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016 - Q&A Vol. 2

April 4, 2018 45m 58s Full transcript available
016 - Q&A Vol. 2
0:00 / 45m 58s
In this Q&A episode, I tackle your burning questions about manhood, faith, and the challenges we face today. From the role of men in ministry to the importance of fitness and the truth of Scripture, I lay it all out without holding back.
Transcript
613 segments
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0:31 This is on Daunton Life, a man's podcast.
0:43 I'm your host Kyle Thompson.
0:44 Let's get into it.
0:45 All right, guys, as you'll go back to episode number 11 of this podcast, we did a Q&A podcast,
0:50 so this is the second volume of the podcast.
0:52 I've still been getting questions from a lot of you guys.
0:55 I had a bunch of questions left over that I didn't get into in the last one, and this
0:58 is just something that we're going to continue to do, guys.
1:00 So if you ever have a question, even if it's not relevant to what I've just posted on Instagram
1:04 or another social media platform, just ask your question in there.
1:08 And guys, you can always, always send me questions to info@undontid.life, again, info@undontid.life.
1:15 So let's go ahead and get into this week's questions, all right.
1:18 First one, is this ministry only for men?
1:21 If so, why?
1:23 And the very clear answer to this is yes, yes, it is only for men.
1:27 Most of the things that I say are just going to be palatable for men.
1:31 Not everything that I get into is going to be something that a woman would even understand.
1:35 Same thing that I'm not going to fault a women's ministry for focusing on women, okay?
1:39 So that's marketing.
1:40 At the end of the day, you're going after a target audience, a target market.
1:43 Now, I'm not saying that if a woman reads, you know, for instance, either of the podcast,
1:49 but they read either of the devotionals that are on the U version, Bible app that we put
1:53 out.
1:54 I'm not saying they wouldn't get value out of it, but it just wasn't meant for them.
1:56 It was not targeted for them.
1:58 I didn't think of them while I was writing it.
2:00 That's just pretty much the way that it is.
2:01 But here's the deal about the ministry, guys, is if this ministry is truly going to be effective,
2:07 it will have a gigantic impact on women and children, okay?
2:11 You've probably heard me say this before on this podcast or another one, but every time
2:15 that the man is doing well, where women and children are involved, usually, you know,
2:19 the wife and the children, they're everything's going better, right?
2:23 That the household is working better, the neighborhood is working better, the community
2:26 is working better when dad is better, okay?
2:29 And everything that we do here is about making dad and non-dads and just men in general
2:33 better, okay?
2:34 So yes, just for men, but we need the ladies.
2:38 We need to do this for the ladies.
2:39 We need to make sure we are doing things in a very good way so that we can have a huge
2:42 impact, okay?
2:44 Next question, what three people or sources have you learned the most from within the
2:49 last year, okay?
2:51 So really, when I look back at the last year, I've, you know, I've done a lot of reading,
2:55 I've gotten a lot of input from a lot of different people, listen to a ton of different podcasts,
2:59 but if I had to narrow it to three, I would narrow it to Jocko Willink, Ben Shapiro and
3:04 Jordan Peterson, okay?
3:06 So Jocko Willink, especially, it really just started with his podcasts, I think I was actually
3:10 listening to the podcast before I read his book Extreme Ownership.
3:14 So Extreme Ownership is on the 100 books that every modern Christian man should read list.
3:18 That's on our website, but the podcast, it was just so unique in the podcast space because
3:23 it was dark, it was gritty, it didn't have intro, outro music, it didn't have a bunch
3:27 of ads in it.
3:28 And it was just a very, very different thing.
3:31 Again, he talked about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu a lot.
3:33 That was one of the main reasons, if you go back to our Jiu Jitsu podcast, one of the main
3:37 reasons why I got into Jiu Jitsu was just the constant reminder from him about how important
3:42 it was, but also just the life and business lessons that he's learned along the way and
3:47 how he can kind of take that from some of the things that he did within the military.
3:51 And to be honest with you, if you listen to his podcast and you follow him on Instagram,
3:55 you will completely understand what I'm saying when I say this.
3:59 But I hear his voice in my head when I'm thinking about hitting the snooze button in the morning
4:03 or when I'm thinking about putting out on a workout, like I can just hear him in my
4:07 ear saying, why are you doing that?
4:10 Like, is that something you need to be doing right now?
4:13 Get after it.
4:14 Like get up.
4:15 Let's go.
4:16 Let's go.
4:17 Kill, kill, kill.
4:18 Like that's, I just hear his voice in my head.
4:19 So Jaco has had a really, really huge impact on me and I, you know, I certainly hope to
4:21 meet him someday.
4:22 And then also from his book, the discipline equals freedom field manual and something
4:27 he says all the time, just his concept of good, which I read that entire part of his
4:31 book whenever I talked about the best books I read last year.
4:33 I think that was podcast three.
4:35 But just the concept about no matter what happens, like turn it into a, okay, good.
4:40 So, you know, you didn't get the funding you needed good.
4:42 We can keep more of the company.
4:44 You didn't get the gear you needed for an upcoming, coming project good.
4:47 You can keep it simple.
4:48 You know, you got tapped out in class, good.
4:50 You didn't get tapped out in the street where, you know, it really counts.
4:52 So Jaco willings had a huge impact.
4:54 And then secondly, like I said, Ben Shapiro, his podcast is fantastic.
4:58 Again, I don't agree with everything that he says politically.
5:01 He is incredibly conservative and I find myself more on the conservative side on a lot of
5:05 the issues.
5:06 His debate skills are really fantastic.
5:09 So if you've seen any of his YouTube videos of him talking with different students or
5:13 different people in the media, he just doesn't, he doesn't ever seem to lose those interactions.
5:18 I mean, you could disagree with this point of view, but he's never embarrassed and he's
5:21 never really taken advantage of.
5:23 And he just takes these people down whenever they say stupid things and he just doesn't
5:26 let things slide.
