Finding Faith, Finding Love, Finding Purpose | Dennis AMA

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Hi, Dennis Prager here. Well, as you know, I've been off the air since my injury in November 2024. Thank you for your prayers. Believe me, I've missed talking to you. I'm starting the Ask Me Anything episodes on the Timeless Wisdom Podcast, and I'd love to hear from you. Whether your question is about faith, morality, politics, history, relationships, happiness, Or even my life, give me a call and leave a voicemail. The number is 877-243-7776. That's 877-243-7776. Please include your first name and where you're calling from. I will answer as many questions as I can on future episodes. of the podcast. Obviously, I can't respond to every question, but I will listen or read every question. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for listening.

On today's episode of Timeless Wisdom.

Some friends of mine are otherwise good people, and yet they've adopted the liberal philosophy, and I don't understand what turned them in that direction.

I'm in the process right now of reading the Bible from COVID to cover, starting about 2 years ago, and there's something I would really like your input on. Why did God choose Abraham to be obviously the father of the Jewish people and to pass on to his descendants as the keeper of the Bible?

I have a 19-year-old son who lives with his dad. We told him he has to get a job, but as yet he hasn't got a job. How can I motivate an unmotivated child?

That's coming up on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.

Life can be messy, but you don't have to figure it out alone.

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Welcome to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Hear thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs. And to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles, go to dennisprager.com.

This is the hour where you set the agenda. It's a very important hour to me in all seriousness. While there's always some levity, it is also a big deal.

And Steve, hello Steve, Dennis Prager.

Hello.

I always hear you ask about your favorite cigar, have people call in and ask about your favorite cigar and pipe tobacco, but no one ever does.

So yeah, you're right. Isn't that true? Well, are you interested because I mentioned it or because you smoke?

Both.

And now, do you smoke a pipe and a cigar?

Yes, I do.

Wow, that's not common.

No, it's not. We're a minority.

Do you have a— yes, you and I are in a minority. I alternate one. How do you do it? I do one day a cigar, one day a pipe.

Um, I'm sort of like that, but on occasion I just have a hankering for both in the same night.

Oh yeah, no, I understand that.

A hankering. I love that. I have a hankering for it too. I have a hankering for it at all times. Do you know that I actually get into a good mood going into a tobacco store?

Oh, it's the— it's one of the best sensations that you can have. It just floods your senses as you walk in.

Yes, exactly. The smell. I love it.

Now, my sweetheart loves it too, but she doesn't like the smell of it lit. Which one?

Which one? Which, the pipe or the cigar?

The cigar. She loves the pipe smell.

Well, you know, I want to tell you, in my opinion, a lot of tobacco smell worse than— pipe tobacco smell worse than cigar.

I don't smoke those.

Oh, you smoke aromatic?

Well, I don't like Latakia or things like that.

Oh, what else? So what do you like?

Well, I kind of mix some of my own. I take a black Cavendish, And Burley, and I just mix a little of my own blend.

Well, even Black Cavendish and Burley are not going to smell so nice.

She likes it, so I don't—

Oh, well, that's good. I happen to like cigar smoke. I don't like cigarette smoke, I must admit.

Yeah, well, I'm not—

That does not smell great to me.

I mean, I can live with it, but I don't like it.

Anyway, my favorite, after all of that, I don't have a favorite. What I do in— it's like asking me my favorite food. I don't have a favorite food. I wish I did, then I wouldn't like so many. I mean, I just went in here in New York City, I went into a tobacco store right near my hotel, and I just said, what is your— give me your most full-bodied cigars from Nicaragua and Honduras, 'cause Dominicans tend to be milder. And the guy just showed me, and I love— that's my most fun is testing out new cigars. Now, I know that most people listening will not be interested by the following question, but folks, bear with me. This is the hour where anything goes. Here is my great philosophical question to a cigar smoker. Are you ready?

Yes.

You with me?

Oh, yes.

Did I lose— I got you, Steve?

Yeah, I'm here.

All right, here it is. Do you prefer a V-cut, a bullet, or a slice?

Slice.

Boom.

I've tried them all. I used to be a bullet man. I'm not fond of the V-cut. Lately I've been going slice.

Very interesting.

I went the opposite direction. I was always a slice man, then I went to bullet, and now I alternate bullet and V-cut because I like to have some of the wrapper taste, that smooth wrapper, at my tongue and in the mouth. Now that's— it's going to start getting a little gross for some people, but that's my theory. Steve, it's a pleasure to talk to you.

Thank you.

All right, thank you very much. There is, there is a lot of joy, folks. There, there just is in that, I must admit.

Bedford, Texas. Is your name Swake?

That's me.

Hi, Swake, how you doing? I'm Case Guy.

Hey, Swake, let me ask you a question.

