The primary focus of this inaugural episode of Be Living Water, after an eight-month hiatus, is to explore the profound question of what it means to embody one's truest self in the face of oppressive governance and societal injustice. I, Joshua Noel, a Taoist Christian, endeavor to facilitate a dialogue that not only reflects on the biblical Book of Daniel but also on Victor Hugo's seminal work, Les Miserables. Through these texts, we aim to engage with timeless themes of grace, persecution, and personal integrity, particularly as they resonate within our contemporary context marked by polarization and strife. This discussion seeks to foster a deeper understanding of how we can navigate our beliefs and actions while remaining true to ourselves amidst the challenges posed by societal norms and expectations.

As we embark on this journey, I invite you to reflect alongside me on how we can embody the virtues of love and grace, serving as living water to those around us. The first episode of Be Living Water in eight months signifies a thoughtful return for host Joshua Noel, who embarks on a compelling journey through the themes of oppression, identity, and grace as articulated in the biblical Book of Daniel and Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. Noel, identifying as a Taoist Christian, seeks to unravel the complex layers of maintaining personal authenticity in a world characterized by injustice and persecution. He opens the discussion with poignant questions regarding the nature of selfhood in the face of systemic wrongs, particularly as it relates to the actions of current societal leaders. Noel emphasizes the importance of being true to oneself while also extending compassion and understanding to those who may act in ways contrary to one’s values.

In exploring the narratives of Daniel and Les Misérables, Noel posits that these works are not merely historical references but are profoundly relevant to our modern context. He argues that they provide essential insights into the human condition, urging listeners to reflect on their responses to societal injustices and the ways in which they can embody grace amidst hardship. The episode advocates for a proactive engagement with the world, inviting individuals to channel their frustrations into acts of kindness and support for those who are marginalized.

As the episode progresses, Noel presents reflective questions that challenge listeners to consider their roles in advocating for justice without falling into the trap of hatred or animosity. By framing these inquiries within the context of the discussed literary works, he encourages a deeper understanding of how to navigate the complexities of faith and action in our contemporary landscape. The overarching message is one of hope, urging listeners to strive to be 'living water'—a source of life and compassion in a world that often seems to thrive on division and conflict. This episode sets the stage for a thoughtful exploration of these themes in future discussions, reinforcing the importance of love, grace, and authenticity.

Takeaways:

1. The podcast discusses the challenges of being one's truest self in a society marked by oppression and injustice.
2. Joshua Noel emphasizes the importance of engaging with themes of grace and law as portrayed in Les Miserables and the Book of Daniel.
3. Listeners are encouraged to contemplate how to embody love and peace amidst anger and polarization in contemporary America.
4. The discussion highlights the significance of giving grace rather than enforcing law, especially in contexts involving marginalized communities.
5. Noel reflects on the idea that all earthly kingdoms will ultimately fall, urging listeners to strive for values that transcend temporal power.
6. The episode serves as a call to action for listeners to explore their own responses to societal injustices while seeking to remain true to their beliefs.

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Have you ever wondered about what it means to be your truest self under an oppressive government?

Or in a land where the leaders talk slander about others or persecute others wrongly?

This is Be Living Water, a show that seeks to find a way to imitate Christ where we benefit all and are in conflict with none.

In our modern context, we may not come away with any solid answers each episode, but the hope is to honestly engage with the world we live in and to struggle to be our best selves in that world.

I am Joshua Null, and I am a Taoist Christian who seeks to be true to himself and true to Christ to the best of my abilities.

I may not always be the smartest in the room, but I am committed to be honest about who I am and to look to both Christian and Taoist traditions for wisdom from sages, pastors, and theologians smarter than myself, who have already been wrestling with similar questions for thousands of years now.

Today, this is an episode that's been a long time coming.

You know, I introduced the name change, told you guys some of what we're going to be doing differently, and then I feel like I kind of just disappeared.

I've been wanting to talk about Daniel, the book of Daniel from the Bible and the novel, and play Les Miserables from Victor Hugo.

It's been challenging, though, because I don't want to seem like we're just doing this as a reaction to some terrible thing that Donald Trump did or something that happened here in America.

I live in the United States, but at the same time, part of why I want to talk about these things because I think they're relevant in the world we live in because of terrible men like Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth, J.D.

vance, et cetera.

And of course, I know other problems are happening across the world.

This is just the context that I live in.

Something terrible seems to happen every week.

There's not a good time to release this.

That's not gonna be like, oh, he's reacting to this thing that happened.

