The Michael Knowles Show - Atheists, Covid, and Aliens: YES or No | Kirk Cameron

Episode Date: October 19, 2024

In this exciting episode of YES or NO, Michael Knowles is joined by actor and author Kirk Cameron as they tackle some of the most thought-provoking and challenging questions.      Be sure to check ...out Kirk Cameron’s new book, Born to Be Brave, where he inspires readers to stand strong in their faith and lead with courage. You can grab your copy here: https://amzn.to/3YtDsvX     Today’s Sponsor:   Hallow - Try Hallow for 3 Months FREE at https://hallow.com/Knowles Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Kamala Harris is black. That's going to get me into trouble. I keep getting conflicting reports. You know? What time is it? What day is it? Welcome to another exciting episode of yes or no. In this episode, I am at a great disadvantage for a number of reasons.
Starting point is 00:00:35 I'm up against a beloved cultural figure, a man who has significant, advantage on me in terms of wisdom because he's now a grandfather and a man who's not even drinking. So I might be sloshed and he might totally win the game. That would be, of course, the great Kirk Cameron. Kirk, thank you for coming on the show. My pleasure. It's an honor to be here. Now, sober. So you have this book born to be brave, out now and everyone should get it immediately. I have, I haven't even written another book in like four years. All I have is a board game or a little card game, the yes or no game, with the yes or no politics, philosophy, and religion expansion pack. And I fear, Kirk, not only are you brave, but you are wise, and you have the wisdom that comes with maturity.
Starting point is 00:01:26 I will pull a card. I will read the prompt. You will move my martini glass based on how you think I would answer the question. Then we'll flip it. I will move your coffee cup based on how I think you would answer the question. That's how it's played. Okay. Ready? Got it. Feminism is one of my favorite quotes in the history of politics. From the great Pat Robertson, I believe. Feminism is a socialist anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians.
Starting point is 00:02:03 It's an actual quote from Pat Robinson. And what do I think you're going to say about that? Wow. I'm not a hundred, I'm sorry, first time playing the game, if I'm not a hundred, if you don't, if I don't think you agree 100% with the quote, but say 90% of the quote, do I go with 90% yes or it's got to be all or nothing? No, it could be, if I, if a reasonable person might assent, you know, we don't, no one agrees with everyone on every single thing most of the time.
Starting point is 00:02:33 So if there's, say, 90%, probably that would be an agreement. Oh, okay, okay. Well, Kirk, it was an easy one, in fact, because I do agree. 100% with Pat Robertson. Okay. Which part did you think I was skeptical? I turned him into lesbians. There may be some who still want to sleep with men.
Starting point is 00:02:56 But everything else from, you know, aborting children to ultimately an attack on the family structure and all that kind of stuff. These things are critical when we're seeing the fallout of that today. And you talk about it all the time. So that wasn't too... You're right. It was a simple one. And even, you raise a good objection on the lesbian part, because some of them are not lesbians,
Starting point is 00:03:19 but also because the left has gone so far in the sexual revolution ideology, they now kind of deny that lesbians exist because a lesbian is a woman who is attracted to other women, but now the left denies that women even exist as a category. So they've almost abolished lesbians. The one that people always clutch their pearls on is the witchcraft thing. Yeah. But, you know, in modern life, the new age. occult pseudo-religion is extraordinarily prevalent. I mean, people all the time with their little
Starting point is 00:03:51 crystals and their kind of vibes and their woo-woo, rakey stuff. That is just, in a prior age, would have been referred to as witchcraft. Yeah, that's right. But it's kind of ubiquitous. You see it everywhere. People are into that. I'm a spiritual person. I'm not a religious person, but I'm a spiritual person. It usually means they've got some sort of a crystal or something. Yes. I have observed that, you know, religion is a habit of virtue. that inclines the will to give to God the service he deserves. That's like a to mystic, basic definition of religion. And so when someone says, I'm spiritual but not religious,
Starting point is 00:04:23 it means that they're spirits, but they don't give to God what he deserves, which is the definition of a demon, actually. Because a demon is not corporeal, a demon is purely spirit, but a demon rejects God. Won't give him what he deserves. Yeah, I see what you say.
Starting point is 00:04:38 They don't mean to say that, but they kind of are saying. But by definition, they're sort of saying the same thing. And I'm thinking of this. scriptures that say that you believe in God good, even the demons believe in God, though, and tremble. Right, right. And so there you have it. Right.
Starting point is 00:04:55 Okay, you're up. Kamala Harris is black. That's going to get me into trouble. Now, you're going to decide what you think. Kamala Harris is black. Kamala Harris is black. That's it. That's the statement.
Starting point is 00:05:19 Okay, wait. I keep getting conflicting reports. You know? What time is it? What day is it? I'm going to go. I'm going to go with what I think. Okay, now, hold it.
Starting point is 00:05:33 Don't tell me. No, I'm not going to tell you. Okay. This is just, now, so you've got your answer in your head. Yes, I've got my answer. I would answer that yes, she is black. Yeah. I agree, basically.
Starting point is 00:05:49 Yeah. There are all these questions we've been raised at the level of the campaign and by people in the media that she's not black. Her mother was Indian and her fault. But it seemed to me, well-established, her father was at least somewhat black. It was an Afro-Caribbean guys professor at Stanford. But then there were all these questions. Well, you know what convinced me was when I heard her speaking at that rally. And then the accent came out. And it was like, you know, it just. But she also, by that logic, might be Hispanic. Because when she spoke at that other
Starting point is 00:06:20 rally, she started doing like a Chiquita banana impression and hello, mommy. And so I don't, but I don't think she's Hispanic. She's never done. an Indian impression. No, not that I remember. She hasn't campaigned in, I don't know, the Lower East Side or something. She could get a lot of votes there. Okay. This is a fun game.
Starting point is 00:06:37 I like this game. This is great. But neither one of us have had anything to drink. You make a good point. Chin Chin. We can celebrate that we both got in the East. Because we can drink. You don't have to, but we get to.
Starting point is 00:06:50 Okay. Now, how do you prepare your martinis? I'm just curious. Eric Mataxis likes them very dirty. I don't. I like a touch of, now, Eric Matackis, I think basically opens up a salt shaker and just pours it all in there. He does. You know, you know what? He actually, he asks the waiter to just put the brine from the olive can into the
Starting point is 00:07:11 Yeah, I like it. You can see it's a little cleaner. I'm a little nervous about cardiovascular problem. I don't need that, but I do blue cheese, olive, gin, touch. You look at a glass of vermouth from across the room. That's probably sufficient. Yeah. And although the problem is, we film this show, Kirk. It's not, it's not, it's not, uh, it's not, uh, you know, 8 o'clock here at night. This is a little earlier in the day. So my producers make me have a martini, and the rest of my day is shot. Well, that's the only reason I agreed to do the show and play the game against you, was knowing that
Starting point is 00:07:40 I would have a little stimulant in my iced coffee, and you would have a bit of a depressing. Yeah, I know. Does anyone have Zinn that I can just start snorting them or something? Okay. I see technically actors who kiss other actors who are not their spouses on camera commit adultery.
Starting point is 00:07:57 So you're answering for me. And this is being read like in the first person. Yes. So this is what I think. Technically actors who kiss other actors who are not their spouses on camera commit adultery. Oh, I have to guess what you're going to think. Yes. Oh.
Starting point is 00:08:13 Oh. Your producers are good. They're making this difficult. Had you asked me three, four years ago, I would have said no. today, I am totally Cameron-pilled on this question. I actually believe, you know, I've had a little bit of an acting career, somewhat less successful than your acting career, but I've played all sorts of roles, and I always thought, oh, it's you're living truthfully in imaginary circumstances, and it's no big deal, and those are. But no, actually, you're a composite of body and soul.
Starting point is 00:08:57 The things you do actually do have moral import. And if you're a... you're a good actor, then you really are given over to the passions of the role in the circumstance. And so it's kind of suspect. That certainly is what you attempt to do. And I would consider myself probably, I don't know, probably below mediocre as an actor. I don't think that's fair. I don't think that's fair. Watch the left behind movie. But when I have done well, it was because of an acting coach who taught me how to cry. on the spot. And the way to do that was very interesting. And it was very, you reach down very deep into your emotions. And you try to honestly believe what you're doing. If you're faking it,
Starting point is 00:09:46 you can maybe pull that off once. I thought of my grandma who passed away. And then you're done with your close up. But now you've got a two shot and you've got the other actor to give something to. And so you've really got to go there. And so to your point, you know, this is, this is, you are one composite person and you really are going there. And one easy way is to just look to your spouse or your children and ask them what they think of you making out or sleeping with this person. And if, if they're okay, you know, just throwing it into the box as well, it's just make believe. There's just, there's something, there's something that it's part of you. Yes, it's something that you really did.
