Leftovers - Ask Me Anything (Part 3)

Happy Monday, Pastor Matt's here with you.

Pastor Chris. It was so soft.

So normal, OK. So calm.

So calm. And Creston's here.

I don't like it. I say your guys voice is weird.

Pastor Chris. Yeah, I'm Crasston.

It's just that I don't know. What is that part of that word

called? That syllable?

Oh, phoneme. Is that a thing?

Oh, Kraystan, My wife's a speech therapist.

I know things I don't know, things she knows.

That I definitely do not know things by the way I found out.

Speaking of words. OK, so speaking.

Of. Words, yes.

You like that segue? Here we go.

So Speaking of words in general, but last week on the podcast,

you, you kind of flubbed the word consecrate.

And then I realized, and then I realized that during the sermon,

I flubbed that word when I was reading the text.

And then on my Monday night group, the person who is reading

the text for us flubbed the word to.

Apparently it's a very difficult word to say without really

thinking about it because we were three for three.

Like messing it up. Oh, I thought you're OK.

I thought you were saying it's like psychologically actually

like a difficult word for the human brain to say.

But you're just in your experience, in your field

experience. 3 for three, all right, messed it up. 3 for

three. So I don't know, maybe

consecrate is a just terrible word to try and say in the

moment. It's not a really common word.

Like we don't, you don't. You don't bring that up in

regular, everyday speech, really.

Right, like it's very. Very specific.

That might, but I don't think the rest of us do.

Why me? Yeah, I don't look at my family

and be like consecrate. See, I did it again.

Consecrate themselves before dinner.

It's very close to like concentrate and consequences and

like, I feel like you can go a lot of different ways out of the

start to that word, right? Yeah.

Then you can also end up a lot of different places.

Place. Yeah.

I don't know. It's a jumble and we don't say

it. Words are hard.

Yeah. Words are difficult.

For a living, great. Yeah, I know it's, you know,

every, every Sunday is a struggle.

We know. Hey, that's just hurtful.

You said it, not me. Yeah.

All right. So today is and Ask Me Anything

episode Y'all submitted questions and there's there's

maybe even more than we will have time to get to.

We're going to keep it to about an hour.

Might go a little extra because it's it's a special episode,

special week. But Kristen's here to to mediate

and kind of keep us on time and ask questions and and keep us

somewhat on track, you know, as though we're not going to stay

wholly on track the whole time, but to add a third voice to the

fray too. So yeah, that's going to be

good. Thanks for participating and

submitting them. You can always submit a question

in in the show comments here or on the Facebook post and we'll

we'll add them to the pile and kind of we usually do an

icebreaker ask me anything question at the beginning of

each episode weekly. So just keep us going on the ERC

Leftovers podcast. You can like and subscribe

wherever you're listening and following along with podcast.

There's there's plenty of you that there's like 50% of you

that come to church on Sunday mornings and still listen to

this episode afterwards. So that's for us.

That's not that it's all about numbers, but it's well worth

doing. There's a large portion of you

that are continually engaged in out of Sunday morning, engaged

in the week, Monday through Saturday.

So yeah, we're going to keep doing this thing.

It's a great exercise for us and just I think a fun conversation

for us to continue to have. And then we get to have episodes

like this too. So going to be great.

Thanks for listening along. Kristen, what's our first

question? All right, ready for this one?

Did Adam and Eve have belly buttons?

Classic. Did they?

Did they? Theology, man.

Theology, man. Would you like to go first?

Oh no, I'm never going to live that down.

You're not. You won't.

This is just OK, whatever I need.

Yep, go ahead. So just off the cuff, because I

didn't, I didn't research this, I did not look it up.

I've never really thought about this before.

And so my response would be yes. OK.

Because though they did not need them to be well, obviously like

there wasn't functional. They were just created still a

part of like the human anatomy, right?

That it's it's still, it had a function in their offspring and

is still something that just like is the way the human, that

it's not like they didn't have a hole there even though they

didn't need it, right? Well because well to to maybe

counter slightly not I don't I don't have a super hard opinion

on this. But to counter slightly, what is

a belly button? Is it not a scar from the

cutting and removal of an umbilical cord?

Therefore, in order to obtain said scar, you would have to be

cut from an umbilical cord, which they were not.

OK, so is the umbilical cord part of the baby or the mother?

And either way it is part of the human anatomy because it's

either attached to the the baby or the mother.

So why would God exclude it from the human figure just because he

created them by snapping his fingers?

It has a place in human anatomy. Wow, come out hot today.

Well, let me let me let me give counterpoint, let me give a

different source and I'll let me see how this shakes out with

you. I'm.

Just shooting from the hip so. Please.

Well, and, and again, I referenced this website

lastweekbutgotquestions.org. I can't believe they covered

this question, but they did. They've kind of got it all.

OK, so here's what they say on that website.

Not ever being in a womb, Adam and Eve would never have needed

umbilical cords. Never having an umbilical cord,

Adam and Eve would not have been scarred by its detachment.

So we can say that Adam and Eve probably would not have had

navels. God created our first appearance

without scars. OK.

But like so That's based on the argument that they did not need

them for utility, right. We have, we have a couple

different organs that we don't need, right?

Like we don't need our appendix. Tonsils.

Tonsils, wisdom teeth, eyebrows, nipples, nipples on men like

what are we? What are we doing?

You just. Look weird in a bathing suit.

Really like their aesthetic aren't?

They they like it builds symmetry, doesn't it?

But are you ever like, man, look at, look at that guy's nipples,

Like, no, I'm just like, I don't know, I think they're weird.

They're not. I'm just saying they're not

functional, right? Christmas mortified.

But would you say, hey, look at that guy's belly button?

Oh, I mean when it's weird, yeah.

What's a weird belly button? I don't.

Know if it's like 4 inches deep or something weird like that, or

like unusually large you're like oh that's a weird belly button.

What? Yeah.

You've got, you've observed way more belly buttons than I.

I feel like every belly button I've seen is relatively the

same, like it's an innie or an outie, end of end of

conversation and like that. OK, so then if Adam and Eve had

belly buttons, do you think they would be innies or outies?

Innies because I think the only way you get an Audi is probably

like it, it got cut off weird, right?

That's it. That's see, that's maybe a

better question. Did God design them to be innies

or outies? Were they supposed to be innies

or outies? This is the cutting edge, deep

stuff that we get into on the Ask Me Anything episode.

Let's go ahead and move on. This is this has been good

little, little deeper, all right are phrases like Oh my God,

taking the Lord's name in vain. Absolutely.

Come on, let's not mess around here.

Absolutely they are. To play.

OK, So what other what other phrases maybe are we talking

about? Parents, you're welcome for us

educating your children on things they shouldn't be saying.

What? What?

What else would like? So GD Yeah.

Bad Thumbs down, Thumbs down. OK.

What about like what the H? Yeah, but that's not God's name.

That is a noun or a place that you have then used as a what

adjective or? Yeah, OK.

OK, so obviously some people just say Christ and or or Jesus

honestly in a like angry way, right?

Like in response or descriptive way.

That's not good. No, no.

Well, because I mean, and I and actually I talked to the kids

about this a couple weeks ago at confirmation we're going through

the 10 commandments. And so I just gave the example.

