The percentage of American adults with a biblical worldview has dropped to 4%
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Hello and welcome to the Dr. Nurse Mama show prescribing Hope for Healthy Families here on American Family Radio. Here's your host, professor, pediatric nurse practitioner and mom of four, Dr. Jessica Peck. Well, hey there friends and welcome to my favorite part of the afternoon, getting to spend time with you prescribing Hope for Healthy Families. And as I promised you at the beginning of this year, we are having some recurring feedback features throughout the year. We have got the Declutter Diaries and we've also got Worldview Wednesday. Now today is Worldview Wednesday where we're going to talk about how, what is a biblical worldview? How do we develop that in families and why is it important? And it is important. A national study reveals that the percentage of American adults with a biblical worldview have has dropped to 4%. That's 4, just 04. Like 1, 2, 3, 4. I feel like I had to read it a few times to really see that. And it dropped from 6% in 2020. So this report actually comes from the American WorldView inventory in 2023. And that suggests that the 2020 figure may have been a peak. And we have seen that biblical understanding is declining across society. The percentage of so called emergent followers who may have some biblical beliefs but not a full biblical worldview has fallen from 25% to 14%. While the world citizen group, those who are really just largely view themselves as disconnected from biblical teachings, that's grown from 69 to 82%. Now a biblical worldview is so important because it shapes how individuals perceive truth and morality and purpose and human nature through the lens of scripture. It gives us a foundation for, for ethical decision making, for guiding us in our personal and our social, our professional lives. Here are some really important key reasons why a biblical worldview matters. It gives us moral clarity because we have absolute moral truth, not truth that's changing every day or live your truth. It is absolute truth based on God's word that gives us a consistent framework for distinguishing right from wrong. In a culture that says there really is only your right or your wrong. It also gives purpose and meaning. And kids today really need that. It helps kids to understand their purpose in life and know that we are created in God's image. We are called to serve him and to serve others. It also gives us hope and resilience. And isn't that something that we need? In a world that often just a few doom scrolls through your phone, you can feel like the world is hopeless, but there is a hope that doesn't disappoint Rooted in faith, a biblical worldview gives us us hope and strength in the face of adversity. And it reminds believers that God is sovereign and this world is not all that there is. It influences society and historically, biblical principles have been the foundation of justice, of human rights and charitable works and influences legal systems and social structures to improve communities. It also helps families and communities to be stable. Because a biblical worldview upholds strong family values. It fosters, fosters healthy relationships. It helps us to be responsible and accountable. It also guides us in decision making, whether that's in your personal life, in your leadership role, anywhere, any sphere of life. It helps us to make choices that align with God's wisdom. And lastly, it helps with cultural and spiritual formation. It helps believers to engage with the world while maintaining a Christ centered perspective promoting love and truth and transformation, transformation in society. Ultimately, a biblical worldview is an anchor in a world where values are shifting, where what is celebrated today is canceled tomorrow. And it gives our families a steadfast foundation for faith and morality and daily living. Now I know a lot of you listening, thinking, yes, yes, yes, I want that, but do we invest in that? Do we intentionally pursue that? Because it's not just going to magically happen. It's not going to happen just by taking your kids church on Sunday. Although that is a really, really good thing to do. You've got to be engaged and invested.
Dr. Josh Mulvihill gives great advice on developing biblical worldview
And someone who is engaged and invested in helping families to develop a biblical worldview is our recurring guest, Dr. Josh Mulvihill. He is the executive director of Church and Family Ministry at RenewaNation which trains kids to develop a biblical worldview. He's got a PhD from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He's a pastor, he's a dad, he's a husband. He is a founding member of Legacy Coalition. He has done so much and he has. If you've missed his past shows, be sure to catch those because he has really given us some great advice on developing a biblical worldview. So Josh, we're so glad to have you back. Thank you so much for coming again to continue this really important conversation.
>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Yeah, I'm excited to be here and hello everyone again.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, we are, so let's just dive right back in because if anybody missed the last show, we talked about why worldview matters. So can you give us just a little catch up here before we dive into what is a biblical worldview?