Is Swake a common name where you live?

Oh no, it's a college thing.

Yeah, I was wondering if I had missed out on it. You're the first Swake I've ever met.

There's not very many of us.

Did you ever meet another?

Not personally, but over the net, yeah.

Yeah, okay, go ahead.

Why do you think that most top-flight radio, conservative radio programs originate from what we would call liberal cities? Yours from LA and—

Oh, it's, it's a very— there's a very, I think, easy answer for that, and that is That in order to be heard, to be a national show, you have to be— you have to be heard and be successful in a big city. And every big city, essentially, uh, virtually every big city is liberal.

Okay.

Okay.

I suspect that—

Because, you know, if I were on in Bedford, um, the odds are I wouldn't be heard, uh, uh, enough by enough people. And I assume Bedford doesn't have its own radio, but you understand what I'm saying.

In a small city, you would not be heard by enough people Right, but DFW, which is a relatively conservative area, does have a 3 million population.

That's true, and it is very possible that somebody could end up having a national show if they're successful in Dallas. That is correct. But overwhelmingly it has been LA and New York.

Right, definitely.

For the usual reasons.

Thank you, Swaig.

Thank you.

Alrighty, let's go to Tom. Tom in Phoenix on KKNT. Hi, Dennis Prager.

Uh, this is for Tom?

It is, Tom.

Dennis, hi.

Hi, thank you for taking my call.

Thank you.

I wanted to get your thoughts on, uh, some friends of mine are otherwise good people, and yet they've adopted the liberal philosophy, and I don't understand what turned them in that direction. I, I, uh, you know, they're nominally Catholics, and yet they've made their own little definition of Catholicism that allows for abortion, etc., and their whole philosophy is liberal, and I don't know where they went wrong. I guess—

But wait, they're believing Catholics and they believe that abortion is okay?

They've made their own definition of Catholicism, as far as I can tell.

No, no, no, but what would they answer?

Not what—

I know what you could tell, but what would they say? What would they say if I said, How do you not have problems, moral problems, with abortion and consider yourself a faithful Catholic?

They would claim that they're good Catholics.

And that it doesn't matter what the Church teaches?

Right, because—

So what is the definition of a good Catholic, then?

Well, they go to Mass, they— unfortunately, they refer to God as she, but Yeah, I mean, they've kind of adopted this, uh—

Then look, they—

what college did they go to?

What graduate school?

Um, I don't really—

They got the— there are a fair number of people who attend church or synagogue who get none of their values from the church or synagogue. They get them from college and from the New York Times editorial page. And these people fall into it. I mean, calling God a she, uh, they, they have— it's also an act of ignorance. You have to understand that particularly is ignorant because the, the, uh, the, the Old Testament— and I specify that because it obviously precedes the New— waged a tremendous war against the concept of a goddess. The return to referring to God as she Is, uh, it is consciously or unconsciously an attempt to undermine, uh, one of the great, great revolutions of, uh, of religion, of higher monotheistic religion. When I hear God, he or she, I, uh, I know that the person saying that is either unaware of the, the staggering achievement of desexualizing God. So See, when God is he, God is desexualized. I know that that is very complex the higher your educational level. This is understood by a high school dropout. It's if you went to graduate school, you won't understand it because you think that if we say he referring to God, we're thinking of a penis and scrotum. But that's because you went to college. But nobody does. Nobody does. But when you say she, you were thinking of a female. When you say he with God, it's neuter, much more so than she. The desexualization of God's identity was a magnificent achievement of the Hebrew Bible and carried on by the New Testament. Why do your friends adopt all those views? I'd love to have them on the line, but I believe, to answer you Specifically, that's what they learned. Their value system comes from college, not from Catholicism. We'll be back in a moment. 1-800-PRAGER-776.

Uh, Mike in Phoenix on KKNT, the Patriot of Phoenix. Hello, Mike. Dennis Prager.

Hello, Dennis.

It's a real pleasure.

Thank you.

Um, I'm in the process right now of reading the Bible from COVID to cover, started about 2 years ago, and there's something I would really like your input on. Why did God choose Abraham to be the— obviously the father of the Jewish people and, and to pass on to his descendants as the keeper of the Bible?

You're going to find my answer both frustrating and revelatory. The answer is, the answer is we don't have a clue. And I know that a lot of Bible people and religious people will disagree with me, And if they can find me a single reference to Abraham before God chooses him, I will take off from radio for half a year and do penitence.

Thank you very much, man.

We only know afterwards, afterwards, what a great man he was.

I've been wanting to get your opinion on that for a long time.

Alright, now let me do something here that I'm always uncomfortable with.

I don't know if you know that I teach the Bible verse by verse.

Oh sure, I listen to your program.

Oh, good.

