A Show of Faith
Millennial, Priest, Minister, and Rabbi walk into a radio station...
A Show of Faith
January 26, 2025 Faith and Ethics in Political Leadership
In this episode, we navigate the delicate intersection of faith and politics, questioning how figures like Donald Trump interpret divine will and how such beliefs influence their personal and political identities.
Inspired by Matthew, Chapter 10, and Victor Frankl's profound work, "Man's Search for Meaning," we uncover the transformative potential hidden within life's hardships. These reflections reveal how personal growth often stems from adversity, fostering better leadership and deeper community ties. Our discussion also challenges traditional interpretations of scripture and historical events, weighing whether tragic occurrences should be seen as divine lessons or human misinterpretations.
The conversation critically examines the role of religious figures in political discourse, scrutinizing Bishop Marianne Edgar Budde's controversial remarks. We debate the complexities surrounding faith, ethics, and political alignment, mainly through the lens of Donald Trump's experiences and evolving beliefs.
In conclusion, we consider the provocative analogy of voting based on competence rather than moral character, offering listeners a nuanced view of how faith and politics shape our world.
Thank you very much. I appreciate that. No way, no way. I need some time off from that emotion Time to pick my heart up off the floor.
Speaker 2:Oh well, never come down with an emotion. Well, it takes a storm and maybe a butter. Don't wait for more, cause I gotta have faith. I gotta have faith, cause I gotta have faith, I gotta have faith. Welcome to A Show of Faith, where a professor, priest, millennial and rabbi discuss theology and philosophy and anything else of interest to religion. If you have any response to our topics or any comments regarding what we say, we would love to hear from you. Please email us at ashowoffaithathotmailcom. You can hear our shows again and again by listening pretty much anywhere podcasts are heard. Professor David Capes is our Baptist minister, director of academic programming for the Lanier Theological Library.
Speaker 2:Good to see you guys. Our priest's father, Mario Arroyo, retired pastor of St Cyril of Alexandria in the 10,000 block of Westheimer, Always happy to be here. Rudy Kong is our millennial, a systems engineer with his master's degree in theology from the University of St Thomas. Hello, hello, Hello, hello. And I am Rabbi Stuart Federer, retired rabbi from Congregation Sha'ar HaShalom in the Clear Lake area of Houston, Texas. Jim Robinson is our producer and engineer. He is the author of the book I Am With you Always, Matthew 2820, a daily devotional. Randy, Miranda and Valerie are our board operators tonight and together they help us sound fantastic. Yep, Yay.
Speaker 3:How are you doing?
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Okay, I just got done babysitting two dogs. Woo, my friend got two puppies and he named them Rolex and Timex.
Speaker 1:Oh really, oh wait, oh wait yeah he wanted two watchdogs.
Speaker 2:Two watchdogs. Here we go. I knew there was something coming. You did ring me in. You wrote me in.
Speaker 3:I like to come out when the least you expected. You're selected, it's your lucky day, Smile.
Speaker 2:you're on candid camera.
Speaker 3:It's amazing. We remember that, yes, when you least expect it, you're elected. It's your lucky day.
Speaker 4:Smile, you're on candid camera.
Speaker 1:Wow, that goes back a long, long way, 60 years. Yeah, I think you'd get arrested these days if you had a candid camera. Yes, you would. Different world, it's a very different world. Yeah, there would be a lot of lack of permission at that point. Okay, anyway, it's good to see you guys. Thank you, I hope you're doing well Real quick. We had a great lecture at the Lanier Theological Library. We had a fellow from the Philippines, rico Villanueva, come to speak as a Hebrew Bible specialist. What he does is he Snicker, snicker, snicker. He is a really wonderful guy. His middle name is Lament because he has been studying the laments.
Speaker 2:Lamentations.
Speaker 1:Well lamentations, but also the lament psalms for a long time, and his talk last night was about the tragic loss of lament in our churches today, that we are unable to find even the language to help people crawl out to God In any one given in desperation and in heartache. A lot of our songs are happy. They're upbeat, you know you're on television.
Speaker 2:It's the shift of the Right.
Speaker 1:But on any given Sunday, about a third of the people are really having a rough time. Some are having the worst year of their lives, right, some are having kind of a moderately bad time. Others are having yeah, it's not so bad, but gosh, life is not good and we have not really been able to do that. So he was addressing that and I think it was one of the most helpful things that we've done in a long time. So Rico's going back to the Philippines tomorrow. Wish him well as he heads back home.
Speaker 3:Mucho bueno, as they say in Afghanistan.
Speaker 2:Do they Right? Do they? The Spanish-speaking people in Afghanistan say that, do they?
Speaker 1:really. Maybe they do, yeah, Not many of them, I don't imagine. All right, so our topic or our show. Director is Father Mario.
Speaker 3:I am your sufficiency or your adequacy, Father Mario.
Speaker 1:I am your mediocrity, mediocrity, yeah, thank you, your mediocrity.
