you got. Alright, Herrick. What's your Woody retort? I buy it from the guy who's three stalls over and I sell it and I just sell it for a lower price because I'm bad at business. Nice. Okay. I like Herrick's den. If I told you, I'd have to kill you. Classic den? Yeah. Alright. CIA style. Might as no. That wasn't witty at all. You just said no. Yep. I only need so many customers. You know I'm saying? I'm making a good living. If I lose a guy, I don't think I'm that worried about it. Answer is no. Alright.

I think that's fair. What does secular say? Hang on, man. Secular says, smile at the questioner and reply, that would be giving away trade secrets, but I can share one of them and make them all with love. Yes.

Yep. There you No. You didn't say that. I said it. Oh. Love and magic? Alright. It's halfway to a Red Hot Chili Peppers album. I was gonna say, we're missing something for an RHCP album. You wanna do one more? Yeah. Alright. Dear life from the past. Uh-oh. I'm a 12 year old girl. My grandpa's 75. I love him very much, but I have noticed lately that he stares a lot at ladies while they're jogging. And he smiles when a gust of wind blows his skirt up. This embarrasses me and I'm embarrassed for him. He must have realized it by now. Is my grandpa a creepy dirty old man? I hope it's not true. Please answer this in the newspaper because I don't want my family to see it. How often is this happening?

I don't know. I mean, I here's the deal. I'm not creeping town for it, I guess. But, like, I can't recall the time where I've ever seen a lady running by and a breeze caught her skirt and I smiled. Yeah. I I don't know it did. Literally never seen it. You don't spend all day in a park though watching joggers go by.

Was that the impression that he sits there all day? He didn't say all day but says he smiles at ladies as as the joggers as they go by. I didn't know joggers wore skirts. How stiff of a breeze. Was she living in I think staring at the at the 2nd Floor with the joggers. I don't Okay. Alright. So if If he is creepy, yes. Yeah. He's a creeper. Mhmm. Yep. Mhmm. Yep. And And in the background you disgust me. Yeah. As a woman,

a soon to be woman, a growing woman, whatever, don't do that. No, hold on. To be fair, I saw an old man today and he was sitting in front of a hospital and I walked by and talked to him and that guy hadn't been smiling for the last forty five minutes. I mean, he's just sitting outside smiling. Some people just do that. Okay. Was I was with a group of older guys once at a golf country club or everything. And it was in the 2nd Floor and they were looking down

out the window into the pool and they were all gawking about something. Uh-huh. And I walked up. I didn't know the pool was there. And I walked up and they were like, Oh, look at that, look at that. And it's like, there's a couple three girls on their bikinis. I was like, Guys, honestly, I think I'm going to throw up. I mean, it was just gross. How they're all in their seventies, the girls are in their teens or turn twenties, I don't know. How did they react to it? Did they They're just like I mean, you know, wow. Look at this world, man. You know? They can't get away with a lot of Yeah.

It's like, this just seems a little inappropriate. Yeah. But they can't see us. Like Yeah. You know what? Yeah. He's creepy. Yeah. He's definitely He definitely creepy. And I I think I'd hope that if one of my kids knows that about one of their grandpa's, they would tell me. You know, and I could probably have a conversation with my dad or Yeah. Can't imagine all and say this. Talking to my grandfather in a way that just like, hey, grandpa Joe, you're creepy. We should probably stop that. Stop looking at ladies. Okay. Let's see what the Secular has to say about Hey, that cartoon was brave. Okay. Thanks, man. Tell you the fealty fate.

Secular says, I'm sorry about the fact that your grandfather would be so unsubtle as to act this way when you're with him is creepy. And I'm sure it is embarrassing. Tell your parents about us so your mother or father can call him to tell him to tone it down his enthusiasm. And if it doesn't happen, just spend less time with grandpa. I don't know. Is there any possibility that, like, it happened once and she's painted him with broad strokes?