Okay, well anyway, there are tapes available, and if you call my office, you know, and even ask them for that Genesis, that specific chapter, they'll send it to you.

Okay, I appreciate that.

So thank you very much. It's 800-225-8584. Arguably the most important thing I've ever put on tape is my explaining the Torah verse by verse for Jews, Christians, people of no faith, and so on. And, uh, it's where I get my value, so if nothing else, it might interest you.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

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Now, back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

Theresa in Orange County, California. Hi, Theresa.

Dennis Prager.

Hi, nice to talk to you, Dennis.

Thank you.

I really enjoy, you know, listening to all your intellectual discussions, but a friend of mine, you know, we get a little bit upset because you're always taking God's name in vain.

How so?

How so?

By saying, oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God.

Why is that in vain?

Well, I say my definition of in vain is, and I believe that according to your scriptures in Exodus, you know, what is it, Exodus 20, It is Exodus 20, yes. I'm trying to find it, yeah. Um, basically, to me, in vain means without serious reason, or, um, you know, not like you're not praying to God, you're not, um, reverencing God. I think in this society everybody takes his name so flippantly. What's God's name? And if we realize how— and you know, being Jewish, you know God is holy, right?

What is God's name?

Well, I know you don't say his name. Well, maybe that's the difference.

Well, of course, neither do you. God's name isn't God.

Well, but see, that's semantics.

It's not semantics.

Yeah, it's semantics, because if you're talking about God, he knows you're talking about God, and everybody else knows you are, see? This is the place, I think, where you're causing people to feel like, oh, you know, you're not really— if you're religious and you reverence God and you're just flippantly saying his name all the time, then what's wrong with saying his name all the time? Like people say God.

Well, okay, I have—

all right, I have a lot of answers.

Now, I'm going to give them to you, and then I want you to react, okay? Number 1, God's name is Jehovah, not God, and the commandment is with regard to God's name, which is exactly what it says. It says, do not take God's name in vain. It doesn't say, do not mention God. Number— and it is not semantics, in my opinion. Number 2, it's not what the commandment says. I have written on this, and I have lectured on this. And since I teach the Bible from the Hebrew, I know exactly what I'm talking about. The commandment does not say, do not take God's name in vain. It says, do not carry God's name in vain or pointlessly. And do not carry and do not take are very different. And do not carry God's name in vain, in my opinion, and I am convinced that I'm right, although I'm obviously open to being dissuaded, means do not act in an evil manner while carrying God's name. God does not care if Dennis Prager says, oh my God, when somebody says, you know, my kid was in an accident, and I go, oh my God, or whatever else prompts me to say, oh my God. The thought that that bothers God Makes God look silly, and I hate when God is rendered silly. Number 3, the rest of that commandment is God will not forgive anybody who does take— carry his name in vain. Now, do you think— it doesn't say that about murder. It doesn't say it about stealing. You think God is more offended, finds it more awful to say, oh my God, than to murder? You mean murder is forgivable, but the other isn't? So clearly it can't mean what most people think it means— that's saying, oh my God, when you're not praying or studying the Bible. It means acting evil in God's name. That's the worst evil a human being can perform, by far. Murder by an atheist is not as bad as murder in the name of God. That's— and that is why I took your call, because it is to me so important. I think, Teresa, that people have deeply misunderstood this commandment. Your turn.

Well, but you didn't give me an example of what it means to act evil in God's name.

It is being done regularly by Islamic terrorists.

Okay, but they're not really in God's name. They are in Allah's name, so that's not even the real God.

Okay, okay. All right, well, all right. But that's semantics too.

But see, I beg to differ with you because You're saying that you're only taking God's name in vain if you act a certain way?

That's right.

But it says, do not take God's name in vain.

It doesn't. It doesn't. That's why I'm telling you, the Hebrew—

It says do not carry his name in vain?

Yes, that's correct. Yes, yes.

All right, so do not carry his name in vain.

Right.

All right, so that means don't do anything in vain in his name, or do something evil.

That's right. That's right.

So it's only Islamic terrorists? What is it— what is something you or I, the common American, could do that would qualify us for Oh, okay.

It's very—

the— if somebody would say, I don't know, I honor God by shooting opponents of the following legislation, or by, you know, whatever. I mean, it isn't done as much in our society.

Okay?

That to me is doing evil carrying God's name. I had—

and it—

so thank you, Teresa. That it does happen, in fact, in America. Absolutely does. Let's see, Los Angeles and 870. That would be Nancy. Hello, Nancy.

Dennis Prager.

Hi.

Hey, Dennis. How are you?

I'm well, thank you.

Good. I can— it's kind of a distant voice you have, but I can hear you anyhow. What is your biggest pet peeve?

My biggest pet peeve. In other words, not evil and starvation, obviously.