5:28 But the kind of the biggest thing that I've enjoyed about Ben Shapiro, because I listened
5:31 to his podcast five times a week and I've listened to him, you know, watch a lot of his
5:34 videos on YouTube.
5:36 The dude is just fair.
5:37 Okay.
5:38 Like, even if you disagree with him vehemently on political issues, the guy is just fair.
5:42 Like he calls balls and strikes.
5:44 Okay.
5:45 So while everybody was swinging from Donald Trump's nuts during the 2016 campaign, just
5:49 because they hated Hillary Clinton, he was calling balls and stripes.
5:51 He had a, a segment on a show called good Trump bad Trump, where he would constantly talk
5:57 about the things he liked that Trump was doing and the things that he didn't like that
6:00 Trump was doing.
6:01 So I just liked that he has intellectual honesty and that's really at the core of everything
6:04 that he's trying to do is he's trying to be fair.
6:07 And so here's the thing is 2016 as, as if we can all go back there in our brains.
6:11 That was the year of the extremes, right?
6:13 Like probably the two worst candidates possible for both of the major parties ran for president
6:18 and then the libertarian president was like a colossal idiot.
6:21 So it was just, it was a very extreme year, but he really stayed true to who he was and
6:25 kind of what he believed in, in a lot of different areas.
6:28 And then thirdly, Jordan Peterson, he obviously did an entire podcast on the Jordan Peterson
6:33 effect that he's having on our culture, read a lot of his stuff, listened to a lot of things
6:37 he said.
6:38 Again, how he handled bill C 16 and of the controversy they're in going on in Canada.
6:44 I think we discussed that in episode nine, if you want to go back and listen to that one.
6:48 But his, his series, the psychological significance of the biblical stories on YouTube, or you
6:53 can listen to it on his podcast was so unique because even as somebody that's heard a lot
6:58 of sermons, but you know, didn't grow up in church, it was just such a unique view on
7:02 how important the biblical stories are to somebody.
7:04 And this is a guy that, you know, he can't really even articulate whether or not he believes
7:09 in God in, in, you know, a binary sense, like yes or no, but he's a guy that's had a tremendous
7:16 amount of thought and he is thoroughly impressed by how much you can check the Bible.
7:21 That's the thing about the Bible.
7:22 We'll talk about a little bit later, I think in, in this podcast, but it's, it's just an
7:25 incredible thing that every single scripture has been torn to pieces and tried to be found
7:32 wanting and tried to be found not true.
7:35 And so he's really dug into that concept and has done well.
7:37 And then of course, his book, 12 rules for life and antidote to chaos is fantastic.
7:43 It's just really, really still selling well, even at this point.
7:46 And then, you know, whenever he took down Kathy Newman in that ridiculous channel for interview,
7:50 that's really gone viral on YouTube.
7:53 The guy is just so sharp. And so that, that's the one thing about these three guys, Jaco
7:57 Shapiro and Peterson is just, they're, they're all so sharp in their own way. And they're
8:02 having a huge impact on manhood across the globe. And it's just really, really cool to
8:07 actually watch that and get a front row seat. So next question.
8:11 If you, if you were a professional wrestler, what would your name be? Okay. So, uh, on
8:16 the jujitsu podcast, I kind of told that Andre Galval story and he gave me my, uh, jujitsu
8:21 nickname, which is Viking.
8:22 So professional wrestler. Okay. I don't know. Some like, uh, I always ought to be funny.
8:27 Like if my nickname was like the white buffalo, if anyone knows me, I'm like super ginger.
8:31 So I'm like incredibly pale skin and incredibly fair skin, but also I'm an okey. So like a
8:37 buffalo and bison. That's kind of like a cool thing we have around here. So I think the
8:40 white buffalo would be funny. Maybe like ginger snaps or something like that. That'd actually
8:44 be pretty awful. That'd be a pretty terrible one. So, you know, we'll just stick with the
8:47 white buffalo. That's, that's what we'll do. Next question. Let's get off of that one.
8:51 All right. When in your life, uh, even if it was a single moment, did you decide to make
8:56 your health and fitness a priority? Okay. So when in your life did you choose to make
9:01 health and fitness a priority? To be honest with you guys, uh, there never really was
9:06 like that exact moment. I was really fat as a kid. Um, I was bullied because of my weight
9:12 and, you know, it's just overweight. And of course I had bright red hair, dark freckles
9:15 on my face. And so I was kind of an easy target. Um, but between my seventh and eighth grade
9:20 year, I hit a growth spurt and then I lost a bunch of weight playing summer traveling
9:24 baseball because even though I was, I was overweight, I was still a good athlete. Still
9:27 played ball in the summers. Uh, and so I was on a traveling all star team. And so I lost
9:31 some weight. And then basically I never looked back. Um, I guess if I were to answer that
9:36 honestly, I kind of have a fear of ever being fat again. Like I think the thought of being
9:41 fat again is so overwhelmingly negative in my brain that I just can't allow it to happen.
9:47 So like even back in ninth grade, I think that's when I started lifting weights. Um,
9:51 and I've pretty much my entire life. I've almost always lifted weights by myself. So
9:55 it's, I don't have that excuse where it's like, Oh, well, you know, my buddy's hurt
9:58 right now. And he's, he's my lifting buddy and I can't really do anything. And so, um,
10:02 I guess what, what I would tell to most of you guys are listening to this too is every
10:06 man's goal should really be to not have that, you know, single moment where it all changed.
