Nov. 22, 2024

A Six Million Dollar Banana

A Six Million Dollar Banana

A discussion about a banana that sold for over 6 million dollars.

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A discussion about a banana that sold for over 6 million dollars.

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective.

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This is the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central.

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All right, ladies and gentlemen, I have to ask this question.

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How much would you pay for a banana? Come? I

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want you to really think about this. How much would

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you pay for one banana? How much five dollars? Would

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you pay? Ten dollars for one banana? Would you pay

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twenty five dollars? Would you pay fifty dollars? What about

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one hundred dollars? Now, I know, at this point some

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of you are already laughing at me, thinking that's right,

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no person, no sane person, would pay one hundred dollars

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for a banana. But what if I took that banana

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and I cover put duct tape right across the middle

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of the banana, and I taped it to something. I

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taped it to a board. I took a banana, took

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some duct tape, put it right across the middle of

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the banana, tape it to a board. Would you then

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pay five thousand dollars? Would you pay ten thousand? Fifty thousand?

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Would you pay one hundred thousand dollars for a banana

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with some duct tape across the middle of the banana

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tape to a board. Come on, would you now? Why?

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Why wouldn't you pay that much? What if I was

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to tell you someone paid a lot more than that,

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in fact, probably far more than you could ever imagine.

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I'm not making this up. Someone paid a lot of

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money for a banana taped to a board with duct tape.

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And I'm gonna tell you all about it right after

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I say this. Good morning, it's still morning. Good morning everyone.

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It is Friday, November the twenty second, twenty twenty four.

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It is currently eleven forty eight am Central time, and

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I'm coming to you live from the Theology Central Studio

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located right here in Abilene, Texas. While many people run

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around talking about how bad the economy is. Inflation, this

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is crazy. I don't know how anyone can survive. Well,

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a lot of people have major concerns about the economy,

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while other people, well, they were doing this and finally

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we're going to begin at eight hundred thousand dollars. At

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eight hundred thousand dollars.

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Last night, a highly conceptual piece of art went on

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the auction block at Southern Peace.

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One million is with me already.

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Actually, Bitter is from around the world. World threw their

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offers into the mix three million, five hundred thirsands. They

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pushed the price higher and higher until the winner clinched it.

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It's slipping through the ocean room of five million, two

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and I'm going to sell it here the world's most

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expensive banana. Add five million, two hundred third.

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A real right banana taped to the wall with duct

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tape sold for five point two million dollars plus another

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million in fees. The piece is by the artist Marizio Catalan,

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and it's titled Comedian. We are looking at an ordinary

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banana and an ordinary piece of duct tape. However, what

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makes the ordinary extraordinary is the intention of the artist

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who put this together. So The Bee's head of Contemporary

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Art called Catalan a brilliant provocateur, and he has a

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history of shocking the art world. He once installed a

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solid gold toilet at the Guggenheim. He first debuted the

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banana duct tape piece a few years ago and said

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it was a satirical commentary on the art market and

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what art is considered valuable. The winning bid last night

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came from Justin's Sun, a crypto entrepreneur who watched the

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auction from Hong Kong. He said, for him, the piece

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bridges the worlds of art, internet, memes, and cryptocurrency. And

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he said he plans to eat the banana.

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Five point two million, but then there was another million

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dollar in fee, so that makes it a six point

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two million dollar banana with duct tape. That's all. Someone

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took a banana, duct taped it to a board and said,

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this is a satirical work of art that shows you,

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you know, how crazy the you know, art market is

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and what how art is valued. And someone was like,

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you know, I've got to have that. I mean, instead

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of just recreating it for yourself, let me go grab

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a banana, let me tape it with some duct tape,

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put it on a board. Look everyone, look everyone, look

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at my satirical piece of art. Look at it. Come on,

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look at it. No, no, he I had to buy

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the original for five point two million with a million

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dollar fees. So six point two million dollar banana with

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duct tape. I don't want to leave out the duct tape.

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And I'm assuming it comes to the board that it's

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taped on. So there you have it. There you what

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what now? When I heard that that was at the

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end of one of the news podcasts that I subscribed

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to that was just like the very last story. In fact,

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I was getting ready to just turn it off because

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I'd already heard all of the major news stories, and

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then they threw that in at the end, and I

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was like, what did I just hear? Like, let me

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play that again. So I played it again, and I'm like,

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what do we do? So on one hand, here's where

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I kind of become conflicted here. On one hand, I

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don't want to undermine or play down the significance of art, right.

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I know, art is very much in the eye of

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the beholder. What one person sees as brilliant, another person

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may see what is that? And I know, especially when

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it comes to contemporary art, there's a lot of people like,

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I don't know what this is and kind of you know,

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mucket and I understand that. So I don't want to

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sound like that. I don't want to sound like that.