Starting point is 00:10:28 Because you famously will not do this stuff on camera, even though you're a very famous actor. You say, sorry, I'm not doing this. And I remember when I read or heard that that was your stance, I remember thinking, but, you know, come on, or isn't that a little scrupulous or something? But no, I mean, anyone who's ever done a play in high school even, if you take acting seriously and you actually want to do a good job, you know, even if your co-star is like an ugly lady that you're not really attracted to, if you want to convincingly play someone who's in love with that person,
Starting point is 00:10:59 you have to try to cultivate feelings of love. And so if you're making out with somebody, you know, your lips have really touched that person. They really have given, and you've even given way in your desire and in your spirit to another person. I totally agree. Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting. Not even topics that I ever thought that I would think deeply about or would affect me personally, but then you find yourself in these situations.
Starting point is 00:11:22 And that's where I think it's good because that's where you form your convictions. Yeah. And then those convictions carry over into other areas of your life, your children. know these things. And without you having to even teach them, per se, they say, Dad, I saw how you were when I was growing up. I saw how you honored mom, or I saw the things that you did that other people made fun of you for. And I just want you to know today, that helps me in the decisions I'm making. Right. Which is such a win. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, you're up. It's more of a risk to send your teenager to public school
Starting point is 00:12:00 than it would be to buy them a motorcycle. I'm answering for you before maybe you've even answered for yourself. I say you say yes, 100%. 100%. It's so obvious. Oh, my goodness. Did you see the CDC study? This came out a day or two ago.
Starting point is 00:12:15 One in 18, one in 30 American high school students today identifies as transgender. One in 18 is gender questioning. One in 18, American high school kids don't, doesn't know if he's a boy or girl. And then that goes along with all sorts of anxiety, depression, suicide, very high increased risk of suicidality. To subject your kid to that. I mean, you are, it's not 17 out of 18 chance, but a 1 in 18 chance, you are really rolling the dice with your kid's wife. Yes, absolutely. And this is something that I've been leaning into a lot after I tried to read a children's book of virtue at a public library.
Starting point is 00:12:58 I thought I would go to the most diverse, the most inclusive libraries there were in the country, and I identified them by those who have had drag queen's story hours. Men dressed in skirts and high heels and fishnets stockings reading to children, surely they'd want my perspective in their diverse environment, and they rejected me. And said that they were inclusive, and therefore I couldn't participate. They had to exclude you. That's right, or that I wasn't the right color of skin. they were looking for authors who were of color.
Starting point is 00:13:30 And you're a white man. And I'm a white man. Okay. Yeah. So, you know, by the way, I was really nervous when I saw you at the am I racist premiere. I was nervous just the whole, not because of you, but just because I was worried that I was going to discover that I was actually racist. I might have been. Right.
Starting point is 00:13:48 Because I'm white. I'm straight. I'm conservative. I'm Christian. You're full of privilege. I'm all of these things. Yeah. And I've got six children.
Starting point is 00:13:56 four of them are adopted, three of them are half white. So I might have three children who are half races. It's terrible. Against the other half. I was against their other half. I was very nervous. But this idea of public schools being more dangerous than giving your kid a motorcycle, I think it's 100% true. Because at the end of the day, public schools have become so unsafe for children, in my opinion. My view is that they're too religious. Public schools are far too religious for my preferences. And they're so dogmatic. And the value of the sacrifice that they demand from you to their priests and their elders are, is just not even, we can't even discuss it. And I think that they've created their own worship called secular humanism, which has become the, the church,
Starting point is 00:14:54 of secular culture, and it's the worship of corporate man or human beings, and they had their own twisted Ten Commandments. I was thinking about this the other day. Now, I'm not talking about people who are genuinely struggling with gender dysphoria. I'm not talking about people who have experienced same-sex attractions since the time they were three years old, well, 13 years old, but I'm saying this was something that they don't perceive to be a choice. So I want to be compassionate and sympathetic and charitable. And I want to help. I want to love. I want to be kind. But these twisted Ten Commandments, I see them. It's L-G-B-T-Q-I-A-D-E-I. And if you don't fall in line with that dogma, that is grounds for banishment from their society. Yes. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:15:41 You will be canceled. You'll be shut down. And that kind of mafia mentality that is dogmatically pushed on children in public schools is way too religious for me. And the sacrifice, the hearts and minds and futures of your children. It's a kind of conversion therapy. Ironically, they say they hate conversion therapy, but it's a conversion therapy to their false religion. I agree. Well, well, uh, well chosen. George Washington will be the next victim of historical cancel culture.
Starting point is 00:16:11 I do have a question for your, your producer. Does he have to be the next victim or just a next victim? Do I think he's the next victim or a next victim? This says the next victim. The next victim. That's an important read. Oh. Very good question to ask.
Starting point is 00:16:35 Okay, I have my answer. So you've got to move my... He certainly will be a next victim. I don't think he'll be the next victim because he's harder to get. So I think they'll go after, if they haven't already, I think they'll go after Jefferson first. They've already done Columbus pretty effectively.
Starting point is 00:16:52 I think they'll go after Jefferson first. They've tried to do Jackson. They'll succeed with Jackson when they take him off the 20. I think they'll go after, I don't know. Probably not Ben Franklin, though maybe. He got a little hansy with the gals in France, according to certain reports. Maybe he'll be a Me Too victim. But Washington, he was so virtuous in so many ways.
Starting point is 00:17:12 They'll get him, for sure. They hate him. But I think he'll be two or three down the line. Okay. All right. But I'm glad, you know, when you asked that question, I feared you were going to say, no, he'll be a next victim, but I need that. but I'll get at least one point. Yeah. Well, with everything that's going on in the country right now,
Starting point is 00:17:29 and as they're continuing to dismantle people's understanding of history and the founding and the need for the Constitution and the value of the Constitution, and then we can, you know, with all of the racism stuff that's going on, I just, I figured Washington is definitely on their hit list. It is. He's a big scalp, too, is the thing, because he's the father of the country. That's right. And, you know, I anticipated this. Yes. Not this question, but this issue. And so That's why I've made sure that I have prepared myself with my card here. And look, lo and behold, who is on the front of this card. This is your white privilege card.
Starting point is 00:18:05 Yes. And that's George Washington right there. Yes. So it says you've been a member, Kirk Cameron right there, member since birth. Makes sense. I'll cover up your card number here. I'll take note of it for myself, but then I'll cover it up here. White Privilege card.
Starting point is 00:18:20 This is it. the pinnacle of all humanity, you have arrived, you hold in your hands the key to happiness, success, infinite wisdom and power, you can do anything. Wow. Is that not the most ridiculous idea you ever heard? Where do I get my white privilege? And look at, you see, and this has got substance to it. So this was made by a guy, Joel Patrick, who I met at the MRI's premier. And, you know, the idea that the left has bestowed a, Upon you and upon me and George Washington, such privilege, such power, such wisdom, such absolute advantage over every other kind of...
Starting point is 00:19:01 That's right. You didn't have a working teeth. That's right. And as obnoxious and as ludicrous as this whole concept is, that's where they want to go. Yeah. Is to paint guys like you and me as these monsters. And certainly George Washington has got to be up there in their top ten list. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:19:20 They'll go after Frederick Douglass soon enough. They'll go after Clarence Thomas. They already sort of did. So there are a lot of white privilege cards to go around, even to apparently non-white people. Even non-white people. That's right. Now you're up. I want one of those cards.
Starting point is 00:19:38 I love this question. Nicholas Cage is the best Buck Williams of the Left Behind movies. Wow. Wow. I have my answer. Okay. Let's see. You're not going to hurt my feelings.
Starting point is 00:19:55 No, well, I'm just answering for you. You're answering to the rules. One time, Roger... Not as though our friendship depends on this. Sir Roger Moore. Sir Roger Moore once was asked who the best James Bond was, and he said George Lazy's. So I think your answer is Nicholas Cage? You would say, no, he was not.
Starting point is 00:20:16 The best was Greg Perra. Did I get it right? You think Nicholas Cage was the best one? No, you don't. I think that you know what? Was there a third? Was there a third? Because I would say I'm definitely not the best.