If every time I got really mad, I said, oh, Sarah Peniston, like

would that. Be offensive to her.

That's so weird, you know, And Sarah was in the room and got a

chuckle out of her. And but it's just like, why

would I do that? And I don't even know like how

that would ever come about. It's just a ridiculous thing to

say. And it is taking a holy,

otherworldly better name and using it in such a way that it's

just disrespectful and irreverent and.

If you think about that phrasing, taking the Lord's name

in vain, it really so in vain would be something that is

worthless, right? Like it is of no consequence

thereby why are you doing it? If if it it's it's not

controlling God, it's not actually bringing any power to

your situation either. It's it's literally a worthless

endeavor, right? Yeah, and the other thing is

like taking his name in vain is not necessarily just like a

swear word. I again, this is very relevant

in my head just because our confirmation students recently

went through this, but here's a couple ways that have been

listed that we might take God's name in vain, use his name

thoughtlessly or without respect, cursing in his name,

using it needlessly as a way to confirm like quote, I swear to

God, blah, blah, blah. You know, by by swearing to a

lie in trial before a court of law, by conjuring or fortune

telling, saying his name indifferently and taking part in

seances, mediums, etcetera. So those are all ways that we

can do that. So what about like swearing on

the Bible so help me God like like do we still do that in our

I haven't watched a presidential inauguration.

Do they do they still I believe they right hand on the bottom.

I think they do to at like the witness stand you do you do that

still on the Bible or is that is that.

Just I believe that's still a thing.

In recent court cases I've seen they still do that, but not all

places use the Bible anymore. They, they just say, you know,

basically it's a, it's an O, it's a promise.

Sure. I think and I think that's a

little the the so help me God like that's that's usually

what's at the end of that, right, Right.

But that's different, yeah. But check out James 512, which

says above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, not by

heaven or by earth or by anything else.

All you need is a simple yes or no, otherwise you will be

condemned, right? Yes BS and your no be no yeah.

Exactly. And so I mean like we don't need

to do those things. We can just in our free will

autonomous selves, we can we can let our yes be a yes or no be a

no. And we do not need to invoke a

higher power to answer somebody. So what about phrases like jeez

or Oh my gosh? Because those are, those are

shorthand for the actual word, right?

So what? What do we, how do we feel about

that? Well, I mean invoking the name

of God in particular, I, I do see a a difference there.

And, and I and I know pastors who disagree with me.

OK, I have. Another I have another follow

up. Keep going with this line I.

Know pastors who disagree with me because I can't remember I I

said, Oh my gosh, in front of a pastor and he said, what did you

just say? And I repeated it and he was

pretty offended. And so, you know, for me in

particular, like I'm not invoking the name of God just

because it sounds similar. I am not using a holy set apart

name to express surprise or any other emotion, you know.

So I mean, and here's the thing, words really matter.

How do we know that words matter?

Because what did God create with and tell Adam?

Everything was created by a word.

He spoke things into existence. So words matter.

So I mean, I do think, you know, a change of word is a change of

a heart position in some way. So could you swear using the

name Jehovah? You mean no, not a real name of

God? Right, if you want the position

of it not being a real name of God, that's fair.

Game right, I absolutely take that position, thank you very

much. But yeah, I I wouldn't just

because it's a stupid word. This is a.

Totally different episode, by the way.

Yeah, that that's a further discussion.

Maybe we could get into that. That's a great question to

answer, I think and get into the weeds of why Jehovah is actually

a misnomer of of the name of God.

Yahweh is the is people. Don't know where to put vowels.

It's confusing, yeah. Hebrew is a weird language.

So, but that was I think that's largely where I land on that.

There was a period of time early on in my children's lives that I

also did not appreciate the phrase.

Oh my gosh. I find myself saying jeez, a a

lot. I don't know, just defense

mechanism, but I I like words matter.

But also within that I think heart matters even even when I'm

saying when I'm saying, jeez, I am not actively like, Oh, I

almost said Jesus, but I just said jeez, like I'm not like

Jesus is not thought on my mind. It's just a word that comes out,

which I know is not like, you can't just probably apply that

to anywhere. That's just the word that comes

out. There's some words that you

can't just let come out. But I, I think I'd side with you

on the like, Oh my gosh, it's not, it's definitely not the

name of God. And even if you argued that,

well, it's just, it's just replacing it.

And you're still like, you were thinking about profaning the

name of God. You just weren't saying it

because I think that's probably the position that that person

was maybe offended by is like, well, you're just, you're just

replacing it. Your heart is really like

profaning God. You're just not actually saying

the word. I think that could potentially

be dangerous. If you are like, no, I am

cursing God, but not actually using his name.

That's kind of the same thing to me then.

Well. But if I care about the name of

God in order to replace his name in that phrase, then clearly my

heart is in such a position that I don't want to profane him.

And so I again it. When you do that, I think you're

judging a person, a person's heart, which is something that

only God gets to do. Yeah.

OK. OK, did.

We did. We.

I'm sorry. I don't, I don't.

We don't have to go back to it because it was a whole rabbit

hole. Did we like decide whether or

not Adam you had belly buttons though?

We didn't, but if they did, they would be Guineas.

That's what we that's where we landed.

OK, I do have your inauguration and courtroom.

No, you do not put your hand on the Bible.

And, and even for inauguration, it's more of a preference for

the incoming president. And instead of a saying, like I

swear, it'd be like, it's like solemn affirmation.

That's according to the Google Machine.

It was a tradition started by George Washington, though, that

most presidents have followed. No, I would be curious which

president didn't follow that because I mean, you know, if

you're, if you're working with, even if it's just culturally A

widely cultural Christian nation and that's your starting point,

you probably want to do that. Even if you're not a Christian

yourself, you want to probably profess or you probably want to

make this claim on, you know, the basis of an anchor, a higher

power, etcetera. And so I would, I would think

even from a political sense, not even a faith sense, you'd

probably want to do that. But maybe I'm wrong. 4

presidents in history have not sworn on the Bible to win win

some trivia with this knowledge. John Quincy Adams, Theodore

Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge and Lyndon B Johnson did not swear

on the Bible. Pagans.

Wow, wow. No, actually maybe they just

took 512 James 512 really seriously and they said no, I'm

going to let my SBS and my no B&O.

It doesn't sound like that was the logic by any of them, but

too bad. Maybe internally, yeah.

So all right, Question 3 all. Right, super exciting.

All right, this one is for Chris Pastor.

Chris, how many pairs of shoes do you own?

Wow, people need to know so. People.

Need to know I. Don't.

I actually don't think it's a crazy number.

Of course you maybe addicts. Addicts and everything.

Addicts and everything is crazy. Just one more, OK.

Just one more What's the big deal?

I I needed to match that outfit. What's the big deal?

You know, and they're only like 50 bucks.

So currently, if I counted correctly somewhat recently when

I was cleaning shoes, because I do that too, I think it was 19

and I don't, I don't feel like 19 is.

So I think my high number was 31, but that was when I was, I

was in college and I was in the shoe department at Von Mar.

And so we'd get crazy high level, very expensive shoes

return to us never worn and it's like 6 months later and now

they're marked down to like 75% off.

So I would just pick them up. OK.

And is this is that number, is that like all shoes?

Or are we talking like sneakers, kicks, 19 pairs?

