The Eric Metaxas Show - Ask Metaxas (Encore)

Episode Date: February 3, 2022

Ask Metaxas is a veritable cornucopia of listener questions getting the "Metaxas Treatment" -- some answers are ultra-serious, some snarky, but all contain at least the appearance of thoughtful consideration. (Encore Presentation)

Eric Mettaxas show with your host, Eric Mettaxas. Hey, folks, we've got something very exciting and scary for you. Yes, we do. For the full hour today, I don't know why we're doing this for the full hour, but... It's not even Halloween. Yeah, it's very scary, and we're just going to do this. We're doing a full hour of Ask Mataxis. Now, you're probably wondering, why are you doing a full hour?

And the answer is, we don't know. That's the one question of all of these. We have no answer. It's a crazy thing. Actually, we're doing a full hour because so many of you have sent us so many questions. We thought we'll never get to all these questions unless we spend a full hour. And so I don't want to do this any more than you want to, Albin. But we're going to have to do this because people are demanding to know what I think on a variety of questions.

I mean, a lot of these – look, let me just say this. Some of these are great questions, and some of them are. aren't. And we're not going to tell you which. So let's just get going. Let's see what happens. It's a crazy adventure, folks. This first one has a lot of depth to it. In chapter 27 of is atheism dead, there's a section, the impossible bleakness of materialism. You take on Richard Dawkins. Oh, wait, wait, wait, I just want to say, so this is my book. So somebody is writing about chapter 27 of my book. And the title is the impossible bleakness of materialism. Okay, that's chapter 27. That's one of my favorite chapters. Oh, that's good to know. Is atheism dead? Okay. You take on Richard Dawkins, and it reminds me, he says, of the style of G. K. Chesterton's essays in which he spars with philosophical nemeses, such as George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, Bertrand Russell, and Clarence Darrow. Darrow. Would you say this is the result of random chance or the product of intelligent design? And thank you, Kurt Schmidt, by the way. That's a funny question. Yeah, it is. That's a complicated. Kurt, thank you.

we, Kurt used to write into the show a lot. Yeah, and he'd call in when we had live. And we used to do call. I think we're going to get back to that, doing the call-in thing. I love it to do that. Well, at some point. But anyway, so, so this is a funny question. He's saying that the way I take on Dawkins reminds him of Chesterton, blah, blah, blah, blah.

First of all, others have said that, and there can be no greater compliment to me than you would compare anything I've done, a sentence, a paragraph, much less a chapter to, G. K. Chesterton. And I think that to answer the joke question, because he's, it's hard, it's hard to get the joke if you haven't read the book, but he's saying is, is the appearance of, of similarity to Chesterton by design or the product of chance. I would say it's the product of random mutations. Actually, no, it is kind of random. I didn't, I didn't intend to sound like Chesterton. But I think when you're writing about these things, and if you're a fan of Chesterton, and if you have Chesterton's views, you may end up sounding like Chesterton. But

let me simply say to Kurt Schmidt, thank you for saying that what I do in Is Atheism Dead reminded you of Chesterton, because truly, I mean, others have said that. That's like the highest compliment. So I just want to say thank you for your astute observation. That's great. Yeah, here's another one that dovetails off of if you can keep it, another book of yours. How do we ensure if we can keep it if the world around us doesn't understand? Okay, this is another question that needs explanation. I wrote a book about six years ago called If You Can Keep It, the Forgotten Promise of American Liberty. And it's all about what I myself didn't know until I read a book by Oz Guinness called a free people's suicide. And it has to do with the basic idea that to be free,

to be self-governing on the model that the founders gave us 250 years ago, you have to do something. You can't just exist. If you want to be free, you have to make an effort. And so the question is, how do we ensure we can keep it if the world around us, I guess, means our fellow Americans don't understand. Well, that's the question, isn't it? How many people need to get this for us to be free? Most Americans probably never got this. This is one of these things that I think that, or actually, let me put it another way. I think some people in the history of America understood this intuitively, and the culture made it difficult not to live this way. So even though you might not be explicitly conscious of what Franklin said and what the founders said was necessary.

