Live from the Path, coming from the Pathway Studios here in Johnston proper. Yeah. Anyway, that's what we've got going on the show tonight. Did I say what it was? That'll round that right up. Yeah, that straightens it up. All right, so I think we're primarily going to hit up some advice tonight to see what's going on in the world, see how people could use some Live from the Path sweet advice on how to change their ways, and then the random news article that may or may not show up. Although, we were talking just before the show started, like our – and maybe this is us.

This is probably not fair to paint on broad culture, but like my trouble with imperceptible miracles. And so we talked about this a little bit. Mike, do you remember when we went through that guy who wrote the website that was like, God hates amputees? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And like his whole deal was basically every time the Christians say someone was healed of something or other, like it's always something that you can't really pick out. Or like a guy getting out of a wheelchair, but I mean he still has legs, but you don't see a person like growing a limb. Right. Or something like that you can easily pick out that's verifiable by the rest of the world.

Now here's the deal. It's like I actually think he's being pretty selective. I've heard stories from different parts of the world where resurrection isn't out of the question, people growing limbs, things of this nature. So like he's actually not dealing with the full counsel of Christianity and Christian experience. But it does seem to be that we have a – we do see a lot of people claiming miracles that are like very – they're indistinct. Right? Like someone might say something like – what did we see? Someone this week said they don't need their glasses anymore. Or, you know, someone who's – hey, my – I don't know. I was having heart palpitations, and the Lord Jesus healed me of a heart palpitation. Things that like no one else could ever pick out.

Like there's things that your body, you feel and can vouch for, but like no one could really verify. Yeah, so I hate that feeling, right? Because like I totally believe the Lord could do these things and does do these things, right? Yeah. But like there's some kind of part of me that's like, well, I don't know. I mean, heart palpitations, I mean, are they sure? You know, like for some reason my instant reaction is to think, well, maybe it wasn't that bad to start with. Or maybe you perceived your insomnia wrong. Like maybe you drink like six liters of soda every night at 10 o'clock at night, and then all of a sudden you stop drinking the soda, and you're like, the Lord has healed my insomnia. And then you completely ignored – maybe it's this. Maybe I'm trying to think that like God is completely capable, and as far as I can see, willing to do pretty awesome things.

And sometimes we like to take the cheap substitute and throw his name on it. Okay, so you think we might be underselling it? Like we're touting the miracles that God has done that are extremely – are minor? Is that what you're saying? Well, kind of, and it's like it falls into like – it's where you're secondhand cheapening the gospel through, I don't know, like mundane fixes, not like miracles, right? Like I believe God does regrow a leg. Yeah, right. Like if he wants to regrow a leg, he will regrow a leg, and he's perfectly capable of doing that. Now, it doesn't seem to be his general mode of operation. I don't see him regrowing legs all the time, otherwise we'd have a bunch of infirmaries with – everybody's got legs, you know? Yeah, right, right, yeah, yeah. And so like that doesn't seem to be a constant, you know, statute of his character that he just regrows legs as a statute.

But I think that he can do it. But like it seems like sometimes we accept – we want to call it Christ's intervention so bad that we'll accept even small consequences of just changes and then say the Lord has done this. And like not that he – not that he can't or won't, but like I don't know, like he's a pretty big God, and that doesn't mean he has to do whiz-bang fireworks all the time. But like, you know, maybe it's just making sure that, yeah, that that was him, he did do something. You know, like sometimes we – and in the same realm I feel this way about sometimes when we lessen the gospel down to just being a better dude. Yeah. You know, like being a nicer person. Like God is – he's way bigger than that. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And like the source of joy that people come out with when they actually follow, you know, Christ to where he takes them, it's a joy that like it transcends having to tell you to be nice to people, right? You just kind of do that because you love them, right?

Like that change is a change that God makes within somebody where they see his people how he sees them. And so it's not like you have to go and get a talk into about how nice you're being to people in general. Like you develop a love for people because you got it from the Holy Spirit who gives it to you. And so you're fighting – it just seems like you're fighting the peripherals when you do that. And so like I put both of those kind of in the same realm, and actually I'm admitting that I don't even know if that's accurate, fair, true, or, you know, a righteous way of thinking. Yeah. I'm just saying I do that. No, yeah, I think that's fair. Boy, I don't know. That's – maybe it's because – like it feels – I'm just going to sound wrong. It feels desperate, right? It feels like we are reaching out and saying I want to take – I want to take anything and be able to – see, this doesn't sound right because I want to be able to attribute it to God.

But the truth is like I mean all good and perfect things come from God. So like that's not deniable. So it's just – maybe we've settled. Like we've settled for a God that's bigger than what it is that we've gotten so excited about. Right. Like when someone says I've been praying for this cold to go away and then the cold goes away and they're like, yay God. I'm like, well, I mean that was inherent in his body design. You know what I'm saying? Like he did do that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I don't – see, that's where I feel like such a callous jerk. You know what I'm saying?

Like why would I try to take away from someone praising Jesus for something good? Yeah, yeah, right. You know what I'm saying? And so like I'm just like that jerk in the corner who's like, I don't know. I mean everybody fights off the common cold. This is not a victory of good over evil, the Lord defeating Satan, that you've survived the cold. But then on the other hand, it's like if someone wants to praise Jesus for feeling great, you know, why do I have a problem with it? You know, is that just an innate problem of me or do I feel like to a certain extent that maybe you might be – it makes it hard to explain to someone that doesn't know Christ. They're like, what can I – if you're trying to introduce them to the God that you serve and they say, what can I expect? I say, well, you can expect colds to subside. Yeah, you can expect to get over colds in a reasonable three- to five-day time period. You know what I'm saying?

And that makes it hard for me to defend when people are like, look, I mean, all the things that you try to attribute to this great, wonderful God of yours seems to be a function of a world. Although think about this, like how Jesus describes it is basically the rain falls to unjust and unjust alike. So like is that not tantamount to someone saying, hey, what can I expect for following Christ? And you're like, he'll allow rain. Right. And you feel like – if that feels silly, but like that is a gift from the Lord Jesus. And so maybe it's just fine. We need to rethink what he provides, like the ability for your – the body that was created in his image to fight off nefarious disease. Yeah. And that's a gift. It's a rain that falls on the just and unjust alike. Can I praise Jesus in that?

Yeah. But maybe it's because – I guess if those are the foundations of your faith, maybe we just don't – like are we undercutting the broader, bigger God that does bigger things? And actually, we were kind of talking about that with someone just a little bit earlier tonight. And it had to do with how we – the posturing of the saints in Revelation. There's these guys that are under the altar and they're like, you know, when will there be justice, God? And I think to myself, like if I've had to picture – Mike, do you remember? I think it was at the start of Crazy Love where they asked – you said you're supposed to like imagine in God's throne room what it would be like. And like I stink at that. The only thing I can think of is just – is getting into this throne room of God and weeping because like the reality of like all the doubt that's been in my life, all the sin that's been in my life. And like if I'm approaching God, I feel like I have nothing to say here. I don't have anything to speak to. I don't have anything quippy, no kind of snazzy thing that I present to the Lord.

Nice firm choice or something. Yeah. Like you've created me. I've got this whiz-bang thing to say once I enter the throne room. Like all I could think of is looking up and saying – and thinking to myself like I have nothing to represent myself here. I shall weep and hope Jesus steps in and vouches for me. Right. Right? And so this is all I can think of. But then the picture that you have in Revelation is these saints in there and like what type of – what type of stones does it take to look at God and say when will you avenge us? And so it was this concept of you're emboldened in the presence of God. And the thing is the thing they're asking seems right and good because God very well answers this question.

