{"id":301208,"date":"2006-10-05T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-10-05T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/%series%\/what-is-a-worldview\/"},"modified":"2024-10-24T14:24:46","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T18:24:46","slug":"what-is-a-worldview","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/what-is-a-worldview\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a Worldview?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sean McDowell explains what a worldview is and tells how our worldview shapes who we become.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sean McDowell explains what a worldview is and tells how our worldview shapes who we become.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":294104,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"https:\/\/web.familylifetoday.com\/fl2006-10-05.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"00:","filesize":"11.35M","filesize_raw":"11899776","date_recorded":"2006-10-05 11:00:00","explicit":"","block":""},"categories":[2855],"tags":[2209,2588,4817],"podcast_series":[7477],"cwp_profile":[9849],"series":[2101],"class_list":["post-301208","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-teens","tag-parenting","tag-teens","tag-tweens","podcast_series-ethix-being-bold-in-a-whatever-world","cwp_profile-dr-sean-mcdowell","series-familylife-today"],"acf":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2024\/09\/FLT-Podcast-Cover-2-508x508-3.jpg?w=508","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2023\/02\/image-scaled.jpg","download_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-download\/301208\/what-is-a-worldview","player_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-player\/301208\/what-is-a-worldview","audio_player":null,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/familylife-today\/id212174303?mt=2&app=podcast","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0j5UaKdQOHQCuo1bt0ebEm","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"youtube":{"key":"youtube","url":"","label":"YouTube","class":"youtube","icon":"youtube.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/feed\/podcast\/familylife-today","embedCode":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"wohtEDYpXs\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/what-is-a-worldview\/\">What is a Worldview?<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/what-is-a-worldview\/embed\/#?secret=wohtEDYpXs\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" title=\"&#8220;What is a Worldview?&#8221; &#8212; FamilyLife\u00ae - A Cru Ministry\" data-secret=\"wohtEDYpXs\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>\n"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2024\/09\/FLT-Podcast-Cover-2-508x508-3.jpg",508,508,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"kfairris@familylife.com","author_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/author\/kfairrisfamilylife-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Sean McDowell explains what a worldview is and tells how our worldview shapes who we become.","meta_box":{"show_notes":"","transcript_url":"https:\/\/transcript.familylifetoday.com\/fl2006-10-05.pdf","transcript_content":"<p>\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0So just where does absolute truth really come from?<\/p>\n<p>Josh:\u00a0Anything that is absolute right for all people for all places for all times are objective truth must be apart from and above any one individual.\u00a0 And this, I believe, is our Creator, God.\u00a0 And what I want to do is equip my children \u2013 now, first of all, they know not only what they believe, they know why they believe it, and they know the source of that truth from their nature and character and person of God.\u00a0 But then the key here is, first of all, is it affecting their lives?\u00a0 Am I living it?<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0And welcome to FamilyLife Today.\u00a0 Thanks for joining us.\u00a0 That's a familiar voice, isn't it?<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0It is, a friend of FamilyLife, Josh McDowell, and a good friend of mine.\u00a0 I'm really a big fan of Josh McDowell.\u00a0 He had a great impact in my life back in college.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0You heard him speak when you were a junior in college, is that right?<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0That's right, and I'd been questioning my faith, and his work on apologetics just crossed my life at a time when I soaked it up, and it gave me a reason to believe.\u00a0 And I began to place my faith in Christ and became a follower of Christ during that time.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0Well, his work on this issue of absolute truth has also been something that people in the culture have paid attention to, and it looks like even his own kids have been paying attention, do you think?<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0Yeah, in fact, I was wondering what one of his kids was thinking about that.\u00a0 Sean McDowell joins us on FamilyLife Today.\u00a0 Welcome back, Sean.<\/p>\n<p>Sean:\u00a0It's good to be here.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0What'd you think about that?