Dear LFTP: 'fake Paul' and the shared name
- How should I handle colleagues and students joking about me sharing a name with another teacher and a student?
The second Dear LFTP letter: a Pennsylvania fifth-grade teacher named Paul shares his name with another teacher and a student, and is discouraged by daily jokes like 'fake Paul' and 'Paul Junior.' The hosts answer that nobody owns a name: you can endure it, suggest an alternative (like 'Sir Paul' with humor), and note that owning your situation beats being upset you can't change. The Secular voice advises asking to be addressed as Mr. plus last initial; the hosts push back that colleagues will mock that. This widens into a discussion of living creatively within oppressive circumstances, winning on the ideas front as well as the physical one, and how Christianity works best without power.
More on Identity
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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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The world as opposition, normalized sin, and identity
- Does your generation push back at the idea of sin?
A young woman observes that college ministries frame the world as the opposition rather than the mission field, giving anxious young Christians something concrete to grip.
From No. 576 · Get A Dog
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Does God affirm our struggles or call us to repent of them?
- Does God affirm our struggles or call us to repent of them?
Mike frames two camps: one that says God affirms our struggles as-is, another that says He calls us to repent of what is in our control.
From No. 534 · The Antagonistic Bison
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Fear, guilt, self-deprecation, and identity
- How should Christians handle guilt and self-deprecation without excusing sin?
The room digs into why failure over little things feels crushing: self-imposed expectations versus rightful ones, and the guilt that follows addiction relapses.
From No. 498 · The Tennessee Birdwalk