No. Probably not. No. No. Like I mean, yeah. Possible yes. Probably. Is once too many around your granddaughter? Well, I yeah. Yeah. Exactly. I'm just saying, like, that seems a lot of lot of coincidences to have I've never seen a breeze hit someone like that ever. It's I've never seen he's been watching closely then. So I mean, well, but it had not only it had to happen while she was there Yeah. And caught him a peeping. Like, I don't care if you're I mean, maybe he sits all day at the park and peeps, but the the opportunity where such a stiff breeze is blowing up skirts that she represents that happened multiple times, it just seems slightly implausible to me. Mhmm. Okay. Okay. Hey. You're listening to Life in the Path. Thanks for hanging us out with us so far. You can catch more of the show, during the week by going to lifeinthepath.org. Clips from the show,

past interviews, musical performances, and sign up for the audio podcast. And, if you're hanging out with us on KTA, we gotta let you go. If you're on the audio podcast, give us just, I don't know, twenty, thirty seconds. We'll be right back with you. Thanks for listening to Life in the Pack. Alright. I forgot about one other thing that I was mad on Facebook this week. I gotta get off Facebook. People I've done it. It's fantastic.

I blocked all the people. I don't see that stuff. Facebook misses you, Mike. No. No. Don't. So and see, I should have wrote down better notes. But I I was reading a I can't remember what what caused what like spurned this. But it was some some sort of deterioration in the church.

I think I think it just had to do with basically do people teach truth in the pulpit. K? I think that was the basic nature of the conversation. And here's here's this guy's, here's this guy's quotation on on how this how this got there. Okay? He says, it starts with the music program. The old hymn books are put away in favor of chanting and hand waving.

Then the denomination is dropped from the church name on the outside of the building. Then the clothing standards are dropped. Just come as you are. God doesn't need your best. Next comes the coffee bar in the lobby. No church on Sunday evening, replaced by cottage ministries. No church on Wednesdays. No bus ministries.

No visitation. Before you know it, your pastor is a transsexual female, and God is long gone. This guy's a fiftieth Baptist. Holy gas. Never recovered. Wow. I can't think of a longer list of crap that I don't really care about. No bus ministry.

Oh, no. They park the bus, Jesus dies. I don't get it. Holy cats. And he still hates footloose. There'll be no dancing in my town.

Hey, now now, that used to rule. Alright? In the eighties, that was the common thought. Yeah. My generation helped usher in this pancakes powder puff stuff that you see now. We just kind of went too far. Some of the stuff he might have, not in what he's saying,

a lot of churches have watered stuff down and afraid to offend people because they need the numbers and they need the people and they have these big buildings and big salaries. And they can't offend people, they'll they'll stop coming. So so Yeah. I I mean, he's described I mean, he's described a list of symptoms that is completely irrelevant as to whether you teach truth or not. Right. Like, that's the thing. Right? He's remembering the good old days and and that's the some of the stuff that went along with it with him. Yeah. Like, and I I mean, I I get it. Just like I take it, obviously, a high view of scripture. You should be teaching truth from the pulpit. If you're not, I don't know what you're doing. Like, you're not a pastor. You're just a wandering guy that somehow could convince someone to give you a microphone. But,

yeah. But, like, what we I guess what I found out about it because, like, you run into guys like this, but, like, what I found out about it was, like, there isn't there isn't, like, one thing in here that I was, like, yeah, he's hit the nail in the head. Like, everything was peripheral and and pretty stupid. Yeah. Like, I can find a church that doesn't have a hymnal that still loves Jesus. I can find a church that does, like, does not drop the denomination. That's our problem. The thing that glorifies the splits in the church. Yeah. And it's like, boy, they were really running wrong now for having dropped that from the name. When he was taught when you were giving off the list, I'm like, are you reading the right list? Because these all a like, proves to me. You know I'm saying? The denomination thing gone, bus ministry. I'm not supposed to be kind of helpful, but I mean, like, I don't know. Well, a person to person relationship feel like it does a lot more. Here's the deal. We

got to this thing where we call everything ministry. It's not a bus ministry. You drive a bus. You pick people up and you take them to church. That's a solid activity. Mhmm. But it's not like a it's not a ministry. Like, it's It's a form of transportation. It's what we do. And that's fine. Yeah. You know what? Actually, I was thinking about that the other day. Why do people do that? Why do they call it like a like a you know, we'll call it the like, we do we do it here. We call it like the whatever, the cafe ministry. Like, I was born through sweet Jesus to

to to to cafe. But just the idea of you're you're serving Jesus, it's a ministry. Yeah, but I you you don't like I I mean, I I think I understand what you're saying but why do we do that? Why do we call it that, right? Like like, what's wrong with calling it, hey, I just I just go out why why do you even call it a ministry, right? Like, what's the what's the grand We have a like, is there a scene for saying, we have a bus service or we have a bus ministry? Or I feed the homeless. We don't call it a homeless ministry. We're just like, hey, we go down and talk to people. That's it. Like like, is it because we have hard times getting people involved in it if we don't call it something? Well, I it it raises it just a hair. Right? Like, notches it up a little bit by by giving identifying it as as a ministry. It makes it feel like it has more value. That is