10:12 You know what I mean? Because most of the time that's a negative experience. So it's
10:17 like, Oh, uh, I was putting on my pants, uh, to go to a wedding and I literally couldn't
10:23 get them, get them buttoned. So I lay down on the floor and button them up. And then when
10:27 I stood up, the top button like flew off and I didn't have pants to go to the wedding
10:31 or like, Hey, I got to the top of a flight of a flight of stairs and I had only climbed
10:35 a two flights of stairs and I literally couldn't catch my breath. Like some, sometimes guys
10:39 have that single moment in their brain. Like we should never let ourselves get to that
10:44 point. Like ever, you should never be so fat that you have to go buy an entire new wardrobe
10:50 is worth of clothes. That should never happen. Like you should never let yourself go so much
10:54 in terms of your shape where you go to the top of a flight of stairs and you're completely
10:58 out of breath. Like you should never allow that to happen. Okay. Again, if you're focusing
11:01 on physical resilience, that should never happen to you. So I mean, here's the thing
11:05 is, as I've matured in my fitness journey, I just become a whole lot more about longevity
11:09 to me. So health and fitness shouldn't be a thing that you fall into and out of it should
11:15 be a lifestyle. And so for me, it's 100% a lifestyle. So I can look back all the way.
11:21 Since I was a teenager, 15, 16 years old, like I've not taken a significant without injuries,
11:27 like injuries, notwithstanding, I've not taken a significant, significant amount of time off
11:30 from working out. Like I've changed my workouts, I've developed, I've matured, I've focused
11:35 on different areas. And like I'd like I've said before, I focus on pretty much all areas
11:39 of fitness where it's, you know, explosiveness and cardio and flexibility and strength and
11:44 all those different things. But just don't get out of shape. And then you don't have
11:47 to get into shape. Staying in shape is not nearly as hard as getting into shape. And
11:52 everyone that's gotten into shape before knows exactly what I'm talking about. Okay. So there's
11:55 that one. Next question, you won't catch me outside the house without my nine millimeter
12:00 or my 45. Am I not trusting the Lord to protect me and my family? Good question. If you'll
12:07 go back to episode 11, the first Q and A podcast that we did, I was asked, is there ever a time
12:12 God would want us to kill another human? Okay. And so that full answer is in that podcast.
12:17 So I would just urge you to go and listen to that so you can get my full answer. But
12:20 just to kind of give you a quick summary to that question, is we see several places in
12:25 the Bible where we kind of get a direct sense that, you know, God was okay with self defense.
12:29 And that also God doesn't want us to be flipping with human life. Okay. But one thing that's
12:35 very, very specific here is when people talk about killing, they're kind of conflating
12:41 murder and killing, which are obviously two different things. But whenever we get the
12:44 10 commandments for Moses, when it said thou shall not murder the Hebrew word that was
12:48 used or when it even when it says thou shall not kill in some instances, the Hebrew word
12:53 used there actually means murder. It is a completely different word when you talk about
12:57 the word kill. Okay. So for me personally, I am a concealed carry person like I pretty
13:02 much have a weapon on me at all times, unless it's pretty much impossible for me to do so
13:07 without risking being jailed or something like that. So, but here's the thing is I do
13:11 that for me. I do that for my loved ones and I do that for anyone that's in the general
13:15 vicinity of me if something pops off. Okay. Like that's why I concealed carry. I don't
13:20 conceal carry because I'm paranoid or because like, oh, I got like little dicks syndrome
13:24 and it's like, Oh, watch how big this gun I'm going to carry around. It's going to make
13:27 me feel good about myself. Like that's not why I do it. It's because I'm prepared mentally
13:31 and physically that if something goes wrong, that I can't intercede. I'm not trying to
13:35 be like Captain America or anything. But one thing that I wanted to talk about a little
13:40 bit more is there's a scripture that I think is really important here, which is Joshua
13:44 one nine. I'll read it now. Have I not commanded you be strong and courageous? Do not be frightened
13:49 and do not be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go? Because I think
13:53 what this guy was kind of sensing was this exact verse should tell people like, Hey,
13:58 you don't need to carry a weapon because you know, you don't need to be afraid. God's with
14:03 you. And like I just said, a second ago, I don't conceal carry because I'm afraid. I'm
14:07 I can still carry. So I'm prepared, right? So completely different emotion. And here's
14:11 the thing. I don't have guns in the home for specific purposes of defense, because I'm
14:15 afraid either. Like a lot of people, even if they don't conceal carry, they have guns
14:19 in the home. It's just like, well, if you're Christian, should you just not have guns in
14:22 the home? Like I think that's absurd. And I have those things and I have those weapons
14:27 because we're in a post Genesis three world. And for me personally, I refuse to be a victim
14:32 if there's something I can do to prevent it, right? Like if there's something I can do
14:35 to prevent the the rape or murder of myself or somebody close to me, like clearly, that's
14:41 something that I'm going to intercede and do. Okay. Here's the thing guys, God is in complete
14:46 control, right? There's nothing that happens outside of God's purview. Okay. But in order
14:51 to give us the ability to love, right? He had to give us the ability to rebel and to sin,
14:56 right? That that's what freedom of like that. That's what free will is, right? So in no
15:01 way, shape or form, do I think it is sinful for me to be trained and mentally, physically
15:06 prepared to defend myself or other children and God that are near me? I don't think you
15:10 can make a compelling enough argument that would would make me want to switch my tune
15:14 on that. So there is my answer on that one. So let's go and go on to the next question.