No, more on a personal side.

Okay, I have 2 immediately come to mind, and I may berate myself for not having thought of what I really want to say, but what come to mind are 2 things. Slow drivers in the left lane. I think their tires should be blown out. And the other is when people are incompetent in the areas that they're supposed to be competent. It drives me out of my mind to meet— to call up tech support and they don't know any more than I do.

Oh, right.

To go to a store and they just, you know, mangle an order. I don't know, whatever it is. I expect— I don't expect competence in every area. I expect competence in the one area That you're working in.

Exactly.

Oh, those are good ones.

Oh, thank you.

Okay.

I'd have to agree with those.

Well, I appreciate it, Nancy.

We'll both—

all right, so we'll both blow out the tires together.

Thank you very much.

Bye-bye.

Thank you.

Bye.

Yeah, I've never done a show on that. I mean, I did on the left— you know, by the way, you have no idea the number of people who disagree with me on the slow drivers in the left lane. They think it's an idiosyncrasy on my part. I think it's pure narcissism.

I leave—

the left lane is for passing, my fellow Americans. The left lane is for passing.

I can't take it anymore.

That is exactly right.

I can't.

I can't. That— again, one more time, the left lane is for passing. It is not for Regular travel. It is not for sightseeing. It is not because, oh wow, lucky me, that's the emptiest lane, I think I'll drive there. And the incompetence, that drives me nuts. It drives me nuts too is when they're incompetent and they don't even— it doesn't matter, I'm not going to start with that. Let me take more of your calls here and let's go, whatever is on your mind, absolutely anything. So over to Tucson.

Hi, Dennis.

On KVOI 690, Victoria.

Hello, Victoria, Dennis Prager.

Hi, Dennis.

Hi.

I'm a new listener, and this is the first time I've been on your radio show.

How did you become a new listener?

Who cajoled you?

Well, my father's a Republican, and I very much admire my father, and—

And are you a Democrat?

No, actually, I'm a Republican because of my father.

Oh, OK, well, that's the way it usually works.

Yeah, yeah, but I very much admire your personal integrity, and I really would appreciate your opinion on something that's been going on in my family in a while. My husband and I tried to have children for 7 years, and—

Wait, wait, wait, your husband and you what?

Tried to have children.

Tried to have children for 7 years, go ahead.

Right, and he was diagnosed with having a zero sperm count.

Zero?

Zero.

Okay.

So my husband, after thinking about it for a really long time, decided to use a sperm donor.

Right.

And do you know who the donor is?

No.

Okay. Anonymous.

From a sperm bank?

Yes.

Okay.

And by the way, did you seek characteristics?

Yes, we took pictures. We sent pictures of my husband and—

Wait, you sent pictures of your husband to the donor?

To the company that does it.

No, no, no, but did you seek any characteristics in the sperm that you got?

Absolutely, yes.

What did you seek?

That's what I'm asking.

What did you seek? Oh, excuse me, I'm sorry.

It's OK.

We wanted similarities with my husband.

You mean physical?

Intelligence.

Oh, oh, I see.

Physical, intelligence. It was very surreal and a very weird thing to have to do. It's not something I would wish on anybody. But anyway—

All right, go on.

Anyway, uh, we, we became pregnant right away doing this, and we are just— my son is the light of our life.

Right.

Um, we, we're so happy with our choice. So my question is to you, our parents are very adamant that we not tell our son.

Right.

And we feel this is not a— you know, this isn't a dirty secret. This isn't something we're ashamed of. This is something that we did out of a great— because we wanted a child so bad. So desperately. And our parents—

You know, ironically, you have a somewhat harder decision, uh, in fact, I think a considerably more complex, uh, decision than, uh, than the parents of an adopted child.

Exactly.

You know, because I'm, I'm a believer that you tell an adopted child immediately.

Absolutely.

You know, you, you know, you didn't come out of mommy's tummy. But you see, the reason that it's more complex, though, is your child did come out of your tummy.

Exactly.

So, yeah, so it's a very— so what are you going to say to a kid? How old is he, 7 or what?

He's 4.

Yeah, 4.

What are you going to say?

You know, I'd like you to know that the semen used did not emanate from Dad's testicles?

I mean, you know, I mean, what do you say?

Seriously, what does one—

I totally understand what one says to a 4-year-old in adoption. You didn't come out of Mommy's tummy. It was broken. And God brought you— this is the way that we've put it, all right?

God brought you to us, uh, which is what I believe, right?

Through a tummy that worked, period. That's a non-issue to me. It's a non-issue. But, but, uh, wherein the issue is sperm, the kid doesn't even know, understand the father's role in reproduction.

Okay.