Right, but the problem is it's like it implicitly has its value that it has regardless of what you call it, right? Right, right. And the thing is like when you call it, maybe we run a risk by having so many of those things that we call a ministry that it feels like an activity as opposed to a way that you live. Right? Like as opposed to having a homeless ministry, do you do you serve homeless people? You know I'm saying? As opposed to having a ministry that like when you get ministries, you get groups of people, you get times to meet, you get specific ways of doing something as opposed to do you live that way? Yeah. You're in the homeless ministry, you feed people. If you're not, you can walk by the homeless guy and think, hey, because I'm not the ministry folks will get it. Yeah. And they people even use that broadly just with the broad term ministry. Oh, I'm not in the ministry. So I, you know, I don't do this or that or like, you you know, and so there probably is some level of like to try to get people involved and understand the impact that these daily things can have. We you call it a ministry to try to communicate the right thing And then at some point, you probably get satiated to the extent that now, because you've called it that thing, now it seems distinct and an activity as opposed to just a way of living. Well, I I I think that, so, like, that's the rubber band coming back after you pulled it too far, like that like the like, too far and coming back would be would be to say, look, stop calling things ministries, right? You're pumping them up more than they are, just live the life and don't call things ministries, right? That's that's a bit too far. But I think I think what I'm what what I was kind of getting at is, like, I mean, you should be able to follow a guy that loves Christ around all day and find out that he's involved in, like, a thousand ministries. Right? Like, he's a nice guy ministry. Mhmm. He tells the truth ministry. You know what I'm saying? Like, he's kind to people ministry. He cares for others. He loves his wife. He takes care of it. He reads the Bible to his kids ministry. You know what I'm saying? Like, you should be able to find people that love Jesus doing all kinds of ministry without calling it a darn thing. You know? Just calling the guy that loves Jesus. That's it. Right. And the the point is that the name itself is irrelevant, right? Like like the you could call it whatever you want to. People are gonna This is where you're to risk when you're trying to as a church, to figure out what people think and try to market something to get to try to get them to latch on to it. Maybe if you change name, maybe if you do something this really like,

what happens is is like, first of all, you're chasing real fickle people who do weird things. Right? Mhmm. Who knows the mind of these guys? The guy that sells coke seems to have a good handle on it. Everyone else stinks. Yeah. And second of all, they change. Like they're not consistent people. And then like what you're doing as the shippers, you're chasing the sheep around Mhmm. Trying to see what they want. And and and sometimes we sometimes we get caught up in trying to figure out the best way to call something. Like, you should be able to call a ministry, not call us ministry. It's irrelevant. It just does it ultimately doesn't matter. Do they understand what we're doing, why we do it, and how it should reflect in your day to day living. Right? And if they know those things, I mean, you could call it call it the jump fence. It doesn't matter what it is.

But but sometimes, like, because we people like, that that we've them with the way society, appeals to them and and the church has kind of followed suit. We've taught them to key off things. We've taught them to use words to kind of key in I should believe a certain thing about this or I should react to things in a certain way because of the language that they've used and and we're kind of just a part of that and and we've we've to the part where we're kind of having to tussle around with those things all the time to try to keep people engaged with things when when all of the all of that discussion is irrelevant. It is. But it's also easier to raise support and and get people in the pews

