Finding Faith, Losing Sleep Podcast
Finding Faith, Losing Sleep Podcast
Episode 30: Navigating Divisions and Technology Through the Lens of Faith
Join Pierre, Michelle, and Wes as we celebrate our 30-episode milestone with laughter, nostalgia, and a few unexpected twists. We reminisce about past discussions, especially our deep dives into Genesis. Our chat then veers towards the latest Olympic opening ceremonies, sparking a lively conversation about the importance of focusing on uplifting news over negativity.
Navigating the choppy waters of political division, we examine how media and public discourse often fuel societal divides. By reflecting on campaigns like "He Gets Us" that showcase Jesus' teachings, we highlight the universal appreciation for his messages and the disillusionment felt due to the actions of some Christians. Emphasizing kindness and respectful communication, we stress the importance of educating rather than belittling, recalling that actions without love lose their meaning. From personal experiences with racism to the influence of media on cultural perceptions, our discussion aims to foster unity and critical thinking.
Technology's dual nature and the moral dilemmas it presents also take center stage as we explore how ancient practices and modern challenges intersect. With a nod to 1 Corinthians 8 and its lessons on actions impacting others, we consider how today's "idols" shape our lives and faith. Wrapping up, we address a listener's request to delve into the book of Ephesians, inviting our podcast family to collectively read and discuss its rich themes and key passages in our next episode. Join us for a thoughtful and entertaining journey through life, faith, and everything in between.
Email: findingfaith.losingsleep@gmail.com
Twitter: @FindingFaithPod
it's time to wake up and pray up. I said I said. I said wake up and pray up here on the finding faith and losing sleep podcast. Uh, great to have you with us again for another episode, episode pierre. Is this episode 22?
Speaker 3:we're beyond that. Like it's. It's been a while since we record it, but we are. We're getting ready to hit another milestone. We're pushing the 3-0.
Speaker 1:Are milestones, kind of like gallstones.
Speaker 3:I think they're a little less painful. Yeah, man, we're getting to 30. I know that's a tough age when it comes to humans. People start to enter in. I'm getting old for some, some reason at 30, when 30s are actually pretty good, so hopefully our 30s, when it comes to episodes, are also pretty good.
Speaker 1:Michelle, michelle's Pierre's wife, pierre, is, of course, one of the hosts here on this podcast. Michelle is another host and it's his wife, and I am a host Wes Easley, over here on this Finding Faith in Losing Sleep podcast. Michelle, did you ever hear that joke where people talk about like I made it to 30, and then I hit 40s and then I'm pushing 50? You know? Kind of a joke.
Speaker 2:I have not, but it makes sense. I feel like I'm pushing 50 for sure and it's going to like push me along hopefully. I don't know, it's a struggle, for sure I'm not there yet, but I'm going to be close On this episode of Finding Faith and Losing Sleep.
Speaker 1:By the way, I've gone back and I've listened to some past episodes in between the times that we've talked about different things and different topics and it was relevant. And, Pierre, we've got so many things to talk about this episode. I know it doesn't seem like we will talk about a lot of stuff, but I think we will. Somebody sent me a DM over on Twitter and, Pierre, you can give all the Twitter handles and email addresses and everything like that. Encourage people to get in touch with us right now.
Speaker 3:Findingfaith at FindingF at finding faith. Pod over on twitter. Slash x. Whatever you're calling this day, still twitter for me. Email finding faith dot losing sleep at gmailcom. I'm peewee 31. Michelle is go pack, go 411 and you are loafing it like the bread loaf to reach out to wes, that's right.
Speaker 1:That's right at loafing it over there on twitter, uh. But somebody dm'd me and I had sent them one of the past episodes of ours I think episode 16, where we talked about some controversial stuff which, by the way, kind of makes headlines today because of the Olympic stuff that went on at the opening ceremonies that went on, and so that was where that DM kind of came from and talked about things. But the listening back to those episodes, I don't know that we ever finished talking about Genesis. We kind of got derailed off of Genesis a little bit. So if we ever are hurting for content, we can just kind of go back to Genesis and talk about some of those things.
Speaker 3:We could. We recently went to the Creation Museum as well as the, the ark encounter. Um, which kind of ties in a lot of genesis actually. So I don't know if I'm more knowledgeable on the, the subject or the, the bible book or version, but it was a lot of genesis tied into it. They try to give us some more explanations on, you know just how creation came to be? Uh, obviously, how the, the ark and the flood you know took place and things along those lines. That was really cool did bethuselah.
Speaker 2:Scare you, michelle no, but I could see how it could oh yeah, creep me out.
Speaker 1:Man bethuselah creeped me out there in the corner all by himself and then he started talking to me. It's a bunch of them, animatronic kind of things, those robots, and they're talking to you like in Showbiz Pizza whenever you were a kid.
Speaker 3:It just creeped me out, man. I was terrified of those at Showbiz, but I was good Adult. Me was perfectly fine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was pretty cool. Cincinnati that was a nice little place to visit myself. I've been there. Let's talk about that opening ceremony. Okay, A lot of people.
Speaker 3:Six, seven. That's what everyone's. I don't want to say yapping. I feel like yapping is the wrong term, but I don't know. I have some opinions on that, just kind of popping up all over the place. But I'll let you continue.
Speaker 1:No, I don't even know what you're talking about and as we talk about these kind of headlines that are in there, michelle, you were talking a little bit about this stuff before the show and I told you to save it for the show, so I'd like to hear a little bit more about how you don't know anything going on in the news, don't know anything going on in the news.
