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And you are listening to this. And you are listening. Hey. Hey. Hey. What are doing next? The live on the path on live from thepath.org. I'm I'm in charge of this ship. Great start.

Okay. Go ahead. We got a whiz bang of a show for you this evening, folks. If you're tuning in with us on ninety nine point three KTIA listen. We're glad you're here. It's wonderful to hear from you. If you ever have any feedback for the show, you can hit us up at [email protected]. We'd love to hear your complaints, your adulation,

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Alright. So here's what we got going on. We're gonna try to digest some stuff before the end of the year. The the first one is we're going talk about the 10 men Christian women should never marry. And I feel like we've hit this a little bit, but I want to run through these again as you prepare for the ye olde 2015 and see if we've adequately prepared ourselves with picking out the right

the right spouse as we go forward. If you have the wrong one, what do you do? That's not part of the they're not married yet. Yeah, that's proposition. Well, I thought you meant us. No, no, no. You already stuck it in. So actually, so we brought in the daughters earlier tonight and asked them gave them examples of these kinds of fellas and and had their take on exactly what what they thought of the men that we were describing. And it's it's quite excellent. You have to go check out the YouTube channel. We'll post a video of the of the four Foose Girls responses Yeah. To these fellas. But it's it's fairly scathing. Yeah. Yeah. They're fierce. They're fierce on these guys. They don't like to talk about much else than Jesus and how this man is probably not following Jesus correctly. Yeah. Yeah. I I think you've raised them right, if that's the case. Either that or they were severely coached before we got them here. It's one or the other.

Also, we have as we're rounding out 2,014, YouVersion Bible app has revealed the most popular verses of 2,014. Now we've gone through people's, like, the most popular searched

verses in previous years. It's interesting because this this is the type of person that has actually downloaded the YouVersion app versus the person that's kind of randomly Googling answers. And so we'll see if there's a difference. If you see a distinction between the people that are Googling verses and someone who's actually put the app in their pocket and then is is looking for particular bible verses. So we'll we'll look at a few of those. And there was we'll see if we have time for this. I I read in a news week, had a cover article

basically about about how much we don't know about the Bible. That it's so it's sinful how much Christians don't understand about the Bible. But not not necessarily in a way, because I would agree with that, I think, broad premise. But the way that he's gone about it is

it's interesting. And so I I wanna hit just a couple of those and maybe maybe give you some some things to chew on if you if that seems like it might come up a conversation either in a in a day or I day feel like Newsweek tries this once a year. Like, at least once a year, they put out some outrageous, blasphemous article.

And, like, they make the show once a year when they've done it. And, like, it's their one like, they just have a guy that that's his total job is to come up with dirt on on Jesus, the Bible, or Christianity in general. Then Yeah. So they keep them on a chain like animal from the Muppets. And then like one time a year, they cut the chain and let them go. And then he does this. Yeah. No. No. That that's that's very much what this is. Yeah. Right. It is a conversation starter though. So so we'll talk about that just a just a little bit. And we also have some advice on dear life from the path, and we may we just may get to some some trivia. We might have some trivia towards the Yeah. We might see how we're gonna see if we can round out the year on the tops on a Life From The Path quiz action. So I think that's what we're after. Okay. So let's let's let's pop right into this. I wanna talk about the 10 men Christian women should never marry.

Here they are. Let's just let's just throw these out here and see see what we think. The first one is the unbeliever. Write second Corinthians six fourteen on a Post it note and tack it on a computer at work. Says, do not be bound together with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness or what fellowship has light with darkness? This is not an outdated religious rule. It is the word of God for you today. Don't allow a man's charm, looks, or financial success or his willingness to go to church with you push you to compromise what you know is right. Missionary dating is never a wise strategy. If the guy is not a born again Christian, scratch him off your list. He's not right for you. I've yet to meet a Christian woman who didn't regret marrying an unbeliever. It's interesting. I've oftentimes read through that verse and looked at it more in the context of professional choices

in terms of making a professional partnership, not just in terms of your social relationships and dating and who you're going to marry with, but also in terms of who you're gonna yoke with and work through life with.

I think it's both, personally. Yeah. I've always looked at way too. So, I'm gonna be kind of honest with you. Sometimes I have a hard time like there's certain truths of the Bible that I know, and sometimes I have a hard time teaching them to others, depending on where they are in life. And this is this is one of them. And it's it's not that I don't find it to be true, because actually I do think it's true, but sometimes it's hard. Like when you're speaking to somebody that just came to know Jesus or they're just starting their their relationship in the kingdom of Christ and trying to figure out how this life works apart from what they've always known.

And you're like, yeah, look, you you you really can't have anything to do with that gal or or that fella. You know, you like, you know, it's not that you can't be friends and love them, but like, the option for you dating them is is out until they get to know Jesus. And and, like, I I don't know. I find this one sometimes hard harder to to breach the subject with. Like, once again, don't think it's a that it's a poor advice from the Lord. But but, like, for some reason, I sometimes I find this one sticky and harder for me personally to say. Practice every once in while you see one that worked. Yeah. No. That's true. You know, know, and and you think we'll see see that that worked for that person. I I would agree with the guy though. I I've

90 per I've taken statistics, but I can't think of very many that it's worked compared to how many it's not worked. Well, and it's not I I think sometimes this comes off as a, hey, you know, we're so high and mighty. We only marry other Christians. But here's the deal. It's like the base nature of what you're asking for in Christianity, which is for me to say, I love Jesus more than my spouse. There is no other relationship in which that is acceptable. Yeah. Right? So if they don't also love Jesus, like, you're going run into a problem. When you say, No, I love Jesus. We're going to do these things. And they say, No, you were to love me more. And you've to pick between them and Jesus. Like, that's just not a battle anybody can win. But if you agree on the outset that Jesus that following God is above the love for each other, it makes decisions a lot easier. And you don't run into serious life problems. Because here's the deal, once you agree to follow Jesus, the principles of His kingdom and the values that it has are things that you also have to agree to. And so your decisions become a lot easier.

And and it's just it just is very difficult. It's not a high and mighty issue. It's just like, if you marry someone who has a different priority than what you have, you're gonna have a very difficult time staying married to that person. It's gonna be awful as a matter of fact. They're they're two completely different world views. It affects everything. How do we raise our children? How do we discipline our children? How do we spend our money? Can we support the church? Well, no, you can't support the church. I don't believe in that junk. But I I I believe with all my heart I'm called to. You know, it's so much strife. Yep. There's someone that I used to work with, God bless her, she's in a relationship where she's a believer and her spouse is not. And

there are times that just it is pain. You can see it on her face because of the life that she wants to live and the one that she can't. And, yeah, I want be able to send my kids to camp, or I want to be able to give money to the church, and she can't do it without otherwise being deceiving to her husband, which she also can't do. And it's a very, very difficult circumstance for her. You think to yourself, it

doesn't have to be this way. This isn't God saying, hey. Hey. I'm just so much we're so much better than we don't associate with those non Christians. He's saying, people that follow me give up a lot to do so, and they live a certain life to do it. And and you simply can't be married to somebody who doesn't think that same way. Like, that is not a positive relationship for you or for them, because you're not giving them everything that they expect because you guys don't agree on Jesus. I find myself justifying qualifying people on this one. In previous relationships that I've had and things like that, I find myself justifying in my own mind the whole,

know, yes, this person doesn't believe in God now, but I feel like I can get them too. And I feel like, you know, they may not may not fully accept Christ as their Lord and Savior and as the son of God right now, but but I think that I, you know, I could be a good influence on that person. I can get them there. And then I find myself qualifying them of, you know, they may not believe that right now, but they they have good qualities. And they have good things about them. And and I think that I struggle with this just because I I I feel like that kinda takes a lot of people off the market. Yeah. Not from the perspective of I need as much help as I can get, which we all know. Really from the perspective of like, if I like somebody, I want that to be that situation and I don't wanna be disqualifying them because the fact that they don't profess Jesus as their Lord and things like that. But I've also found the flip side of my thought process of that to be true also where it has not worked.