to volunteer and serve in something that has been branded as a ministry because it's just easier for them to see this as a service to God instead of trying to actually develop a whole idea that everything you do is a service to God. It moves the needles. It moves a needle faster. Yeah. A needle. Right. A needle. Whether it's the the needle is is is the right question. Right? Like, did you did we help you accomplish a task that had a Jesus theme to it? Or did did we help you identify with a way to live in a kingdom that It's all branding. It has nothing to do with That is the exact opposite of what you were talking about, about sometimes the religious folks get upset because it's a Jesus guided principle but doesn't have Christ's name attached to it. And we're talking about the exact opposite here, like, we're we're attaching Christ's name to something and and then and then going out and and doing the good deed, you know, because Christ's name is attached to it. Like, it's it's almost the exact opposite. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, I I just I saw that guy and I thought I hadn't seen anybody that that that had hit so many miscues that I thought, like, I I I feel like I would have nothing to talk about with this guy. And I love Jesus and if I know another it's like having a smoker, right? You find another guy that loves Jesus in random places, you got something you can chat Hey, buddy. And and I'm just afraid that if me and this guy were standing outside of a cafe waiting for a cab or something and we both mutually love Jesus, I still feel like I I wouldn't have a lot to talk with him about. Have you read Philippians? Well, I feel like the interpretation of Philippians from blah blah blah blah blah is the best one.

Okay. What did I miss though? What's a what's a cottage ministry? What does he mean by that? Small groups. Small. Yeah. Home group. Oh, that is offensive. Yeah. No church on Sunday evening replaced by cottage ministries. Yeah.

Don't forget That's that's one of the things he was upset about. Don't forget to gather. But he means in a very corporate way on a Sunday evening. Hey, that used to be a battle. I mean, you would battle. You'd be surprised how many of those points that you just read off. He can't control people who's meeting in four houses. Right. He can control them if they're in this one room. Well, that's true. Yeah. That's true. That was the issue. Gotta control the message. Next comes the coffee bar in the lobby. Can't trust Jesus to brand himself. The elders need to know what's going on in every crevice. People are discussing the gospel on their own. No. No. No. No. Not in this town. Not unless we authorize it. I've been in those battles, my friend. Boy, that's rough times. That's and, you know, it's maybe it seems more foreign because that, like, I I think when I started getting into churches

at my age, we were coming off the tail end of that. Right? So I didn't live in that as much as as some people had. No. That's true. It's almost like a cartoon to me. Yeah. Like, I don't believe it actually ever happened. Yeah. But look like guys like this exist out there somewhere. Now now the thing is he's probably reacting to something that he came in at the tail end when he was growing up that that ended up, you know, clamping some of that stuff down, which was probably also an overreaction. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. You know, so like there's there's to be fair to this guy, there's more he's he's trying to protect something. Mhmm.

In fact, almost everybody that I disagree with theologically is trying to protect something that they otherwise think is important. They're just protecting it in a wrong way or protecting something that God doesn't need protected from. Yeah. Essentially, there's some kind of environment or or program or some way in which he connected with God. And so to him that's holy ground. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, it's I can understand the the need and the desire to protect it. But to defend holy ground and not at the expense of inviting people to God, that's that's a crime. No. And you know what? And this isn't quite the same example, but like I was thinking about this this Sunday afternoon. So like we had we've been out of the communion wafer things. Right? Yeah.

Okay. So so there's some oyster crackers there. I noticed that. And so Dan and I were kinda talking a little bit about that stuff. And like and I'm you know, we we need to order some more more wafers and stuff. I'm like, well, know what? Does it really matter? Like, it's still we're kinda past the unleavened part. Right? Like, it's not the Passover anymore. And then it's like, well, yeah, yeah, you know, we we let's just get the let's get the wafers, right? Like, it's a Because it would be a big deal to someone. It would be a big deal to somebody about it. And and like, I walked in and and what I realized was like during that conversation is

it like it really doesn't matter. But if to the extent that doesn't matter, I really don't care whether we get the friggin' leavened or the unleavened wafers. Like I I don't care. But like but at the at the moment though, one of the things that that I have that I'm I'm kind of steeped in is like tradition that that is there for no reason like it bothers me. Mhmm. But the truth is if I don't care, I actually shouldn't care whether you do it traditional way or or the other way. And I I was thinking about that on Sunday afternoon. I thought like there was, I know where that came from and I have to be careful about that. Like just because some people have have some things that are otherwise traditional doesn't implicitly make them wrong. Don't idolize them. Don't worship them. Don't make them something that they're not. Mhmm. But like it also there's no reason for it to bother me. Mhmm. Right? Yeah. And so anyway, it was just it was something I thought of that like kinda on the other side of this guy where he may be he he may be over traditional and and putting things on a pedestal that don't belong there.

