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Ep. 273 — God, Send Me A Hot Wife to Love Me Like I Love Me w/ Fashion Designer Isaiah Isaac
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This week we're reuniting with an old friend of ours from the Liberty University days, fashion designer and artist Isaiah Isaac! Isaiah has a story unlike any we've covered on the show. By the time we met him, he had pretty much come to grips with the fact that he was gay, and he didn't spend his time at Liberty trying to "reform" himself. There was no way Christian college was going to keep his attention, though, so he left LU and started working towards a career in the fashion industry where he has been very successful. Isaiah is one-of-a-kind, and it was so much fun catching up with him! You can follow his work on Instagram (@isaiah.isaac_) or by visiting his website at www.isaiahisaac.com!
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Transcript
Expressions of Love and Ambitions
00:00:00
Speaker
The issue is I do love this woman as the Bible defines love. Okay. What does that mean? That's what... ah Okay.
00:00:12
Speaker
All right. Patient, kind, unconditional, Christ-like. All I want to do is succeed in life. that What a selfish cunt. I hate this. guy All I want to do is succeed in life so i can so I can give her everything she deserves, like that tight body.
Humor on Plastic Surgery
00:00:28
Speaker
He wants to afford, like, skin grafts and fucking cuntos. Classic surgery. He's really... is this... You know, if...
00:00:36
Speaker
ah Maybe they're lying about their age and this is Brian Gnome.
00:00:42
Speaker
He's going to graft her skin onto his own chest. He's like, the loose skin comes in real handy when you're trying to put in massive implants. Oh my god.
Introducing 'Growing Up Christian' with Isaiah
00:01:11
Speaker
Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Growing Up Christian. I'm Sam. And I'm Casey. And today we are joined by an old friend. A friend from the Liberty University dorm days. Isaiah Isaac. What is up, dude?
00:01:28
Speaker
Thanks for having me Yeah, dude, it's so cool to have you we i you. You came up on the short list of people to have on the podcast when we first started this in 2020. Yes! then... yes and then Things happen. things we right I did message you once, but that was when you were not using Instagram.
00:01:47
Speaker
Correct. and so It just kind of sat there. and then ah we i go I mentioned on the podcast several a couple months ago, we met up in New York and hit it off again and talked
Nostalgia and Strange Roommates at Liberty University
00:02:00
Speaker
about doing this. so Here we are. appreciate it. I was happy to get that message. I know I was taking a break from socials, but when I saw that, was like, oh my God, Sam.
00:02:10
Speaker
And then we met up and it's like i never stopped talking to you ever. thank you for inviting me. And it's crazy because I feel like when we were on the dorms, we hung out all the time. All the time.
00:02:21
Speaker
Yes. And I talked about my roommates on the podcast before, but they would go home every weekend. And it was either you or Casey hanging out with me. yeah Yeah. I'm surprised they didn't sleep in the same bed, actually.
00:02:37
Speaker
They're twin. yeah Everybody's heard this story at this point, but they're twins that dress alike. Yeah. Very strange. they were They were very, very strange to the point where I stayed away from them. And that's like saying something because i tried to be friends with everybody. And they were just creepy. That's just weird.
00:02:54
Speaker
That's creepy. Because they just like kind of lurked. Like they weren't. I mean, they're they they're they're straight up out of a horror film. Yeah. It was like Twilight, antisocial, like, are you actually demons type of feeling around them. was like, all right, I got to stay away from you guys. They were like the original twins from The yeah the Shining, but after like like test screenings, they pulled really poorly, so they changed them to the two little girls. It was too much. was too realistic. They didn't like that muted southern drawl that they had.
00:03:30
Speaker
No, I got to stop. I'm going to say awful things. um But yeah, so um yeah, like I said, hung out at on the dorms all the time.
00:03:41
Speaker
and And then after, everyone kind of split from dorm 11, and then that was it just...
Post-College Reflections and Upbringing
00:03:49
Speaker
took less than a year before I feel like people like we all just kind of like went separate ways and if it was other than social media didn't really stay in contact too much which is wild um but I think you're we talked you and I talked about some of your story you've done some cool shit since uh since you left college which is nice because some people haven't and that's totally fair some people have not done much since they left college uh yeah
00:04:18
Speaker
But yeah, it's um just to give, it's like yeah I want to give everyone a like a back story, like little intro to like who you are and and how you grew up and where you grew up.
00:04:29
Speaker
Sure. So I like to say that I'm from the country because when I grew up, there was corn stalks in my backyard. So I feel like I get to claim that and there was farms everywhere. So I like to say I'm a country boy, but I was born in Philly. I grew up in Sacramento, New Jersey. which is like 20, 25 minutes outside of Philadelphia. And as you might have noticed, my name is Isaiah Isaac. So I grew up in a very Christian home.
00:04:57
Speaker
So my mother more so became a Christian like around the age I am now. And then like her last three kids, she named all after like the Bible. So it's like Isaiah, Matthew, Sarah, like all this like podcasting.
00:05:10
Speaker
biblical thing um so i grew up in the church literally knew nothing else um i went to church i went to wednesday church we had like this thing called awana i also um loved awanas i was oh my god i was was too old for it when we went to a church that did it so i volunteered Yeah.
00:05:34
Speaker
It was a lot of fun, though, because, like, it was, like, games. And, like, you know, obviously it was, like, Christ-centric around, like, Bible verses and, like, you know, can you remember Ecclebiastes? But you would still to play, like, sport games or whatever. So it's, you know, maybe a lot of reason why I'm into sports. But, yeah, I just grew up. And I also went to Christian school until I was in sixth grade. So like everything was like Bible, Bible, Bible, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And I loved it.
00:05:59
Speaker
And I had a great, fine time, you know. um And then i got older. um We got poorer. So I went to a public school from seventh grade onwards.
Family Financial Struggles and School Transitions
00:06:10
Speaker
But I was still heavily... Or is that like, did something, was there like an event in your family that changed the financial makeup? Or was it just, it just got... Because a lot of people are like, I'm sick of paying for this shit. We have too many kids we're paying for this shit for. Or was there like a big, was there something that happened and you were aware of it?
00:06:30
Speaker
I think it was a little bit of both, right? So like, unbeknownst to me, my dad was just like very... um What's the opposite of responsible? Like irresponsible, unresponsible, something like that. One of those things. Not responsible. We'll go labor terms there. And we're just like fucking up jobs left and right. And I'm like growing up thinking like, excuse me, we're having the greatest time. You know, like I'm the youngest. I was spoiled. Whatever.
00:06:55
Speaker
So I think he was just like, you know, fucking up the financials. And, you know, there's three of us in the house. My oldest was actually at Liberty at the time, hilariously. That's where she went to college. um And yeah, we just couldn't afford it. So we had to get pulled out of that.
00:07:11
Speaker
But I was still like heavily involved in church. I was still going to Awana on Wednesdays. I was going to a youth group. because I got older, um you know, church on Sundays, like little events here and there.
00:07:21
Speaker
um But, you know, when you go to public school outside of Christian school, your perspective changes. You start to learn, like, people live different lives and do different things and know different stuff. And you get introduced to, like, reality, if I may be so blunt to say. Yeah. You know? you're not in a walled garden anymore right and that's so it's such a weird thing to look back
Liberty University Experience and Broader Perspectives
00:07:44
Speaker
on like for people who grew up like us because i mean i like i did christian school and then it was homeschool like to grow up in a bubble i mean it just that's normal it feels normal everything's normal no issues no real concerns and then
00:08:01
Speaker
Even like the shift is slow when you start, you know, waking up to different things like because, you know, growing up in that world, we're warned about the real world. We're told about the sin out there. And you know that people like to do drugs and watch rated R movies and masturbate and like cuss. Yeah.
00:08:23
Speaker
And so like, you know, you're aware of it all, but you're also just like not used to being around it. And then when you are far enough removed from your upbringing, like i feel like the thing I hear the most in the way that I experience it is like, it almost feels like you've lived two lives. Like that that weird partition is like, it's crazy that that it feels so weird that that used to be my life. Cause if I go back to it now, I'm like, it, it,
00:08:51
Speaker
Like that would be my hell is to just be surrounded by like evangelical Christian culture constantly. Casey lives in my hell, but right now he lives in her. Before I met ri reality at the age of 23.
00:09:07
Speaker
It's so true though, because I feel like there is a dichotomy to who I am today and like who I was before. and even the journey in between the two of those people is also somebody else, right? Like coming out of that, learning new things. And I'm i'm sure we'll get to that as as we move on. But yeah, even like being in high school, like I still more or less wasn't so far removed from it because like I was only in school, what, like five hours a day. And then you go home and like, you know, you're in a Christian home and you go to church on Wednesday and you go to church on Sunday, et cetera. And like all my really good friends were still Christian friends. I'd go over to their house and hang out or so on and so forth. Um, but yeah, even going to Liberty, like, so I guess I went for two years, um,
00:09:52
Speaker
I like didn't even apply myself because in high school, cause I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't know there were options you know for people. um So I went with like no major. But yeah, going to Liberty actually has but probably made me who I am today. i know that sounds ridiculous, but...
00:10:08
Speaker
Like, I became a human being once I left high school. And before I got into Liberty, um i got my ears pierced because I knew, like, if you got one when you were there, you'd get a demerit. So I got it beforehand so that they couldn't stop me from getting it. So I was already, like, conniving, like,
Challenges of the Christian Bubble
00:10:24
Speaker
figuring out where I just, like, be the rules. Yeah.
00:10:26
Speaker
um because was like yeah like i don't know they're just you kind of know deep down i don't know maybe i'm speaking you know for other people i shouldn't but you kind of know deep down that like that's not all there is to life when you grow up in the church and then like meet other people you're like just from a human perspective what are you trying to keep me from you know like what is what is this um be in the world but not of the world you know phrasing like what where does that come from and why and like If I'm going to ascribe to something, then what's the other side that I'm denying? I'd like to know at least. don't know.
00:10:59
Speaker
Yeah. And you can use the great, like when you be in the world, but not of the world, which just leaves a whole bunch of conversations where you're trying to like suss out the gray area. So that way you can figure out how normal you can be without being sinful. And it's like, yeah. But to think about the amount of hours spent on conversations about like how many ounces of beer is too many ounces of beer. It's so stupid. Yeah.
00:11:24
Speaker
It's more about like fiercely ah protecting your boundaries so that you don't have to like intermingle with people that you don't like or don't identify with. Literally.
00:11:34
Speaker
That's what in the world and not of the world means, I think. And especially when it's in regards to children, it's like, well, we reserve the right to protect our kids from the other kids, you know? Yeah.