I think people were doing it because it was part of the culture. But as secularism and the Marxist ideas have kind of crept into the culture over the decades, we have become less aware of what it means to keep the republic and have behaved in ways that whether we're doing it consciously or unconsciously, we didn't really, we weren't really helping to keep things free. So the question is how do we keep the Republic if many Americans don't get it? And I think the real, I guess the question is how many of us need to get this? And I think you have to start with yourself.

But I do, if people say, what can I do to keep the Republic? The first thing I say is, you need to teach these things to your kids. You need to talk about these things. You need to do what you can. And so that's one way, I guess, you could do that, obviously, is to read my book. And I think, you know, sometimes I feel guilty about promoting a book that I wrote. But then I have to remember the reason I wrote it, you know, wasn't to make money.

I wrote the book because I want to get these ideas out. And because in the case of if you can keep it, I feel for decades we haven't been teaching these things. And so we have a couple of generations that don't understand this. So the question is apt in the sense that we must understand this and we have to talk about it. So that's more than I meant to say. Okay. Now this one we tried to answer a couple weeks ago, what is your favorite book? Your favorite book?

I'm going to go with Ecclesiastes. Just kidding. I don't really like Ecclesiastes very much. What's my favorite book? Yeah. Oh, they don't mean book of the Bible. They mean your actual book? Just book, yeah.

Well, I don't know. On a day like today, I'm going to say, Chance of the Dance by Thomas Howard. I dedicate my book is Atheism Dead to Tom Howard and to John Rankin, two friends that passed away about a year ago. To the greatest men I've ever had the privilege to know. And Tom Howard wrote a book called Chance of the Dance, which I think of as in the tradition of C.S. Lewis, it's a book that Lewis would have been proud to write. It's utterly brilliant. And I, myself, had the privilege of writing the forward to the most recent edition. But Chance of the Dance is a critique of modern secularism. And it's utterly brilliant. And Peter Craved, whom we've had on this show many times, said, that if he could take 10 books to the moon with him,

chance of the dance would be two of them. There you go. Yeah. In case anybody wants to know, a confederacy of dunces is mine. John Candy was supposed to play the title role. Are you serious? Yeah.

But he passed away, and Johnny Carson had bought the rights for the moon. I don't know when it's coming out. I can't believe I'm hearing this. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's but years ago. Okay.

Who buys your clothing? What are you talking about? My mommy. No, you can't say that on the air. but I will say this. Mother. Mother has always bought my clothing. I can't imagine

I can't imagine trusting anyone else with those questions. No, it's so funny. When people have these questions, I don't know what, who buys your clothing. You think I have people who buy my clothing for me?

I do have a wig maker, but I don't want to talk about that. No, I've always bought my own clothing. So I don't know, is this a trick question? Is it meant to be funny? I don't understand. Okay. Moving on, how can I have a close and deep relationship with God always?

Oh, my gosh. What a question. These are, Alvin, these are tough questions. I wasn't prepared for this. I need to go have a cigarette and think about this one. How can I have a close and deep relationship with God always? Well, if there were a way to answer that question, we wouldn't be, you know, in a fallen world. there's no easy answer to that.

But there are a million things you can do. I think I will, maybe I'll pick this up on the other side of the break, but I will simply say hanging out with people who love Jesus and who are emotionally healthy. I'm not talking about like crazy religious people who talk about Jesus all the time, but I'm talking about people who actually live it out. Hanging out with those kind of people, that would be the number one answer. But we'll say more on the other side.

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stay up to date on their weekly stream of episodes wherever you get your podcasts. Go to IPfrequently.com. That's IPfrequently.com. Hey, folks. Welcome to another episode of Ask Mataxis. And since I'm Metaxis, I guess I'm going to have to answer some questions. Okay. I hate this. But actually, the last question we had, I didn't really finish it. This is like, you know, there are questions that are questions.

This one is just one of these insane next level questions, right? The question was, how can I have a close and deep relationship with God always? I don't know that you can. I think it's a goal, right? But you could talk for days about this. Why don't we just say this? Having a close and deep relationship with God is the very reason we exist. So people say, hey, what's the meaning of life, man?

That's it. loving God, loving Jesus is the reason that we exist. Now, what that means, you'll spend the rest of your life trying to work that out. I think the Heidelberg Catechism, the first question is, or the answer to the first question, why are we here? Is basically that. Yes. To know God. Yes. And enjoy him forever. And enjoy him forever. I mean, but to have a relationship with God is the very reason we exist. We live in a culture that militates against that idea, but we live in a culture that's insane. So you have to understand this is the most important thing. But how we do that, my goodness, I said having friends around us who live this out, that's the key.

