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Hi, Patrick Madrid here. Thanks for

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listening. Check out Charity Mobile and

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prayerfully consider making them your wireless

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carrier. Mention offer code PATRICK and

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get a free phone. Go to

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charitymobile.com. Liz in Northern California, welcome.

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Thank you for taking my call. Oh, you're welcome.

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So I have a question for you regarding

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romantic comedies. It

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was once said

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to me that it's

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similar to a single woman

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who watches romantic comedies. It's

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similar to a man watching

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porn. And that

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kind of made me sad. And to be

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honest, I put it in the back of my head

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because I do like watching

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romantic comedies. So I wanted

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your, your take on that. If Sure.

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I mean, I'll give you what I,

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what I think. I

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don't think that the two are equivalent.

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Now, obviously, if it's a romantic comedy

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that involves objectionable pornography

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and things like that, well, then I

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can see a kind of parallel there.

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But if it's, you know, a romantic

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comedy that doesn't include those things,

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it's just a romantic

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comedy. It doesn't

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equate with the evil of pornography

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for obvious reasons. So

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I don't see a parody

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between the two parity, P A R

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I T Y. I

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can see an analogy though. And

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the analogy might go something like this. Tell me

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if this is what you're thinking

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is that men are more visual. This

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is sort of the, the

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trope that everybody says. It's, you know,

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kind of like the common view

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of things, whether or not it's actually true, but that

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men are more visual and they

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are more attracted to pornography for

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that reason. Whereas women are more

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emotional and I'm trying to speak in terms of

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what the culture might say. I'm not saying

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that. I necessarily hold these views. But

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that for women, it's sort of like

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a pornography of the emotions as

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opposed to visual images. It's the

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notion of romance and all the things

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that go into that because as

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the saying goes, women are more moved

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by those things than men are. Would

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that fit with what you

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understood that person to mean when he or she said

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that? Yes. Yes.

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So that's where I would say, no, I don't

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agree with that. I'm conscious of the fact

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and I'm willing

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to agree that for some women

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who would never be interested in

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pornography as such, for

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them rom-coms or

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romance novels, you

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know, on the cover is the hunky

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man and the woman with heaving bosoms

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and it's all very torrid and

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all of that. I mean, sure, that can

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be the source for serious sin. It can

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be an occasion of serious sin for

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women. But a

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regular run of the mill romantic

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comedy where there's nothing in itself

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that's objectionable, I don't think it

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comes anywhere close to the gravity of

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looking at pornography. I

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was kind of confused because

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girls, single girls, they

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want happily ever after. That

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doesn't always happen and happily ever after

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is different for every woman.

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But my heart

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kind of sank when they

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said that because I

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was thinking that it's

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nice to kind of tune out and

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think of what could be type of thing.

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Yes. So the fantasy

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world, the fantasy imagination of romance

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and such? Yeah,

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so and I don't let it

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get in between the Lord and

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my prayers or anything like that.

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It's Just something that I

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prefer to do. Watch rather than

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he. Never something that's

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political. Or like that, and you

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know there are. I don't know

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if I call it a romantic

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comedies, but there are for example,

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instances in the Bible that could

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be understood in that way kind

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of. It's a tragic comedy, so

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we know. For example, that does

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Jacob. Good. Against his

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twenty nine and you can read a

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kind of romantic comedy where. Jacob

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wants to marry. He

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wants to marry Rachel. She's. A beautiful

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daughter of Laden. And he

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wants to marry her. So.

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He makes his deal with Laban that he will

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work. I think it was seven years of. I'm

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not mistaken in if he work for him for

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seven years he would give him his daughter's hand

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in marriage. Well. He

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does. And that of and

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his wedding night he finds out that

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lay been tricked him and substituted the

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plane daughter. Aliyah.

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And. So now. You

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might say Jacob is kind of stuck

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with her. He. Hasn't really

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want her, doesn't really love her. And

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yes, work another seven years to get

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Rachel. I don't

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know if I'd call that a romantic comedy,

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but that could be made into a romantic

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comedy. Kind. Of an odd

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one. But even in the

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bible you see some things word that

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the love of the heart is

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unrequited, or there's tragedy or there's you

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know, difficulty in. Obtaining

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the love of your life kind of thing.

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and I'd say this as an example of

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that. So even the Bible. Has

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some seems. That. Are

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of this nature. So that's why I'm

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saying. I don't think that watching romantic

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comedy that's not injurious to your morals

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or anything would be a problem. For.

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Wonderful! Been. I'll

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give you one parting thought. songs

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I'm thinking about lives worth noting

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Anyway, St. Teresa of Avila. She.

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was raised a very

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well-to-do home, her father was wealthy and

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such, and her mother, as she relates,

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as St. Teresa relates in her memoirs, her

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mother was addicted to romance novels. And

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they weren't scurrilous, you know, they weren't

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pornographic or anything, but her

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mother was addicted to romance novels, and

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she herself as a girl became

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addicted to romance novels. And

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later in life, after she had

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become a religious, and she

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had an out-of-body experience

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or a near-death experience, something like

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that, in which she

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saw where God had prepared a

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place for her in hell for

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her many sins, and

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she had a conversion, of course, since she wound

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up being a great saint and a doctor of

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the church. But she, as I remember reading this,

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she ties it in with her girlish

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love of romance novels, and

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how that had robbed

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her of fervor and devotion in

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some ways, even though she

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did become a nun and all that. There

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was still some connection to those, the

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love of romance novels and the frivolity of it

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and things like that. So I

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think that's worth taking note of. There may

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be something there that if

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you or somebody listening thinks, you know, I'm

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just a little too attached to these things.

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I'm living too much in the world of fantasy

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romance and things like that. That could be a good

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corrective, too. Okay. That's

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noted. And that's kind

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of a sign. That's

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a sign. So I'm going to take

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that as a sign and

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maybe pick up my rosary a little

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more and say a third

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rosary or a fourth rosary

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before deciding

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whether or not to

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watch those stories. Yeah.

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What does St. Paul say? And I know you didn't

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want to get going, but he says, you know, all

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things are lawful for me, but not

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everything is good for me. His

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point is that in Christ we have

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freedom to do things, but

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we have to be discerning because not everything

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that you're free to do is actually good

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for you or beneficial to you. And

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one thought that's in my mind all the time

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is the question, if

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I'm faced with an option to do something

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or not do something, does this

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serve my goal? My goal being

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I want to go to heaven. I want to be with

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God forever. I want to strive to

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live a virtuous life. Does

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this thing right here in front of me right now,

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does this serve my goal? And

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if it serves my goal, yeah, let's do it.

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If it doesn't serve my goal or if it

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defeats my goal, then I would try to not

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do it. And if it's

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neutral, it neither serves nor harms

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the goal, then it's sort of

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up for grabs. You know, if it's not contrary

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to God's will for me, but it's not necessarily

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going to bring me closer to Him, then it's

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like a judgment call. I

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love that. Unfortunate life

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giving. Thank you so much. Oh,

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you're nice. Thank you. Beautiful.

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And thanks for your patience with my long answer. I'm

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known for long answers. So thank you. All

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right. Yeah. With

9:10

that, Tom Hanks, who was it? Okay.

9:13

Okay. Sounds like me. This

9:16

entire episode of The Patrick Madrid Show

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is on the Relevant Radio app. The

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