Like is, is this, do you have a pair of nice, like, dress boots,

dress shoes, winter boots? Da, da, da, Yeah.

It's, it's all of them, you know, 19.

Is all of them. It's all of them.

So I mean, you know, if you, if you see me not for example, I

don't know if it, I can't imagine anybody would keep up on

this. That'd be crazy if you did a

little bit. But if you see me on, you know,

6 Sundays in a row and I'm never wearing the same shoes for six

Sundays, there's 13 more and they just didn't go with

whatever outfits. So that's why you're.

You're the I've come to know that you're the kind of person

that plans his outfit around the shoes he's going to wear.

Oh. Very much so.

Right? Yeah, absolutely.

I'm the like, I decide what shoes I'm going to wear based on

what clothes I decide to put on. Yeah.

That's madness. I.

Know yeah how. Could you do it because?

It's the last thing that you put on your feet.

What are you putting shoes on and then slipping pants over

them like like a crazy person? I mean, have you tried?

Have you tried? No, because I know it's not

going to work. Chris, have you tried I?

Mean yes oh man, clearly you can't do that if you're a if

you're a skinny jeans person you can't do it it's impossible

that's. Why Matt hasn't tried?

I don't. I mean I have regular what?

I have regular pairs of pants too that don't just don't fit

over shoes. Worship leaders are just skinny

jeans. That's like that.

That's a real thing. And besides, how flexible is

your ankle, Sir? And how, how thick is the is the

sole of the shoes? Oh, OK, very flexible ankles.

Wow, you've been sore. I think, I think, I think Matt

needs a question. So Matt Chris has his shoes.

People need to know how many hats do you have?

See I I. I would guess that you plan your

outfits around your hats. That's what I was thinking.

Well, OK, so I will see to that a little bit, but I also don't

have a whole lot of variety in my outfits.

Like if I what two colors do I wear the most?

Black. Yep by far.

Like I wear black pants half the time and when I'm not wearing

black pants I'm definitely wearing a black shirt.

I know it, it upsets me because I have a picture of you in a

green Under Armour polo when we went golfing once and I never

saw it again and I was like, that's an awesome shirt.

That shirt's gone, doesn't fit anymore.

Yeah, it's black and green though.

Like those are those are the two colors I wear the most are

black, black and green. Sometimes I wear jeans,

sometimes I wear like brown khaki colored pants, but like

black and green. So I only have and I I still

have a little bit of like I need everything to match.

So most of the time I find hats that are in that color profile

too. I have some Grays too because

it's grey and black and that's fine.

Anyway. So for the most part though I do

kind of pick the hat based on what clothes I decided to put on

my body. But I do have like 3 or 4 hats

that are the main ones. It sounds like you more so like

you will willingly rotate through your shoes.

Well, I will rotate on purpose because I because again, in

order to build up a decent shoe collection, here's what you have

to do. You have to have enough pairs of

shoes that you're not wearing the same ones day in and day out

because then they wear down really fast.

And so if you have more shoes than you rotate them on purpose

more often, therefore they last longer.

Therefore, when you buy new shoes, you've still got these

ones from four, 5-6 years ago that are still in really good

shape. You realize that though, like

overall you wear down the shoes at the same rate.

Like if you just burn through one pair of shoes and then

bought a new pair of that same shoe, like the wear rate is the

same. Yeah, but if I'm only wearing it

like once every eight days, those shoes are going to last

for like 4 years. Do you rotate your hats?

So that's, that's where I'm, that's what I'm getting to.

I don't intentionally rotate my hats.

I have some defaults that I go to.

I have, I, I probably have someones that I maybe they need

to be retired or, or given away because I just don't wear them

anymore. I too am down.

I, I did touch above 30 at one point at my, at my worst.

And I have, I have a hat holder on like on the back of my door

and I have like I have slots that they go in.

It holds 18 and that's and that's like what I've tried to

make the upper limit for what I have but I currently have like

22 hats. Some some of the some of the

slots are double. I do have more hats than your

shoes right now. Yes, that is true.

Right on. OK.

But I only have 11 pairs of shoes so.

Kristen, is there a particular thing that you wear more often

than not or a color or like, 'cause I know you guys like?

Crocs. We do in general as a family

like Crocs, but I think personally for me it would be

the Converse All Star Chucks. Oh yeah, yeah, that.

Would be mine. That's a versatile.

Shoe. Do you do you have multiple

condoses? Yeah.

Absolutely. How?

Many condoses do you have. I don't.

I'm not sure you're. Wearing a pair today you have.

Purple you have black well. It's yeah, it's so neutral.

So black, grey, brown, Navy, red, purple, Galaxy.

Those are good. I've got Cheetah.

Wow. So.

That's so like this is blowing your mind.

Do you have any shoes that you have like 7 different varieties

of I? Mean if you count like Jordans

as like Jordans, yeah, yeah. So I mean, but that's I.

Like air walks, but there's different, yeah, kinds of air.

Like there's different classes. How?

Many chucks. Yeah, wow.

I didn't know I. Would like more though I would

like OK. So that we found that's

Kristen's, that's Kristen's. But I'll say because I have so

the variety piece, right? Because I get dressed and then I

look at, yeah, I look at what I have.

I'm like, all right, that's those are the shoes, right?

Because they match, you have enough variety to.

Match. If if you're listening to this,

please come up to one of the three of us or all three of us

and please tell us like what is your thing that you like lean on

or wear the most We. All have something.

We all have something. You know, so please let us know

because I would be really curious about that.

We can't be the only three weirdos in this building, so

please let us know. I said it.

You did. All right.

Let's get serious, we have a question that has been asked

before. So can you once again explain to

me why really bad things happen to some people, in particular

children? My heart breaks and I lose sleep

hearing about babies and children's suffering, and it's

at those times that I have found myself questioning the existence

of God. I've tried my best to listen to

your reasoning in the past, but I have a hard time trying to

reiterate to others. Wow, big one.

OK. There's multiple questions in

there. I think I think at first it's

going to feel a little out of order.

But you know, at first I want to address the heart of that.

You know, this person said my heart breaks, I lose sleep.

So let me address that first and say that is hard as that is for

you to endure emotionally. I would tell you you're on the

right path. And the reason why I would tell

you on you're on the right path is because the closer we draw to

Jesus, the more we see and experience people and the world

like he did. And so therefore, the emotion

that we see Jesus express most often in the New Testament

writings is one of weeping and sadness.

And so we know Jesus had fun. We know he went to the wedding

and, you know, he danced and had a good time.

But like the, the, the emotion that he experiences most often

is sadness. And so if you are experiencing

sadness as you look at people that you don't even know, but

you see the hurt that they endure, that must mean that

you're drawing closer to Jesus and his heart.

And so I would tell you that that's a good thing.

And so Christians who do not have their hearts broken, often

I would question on some level, like how closely have you drawn

to Jesus? Because our heart should break

when we see injustices in the world.

And that's where Christianity is supposed to be different in a

lot of different ways. So, so for example, like

sometimes we get churches that we call like, quote UN quote,

social justice churches, and they really focus on the needs

of the poor and orphans and things of that nature.

And I think that's a great thing to be able to do.

And, and, and as long as that's not your only thing, right?

We don't want to become the social justice church where

we're no longer talking about sin and grace and only doing the

work and only doing those works, right?

