This week on Premeditated Opinions, we’re doing something a little different.

We’re not here to drag anyone.
We’re not here to start a denomination.
We’re definitely not starting a cult (Substack jokes aside).

But we are talking about church hurt, purity culture, deconstruction, and what spirituality looks like on the other side of it.

After attending an event featuring Dr. Hillary McBride and Joshua Harris — yes, that Joshua Harris of I Kissed Dating Goodbye fame — we realized it was time to offer some clarity about where we stand spiritually… and how we got here.

In this episode, we unpack:

• Growing up in high-control evangelical environments
• Purity culture, modesty policing, and the damage it does
• Being on church stages while quietly unraveling inside
• Getting “dress-coded” for worship leading
• Discovering affirming churches and asking better questions
• Deconstruction: what it actually means (and what it doesn’t)
• Why Christian nationalism feels like a breaking point
• “All my theology is written in pencil”
• Why you can sing worship songs without agreeing with every lyric
• And whether you can just declare yourself a frog (you cannot)

This isn’t a takedown of faith.
It’s not anti-spiritual.
It’s not anti-church.

It’s a conversation about how spirituality can be formative, beautiful, and grounding, without being harmful, exclusionary, or weaponized.

We talk honestly about:

• Why some of us still speak Christianity as a “native language”
• Why others don’t want to use that label at all
• And why asking questions doesn’t make you broken, it makes you awake

If you’ve ever wrestled with religion…
If you’ve ever felt betrayed by church culture…
If you’ve ever tried to reconcile faith with politics…
If you’re spiritually curious but institutionally skeptical…

This one’s for you.

We’re not offering answers.
We’re offering context.

And maybe a little breathing room.

Support the show

Stay Connected with us on these platforms:

Website: https://www.premeditatedopinions.com

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@premeditatedopinionspodcast

Substack: https://substack.com/@premeditatedopinions

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/premeditated_opinions/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@premeditated_opinions

And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share us with your friends and family!

This week on Premeditated Opinions, we celebrate two very different American traditions:

1. Chicken and waffles at a dive bar on Valentine’s Day
2. Congressional hearings that feel suspiciously like reality television

You’re welcome.

We kick things off with the evolution of Pamela’s now-sacred Valentine’s tradition: a quest for chicken and waffles that began in Louisville, survived a hookah bar, endured relocation to Dallas, and somehow now involves five adults, one confused hostess, and another confused server.

From there, we spiral (politely) into:

• Why traditions matter more than the food
• The difference between cynical Valentine’s Day and choosing fun
• Dogs, brisket at 1AM, and questionable trimming decisions

And then, because we live in 2026 and nothing is calm, we talk about:

• Political hearings that feel like scripted television
• Why following historians like Heather Cox Richardson keeps us sane
• The difference between staying informed and doomscrolling
• The danger of theatrical politics replacing serious governance
• Epstein files, conspiracy culture, and why accountability still matters

We don’t pile on.
We don’t scream.
We do, however, expect adults in power to behave like adults.

And because we refuse to end on doom and gloom, we pivot to:

• Out-of-country vacation dreams
• Beach vs. mountains
• RV life, Big Bend, and why plumbing is non-negotiable

This episode is equal parts:

• friendship
• frustration
• food
• and fully baked thoughts

If you’re trying to balance staying informed without losing your mind, and also just want to laugh about confusing a Valentine’s Day server, you’re in the right place.

Support the show

Stay Connected with us on these platforms:

Website: https://www.premeditatedopinions.com

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@premeditatedopinionspodcast

Substack: https://substack.com/@premeditatedopinions

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/premeditated_opinions/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@premeditated_opinions

And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share us with your friends and family!

This week on Premeditated Opinions, we do what we do best: take a party game that was absolutely not designed for philosophy… and immediately turn it into one.

Use this affiliate link to check out all of Dyce Games party games, and support us!

https://www.amazon.com/BAD-CHOICES-Have-Adult-Party/dp/B07RJ215S3?maas=maas_adg_B4627958FD98D6C37E32AA61B0EB2A9B_afap_abs&ref_=aa_maas&tag=maas

Using Bad Choices as our extremely loose framework, Pamela and Josh work their way through a series of “would you rather” questions that somehow unlock conversations about:

• money, desperation, and what survival actually looks like
• therapy, language, and why naming things makes them survivable
• psychics, tarot, spirituality, and our collective discomfort with mystery
• power, corruption, and whether authority actually changes people
• zombie apocalypses, medication logistics, and realistic self-assessment
• relationships, insecurity, boundaries, and knowing when to walk away
• reality TV, catfishing, and why boredom might be the real villain

Somewhere between “Would you drink human blood?” and “Would you amputate a finger for $50k?” we end up talking about dignity, values, and how much money is actually enough to compromise them.