Speaker 3:Okay, today I thought it would be a very good idea Tomorrow. Do you realize that tomorrow is the one-week anniversary of the inauguration of Donald Trump? One week.
Speaker 1:One week. One week, lots happened in a week.
Speaker 3:It feels like a lot has happened in one week, and so we do not. This is not a podcast where we discuss politics Generally Generally not but we do discuss religion when it has to do with politics or with moral ethical issues Moral ethical.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's right. So what I thought tonight I would like to do is to deal with two or three topics having to do with Trump and religion. The first topic I would like to talk about is Donald Trump's statement, when he said in his inaugural speech that he believed that God had saved his life so that he could live to make America great again.
Speaker 1:Now that was his mission.
Speaker 3:That was his mission and he was very sure that God saved his life for that purpose. Now, the first couple of things that I'd like to discuss is this First of all, how accurate are we Not only Donald Trump, we not all, just not only donald trump um, and I, I have, I have to confess not confess, but proclaim that I am a supporter of donald trump. I like him very much, and so the question is is how is his interpretation of the fact that he was not killed by that? He is interpreting the divine mind in terms of God's active participation in that. The question is, was that God's active participation? Because remember, at least in Catholic theology, when we talk about God's will, we have two main distinctions in what we mean by God's will. One is what is called the active definition of God's will. I want this to happen. I'm arranging. It's a miracle, I'm arranging or something.
Speaker 2:God makes it directly, makes it active, god's hand inanging. It's a miracle. I'm arranging or something.
Speaker 3:God makes it directly active, god's hand in history. That's right, but the second definition is permissive, the permissive will of God. I don't want this to happen, but I am permitting it to happen for a divine mind, reason for which we do not have clarity If it's a negative, we assume that it is. And also a positive.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:A positive or a negative?
Speaker 1:So it could be a positive outcome In his case. His life is spared and it's still passing, and God is permitting.
Speaker 2:Permitting his life to be spared In other words, so it's God, but not an act of participation.
Speaker 3:That's right, because God allows things to happen. But I always, when I talk to Christians, I always say this, because this is a Christian example. Jesus said, father, I'd like this cup to pass from me, but not my will be done, but yours. The next day he gets crucified. So if he got crucified, was it God's will that he be crucified? And it always sends people into a kind of a tizzy, because they say, well, yes, and I said so. God is not going to forgive us unless somebody suffers and sheds blood. What kind of God does that show us? And of course, isn't that the definition of Christianity?
Speaker 2:No, it is not Jesus had to suffer on the cross, no it is not.
Speaker 3:No, it is not, it is. It was the permissive will of god. God, basically, if I may speak without getting struck in light by lightning or by his cane or by his it's over there.
Speaker 3:I can't reach it now is that if I, god, the father, would be saying to him I don't want this to happen either, but we have to let it happen. We have to let it happen because we cannot allow the power of evil to believe that it is by threatening or by committing atrocities and endangering and causing tremendous suffering that he has won. I cannot pull you away from that. And so he lets it happen so that he may display something greater. But it was not his active will. So the question is was it God's active, which is what Trump seems to be interpreting, and I want you to think about this. That is what is in about this in terms of. That is what is in theology. In Catholic theology is called divine providence. Now, is it divine providence that the things that happen in our own lives did God save your life? I constantly hear this for some higher purpose? Was it a specific active purpose that God saved you to do something?
Speaker 3:Or my son, my little baby son, died. I have a friend whose wife just got killed by a hit and run accident. And so the question is was that God's will? And lots of people say, well, you know, god called her home because he had a greater purpose for that. And if you people say, well, you know, god called her home because he had a greater purpose for that. And if you say that to some people, you say, if that's the kind of God that we have, I don't want any part of it. It goes ahead and kills a little boy or my wife or something, just so that he can do something. He can do it some other way. And so the question is when life situations strike, does it reflect either God's will or God's punishment? Because that's the other interpretation that God gives that people give God is happening. This is happening to me because of God's punishment, which is the issue of Job, Because Job is constantly dealing with that.
Speaker 1:But that's not the answer. In Job.
Speaker 3:No, it is not.
Speaker 1:But that's a thing that people often say.
Speaker 2:Okay, so Is that what in Job they say what?
Speaker 1:They say what they say. Well, you brought this on yourself. Well, the quote-unquote.
Speaker 2:friends say that Right, right, right.
Speaker 1:The friends say that that's a very normal interpretation that you're sick because, you don't have enough faith to do well. Blame the victim. Right, you blame the person who's hurting.
Speaker 3:In that sense, I'm just using Trump's interpretation as a takeoff point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, you know there are people that believe, and based upon some New Testament things about guardian angels, that believe, and based upon some New Testament things about guardian angels, that God himself superintends the world. But a part of the superintending is to have angels, messengers, help protect people in various situations. And you know, when you're looking at a gunshot from what is 150 yards away, something like that all sorts of things can happen when the angle of his face changed and that alone saved his life.
Speaker 2:If he had looked the other way, taken a half a step back, any number of possibilities Right.