Starting point is 00:20:38 But you're definitely better than Greg, for sure. All right. Without question. All right. All right. But that's, my answer was yes. Wow. My answer was yes.
Starting point is 00:20:47 Why? Why do you think so? It takes a lot for an actor to say this other guy. I don't consider myself to be like a highly skilled actor. You know, I got into acting when I was nine years old. I was 14, and I played this wise cracking teenage kid, a hormone with feet as they build me. And I was basically just playing myself.
Starting point is 00:21:05 And while I love acting, I don't miss it when I'm not acting. I'm not pining for an Academy Award-winning role. And, you know, guys like Nick Cage, they've been acting their whole life. And, you know. He's a Coppola. Yeah, yeah. And I always thought it would be great to have some kind of a, I don't know, Saturday Night Live skit or something. Maybe we could do it on your show where, like, like, two Buck Williams walk into a,
Starting point is 00:21:27 bar. And like, I walk up to Nick Cage, who's just like, he's sitting there with the martini. He's just, he does something. He's, you know, he's drinking his blues away. And I walk in and I'm like, what's the deal? What's the deal? You took over for me. They didn't even call me to do the reprisal of left behind. And you don't even believe this stuff. At least I'm a Christian. I don't know. I don't know where to take the script from there, but I thought it'd be a first thing. It's a good, it's a good opening. And he would say he's living truthfully in imaginary circumstances, you know, That's his, he's living truthfully in unwittingly true circumstances, perhaps. Noah's flood occurred before the great pyramids of Egypt were built.
Starting point is 00:22:06 Noah's flood occurred before the great pyramids. So this is presuming that I believe in a literal flood, which as far as the premise of this goes, I will not confirm or deny until you make your answer. And then that it occurred before the great pyramids of Egypt were built. So, according to accepted archaeology, we would say probably that the pyramids were built after the Noah's flood. However, I sort of believe that, now we're getting into real kind of out there stuff. I sort of think the pyramids were built with the help of demons when the earth was extremely rotten and maybe as one of the leadups to the great flood. And so I kind of believe that the pyramids could be significantly older than is commonly accepted.
Starting point is 00:23:11 Though there is this one strange fact, if, depending on whether they were built at the accepted time or earlier, Cleopatra lived closer in history to the building of the Bass Pro Shop pyramid than she did to the great pyramid. She did. However, because I'm somewhat agnostic on the question, but I lean a little bit more toward the pyramids might be older. I guess I basically accept your point. Yeah. Okay. I do not score an extra point on there. Okay, good.
Starting point is 00:23:41 Well, clearly I need to read up on this particular topic because I'm not sure. I think I remember, I think it was Ben Carson. Wasn't it Ben Carson who posited that the pyramids were built to store the grain under the leadership of Joseph in Egypt because of the great famine that came upon Egypt? I thought that was very interesting. And I thought, hmm. Of course, he was mocked for. for saying that, but I just thought it was an interesting concept, but I didn't check in the dating,
Starting point is 00:24:08 the dating of... Well, that, I suppose that would justify it was, they were out of word. Yeah, and so, and because the flood, the flood would have to be very, very old, like, significantly older than the consensus of when the pyramids were built. And that's a pretty good, okay, well, you just lost a point for yourself because that persuaded me. Sorry, Kirk. Okay, you get to change? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:24:29 Wait a minute. Do I get to change, Ben? Do I... What do you mean? I can't change? He just persuaded me. No, no, no. But this is competition.
Starting point is 00:24:37 Yeah, well, if I were competing against someone, I wouldn't try to persuade him to take a point. Do I get the point, Ben? I thought the point was marked. Ben says I don't get the point. Ben says, okay, yeah, wow. I still, that was a persuasive argument, though. The media's war on masculinity is really an attack on biblical manhood. I'll repeat the question.
Starting point is 00:24:59 The media's war on masculinity is really an attack on biblical manhood. 100%. For sure, right. For sure. 100%. My only question was, is it also an attack on sort of natural, not supernatural manhood, not necessarily biblical or Christian manhood, but even kind of natural like pagan manhood?
Starting point is 00:25:22 There's no difference. Well, except, think about this. I agree that the supernatural is sort of playing upon the natural. So it's not that they're necessarily in contradiction. But there is a kind of, you know, outside of a biblical worldview. men could be knuckle-dragging troglodytes with a whole harem who were just pillaging and burning the world, have no sense of justice or don't care for justice. And the left actually kind of supports that masculinity, right? I mean, they support these nasty men who just pursue their self-interest. I mean, many of them are their own politicians.
Starting point is 00:25:58 But I guess then in that way, they specifically their attacks on manliness are an attack on the Christian, understanding of them. The sense that I get is that much of the media wants to depict men as defective women. You know, we can just fix a few things and then you can be more like the girls. And I think that is clearly because there is inherent value to being masculine that is very scary to the left. And when you have men who are strong and bold and courageous, who are compassionate and stand for the truth, not fighting to be simply gangsters who are looking to be badasses, but men who so love their wives' children and their God and their family and their future that they're willing to defend it with their own lives. That's something that stands in the way of consolidating power in the government and advancing. Marxism or any other kind of, you know, ideology that would put these people in power.
Starting point is 00:27:16 So I think that's where decentralization of power is the biblical model. And that model is dependent upon families and families minus a biblical concept of manhood and fatherhood and masculinity is just devastating. Right. And God bless all the single moms out. out there and God bless those who are trying to do it, but fatherlessness is killing so many people in our country. And I think that we need to read, recapture a right biblical natural design of masculinity. I love what Jordan Peterson said. He said, I'm paraphrasing, but if you think strong men are dangerous, get ready for what weak men. You're right, right.
Starting point is 00:28:09 Sort of how I feel about nationalism. The lips attack Christian nationalism. You think Christian nationalism is bad. Wait till you hear about unchristian nationalism. It's a lot worse, man. Yeah. And that's so interesting. And I've tried to educate myself about all these things over the last couple of years. And this, you know, how do you respond to, you know, toxic masculinity arguments? How do you respond to Christian nationalism arguments? And, you know, women, I believe, want good, masculine, strong men, providers, protectors. Children need them. And when it comes to Christian nationalism, I think we used to correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that used to be just called Christian patriotism. We love God. We love our country. Christian country.
Starting point is 00:28:56 Yeah, my grandpa. He fought in World War II as a Navy corpsman together with the Marines on Iwo Jima. So he was a medic that pulled the guys back on the island of Iwojima. And he would have been called a Christian nationalist, but you know who really hates nationalists and who came up with the term? Globalists. Globalists, by definition, hate nationalists because they want there to be just one great big nation. So they're the biggest capitalists of all. They're the biggest nationalists of all. They just want to be the only one. Yeah, yeah. And then like a little sort of atheist globalism. I don't know. I kind of prefer more of a Christian nation. It's probably a little bit better, you know. Yeah, where the power is actually distributed to families. Yeah, yeah.
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Starting point is 00:30:25 I have not even told you the best part yet. The British survival expert and TV star Bear Grills will be one of the guides. You definitely need a British guy. to narrate C.S. Lewis. He's perfect for it. He will be joined by my friend and Catholic podcaster Matt Frad and Father Gregory Pine. You won't want to miss it. Plus, Hallow has some great content for election week to help us keep our sanity. I'm sure we're going to need it. Download Hallow for three months free at hallow.com.com slash NOLES. That is hallo.com.com slash Noles. Download the app for free, join the challenge at hallo.com.com slash Noles for an exclusive three-month free trial of all
Starting point is 00:31:04 10,000 plus prayers and meditations. Okay, method acting is psychologically dangerous. To clarify our terms here, we're talking about the school of acting, popularized by Brando and his ilk, comes from Russia, very psychological. You know, some proponents of it are Stanislavski, obviously, Straussberg, Udhaagen, Meisner, Stella Adler, that school in the 20th century where, you know, you're really I don't know, you're really in your own head. And it is psychologically dangerous.
Starting point is 00:31:43 You're answering for me. Oh, I'm answering me. Sorry, I was on the other side of the game. What's in this coffee? I know. I think Ben might have put a little Tennessee whiskey in there for me. For sure. For sure.