>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Well, you gave a really good, bunch of why's at the start here. And you know, those were, those are fantastic foundations. You Know as I think about, I have five kids and as I think about their walk with the Lord, you know, a biblical worldview really helps my children. Your children have wisdom for how to live. You know, we take God's word and it provides our guidance. It's a lamp unto our feet, and our path. And so our kids have to know God's word in order to live according to it. It really develops a foundation for lifelong faith. We're going to actually talk about today some ah, a couple really core pillars that they can get these right in the hearts and minds of our kids. They establish that really, really strong foundation for lifelong faith. And so much of what is, you know, the ideas that are hitting our kids today, they can withstand a lot if they have these core truths that just you know, they anchor them as you said. And of course we want God's word to shape our kids character, their their conduct by God's word. You know, our kids are being hit really hard with the idea that righteousness is strange and sin is really made to look attractive by our culture. And if we haven't really helped our kids understand that the joy and happiness is found in obedience to God and persuade them that that's the best course in life. And a lot of the things that our culture is saying start to look really appealing. And so this really is the book of Proverbs. It helps us. Here's the path of the wise, the path of the fool. Here are the consequences and the blessings of choosing those paths. It's really, you know, it's an age old challenge that parents have. The Bible provides these solutions for us. I love, you know, worldview helps us defend against the counterfeit ideas that our kids are going to be hit with ah, in our, you know, our day and age. And it really solidifies them in God's truth. It answers the big questions of life. And then you know, it's not just about beliefs but a true worldview will help our kids live out those truths in service to Christ and in great value to the world. Oftentimes this will be their vocation or wherever they live in their community. So you know it starts in the younger years, you know, getting God's truth in their hearts and their minds. But then it, it should, it should launch them into service for Christ. This Psalm 127, I love the imagery here. Our kids are talked about as an arrow in the hands of the warrior. We're to launch our kids as Arrows. We need to have a target. They're to do some damage for Christ, against the darkness of this world. And they're not meant to be kept in the quiver forever. they're meant to be fired for Christ into this world. You know, we want our kids to have a vision for what is it as they believe God's truth? What does that mean for them? For why God created them? What's their purpose? How has he wired them? How can they serve God through whatever sphere, he calls them to in life? So lots of important reasons. Worldview is so critical. It's not just an academic subject. It's an everyday, battle for truth in the hearts and minds of our kids.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: You know, you brought up an important point. You said, this is, a battle that parents have fought. And you're so right. You know, this is there. Solomon said there's nothing new under the sun. But the tactics change as culture shifts. And what I see is an avalanche of competing messages. Our kids are living in a world that is saturated by screens. They are constantly being marketed to. Pretty much screens have 24,7 access to our kids. That means be through videos they're watching, through things they're hearing. You know, just play in the grocery store. I mean, you name it. Anywhere you go, they just have a screen. Even going to the grocery store. Speaking of that, you see kids with iPads, and I'm not here to shame any parent who's just trying to get, you know, goldfish without a meltdown. That. That's not what I'm talking about. But I think we do, as parents, have to be cognizant of the messages that are competing for the hearts and minds of our kids. And with the rise of influencer culture, you know, when I was growing up, Josh, and I'm sure the same, because we're about in the same generation. Like, when you saw an expert, someone with a doctoral degree or, you know, it really took a lot to impress you as somebody who was an expert. But now anybody can be an expert. And with the rise of influencer culture, especially, we have people who just view themselves. I'm just going to be really candid here. They view themselves as wise in their own mind. Oh, I have a great idea. And it went viral and it got a million likes, so I must be really smart. And. But then the next day they're canceled, you know, so all of these things create shifting sands of culture. And then we see things like manifesting, which is really popular among young people. Like if I essentially, if I Believe it enough, I'm going to manifest my destiny. And making themselves so popular. It. All of these things just contribute to why that biblical worldview is so very important.
