The lure of control and measurable numbers
A host suggests we gravitate to medicine's tangible answers (Tylenol for a headache) because the unknown scares us. Matthew agrees control is a huge part of it: diabetes is the great example - we obsess over the measurable blood-sugar number, but within a broad window tighter control barely matters, and perfect numbers while miserable is just 'juking the numbers,' not stewarding health. He describes doctors' frustration and powerlessness when patients' families, jobs, neighborhoods, or mental illness block control over health.
More on Fear
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What stops us from sharing the gospel
- Should church-service outreach and personal-life evangelism be treated differently?
- What are our biggest hangups in creating opportunities to talk about the gospel?
The hosts catalog the hangups that keep Christians from creating gospel opportunities at work and in clubs: fear of people's reactions, not knowing the right thing to say, worry…
From No. 456 · Just Do It
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Truth as healing ointment, not a shovel
- How do Christians balance telling the truth with being charitable?
A long host monologue: society's positions often come from fear of being on the wrong side rather than belief; schools' COVID measures go beyond science into fear.
From No. 424 · When Culture Lacks Objective Reality
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Dear LFTP: the family-baggage letter
- How do I handle my brother moving back to town with his criminal children and grandchildren?
The reader reads a second letter: the writer's widower brother, described as depressed and a terrible father, plans to move back to their hometown with his children and adult…
From No. 422 · Jesus, Technology and Persecution
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How much damage can misreading Revelation do?
- How much damage can a strong misinterpretation of the book of Revelation do?
A host poses the episode's hard question: how much damage a strong misinterpretation of Revelation can do.
From No. 409 · Super Sign of the End Times