High Noon

Welcome back, everyone. Today is Thursday, May the 11th. I'm Ryan Hill.

I'm John Galantis. And you're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abhinand Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayshow.com. If you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028, or you can email us at contact at ClearviewTodayshow.com. That's right. You guys can help us keep the conversation going by supporting the show, sharing it online, leaving us a good review on iTunes or Spotify, where you get your podcasting content from.

We're going to leave a link in the description of this podcast so you can do just that. But before anything else happens, I want us to read the verse of the day. Verse of the day. Yeah, this is the verse of the day. And I'm just now seeing that I forgot to put the reference. I was trying to stall as I looked up the reference. It is Romans 10, verse 15.

That's exactly it, because I remember looking it up. I just didn't write it. I was going to go back and forth banter with you a little bit about verse they jingle as I was furiously looking up this reference.

I knew it was Romans, but I couldn't remember exactly. We sing the new improvised verse of the day song. Verse of the day. Hey, hey, hey.

Hey, hey, hey. All right, so this is Romans chapter 10, verse 15. And it says, And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things. Yeah. And you know, that's the thing is that people with beautiful feet, as Romans puts it, they're either sending folks or they're going themselves.

And that's what we're called to do, share this good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. So the question is this, do you have beautiful feet or do you have ugly feet? You know what I mean?

Because you've seen those people with feet where it looks like the Lamisil monsters are crawling out trying to get out. I don't want to be that type of Christian. I don't want to be an ugly- Tough acting, ten acting. Tough acting, ten acting.

I'm John Madden with tough acting, ten acting. Rest in peace. I love that analogy though. Like if your feet are not directly contributing to the gospel getting out, whether they're going or whether they're sending, because you know, all of us are going to run out and evangelize and all of us are going to hop on a plane and go somewhere, or even just go down the street and evangelize. We need to either be going or we need to be contributing to those that are going.

That's right. We are all engaged in this process of sending the gospel to the nations. You know, speaking of feet, it's actually kind of perfect because we had a question come in this morning. I was seeing it this morning as I was driving here regarding smells and I thought feet smells.

Yeah, this is a good one to do this question. Gina H. wrote into the show and wants to know, what's the strangest smell that you love? I feel targeted that you used that- Why?

That segue. Because of your feet. One of the strangest smells that I love is the smell of my kids' feet.

Ryan Hill? When they were little. When they were itty bitty.

David just loved it. I love the smell of my kids. Not just kids, my kids' feet. Five years old and down.

Put the camera on David. I know it's gross. It's not gross, it's just odd. It's disturbing. I know. That's just odd behavior. I know. It is odd.

It's very weird. I'll be the first to admit. Typically, typically, Ryan, if people say something like, what's your strangest smell that you like? You just give an answer like, what am I?

Gasoline, fresh cut grass, something like that. You're like, my children's feet from ages five down. Yep. Do you want to explain? We said strangest. That is the strangest.

No, you're right. That's the strangest smell that I love. I just wasn't expecting that.

That really caught me off guard. That little baby feet smell where they start to... I mean, they're feet, so they smell like feet, but they're still little kids. What does it even smell like? Just like kid feet. A baby's head I get. Yeah. People say that like, oh, I love to sniff a baby's head.

That's the first thing. Both of my sons were born. We brought them to church and people were like, oh, do you mind if I just... Just right on the head. I was like, oh, oh, his head. No, why you sniff his head?

They're like, oh, oh, yes. Oh, a baby's feet. But I've never seen someone pick up a baby's foot and go... It's not any baby. It's not any baby. Just your baby.

Just my baby. What did this... Try to describe the smell. Ah. It's like...

I don't know. It smells kind of sweet. Okay.

Kind of sweet smelling. Like after a bath or just right after? I mean, any time.

Just the baby's feet. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Like, I'll sniff Asher's feet.

He's four. I'll sniff his feet. To this day, you will?