Speaker 2:Well, okay, so we're getting a foreign exchange student in a few days, so I've been super busy trying to get everything ready and like the house ready. So, quite honestly, I didn't see the opening ceremonies. I haven't really been on social media a ton. Most of what I've learned about it has been just brief conversations with peers. So I don't know that I'm going to have a lot to say in this episode, which is probably good, but I'm not up on current events very much at the moment.
Speaker 3:We don't watch the news anyway. Yeah, we choose not to. I feel like it's mostly negative. If not, then they usually chime in and start off with something negative and it just kind of tings me out too. I know negative happens, but I can interact with negative without you know a news broadcast to tell me about the negative.
Speaker 1:I can find plenty on my own, that's for sure now I see why you wanted to do this episode, pierre because you knew michelle wouldn't have anything to say for about an hour I would never, I would, I would never be that person I don't.
Speaker 1:I don't watch a lot of news either. I get it from bits here and there on the headlines that pop up on my phone or where the algorithm sends me things, or something like that. I tend to now believe that my opinions are made because of what I do see, from the opinions on the news. They feed you stuff and thus it makes your opinions about how you're reacting to the world or how you're reacting to news events that are going on. And, by the way, the news events that I see if I go outside, if I go anywhere, it feels like the news events aren't happening in my area and I have to question okay, is this stuff just all being done in Hollywood sets? Is it really news going on, or is this all just stuff? Because there's never any news going on in my area, my neck of the woods.
Speaker 3:I feel like that was probably how a lot of folks got through like history. You think about like back in the day, ancient times or even years before you know your social media, your televisions, you were, you were only aware of what was going on in your, your little town. You had no idea what was taking place unless you went out and, like, bought a newspaper or something. And you know, maybe if your newspaper had some you know reporters or outreach to some of the outskirts of your city within the same state, you might get some of that. But you weren't getting. You know worldly news and even things throughout the country you weren't getting. So it'd be hard to kind of dive in and have an opinion on stuff that you had no idea was even taking place in your life.
Speaker 2:Well, not only that, but like even when I was a kid, if we watched the news, it was the news. Like now I feel like the news has become political or trying to drive home certain points and like that kind of stuff, and it's just, it's frustrating. It's kind of like social media, like everybody has an agenda and social media gets frustrating with that too. Like those algorithms are like no joke.
Speaker 1:The old saying is whoever wins the war writes the history, and so that's, that's something as you elaborate to the history point, pierre. It's maybe our thoughts and opinions based on history are just because of who won the war, which could very well be. But back to the opening ceremonies on the Olympics stirred up a lot of controversy just because of they're always weird, you know what I mean. Like the opening closing ceremonies, they're always weird, you know what I mean. Like the opening closing ceremonies, they're just always kind of weird, and maybe I'm just not artsy enough to understand what's going on or care to know what's going on.
Speaker 1:I am one of those kind of guys who gets bored walking through a museum. I'll be honest with you, I get bored. I don't find a lot of pleasure in going to museums. I don't know what it is about me that doesn't make that to each their own. Some people really like that stuff, and so be it. But they called it artsy, and I'm not sure what artsy is.
Speaker 1:I had to ask my daughter, because my daughter, smart girl, smart young lady I didn't pay a lot of attention in school. I guess I was too poor to pay attention. My daughter, though, she's very smart, and I said, hey, hey, look, that lady was like sitting there talking with her head in her hand in there. Wasn't there a lot of beheadings in france? And the daughter said, yeah. I said, okay, that makes sense, I get that. Um, and then you had, though, the, the, and I call it an agenda. Maybe it's because of my conservative values. I get it, it doesn't scare me. It doesn't scare me, it doesn't offend me. I just don't get it. I don't understand why there was how do we say it politically correct? I don't want to offend anybody.
Speaker 1:There were men dressed as females parading around, pushed a little bit of a narrative. That may have been pushed and it outraged a lot of Christians around the world. And I can understand why, because there weren't any Christian motives kind of pushed throughout at all. So I don't know. And people would have been offended if their Christianity was pushed. And that's what I always hear out, even in the real world. Hey, you do whatever you want to. If you want to be religious, if you want to be a Christian, that's fine, just don't push it on me. And if you want to be gay, if you want to be homosexual, that's fine, just don't push it on me and I don't know where that. I guess everybody has different pushing boundaries.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think so, and I we talked about it probably on the episode you're referring to, where I feel like there's pride on both sides. You see, the pride that's obviously the name, that's kind of tied to everything. But I think there's pride on each side and I personally feel, at least from our side of things, saying from a Christian side of things I don't feel the need to push Christianity and I'm not saying that in a Free will I feel like is free will for a reason. I feel like if we were meant to have it forced upon us, then God just wouldn't have given us the option to choose him. So I understand, from at least my point of view.
Speaker 3:You know I'm not going to push, you know my beliefs on anyone because ultimately it should be up to them to decide. You know what happens with their souls or what they believe in. But again, on the flip side, I feel like that should be mutual, like you shouldn't be forcing you know your opinions and beliefs on others as well. So there's no common ground. I think that's the, that's the probably the biggest struggle, and the low-hanging fruit is that there's there's no common ground and there's not even folks willing to have those type of conversations and I don't know what those conversations look like, but if you have like other sins, like you can sit down and easily talk to someone that's struggling with pornography. You can talk to alcoholics and drug addicts. For some reason, folks aren't wanting to have a conversation between Christians and the LGBTQ community.