The importance of starting this in early childhood cannot be overstated
And before we dive into what is a biblical worldview, Josh, I think as you said, the importance of starting this in early childhood cannot be overstated. But it is never too late to start. So let's start by roping in those parents who maybe they even have adult children. Maybe like really adulty adult children. Regardless of your age or stage of our life, what encouragement would you have for it's never too late to start?
>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Well, God's truth, there's no timetable on that. So, you know, obviously the earlier the better. But, you know, if you have teenagers and you're hearing this and you're thinking, okay, you know, there's maybe some things I need to be doing, being a little more intentional in certain areas, I think that's great. And I think, you know, start, start by making some changes in the home. If you, you know, if you need to call a little family gathering and say, okay, we're gonna, you know, we're gonna, this is gonna be the direction we head or some, you know, some family habits that we start to invest in on a more regular basis, you know, those kinds of things, might be needed or even a conversation with a spouse to get on the same page. and, you know, God, you know, God works in hearts and minds at all ages and stages. So, you know, I think that's a good encouragement. But if you're on the younger side, as a parent, that obviously is the ideal to take this very seriously. Because the reality is, you know, lies and sin, they know no age. And so I think sometimes we think, you know, for younger kids, you know, maybe they can't handle some of these truths or just age appropriateness. We want to wait to introduce some things. And I, you know, I understand there's some truth in that. You know, we, our youngest right now is 9, just about to turn 10. The level, the depth, the detail that we have in conversation with our elementary age daughter is definitely not the same that we have with our college age son. But the same truth supply, just in greater generality. And, you know, the challenge that we face today as parents is that, the world's having conversations with our kids. M. Regardless of whether we do or not. And so if we're, if we're waiting to have those conversations until we think our children are older, we've kind of put ourselves at a little bit of a discipleship deficit.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: It will be. It'll be too late. Hang on. Hold that thought, Josh. Hold that thought because we're going to come back to that when we come back from this break. And did I hear you say that families need habits? Well, we've got Those for you. 52 habits for healthy families that help you develop a biblical worldview view. You can catch them in one minute segments on, the Dr. Nurse Mama coaching minutes. And every Friday we talk about those. We'll be right back with more on a biblical worldview from Dr. Josh Mulvihill.
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>> Dr. Jessica Peck: 67,000 babies are taking their first breath now because of you. Your $28 sponsored one ultrasound that was given to a woman as she was deciding about the future of her child. Once she saw her precious baby for the first time and heard their sweet heartbeat, her baby's chance at life doubled. But preborn's mission is not only to rescue babies lives, but also to lead women to Christ. Last year preborn network clinic saw 8,900 women receive salvation. Your help is crucial to continue their life saving work. Your caring tax- deductible donation saves lives. So please be generous. To donate go to preborn.com/AFR, that's preborn.com/AFR, or dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby. That's pound 250. baby, your love can save a life. Preborn's whole mission is to rescue babies from abortion and lead their families to Christ. Last year preborn's network of clinics saw 8,900 mothers come to Christ. Please join us in this life saving mission. To donate go to preborn.com/AFR. One Thing Remains by Passion & Kristian Stanfill your. Love never fails and never gives up and never runs out. on me. Your love never fails and never gives up. It never runs out on me. Your love never fails. It never gives up. It never runs out on me. Your love. Yes. It overwhelms and satisfies my soul. And I'll Never ever have to be afraid? Cause just one thing remains? Your love never fails and never gives up? It never runs out on your love? Never fails? It never gives up? It never runs out on me.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is one thing Remains by Passion and Kristian Stanfill. You know, I could never listen to that song without going immediately back back to the deserted office of a surgeon on Thanksgiving Day when my husband was going to have emergency surgery out of town. I was scared. I didn't know what was going to happen. I had four little kids in the car and that song started playing over the loudspeaker. And I realized that God knew and he had gone before me. And isn't that a truth that you want playing over your family and over your life? That there is one thing that remains. God's love will never, ever fail. And in a world where families are constantly failed by government, by culture, by friendships, by people, and just the brokenness that exists in our world, don't you want that truth playing over your heart and your family?