We want to have our theology square.

But yeah, our hearts should break when we see those things

happening. Yeah.

And to, to be back at the kind of the initial thrust of this

question, why really bad things happen to some people, the the

really churchy literal answer, it's, it's the results of sin.

It's not God's allowance. And, and ultimately that comes

down to God creating us, allowing us to have free will.

Because I mean, you can take that, you can unpack this

question a step further in reverse.

Why? Why would God allow us to sin

right? Like that's if if sin is the

reason the bad things happen, why would God allow us to sin?

It is that free will discussion And is he he designed us to love

him and be loved by him. And is that love if it's

compelled right, if if it's forced upon us?

So there there's that aspect of free will.

Adam and Eve chose to sin had had they brought sin into the

world. And yes, it it does.

You're right. And I hear your heart breaking

in this question. It it seems unfair for quote UN

quote innocence, particularly children, because we think of

them as good and innocent until there's five of them in your

house running around and making messes.

And that not like no one is innocent.

Jesus. Jesus was the only actual

innocent one, and the world crucified him for it.

I know that's not particularly comforting and the answer to

this question, but I think that is part of the answer to this

question, that it it is a sad result of the sinful world in

which we live. And it's it's not so much God's

allowance as our rebellion in forming those bad things, right?

Right. In another parts of this

question that I thought interesting, you know, at those

times I found myself questioning the existence of God.

To take this back a step further, every culture

throughout history, and by the way, I'm speaking somewhat

directly from Timothy Keller's book, Walking with God Through

Pain and Suffering. The first third of that book is

kind of a critical examination of how do cultures and how do

faith practices enable people to endure suffering.

He makes the argument, and others do too, that our Western

modern culture has done maybe one of the worst jobs in

history, equipping people with the ability to endure pain and

suffering. We have not done a great job of

that as a culture. We have not given reasons for

it. We have not given even

necessarily positive ways to deal with it.

And so I think that's a major problem for us in the West is

that we're not equipped to handle it.

We have lost what some people call the tragic view of life.

So if you were born in an impoverished country, you know

from the time that you are really able to think clearly

that life is tragic almost at every single turn.

Now, in the West, we're incredibly blessed, you could

say, because the vast majority of Americans never experience,

you know, the kind of day-to-day suffering that somebody who's

born in a third world country might.

Now, sure, we endure disease and heartache and all those kinds of

things that come with a broken world, but we don't really have

what they call a tragic view of life.

And so the fact that God does end life because of sin,

because, you know, his design for Adam and Eve was that they

would never die. That's his original design.

And so the fact that God does end human life at some point is

actually a gift. Now, I'm not saying I love death

because I don't. I think it's our greatest enemy.

However, the fact that God does not allow us to wallow in pain

and disease and suffering forever, that's a gift in some

ways. And, and he knows that he is

going to especially for those who trust and believe in him,

he's going to bring them in a place without any of those

things. The other thing I might say, and

I know I'm going a little bit long here, but the other thing I

might say is that we can't question the existence of God

because of suffering because let's, let's take God out of the

equation then let's just go ahead and do that.

There's no God that makes suffering completely

meaningless, that makes suffering A potentially just big

painful bump in the road of our temporary unmeaningful

existence. And so I mean, like, if you, if

you take God out of the equation, then you take away any

possibility of hope, any possibility of meaning inside

that suffering and suffering. It'll do one of two things to us

for sure. It'll make us bitter and angry

and upset and victims. Or it'll draw us closer to God,

because He is the one who heals all suffering.

He's the one who ultimately makes all wrongs right.

Right, and that's how our perspective of God should be.

I, I see that phrase makes me question the existence of God

suffering makes me question the existence of God.

Well, that's we, we maybe need to tweak our there, there's

expectation there. There's our imagined creation of

what God should be within that phrase, right?

And yes, the Bible tells us that he is that he is good and he is

kind and he is peace. You talked about this past week.

Is he, is he safe? No, but he's good, right?

So there are these aspects of God, of course, of course, the

Bible doesn't tell us that our God, like some created gods,

even of other religions or man made gods or whatever they are

rage monsters, right like that they if you don't appease them,

it's their position to inflict suffering upon people.

That's that's not the God of the Bible bringing about suffering

in response to ways that you've wronged him.

We we are generally afflicted by the Prince of darkness by by

Satan's control and grip on this world in temptation and sin.

But to your point, we have we have plenty of redemptive

aspects of this in Scripture, Romans 1212.

Rejoice in hope, be patient in affliction, be constant in

prayer. There's there's aspects of this

surely trial. Consider it pure joy when you

encounter trials and tribulations for for the testing

and endurance of your faith, right.

There's there's aspects of this that as as you were saying, God

redeems those situations to to just prove over again who he is

and his sovereignty over these situations.

Hard to bring that into again, a situation where we feel like

it's someone who who didn't deserve this or didn't or or

didn't have innocence in that they had innocence in this

situation. And and yet this terrible things

still just happened to them. There was there was an incident

this past week, I think in Florida where a a semi driver

just didn't even didn't even hit the brakes There there was a, a,

a traffic jam happening and didn't even hit the brakes and

just smoke this car with this, with this family of family of

three in it. And yeah, like, why, why does

that random stuff happen? It's a world, it's a world

afflicted in sin. It's not correct.

But we have that hope in death and don't hear what I'm not

saying that we shouldn't we shouldn't be pursuing death.

We have purpose and works and and our our purpose is to love

and glorify God in this life on earth.

But we also have the hope and promise that one day we will be

made new. One day we for those that are

found in Jesus Christ, there will be no more suffering, no

more crying, no pain, right. Like that's, that's what God's

design was. We screwed it up.

Jesus came to put us back, to give us the hope of being put

back in God's right design, clothed in his righteousness.

And that's the hope that we have.

And you know, to the word Y is powerful.

WHY? It's it's extremely powerful and

it can raise a lot of doubts and a lot of questions.

And one of the things I've heard, which I think is really

great, is I need to doubt my doubts.

Yeah. I need to doubt my doubts.

But you know, along this other line, I I watched a documentary

recently and it was about a comedian and you know, he, he

thought himself, he believed himself to be a believer, but

lived a very hard, you know, kind of rock star life.

And So what happens is he had been in drugs and alcohol and

all this kind of stuff, and he had just really, honestly

sobered up really pretty well like 3 months before his death.

And So what happens? He's on the road, he's

travelling with his agent and they're in a car and a drunk

driver hits them head on, head on.

And so it's reported from the agent who was in the car, who

lived. He got out of the car and this

comedian, he also kind of was able to crawl out of the car and

his head, the comedian's head was laying in his friend's lap.

And he's like, you're going to be OK, You're going to be OK,

We're going to make it. We're going to get an ambience,

blah, blah. And apparently this comedian was

having a conversation with somebody he could see that his

agent couldn't see. And he just kept on saying, why

now? Why now?

And the, the comedian's trying to answer him, but he or the,

the agent's trying to answer him.

But he, he quickly realizes he's not talking to me.

He's talking to somebody I can't see.

And so he asks why now several times.

And then there's like a, a three or four second pause and he

goes, oh, I see. And then he died.

He died right there in the guy's arms.