But I also think reading good books, going to a church that has a good balance between worshiping God and teaching. But I think – let me just say this. our faith is supposed to be a 24-7 thing. We're supposed to live out our faith every minute. It doesn't mean we talk about Jesus every minute, but it means that it informs everything we do and think and who we are. And I think the problem with American Christianity is that's not been the case.

We act like it's this kind of little thing over here on the right side and, you know, every now and again. But it needs to be who we are. And so I'll leave it at that. Can we get to an easier question? Okay, here's one. Bummer that I missed you in Bethel, Connecticut recently. When will you be back around this neck of the woods in Connecticut? No, you missed your chance, pal.

Oh. Hey, what do you want from me? No, it's simple. Anytime somebody invites me to speak in a church, you know, you can go to my website, Ericmetaxis.com. You should go there anyway, sign up for my newsletter, folks. Please go to Ericmantex.com today, sign up for the newsletter. But you can invite me, and I'd be delighted if I can do it.

So please, yeah, please invite me. Yeah, because another person asked, when are you going to go on a speaking tour across the country? I love your books and your podcast. So you've got to ask, right? I think people don't understand the way this works. I can't just go on a speaking to. I can't just show up places and start speaking. I have to be invited.

So if you know of a big church or an organization, whatever, that would want to invite me, I would be delighted. I do this all the time. Yeah. I'm going to, where am I going? I'm going to Colorado Springs. This weekend, I'm going to, actually I'm going to D.C., going to Colorado Springs. I'm going to Murphy's Borough, Tennessee. I get around, but you have to invite me.

I can't just show up, so go to Ericmetaxis.com and let's see what we can work out. Okay. How can I get information on the black coat regiment? The black coat regiment? I think the term that I'm aware of is the black robe regiment. And I don't have an easy answer for that. But the Black Robe Regiment, let me just say, a black robe is what most of the 18th century ministers in America wore when they preached. And the Black Robe Regiment refers to ministers who understood that the gospel that they're preaching from the pulpit has political ramifications.

And if you're dealing with tyranny, you have an obligation to speak. against it. And of course, that has ramifications today. There's no, there are no borders on the truth. The truth is the truth. And you can't, you can't keep it in a box of religion or you can't, it just, so the Black Robe Regiment, these were the ministers at the time of the revolution who were speaking of their congregations about the tyranny and how we have a moral obligation to stand against tyranny. Yeah, and just so you know, David Barton, on the The Glenn Beck Show talked about that. So you could probably find you through wall builders.

You know what? Thank you, Albin. Wall builders. Check out wall builders. That's probably the first place. I should have thought of that right away. Thank you. Okay.

Thoughts, Eric. Thoughts on the Australian internment camps. Oh, in Australia, yeah, they're putting unvaccinated people in internment camps. And yeah, listen, they're just trying to keep them safe. Yeah, come on. It's no problem with that. I feel safer up here in America already. Yeah.

That's what the gulag is for, keeping people safe. from freedom. That's what Siberia's for. Actually, there's nothing sicker than a great country like Australia stooping to this level of tyranny. So my thoughts are that they're bad. I'm against them. Okay. Are you going to do an L.U.

Convocation at some point? An L.U. Convocation, that's a Liberty, you know, University Convocation. I've spoken at Liberty University at their convocation. I don't have any plans to speak there soon. But once again, I'll say what I said before, if they were an invite me, I'd be thrilled to speak at Liberty. I love Liberty University. In fact, I'm affiliated with them through their, I always say Faith and Freedom Forum, but I don't remember the name of it. But in any event, I'm a fan of Liberty. How cool is David Burlinson?

Not that cool. Would you come to speak at my church? Here's another one. Come on, Eric, where are you? I'd probably get back to David Berlinski. Actually, he is very cool. He spoke at Socrates in the city a few years ago, and if you want to know who he is,

go to Socratesandecity.com. He's brilliant. He's written an agnostic, but he has written many books. Some of them brilliantly critical of Darwinism. And I have to say he's, the man is brilliant, but he's also very entertaining for a good introduction to him. Go to Socrates in the city.com. But yes, he's extremely cool. If you could recommend one book for all of America to read, what would that book be?