00:11:47
Speaker
I think that's, there's a lot of truth to that. And I think growing up, you kind of feel that in a way like, oh, like watch out for so-and-so, like, you know, keep your guard up, you know, always remember what you've been taught, like when you hang out with someone and you're like, yeah, sure.
00:12:03
Speaker
But like we're already, ironically, prejudging these people before we even had a good conversation with them. And it's like, you know you don't know this as a kid because you haven't like but devoured the Bible. um You're just kind of like being fed this rhetoric from a perspective, which we'll get into. but yeah, man, it was it was, I don't know. I didn't have an unhappy childhood growing up in the church. I loved it, which is strange to say because I'm like so
Deconstructing Religious Beliefs
00:12:27
Speaker
vehemently against all of that now. Yeah.
00:12:30
Speaker
No, but I think that's, I do think that is, if you were, because I was in it, like, Casey and I talk about that all the time. We were in it in a way that wasn't, like, you look back and you can be like, that's strange. That's very, like, and weirdly countercultural in a not cool way. Like, there's some weird, you know, paradigm set up here and there, but overall like we and yeah we talked about that too we enjoyed our childhood i liked going to youth group i was especially as a homeschooled kid it's like oh i get finally get to socialize with people just in general but like i think it's it's weird because i go i i look back on my child and say i had a good childhood but i also look back on like i could i still see some of the things that i'm parsing out in my life now as a almost 38 year old man of like
00:13:20
Speaker
Oh, I could see the impact that some of that upbringing still has on me and like how I try to and how I live and act in the world and how like in and what impacts me or what drives me. Like you've, I find myself getting hung up on stuff at times where I'm like, I go, Oh, that I know, i know where that's from now. Like I've named it, I've recognized it. So when I see myself being inclined to do those like old way things, I have to try to like shut it down.
00:13:52
Speaker
He's trying to say he's non-affirming. Yeah. That's the one thing I haven't changed my mind on it I'll stand firm on that. Yeah, it's non-affirming affirmation. um Listen, I was actually thinking about that earlier, just in terms of, so we'll probably get at this, but I had like a kind of like a bust up with my sister. She's, you know, turned Republican and is like super Christian now, although she just got divorced and, you know, has children out of wedlock, you know, very like Glass House's situation. yeah Yeah. We were having like a really debate. That's not very Christian at all. at all. You know, I'm like, hmm, interesting. But as much as I grew up in the church, I'm like, you know, to what you're saying, Sam, of kind of deconstructing a lot of the thoughts that you've had in just your way of being. I still find that with myself today. Like just if I'm like being nice to someone or like if something nice has happened in my life, I will automatically, because I was trained, I'm like, I'm so blessed. And I have to stop myself and and be like,
00:14:56
Speaker
I don't think that that's true because like that's not what I subscribe to anymore to where like, oh, it's what a blessing. But it's the first thing that comes to my mind. And I'm just like, wow, like this is really deep to where it's like, I can't not think that way. And I kind of have to think counterly to be like,
00:15:13
Speaker
you know, maybe I had a good opportunity or I was lucky. But the fact that I grew up, you know, ascribing every good thing that happened in my life to like God and Christianity, it's just really interesting that like, you have to do just as much deconstructing of that if that's what you want to do um If you don't subscribe to it anymore, it's it's it's it's work.
00:15:33
Speaker
Yeah. So yeah at least do you picked, I'm so blessed. Like I, you you, I'm trying to get down to the shorter version. Whenever something good happens to me, I scream. Something like, yes, the Lord has shedded his blessings upon me, you know, and it just creates uncomfortable situations at work a lot.
00:15:50
Speaker
yeah
00:15:53
Speaker
That's a lot. i yeah you So I'm trying to say bless I'm working by way to blessed. I'm glad you're farther than I am in that. Yeah, I'll pray for you to to get. Appreciate that.
00:16:05
Speaker
I don't want to make us jump all the way back to you going to high school, but i like I wanted to ask... I do have one question before we go before we get farther. ah Just out of curiosity, you were talking about your dad like kind of bouncing between jobs and stuff like that.
00:16:22
Speaker
Did he have like churchy excuses for why he was doing that? Because I had family members that would be like... ah Well, so-and-so, he was working there, but like you know the guys at the place would always try to tell him like dirty jokes or show him things that he didn't want to see, so he had to leave. And like my mom would come up with the excuses because we were so heavily in church, and like he would either be there or he wouldn't. And she'd be like, oh, you know like God is like showing him a new path, or he's taking him on a new journey. And I'm like, God is busy with our father. God seems exasperated.
00:17:05
Speaker
He is working overtime. um So yes, there is a lot of, there's always an excuse. God is always doing something. He's working in his very mysterious ways of which we will never understand.
00:17:21
Speaker
Yeah. so going from Christian school to public high school, did you have when you were walking in day one, were you like that you put on the full armor of God? Were you gearing up to be like to be spiritually oppressed or persecuted for your faith? Like, did you have any caricatures like in your mind of what it would be like? And were you like the let me tell you about my Lord and Savior Jesus hiding it under a bushel?
00:17:50
Speaker
Right. I was leading by example or something. One of those. ah Definitely mentally. Like I think when I was in church and like about to go into like high school, i remember mentally having like a, okay, i have to be on guard. I have to, you know, make sure that I'm a good example. I can't hang out with the wrong people. i was very judgy.
00:18:13
Speaker
um And like, don't know. I just, I don't know if put on the full armor, but I remember like having like verses at the ready, you know? But they got me, they got me together real quick because the Christian school that I went to, we wore like uniforms. So I didn't have any like public clothes. I had church clothes and a school uniform. when went to high school. That sounds like your worst nightmare now. What? I got clowned viciously for what I was wearing. They were just all the jokes in the world, which is probably why I'm so into fashion now, because I was like, never again. But they let me know knew nothing about how to actually just wear regular clothes in the real world. So I think once all of that happened, bullying-wise, I just made the switch over to, all right, I have to conform in a way. maybe that was the beginning of my process. But yeah. Yeah, no, mentally, I definitely was like prepared to be super Christian and like witness to everybody and like hand out tracts and be like, you know, come to like I used to do missionary stuff and we would like go other places and hand out the little tracts and like that was like my life.
00:19:23
Speaker
yeah dude the clothing thing is funny because it's like my school because i went to christian school and we didn't have a we didn't have uniforms but we had a dress code which is i think it's worse because then it's it's uh it's uh it's largely up to one tyrant how insane they want to be about clothing and to who they're going to do that to.
00:19:50
Speaker
Like, cause my principal played favorites and she, but she didn't like you. She would always have something to say about And so I feel like uh, that's one that still like affects me.
00:20:03
Speaker
Cause if somebody, like if somebody makes like a comment about like my clothing in some way, like it, it sends me to like level 10. Really? Somebody's like, are you really going to wear that shirt to the banquet? I'm like,
00:20:18
Speaker
Oh, I'm just fuming, man. It sends me there right away. mean, that makes lot of sense, though, that control. yeah it was just like being picked at for stupid, non-sensical things for so long, I feel like.
00:20:32
Speaker
Nothing good comes from a tyrant getting all up in your business. No, especially when her husband's a pedophile. yeah Oh, my bad. I feel that, too, though, because when I tried to wear a bolo tie out in public and my wife gave me shit about it, i was not feeling great about it. i don't know.
00:20:51
Speaker
I love the bolo tie. I support you. I can't wait to tell her you said that. No, seriously. I'm obsessed. I might get it i might get that passed now. I'm going to be like, Isaiah said it was cool. and She'll be like, I trust him.
00:21:04
Speaker
Yes! No, they're so sick, man. ah So yeah, fashion wasn't your thing growing up. that That's something you got into in college. Yeah. um because that's what I feel like when I knew you, i would have been like, oh yeah, he's he's the fashion guy. You had a cohesive thing going on. yeah Like you had a look.
00:21:24
Speaker
Yeah, I'm like crazy OCD. I think mentally i like to categorize, put things in boxes. So it was easy for me to find an aesthetic that I like and then like super execute that. But I i kid you not, I do think my interest in fashion came from getting bullied in a high school, coming from a Christian school, not like knowing what to wear. yeah And I'm very... So bullying is a good thing is what we're saying here. And we we're fine with it.
00:21:52
Speaker
just Hammer at home. like Yeah. How are you going to know who you really are if someone doesn't pick that apart for you on a regular basis? If haven't been bullied, are you a human? Right.
00:22:03
Speaker
Do you know who you are at all? Figure it out. No. Yeah. I got into fashion because I didn't know what I was doing at Liberty. I went there literally because like it's the only school that accepted me and it was a Christian school. so A couple of boxes.
00:22:21
Speaker
And i was flunking out of school. um That's where I learned how to drink, by the way. If you want to learn how to drink alcohol, i go to a Christian school. It's the best place. i miss that And I didn't know you were up to that kind of funny business. I was up to no good. I lost my virginity of liberty. Are you kidding me? Whoa. Whoa. I got ear piercing tattoos, like sex, like all of it. Thank you, Christians. Thank you. Did lose your virginity outdoors? Because we all know you couldn't really be together.
00:22:49
Speaker
Like that would have been fun. Um, if I'm being explicit, oral virginity, yes. Outdoors. Actual virginity is when I moved out off campus and I had my own apartment. So it' was a little bit more, you know, kosher, if you will. um But I was like funking out of school watching, watching a project runway. I don't know if you guys remember that. yeah and yeah And I was like, what?
00:23:16
Speaker
fashion can be a job like i don't know what i was being fed in school in general that i didn't know that people could make money off of like making clothes but all i spent my money on was buying clothes i just didn't put two and two together that like someone designed it and then once i saw that i was like fuck yeah like i can do that i applied to like a little fashion show at liberty and i sewed the most horrible dress in the entire world and i don't think i remember that remember yeah i remember that that's crazy Yeah, because I was like, oh, guys, like I'm doing this thing. Come support me. um Somehow I got into like all these fashion schools, and then I left. And I went to fashion school in Philadelphia for a bit, hated it.
00:23:54
Speaker
And then I moved to New York and went to fashion school there for two years, and the rest is history. But yeah, I just... that is fashion school like an undergraduate situation or is it its own thing like it can be both there's like okay undergraduate um and then bachelor's and then uh master's i got my bachelor's okay in it um yeah you can like get crazy and like go to a master's school but you know single basically single mother or three kids like i didn't have enough money because i got into school to go to london so like i got an iphone i got a passport And then they were like, oh yeah, tuition is going to be 120,000 a year. And my mom was like, you're not So you didn't make it into the Ed Hardy Institute.