Speaker 2:And Pierre and I have had this conversation and I told him I think from and this is just my opinion, but I think from a Christian standpoint why the church takes such a hard stance on it is the church believes it's wrong and when you have somebody who is trying to recover from alcoholism or is trying not to watch pornography, they're trying to change their ways. So the church is receptive to that. But someone who is in that community isn't necessarily trying to change their ways. In the church's view, they're trying to show why it should be okay. I don't have an opinion either way, to be completely honest with you, but I think, if you look at it rationally, I think that's why the church has such a hard stance on it. But I also believe that how can you reach people if you're shunning them Like? I don't understand that.
Speaker 1:I think there's a time and a place for everything. Right. And whenever you have such a worldwide stage as the Olympics, if you, if you show things, you can show things to either a Bring people together right. And what does this world maybe need more now than ever is a bringing together of people.
Speaker 1:If we're sitting here for this conversation and we're like, oh, this is a controversial topic, they did something controversial, people are angry, people are fighting against each other, if we know that and they were to put those kind of sheets of paper and ideas for the opening ceremonies in front of us and said, hey look, we can kind of show people helping out people or we can show a drag event going on. Which one do you think we should show? How do you think the people, the general population, will react? And I guarantee I would say, well, if you show the drag thing, it's going to divide people, and if you show people helping out each other, it's going to maybe unite people out each other. It's going to maybe unite people. If we can see those things, then whoever's coming up with those brainstorming ideas I think are intentionally trying to do that to maybe just stir up the crowd a little bit. Again, just trying to stir them up like an ant's nest.
Speaker 2:Doesn't that seem to be the way of the world these days? Like it's all about headlines and dividing people. And I mean Wes, I don't know, like when, when you were a kid, and like even when we had a presidential election, and maybe I was just naive to it but do you remember such a fierceness in people that were Republicans versus Democrats? Like I don't remember that when I was a kid, like I knew people had different parties that they, you know, followed or whatever, but like not to the extent that it is these days. Like it's crazy.
Speaker 1:I think every election whenever I was growing up, it was like everybody already knew who was going to win, because they were such charismatic people or whatever. There wasn't a question about who was going to win. When Ronald Reagan was running, he was winning is what he was going to do. When George Bush was running, he was winning is what was going to end up happening. I remember that and that's what I really remember, and I can't believe that it's as politically divided as it is right now. Right down the middle of the country it feels like and I say that not down the middle, but just 50, 50, the races are just so close.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I feel like that's kind of where earth satan's stronghold is right now. So you even mentioned like what if they show like people helping other people and um, I think of the super bow. So there's a, there's an ad um, for he gets us and it's actually based off of, you know, jesus understanding us, so he gets his campaign, and it showed a bunch of different clips of people washing each other's feet and the very last clip of this commercial shows a priest Watching what appeared to be, again, a homosexual foot and it was uproar To me. That says it really doesn't matter potentially what the story is if that community is involved.
Speaker 1:I don't remember how I ran across this on what you said, and if you don't feel like sharing it, then don't. But you said something about you had some personalized emails or direct messages towards you about things. I would love to share that with the audience.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've had a few. So the main thing and I'll just say one of them was definitely within the LG community, another was not, not necessarily a Christian, but they're in a heterosexual marriage etc. And what's even funnier. So I'll tell you, both said the same thing and it was about, for one, jesus. They said we don't hate Jesus. We actually agree with most of Jesus' teachings. What we hate is the behavior of the Christians and how they behave towards others. And I kid you not, I got these within the last few weeks. The last one came Sunday, sunday morning.
Speaker 3:I have a men's group at my church that my pastor actually leads on Monday mornings and he was just down I think it's the Georgia area, the Church of the Highlands, and one of his mentors is John Maxwell, who writes a lot of books. And he said again I hadn't talked to him at all. He said that when he was sitting with John Maxwell. He said the problem that he hears when he's going to different businesses, because John's kind of transitioned to really, you know, mentoring businesses and trying to lead, you know, business people to the Lord. Most of them say they don't hate Jesus or his teachings, they hate the behaviors of Christians. And I sat there like you gotta be kidding me. He did not just say that out of his mouth, and I actually sent him a private message, my pastor after I got home screenshots of those people saying the exact same thing just days ago.
Speaker 1:That he said John Maxwell told him while he was just down at the Highlands over the weekend. Yeah, that is trippy and I think all right. So here we're all cut out of a different cloth, right. We all have different backgrounds. We all have different talents. We all have different abilities.
Speaker 1:Some speak out a little bit, maybe more boldly than other people speak out, but I think it goes back to what Paul says about the uses of liberty. And look, I'm not saying I'm the greatest at it. I may need to practice more loving kindness myself in some of the things that I say. I don't know no-transcript. Paul says about using his talents or speaking in tongues or anything like that. He talked about it. He said no matter what God has blessed me with, no matter what kind of talent God has given me, no matter what I am being led by the Spirit to do, if I don't do it out of love, it's useless, it profits nobody, anything. If I speak in a million tongues but I don't do it in love, it doesn't mean a thing, not a hill, nothing. And so I think that's what we could all kind of look at Not only Christians, okay, not just Christians.