Well, that's easy, the Bible. Yeah. I mean, but that's such a big book that I almost want to say start with the Gospels with Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and even then, maybe just start with John. But what other answer could I possibly? There's not, there's not, only one book in the history of the universe that was authored by God through people. And so the Bible. But when it says America, I have to, I'm going to get another plug for my book if you can keep it. I wish I could give that book to every single American, because I feel like if we knew what was in that book, which is, it's the easiest of all my books to read, but it was the hardest book for me to write. No kidding. No kidding. But if you can keep it, it's sort of a primer on what it means to be an American and how we've

lost that and how we need to get it back. But I would have to say that's why I wrote it. I feel very an urgency about that. Okay. So what's the next book that you're working on? Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Oh, that's a great one. Yeah. Okay. Shall I move on? Sure. How do you feel about the Supreme Court decision? about vaccine mandates. Gosh, we talked about this the other day. The fact that the court decided 6-3 to slap down Biden's

monstrous overreach is, on the one hand, good, and on the other hand, depressing. It's depressing to me that the Supreme Court, first of all, that it wouldn't be 9-0, that anybody on the Supreme Court would be so. so out of touch, which what I like to call the American Constitution, that they could conceivably

not understand something that it's the ultimate softball. Like, it's stunning to me that it had to be six to three. But it's also stunning to me that it had to go to the Supreme Court. Yeah. You know, it's kind of like if Biden said that everybody has to get like a chip implanted in their forehead and the Supreme Court decided, nah, maybe that's not constitutional. I wouldn't be happy. I would say, well, it's nice, but it ought never have been proposed in the first place. And how is it possible that there's somebody in the White House who conceivably thought that this might be constitutional? I mean, it's just simply staggering that we have leaders in America. And by leaders, I'm talking about, you know, political hacks who have been in the system for 50 years that could conceivably be this out of touch with the most basic parts of,

of what it means to be an American. The worst thing is, if they did suggest, if Biden did suggest a chip in the forehead, it would be six to three on the Supreme Court. I was going to say that's what's so creepy. I think if you want to know how it's possible for elected leaders to be that out of touch, you realize that we have Supreme Court justices that are themselves

that out of touch with what it means to read the Constitution. So that's, That's hard. It's hard. So, I mean, you know, it's like we dodged a bullet, but I would have preferred that we weren't shot at in the first place, you know, in the vaccine. And I do think that we talked to somebody from the lines defending freedom a couple days ago, and he was helping us understand how Kavanaugh got it wrong on the medical mandates. But anyway. And what's going to happen with the abortion issue is coming out soon enough, too? Yeah, this is, this is all simultaneously encouraging and discouraging, so we better go to a break. In case you haven't been paying attention, the Biden administration has caused a financial crisis and they have no clue how to fix it. Oil prices have skyrocketed. And when oil prices go up, the cost of transportation and shipping spikes leading the prices of goods to rise.

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They can also ship gold and precious metals safely and securely to your house. Call Legacy at 866-528-1903 or visit them online at Legacy. PM Investments.com. Make like Mr. Milk toast. Hey, folks. We return to yet another segment of Ask Metaxus. People have asked so many questions. Yeah, I love it.

And hey, folks, I've got answers. I don't know if there are answers to these questions, but we'll try to get them matched up. So, Albin, what's the next question? I love this next question to start us off here. Did you see our current situation ending better than the one Bonhofer suffered? I just have to say a lot of these. questions are phrased awkwardly.

Yeah, you are. Regular people are writing in. It's awkward. Did you see, I think maybe the question is, do you see our current situation ending better than the one Bonhoeffer suffered? Yes, I do. Yes, I do. But it's only because people are fighting. It's only because people refuse to shut up. Folks, I don't care what the injustice is. If you don't speak about it, you are part of the problem. There are tons of Americans praying for this nation, tons of Americans who see what is happening and who are doing things, who are running for office, who are getting in the faces of their school board, who declined to shut up about whether the election was real, about whether January 6th was a Reichstag, burning of a Reichstag moment or an actual insurrection. A lot of Americans are waking up, and I think they're understanding that if you don't,

get involved, you are absolutely part of the problem. So I believe because of that, because the prayers of the faithful, we will get through this. I don't know how. I don't know the details. But I do believe that the story of Bonhofer was given to us essentially as a warning to say that if you don't wake up, if the church in America doesn't wake up and speak up, you will go down this path. So I don't see that happening, but I don't think it's going to be easy. I think we have to fight. Not to speak is to speak.