15:18 Okay. We have a couple, or actually, let me back up. We have two homosexuals that sing
15:25 in the choir at my church. Would Jesus preach at my church? Yes. Yeah. Like 100% Jesus would
15:33 come and preach at your church. Like we see that over and over in the New Testament. He
15:37 was hanging out with like the worst of these, you know what I mean? Like he was hanging
15:41 out with the tax collectors. Like he was, he was in those places. Now here's the thing
15:45 though, he may come and preach at your church. And before he vented, like he would probably
15:50 come and preach there before he would visit some of the other bleached white squeaky clean
15:54 churches in town. And you know which ones I'm talking about, right? He would want to
15:57 be in there with the, the, you know, he would want it to be grimy and realistic, not like
16:01 this kind of fake, super bleached teeth version of yeah, everything's great brother whenever
16:07 you're like cheating on your wife and going to look at porn the moment you get home. But
16:11 one thing I do want to say though is because sometimes, you know, when you say something
16:14 like that to him to a question like this, people might think, well, are we just supposed
16:18 to ignore truth here? And absolutely not. And we know Jesus wouldn't do that either. So
16:22 in John 1 14, it says this, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen
16:27 his glory, glory as of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. Okay. That's
16:34 the big part, full of grace and truth. And I probably talked about this one here before,
16:38 Jesus would not ignore the sin near him, right? Like if he was preaching at your church and
16:44 you had a couple of homosexuals that were singing in the choir and they were, you know,
16:47 outwardly homosexual, he would not ignore the sin near him. But at the same time, he
16:52 would not ignore the heart of the sinners, right? We see that over and over. That is
16:57 a very consistent in Jesus's ministry here on this earth. He was not ignoring sin. He
17:02 was pointing it out. He was full of truth. At the same time, he was using grace with
17:06 the heart of the sinners. Okay. And that's the thing that I think when people read John
17:10 1 14, they think to themselves, well, you know, maybe Jesus is like 60% truth on this
17:17 one and 40% grace or maybe he's 90% grace and 10% truth on this or like that, they
17:22 kind of think of it that way. This isn't like a 50 50 thing. This isn't like if you
17:26 add up grace and truth, it equals 100%. This is Jesus was 100% grace and 100% truth, not
17:35 50 50, not 75 25. Okay. So that is the thing that we have to, we have to remember that
17:41 whether you go to a more liberal church, whether you go to a more conservative church, Jesus
17:44 would point out the sin and then he would also take care of the heart of the center.
17:47 Okay. Next question. How do you believe the religion of sex that is taking over, like
17:53 example, abortion, gay rights, transgenderism, etc, should be handled from a masculine perspective
17:58 and a biblical perspective? Well, okay, guys, well, I guess I just talked about John 1,
18:04 1 14. And that's grace and truth. Like you got to have grace and truth. Like, you have
18:09 to be able to call a spade a spade or like I was talking about earlier, then Shapiro,
18:13 you have to be able to call balls and strikes. Okay. So you're not doing anyone any favors,
18:18 calling what's growing inside of a woman's belly, a useless clump of cells, right? Here
18:23 people talk about that when they talk about the abortion argument, right? And in addition
18:27 to that, you're not doing anyone any favors by categorizing same sex attraction as sinful,
18:31 right? Because just because you have a proclivity to a certain type of a sin, it only matters
18:37 if you're acting on it. Like if you have same sex attraction, that doesn't mean that you're
18:41 inherently being sinful in that area. But in addition to that, not you're not doing anyone
18:46 any favors by telling them that acting on their homosexual impulses is acceptable or
18:51 moral. Like some people think because, you know, we're living downstream of culture right
18:55 now that we have to basically change scripture and change God's perspective on things because
19:00 it's going to make us look weird on Facebook if we comment on it, right? And again, guys,
19:04 you're not doing anyone any favors by playing into the delusion of someone that thinks they're
19:08 a different gender than what their biology would prove. Like that's, that's the latest
19:12 one. And again, in a future podcast, I'm going to do an entire episode on the transgenderism
19:16 and gender dysphoria idea. But the thing is, is playing into someone's delusion that their
19:22 homosexual lifestyle is acceptable and moral, that acting on it is moral, that you know,
19:28 someone who is biologically a boy is, you know, somehow trapped and they're actually
19:32 a woman like we should not be playing into those things. We need to have complete truth
19:37 on those types of things. But also we need to be able to show grace. And here's the thing
19:40 in order for us to be men of God, we have to be men of truth. And we must fight for truth.
19:45 Always, we have to, like, we don't need to twist scripture up to fit what culture wants
19:50 us to say. Okay. If we're going to be bold men of God, and if we're going to be actually
19:54 seeking the lion of Judah, we can't be scared of the repercussions of standing up for truth.
19:59 And guys, I'm saying this in a country where I have no fear of someone busting into my
20:03 studio and stopping this podcast recording because of what I'm saying. There's a lot
20:07 of our brothers and sisters around the world that don't have that luxury. They have to
20:10 be very, very careful about what they say in doing in public. We don't. So boldness here
20:15 is not the same as boldness in, or in, you know, Uganda or in North Korea or even in
20:21 communist China, like it's not the same type of boldness, but we do need to be bold. Okay.
20:25 And again, as always, we do not need to live downstream of culture. Next question. Do you
20:31 think Jesus would have a beer with the guys? Absolutely. Absolutely. Jesus would have a
20:36 beer with the guys. Like, I don't think this one is that hard at all. His first miracle.
20:40 And I'm mainly talking to the Baptist here. You know, you know who you are. His first
20:44 miracle was turning water into wine at a party so that the party didn't have to end. Right.
20:50 So you know, that nothing has been created out of the purview of God. So here's the thing
20:54 that we know about Jesus. He wouldn't get drunk. He certainly would not get drunk because
20:59 that would be sinful. But I truly believe that he would partake. Absolutely. He would
21:02 partake. I mean, do any of you have like, have you any of you listening to this? Have you
21:08 ever had like 25 year old scotch or like older than that? Like that's some of the godliest
21:14 stuff on the planet right there. So, you know, hopefully if Jesus were around, he could have
21:19 beer with you guys, but with a guy like me to have an old single malt scotch that would
21:22 be awesome. But yeah, Jesus would not get drunk, but absolutely he would be able to partake
21:28 in certain things with us without being sinful because that's just who he is. Right. All right.
21:32 Next question is traditional praying to formalized and structured for manly men? Okay. This is
21:39 a very carefully worded question, but it's a very easy answer. No, traditional praying
21:43 is not to formalize and structured for manly men. And here's the reason why inherent in
21:48 this question is the idea that manly men don't do traditional prayer. And that's ridiculous
21:53 because some of the manliest men on the planet are absolute prayer warriors. I mean, think
21:59 about the other ways that you can cultivate spiritual resilience. I think prayer is kind
22:03 about the top of that list, right? But the thing about it is is the traditional representation
22:09 of prayer, uh, the different representations, they're a turn off to men, right? So if a
22:15 manly man's thinking, okay, in order to pray, I've got to like kneel beside my bed and put
22:20 my hands together in a praying motion and put them in front of my face. Like that's kind
22:24 of weird. Like, yeah, I could see how that would be a turn off for a manly man that doesn't
22:28 know the nuances of prayer. And if you pray that way, that's, that's not a bad thing.