So what are you— what information are you going to offer? I think that later in life For perhaps health reasons, to know that stuff, and because it's just probably usually best not to keep secrets. But I don't see— what do your parents want you to say to your child now? Guess where the sperm came from?

No, they just said you absolutely— that your husband is his father. There is no—

Right, of course we all know that. To me, that's a non-issue. Blood is nothing.

Okay. But just tell me, what do your parents want you to say now to your 4-year-old?

Nothing.

They don't ever want us to say anything to him.

Oh, oh, I'm sorry, they're the ones— what would you like to do? You're right, the grandparents didn't want it said, right?

I forgot.

Right, right, right.

So what are you— when would you like to say something?

To be honest with you, I'm not sure. When he has a greater understanding of his biological father.

That's what I think.

That's right.

And when he does have a greater understanding, you could tell him.

So you feel it is okay?

Oh, I absolutely do, because I don't—

it's a non-issue. You know, if my father told me, you know, Mom was impregnated by, you know— what do I care? I mean, is he less my father? On the other hand, I would ask you, Because it is so trivial to my mind, uh, but it is worth asking other couples who have had the same thing.

Okay.

Okay?

Okay. I thank you so much.

Oh, thank you so much. God bless you.

Appreciate that.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this. Are you enjoying Timeless Wisdom? We'd love to hear from you. Call 877-243-7776 and leave a review, share your thoughts, or just even an encouraging word for Dennis. Your voicemail might just make it on the show. That's 877-243-7776. That's 877-243-7776. Thanks for listening and for your support. Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

Okay, let's go to, uh, Louisville and, uh, And Steve. Hello, Steve in Kentucky, Dennis Prager.

Hey.

Hi.

I'm surprised I got through. Well, there's so much— I just have a question about how to avoid some of the pornography that's on the internet and how to stay focused on the true things that are valuable in life and to try and focus more on the, the good spiritual that are around instead of getting sucked into the quagmire that—

Yeah.

Is all around.

Well, you know, first of all, let me commend you. The fact that you even battle, I mean, it is already a statement about your, your values and your character. I, I have, I have talked a great deal. I've given a lot of talks, and there— and I I beg people to get my recorded stuff on male sexual nature because the vast majority of women do not understand and can't.

It's not really possible.

The lure, the power of female flesh on the male psyche and brain and eye. There's no— nothing comparable in the female. Nothing. It's asking a woman to understand men's sexual nature is like asking me to understand a penguin. I can't understand a penguin. I have no relationship with penguins. That is how different male sexual nature is from female. The power of the eye is— there is no comparison. Women are attracted to attractive men. We all know that. But there's no comparison. Women do not yearn to see male legs.

Okay?

It doesn't enter their brain. It's, oh God, I gotta get that issue of Male Legs magazine. It's preposterous. There's a woman here right now, she's laughing. It is preposterous. And yet, you know, there are websites just with female legs. I mean, because the female leg is a turn-on to a man just to look at it. Forget touch it, just to look at it. So the power is overwhelming, overwhelming. And women need to understand that about men, and men need to acknowledge that's their nature. Now we have to control it, and they have to help us control it. And you're absolutely right, it is utterly ubiquitous, not only on the internet, in movies, on television. Television is essentially soft porn. The Olympics. There was just an article that the Olympics are soft porn. I mean, with what women are wearing. What is the point of beach volleyball except the skimpiest bikinis? To see women in the skimpiest bikinis. Why are they more popular than fencing? Women are all dressed up in fencing and they're virtually naked in beach volleyball. But if you were to watch beach volleyball, that would be considered no problem. But if you were to look at a website of women in bikinis, oh, then there's something perhaps bad. But there is no difference. It's just that beach volleyball gives men an excuse to be looking at female nudity or semi-nudity. So I am merely explaining that you can't drive yourself crazy in self-berating. about this. Men, this is the way we are made. Now, if a guy spends his time surfing the internet just for nudity, or worse than that, then at a certain point he is hurting himself, not to mention wasting his time.

Uh-huh.

But, but there is a certain understandable level of curiosity, of interest, of titillation And you have to work with God, your soul, and figure out what that level is. But if you check out, you know, a bikini site for 15 minutes, I do not believe that God is looking at Steve in Louisville and thinking, my son, the sinner.

Okay?

But there are any more than— why is that bad and sinful, but the hour of beach volleyball, that's okay? See, I want us to be honest with ourselves. Or the movies with nudity. Why is that different? But it is very easy to get sucked into the world of it on the internet or in movies or on DVDs. I knew— I used to work with a guy who was single. And he would tell me he'd go home and he would spend the night watching sex videos.

And forget the issue of sin.

The guy was an atheist. The guy was wasting his life, wasting his life. He— it came to the point where I think he preferred videos to real women, which is the ultimate, ultimate tragedy. So I'm giving you 2 messages here. One, don't go crazy on yourself, Steve. Because that's the way God has made us men. And on the other hand, control yourself because, uh, that's also what, uh, what God would want from us. Are you with me? Oh, we lost him.