Speaker 1:Or just a little bit of wind here or there. Right, right Also true, I mean a little bit of that or a tremor in the finger.
Speaker 3:I mean all that can make a big difference. So if you had to make a comment on Trump's interpretation, he saved me, so that I can make America great again.
Speaker 1:I would say no to that. I don't think God saved him. To make America great again. I think that that would be a sub-purpose, perhaps. But God's purpose, ultimately, is that God's kingdom come, god's reign, god's will is done on earth as it is in heaven, and that's not necessarily a political statement. That is a statement right out of the scriptures. It's a religious statement, a political statement. That is a statement right out of the scriptures. It's a religious statement, a theological statement. And if, along the way, america is made great again as a byproduct of that, that's great. But I think that's the ultimate, god's ultimate purpose. That's what Jesus was all about, right, praying for and bringing in the kingdom, god's reign, active reign in the world. Stuart.
Speaker 2:You know how weird I am and I have a weird way to look at these things. I don't mind if Trump wants to view it that way if it leads him to make America great again. In other words, if he wants to interpret his own personal events in his life to be an act of God, he is free to do that, but I only think that that is important or validated, or whatever, by his behavior afterwards. In other words, if a person says I was saved from this automobile accident because God is going to use me for a higher purpose, then let God use you for a higher purpose. Then don't wallow in your joy of having been saved and then sit on your tush and do nothing about it, in your joy of having been saved and then sit on your tush and do nothing about it.
Speaker 2:You know, personally I have no problem with him believing that. Do I believe it was? I don't presume to talk for God Me too, Okay. And if God wanted to save him for that, I'm happy for it, because I want America to be great again and I hope that happens, Okay. But I hear so often people saying things like this God save me, higher power, whatever. And then about a week later, they forget that's right and they don't act on it, and that, I think, belies God's activities.
Speaker 3:Rudy, I want your opinion when we come back on the other side of the break. Okay, Got it. This is 1070 KNTH, the Answer, and you will be hearing us when we come back.
Speaker 8:AM 1070, the Answer.
Speaker 6:Harris County Coal Road Authority is excited to begin providing customers outstanding service as an enhancement to our services. To accommodate HCTRA customers with various working schedules, we have extended the call centers and EasyTag store hours to 7 am through 7 pm, monday through Friday. Our Saturday hours will remain the same 8 am through 4.30 pm. The call center and EasyTag stores are closed on Sundays, but customers are welcome to visit HCTRAorg to manage your online account 24-7.
Speaker 6:Hctra is committed to providing exceptional service tailored to your needs. By being available during extended hours, we can ensure that EasyTag customers with busy schedules have more opportunities to reach out for assistance. Hctra's mission is to operate and maintain safe, reliable, sustainable and evolving mobility systems that meets the diverse connectivity needs of all Harris County residents. Hctra will deliver mobility solutions that create value to customers and the community by incorporating stakeholder collaboration with community partners. Hctra's goal is to create dependable roadways and consistent service with quality on the road and off the road. Hctra is committed to maintain safety on our roads through a sustainable mobility system that meets the needs of all Harris County residents.
Speaker 9:Salem News Channel is America's fastest growing conservative TV network. It's an absolute crazy day, home to the largest lineup of free speech champions anywhere, delivering in-depth insight and unapologetic opinion on today's biggest news stories americans aren't going to put up with this anymore snc brings you the news that matters, told with integrity and clarity.
Speaker 8:Watch salem news channel free 24 7 on your television stream now on zumo play this radio station is always on, but sometimes you need more content that you can take with you anywhere. That's why we invented the salem podcast networkcom. You'll find all the great hosts on this radio station, plus a few more like charlie, kirk, danesh, desusa, trish, regan, jenna, ellis and dennis and julie. There's literally no end to what we can teach you it. It's like radio on demand, just like radio it's always on. Go, find out what you're missing. Download the app satompodcastnetworkcom. This is AM 1070, the answer.
Speaker 4:In the town where I was born, lived a man who sailed the seas. And he told us of his life.
Speaker 6:In the land of submarines.
Speaker 4:So we sail up to the sun Till we find a sea of green sea of green sea, of green in our yellow submarine. We all live in a yellow submarine. A yellow submarine, a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine a yellow submarine. We all live in a yellow submarine a yellow submarine a yellow submarine.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to A Show of Faith on AM 1070 Answer.
Speaker 11:Okay, rudy, what's your two cents worth? Okay, so this passage in Matthew, chapter 10, came to mind Are not two sparrows sowed for a penny and not one of them will fall to the ground without your father's will, but even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Now I understand, I would agree with both what David was saying and what Stuart was saying. Okay, I get that point, but from a sort of first cause, right, the creator of all creation. Nothing happens without him allowing it. That's right. I mean, we can sit here and talk about permits of will.
Speaker 11:And now, fundamentally, I like way david put it right, is is it his role right now to make america great again?