Worldview Wednesday is about how to cultivate a worldview in your family
It is Worldview Wednesday, and we are talking with Dr. Josh Mulvihill about how to cultivate a worldview in your family. Because our prescription for hope today is that worldview matters. What you do matters in this space. And before the break, Josh was talking about some of the habits that you have. And we've started that journey in January. You can go back, as I said, to the Dr. Nursemama coaching minutes. We've talked about prayer, memorizing scripture, plugging into a church, playing worship music as I just described, practicing gratitude, having a daily devotional, having a morning routine and a bedtime routine. That's where we are right now. And where we are in the conversation is talking about it's never too late to reset boundaries. It's never too late to show intention in this way. And Josh, you were giving us some encouragement. And I really want to talk about start with what is a biblical worldview? Because I think a lot of people use that term kind of loosely, but how would you define it in really simple terms for families?
>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: So I'll define worldview generally and then I'll talk biblical worldview specifically. So think of worldview just kind of as a core set of beliefs, a culmination of a totality of what a person believes is kind of the big picture of everything. But it really shapes our views and our values of all of life in every area. So what we believe about humanity, about God, about morality, about sexuality, about justice, about government, family, I mean, we could keep naming things all of those. And not only that, but it's how we make all of our daily decisions. So a worldview, it really determines our beliefs and then our behaviors. It's kind of a summary way of saying that who we become, how we live, what we believe, what matters, how we view the world, what we contribute to society, all of that flows out of our worldview. for adults, all of us have a fully formed worldview. some of those beliefs may be biblical, some of them may not be. a lot of us have a hybrid worldview where we have taken some from Christianity and then some from other belief systems and kind of, you know, morphed them together. And you know, for many of us, it's obviously that's unintentional. We don't mean to kind of pull things from the world and fuse that with the Bible. But we, you know, we just, we live in the culture and the society, and we absorb those ideas. The only way to know that, of course, is to test that against God's word. and for every child, they're in the process of developing their worldview. And so Barn is pretty famous for suggesting that about at the age of 13, you get to the point of what you believe at that age is very likely statistically to be what you believe as an adult. And so, it gets back to what we were just talking about. The early years are critical, and we need to not think, oh, we can just wait. Of, course, it doesn't mean we can't shape worldview later. so don't hear that. It just means, you know, we need to be thinking younger for many of us than we are. So biblical worldview then means the Bible sets our beliefs, our assumptions, our values, and that determines how we live. And of course, for Christians, we would like to say that that's the case. You quoted, from the, Worldview Inventory, which is a really good, helpful study. That's one of the most recent ones, the American Worldview Inventory. you had mentioned, Jessica, that the worldview for the general population is at 4%. That's true. That study also looked, at 18 to 29 year olds, I believe. And you know, that number actually decreased down to 2%. So M. Here's what I want people to recognize. That means that the older generations are not doing a good job transferring faith to younger generations. And so what we're seeing is that with every new generation, we are seeing a shrinking number of individuals with a biblical worldview. That's a bit Depressing. But it also we state those numbers because it should be a bit of a wake up call to all of us not to assume that just because our kids grow up in a Christian home, they go to a good Christian church, they're around Christian individuals. We can't assume that they're just going to believe the things that we want them desperately to believe and that we work to try to help to get these ideas into their heart. There should be a bit of a wake up call to say, okay, there needs to be some intentionality and great, great, ah, care given in this area. And even I'll mention one more thing on this, Jessica. The researchers found in this study that only 21% of individuals who attend an evangelical Protestant church have a biblical worldview. So the other numbers were the general American population. These are people that identify as evangelical Christians. It's only one out of five. And so I want you to let that sink in for a moment. Most of us that are Christians would say, I have a biblical worldview. But, we have to be sure, do my beliefs actually align with scripture? And so one of the challenging things, with the biblical worldview conversation is that we have to identify a set of beliefs as biblical. And so, I'll just mention some of these. You know what these studies use to determine if you have a biblical