Starting point is 00:32:02 It seems to me, I don't know. I'm sure you've met. Well, you've run in actually kind of circles with nice actors, but I'm sure you've met a lot of crazy ones too. the vast majority, even of really good people I like in show business, vast majority of them, especially who engage in modern acting techniques, are completely insane, completely nuts. And they sort of have to be because,
Starting point is 00:32:28 that is an acting teacher once. Great acting teacher was assistant for Meisner back in the 50s, was very much involved in this kind of acting. And he said, you know, to be an actor, you have to be a gullible fool because you have to believe the circumstances. the movie or whatever. And so if you're constantly giving yourself over to all of these other circumstances, personalities, desires, objectives, all this stuff, it kind of twists your mind a little. It messes with you. It does, right? I think so. Absolutely. I've never studied Misenor. I've never
Starting point is 00:33:00 studied the, you know, this method of acting. But to the degree that I'm not, to the degree that I I've done well acting, you go there deeply. Yeah. Do you want me to teach you how to cry on cue? Please. This was taught to me, and I can teach you. I'm going to give you the warp speed version of the lesson. A little pin in your pocket.
Starting point is 00:33:24 That's what you'd think, right? You would think that you need to think of something really sad, Michael, or have some little person like sticking you with pins underneath the table to make you cry. Well, that might work once or twice. But really, what I did is I had a scene on an old show called Touched by an Angel. And the scene was I was a mailman who had a little nine-year-old boy who would wait for me in his Spider-Man costume and wait for the mail. And his dad was a drunk and his mom was missing. And he adopted me as like his father figure.
Starting point is 00:33:59 I wasn't paying attention one day as the driver looked at my phone and I ran him over. I then had to go apologize to the drunk father for running a woman. over his son. And I had to burst into tears. And then there was a later scene where I needed to commit suicide where I was just profusely crying. How do you do something like this? And remember, you're going to have to do it seven times. It's not like a play where you do it once in the order of the narrative. You have the wide shot, you got the close up shot, you got the super close up on the eyes. Then you got the two shots and everything else. So the method is this. We close our we being you and the acting teacher, and she creates for you an imaginary relationship that goes
Starting point is 00:34:42 back to the very beginning. And you begin to build happy memories, very warm, very comforting ties of friendship to this young boy to where your heart is completely endeared to him. He looks up to you. You are his father. And never once the thought of a sad thought, then once the relationship has been established in your mind, sufficiently, they roll the cameras, the acting coach comes up to you and whispers in your ear, my ear going, and you just ran the child over. He'll never go to the high school prom. He will never get married or have children. You did this because of your selfishness. Action. And then you're there and you're just like, what? Yeah. And then boom and the tears just start coming.
Starting point is 00:35:34 Right. If you do the work up front, yeah, yeah. It's very easy. easy and it's repeatable over and over and over. I don't know the name of it, but Warner Laughlin was the name of the teacher and she was just fantastic. It's great. It's also because it involves the imagination. Stella Adler, the acting teacher and theorist, had this line. She said, there's people who want to just make you think about your own personal life. Sometimes acting, they just think about getting dumped at prom or whatever. Because if you're trying to play Hamlet, unless you're Danish royalty, there is nothing about getting dumped at prom that will help you to play Hamley. You have to use your imagination.
Starting point is 00:36:11 And so that technique, or even like a character biography, you know, the sort of thing where you enter the scene and you know what you had for breakfast. It's not going to come up in the scene, but it just gives you the confidence to live in this character. And the ability to be present saying, I know it's in my belly right now. Yes. I had scrambled eggs and bacon this morning. Right. But that sort of thing, then, you, you cut, okay. Kirk, great job, thanks for crying a hundred times and all those different shots. Then you leave the set.
Starting point is 00:36:38 You are still convulsed with this experience. That's right. And if you were going with the method acting that we just talked about, they have more scenes to do in an hour and a half. And if you're not breaking out of that convulsing and you're still there and you're in it and you're doing that for weeks or months, that would be psychologically damaging in my view. All right. Well, when you get the point. You're up. All right. In a cage fight between Kirk Cameron and a drag queen who reads to kids in public libraries, Kirk would get absolutely destroyed, but only because the average drag queen is six foot to 190 pounds and completely drugged out on ketamine. Wow. Because you're, you know, you're a tough guy. I mean, you're, you're a, I mean, you don't get a physique like this through neglect.
Starting point is 00:37:33 That's the thing. That's the thing, correct. But it's a good point. You are not a cracked-out 6-5-X-Con, you know, with a rap sheet a mile long, who has spent your life growing in your skill at predation. So in that case, I'm going to have to say, yeah, you'd have, you'd get destroyed. Unless it were like a kind of David and Goliath thing, you know, even this mammoth sort of criminal who's got, who's got all the worst. desires in the world, you know, because you have, that that person's intellect and will be so darkened by sin and evil that because you have spiritual clarity, you might just take that little slingshot and take them out. Is that vivid enough? It, yes, it's, it's frightening to think of it. And I, I agree with you. You say, but I, but it's, it's a combination. I think I would, I would probably get beat, not because I don't know how to throw down a rear naked choke and make the drag queen tap out, but they also have weapons because they have heels, stilettos. A stiletto inside of a cage match.
Starting point is 00:38:47 Boa could kind of get your... I mean, they could pierce a jugular and that it could be over with. So that's why I often wear protective clothing. It's no knock on you. You just don't wear stilettos. Yes, I think that's fair. That's fair. Okay. Your turn. My turn. Since to pray really just means to ask. Well, it means more than that also, but it also includes to ask.
Starting point is 00:39:10 Anytime one of my Protestant friends asks me for a favor, they might as well be praying to a saint. Since to pray really just means to ask, any time one of my Protestant friends asks me for a favor, they might as well be praying to a saint. Now, I'm sorry. I'm, you're going to guess what I think or I'm guessing what you think. I'm going to guess what you think. Let me read it again. Since to pray, says Michael Knowles, really just means to ask. It's a little bit more than that, but it involves asking.
Starting point is 00:39:41 Yeah. It's like to pray like I pray these, sir. Give me a marty. Anytime one of my Protestant friends asks me for a favor, they might as well be praying to a saint. And you're answering how I would answer. Okay. This is great. I'm actually going to learn.
Starting point is 00:39:57 more about my friend Michael. Well, it would not be, I want to get the wording exactly right, it's not that you might as well be praying to a saint. I'm just me, man. You would be much better to pray to a saint than to ask me for my prayer. Because I think my prayers, being a member of the mystical body of Christ, I think my prayers have some efficacy to them, but the prayers of the saints are more efficacious than the prayers of me.
Starting point is 00:40:23 which means you are not a saint. I'm certainly not canonized. And I'm not in heaven yet. I hope for it. You know, I trust in God's love and charity and grace. But, like, if you had the option to pray to, like, Mary, Holy Mary, Mother of God, or to pray to, I don't know, St. Peter or to St. Paul, or to pray to really any of the innumerable saints, the martyrs,
Starting point is 00:40:53 their prayers would be more efficacious than mine, though mine might have some efficacy too. See, this is where you have the advantage. Well, you are Michael Knowles, so you get to answer correctly. There we go. Give me that point. I'm just guessing. But, you know, because I was an atheist who was converted by the Holy Spirit into what we would call Protestantism, I would be. I would I've been taught to view that as necromancy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that the saints are those who have been redeemed and in Christ. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:41:33 So I would call you as much of a saint as I would call Mary a saint. But then you, would you pray to Mary? No. No. And I wouldn't pray to you or to Mary. But I would ask you to pray for me. And I would certainly want to pray for you, whether you ask me to or not, I care about you and I want to. And I'm also pretty fired up about knowing that in the heavenly places, according to Scripture,
Starting point is 00:41:59 that I both have Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit interceding for me in prayer. Yes. With groanings that cannot be uttered in Christ himself at the right hand of the Father. So I feel like with you and my friends and the Holy Spirit in Christ, is covered. So you would ask me for my prayer, just as I would ask you for prayers. You would do that because you can pray directly to God. And that's great.
Starting point is 00:42:19 You have a direct line to God, which is fabulous. But you say, look, God loves his friends, and we're part of the mystical body of Christ. And so it's good to say, you know, hey, Sheila's in the hospital. Can you pray for Sheila? Yeah, yeah. So you do that. And that's not idolatrous. It's not or anything like that.
Starting point is 00:42:37 So, and my only point is because God is the God of the living, not of the dead. Yes. Because the one thing we know about the saints in heaven is that they are not dead. They're alive. That's right. So then they can just at the very least you would say. No, you just, you almost made me Catholic, right? there in four seconds. And you know what else? I often talk about in Hebrews chapter 11 or is it 12,
Starting point is 00:43:00 I can't remember, talks about the great cloud of witness. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us run the race and throw off all the sin that encumbers us. And I think of that great cloud of witnesses is almost like heaven's balcony. Yes. I think of heaven's and my minister's wife just passed away. And one of my dear, dear friends, Marshall, passed away. And one of my dear friends, Marshall passed away, and I think of them as cheering us on from Hellbhead's balcony. And I, well, I don't pray to them. I think of them so fondly, and I think, and I hope Sherry can see what we're doing, and she's cheering us on. Yeah, yeah. And it encourages me so much. So I guess, I guess I, I think you're there.