I think he was on a cell phone.

Anyway, I hope that's helpful. But I want people to be honest because I see no difference between a guy checking out a bikini site on the internet and watching beach volleyball at the, uh, at the Olympics. Absolutely no difference. Who cares about the sport of beach volleyball other than those who play it? And here's the proof. Are the guys watching the men play it? Do men play it, by the way? I assume there's men's beach volleyball, right? Are the guys watching that? Nobody shows up at those games. They show up at the women's games. Now, why would that be?

Alrighty, let's go to Minneapolis and Scott. Scott on the Patriot. Dennis Prager, hello.

How are you, Dennis?

Good, thanks.

Good. Hey, I was wondering, are you, um, are you a goal-oriented person first, or are you growth-oriented first?

Uh, growth-oriented. And I, I have, uh, I, I, uh, it's an interesting distinction. I've never used those words, but between the two, I don't— I never had a 5-year plan or a 1-year plan or a 10-year plan. I just want to do better today than yesterday.

Okay, so do you— but do you think—

have—

okay, do you think, uh, somebody who would be goal-oriented first can achieve as much as someone who is growth-oriented?

I'm sure that they can. I'm sure that they can. I, I, I, I don't argue that mine is the better way, but I have, I have never ask myself, where will I be next year?

Uh, it's really—

Do you think that's an important question, though?

For some. It really— I think it's a very individual thing. I, I— to me, growth is as, uh, is as natural a desire as breathing. So I, I just hope that I do. I mean, you know, I, I'm sure that there are ways in which I don't, but I, I try very hard to do so. And let life— you can't predict life. You just don't know. You make plans. I'm not good at making plans like that. I just— it's not, it's not my forte. And, and I know life is too complex and throws too many obstacles in our way to really start to be a big planner. Does that make sense?

Yeah, it makes very good sense.

Okay, you're welcome. Thank you. It's very sweet of you to say.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

Life can be messy, but you don't have to figure it out alone.

Hey, it's the Luskos!

Join pastors and bestselling authors Levi and Jenny Lusko on Hey, It's the Luskos for honest conversations about faith, marriage, family, grief, ministry, and all the unexpected moments in between. You'll laugh, you'll be encouraged, and you'll be reminded that God is faithful through every season.

He will always come back To Jesus in the end.

That's right.

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Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

Josh in Cleveland on WHK.

How are you, Josh?

Dennis Prager.

Hi, Dennis. Hi, it's a pleasure to talk to you.

Thank you. How long are you listening to the show?

I've been listening on and off for the last 3 or 4 years, and I'm 23.

That's great.

Thank you.

Anyway, my question was, I'm 23 years old and just out of college, and there's, you know, I read in your Happiness book the conversation that you have with Rabbi Telushkin about the most important trait in a woman.

Where I—

the idiot that I was, you mean? That part, yes.

And I really enjoyed that part. And I was wondering, you know, I've listened to your talks about male sexuality and marriage and all that, and I completely agree with you. And so as I'm dating, what advice would you give in terms of, you know, ways or characteristics or things to really look for in a quality life partner?

Well, The older I get, the more limited the number of characteristics that I think one should look for in a spouse. I think that the smaller your list, the better it is. I mean, there are certain things that have to be there that are givens. For me, and I think for anybody, that is, I think the person needs to have integrity and the person needs to have Goodness. I mean, you don't want a mean person. Beyond that, beyond that, different people have different needs. But I, I will say that I would ask you this question: do you talk well? I, I would say that that is a good, good thing because as important— and I believe it is important— sex And chemistry and all of that is, being— enjoying talking to each other, I believe, is just— cannot be overstated in its importance. And that's not an issue of does she have or he have the following list of characteristics. It has nothing to do with the list. Either you do enjoy talking and it comes easily and flows or it doesn't.

Okay, okay, let's go to San Diego. Terry in San Diego on KCBQ.

Dennis Prager, hi.

Hi, Dennis.

Hi.

I have a 19-year-old son who lives with his dad. Uh, he was diagnosed with ADD when he was a child. He always had difficulty in school. He got his GED through Adult Edge. He then dropped out of college Uh, we told him he has to get a job, but as yet he hasn't got a job. And I was wanting to know, how can I motivate an unmotivated child? He is not motivated to do anything.

What does he do all day?

He likes to hang around, play music. Uh, he doesn't play an instrument though, so he just— I don't know. I am curious.

I am curious. Does he have a strong religious, uh, identity?

No.

Well, I gotta tell you something. I find it hard to imagine that in a secular affluent society we are going to produce many motivated people. You see, in a poor society everybody's motivated.

