Well, probably teenager kids. It’s Woody Allen, after all. My wife and I recently re-watched Hannah and Her Sisters with our two sons (our daughter wasn’t available; she’s married), and it was an incredibly wonderful apologetics moment. I’ve argued that a secular culture that is often seen by Christians as a threat to their children is in fact their best friend, if we know how to use it. Woody Allen is always a great opportunity to do that. He is one of the few movie makers in Hollywood (although New York through and through) who deals with the big questions of life head on, and this movie is a wonderful example of that. Allen’s worldview is as secular as secular gets, and his movies are an excellent way to teach your children, or anybody else, the shallow, vacuous nature of such a life. It promises fulfillment, meaning, purpose, and hope, but never delivers. His movies always end in resignation to one degree or another. Since he can’t bring himself to believe in God, and in this movie he tries really hard (and it’s hilarious), whatever this unfulfilling life offers, that’s the best you can get. So eat, drink, and be merry, and go to art shows, as best you can. (more…)
I recently came across an article at The Public Discourse called “The Best Practices—and Benefits—of Religious Parenting.” Given I have some interest in the topic, I was curious to see what these best practices might be. We learn that religion in general has positive outcomes for parenting. In an increasingly secular culture, studies that prove the positive influence of religion are a good thing. But something was missing from these best practices that to me is, by far, the most important single factor of religious parenting: truth. Why would anyone want to raise their children in a religion that they don’t believe to be the truth? Probably because they don’t believe in truth, at least when it comes to religion. If it works, makes you happy, etc., that will do. Most Americans believe that just because something is true for you doesn’t mean it necessarily has to be true for me. Or put simply, true for you but not for me! Such a contention is ridiculous on the face of it, but many otherwise thoughtful and intelligent people actually believe this. (more…)
One of the easiest ways to persuade our children that God is real is the evidence of his incredible, amazing, mind-blowing design in nature. Paul tells us in Romans 1 that “God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made . . .” I made sure my kids understood this as they were growing up, and still do even though they are no longer kids. The reason it is critical for parents to do this is that we must counter the assumptions of the dominant secular culture. The most obvious, yet pernicious, is naturalism: the material world is all there is, and God is not required to explain it. Oh yes he is! Yet because of the ubiquity of secular culture, naturalism seems, well, natural. Countering this assumption (i.e., it can’t be proved) is easy. A simple example show’s how.
I had an experience recently with a Christian young man who shall remain nameless, and it inspired a blog post. He looked me in the eye (which I respected) and told me that it’s okay for Christians to have sex before marriage. I was taken aback, and asked him why he thought this. He said, because the Bible doesn’t say you can’t, that’s why! I was embarrassed how poorly I answered his challenge. Most Christian young people wouldn’t say such a thing out loud, especially to someone considerably older than they are, and it had never happened to me. After all, surely young Christians know that sex before marriage is not okay, right? Even if they indulge in it? I guess not, so I wasn’t prepared. I’m going to flesh out a short response that includes “the Bible says so,” but goes beyond that. I don’t doubt there are many books on the broader topic of Christian sexuality, so I can only scratch the surface here. (more…)
It probably won’t be a surprise to anyone that an author of a book on parenting is a big fan of kids, and of families having lots of them, especially Christian families. As we drove up to our church on Sunday, a young family got out of a car in front of us, and they pulled four kids out of that car. Love it! It so happens they sat behind us, and we found out the daughter that stayed in the service was “almost five,” and she was the oldest! There are many families in our church with four kids or more, which to me is the sign of a very healthy church. So when I saw the title, “The Gift of Children” at First Things, I knew I would be writing about it. It bums me out that many Christian couples limit the gifts of God to the culturally acceptable two. There are few things more counter-cultural today than having a big family, and it’s one of many reasons that I always encourage young Christian couples to receive lots of these precious gifts. (more…)
My youngest, our 17 year-old son, came to me the other day and said I had to watch the beginning of this short video:
The mechanism that allows human beings to hear is insanely complex. Either we are incredibly lucky, or that mechanism was created by an all powerful, all creative, all intelligent divine being. Can something so intricate that works as perfectly as does human hearing not be designed? Luck is a terrible explanation, as is an unguided process of natural selection and random mutation (Darwinism). The design inference (e.g., looking at human hearing and inferring a designer), is something I’ve used innumerable times with my children as they’ve grown up. It’s the reason my son would see this and instantly make the comparison: chance versus design? Luck versus God? I’ve programmed (we need to do this) my kids to see such things biblically, so of course they see God as the only plausible explanation, and chance as ridiculous, even ludicrous (more on this below).
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