Speaker 11:I mean, I think, but sure, right, but fundamentally, it's more about being being a disciple of god. That's, that's, that's what's important, yeah, and if he took that action right, and if he took that event to become a better politician, to become a better father, to become a better husband, to become a better community leader, then I think that's exactly the type of thing that is meant to come out of these events right from some harrowing event, or even suffering, right, like you were talking about earlier, father Mark, this individual that lost a loved one in a car crash. Right, there's a way that you can interpret things where you can find a higher meaning and purpose, whether we understand it or not. But I mean, I kind of go back to what Victor Frankl was saying right In Man's Search for Meaning. And when we stop finding meaning through suffering, right, we're not. When we can't sort of change a situation, we're sort of challenged to change ourselves. And I think that's what's important, right Is, how do we change ourselves to be better?
Speaker 3:And if he thinks that Go ahead, keep on going, no, no go.
Speaker 11:Well, I was just going to say. If he thinks that this event can lead him to become A better human being, right, and to help people, then I think that maybe is God's will Right, or what he allowed.
Speaker 3:Let me ask all three of you, and just let me and part of it is playing what's called devil's advocate, meaning just a contrary point of view, and I'll just ask it from the perspective of, especially since, rudy, you and I are not experts on the scriptures, we're Catholic.
Speaker 1:You know more than you let on Come on.
Speaker 3:No, we're Catholic and we're experts on Jesus.
Speaker 11:You know what, paul Mark, I will say this. I'm not, I don't remember. I don't remember a lot of the actual passages by, but I do know a ton of the stories. Well, that's the same thing for ton of the stories.
Speaker 3:I can recall the stories and look them up ok, here's the question, and forgive me if I'm wrong quoting it. I'm going to forgive you ahead of time a preemptive pardon, yes, is there not a part in the scriptures where, in the Hebrew scriptures, where God uses, talks about his servant Cyrus?
Speaker 1:Isaiah 45.
Speaker 3:And uses. He says that he will use him.
Speaker 2:He calls him the Messiah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that he will use him to teach Israel a lesson to teach Israel a lesson Not really Not to teach Israel, but to liberate ultimately liberate Israel from exile.
Speaker 2:And remember also the Babylonians were used by God in the way you're talking, so the question is is the scripture there, is the prophet interpreting the occurrences of history is?
Speaker 3:is the scripture there, is the prophet interpreting the occurrences of history as the active will of God, as opposed to the permissive? Is he actively saying God uses this because he wanted to use this to destroy?
Speaker 2:Jerusalem, and if it leads the Jewish people to see themselves as special chosen by God, if it leads them to repent of whatever brought that on them according to the prophet, why not?
Speaker 3:Yeah, if it actually moves them to act, see but the question is while that's happening, imagine you're being destroyed by the Babylonians and everything you love and cared for has been destroyed. Are you going to be able to interpret it and say God is doing this?
Speaker 2:because it comes later. I believe that's a later interpretation.
Speaker 3:So interp. So would that be a false interpretation at that moment? No, because I'm asking the question? Because because what if?
Speaker 2:Wait. Whose interpretation is false? At which moment?
Speaker 3:Well, imagine you were living at that time where Babylon?
Speaker 2:Where it's happening to you. That's right, and the prophet comes to me and says, god is doing this because of this. I don't see that. That would be false. That would be just as legitimate an interpretation as anything else. Okay, so the question would be the purpose is to punish the people for their sin, and it's a way to get.
Speaker 3:So should I be able to interpret the evil occurrence of someone say someone's wife's dying, that it is a punishment for their sins?
Speaker 2:And my answer is, of course you can. Should you, are you able to? Absolutely, should you? No, can you? Of course, everybody is free to interpret.
Speaker 3:Okay, the question is as a minister of the gospel or?
Speaker 2:minister of the yeah, yeah, no, I would disagree.
Speaker 1:It's more complex than that. It's more nuanced than that. I think far more. It is very human, and now we have to go to break. But it's very human to make meaning out of tragic events or out of missed tragedy. We all do it. It is something that is inevitable. Do it, it is something that is inevitable. Psychological studies are full of demonstrations of that. When something happens, we try to make it mean something within our lives.
Speaker 3:So would we be saying that the scriptures are full of that?
Speaker 1:I would say that they are, because it's very human and very often our meaning that we make is accurate.
Speaker 2:Quick, we've got to go to the break. But I don't know if you saw this it was in the Jewish press, of course that one week there was a synagogue where everything around it burned to the ground. Nothing left and the synagogue was barely touched. And then the next week, because the fires were raging that long, there was a synagogue that got burned to the ground. So take an interpretation.
Speaker 3:That's exactly what I'm talking about. This is KNTH 1070. I'll be right back.
Speaker 8:AM 1070 and FM 1033.
Speaker 7:The Answer it's the return of the Texas Gun Shows February 8th through the 9th at Margaritaville Lake, con. The Answer Gun Shows at Margaritaville Lake, conroe, february 8th through the 9th, from 10 am to 5 pm.