Starting point is 00:43:39 I think I'm almost there. No, because you're, you know, in a really clear example of the scene you're describing. Yeah. Is in the book of the apocalypse, the saints in heaven are holding buckets. with incense coming up. And you might say that the book of the apocalypse is a sort of mystical reading of the mass, which is a separate conversation. But the incense that's coming up is the prayers of the saints,
Starting point is 00:44:00 according to scripture. But that's just what you're saying, which is they're cheering you on. What does that mean? They're not gods, but they're like, you know, cheering from the two gods. And I would call, and I wouldn't consider my, I would consider that as a Protestant,
Starting point is 00:44:14 as necromancy. I think of it as Marshall. I hope you're seeing what's going on. Yeah, yeah. carrying on your work and that you've inspired and encouraged me. Yeah, yeah. I think you're basically there. You think.
Starting point is 00:44:23 Yeah, basically, because if they're praying for us, or even if you say they're encouraging us or they're on our side or they're rooting for us or something, which I think is all basically the same thing, then you say, all right, if they have prayers, if there are prayers of the saints in heaven, they ain't praying for the people in hell, they're damned forever, they're not praying for the people in heaven. They're in the presence of God. They don't need any prayers. They're doing everything.
Starting point is 00:44:44 They're obviously praying. They're not praying for your cats or dogs, probably. I think they're praying for us, and they're doing exactly what you're describing, which means we agree? This is a good conversation. I like this. Now, you're up. Now I'm up. I think. Do I get to drink? You get to drink. Hold on. Mr. Davies says that Kirk can't drink. No, I'm joking. No, you can't drink. No, you can't drink. It is Kirk's turn. See, well, you think I don't know how to run this show. It's amazing. The lack of faith that the control room has. But you do get to drink, and it is your turn. I've witnessed a miracle. Your answer to this? This is, I'm reading this to you. Yes.
Starting point is 00:45:24 But I'm guessing your answer. Oh, no, isn't it the other way around? No. Yeah, I guess how you would answer, I think. I've witnessed a miracle. Okay. Of course. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:45:39 Either. You have the look of the guy who's witnessed me. Well, I guess I should probably define our terms. Yeah. I guess I've never tried to really strictly define a miracle before, but I think right now I'm going to go with a divine intervention. that makes something happen. And so, I'm going to give two-part answer. Is that fair?
Starting point is 00:46:02 Yeah. Okay. Do I get two points? I don't think you get two points. I want the judges to know. No two points. So the first miracle that I would say that I recognized, and then I recognized many more. But the first miracle I recognized was my own change of heart.
Starting point is 00:46:18 Yeah. It was getting a new set of eyes through which to see the world. How old were you at this point? I was 17 years old. I was a professing atheist. at that time. Yeah, me too. You know, I wasn't Christopher Hitchens
Starting point is 00:46:29 who could like, you know, spout off all this stuff and argue the point. I just found it very amusing to laugh at people who believed in an imaginary figure hiding behind the clouds with a rainbow around his neck,
Starting point is 00:46:44 just keeping a track of the good and the bad. But then I heard a message that really got me asking existential questions, philosophical questions, what happens out there when we step out of here, what about after you die,
Starting point is 00:46:56 Is there a heaven? Is there a—all of that stuff. And when I heard the gospel message and I heard the news that God is holy, that we have fallen, and that we are deserving of his wrath because of our rebellion and wickedness and sin, and that he provided a sacrifice, deployed a rescue mission, and that through nothing that I can do to sort of like manipulate or persuade or determine the outcome, God in his mercy saved me. and he says, now believe the gospel and trust in me. And I had no idea whether that was true or not, but it sent me down a road of asking questions, and there was just something that happened when I bowed my head and said, God, make me who I'm supposed to be. If this is true, I want to know. And my heart began to change.
Starting point is 00:47:46 And I began to love the things that the scriptures say that God loves. And I began to hate the things that I used to love. and I began to rebel against and reject the sin that was once my pleasure. And I thought, why is this happening to me? This isn't giving me an advantage in my career. It's not giving me an advantage with the ladies. It's not giving me an advantage. But there's something in my heart and soul that says that it's like God,
Starting point is 00:48:14 I didn't just, a pastor friend of mine said, Kirk, if anybody ever asks you, how did you find God in Hollywood? Remember this. you didn't find God. He wasn't lost. He found you. Yeah. I'm like, yes, yes. And I can't find any other way to explain the worldview shift and the change of heart that I've had. And I would say that was the first miracle. Yeah, yeah. And it's the best kind of miracle because if I could get God to just levitate this martini in the air, that would be pretty cool. But it wouldn't change, it wouldn't change my marriage. Yeah, yeah. And it wouldn't help my children. I would just say, you're not going to believe this.
Starting point is 00:48:51 But Michael and I saw this thing happen. But when it changes the man or it changes the woman, that's the miracle that is priceless treasure. Stuff like that, this happens frequently, actually. Like we just, yesterday was the anniversary of the miracle of the sun, which was witnessed by thousands and thousands of people, believers and nonbelievers alike in Fatima, Portugal. The sun like dancing in the sky and spinning around. And this was reported widely in the press, including by people who are not Christian, who don't believe in much of anything. and people forget about it. Eucharistic miracles happen. People ignore it. Also, you know, the miracle of the sun is more important than the miracle of the levitating martini, but meaning to say
Starting point is 00:49:31 physical miracles like this do happen with some regularity and people just move on. Even people who have seen them up close, the change of the man is far more significant and enduring. The change of the man will, that could have a much wider effect, in fact. Yeah, and I think, you know, when I read through the scriptures and, you know, you have the rich man in Lazarus and you have the rich man in Abraham's bosom and he's crying out, go tell my brothers, go tell my family so they don't come to this place of torment. If a man rises from the dead, surely that they'll, they'll, and Jesus said, even if a man comes and rises from the dead, they won't believe. They've got Moses. Yeah. And if they don't believe the word of God, they're not going to believe, even if you have a great miracle like that. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:50:16 And the great miracle that I see in the scriptures is, I think, the great need that we have in humanity. And that is, someone's got to figure out how to transform the human heart. Because we're freaking wicked and evil and turn on the news. And look what people of power do and people of means and resources do to other human beings. They not only enslave them, they murder them, they traffic them, they abuse them. And they'll do it to the people that they have been whose care, they'll do it to the people that they're, They're supposed to be taken care of. And I think that actually validates the scripture even more to me.
Starting point is 00:50:50 In Jeremiah 179, which says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. That's our greatest need for a miracle is the transformation of the human heart, which comes to the gospel. Yeah. I agree. All right. I agree. I agree. This is a great game.
Starting point is 00:51:07 Now, you just, yes, you just read. So now I read. Okay. AI needs to be regulated to slow the process of mass unemployment. Okay. And now, why do I keep getting confused on who's supposed to answer? Now, you have to answer for me. I have to answer for you. Yes. And it is AI.
Starting point is 00:51:27 AI needs to be regulated to slow the process of mass unemployment. Before you answer, let me have a sip. I'll get my juices flowing. The wording makes it a little tricky. AI needs to be regulated because it is a potentially political order shift. technological advance that will have unemployment effects. And so that's part of the political process. There are other reasons, one being that self-driving cars could, like, you know,
Starting point is 00:52:09 drive into this window right now or something. You know, I mean, there's all sorts of questions. So in no small part because I want to take a point from you, I would say, yes, I don't think that one can employ AI regulations to stop the employment shifts that will occur as a result of this technology, because then you just basically see the ground to other countries. But there will have to be some kind of political regulation, just because we're not a society in service of an economy, we have an economy in service of political flourishing. And if AI does somehow put 70% of people out of work, the society simply will not tolerate
Starting point is 00:52:48 that. So there just has to be some kind of, just as there was regulation of the automobile, there will have to be some regulation of AI, even though the libertarians won't like it. Yeah. Yeah, that's getting into a level of thought and understanding that my bandwidth starts to just be full. And I'd love to have some conversation with you at some point. And as people who want free markets and people who don't want government control, at what point do you start drawing lines to say, like, okay, like we're going to shut down technology called AI because it's going to take over. and then you think, well, shouldn't we just, shouldn't the good people just be more clever to use AI to stop AI? I don't know how to answer.