And so here's the thing, we ask the question why when it comes

to suffering and we don't always get the answer on this side of

heaven. But when it behooves us to have

the answer, God always gives it. God always gives it.

And I, I do think that at the moment that we had the, the

millisecond that we Passover into heaven with the Lord, all

those why questions, they're instantaneously answered in

seeing his glory, in seeing that his plan is perfect.

And that sounds terrible, especially when you're talking

about children who suffer with cancer and things like that.

But God still has a purpose. God still has a plan.

And ultimately, that plan always leads to glory and peace and joy

for those who trust and believe in Him.

Yeah, and that's to what you're saying in in doubting your

doubts first, Peter 315 in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord is

holy, always being prepared to make a defense.

Anyone who asks you for the reason or the hope that you

have, you can apply that probably to a variety of

situations. But I I think especially in this

one, questioning the existence of God, especially like you see

these horrific things. Why would you still hold on to

this hope And I and I think that's the the doubting your

doubts sort of part sort of part of that.

So you mentioned the The Walking with God through pain and

suffering resource from Timothy Keller brought up the the

problem of pain by CS Lewis. Also also good resources if

yeah, if any of you need book suggestions or deeper things,

extra biblical things that are still rooted in biblical truths.

Yeah, approach me or Pastor Chris and we can we can give you

those recommendations too. But those both those resources

are great places to start. They're excellent.

All right. All right.

Well, here in Iowa, the weather is changing, so sometimes it's

hot and sometimes it's not. So.

So our question next is hot or iced coffee?

So, OK, you're absolutely right. It depends on the weather like

that. Does it?

Though. Does it though?

Yes, 100%. I'm not going to have so only

from the I could drink hot coffee anytime.

I'm not going to drink iced coffee on Christmas Day.

Oh. Probably not.

Going to there reaches a point where it's cold enough outside

where cold coffee is off the table.

I don't think there's a point that it's hot enough outside

that hot coffee is off the table though.

Oh I would disagree with that really.

Like on a like on a pool day, I'm not drinking a hot coffee.

If I'm walking into the air conditioned office here at

church though, I'm probably going to be fine with having a

hot cup of coffee. I'm not drinking a mug of coffee

sitting next to the pool. Yeah, I'll give you that.

But but. Also you like you wear pants

when it's 100° out. OK, so.

I don't know, I'm going to go to Chris.

I feel like I need another another opinion.

Oh gosh. Shorts expose my flexible

ankles. I don't.

I have to wear pants. I brought it back.

Matt needs some high tops. Flexible ankles?

Put that on a resume, please. Why should we hire you?

Well, I have incredibly flexible ankles, Sir.

Just felt like we needed to loop back to.

That So were I all right, Chris? So if it's if it's crazy hot

outside, are you still drinking hot coffee?

I'm still running through. I'm still running through the

McDonald's drive through getting my $0.99 hot coffee.

I'm doing that. Is the iced coffee not $0.99?

It probably can be, but I never buy it.

I just I just coffee. It's hot bean water.

It's hot bean water. So that's what it is.

Therefore it should be hot. So that's an interesting

perspective because I think there's this seems like a really

innocent, innocent yes or no question.

It's a lot more complicated than that because the weather

happens. I also it's interesting to me

that you're willing to settle for hot bean water like I The

quality of coffee also matters to me, you say?

McDonald's doesn't have high quality coffee, Sir.

Excuse me, Sir, I. Didn't say that you just said

that, but I'm just saying if it's like a cup of Folgers and

the answer is hotter iced coffee, it's C neither.

Oh my God, sorry I just offended you're.

Clearly not as addicted as I am. I just I have OK, nevermind that

one OK filter needed needed a certain quality like I'm not I'm

not taking like the street grade stuff.

I'm not. I'm not.

That's a little bougie with. His coffee I love.

Lid. He's a lot I'm.

A lot bougie. I worked in a coffee shop for

eight years though too. Like I don't.

He knows how to make bean water I.

Know how to make bean water so that it's not bean water.

Yeah, it's it's art. Chris, it's not you.

You make art with colors on paper.

I make art. I make art with bean water.

I do drawings. Hey, Chris, did you do any

finger paintings today? Oh, my goodness.

Gosh, that's really mean that. Again, you're you're like self

dunking over there and blaming me.

I. Know, but that's that's that's

what we do. We always blame other people for

our own shortcomings. It's kind of the whole atom

thing, so. Hot or iced coffee, all things

all things being equal, so like conditions are perfect.

It's a fall day like today could go either way hot, hot or iced

coffee. What's your what's your favorite

chain like big box chain coffee, Starbucks, Caribou, Dunn

brothers. I don't.

I don't care about any of them, honestly.

McDonald's. It's McDonald's.

Because I can get a cup of coffee for a dollar.

We'll keep it. I'm cheap.

So there you go. Sorry, I need to phrase this

question in the language you understand.

Chris, No compute. Right after this episode, we go

to the McDonald's drive through. It's about 60° outside and the

sun is shining. Hotter iced coffee, hot.

All day hot. You don't even have to think

about it. No Kristen iced.

OK, I think today based on the sun shining, I think I would be

iced. I also.

I also associate iced coffee with not really coffee.

It's like a splash of coffee and a bunch of other junk in it.

I agree because how many people drink straight up cold black

coffee? Matt does I.

I drink cold brew so that's and that's the other bougie part of

it. I don't drink iced coffee.

I will drink cold brew coffee. If you brew the coffee hot and

pour it over ice, that's not iced coffee.

You need to brew it cold. Then I would drink.

Water, so like that, right? So that's the other aspect of it

that I think is lost in the nuance of this question.

And this person was just looking for a really straightforward

answer. And I've made it really

complicated because that's what I do.

But that would be my answer. Iced, but cold brew.

I'm probably not going to get iced coffee from McDonald's.

God bless. We're going to go ahead and move

on. Before I dig myself a deeper oh.

No, we got another one did McDonald's.

We got another one some more. Yeah, more bougie.

So off of drinks and onto food. Oh gosh.

So we know you guys like to eat for different reasons.

Go ahead and check out our our website.

We like to eat for different reasons.

Yeah, check out, check out your BIOS.

You both, you both reference food at the very end of your

bio. So go check that out.

Did I really? We're looking at whether you

would choose Monarch or Bar Louie.

OK, she's absolutely right. The closing sentence for both of

our BIOS. Your last thought of things you

enjoy is and eating pretty much any food that's put in front of

me. My final thought of the things

that I enjoy is exploring new recipes or restaurants for

really good food. Oh wow, so.

Matt's going to answer based on good we do have.

Different answers to this question.

But you know what? You know what I can say against

you, Sir? I hold this against you, Matt

Schweitzer. You ate day old chicken Nuggets

on a church stage. Therefore, you can rarely take

the higher ground with that experience.

Chicken Nuggets. Chicken Nuggets are infinite,

man. It's like Thanos.

I am inevitable. That's because chicken Nuggets

from McDonald's, probably, I don't know what they're made of,

but they're not chicken. They're tasty, but I don't know

what they're made of. And the fact that you can eat

them a day later cold and not like get sick, that'll tell you

something. They figured it out.

They. Did.

Can survive survive like it's like a nuclear war with chicken

Nuggets it's. Like a 40 year old MRE, you can

just eat chicken Nuggets. And I think the same thing about

Twinkies. All the preservatives.