This episode is:

• not serious
• not safe
• not advice

…but it is honest, funny, and accidentally revealing.

If you enjoy conversations that start ridiculous and end reflective — with plenty of detours, side comments, and self-awareness along the way — you’re in the right place.

Support the show

Stay Connected with us on these platforms:

Website: https://www.premeditatedopinions.com

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@premeditatedopinionspodcast

Substack: https://substack.com/@premeditatedopinions

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/premeditated_opinions/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@premeditated_opinions

And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share us with your friends and family!

This week on Premeditated Opinions, we’re welcoming a true People You Should Know guest: Anh, Salesforce veteran, accidental community magnet, unapologetic nerd, and the woman responsible for introducing multiple grown adults to the concept of a “cup of meat.”

What starts as a story about surviving a Texas ice storm quickly becomes a masterclass in:

• Why Southerners and ice should never mix
• How pork belly can instantly establish trust and community
• Being an elder millennial who remembers MapQuest, cassettes, and blowing into Nintendo cartridges
• Finding belonging in the Salesforce ecosystem after layoffs, burnout, and career pivots
• Meeting Stan Lee (and definitely not killing him)
• Ranking Batmans, Spider-Men, Marvel vs. DC, and why Superman still isn’t it
• Mario Kart trash talk, N64 loyalty, and zero mercy for children

This episode is equal parts career story, fandom debate, food documentary, and friendship origin story. It’s about how community actually forms... not through panels or platforms, but through showing up, sharing food, and being exactly yourself (loudly).

If you’ve ever:

• gone to a meetup terrified and left with friends
• bonded over nerd culture
• found your people later than expected
• or believed pork belly might be a spiritual experience

…this one’s for you.

Support the show

Stay Connected with us on these platforms:

Website: https://www.premeditatedopinions.com

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@premeditatedopinionspodcast

Substack: https://substack.com/@premeditatedopinions

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/premeditated_opinions/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@premeditated_opinions

And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share us with your friends and family!

This week on Premeditated Opinions, we are recording under less than ideal conditions, and choosing to publish anyway. Because honestly? That felt more on brand than waiting for things to calm down.

Pamela is in Dallas, iced in by sleet, watching the city slowly unravel one school closure at a time. Josh is 3,000 miles away in St. Thomas, sitting oceanside in short sleeves, waiting to find out if his family can actually make it home, or if they’re now just residents of the Virgin Islands.

What unfolds is one of our most accidentally intimate episodes yet.

We talk about:

• Texas winter weather panic vs. Midwestern survival instincts
• Travel plans unraveling in real time
• Two kids, two birthdays, wildly different celebrations
• A large insect, several towels, and zero dignity

There’s no big thesis here. No polished takeaway. Just two people talking through life as it’s happening: weather, parenting, politics, logistics, gratitude, frustration, and all.

This is one of those episodes where the circumstances become the content. And somehow, it works.

Thanks for rolling with us even when we’re thousands of miles apart, mildly buzzed, and recording because the alternative was silence.

Support the show

Stay Connected with us on these platforms:

Website: https://www.premeditatedopinions.com

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@premeditatedopinionspodcast

Substack: https://substack.com/@premeditatedopinions

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/premeditated_opinions/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@premeditated_opinions

And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share us with your friends and family!

This week on Premeditated Opinions, Pamela and Josh do what they do best: take a ridiculous hypothetical (winning the Powerball) and accidentally turn it into a deeply sincere conversation about values, generosity, and what actually makes life meaningful.

Sure, we start with the fun stuff (vacation homes in Santorini, barns full of cars, Pope Mobiles for carpool, and what kind of unhinged daily driver you’d own with $700 million), but pretty quickly, the fantasy gives way to something more grounded.