That's the poster. You can get it at my store.com. Get the poster. Okay, there you go. Okay. Why isn't prayer in school legal? Well, prayer in school is not illegal. What happened, was it Brown v. the Port-Fitt?

I always forget what was the ruling. In the early 60s, the Supreme Court decided that to have officially sanctioned, Sanctioned prayers in the public schools violated the separation of church and state. Basically, I'm summing it up. And I get that, right? It is a little complicated because you cannot have the American government officially sanctioning certain kinds of prayers. I actually think they overstepped their balance. So when you say prayers in schools are illegal, we can all pray.

We can and ought to pray, but it does make sense that you wouldn't want to make a Muslim kid or a Buddhist kid or a kid whose parents or atheists feel uncomfortable. And I think that that stuff properly ought to be outside of the bounds of public school. But you still have to and ought to teach morality in public school. and you can still talk about the Ten Commandments. So that's another complicated. These are great questions, complicated. Oh, you're going to love this one. Is communion symbolic or the real blood and body of Christ?

What? Huh? Can you imagine, like, the idea of having some cavalier answer to that one? This is, I guess, I'm not a Roman Catholic, but Flannery O'Connor, the great Flannery O'Connor said, if it's a symbol, then I say, to hell with it. I'm inclined to go along with the great Flannery O'Connor.

Interesting. Okay. Will Donald Trump run for president again? This is like the Magic 8-ball. Magic A-ball. What does it say? I guarantee you. I mean, I would be stunned if he didn't run, and I would be

even more stunned if he didn't win. I think that I think that he has to play it. He's always been good at being coy. And I think he's been coy. He knows what he's doing. But I think that he will certainly run again and he will win and he should. Yes, he should. Do you ever think of moving out of the state? Out of the state? The state. Of New York? Yeah, that's what it seems like, yeah. Well, it's the city of New York that has the problems. It's not the state. That's true.

And do I ever think of it? I think of it all the time. I don't see that happen. But I'm sure I think of it. It's curious. But listen, I'm called to a hardship post. I get 1.5, you know, times the salary for being willing to live in this hardship post. There you go. Okay. What meds did you take for COVID? I took them all. What do you got? Hydrochloroquine, Ivermectin. NyQuil? Yeah, I took everything. I did take I did take. I did take. I did take. I did take. I detect hydrochloroquine. I took vitamin D, vitamin C. I mean, I... Zinc? I took a lot of stuff. Yeah, that's a really boring answer. I apologize. How are you navigating NYC unvaccinated? Well, I think that you can still eat outside, which I actually have always preferred to eat at restaurants outside.

So that's kind of it. And I don't... I obviously, I don't have a vaccine card. But I actually don't have a moral problem with people who have fake vaccine cards. I have no moral problem because this is to me it's so ridiculous that you're being required to have a vaccine card to get in places that I have absolutely no problem with somebody doing that. Yeah. Unfortunately, a lot of New York City restaurants have outdoor seating and they have the heaters and it's actually kind of fun in the winter to eat outdoors in New York. What should we do in Australia? So somebody writing from down there saying, What should we do down here, down under? You know, I don't know enough about what's going on in Australia.

Oh, we're going to a break. We'll get back to that when we come back. Folks, Eric Matakis is here. Somebody just handed me a piece of paper with insane information on it. But I know it's true because the other day, I literally got a phone call from Mike Lindell telling me, Eric, you got to check out. And then he tells me about this towel special, right? And he says, you've got to tell your audience. Okay, so here's the special.

3999, if you use the code Eric, normally $109.99. We're talking about the towels that work. We've talked about this before. It's a technology where the towels actually do the job of being absorbent and, you know, you know that whole thing. So they're amazing towels, but you can get a set of six towels for $39.99. You have to use the code, Eric. Go to mypillow.com. click on the new radio listener specials, or you can call 800-978-3057.