Although some things don't belong on a pedestal, they're not even they're not wrong either. And and the the nature of not caring is to is to have the freedom to actually not care. Yeah. So have no problem if someone wants to bust out the hymnals. That's fine. Rock them. Sounds good. Actually, there was a where do we go? We were at a at a like a kid's birthday party or something earlier this week and they I I grew up in the in in the Baptist church and like, man, I love me that Baptist hymnal. There's a lot of all kinds of cool songs that that that I really, really like and that I miss. And I and I forgot I had one at home. I wouldn't found it. And,

yeah. I mean, I I just love those songs. You don't think wrong with them or anything. Like, who cares how they're bound or published or whatever, you know? But, yeah. Yeah. Anyway, it's funny because that guy, representative of that idea of ministry,

a guy I battled and some of these issues that brought in all the evil stuff that he's worried about. I mean, when he had a heart attack and was in the hospital potentially dying, his wife made sure to call me and say, don't come visit him. Holy fuck. Woah. That's pretty fierce. Wow. Yeah. It was like, you'll you'll you'll push him over the rest of the edge, you know? Like, alright.

Oh, wow. Man. I mean, that's how serious it is. What a toxic what a toxic environment for Oh, very toxic. I mean, seriously. Yeah. It was sad. It broke my heart for them. I mean, I didn't care. Like, okay. Hey. Here's a trip I don't need to take. But Yeah. You know, I was like, wow. To be that That jaded with things. Yeah. Things that Jesus didn't care about. Like, yeah, upset with what what ultimately

Jesus simply doesn't seem to care about. So actually, I I lied. She called a guy who called me. Oh. She wouldn't talk to me. Wasn't even a direct phone call. Yeah. Wasn't even a direct Yeah. Oh, man. That's rough. Holy cow. I here's the thing, like, there's more of that that goes on than I even know about. You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't attend that church. I'm I'm generally not around those people. Like and and so, I you know, it's it's just such a it's just such a foreign in fact, the guy at work was was talking to a guy about about Christ a couple weeks ago, whatever. And he was explaining to me why he doesn't go to church and it was kind of like that kind of story, you know? And it had a bunch of weird,

non important things in there. And I'm like, what? Are you even talk what what church did you go to? Like, said, now I'm furious. Like, I wanna know the name of the guy because I'm gonna call him and say, what are you doing? You're You're acting like a fool. The convenient thing? I'm actually extremely impressed. How must have been three weeks or four or whatever that we've had these these things? I've not heard a single thing. That's impressive. That's Very impressive to me because because there's a segment that that grew up with going, you can't mean You can't do this. Can't do this. And most people are pretty understanding in a mobile church setting is like, I mean, we don't have a stockpile of communion bread Yeah. Right. You know, in the cabinet. We have whatever's in a tote on a trailer, And you anyway, I I just I was actually quite impressed with that. But I I I'm fairly sure if we kept going at some point, some of us say, hey. Hey. When are we doing the real stuff? Where's the holy crackers?

These crackers appear very secular. That we buy from a corporation that sends them in a box. Very expensively. I'm thinking we make our own now that we have our own place. I I I've been but lately, over the last, I don't know, four to six months, like, I've been really,

I've been I've been really drawn to to the to the I'm like, lobes. Like the like people taking from like that's just the more it's the it's the clearer picture, right, of what community is. Like I get that there's health things, people don't wanna take lobes. But like, I don't know. That that's your community gathering. Right? I don't know. If you're gonna do loaves, then I'm gonna post myself outside the bathroom and say, nope. Get in there. Wash them. I've left service community service before because I was creeped out. Wasn't sure how they're gonna do it because they had like big chunks of bread and one glass. I was like, I don't even know what they're gonna do. Like exponential. Oh, yeah. And then I actually did a couple years later and they just like dipped the bread and ate it. Thought, well, that wasn't so gross. Yeah. Can you do that? You combine the two? I thought it was It kinda was just one delivery. I think I went to a mass one time where they were they were all drinking out of the same cup and I just had no idea what was gonna happen. We were standing in line I'm on spiritual. I'd be just like, no, thank you. Oh. Oh, and everyone's like tipping this fancy cup. I'm like, he's gonna spill it on me. Like and then, like, the guy right in front me, like, coughed a couple times and then took a thing. I'm like, isn't there some kind of onus on you to cough up? Poor on your lip there. Yes. Drinking, drinking. Yeah. Here's the deal. Honestly, dude. Poor sanitary practices aren't implicitly holy just because you think that's how it occurred when Jesus was there. I don't think that water at the front of the door does what you think it does.

