Humility
235 conversations where the hosts get into humility.
235 conversations
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The New Testament case for human shaping
- What does the New Testament actually say about spiritual authority and submission?
Ben walks the New Testament texts: Hebrews 13:17 ('obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls') presumes a soul-watching laborer, not a rule-maker;…
From No. 600 · Rage The Elephant
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How to tell your voice from God's: the Bible test and leniency
- How can you tell the difference between you speaking and God speaking?
Ella distills the question: how do you tell the difference between you speaking and God speaking? Her first answer: we have a Bible — what God is telling you is probably already in it ('Ben's gonna have a proud papa moment').
From No. 597 · Maybe A Word From God
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Evaluating the event: Elijah, Josiah, the sign of Jonah, the donuts test
- How do we tell whether a church element has become the thing itself rather than pointing to Jesus?
The hosts work through evaluation tools for curated experiences: Elijah didn't ask God to repeat the fire, and Jesus refused to repeat signs for the Pharisees ('you get the sign…
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Dear LFTP: the untidy grandchildren's home
- How can I tell my son's family that visiting their untidy home increases my anxiety without offending them?
Mike reads a letter from a grandmother anxious about her son's untidy home; the hosts diagnose persnickety-vs-oblivious wiring (Ben's sock-on-the-floor example, Martha), advise…
From No. 589 · There Must Be A Reason
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Dear LFTP: the sister, the dinner party, and "gaslighting"
- Is there any way to make my sister see the truth about what happened at the dinner party?
Mike reads a letter about a sister who believes her brother-in-law orchestrated a dinner-party snub and sent hateful texts, then cited a "men gaslighting women" article.
From No. 589 · There Must Be A Reason
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Disciples of the brand and situational humility
- How do you practically keep the main thing the main thing and reintroduce humility?
Mike warns against churches making disciples of their brand first, so that when the church fails the fall is even bigger, and notes how easily community can posture as God in the relationship.
From No. 588 · hypokritēs
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Dear LFTP 2: the wedding-weekend dinner gap
- Was it appropriate for wedding hosts to leave out-of-town guests on their own for Saturday dinner, and should we say something to the groom's family?
Ben reads a letter about an out-of-town wedding running Friday to Sunday where the bride's family told some invitees they were on their own for Saturday dinner.
From No. 588 · hypokritēs
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Church scandals, size as a danger point, and the Francis Chan apology
- Is there a church size at which leaders become more susceptible to scandal?
Prompted by another sex scandal, the hosts debate whether church size creates a danger point for moral failure, discuss Francis Chan's apology over endorsements of Mike Bickel,…
From No. 583 · My Girl Likes to Holy All the Time | Public Prayer & Worship Culture
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Dear LFTP: the contentious father
- How do I protect the relationships I have with the rest of my family if my father keeps acting like a jerk?
Mike reads a Dear LFTP letter from a 30-year-old whose contentious father refuses counseling, involves extended family, and claims the writer cut off contact.
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Simeon's question: 'what made God?' and the case against scientism
- What made God? How can a being have no beginning?
Guest Simeon Clawson names his recurring faith question: what made God, and how can a mind process a being with no beginning?
From No. 556 · A Christian Mid-Life Crisis
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Recovery ministries, charismatic experience, and sustainable faith
- Can recovery ministries replace a chemical high with a spiritual high, and is that sustainable?
A long pastoral discussion starting from recovery ministries, which tend to come from charismatic backgrounds: the risk of trading a chemical high for event-driven spiritual highs.
From No. 555 · The Aslan Wears Prada
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Dear LFTP: the copycat neighbors
- Are we wrong to find it crass and disrespectful that our neighbors copy our home design?
A listener writes that the couple who bought the house across the street — longtime friends — began copying their interior and exterior design down to the identical garage door installed three months after theirs, with the wife declaring 'everything's a competition.'