It has not worked and that's been a turning point in my relationship. I was with a gal before I was baptized, before I was truly saved and accepted Jesus Christ that I came home and was soaking wet from being baptized at church. And then looked at her and I said, hey, we should probably stop this. And it ended up, we broke up that day because I told her, was like, I don't think I can go back to acting like yesterday.

And I can't go back to that knowing what I did this morning and knowing what I did today. Something has to change and that ended up just crippling the relationship and it's crippled others where I haven't spent time truly trying to find out, you know, is this a daughter of God that truly believes in him and follows him and loves him with all of her heart? Does she put him before me because that's what needs to happen? And it's done nothing but but it's created issues and relationships that I've been in. So I see both sides and I'm I'm leaning more towards the the or excuse me, leaning more towards the I'm truly trying to find someone that that believes in God and loves God more than me,

and will put him before me. And it's it's I'm excited for that to happen. I cannot wait for God to give me that daughter. I I cannot wait for God to give me that daughter of his that I get to marry and that I get to have that relationship with. Yeah. And it's not to say that that, you know, on on the other side of this coin, like, there's relationships that God does redeem for that specific purpose. That happened to me. But, like, you know, like, if you are if you find, you know, if if if you agree to be in the kingdom of God and and and make that choice to to give your life to him and your current spouse is not feeling that way, you know, we're not talking like it's time to up and leave. You know I'm saying? Like, God redeems relationships. God puts people in relationship with others, who can who can bring him glory and bring that presence of of God into their lives and speak into their lives with an, with a changed life. And so it's not to say that that stuff can't be redeemed, but, like, on the onset, I mean everything everything's like that. Right? You always wish you you always wish you knew what you knew ten years in. And so like God's giving you a lifetime's

worth of wisdom, right? You know, right off the bat and saying, look, just don't do this. You're gonna cause yourself trouble. Just don't do it. Number two in the list was the liar. If you discover that the man you are dating has lied to you about his past or that he's always covering his tracks to hide his secrets from you, run for the nearest exit. Marriage must be built on a foundation of trust. If you can't be truthful, break up now before he bamboozled you with an even bigger deception.

Amen. Agreed. He hasn't even made peace with himself. I mean Yeah. Right. He's not ready. I mean, I've yet to find a woman that's like, you what I want. I'm looking for tall, dark, handsome, and wickedly lies. I've been incredibly deceiving. Told me all kinds of falsehoods. I want her to not know what's coming in and out of his mouth. I wanna be confused and really mistrust him. That's what I want. Yeah. So so, like, a lot of I guess a lot of times, ladies make a mistake of of marrying a a promise, like marrying a future potential.

And here's the deal. You're not all the goods that you're gonna be in thirty years either. Like, you will grow and blossom, become a different person, and that's awesome. And so will this guy. But like, you also are marrying a dude right now. And you have to deal with him the day you marry him, and the day after, and the two days after. And you ain't going to make the thirty years to these wonderful people that you feel like you're going to come to if the guy's a total weasel right now. And so, you know, he may be able to change his ways. You don't marry him until he does. And, I mean, like, that's kind of the long and short of it. Right? Like, you don't you have no responsibility

to to stay with a man because he has promised something. You have a response like, if you want to stay with someone, you stay with them because of who they are, where you see them going, but not just because they said something was gonna happen. It's simply foolish. Because there's no reason to do it. Like, if he had a a reason to change his life, he would have done it, or he would be doing it. He would be in the process. I'm not saying don't be forgiving. I'm not saying don't be with don't come alongside someone who's really working to change their ways. But, like, you know, if the guy's a liar and then he tells you things are going to change,

you know, you don't have any responsibility to believe that. I can't imagine any relationship with anyone where the other person, you can't trust them. You just honestly just or you just automatically think what they say is not true. How many times are they going to lie to you before you realize that that person's a liar? It's

just hard to rebuild that. We we had we just had Christmas, you know? And one of the rules of Christmas is you don't you don't read the return address labels of a package that arrives, you know? And well, my wife read read something and and anyway, figured out it must have been for her because she she knew it wasn't for the girls. Yep. And and Shannon knew what it was. She's like, oh, no. I don't know what it is. And and so she's you know, and I'm like, okay. And what do I do with this? I can't lie. If she asked me, it's gonna blow, like, the whole Christmas thing we had going on. And because we're we decorated a room for her and we got different little pieces, you know, pillows and stuff. Right. And so I I I wrapped it up and and put my other daughter's name on it, a tag, just to throw her off, you know. Uh-huh. And I thought if she asked me a question, I'm toast. I mean, I can't even I can't even lie on something that simple, you know, because I I just I just can't, you know? I just I just can't. And I thought, oh, this is gonna you know, it's terrible. So the reason that you don't read the shipping address is because you're you're having gifts delivered? Well, because you can figure the stuff out. Like, I mean, oh, it's from a stencil company. I didn't catch that part. I thought it was just a long standing family traditions where you don't read where mail comes from. Just open up those packages. So the mail shows up and you're like, pay that guy a $130. Why? I'm not sure. Just send the check out. Sorry.

I I was trying to cut the story shorter. Alright. Agreed. Yeah. Hold on. Now, here's the deal, though. It's like, Dan's example sounds ridiculous, but that is the path. That is the way to do it. Like, don't don't give yourself an out of, like, I'm able to lie on special occasions or I'm willing to lie. Yeah. Once you make an excuse, it's not important. Yeah. It's it's I mean, it's foolish. Like, do you wanna have her surprise? Sure. You know, some I run into a a thin line on this when I tell my kids stories. I tell my kids all kinds of whacked out crazy stories that aren't even close to being true. I convinced my daughter today that when she turns she was watching some princess movie where three fairy godmothers showed up and helped this princess. She's like, I wanna have fairy godmothers. And I said, every girl gets one when she's 10. Three of them show up and they hang around you for a year, and every girl gets them. And she looked at her mom for a second and she goes, I don't know if that sounds true. I said, well, think about it for a minute. Get back to me. Tell me what you think, you know. But like, tell her this crazy stuff all the time hoping that she can discern when I've said something outrageous. But like, I'm technically telling her lies. And so sometimes I worry about that. I've had one moment of that weirdness that I thought, you know, this is not that big of a lie and it's not that that big of an issue. Getting pulled over

for speeding, you always hear the whole, do you have any idea how fast you're going? And then everyone for some reason says, no, officer. I don't have a a speedometer right in front of my face that that tells me exactly how fast I was going. The one time that I've been driving for the past fifteen years, I didn't use it. I'm sorry. I I went to say, no, officer. I have no idea how fast I was going. And I stopped myself, and I was like, wait a minute. No. I can't say that. Like, it's stupid. I want to. He's expecting it. He expects me to say, oh gosh, officer. I haven't the slightest clue. And I look him right in face. I said, Yeah, man. I was going about 10 miles over. And he kind of just looks at me.

And I'm like, Yep. Yep. That's me. Going seventy five to sixty five year, officer. Pretty much what happened. And he wrote me the ticket. That's exactly what I expected to happen. And drove away. I'm like, I'm a schmuck for driving that fast, but I'm glad I didn't lie about that. Because my immediate reaction was, hey, man, it's totally acceptable to lie about this. He's expecting the lie. Like, it's okay. And it's not okay. Now it's the way to live. Yep. Yep. The truth really does set you free. It does sometimes make you sit on an island by yourself as the weird truth teller. But it is it is freeing. Here we go. Number three, the playboy. I wish I could say that if you meet a nice guy at church, you can assume he's living in sexual purity, but that's not the case today. I've heard horror stories about single guys who serve on the worship team on Sunday but act like Casanovas during the week. There's a churchy word for a real player. Yeah.

There's a real Casanova, that one. It means he was real hard to deal with in the fifties. You, if you marry a guy who was sleeping around before your wedding, you can be sure he was sleeping around after your wedding.