worldview? I'm going to read off 8. And so listeners, I want you to be thinking, just answer yes and no as I read a really short statement, to determine where are you at, in your worldview, do absolute moral truths exist? is the Bible totally accurate in all the principles it teaches? Is Satan a real being, not merely symbolic? Can a person earn their way into heaven through good works? Did Jesus live a sinless life on earth? Is God the all knowing, all powerful creator of the world that still rules the universe today? So those are kind of your base. You know, most churches would have those kind of statements in there. Core doctrinals, you know, their statement of faith. They're not anything, they're, you know, they're not anything spectacular. But this is what these research studies are finding. Very small percentages of people actually would say, you have to say, you know, the answer to all those is yes. So if a person answers no to any of those, a portion of their belief system would be out of alignment with scripture. That's what these studies would be, would be finding. and so to pass those kinds of beliefs on to our kids is not happening in high numbers today. And take some Great care on our part.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: That is really sobering, Josh, honestly, to think about and so much to absorb there. And I want to go back to something else that you said earlier about absorbing ideas. This idea of passive versus active exposure to worldview. And I think this is something that parents really need to wake up and pay attention to. Because when we look at past generations, you talked about generations not doing a good job of passing it down personally. this is just my observation, Josh. I'm not basing this on research, but just personally and observing. I think one of the reasons for this is because we're not adapting to cultural tactics. When we look at the exposure, the passive exposure that our kids have, as I was saying earlier through screen content, it's really hard. And we look at the way that it's hard to counteract that messaging and we look at the way that communities are. Even in the 80s, when I grew up, we did not have the Internet. Even when my first child was born, I had to mail a physical picture to my in laws who lived in another state so they could see a picture of my child. I tried to write down the URL, you know, the Internet was there, but it was like, I don't know, 400 characters long, like they weren't going to be able to do that. The world has changed. And now the idea of community. When you grew up, you know, your community was pretty much like you. Everybody believed generally the same thing. And now we just have so much passive exposure to different communities, different belief systems, different ideologies, different messaging that can be really compelling and we don't even realize what kind of influence it is having. And I just see a lot of parents who are passively letting that happen. And I don't say that in judgment because that is something I struggle with too. And we model that by passive consumption through our cell phones, we scroll through social media, we scroll through information. We don't think as critically about it. We just look at the people that, you know, we're getting information from and just kind of accept everything as, as true. But we really have to be savvy consumers of information. You also said, Josh, that you know, when a lot of parents don't want to expose their kids, but I think that train has left the station. That is not realistic. We've got to expose our kids in a developmentally appropriate way, in a way that positions us as the experts and reflecting that we base our expertise on God's wisdom, we just got to do that.
Josh Mulvihill says a greenhouse is a good metaphor for exposing kids to ideas
So I would love to get your, your reflections on that. Do you, do you see the world this way too?
>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Yes. And I think a, greenhouse is a really good metaphor for exposing our kids to the ideas of the world. And you think about a really tender plant and, you know, you start, we live in Minnesota. We actually live on a farm here. And then, you know, if we want to get our plants started, to actually get them out to grow before it, feels like mid summer, you know, we'll start them in a greenhouse. And of course, the young plants are super vulnerable. And so we, you know, you close the sides, the windows of a greenhouse, and you don't let in the outside. you let in a little bit of sunlight. And then as those plants grow, you open the windows and you let in a little bit of the outside and the world come in. You need to start training them to go into, you know, to be planted. They can't just go. If you've ever gardened, you can't just take plants from inside the house or in a greenhouse and plant them directly outside. Usually they will die. They have to be, you know, they have to be conditioned. And these, you know, plants then in a greenhouse can be put outside for a short amount of time, then brought back in, and eventually they can be planted and they're strong enough to withstand all that is hitting them from the outside elements. And I think that's a really good metaphor with our kids and how, you know, as they're younger, we