Speaker 7:Saturday and on Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm. Texas Gun Shows at Margaritaville Lake, conroe, february 8th through the 9th. See you there. Lock and load. It's the return of the Texas Gun Shows February 8th through the 9th at Margaritaville Lake, conroe, gunshowstxcom. Gunshowstxcom it's everything a gun enthusiast dreams of Browse through rows of firearms, accessories and gear from top-notch vendors. Texas Gun Shows at Margaritaville Lake, conroe, february 8th through the 9th, from 10 am to 5 pm Saturday and on Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm. Texas Gun Shows at Margaritaville Lake, conroe, february 8th through the.
Speaker 10:Did you know the human body does not make its own vitamin C? Taking vitamin C is one of the best things you can do for your health, and Aqua Powders is the best way to get vitamin C. Aqua Powders, vitamin C is delicious when added to water and provides you with 2,000 milligrams of vitamin C to boost your immune system and increase your energy. Transform your water into wellness with Aqua Powders. Vitamin C available at Amazon. That's Aqua Powders with a Z available at Amazon.
Speaker 8:You aren't the only one who enjoys listening to Salem Media.
Speaker 5:Group, everybody at Salem Media Group. You've been incredible. You really are. You're very popular, more popular than you would even know We'd say you're in pretty good company.
Speaker 3:And Salem, what a job you do. It's great. I'm telling you, Salem has really done a fantastic job. I just want to thank you. You have courage. You have really courage, because I know it's not easy.
Speaker 5:Congratulations.
Speaker 8:Hey 1070 and FM 1033, the answer.
Speaker 4:Uh-uh, welcome to welcome to your life. There's no turning back. Even while we sleep, we will find you acting on your best behavior.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to a show of faith. On AM 1070. Answer Okay.
Speaker 1:I guess the topic really is Trump as a man of faith right His own religious experience. I think he had a very profound spiritual experience when he survived that shooting.
Speaker 3:Well, I don't know. Not only profound religious experience in surviving, but I think the fact that God gave him the strength to survive, not only that one, but the second one, and also all the lawfare, all the things that have been done to try and take him down and for him not to lose heart and to continue.
Speaker 3:He has to believe and I support him in this because, in my opinion, as it is right now, as it is right now, as it is right now and it was during the time of Biden, the Democratic Party as the platform is as close to an evil thing as I can muster, because it is subverting all understanding of human sexuality and human nature.
Speaker 2:It is undermining democracy, it's undermining the Bill of Rights.
Speaker 3:It's undermining the whole idea of life, of when it begins and when it ends. They wouldn't even vote for. If a child is born alive and survives abortion, the Democrats vote that he should be killed. I mean, you go on and on and on and you know somebody. A friend of mine said well, I can't vote for such an immoral man. And I go whoa man, he might have been immoral in the past and he might have a foul mouth, but you talk about the Democratic Party and Joe Biden and what they ever see.
Speaker 2:They, they agree with that. Therefore, it's not sinful.
Speaker 3:They agree with it, so it's not wrong or bad well, no, I know these people are anti-abortion and anti-everything, but they just found that the character of donald trump was so objectionable that they couldn't have that kind of a person representing them now now, the day after, uh, the inauguration, the president and the new vice president went to.
Speaker 1:Is it National Cathedral?
Speaker 3:National Cathedral, which is actually run by the Episcopal Church, and there there was the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington and the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. And the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington is Bishop Marianne Edgar, and I don't know how to pronounce this B-U-D-D-E, boud or Boudie, I do not know Bud could be Bud.
Speaker 3:I don't know Bud or Boudie, I don't know, but anyway, Bishop Marianne, the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese, she's the first woman to hold that position. She was given a great honor, a chance to unify and to pray for our country and to give a Christian message at the dawn of the new administration. Now the article that I sent to you says she disgraced herself with a lecture you'd hear on CNN or an episode of the View. What an embarrassment. Turning Point, USA co -founder Charlie Kirk said that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, who's on our station during the week?
Speaker 2:And that's what they do. They go up to people who have no say-so in a matter and scream and yell at them about some issue that they have no control over. No vote in, no influence. They, they.
Speaker 3:This is what the left side does yeah, but the question really is was she saying the appropriate, or was she saying something wrong, or was it inappropriate? Was it what? What's your sense, david?
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, let's hear it in her words first. I think Stuart has the exact words. Can you do it in her accent? No, okay, I didn't think so Okay.
Speaker 2:So these are Mary and Edgar Buddy's words. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared. Now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democrat, republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives, and the people who pick our crops, clean our office buildings, labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat at restaurants and work the night shifts at hospitals. They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals, she continued.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think the timing. I mean she had a message. She wanted to share that message. She deeply believes this. I don't think it was the right time or the right place for her to lobby the president in such a way and to use religion as a lobbying point.
Speaker 2:Don't they call it the bully pulpit?
Speaker 1:Well, the presidency is the bully pulpit, isn't it? I mean, that's what I understand.