00:24:45
Speaker
I've never embroidered denim. It was crazy. It's so expensive just to like, you know, because you they don't even take into account like you have to have taste. You can have all the talent in the world, but like if you don't have quote unquote taste, which is subjective, you know, you're not going to make it. But yeah, then I moved in New York and yeah, got into fashion and we're here, but Liberty somehow is what launched like the life that I'm living at this moment in terms of my thoughts on religion and my thoughts on the world. like It's all kind of got birthed from that. It's just a weird irony.
00:25:24
Speaker
you know ah where Fashion school is one of those things where I feel like if I'm putting my Christian hat on, um would be one of those things that's considered very worldly.
00:25:39
Speaker
um obviously you mentioned experimenting with with a lot of different types of sin at Liberty University but did when you were like in that when you were at Liberty were you still like yeah I'm i'm totally bought into this and then um was it fashion school that stole your soul I'm sorry Christians but no it was not um it's something would have really bolstered their narrative i'm sorry i know right um no i was a super christian up until i was like 26 years old um i was still like even when i came out so i came out when i was 19 so i was in liberty when i was 17 and 18 left liberty and before i went to fashion school in philadelphia like that summer right after liberty i was like fuck it like i can't Because I already had like a boyfriend at Liberty. like i was doing all i was doing everything. I'm like, what are we doing? like I just need to live my life. I can't not.
00:26:35
Speaker
So i just came out and like all my church friends were so mad at me. But not because I was gay. Because I didn't tell them. And i was like, first of all... yeah i was like Yeah, let me just throw a grenade into this environment. Like that is not the right environment to just go tell people.
00:26:54
Speaker
Exactly. I was like, you really thought that in my Bible-thumping OBBC church where my literal pastor would not marry interracial couples, he was that type of Christian. You think I'm just going to be like, hey, guys.
00:27:10
Speaker
Dude, what's crazy is like we've talked to people who went through like the gay conversion therapy program at Liberty. um like but So when we were on the dorms, you said you came out at 19. That's around when I met you. So you were out to some people, but not – really like advertising it on campus. Is that kind of rack the vibe? Okay. So my first friend that I made, because I don't know if Casey, you guys remember this, like I added every single person that existed in the world on Facebook before I came to Liberty so I could be popular and it worked, but not to my...
00:27:48
Speaker
Not to my benefit, because then I had to like, you know, hide literally being gay like for the for all two years. But one of my really good friends now that I made from that Facebook situation, like one of the first times we hung out on the circle, like we were walking like past like this the school store or whatever. I remember this so vividly. And like we meet in the middle, just like go hang out whatever. And before like, he's like, oh, hey, what's up? He's just like, Isaiah, are you gay?
00:28:13
Speaker
And I was like, yeah. And he's like, cool. And that was it. And it was just, it was weird because like, you know, I'm literally at fucking Christian school where I can get a demerit for a tattoo and get kicked out for being gay. And someone asked me outright.
00:28:26
Speaker
And I'm just like, yeah. And it was just like is immediate acceptance. So there were people that I was out to and I was, you know, very thankful to have that. But no, like it was weird being gay at Liberty. Cause like, sorry yeah guys, you guys are so fucking gay.
00:28:43
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, dude. my Liberty was so. Oh, my God. You guys are so gay. Like, as a gay boy, I'm like, you guys like sorry for customers. You guys are faggots. Like, oh, my God. like It's y'all.
00:28:56
Speaker
It's y'all. It's true, dude. On Dormen 11, everybody just kind of like flopped their wieners around, thought doing the helicopter was cool. It was nuts. Nuts.
00:29:06
Speaker
Literal nuts. Yeah, literal. There just were nuts everywhere. Everywhere. And I was like, uh... It's like playing dodgeball every time you try to go to class. Right. Do you remember that one kid on our dorm that, uh, he was, like, a real stocky, like, Latino kid that was, like, on steroids? You're the one that terrorized me? Yes.
00:29:27
Speaker
Oh, was he? Oh, yeah. We can say names. Who gives a shit? Julio? Yeah. Was it Julio? Yeah. He was nuts. He was pretty strange. Certifiable.
00:29:40
Speaker
He was like Tuco from fucking Breaking Bad. He was. He was you you would get heated and get up in your face and act like he was going to fight you. And then he'd be like, laugh about it and like hug you. You're like, what is happening right now?
00:29:54
Speaker
Yeah. I remember I had a ah like a like this little rubber chicken and you squeezed it and like, uh, look like an egg came out. It was small. Like it was not a full size rubber chicken. It was small.
00:30:05
Speaker
And he wants got naked and tucked his, his penis and balls into this rubber chicken and then ran around the dorm. oh my God. Julio did that.
00:30:16
Speaker
was there was it or was it Wasn't there a great big guy that hung out with Julio? there It probably was Julio because the reason why i left the dorms my first year is because Julio broke into, because he was one of my roommates, I think, broke into my dorm room and then threw up on my bed because he was so drunk.
00:30:34
Speaker
like So I'm certain that was probably Julio. It does not sound far-fetched. also It sounds like something we don't need to keep just dropping names and talking about people we knew, but it sounds like something Paulo would have done. Paulo was the, but he was like the short. Yeah. Okay. Paulo was pretty funny.
00:30:52
Speaker
He was a silly boy. Yeah. Very silly. But yeah, doms dorms at Liberty, we everyone I know, it's crazy. Almost everyone I stay um i still talk to in marginal connection with from Liberty, other than Casey, ah all of them gay. Every one of them. I'm like...
00:31:12
Speaker
I think that's interesting. Like five or six people who I still talk to from, I just have a beard. We're all gay. And the irony being like, when when, when I was, when we were on the dorms together, like I actually, were, I hate that this is true.
00:31:29
Speaker
Yeah. um But like, I was the big, don't ask, don't tell guy. Like I don't, because I knew where I, knew I thought it was wrong then. Yeah. um And I obviously regret that immensely.
00:31:42
Speaker
I'm thankful that that's what's so funny about like, i would have said I thought it was wrong. But the only people outside of like, one or two others that I am friends with from Liberty are all gay. And I, I knew they were gay. Like, I didn't know I pretended like they weren't because they said they weren't but and I never would have said anything out loud. But in my brain, I'm like, I don't know.
00:32:06
Speaker
right dude I remember, so um when we're so for the listeners, my wife and i were in, I was dorm 11 with Isaiah. My wife was the next dorm over. and It was like brother-sister dorm bullshit. And this is So stupid.
00:32:24
Speaker
Really dumb. i When we all hung out all the time, I'm this 19-year-old insecure kid. you know You go to college and you think you just think, like oh, she but she's going to meet all these other people and just be like, oh, well, that was fun. now that i'm Now that I'm in college, that's what people do. And that's why you get afraid of that. And I know that you know she was probably afraid of that happening with me too. But when we all hung out all the time, I remember a conversation with her once. And this is just embarrassing for me to say where I was like, i was i like, because we all like just got on so good. I was i said something to her about being like, i feel like you like to hang out with Isaiah more than me. And I feel like in her brain, she, I feel like in her brain, she's being a woman, right? Being a woman. She's probably like, Oh, he doesn't know. That's so. I
00:33:22
Speaker
am obsessed with that. I appreciate that so much. and And that's me. if i were I would have been like, well, you're going to hell, but at least I know you're not going to steal my girl.
00:33:37
Speaker
yeah There's some comfort in that, I guess. Yes. so I love that. Um, you know, it's crazy how well you partition that dude, like no one really, I think you played that game fairly masterfully because most people didn't, you know, didn't, they were either out and then just like having to leave or go to the gay conversion therapy or not. Like the fact that you were out, but also just kind of like rolled on through the dorms and never said anything about it. And no one else said it like, is it, That's actually not that there was resources available and you didn't get help is what speaks to me.
00:34:20
Speaker
Listen, I was like dating someone and he was stupid as fuck and was like trying to like be all up over me in public. And I'm like, bro, we're at a fucking university where people have eyeballs. i'm not, I'm not sure if you're certain of this, but like people can see us and no one's dumb.
00:34:40
Speaker
Yeah. So I had to like cut him all off and he was so upset. But like, no, I mean, i knew I was gay, like, but like before I knew anything. Like I knew when I was a child that like I was different. I didn't know what that thing was. i didn't know what to call it. But I, there was no doubt in my mind. So that's how I know it wasn't like fed to me or I wasn't like, you know, people have these stories of like, oh, you turned gay because you watched a television show or your dad was this or someone touched you. None that happened.
00:35:08
Speaker
Like I was my dad's favorite. I was my mom's favorite. Like I had a great upbringing. You know, I played sports my whole life. Like it was, you know, I don't have any of those caveats. And even if I did, it still wouldn't justify, but I just always knew.
00:35:22
Speaker
So also like being black kind of helps. And I mentioned this because, um, you know, I'm sure you guys are aware of, like, depending on where you live, sometimes you have to code switch. Sometimes you have to participate in spaces in a different way. So kind of having both of those things, quote unquote, against me, you're armored with ways of being. and it's not that i wasn't myself. I just wasn't expressing that I liked voice.
00:35:47
Speaker
You know, like, that was kind of the only thing that I had to, like, keep away. um and yeah, I guess like even now, sometimes today, depending on where I am, like I quote unquote pass, you know, that can have a good or bad connotation, but I don't think that that's a good or bad thing. It's just something that exists. um So I leveraged it for sure. And like, you know, I grew up in a sports family. Like, you know, I love, like my brother was like my shining beacon of like how to be a person and like the music that he likes, I like the sports he likes, I like, and like, it's natural. I'm like, I still love those things. Like soccer is my favorite thing in the entire fucking world. Like I could talk to you about sports until you like your head explodes.
00:36:26
Speaker
So I think that also probably helps because it's like not stereotypically gay, but I don't think any of those things exist. I don't think there's a one way of being anyway, whether you like boys or you don't, you know, whether you're gay, straight, trans, whatever. It's like, we're just humans in a way. I know I'm kind of like watching this, but it's, it's real. Like just be yourself.
00:36:45
Speaker
So I think I was able to get by at Liberty for those reasons because one i knew like what was at stake and two it was like that is just really who i was you know i think the testament i don't see color version of sexuality sorry yeah like i don't see right guys man it's just occurring to me like you were so nice to me considering i was homophobic and racist at the time
00:37:18
Speaker
That was big of you. But that's where Casey code switched. You know, thats that was his code switching. i was like, I never knew. people Everyone has their own form of code switching. Yeah. Fooled me. ah Sam uncovered a... ah It was a while back and oh a friend of ours, you might know him, was on the pod. We can't say his name, but he was a Sam found an ancient post that I made at the time. You know how everybody used to post those like poll. They'd post like, ah oh, 25 questions, you know, answer them on.
00:38:00
Speaker
So I posted one of those at one point and Sam found it and it was just so unbelievably stupid. that they It was when Obama was running for president, I think.