really, you know, the idea of sheltering kind of get. Gets a bad rap. But we want to shelter our kids. God shelters us. You know, where he talked about as our refuge and our shelter in time of need. Sheltering is a good thing, done well, especially when kids are really little to, you know, there's certain things we, we surely do not want our kids exposed to. I don't want my kids exposed to drag queen story hours, when they're, you know, when they're super little. I'm not going to let them, see that. I will push that back. I'll, you know, I'll, you know, not that they, they don't see that kind of stuff to some degrees, just walking around in our world. But we're not going to expose them to that level on purpose, not as our kids get older. We do let certain things, let them be exposed to certain things with, great care, intentionality, having conversation. You know, the goal, of course, is to have, to teach. I want to teach my kids the truth before they hear the counterfeit and walk them through why is that? Why is the counterfeit problematic? So, we live within driving distance of the Creation Museum, which is in the Cincinnati area. teaches, a biblical creation account. It's very wonderful. So we take our kids there when they're in elementary school. On the way home, we stop at the Natural History Museum in Chicago, and our kids get a very different view of the origin of the world through evolution. we specifically purposefully expose them to the arguments of evolution after they were taught the truth of creation from a biblical, you know, from the Bible. And we have conversations, and it's really good to help our kids see, you know, they need to filter those arguments from God's word. And as our kids even get older than that, in the teen, young adult years, the exposure then to other things, it's just at a greater depth. But I, I want them. My goal as a dad is when they leave my home, you know, whatever. You know, young adult years, college years, whatever, they shouldn't be experiencing anything for the first time. We should have talked through. So we want.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Hold that thought, Josh. Hold that thought. We're up against a break. Why is time going so fast? We have so much to discuss. This is why Josh is back. We'll be right back with more from Dr. Josh Mulvihill on Worldview Wednesday and how to develop a biblical worldview. Don't go away. The month of June has been hijacked by the anti Christian culture to show their pride in something God calls an abomination. When you support afr, you help us continue to stand for godly values and provide the resources for you to stay in the know about the enemy's tactics. To say thank you for your gift this month, we'll give you the booklet Inside the LGBTQ push of the 1990s. To help strengthen your convictions, just go to afr.net/offers afr.net/offers The Cross by Anne Wilson featuring Chris Tomlin who told you. Grace can't reach the devil made you believe lies he tells when you're sure that you're the one who's wandered too far off it's not too late Just come home to the cross. Come and see. The Savior's love that would die to make you new Nothing you have ever done can change what mercy's done for you and if you ever wonder if you the cross.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That song is the Cross by Anne Wilson featuring Chris Tomlin. And it is the core of the message that we're bringing you today on, Worldview Wednesday. We're bringing the good news of the hope of Jesus Christ in a World that feels like it is lost, it is dark, it is hopeless, there is light, there is hope, there is a way forward for our kids. We're talking to Dr. Josh Mulvihill about a biblical worldview. He has, is so accomplished and has done so much. And if you want to learn more about this, you can get a copy of his this book. It's called Biblical Worldview. What it is, why it matters, and how to shape the worldview of the next generation. So this is something that requires intention. And before the break, we were talking about imparting these truths to our children. Research shows that more than half of teenagers who grow up in church will walk away from their faith by adulthood. Why? Because their worldview was probably shaped more by media, by peers than by scripture. But there is good news because you have influence over your kids as parents. You have tremendous influence over your kids. And Josh, you were just talking about that and talking about your goal as a dad for them not to be exposed to something the first time when they go away to college. And you gave a great analogy of a greenhouse. And I agree completely. Do everything you can to protect your kids from everything you can. But I think we also have to have a realistic perspective that we can have controlled exposure of these concepts in a developmentally appropriate and what I call trauma informed way, making sure that we're not telling them anything that's fear based. We're not telling them unnecessary nitty gritty details, but we're equipping them with the comfort of the truth of God's word.
One good goal is to anticipate what your kids are going to hear in adulthood
And so I'm going to let you finish your thought there and then go ahead and talk to us about the six things about truth that our kids need to know.
