List #8: the addict — discernment vs. grace
The host reads #8, the addict: many in the church struggle with addictions — alcohol, illegal drugs, prescription medicines, pornography — and it isn't wise to marry before a girlfriend faces her issues; the rule is Proverbs 31:30 ('Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the lord, she shall be praised'). The hosts split: one (addressed as Dan) says he would be out — 'I don't want my children around it' — while the host pushes back with grace: 'ninety nine percent of the dudes [are] addicted to porn,' marriage doesn't functionally change you, and he's willing to 'love through some things,' recalling last week's 'snake handler man' discussion about judging someone's whole faith by one struggle.
More on Addiction
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Dear LFTP 1: the burned-out friend
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Ben reads a letter from a listener burned out by a decade-long friendship with someone suffering anxiety, depression, OCD, narcissism, and a drinking problem who never asks how the listener is doing.
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Dear LFTP: husband's slot-machine addiction and a lost life's savings
- How should an 80-something wife respond when her husband's slot-machine addiction gambled away everything?
A letter from a woman in her eighties: her husband developed a slot-machine addiction, gambled away every asset from 58 years of marriage, and their son bailed them out as trustee of the land and home while doling out a tiny allowance.
From No. 581 · Silly Rabbit | Christianity, Culture, and Navigating Social Expectations
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Dear LFTP: dessert-free days, discipline, and soul over dirt
- How do I stop eating dessert on days I deemed dessert-free?
A listener allowed dessert only Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and can't stop on the other days. The hosts land on the simplest answer: you just stop; Dan's Atkins bars,…
From No. 581 · Silly Rabbit | Christianity, Culture, and Navigating Social Expectations
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Dear LFTP: AA member who witnessed a life-support withdrawal
- How do I come to terms with accidentally witnessing a fellow AA member's life-support withdrawal?
An AA member writes that while visiting a hospitalized fellow member with cookies, he arrived at the exact moment doctors withdrew life support and witnessed the family's raw grief; he now fears he intruded and caused harm.
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