00:38:16
Speaker
Yeah, and I was I was pretty convinced that was a negative thing. And I thought he was like a Sith Lord or something. The general gist of it was like racism is just because people take themselves too seriously. yeah and And I read his old post on the podcast and it was it was rough. I think it like and racism one was like that. And then i did what I was like, I'm sorry, guys, but gay people just freak me out a little bit. LOL. LOL.
00:38:51
Speaker
How far we've all come. It's embarrassing. I feel like, because, you know, like someone runs for office, right? And they run up a tweet from 2017 and it's like, right we need to end this person's life.
00:39:03
Speaker
And I go, if you, I haven't deleted everything I posted on Facebook. Let's see. A lot of my bad ideas were put somewhere that you could find them. And it's like, i don't know. It's like some people do this thing of like,
00:39:18
Speaker
wanting to like shut out who they used to be and never admit it and just be like i'm a better person now and like it's ah it's just it's a it's like it's a i mean it's embarrassing i think i just try to like come face to face with the embarrassment of like who i was and i know that i mean it helps it like people who came from that world that like they understand a bit but you should have seen his post charlottesville tweets yo come on That was just Casey being a dickhead. Wow, Sam. I wasn't i wasn't like that.
00:39:50
Speaker
Guys, I swear. What's wrong with Tiki torches? yeah He bought a Dodge Charger afterwards. We all know that I'll never look cool in a truck, so that's just not even an option.
00:40:04
Speaker
No, I'm not a fan of um us as a society and not acknowledging growth. It's like no one's fucking perfect and neither are you when you're judging these people. And like, you know, Casey, you said whatever. I'm sure I said something. I'm sure Sam said something like what we're supposed to be held to the fire for the rest of our lives.
00:40:24
Speaker
ah because Because of goofy ideas we inherited that we hadn't lived enough life to like shed yet. I have a friend who's a high school teacher. and like it's It's in a rural area, and half the kids are MAGA kids. and it's like he Then he asks them an actual question, they're like, uh... They don't know any. They're just... they're just Doing what they think is right based on the family they come from. And it's like, it's hard to hold.
00:40:51
Speaker
you You want to educate them and you and you hope that they'll learn and grow. But it's like, that was that was me. That was just me. And then I go to college and I go, oh, I actually have to figure out who I am out like on my own. That's that's right crazy. And you don't...
00:41:05
Speaker
And there's there's so much like words spent in Christianity on like passing the torch and inherited faith. And like, so like you, it almost creates this idea of inside you where you're like,
00:41:22
Speaker
taking on the mantle is like a highest like badge of honor. And when those are the people that you want to respect and love from, like it really does make it hard to change your mind. Like there's a lot of it's, it's not outright.
00:41:36
Speaker
I mean, there's a lot of outright speech about like not losing your faith and stuff like that, but there's also a lot of like padding that's put into those guardrails that make you realize that you're not bumping up against them.
00:41:48
Speaker
Yeah. I don't blame anyone. Um, coming from it and knowing what I had to go through personally to get to where I am.
00:41:58
Speaker
i don't blame anyone, even my sister now that's like, you know, supertruer super Trumper, super Christian, blah, blah, blah. Like I had a conversation, but like we had a blow on Memorial Day because she put something in the family chat about like some television show made somebody gay. And like, I just ignored it for a little bit because I was like, this is so nonsensical. Yeah. And then I set like a very scientific explanation behind like chromosomes and so on and so forth about like why people are actually biologically the way that they are. Mind you, she's a fucking respiratory therapist. So you think science would penetrate her brain?
00:42:30
Speaker
No. um And we went back and forth with Bible verses. She only believes in lung science. guys's Right, literally. She's like, it's only lungs, guys. It stops everything. Was the show Fox and the Friends, by the way? yeah It might as well have been. fox friends this is It was Gutfeld.
00:42:50
Speaker
If it was Gutfeld, I agree. That'll do it. He's so funny. Yeah. Yeah, he's so funny. It was just funny at the end. And I was like sad at the end because I'm like, oh, like this is just your whole life. Like this is the only thing you're allowing yourself to look at. You're allowing yourself to to read and so on and so forth. for I'm like, I blame you because you're not doing the work like – against it like i think my biggest issue with christians today isn't so much that they believe what they believe is that they haven't tested their beliefs and then come back at the other end to then say okay i went through the same amount of education that i got when i was younger to learn what i know about christ i've gone to the same amount of education on the other side and now this is what i believe on the other end they don't do that i've done that and i've come out as an atheist
00:43:42
Speaker
my one friend who has done the same thing and he came out as Jewish. So it's like, you, you get to where you get to, but I think you should still do the work and in adulthood before you go around like preaching that someone's wrong. It's like, well, why don't you find out if you're right first?
00:43:56
Speaker
Yeah. I think it's like, I, the part of the part that I, I have, did I don't really like get angry at many people unless it's like family members. Like I, my,
00:44:12
Speaker
My dad in particular has a way of just, he's not trying to. He just, he pushes my buttons in a way, partly because like, you know, I find it, I think it's insane that like something, like a subject will come up and like someone will, will, will have the exact same take on a subject that they had, that I remember them saying almost word for word when I was like eight, right?
00:44:39
Speaker
And I'm like, how how can you how do you go through life and you don't pick up anything else on this? Like, you know, like the one that always that always comes to mind is like anytime the Vietnam War comes up, like some certain family members will be like,
00:44:54
Speaker
Well, you know, they just didn't let those guys win. you know, if they would have just gotten out of their way and let them fight, like it was the rules of engagement that are the reason that we lost the Vietnam War. it's like they've been saying this for like 30 years now. And you're like, I just don't know. Like this, this takes a degree of like protectionist effort on your part. And that's that's the part that frustrates me. It's like sometimes when people say things like you're talking about with your with your sister, I i feel like this is a this is a control measure for you. Like you're you're trying to control the world around you that you don't want to deal with by pretending that there's like this certainty to a given subject that is just not there. Like you're you're actively like protecting your notions rather than like having to deal with like the world around you and maybe 100% it impacts. Yeah.
00:45:45
Speaker
And I think the real problem here is family group chats. yeah We shouldn't have those. We should not. I left that. I was like, um I'm good, guys. I know like thought about leaving the one I'm in. and Like on Memorial Day, was just like 15 of those like sticker emoji sticker. Yes.
00:46:05
Speaker
With a lot of sparkles of just like things draped in American flags. And I'm just like, what do we I don't I've what. Do we even know what Memorial Day is? like i' I feel like people, it's like it's just like runner-up Fourth of July. It's not, people don't even actually know, like don't even celebrate Memorial Day. And then they just want to like, it's when we remember those who died. And then they're like, and those who served. you're like, no, that's Veterans Day. let's Stop fucking doing Stolen Valor for military holidays. Oh, that's conflation.
00:46:34
Speaker
It's so funny. Just let the holiday be the holiday. Stop making everything like jerk off America Day. It's getting old. Sam, they don't want to learn. And You know, that's to Casey's point where I think there's a lot of projection and there's a lot of fear of change because, you know, if there's one thing that I can attest to when it comes to like having to learn things. So I moved to Spain 2016 and I had to learn Spanish because they don't speak English where I was working.
00:47:01
Speaker
And I literally physically felt my brain change over the years. I kid you not. This is it not a joke. Like I felt crazy. my brain matter, like evolving, like where I would like go up a level in Spanish and it would all just like get clear. this would happen a couple of times.
00:47:16
Speaker
I tell that story because i had to do the work because I was forced to and I was immersed. When it comes to our Christian families and friends who grow up with a certain um framework of this is this and I'm not changing, it requires a lot of work for them to one, question that. and their surroundings does not help them do that. The people in their lives does not allow for that. And two, to then like actually self-investigate of, huh, I could be wrong.
00:47:46
Speaker
It is a bit lazy. I'll say that outright. Like, you know, but also I was talking to, if you guys might remember, Brett Hastie. Yeah, Brett. Yeah, that's my boy. Like we still chat and I was talking him yesterday about the whole sister thing. And, you know, he has a family similar to yours, Casey, where it's like,
00:48:04
Speaker
There is no budging. there's There's no changing. There's no, oh, maybe I might be. It's like, this is this and that's what it is. And it's sad because like you know you would think over the years there'd be some type of evolution.
00:48:19
Speaker
There isn't. And I think there's a lot of fear from them that if they're wrong, then who are they? right like When it comes to right yes growing up like in the church, i'm like when when I talk to people about my views now,
00:48:34
Speaker
I'm not attacking them. I'm attacking their beliefs. But because they ascribe themselves to the belief, it becomes who they are and their identity. So they think that I'm attacking them and we never get to have a real conversation. So these people aren't, a lot of them aren't going to change or or try and grow because they feel personally attacked.
00:48:52
Speaker
Yeah. and And spending that much time just shutting down, engaging the idea of something different. Like it does, like we all know about neuroplasticity. And so if you're not go to exercise your brain and you're just going to constantly be told things you think are true and you just go, oh yeah. Oh, I love that. Yeah. Tell me more. And like you're, you really do lose the, I don't want to say you ever lose it completely. And I think you can re-expand and move on, but like yeah,
00:49:20
Speaker
You shut down parts of your brain that are like capable of like moving on. like You just get stuck. You get stuck. And I don't know what shakes people out of it. Immersion. He said it. It's immersion.
00:49:34
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Great. It's having to... deal with people that are different than you on a regular basis. And that's why like you. OK, you think back to like days and like church days.
00:49:46
Speaker
We've talked about it a lot where like the the craziest people kind of determine the pace of play in churches because they're the most certain and the most like outright, you know, forthright about what they think.
00:49:59
Speaker
Like the people who were the nuttiest in your church were people who were able to like protect themselves from the outside world the most. Like always talk about like summer camps are always like a fun topic because so many Christian summer camps were wild, you know, like insane things happened.
00:50:17
Speaker
But it's like my dad was working. My dad didn't go back. he wasn't a counselor for a week in the summertime with us. You know, he had a job, but he was working the whole time. the people who did were generally like kind of weird. You know, it was like the, the, the 40 some year old dad from your church that like, Nobody really knows what he does, but he's always around. You know, that's the guy that was like the camp counselor. And they always had like strange ideas about, you know, like what was reasonable to ask of 12 year olds, you know?
00:50:54
Speaker
When you put it in that perspective, it's it's very strange and cultish. I used to go to that. The immersion makes sense like ah as a homeschooled kid. It's like, oh, we don't want to send you to public school because then you might be carried away. like no There's like a recognition that they know that's true, too.