I don't want this to be a reactive podcast, but I want it to be a relevant podcast, something that's useful to the world we live in now.

I also don't want to record or say something out of hatred.

I believe anger is good.

In fact, anger is what we probably should feel when some of the stuff that's happening is happening where ICE agents are killing people, innocent people, where people are being shipped to other countries for seemingly no reason, where people are being imprisoned for no.

The military are just in cities just because the President doesn't like that city or, you know, whatever.

That's the world we live in.

It's hard not to seem reactive to that.

I feel like I should be angry about those things.

The loving thing to do is to be angry that this is happening to other people, to be angry that someone made in the image of God.

Donald Trump is behaving in a way that I think is so untrue to what he was made to be.

He was made to be loving, human, just like the rest of us.

But instead, he's become a man who mostly acts what I would say, out of sin, out of hate, out of anger, fear, lust, ambition.

You know, all those things in Galatians 6 that it lists are not going to enter the Kingdom of Heaven that aren't of God.

That's what I typically see of him.

And I believe that that's not who he was made to be.

I think he was meant to be created, like all of us, for love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, self control, kindness.

That's not what we've seen.

It's not what we've seen from people like Pete Hegseth.

In another podcast I did recently.

So I did Pete Hegseth on the slide instead of J.D.

vance.

We were talking about Uncle Iroh from Avatar the Last Airbender.

And one of the things that kills me about Iroh is Iroh was part of the Fire Nation.

Who were these guys?

Kind of like a lot of MAGA people who were angry and wanted to just show their power and to keep getting honor by conquering other people and belittling others.

And I was asked because I was like, yep, it kind of haunts me because I realized that that's what these people are now are Fire Nation.

And any of them could change, just like Iroh changed.

And one of my co hosts, TJ Blackwell, was like, so you're haunted by Uncle Iroh?

Pete Hegseth, he was kind of saying as a joke, but a little bit, I am, because anyone could change.

So I don't want to record out of hatred for any human, as I believe any of them could become an Uncle Iroh could become a follower of Jesus in the true sense.

I'm this Christian nationalist kind of way that they've been perpetuating, but in the sense that they're imitating Christ, which is what I try to do.

So I don't want to record out of hatred, but I do want to be angry about things we should be angry about.

I'm angry that they're not living up to their potential of love, joy and peace.

I'm angry that innocent people are being harmed because of the actions of men like them.

So there was never a good time to record this.

I've been stalling because I just don't want to record from hate.

I think I'm in a better place now, and I'm still going to be angry about things I should be angry about.

I'm still going to speak out and say, hey, you should not be supporting a man who is doing the actions, are doing the actions that people like Donald Trump, Pete Hagseth, JD Vance have been doing, who are seeing the things about other humans that these people have been saying we shouldn't support people like that.

But I also don't want to hate them, don't want to give them that power over me.

And I don't want to be a person of hate.

I want to be a person of love.

You know, the show is called Be Living Water because Christ was living water.

I want to imitate Christ.

I want to be giving life to others.

The image on the screen right now is an icon of Jesus Christ, and it's like the icon of the Jesus that gives life like this kind of the meaning behind this particular image along with water, because, you know, sure, be living water.

Jesus was living water.

He was life giving to those around him.

And Taoist philosophy says, be water, water benefits all and is in conflict with none.

The question, the thing that I find difficult, though, is what if I live in a world that seems to be going downstream?

You know, I can't fight the current.

And the current is this hate, this anger, this polarization that's happening in America.

I'm sure it's happening in other places, but that's where I'm at.

I'm like, being water.

I don't want to conform to that.

But how do I benefit these people who are acting in such outrageous ways or harming their fellow man?

How can I be of benefit to them?

Not showing hatred to them, being angry about their actions, but I still want to benefit them because I think that's what Christ would have in you.

I think that's what it means to be water, especially to be living water.

I don't really have any good answers on that.

It's a challenge for me.

I think going through Daniel and Lehis Ra is going to help me and hopefully help others.

Let me go over a little bit why I think that is in the novel Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.

There's plenty of other formats you can get this Story in I think oftentimes, both in this and in the Book of Daniel, we think of this as like the fight the man, the anti government, anti establishment kind of books.

That's not what they're about.

They're actually about the people who.

The people who are experiencing these things.

I'll elaborate a little bit.

So in Les Miserais, I think what we see is we see a priest who gives grace.

We see a man of the law who is trying to bring the law down on someone.

And we see the main character experience what it means to be the one who receives grace and the one who has the law come down on him.

I don't think the book is about, oh, we need to fight the law.