Starting point is 00:53:30 Even, you don't shut down the internet because there's going to be internet porn. But you probably should regulate the internet so there's less internet porn, which they tried to do in the 90s. But that becomes the basis for the argument to regulate anything. Yeah, it can be. But, you know, there's always a hazard in any kind of political life. Yeah. But there's no, you know, politics is not a matter of five bullet points on a napkin, in my humble opinion. politics is a nitty, gritty series of compromises between different groups and powers and levels of government even. And so, you know, there is regulation over everything. And this was true, even in the early republic. You know, there wasn't federal, national regulation, but there was
Starting point is 00:54:11 very serious local regulation. Blue laws, Sabbath laws would be a good example of that. And so there are always going to be these standards and norms. And so you think, okay, we could say on the right, look, we're not going to regulate anything. Like with internet porn, say, it's not going to stop our opponents from regulating. It's not going to stop our, you know, and we can say we're not going to have norms and standards. But just as we would say in schools,
Starting point is 00:54:32 we don't want like weird porn and drag queens, you know, talking to our five-year-olds. Why not? Don't you like free speech? Well, I like free speech, but I like standards and, you know, like true freedom, right? So just as that is the case.
Starting point is 00:54:44 With something like AI, yes, there's a hazard that the bad guys will use any regulation to censor us or whatever, you know, to gain an advantage. But I don't think that recuses us from the difficult task of governing. I think we just have to, we just have to be the ones to wield power and do it in a just manner. Yeah, yeah, that's right. And I think, you know, my worldview sort of lays it out and says, that's why the self-government
Starting point is 00:55:16 and the transformation of the human heart is essential. Yeah. Because at the end of the day, no form of government can fix these problems, right? At the end of the day, you're going to find ways to weaponize laws, good laws that regulates good, you know, regulate stuff to actually regulate truth and beauty and goodness. Yeah, yeah. And so truly the only solution is a systemic solution that begins with the transformation of the person. If you have a nation of totally vicious people, you can't have a good country. It doesn't matter how nice your constitution looks.
Starting point is 00:55:49 And didn't our founder say that? Michael, didn't they say that our constitution is fit and good for only a moral and religious people? Yeah. Because essentially, you don't give freedom to a bunch of pedophilic murderers in prison. Why? Well, because they'll do bad things with that freedom. They can't tolerate. They can't wield their freedom in a fruitful way. That's right. That's right. Europe. The casting couch is still the primary route to success in Hollywood.
Starting point is 00:56:19 The primary route. The casting couch is still the primary route to success in Hollywood. Primary is the word here that gives me some trouble. It's a primary route. In Hollywood. So we're not talking about showbiz that takes place outside of Hollywood. Yeah, we're not talking about the Kendrick brothers in the movies that they make. We're talking about dirty, nasty, rotten Gomorra by the sea.
Starting point is 00:56:42 I would say, you would say yes. Not casting aspersions, anyone who's in it necessarily, but it just has a systemic matter. That's right. That's right. We're using, we only have a broad brush, you. We don't have any little ones. I would say yes, I think that is. It's interesting.
Starting point is 00:56:58 I had an interview on a show that I do with a guy named Jay Warner Wallace, and he is a homicide detective, cold case homicide detective, who has investigated more people on Dateline than anyone else, and he's solved dozens and dozens and dozens of cases that are 10 years old, 20 years old, cold. And he wrote a book, and fascinating discovery, he said, I have found that of every single cold case that I have solved, all of the motives came down to one of three things. It was sexual lust, financial greed, or power. Checks up.
Starting point is 00:57:42 And I was like, everyone? He's like, yeah, every single one of them came down to that. And it drove people to murder. And I just thought it was interesting. You know, and we're talking so much about the scriptures. That lines up perfectly to me with the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Yep. Yep.
Starting point is 00:57:58 And you see Jesus tempted in the wilderness in those areas as well. And so I think in Hollywood, this is the land of make-believe, the land of pretend, and the land that is driven by popularity, pride, finances. and sex. I mean, that's what we produce. That's what we peddle. It's what we pump out to the world. Yeah. And if you want to look at why people in other countries would call America so wicked and immoral, you don't have to look much further than Hollywood. They're not looking at Peoria or something. That's right. And when the opportunity is there, and I remember as a 14-year-old in Hollywood on Growing Paints, you know, these documentaries have come out, you know, I can't remember the name of it, but in the Shack. lurking in the shadows with the kids. Yeah, yeah. Well, some of the people in that documentary,
Starting point is 00:58:53 turns out they were my stand in. He was my stand in. Really? For years and years and years. Now, we always wondered, we had question marks, but you'd never assign something like as wicked as that to somebody. But now that I look back, I go, wow, all the signs were there, and thank God I was not a victim.
Starting point is 00:59:12 But the opportunity is there for every wicked, For every deadly sin, you know, Hollywood, you know, wrath, lust, greed, sloth, envy, malice, everything is there. And certainly, at the end of the day, the casting couch is a primary tool for the pleasure of those who are in power. But you find that in politics too, right? We look at Epstein and we look at all this stuff. We say, like, that's just where it's at. You know, there's that mall. I don't know if it's still present. statue, but it's on Hollywood and Vine, I think, or right around there. Right by, you can see
Starting point is 00:59:52 the Hollywood side in the background, and there's just a big monument of a couch on the rooftop of the mall. I remember seeing it years ago. I was out in Hollywood. I thought, wow, man, that's a little on the nose, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, I'm out. The 2020 election was rigged. I'm guessing what you're going to think? Yeah. The 2020 election was rigged. Am I guessing what you would say publicly or what I think you really think? What I really think. Ben, what does YouTube allow me to confirm and deny? Am I...
Starting point is 01:00:37 Do you have fact? Does Ben check? Yeah, Ben says I'm allowed to. Wait a minute. I know what's going to happen. If this was actually moderated by ABC, we would... We would be stopped already, and we would already fact checkers at all right. Excuse me. Excuse me, Mr. Cameron. I think you mean... I would say,
Starting point is 01:00:54 I would say, you get the point. I get the point. You get the point. Yes. How about my answer is just at least. Let's call it at least. At least. I'll leave it there. You're up. No, I think you're up.
Starting point is 01:01:09 Aren't you up? I shouldn't question. No, you're up. You're up. All right. A man piercing his ears is more suss than a man playing a half gay dude at a Yale student film. Okay, here we go. In a Yale student film.
Starting point is 01:01:23 I've played like 200 roles in my life. They always bring up the one like half gay guy I played in a Yale thesis film. How are you half gay? Well, because the guy, look, it's been a while since I was in a while. in this random student film. But the guy, I don't think he was a fully gay guy. He was just like a... Is it the character you're playing?
Starting point is 01:01:37 Yes. Yes, thank you. It was a character I was playing. This was not a real biopic. But you were not method actor at that time. I was actually trained in a kind of technical act. Okay. Stelle Adler School and all of so.
Starting point is 01:01:49 But I didn't... There was no kissing. There was no nothing. Okay, this was a... This was wholesome by the standards of Yale. But, uh... Hold on. Now, again, remind me, I'm answering for you.
Starting point is 01:02:01 I'm answering for you. It is a man piercing his ear is just more suspect. Well, it depends on, at least back in the day, I remember, it was if a guy had a, this was like the 90s, right? If a guy had a piercing on his left ear, it was okay. But if he was his right ear, he was a gay guy. But now everyone has like 300 piercings on their eyeballs. Because I have, I pierced my ear. Wow. I pierced my ear. And I purposefully went for the left ear. Yes. because I didn't want people to think that I was trying to communicate a different message. My mom didn't talk to me for three days. Really?
Starting point is 01:02:35 She really didn't. I was in Hawaii doing this episode of Growing Paints. And me and a few of my buddies, I think a couple of them got a tattoo. And I got a pierced ear. And I used to have this really obnoxious crystal ball with a cross hanging down below that I would wear on Sundays only to church. And I thought I was really cool. So this is my answer? I got an answer for you.
Starting point is 01:03:00 A man piercing his ears is more suss than a man playing a half gay dude in a Yale student film. Oh, they're both so normal now. Now the only thing is you would have to play a fully gay dude in a Yale film, I think, would be if you were doing a film at Yale. Half gay is too straight. Yeah, yeah. A man, I think your answer is no. A pierced ear is not more suss than playing a half gay guy at Yale. In no small part because, even take the half gay guy out of it,
Starting point is 01:03:38 a man piercing his ear is not more suss than really any graduate of Yale, period. There you go. That's a good point. That's a good point. And I don't really think that that's, I don't think a guy with a pierced ear is making me super suss. No, at this point, no, everyone has, I'm one of the few people in America is not purist. Yeah. I don't, maybe I could do like the eyebrows or nose.