He tells them to wait but then spends the rest of the pictures in Revelation vouching – like doing this very thing. Yeah. Like providing the justice that they're asking for. And so it's one of those things where are we under-asking – are we under-asking to God? We're like I would – I get in the throne room and I can't think of anything to do but blubber on and weep in the presence of the Lord. And these guys are up there in God's presence. They're like, hey, when will your justice be poured out, God? What's the delay? Yeah. And like that is not looked upon as a bad thing. It seems like you've met God correctly. Your yearning for justice was accurate because he responds to it in that way.

You're not being rebuked in God's presence for this thing. And so I just wonder if in our attempt to rightfully understand our righteousness as filthy rags that we are not also undercutting the thought process of like reaching out to an all-knowing, all-loving God and meeting up – like are we passing him up child's play? When is it – again, picture in Revelation, it's the prayers of the saints that are like, yeah, and then he chucks down the judgment. Like as the prayers of the saints kind of aromate in his presence and like I'm not praying prayers of which the right response from heaven is to chuck down judgment. I'm praying for toenails and things of this nature. I've got a pain in my ankle and I just really need to have it go away. And like I'm not saying not to do those things because, again, God that counts every hair in your head I feel like probably cares. But like maybe we're underdoing it. Maybe we're underdoing what we're talking to the Lord about. And I try to sneak it in. You know what I'm saying? Like I'll pray and I'll be talking to him a little bit and then I'll be like – and here's the deal.

I'm not really super worried about this ankle. But like if you feel like you could do something about it, that'd be great. You know what I'm saying? Just going to throw that out here. Just leave it on the table. Yeah. Yeah. Like listen, I don't mean to bring this to your desk, Lord. I realize this is just an ankle deal. You know, but I mean if you feel like it's something that could be handled, if not, I'm cool with it. You know what I'm saying? Like because I don't want to look a fool in front of him.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Hashtag struggles. You know what I'm saying? Stuff Mike struggles with on how to speak to the Lord Jesus. You know, I think that like, hey, man, I've had the flu for a couple of days. I got to get this over with, you know? And I'm like, if you could do something about the flu, that's great. If not, you know, I'm on my own. No, it's like asking – it's like being friends with a rich guy and you're having car troubles and you don't want to ask him for money to help you with your car troubles, but you kind of casually mention that you're having car troubles in the hopes that he steps in and goes,

hey, let me help you out with that. Like you're praying very passive-aggressive at the Lord. That's terrible, right? Because, like, I don't deal with human beings that way. Why would I deal with a God that actually knows me, you know, in an attempt to, what, chide him? You know what I'm saying? Try to convince him to, like, I know you have good intentions and you're generous, so maybe if I just kind of mention the ankle thing, you know, you'll put the fix on it. Yeah, yeah, God, you know I've been sick, but anyway, I wanted to help the poor orphans. And really what you're saying is, Lord, I'm sick and I would like to get over that. Can you step in on that action? Yeah.

But you'd be very passive-aggressive at it. Yeah, that's got to end. Yeah, that's got to end. Shame. For shame. And here's the deal. Like, if you want to put this all in perspective, like, this conversation centers around stuff that I struggle with, right? I'm not saying that I got the beat on this thing that, like, fixing feet and eyesight and whatever is off the scope. Because, once again, I totally believe that it is in the scope. I struggle with it. Yeah. I struggle with it.

And not that I think the people that it happens to are making it up or that it didn't really happen. I just struggle with the whole concept. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't know why. I don't think everything has to be, you know, a fire from heaven licking up water. I don't think it has to be that. But, like, sometimes it's harder for me. Maybe that's just what I'm concerned with. It's harder for me when I talk to people that don't know Jesus and they want to know his character. And they're like, well, I know this guy. And he claimed that he was cured from lupus or something.

And I'm like, I don't even know if he had lupus. He just claimed. I'm like, I don't know, man. Maybe he did. Maybe he didn't. I don't know. Here's the God I know, you know? Right. Like, I have a hard time defending some of the weirder, some of the harder to believe things. And maybe that's not even my job. Maybe it's my job just to let God speak for himself. And people don't want to dig on miracles.

They don't want to dig on miracles. But here's what I do know. It's like, generally, when you agree to follow Jesus Christ, and I can convince you that he loves you, created you, and has a kingdom that he wants you to be a part of. And when you start to fall in line with the way that kingdom works, I can guarantee results. You know what I'm saying? I can guarantee the way that you look at the world changes. I can guarantee the way that you look at your wife and your children changes. I can guarantee the way that you work changes. All those things are a black and white every time. A guy who didn't know Jesus meets Jesus. Those things change definitely.

Unfortunately, whether they fix feet or don't fix feet or ankles are healed or sight is here, I can guarantee the way that you look at people and look at God and look at the way the world works changes for the positive immediately. And so, like, I can always bank on that. And some of the other stuff, I just – I don't even know what to say without sounding like I don't believe it happens. Because I know what it sounds like. I know what I'm sounding like. But I just know that, like, the palpable things, the Matthew 5 things, right, those change. Those change immediately. Well, not immediately, but they change in a person. When the Holy Spirit lives there, these things change, and they change like now. And that is enough. The proof is enough in that pudding that I think they – you know, that's good enough for the goodness of God as far as I'm concerned.

Yeah. Yeah, okay. Tough sell. Sorry. I'm interested in more of this. I am too. Yeah. Do you think – I mean, what if we brought a dude in here, and he hangs around – here's the problem. So this is – I've had bad experience with healers in the past, with people that, like, you know, walk around and do God's healing, and the presence of God is here, whiz-bang. Yeah. Like, I've watched them promise a 12-year-old with a learning disability and then fail at it because it didn't change anything,

and then tell not only the kid but the kid's mom that they didn't have enough faith to get it done. Yeah, yeah, right, right. And I'm like, I can't – I don't even know what to say here. Like, this is a complete fail of God's grace, a complete fail of God's love towards that person. And, like, I can't even begin to explain why that kid is the way that kid is, whether it's natural consequences or what. But, like, your attempt to move the Lord's hand when the Lord decides when his hand moves, you could certainly ask, but you don't do telling. You know, and, like, I feel like sometimes they cross over into telling. And, like, I just can't – I can't get on board with that, and I feel like that turns people away from God when you've misrepresented them in that way. Yeah. No, that's true. Like, that time, those guys that kept trying to heal pants at the – Oh, it was a joke.

At the music festival we were at. And that, like – and here was the deal. Like, there was a number of people that were there that were like, hey, I have back problems, and now I'm fine. And then we saw them at the festival the next day with back problems. Yeah. And it always – what's with the hoot? Like, every time it was like, whoo, there's some kind of weird noise that come out of somebody. Like, if you don't do the hand movement and the wazzah, you know what I'm saying? The Holy Spirit can't work in a subtle way. Yeah. It's got to do it with some kind of showmanship from a Vegas side show. Yeah, I just – yeah, and maybe that's the deceit.