\u00a0 You were grinning as you were hearing your dad preach there.<\/p>\n<p>Sean:\u00a0Well, I've heard that so many times.\u00a0 It doesn't take any truth away from it, but that voice rings very familiar to me.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0Yeah, well, you've grasped a few of those truths and based your life on it.\u00a0 You have written a book called \"<strong>Ethics<\/strong> \u2013 Being Bold in a Whatever World.\"\u00a0 You are a high school teacher; graduate of Talbot Theological Seminary and Biola and have a family of your own, so you're beginning to realize how important the handoff really is.<\/p>\n<p>Now, I want to ask you a question about worldview, but before I do that, I used to, toward the end of our parenting of teenagers, our kids would bring somebody home, and we'd go out to eat, or we'd have them at the dinner table, and my kids would go, \"Oh, no, here it comes.\"\u00a0 And I would ask the young person \"What is your worldview?\"<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0You'd just throw that out in dinner conversation?<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0Yeah, and I didn't do it right away.\u00a0 We got to know the child first, the young person, but my kids would roll their eyes back in their head, and I must have asked 20, 25 kids, and in all those times I only got one, only had one who really gave a clear answer of what a biblical Christian worldview would be.<\/p>\n<p>Now, if you were having dinner with me, Sean, and I asked you that question \u2013 what is a worldview \u2013 how would you answer it?<\/p>\n<p>Sean:\u00a0I would simply say a worldview is one's perspective on reality.\u00a0 It's your beliefs, it's the way we view reality.\u00a0 So we have views about what happiness is, we have views about truth, about God, about purpose in the world, and my worldview is my perspective about life.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0I've heard somebody describe it like a pair of glasses.\u00a0 I wear glasses, and they're corrected for my vision so the world looks clear to me when I put my glasses on.\u00a0 Your worldview is like the lens through which you see the world that makes it make sense to you, right?<\/p>\n<p>Sean:\u00a0That's certainly a popular illustration used to explain what a worldview is, but my concern with that one, is it almost makes it feel like we can't get outside of our worldview; that we're controlled and shaped by forces outside of us; that our family determines us, our culture determines us.\u00a0 While those shape us in many ways, we are able to get outside and evaluate and take a deep look at what our beliefs are, and that's just critical for young people today because most of them, even Christians, just kind of accept ideas in the media, accept ideas in the world, and don't slow down and think through their beliefs and realize how those beliefs affect everything that they do in life.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0And our assignment, as parents, is to help our young people grow up, and before they leave home, before we launched them, as Psalm 127:4 talks about a child being like an arrow in the hand of a warrior, and an arrow was meant to be sent.\u00a0 It was meant to be aimed at a target and launched.\u00a0 But before we launch them, we need to equip them to be able to answer the question, \"What is your worldview?\"<\/p>\n<p>And as we look at the culture today, Sean, there are a lot of different worldviews that young people have to choose from.\u00a0 I mean, is it like a smorgasbord today in high school for young people?<\/p>\n<p>Sean:\u00a0I think, more than ever, a smorgasbord pretty much sums it up.\u00a0 I mean, the majority of kids would describe themselves as Christian, but what they mean by that is radically different than what you and I mean.\u00a0 Kids are influenced by New Age, it's very popular today.\u00a0 Smaller religions, kind of like Wicca, are shaping the way that kids believe.\u00a0 Post-Modernism, which sounds like a big word, which is simply the idea that there's multiple truths and no absolute truth out there.\u00a0 Secular Humanism is another big word, but it's just simply the idea that all that exists is the physical world, and that there is no God.<\/p>\n<p>All these worldviews are coming at our kids, and unless they have a filter to recognize what is biblical and what is not biblical, they'll buy into those ideas, and then many times disaster will come into kids' lives.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0And when I would ask those young people at dinner about their worldview, I would always listen to see if God had any place in their worldview and, for most, God didn't show up, but who was in the center of their worldview?\u00a0 Self.<\/p>\n<p>Sean:\u00a0Self, which is the first sin in the Bible, which is sin of pride, going back to Genesis.\u00a0 Now, it doesn't surprise me at all that one kid actually had a biblical worldview.\u00a0 Barna's study shows that 9 percent of adult evangelicals and 2 percent of youth have a biblical worldview.\u00a0 Now, that concern goes even farther.\u00a0 It's not enough to just give our kids the right answers.\u00a0 So some kids could sit there and tell you about God created the world and give you the right answers but have they ingrained it, have they owned it, because if they don't really own it and truly believe it, then it's just words.