From No. 525 · Asking AI Lamech
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Dear LFTP: the in-laws who need a hotel, and 'it's not anxiety, it's arrogance'
- Am I unreasonable for making my disrespectful in-laws stay in a hotel?
Mike reads a letter from a woman whose disrespectful in-laws stay with them when they visit; since her son was born she told her husband they need a hotel, but they complain about cost and her mother-in-law wants to buy a sleep sofa.
From No. 495 · $20 and a Dilly Bar
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Dear LFTP: should meteorologists stop saying 'gloomy'?
- Should TV meteorologists stop calling rainy weather miserable, gloomy, or dreary?
A host reads a letter complaining that TV meteorologists calling rain 'miserable,' clouds 'gloomy,' and gray days 'dreary' is irresponsible toward emotionally vulnerable viewers.
From No. 492 · Show Me The Toes
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Marriage: the woman as helper and fighting for the we
- What does it mean for the woman to be a helper to a man?
Ben works through a theory he has been testing in Scripture, prayer, and conversation: the idea that the woman being a 'helper' to a man says more about male frailty than female subservience.
From No. 472 · Sometimes We Read Stuff
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Sinner or valued: how to lead the gospel; milk vs meat
- Should the gospel lead with God's love (milk) or with conviction of sin (meat)?
A long discussion on whether the world needs to be reminded they are sinners or that they are valuable to God — verdict: both, depending on motive.
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Failed sermon illustrations and the heresy sniff test
- How can you tell when a teaching elevates humans over God?
The hosts trade stories of sermon illustrations that flopped and argue Todd's real problem is not bad illustration skills but a need for someone to tell him no.
From No. 455 · Don’t Spit On Folk, Among Other Wisdom
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You cannot be the heavy in someone's life
- Can accountability work if you cannot be the enforcer?
The hosts discuss why accountability fails when you try to be the enforcer: one host's story of accountability with a much bigger man he could not intimidate, a parenting analogy…
From No. 455 · Don’t Spit On Folk, Among Other Wisdom
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Dear LFTP: the angry Michigan man's road rage
- How do I get a grip on my temper and stop lashing out at people?
Nathaniel reads a letter from a self-described nice guy in Michigan whose fuse is short — he honked, flipped off, and snapped at his wife and kids.
From No. 455 · Don’t Spit On Folk, Among Other Wisdom
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Nathaniel's book-writing crisis, false teachers, and protecting what matters
- How much Christian writing about Jesus is gasbagging versus genuinely necessary?
- How do you identify false teaching?
Nathaniel is in a crisis after reading N. T. Wright's Simply Jesus, feeling like a dumb dumb next to eloquent writers, which opens a discussion of the hubris of writing books…
From No. 454 · Read, Protect, and Complain About Your Husband
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Be careful about enjoying a takedown
- What makes someone a false teacher, and how forcefully should Christians call out false teaching?
The hosts warn against taking joy when a non-Christian world attacks a Christian figure, even one whose teaching they disagree with: the heart should break for Osteen's wasted influence, not celebrate his embarrassment.
From No. 452 · False Teachers and Freeloaders
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What makes a false teacher?
- What makes someone a false teacher, and how forcefully should Christians call out false teaching?
The long central arc: what counts as false teaching, and how forcefully should Christians call it out?
From No. 452 · False Teachers and Freeloaders
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Dear LFTP: the affair, the revenge, and the younger man
- How do I purge my thoughts of my wife with another man after our mutual infidelity?
A letter writer confesses he cheated on his wife of 21 years, separated for a month 'evaluating his options,' reconciled — then his wife revealed a revenge affair with a much younger man, and now he can't purge the mental image or the fear he can't compete.
From No. 451 · Mississippi Don’t Push
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Grace for deconstruction: separating church culture from the faith
- Has anyone ever approached you about deconstruction and asked for help?
A host admits the word 'deconstruction' irritates him but offers a grace-filled reading: many who use the term come from large celebrity-pastor church cultures where the culture…
From No. 450 · Good News of Narrow Focus