And they stink sometimes, but to me, they still smell good. I got to regroup. I got to regroup after this.

Sorry. I feel like... I know that's a weird answer, and I know I'm going to get a lot of flack for it. Listen, that's what Gina asked.

I mean, that's my honest answer. The strangest smell that I love is my kids' feet when they are five years old and younger. And that's been true for all five of my kids. I was thinking on the way here this morning how I could make liking gasoline compelling.

I don't think there's any way to follow that. I'm sorry. I can't follow someone who likes the smell of the baby's feet. Something happens at five, though. I don't know what it is, but their feet start smelling like like grown kid feet, and they start to really stink.

I'm like, okay, all right, we're done now. But four years on down, they still smell like little baby feet. It just smells good to me.

For my kids, for my own biological children. Maybe it's more common than I'm giving it credit for. Why don't you guys write in? Why don't you guys write into the show and let us know, do you like the smell of your baby's feet? Probably not.

Probably not. I'm probably alone in that. Gina, that's the answer. He likes the smell of his baby's feet. I really love gasoline, but we're going to ask Dr. Shah at the end of the episode, because I have a feeling his will hopefully be a little bit more tame than his baby's feet. Maybe he likes his baby's feet. I don't know. Shoot.

Stay tuned. We'll figure out what his baby's feet are. His kids are all in their late teens and 20s, but maybe.

Maybe he still sniffs Nicholas's feet. I don't know. Could be. Could be. I don't know.

That seems a little troubling to me. Write in and let us know. If you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, we'd love to hear those as well, or you can visit us online at cleareadtodayshow.com.

We'll be back after this. One of the four core values of Clearview Church is that we're a Bible believing church. So every sermon is coming directly from scripture, which is great because that guarantees that there are timeless truths that are constantly applicable to our lives. This is a great resource because whether you're driving, whether you're cleaning the house, whether you're working out, you can always benefit from hearing the word of God spoken into your life and God's word is always going to do something new for you every time you hear it.

Sometimes it's conviction and sometimes it's encouragement, but know that every time you listen to God's word, you're inviting the Holy Spirit to move and work in your life. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at cleareadtodayshow.com.

If you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028. That's right. If this is your first time ever visiting the show with us, we want to make you feel welcome, let you know who's talking to you today. Dr. Abbadan Shah is a PhD in New Testament for criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show.

You can find all of his work on his website at abbadanshah.com. That's right, Dr. Shah. Welcome back. I wish I could have like some sort of sound bite where it's like tumbleweed rolls across some kind of animation. My dad, I mentioned this on Tuesday, but my dad loved, loved westerns and I have a vivid memory.

I was telling Dr. Shah this earlier when we were getting coffee. I have a vivid memory of like falling asleep on the couch while he would be like watching westerns and like hearing that sound. Like, you know that area of sleep where you're still kind of conscious of your stuff? It'd be like, and it scared me that it just used to just startle awake. It's just such an unnerving sound like to a little kid. Now I remember that to this day. I would hear it in my room because he would watch westerns on repeat and I'd hear it in my room, like from my room, I'd be like, ugh, I don't like it. I can hear it today, but I definitely was scared. Your eye starts twitching a little bit. Yeah.

I was scared of that as a kid, for sure. We're continuing this conversation. This has been a fun set of episodes about, you know, a couple of days ago we talked about westerns and the old west specifically, kind of that nostalgic era. We talked about the transcontinental railroad and its effects on our nation and that time where we needed it so desperately for our nation to be unified. So today we're just going to kind of continue that conversation.

That's right. I know that the old west is something that you love, that you love to talk about, that you're passionate about. So let's dig in a little bit more in that conversation and see what else is in the old west for us to discover.

Well, if you really want to watch a movie, really a show that depicts the old west like it is supposed to be, you have to do the one with Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones. Anybody here know which one I'm talking about? I don't. It seems familiar. Yeah. Lonesome Dove.