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I do want to try to appreciate that this is

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a satirical piece that's supposed to show you how things

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are valued in the art world. Okay, great, but is

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it worth? I mean, what is that worth? I mean,

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it may be worth the satirical message. It may have

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some value because of the satirical message that you're trying

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to get across, or it could just demonstrate that anyone

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who would spend five point two million dollars on a

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banana with duct tape tape to you know, a board

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or taped to something like, does it say more about

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the person who purchased it, that they've got way more

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money than they need and that they could probably have

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done something far I don't know, beneficial even to themselves,

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and they're going to just eat it. So they're just

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gonna eat the banana, and the meaning that the piece

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of art is just going to be they purchased it

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just to eat it. I don't know, Like the whole

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thing is just crazy. I'm like, so what do I

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do with this? Like I had to sit there and

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think about it and think about it and think about it,

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and like how do I even process this? So I

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started thinking, is it possible that the story about the

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duct taped banana sold for six point two million dollars?

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Again five point two million but a million dollar fees?

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Could it possibly? Now I'm throwing this out there all right,

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is it possible that this story of this banana that

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it could highlight maybe issues about value, meaning, perception. Do

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you think it it has something to say about what

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we value, about what we give meaning to, how we

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perceive things, And is it possible that we could explore

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this from maybe a more philological or biblical perspective. Is

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it even possible? I don't know. I'm going to try.

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Is it even possible? Is it possible that this entire

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story about this banana, that it raises questions about maybe

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how you and I as human beings, how we determine

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the worth of something, especially when what we value may

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appear to be absurd or even meaningless. I mean, how

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do we determine what is valuable? Because what you may

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determine is valuable, I may see as absolute meaningless junk, right,

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And what I value you may determine is meaningless and

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absolute junk. Right. Like if I was to go pick

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up my headphones and the amplifier that I have connected

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to it, if I was to go downstairs to my

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Yamaha amp that is down there, and the different things

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I have for stereo equipment. If I was to go

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through all the different things I have for music, many

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of you would be like what in the world that's

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all just useless and meaningless because music doesn't mean anything

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to it. I mean, you may say you like to

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listen to it, but you don't really care about any

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of it. You don't care about how it sounds like.

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You're just you're kind of indifferent. You may think, if

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I walk down to where my Yamaha amp is and

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you turn to the right and you see my sixty

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five inch television, you may go, who cares if it's

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this and it can do four K or ultra high

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death or Dobie Otimus, and who cares about any of that?

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You may see that as meaningless. But then I may

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walk in and look at some of the things you

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have and I'm like, really, that's that's what you think

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is valuable. So we already know that there's very much

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a no, there's no like. We have different perceptions, we

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have different things that mean something to us. So we

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definitely know that, But how do we look at it

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from a philological or biblical perspective? Maybe from a biblical perspective,

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the story of the six point two million dollar banana,

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maybe it could challenge us to consider the nature of

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true value and maybe how it aligns with God's standards

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rather than well, our own human whims, our own human ideas.

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So let's consider it, or at least throw out some

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possibilities from a philological reflection. I mean, this is the

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Theology Central podcast. Right, we can make theology central to

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any story, even a story about a six point two

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million dollar banana. Right when I saw the story the

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six million dollar Banana, I thought of the six million

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dollar Man. Do you remember that show? Do you remember it?

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You can watch it on peacock. Right, I loved that show. Now,

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I don't know, it doesn't really stand the test of

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time in twenty twenty four. It's very dated, but yeah,

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you can go you can go watch it on peacock.

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But there was a six million dollar man. Now, that

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story was about this test pilot, right, astronaut test pilot.

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He's in a horrible accident, and then they decide to

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use him basically as an experiment. We can build him back,

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we can we can make him stronger and better, because

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it was showing the advances in technology and medical advancement,

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and well he became the bionic man, six million dollar man.

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It took six million dollars to build him back. But

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he has. So you saved a life, you preserved human life,

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and you made it better. Okay, all right, that maybe

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is worth spending six million dollars on. But a banana

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that just has duct tape on it, you're gonna pill

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the duct tape off, pill the banana and just eat it, like,

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I don't like. I don't know. So, But how do

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we look at that from a theological perspective? Well, does

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this have anything to say possibly about human misplaced value

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when it comes to humanity, when it comes to us

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as human beings, do we often assign value to that

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which is fleeting, that which is trivial? I mean, don't

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have a tendency to assign great value to that which

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is temporal, that which is earthly, that which is fleshly,

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and so much not about being earthly or fleshly, it's

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just that it's fleeting. We assign great value to something

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but it's trivial. It's only going to be here for now,

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and it's going to be gone, and we do that.