Instead.

What I think it's showing is not only is it better to receive grace than have the law to come down on you, but I think it also going to show us when some of these secondary characters want to talk a little bit more.

It also shows that it's better to be the one who gives grace rather than the one who's bringing the law down on someone.

Now we need police officers.

We need people who promote the law.

I love legal studies.

You know, I hope to continue in my study of the law.

I'm not against law.

What I'm saying is I think the book of Lehis Misra is trying to teach us that it's better to give grace than to bring the law down on someone.

Not only for the person, but also for those of us who are the ones who are giving of grace or giving or having.

You know what I'm trying to say.

I think it's better for our souls.

Law is still necessary.

But I think if we can find a way to give grace without doing away with the law, we'll find it's healthier for all of us and it makes it easier for us to be our truest self.

The Book of Daniel A little bit different here.

As we discuss the Book of Daniel, it's a little bit more difficult.

For a long time I did read it as if it was, oh, Babylon's the bad guys and one day Israel will get free.

The book's not written to Babylon.

It's written to those who are under Babylon, under persecution, who are experiencing these things.

What we see.

One of my favorite things in Daniel we'll talk about soon.

Near the end of Daniel one, the people, Daniel and his three friends are given new names, Babylonian names.

Their names are changed.

They're taken out of their land.

Chapter two through six are in Aramaic the book goes from Hebrew to Aramaic to show you even the language changes.

Everything is completely changed because they're under this oppression and the book isn't.

How do we defeat oppression?

Think about the stories you know from the Book of Daniel.

Most likely you're familiar with Daniel and Lions Den.

It doesn't end with Daniel conquering the government and Israel being free.

It ends with Daniel finding a way to be his truest self.

To be a Jew amongst Jews, right, To be a true believer in God in a land where that's not that popular of a thing to be, right?

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they go into the furnace and then there was a fourth man amongst them.

They get released.

Israel doesn't go free.

They don't conquer.

It's just about them being true to who they are in this land.

Even when we go through the prophecies later on in the end of Daniel, the book is ultimately saying, in my opinion, every king, every government eventually will fall, except for God's kingdom, which isn't the land of Israel, but rather, I think that's love, gentleness, self control.

These things that are of God, these virtues, these values.

Not necessarily a land or some empire that's going to ultimately win out.

So when we look at the Book of Daniel, we're not looking at how we could fight the government and how, yeah, this is oppressive government.

How to win.

No, it's about how do we be true Christians, or in this story, true Jews, true Hebrews, in a land that tries to oppress you from that, keep you from that.

Now, I don't think in America we're being kept from being real Christians.

I think I believe what I want.

They don't for the most part.

Now, I do think the government has overstepped its bounds in trying to prohibit churches that want to help immigrants, even illegal immigrants, because there's a place for law and there's a place for grace, and the church is a place for grace.

There needs to be a separation there, in my opinion.

I don't think that's law.

I don't think it's necessary.

But I think it's good to have that separation so that people can be shown grace and we can show others grace, even when maybe they've broken the law.

We need to be able to show love, to show mercy.

So I think in these stories, what we'll learn is it's better to give grace than have the law down, to bring the law down on someone.

And when we're thinking about immigrants or Those persecuted in our country, we want to show grace.

We don't want to bring the law down on people because not only is it better for them to receive grace than to have the law come down on them, but it's also better for us, I think is what we'll see as we read Les Miserables, as we read the Book of Daniel.

What I think we'll see is all kingdoms eventually fall.

America eventually will fall.

Maga is definitely going to come to an end one day.

Wherever you are, governments end.

So what happens?

We have to find a way.

Whether we're in persecution.

I don't think anyone's to the extent of, like Daniel and them, where their names are being changed.

If you're listening to this podcast, you're probably not anyway, especially not in America.

You're definitely not having your name changed for no reason.

Not under the law anyway.

But even without the level of persecution, even without the other stuff, we do still get to contemplate.

What does it mean to be true to my beliefs, true to God and the world I live in?

It's different from Daniel's world, but I think seeing how they did, it's going to help us learn how to be better about it now and then.

Seeing how the prophecies of Daniel reveal how all of our kingdoms will fall.

What is it that is ultimate?

What is it that will last longer than any of the kingdoms of men?

That's the thing that we need to be striving for.

And I think Daniel is going to remind us that which is ultimate is not of this earth.

It's not Donald Trump.

It's not whoever's running against Donald Trump.

It's not the Democrats, the Republicans.

It's not America.

