A Trickster God and the Worst Wedding Ever

Dan Beecher (0:00)

You know, Dan, tis the season to be celebrating these United States of America. And one of the things that I like to celebrate is that classic American entrepreneurial spirit. We can get a little cynical about America sometimes, but there is something amazing about that. And it's one of the reasons that I like supporting Brooklyn Bedding. It's a classic American story. The founder, John, didn't come from some big corporate background. He didn't have a degree, he just studied mattresses, bootstrapped the business and built his own factory from the ground up in Arizona.

Now that's the kind of determination and grit that actually is fun to talk about. But it's also resulted in some great mattresses.

Dan McClellan (0:42)

Yeah, my mattress that I got from Brooklyn Bedding is the Plankfirm Luxe. It's a Cal King as I enjoy pointing out to you repeatedly. But I could tell the difference the first night I've slept on this mattress.

Brooklyn Bedding knows sleep isn't one size fits all. They offer mattresses for every body, every sleep style, even in hard to find sizes. And if you're like me, you sleep hot. They have their Glaciotex covers, copper-infused foams, temperature-regulating materials that help keep you cool and comfortable all night long. And they design and assemble every mattress in their Arizona factory. No middlemen, no gimmicks, just top-tier quality, honest pricing, and real American craftsmanship for a much better night's sleep.

Dan Beecher (1:27)

Go to brooklynbedding.com and use our code DOGMA at checkout to get 30% off site-wide as part of the 4th of July sale.

That's brooklynbedding.com. Promo code DOGMA for 30% off site-wide. This is a limited time offer, not available anywhere else. brooklynbedding.com, promo code DOGMA.

Dan McClellan (1:50)

Introducing Meta Glasses.

SPEAKER_3 (1:52)

You have questions, they've got answers.

Dan McClellan (1:55)

Hey Meta, what's the capital of Peru?

SPEAKER_4 (1:58)

Lima. How do you say, where's the restroom in Spanish? Dónde está el baño?

SPEAKER_5 (2:04)

Hey Meta, is a hot dog a sandwich?

SPEAKER_4 (2:07)

Technically, no. Spiritually, yes.

SPEAKER_5 (2:10)

Hey Meta, what should I do with my life?

SPEAKER_4 (2:13)

That's one of life's biggest questions.

Dan McClellan (2:15)

What do you think?

SPEAKER_3 (2:17)

Ask anything with the new Meta Glasses.

Dan Beecher (2:21)

Just to be on the safe side, you guys, when you get to heaven, hook your head in and see what everybody's wearing and just make sure that you get it right.

Dan McClellan (2:31)

And ask if they're circumcised.

Dan Beecher (2:33)

Yeah.

Look under the robe. Yeah. Just to see what's going on.

Dan McClellan (2:45)

Hey, everybody, I'm Dan McClellan.

Dan Beecher (2:46)

And I'm Dan Beecher.

Dan McClellan (2:48)

And this is Data Over Dogma, where we increase public access to the academic study of the Bible and religion, and we combat the spread of misinformation about the same. How are things today, Dan?

Dan Beecher (2:59)

I think things are great. How are things with you?

Dan McClellan (3:04)

Nice. I think the air has cleared out a little bit.

There was a storm that came through the valley yesterday. It missed us. My wife loves a good summer thunderstorm. We actually didn't really catch much of it. It passed just south of us, or just east of us. But yeah, that cleared some stuff out. So doing all right.

Dan Beecher (3:26)

Good.

Dan McClellan (3:27)

How about you?

Dan Beecher (3:28)

Well, I'm looking forward to today's show, is what I'm doing, because we're, at first, we're going to be taking issue with the question of, can it be okay to lie or practice a deception if you believe that it is in service of the Lord?

Dan McClellan (3:52)

Lying for the Lord.

Dan Beecher (3:53)

And if you're like still on the fence as to what angle we're coming at this from, we're going to be talking about Joel Webbin, who is not our favorite person in the world. So we're going to get to that in the first part of the show. Then in the second part of the show, it's a terrible parable.

Dan McClellan (4:15)

Yeah.

Dan Beecher (4:16)

It's a parable that I read and couldn't make head or tail of.

Dan McClellan (4:20)

It's a head scratcher.

Dan Beecher (4:21)

Yeah. I was like, wait, I know I can figure out what the takeaway is supposed to be here, and no, I could not. So Dan's going to help me out with that. Hopefully, we'll see. It's a parable of the wedding banquet, so that'll be fun. But first, let's dive in with Taking Issue.

Okay, so who, Dan, is Joel Webbin?

Dan McClellan (4:53)

So Joel Webbin is like your quintessential Christian nationalist. You have some soft Christian nationalists. You have some people who are like, I don't really know what that means.