Speaker 1:The other side too, whatever side you fall on, I don't want to judge anybody. I don't want to put a label on somebody, but everybody needs to watch how they direct their message. Is it being said out of love? Are you trying to win a debate? Are you trying to win a fight? Are you trying to make your point louder and bolder than the other person is by belittling them somehow? Or are you trying to do it out of love, to teach somebody something Like with me? Okay, let's say I was offended by all the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Well, are you going to call me a bigot and a racist because I don't accept that? Or are you going to try and tell me why I should accept it by saying it out of love and teaching me something? There's? You could do it on both sides, right? A Christian could say it lovingly, and so could somebody who's not a Christian. They could say those things lovingly as well.
Speaker 3:Right, absolutely, and so so what the what? The scripture that's being quoted was Galatians 6-7,. What does that say?
Speaker 1:You want me to say it Off the top of my head? Hold on, I've got to open up my bag of chips. Let me open up the bag of chips I have here. Pierre In code for the Finding Faith in Losing Sleep podcast. That means I'm turning my Bible pages, that's what he?
Speaker 3:says I got it I got it right here.
Speaker 1:I know how to flip my Bible. If we're having a Bible race, I'm right there at it right now.
Speaker 3:So what's the verse that a lot of people have been plastering over social media?
Speaker 1:I don't know. You said 611, Galatians 611, right, I said 6-7. 6-7. Oh, 6-7. You want me to read it in Greek or you want me to read it in Aramaic?
Speaker 3:Read it in a way that the listeners will be able to understand what the actual verse is.
Speaker 1:Okay, well then I will read it hard like I live. Okay, Do not be deceived. God is not mocked, For whatever a man sows, he will also reap. How about that? There it is, God is not mocked. Yeah, that's what—you're right. I have seen that. They have the little picture of the Lord's Supper and then they have the picture of what happened at the opening ceremony. God is not mocked. They don't have that.
Speaker 3:What bothers me is that I see this everywhere, from people that I never see versions from. I see it from people that maybe have their own I know some of them have their own transgressions. I see it from folks that maybe have their own that I know some of them have their own transgressions. I see it from folks that have friends and family that have their transgressions, but they're never calling out anything else. Why is that? Why is this the? Why is this the fight they want to fight and why was that verse specifically?
Speaker 1:He's asking you, Michelle.
Speaker 2:I think he'd have to ask them. Wes.
Speaker 3:And again I mean, who knows the meaning behind it? You look at the actual Olympic account. They claimed. They came out and stated you know it was not meant to be about the Last Supper. It tied into, you know, some Greek and some French history, which would make sense if it was in France. Some people don't believe that. They're like no, you're a liar. Okay, that's fine.
Speaker 1:You're a liar.
Speaker 3:And so, michelle, we had a debate earlier actually. So, michelle, what was your thoughts on that?
Speaker 2:What do you mean?
Speaker 3:with it what the Last Supper and how it would is basically a similarity.
Speaker 2:Oh, I thought that the little bit of social media that I had seen around it. I thought that they, that the Olympic Committee, had come out and said that it was it had to do with a famous like painting and it wasn't related to the last supper, so to speak. But then I thought I saw something also that said that that painting in general was in reference to the last supper. So then it kind of still would be a mockery, but I don't know that to be fact. It very well could have been me while I was sleepy reading, seeing something.
Speaker 2:So I'm not sure, but I will say really quickly, like based on you know, pierre, asking why this is something that people, why this is what they choose to put out there and take a stand on, I guess I feel like why, why is it with anything Like? What is it that makes you determine like this is the thing I'm going to take a stand on? That, you know, could be potentially controversial, not just this, but anything like I've. I've almost gotten to the point where I don't post much at all anymore, um, unless it happens to be something that I want to show up in my memories for years later.
Speaker 1:But the Packers beating the bears. Huh, the Packers beating the bears.
Speaker 2:I'm sure I will get one of those especially if they beat the Vikings Like I'll take that one for sure. What do you? I mean, what do you have to?
Speaker 3:say about that? I mean, I think I think most posts, regardless, have a have a purpose behind them. So people post things in hopes that someone sees them. Like I don't think anyone posts anything saying you know what, I hope no one's paying attention to what I'm getting ready to put out here. You know what? I hope no one sees what I'm taking my time to type out here. And so again, my struggles are like if you know your intentions are to get attention, I feel like there's better ways to go about it. We just read that verse. Wes Read me the verse about defending Christianity.
Speaker 1:Give me a clue when am I going.
Speaker 3:The verse about defending Christianity.
Speaker 1:Read it. Maybe, like our Christian faith, you want that verse.
Speaker 3:Christian faith, about defending Christianity itself.
Speaker 1:I don't know, you stumped me.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it doesn't exist. Oh, there's nothing within red letters of the Bible about defending Christianity. It does say defend your own faith. It does say take care of the widows and the poor. Love your neighbors as yourself. Love God above all things. It doesn't say anything about defending Christianity, the religion, people doing it.
Speaker 2:Well, okay, so playing advocate here, you're saying why do people choose to do that and type stuff up and put it out there? And obviously nobody does that. I mean, I maybe do it. There's not always something that I want people to see. It's sometimes just for me like so it shows up in my memories, but like I couldn't. We also say like if we're judging people for putting stuff out there, like we're, we're being judgmental too. Like if that's what they chose to do, that's what they chose to do I, I get it because it's frustrating, but again, it's free will. Like it's not up to us to judge that.