There's more preservatives than there is anything else in those

things and I love them. I'm hoping that the

preservatives in there preserve me and you're.

Mostly plastic at this point, all right.

All right, I I take your point, but what?

What chicken nugget is better than a Mcnugget?

There is not. It is the bougiest of chicken

Nuggets. Maybe Chick-fil-A in their

little chicken nugget. They got the dipping sauces.

They have the sauces, but if you take a Mcnugget and put it in

Chick-fil-A sauce, then you've merged worlds of the best

things. My mind might not be able to

take that. I'm just saying yes I ate it a

day old cold but. Still good?

Still good. You're going to not if I ate the

Wagyu beef steak from from Monarch cold day old the next

day while giving a sermon. You can't tell me that's not

high quality meat. Oh.

That's great. I would like to see that put

that in challenge. Accepted.

Yes. Put that in your cap for later

because I I need to see that. Well, getting to these

particular restaurants. So Monarch or Bar Lou, Bar Louie

is not something that we have locally, I don't believe.

No, the closest one, I think there might be one in

Minneapolis, Saint Paul. There's definitely some in

Chicago, but. I'll tell you what man, I love,

and I've been to both a lot, but I love Monarch so much.

I think they've I've, I've had a lot of different things from

there. I've never had anything that

wasn't super high quality, even down to their cheeseburgers.

Good gravy. I mean, it's just excellent

food. Yeah.

And again, this question, not to break it down entirely, these

are two different, I would say categories of restaurants.

Monarch is fine dining. Bar Louie is bar food.

It's, it's Applebee's. It's it's like elevated

Applebee's, but it's, it's within the same style of food as

Applebee's. I can't go to Bar Louie and get

a Wagyu beef steak or a beef Wellington or even like Creme

brulee or date bread pudding like that.

That's just, it's the best thing in the world, Kristen.

It is. It's so good.

Better date pudding that did. Turn me on to that.

And he's right. It's amazing.

So, so that comes down to I, I love, I love them both.

Kind of depends on the day and kind of depends on because

you're going to spend more at Monarch than you are at Bar

Louie too, like just pretty easily.

So just as a quality of food, if I, if I want to go somewhere to

get the best food, it's Monarch. Still love Bar Louie for what it

is, but as far as like culinary excellence, it's Monarch.

You have the name bar in your restaurant name, therefore it's

probably not going to be as high level as what I would want if I

want something really really good.

Yeah, sure. I bet.

I bet there's a Michelin star restaurant somewhere that has

the name Bar in their name. So like, I don't, I don't want

to say that's like that's very misnomer, but you're, I mean,

yeah, it's bar food. That's why it's called Bar

Louie. If you, if you can wear

sweatpants to a restaurant and not feel awkward about it, it's

it's also not the restaurant I want to go to.

If I want something really good and enjoyable.

Like if you, I would be shocked if somebody showed up to Monarch

in like their workout clothes, I'd be like, what?

I'm not trying to be the elitist, but like, dude, what

are you? What are you doing here?

You're kind of like actually bringing this place down a

little bit. If you don't know Bar Louie, the

closest thing I think we have to it is probably Granite City.

I think that would be comparable to Bar Louie in the in the Quad

Cities here, so. Bar Louie is in the Chicago

area, OK. And I would honestly.

So in that same realm, I think I would still choose Bar Louie

like over Granite City, but that's they would be more peers

than like Monarch and Bar Louie. So yes, yeah.

All right, I've got one that's super scary.

Super scary. OK.

Guys, what are your thoughts on capris?

It's just. They're not shorts and they're

not pants. Oh no, it.

Just says thoughts on capris all right.

First thought is I shouldn't wear them.

They will also expose my flexible ankles.

Like, too much. That's why you're not going to

wear capris. Yeah.

But they'd like highlight my full boost calves too.

Like I just you're. Saying a lot of not normally

said words right now. The fit would be really weird on

on my legs and I don't think anyone needs to see that.

So Manpre's no, not a fan. And your husband, Kristen,

where's he makes them like he he.

Makes them he. Pulls up like the joggers or the

sweatpants to mid calf and like oh really?

Yeah, he's showing off the ankles and the calves, right?

His ankles. Inflexible ankles.

Yeah, his really are. He's busting them a bunch of

times. I was there for some of them,

Yeah. Real bad, yeah.

So man, pre no, not a fan and honestly I've never I think I'm

just largely indifferent on Caprice I.

Just don't understand the functionality of them.

Like I need my calves and my ankles to feel air but nothing

else. Like is that keeping me cooler?

I don't know is it? Maybe it is.

Maybe, I mean your feet covering your feet traps heat, right?

Yeah. So I don't know, maybe it is a

but yeah, I I don't know. I I think I'm largely

indifferent on capris. I don't love them because I've

also like man priest definitely know, but I've also and I'm and

I'm married, obviously, but I've never, I've never seen a, a

woman walking around me like, you know what she's got working

for those capris or even or even or even like Emily, you know

what you need to get? We need to get some capris on

you. Like, I don't know, I just never

really had that. Thought, but the problem is we

always go to extremes. So, you know, I, I, I had this

frustration, you know, my daughter had this frustration

because it's like we don't want her wearing one or two inch

inseam shorts. But then again, there wasn't the

in between of like, oh, let's just get shorts like an inch or

two above your knees. No, it was either capris or it

was, I can see more than anybody should be seen right now.

And yeah, and I, and so, I mean, I, I feel the pain of that for

her and others who are like, come on, I, I, I don't have an

in between here. This isn't fair.

And men have all sorts of inbetweens, but women seem to

not have that option, which I think is really unfortunate.

All right, as your daughters get older, maybe you'll find that

fun out for yourself. Yeah.

And like, I guess my young, yeah, younger daughters, they do

have a few pairs of like whatever the jumpers, right, of

those like the overall, Well, no, OK, what's the one that has

like? Is it a jumper?

You'd you'd wear like AT shirt under it, but it's got like the

spaghetti straps and then kind of the front cover all yeah.

Kind of like the but it's. All one piece.

Yeah, it's. All one piece, but the pants

part is really like capris. I don't know they're into that

and I get that. But I also like, again, what's

the functionality of it? I really, I want my calves to

breathe, my calves and ankles really.

Is that a problem? Do you want capris, Kristen?

I used to. My problem is I'm short.

Capris are pants for you. I mean, it could be shorts, but

they're capris. I mean, it's yeah, capris are

just bad for somebody like me. Like regular women could put on

the capris, but if I put them on, they're just pants, so.

What do you think the height should like?

Are we talking like you should be at least 5455?

Ratios. Man ratios.

Yeah, like. You kind of got to have long

legs to pull off capris, which is probably why Derek does it.

He does look good in capris. Oh, all right, Kristen love.

All right. Kristen gave her 2000.

All right. Kristen has.

Been like, you know who looks good in the breeze?

My husband. Nope.

Watch. Out.

Nope. I think it's time to move on,

friends I. Agree.

All right, Capris, all right, all right.

It's a fact that Jesus and his disciples cast out demons.

Did demons just disappear from the world, or are they still

prevalent today? And if they are still present,

how would we recognize them and what would we do about them?

Multi point question, but it's a good one.

