Pope-style advice: engaging hot-button issues
- Should Christians engage in hot-button cultural conversations (gay marriage, abortion) or avoid them?
Speaker-2 -- addressed on-air as 'John Bubba' (seg-00247), 'Buba'/'Buva' (seg-00201, seg-00412), and 'Troy' (seg-00013) -- gives his 'Pope-style advice': stop avoiding hot-button conversations about issues like gay marriage and abortion, study the Bible, and pray each morning for God to speak through you, since God's answers show his heart and love rather than intolerance. Speaker-0 (Mike) pushes back: he avoids those talks because people usually just want to fight, and the issues themselves matter little if the person does not know Jesus -- but concedes such conversations are worth having when they can show God's heart. Mike shares a story of a Christian coworker who asked whether he could stand as best man at a gay wedding; Mike said no, explaining it would mean 'celebrating your separation from God,' which is 'as far from loving as you can get.' A host synthesizes: the issue is not the point; the point is whether the conversation reveals God's heart.
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Church, emotions, and the self-focus of affluence
- How do you help people in an affluent, self-focused culture see that they need Jesus?
Ben revives a question from two or three shows back: are church services and worship tunes postured toward certain personality types — predominantly emotions and dealing with emotions?
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Confetti and lasers: what should God's people be known for?
- Do we want to be known as the confetti and lasers people?
- What should God's people be known for?
Ben redirects to the docket's denomination question: when someone hears Silas's church described as 'the confetti and lasers people,' should that sting?
From No. 598 · Emphasis | Accountability, Worship and Praying with Strangers
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Dear LFTP: the $600 lawnmower and buying them a mower
- My nephew's wife took my $600, lied about it, and is avoiding me. Should I say something or let it go?
Mike reads a letter from someone who gave a nephew's wife $600 for a self-propelled lawnmower; she spent it, never bought the mower, and now avoids them.
From No. 587 · Coffee After Sunday
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Maintaining hope for people who won't choose Jesus
- How do you maintain hope for someone who keeps rejecting Jesus when God won't override their free will?
The episode's centerpiece: Mike's pre-show question about how to maintain hope for people who reject Christ when God won't override their free will.
From No. 579 · Wanted: Paul and Hope | Paul’s Persecution of Christians and Radical Redemption