Like, maybe the deceit is ways – like, it's an attempt to subvert or pervert what it is that God does by sending a whole bunch of clowns in there to jack it up so that you're hesitant to believe that the thing is accurate. Yeah, the Holy Spirit is not like a lice infection, right? Like, it doesn't have to be communicated between two close proximity dudes. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And the Holy Spirit goes where the Holy Spirit's invited, and then it stays there. And, like, it does not have to include a weird hands-holding and some kind of eye covering and then a shove. Yeah. You know, like, that's just silly. And actually, my favorite response was Pants. Pants has MS, right? And they're like – they're trying to clean him up with MS.

Pants is like, no, it's fine. Look, I mean, I feel like the Lord's given me this thing, and it's not a big deal. You know, and they're like, no, no, no, it can be cured in Pants. No, seriously. I'll say, it's fine. I'm okay with it, you know? Me and the Lord are not struggling as a result of this disease, you know? And they are just certain that Pants is delusional and nuts, you know? And he's like, look, we're fine. And I'm sitting there looking at Pants going, first of all, I love this guy. Yeah. And second of all, shame on you guys.

You know what I'm saying? You guys are looking at him like he's got some kind of problem. And Pants is like, I got a gift from the Lord. I'm still alive and kicking, and this disease has allowed me to see him better. I'm cool. Yeah, right. You know, and like, it was just embarrassing to watch, really, is what it was. I was ashamed to have been within 20 feet of it. Yeah. Yeah, boy, that was weird. That was a weird deal. Okay.

All right, you're listening live from the path. Let's see. What else have we got going here? It was, what did I see? Hey, there was an article in Relevant Magazine about nine things everyone should do when reading the Bible. Did we talk about this one before? I don't think so. This seems fresh. Okay, hold on. So, what is this? All right, here we go.

Let's see if these ring true for you. Nine things everyone should do when reading the Bible. One, read King when you see Christ. Christ or Messiah means anointed one, and priests and kings were anointed. Substituting King Jesus for Christ Jesus when reading draws attention to the fact that Christ was not Jesus' last name, but in fact his title, one of great honor and esteem. Making that one switch alone breathes new life into reading the New Testament. I would say that does change it. You roll over Messiah because Messiah doesn't have a lot of connotation to you. You put King in there, it does kind of shift how you think about Jesus as you're going through. So, I'd agree with that one.

Yeah, okay. Okay. Is that the direct interpretation of the Messiah? Yeah. Okay, right on. You can bake both in there, priest and king, but yeah, I think you're definitely king for Messiah. Yeah, agreed. Okay, number one's a win. Two, read you differently. Almost all the you words in the New Testament are plural yous rather than singular yous. The southern y'all expresses it beautifully.

The epistles are written to believers corporately, not believers alone. What? Does anybody read Ephesians and is like, this is definitely for me as one guy? Here's the thing is what he's saying is true except for they were written to those people. You know what I'm saying? Like, I mean, you could tell when someone's speaking if a principle applies to you or applies to all. Right? Like, in general, when people say, hey, don't drink out of the Euphrates, I don't go, well, good thing I don't run into the Euphrates very often because, like, I would be very tempted, but I will refrain. Yeah.

Are you saying that someone reading Ephesians is like, this was written to one guy in Ephesus? Yeah, that's what I don't understand. Like, here's the… Or I can substitute you with the proper name. Yeah. Yeah. Ted, don't drink out of the Euphrates. Okay. Yeah, okay. Well, I'm glad Ted has been faithful in this. Thanks for dragging our attention in as if you were writing to the entire town of Ephesus, but really, you just wanted to talk to Ted.

So, let me read this out. Yeah, now that's passive aggressive. We need to have a meeting about people drinking from the Euphrates, Ted. It says, this does not diminish personal responsibility at all, though. If anything, it heightens it. We pray together, believe together, suffer together, raise the armor of God together, all y'all. So, yeah, I mean, I don't know that I've ever made the mistake of thinking, A, this doesn't apply to me when it obviously does, or thinking that it applies to me specifically and not everybody else. So, I mean, I suppose if you're struggling with that, do that differently. Well, I mean, but we've talked about this before in context of taking, like, charges that were given in letters or charges that were given, you know,

when the Lord has spoken in the Old Testament and then claiming them for our own. You know what I'm saying? Like, are there some parts of, you know, Colossians that don't, they're not talking to us right now. They're talking to a specific set of circumstances, you know, like Barge's has been in there trying to put the fool on people, or someone's been in there trying to convince them of a different gospel of what Paul preached, and Paul's like, hey, hey, hey, don't dig on that. Now, you can take from their experience and say, hey, I've seen something like that. This must, you know, I'll take the same course of action, you know. Yeah. But, like, in that instance, he was talking to the people that he was talking to, you know.

Like, people are coming in trying to convince you that circumcision is a deal, and I'm telling you, we've decided this already, so drop it, you know. Yeah. Where I'm not as worried about that, but I can say, but I can apply that in principle to a couple other things in my life, you know. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I think that's true. I don't know. I don't know who's struggling with that. I'm going to give that a zero. They should have done eight things everyone should do in reading the Bible. Or 50 for 50.

Okay, number three. If you see a therefore, find out what it's there for. Yeah, yeah, do that. That's a good idea. Like, look for for's, but's, what's another one? And's. Yeah, yeah, just. I just said a word. When people are giving, when it's giving a description, yeah, I mean, he's transitioning you for a reason. So dig it up. It says, therefore, take notes in Bible where paragraphs are divided up with headings inserted by editors.

The paragraph begins with therefore, you might have to pick up a bit earlier to understand the context. So I would say broadly, then, yeah, read the context. That's really the right, that's the right thing. Number four. Realize that not all if statements are the same. This was a watershed one for me. Not all ifs are the same. Conditional ifs are not the same as causal ifs. Some if statements are always tied to the then one. If you stand in the rain, then you will get wet. Others have more risk involved. The if statement is necessary but not sufficient to bring about the then one.

If you study for an exam, then you will pass. This makes the world of difference in studying Romans 8. If you are led by the Spirit of God, you are children of God. I had always read that and been afraid I wasn't Spirit-led enough to be considered God's child. It was a glory hallelujah moment to realize this was the first type of if. If you are led by the Spirit of God, and you are, then you are also, always, and forever his child. What a difference. Yeah, okay. Yeah, I could actually see falling into some of those. You know, like, what's the one that always, that catches up a lot of people? Like, if they're guilty of the sin that cannot be forgiven. Yeah.

And they're like, I don't quite understand it. If maybe I did do it. You know what I'm saying? Like they're all freaked out about it. But, yeah, maybe that's true. Yeah, I don't know. The truth is, though, is people make the distinction as to which, if it is, largely based upon the theology they brought into it. Right, what they wanted it to be? Yeah. Yeah, that's true. I would say eternal, what am I thinking of? Security.

That depends on where you start. Where you start from, then you'll read the stuff the way that you want it to. Whether you want eternal security or whether you think that you can lose salvation. You'll get, you'll basically get wherever you started from type of thing. And if statements are kind of the same way. Number five, recognize that lamenting is A-OK. Yes, there is joy and peace and hope in Christ, but true believers still mourn and lament. There is space in the life of faith for complaining, tears, grit, and depression. Just look at the Psalms. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I was, I thought yesterday about starting to memorize some stuff. Like, I really stink at memorizing scripture. I can't even tell you where general verses are. I got lazy. I have to look everything up. I decided that maybe I should start memorizing the Psalm or two at a time and see if I can memorize the Psalm. No, that's a cliche, man. Everybody does that. What is it? I should go to Lamentations? You got to pull some stuff out of the dude. Actually, you know what?