Speaker 3:That's absolutely correct. I'm not, I'm not even sitting here saying I'm judging. I'm saying I'm trying to understand the thought process Sure Around that I get it. So you know, you see that in the open ceremonies you go. You want to make a point, you want to post your opinion, that's great. But at the same time you know you may have a family member struggling with alcohol that you never talked to.
Speaker 2:I think we all have our downfalls.
Speaker 3:We do and that's just the point. And I think part of the I don't like the way Christians behave ties into that. We're always quick to point the finger at the folks that we don't agree with, but we don't do it at ourselves.
Speaker 1:It's easier to post something in five seconds than it is to talk to that person over the phone or in face-to-face that's struggling with something. Okay, I got three things. I've been quiet for a minute. Yeah, I got three things. I've been quiet for a minute. Yeah, I got three things Ready. Go ahead. Number one that picture, that painting, that portrait of the Lord's Supper. Yes, that was a work of art. Yeah, it was not a divine sacrament.
Speaker 1:They can redo those things all they want in different ways. If I'm not mistaken, there's been movies, television shows where they kind of do the same kind of scene, you know, with people around a table and they're recreating somewhat of a Lord's Supper theme. All right, and that's what the opening ceremonies did. Once again, I think there's a time and a place for it, and I and I it's. It's. It's not even to me that they did that. I don't. It's just that somebody somewhere said hey, this is a good idea, this, this will cause controversy, this will stir up chaos, let's's do this. Why would they do that? That's the part I don't understand. Not that scene. You could do that scene all you want, but on a worldwide stage, all you're doing is trying to stir up trouble. Respect non-christians. Non-christians, respect christians. Amen. How about that? I made it simple amen. I'm gonna go write that on every bathroom wall across america.
Speaker 3:That is my life goal yeah, that's a lot better than a random phone number right well I'll put a message and then write and that's the phone number.
Speaker 1:Put your phone number.
Speaker 2:Hey, I know you can record a message and then write and that's the phone number, right the phone number, and that's what it says when they call Number three.
Speaker 1:Back to your Bible verse thing, pierre. I went. It took me a second to go. Okay, what verse is that? Oh, I know what verse it is. I flipped my Bible open right, opened up my new bag of chips and I had thrown up.
Speaker 1:I had thrown a pin in my Bible to bring along with me, because sometimes I have to write down little notes to bring us back to a topic that we're talking about and my pin was thrown right there in that same chapter, right next to that verse. Of course there's. You know, if you throw a pin in a Bible it's right next to all the verses, really. But first peter, first peter, chapter 3, verse 15. But sanctify christ as lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense for everyone who is asked to give an account for the hope that is in you. Yet with gentleness and reverence you know gentleness and reverence. Uh, you know gentleness and reverence, thinking about those people that you're talking to, being mindful of how you're saying your words, but, yes, always being able to make a defense.
Speaker 1:That doesn't mean condemning people to hell. That means explaining why you believe what you believe and, just like we've said in past episodes more times than not, it's going to be living a life to lead others to the same kind of lifestyle that you're living, that leads people to Christ, that leads people to heaven. It's more about your deeds, more than it is about your words, but sometimes, like on your social media accounts or whatever. My I'm guilty, I'm guilty, I'm pointing my finger right at me. I look, I I am pointing four fingers at me and one finger at you. All right, that's what's going on right now. Then, not you, necessarily, pierre or michelle, just I mean in general audience. Okay, yes, and, and you know the those deeds are put under that magnifying glass and it's it. It helps divide things, just like the olympics are. Hey, let's go on to another topic.
Speaker 2:Okay, we, we've beat the sequestrian event to death, all right well I think I think it's important to to say, like it's not just politics, like people use social media for all kinds of things like, even like to like. I use it. I like to use it, like I said, for like my memories and to help remember things and things that are past. But it can be used for good, it can be used for bad and everything in between Right and like. Even like passive, aggressive stuff that you post on there that you want other people to see, or like just whatever it might be. Like Pierre said, you put stuff out there cause you want people to see it.
Speaker 2:So I think we all need to have a gut check and a heart check and say what am I really putting out there for people Like, is this a true representation of me? Or am I trying to put on a show or to get people to like me or to see things my way? Like what is my true intention? And I think that's really important. I think that is an important point that he brought up and I just I don't know. I felt like I needed to say that. I don't know why, but like I just think it's important for all of us to say is this really helping? Is it really important, like what, what's my? And maybe I think we don't think that enough when we do it, and yeah, All right, no good point, good point.
Speaker 1:That wrapped everything up there. On that, Pierre, we talked, and that may have been 400 days ago that we last talked about what we're going to do this. What were we talking about doing as far as the news headlines way back when? Maybe we can remember some of those things, do you remember?
Speaker 3:There's a lot of things taking place. I know one of the politics stuff was obviously the Trump shooting ordeal. We had the Caitlin Clark and how kind of that's been playing out with her and Angel Reese, as well as the Ridgewood with Reggie Jackson and just kind of some of the past that he had talked about coming up in baseball as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, where the baseball game was played in Birmingham, Alabama, like the oldest ball field or something like that.
Speaker 3:Um.
Speaker 1:I think, and so they had a uh, just a game there. And then Reggie Jackson got on Fox during the I don't know if it was before the game or but I think it was before the game and he just talked about what it was like for an African-American to play baseball during that time and when really they were being belittled and and being I don't know what would you say, pierre, where they were.