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Just think of all the things we assign great value to,

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things that we think are so important, things that we

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get so caught up in and so concerned learned about

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there's a lot of trivial things, right, I mean, we

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can do this in lots of different ways, right. I Mean,

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it's not just I want you to try to see

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beyond Well, I would never pay six point two million

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dollars for a banana. Well, one, you probably don't have

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six six point two million dollars to spend on it.

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And now you say, well, if I had it, I wouldn't.

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But but if you had, if you had a hundred million,

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if you had a billion dollars. I mean, the more

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money you have something that's six point two million for,

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if you have enough money, that may seem like just

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going to the convenience store and go, oh, here's a

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little toy I want to buy. Well, because it doesn't

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appear to be that much. So then it really determines

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on well, you know, the more money you have, well,

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the more you can get. And it can just seem insignificant.

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I can go to the store and buy something insignificant

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because well it's not that much compared to the amount

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of money that I have. So but consider it from

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this perspective, just in life, right, just in your life,

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in my life. I want us to see that we

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we spend money, we spend time, we spend focus, we

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spend effort on so much that is trivial and temporal.

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I used to, I used to. I've talked about this

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so many times when you when you when you're in

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any place of employment, right, people get so caught up

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in their jobs, right and every and people there will

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be drama and arguing and fighting and and and all

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of this. People are fighting for positions, they're fighting for this,

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they're fighting for a raise, for a promotion, they want

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credit this and everybody, and people can get so worked up,

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but in the end, none of it matters. In the end,

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it's all irrelevant. You're going to walk out of that

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building one day. You're gonna retire, and nobody's going to

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stinking care that you got Employee of the month. Nobody's

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gonna stink and care that you were this. Are you

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accomplish this? Sometimes all of these accomplishments that we value,

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they's just going to burn up. Now we can see it.

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When it's a six point two million dollar banana, We're like, well,

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how ridiculous. Sometimes we can't see it that we are

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showing that we value things that are really trivial, that

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are insignificant that are temporal? Do Is it possible that

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as human beings we have a distorted understanding of worth

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and it is seen and we can't see it, but

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we can see it when it's something absurd, like someone

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paying six point two million dollars for a banana, then

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we can see it. But can you see in your

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life your distorted understanding of worth? And is it possible

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that this could originate from our focus on materialism, pride,

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a desire for status and recognition. Is it possible we

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all have a distorted view of value? Is it possible

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that all of us, as humans we have we have

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a distorted view of value, every single one of us.

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We are born with a distorted view of value. And

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the reason we have a distorted view of value is

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because of our sinful nature, which gets us to focus

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on materialism. We focus on the material, what we can touch,

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what we can see. On pride, it will it make

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me me? It's about me, It's about me, It's about me.

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I want everyone to know that it's me. Is it

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possible that that that could be an issue? Could it

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become we want a desire for status? Oh? I want

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to I want to reach a certain status, and I

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want recognition. I think that we value material, pride, status

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and recognition. Is it possible that the banana taped basically

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to a wall symbolizes how the world can celebrate the

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futile or absurd while ignoring lasting and meaningful truths. I

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think that there's something. I think this is simple. I

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know it's just a you know, a banana tape to

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a wall, aboard whatever it was taped to. I think

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we can all see, Man, that's absurd. But I again,

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it's easy to always criticize others. We sometimes have to

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look when we're criticizing something else, we have to look

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at ourselves. I'm not going to pay six point two

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million for a banana tape to a wall. I'm not

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going to value that. I don't care about that. But

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it doesn't mean I don't have misplaced values. Doesn't mean

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that I can be just as much as placing value

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concern over things that are temple and futile, and be

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just as foolish, but in a different way, especially if

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we look at it from a theological perspective. Now we

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do have now some of these scriptures, I don't have

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time to put them in their historical context in this episode.

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But there's some scripture that comes to mind. How about

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I'm not saying that this fits perfectly, but Isaiah fifty

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five two. Now, obviously there's a historical context here, But

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Isaiah fifty five to two, there's these words are being spoken.

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Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread?

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And your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently

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unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and

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let your soul delight itself in fatness. Now this seems

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to speak, at least to some part, it's a critique

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and to some level that we have a tendency to

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invest in things that bring no real fulfillment, and it

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in some ways it could speak to people to seek

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that which truly satisfies, which is God's wisdom and God's truth.

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We have a tendency to invest which doesn't really bring fulfillment.