Right.

'Cause you have no choice. You'll starve if you don't work. But in a rich society you need something else to motivate you and it's usually gonna come from either a vast ambition You know, I want to make a ton of money, or I want to be very successful or very known or whatever. Or you will have a strong religious motivation to, uh, to motivate you as a, as a human being. But if one lacks that, it's very hard to import it. The, the, the— it's, it's— I assure you, if he became religiously active, he would probably start becoming far more motivated. Secularism has terrible consequences for the individual. People don't look at it that way, though. They don't want to acknowledge it. That's why I asked. That was my first question.

Yeah, um, well, none of us are very, uh, religious people.

I know.

I believe that. I believe— but I'm—

Unfortunately, we don't help him financially now or anything, but—

Well, that's good.

That's good.

He stays under his father's roof.

Well, eventually he'll have to leave his father's roof. Then he'll really have to support himself.

Do you think it's a good idea if we do tell him he has to leave?

He's 19?

He's nearly 19.

I don't know. I think that it's— it might be a little early to be that drastic. I don't know. That's where people who have had experience with this might be better to ask. But you'll still— he'll still have to confront the issue of, what do I do with my life? What gives my life meaning? People are motivated when they have meaning. This is, this is critically important. Everybody, you need to hear this. I'm motivated because I have the deepest passion of meaning. I believe that life is intrinsically meaningful and important. I believe that God wants me to do certain things with my life. I believed it my whole life. I believed it at 15. So there was never a day I was not motivated. I was never motivated in high school to do schoolwork. Schoolwork was a total waste of time. It was, and I knew it then, but I was deeply motivated. And I, and I am lucky. I'm lucky. I know that. But it comes in large measure from the sense that I have that there is a God who wants me to do X or Y with my life. The purpose of life is not, is not something superficial. It's the deepest thing. It is the— it's sad. It is sad. Here's a good woman, a good woman. It is clear who has clearly been motivated, but I'll bet that it's not many backgrounds in her family that have not been religious. People think that secularism doesn't have staggering consequences. It does. That's why in Europe they're not motivated to work. In Europe, they're motivated to play. That's why they, they, they— that's the biggest motivation. Time to play. Make a new nude beach.

Let's go to Cypress, California on 870, and it's Andrea. Hello, Andrea.

Hi, how are you, Dennis?

Good, thank you.

Good. My question is, and I'm not looking at this religiously or morally, but More of a, um, practical way, uh, do you believe that, uh, total abstinence before marriage would make for a better marriage?

What does total abstinence mean?

That means not concentrating on the physical, but more on the relational and getting to know—

Well, wait, wait, wait, uh, that's not what total abstinence means, because as soon as you say concentrate, concentrate still leaves room for other behavior. Does total abstinence mean no sexual contact at all?

Yeah, yeah, no sexual contact. I have a friend who—

Including kissing?

Well, I have a friend who didn't kiss until the wedding day, and they totally, um, concentrated on the relationship rather than the physical and getting— um, do you think—

How old were they?

30, 30-ish, mid, you know.

Yeah, I, I do not recommend that to my children. I do recommend abstaining from intercourse prior to marriage. I think intercourse is a holy act.

That's true.

But as far as— But, uh, I do believe that, uh, especially for adults at 30, that to do nothing whatsoever, I mean, I don't think it's practical on one very simple ground. What if the person is frigid? Or what if the person is, is impotent?

I mean, these are things that I think one would want to know prior to the marriage.

Okay, we'll be back in a moment.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

Life can be messy, but you don't have to figure it out alone.

Hey, it's the Luskos!

Join pastors and best-selling authors Levi and Jenny Lusko on Hey, It's the Luskos for honest conversations about faith, marriage, family, grief, ministry, and all the unexpected. You'll laugh, you'll be encouraged, and you'll be reminded that God is faithful through every season.

It will always come back to Jesus in the end.

That's right.

Tune in to Hey, It's the Luskos with Levi and Jenny Lusko, available now wherever you get your podcasts.

Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

And on KLUP 930, it's Jason. Hello, Jason.

Dennis Prager.

How are you doing, sir? Okay, thanks.

Dennis, the question that I have for you, first time listening to your show, I've tuned in for about 15 minutes and I'm very appreciative of what I've heard so far.

Whew, boy, wait a minute. You don't know how lucky I am. I mean, you could have tuned in in a lousy 15 minutes.

Okay.

Yes, go ahead.

Sir, the reason for the call is, at 32 years of life on this earth, I've never voted before. I can explain why if you care to know.

No, it doesn't matter to me why you didn't vote.

Go ahead.