We talk about:

• What most people don’t realize about sudden wealth
• Why money doesn’t belong to you as much as you think it does
• Medical debt, the broken healthcare system, and why wiping it out changes lives
• Real examples of generosity that actually move the needle
• Why dignity (yes, even access to showers) can be life-changing
• Dementia, shingles, vaccines, and the cost of misinformation
• Why people (not stuff) are the real return on investment
• Where AI belongs (laundry) and where it absolutely does not (art and connection)

This episode isn’t about politics for sport or hot takes for clicks. It’s about asking better questions:
What would you do if you had enough?
Who would you take care of?
And what kind of world are we actually trying to build?

We close with a simple challenge:
Call someone you miss.
Invest in people.
Log off occasionally.

No resolutions required.

Support the show

Stay Connected with us on these platforms:

Website: https://www.premeditatedopinions.com

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@premeditatedopinionspodcast

Substack: https://substack.com/@premeditatedopinions

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/premeditated_opinions/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@premeditated_opinions

And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share us with your friends and family!

We're BAAAAACK!! Did ya miss us??

This week on Premeditated Opinions, we’re recording in that weird, liminal space between Christmas and New Year’s, when time isn’t real, your fridge is full of cheese, and suddenly you’re questioning everything.

Pamela and Josh talk through the holidays as they actually happened (no highlight reel, no fake cheer), from drum kits and white elephant nonsense to pub crawls, family cabins, and why karaoke machines should never be allowed back into a home once removed.

From there, the conversation turns reflective, but not in a “new year, new me” kind of way.

We talk about:

• Accidentally committing to intermittent fasting while wine drunk
• Why resolutions don’t work (and why mindset shifts might)
• Choosing a more analog life in a screen-saturated world
• Party games, Mario Kart, and rediscovering fun without phones
• Moderation vs. all-or-nothing thinking
• Bodies, health, fasting, keto, and listening to your actual needs
• Letting go of productivity guilt and making room for joy
• What we’re carrying into 2026, and what we’re finally leaving behind

This isn’t a motivational episode.
It’s a grounded one.

No pressure to reinvent yourself.
No timelines.
No “January 1 or bust” energy.

Just two people talking honestly about where they are, what worked, what didn’t, and how they want to live a little better (and a little lighter) this year.

If you’re easing into the new year instead of sprinting into it, you’re in the right place.

Support the show

Stay Connected with us on these platforms:

Website: https://www.premeditatedopinions.com

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@premeditatedopinionspodcast

Substack: https://substack.com/@premeditatedopinions

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/premeditated_opinions/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@premeditated_opinions

And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share us with your friends and family!

This week on Premeditated Opinions, we’re closing out the year the only responsible way we know how: by playing a wildly inappropriate party game and overthinking every possible outcome.

Pamela and Josh crack open Pick Your Poison from Dyce Games, a game designed to force you into deeply uncomfortable “would you rather” scenarios — and then judge you for your choices.

Some highlights include:
Losing and regrowing all your teeth (again?)
Fighting an ostrich to the death
Having visible farts vs. permanent dental trauma
Mouth breathing vs. a Mike Tyson punch
Why boring days might actually be the dream
Pamela’s evolving identity as a human cactus
Josh discovering his breaking point is… tuna breath

This episode is unserious in the best way; light, goofy, and exactly what your nervous system needs between the holidays and the existential dread of January.

This episode is sponsored by Dyce Games, the makers of:
Bad Choices
Pick Your Poison
And several other games designed to expose your friends publicly

They were kind enough to send us games to play — and they’ve given us an affiliate link, which means:
You get a great game
We get a small commission

Everyone wins (except the person who chooses visible farts)

👉 Use our affiliate link to support the show:
https://www.amazon.com/BAD-CHOICES-Have-Adult-Party/dp/B07RJ215S3?maas=maas_adg_B4627958FD98D6C37E32AA61B0EB2A9B_afap_abs&ref_=aa_maas&tag=maas

(You can use this link for any Dyce Games purchase, not just the one we played.)

🎧 Perfect For:
Holiday hangovers
Group chats that need new material
White elephant season
People who love “would you rather” but hate small talk
Anyone who needs to laugh before the new year starts

Tell us what you think: are we brilliant or mildly unhinged? (Both is fine.)
Drop a comment below or connect with us here:
Instagram: @PremeditatedOpinions
Substack (bonus content & chaos): https://substack.com/@premeditatedopinions/posts

Support the show

Stay Connected with us on these platforms:

Website: https://www.premeditatedopinions.com

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@premeditatedopinionspodcast

Substack: https://substack.com/@premeditatedopinions

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/premeditated_opinions/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@premeditated_opinions

And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share us with your friends and family!