Speaker 2:It's taking the opportunity to preach to a specific individual because they can't object or disagree or argue. They have to sit there and listen to you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean you can always walk out, I suppose, but the president wasn't going to do that and Vance was not going to do that. I was disappointed. I don't think it was the right thing to do. I think there would have been much better use of her time. He already knows this and I'm not really sure that I don't know how many people are really in fear of their lives. I'm not sure what that means exactly, uh, for them. I mean, they're not happy with the outcome. But there were people who were not happy with the outcome of joe biden's presidency and the things that were going on there. Yes, and there were people who actually did die as a result of some of the illegal folks coming in.
Speaker 3:She never said to Joe Biden no, there are babies who are going to be killed. You know, we ask you to have mercy on them. You know all kinds of stuff. Rudy what's your sense of this?
Speaker 11:I think she sort of the kind of current culmination of the repercussions of the Enlightenment movement, Right, I mean it's just an immediate and total focus on a very disordered interpretation of reality.
Speaker 11:And I think it has to do with we were talking about Isaiah earlier and it's something that we as humans, in this sort of anthropocentric approach to our daily lives, right, so we're just sort of human-focused, we have this kind of we really have this limited perception of creation, of space and time, and in particular in Isaiah, I think what the author is calling for is sort of the challenge the reader, this kind of stereotypical interpretation right, where you just kind of grumble at God and you kind of just complain, but the real thing is we have to kind of turn and focus on the eternal.
Speaker 11:I mean, they were promised from the beginning, were promised a land of milk and honey, right, I think it's Exodus 16. But then again it's sort of the same behavior, right, and what we find ourselves now is just us, and I think the rabbi mentioned earlier it's just we kind of you know this happens and then, oh, thank God, and then a week later we forget, and so as a humanity it's like we have a really short memory, right, and it's why we keep kind of going back and going back and I think we miss the point that there is an eternal life, right, and there is something that comes after this and the actions and how we spend our time. Are we bringing our community together or are we further dividing it? And I think I'm going to stick with David's pronunciation. I like the buddy.
Speaker 1:Could be, I don't know.
Speaker 11:I think buddy could have done a lot better. Like the author said, she could have used it as a moment right To kind of just mend things, to bring things together, to be a symbol of unity, but instead they just Stuart, I don't care if everything she said was perfectly in agreement with the Republican Party.
Speaker 2:I don't care if what she was going to say would be in line with Trump's issues or whatever. In line with, with, with, with uh, trump's issues or whatever. It's the number one question you ask when you write a sermon, when you give a speech. Anything is is it appropriate? And it's not. No, it's not appropriate, you know it. If she wants to talk in generic terms about people who are afraid and the government can be there to help or whatever, that's one thing. But when she narrows it down to her personal issue, does she really think that Trump is going to change his mind about what he's going to do or the attitudes he holds because she gave a speech in front of him, even if he agreed with what she was going to say? You have to ask the question is it appropriate?
Speaker 3:Well, okay, my two cents worth. My two cents worth. Are that what she said in and of itself is not wrong? Okay, it's not wrong, but it is inappropriate, right? But earlier I told you that it was only a half-truth, right? But I'm not sure.
Speaker 2:What do you mean? It was only a half-truth.
Speaker 1:What she said is only a half-truth, Right but I'm not sure.
Speaker 3:What do you mean? It was only a half-truth. What she said is only a half-truth, and what I mean by that is that she forgot that what she was trying to point to was what's called sentimental compassion and not effective compassion, because she did not take into account to make the statement that every country has a right to have secure borders and that you don't just sneak across, and that you have a right to deport people who are coming into your country without permission. And so, granted, they may have had, they may have had issues and and desperation enough to want to break the law, because the borders are not the highest priority in terms of if a person is starving, you don't have a right, you know, to keep them from food, and so, but she did not give a balance, uh, in that sermon.
Speaker 2:That's what I mean. Her own issues. Her own issues.
Speaker 3:She made the gays and the transgender, all the poor little victims, and then she forgot about the rest of the issues, about borders and about authority, because she had her own personal agenda.
Speaker 2:She had her own agenda, that's right.
Speaker 3:She's a very high democratic operative. Okay, this is 1070 KMTH and we'll be right back.
Speaker 8:AM 1070,.
Speaker 7:The Answer. It's the return of the Texas gun shows, february 8th through the 9th at Margaritaville Lake, conroe. Get your tickets now. Go to gunshowstxcom. Gunshowstxcom. It's GunShowsTXcom, gunshowstxcom.
Speaker 7:It's everything a gun enthusiast dreams of Browse through rows of firearms, accessories and gear from top-notch vendors. Texas Gun Shows at Margaritaville Lake Conroe February 8th through the 9th. From 10 am to 5 pm Saturday and on Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm. Texas Gun Shows at Margaritaville Lake Conroe February 8th through the 9th. See you there. Lock and load it's the return of the Texas gun shows February 8th through the 9th at Margaritaville Lake Conroe. Get your tickets now. Go to gunshowstxcom. Gunshowstxcom, it's everything a gun enthusiast dreams of Browse through rows of firearms, accessories and gear from top-notch vendors. Texas Gun Shows at Margaritaville Lake Conroe February 8th through the 9th. From 10 am to 5 pm Saturday and on Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm. Texas Gun Shows at Margaritaville Lake Conroe February 8th through the 9th. See you there.