I don't know if I'd agree entirely with that last statement, but I agree with the whole situation. Yeah, stay away from the dude that's, like, completely sexually impure and stuff like that. Here you know, here's problem Even marginally. Here's the problem with fidelity Lower marginally. Before before your marriage and after your marriage. It's like, if a guy apart from Christ that that holds marriage even in high standing and says, I will I will you will be my partner for the rest of our days, and that's it. It's just me and you. He's doing it on his own steam,

which has failed him numerous times up until that point. You know what I'm saying? Like, he's tried to do a million things on his own steam and and bailed on most of them. And so, like, the difference between that guy and a guy that that in the kingdom of God is is not only is he attempting to get this done on his own steam, but he also has has the holy spirit to help him. He surrounds himself with people who will hold him accountable for the way that he's acting. Now, at least, the what you're attempting to attain is at least closer and more attainable than it was with you giving it a shot. Because I I mean, if you're looking and this is the fellas, honestly. How many times have you said this is what I'm gonna do, and then you did not do it, tried your hardest, and still failed at it. Right? Like, even the best intentions do not equal output. Like you have to surround yourself with a, the God of the universe, and b, people around you that can help you get what you want even when you lose sight of it. Yeah. Yeah. I think I think the the line in the sand I would draw on this one is pre Christ and post Christ. Before coming a Christ follower, you you would expect them to sleep around because that that's what everybody does. You know? And once they become a Christ follower,

that that that every he's a new creation. Right. You you do expect that behavior to change. Exactly. Yeah. And so that's what I would gauge it on. Like, my me personally. Yeah. And and that's what I would recommend. That's what I would advise my daughters. Yeah. I mean, there's a level of unfairness. Right? Like, if you if someone, you know, didn't know Jesus and they come to Jesus and, like, they had a past, well, who doesn't? Like, everybody had that. That's the nature of the transformation of Christ. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, we're not saying condemn the man who lived a life before Jesus. Praise the Lord that he's come come to the Lord. Yeah. Now he's single forever. But we should be able to but there should be some there are fruits. Right? So that you should notice a change of behavior, and and these things aren't aren't still happening. Yeah. And if they are, that's kind of a warning sign. That he's a Casanova. A dirty Casanova. Let's see. Number four, the deadbeat. There are many solid Christian men who experienced marital failure years ago. Since their divorce, they've experienced the Holy Spirit's restoration, and now they want to remarry.

Second marriages can be very happy. But if you find out that the man you are dating hasn't been caring for his children from a previous marriage, you have just exposed a fatal flaw. Any man who will not pay for his past mistakes or support children from a previous marriage is not going to treat you responsibly. Yeah. Okay. I agree with that. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they're they're they're his children. Yeah. Yeah. They care about And and for him to not

see that Yeah. Or care I mean, I I don't understand where that comes Yeah. From, and there's an option for I there's a guy I I talked to a guy a couple couple, three, four years ago. And like, you know, they went through a divorce and and like, him and the wife did not get along very well. And then then it was kind of a deal. And she moved, like, out of state, way far away. And and and he did not and he was complaining. He's like, she moved and blah blah blah. My kids are a lot you know, makes it hard to see him. And I said, what are you still doing in town, friend? I he goes, well, you know, we're not married anymore. I said, I'd move right next door to him. I'd move in the town I mean, I'd find the closest piece of real estate that a single man, as far as the the law is concerned, can afford. And I would move I'd follow them around everywhere they move. Cause my kids are in that house. You know what I'm saying? Like, I I I can't imagine what it would take for me to have have, like, my wife move away, even if the divorce was was brutal. And just have it okay be that far away. I I just move and follow them around. Yeah. I would agree. What what else what what is more important that's tying me somewhere else? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'll get whatever menial job I have to. I'll live in a in a in a dirt whatever. It doesn't matter. Like, they're my kids are not living in a different town than I'm living in. I'll be over there pretty soon. I'm I'm coming directly. Yeah. I wanna meet your new husband. He seems like a nice man. Here we go. The addict. Churchgoing men who have addictions to alcohol or drugs have learned to hide their problems, but you don't wanna wait until your honeymoon to find out that he's a boozer. Never marry a man who refused to get help for his addiction. Insist that he get professional help and walk away. And don't get into a codependent relationship in which he claims he needs you to stay sober. You can't fix him.

Yeah, I think there's some caveats to that one. Like, a broad brush, I think that's true. But I think she chose the right words there, or he chose the right words there of who's never sought help for his addiction. Like, everyone's got something. Like, I mean, hopefully it's not I don't know. Something that's destroying them.

But like, I I I don't know. Like, if if you just never if you waited till everyone got themselves figured out, that's that's the oddball picture of people coming to Christ. Right? Like, have to be perfect before I Yeah. Know him. And like, there you're not gonna be perfect before you get married. It's just not gonna happen. Now you you hopefully you have things that are not debt that are detrimental to your marriage, hopefully, on their way to being redeemed. But I don't know. Am I am I allowing a caveat where there shouldn't be one? I mean, you probably have to make a distinction here between who you will who you marry

and who you're associated with. Right? Like, there's a difference between saying, hey. This guy's going through a tough time in life. I I would like to be by his side. Like, I can friends. I can help provide support and stuff. Versus, I'm gonna marry that man. You know what I'm saying? Like, there's just a distinction. I think you're

not saying, hey, if someone's got a problem, that you can be there and help in the way that is appropriate

that doesn't lead them on. But the right distinction is to say, we're not married. That is simply not happening. And then try to find the most appropriate way to live within those parameters. But it doesn't necessarily have to mean either you marry me or you're to the curb. Yeah. I don't know if that makes sense. Well, mean, I just I keep thinking of of weird caveats where, like, you know, you get to know somebody and they're recovering alcoholic and they've been recovering for a year or two and you're like, hey, feel like we can, you know, get married now, but, you mean, you're still technically probably an alcohol. I mean, a guy's gonna be an alcoholic his whole life. You know what I'm saying? Like, what once you were one, you are one. You're always recovering. Right? And so, like, there there starts to be some lines there, but I feel like all those lines are cleared up with good god the council and some holy spirit interference in your in your place, and I I think it's probably discernible. I don't think there's there's a black and white line to draw and say that's it. No. Yeah. Yeah. I agree with that. And I think you're right. Like,

it is not fair. Like, if you're following the list, you say the guy that owns up to his past mistakes and says, I'm gonna get help, and I'm gonna seek God, and I'm gonna live in truth by telling you all those things. Like, if you take any of these things too strictly, that doesn't actually take into consideration, you know, how people are, the guy that handled things right screwed itself up at 22, and then he don't get to date anybody forever. Yeah. That's not the way Yeah, that's not what he's saying. No. Okay. The bum, number six. Bum Is the last one? No. That's the addict. This is the bum. Oh. I have a female friend who realized after she married her boyfriend that he had no plans to find steady work after she got married to this man?

Did he have steady work when you got married? Where's that on the list? He had devised a great strategy, full colon. He stayed home all day and played video games while his professional wife worked and paid all the bills. The apostle Paul told the Thessalonians, if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat either. The same rule applies here. If a man is not willing to work, he doesn't deserve to marry you. Here's the deal. Even from an ungodly standard, even from a worldly view, who says that's the guy that I want? I don't get that. Like, I don't this is not even a caveat that should be just for Christian women. This should be for women in general. If this guy's a bum,

I just drives me nuts. They're easy to control. Guys like that. He must be one piping hot potato. They're very safe. Oh, sick? If Yeah, I was gonna a lady's looking for a safe guy that she can control very easily, this is the guy that Well, she should stop whining then. Yeah. Get the Get the video gamer that doesn't have a job? You got a butler. Yeah. Essentially, don't clean. It becomes a mommy type relationship instead of a husband wife relationship. Yeah.