Oh, I've definitely heard Lonesome Dove. Okay. That was a TV show? I didn't know the name of it. It was a show. I knew.

I can picture Tommy Lee Jones in like the tire. Yeah, the cowboy get up. Yeah. Yeah. That is the most depressing show ever. That's not the way I expected it to go. It all goes downhill.

It's everything that can go wrong does. Yeah. Danny Glover is in that show. Oh, really? Yeah. But it all sort of one by one, they die horribly.

Some of them. But that I would say it's a pretty good summary. Good summary. And I still like it. I actually went and bought the whole series years ago on DVD. Yeah.

I haven't watched it. You gotta be in the right head space. I do that sometimes. Like I'll buy something.

I'll buy something. I'm like, no, I'm not emotionally ready for this. The only time I watch it is like when it's on TV now. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's like I have to get myself ready. It's like, do I want to do this? Yeah. It's such a downer.

Like I'm doing that kind of with guardians three right now. Like I saw the trailers and I'm like, you know what? I don't think I'm ready for this.

I'm just going to chill. It's like bitter medicine. You know that you need it. I gotta take it. I don't want to. I don't want to take it.

I'm going to enjoy watching it, but I know it's going to be a gut punch in the soul. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But that's probably close to reality.

The old West used to be. It's also great storytelling when you can make people feel emotions like that. Yeah. That's really good. And want to, and want to feel those emotions like, oh man, I really want to watch that show even though I know it's going to be sort of depressing. Yeah.

I really want to watch that show. But even that's kind of a great contrast to like Bonanza where like you said, everything's kind of happy and cheerful. Bright, colorful.

He's real bright, colorful. Most of the time, most of the time is happy and cheerful. Many times it ends up being that the gal they really were in love with was turned out to be a rotten gambler. Yeah.

Or like a smugglers woman or something. Yeah. That's true. It's heartbreaking.

So they're sad moments in Bonanza too. Poor Hoss and just always getting his heart broken. Yeah. I mean, come on, leave the man alone. He can't handle himself. Hashtag leave Hoss alone. Yeah.

He's in love. Y'all know these episodes that I'm referring to? I know of Bonanza, but no, I don't know. I know Hoss was like the bigger son, right? There was three sons. It was Hoss was one.

I can't remember the other two. But I mean, it's hilarious at times, but at the same time, it's like, oh, yeah. Poor Hoss. Yeah. Hoss, man.

He just, they do Hoss wrong. But if you want to watch like a real tough guy movie, then of course, Tombstone, it is. That's David's favorite movie, David, right now.

I mean, would you say one of the Westerns that you really like? Yeah, probably my favorite Western that I've seen just because I very quickly fell in love with the character of Doc Holliday. Just being tough and just, I don't know what it was about him, but he wasn't afraid of anything.

I think that's what it was. Like, I think he even says it in the movie. He's like, I'm not afraid to die. I'm not afraid to live.

I just can't fight human instinct. I don't remember the exact quote, but yeah, I really liked him. And so Tombstone has quickly become my favorite.

I've seen it probably 20 times in the past two years. Wow. Who introduced you to Tombstone? So that was somebody named Dr. Shaw.

I love the setup there. Like that was somebody that I met one time in my life named Dr. Shaw. That's right.

Oh, look at this. So you started talking about Tombstone. David, do you want to give the story behind this?

Yeah, that's fine. So just like we said, I really like Tombstone and Dr. Shaw introduced me to Tombstone and Doc Holliday. So we went to Colorado on a staff retreat and I got my first cowboy hat at the place where Doc Holliday died.

So from then on, I was like, okay, I guess I'm taking on the mantle of Doc Holliday. Well, just to let people know, he died in a hotel room. And that hotel room or that hotel sort of converted into a museum shop.

And so you can go there and see Tombstone memorabilia. And that's where David got his hat. Yep.