Speaker 5:Wow, I've got some really exciting news. We have a new co-host for Docs in a Pod. Dr Rajik Suddath joins us. He's a board-certified family medicine physician based in Tampa Florida and the lead physician there for Optum. Dr Suddath has a passion for primary care and you ask him something, he's got an answer. I'm Ron Aaron. Join us on Docs in a Pod by WellMed Saturday evening at 6 on AM 1070 and FM 103.3,.
Speaker 8:The Answer Chris DeGaulle believes we can make it happen.
Speaker 12:Our capabilities are pretty high as a country. This city can shut itself down like nothing I've ever seen in a blink, and you tell me that we've had to sit with open borders for the last four years. You know better. We all know better. We're capable of doing amazing things swiftly, just here in Washington.
Speaker 8:The Chris DeGaulle Show Weekday mornings at 5, right before Mike Gallagher at 8, on AM 1070 and FM 1033.
Speaker 1:The Answer oh yeah, don't worry.
Speaker 2:This might have been a better sermon.
Speaker 1:Let's all be happy.
Speaker 2:Don't worry, be happy. And yeah, there's a time and place to push people and cajole people. Yes, that just wasn't it.
Speaker 4:Welcome back to A Show of Faith. I'm Anthony Samuels. That's the best part of it.
Speaker 2:Well, waiting, and waiting, and waiting, I know, I know. Okay, as this part of it.
Speaker 3:Well, waiting, and waiting, and waiting, I know, I know. Okay, father Mario. Yes, go ahead, rudy.
Speaker 11:Sorry, can I just say this is something that really gets me and I think I just need to say it and a lot of people, and including this bishop, don't understand the amount of child sex trafficking and drugs that goes on with an unsecure border. So this isn't about and I'm sorry because I see this and I live this and I'm and I Good point, good point the amount of abuse that children are facing with an unsecure border is infinitely more criminal than anything, and I'm not saying or comparing evils, but the amount of children that are trafficked illegally and pass through that border is absolutely criminal. And the fact that we don't do something more stringent to stop this. Okay, this isn't about keeping people out, okay, my own wife I'm trying to get a visa for her and the process is long and arduous and it takes time, but there's a reason for it. Okay.
Speaker 11:But people just don't understand the evil atrocities that are happening in this border. They just think it's a bunch of you know, I don't even know. Okay, and I'm not saying it's all bad people. Of course they're not.
Speaker 11:Well, it's not the amount of criminal activity that goes on. The only way to properly stop that is to have a secure border. That's it. There's no other way.
Speaker 1:Well, it's true that what she said, she said not every person that comes into this country illegally is a criminal who is intent on doing harm to other people, that's absolutely true. But there are enough of them that we should have a concern, and we should be concerned for the traffic itself, the flow of people, what can happen to people in those long caravans and such so anyway, moving on, Father Mario, what's your sense?
Speaker 3:We have ten minutes left.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:What's your sense? You know I was. Let me just introduce it from this perspective. I have a very good friend of mine who I asked him we were talking about the election. I hadn't seen him for a while and I said, well, what did you think of the election of Trump? And he said I could never vote for a man like that. I think the man like that is not the kind of man that we want representing us on the world stage.
Speaker 2:His morals are yeah, well, I could agree with that in certain circumstances.
Speaker 3:Here's my response to him. I responded let me ask you a question if you had to have brain surgery and your hospital, your insurance would only cover two doctors, two surgeons. One surgeon is perfect he's wonderful, he is the kindest, goes to church all the time, he is the most wonderful, kind man that you could ever meet. But he got his degree online from a medical school, uh, in theamas, and he got it online. And then you have another doctor that's your second doctor who is disgusting, who has had affairs, multiple affairs, and whose office is not very nice and his office is not very clean. But he graduated summa cum laude from Harvard Medical School in neurosurgery. Who would you pick to do your brain surgery?
Speaker 2:And, of course, the answer is I like your analogy because I've never liked Trump, but I would Democrats and what they wanted to do and everything that I find wrong with the country they support. They support, they're voting for.
Speaker 3:That's right, and so my point is I would rather have the immoral dirty, you know guy who's competent than have the nice church going guy who doesn't know exactly what he's doing digging into my brain? And that's exactly I mean you. We see it right now. You see it right now that the country is starting to return to a moral sense.
Speaker 2:Let's see what happens in four years. Yeah, he's already a lame duck and they can always revert and do their little sneaky tricks and everything else that is correct.
Speaker 3:So that's my, my sense is why I voted for Trump. Because and you said it perfectly everything that the Democratic Party stood for critical race theory.
Speaker 2:You know, setting one group against another Women beating out by swimming sports.
Speaker 3:Women and males in women's locker rooms, the pro-abortion.