You're unclean. Stop coughing into that computer cup. It's disgusting. I could get on board with a guy with like a full with a full loaf of bread and somebody that with like a some, I don't know, some glove, like a nice glove or something that kinda tore off pieces and gave you A nice glove. A holy glove. I mean, I I don't wanna put up with A holy white glove. I wanna wear a garden and gardening gloves or something like that. That'd be a little off wear a butler outfit. We would call him Jeeves. We bought it from Michael's. Jeeves, do you have the gloves on yet? Would you like the heels, sir?

Hey. I'm part of the glove ministry. I'm here to work. Why are you white? Someone in the bus ministry go pick me up? Actually, like, we kinda we kinda shifted some of that stuff around our church recently and, like, the number of ministries we have is extremely small.

Like, they're groups. They're communities. Right? They do what they wanna do. They function how they wanna function within the realms of, I don't know. Don't be a heretic and love Jesus. Like, those are kind of our standards. Yeah. Yeah. Outside of that, like, our ministries are things are things that the church will control, which means that, like, if it stopped happening and no one else was passionate about it, we would still have have to find someone to do it. Mhmm. But like outside of that, it's pretty much, peep people do what they where their passions are taking them and, and they get on board and if it perpetuates sweet. If not, like because the minute you call some a ministry, you're kind of committed to have to like keep it rolling. You can't fire up a bus ministry. Right? And then like a year later, like leave all these 10 people that you were picking up because Never mind. We decided to stop driving the bus. Yeah. Sorry, Betty. Jesus doesn't love you enough. Like, good luck with that. You better make sure you're willing to keep that thing around. I think but isn't that the isn't that the reason that a lot of churches have taken up controls of those ministries because people aren't passionate about Jack nothing. Well And they don't do anything. Well, yeah. So so I think that the it it gets a lot worse before it gets better. Right? You feel the pain of because when you when you create a bunch of ministries,

one of the things it does is is like then the church perpetuates it. Right? You find people to do it. You scout people. You bring them in. You try to convince them to do it. They tell you they're gonna pray on it because everyone does. And then they come back and they say, oh, yes. The Lord's leading me to do it. Like, I don't know. Maybe he's not. So but but that's what happens. You you create an institution and then you grab people to fill it. And so what happens is when you start to strip that down, that it hurts for a while and frankly, it starts to get depressing because like once you stop propping things up, people will just stop doing things. Right? They stop doing these things that you've propped up, but what it is is actually a clearer picture of where people are actually at. Right? Because if you're, if the whole center of your of your ministries, of the work that you do as a church is founded upon the things that your staff or your elders have created and are and are drafting people into, like you run a you run a risk that they're doing it because you're telling them to do it. Like they're they're not actually doing it for the right reasons with the right heart and not accomplishing the right things. They're doing your tasks.

Right? As opposed to like actually making disciples which shouldn't feel like a task. But but then once you strip it all down and then you start to rebuild it back up, what actually happens is is if you can lay the right foundation where people start to be to realize the things that they're passionate, gifted in, and they wanna serve Christ in those things, that's naturally way more attractive to grab people into. It doesn't feel like, hey, come join my task. It's like, be part of my passion. Be part of the thing that God has called me to do and you're excited for it. And even when things don't go well, you're still excited for it. You don't walk away. You don't get stressed out and leave. Right? Because it's it's that's what God has with you and you're jazzed for that. Helping people now here's here's the deal. It's like you you correct too far if you just say sheep do.