So yeah, do did demons disappear?

Absolutely not. You know, the same spiritual

realm that Jesus walked around in on this earth is the same one

that we walk in. And Satan is still very much

present in our world today. Hence the fact that awful,

terrible, yeah, just awful and terrible things happen all the

time. That is a product of sin and his

inclusion into this world. So yeah, I they're definitely

still here as far as how would we recognize that?

And I'll, I'll get into a story in a second maybe about my

experience with that, but not my personal.

I have not been demon possessed. But anyway.

So if you go to 1st John 1/4, it says this and start in verse

one, beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the

spirits to see whether they are from God.

For many false prophets have gone out into the world by this,

you know, the Spirit of God. OK, this is important.

By this, you know, the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesses

Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every

spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.

OK, there's the litmus test. So short story and I won't get

into all the details, but at a different call in a different

state, far, far away for me, there was a man who was

absolutely, most certainly demon possessed.

And so the other pastor and I, he was highly sensitive to those

kinds of things and had done several exorcisms before I had

even shown up. And So what we did with this man

was we got him into a room with elders and prior to that day,

because it was planned, we all fasted and prayed.

And that was an incredibly. And the other pastor told me,

like you, you need to be spiritually prepared for this

moment because when this thing starts to come to the surface,

as it were, like you don't want it.

And, and I think these are the words he used, you don't want it

to be able to attach to you because you have unconfessed

sin. And so I was like, OK, so I took

that really seriously. And as this man is in the room,

we read these verses, and these verses brought out exactly

whatever that thing was. And it was it.

I'm telling you, I knew this guy.

This was not him. This was otherworldly stuff.

He was almost climbing the walls to get away from the Word of

God. It was crazy.

He was in because we'd positioned him in the corner of

the room at this table so that he could not escape.

And so, you know, as the demon kind of comes to the surface and

we're addressing the demon in real time again, if I hadn't

lived it, I may not believe it, but he starts like scratching at

the walls and backing up and coming into the wall.

And we're just pounding this thing with the word of God and

with prayer. Five of us in the room all

simultaneously just working on this thing.

And eventually what happens is the guy fell back into his seat

and it looked like he fell asleep.

Crazy thing, right? Looked like you fell asleep.

And so then we just waited and, you know, we start talking to

again to him again and he wakes up and he said he's himself.

He's himself. And you're like, what just

happened? And again, my first time

experiencing that. But the other pastor working

with me, he was like, Yep, that's exactly how that works.

And it was, it was just, it was a really unique experience.

And I never again, from that day forward, ever doubted that there

are spiritual forces in this world that can attach themselves

to us. Yeah, and we are yes, we are

living in a world that which there are dark forces, spiritual

forces, every good and perfect gift is from above, right coming

down from the Father of heavenly lights.

So in discerning the spirit, those things, I think you even

as we could relate it to a question we had in one of the

previous episodes of how do we discern like even God's thoughts

from my thoughts or or the leanings of this.

Well, that's that's the witness. Does it?

Does it sound like God? Does it sound like the voice of

God that we have in the Bible? If it's not, it might not

directly be a demon necessarily, but it's certainly not from God

at the very least, And it might be it it it might be an evil

force, a dark force, a dark spirit affecting you in.

In the world here so and and Jesus in the New Testament he

gives instructions to his disciples he gives them

authority to cast out and drive out demons in his name.

That's in Mark 1617 and then in Acts 1618 again there's there's

incidents of the early church the apostles driving out spirits

in in Jesus name. So that's what we that's what we

do, right? We, we command, we, we confess,

we, we bring out wrongdoing, we bring out any finger hold that

that the evil one could have in this person's life, right.

And and in the name of Jesus, proclaim grace and forgiveness

and, and cast out this, this spirit in the name of Jesus,

right. James 47 resist the devil and he

will flee from you. That's, that's both of these

things, purging, purging the sin problem, confessing the sin

problem. And also like not pursuing those

things, not going back to those dark things that kind of got

that person in that situation to begin with, right?

One of the interesting things that we see with demon

possession is that some people, although they may not be aware

of the particular spiritual implications of demon

possession, sometimes they don't really want it gone.

Why? Why would that be?

Well, the reason why that might be is because there are things

about our natural personalities that might be really pretty

subdued. And maybe, maybe you're the

typical doormat for people and this power that you have, this

evil power that you have, this otherworldly personality that

can come out of you. That thing is powerful and it is

aggressive and it is going to do what you and yourself cannot do.

So one of the interesting things that we see in in modern

psychology is people get diagnosed with bipolar disease a

lot. And certainly, certainly not

every single one of those cases is demon possession, but some of

them. Are some.

Of them are absolutely and so I mean, you know, to discern that

I I think you need more than pop psychology.

You need that spiritual background to be able to work

through that. And I, and again, first John 1/4

is just a fantastic resource for us to be able to start to

discern that because you have that conversation with that

person and you say, what is your confession?

And inside that confession? Because if, if they're calling

themselves a Christian and they're at your church, whatever

and this guy was, they will not be able to do it.

They can't because that that power of evil that resides

within them will not allow that confession to come out.

Can't. Self exercise.

Cannot that is that is kind of the the litmus test to see like

what are we dealing with here? And so that litmus test was used

in this case and it proved to be highly helpful and and and it

was a great resource to like what are we dealing with here?

Yeah, and it's not to scare or alarm all y'all, but if he's in

612, Paul writes very plainly. For our struggle is not against

flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities,

against the powers of this Dark World and against the spiritual

forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Like they're, it is. It's a real thing.

It it, it happens. It's something we should pray

protection against, pray confession for.

And to your point, maybe even need to intervene in, in the

lives of those that it is truly afflicting.

And that's definitely a possibility.

Yep, we need to pray through those things.

We need to fast in those things. We, you know, 'cause even Jesus

talks about, well, this kind of demon can only be removed with

prayer and fasting, you know, And so you get that from him

and, and I think those are important things, yeah.

All right, what do we have next? We got time for a good one.

More sure, All right, conspiracy theories you believe in are some

cool ones that you've heard of. And we kind of read these

questions earlier and yeah, we had some some serious thoughts

and something. It's it's David this this

question. I could dive down so many rabbit

holes with this question and this podcast is, is not the time

or place to do it. So we are I, I would love to

have private conversations maybe about some more conspiracy

theories that I I think are crazy.

The one that we're going to talk to you about that I kind of blew

your guys minds with really air air fryers are just mini ovens

that's. A hurtful thing to say because

my fish comes out way better out of the air fryer than it does

the oven. How dare you, Sir?

Because it's a small concentrated oven.

If you put an entire tuna in your oven, it would probably

come out like pretty good and crispy like you like it's it's a

ratio thing. There's too much air.

Fries it. Yes, it.

Fries with air. But that with air but.

That same little tiny fish filet in your giant oven?

There's too much air. It's it's the the air to meat

ratio in the air fryer is what makes it so good.

If you put enough meat in the oven, it'll all come out like it

does in the air fryer. The.

Air fryer is totally different. I can hear the wind whipping

around in there when it's working and I'm like, oh, fry

that fish air. You're doing such a good job,

OK? If it's ratios, then like how

many chicken Nuggets would I have to put in the air fryer

versus the oven for it to be the same?

It's a. Simple math equation.