I tell you what. I tell you what I'd like to memorize is Amos. Amos is a fierce book. There's been some revelation connections in there, and the more I read it, I think, heck yeah, man. Amos is solid. So that's probably the opposite of memorizing stuff out of Psalms. You could quote almost the entire book of Amos, and most everybody who's even grown up in the church will go, yeah, that's cool. Where'd you get that from? Yeah. Yeah.

It's F and I, too. Yeah. Yeah, maybe I'll do Amos. All right. Number six. Realize that prophecy is more often forth-telling than foretelling. So, so often our focus in approaching prophecy is to ask, what did they say about the future? However, often the prophets weren't talking about the future. Foretelling, they were explaining and interpreting Israel's history and current predicaments in light of their covenantal behavior. Foretelling. And had little to do with the future.

Israel may have painfully, may have painfully, yeah, that's missing a word. Israel may have been painfully aware that they had just suffered military defeat at the hands of the Babylonians, but it took the prophets' words to explain from God's perspective why this had happened and what lessons they were to learn from their experience. Poor old Jeremiah. Agreed. Yeah, that's all. Yeah, put that one on a board. That's a good one. It doesn't always mean the future. And here's the deal. God doesn't have to tell the future just to, like, show off.

Like, God's capable of showing off in any way he sees fit. Like fixing vision. Yeah, that's correct. Or ankles. Or fibromyalgia. And so prophecy has to be there for a reason. Like, he's already created the world. He doesn't have to dazzle you with, I know what's going to happen next Tuesday. Like, that's just not his bag. He's saying something, if it's in the future, it's for a reason, to inform how you act today. Number seven. Become familiar with the idioms of your king.

Jesus' words were so often hard to understand. Cryptic and parables couched in Hebrew idiom. He spoke of eyes being lamps and people being salt. Language often so far removed from my understanding, it was tempting to skip over the Gospels to the much more familiar epistles. Yeah, that's generally how people look at it. Really? Gospels are hard to digest. Let me get into the epistles. I have not known anyone that thinks that. I can get parables, people don't want to read the letters of the boys. They always want to be like, just give me the Jesus story.

Yeah, yeah, right. Weird. He's grown up differently than I have. However, if we have called Jesus king and lord, we dare not skip over his words just because they are hard. What is the implication about the epistles? Yeah, no doubt, because Peter's like, look, I know Paul's hard to take. He's hard to understand. No, that's true. But here's the thing. Commentaries and a little internet research on the Gospels go a long way towards filling in some of the cultural and linguistic blanks.

As his followers and servants, it is our responsibility to keep on seeking understanding. Do you have a good reference for historical context, stuff like that? Or is it very situational? It's situational. I mean, there's some Bible dictionaries that are good, that are more agnostic about their theology, like they're just trying to give you some possible options about what this might be applying to. So Bible dictionaries are good. Here's the deal. Commentaries are that, are somebody looking at this and trying to explain it to you. And a lot of times they're laden. So I'm real selective on my commentaries.

And I try not to teach anything out of a single reference for that reason. Like people just bring in, and frankly, I try to choose commentaries where people are arguing with each other. Yeah. Like I want to read something where the other guy has read the other guy. And so he says like, I agree with so and so on this. Or unlike this dude, I think this happens because of X, Y, and Z. Because I at least feel I'm getting some sort of, you know, appropriate angle to something. But yeah, Bible dictionaries are pretty good. And frankly, like pursuing some of the Greek language is a lot, is pretty fruitful in circumstances like that. I've seen a lot of bad theology and bad, well, maybe they're not destructive references, but

they're also not correct. Like there's a big thing going around the net about Jesus folding the napkin. Like I don't, that doesn't seem to have any actual historical reference. What the hell? Like when he raises from the dead, why did he fold the clothes, his burial clothes, before he left? And there was some kind of backstory about folding a napkin, and that's why Jesus did it. And like, you know, it doesn't, I don't know. I feel like those, I mean, when you're Lord of the Universe, the sheets just behave themselves. You know what I'm saying? Like when you leave a room, they tighten up. They get to doing what they were supposed to be doing, because you're the king, you know?

Yeah. I just assumed, I mean, I can't imagine, I just never imagined him waking up and be like, yeah, okay, and then folding the sheets up and kind of dusting himself off and then hauling out. You know, I just kind of figured he was up, gone, the sheets folded themselves, and the angel's like, all right, I'll wait until the ladies get here. Yeah. Or the angel did it after he left. Yeah. Like in disappointment, like Jesus always leaving stuff unfolded. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, he probably would have. The angel's just a bit of a tidy wart, you know what I'm saying? He's like, you gotta clean this place up. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I say, for effect, you should have just left them tousled about, and the angel got bored sitting there waiting for people and shined them up. He probably got a talking to, he was like, you know, I left that stuff rumpled for a reason. I was kind of going for an effect, dude. Yeah. He's like, look, man, I just, I couldn't take it no more. And then Jesus thought, well, at least the Shroud of Turin still exists.

That's right. At least I know who I am. Yeah, so anyway, those idioms are difficult, though, because like, you know, you've seen bad ones where people try to explain some things like, here's what really happened, and you don't really have a good way to be able to tell whether that has any historical precedent or not to start digging around on it. Yeah, I get sucked into that stuff on Facebook all the time. You know, people are like, you know, here's a story that you've heard before, but here's really the behind the scenes. And like, I don't know whether they've completely made it up or not. It could be of anything. Like, here's what Winston Churchill did just before he made a blah, blah, blah speech.

I'm like, no doubt. I don't know if that's true, right? It's just some guy said it was. And I'm like, some unknown internet man, you know, named History Unplugged. You know, I'm like, whoa, I'm blown away by that. I don't even know whether it happened, right? They could have just completely made it up. Yeah. Yeah, that's real iffy. So like, that's one of those things where I'll double check it, maybe triple check some sort of historical reference before I say it out loud. So I was listening to a guy earlier last week, and he was talking about Jesus and said that

like, because Jesus was a good Jewish man, that he pumped out the Shema, like day and night, like once when he got up and once before he went to bed. Yeah. But like, I never saw him say that stuff. Do you think that's something he's just inferring? Or that's probably true? Well, yeah, you would, it is likely true. But if they didn't bother capturing scripture, I don't know what it, like, what do I care? Yeah, okay. What does that mean? Like, it doesn't mean anything to me. You're trying to pump up the use of the Shema.

Yeah, so that's where I'd be real careful, is to lean on Jesus as the guy who does the Shema all the time. When scripture, if scripture thought it was important to describe the character of Jesus by making sure to include that he continued that tradition, I feel like I would have. Yeah. So I mean, I think it's pretty reasonable to expect that he would have. But like, if you're trying to lean on anything for that justification, I think that's dumb. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I'd say. I mean, I was to the point where I was going to write it in Hebrew on the wall or something.

Actually, so. I was kind of excited about it. I think we should. Yeah. I don't think there's anything about the great Shema that doesn't deserve to be said daily. I mean, it's called the great Shema, you know? Yeah. I mean, even if it was called the great whatever, it's called the great something. I mean, as long as people are calling it great, it's pretty great. I'd get on board with that. Yeah, I know. I agree.