Because sheep don't just do. Right? You still have to help that process. You have to help them nurture that. Figure out how to use those gifts. How how to sometimes how how to organize those things and and how to use those to the to the glory of God. Like you still have to do that. So an overreaction is to cut everything, all infrastructure. But like if you start with the right infrastructure that is based upon what people do, then you're not chasing people around. And you're not in a, let's say one guy comes in and he loves tennis and he fires up a tennis thing and then like he leaves the church three years later and then you're trying to like prop up this tennis deal for another four years because you don't want it to die because it feels like a failure. It's a failure if tennis ministry doesn't succeed because there's three people straggling who've been there for five years. Right? But like if if passionate tennis guy runs a tennis deal and for Jesus, that's awesome. And then if he has to leave, he parts. And if someone doesn't want to take it up, it goes away because the guy that was leading it is gone. And like if he's if he's touched five or 10 people, then one of those guys will want to step up and keep it. If it hasn't, if it wasn't functioning that way, then it dies. And that's alright. There's no reason to mourn it. It went away because the guy that was passionate about it left. But other people are passionate about other things. So

that that's where that's where I think you you if you cut down to what you have to have and then like you help people see it as an extension of who they are of their lifestyle as opposed to here's here's the infrastructure that church has put in place mold to that. Like that's not using the gifts God has given them. And so you're you're better off doing that but you can't you also can't just let it go. Like, you do have to help people do that because they are still cheap. Yep. Alright. Anyway, that's enough about harassing that guy on Facebook. I gotta get You've off to Facebook for a week, bud? Couple weeks. Almost almost three. It's straight up alright? Yeah. I check it You seem a little wiser. I check it,

you know, on the on the on the web page or what I'll check it out once or twice a week, maybe just to make sure I didn't miss anything heavy at the church that I'm I'm missing out on. Crack your knuckles, Les? Then I crack my knuckles and then I make a lot of noise. But like, seriously, it's been literally fantastic. Like, I forget my phone place is kind of fantastic. Usually, I'm like, I don't get more than five feet away from my phone. I'm like, where's my phone? The kids got my phone. I can't find my phone. You know, and I've literally left it and lost it a couple times in the last three weeks because I don't care about Facebook. And it's really a relief. I mean, it's fantastic. The people that know me, that need something from me, call me. I text message, I call, actually call people that I need to talk to instead of sending them some kind of trite, you know, message on the Facebook. I just I I'm I'm ecstatic about it. I'm very happy. That's a great idea.

Yeah. I'm not saying Facebook don't have its places, but like, I don't know. It's It's really kind of dwindled, I think. It's just been a huge weight off. You know what I mean? I I literally you don't have that many friends, Dan. You know what saying? You have a lot of acquaintances. A lot of people don't wanna tell me how to think politically and Forget. Yeah. Like I blocked it. There. I just but, you know, but but that's that's the thing, Eric, though. Like, why even keep up the charade? Right? Why have him as a friend and then block him? No. I I mean, I I don't friend them. Oh oh, you just unfriend people? Yeah. Mike I think Mike has a series of people on his that is that are the people he still has as friends but otherwise blocks. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's a ton of them. That's selfish. I've got a few of them. I hide them. Mhmm. I don't I guess I don't block them. I hide them. No. Actually, I tried to figure out, like, if I unfriend somebody, does it send a message and say you're unfriended? No. But if they pull you up, it'll say Well, that's too bad. Because I I that's how I'd want it to go down. Yeah. I don't want I because it seems that it seems kind of daisy ish to me to be like, I secretly don't look at your stuff no more. I'd be like, listen, I don't I don't appreciate what you're doing. We're done now. You know? Like, there's a couple of people that I had as friends and I'm like, I I don't know. I feel stressful just to know you. Like and I'm a I like and they were they were Jesus folks, you know, and and but like, man, just the nonstop. They were just mad about stuff all the freaking time. This guy said the wrong word in 1972.

You listen to his sermons? Yeah. Yeah. I I don't wanna get caught up in their war. I mean No. I've got my own battles. I mean, seriously, I I get it. You don't like Obama. Okay? I got it. You don't like him. Done. Yeah. No. Why don't you just just write it one time? I don't much care for Obama. Yeah. Okay. I didn't vote for it. I wouldn't do it again. That's right. Love me. Yeah. It's good. But instead, they find some kind of news article where he, like, burns hats and the hat society's mad at him and, like, can you believe this outrage? He burns hats now. Oh, well. You don't like him. I had no idea that he was a hat burner. This has reinforced everything I ever thought. There's there's a picture of Pat Robertson's bathroom rug. Is this disgusting or what? I'm like, I don't care. Jeez.