Okay, and so I'm newly registered, and so So, uh, I'm— as I've been told by many people, uh, that I ask because I'm trying to gather as much information as possible, um, in which direction to vote. And so I've been told that I've been, uh, kind of corrupted by the media or the leftists and, you know, watching a few Michael Moore films and some other things. And so is it possible for you to rather simply summarize either the differences between the 2 parties as I'm trying to understand for the 2 candidates.

I'm gonna tell you something heretical.

If you do not have a strong sense about which candidate you want, you should not vote for either.

OK.

I do not believe that voting is imperative if one doesn't know who to vote for.

And now that does somewhat fit into what I used to feel my beliefs were.

OK, so it is your task, though, to figure out, because they're not similar at all, the parties, Well, now I'm trying to.

OK, very good.

Excellent.

I mean, there's a lot of stuff that I could—

I mean, I could—

let's begin with the notion of— let's take domestic first. The Republican Party believes, by and large, that you should keep as much money as you can. The Democratic Party believes that a larger government doing what it perceives to be good things with people's money is a better thing to do. So that if you think, if one thinks that Europe is a good example of the way a civilization ought to head, one votes Democrat.

OK.

If one thinks that Europe is headed in the wrong direction, as I do, both domestically and internationally, as well as ethically and morally, then you would want to vote for a party that, in my opinion, represents far more American as opposed to European values. European values are secularism and socialism and equality. Ours are Judeo-Christian values should be the bedrock of the country, a belief in liberty over equality, and a belief that private enterprise works better than public strong, large government. So you— I think I have very fairly delineated differences. Now, you may not have— you may say, well, now I know why they're different, but I don't know which is better. Is that where you're at?

Not entirely, because again, the more I am educating myself, I do want to say that I somewhat believe with the— I'm a business owner. I do want to say I believe in some of the things that have been told to me, the Republican viewpoint. However, I do struggle with, as you just described, the domestic side of things in, you know, I guess my heart, in wanting to help others. And so, yeah, I'm right there in the middle, and I'm still—

Well, it may help you to know that by all the data that I saw, by and large, the people living in Republican states give more charity per capita than people in democratic states. And there's a reason for that. Europeans give no charity.

The reason is that they are so highly taxed, they believe the government should take care of the poor.

OK.

The government will take care of all things.

I don't have to. I think that corrupts the character of a human being.

I believe large government corrupts the character. That's why the United States, and not Europe, to give you one example, backs Taiwan and backs Israel, unlike the Europeans.

And that is that our values, to me, are morally superior.

And let's go to Kathy in San Antonio as well. Hello, Kathy. Dennis Prager on KLUP.

Hi, Dennis.

I'm like you. Without my Sabbath, I'm unhappy, and I can tell a difference in my whole attitude throughout the week if I don't, if I don't keep that Sabbath.

Now, you're a Christian who keeps the Jewish one?

Yes.

How interesting. Do you have other Christians who do that?

Uh, I have some Christian friends who, who go to— um, I, I go to a Christian church on Sunday, a non-denominational church, but I go to a Messianic congregation on Friday evenings.

Uh-huh.

Um, you know, Jews who have accepted Jesus, and it's Jews and Gentiles worshiping together. And I have several friends that, that that are Gentiles that do this. And it just— it is— I just started this maybe a year and a half ago, started going to this and learning my Judeo-Christian roots. And I keep the feasts of the Lord. And I think God wants the Christians to learn these feast days because this is a rehearsal of things to come.

Well, I'm thinking— and as things that were. After all, these are the holidays that Jesus observed. I always used to ask the Christian pastors this question. For 10 years I did a show I moderated a show with a priest, rabbi, and minister, different ones each week, and I often would ask the priest and the minister, why don't you keep kosher?

Jesus did.

And it's very interesting how that was one of the great, great questions that would provoke all sorts of fascinating dialogue on how does a Christian know what is in fact still demanded? from the Old Testament and what isn't. And it's not easy.

A lot of Christians think that there's an easy answer to that, and I don't think there is.

Tomorrow on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.

I believe that the world has 4 competing ideologies under which more and more people will or won't live. They are Islam, the secular left, American/Judeo-Christian and chaos.

Join us tomorrow to hear more on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Visit DennisPrager.com for thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs, and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles. We want to take just a second to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the podcast. Go to lifeaudio.com to find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network, including shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.

Life can be messy, but you don't have to figure it out alone.

Hey, it's the Luskos!

Join pastors and bestselling authors Levi and Jenny Lusko on Hey, It's the Luskos for honest conversations about faith, Marriage, family, grief, ministry, and all the unexpected moments in between. You'll laugh, you'll be encouraged, and you'll be reminded that God is faithful through every season.

It will always come back to Jesus in the end.

That's right.

Tune in to Hey, It's the Luskos with Levi and Jenny Lusko, available now wherever you get your podcasts.