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Now that person paid six point two million and he's

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going to eat the banana. Now, obviously he's playing along

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with the satirical nature of the piece of art, so

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he himself will become basically a part of the satire.

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He himself will be kind of playing along. Hey, the

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piece was to demonstrate how meaningless things can be seen

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as of great value in art. It's kind of making

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fun of it. And now this man who paid six

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point two million becomes a part of the sat tire.

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So maybe that's why he did so, and he's got

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the money to do so. But it symbolizes, though, for us,

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sometimes the futility and that we misplace. We misplace value.

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We give value to that which is futile, which is meaningless,

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which is empty, which doesn't truly satisfy. And I think

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we all, every single one of us, we do that.

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So does it symbolize not just and I think at

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first I thought about humanity, But let's just do this.

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Does it symbolize you and I and are let's speak

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directly to us, let's look in the mirror. Does it

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show us how we pursue and we give value to

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the wrong things? And think of the things. You give

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so much value to your attention, your time? And does

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it deal with well, pride, position, recognition, materialism? Come on,

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where do you give the great look at your life?

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Your life shows you what you value the most? And

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I think what we can see by our lives, we

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don't value God or the things of God more than

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we value other things. I think this can be spoken

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to all of us. Could it be that this banana

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for six point two million dollars? Could it possibly symbolize

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or speak to the vanity of worldly pursuits? Is it

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possible that the banana taped to a wall, to a board,

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could it echo maybe some things we hear in the

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book of Ecclesiastes, where you have someone lamenting the vanity,

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the meaningless, meaningless of worldly endeavors and the pursuit of menial,

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temporal things. I mean, Solomon's trying to figure out the

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purpose of life, and he's like vanity, vanity, meaningless, meaningless, meaningless, meaningless, meaningless, meaningless.

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Could it be that the taped banana represents kind of

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the emptiness in a sense of wealth and of human achievement,

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which ultimately does not satisfy nor can it endure. If

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you look at Ecclesiastes one four, I have seen everything

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that is done under the sun, and behold, all is

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vanity and striving after wind. To borrow from that translation,

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it's meaningless, it's everything done under the sun. It's meaningless,

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it's empty. Could it be that the absurdity of the

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art's value underscores how you and I chase after that

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which lacks any internal or eternal I think you should

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say that way eternal significance, not internal but eternals. We

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definitely value the external more than the internal. But in

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this particular case, doesn't it the banana seem to indicate

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that the absurdity of the value of that banana? Could

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it underscore you and I us us how we chase,

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chase after that which does not have any eternal significance.

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Let's state it that way. Does that? Does that make

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more sense? I think that makes sense. Is that possible

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that the banana? Nice? So now today, this is what

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I want you to do. I want you to get

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a banana, get some duct tape, and just tape it

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to the refrigerator. And when everybody walks about what what

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is that? Well, that that demonstrates how all of us

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in this family we have misplaced values. And number two,

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it shows you the vanity of worldly pursuits. Now you

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can try it. I think your family are just gonna

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be like, you're out of your mind listening to that

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stupid podcast again. Why are we taping a banana to

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the refrigerator, because maybe we need to be reminded that

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you and I we tend to value the wrong things,

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and we give value to the wrong things. And let's

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be honest, we're we're we're very much involved in worldly pursuits.

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Could it be that when we look at a banana

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selling for six point two million dollars, could it be

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that this is symbolic of a misplaced treasure? Could it

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be remember Jesus taught that we should prioritize eternal treasure

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over earthly wealth. And why because earthly wealth can easily

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distract and deceive us. The duct tape banana, could it

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not serve kind of as a metaphor of how worldly treasures,

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no matter how expensive or celebrated, are temporary and will

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faid I was thinking Matthew six verses nineteen to twenty one,

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reading from a differ translation, Do not lay up for

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yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and

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where thieves break in and steel. But lay up for

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yourselves treasures and heaven, For where your treasure is there,

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your heart will be awesome. Whatever your wherever your treasure is,

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identify what you treasure. That's where your heart is. Ladies

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and gentlemen, if you treasure a banana tape to a wall,

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and you're willing to give six point two million dollars

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to purchase it, where that's where your treasure is. That's

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where your heart is. If you can identify what you treasure,

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you will identify the location of your heart. And this

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is why, over and over and over, I know, and

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you know, if we're even remotely honest, my heart is

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not loving God with all my heart, mind, body, and soul.

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My heart is typically found somewhere and what eye treasure,

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and it tends to be very earthly, It tends to

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be very material, and it tends materialistic, and it tends

401
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to be very self serving. I love what the thing

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that I get something from pleasure, acknowledgment, whatever it may be,

403
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because my heart is going to be what is going

404
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to give me the greatest amount of whatever I'm looking for.