That's a pretty cool place. Oh, wait, you got your hat from the museum? Yeah, it was in that place.

Yeah, he got it right there. The brown one? Yeah, the brown one. Oh, I didn't know that.

Yeah. And who got it in Arizona? I didn't know you got it at the museum. Yeah, it was in Colorado. I got it from the place where Doc Holliday died. We all bought cowboy hats in Arizona, though.

Yeah, that was like fake. You got a good one in Arizona. Nicholas got a really good one in Arizona. But you bought your good brown one in Colorado.

Nick's. David Goodwin came from Colorado. That's right.

You're right. So I was like, OK, I've been introduced to Tombstone, Doc Holliday. I really like this. So in order to pay my respects to the OG, the one who was originally introduced to me, I got... It's called Doc Shalliday.

Yeah, Doc Shalliday. I love that. By the way, here's a fun fact for you. I'm ready.

I'm ready. Fun fact, the director of the movie. I mean, you would expect somebody... I mean, he is down home country, Western. Almost like John Wayne.

Can I say redneck? I mean, he just like... He is... No, he was a Greek Italian.

That I did know because you told me about. His name was George Cosmatos. That sounds Greek. Doesn't that sound like somebody who would make Tombstone? That sounds like my people. That does not sound like Tombstone.

Cosmatos, yeah. He's one of us. He's the same guy who did Rambo, the second movie. I think it's First Blood.

And then Cobra, the Silver Stallone movies. Wow. Yeah, yeah. So you see that style coming out. It's like, yeah, I'll show you, that kind of thing.

Did the people in the West actually act that way? I don't know. Thanks to all the spaghetti Westerns. You know, it has some Italian... I was going to ask you, I'm not familiar with that term. Spaghetti Westerns. You never heard of that? Yeah, Spaghetti Westerns.

I don't know why they call them that. Nicholas can enlighten us on that. Nicholas, tell us a little bit about the spaghetti Westerns.

They have 100%. They're called spaghetti Westerns. What are they about, Nicholas? You don't know?

Yes, you do. Nicholas loves to watch these movies. He has a whole set of Clint Eastwood movies at home, right, Nicholas? That's my son, by the way.

Yeah, he's looking like he doesn't want to get in the mic. Which one were you watching recently? The Good, the Bad, the Ugly. The Good, the Bad, the Ugly. That's the one. So what is the spaghetti?

Where does the spaghetti come from? For some reason, Italian investors got really into the West, and they decided to capture that market. So a lot of movies that were made in those 50s, 60s eras, I believe it is. Again, I may be getting my dates wrong, were actually done by them. And of course, you can always say, they kind of made the West not the West.

Maybe. But I think they did also do a great job capturing some of the things. So of course, nobody's going to get it right unless you're coming right from that place in a time machine. I think they did a great job. What if they hadn't?

Was anybody else doing it? No, I mean, nothing like they did. So they brought the West, the allure of the West, back in some ways. So I think it's great. Gotcha. Spaghetti Western. I learned that today. I've never heard that. Yeah, I've definitely heard it, but I didn't know it was because they were produced by Italian people. I've always heard that they were called Spaghetti Westerns, but I never questioned it.

All you have to do is look at the credits when the movie ends. Those don't sound like... Those names are a little suspect there. Yeah, you want to see Smith and Richardson and things like that. You'll find a lot of... Antonucci's and Sopranos.

Yes, of course. Corleones and stuff like that. Names like that. But see, look at me.

I'm not from here. Why do I like the West? So some people make fun of those Spaghetti Westerns. Those guys just made money off that. No, I think they did some research and they studied it well, and they captured the same sentiments that I'm capturing as an Indian from India.

I love it. They loved it. And they made a big deal out of it. And today, some of those movies like Good, Bad and Ugly, Fistful of Dollars, all these movies are so popular because it's like, wow, yeah, I like that.