Speaker 3:Well, I guess, racist people being racist.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I guess that's what it was.
Speaker 3:Ultimately, and I even had someone, so I had made a comment that is basically crazy to think about something like that taking place. Obviously, I'm Black, african-american, whatever you want to call me, but I didn't live back in those times. I had family members that did, but I wasn't there. I was blessed that the Lord appointed me in my point in time. After you know, the main like it's still here, but after the brutalness that took place and all that hate being shown. And so I made a comment similar to that and I got one response and it was basically saying you know, black culture is the worst culture in history. It's been proven and something should be done about it, essentially. And I was like well, clearly we haven't come as far as we hope we've come.
Speaker 1:If that's the thought process that some people are still having, and it goes back to the tying it all in. I think at that time it was Caitlin Clark, angel Reese, I think, caitlin Clark being left off the Olympic squad too, and just those all those things kind of were all tying into it. Once again, if it isn't politics, if it isn't religion, it's going to be skin color that's going to divide us as a nation, right? Whatever is being pushed in the mainstream media, we don't need to fall for that stuff. We need to be kind to our neighbor, we need to love our neighbor as ourself. We need to just take up that Olympic torch the kindness torch is what we could say and just carry out that stuff. But boy, it seems like those narratives are just pushed down our throat all the time. I guess attention needs to be drawn to it, because if attention wasn't ever drawn to racism during Reggie Jackson's days, then it would never have changed, right?
Speaker 3:I think you can. I think that happens over history. I don't know. I feel like and again, this could be one of Satan's best weapons. It's probably division, because over history you have Blacks fighting for their rights, you have women fighting for their rights. I think right now could even say like your pride communities kind of fighting for what they feel are their rights. Different spectrums maybe, but it's the same ordeal where history kind of repeats itself, just with a different group, you know, trying to find equality within a world in which God says we're all knit together perfectly In our mother's womb, we're all made the same, we all bleed the same. Yet folks have a really hard time grasping that. Right now.
Speaker 3:The media, the world, kind of thrives off of it and, like we mentioned, the Kaitlyn Clark stuff, kaitlyn Clark's amazing. She's an amazing basketball player. The way she's handled herself is awesome. On the flip side, angel Reese, she says some things that I think she's kind of baited into with some of the ways they question her. But she also has said a lot of positive things about Kaitlyn Clark that you don't hear about. That gets cut out of the interviews, especially with the All-Star. They were on the same team. There were a lot of things that Angel Reese was pumping up, glad to play with kate and can't wait to get a pass from her. You don't hear it. All you hear is the the negative that maybe comes out, or maybe that wasn't even meant to be negative, that's twisted to be negative, and even from a caitlin clark quote, like I found one where I knew the guy at the Athletic from Twitter and just our interactions that actually got the quote from Caitlyn Clark on you know Angel Reese and the Athletic, his own company. I took a snippet of what she said and like made it look like you know she was firing back, which was not the case at all. Like made it look like you know she was firing back, which was not the case at all. And so we we really got to be careful. What we believe.
Speaker 3:Well, especially like on the internet, on television, I don't think people truly realize you know how much things are manipulated to to change our opinions, to form our opinions. I mean the political stuff we talked about. I know we're getting out of politics, but it's insane. You know the divide between Democrats and Republicans, who all should really be working together to make sure we're united, but instead they're trying to keep the power to themselves. I don't know, it's hard to overcome it when those with the money and finances are working so hard to divide those middle class below. I think that was kind of one of his main points of coming. He came for the poor. He came for the sick. He came for the poor, you know. He came for the sick. He came for the sinners. Like folks are getting mad at, you know, with the Olympic stuff you could argue that the people that he would be sitting with trying to trying to help are those people at that table. So I don't know, it's, it's a tough tough situation, maybe.
Speaker 1:Maybe I said you could argue. I didn't say it was the fact. No, no, and I get that. I understand he helped out so many different people in so many different ways. It seems like he helped out people that weren't able to help themselves first and foremost right, but he wasn't afraid to call somebody a sinner that was a sinner Now, but they were openly sinning and they were supposed to be the religious leaders at the time too. You know what I mean Like.
Speaker 1:So it's one of those things that I've been trying to think about in my head. Did he call out the religious leaders that were sinning but yet he helped out sinners who didn't know any better, but he didn't call them out necessarily. You know what I mean. Like he didn't publicly shame the sinners, he publicly shamed the and this is all thoughts, okay, this is thoughts you can finding faith, losing sleep. Leave a comment, tell me where I'm right, tell me where I'm wrong. Help me think about these things out loud. I would love to hear from you.
Speaker 1:He called out the religious leaders who were openly sinning, leading people into sin themselves to some degree, because they were supposed to be the religious leaders, the perfect people, and so he would call them the snakes in the grass or he would call them whitewashed tombs or whatever, but the sinners he didn't necessarily call them out. He said, hey, you don't need to sin anymore, but he helped show them. I was trying to go through my memory banks and go through there. I need to just go ahead and do a whole Matthew Mark Luchon study throughout all that. I just need to do that right there. Can I get weird for a minute?
Speaker 3:I mean you've done it before.
Speaker 1:So I don't know if you've have either one of you ever heard of David Icke before.
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 1:Okay, this is where all pastors have to close their ears, including mine. Anybody from mine, just close your ears, because I'm not saying I believe in this at all.