800-98-3057. Use the code, Eric. We used to laugh, used to cry, used to bow. Wow, we're doing Ask Mataxis and Ask Mataxis Marathon. Yeah. The question is, the last question was, what should we do in Australia with all the, they're really, I mean, they're really suffering. People, if you love freedom and you're living in Australia,

having a hard time, I don't have an answer. I don't know what to do. But I think the kind of same thing I would say to do anywhere. You need to stand up, speak out, and be strong. Wondering if what's going on down there, how soon might it be coming here, and what are we going to do? Okay, here's a fun question. Let's get to this one.

Who would you rather be trapped on an island with? Chris Himes or Albin, me. That's like a nightmare scenario. Like the very idea of being trapped on an island with anyone, much less you or Chris Himes, I'm going to have to pass on that. What a nightmare. What a horrible thing.

I just picture like we would become cannibals and like we'd be chasing each other, you know, like at some point. I'm thinking those little drinks with umbrellas in them. That's what I'm thinking. Well, you're a happy guy. Okay. But I like beer on tap.

So what are you going to do? What is your main source of research? I don't have a main source for research. I mean, if you're doing research on a book, anything. I mean, you'd have to, you know, books in general. So that's a question. I don't know if there's an answer to that. You're going to the days of hanging out in the library, right?

And going through stacks. Okay. Not a question, this person writes, but I love your clothing style. Well, that's very nice, but it's not a question. So I will simply say thank you. What book are you currently reading? Well, when I'm on the road signing books, sometimes people give me books, and I want to say to them, please don't do that because I don't have room in my luggage. Usually I don't have room in my luggage, but I don't want to throw it out. And then if I accept the book, will I be able to read it? So sometimes people give me books and I end up reading those. Actually, that's not true. I can't read them because I have so many friends that have written books and so. much research that I'm doing. What I am reading right now is a short, poorly written book.

And I can say this because it was written 200 years ago, so I'm not insulting the author. But I've gotten involved or I've gotten very interested in the life of Timothy Dwight. He was the president of Yale from 1795 to 1817. And he is widely acknowledged to be one of the geniuses and heroes of that era. As we may remember, French Enlightenment rational and deism had really affected the West. I write about this in my book on Wilberforce, and Dwight was a hero of the faith who preached sermons at Yale

and really had a gigantic effect on the student body and really turned them back to faith away from, you know, the Enlightenment rationalism of the French, which was au courant at that time. So I'm reading a really crummy memoir that somebody wrote about Timothy Dwight. It really is terrible, but it's the only thing that exists. I'm finishing up Good Kills by David Englehart, the NYC pastor who we've had on the show. It's terrific.

It's terrific. A great great thing. David Englehart, Good Kills. That's a great book. I read that two weeks ago. Is the LDS a true Christian church? Okay, LDS is Latter-day Saints, otherwise known as Mormons. Is it a true Christian church? Well, it depends how you define Christian church.

The way I define Christian church, no, it is not. Now, there are many Mormons that are wonderful people, but I couldn't say that the theology of the Mormon church is not even close to Orthodox Christian faith. I mean, my arbiter is always the Nicene Creed. Anybody who can sign off on the Nicene Creed is a Christian, is a mere Christian the way C.S. Lewis would define Christian. But the Mormon theology is, it just doesn't come anywhere close to that. So you can be a

nice person and a good person who's a Mormon. And I think there are many Mormons who actually do believe in Jesus and have, you know, better theology than a lot of Christians. But officially, no, I would have to say certainly not. And don't remember, don't forget, you can't spell Nicene without nice. Moving on, would you be interested in writing a biography on one of the founding fathers, if so, who? Yeah, people often ask me, you know, or suggest that I write biographies about people. And I think writing a biography is a gigantic effort, but there are any number of founding fathers and other figures about whom I would be interested in writing.

