Dennis and Julie lament the degradation of intellect and society.  Does it matter if you go to a prestigious university or is it more important that you are intelligent?  Having a book collection has gone the way of the dodo, but it’s crucial to be well read.  Having hobbies is a sign of being well adjusted.  Learning a new language is a great way to broaden your understating of language, history, and the world.  Bringing people to the good is a mission both Dennis and Julie believe in, but is it worth covering eye-catching salacious topics to achieve a larger audience?  The story of Rev. Kiyoshi Tanimoto after Hiroshima on This is Your Life.

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Dennis and Sue’s beloved Otto died, and while Dennis laments society equating animals and humans… he reflects on this palpable loss.  The experience made Dennis realize that people choose pain to live a fuller life.  Thinking about one’s own death… helps one to live a fuller life.  Inspired by G.K. Chesterton, Julie shares the significance of stories, fairy tales, and mythology… how they shape countries and individuals, and that sharing them helps to pass on values and teach connections with the past.  We live in a society where unpleasant facts are not to be acknowledged.  Topics include: the ear is deeper than the eye; the story of The Four Sons; Kamala Harris now believes in “climate anxiety”; Americans …we have manufactured all our problems; confrontation …how far do you go in private life exposing your values? As a public figure should you be private about your dating life; in what area of life do you strive to be excellent; For Goodness Sake – do people care about being a good person; dating dress codes; healthy honesty in the sexual realm.

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Are you free to share your political views with friends or coworkers without consequence?  It’s fine if you don’t come out, but at the very least don’t repeat or confirm the nonsense coming from the Left.  Is the Right more tolerant than the Left?  Topics Include: understanding the opposite sex; traveling and speaking; mirror of body, mirror of mind, mirror of character; gambling; The Four Sons; do you like to see photographs of people’s grandchildren?

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Most people believe what they want to believe… and do not believe what they do not want to believe.  Julie recalls her visit to her eye doctor where she was honest about hiding the truth of her consumption.  Dennis asks the question: what do you believe that you do not want to believe?  The reason most people in the U.S. believe that people are basically good is because Americans have had it good… where people suffer, they do not believe people are basically good.  Americans are spoiled, and lack religion… will America prevail, furthermore, is it arrogant to believe so?  It is a luxury to think you do not need God in your life.  Topics include: using the word “cohort”; masks; abortion; adoption; speaking properly matters; “I” versus “me”; heartrending versus heart-wrenching; bored vs boring; A Flag Worth Dying For: The Power and Politics of National Symbols - Tim Marshall; language and travel; The Story of Language -Mario Pei.

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For Julie and Dennis being authentic is of tantamount importance… and it takes a great deal of effort.  It’s an insecurity to not be “real.”  Is there truth in advertising?  On the day Solzhenitsyn was arrested, in 1974, he released the text of “Live Not by Lies,” an essay regarded by Julie as one of the most substantial writings of the 20th century.  Can you think of a Left-wing public broadcast that makes people more mature and helps develop a healthy psychological perspective?  Johnathan Haidt describes a study in which he examines how well liberals, conservatives, and moderates understand each other in The Righteous Mind.  What is prayer …and it important to you?  Julie asks Dennis questions about the Rational Bible, topics include: circumcision; father son rivalry; ethical monotheism; God’s promise to the Hebrew people; Abraham bargains God down to ten people… Sodom and Gomorrah; arguing with God; don’t hug the Rabbi.

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Julie and Dennis explore maintaining integrity.  Meeting great people through being a public figure with conservative values has been a blessing in Dennis’ life.  They address a NYT’s article, Private Dinner Party - Clothing Not Allowed: The Füde Dinner Experience gathers those who want to meet, eat and drink - only after leaving their clothes at the door.  Self-love …what is it?  Unconditional love… is fine for an infant, but not much else.  Media reporting has changed over the years, more pictures, less words… more opinion, less facts.  Was John Hersey the father of this new emotional appeal style of reporting?  Women have a proclivity towards bisexuality and men have a proclivity for polygamy.  A fellow student at Harvard once told Julie, while bragging about cheating… “life is a game… you win or you lose, and everyone is playing dirty, so you better do whatever you can to win.”  Is expressing morality perceived as a sign of weakness today’s woke society?  Do you believe what you say… or do you simply say things to fit an agenda or to garner attention?  CA Gov. Gavin Newsom mandated some of the strictest mask laws in the country, meanwhile attending a dinner at the French Laundry maskless.  For Dennis… “there is no sum of money that could get me to lie!”  How can one be genuinely proud of one’s accomplishments if one doesn’t achieve them through one’s own merit?  For Julie… “in today’s society one’s impulses are condoned, not controlled!” Are dignity, modesty, and humility dead?

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Julie and Dennis bounce off the news story of a de-transitioned teen suing Kaiser Permanente for performing a double mastectomy on her at the age of thirteen, claiming 'intentional fraud.' Dennis asks Julie if a percentage of her generation are aware of how crazy we’ve become?  We're living in an age of madness… the speed with which people accept the absurd is astonishing. Julie answers that they are bombarded by the never-ending woke onslaught.  There is resignation to take a stand, tuning out is easier… they know things are absurd, but cannot emotionally process how badly they’ve been screwed.  They have been deprived of religion and patriotism, and drowned by wokeness, substances, and social media.  What has happened to our trust of doctors and the medical system since the Covid lockdowns and the advent of gender affirming care?

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Julie and Dennis dissect the question: at what age do you become who you are?  Do you feel like an imposter?  When “finding yourself” ...who you want to be is more significant than who you are.  You are what you do.  Do good people think they are good people?  Parents are great, but to be an adult you need to separate from them... having healthy adults in your life is crucial ... role models and mentors.  Where have all the mentors gone?  The addict isn't who they are until they're sober.  Circumstance can help form you into who you are… based on your reaction to it.  “The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance” - Viktor Frankl.  Dennis explains the difference between envy and covet.

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Julie reviews with  Dennis some of the biggest questions she pondered while reading The Rational Bible.  While striving to know God is a noble pursuit… knowing God is not what matters most… knowing what God wants is.  If you think people are basically good, you will be a less happy person.  Exploring outer space is fantastic... equally fantastic is exploring inner space.  Ignorance is not bliss... it may be bliss temporarily, but not over a lifetime.  It is true that faith without works is dead... but works without faith ultimately die as well.  Male sex drive is so strong …would the world function if it were less powerful?  Topics include: God lives outside of time… time is relative; knowing your own nature is fun; God and human suffering; how do we know God chose the Hebrew people; Abrahamic religions; replacement theology; God's promise... the holiness of Israel, does God know the future... if so, how to account for freewill.

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Dennis and Julie continue the discussion of great people and delve into belief.  Belief in science is not a replacement for religion, and belief in religion is not a rejection of science.  This is the one-year anniversary episode of Dennis & Julie.  Do you invite bad people into your life?  Dennis’ four requirements a great person must be… courageous, pursue truth, have no need to be loved, and be an outlier.  Julie’s three requirements a great person must be … principled, have a higher set of values, and be self-doubting yet self-assured.  Topics include: should everyone aspire to be great… can everyone be great; macro vs micro greatness; the war in Ukraine; Micah 6:8 - to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God; we are made in the image of God; the word “should”; how did life come from non-life; how did we get here; Leftism and wisdom are antithetical.

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