I like the West. Part of storytelling, I think, is finding those cultures that may not be your own, but you see the value in them and you see the themes that come through. Like we were talking about, I think we talked about on Tuesday, there's lots of political commentary going on in a lot of these Westerns, and there's lots of social commentary talking about, this is how life was. And it may have been simple, but it had its own set of problems. And for a lot of people, this is how they lived. And those stories are worth telling, not because you just want to look back and remember simpler times, but because that shaped these famous people into who they were. The circumstances, the things that they had to live with, the progress, like the railroads and technology that interrupted their lives. Like, yes, it made the nation better, but it also affected these people in a real way. And that's kind of what these genres deal with.

Yeah. I mean, okay, I'm glad you brought that up because movies like High Noon came out in 1952. High Noon, a lot of presidents love this movie, like Eisenhower, Bill Clinton, they often talk about it.

Ronald Reagan did as well. But initially, this movie was sort of coming from an anti-McCarthyism point of view, like, you know, all these people who were so courageous right now, they don't want to stand up against the scrutiny of the Red Scare. In that sense, I like High Noon and I don't. Yeah, because it almost makes people, the agenda is too strong. For the listeners, do you want to just kind of briefly talk about McCarthyism, like what that means?

Yeah. I mean, it was just like hunting for, looking for those people who had communist tendencies and communist, you know, ideals. So High Noon being anti-McCarthyism would have been pro-communist. Pro-communist, because at that time, you know, there was a lot of spotlight being put on Hollywood because of some of the socialist communist type tendencies coming out.

And guess what? They were right, because it was happening in Hollywood. But anyways, so High Noon was sort of like a defense of a stand up against these people trying to scare us. And it's very interesting to me that a Western was made in support of, like, communist ideals and sympathizers. It kind of feels like what- Because I don't see Gary Cooper, I don't see a communist.

These things don't seem to go together. But it seems like kind of something that they would do, like, we're going to have you support our side with the thing that you like. Yeah, you're absolutely right. Yeah, it seems like that kind of- Stand up against these people trying to prosecute us and question us. Oh, you're not, you're weak, so I'm going to be the last man standing, you know, which is another movie, by the way.

But, you know, I'm going to be the one who's going to be the one who's going to hold my ground. But John Wayne didn't like it either. He's like, I don't like High Noon.

It's a pathetic movie. Different words he used. So he made the movie The Man Who Shot Liberty Valens, which I think is better anyways.

Now, High Noon has us great moments too, but Man Who Shot Liberty Valens, I would prefer that. You know, the ideals in there are a little better. Yeah. If somebody is looking to, we've talked a lot about Westerns and Old West and that kind of culture over the past couple of episodes, if somebody has been listening, they're like, man, I really want to get into this. I really want to- Yeah. Where should they start? What's the best like jumping off point? Like a movie or a book or- Anything. Any type of movie, a movie, book, show, comic.

What's the best place for them to kind of, I guess, get their feet wet? I mean, I like the old shows. I still like the Rifleman, you know, some of those shows. I think they watch Rawhide.

It'll be, it's an education. Rawhide. Is that, oh man, hold on. Yeah, bring them in, roll them in, roll in, bring them up, saddle up, Rawhide. I've got a vague, distant memory of that.

I never watched Rawhide, but I think my dad did. How about this? Try Billy Crystal City Slickers. Billy Crystal City Slickers. There you go.

Here you go. I think it may be a good introduction. I'm not going to recommend everything in the movie, the Times language, so please forgive me for that.

But it has some very good themes in there. You think Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is good for beginners, or you think that's kind of deep western? I think it's a good movie.

I enjoyed it. Paul Newman, Robert Redford did a great job. But at the same time, that 60s, 70s persona also came through, which is what happens in movies. Anytime you make a movie, you will reflect the culture. It can be a historical movie, but it still will reflect the culture. So I think it's great, but I won't recommend that as the first movie you go watch.