I can't think of anybody offhand. I mean, George Whitfield probably would be the first one. Benjamin Rush. There are a few. Yeah, good. What is some advice you received that changed your life? Hedy. In my book, Fish Out of Water, I talk about when I was about 13, my uncle Joe, he overheard me say something disrespectful about my dad. and he sat my brother and me down and just kind of gave us a talking to

and at the heart of the whole thing was that we need to respect our father but the line that he repeated over and over it was like a sermon was because he's your father and I will never ever forget it he didn't raise his voice but it was so power the moral authority

that he had my uncle I really loved my Uncle Joe. But I will never forget that. And I write about it in fish out of water. But it really, it changed my life. It made me think about my dad in a different way. I remember reading that in the book. And yes, it's very powerful. Do you wear Oliver people's glasses? Not his glasses personally, but I guess the brand, right? Yes, these are Oliver People's glasses. Oh, hey, that's great. Why is your program on TBN not a one hour long program? Love Your Heart and your program. Why is my program on TBN not one hour long? I don't make these decisions. Hey, people, I don't make these decisions. But you know who does? His name is Matthew Crouch. She's a friend. I'm going to give you his phone number. Hang on a second. Actually, you know what? I don't want to do that to Matt. But I would love to do more with TBN. But, you know, they have a lot of programs on there. So I can't exactly.

I can't insist. But thank you for your very generous sentiment. Uh-oh, here's a heavy one. What are your thoughts on Brett Kavanaugh? I don't have any thoughts on Brett Kavanaugh, except that I hope that he does the job that he's supposed to do, which is call balls and strikes, Brett. All right.

We have a final short segment. Unbelievable. Folks, we're doing Ask Mataxis. It's a marathon. We'll be right back. Hey there, folks. We've come to the lightning round of Ask Metaxis and go. Go.

How do you feel about the metaverse? I'm against it. Next. What are your goals for 2022? What are my goals? To have a mainstream national TV talk show. To have the Bonhofer film produced and in the can. I think that's going to happen.

And to, I guess, to visit. at the dentist every six months. That's those are the three. Okay, that's good. Thoughts on Kanye's diss track released a few days back. Let me just say, I love Kanye so much. I want to meet him and get to know him. I love that guy. His faith is real. And so my thoughts are, I don't know. Okay. Have you ever had any doubts about your faith? No. I've had struggles. I've had questions, but when I came to faith around my 25th birthday, it's just so real that I don't, you know, when people said, do you have doubts about your faith?

My faith isn't really an intellectual faith. It's a visceral, you know, when you meet Jesus, like actually meet him, you may have a million questions, but like fundamental doubts on whether he's real, by the grace of God, no. Okay. Get ready to play favorites. Who had a greater impact on their culture, Wilberforce, or Bonhoffer? That's easy.

Bonhofer had like no impact on his culture. That's the problem because the German people didn't listen to him. Wilberforce had a tremendous. Actually, most of my Wilberforce book is about all the other stuff that he had, the effect on the culture, not just the slave trade. So that's kind of an easy one. The answer is Wilberforce. How is your dad's health? P.S. You are the best podcast, Truth, with a little bit of sassy comedy.

Sassy? Yeah. It's like I'm wearing a sassy hairstyle. What is that? Sassy. Thank you. My dad, he's doing much, much better. I cannot tell you how kind that is for you to ask that. But thank you. Favorite meal? Usually the next one. There's an untucked shirt under that suit jacket, isn't it? Yeah, I disapprove of that whole untucked shirt thing. But it's not like a moral issue, but I'm not an untucked kind of guy. And this ties in. Eric, where do you get your fine menswear?

that's a weird question. Where do you get your fine menswear off of the internet? Many different places. I don't know. I feel like I need to write about this. I think I need to write about this. Are you writing seven more women impatiently waiting? Absolutely love all your books.

You know what? I've written most of seven more women, and we had, Zondervan was going to publish it, but they decided not to, which is strange, but that's their right as a publishing house. So it is not currently slated to be published. I don't know why Zondervand made that decision, but we were doing it. And so I don't know when it will come out. It will come out.

I care very deeply about that series, seven men, seven women, seven more men and seven more women. But the answer is I don't know. Okay. Do you believe in a literal seven-day creation? You know, I get this question all the time. Do I believe in a literal seven-day creation? And that's the most ridiculous thing. Everybody knows God did it in six days.

So the very idea that somebody who calls himself a Christian would not know that is outrageous. Outrageous, I tell you. Albin, can you believe that we even get questions like that? I don't know. Okay. How do I sign up for the newsletter, softball? Ericmetaxis.com. And I do want to say this, since we got knocked off of YouTube, a lot of people say, yeah, I used to see you on YouTube.

Folks, please, please sign up for the newsletter at erikmetaxis.com. Fortunately for us, we're out of time. Thank you.