We just need to find out like the surface area and volume of

the air fryer. Ratio into the.

Oven. Okay, so that's where a

convection oven comes in, and you guys did not enjoy when I

brought that word into the conversation.

But a convection oven? Not a real word as a film.

It's not a real oven. It's not.

Even that bougie, it's just it's a normal functioning thing.

A connection oven has a fan in it that circulates the air,

which is all the air fryer has in it.

It just has a fan that circulates the air in there.

So it's a simple math equation of the volume and surface area

of the air fryer relative. So say your your cubic volume of

your air fryer is is 1 cubic foot OK, And you put 10 chicken

Nuggets in there. If the the cubic volume of your

oven is 12 square feet, how many chicken Nuggets should you put

in there? If 10 is perfect with one, 120

is perfect with 12. So really, if I'm going to use

an oven, a convection oven, I need a lot of friends if I'm

going to have the good chicken Nuggets.

If you want that quality of chicken Nuggets, yeah, I think I

think you do. Here's.

My argument though, OK I have accidentally turned my oven to

convection mode a couple times on accident for sure because I

was like I don't even know what that is.

You should probably. Just mostly use it that way.

Well, but but The thing is like it burned everything whereas

with an air fryer often. In a convection oven, you need

to do it at a lesser temperature than than the regular baking.

Don't give me. Logic I'm I'm back to the air

fryer. It burned everything.

But when I put my air fryer at 390° and I put in for 10

minutes, it's still 10. You know, like I don't burn all

of my super tasty air fried food even though it would be the same

time as in the oven and the oven cooks faster and I don't like

it. That sounds like operator error

to me, man. I just don't think you read the

instructions because there are different instructions for a

conventional oven, a convection oven, an air fryer, a microwave.

Like how long you're nuking your chicken.

You can't nuke your chicken Nuggets for 10 minutes.

They're not going to come out good.

I. Think they explode?

Yeah, probably I. Don't know, I still just love an

air fryer. Like I want to go home and hug

my and. Don't.

No, the air fryer is great, but I'm just saying at some point

how long have they been sitting on the conspiracy is how long

have they been sitting on air fryer technology?

Because all it is is a countertop oven.

That's all it is. How dare you?

They've scammed all of us, no. But and we all have ovens and

air fryers, but we don't use our ovens anymore because we use the

air fryers but. Even you have like a double air

fryer, I do. So you can air fry multiple

things at the same time like because I have.

To. But you can't do that in an

oven. Why not?

I could put a pan of chicken Nuggets and a pan of French

fries in the oven. But it's not as crispy and good.

Yes, something air about. Oh my, it's the air.

What do you we? Are frying with What are you?

Making in your oven it's air. Is it though?

Oh my. God, we're.

Too far gone, Matt. I think, I think you guys, I'm

not hating on air fryers, I'm just the conspiracy is all they

did was take your giant oven and convince you that it's better if

we make it smaller and put it on your countertop, which it is.

They're right, but it's just your oven.

They miniaturized it and put it right there.

If OK, maybe better than the quantity of chicken Nuggets.

If if if a chicken nugget was 12 times as big like you had a

giant 12X chicken nugget, that would come out pretty good.

Yes, in your regular oven. I like that I can understand

that firmly. Believe that can.

We make a 12 time size chicken nugget, Matt.

Could do it. You're gonna have to get Costco

on the phone or something. Like hey, brand new marketing

idea Mega Nuggets. I mean, they make like Mega

Reese's and Mega Hershey's and all this stuff that's wildly

unhealthy. Why can't I have a mega nugget

they make? Tiny little balls of chicken

meat. They can make 12X size balls of

chicken meat now. Wait a minute, let me I just

thought of something if what isn't a chicken sandwich just a

really big chicken nugget? They're.

Just different shapes, yeah. Dino Dino nuggies.

What about a giant Dino nuggie? Oof T Rex nugget.

It's not a chicken nugget anymore.

Yeah, real T. Rex in there I'm.

Down with that. Would you eat it with three

fingers like with little like T Rex arms like?

Would you eat they only? Have three fingers.

They have 4 fingers, no? Maybe I'm thinking of ET.

How do you mistake ET in a dinosaur?

No, not 5 fingers. Are you gonna look at how many,

how many fingers does AT Rex have?

Is that only? Two fingers on each hand.

You're right. OK. 2 they have. 2 little well,

plus the thumb. I don't think they're counting

the thumb. Oh.

I count thumbs. Oh.

It's opposable. Yeah, OK, so.

So 2 functional fingers, each with claws.

Oh, maybe it is only two. They don't have thumbs, they

just have two. What?

What? I don't understand.

Dinosaur anatomy, apparently. Or dinosaur fingers.

Or dinosaur fingers, Yeah. There is another idea instead of

Dino nuggies. Dino Fingers.

Why not we? Have chicken fingers.

Why can't we have Dino fingers yes this got this got way out

We're we're answering the deep stuff here on the on the

leftovers podcast yeah conspiracy theories oof I.

They scammed us with the air fryers, Chris I.

I think they did and we all, it's fine.

We were like, we're all OK with it.

Yeah, we we know that the wool's being pulled over our eyes and

we're all like, Nah, I'm good with it.

I like it. I like my air fryer.

Even if you just call it a mini oven on my counter, I think

that's super fun. So I like it anyway, because I

like things that get smaller and they're just more fun that way.

What? Yeah, come on.

Like who? Who doesn't love like a smaller

version of a thing that they already have?

It's great. What?

Yeah, mini oven we have. I'm looking at a mini fridge in

your office. Oh.

That's now that's like a a toddler fridge.

They're smaller ones. Yeah, JT has a smaller one.

It holds like 4 cans. It's awesome.

We love mini things. Your.

Premise though, is that like the miniature version of the thing

that you already have is better it's.

More fun so. When you have a tiny car.

That's hurtful. All of your shoes?

Do you need like miniature replicas of your shoes?

They wouldn't fit on your feet. Oh.

Actually, my favorite shoes, if there were like miniature

replica key chains of some of my favorite shoes, I would

absolutely have that on my key chain.

So yes, more fun, yes. How about a miniature coffee

mug? You wouldn't like that.

You'd have to go back for coffee like 20 times more more.

Steps but. He'd look really big while he's

drinking out of it. Yeah, imagine how big he'll

look. So big.

I want you to I want you to bring like a like a mini Bible

up there next time you just like.

That might all right that. Might be more fun, we might have

to switch some stuff out around here just to a mini size to see

like. How long it takes everything,

it's going to be like, what is it?

Is that Gilligan's Island or, or yeah, Gulliver's Travels.

That's what it is. Gulliver's Travels for the the

Lilliputians and the and the tiny people.

And he's just everything is small, honey.

I Shrimp the Kids is a classic movie for a reason.

Because smaller things are awesome.

I agree. I don't think I agree with your

premise, but I'm open to the conversation about it.

So. Save that one for next time,

right? We may continue this.

Thanks for hanging with us, church crew.

You're always welcome to drop questions in the comments

section or the the show notes section here.

Hopefully this was entertaining and uplifting for your week.

Really excited about what's ahead for us at Emmaus Rd.

Church as we continue to grow in knowing Jesus and making Him

known. For the sake of the one more,

Have a Blessed Week Church.