Dear LFTP: the panhandlers who declined the groceries
- What should I make of the panhandling couple who declined my groceries and asked for cash?
A listener offered a panhandling couple (with a baby and toddler, sign asking for food help) her family's dinner groceries — premium spaghetti sauce, ground beef, spaghetti, fruit cups, canned soup — but the man declined and suggested she go to an ATM and withdraw cash instead. The hosts debate: raw ground beef is useless on a street corner, and the 'premium sauce' framing was a bit self-righteous; graciously accepting unusable help is the kind option. One host recounts an anecdote about 'Doug,' who offered a hungry man dinner and coffee but refused cash when the man preferred money and smelled of alcohol. The Secular answer: some families are truly in need and should be guided to a shelter; some are professional panhandlers whose tax-free money does quite well. The discussion devolves into comedy about homelessness hypotheticals, rooster panhandling, and chasing raw Amish milk.
More on Discernment
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'When God is silent': what counts as hearing from the Lord?
- What does it mean to 'hear from the Lord,' and how often should we expect it?
Mike brings a question from his Bible study, whose paragraph heading was 'when God is silent': the author wrote that he experienced God's silence for a couple of weeks and freaked out, and Ben expected a relatable years-long drought story — 'Oh, two weeks.
From No. 603 · Found Out
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Mike frames the question: are more people hearing from God?
- Does it seem like more and more people are hearing from God — and is that real or a lie and a huge distraction?
Ben asks Mike for a two-sentence framing; Mike says listening to the book of Job while mowing made him furious when Bildad 'received a word from the Lord,' turning a bad human argument into an unarguable divine claim.
From No. 597 · Maybe A Word From God
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Does God speak more now? Indwelling Spirit versus prophets
- Does God talk to people as much now as he did in the Old Testament or New Testament?
A host asks whether God talks to people as much now as in the Old and New Testaments. Ben's key distinction: the indwelling Holy Spirit means more people can have the experience…
From No. 597 · Maybe A Word From God
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How to tell your voice from God's: the Bible test and leniency
- How can you tell the difference between you speaking and God speaking?
Ella distills the question: how do you tell the difference between you speaking and God speaking? Her first answer: we have a Bible — what God is telling you is probably already in it ('Ben's gonna have a proud papa moment').
From No. 597 · Maybe A Word From God