22:32 Obviously that's not a sinful thing, but prayer should be presented as a conversation throughout
22:36 the day with God as if he's like just right there with you, you know what I mean? Because
22:40 that's what it is. Like, you don't have to say your prayer out loud. You can say it in
22:44 your head. Like some of the best times that I feel like that I'm close with God in prayer,
22:49 like, or just when I'm driving to my truck by myself, like no music, no podcasts on it.
22:53 I'm just kind of talking like he can hear me, but he can also hear my thoughts. I don't
22:57 have to say it out loud for him to hear me. Right. And so, uh, yeah, I don't think there's,
23:02 there's like a specific way that a guy has to pray, but as long as you're communicating
23:05 with your maker, pretty good way of going about things. All right. Next question. What
23:10 is your outlook on tattoos and why? Okay. So, uh, let me go and give you like my personal
23:15 opinion first, and then I'll kind of get into more scriptural truths around this issue because
23:19 it's pretty straightforward, um, for the most part anyway. But personally, I love tattoos.
23:24 Uh, for myself, I've got about 50 hours of work on myself on my shoulders and arms and
23:28 back. Um, and I have all black and gray. Uh, that's where I tend to stay. I really like
23:32 the black and gray because it's a, it's a lot of detail. Uh, two of my favorite artists
23:36 actually, uh, Jin Shah, JU in space, CHA. He's a guy. I think he's out of LA. He's an amazing
23:43 black and gray artist. And the majority of his work that he does is it, the tattoos kind
23:48 of look like ancient marble statues. So it's like really awesome that he's a great follow
23:53 on Instagram. I actually think he's doing some sculpting now, but those are really, really
23:57 awesome. And then there's a guy out of New Zealand named Steve Butcher. So he kind of
24:01 does some of the most incredible photo realism, realism and color. Like some of his tattoos,
24:07 like if you see him and you don't see the body part, you would think it was like a painting
24:10 or something like that, or, or really just a digital photo. Like that is how incredibly
24:14 detailed, uh, his tattoo work is. But now let's kind of get into really the scriptural truth
24:19 around this because again, if you're a little bit more new school, you don't see tattoos
24:23 that big a deal, but then like our grandparents, like if they saw your tattoos, you'd be like,
24:27 they'd be like freaking out thinking you're going immediately to hell. But let's get right into the
24:31 issue with, with that. Okay. Normally when someone says tattoos are sinful and that Christian
24:37 shouldn't have them. They're pointing at Leviticus. 1928. Okay. Leviticus. 1928. I'm gonna read it
24:42 now. You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourself. I am the Lord. Okay.
24:49 So, but we have to look at the literal translation because that's like the, you know, modern 20th,
24:54 21st century, you know, English version, the literal translation is, and a cutting for the
24:59 dead, you will not make in your flesh and writing marks, you will not make on you. I am the Lord.
25:05 Okay. Here's the thing guys, the word tattoo doesn't really even show up in the English
25:10 language until the 1700s. Okay. So that was not like something, the word tattoo, there was no,
25:16 like, you know, there was no corollary for that 2000 years ago. So the King James version,
25:22 if you go back and read Leviticus, excuse me, if you read Leviticus, Leviticus, 1928,
25:28 and you go back to the King James version, it doesn't use the word tattoo because, you know,
25:32 the King James version was written like in the 1600s. Okay. So most likely, right? Again, this,
25:37 this is most likely this scripture is referring to pagan cultures like the Canaanites and the
25:43 Egyptians. Okay. This is not necessarily a prescriptive for the people of God, because again,
25:48 he was kind of drawing a declaration between pagan cultures like what was going on in Canaan
25:52 and Egypt. Okay. So the one thing that the Canaanites would do is they would cut or burn their skin
25:58 as kind of like a worship to pagan gods, especially if they were kind of mourning somebody's death,
26:03 like if they were, you know, going through the mourning period, they would, they would cut and
26:06 burn their skin as a, as a sign of worship. But also we've even discovered recently that Egyptian
26:11 women were tattooed. I don't think we know that Egyptian men were but Egyptian women were tattooed
26:16 and it was basically like a good luck charm of sorts for their fertility. So they would give
26:20 tattoos of like the fertility goddess and put that on their bodies. So the thing is with the
26:25 tattoo thing is I don't really think it's necessarily super open and shut. I know I kind of alluded to
26:30 it earlier that I think it is it's not super open and shut case, but it seems fairly clear
26:35 that a Christian getting a tattoo is not sinful. Okay. Now unless of course it has a sinful message
26:41 or meaning or something like that. So if you got like a naked chick on your forearm or a pentagram
26:45 on your face or, you know, some sort of bad word, like, you know, that's, that's kind of the thing
26:49 that would probably be sinful. And also in my opinion alone, I think bad tattoos are sinful.
26:53 You know who you are, tribal armband people. So it's just like, you know, it depends on the message
26:58 you're going for. Like if you're being blatantly sinful, then yeah, clearly that's a sin. But
27:02 the act of putting skin a few layers or putting ink rather a few layers deep in your sin skin
27:08 is not a sinful thing in my opinion. Okay. Next question. Intimacy with the Lord is David our model.
27:16 Okay. Now even in this question, I talk about this a lot and and even using the word intimate,
27:22 like men don't like that typically. Like the thing about it is is when you use the word intimate
27:29 for most guys that aren't like nuanced, like they're gonna seem that they're gonna see that as kind
27:33 of like feeling weird. Okay. So let's try not to use the word intimate when we're talking about
27:37 relationship with God. I think that's kind of weird for men to do. But to answer the question,
27:41 like, yes, David really is our model in terms of a closeness to following with the Lord. And so
27:47 the thing about that is that should be an encouragement to us from a couple of different perspectives.
