The Ignored Commandment
In this episode
-
Show open from the Pathway Studios
The produced intro voiceover ('Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper') plays, then a host opens the live show and the crew settles in.
-
Lost show prep and tonight's rundown
A host admits he prepared three or four articles and lost them; the crew laughs about never doing show prep. One host addresses a co-host as 'Booby' and confirms he has the Dear LFTP letters ready, and the Relevant Magazine Sabbath article is teed up.
-
Healthy couples, part 1: social media and career
The hosts walk through a Relevant Magazine list of 'eight things healthy couples don't do': don't post negatively about each other on social media, and don't make your career a priority over the relationship. They debate whether anyone would openly admit to these and land on presence beating provision — a $12-an-hour dad who is home beats an absent high earner.
-
Healthy couples, part 2: technology, hard subjects, punishment
Items three through five: don't spend all together time on technology (with a Pokemon GO tangent — one host, addressed as 'Dan', hunted Pokemon with his daughters and the crew debates whether shared tech counts), don't check Twitter on dinner dates, don't avoid hard subjects (a budget fight that turns into screaming matches), and don't punish each other — one host admits his post-argument silence is a processing problem, not punishment.
-
Healthy couples, part 3: forgiveness, boundaries, quitting
Items six through eight: don't withhold forgiveness ('relationships run on Dunkin' Donuts' gag), don't say yes to everything ('no is a complete sentence' boundaries, with a little-league 'two-out rally' story), and don't throw in the towel — with a long gag about whether the phrase comes from boxing or a lifeguard giving up. Wrap-up: a healthy couple struggles with one or two of these; five of eight means 'dude, you need Jesus.'
-
'The Preachers' TV show and the open-marriage joke
- How do the people in an open marriage find that balance biblically?
A TV talk show called The Preachers ('the View for dudes') is discussed: a guest raised open marriage and a divorced pastor joked, 'I believed in open marriage. I just forgot to tell my ex-wife about it,' then asked 'how do they find that balance biblically?' The hosts say the joke was irresponsible from a pastor on a platform that big — teachers are held to a higher standard — and that someone in the room should have called it out on the spot. A participant named Nick is addressed on-air during this segment.
-
Perry Noble's treatment and the Mark Driscoll comeback
Quick check-in: Perry Noble has entered treatment for alcohol addiction. Then a longer conversation about whether anyone has listened to Mark Driscoll since his return — one host says Driscoll's fiery 'Men in Marriage'/'Midnight Marriage' teaching genuinely changed him at the time even though he disagrees with how Driscoll handled his church's implosion; another notes the bad optics of Driscoll headlining a leadership conference. Matt Chandler gets a nod for tackling hard topics mid-sermon. They land on 'seasons' — you need different teachers at different times, and a church benefits from multiple voices so nobody goes stale.
-
The 'three looks' lust quote from xxxchurch.com
- Do you agree with the 'look once, look twice, look three times' quote about lust?
A host studying passion and lust for next week brings a quote he found on xxxchurch.com: 'if you look once, you're a human, you look twice, you're a man, you look three times, you just disrespected your wife.' The crew debates whether the second look is already 'perv territory,' the side-view-mirror loophole ('Jesus knows if you use that side view mirror'), and the blog's advice to pray for the person instead of leering — reframing an attractive stranger as 'a daughter of King Jesus.'
-
The most ignored commandment: the Sabbath
The hosts read a Relevant Magazine piece arguing the Sabbath is the Bible's most ignored commandment: a poll of 2,000 North Carolina pastors found fewer than 10% keep a regular Sabbath. They push back on parts of the article, then ask why they personally don't prioritize it — one host says plainly he's simply disagreeing with God about its value — and discuss the 24/7 world's value system versus God's, plus the 'you will be in my rest' framing.
-
Sabbath solutions: schedule it, holy fun, Sabbath buddy
The article's solutions get read and roasted: schedule your Sabbath (Google Calendar gag — one host's Pokemon GO night is Thursdays at 7), 'prepare joyfully' ('holy fun' becomes the running joke, including a fake Craigslist ad for a Sabbath buddy), 'decide what work is for you and don't do it' (is taking out the trash work? 'Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath'), Eugene Peterson's 'pray and play,' and finding a Sabbath buddy. They agree the gift framing is right even if the buddy branding is terrible.
-
Music shout-outs: Valentine 55 and Tessa Johnson
The hosts plug Valentine 55 ('like them on Facebook — they were on the show a couple weeks ago' and played acoustically on Rochester TV) and Tessa Johnson's single version of 'Pentecostal' (on Facebook, Spotify, and Twitter as @IAmTessaJ), warning of 'weird murmurings' at the start of the track.
-
Tim LaHaye's death and 'The Act of Marriage'
Tim LaHaye (Left Behind) has died at 90; the hosts note he was also a pastor and marriage author — Jerry Jenkins, the younger co-author, gets a mention. That leads to 'The Act of Marriage' and an awkward-but-honest discussion: a couple received it as newlyweds, it was uncomfortable to read and weirdly informative, and one host admits his health class made it sound like STDs generate spontaneously. They agree some guidance beats learning from the internet.
-
Dear LFTP: the boyfriend in dad's chair
- Am I wrong for feeling offended that my sister's boyfriend sits in our late father's chair, and how can the family raise it?
A listener's father died three years ago; her sister's disliked boyfriend sits in dad's chair and it offends the family. The hosts read the 'Secular' persona's answer (talk to him nicely or replace the chair), then mostly agree: either get rid of the chair or get over it — keeping an empty shrine with the best view of the TV helps nobody, and the real issue is probably the boyfriend, not the chair. Includes the cold open line 'Daddy's gone now. Buy a new chair.'
-
Dear LFTP: grandson's cruel 'joking' with the kids
- What should a distant grandmother do about a grandson whose rough 'joking' frightens the children?
A grandmother writes that her grandson covers her seven-year-old daughter Beth's and nine-year-old cousin Mandy's mouths and noses until they nearly faint, laughing — Beth is afraid of him. The hosts are cautious: the 'he thinks it's funny' guy and the 'kid fears being alone with him' guy don't necessarily correlate, so talk to the mother first and gather facts — but tell him to knock it off regardless; there's nothing funny about overpowering a child. The 'Secular' answer calls it sadistic bullying and says the mother must stop it; the hosts call that 'demonizing' and 'too much' for a first step.
-
Parenting: words that mean nothing
Spun off the last letter: one host watched a neighborhood mom threaten and manipulate her kid ('what will you do when I hurt myself because of how you act?') while the kid blew past it. The crew agrees parents waste their words — empty threats, flippant praise — until words mean nothing, then resort to scarier control. One host, wanting to be a dad soon, urges finding good fathers to watch and warns against the 'best friend dad' trap: if you're his buddy, you can't be his father when it counts.
-
Dear LFTP: whose name goes on the wedding check?
- If I give a wedding-gift check, whose name goes on it first — the bride's or the groom's?
A 'Grandpa in Iowa' asks whether a wedding-gift check should name the bride or groom first. Advice: it barely matters — put the bride first, write to whoever's most responsible, or just give cash. The 'Secular' answer says match the account setup (separate accounts: her name; joint: both). That sparks a real discussion: separate bank accounts read as distrust to most of the crew, though one host describes a years-long separate-accounts season that worked as a budgeting tool before they merged everything.
-
Outro and website preview
Sign-off: the hosts plug livefromthepath.org for past clips and the podcast feed, preview expanded website content (articles, videos, acoustic music from show guests), and give the Dear LFTP email for listener questions — promising to 'severely mock you and then do our very best to help you out.'