It's not China, it's not Russia, it's not Ukraine, it's not Israel, it's not Palestine.

There's something greater than all of this.

And I think the Book of Daniel does a really good job of reminding us of that.

And I think times like now, we need to be reminded there's nothing more than this.

So as we go through these books, you know, I'm not going to do it in any particular order.

It's not like I'll do one chapter of Les Miserable then one chapter of Daniel, because there'll be way more.

Les Misral.

I don't have an order in plan.

I don't have a plan for this.

I'm going to see where the spirit leads, if you will.

But I think it's important that we wrestle with these books that we struggle with these themes of persecution, of being true to your faith and your God, being true to yourself, giving grace, receiving grace.

What are the limits of the law?

I think these are all important things for us to think about and wrestle with in our modern context and even outside of our modern.

These are always relevant themes, always important to consider.

But for me right now, I think these books are what I need.

So that's what I'm going to be discussing as the show continues.

Further, this won't be the only episode of the year.

Hopefully I don't have a plan, but I'm hoping this won't be the only episode of the year like, you know, I did last year.

Sorry, guys, that's the plan is to go over these two books.

I'm hoping to do Daniel next, but I'm not really sure I'm going to see you again.

Where the spirit leads, where the dao takes me, however you want to word that one.

So I hope this is helpful to you all.

I'm sure that reading is going to be helpful to me, so if you guys just want to see my own journey and just watch how I wrestle with these themes, that's fine too.

As always, you know, we do give three takeaway questions.

Not actions, but questions in this podcast for all of us, including myself, to think a little deeper on.

So our three today.

Number one, how can we be our truest selves whilst others are wrongly persecuted?

So here in America, I see ICE is killing innocent people.

Some people are being imprisoned wrongly.

I'm sure similar things are happening in other countries.

How can I be my true self knowing that that's happening?

How can I not be taken over by hatred, taken over by these negative feelings?

Or, you know, like also, what does it mean to be my true self?

Is my true self someone who goes out there and fights for them?

Gives my life fighting the police?

Is my truest self someone who sits back and says nothing while it happens?

I don't think either of those are right.

What does it mean to be my truest self while I know others are being wrongly persecuted around me?

How can we be water?

You know, water, as the Taoist philosophy says, we're going to benefit all in conflict with none.

How can we be water in a way that benefits our enemies, whether it's Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth, the Democrats, whoever, the Russians, Israel, government, Palestinians, Hamas.

How can we be water in a way that benefits our enemies?

Third takeaway, how can we live out grace in such a time of polarization?

How about Les Misraw we're going to be giving of grace.

How can we do that personally?

In what ways?

Do I know someone that maybe I can take in and help in this time who maybe they're scared to be out are their friends of mine?

There are who are afraid of the government coming down on them because they're transsexual.

How can I stand up for them?

How can I show them that I'm there with them, that I care for them?

How can we live out grace in times of such polarization Something new I want to try a meditation.

I want us all to take time to meditate on this.

So if you will read Daniel Chapter one on your own time.

I prefer the New American Standard Bible.

Christian Standard Bible is also good.

I would rather people avoid the esv.

King James is good.

Niv.

I avoid that one too.

So my recommendations are nlt, csb, NASB or King James.

I actually really like King James.

I think it's beautifully well written.

Read Daniel Chapter one and then consider what it would mean to be your truest self in a world where an oppressive leader has changed your name to benefit his culture and his beliefs.

Their names were changed change to fit the Babylonian culture and their gods and, you know, their beliefs and stuff rather than the Jewish gods and Jewish names.

So again, your meditation practice this week.

If you will humor me, read Daniel Chapter one and consider what it would mean to be your truest self in a world where an oppressive leader has changed your name to better fit his own culture and beliefs.

It's been a while since we've done this.

I hope it's been beneficial to you all.

I know this is a little bit of a shorter one.

I do hope to get back to this a little bit more soon.

I'm excited to get into Daniel to get into Les Miserable.

I think these are powerful books who've moved many people and have caused spiritual awakenings for many and will continue to do so.

And I think there's a reason for that.

So I think it's something that we need in our time.

I hope you'll humor me and go through these books with me.

So rather than giving you any clear answers, I hope this conversation has helped you struggle with and ponder how to be true to yourself and Christ as it has me.

Remember we are to be water, beneficial to all and in conflict with none.

We are called to be Christ, loving everyone and ready to lay down our own lives for others.

Thank you for joining me in my struggles to love myself, to love others, and to to love God better.

And finally, I hope this has encouraged you to be living water.