27:52 Number one, how God loved and used a colossal screw up like David was pretty incredible. Okay.
27:59 So I mean, obviously his affair with Bathsheba and then taking her as his wife, you know, having her
28:04 husband killed on the front line. But the thing about it is is we get Jesus from the line of David
28:11 and Bathsheba. Like that is an incredible thing. Like God used David one of David's biggest
28:17 and most recognizable sins. And we get Jesus out of it, you know, several ways down the line. Okay.
28:23 And the second thing, a second way that it should be an encouragement for us rather,
28:27 is how David could still be extremely dedicated to God, even though he's a colossal screw up,
28:32 right? He was so, so dedicated to him. And here's the thing about David. He was a really manly
28:38 dude, like super manly, like great leader of men on the battlefield, like this, you know,
28:43 he's killed lions and bears before. And he didn't have it, you know, with a rifle from 400 yards away,
28:48 like he was killing these animals with his bare hands. But I think David is a good example for
28:53 manly Christian men, especially men that are like on the undaunted life side of things,
28:57 because he shows us how we can be reverent to God without coming off like a pussy.
29:01 Like, I mean, I'm really done with this whole cute cuddly Jesus God thing. Like Jesus, like when
29:08 you see how God is being worshiped by David in the Psalms, it is just incredible and it's powerful.
29:15 And so I just, I just think it's a really good example for us that if we're going to have a type
29:21 of relationship with God and we don't want to be modeled by what we're seeing in the modern day
29:24 church, we should just look at what, you know, David is doing in the Psalms. So what I'm going to do
29:28 right now, actually, is I want to just approve this. I want to read Psalm 46 to you. It's one of my
29:32 favorite Psalms. And it's just, you know, think about this in light of, you know, what you would
29:37 see in a modern, you know, Bethel music or, you know, Hillsong song. So I'm going to read Psalm 46 for
29:41 you. Here we go. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will
29:48 not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
29:53 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.
29:58 Selah, there is a river whose stream may glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the most high.
30:04 God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved. God will help her when morning dawns,
30:10 the nation's rage, the kingdom's totter, he utters his voice, the earth melts.
30:14 The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress, Selah. Come, behold the works of the
30:21 Lord, how he has brought desolation on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He
30:27 breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots with fire. Be still and know that I am
30:34 God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with
30:39 us. The God of Jacob is our fortress, Selah. I mean, that is so powerful. That is such
30:45 powerful language. I mean, God, he breaks the bow and shatters the spear. Okay, he is the all
30:51 powerful God. Again, he is not our boyfriend. He is not someone that we want to embrace to our
30:57 bosom. Okay, Jesus is not this dirty blonde here, blue eyed white guy that is going to protect us
31:04 from anything bad happening to us or somebody saying something that we don't like. Okay,
31:09 the different kind of situation. So yes, love David, great, great guy to follow,
31:15 even though he's got, you know, all the warts and everything else, it's something that we can
31:19 learn from. Okay, next question. How do we know that the Bible is true? Okay, so this is kind of
31:25 an apologetics question. So I guess, first of all, we need to make a kind of a difference maker
31:29 here at the beginning. The Bible is not a book. Okay, the Bible is a collection of the ancient
31:34 manuscripts. Okay, so it's commonly referred to as a book, but it is ancient manuscripts that have
31:39 been bound together. Okay, the Old Testament and the New Testament were, you know, probably never
31:43 really meant to be fully combined in the way that they were, but they were combined around 400 AD.
31:48 Okay, and inside of those pages, there's a collection of kind of many different styles of writing. So
31:54 we've got history, we've got prophecy, there's apocalyptic literature, there's law, there's poetry,
32:00 and kind of on and on from there. But here's the thing, guys, this is pretty simple. And the Bible
32:05 was BS, anthropology would have destroyed the entire religion of Christianity entirely by now.
32:11 But the interesting thing is like the exact opposite has happened. Like every year that goes by,
32:17 anthropology kind of further proves the Bible. Okay, because, you know, as we've seen, and there's
32:22 quite a bit of research out there, and I'm not going to go into detail on it right now, but
32:25 there's quite a bit of research out there about people that have said, hey, the Bible is complete
32:30 trash because it said that this people group was in this part of the earth, and we have no
32:35 anthropological data or evidence to show that this people group was in this area of the world
32:40 ever. So thus, the entire Bible is complete, completely ridiculous, which is horrible logic
32:46 and argumentation, but it is something that people say. Okay. But in reality, what happens is
32:53 archaeologists and anthropologists will find different things in these areas that they never
33:00 thought was possible. And then it's like, well, shoot, you know, an archaeologist will go through
33:05 a dig or something like that. And then they find, yeah, lo and behold, these people were here.
33:10 Like what's being described in the Old Testament is absolutely true and absolutely
33:13 certifiably true, right? So there isn't a more scrutinized collection of writings in the entirety
33:19 of human history than the Old and the New Testament, right? So historicity, especially the gospel
33:25 accounts is intact, though. Like there's no one that can make, I mean, you have guys like Richard
33:30 Dawkins and Sam Harris, like they'll come out and say things about the Bible. But the thing about
33:34 it is they can't, it can't be disproven historically. And there's certain things like, oh, well,
33:38 this group of people wasn't in this particular part of the world at this time that we just haven't
33:42 made those discoveries yet. Like those people were in those areas, and there's no reason to
33:47 believe that they weren't. It's just we haven't discovered the evidence for it yet. So one thing
33:52 that kind of helps with with people that are like, really, should I even trust the Bible,
33:55 are books like Lee Strobel's the case for Christ. So it's been turned into a movie. I'm not seeing
34:00 the movie. So I can't necessarily recommend it. But that is a book that is a very easy read,
34:04 but kind of helps you figure out, you know, different things about the Bible, that if it was made up
34:08 and if it was fable, you probably couldn't have gotten much further, you definitely wouldn't have had
34:13 Christianity outside of the first century with Rome doing what they were doing. But yeah,
34:17 case for Christ and also more than a carpenter. Those are a couple of books that I would definitely
34:20 suggest for anyone that wants to get more of a deeper understanding on this topic.