It gets, you know Yeah. You say to your fiance, Hey, we've planned the wedding. It's going to be on And he says, It doesn't really matter what date it's on. I'm open. I don't have to tell my boss or anything. We're fine. Can you get the day off? I'm sure. Okay. Let me check. I'm free. Let me Or let me check with Chuck, see if he's online.

See if he's see if we're free. Yeah. Were gonna take over the the Peruvian clan that day, but I guess we can wait. Hey, Reaper thirteen. You okay with me having a wedding today? I'm not gonna make it to the clan. T t o d r. I might be busy on Saturday. I think I think the challenge is that when you're in love with someone, you have a tendency to give them a lot more space or grace,

I should say. You know, you you assume it's not as bad as it really is. You're not really objective. It's hard to be. That's true. You know? Oh, no. He doesn't have a really drinking problem. Oh, no. He's not really lazy. He's just trying to get a job. Or no, he's not really sleeping around with other people. I've heard stories, but that's not true. Yeah. You know? And it's hard to truly be honest with these, I think, for people. No. That's probably true. Because you always wonder, how how do these women marry these losers? They don't believe they're losers. Love is a blame convince themselves they're not. Yeah. That's true. You know? He wants to get his money's worth out of the PlayStation. Who am to blame him? Yeah. Alright. Stay away from the bum. The narcissist.

I sincerely hope you can find a guy who is handsome. But be careful, folk called in. If your boyfriend spends six hours a day at the gym and regularly posts close ups of his biceps on Facebook, you have a problem. Do not fall for a self absorbed guy. He might be cute, but a man who is infatuated with his appearance and his own needs will never be able to love you sacrificially like Christ loves the church. The man who is always looking at himself in the mirror will never notice you. Does this count for dudes that take pictures of themselves with stocking hats on? Like a lot of them? I think so, yeah.

I just don't see I don't see you know What does this do you kind of guy this is. That thinks that like he really needs to look at excuse me. He needs to

look at himself all day. Like, I just don't I don't really understand, you know, this perspective. Your biceps are gonna rip that shirt out. I know, right? I like this sweatshirt. What's up? You guys see a veterinarian anywhere around? Time you roll up your sleeves, it's like the sun comes back out. Hey. Hey, man. Can I call Westfield Veterinary Hospital for these puppies? Yep.

Hey. Sorry. My my upper forearm was in hibernation for the winter. Yeah. They charged double for albinos. All all joking aside, I not from a physical perspective, but from from other perspectives, I this is kind of me. We all know that that I'm full of myself in pretty much all situations. So You're the guy that when Snapchat came out, you're like, yes. I know. Yes. When I got a smartphone, I'm like, hell.

Guess what, ladies? Guess who's getting pictures of boov? Guess who. Guess who's Guess caught who just picked up a boovah distribution center.

It's like, my pocket. I'm gonna send 13 pictures to people, and I'm gonna make sure they look them because I can see if they did or not. And if they didn't, I'm gonna send them another. That's how I roll. I'm sorry you missed me. I completely agree with the statement. The whole narcissistic guys, we all are in some way, shape or form, but if it's just out of whack like me, don't marry me. I mean, don't marry this guy.

He's just Yeah, I completely agree. Narcissists completely fall themselves. They're never gonna see you for who you are. They're never gonna love on you the way that they need to. If they put themselves above everything else, their relationship with God, their relationship with you, friendships, anything like that, that that's just not good. Yeah. In any way, shape or form. Alright. Stay away from number eight, the abuser. No details necessary. Stay away from the abuser. Number nine Agreed. The man child. Call me old fashioned, but I'm suspicious of a guy who still lives with his parents at age 35.

If his mother is still doing his cooking, cleaning, and ironing at that age, you can be sure he's stuck in an emotional time warp. You are asking for trouble if you think you can be a wife to a guy who hasn't grown up. Back away and, as a friend, encourage him to find a mentor who can help him mature. What if his mom's just overbearing? Third I don't know. 35, he needs to have dealt with that situation

up until that age. Otherwise, he is the man child still. What if his mom just likes to come over and just, like, clean? And then he just picks up stuff, you know? You need that then tries to do laundry and pay for stuff. And I mean, all the good stuff. All that stuff. Hey, mom. I really appreciate you. Hey, mom. I really appreciate you doing that. Like my laundry and taking care of my food. And, you know, I got everything I need because of you.

That's a bad thing? Yes. Be a man. Set boundaries. Yeah. Hey, mom. I love you. Get out of my house. Yeah. That sounds Yeah. Alright. Cool. Just checking. Just checking. 30

five's too much. It's too much. Number 10. This is the final one. The control freak. Some Christian guys today believe marriage is about male superiority. This guy. They may quote scripture and sound super spiritual again. But behind the facade of husbandly authority is deep insecurity and pride that can morph into spiritual abuse. Dang.

First Peter three seven commands husbands to treat their wives as equals. If they're I don't know what? That's not what that says. Hold on a minute. I

gotta check them out. You do a little Is that weaker vessel? Hold on. What's the verse? First Peter three:seven. I'm working on it. Here we go. Likewise, husbands live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

Now, read that verse positively, but I don't read it as equals. Actually, would still say showing honor to the woman. That's counter cultural right there. Yeah, show honor to her. Yeah, showing honor to the woman. That's huge. That's an uplift. Not a not a me and you the same, Chuck. Here's I love first Peter three seven, and here's why. It's because it is wildly misinterpreted for misogynist use. Right? But, like, if you if if if you read that verse in its context,

you're you're you're you're basically you're you're the God has made a covenant in your marriage between you and him, and he's holding you responsible for how that marriage goes. Not in all aspects, by the way, your spiritual house runs. And the thing is, is like, if you take that seriously,

that's an extremely heavy weight. Like, it's heavy. You I mean, there's it's it's not I get to do what I want. I get to tell my wife what to do. I get to bark at my kids. Like, if you take their spiritual well-being and the honor of everyone in your house, even if you want to use the language and say they're under you, everyone in in your in your house underneath that covenant, that weight is I heard a guy describe it once. He's like he's like, men are like an old truck. The more you weigh it down, the straighter it drives. You give them a bunch of a bunch of non responsibility in the back end and they can drive all over the road all they want. You weigh that down with 15 ton of brick, that truck goes real slow and real straight. And and if if if you take your responsibility seriously with that with that covenant you made with God about your wife and and your your following kids, your truck will do just that. It will drive slow, but it will drive straight. And you will you will not have a bunch of time to be barking people around and telling them what to do. So, anyway, let me move past his first Peter seven.

Commands husbands treat their wives equals. If the man you are dating talks down to you, makes demeaning comments about women, or seems to squelch your spiritual gifts, back away now. He is on a power trip. Women who marry religious control freaks often end up a nightmare of depression. Hang on a minute. Now hold on. I I only see one caveat problem with this is the the squelching spiritual gifts. Some people make up spiritual gifts. Yeah. True. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, my I I can't my spiritual gifts is like cleaning or something. You know what I'm saying? Or or I don't know. It's something ridiculous that is like extremely faceted in just one tiny tiny tiny way. And then, like, my my spiritual gift is floral arrangement. Bacon. I suppose.

Maybe. It's not really on the list, you know. But apart from that, yeah, that's part of You know, we they use those in a positive way to try to encourage people to do the think use the talents they have Mhmm. For God. However, I I would agree. Like, I feel like you've niched that out a little too much. Same thing we've done with with ministries. Right? Like, that God doesn't have a broad calling on people's lives to do things that the Holy Spirit isn't capable of doing things that you may not otherwise feel skilled to do.

But we niche them out and and say, you know what? I I I'm good at ironing, and I will tell all these how to iron. Yeah. And then I will minister to all. I will start an ironing ministry. People will bring me their stuff to iron, and I will talk to them about Jesus, why I'm ironing. Well, I you know, maybe. I You are far more adaptable than that. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. You know, people start a parking lot striping ministry. We go to church to church. We strike parking lots. And that's a we know further than the kingdom of God. And my man is trying to hinder me. Yeah. I mean and that's all I wanna do. And my man's like, no. That's dumb. I I don't know. That's that's just touchy subject for me. That was it. That was the number 10. I would agree. Stay away from the controlling man. Yeah. Is any of those anything you think they missed?