Speaker 1:All right, david Icke is a philosopher. I don't know where he got this information. I have yet to get the David Icke book and read it. Ok, I have heard about it and I think I've heard somebody who read it and kind of did a review of it, right, somebody who read it and kind of did a um, a review of it, right, but he's he's. He was alex jones before alex jones, david ike, kind of a thing, right. And then with david ike, though, what he said was and I don't know how he came to this conclusion the anunnaki. Have you guys ever heard of anunnaki?
Speaker 3:I have. Some of my rabbit hoes have led me down that path. Yes, I'm aware.
Speaker 1:Michelle? What about Michelle? I'm sorry.
Speaker 3:Not aware I haven't got. She thinks a lot differently than I think and if I got introduced to her we wouldn't go to bed for a day understood you'd just be her mind running wild, so that she's not introduced anyway.
Speaker 1:His, his, if I have this right, and I don't know that I even am representing what david ike says, correct, but he, um, he, he, he thinks the world was created by Anunnaki, which are essentially lizard people. Lizard people, and there were three lizard people, if I understand that, right, like a little family, a little triunion kind of a thing going on, and one was good and a couple of them were bad. And what they feed off of, what they feed off of, is our negativity. What they feed off of is our negativity, and that they are still in control of all this today, like they are pulling strings from wherever they're pulling strings from. They are pulling strings to create this kind of atmosphere that we are living in now.
Speaker 1:Even more, they have all the pieces in place to be able to cause all this dissension, to be able to cause all this anger, to be able to cause all this disruption, and I say they feed off of it. Their energy is produced through our negative energies and our hatred for one another. And I say that just to say there are theories out there of why all this happens. Because it's not, it's not explainable. Right, and Pierre, you've alluded to Satan having that stronghold. Well, that's Satan is kind of represented from a dragon, which you could say artsy kind of things and say those kind of stuff. So I'm not saying it's valid at all.
Speaker 3:I'm just saying there's thoughts out there of why this happens. My version is that lizard people. Just isn't how it comes out. So the rabbit hole I went down was more of like an alien-type god lowercase g obviously, but alien gods that basically control the world ultimate good one and created Earth itself to kind of create mankind and cause the havoc that they couldn't cause in some of the other galaxies. But yeah it's interesting, but it's far-fetched.
Speaker 1:It seems fictitious. It seems fictitious Until I went back to Genesis and I'm like, oh, you had that Satan represented like a snake talking.
Speaker 2:Oh, I was like, oh, no, but hey, you know what I've been sitting here thinking like, as we're doing, as we're talking through all this is, you know, technology has brought us a long way. Like we couldn't have done this podcast years ago because we didn't have the technology for it right, Like in different location and to put it out there and and that sort of thing. But as great as technology is, I feel like it's also been a downfall for our world, like to have so many things readily available and opinions out there and cause dissent and, you know, hurt feelings and all of that sort of thing. Like it's sad, it's really sad and I don't think there's any coming back from that, unfortunately, like only through God. I pray that like we find that way, but I think the the more we have things open and you know, now you can create videos of people that had actually never happened with AI, and like just all of that stuff.
Speaker 2:It's super scary and sometimes, as a parent, for me, like it freaks me out to think like the, the challenges that my daughter is going to have in this world, like not knowing if you know when she thinks she's talking to her friend online that maybe she's not, and like just all of those kinds of things are are scary, and I think that's where we truly have to give it to God and just trust that it's going to happen the way he wants it to. And we have to, you know, give it to him and and we have to do our part to protect our children, and you know our world, but ultimately it's up to him to know that. But man, it's scary.
Speaker 1:I got a. You guys um, somebody is trying to chime in to our podcast here. If you hold on a second, Okay, you ready. Okay, uh, it's a guy named Paul, all right.
Speaker 3:You ready? Okay, it's a guy named.
Speaker 1:Paul. All right, he says. Concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we have all knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies If anyone supposes that he knows anything he has not yet known as he ought to know. If anyone loves God, he is known by him. Therefore, concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world and there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one, god, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for him, and one, lord, jesus Christ, by whom are all things and we exist through him.
Speaker 1:However, not all men have this knowledge, but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol. Now look, we could say that idol. We can replace it with the opening Olympics theme, like we were talking about right. Or we can put alcohol in there, pierre, we could put fornication in there, we could put all those things in there. Whatever that idol is. An idol is just something that's between you and God, right, between you and God. However, not all men have this knowledge, but some, being accustomed to the idols in their life until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. But food isn't going to commend us to God. We are neither the worst if we do eat it nor the better if we don't eat it. But take care lest the liberty of yours somehow becomes a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to an idol? For through your knowledge, he who is weak is ruined the brother for whose sake Christ died, and thus, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again. That I might not cause my brother to stumble.
Speaker 1:Paul's whole point there in 1 Corinthians 8,. In a Greek environment, in a Greek church, in a metropolitan area where people are coming and going from all over places, where around the world. It is going here to this area in Corinth, and Corinth is being influenced by all these different kind of cultures. Paul knows that there are so many people that sacrifice animals to different kinds of gods and then they eat the barbecue. Essentially, they eat barbecue. But Paul says, sometimes when you eat sacrifices barbecue made to false gods, you are causing someone to stumble that sees you eating that kind of barbecue.