>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Yes, I think a good goal is anticipate what your kids are going to hear in the young adult years and try to backtrack that to have conversations about them in the home. So just be paying attention to what are the kind of the key buzzwords you're hearing in culture right now? What are the big talking points that you're hearing and how do we understand those from, from a biblical perspective? So, you know, there's a lot of conversation about justice, there's a lot of conversation about immigration right now. There's a lot of conversation about, you know, abortion. We could go down the transgenderism, all those things. Those are the things that are, you know, we're getting exposed to our kids are as well. And so, you know, if our kids, you know, when they, we want them to be able to hear these kinds of things and be able to filter them scripturally. And it means it's going to take work on our part. And that's a lot of the work, the conversation with our kids. If we do the hard work of training ourselves and getting a biblical grasp of these, certain topics, it makes the actual conversation a little bit easier because the hard work is trying to get biblical clarity on these things. But I'm going to encourage you to fight for that, to spend the time doing that so you have clarity and then you're ready when the opportunity presents itself with your children to just have these conversations or to jump into scripture and to start, you know, to start you know, seizing those opportunities.
The foundation of a biblical worldview comes down to the question of where truth comes from
you, you wanted to talk about, truth. so the, the foundation of a biblical worldview comes down to the question of where does truth come from? And our culture is going to say it is self, it is, you know, consensus culturally of course for the Christian, we will say that's God's word. truth, of course, the Bible. I think the key question is seen in Pilate's interaction with Jesus. When Pilate asked Jesus what is truth? And we've been always trying to get at this idea of truth. of course Satan is the father of lies and he masquerades truth as a lie. Genesis 3, the question that the serpent asked Adam and Eve, our kids are being asked that on a regular basis. The question being, did God really say kids are the truths of God's word? They're m. Meant to, meant to erode those truths, what our culture is saying, and to make them doubt that God's word is the best and true. And so we just need to reinforce God's truth. I think the best way to push out a bad worldview, the wrong worldview is to teach truth, to teach the true worldview. And so I'll just encourage you that happens through God's Word. That is our curriculum. You know, that we want to saturate our hearts and minds with it and we want to do so with our kids as well. And that really is, that's the foundation. It is, it's not, it's not complex in that regard, but it does require ah, you know, a long term commitment of just saturating our kids hearts and minds with God's word. And this is even, you know, our oldest is a sophomore in college. so we're even continuing to do this. It doesn't mean just because they leave home at 18. Just yesterday, we were Having a conversation about some of the books. He's at a Christian Bible college and we were having a conversation about some of the books being read in one of the courses and pulled out one of the books. And the authority, you know, is the Christian. And is that a really well known Christian institution? I won't name it, been under fire in the media lately, but holds the position, on gender identity, that Christians should respect, pronouns and should not push for in areas of, you know, of transgenderism, for the government to have limitations. You know, we have really good conversations about that. This is coming from a Christian institution. so we, you know, we can't ever take our foot off the gas pedal and have these conversations about truth because they begin to shape what our kids believe. And from the littlest days to, you know, to the to the adult years and you know, how, how much, Jessica, do you want me to jump into the six things of truth? You want me to walk through them?
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Yeah, do that. I, I just want to say that I think it's really interesting that you brought up Pilate and looking at, you know, as I said earlier, Solomon said there's nothing new under the sun. And even Pilate, who was, you know, at the epicenter of power in the world then and had so much wealth, so much influence, so much authority, and yet is still saying, what is truth? And you know, Jesus of course gives us that answer and saying, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me. And I had a guest on not too long ago who was talking about how sometimes in, in when Jesus says I'm the way, the truth and the life, we don't realize that that comes in response to a question from doubting Thomas. So you know, God, he sees our questions and he answers them and he's provided us with truth. But I would love for you just to walk really quickly. We, we don't have a lot of time, Josh, but just walk. And if people want to deep dive, they can go into your book. But what are the six things that people need to know about truth?