I agree. And nine, it says, or eight, excuse me. Remember what you learned in English class. The Bible is not an instruction manual. It's not a how-to book for life. It is a collection of 66 books of literature. And to interpret it correctly, you need to remember what you learned in English class about interpreting different genres of literature. Biblical truth is found in poetry, but we must read it as poetry. It is found in narrative, but we must read those as stories. It is found in Proverbs, and we must treat those as such. Just a quick moment to think, what book am I reading from, and what type of literature

is this, can make a world of difference. Truth be told, the Bible is not an easy read, but it is absolutely worth the effort. Okay, I agree with that. Yeah, that's pretty solid. And number nine, read to study, but also read to refresh your heart. Amid the hours of serious Bible study, I treasure this advice. Sometimes we read to study and understand and wrestle with the truth, but sometimes we read to make our hearts happy. Delight yourself in the Lord, for your words are sweeter to me than honey. I would say that, I was reading, I'd say a 50 or whatever, and I was looking for a particular reference, and then I ended up reading the whole thing, and I thought, I love this. This makes me happy.

And it was all about, like, he's kind of harassing Israel because they're all despondent and downtrodden. And he shows up, and he's like, hey man, what did I write you? Did I write your mother divorce papers? Did I turn you over to one of my creditors? Like, what's with this being sad? Am I not God? Am I not capable of handling all these things? And then Ezekiel starts talking about, he starts talking about how the world has attempted to shame him, and he just let it happen, and said, I'm not shamed at all, because in front of God, like, he will vindicate me. And like, I don't know, it was uplifting.

I dug on it. So maybe I'll start with Ezekiel 50, as opposed to Abus. I'll fire that one up. People like that. But yeah, I think that's, as much as I like to see people kind of studying a little bit more, making sure you're picking up what the Bible's laying down, it doesn't have to be an overly technical treatise, right? Like, it's still designed to communicate truth and hope and love and understanding God's character and stuff. And those should be refreshing to you. So I would agree with that. I would agree with that.

Is there any of them that you think that he missed? Like, some insights that you think really help open up your Bible reading to, you know, to what it is? Yeah, so I would say, I would say, don't lose the context of the entirety of Scripture being God's story. So, as opposed to, we tend to study things in chunks. Like, we tend to say, hey, we're going to look at Romans this week and fight over Romans 9. Or we're going to, we're going to talk about Paul and look at his letter to the people in Colossae, or whatever it is. And we look at it in kind of a micro thing. But, like, Scripture really starts to swim deep when you recognize kind of the Jewish

proposition of watching God move in circles and seeing him do the same things over and over again and reflections of his character. And it's one of the great hindrances, I think, that we've created by, whenever we hand out Bibles, we tend to hand out New Testament with the Psalms tacked on. So, like, there's a bit of an angle. That's all there. Yeah. And so, like, I get it. I get it. It's never the New Testament plus Amos. Yeah, right. So, like, I get it.

Jesus changes everything. But, like, the Old Testament is still the story of God and God's people. And to know to the extent that Jesus changes everything, I need to know where it comes from and, like, what I'm actually being saved from. And so, I think when I move to being like, ah, just primarily focusing on the New Testament, I get it. But there's so much depth in the story of God and his relationship and covenants with his people when you allow the Old Testament to open back up and be part of a continuation of God's full story as opposed to kind of dropping it off and saying, I'll pick up a casual reference here and there and rereading it as if, like, I am part of God's people. We may have – Jesus may have changed some things that this was talking about. But, like, the reason that they had to be changed or the reason that Jesus had to do

what he did relative to those things is still vitally important and still tell me about God's character and how I'm supposed to behave and how I look at Christ's sacrifice and what that ultimately does. So, I would say re-embrace the Old Testament, all of it, and that really blossoms not only the depth of God's story, but, like, your New Testament starts to open up too. You start to see some greater depth to the things that people are talking about, things that are John is writing and that Paul is writing and that Peter is writing. It's like they're not writing in a vacuum either, and they – the Old Testament was their scripture, and so, you know, once we get – once we see what they're connecting back to, it really opens up the types of things that they're talking about. So, I would say that's a big one is put the Old Testament back on the table and recognize that it's part of your story and God's story, and you should dig right in on it.

I really have a – I have a lot of success in trying to assign looks on people's faces. You know what I'm saying? I can't count my own interpretation of whatever face they were making as scripture, right? But, like, for some reason, like, it makes it more – less of a story and more of a reality when I can actually see, like, a look on a guy's face when they're talking. Wasn't that the big risk from some article we were reading a few weeks ago? What? Is he's trying to – I didn't say the look on my face or put my Uncle Phil in there. No, no, no, no, no. It had to do with – Is it the reading to your kids?

Reading to your kids, yeah. Yeah. The guy was concerned that you over-personalized the story and add emotions and stuff that scripture doesn't describe. Well, I mean, here's the thing. It's like – it's not a completely emotionless book. You know what I'm saying? And, like, for it to not be – for it to sink in farther than a fable, you know what I'm saying? Like, I have to put it in realities of which I can grasp. Yeah. Right?

Like, I can't grasp – like, when Peter tries to stop Jesus from – you know, when he said he was going to go be crucified and Peter's like, no, no, no, I'm not going to let this happen. Yeah. You know, and, like, I try to imagine, actually, what the palpable hue in that room was, you know, when Peter's like, I'm not going to allow you to do this, and Jesus is like, get behind me, Satan. That's a big deal. Right? That's something to say. Yeah, actually, that's a good point. It's like, based upon that concern, have you – have we unnecessarily stripped emotion

from it? Like, why would we read this as a newspaper when it's not a newspaper? Yeah. And so, to take the emotion out of something where he says, get behind me, Satan, as if it's just a casual description, and then I looked at him, I said, get behind me, Satan, and then I picked up a brownie. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there is – and, like, I agree with him. It can be done to a fault, but, like, if I want to learn something from Peter in that situation, like, my immediate reaction is, hey, man, I gave up my fishing enterprise. I followed you with everything I have.

I'm just trying to stop you from making a mistake. Yeah. I'm basically walking around homeless with you, trying to talk to a bunch of people, and then you call me Satan? Right? That seems a bit much. Like, my pride would have stood right up. You know, not to say that Peter does or does not, you know, but, like, I look at that reaction and I go, wow, you know, even with the best of intentions, you could still be flat out wrong. You know, you could still not be following God. You could have all your ducks in a row, but that's not where Jesus was going. He wasn't going to the pond, you know?

Yeah, right, right. And so, like, there is a bit, you know, you don't want to read too far into it, but there is value in looking at the situation and looking at the people involved and thinking about, you're right, as the whole story is like, you know, where did Peter come from? How much time has he spent with Jesus? And Jesus drops this thing on him, and Peter acts in a way that seems like, look, I'm laying my life down for my friends. Yeah. Just as Jesus has said his good things, and Jesus says, no, you know, you are my enemy at this moment, but with the things that you're suggesting, you know, and, like, that had to be hard to stomach. Yeah, no, I would agree.