Speaker 2:Mario, I was told that the NCAA has like a half a million students in it and maybe 10 are transgender. So what? So what If they're taking the side? It's the policy, right, it's the policy. And what it does to women's sports, that's right.
Speaker 3:And not only that, the promotion of the gay lifestyle as a normal part. I can see the tolerance, we can have tolerance, but we don't have to promote that, the denial of human nature that you can be whatever you want to be. All you have to do is identify as anything you want. I want to be a girl today.
Speaker 2:I want to be a boy tomorrow. All you have to do is identify as anything you want. I want to be a girl today.
Speaker 3:I want to be a boy tomorrow. The attack on what I would call normative American values of capitalism, of justice, of fairness of law. Not only that, the approach from the Biden administration seeking the law, the Justice Department on churches, the Justice Department on churches that are because they said, any Making soldiers out of the FBI, the IRS, putting in which, by the way goes, back to Obama Putting people in jail for standing in front of an abortion clinic, praying without saying, without doing anything like that. And I could go on and on.
Speaker 2:The things that the democrats stood for were directly in conflict with what I stand for as a christian, see, I don't forget things like obama administration when he was in the white house telling people applying for 501c3 charitable institution status and the irs because they may not agree with the President's administration's values so they wouldn't be granted it. Jewish organizations had to be tested to Obama's politics, david.
Speaker 1:We're talking about now. The second question was about Trump's religion, right? Yes, you know he grew up Presbyterian, yeah, and I think he probably came from a family that had some religious background. I mean, he was. It was interesting. I remember people in the first administration they would hear him talk about the Bible and he would say things like one Timothy and two Timothy.
Speaker 2:What was wrong with that.
Speaker 4:Well, here's the thing.
Speaker 1:People who only knew one way of thinking about these said well, he doesn't know his first Timothy, he doesn't know his second Timothy. Well, if you go on the other side of the pond where Presbyterians are from, if you go across the Atlantic and you go to England and you go to Scotland, they do say one Timothy, 2 Timothy. They don't say 1st, 2nd, 3rd Timothy or 1st and 2nd Timothy.
Speaker 2:Look at any Bible in the table of contents. It doesn't say 1st, it says 1. It says 1.
Speaker 1:So that's very. I mean, what we were doing is very petty, it was unnerving. Quite frankly, I don't think he has had a real strong religious education, strong religious training. He could do with some good friends who would say to him hey, listen, let's really dig into this Bible together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'd like to get a hold of him too, you know that would be really interesting.
Speaker 3:It's interesting because the quote in the article this is Trump being quoted. He says I think if I do something wrong then I consider it and I just try and make it right. I don't bring God into that picture. People are so shocked when they find out that I'm a Protestant, I'm a Presbyterian and I go to church. I love God and I love my church.
Speaker 1:That's a quote. This is the testimony he's making, a testimony I don't think you'd. You may not agree with his politics, you may not agree with all of his morals and ethics and, who knows, he may have, in a moral, ethical sense, be evolving, be transitioning himself to being a more moral. We're not. It is God's work in our life that is most important. You know, we are to be confident that God is at work in our life, making us better, year by year, decade by decade.
Speaker 3:Rudy, what's your sense?
Speaker 11:I. It's interesting because what you're saying earlier, father Mario, I I find that but not so religious sort of quasi Presbyterian, tends to align more with, at least from my Catholic perspective, to what I think is and I think many versed Catholics in what the Catechism teaches would agree is that this individual and of course it's not perfect, right, there's certain things like capital punishment that of course we wouldn't agree with. But when we look overall, right, the lesser of two evils, let's call it one clearly stands out and at the end of the day, Trump's religion, whether he Look, we don't know what goes on in this man's head or in the private life of him and his family.
Speaker 3:But I do think he tries to do what is right.
Speaker 11:He tries At least he thinks he does, like the rabbi will say In the major issues of the day yes, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I think that he is like most Christians out there, most Jews out there, probably most Muslims in the United States. They're not PhDs in religion, they're not majors in biblical studies. They believe they're part of a faith, they're part of a religion, but they don't scream it from the skies, and I think he's like that.
Speaker 3:And they're doing the best they can and they do the best they can. That's my sense of Trump. I see him as a man, a typical guy, like you said, not excessively religious, but believes in God, believes in Jesus as a Christian, and he's trying to do the best he can and he's running a public situation that is very hard Public companies, yeah, and now as president, now, he identifies now as more of a non-denominational.
Speaker 2:Christian, that's correct. I think that's virtue signaling. I think he knows his audience and he makes a statement.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, a lot, a lot of luck. Yeah, I know we've got to go.
Speaker 3:Well, it's been a real who's the director now Rudy the Rootster. Rootster, you're the director, I will take it from Brazil Okay. From From Brazil. Okay, from Brazil, all right, okay. Well, this is 1070 KNTH. You've been listening to the show of faith. Please, during this week, keep us in your prayers, because you are going to be in ours.
Speaker 8:Find us at am1070theanswercom. Download our apps. Stream us 24-7. Knth and K277DE-FM Houston.