Starting point is 01:04:06 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Something like that. This, I don't understand this one. This one's bad. I don't, I've never seen this work out. It's always someone super into like really bizarre lib stuff.
Starting point is 01:04:18 Even this one, I see perfectly normal people. The ears, whatever, stuff. But the bullhorn thing? But does it signify something? I'm saying, I don't understand. it. Like, I guess I understand, like, you know, ornaments and decorations and, and, but this one, does it mean something different than, this or this? It seems like a bullhorn. Like, it, to me, it signifies you are enslaved to something, basically. Well, traditionally, that seems to be, you know,
Starting point is 01:04:46 what you think of is, is cattle or something like that. Yeah. Yeah, I think, but people who are not always aware. They're not, they're not doing that to themselves. They're not, they're not associating that themselves, are they? They're not, people. Or, people. People. People, though, you know, sometimes people engage in signs and symbols. By the way, I'm not trying to be, I'm not even trying to be personally snarky right now. No, no. Not at all. I'm genuinely curious. I've never actually asked somebody. People, you know, it's like how the man who sins is a slave to sin, and, you know, if you're free in Christ, you know, if you're free and Christ, but you have his yoke upon you, but his yoke is easy and his burden of life.
Starting point is 01:05:15 But there is a yoke. It's the yoke of Christ, righteousness. And people fall into servitude without thinking it. They think it's freedom. I think they think that putting a bullhorn makes them really free and liberated. just like they think that committing any number of sins makes them free and liberated. But it doesn't. It does not. Signs and symbolized have a connection. All right. Oh, it's my turn. Hold on. All right. Hold on. Let's Ben reminded me. Anyway.
Starting point is 01:05:44 This is not fair. This is a year. See, you're like the political candidate in the presidential election that has the little speaker in your ear. And by the political candidate, you mean Joe Biden in that debate. Yeah. I don't want to see any names. Yeah, yeah. That's, I know, I've got to hide this better.
Starting point is 01:06:01 Actually, I can't even see it. They did a great job. See, I should have been subtler about it. Now that I'm a grandfather, and I need a hearing aid eventually, I need that. You need to hook me up with the right one because I can't even see it. Any wife with a social media presence is technically not a trad wife. Not traditional if she has a social media presence. No.
Starting point is 01:06:27 I'm an answer for you. Any wife with a social media presence is technically not a trad wife. traditional life. Before you answer, I'll drink. I need to drink too because I got to, I got to ramp up my RPMs. Yeah. I'm not saying if you have some kind of lurker Twitter account or something, or if you like are on Twitter to get recipes or something or Instagram, but women who have a social media presence, yeah, they're like taking that. That was the key phrase to me was social media presence. Yeah, it's not possible to be a trad wife, I think, if you are like an Instagram. Why not? Because you are essentially.
Starting point is 01:07:20 public-facing. So in the traditional scheme of things, the husband is public-facing, the wife is more in charge of the home economy and the private life of the family. He's the outside, she's the inside. Yeah, basically. And they're, and they're, you know, complementary in that way. They're both, you need both, but that's traditionally how it's done. And I think of a woman's posting a lot of selfies, if she's married, she is seeking validation, or at the very least, she is wittingly or unwittingly, attracting attention from men who are not her husband, and that's not very trad. That's not good for anybody.
Starting point is 01:07:54 Look, call me a knuckle-drager, call me backwards, whatever. That's just how it is. Yeah, it's so interesting, isn't it? The culture that we are in today is the only culture that many young men and women have ever known. They've never not known selfies. Yeah. and taking pictures of yourself in the mirror with your own camera and then sending it to not just your friends, but everybody in the world, that is a very bizarre concept to those of us who grew up in the 1980s.
Starting point is 01:08:30 Yeah. Yeah. Even the 90s. I couldn't even imagine what someone would have thought of me. If I took my own camera and I took a picture of myself and I sent it to all my friends, they would think I was a narcissist. You were a famous actor since you were a kid, and even still, that idea is crazy. It is. Now, I've habituated to it, and I take selfies when I'm with my family or even if I'm just promoting a book like this or something else. I'm like, hey, I'm on the Glenn Beck show or I'm with Michael Knowles, because our society is that way and my job sort of depends on it. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 01:09:07 But when you step back and think about it, it's really strange. And you're saying in the context of being a mother. Yeah, yeah, you're not a trad wife. You're a public figure who obviously you need your pictures out there. It's a different category. But if you're a woman, like just taking pictures of yourself because you think you look really good and you want all these people to see it. Look, I understand there's a culture, especially for single women.
Starting point is 01:09:32 But like if you want to be like a trad wife and mom, ain't not a lot of selfies in that culture, you know? So I'm, so I guess I want to say this because I, I, I, I guess I want to like exonerate myself a little bit here or something. Is that the right word? I think so. That's a big word. Yeah, I like it. I said eradicate once.
Starting point is 01:09:51 It got me in a lot of trouble. But exonerates a better word. So I can't judge the motive of anybody's heart and why they might be taking a selfie. However, I like what you said when you said that traditionally for the trad wife and the trad husband that the husband is outward facing. He's looking for the threats. He's protecting. He's providing.
Starting point is 01:10:12 He's the tough external. She's the tender heart. She's the nurture of relationship. Hand that rocks the cradle. It's the hand that rules the world. That's the soft, the interior. And Jordan Peterson has interestingly said that human beings can sort of lean on a personality spectrum, more masculine, more feminine within the categories of male and female.
Starting point is 01:10:33 It's not like every dude is like a cage fighter and every woman is, right? Some of us are like Conan the Barbarian, but other men are a little... Yeah, yeah, of course. But anyway, I think it's super interesting. It's fun having these conversations with you. And I think actually what Jordan really said was, every man exists on a spectrum of... I'm working on my Canadian.
Starting point is 01:10:53 It's not perfect. It's so good. I'm working on it. I'm not... I need more acting training. But you know what you need to combine that with is some tears. You're right. And that's what my acting lesson.
Starting point is 01:11:02 I need to think about like the lobster or something. You know, like I'll create a life with the lobster. Yes, yes. Yes. You're up. Courageous is better than fireproof. Wow. Now, just for the watching, listening audience,
Starting point is 01:11:23 these are both movies. Courageous and fireproof were made by the Kendrick brothers. They're Christian films. One was about fatherhood parenting, the other was about marriage, and I was in fireproof. Yes, yes. Courageous is better than fireproof.
Starting point is 01:11:41 Yeah. No, because the problem with, I'm just going to answer for me, not even for you. The problem with Courageous is the script was great. You know, the direction I thought was great. Producers did a fabulous job. A number of the actors were terrific in it.
Starting point is 01:11:57 There's just this one actor in Courageous. A young, like a young man. Oh, man, I thought you were going to say there was this one actor in Fireproof that really just... No, no. Forget about Fireproof for a second. This is more a negative vote, I would say. A young actor and Courageous made an absolute mockery of the entire acting profession and may have led people to question their innermost beliefs.
Starting point is 01:12:24 So because of Ben Davies, your movie wins. My movie wins. Yeah. I'm sorry, that was my opinion. And then in your opinion, I think you agree. You think I agree. Yeah. Well, I'm part of the Ben Davies fan club, actually.
Starting point is 01:12:39 I think he's actually quite a talented actor. So I disagree with your reasoning. But my conclusion is the same. I think Fireproof was a really good movie. So I still get the point. Yes. Okay. Yes.
Starting point is 01:12:55 And, you know, Fireproof was one of those films. I think maybe one of my favorites that I've been a part of. And I can't tell you how many people have come up to me at meetings and just said things like, dude, fireproof saved my marriage. I was that guy. And that's what I appreciate you about the Kendrick movies, is that they often, they script characters that are the portrayals of so many relatable people. You can see yourself in one of the characters of their films.
Starting point is 01:13:22 And in Fireproof, so many guys felt that way. I'm a hero at work. Everybody thinks I'm doing a great job except my wife. They come home and I can't do anything right. And it's all my fault. And then he sort of devolves into the base responses to not getting what he wants. and then it just goes downhill from there. But then the turnaround and the comeback was so inspiring that men went out.