Of guys to stay away from? Yeah. I I No. I didn't think about it extensively. No. I'm not willing to put I read the list. That's what I do.

Stay away from musicians. I I think that they hit yeah. Stay away from musicians. Nice. I I I think they hit most of the topics for the most part. I think they could have expanded a little bit more on some of the pieces.

Like, for example, the little boy kind of deal or don't know what they say. The guy who still lives with his parents, what do they call them? The man child. The man child. I feel like there's a lot more to just than that niche there of, you know, living with his parents and isn't able to take care of himself. I feel like there's a lot more to that persona that you should stay away from. You know. It's a it's a list, boob. It's not a novel. I may have that time to flesh out every article that you want out

This one okay. Who was like, I feel like that article didn't accurately describe me in entirety. I'd like it to expound on me. From a non selfish perspective. From the perspective of stay away from me. I can relate to that when the most of the whole man child thing. I've been there and I I I fight to stay away from that and to get out of that. I'm a 23 year old guy that I don't have any real responsibilities. Like, I don't have any kids. I don't have a wife. I don't have a girlfriend that I need to take care of or anything like that. A parent by the length of your beard. Exactly. Right? And the fact that I'm wearing a polar bear hat. But

I I think that there's a lot more to that than just the whole man child concept. I think that there's a lot more dangerous stuff that can happen with the little boy that pretends to be a man and stuff like that. And like I said, that's something that I that I fight my own mentality on a daily basis to get away from. And and by the grace of God, I'm I'm moving away from that, but there's a lot more dangers to that, is my thoughts. Yeah. Here's the deal, ladies. You could don't sell yourself short. And don't sell

don't take this the choice of who you marry out of God's hands and say, God's bailed on this. This is the best I can do. It's just not the right call. Agreed. Yeah. What do you say to a young woman who's single and sand, but that describes every guy I know.

I hear you, man. Yeah. That's rough times. Yeah. Yeah. Wait a minute. Some of that even encapsulated me at a certain when I got married. Yeah. So It's possible. Mhmm. So, mean, here's the deal. It's it's rough out there for the ladies. Because, like, I know fellas. Yeah. And and there's nary a woman where where, like, if if they said, hey, you know, hey, I want you to help me find a man. I'm like, I'm out tapped. I don't know any. You know what? But whose problem is that? That's our problem. Yes. Like, our job is to disciple men and get them ready to be to be godly husbands. And so it is us that that should feel perturbed and sad. So really what we should do here's hey. Okay. Here's what life of the path can do for you, ladies. I

want you to pick out a man and then send us an email with his name and probably some social media contacts. Yeah. And we'll investigate. We'll bring him to the woodshed. You give us five years. Don't flinch. Don't flinch. You want a decent man. It's gonna take some time. It might take longer than that, man. It depends on where he's at. Most we could figure out in ten seconds after looking at his Facebook profile. Yeah. Yeah. We'll either we'll either tell you that he's he's a goner. At least for you. We can still work on it from a Jesus perspective, but we can we can pick out a lost cause. But give us five years and we'll see if we can straighten him out. If after five years we haven't produced a man, you can keep not listening to the show and just promise not to marry that man. Yeah. I really hope no one looks at my Facebook profile for ten seconds and thinks that I'm a lost cause. I did it today. I showed my kids examples of people they're not allowed to marry. Here is Bubba. For example, this is your Uncle Bubba. For many reasons,

this is not okay. Oh, man. I gotta change my ways. Alright. Alright. There we go. Stay away from yeah. Don't marry don't marry the wrong fella, and don't don't jump into it. I I think maybe that there's a sense of there's a sense of how life is supposed to go, how quickly it's supposed to start, and the things that are supposed to happen. And sometimes you move that needle too quick, and you pick up a man because the man is supposed to help you hit some of those milestones. But if you pick up the wrong man, you end up hitting the milestones in the wrong way. And that sucks. There's no reason to do that stuff. I had a daughter, half a daughter, who through college

had guys all over the place, you know, trying to date her and everything. And half those things were on the list. And she's like, nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. You know? It's okay to be nope. It's okay. It's alright. I I think some of the times people like, oh, you know, maybe I'm being too judgmental. It's not a judgment. It's just to say, hey, man. That's where you're at. We're not gonna date right now. And, you know, if you meet a flawed person that loves Jesus, that's a start. Yeah. That's a start. We'll we'll talk from there. Flawed, loving Jesus, that's you, that's the guy you met. Unless unless he's the Clark Gable or the Casanova, whoever it was. Yeah. Except for the the Casanova apparently on a worship team that treats Saturday night like a merry-go-round. I'm not really sure where that guy came from. Yeah. Alright. Here we go. So so YouVersion, the bible app YouVersion. Who's got the who's got the YouVersion app? I got it. Everybody. I do. I haven't looked at it for a while. Mike's out. I bailed on it. It's too slow. It's always trying to update me with devotional plans and tell me what everyone else is doing. It does do that. I want when I wanna read the bible, I wanna do it now. I just wanna get to Job within fifteen seconds. And then YouVersion crap. It takes like I mean, it's gotta be a minute before I get to Job. And I said, that's it. You're out. Mike bailed on it. I did something else. So he did not contribute to the, our year with the bible infographic 2014

on blog.uversion.com. This is the most popular verses on on uversion in 2014. First of all, some quick stats here.

9,900,000,000 chapters read on the uversion app. 108,000,000 bookmarks created, 374,000,000 highlights.

That's a lot. Most of that's on accident when you accidentally tap your thumb on it. I was gonna say, I do that all the time. Man, it just let me go. I didn't mean to tap that. That's fair enough. Reason number two, I've been on a new version. So here's the most popular verses. So keep these in mind. Compare what what actually, let me ask you this. What do you expect to see? Jeremiah 29, John three sixteen. Was it Philippians four thirteen? Four thirteen. Yeah. K.

A lot of self absorbed ones. A lot of self absorbed ones. Alright. Here we go. Here's the most popular verse on YouVersion from 2014. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. That is a o alright, man. I like that. That is an a o alright world. Did not expect that at all. Do you know they posted that as their verse of the day? Like five times. It happens. It works. It still works.

Influencing from the inside. So and here's the way here's how they here's how they calculate it. Combined bookmarks, highlights, and shares from the YouVersion community app. Okay. Class of the year. Alright. Number two, Jeremiah twenty nine eleven. Yep. Jeremiah you from the womb. I knitted you in the womb. Yeah. I have the unit or something about the plans I have for you. I know the plans I have. Know the plans I have.

Yep. Plans to prosper. Matthew 633. Matthew oh, oh, sorry. Actually, the number I skipped some. Sorry. Matthew 633 is number 5. Number two was Philippians 48. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Number three is my daughter's mirror. Just every morning, she can see that. Yeah. That's a good one. It is a good one. Number three, Philippians four six, be anxious for nothing, but in everything be prayer by prayer and supplication. With thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. These are all pretty solid. These are God seeking verses. Yeah. Some surprises in there. There's a Jeremiah twenty nine eleven, Matthew six thirty three, Philippians four seven, Proverbs three five. What's Proverbs three five, Buva? Proverbs three five. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding in all your ways. Acknowledge him, and he'll straighten your paths.

Hey, I love Herrick. Hey, is just unfair. Are you kidding me?

I'm getting there. Arabic speaking friends. I'm getting there, okay? Hey, Mike. Pick a language. I know this one. Hey, man. I can throw you. Whatever. Leave me alone. Yep. Do you Dave Herrick, do you know Italian? Italian? Yeah. No, I don't.

I can try it in Spanish. Not the same. Hit it with your loose Spanish, go. With my loose Spanish? Yeah. Burrito. Give me a moment. Okay. Alright. Fair enough. It just left. Alright. Here we go. So there was an interesting one. They did most popular verse by country.