405
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Maybe the banana shows us how as you and I

406
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that we misplace value, we give value to the wrong things.

407
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Maybe it shows us the vanity of worldly pursuits. Maybe

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it shows us misplaced treasures. Could it be, could it

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be that the banana shows us futility without God. So

410
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when you look at the valuation of the art piece,

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doesn't it reflect a more kind of a world increasingly

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detached from the grounding reality of God. The more you

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become detached from a reality grounded in God, well, then

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what happens. In the Book of Romans, Paul seems to

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explain how once humanity, when it's separated from God, it

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exchanges his glory for foolish things. It misdirects his worship

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and value. That would be what Romans won think you

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look at that entire section starting around verse twenty two,

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because I read it from a different translation. Claiming to

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be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of

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the immortal God for images resembling mortal men, birds, animals,

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and creeping things. The duct tape banana could possibly then

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represent how the world, how you and I evaluates the

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trivial or the absurd, and we place it almost to

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a place of reverence. It's almost a volley of misplaced priorities.

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But we can now, I don't want to just say

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the world all of us, all of us do this.

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We constantly we claim to be wise, and we constantly

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prove ourselves to be fools, and we exchange the glory

430
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of God for for for the fleshly, for the for

431
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the tangible, for the material. We do that constantly. We

432
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evaluate the trivial, almost to an absurd place of reverence,

433
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where we I love this, and I need this, and

434
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I want this and I desire that, and the things

435
00:28:36.880 --> 00:28:39.440
of God get pushed to the to the side. I

436
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think it shows the futility without God once we once

437
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we kind of abandon God, which we abandon God constantly. Okay,

438
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don't act like Christians, we don't do this. And then

439
00:28:49.559 --> 00:28:52.400
we begin to do what well we we We begin

440
00:28:52.519 --> 00:29:02.720
to give other things this greater attention, worship, an adoration, love, pursuit.

441
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We become consumed with it. So what would be like

442
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So that's kind of looking at the banana from like

443
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a kind of a philological perspective. What if we try

444
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to really try to create a biblical perspective here? What

445
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if we try to create a biblical perspective, Well, then

446
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we would need to establish God's standard of value, right,

447
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or God's standard of worth? Maybe we go with that language.

448
00:29:35.960 --> 00:29:38.599
So I'm telling you get a banana, duct tape it

449
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to the refrigerator today because it symbolizes all the things

450
00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:44.400
we just talked about, and then we can try to

451
00:29:44.599 --> 00:29:49.400
establish what would be a biblical perspective. Well, God's standard

452
00:29:49.440 --> 00:29:55.519
of worth would be the true value. True worth is

453
00:29:55.640 --> 00:30:06.319
not determined by the how much something costs or human praise,

454
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but by God's standards. Right. If you think about how

455
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does how does something valuable? How is something deemed to

456
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be worthy or valuable? How is that determined? It's sometimes

457
00:30:16.920 --> 00:30:19.240
by how much it costs or by what people think

458
00:30:19.279 --> 00:30:21.720
about it. Well, if people think it's good, then it's good.

459
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If people think it's bad, it's bad. Right, or or

460
00:30:25.240 --> 00:30:28.400
how much something costs. There's different ways. But for us,

461
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what we should say from a Biblical perspective is, well,

462
00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:37.839
God's standard God determines value and worth. The Bible would

463
00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:41.880
seem to teach that what is truly valuable often appears

464
00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:49.039
insignificant to the world, Right is it first Samuel sixteen

465
00:30:49.200 --> 00:30:51.440
seven that says something like the Lord sees not as

466
00:30:51.480 --> 00:30:54.079
man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the

467
00:30:54.119 --> 00:30:59.000
Lord looks on the heart. If you look at the Bible,

468
00:30:59.039 --> 00:31:04.920
the Bible emphasizes things like humility, love, turning the other cheek,

469
00:31:05.720 --> 00:31:09.359
things that would appear weak, foolish, insignificant to the world,

470
00:31:09.440 --> 00:31:13.160
but God values that. See. God sees, not as a

471
00:31:13.200 --> 00:31:19.319
man sees, He judges. He values things differently. The world

472
00:31:19.359 --> 00:31:23.799
may value a banana at six point two million, God's

473
00:31:23.920 --> 00:31:29.119
valuation would focus on purpose and substance on something differently.

474
00:31:29.319 --> 00:31:31.799
So maybe we have to try to begin to see

475
00:31:32.160 --> 00:31:37.240
worth and value from God's perspective and not our own perspective.