Starting point is 01:13:48 They got the book. They took the 40-day challenge, and they said, it changed my life, and it saved my marriage. Yeah, yeah. And so I don't know if Courageous ever did that, but I know firsthand that Fireproof did for some. That is great, because that's a real problem. A lot of guys, I think, I don't know, maybe most guys at some point in their marriage probably deal with something like that. And I will say, I hate to make a sincere point about Mr. Davies in his acting. I was at a school one time.
Starting point is 01:14:14 I forget which school was. And some crazy lib student was willing to sit down and talk after one of the speeches. And she did it because somewhere deep down in her Christian upbringing or something, she was a huge Ben Davies fan. Really? Yes. And actually he was like her favorite actor. And so somewhere there, that was still kind of.
Starting point is 01:14:38 of resonating a little bit. Yeah. I wonder if he ever was a centerfold in a Tiger Beat magazine in the 1980s. You know, Ben, can you confirm or no, you weren't? Wow, amazing. That's incredible. Well, the guy in Fireproof was. He was. Yeah. But that was really cool. So she agreed to talk with you because of Ben Davis. Yeah. Yeah. And that's the one good thing that guy ever did, you know? It's incredible. Wow. So, yeah. How do I become? I don't, I don't know. Hold on now I'm. You're, you're up. Here we got. Yeah. Vaccines are more dangerous than climate change. Who's guessing? You got to guess for me. Oh, oh, vaccines are more dangerous than climate change. Yeah, for sure. You mean they're at all dangerous? I didn't have to
Starting point is 01:15:25 think. Yeah. There is even the possibility that they are dangerous. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah, that's not a, that's a, that's like a free square on bingo, you know. Do I get to drink too? You do, Chinchin. Now, is this a, is this? the last question? I think so. All right, so you asked the last one. Okay. How many vaccines do kids are they getting nowadays by the time they're 18 years? I think it's 57 by age two months. At all? Is that all? I think that's all. You now basically every spot on a baby that could be stuck with a needle, they basically get them. And I'll tell you, when I was a kid, I was told vaccines are gray, there's no problem, whatever. And I started meeting people who were like,
Starting point is 01:16:07 yeah, you don't really need like 100,000 vaccines. I was at the hospital. It's my first kid, and subsequent kids too. And the lady said, okay, we're going to give your kid the Hep B vaccine. Yeah, I remember that one. The hep B vaccine. Like, I got it when I was older. I said, Hep B, that.
Starting point is 01:16:23 Huh? Said, yeah, yeah, protects against, you know, like sexually transmitted diseases and needles and stuff. And I was like, yeah, I don't think my kid is going to any brothels or Skid Row or anything for a now. That's right. And she, they're three. There's two. Yeah. It was a newborn.
Starting point is 01:16:41 It was a newborn. Like, just fresh out of the oven. I said, I think we're good. And the actual answer that this nurse said to my wife was, well, or I think my wife had to pull it out of her a little bit. She goes, basically, you just want to give the baby the vaccine because you're saying my husband's cheating on it. Or is like an intravenous drug user or is hanging around with hookers or sorry.
Starting point is 01:17:03 And she was like, yeah, basically. We're good, thank. I'm willing to vouch. No heroin and no hookers will the effect of my child. Can you imagine that? To say, yeah, hey, lady, in this very vulnerable moment, this most beautiful moment, probably in your married life, you know, since you've been married, I'm going to accuse your husband implicitly of cheating on you. That's how crazy our medical industry is. Wow, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's great. And, you know, well, you're a father and I am, and too. But all of this comes back around tenfold for us, me and my wife, when it comes to grandkids. Because like you said, now it's however many dozens of needle sticks. And there's all sorts of justifications.
Starting point is 01:17:54 And, you know, I know that you know this, but I was talking to my kids. I said, kids, if ever you hear the phrase, we're here from the government and we want to keep you safe. That's when you, all the radar should go up. And the safety thing is everywhere. You go into an airport, you go anywhere. Most of the justification is we need to tax you more. We need more of your money so that we can keep you safe from things that will kill you. That's always the justification for more vaccines, more taxes, more this or that.
Starting point is 01:18:27 And I just think, wow, you know, we have to decide as a country, as a people, do we want to take this risk and responsibility onto ourselves? or do we want to outsource our protection and sacrifice our liberties? And we've got to decide because we could be China really quick. Or we have to do the hard work and we get to be free. Right, right. Yeah. If Dr. Fauci shows up knocking, hey, I want to make you safe. Let's get out the bear spray, bolt the doors.
Starting point is 01:18:54 That's right. Which is a terrible thought, but we're here. I get to read the last question. Here we go. I'm going to put your coffee. Oh, yes. I can properly get it. I like this board, by the way.
Starting point is 01:19:07 It's pretty slick, isn't it? This is pretty great. Well, you too could have the game at your home if you just go to dailywire.com slash shop and get... I like this. I love this. Freemasons worship demons. I'm now going to guess what you think?
Starting point is 01:19:24 I guess, yeah. Yes? Yes. I'm guessing what Michael thinks. What does Michael think about free masons? Oh, no, I'd guess what Kirk thinks. Okay, no, no, you're right. I'm guessing what you think.
Starting point is 01:19:33 Okay, hold on, hold on. Freemasons worship demons. That's a, that's a, that's a, it's hardcore. That's a hardcore absolute statement here. Freemasons worship demons. The ah, was what made me think your answer is yes. You're not denying it. You got that, you got a little smirk.
Starting point is 01:20:03 You know what's great about this so far is I have been honest the whole time. I have not been changing my answers. No. Just to win this game. No. I'm going to say... They only venerate demons? Hold on. They only venerate... Hold on.
Starting point is 01:20:22 I'm going to say no. And here's what I mean by this. Okay. They very well may be worshipping demons. I had a grandfather, who I told you about was in World War II, who I loved with all of my heart. And boy, he was a good man. And when I asked him what the deal was with his Freemasonry stuff,
Starting point is 01:20:37 and he had his rabbit's foot that he was just buried with and his apron and the whole thing. Some of my... Listen, some of my close friends are Freemasons. And my grandfather was a Mason, as in the architectural type. I mean, he was a construction worker. Oh, really? Oh, was he? Oh.
Starting point is 01:20:49 He was a construction worker. And I asked Grandpa, what did you believe in? Did you do like weird, funky stuff in the back rooms of, you know, in the temples and this and of that? What were you doing? And I believe my grandpa told me the truth. But back in the 40s and the 50s, he said, no, we were a fellowship of people, brothers, and we put our hand on the Bible.
Starting point is 01:21:12 And we did good things for people. We love God. We love our country and we love our family. So I think in his mind, he's not worshipping a deep. Yeah, yeah, of course. Now, over time, things go from, you know, fringe and odd or eccentric, and then they get into the satanic and demonic. Yeah. So today, I don't know, I don't know what the heck they worship. But if they're not worshipping the true God, then I would say you're, you are deeply in trouble and you're on the wrong track. Yeah, I think this is a good way to put because I legitimately have close friends who are Mason's and they're, you know, they're great guys often. And probably you pick your average Mason over your average person on the street in America today. Probably they take morality more seriously.
Starting point is 01:21:54 So there's a lot to recommend it. However, it's kind of to your point. One of the reasons that the church has had a tough history with Freemasonry is because it's just kind of a substitute. It's a new religion. It's a different religion. So it's got its own funeral rights. It's got its own initiation rights. It's got its own moral views.
Starting point is 01:22:13 And it's got its own views of God and the nature of God. And so to your point, if you're a Christian, I would recommend that you get into it. Yeah, yeah. That's basically my point is, you know, just in general, anytime you are engaging in religious rituals or religious belief that is outside the scope of Christianity, you're putting yourself in a little bit of danger. It would be my. And, and. But do I get the point for that? No, I think I, no, you don't get the point for that. So who won? I won. Let's go. Did you win?
Starting point is 01:22:48 Right. I, sorry, I wanted to be really more gracious about that. Kirk. Thank you so much. You know it was a valiant fight. It was a pleasure. Cheers. And Ben Davies, I want to thank you for putting all that whiskey into Kirk's coffee. Kirk, go get this book. Well, you don't need to get the book. You wrote it. Born to be brave, had to be a part of America's spiritual. come back from truly one of the greats in our pop culture and really one of the great American figures to actually speak the truth and to live out his faith and do it in a really public way
Starting point is 01:23:24 since the 1980s and has been doing it consistently. Kurt Cameron, thank you. Thank you.

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