And, so Jeremiah twenty twenty nine eleven, dominates Canada, The United Kingdom, and, South Africa.

Jeremiah thirty three two to three dominates South Korea. Didn't even make the top 10 list. Here's Jeremiah 33. Oh, shoot. Did I lose it? No. There it is. Jeremiah thirty three two to three. Thus says the Lord who made the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it. The Lord is His name. Call to me, and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. Go South Korea. Yeah. Woah. South Korea is all over Jeremiah 33.

Interesting. And like I said, didn't even show up on the list for everybody else. I'm glad this list turned out a lot better than I expected it to. Hold on. Central And South America of Isaiah 4one 10. Anybody? Hold on.

He's gonna say it in six different languages. Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah ten forty one ten. But but I mean, when compared to, like, the Google results that we went through first of the year, wouldn't you figure that people who who own the Bible app are are least seeking God in a certain manner? It it it does I would hope. True. Yeah. It does at least appear that way. Right? Like, so our the Google results and I I I couldn't tell you all of them, but, like, they were very self seeking. They were very, the Lord will strengthen me. The Lord will give me things. The Lord will do things at my behest because he is a genie god, things of this nature. Like, that's the basic

the John three sixteen didn't even make the list, which I would assume not. Right? Again, you've downloaded the Bible app. The assumption is that perhaps you're familiar with John three sixteen and are not necessary to read and share. Yeah. So anyway, it was it's just interesting to kind of see that that that it's a positive dichotomy. I was much more cynical expecting about the list. Yeah. Yeah. So that's good thing. Anyway. Right on. Most shared

verse, Colossians three twenty three, whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for human beings. Hey, man. That's hard. I've tried that stuff. I mean, seriously, wrote that on on, like, a post it note, put it in my work vehicle. And I looked at it, I'd get done having a terrible conversation with a man, and I'd look at it and go, oh, crap. And then I have to call him back and say, you know what? I've done wrong in this deal, and here's the thing. It's very hard to do. I can always catch it after the fact. Like, after I've not done what it said, that's when I realize that I've not done it. Oh, yeah. Never before. And this was number three on the most shared was, second Chronicles seven fourteen. If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. I'm just amazed people are sharing from the old testament.

That just makes me smile. Yeah. Deuteronomy six six to seven. What's that one? Hero Israel, the Lord our God is one. Oh, the great Shema. Yeah. Is that the great Shema? Shema. Mhmm. Okay. Yeah. The Shema. Yeah. I know. Shamwow. I have a t shirt with the Shema.

Buy two, get three free. I got nothing. Here's here's what I'm encouraged by. The fact that I I hopefully will someday be, like, half the man that you guys are, and that means I might know somebody. Actually, never gonna happen. But hold on. Say half the verse, aren't they? Yeah. That's not quite right. No worries. So six Deuteronomy six four is, hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and with all your might. And then six is, and these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, I shall talk to them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise. That's the most shared. Cool. Was numbers

number eight. Most shared. Number eight on most Nice. And they talk about doing it while you're lying down. If I walked into my my house tonight and my wife is sleep talking the shema, I would be freaked out. I would slowly back out of the room and go in the other room and tell her, stop. You just gotta sleep under the couch. Better, it's an epic win for you as a spiritual household leader. I'm doing well.

It was She's sleep breathing. That actually happened to me once, except for my wife was sleep talking the lesser known Shema. And I I felt like I hadn't let my family.

Something in numbers. Something in numbers. It was 7422. And the number altogether was a 144,000. Okay.

Then I would definitely leave the room. It's like there's some revelation going on in the bedroom right now, and that's really scary. And was a 114 welders in Heaven, and I knew a Jebusite named Shammah, and a Hivite named Shammah. He was in the tribe of Levi. And a parasite. I knew I shouldn't have skipped numbers. I thought no one would know. Everyone goes through their one year bible reading plan, and numbers comes up. They go, maybe

I'll just skip past it. I bet there's Numbers in there. Moving on. Numbers is a fickle book. You know what I'm saying? You get halfway into it and you're like, I wish I wouldn't have done Numbers. I mean, there's a lot of interesting stuff in there. You're like, no one will know if I skip that five chapters. Seven, one thousand, hundred and forty four thousand. Numbers. We're good. That's that's rough times. Alright. Let's see. So that's that's pretty interesting. If you don't have a Bible app, the YouVersion's good. I use the ESV Bible. The Glow's good.

I rock the glow. There's a lot of good good bibles. I feel like the glow can get you to Job in thirty seconds. And if that's this problem that you're wanting to solve, glow's the way to live. I do logos. Cut cutting off thirty seconds of your diving into Job time is your driver for going to a completely different house. Yeah. Absolutely. So it's like, try this devotional. You don't tell me what to do. I'm asking Jesus. I feel like I I play I play bible lottery all the time. Actually, I just sit down with the bible, I say, lord, tell me. Why? And I open it. I can't read numbers. I tend to use the just the straight ESV app because I I'm mistrustful of devotionals. And so I don't I don't like here here's here's part of the bible without context. Enjoy it for the day. And I think to myself, nope. I will not. Not this time. Have like six You'll be Bildad. I have like six book devotionals. And I realized in the last year, I'm like, man, I really need to stop reading these. I'm not saying that there can't be done well. I just don't see it that often. I'll just put it that Here's until you've in-depth read Bildad and Eliphaz's responses to Job's troublesome ways, you sir have read the wrong devotional. Yeah. If if Bildad's

response isn't your devotional for the day Yeah. If you read that response and don't see a little bit of yourself in there and then can't figure out why he's incorrect, you certainly need to read it again. I was gonna say, that was half of the time I read Job. The first time I read Job, I'm like, yeah. That sounds pretty solid. Next yeah. These guys are good. This guy comes in. He's just like, hey, man. Gird your loins because I'm about to speak truth. I'm like, oh, crap. I've been wrong this whole time. I grew I agreed with the Teomite. What am I supposed to do now? What's in the bible? I I can't tell if Job's the bad guy or the good guy. Is his wife a shuckster too? What's going on? Heck, man. I might need to go find some pottery shards. I don't have my life in order. Alright. Anyway, hey, you're listening to Live From The Path. Thanks for hanging out with us so far this evening. Here's what we're gonna have to do. If you are listening on the Truth Network ninety nine point three, God bless you for one. I appreciate you being wherever you're at. Turn it on the radio. Listen to the old school radio times. Things that require knobs and buttons and things. You're hanging in with the technology. So we appreciate being on it. Crank that radio. We're gonna keep rocking.

Big thanks to our sponsors. Bye bye Eisenlawn with the Eisenlawner team. Go to eisenlawnerteam.com. Hey, Dan and I ran into Bob. Yeah. He was a hey. Here's the deal. Bob is a man of all men. He's out selling houses. He's doing he's doing good deeds. I've seen him dressed as a bunny rabbit. And then he was he's giving people rides at the airport. He's just a man he's a jack of all trades. I I don't know. I think he he works a twenty three hour day just being Bob. And then takes an hour rest to to diary, and then he gets up again. That's what I think Bob Eisenhower's life is So, anyway,

he also sells real estate. That's his primary key. Go to eisenhowerteam.com. Bob can help you with buying or selling a home. As you start the new year off, maybe you're thinking about moving into a different place. You wanna downsize, you wanna upsize, you wanna do it right. You wanna get ahold of Bob Eisenhower and the rest of his team. They're easy to work with and hard to beat. Go to eisenhowerteam.com. Also, Westfield Veterinary Hospital. Go to Westfield vethospital.com. That's right here in in Delicious Johnston. They're closed by the time we fire up,

but you can visit them during normal business hours. And they'd be glad to help you with all your pet care needs. Maybe your dog's got the aches and pains. Maybe you ain't getting their teeth looked at. Maybe you're just a lazy pet owner. Who needs to do a better job, Dan? And you can go to Westfield Veterinary Hospital. Kick the 2,015 off right. Here's the deal. If you don't care for your first animal, when it dies due to your poor taking care of it, you can't get another one. That's the rule. Life in the past will find you on the social media and make sure that everyone knows it. So go to Westfield Vet Hospital. Again, you can accept that appointment online. Westfieldvethospital.com. You can hit us hit us up on the email [email protected] or catch us during week at life in the path dot org. Sign up for the podcast so you can catch this free extra twenty minutes that's coming up here directly. And so if you're on our podcast, we'll be right back with you. Otherwise, thanks for listening to Live From The Path. Hey. By the way, I I if you're hanging out on the podcast,

this is some pretty, familiar tunes. This is Scott Henderson. The the song's called holding, and it's from his dog party album. It rocks. Hey. Scott Henderson pays me 8¢ every time I say that kind of stuff. Right out of his own Yeah.