476
00:31:37.480 --> 00:31:40.400
We tend to determine value and worth of something on

477
00:31:40.519 --> 00:31:44.599
how it makes us feel, not from an eternal perspective.

478
00:31:45.319 --> 00:31:48.000
Come on, I know that's the case. So maybe a

479
00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:50.400
biblical perspective would be we have to look at it

480
00:31:50.400 --> 00:31:53.559
from God's standard and not man's standard. Second, we have

481
00:31:53.599 --> 00:31:56.359
to have an eternal perspective, which I just alluded to.

482
00:31:56.400 --> 00:32:02.079
I just hinted a see the seeming absurdity of this art,

483
00:32:02.759 --> 00:32:06.680
it is when you really well, I have to kind

484
00:32:06.680 --> 00:32:09.079
of I'm kind of conflicting on this. On one hand,

485
00:32:09.079 --> 00:32:10.960
I want to say, you look at the art, it's

486
00:32:11.000 --> 00:32:16.279
completely absurd when you contrast it with eternity. But everything

487
00:32:16.359 --> 00:32:19.960
seems absurd and useless when you compare it to eternity. Right, So,

488
00:32:20.799 --> 00:32:22.279
and in some ways I think we would say the

489
00:32:22.279 --> 00:32:26.440
banana is absurd even from the most pragmatic and practical perspective, right,

490
00:32:26.599 --> 00:32:29.319
But I think it can symbolize that we do need

491
00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:32.240
an eternal perspective. We all of us have a very

492
00:32:32.319 --> 00:32:36.000
much a temporal, earthly perspective. But if we saw things

493
00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:39.000
from an eternal perspective, we'd be like, well, should I

494
00:32:39.039 --> 00:32:41.400
be really upset about that? Or we're really focused on

495
00:32:41.440 --> 00:32:43.599
this if I look at it from an eternal perspective.

496
00:32:43.720 --> 00:32:50.279
But it's hard to have an eternal perspective. We have

497
00:32:50.359 --> 00:32:53.480
the parable of the pearl of great price. I think

498
00:32:53.519 --> 00:32:57.279
in Matthew thirteen, right, this reminds us that the most

499
00:32:57.359 --> 00:33:00.559
valuable treasure is God himself. It's worth it everything we

500
00:33:00.640 --> 00:33:05.559
have God eternity. That's why it has great value. We

501
00:33:05.559 --> 00:33:08.319
should be willing to give up everything for that. What

502
00:33:08.759 --> 00:33:12.279
we should value above everything else is God, that which

503
00:33:12.319 --> 00:33:15.079
is an eternity. That's what we should value. But what

504
00:33:15.119 --> 00:33:18.039
we have a tendency to do is will sacrifice the eternal,

505
00:33:18.200 --> 00:33:21.960
Will sacrifice the spiritual for the fleshly, for the earthly,

506
00:33:22.240 --> 00:33:24.319
and for the temporal. I do it, You do it.

507
00:33:24.440 --> 00:33:26.680
Let's not pretend that we don't. I know we have

508
00:33:26.720 --> 00:33:29.200
a tendency when this kind of thing is preached. Well,

509
00:33:29.240 --> 00:33:32.279
the world out there, but we've got it all, man,

510
00:33:32.519 --> 00:33:35.480
I've been going to church forever. Christians are just as

511
00:33:35.519 --> 00:33:39.319
consumed and preoccupied and loves the world, love the things

512
00:33:39.359 --> 00:33:41.960
in the world. They have a temporal perspective. They have

513
00:33:42.079 --> 00:33:46.240
misplaced value, misplaced treasures. They pursue that which is vain.

514
00:33:46.720 --> 00:33:50.240
The church even does that. The church will cancel the

515
00:33:50.319 --> 00:33:54.359
preaching of God's word for anything fun and entertaining. We

516
00:33:54.440 --> 00:33:58.640
know that for crying out loud. Church is closed down

517
00:33:58.720 --> 00:34:03.119
on Christmas to mostly celebrate christ By closing down the church,

518
00:34:03.279 --> 00:34:06.720
they won't open the doors. Everyone's home exchanging gifts and

519
00:34:06.799 --> 00:34:11.639
drinking eggnog. So come on, let's let's it's look, it's

520
00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:14.519
okay to be honest when it comes to Oh, we

521
00:34:14.599 --> 00:34:17.679
can't do Halloween because it's bad. What do we do?

