New Life Live: Titilating Religious Education

I started listening to religious radio about three or four years ago. I hoped to understand more about what these people were thinking after a conversation I had where I worked at the time. One woman told me that gay marriage portended the decline of our "civilization." I asked how that would unfold, and she said that the floodgates would open and there would be multiple people entering the same marriage. I continued to ask what would come after that. When would it get to the point where it affected me, and when would society collapse? She ran out of answers, so I turned to WORD FM out of Pittsburgh.

That's when I stumbled onto New Life Live (host Stephen Arterburn pictured at left). Most of the radio programs I had listened to up to that point had been recordings of sermons that were nearly unbearable: "And then Saul asked, 'But what can I do, Lawd...[long, long pause]...I am but only one individual man...[long pause]...' Aren't we all asking Saul's question?...[long pause]...Aren't we?" The repetition, pauses, and superficial rhetoric reminded me why I hated church so, so much.

New Life Live was immediately different. It was a call-in show where two or three experts listened to people's problems. The first one I heard was something like: "...Now when my mother watches the kids, I see her doing some of the same abusive things that she did to me when I was young. And I don't want my kids to have to go through that."

I expected the experts to tell her to forgive her mother and to try to get along. Instead they explained how she should set firm boundaries and forbid the mother from seeing the kids if she doesn't respect the boundaries. They were like Dr. Phil without slogans, catch phrases, and unrealistic advice. And I like a lot their advice, but we occasionally disagree when they start readin' out of the Good Book.

But it's the callers' problems that make the show. Some typical highlights...A woman: "I can't stop masturbating. I do it every time I'm alone." A man: "My wife is living with another man, and I want to win her back." A man: "I'm addicted to pornography, and I no longer enjoy sex with my girlfriend." A woman: "My husband is addicted to pornography, and he demands sex all the time." A man: "I'm a trucker and I'm addicted to pornography and I can't stop undressing women with my eyes." A woman: "My husband was playing with himself while we watched TV last night and I'm afraid he's becoming a sex addict again."

Every show usually has one caller who wants to know if God would permit him/her to get a divorce, one caller who can't get over an ex, one caller whose child is living in sin, and three callers addicted to pornography. Occasionally someone will have a laundry list of complaints about their church and/or pastor or wants to get Jesus into their spouse's life or something equally boring. But you almost always get a sex addict who loves Jesus thrown in the mix. I strongly recommend you give it a listen. Now on satellite radio, too!