He he donated he's got a lot of hair. He donated to locks of love, They gave him $20, and I get a little bit of it every day. I'm coming to you, Scotty. Alright. Did you call Johnston delicious? Did I say right here in delicious Johnston? I don't think so. I think you did. I think you said delicious Johnston. Stuff comes out my mouth. Don't

I get you know, I ain't no man, child. At least my mama don't tell me what to say. I think child's just delicious. You're lucky I got here after my iron administration.

Actually, to be honest What a load of crap. I just got done baking for the Lord. Hey. Ladies legitimately do that. You better watch yourself. Agreed. But not as like a full ministry in and of itself by itself. What if they bake off time and give the whole thing? It's not hey, man. It's not just one thing. You judgmental fool. I am a judgmental fool. That's why I'm here. Okay. It's fair. You know, here's what the deal is. I think to bring that to a point, I think that sometimes the only reason that that bothers me is because it's not so much whether it's using your gifts,

but you use it as an excuse to niche yourself out and say I don't do other things. I don't serve the poor. I don't care for the widow. I don't care for the orphan. I don't you know, I don't do any of this other stuff. I don't have it's not my job to talk to people about Jesus. I don't I don't provide comfort, mercy, whatever. I bake. I make popcorn. And maybe Hey. It worked for Dorcas. No, that's true. The clothing lady? No, no. Because she talked into a lot of people's lives. That's why a lot people were upset. It didn't exclude her from all the other cool things. Who? Just wanted to, you know, see where that went. Dan Lady and Dan did some sort of piston Honda eyebrows with it. But you don't catch it if you weren't listening. Delicious. Alright. So hey. I don't think so nobody else caught that caught the article in Newsweek? I don't read Newsweek. No. I don't either. It was just You know why? Because my bible app fires up thirty seconds. I don't get bored.

Forty five seconds in. Oh, Job. I think I read part of it, and I just kinda got bored. So so here's the deal. It's newsweek.com. It's the cover story, and it's it's titled The Bible So Mister Misunderstood. It's a sin. Yeah.

And, so here's the deal. I I wouldn't, I I would encourage you to read it. Let me put it that way. Because I think it does accurately reflect a lot of the, justifications people give about, about not following the bible or not Yeah. Believing in So It's very populous

type. Yeah. So it's like, you know, we don't really know what things mean. We can't trust the transmission. You know, how can we decide how can we be confident that the people who voted the bible in if, like, there was a vote, you know, chose it the way that that's right? You know, that it was written by fallible human beings, and they they've written incorrect things. There's parts of the bible that seem to be added and not copied right, and and people rejected the apocryphal books because they just didn't want things in there. And

people misinterpret it wrong, and they don't understand it. Like, all that's basically what it is. It's basically a long litany of of reasons why, a, we shouldn't trust trust the Bible, and coming out of that, you most certainly shouldn't trust a Christian, and God is very suspicious as well. So I I would if you're not familiar with, I'm sure you're familiar, mostly, with

types of things people might be upset about, but it is articulated, at least cleanly, here. So the only thing that I would say is that

you've got to be careful. It's pretty easy to throw accusations around at a book that's 2,000 years old. Plus. Right? Mean, that's 2,000 years old in the New Testament, 1,900.

And so the stories go further beyond that, especially if they come out of an oral culture. It's pretty easy to start throwing knives at something and say, we weren't there, so we don't know. It must be wrong. Which is kind of the position that they're taking. Right? We didn't see who copied it. Saw that there we think that there's variations.

We can't really trust other people. And so all those things make this book highly suspicious to us. It is irrelevant to the fact that, like, from historical document perspective, there's 5,000 some, you know, referential copies 15. 15,015. Sorry. 15,000, you

know, manuscripts and references and copies of old documents that validate what we have in our Bible. And things if you're talking things like documents from Pluto or old historical documents, the Hammurami's code, right, like, you have two documents, three, one. And

many of them dated a thousand year after it was written, two thousand years after something was purportedly written. Like, it is the most validated historical document anywhere. Anywhere, bar none. And it should rightly be scrutinized.

Don't hear me wrong there. Should rightly if it is what it purports to be, and we are to react to it in the way that I think we are, then it should be rightly scrutinized. But I think in similar ways as we look at everything else. So I would encourage you to read it. There are some pretty excellent responses out there from guys, from Christian scholars and stuff that have gone through and been able to kind of rebut some of these things. Stay out of the comments unless, I mean, you really got time to kill. It's pretty depressing. Like, I read through the article. I read through some of the commentary, and people were like, you know, this seems like it was very well said. And then someone would come on and say, well, you know, actually, the guy really didn't cite any real sources.

These are the things that are actually true. And they would say, well, you didn't give me a full bibliography on why you think that's true, so you're making that up too. And I can't really believe any of that. So it's held, the rebuttals are kind held to a way different standard than what the guy that wrote the article is. He provided basically no commentary. He quotes a very liberal, I'm going to say bible scholar, but I don't mean it,

Bart Ehrman. Like, and right, the first guy they quoted. So, I mean, it kind of gives away where the article is going, Bart Ehrman. Probably has stuck in YouVersion. So, anyway, just know that it's out there. I would read it. Like, I think it's worthwhile to know what people are talking about.

I don't know that it helps all that much, except for it's good to know the answer. There's no reason to not be prepared to speak to some of these things if you have the ability to. Sometimes, sometimes people can be reasoned with. Sometimes they approach these things and they're talking about them in a way that says, I'm willing to accept this if I can understand it better. And God has given us a book that can be defended. And I don't think there's any reason not to do that. I wouldn't invest your whole life in trying to convince a man who, you know, who blushes

at simple knowledge. You're probably not going to move his needle. There's some guys definitely in that commentary that, you know, that they're not intending to move. They're there to harass people. I'm there just to see what the people that harass folks are saying. So, anyway, just just a heads up on it. It might be worth a quick read just to see what's going on out there.

Alright. Mike. Dear, life from the past. We're in the middle of a dispute with my mother-in-law. She insisted on using place cards at our family's Thanksgiving dinner to indicate where she wanted us to sit. I felt it was controlling because it was only a small group of people. When I asked her why she needed a seating plan, she said it would be fun.

While it ended up that we all sat where we wanted and everyone conversed nicely, she said her holiday was ruined because I ridiculed her for wanting to place cards. What is your opinion? Would you ask your immediate family to sit in their appointed chairs or let everyone sit where they would like? How did did you say how many people? No. A small amount. He said small because he wants it to, you know, back up his point. How how many is too many? What do mean? Many how many where the place cards are typical?

Is that really the issue here? How many there is? Does that matter? Well, I mean, you're trying to organize a large affair, I mean, I kinda get it. You don't wanna you don't wanna end up where, like, you got a bunch of families sitting together and then there's one family that's got to be split up. Yeah, but if that's the case, then you don't say, because it'll be fun and my holiday is ruined afterwards. No, you're right. That's true. That's true. That's overdone. Yeah, no, I think it's not necessary. I don't know that I really I mean, what's the big deal? Yeah. He he needs to just grow up. I mean, it's one meal. It's one meal. And his and his mom probably did all the work. Yeah. So shut up, sit down, play the game. Be thankful, Jerick. Here's the deal. This guy reflects a lot about me because I would I would ridicule such a silly thing. And I have done so. My mother-in-law in particular is an organized person.

