THE THESIS: Will Smith seems like a compassionate man, who is hearing a voice he thinks to be God, but clearly is not. He is a creation of his time, a man who has his very own god who tells him everything he wants to hear. But, Will Smith also wants to be a vessel for love which, despite his evident compassion and maybe even empathy, he doesn’t actually understand.

THE SCRIPTURE & SCRIPTURAL RESOURCES: 

Matthew 19: 3-15

3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”

4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’[a] 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’[b]? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

7 “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”

8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”

11 Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”

The Little Children and Jesus

13 Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.

14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

John 4: 1-42: Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman

4 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

17 “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

The Disciples Rejoin Jesus

27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

Many Samaritans Believe

39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.

42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

Luke 15:11-32: The Parable of the Lost Son

11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

THE NEWS & COMMENT:

Will Smith’s Oscar’s Acceptance Speech

From The Advocate, to which I will not link:

Will Smith Confirmed He And Jada Pinkett Smith Have An Open Relationship And Admitted She's "Never Believed In A Conventional Marriage" A Year On From That "Entanglement" Drama

THE LISTENERS:

MUSIC REVIEW:

A PERSONAL NOTE:

THE THESIS: Will Smith seems like a compassionate man, who is hearing a voice he thinks to be God, but clearly is not. He is a creation of his time, a man who has his very own god who tells him everything he wants to hear. But, Will Smith also wants to be a vessel for love which, despite his evident compassion and maybe even empathy, he doesn&rsquo;t actually understand.
THE SCRIPTURE &amp; SCRIPTURAL RESOURCES:&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2019%3A3-15&amp;version=NIV">Matthew 19: 3-15</a>
3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, &ldquo;Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?&rdquo;
4 &ldquo;Haven&rsquo;t you read,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;that at the beginning the Creator &lsquo;made them male and female,&rsquo;[a] 5 and said, &lsquo;For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh&rsquo;[b]? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.&rdquo;
7 &ldquo;Why then,&rdquo; they asked, &ldquo;did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?&rdquo;
8 Jesus replied, &ldquo;Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.&rdquo;
10 The disciples said to him, &ldquo;If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.&rdquo;
11 Jesus replied, &ldquo;Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others&mdash;and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.&rdquo;
The Little Children and Jesus
13 Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.
14 Jesus said, &ldquo;Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.&rdquo; 15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.
<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%204%3A1-42&amp;version=NIV">John 4: 1-42: Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman</a>
4 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John&mdash; 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob&rsquo;s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, &ldquo;Will you give me a drink?&rdquo; 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, &ldquo;You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?&rdquo; (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])
10 Jesus answered her, &ldquo;If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.&rdquo;
11 &ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; the woman said, &ldquo;you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?&rdquo;
13 Jesus answered, &ldquo;Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.&rdquo;
15 The woman said to him, &ldquo;Sir, give me this water so that I won&rsquo;t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.&rdquo;
16 He told her, &ldquo;Go, call your husband and come back.&rdquo;
17 &ldquo;I have no husband,&rdquo; she replied.
Jesus said to her, &ldquo;You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.&rdquo;
19 &ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; the woman said, &ldquo;I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.&rdquo;
21 &ldquo;Woman,&rdquo; Jesus replied, &ldquo;believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.&rdquo;
25 The woman said, &ldquo;I know that Messiah&rdquo; (called Christ) &ldquo;is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.&rdquo;
26 Then Jesus declared, &ldquo;I, the one speaking to you&mdash;I am he.&rdquo;
The Disciples Rejoin Jesus
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, &ldquo;What do you want?&rdquo; or &ldquo;Why are you talking with her?&rdquo;
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 &ldquo;Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?&rdquo; 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, &ldquo;Rabbi, eat something.&rdquo;
32 But he said to them, &ldquo;I have food to eat that you know nothing about.&rdquo;
33 Then his disciples said to each other, &ldquo;Could someone have brought him food?&rdquo;
34 &ldquo;My food,&rdquo; said Jesus, &ldquo;is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don&rsquo;t you have a saying, &lsquo;It&rsquo;s still four months until harvest&rsquo;? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying &lsquo;One sows and another reaps&rsquo; is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.&rdquo;
Many Samaritans Believe
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman&rsquo;s testimony, &ldquo;He told me everything I ever did.&rdquo; 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, &ldquo;We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.&rdquo;
<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2015%3A11-32&amp;version=NIV">Luke 15:11-32</a>: The Parable of the Lost Son
11 Jesus continued: &ldquo;There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, &lsquo;Father, give me my share of the estate.&rsquo; So he divided his property between them.
13 &ldquo;Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 &ldquo;When he came to his senses, he said, &lsquo;How many of my father&rsquo;s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.&rsquo; 20 So he got up and went to his father.
&ldquo;But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 &ldquo;The son said to him, &lsquo;Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.&rsquo;
22 &ldquo;But the father said to his servants, &lsquo;Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let&rsquo;s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.&rsquo; So they began to celebrate.
25 &ldquo;Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 &lsquo;Your brother has come,&rsquo; he replied, &lsquo;and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.&rsquo;
28 &ldquo;The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, &lsquo;Look! All these years I&rsquo;ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!&rsquo;
31 &ldquo;&lsquo;My son,&rsquo; the father said, &lsquo;you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.&rsquo;&rdquo;
THE NEWS &amp; COMMENT:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVvgCMZSkyw">Will Smith&rsquo;s Oscar&rsquo;s Acceptance Speech</a>
From The Advocate, to which I will not link:
<a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/leylamohammed/will-smith-confirmed-jada-pinkett-smith-open-marriage">Will Smith Confirmed He And Jada Pinkett Smith Have An Open Relationship And Admitted She's "Never Believed In A Conventional Marriage" A Year On From That "Entanglement" Drama</a>
THE LISTENERS:
MUSIC REVIEW:
A PERSONAL NOTE:

New Home of The Todd Herman Show & Podcast! You Heard Him On Seattle Radio & The Rush Limbaugh Show. Now Sign Up For Free to Hear Todd Herman Today

New Home of The Todd Herman Show &amp; Podcast! You Heard Him On Seattle Radio &amp; The Rush Limbaugh Show. Now Sign Up For Free to Hear Todd Herman Today

The Todd Herman Show

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ATTENTION OMNY USERS: The Todd Herman Show Podcast has moved.  Please copy and paste this link into your browser to find the new homepage.
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