As a beginner. Yeah, but it's good. As we've been thinking about over the past few episodes, the Old West and movies and media that depict that kind of culture and nostalgia, are there any concepts illustrated in those movies or shows that maybe apply to our spiritual life? Oh, absolutely. I mean, think about Jesus. I like to think of Jesus in a western theme, in a sense, because every morning he would get up and go away by himself to pray. You know, he liked that aloneness that he had that time with his heavenly father. And so when you think about the Old West, I think about the simpler times. I think about the wide open spaces. I think about liberty, the freedom you have to do your own thing. And so I would say the most important do your own thing is get alone with God.

That's right. And nature, of course, to me, is just such a beautiful thing. Teaches us about who God is and how much he cares for his creation.

So those are some important themes that we can still learn from. I think also something that I think about Jesus when I'm thinking about the West is like the way he just kind of rolled into town, and he saw that there's an established order of things. This is how we do things.

And he comes in with differing values, and it creates this upset. I mean, that's very typical of a western where the gunslinger rolls in. It's like, well, we don't do things like that around here.

Well, guess what? I'm a one man. You're not from around these parts.

I'm not from around here. And he comes in, he kind of puts his values on the town, and the town kind of sees, okay, this is a good way of doing things. We might need this guy to protect us. Yeah. I think also with Jesus, he comes in, he sees the established order of these religious leaders, and he's like, this is not of God. I'm here to show you what's... And like any good story, this conflict, they try to kill him, and they try to get rid of him, but he can't be stopped.

Yeah, that's right. I mean, going back to the man who shot Liberty Valance, it's in a sense the battle between fascism and democracy. Yeah, these are these townspeople who are trying to live and do exist and have a life. And here is Liberty Valance, who is trying to take that away and intimidate people. I mean, isn't that where we are as a culture today in America?

Very much. We are being intimidated by certain nations and agendas to do what they want us to do. So in a sense, I think not only going back to God and trusting in him and looking to him, but also going back to those values that made America what it is. I'm not saying America is perfect, far from that. There are a lot of things we need to work on, but there are certain things that are still worth preserving, which is, hey, you coming against us, we're going to stand up together.

Yeah. And we sort of lost that fighting spirit. I think we have.

I think we are divided as a nation. We are afraid of so much, so much fear, and the best of the people, and the people who claim to be believers, they operate with fear. And some of my best people I know are full of fear. And I'm like, what are you so afraid of? I get it that you're afraid, but why? You have God on your side.

Right. Don't be afraid. Step forward. And unless we do, we're going to stay in Egypt. We're not going to leave the land of slavery. We're going to stay in Egypt. And we're going to, or even if we do, we're going to die in the wilderness.

We have to step forward, trusting God every step of the way, giving Him glory every step of the way, and walking forward, just like those spies went into the land, came back, and we're all scared. Like, ah, no, I don't think so. I don't think so. But two of them said, I think we can take them.

I mean, how much more Western can you get? That's it. That's spirit. We can do it. We can do it.

They are like bread for us. We can fight. That's right. And again, keep in mind, it's not we who are fighting, it's God who's fighting in us, through us. That's right. So why not step forward? I love that.

Reclaiming that spirit of being willing to step forward, being willing to stand up and stand together against oppression, against intimidation. And I'm just going to throw this out there. I love the idea of like outlaw Jesus. Yeah.

Like Jesus with the cowboy hat and the spurs. Absolutely love that. There's something to be explored there.

That's right. Well, thank you guys for listening in today. If you guys enjoyed today's episode or you have questions or suggestions for new episodes, let us know by sending us a text to 252-582-5028.

If you try out some of these Westerns and you get a chance to watch those, write in and let us know what you think, which ones were your favorite and what you learned from them. You can also visit us online at cleveretodayshow.com. You can partner with us financially on that same website. Every gift that you give goes not only building up this radio show, but countless other ministries for the gospel of Jesus. That's right. We love you guys. We'll see you next time on Cleve Read Today.