Hey. I don't know why Pat Robertson's bathroom rug made me think of this. But like, I think we should stop using the phrase pearly gates. Because because in Revelation, like, it's not a it's not a gate made of multiple pearls. Like, it describes it as a giant Giant pearl. Pearl.

It's just a pearl. That'd be awesome. Samson moved the pearl. Alright. I mean Samson put it back. Actually, I so when we were doing the going through the revelation class, I, I never felt so robbed because I I read this pearly gate thing. I'm like, this has been explained incorrectly. Like, it has given me a false sense of what this is. Right? And first of all, it makes it sound like there's an entrance, kind of a double gate, probably a wrought iron with some pearls kinda on the outside It seems too many comics. Out a pearl. Yeah. It goes, get me the best wrought iron. This is like a it's like a single pearl. It's like a I imagine it looks a lot like the the those pods in Metroid. You guys know what I'm talking about? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Because that that's what I think it looks like in these gates. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. So anyway Hey, now that would be awesome.

You and Metroid your way in there. Resurrected bodyguard. You know, it's just like what people like to say that, like, there's appearances of Christ in the old testament. He's also inserted his pearly gates in Metro. Here's what we're gonna do. All the way to get into heaven is five missiles.

The Christophany of Metroid. That sounds awesome. Work on it, Eric. I feel like I feel like that's up your alley. Alright. Appearances of Christ in modern video gaming. You can also play Excitebike as a grown man. You can build your own track in the shape of a cross. Hey, I got a quick question for you before we split it out here. Okay. So you know how how plants give off oxygen. Right? What happens in the wintertime?

Most of them die. That's what I'm saying. Is there less oxygen in the winter? No. It's not always winter everywhere. I'm talking about like at my house. Like if my house is surrounded by trees and the trees is doing all the filtering and putting out oxygen. And then my daughter asked me this question. I was dumbfounded. And I felt like, what? And I said, I don't know. So if if the green is what's putting out the oxygen and all the leaves are gone, is there less oxygen at my house in the water? The atmosphere will circulate around the air in, like, a matter of days.

What do you mean? Like over the course of a week, the air that's over here can find its way over to the other side of the earth. So at any given point, there's some part of the earth that's experiencing summer or direct summer. So my trees are inconsequential. And oceans have algae. Your trees will hibernate. Yes. There's oceans of algae. There's the Equator that is always tropical, which that's where most of the oxygen is actually produced is in the Equatorial

Tropical water forest. So so it sounds like there is. A whole I I would agree with both of those both those items. Large amount of photosynthesis comes from algae in the oceans and the Tioga forest in the North Pole. However, land based photosynthesis

is in the Northern Hemisphere, and there is a seasonal variation in carbon dioxide levels Mhmm. During the wintertime. Don't you have house plants? No. By how much? Eight parts per million.

Okay. Or or less. I can feel it. Yeah. That's enough to stop my toenail growth, at least. I was wondering what was happening in the wintertime. I blame the furnace. You're listening to live from the crowd on live from the crowds.org broadcasting every Monday night from I don't even I don't even know. I don't even know what time it is. The Black Cave Of Johnston. Check out the podcast. You can subscribe to that on the website. You can also check out past YouTube clips of bands, guests we've had in. We're gonna really ramp up the amount of cool folks that are coming in the studio, just frankly because we have room for them. Yeah. So that's gonna be cool. We're gonna try to get some bands in here. In fact, if you have some people you'd like to see on the show, even if it's yourself, just shoot us an email at [email protected]. Yeah. Heck, man. Hey. Hey. I'd like to come on. Think I we could probably do that. I mean, you listen to the show tonight. We got a very low filtering process. Really just wanna make sure that you're not actively killing a man right now. Yeah. And if you can pass that test, in you come. Don't bring a man that you are in the per process of killing, robbing, or whatever into the studio with you. Yeah. If you're considering that, why don't you come here instead? But don't bring him in. Leave your weapons, but just go ahead and come here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That sounds alright. Okay. So anyway, get ahold of us at livefromthepath.org.

It's great to talk to you. We've had a great show, and we'll see you next week.