522
00:34:17.760 --> 00:34:19.639
We have the Fall Festival. We can all dress up

523
00:34:19.679 --> 00:34:23.199
and have food and fun and candy and games. Because

524
00:34:23.239 --> 00:34:25.719
we we want what the world has. Now we will

525
00:34:25.760 --> 00:34:29.760
try to spiritualize it so we feel better about ourselves. Right. Hey,

526
00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:33.079
When Christians sit around a table and shove food down

527
00:34:33.079 --> 00:34:35.840
our throats, we call it fellowship. Well, the rest of

528
00:34:35.880 --> 00:34:38.119
the world just says you're sitting around the table talking

529
00:34:38.400 --> 00:34:40.920
and eating food. We say fell because we got to

530
00:34:40.960 --> 00:34:43.480
make it spiritual when reality we just want to hang out,

531
00:34:43.519 --> 00:34:50.760
make friends and eat food. We have the same temporal perspective.

532
00:34:51.159 --> 00:34:53.079
Come on, we know we do, we know we do,

533
00:34:53.480 --> 00:34:55.440
so we need to have we need to see. We

534
00:34:55.519 --> 00:35:00.400
need to establish God's standard of determining value, which is

535
00:35:00.400 --> 00:35:02.039
going to be very different than the world, and we

536
00:35:02.079 --> 00:35:09.000
need to establish an eternal perspective. It's Philippians three. I

537
00:35:09.000 --> 00:35:12.119
think it is. Verse eight says something along and I'm paraphrasing.

538
00:35:12.559 --> 00:35:15.800
I count everything as lost. I count everything as dung

539
00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:21.559
because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus everything else.

540
00:35:21.920 --> 00:35:28.519
I count everything else as useless compared to what knowing Christ.

541
00:35:30.960 --> 00:35:36.360
What the world deems as priceless is often meaningless in

542
00:35:36.440 --> 00:35:38.679
light of eternity. You can take something that you think

543
00:35:38.760 --> 00:35:41.360
is of great value, that you think is so important,

544
00:35:41.480 --> 00:35:50.400
it seems useless, meaningless, and trivial when compared to eternity.

545
00:35:50.239 --> 00:35:54.519
So what are some questions we could ask? How do you?

546
00:35:54.800 --> 00:35:57.800
How do I? How do ius? How do we evaluate

547
00:35:57.840 --> 00:36:00.679
what is truly meaningful in life? How do you truly

548
00:36:00.719 --> 00:36:08.800
evaluate what is meaningful? What is valuable? And what ways

549
00:36:10.480 --> 00:36:16.159
do you assign value to temporal things? Come on, what

550
00:36:16.519 --> 00:36:19.800
are some ways how do you evaluate what is truly

551
00:36:19.840 --> 00:36:21.599
meaningful in your life? Come on? How do you truly

552
00:36:21.639 --> 00:36:24.039
evaluate it? It's gonna, if you're honest, it's gonna be

553
00:36:24.039 --> 00:36:26.960
about how it makes you feel? Right, Come on? But

554
00:36:27.079 --> 00:36:29.480
number two, I don't want to answer these questions for you,

555
00:36:29.519 --> 00:36:31.079
but I want you to at least think about them. So,

556
00:36:31.079 --> 00:36:33.760
how do you evaluate what is truly valuable in your life?

557
00:36:35.079 --> 00:36:40.039
And what are some ways in which you assign undo

558
00:36:40.199 --> 00:36:43.840
a wrong value to temporal things? What are some ways

559
00:36:43.840 --> 00:36:46.599
that you assign too much value to temple things? Come on?

560
00:36:46.760 --> 00:36:51.920
Identify some ways? And what are some things we could

561
00:36:51.960 --> 00:36:56.199
do to ensure that our lives reflect the eternal values

562
00:36:56.639 --> 00:36:58.400
God has set forth? What are some ways that we

563
00:36:58.440 --> 00:37:07.199
could really show that we are pursuing the eternal values? Now,

564
00:37:07.760 --> 00:37:11.039
it's a story about a six point two million dollar banana.

565
00:37:11.440 --> 00:37:15.159
All right. We could find it humorous, we could find

566
00:37:15.199 --> 00:37:21.079
it absurd, we could laugh at it, we could be dismissive,

567
00:37:21.440 --> 00:37:26.320
dismissive of it. Whenever the man finally gets this great

568
00:37:26.360 --> 00:37:30.320
work of art. He says he's going to eat the banana,

569
00:37:31.559 --> 00:37:35.639
probably do it on TikTok or YouTube or some social media,

570
00:37:35.760 --> 00:37:38.599
and probably a fifty bazillion people will tune in, and

571
00:37:38.639 --> 00:37:41.639
we'll laugh and mock at and mock it. But could

572
00:37:41.679 --> 00:37:53.599
it possibly be possibly, somehow a very profound commentary. Maybe