00:51:13
Speaker
100% and I think that is where the in the world not of the world comes from because they're like the more you learn the more you're going to start to question what I'm trying to teach you and I might not have answers for you that's one of my biggest gripes with Christians is like they're so afraid to say I don't know And I'm like, yeah I can't trust you then. Like, you think you're right about everything we talk about.
00:51:37
Speaker
Are you okay? like Like, are you sure that's like the path that you want to take is like, i'm i'm on I'm unerring. Like everything I know about life is unerring because I have this Bible. It's like...
00:51:48
Speaker
Don't get me started, you know? Yeah. The response to things they don't know is, well, what about, and then they just shift the topic of conversation to something else. They never finish.
00:51:59
Speaker
Where did it start to unravel for you then? Oh, okay. We'll stick on the topic. yeah Sorry. That's probably I wanted to know how how the Spanish was holding up. I got curious. and Intrusive thought.
00:52:10
Speaker
um I can answer two questions at once. I'm still fluent. It's probably like 65% now, but once I get the ball rolling, I can keep going. But there are some words that I've forgotten.
00:52:23
Speaker
Um, so I don't think Christians ever like to hear this story coming out of my mouth, but I was like dedicated full on Christian personal Jesus guy where I started to move a little bit outside of the church. So like when I moved to New York in 26, I'm lying, 2010, I was serving at Hillsong.
00:52:44
Speaker
Um, so I was like still like, heavy i was like no like god is everything you know and going through that journey and like going through church i was like okay i want to get even closer to god so i really took on the personal jesus you know perspective of like okay you know humans are imperfect and some people might be teaching the wrong thing the the best way to get the most out of my faith is to super pray and super find out about God and read things. So I just kept reading about Jesus and reading the Bible inside and out and reading other books. And then I, um as I alluded to earlier, my friend who became Jewish, he introduced me to this book.
00:53:26
Speaker
um And I think it was like around, I can you know send you the link or whatever, but it was around like the historical Jesus. And And it was by a Muslim like doctor who had like um a doctorate in theology. And it took you down like who Jesus was like at the time, where it was, like how he came to be, everything like that you could like know about Jesus.
00:53:47
Speaker
The more that i learned about Jesus, the more that I learned about when the Bible was written, who wrote it, who didn't, what books were omitted, um what language it was written in. And this is where Spanish kind of comes into it, right? And now I'll tie this bow up as neatly as I possibly can. When I learned Spanish, I started to realize that the way that you interpret things and the way that something means contextually and the definition of something are all three different things based off of how you were introduced to it. So learning a new language, I was like, okay, this word means this, but in the context of where I live in Spain, it has a whole separate meaning.
00:54:29
Speaker
And I was like, and you're going to fucking tell me that people who couldn't read and write Aramaic somehow translated that perfectly after 30 years playing a game of telephone that we all know is very um hard to get anything right into Greek.
00:54:43
Speaker
And then later... 600 years into English and we got it all right. Like, so there was just all of these like actual logical questions of if I were to use my brain as an individual, what would convince me the most of like the accuracy of the Bible? And I'm a very pragmatic person of,
00:55:03
Speaker
okay, does this actually mean this? And if it does, within what context? And then looking at the timeframe, all of it, like bringing all this information, the more I tried to learn about God, the more I tried to learn about Christianity, um the more it unconvinced me. And um I listened to a lot of philosophical conversations and a lot of debates between Christians and like philosophers. So i'm still like open to being...
00:55:28
Speaker
convinced But one of like the jokes that kind of goes around in the the industry of philosophy and Christianity and having those conversations is the quickest way to become an atheist is to go to seminary because you literally learn about how...
00:55:44
Speaker
A real seminary. books If you go to a Southern Baptist seminary, you're going to walk out believing exactly what Southern Baptist theology teaches. That's true. it's You know what mean? You learn a good English so seminary, good English seminary, you're going to probably learn some shit.
00:56:00
Speaker
Seriously. And it happens to a lot of people who go to seminary and they're like, oh okay, like I can't believe this anymore because none of this makes sense. And it doesn't make sense to me. And like, you know, I am quote unquote open being convinced that I know that like what it's going take to convince me and that's going to be impossible. Like God has to literally come down here and like tap on the shoulder and like, Hey Isaiah, real. And I'll have to like ask tons of fucking questions. It's not going to happen.
00:56:27
Speaker
Maybe you'll be one of those crazy people that has those experiences that starts a cult or something. I could start a new one. I'm ready. It's good. Go ahead, Casey. Was Carl Wentz around ah real time when you were there?
00:56:43
Speaker
Yeah, I knew him. Carl Wentz and cum gutters. Did you like that? You like that David Koresh vibe, huh? Listen, I had a great time in Hillsong. Oh, I'm sure you did. We'll leave that there, but it was great.
00:57:03
Speaker
ah I could talk Hillsong for hours. We've spent some, we've wasted a lot of breath on it. Yeah. Yeah. this barr why will you A lot of what you're saying resonates with me. And frankly, a lot of the people who listen, it's just,
00:57:19
Speaker
the infer when you find out that the four gospels weren't written by anyone who even probably had contact with the people who were the people they gospel say they're written by if they did they likely didn't but yeah you just find all this stuff out and you go and you go even at the end of the day if every if even the translation issues and like what it means in the original context it's like the hebrew bible is cool and you go i you can You can give me... if you could If God would tell you exactly what it meant in the original context, I would still be like, okay, but I don't believe that. It doesn't mean I believe it. What they said was the original context is only as meaningful as it matters to me. and It doesn't in a lot of ways. it's still like Well said. Whatever. I mean...
00:58:12
Speaker
You have laws that contradict each other from book to book. like it's I know. I'm not saying you can't find meaning in it. i don't i think Jewish people do a better job with just kind of negotiating those differences and being honest about them than evangelical Christianity did for us. but Do they? Yeah.
00:58:29
Speaker
Well, it depends. That's a thing you often say. No, they they do. I believe that less and less. Well, the times, it depends on where you are. i went Orthodox Jews might be a little different than you know some others. but i would like to ask God some questions. I'd like to be like, what did it sound like when Noah was in the boat and he just heard like screaming and fingernails raking on that beaver wood? That's the only thing that got him hard. Okay. We know that.
00:59:02
Speaker
It's time to i make some babies. bitch was hard as gopher wood. Got full on cubit going here.
00:59:10
Speaker
ah No, I just find it like so funny. Even like the psychology, like I'm big into like psychology and like, you know, to your effect about meaning. um I don't know, like learning a new language ah has changed my life like so much. Like, for example, like the way that I look at meaning is like,
00:59:27
Speaker
Nothing actually means anything other than to those who agree on a particular meaning. Right. So yes, it's constructed times like, right. Oftentimes when you have arguments, you're talking past each other because your definition of something is different than to the person you're talking to. and you never like,
00:59:45
Speaker
define the definition, if if I can you know say that. And it's just so interesting because I'm like, you know you you ask people, all like oh, what do you mean? And even if I describe it with all the words that you know, you could still have a different perspective because you're a different fucking person on it.
01:00:02
Speaker
And I will never know that. So you know one thing that I think about often, and it was funny because my mentor had said this the other day, and I was like, oh, someone else actually thinks this is um because we work in fashion, we were talking about color, right? So for example, the color of your mic to my eyes is like green.
01:00:19
Speaker
But because us as a human society use the word green for this quote unquote color, what you see, Sam, could actually be red. But what I see is green. But because we call it that color, you say it's also green. But I don't know what the fuck you're looking at.
01:00:36
Speaker
You know whatt i mean? Like, you can, like, it could be so different. what for Like, I think that's just so crazy. And I, I attribute that to words as well. It's like, yeah, I can say I'm good, but like that can mean so many things.
01:00:49
Speaker
Right. Yeah. It, and in the the idea of meaning being like everything, the meaning is just because a group of people got together and agreed upon a meeting and then had power structures to hold those meetings in place. That's all, It is. And that's what you go through denomination to denomination. It's just like, they've all done that.
01:01:12
Speaker
And then if you go outside of it, they go, well, then you're not a Methodist. And you go, okay, well, let me, who, but who, that's, that means something to Methodists. Like, it's so like, I was, when I was on my family vacation, I had a family member being like, well why don't you believe, why aren't you Christian? I go, what do you mean by that? Because like, I said this not too long ago, so I won't beat a dead horse with it. But it was like,
01:01:35
Speaker
I feel like my values, my ethos, my drive, the things that matter to me, how I live my life has only like been more and more enriched. like The way I've lived it has been consistent regardless of my belief. Same in Charlottesville. What I believe in. i don't know what I'll believe in three years, but that doesn't negate what I'm doing now because your beliefs change. Beliefs are fleeting. like Just show me how you live your life.
01:02:00
Speaker
And if... any of that has to do with co-signing and, you know, uh, genocide in Gaza, then I'll just question how, you like who you are as a person, but correct that's a big deal for me. But I, um,
01:02:16
Speaker
Look, I want to give an opportunity for last minute thoughts um about things that are salient for you. But I also really want your opinion on this person's request for dating advice. So yeah and they negotiate a lot of meat meaning on ah the Christian subreddits. Like it's is we it's not a adultery. It's just a massage.
01:02:40
Speaker
Yeah. and Like an actual massage, not one of those ones that like Robert Kraft went to, you know?
01:02:51
Speaker
I'm proud of myself for remembering the first name of sports person. That was a sports guy. Well done. Well done, Sam. um So, yeah, a before. So this the person that we're looking at found the perfect woman, but he's not in love with her. And I'm wondering, I saw this.
01:03:10
Speaker
If you I think I commented on this, you have do you have any closing thoughts to wrap up your journey? if If you don't, that's fine. I just don't want to shut you down. No, no, no, no. um My closing thought would be is if you're afraid to question, then you don't actually have any faith at all.
01:03:29
Speaker
um I think faith requires testing um and it's fine to be a faithful person, but if you're not rigorously going through um trials and trials and trials,
01:03:44
Speaker
for yourself and you're afraid to ask a question, then I think you're in trouble. And that goes for everything, has nothing to do with Christianity. Just in your life, you know, like whatever you're afraid of, I think that's the thing you actually have to go after.
01:03:56
Speaker
So follow fear, look it straight in the face. And that applies to Christianity, to getting a new job, any of that shit. It's it's gotten me to where I am and i've I won't lie, like I've been through a lot of hardships. I don't think I could be happier It's fucking ridiculous. Like I've lived with my parents for the past four years and now I have my own apartment in New York and like, you know, a good job and all this shit. So it's like, yeah. Yeah.
01:04:23
Speaker
So if I could, after if I could, if I could sum that up, um I'll use the the, very prophetic words of one of the most beautiful men alive, Scott Stapp. And you're saying if you're six feet from the edge, just don't worry about it because now that you're thinking about it, six feet really isn't so far down.