So, anyway, I have an easier time, you know, understanding God's heart, because if you back, if you front load that with knowing that God loves Peter, right, has full intention of using him as a servant and a disciple and a loyal member of the kingdom in the future, and, like, he said that anyway. Yeah. He said that anyway, and he didn't coddle him, and he didn't soft-shoe it. He said, get behind me, Satan, you're not following what I'm on board with, and, like, the way that Peter took that in, and the way that Jesus chose to represent it was still a shock to me. You know, like, I don't know why he would do that so harsh if Peter's going to grab on anyway, but he delivered it harsh for a reason. And so, like, anyway, I say all that to say, you know, take it, take it to the situation

in perspective. Don't just read the two sentences that come with that situation and take it at face value, because there are some things back there that are worth noting based on how they react. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. So, yeah, anyway, some things to keep out in your Bible reading. Did you guys see that Pope Francis released some kind of sweeping paper outlining his position on various family issues over the last week? I saw a headline. I didn't read anything into it. So here's what I would recommend is, like, don't read headlines or people's brief synopsis of this thing.

Like, I would actually recommend reading it. It is an excellent read. And I think you need to read the whole thing to treat it fairly. But my guess is, like, your conservative folks are going to be upset at parts of it, and your more liberal folks are going to be upset at parts of it. Anybody that seems like they're overly joyed with what he's come out with, I feel like didn't read it correctly. But he is – there are people claiming victory that the paper doesn't support, and there are people claiming offense that the paper really doesn't support. But it's just interesting. Like, as – I'll give you an example of this. You know, he was – Pope Francis has been the guy that most of those that are in favor

of, like, homosexual marriage or whatever would come out on and say, hey, like, I think we really got an opportunity with this dude. And his paper, he – when he was trying to address this, he said, every person, regardless of sexual orientation, ought to be respected in his or her dignity and treated with consideration. As for proposals to place unions between homosexual persons on the same level as marriage, there are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God's plan for marriage and family. Like, he said an extremely conservative reaction. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? But it's – but it comes with a message that says, regardless of what their sexual orientation is, they ought to be respected in their dignity and treated with consideration.

Now, the truth is, it's like, that's pretty balanced and not an imbalance of, like, how scripture treats it, but it's a pretty – it's biblically conservative and people liberal. And so – Which is kind of where, you know, we like to be. Yeah. Yeah. I would say that's where I sit most of the time. And so I saw a number of different places that had some, like, headlines about things that he'd said and that certain people were really happy about it and certain people were really mad about it. And I thought, you didn't – I started kind of reading through it itself because they posted it online.

And, like, that's what I would say. As I would say, regardless of what you think about the pope, like, read the thing. Read it before going off on a tangent. Read it. Like, don't base it upon somebody else's interpretation or the article about it. Like, just read the thing. And that's true for all – I would say that's true for all Christian books. Before you get all upset about someone's idea of something or other, like, you know, just, like, read it through and make sure that you've caught the right nuance of it. I've actually found that to be true. I had a friend of mine – he's a real close friend of mine – actually tried to talk me out of some things that I have associated with the end times.

But I read the Left Behind series and I thought, man, this is spot on. Well, I really just – I feel like this sits in and this makes me feel confident in what I've always believed. I've been there. I think you know this guy. I see where this is going. So, anyway, I just thought it was – I only say that to say, like, I loaded it up on the old Kindle and it's worth reading through. It's worth trying to – like, as a guy, if some of the things that the pope has said you feel like are quite dangerous, I would say read through it and just see – take it from his own words, something that he's put out. And the opposite is also true.

If you're like, hey, the pope is making great progress and he's really going to break down some of these barriers that you think the church has otherwise established inappropriately, I would take a read through it because I feel like he's pretty firm on some of the – he hasn't changed any doctrine, frankly. Like, there's nothing that he's advocating that would change any traditional position that the Catholic Church has made. But he is advocating that you actually treat people like people in those processes, though. So, anyway, I would – I obviously – I liked it. I thought it was an interesting read. I don't know that I agree with everything coming from him, but I would recommend taking a read through it. Do you think – I mean, has it always been this way, like, even in history, that the

pope has said something? And, like, you'd figure back in the day, since they didn't have a satellite and a cable on the internet, whatever, like, people were always getting this information funneled down 15 hands later. You know, do you feel like people had more integrity back in the day saying, like it, don't like it, this is exactly what the man said. But nowadays, people pump out one sentence and then, like, people are claiming victory and defeat and getting up in arms and, like, they took them out of context and then they hit the airways within a minute. So, I mean, do you feel like it's always been that way? Or, like, we've come to the point with a mass amount of information that, like, people are misconstruing things on purpose just to be riled up about something.

So are you saying are the great questions or the great arguments of the past, were they actually based foundationally on accurate things because people actually cared about the integrity of the discussion? Or has it always been the case that people take things that are true and then twist them just a little just so they can jack with people and otherwise pursue their own ends? Yes. Yeah, I would say number two is definitely accurate. Really? That has happened throughout time, yeah. I think people probably, like, where information was passed through verbal means from person to person, people probably took more time with it. They took more time to make sure they got the message correct before they passed it along.

That's probably true, yeah. Where now we just don't spend much time with it and we just spit it right back out. So I'd say they would spend more time with it to make sure they got the message correct because they had to verbally, they had to speak it to someone to pass it along. That's the thing is I think people actually held weight to that and the idea that everyone gets a voice was not a common idea 100 years ago, right? The guy shoveling coal for a living and slugging down, you know, just to keep his family farmer running. That guy never thought, you know, if I could just be heard. He just thought, I'm going to go to work. You know what I'm saying? But like, we've turned a corner where everyone's like, I'm, my opinion on this and my take on

this and my two cents worth is, it's got to be in there. You know, like it's got to be known. And so like, without that perspective, do you have any reason to really jack with it? Do you have any reason to take what the Pope said? Like, I mean, how much of our history is based off a document that was, you know, 15 hands away and the guy just spun it the way he wanted it to and forever changed the way we thought about something? Actually, you know, I was thinking about that, about, what was it? Oh, think back in, you know, when you couldn't transmit data and information all that quickly and you had to rely on a dude to take information somewhere. And like, what kind of integrity does that guy have to have? He could simply make it, make it up.

He'd say, hey, Chuck, send the news to King Valsbard. We come at the dusk of the 10th week. And he gets there and he could just be like, yeah, he's not coming. Yeah, man. And then leave. And like, that guy seems like he'd be hard to track down and you would never have any idea. And so I don't know if people were just more trustworthy than or like some of the great deceits in the world came from some like middleman who simply couldn't be trusted, but you thought he could. And he's just telling lies to people. Yeah.

I mean, it is a given that there's always been deceitful people, right? But maybe I just feel like people weren't so loose with their, I don't know, with what they weren't so quick to be dishonest because they were willing to more towards what we're shooting for, which is the ends don't justify the means, right? Like we just do the means. We're faithful in the means. And I feel like people were always, I don't know, and maybe that's just glorifying history, but I feel like they were more faithful in means and then ends were ends. But like, it seems like nowadays if you want to paint the Pope as a bigoted, you know, anti-homosexual religion, religiosity man, you would take the speech that he wrote that says, hey, look, treat him with dignity, but I can't agree with it because God doesn't roll that way. And you could paint him that way.

Right. And that's not what he is, right? Like you can tell just by reading the first, you know, the two paragraphs concerning what he was talking about, he's not that way. He doesn't feel that way. He doesn't have that bent towards it. He just has, he has a thing that he's faithful to. But like, we're not willing to do that. We chop it up and dice it and sell it however we want. And like, I just feel like people weren't as willing to do that in the past. Like they had more integrity in the matter? Yeah.