573
00:37:53.639 --> 00:38:00.199
it could be a profound reflection on me and my

574
00:38:00.320 --> 00:38:08.159
misplaced priorities. Maybe it could challenge me to well reconsider

575
00:38:08.360 --> 00:38:12.519
what I give great value to an attention to. Maybe

576
00:38:12.519 --> 00:38:14.079
it could challenge me to look at things from an

577
00:38:14.119 --> 00:38:20.400
eternal perspective and not a temple perspective. Maybe, just maybe,

578
00:38:20.679 --> 00:38:23.360
well maybe I should say it this way. I will

579
00:38:23.400 --> 00:38:28.639
never pay six point two million dollars for a banana

580
00:38:28.679 --> 00:38:30.880
with some duct tape tape to a wall aboard or

581
00:38:30.920 --> 00:38:36.519
anything else. But the reason I will never spend six

582
00:38:36.559 --> 00:38:39.480
point two million dollars on a banana tape to anything

583
00:38:40.079 --> 00:38:44.440
because I don't have six point two million dollars. So

584
00:38:44.599 --> 00:38:48.119
I could sit here like I'm morally superior, thinking that

585
00:38:48.199 --> 00:38:54.559
I'm so much more you know, insightful, and I'm more profound,

586
00:38:54.639 --> 00:38:57.920
and I have a better perspective, or instead of looking

587
00:38:57.960 --> 00:39:00.239
at the six point two million dollar banana. What I

588
00:39:00.239 --> 00:39:02.719
do is understand that the six point two million dollars

589
00:39:02.760 --> 00:39:04.960
just symbolic. And so I look at what all the

590
00:39:04.960 --> 00:39:09.079
things I spend my focus, my time, my attention, where

591
00:39:09.079 --> 00:39:11.519
I would spend my money, what I would do, and

592
00:39:11.519 --> 00:39:18.400
then ask myself, am I really better off? Because I'm

593
00:39:18.679 --> 00:39:26.559
just as consumed with earthly, fleshly temporal things as anyone else.

594
00:39:27.679 --> 00:39:31.639
So that person spent six point two million on one banana.

595
00:39:32.559 --> 00:39:36.800
I have spent my life, which is far more valuable

596
00:39:36.800 --> 00:39:42.119
than six point two million, probably focused, preoccupied and pursuing

597
00:39:42.159 --> 00:39:45.519
the wrong things, because that's a part of our sinful nature.

598
00:39:47.800 --> 00:39:51.440
And maybe we'll never have the right understanding and the

599
00:39:51.519 --> 00:39:57.880
right perspective until we are in eternity. Aren't we grateful? Though?

600
00:39:57.880 --> 00:40:00.519
What determines us being in eternity is not that we

601
00:40:00.639 --> 00:40:02.559
have it all figured out about what to value or

602
00:40:02.599 --> 00:40:07.480
not value, but because well, because of what Christ did

603
00:40:07.559 --> 00:40:14.400
for us. So what do you think about the six

604
00:40:14.480 --> 00:40:21.960
point two million dollar banana? They get a banana duct tape,

605
00:40:22.519 --> 00:40:28.519
put it on your refrigerator and let the conversation begin,

606
00:40:29.400 --> 00:40:31.360
Because I think it's a conversation that you could have

607
00:40:32.079 --> 00:40:35.679
not only with yourself, even with your kids, they'll be like,

608
00:40:35.719 --> 00:40:39.480
what's the banana? Well, let's talk about the things we value.

609
00:40:40.480 --> 00:40:42.880
And because they will be much more honest, I think

610
00:40:42.960 --> 00:40:45.800
kids will be like, give me a break. I value

611
00:40:45.840 --> 00:40:48.519
my toys far more than going to the church or

612
00:40:48.519 --> 00:40:51.519
the Bible or God or heaven. What are you talking about?

613
00:40:51.679 --> 00:40:54.239
I value get a get a. Now they now, if

614
00:40:54.239 --> 00:40:56.679
they're if they're raised as church kids, they'll give you

615
00:40:56.719 --> 00:41:00.199
the right answer. Oh, I value Jesus. Come on stop.

616
00:41:00.760 --> 00:41:05.559
Just this is where the family can be brutally honest.

617
00:41:07.079 --> 00:41:11.159
All right. There's the story of the six point two

618
00:41:11.199 --> 00:41:14.119
million dollar banana that I found a way to turn

619
00:41:14.119 --> 00:41:18.880
into a forty one minute podcast episode. So maybe, just

620
00:41:18.920 --> 00:41:24.320
maybe I've demonstrated my own foolishness. Only you can determine that.

621
00:41:24.480 --> 00:41:25.920
Thanks for listening, God bless