01:04:43
Speaker
at all literally that love that awesome all right we have this let's ruin someone's life let's this one's let's get some length to it but i think it's worth it um length for reddit it's nothing crazy um all right found the perfect woman but i'm not in love with her and i'm hoping that we can really come up with brainstorm some great ideas i 21 year old male keep that in mind this guy is 21 or i could say child still a kid still kind of a kid like you're an adult but we know what 21 is like right uh found the perfect woman she 31
01:05:24
Speaker
is thirty one The woman I had always prayed for. She loves me deeply, cares for me, nurtures me emotionally, and always tries to take into account my emotional and physical needs.
01:05:38
Speaker
Unfortunately, we've both succumbed to intimacy before marriage. She's objectively beautiful, and every time I look at a photo of her on my phone, I just think she's gorgeous.
01:05:49
Speaker
All she wants is my success. I just got accepted to UC Irvine for software engineering, and the plan is to get engaged. I already have the ring and start our life together over there.
01:06:01
Speaker
I want to pause. okay Just quite much what's what's of note right now? Like there's there's a, i to me, I'm already, there was a lot that stuck out to me in this first paragraph. He's 21 and just got accepted to college and she's 31. I, a year age gap isn't,
01:06:23
Speaker
wild if you're 31 and the other person's 41 but if you're 31 when I was 31 years old there was no way I was would have been interested in dating somebody who was college age it's low key grooming if I'm being honest Yeah, what is she, a youth pastor?
01:06:41
Speaker
Yeah. no but And she loves him deeply, cares for me, nurtures me emotionally. This is some, like, Homelanter drinking titty milk kind of shit. I still need to start season five. This is kind of crazy, though. Like, I'm afraid for this guy.
01:07:02
Speaker
So be more afraid for because the issue is I've never been in love with her. In love is in quotes. Even from the start, at first I thought she was pretty, so we dated a bit. But since the beginning, she has always been obsessed with me.
01:07:16
Speaker
There's another red flag. I'm an older woman obsessed with this college boy. All right. After a month, I asked her to be my girlfriend and everything was perfect until the end of the fifth month when a coworker of mine started flirting with me.
01:07:31
Speaker
like i didn't see this one. and this The next sentence is so bad. um Lost my place, coughing while laughing. ah When a co-worker of mine started flirting with me, who I was physically attracted to.
01:07:48
Speaker
My girlfriend used to be 400 pounds, but she's 175 now and has a lot of excess skin. And this is a lot of excess sharing of information. Good thing your girlfriend's too old to know about Reddit, I guess. Yeah.
01:08:09
Speaker
This kid's such a problem. All right. I broke up with my girlfriend soon after. it was because I started getting these migraines and headaches, terrified that I'd be making mistake marrying a woman I never was, quote unquote, in love with.
01:08:25
Speaker
After only three days, I couldn't bear it anymore and said I wanted to fix things. That's how I... That that how i god That how could I not love her when we there.
01:08:38
Speaker
I think I just had vertigo. Holy shit. Oh, shit. every It's just got i it's read also hard. It's hard to read through Reddit posts. they They write things really bad. 21.
01:08:51
Speaker
So, yeah. Just going to college. Raging boner thinking of his coworker. He could barely see the blood loss. um So let me try to decipher what he's saying.
01:09:03
Speaker
that That how could I not love her when there have been days I've cried to God, thanking him for blessing me with this woman. After a week from that, we got back together.
01:09:18
Speaker
But I will admit the day after we became intimate again, i regretted it. Now I'm back to this feeling of stress and migraines, which are clearly signs from God. That he doesn't really love her.
01:09:29
Speaker
the What? ah This is when it gets... but yeah We learn a little bit more about his character now, and I think it's really helpful.
01:09:41
Speaker
I'll admit, I'm a driven guy. He's 21. You're not twenty one driven... like you can You can be driven at 21, like... But when you hear about what he's driven by, you go, so you're just a, you're just, this is, this is what college kids on TikTok to TikTok say about how, hard about grinding. I'm just, every day you got to get up and grind, bro. Like muscle and it's that, it's not real.
01:10:06
Speaker
I admit I'm a driven guy. I know it's worldly, but to me, what's the point in anything? If I can't earn the good things in life. I want the house, the Porsche, the family.
01:10:18
Speaker
I want life to be fair for me. Fair for Fair for me. lot of coding. You hear it. Yeah. I hear Very coded language. For years, I'm going to guess his girlfriend isn't a person of color. That's all I'm going to guess.
01:10:38
Speaker
For years, I worked my ass off to be where I'm at now. And I pray God blesses me with the life I seek after I earn my degree. I hope this kid gets a true lesson in capitalism and doesn't amount to shit. He's he's already being replaced by AI.
01:10:55
Speaker
yeah I know. software engineers Hey, Grok, write this software program for me. Wouldn't it be funny if like he's all pumped up because he just like discovered like 2019 Andrew Tate videos and he's like getting into shipping. I found the answer.
01:11:16
Speaker
I want life to be fair for me. For years, I worked my ass off to be where I'm at now, and I prayed that God blesses me with the life I seek after I earned my degree. I guess the issue is that now I ask if other men can have wives that they are dead in love with and are so hot to them, why can't I?
01:11:34
Speaker
Like, I see on posts on r slash marriage of guys who post about how in love with their wife they are. All right. if you're just going on slash marriage to post about how in love with your wife you are, there's a good chance. 80% of them are trying to convince themselves to not blow their brains out. They're just like, Oh, I love my life. I love my wife. Everything's great. And then they can just make it one more day because they got some nice comments telling them that they're awesome. And he's like, I'm basically saying like, I think I deserve a better feeling. Is that most of what are yeah I mean? He tells you what he thinks he deserves. He goes, Why can't I have a woman with a tight body who also loves me as much as my current girlfriend does?
01:12:16
Speaker
my God. what Why can't I have it all? Right. I deserve everything. and The issue is... Go ahead. i thought i I thought we started this thinking I was going to have more weird feelings about the girlfriend.
01:12:35
Speaker
Right! and now I thought I was going to be on his side. it was a So many twists and turns. yeah The issue is I do love this woman as the Bible defines love. Okay.
01:12:47
Speaker
What does that mean? That's what... ah Okay. All right. Patient, kind, unconditional, Christ-like. All I want to do is succeed in life. What a selfish cunt. I hate this cunt. All I want to do is succeed in life so I can give her everything she deserves, like that tight body. He wants to afford, like, skin grafts and... We live in a plastic surgery. He's really... this... You know, if...
01:13:18
Speaker
ah Maybe they're lying about their age and this is Brian Noem.
01:13:23
Speaker
He's going to graft her skin onto his own chest. He's like, the loose skin comes in real handy when you're trying to put in massive implants. Oh my God.
01:13:35
Speaker
A house, a family, land so she can own and foster any animal she wants. Whenever something goes wrong for her, all I want to do is be the man to take care of it for her because she doesn't deserve to be sad, to struggle, to not have the world.
01:13:53
Speaker
This guy is a nothing. He's a He's 21. 21 years old. This guy can barely afford his car insurance right now.
01:14:04
Speaker
He can barely afford college. Yeah, he's about to take out $600,000 in debt just to get an a degree that's going to be replaced by AI in four years.
01:14:15
Speaker
Literally four weeks. I'll admit I'm also scared I'll never find a woman who loves me as much as her. So he's really just a fence rider. I want a woman who's obsessed with me like this 31-year-old pervert because she's weird.
01:14:31
Speaker
He's like, what? He hasn't, like, that's, sorry, dude. Every, that's just life. There's like a give and take, right? Yeah. He does not love her. He does not. He loves how much she loves him because he's a narcissistic pig. That's what that's literally it. Yeah. I need a woman to love me as much as I love myself. And I just need to have enough money to give her things. So it costs me essentially nothing.
01:14:55
Speaker
Right. For her to love me.
Concerns of Love and Physical Attraction
01:14:58
Speaker
like Yeah. It costs money. But like the issue is money. I want so much of it that that's an afterthought. So I can just give her things and get my dick sucked.
01:15:09
Speaker
I just, the the the people think like this is crazy to me at 21. Like you're not even, a are you're not a full-fledged human yet. Right. He's, he's basically just a, a typing Peaky blinders meme.
01:15:22
Speaker
yeah But you'll never guess, um because despite all that he's said so far, ah he says, ah I'll admit, i'm ah oh yeah I'm also scared I'll never find a woman who loves me as much as her. It wasn't until recently that I've become more self-confident.
01:15:39
Speaker
I've always had low self-esteem and insecurities. And I think I still do. Only less so now that I've been going to the gym constantly for the past two years. And now women I actually am attracted to are giving me attention.
01:15:53
Speaker
But what if no one ever loves me the way my girlfriend does? what No one should. cruing Including your girlfriend. This is the prudent wife that God has blessed me with. He thinks this is this is his his blessing and his curse by God. Right. It's his the rose and thorn. I found God gave me the woman who loves me so much, but I just don't think she's hot. I don't like her.
01:16:23
Speaker
you know You know what? I bet she looks great. I bet if you were 31, you'd be like, yes, please. Like, because you're 21 and you started going to the gym two years ago and you got a tight bod and you think that you're all that shit goes away. And if it doesn't, if you're like in your forties and still ripped, I do have questions about your, how you conduct yourself as a person in this world. Yeah.
01:16:48
Speaker
He could be a good person. i'm not i'm not but It's possible. but Most of the time when I meet ripped people who are older than me, I just go like, I don't think you've put the time and effort into the things that matter.
01:17:02
Speaker
Right. Sacrifices are being made. so you're still single. Right. Oh, why? Why?
01:17:12
Speaker
You're so big and hot. I can't believe your personality isn't, your looks haven't made up for your personality. I like want to feel bad for this guy, but I also don't because he's very much like, I deserve everything. And I have someone who's obsessed with me, but I hate her, but I feel bad for him. You're just bragging. Right. david do that This woman's obsessed with me. It's the most humble brag ever.
01:17:38
Speaker
that There is like a strain of this on these Christian subreddits like ah where these guys get on there and they'll like start doing the like I'm so blessed ah routine and they just like list off all of their accolades, you know, and it's the gym thing is a common thread.
01:17:58
Speaker
I hesitate to comment on this only because it is partly just jealousy on my part. I'm kind of schlubby in five six. It's not your fault. You've been allergic to the atmosphere in gyms for a long time. You just break out and blow up like a balloon.
01:18:15
Speaker
I do like there is a level of commitment that it takes to be in like, like there's people, people that are in really good shape. Like there's some people who listen to this podcast we've talked to and we've met that are in really good shape, you know? Yeah.