>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Yes, the Christians believe six things about truth. the first is that truth exists, it is real and it's not determined by us or others. It comes from God's word. So we, we have to get that into our kids hearts and minds. Right now our kids are really being pushed that feelings are the guide. That is a, emotions, feelings. That's where our culture is pushing our kids right now. To find truth, live your truth. That is not an innocuous statement. That is a hardcore worldview belief. And we have to help our kids understand why that is erroneous, problematic, and, it seeps in. So point it out when you see these kinds of things and just have conversations. two is truth is knowable. The Bible tells us you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. You know, one of the things we learn in Proverbs is that when we live according to, you know, ways that are not biblical, we get. We literally get. We get trapped. We have all these consequences that are. They're lifelong, they're big. They're huge. And, so we want to help our kids know the truth. three is all truth comes from God, and it bears witness to him. So when we start to discover truth, we're on a path to discovering the creator of truth. So science points towards this, you know, how do, how do the laws of nature, how do those work everywhere? It's because the. God created them. That's the only reason. And, so as we, you know, all of all truth is God's truth. And it, you know, we don't need to be fearful of, you know, things even outside of the Bible because they point to the creator God. Number four is truth is eternal. You know, it doesn't change, and it's not created. The Bible tells us that heaven and earth will pass away, but, God's words never will. And so we can literally bank our lives on God's truth. We can build our lives on God's truth. That is, is such a blessing to hear and to know. Every other foundation that we build on, as you said, is it's sinking sand. And so what a, what a blessing to give to a young person. Truth, is a person. That's number five. Jesus said of himself, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. So when we know Jesus, we know truth itself. And then the last one, number six is the Bible is the final authority on truth. The Bible talks about itself as a measuring stick, as a standard for truth, as the norm against which all of our thoughts are measured. It's the idea of a plumb line. If you actually come to our home on all of our children's dressers, you will see I actually went and bought a plumb line for my children, and I gave it to them. It's sitting on each of their dressers as this reminder of truth and where there, you know, all of our authority comes from. And so we want all, all the claims, all, you know, all the ideas that our kids come into contact with. We want them to learn the skill of you using the Bible to think critically about all these claims. You know, the Bible talks about testing everything according to God's word. Do our kids know how to do that when they hear something? And so they kind of, you know, they kind of got to be familiar with their Bible in order to do that, to learn how, you know, we can take a concordance and learn, teach them how to use a concordance to look up different things and start to study and test and, you know, these are really wonderful things to give to a child.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: I love that you made a plumb line, just that visual representation and reminder, that constant reminder. I think that's so such a beautiful illustration of your faith and your worldview and a way to pass it on. And, you know, I think so often, Josh, about the messages that are in culture and two phrases that I hear very often are, you know, live your truth or speak your truth. And going back to what you said, I keep going back to thinking about what Pilate said. If, if Pilate was asking, what is truth? How do we expect 14 year old kids to know what is truth? And yes, of course, God cares deeply about us as individuals. It says, Scripture says he knits us together in our mother's womb. He bottles every tear. He knows every hair on our head. He search me and try me. He knows the inner thoughts and workings of our heart. So that's not to say that our experience, our feelings, that they don't matter deeply to God. But when we're talking about truth, I think that, that, that's one of the reasons why kids have so much trouble today in a world that just seems very, very unpredictable. And so, Josh, as we're, we're out of time, so this is why we keep continuing this conversation. I feel like it's so to be continued because there's so much to absorb here. But you offer three questions to understand the worldview of your child, asking what does your child believe to be true? What authority shapes those beliefs? And how does your child live? Now, I want to encourage our listeners to really think about investing in developing your child's worldview. You can take an active role, you can take a passive role, but if you are passive, there are forces around that are so active and that are actively working. I think about Scripture saying that, you know, the enemy, he seeks to steal, to kill, to devour. He's prowling around like a roaring lion. But we God. But God. That is my two favorite words together in the history of ever. But God has equipped us to help our kids have a biblical worldview, and we can do that. What is a step that you can take in discipling your children? Well, I would encourage you to check out Josh's book, Biblical Worldview. What it Is, why It Matters, how to shape the worldview of the next generation. You can also go, like I said, and listen to the, 52 Habits for Healthy Kids. So you can find for healthy families. You can find those on the doctor nurse, mama coaching minutes. And Dr. Mulvihill will hope to have you back to continue the discussion on worldview. And I, and I pray that wherever you are and the efforts that you're making disciple your family, that the Lord will bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And we'll see you right back here next time.
>> Jeff Chamblee: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