Speaker 1:You pull up to a barbecue joint and's and it's a a Goliath's Goliath's barbecue. They're like oh, you can't, you can't eat there because they're sacrificing to the God Goliath. But but, man, they got some good sauce, man, you know, and there's no such God as Goliath, so it doesn't matter if we eat it or not. It doesn't matter, we can eat it all we want. Let's just enjoy the barbecue sauce, baby. But you got that one person who goes no, I used to sacrifice animals to Goliath and I used to eat that barbecue and I did it out of respect to Goliath and I can't eat there because I'm just afraid that I'm going to go back in that door. I think life might be real, I don't know. And I can't eat that barbecue. Man, you're crazy. I'm eating that barbecue. It's got good sauce. You caused that brother to stumble, right?
Speaker 3:I think that's the main piece. Is the causing to stumble. I mean I can speak for some just because I lost my mom to alcohol. It was a battle Great woman in and out of rehab. She honestly would do really well initially out of rehab. Where she would always stumble is when she got around friends or family that were drinking and it starts maybe you know, one sip, one, this and all of a sudden you know she's back full force and so I think that's where that comes from.
Speaker 3:You got folks that are battling addictions, battling demons, and we're called to make our own sacrifices, not just for our sake but for their sake. So even if you know you may not be an alcoholic, you might be able to have one glass of wine and be perfectly fine and stop right there. But if you pull that out in front of someone who struggles and they don't have, you know, that type of control over it, that's where the issue is and you know, depending on what church or what issue you have, some folks you know say you know no drinking, no alcohol at all. On the flip side, you can say you know Jesus turned water in the wine when the whole party was already, you know, kind of feeling good. But the issue is that you can't cause your neighbor, your brother, your sister to kind of fall back into their own trap, and I think that's where Paul was getting at with that statement. Kind of similar, so not exactly the same. I know you got your Bible there. Can you go to 1 John, chapter 3, 10 for me?
Speaker 1:1 John, chapter 3. I had my Bible. I put it down. Mr Wilson, I'm flipping. I'm in the exposés here in the back. I'm in 1 Peter. I'm in Revelation. Let me head to the left a little bit, is that okay? 1 John 3, what? 3.10. Look, I'm pretty good with my Bible, flipping Bible.
Speaker 3:I never went through that. I think this is important, both in kind of what we discussed earlier, how we react, how we post things, you know kind of our thought process around it. I think this verse kind of ties us together here on the Christian side of things for sure.
Speaker 1:By this, the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.
Speaker 3:Sometimes that's not what we're thinking, it's not. Oh, how holy are I, are thou and you know, walking with our chin up, nose up. Sometimes it's just, you know, doing the next right thing towards our brothers and sisters those that we agree with those that we don't agree with, and sisters, those that we agree with those that we don't agree with, and them truly being able to see how we react and our behavior, I think, can change the opinion of so many.
Speaker 1:Let me say this Not only ours, pierre. Whoever ours is, whoever ours is, whoever ours is whoever is ours whoever ours is ours. But also there's two yeah, there may be people who don't agree with me that tune into this podcast. So it's not just me. I'm holding myself accountable and I'm encouraging others to hold themselves accountable. I'm encouraging others to who might be Christian, to walk that side with loving kindness. But here's my point the other side has to do it too. But just because they don't doesn't mean we can't, Right?
Speaker 2:Right. I was always taught like you're a product of your environment. So I think we all need to be cognizant of what environment we're creating, not just for ourselves, but for others.
Speaker 1:I told you all I was raised in a mess. That's why I'm a mess. All right, I do have a topic for next time. All right, it's the end of the podcast here. I want to encourage everybody to write in, leave a review if you can, not for our sake, but just to be able to hear from you, I guess. So that is selfish reasons. It is for our sake. It does help out the show. We don't charge anything for the show. We don't have any advertising. We don't do anything like that. We've had opportunities to do those things but we don't do it. Why? Because the show's for you and the show is for God and we just don't feel like we need to do any of those things. It'll take care of itself, but we want to hear from you because it is encouraging to hear your voices. I guess I put little voices inside or whatever messages you leave us. Oh, that's what we should do, can I? Can I do my voices reading the messages, pierre, you're?
Speaker 3:the producer. That's not insane we did. It can be really entertaining, though we have a new cartoon channel.
Speaker 1:All I have is an over the air antenna Right and there have a new cartoon channel. All I have is an over-the-air antenna right and there's a new cartoon channel and it's all the old cartoons that I grew up with and I'm watching these things and my teenager's like that's where all your voices come from. I'm like oh yeah it is. There's so many different cartoon voices that I just have imitated throughout the years.
Speaker 2:That's fantastic.
Speaker 3:A lot of the best cartoons don't have voices. You look like Tom and Jerry and it's a lot of silence.
Speaker 1:But anyways. Anyway, I want to read people's messages and cartoon voices, but I want to encourage people to do that. But the topic next time, unless somebody writes in and tells us otherwise. I had a text message from somebody that said I wish you would do Ephesians. So how about that? Can we maybe as a group as a whole, as a Finding Faith, losing Sleep podcast family, just we'll all maybe take Ephesians under our wings and in our belt and in our Bible readings and the next time we come together we'll kind of do an overview of the book of Ephesians. We'll be looking for themes and we'll look for key verses, maybe key passages, just those kind of things, and see what the theme of Ephesians is. Okay, sounds like a plan. Okay, all right, We'll do that then. I appreciate everybody listening to this podcast. Anything we can do for you, you let us know and we'll be praying for you as you pray for us.