01:18:28
Speaker
Within a reasonable spectrum, when you start getting into like bodybuilder, Instagram thirst trap territory, like the level of time and commitment and like things that you have to rearrange in your life to stay that way.
01:18:46
Speaker
You know, especially as you get older, yeah you do start to ask questions about like, because I think about like all the like I do a lot of things and there's only so many hours in the day.
01:18:57
Speaker
And now you add into that the fact that like, you know, you you know, a guy like I hired this guy that was a huge mistake. And he was like a ah real buff, like gym bro kind of bodybuilder dude. But he also had like five kids.
01:19:13
Speaker
And so, you know, you start to think about it. You're like, well, this takes two hours. You're working out for two to three hours a day. You know, like you said that. You also have all these kids that you do things with and spend time with. Like somewhere you're shortchanging something. And it did turn out that it was work. Yeah.
01:19:31
Speaker
it was work big time that was what was big short change but uh yeah it's it's weird it's like it does like take a level of commitment to maintaining a physical image that gets strange as you get older and you have more things going on i don't i don't know Yeah, no, no, you're 100% right.
01:19:54
Speaker
And I, I i say some of Some of my jokes come from a deep rooted jealousy that i stretch out the shirts that I had a couple of years ago. And I, you know, you just don't like, I, you, you like the idea of everyone likes the idea of looking good. I'm really not shitting on it. Um, Casey, now you made me feel like i have to explain myself. Okay. Thank you.
01:20:19
Speaker
Casey's like, how do you find time to go for a run when I have to look for 17 different species of frog every day in my backyard? Yeah, exactly. I have to pick picks off my dogs for two hours a day.
01:20:31
Speaker
It's like, uh, and I'm like, I don't have time. And i'm like, my family's in bed by eight 30. I have plenty of time. I just don't have the prey. I am not, I can't prioritize it. It's not that important to me. It's hard to maintain a level of alcoholism and physical fitness. It's so hard. Yeah. And I've chosen my champion.
01:20:51
Speaker
and i've chosen my champion
01:20:55
Speaker
ah well real quick let's just close this guy out he says I need advice on what to do I don't know if I should end things and be an emotional wreck again oh poor baby oh but eventually heal and date people I'm physically attracted to or just be content and grow in faith with this woman and pray I love her this woman would ah first i found herself in a bath She would throw a toaster in her bathtub if she read this.
01:21:27
Speaker
Literally. but I don't know where to fall on this because at first I felt bad for him because I thought he was getting groomed. But now i seeing that he's just like a literal baby asshole who like it practically wants to cheat on her.
01:21:41
Speaker
he Oh, he'll definitely cheat on her. You're right that. He already has. From a Christian mindset, he's committed adultery many times. I don't appreciate his binary. because He goes, I don't know if I should end things and be emotional and be an emotional wreck again, but eventually he'll end and date people I'm physically attracted to or be content and grow in faith with this woman and pray fall love. Because if I could pick the latter without him ever being happy, I would write the former without him ever being happy. I'd pick that.
01:22:13
Speaker
But I just don't like that positive spin that he could someday heal. You know, I don't, he doesn't, he should just live in suffering for the rest of his life. He deserves everything.
01:22:26
Speaker
So for him to not include a positive spin on his downtrodden situation would beyond him. Because I don't want him to fix it either. I hope he gets fat. What happens? Yeah. That's what I want for him. I just want him to be fat. That's a good one.
01:22:44
Speaker
I think yeah the only moral thing is for these two to not inflict themselves on anyone else and just stay together. Okay. I like that. That's a good one. Self-immolation.
01:22:56
Speaker
You should jump in the comments and just be like, there is no way God will ever bless a relationship for you again if you throw this one away. This is the woman that God has chose for you. How dare you strike down his blessing. yeah just You both need to save other people from relationships with either of you. and so Do the right thing. Sacrifice. Do the right thing and grow old and miserable together. I, this kid has not come to terms with the fact that he is definitely going to old either. Like 21. I'm 21. Like here's the problem that this is part of this. I'm going to blame the woman a little bit because I'm a man and that's what we do.
01:23:40
Speaker
Um, But I'm going to blame her a little bit because you're a 31-year-old woman who showed a 21-year-old that you could be obsessed with him. He thinks he he thinks he has it all.
01:23:52
Speaker
and that She's part of the e ego inflation. Like, oh, wow. Look at look at that. Good for her, you Losing the weight and she's pulling young schlong like that. Right. right She's a champ, dude.
01:24:05
Speaker
She went from 400 175. 400 to 175. That's crazy. That's a journey. Thank you St. Wadovi. Hey, do me a favor.
01:24:17
Speaker
ah You still have that pulled up? but Yeah, yeah. Click on his name and see what else he's posted. Oh, yes. This is always a fun game. Is ah user you slash practical underscore method 9576. If we don't like someone, we say their username. If we like them, we don't.
01:24:36
Speaker
i love it. He's only posted this one in Christian Dating, Christian Dating Advice, and Christian... Wow, he's hitting them all. That's it. This is all he has.
01:24:49
Speaker
Two posts. Ooh, this is a burner account. This is the burner account. I mean, it was pretty damning. like he's He's outing his girlfriend for being 400 pounds and a groomer. so So what we need to do is um is find out which comment in the comment section is him fluffing himself.
01:25:07
Speaker
oh Oh, dude, the detective work. I like He's like, I don't know. You really need to be physically attracted to your partner in order for you to make it. Oh, okay, we know. He's got like...
01:25:23
Speaker
I kind of hope that he's like, but ugly, like facially. and like this woman, like literally is like pumping him up to make him think he's like everything. And he's seen all these women that he's attracted to, but they will never be attracted to him. No matter how many muscles that he gets.
01:25:40
Speaker
Yeah. He's just a paper bagger at the end of the day. Car face. Classic butter face. Seriously. Yeah. I'm not a fan of this, this guy at all.
01:25:52
Speaker
One person says this isn't fair to her. In a couple years, you'll start resenting her. i also want to say in love doesn't really exist. You live buth blah, blah, blah, blah. He gives some dumb advice and this guy says thanks.
01:26:05
Speaker
That's honestly why I stayed for as long as I did at first. She's perfect in every way that isn't worldly because the Bible says love is a choice. see this god Oh, God.
01:26:18
Speaker
Also, how long have they been together? He's 21. What was he? 20? but see Yeah, right. Yeah, they've been together for four months or something. If it's more than three years, somebody needs to go to prison.
01:26:30
Speaker
Correct. I'm like, they've been dating for six weeks. He's like, I'm not in love with her yet. It's like, you don't even know her last name yet. Come on. The one that I saw this morning, I was I was that I thought you were reading was like ah it was similar in that it was like a dude asking about, um you know, like what ah basically like I'm engaged to this girl and she fits all my criteria, but I just don't know if there's a spark there.
01:27:02
Speaker
It's like. engaged and you don't know there's a spark they've been dating like a year and now they're engaged and he's like she fits the bill in every way but i don't like her did either of you guys do this um there was like that idea a floating around our our time at Liberty where it's like, you write down a list of all the things that, all the all the characteristics that you want in a partner. Yeah. And then you just pray for that all the time. And then God will eventually honor that and bring that person to you.
01:27:38
Speaker
That was definitely a thing. April did that for sure, like a youth group thing. I think she still has it. She only hit 50%. That's crazy. I don't really match up to most of it. Tall, dark, handsome. Goddamn it! I got that one.
01:27:56
Speaker
You guys have to be from like very similar areas. What what town or what area did you say you grew up in? Me? Yeah. Oh, I'm from New Jersey.
01:28:07
Speaker
Yeah, she is too. She's like Burlington. Oh, South Jersey. Where's she from? Like Burlington, Morristown, there. Morristown? Fuck off. Morristown? yeah That's relatively close. That's so funny.
01:28:21
Speaker
Yeah, she she grew up down there too. That's wild. works at a He runs like a ShopRite, I think, in Philly somewhere. Yeah, that's literally where I go to get groceries, the ShopRite. That is so funny. That's crazy. You know his father-in-law.
01:28:37
Speaker
Right, right. You've handed him money.
01:28:43
Speaker
Jersey's small. Okay, so one of the things that I brought... So I pulled back on this idea a little bit.
Exploring a Young Christian Rapper
01:28:52
Speaker
um it there was a ah There's a young Christian rapper that i I saw a while back, and I saw him on like the crappy music subreddit, and I was like, wow, this sucks. But the more I listened the more i like looked into it, the more I'm like...
01:29:10
Speaker
this seems like a kid having fun with his dad who's like a music producer. sort of you know it wasn't It wasn't like Rebecca Blackdale. It felt bad, like ripping on it too much.
01:29:23
Speaker
But part of the reason that I was like immediately like it struck that chord with me is because I don't know if this is visible, but... Oh my gosh. He's like a white kid with dreads and he's just dressed to the gills in like whatever modern...
01:29:40
Speaker
uh i don't know mumble rap fashion stuff i guess dude he they bought those dreads those are sewn in yeah yeah so it has to be he's too young to like those are pretty long and that that's true it was like a third of your length when you lock your hair up like that literally yeah That is. Yeah, yeah he's had grow his hair since he was a baby for that. Yeah, there's no way.
01:30:08
Speaker
Maybe got some Samson shit going on. right It certainly could be that his dad has been like slowly ah stealing dreadlocks from people that he produces music for. i was going to say he's like injection mold, turning him into a child star sort of thing. Oh gosh. do you guys want to hear some? ah So he goes by Seven Harris. You want to hear some Seven Harris song?
01:30:30
Speaker
Of course. Seven Harris. This one's called Free. This is easy. It sounds Korean. It's
01:30:59
Speaker
There's some sour notes in there a little bit, I guess. What does he do with Jamaican accent? This is the right thing.
01:31:14
Speaker
That's what's missing. There's going to be, that'll show up somewhere. I'm sure. This, this is the strangest genre mix. Like I'm hearing like, like Japanese, like Korean bop meets like someone who's like smoke made too much weed and their voices raspy coming from an 11 year old. I'm like, what?
01:31:34
Speaker
hey I was like post post Malone scrolling through his Instagram and there's a video on there of is clearly like with family like with adults and he's inhaling from a mylar balloon to like make his his voice higher and I was like my newke you're not supposed to do that right like a helium balloon is one thing but mylar is like danger that's like brain damage isn't it well you see the song they made right but
01:32:04
Speaker
the root so that song is but i can we can we just get to a point in society where we say if you get famous before you're 18 you were exploited as a child 100 yes please stop child exploitation it's this is human trafficking i don't know what else to do child labor laws are they applicable to like music and acting Like, do they just go away?