34:24 Next question. I'd like to hear from your listeners that have perfected the nutritious,
34:30 but flexible brown bag lunch, flexible in that you can take it one day, but eat the next day or
34:36 later as lunch meetings pop up. What's a super simple and effective way that I can do brown bag
34:41 lunches? Okay, so obviously, you know, the thing about this one is you have to meal prep. So
34:46 regardless of your job and regardless of your lifestyle, if you meal prep, you should be able
34:51 to eat clean, right? So I do different things where I go out to lunch a lot. And so if I go out to
34:57 restaurants, almost every single restaurant can make you steam vegetables and grilled chicken,
35:01 right? Or some form of red meat that's not terrible for you, right? So that's just something you can
35:07 do. The thing is, is you just, you can't make excuses. You have to be disciplined, okay?
35:11 So if you know that you're going to be eating in the office for five times that week or four
35:16 times that week, and you know that you'll be tempted to, you know, go down the street and go
35:20 to talk Abuelino or go to McDonald's or go to, you know, Cudoba or something like that,
35:24 you just got to prepare yourself, right? So Sunday afternoon, that was one thing that I always would
35:29 do whenever I wasn't doing lunches out so often is I would cook up like five or six chicken breasts
35:34 on Sunday, and I would cook up like a bangload of sweet potatoes, a bunch of broccoli. If I was
35:39 doing quinoa at the time, I would do that. And then I would basically put it either in one big
35:44 Tupperware thing and then just pull some out every day. And then from there, you might put it into
35:50 four or five separate ones. So you have your meals kind of ready to go and just take them to work
35:53 on Monday and put them in the fridge. If you need to put your name on them or something like that,
35:57 do that. You know, if you don't have a fridge at work, like you just take one and you put it in a
36:00 little lunchbox and then you're ready to go, like I'm kind of a weirdo, like I can eat the same
36:05 exact thing for lunch every day and be fine with it. And for some of you that's like, I have, I want
36:10 to have better food and I want to have better options or blah, blah, blah, that belly aching,
36:13 like the thing about it is guys is it's fuel for you. Not every meal should be super satisfying,
36:18 like where you're sitting there like, Oh, this is a great meal in my life. Like some of your meals
36:22 can just be fuel. Like my smoothies that I have in the morning, you know, while I'm on my way
36:26 to work, like they don't taste exceptionally well, but they're fuel. That's what they're there for.
36:30 Now, there are certain meals that I do want to enjoy immensely. And then I obviously,
36:34 you know, go ham on those. But at the same time, I just want to make sure that all of you understand
36:39 that whenever you're not doing meal prep, it's basically a lack of discipline. And you're just
36:44 basically putting excuses in there. So those are ways that you can make that happen. And if the food
36:49 is near you, you can eat well, right? So let's say you have a job where you're traveling a lot,
36:54 maybe you're on the road, you don't have an office job where you can just walk over to the
36:57 break room and get your lunch. If you have a lunchbox, you have all your food for the day.
37:02 Like you don't if you work in the field and oil and gas or construction or something like that,
37:05 you don't have to go to the burrito truck, right? Just just go to your truck and eat what you need
37:09 to eat. So there's plenty of ways to do it. You just need to dedicate yourself to actually doing it.
37:13 Okay, next question. What's the most anti masculine trend you see in the modern church today?
37:18 Okay, without fail and without question, it's modern worship music. Okay, modern worship music
37:24 is the most anti masculine trend that I see in modern churches. Okay, and I'm going to save the
37:28 majority of my opinion here for a future podcast, because I'm going to do a future podcast on this
37:32 exactly and go into a whole lot of detail. Okay, next question. If you had the choice of a single
37:38 superpower, what would it be? Okay, so I thought about this a lot. Like I probably spent a lot of
37:43 time thinking about this question way too much time thinking. But you know, everyone thinks about
37:47 flying and superhuman strength and all those different things. But I literally think about this one
37:53 superpower. If I could just choose one, I would choose teleportation. Like that's exactly what I
37:58 would choose. Now with the caveat that I could like have things and like people teleport with me.
38:04 Like the number of times I've thought about this is actually like unhealthily ridiculous. So I hate
38:08 road trips. I hate traveling. I'm all about the destination. So my wife and I have traveled
38:13 internationally quite a bit like I don't want to be on that plane for 14 hours. Like that's not
38:18 what I want to do. I just want to be where I need to be. I don't sleep on planes. It's uncomfortable.
38:22 I'm not flying in first class. So I can't just like, you know, spread out and lounge out. I really
38:26 wish that I could just like put my arm around my wife, grab our suitcases and like snap my fingers
38:31 and boom, I'm in Rome or I'm in New Zealand or something like that. Like that's what I would
38:35 like to do. So if I had a superpower, teleportation, number one thing. Next question. And I actually
38:40 think, yeah, this is the last question of the day. All right. So how can my ego derail my future
38:45 at my job? Some say parts of the ego are healthy for me. What's the best use of my ego in my profession
38:52 and in my relationships? Okay. So to kind of answer that first part, it can derail you your ego because
38:58 it can make you almost impossible to follow, right? Like maybe you're the type of guy that
39:03 that goes too hard. Like you go too fast. Like everything you do is like super intense, right?
39:08 So the problem with that is, is that you get so far ahead that you when you finally do stop to
39:13 look around, no one is near you, right? No one's there. And you know, you were probably dragging
39:18 some guys along at some point. And then at some point, you just left them all on the dust. And so
39:22 here's the other. Maybe you're just a [inaudible]. Like maybe you're just not very likable, right?
39:26 Here's the deal. If you're a super, super egotistical leader, no one's going to want to follow you.