I am what is known as disorganized. And so we don't see eye to eye very often, mostly to my shame. And this is the type of idea that I would go, come on. Are you serious? Please God, this is ridiculous. And really, what what should happen is I would say, okay. And then just sit down wherever they put the cards. And then when a juice got spilled or something happened where it was detrimental, you know, you just fix it as it goes. I feel like it's probably not that big of a deal. Now granted, is she overreaching? In my opinion, yes. It's a bit ridiculous. But like, it's it's her it's probably her house, I'm assuming, since she's putting place cards out. It's probably the meal that she cooked. You, sir, are ungracious

and should just sit where you're told. Yeah. Agree. Agreed. K. Secular advice. Secular advice says, one of the perks of hosting a sit down dinner is having the privilege of controlling the seating, regardless of whether guests and friends or our relatives.

That was, that is what a family dinner is beside the point. For you to have made such a scene that you ruined your hostess this evening was rude, and you owe her an apology. Yep. Yeah. Wow. Agreed. Man, I thought that would go the other way. I thought you guys would be like, you know, that guy's pretty reasonable, and the woman is nuts. No.

She may be nuts, but it's one meal. Yeah. And it's her meal. She cooked. Shut up. Sit down where she wants you to. That's fair enough. Dear life from the past. I am a single mom. My child's father has refused to take any responsibility since before the baby was born. I never cut ties because I'm sure my son will someday long for and want to know his real father. Even though he renounced his responsibility,

he took it back and said he'd try to be there for my child. We are many we are geographically many miles apart, and I no longer expect or hope for any possibility of a reconciliation, which is fine. I just never wanted to seem like someone who has been dumped, so I reasoned that we're cool. Life from the Path, he never calls to ask how our child is. What should I do? Should I cut ties with him forever, or must I continue to be one messaging him, informing him about the milestones?

Should I keep this connection going or let it go? Confused. Single mom. Yokohama, Japan. Oh. I'm sorry that this man has done this. He's put you in a very difficult spot,

which you are now having to babysit a child and a man who can't handle his ways correctly. I would say, in the best interest of your child, and probably is a nice outlet for you, I would continue to talk, to send him stuff. I would,

even if he doesn't respond to it. It's not necessary, and I I think you could be justified for saying I'm not going to do it anymore. But hopefully,

his his foolishness will come around. So yeah. I I would say that. I I don't think there's a wrong I don't think there's a wrong answer in letting it go, but I would I would encourage you to keep doing it. I feel like she's been encouraged by people around her be like, you need to cut ties. I don't even know what that means, really. Like, it's just a phrase that people wanna attain to to make it sound like there's some finality here. But the finality is is the child. The child is the finality of the of the relationship between the two of you. And, you know, while I agree look, I mean, I I I think your tact is right. Like, I the man we're talking about that wants to reconcile and and be a father to his kids does not geographically live miles away from you. Yeah. I don't care what his job is. I don't care what he does for a living. I don't it doesn't matter. Right? If that's what he wants to do, then he's there. If he doesn't wanna do it, he's not. Men are really simple like that. Ladies ladies like to take the the tack that the men are complicated and deep, and they're not. They're they're not at all. If a man says he wants to be somewhere, he will be there. If wants he to be there on time, he will be there on time. All those things are true. And and the same comes with a man who's constantly late. If it's not important to him, he won't be there on time. That's just kind of his deal. And so you could easily gauge with no thought process at all how important it was to him. I mean, barring some kind of weirdness, but which is I mean, if he's not willing to lie to you, there won't be that many weird occasions Yeah. Of which something happened. And so, like, cutting ties is is an idea and it's a concept that you should just drop now. It's it's not really helpful. And so, yeah, I I think I agree. You could send him the stuff. Whether he cares about it or not is is not the not the issue. When your child asks you

about his father or how it went, you can say, look, sent him the stuff. You know, I'm I'm not exactly what happened sure what happened to it after that. Here's what what I know where he lived last. And say, okay. That's you did you did what you could for your child through that relationship. And, you know, I I wouldn't say I wouldn't make overly grand statements about the father or would I make detrimental statements. I would just make truthful statements. I sent stuff to him. I haven't heard back from him. Here's where I think he lives. At some point down the road, the father and the son might reunion at some point. It'd be nice if he had some briefing notes about what's been going on in his child's life. Now, it's up to him to hang on to him, but if you can provide him with, you know, some interesting details about his kid's life so that he's not just coming to the table cold turkey and

knows at least a little bit about it, so that there can be some kind of ice breaking warm reception. If he can warm that in any way at all to help get that relationship back together, I think it'd be worth it. Yeah. And the truth of the matter is, and we talked about this, here at Pathway a couple weeks ago about mercy, is treating people, better than they deserve. This man does not deserve that. That's agreeable.

But you're gonna treat him better than that. You're gonna treat him better than he deserves, you're gonna provide this information, and so that warm thing can happen. Because what most, on the vindictive side, you'd rather say, when I when you meet your son or daughter for the first time, my feeling is I want you to be screwed because that's what we were for the twenty five years we didn't know you. And instead, you take the treatment better than they deserved and provide them this information and hopefully, you know, that can help mend the relationship when time comes. So I think that's the right advice. I think just on a practical level, I would recommend they be like friends on Facebook or something. He could follow along that way if he wants to. Otherwise, you know, he moves from apartment to apartment. Yeah. You can lose I wouldn't know how to find someone. No. Yeah. And I wouldn't say you like you're spending much of time hunting down. Yeah. Yeah. He's got to be some got some skin in the game here, think.

Or at least have access to it. He can even be under some false name. He could be, you know, whatever and be able to see what's going on. Yeah. I don't know. I think that seems like the easiest way to handle it. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. I agree with that. Okay. Secular's advice is a man who tries to be responsible for his children pays at least token child support to ensure that they are fed, clothed, educated. Nowhere in your letter did you indicate that your child's father has done that or intends to. Do you want to stay in touch so your child will have an address to reach him when he's older? I think that's laudable. But if you're expecting he will suddenly develop an interest or a conscience, the pattern that has been set seems pretty well established, so don't get your hopes up. Yeah. I would agree with that. I I don't think that changes how you behave. I don't think his foolishness changes yours, changes how you act. But that's true. I'd set the right example or the right I I don't assume that that it's going to do anything to his past behavior.

Hey. You've been listening to, live from Path. Hey. Before we, before we head out, I need to hand out, this week's honor and shame. I need some sort of music. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. So honor and shame this week. This week, the shame is being dealt out to, to to Buva. Buva Buva gets the shame for for being the man that is described in the man child in the man child description. Agreed. Shameful, Buva. You should be like other other men that aren't like that. Agreed. This week's honor goes to goes to Dave Hare for not only knowing bible verses off the top of his head, but in multiple languages.

Duly honored. It's a good thing you're not like Buva. It's a great thing you're not like me. You're a father. That's true. That was this week's honor and shame on life from the path. Hey. Thanks for hanging out with us. If you need anything from us, shoot us a quick email. Hey. We're gonna do we're do a we're gonna hit the buffet sometime in the first quarter next year. To the at the hibachi? Yeah. Did you go to the hibachi? I went today. Did you like it? Hibachi. Hibachi. It was was awesome. Here's the deal. I tried to teach my kids to say it like that, and the four year old could not pull it off. I mean, she was way loud with it. I'm like, hibachi. She's like, hibachi.

I'm like, Ella, you can't do it that loud. We're in a restaurant. She's like, oh, I'm sorry. Hibachi. Like, it's not working. So anyway, I'd prep your kids before you go. Don't expect them to pick it up on the fly. I'm going this time. Alright. Alright. Alright. Hey. Thanks for hanging out with us. Be faithful, it means. God will take care of the ends. You've been listening to Life in the Past.