And maybe I could be completely wrong. You know, like we'd like to glorify the past as if it was a great times or people worked harder over them. But the truth is they did. You know what I'm saying? And like they held things in a certain esteem, you know, that we just, we don't, we don't pull off anymore, you know? Yeah. I guess you got to look at how we get our information as well. Like no one sits down and reads a newspaper. I mean, you, there's so much coming at you. So you're click, click, click.

So when the Pope writes this paper and puts it out there, if I'm reporting on that, I want people to click on it. Yeah. I got to grab people somehow before they're off to the next thing. Right. That's true. So I'm going to skew it any way I can to just to drive views basically. And I suppose historically, if, if the newspaper was the source and you were found to be telling mistruths in there, you were done. Right. Where we'll just go get another news source. You know what I'm saying?

Where we, we only have one option. If that one option is found to be untrustworthy, it is just now untrustworthy now. Now, but nowadays we'll, we'll take whatever we can get because there's 75 different sources within reaching distance to say, I don't really like how you put that. I'm going to find someone else. Yeah. Hmm. You, you really seem to keep up on your, your Pope stuff, Ben. I feel like this isn't the first time where you said you got to check out what the Pope wrote. Uh, yeah. Uh, that's because I actually think the man's actually producing, uh, he's producing thoughtful

things that drive conversation. Yeah. Yeah. I like, uh, yeah, I like, I like reading what he's put down. Well, I was just with the new Pope or was, were you the same way with Benedict? Uh, no, no, no, I, I don't, I don't know him all that well. Okay. Uh, all right. You're listening to live from the path. Uh, thank you for hanging on with us so far tonight. Uh, Mike, do people need some advice? Here we go.

You guys ready? Yep. Dear live from the path. I've been seeing the same dentist for a number of years and I've always been satisfied with his work. He has recently begun to talk politics while he works on my teeth. While I feel he's entitled to his opinions, I don't think I should have to listen to it while his hand is in my mouth. He doesn't realize it, but I am very politically active with the other party. Live from the path? His politicizing grates on my nerves and raises my blood pressure, but I don't know how to tell him that.

I find his comments to be unprofessional. If I change dentists, I could possibly encounter the same problem, especially in this area of the country. Should I discuss it with him and hope he doesn't start withholding anesthetic or charging extra out of spite? I'm not sure how to handle this because I have dental issues and need a good dentist who will see me when I need him. Help. Help. What? Do I tell you? He's talking about politics that I don't agree with, which is rough times, I suppose,

if you're getting your teeth done because it's not like you can defend yourself or the other party. Yeah, I don't know. If it bothers you so much, I guess just bring it up. Hey, doctor. Dr. Tease. Your politics are bothering me. See, this is the kind of stuff I'm talking about. Like, historically, you just put up with it. Like, at what point do you're like, I can't take it anymore? Will you grow some resolve, man? If he's the best guy for your teeth, you look at it.

I mean, make a pros and cons column. You know what I'm saying? This is the guy. He's the best dentist around. I think I can put up with an hour's worth of blabbing. Right? Like, is your skin so thin and your resolve to keep yourself under control so poor that you can't deal with an hour's worth of someone talking? Right. Like, I will not interact with anybody that disagrees with me. Right. Exactly.

I got to go find my dentist where we… I'm going to have him fill out a questionnaire before I go in. Yeah. Make sure we all have all the same interests and we can talk about all the things I like to talk about. And no one wants to talk about teeth when you're in there anyway. Right? Like, how my bacuspid's looking. He don't talk like that. No, yeah, that's true. He usually gives you a couple roasts on how you've been keeping track of your stuff. You still drinking soda?

Yeah, I am. You still smoking? Yeah, I'm still smoking. That's tough times. You're going to be in here the rest of your life. Yeah, okay. You know what I'm saying? But like, I actually, I don't have a politically motivated dentist. But if I did, I feel like if he does good dental work, I don't care. I can put up with him for an hour. Yeah, that does seem kind of weird though. Like, if you're a dentist, do you not recognize that this might be a sensitive topic to people?

I feel like as a dentist, this is like the perfect place for me to just spout out anything I want because I got my hands in a guy's mouth, tools in a guy's mouth. Yeah, right. There's no, it's just a one-sided conversation. Actually, and I suppose so, especially if his teeth stink like the guy's proposing, that's the guy to force your political beliefs on him because he ain't going anywhere. I got a platform here. I'm going to go all day. He tries to rebut, you get out that sucker thing, take his tongue to one side, he'll shut right up. You're going to have to, don't talk, Phil. I'm still working on this stuff.

I mean, long story short, dude, like, I mean, for heaven's sakes, will you grow, I mean, just some patience and some skin and, I mean, just put up with it for an hour. I didn't think that's what you were going to say at all. What? When you said, will you grow, I really thought the words a pair were going to show up or something. No, no, no. Well, I mean, I thought that route. I'm not going to say that I didn't. I back off a little bit. But, like, I don't even know what to call it. You know what I'm saying? But some gravitas.

You know what I'm saying? Carry yourself in such a way that, like, after an hour, you're not ready to melt the puddle of irritation. Just take it for what it is. He's a guy cleaning your teeth. Close your ears and, you know, memorize to Amos and go through that in your head and just be done with it when you walk out. Now, that's true. There is something to be said that, like, you have no control over yourself, that anything that comes into your ears has to be dealt with externally. Yeah. You know?

Just take it in and let it go. Yeah, right. Yeah, okay. Secular says, it shouldn't be necessary to reveal your political affiliation to your dentist. All you have to say is that there are some subjects that you find stressful, and among them are current events. So he should please refrain from bringing them up while you're in his chair because it upsets you and raises your blood pressure. I find current events stressful. You're right. Anything that has to do with right now, I just can't process. What do you talk to a guy that you see once every six months?

Yeah. Like, it's not like you have a close relationship. So what else do you talk to about with a stranger besides current events? Yeah, the dentist says, hey, how's it going? You go, ah, ah, ah. Right. Nothing current. Yeah, we don't speak about things in the news here. Hey, the Berlin Wall went down. At least it's not stressing me out. Yeah, that Gorbachev's one piece of work, huh? Come on, Oliver North.

You know what I'm saying. I think Schwarzkopf's going to make quick work of this. Freaking ridiculous. Boy, that would be, if I was his dentist, I would totally do that. I would talk about everything, like, 15 years prior. I'd go on the net, I'd put the Google on it, 15 years ago, here's what happened, and that's what I'd bring up. Yeah, I seriously, I mean, just take it in. Just take it in and be done with it. They're doing a Kennedy Center Honors for Johnny Cash. Here we go. Dear life from the path, my husband and I, as well as our close friends, are having a

disagreement and would like your expert advice. Excellent. There is a nice man who is blind and who frequently sells brooms and other objects in our neighborhood. Other people who have their own disabilities do the same. I find myself making kind-hearted donations to these individuals and declining to take their goods. My husband thinks we should accept the goods so we are not making a pity donation. I have the best intentions. Please clarify this for us once and for all. What, did she want the goods? Apparently not. Oh, well, yeah. Then, yeah, okay.

I've done that. Well, I've given somebody who's selling something, and I said, look, I don't really want that thing, but here's a few bucks. Is the worry that you're going to offend them? Well, I feel like if, here's the thing, offended people don't come back to your place. It sounds like it's happened more than once. You want to say, like, here's what's weird is people can do this all the time in relationships with other people. They hold some kind of weird thing in tandem that says, hey, this guy, this guy thinks this way about me. But the way the guy acts does not reflect that at all. It's like, boy, I think I really offended that blind guy.