39:32 Like people want to follow a truly humble leader, not like a fake humble person, you know what I'm
39:37 talking about. But even if you have to work at it, even if humility is not like a natural thing,
39:42 that's something you should work on. But that's, that's one way that your ego can kind of derail
39:46 your job. But here's the deal kind of the other part. I agree with with people that tell you that
39:51 some parts of your ego are healthy. They certainly are healthy. Like you don't want to be a pushover.
39:56 If you have a healthy ego, like you're not going to be railroaded all the time, right? One of the
40:01 biggest indicators of professional success is assertiveness, right? So you're assertive with
40:06 people if you're closing a deal, you're assertive with your management or your bosses or ownership
40:10 when it comes to raises or even getting a job. So if you're super agreeable, you tend to not have
40:17 as good of a career, right? So boldness can be seen accurately as ego. But that's a healthy form
40:24 of your ego. Okay. But if I were to kind of put it in the category of what are some of the best
40:29 ways to use your ego, like use your ego to the for the betterment of others. Because usually when
40:35 someone's ego maniacal and they're only focused on themselves, it's kind of impossible not to look
40:40 like a [inaudible]. Okay. It's almost impossible. And people aren't going to want to follow that,
40:43 right? But if you can pave the way or really blaze the trail for others, or I guess I would say
40:50 this way, if you're the type of person that's a trailblazer, that you're literally clearing out
40:54 space and forging a new road, pave the road wide enough for other people to come along with you,
41:00 right? Like you're already blazing the trail, you're already going a certain direction,
41:04 just make it wide enough for people to be able to come along with you. So one of the books I'm
41:08 going to be reading this year is ego is the enemy by Ryan holiday. And one of the reasons why I'm
41:14 very excited about reading this book is because there's a quote here from the prologue. And I'm like,
41:20 okay, if this is just from the prologue, I really think that it would be fantastic to actually see
41:25 what the rest of the book would entail. I know some of you have read this out there. So I'd like
41:29 to hear your thoughts on this book as well. But here was the quote from prologue. While the history
41:33 books are filled with tales of obsessive visionary geniuses who remade the world and their image
41:38 with sheer almost irrational force, I've found that history is also made by individuals who
41:44 fought their egos at every turn who has skewed the spotlight and who put their higher goals above
41:49 their desire for recognition. Okay, so ego is one of those things guys that I'm not going to lie to
41:54 you. That's something that I have to fight. That's one of the best ego checks on the planet is jujitsu.
42:00 So if you're feeling really good about yourself, find your way into a local jujitsu gym and get
42:05 rolled up by somebody that's half your size and not nearly as athletic or as strong as you,
42:10 that's going to be an ego check. And the thing is, is you know, it's a journey for everybody. There
42:15 are times where you're you're good with your ego. And I'll just talk about myself just openly.
42:18 There are times where I feel like I'm doing really well, and I have like some natural humility coming
42:23 out in certain areas. And then there's other times where it's just like, I have this nasty,
42:27 nefarious ego that comes out that doesn't man itself manifest itself properly in a setting with
42:34 friends or with my wife or in jujitsu class or something like that. If I freak out because some,
42:39 you know, lower, lower belt or lower striped white belt taps me out or something like that,
42:44 it's just, it's one of those things. Sometimes you can deal with it and sometimes you can. And I know
42:48 for a lot of guys, your ego and your humility is a roller coaster. And if that is the case for you,
42:55 that's something that you do need to get in check, right? Because your ego can be your downfall.
42:59 Like history, the roads of history are basically strewn about with the dead bodies of people that
43:04 had too much ego, right? So we know that to be true. So if you again, like I said, if you've read
43:09 ego is the enemy, let me know what you think of Ryan Holliday's book. And I am really excited to
43:14 read that one this year. Okay. So that's the last question of the day guys, as always, thank you so
43:18 much for sending those my direction. But before I let you go, we're going to do a quick resilience
43:22 boost. So as most of you know, by now we are a men's ministry and our mission is cultivating
43:26 manly resilience. And specifically, we do that by providing content that forges spiritual,
43:31 mental and physical toughness. So today, I want to challenge you all mentally and spiritually on the
43:37 on the resilience scale. And so earlier I talked about, you know, David and kind of his dedication
43:42 to God, I want you to read 10 random Psalms. Okay. So the Psalms that David actually wrote,
43:49 I want you to read 10 random ones. Okay. David is an incredible example of how a man should treat
43:56 his journey with God. And I think that would be a huge boost for you, especially if you're not
43:59 much of a Bible reader. But even if you are reading 10 specifically and reading them randomly, I mean,
44:04 gosh, there's what there's over 150 of them, something like that. So it's just like,
44:08 just just read 10 of them, just pick 10 of them out and make it happen. Okay. So guys,
44:11 thank you as always for listening. Please subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud or Google Play and refer
44:16 your friends to listen and also share this on social media. If you use the hashtag on Daunted Life,
44:21 we will find it and be sure to like it. If we deserve a five star review, gentlemen, please leave us
44:26 one. That's how we will continue to grow if people continue to see that this is a quality podcast,
44:30 our website is www dot undaunted dot life. You can follow us on Instagram and Twitter at undaunted
44:37 life and on Facebook dot com backslash undaunted life. If you want to check out our devotionals,
44:41 go to the uversion app and just search undaunted life under plans. And as always, we would like
44:46 to thank the band August Burns read for allowing us to use their music library for our content.
44:50 The intro outro track on this podcast is their song King of Sorrow, which is off their latest
44:55 record entitled Phantom Anthem. The links to all of this are in the description. I'm your host,
44:59 Kyle Thompson. Remember, keep cultivating mainly resilience, keep forging spiritual,
45:05 mental and physical toughness. Keep seeking the lion of Judah.
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If this ministry is truly going to be effective, it will have a gigantic impact on women and children.
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Every man's goal should really be to not have that single moment where it all changed.
Kyle Thompson
Jesus would not ignore the sin near him, but at the same time, he would not ignore the heart of the sinners.
Kyle Thompson
You should never allow that to happen.
Kyle Thompson
If we're going to be bold men of God, we can't be scared of the repercussions of standing up for truth.
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