Child Exploitation in Entertainment
01:32:30
Speaker
yeah they must. I don't think so. I think like it's largely dependent on who pimps you out, I think. Oh, OK. I understand. If it's your parents, it's fine. If it's someone else, we're wrong. Keep it in the family. If it's R. Kelly, depends. Right, right. Up for debate. Yeah.
01:32:49
Speaker
Oh, speaking of which, since you did the hand motion, this is ah this song's called six seven Oh. What?
01:33:22
Speaker
I want this to go viral. I want it to go viral.
01:33:29
Speaker
The growl rap part is like... right what What do you call that with the aggressive... like that's like and Is there a word for that? have no clue. I kind of low-key love it. I want more. kind of wasn't That was that is the good one.
01:33:43
Speaker
If it wasn't Christian, I i wish it was just six seven music because i Literally. Working in an elementary school, I would blast that for my kids and it would be huge. It's got that to it. That's part of why I would like hesitate to like really make fun of it too much because he is like he's a little kid. He's having fun. His dad makes music. So like there's a part of yeah Fine. There's also a part of it that's a little weird where it's like ah gave my life to Jesus and he turned it around for me. It's like you're 11.
01:34:13
Speaker
What is this? What are these words? Yeah. Right, right. Like, there's like a bunch of, there's like some lyrics like that where you're like, i and it's like a guy named Jesus turned you around. Be careful. That's Jesus. He's not supposed to be alone with you. like Okay, am I mishearing, or did he say something like, you're going to hell? and that Yeah, going to hell-y. Don't be smelly, you might go to hell-y.
01:34:43
Speaker
Oh my gosh. Something about heaven make the devil jelly. Oh god, these... I had nothing to say. i know, can you imagine...
01:34:56
Speaker
trying to caricaturize the most powerful being in the history of the universe can we just song about six seven like it's even if you buy that like what are we doing right go ahead isaiah but can we just talk about how if it is attached to religion or christ you're allowed to do whatever whatever the fuck you want Like if there was an 11 year old talking about like Satanism and like killing people and shooting everyone up, you'd be like, Oh, that's bad. Like horrible parents. But if he's like, you're going to helly. do this for God. You're like, Oh my gosh, those parents really love this child. This is just great. Look at him.
01:35:34
Speaker
Everything that has to do with like behind religion. They're like, fantastic It's because everyone who's not that is like, well, let's just make, but like, at least, the at least if only people getting tortured or it's the afterlife, we don't have to worry about that.
01:35:49
Speaker
we don't have to worry about them doing shit now. Right. yes I don't know. Unless they get one of those weird fixations with the afterlife where they need to like send people to heaven or hell, like, except personally, like that would be a cool, let's make the, I like, I occasionally a brainstorm cool, like, um stuff, like,
01:36:09
Speaker
like blasphemous horror type films. oh I'm into it. so i'll So a serial killer who ah forces everybody to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior before he kills them. And that way, like he's sending people to heaven. Like that's kind of like red shit like that is cool.
01:36:28
Speaker
Please, Sam, write the script. I will direct for you. i love it. I got a couple scripts in mind. I just don't know how to write screenplays. Well, make it work. I know some people. What would be the name of the movie?
01:36:41
Speaker
Straight to Heaven. Straight to Heaven. Get out of heli, 6-7. Oh my god, that's so fucking good. A serial killer makes you get saved and then kills you. Oh my god.
01:36:58
Speaker
Oh, it's just like I'm doing the Lord's work. He's launching everyone straight to the throne of God. I could see A24 picking that up. yeah hundred Yeah. I'm more like rom-com area, you know, like ah like ah a flabby 30-something grooming a young Gordon Gekko sort of thing.
01:37:18
Speaker
I only like certain Christian artists, you know, and one in particular.
01:37:27
Speaker
Coming soon Listen to Third Eagle's tune Which I don't know if you follow that guy on YouTube Third Eagle books But he's insane He's constantly like, ah he's constantly like, like pray Mary's rosary for our monarch, for our, ah you know, holy monarch, Donald Trump.
01:37:51
Speaker
Oh, my God. um Speaking of which, I do have one news story that I wanted to throw at
Embezzlement in the Church
01:38:00
Speaker
you real quick. And this is you're really trying to extend this one out. All right. Once more, and this will be quick one. I just feel like catholic Catholics don't get a lot of positive coverage on this show.
01:38:11
Speaker
Yeah. So when they defy like expectations, I think it's important that we cover them. um Okay, so this is ah this is coming from Kansas City, Kansas, so it's kind of ah my turf here.
01:38:24
Speaker
um Former priest at Curie of Ars Catholic Church accused of stealing over $100,000 the church. Now suspected of stealing $160,000 after Prairie Village Police began investigating allegations involving him and an adult victim. Neither the Archdiocese of Kansas City nor the Prairie Village Police Department has released details on these allegations.
01:38:49
Speaker
Following Story's resignation, the Archdiocese said it launched a review of the financial records at Curie of ours because that is the standard protocol when parish leadership changes.
01:39:00
Speaker
if That's some fun verbiage, huh? Mm-hmm. ah Somebody turned him in. A mandatory audit. yeah And they're like, well, we'll look things over, but we that's that's what we always do when there's a change in leadership. When someone gets ready.
01:39:16
Speaker
um Says that standard protocol and parish leadership changes. However, the staff found something was amiss with the records and contacted the Leawood Police Department.
01:39:27
Speaker
Police arrested Story on Saturday morning on a felony charge. The Archdiocese said it is fully cooperating with law enforcement and will not release any further information on its investigation for now. It's so unlike the Catholic Church to not release more information on the investigation. Doesn't sound familiar to me. Oh, that's the police department.
01:39:48
Speaker
Yeah, and I mean, this might sound like a negative story, but I think there is like some positive news in here. That the Catholic Church still has $160,000 to steal from a local parish.
01:40:00
Speaker
That's pretty sick. They're doing okay. That's true. They don't let you know that they're doing that well. Better than expected, I guess, yeah. Right? Well, one, um their own staff at the church were the ones that contacted police when they found something wrong. So that's that's good.
01:40:18
Speaker
That's nice. Oh. He didn't only try to cover it up. He didn't molest the money, otherwise no one would have said anything. That was second point. one would have heard this story. one's been physically touched in this story.
01:40:35
Speaker
It's nice to read a good old fashioned like, ah you know, burglary story about the Catholic Church. I know I miss embezzling.
01:40:48
Speaker
um Classic money washing the good old days. Yeah, it ah it is funny. like it doesn't It doesn't matter what denomination it is. like All public statements and apologies are stupid and worthless. you know this is ah Absolutely nothing.
01:41:05
Speaker
Archbishop Sean McKnight wrote, This news is deeply painful for all of us in the Catholic community, particularly given the nature of the allegations involving resources entrusted to the Church through the sacrifice and generosity of the faithful.
01:41:19
Speaker
These allegations are serious. The legal processes must be allowed to proceed, and Father's story is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law or internal canonical process.
01:41:32
Speaker
Curie of ours will said it will file an insurance claim to recover the lost money. Oh, classic. There we go. It's not a loss. how does an insurance How does an insurance policy cover like embezzlement? church name Who insures churches like that?
01:41:52
Speaker
Lloyds of London? the same one that you know i I think there's only one bank that that finances that that like insures pedophiles and it's Lloyd's of London.
01:42:02
Speaker
Oh, my God. ah Perfect naming. It's like when Jeffrey Epstein like cracked the windshield of his helicopter.
01:42:15
Speaker
He filed a Lloyd's of London claim and he sent an a adjuster out. It's ridiculous. and things that they go away with is wild. Yeah, how do you insure $160,000 to the Catholic church? like Yeah, I feel like we need to look into the insurance company and see what kind of scam they're running.
01:42:34
Speaker
Seriously. Yeah, try turning in a ah fraud claim to your bank and see how that insurance process goes. my gosh. Man.
01:42:45
Speaker
go mayor well Well, Isaiah, thank you so much, man. I'm so glad you joined us. This is a lot of fun to hang out. Thank you so much for having me, Sam and Casey. i appreciate it.
01:42:59
Speaker
Yeah, great talking to you. Anytime. Well, we'll have to have you back. here we we've We've kind of locked into this zone of just hanging out with our friends and laughing at stupid shit. so ah I will certainly extend the invite back so we can read people's really simpy Reddit posts or learn Ah, sorry.
01:43:23
Speaker
It's just a beetle. It's, it's just moves around. So weird. I don't think it's going to kill you, but i get it. You know how they just can't fly good? I think it's the light. The light's too much. You should turn the lights off and be in the dark. my God. You guys can't see it, but the reaction that he is having to a beetle is crazy. I actually thought it was a bat at first, or one of the mouse grew wings. I don't.
01:43:50
Speaker
but It was like two inches. it's a bit It's big. And if they land on you, their sticky feet make me throw up. Yuck.
01:43:59
Speaker
um Anyway. I have to say, I'm so blessed to be on this podcast with you guys. I just have to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I love being blessing to you. Yeah, thank you. All glory and honor to him.
01:44:12
Speaker
All glory, praise be. Okay?
01:44:17
Speaker
You know, we do this all for the glory of Christ, and if any of you'd like to come talk to us about it after the show, we'll be at the merch table. Yeah.
01:44:29
Speaker
The good old days. ah Oh, man. No, really appreciate it, you guys. Do you have a like a public ah profile or anything where people can follow you, or do you not have like a public persona in
Engage with Guest on Instagram
01:44:41
Speaker
that way? I do. It's very simple. Biblically spelled Isaiah.Isaac underscore on Instagram. Come say hi, and I'll chat your ear off about how to not be a Christian. I do like that you're sticking with the traditional pronunciation rather than the ah the Russell brand Isaiah.
01:45:03
Speaker
I can't stand it. My colleagues work in London and I'm like, there's only one way to say my name, actually. Thank you. And everyone's like, Isaiah. And I'm like, who's that? Who are you talking to? ridiculous. So it's not just a Russell Brand flair. It's actually just how British people say it. Yeah, assume he was just illiterate.
01:45:26
Speaker
yeah He is. I mean, he doesn't know how to find a Bible verse, so... The most awkward two minutes in TV history. It was the best. like It was like somebody watch it it was like watching that clip of like Secret Service telling George Bush about 9-11, but like somebody paused it and you don't realize it.
01:45:46
Speaker
And you're just sitting there waiting and waiting for him to flinch and go back to reading Dr. Seuss. I was watching it on my phone i actually checked to make sure it wasn't buffering. Like I thought...
01:45:59
Speaker
turning your wi-fi on and off like it's yeah still going ah oh all right well thanks everybody for doing the good work that you're doing so thank you again for having me yeah thanks for coming man and uh everybody else have a but wonderful week