By the way, he's been back to the house seven times over the last six months. That doesn't seem like he's offended. Is he swearing at you, snorting at you, kicking your door? I mean, doesn't it feel like that if you're a blind man selling brooms, doesn't it feel like the brooms are just a conduit to get donations anyway? You know what I'm saying? Like, if you were a legit broom salesman, you would own a shop of some kind or a stand. Well, yeah, I also don't go, like, I've bought an, I've purchased a broom. Like, I don't go through brooms where I need to be refreshed and get a fresh broom like every six months. I mean, a broom is like a once every 10 year purchase, right? Yeah.

I mean, for like 20 bucks maximum. Yeah. No one goes, this is the cheapest, most terrible broom I've ever bought. It's time for a new one. That's why you don't find people that own a broom shop. There's no money in it. Yeah, see, the brooms are just a conduit for the donation. And so, look, just to give the donation, I suppose. I don't see how this is even a discussion, right? Like, I mean, I get what the guy's saying, you know, if they're trying to pump out a legit, they want to earn it. They don't want to just take money.

I get that. But like, here's the thing. If you're not selling a product people want, then it is just a donation conduit. And brooms, you're like, like you said, it's not like they're, it's not a commodity. You know what I'm saying? It's a purchase. You have one. Once you got it, you got it. They're like dining room tables. They last for a while. And then every once in a while, you're like, this thing is beyond repair. We've got to get a new one.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I would say, I mean, if you want the broom, take it. But like, if otherwise, the guy's at least doing it out of the pretense that he doesn't want to be begging. He wants to offer you something legitimate. If you don't want it, but you want to help the man, then help the man. Yeah. I mean, especially if he's blind, just take the broom and then like sneak it back in his bag or something. Yeah.

I don't know. And tell him you gave him 50 bucks when really you gave him one of those Jesus 20s. Yeah. You could probably put it on Etsy and say you bought it from a blind man. People pay double. Oh, here we go. Secular says, I'm not sure I agree with your husband. If you have already purchased what the man is selling and don't need to replace it, but would like to make a donation, I see no reason to take anything you won't use. Give the person a small donation, wish him a good day, and keep your closets clutter free. Sometimes less is more.

Hey, so let me ask you this. So treat the guy like he's a legit businessman. Let's say I run a falafel stand. I'm with you. Okay. I'm selling falafels to people. And all of a sudden, some guy comes up and says, look, I don't want a falafel, but I'd just like to give you five bucks. But I would most certainly take it. Right? Like, I wouldn't have any reason to turn down his five bones if he just wanted to hand five bucks over to me.

Yeah, but wouldn't you question yourself? Wouldn't you be like, man, is my appearance in such a way that people feel like I'm not here to sell falafels? I just, I really need the five bucks more than he does. No, I would think to myself, Ben, you're well-loved and appreciated, as you should be. No, you wouldn't. People are way more conceited than that. They would think, there's something about me that appears as if this business is a front for I just need money. I'm fantastic, and I feel like someone's finally caught on. Now, but hold on. Aren't all businesses…

This $5 vindicates me. All businesses are a front for I need money, right? Like, I figure out a way to make money, and I do a service that gets me that money. And so, like, is anyone in a different position than the broom salesman? No. So, is it offensive to give the guy money? Here's the deal, Mike. He's blind. I don't know. So, I suppose the concern is that he might take it the wrong way, where he's trying to do something to raise legit money, and you're offending him by saying, by giving him pity cash.

Yeah. I mean, here's, I guarantee you, this will be awkward, but you should go to the McDonald's tomorrow and be like, here's five bones. I just wanted to give you all five bucks. See what happens. See what they do with it. Boy, you know what kind of uproar that would cause the McDonald's? They would have no idea what to do with it. We're not sure what to do with it. I mean, how do we do this? I got to talk to my manager. You want to donate $5?

Yeah, I'm just going to give it. I'm just going to put it in the till. Boy, that would cause an uproar. Now, I'm certainly going to do it. I'm going to drop five bucks on some unsuspecting cashier and be like, look, I think McDonald's is a sweet corporation. I want you to just put this in the drawer. Keep up the good work. Yeah, sir, we can't do that. Well, I mean, it's just going to sit there. I ain't taking it. I love you guys.

Yeah, boy, that's going to throw me to panic. I told you to give this a shot. You know, I'm going to wait until I'm with somebody because then they'll be embarrassed of it. All right, here we go. Dear Live from the Path. I've been married three times. Yeah, buddy. Anyway, my first two husbands were unfaithful and the third was bipolar. I bet. I finally found the man of my dreams and we recently became engaged. There's just one small problem.

He has two house dogs he loves dearly and doesn't want to part with. And I refuse to have dogs in my house. Our marriage is on hold because of this. What should I do? I have no idea what folded your marriages previously. With this type of flexibility and generosity and love for another, I have no idea why the other two did not succeed. They were unfaithful. I love you more than anything. Well, except for them two dogs. Man of my dreams, she says. Yeah, go ahead and break it off.

Just go for a fourth divorce. Yeah. You might just marry him and then drop him. Go for four. There's no reason to drag this out. She actually didn't say the first two were unfaithful. Bipolar is apparently a good reason to divorce a man now. Right? That tell death do us part thing. And they just rattled that off for no reason. A man shows up who is bipolar and no one says, I stuck with him to the end. Even through his illness, this lady's like, bipolar.

Nah. Yeah. That ain't for me. Sometimes he's outrageous and difficult to deal with. And it seems extremely firm on things you don't need to be all that firm about. We didn't get along. Yeah. Yeah. No. She should just break it off. Not because this is a big deal, but because she's making it a big deal. And that's not fair to the guy.

Yeah. Actually, what you're proposing is not a marriage. And it sounds very similar to your previous sham marriages. You're looking for someone to work for you and just kind of do stuff that you want to do. And that's just marriage isn't quite that easy, friend. Did she say that they are engaged? Yeah. How does this not come up before you get engaged? You don't know he's got two house dogs? What are you, meetoffmatch.com and this didn't come up in the profile? I refuse to have dogs in my house. Yeah.

Yeah. You're on wheels. You know what I mean? I mean, isn't that the first person a single person shows another single person? Like when they're coming over to your house or they start talking to you at the first dinner, they're like, yeah, I got a couple of dogs. They're like my life right now, you know, until you may prospectively come into it. But, I mean, for right now, you know, it's me and the dogs. They're with me all the time. Yeah. That does seem odd that that wouldn't have come up. Secular says, if you are unable to share this man with his house pets, then realize that

although he may be the man of your dreams, you are not the woman for him and let him go. Yeah, I would agree with that. That's right on. Marriage is not in the cards for you. No. Yeah, yeah. You need to give it up. Yeah, you're the, you're the, well, I don't know. I don't know. I guess you're the first two guys. I don't want to go overboard and say you're the common denominator, but you were kind of the common denominator in all your issues here.

So, all right, you've been listening to Life on the Path. Thank you for hanging out with us this week. Shoot us an email, info at lifefromthepath.org. If you have any comments on the show, we'll read those very, very, very carefully. And other than that, we will see you next week. In the meantime, be faithful in the means. God will handle the ends. You've been listening to Life on the Path.