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0You know, I had a conversation many times, same conversation, over and over again with my teenage son as he was going through high school, and he was reading lots of different books in high school, presenting lots of different ideas about life, about represents, about the things you're talking about, and I remember sitting down with him on a number of occasions and saying, \"You know, here's what I believe, son.\u00a0 I believe that the German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche was right \u2013 if there is no God, Nietzsche is absolutely correct \u2013 life is chaos, it makes no sense, it's meaningless.\u00a0 Do whatever you want and do it boldly and don't worry about the consequences because you really don't have anything to worry about.\u00a0 You're just some matter that's floating around on a rock.\u00a0 But if there's a God, then everything changes.<\/p>\n<p>Sean:\u00a0That really is the central question.\u00a0 In fact, that's why the Bible says \"Wisdom begins with the fear or the awe of God.\"\u00a0 I mean, think about it \u2013 if God exists \u2013 that's why the first doctrine we learn about in the Bible is, \"In the beginning, God created\" \u2013 because Creation implies purpose.\u00a0 If there is no God, and there is no Creation, and hence no purpose, the only other possibility is we got here by chance.\u00a0 So that's why the fool says in his heart, \"There is no God,\" because ultimately that thinking is going to lead to meaninglessness, like you said, and just a lack of purpose, living for pleasure and living \"go for the gusto\" instead of living for things that will truly bring meaning and happiness in this world.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0You know, it's interesting, you took everything back to Creation.\u00a0 I was recently in Cincinnati and had the privilege of touring a new museum that is being created there by a ministry called Answers in Genesis.\u00a0 And Tim Hamm had invited me up to speak to his staff, and really quite a remarkable museum.\u00a0 Now, it wasn't finished when I was there, and I think it's my understanding it's going to be finished April of 2007, something like that, but it actually started, before you got to the seven days of Creation, which were going to be depicted in scenes where you walked through this museum, but before you got to any of that, they started out with the visitor going through a concept of worldview.<\/p>\n<p>What's your worldview?\u00a0 Do you believe that God exists and what part does He have in what we see?\u00a0 Did He, indeed, create it?\u00a0 Or do you think life is, as Bob was talking about, it's just random, meaningless, it's just matter.\u00a0 And I like where they started, because it's just like what we've been talking about here \u2013 if God exists, then all of Creation has purpose, has meaning, and we are accountable to Him, and we better get on His agenda if we want to live life to the fullest.\u00a0 And that really is what we need to be as parents training our young people to really believe and to develop convictions around, correct?<\/p>\n<p>Sean:\u00a0I think Answers in Genesis is wise to begin with the issue of worldview.\u00a0 It's very interesting \u2013 I was watching a debate just this morning between Gary Habermas \u2013 it was on the Resurrection.\u00a0 He is one of the Resurrection experts in the world, and a former atheist by the name of Anthony Flue.<\/p>\n<p>Gary Habermas lays out the entire defense of the Resurrection, and Anthony Flue, an atheist at that time, looks at him.\u00a0 He goes, \"That's great evidence.\u00a0 That makes sense from your worldview.\"\u00a0 So he said it's rational for you because you have a basic worldview about the world that says there could be a God.\u00a0 He said, \"But for me, since I don't believe in a God, I'm not convinced by those reasons.\"\u00a0 So it always goes back to a kid's worldview.<\/p>\n<p>Now, one practical way that I think parents and teachers can do this is simply by asking kids questions.\u00a0 My students don't want to hear me lecture at them.\u00a0 Our kids don't want to hear us tell them what to believe and how they should act.\u00a0 But kids today do respond, I believe, when we really engage their thinking.\u00a0 So a great way is to say, \"Look, say we're talking about self image,\" and this brings it back to Creation.\u00a0 I'll say, \"Why should somebody even feel good about themselves and have a self image?\"<\/p>\n<p>Well, the answer we'll ultimately get to is because you're made in God's image.\u00a0 You have infinite dignity and value and worth.\u00a0 How has our world twisted what God has originally said is good?\u00a0 Well, now our self-image is based on money, based on fame, based on power, based on pleasure.\u00a0 How do we get that back to God's original design?\u00a0 You can do that with everything.\u00a0 There's a purpose for music, there's a purpose for work, there's a purpose for sexuality, a purpose for relationship, and that's why Creation is so important.<\/p>\n<p>So getting kids to think that way by asking questions \u2013 one of the great things I credit my parents with doing is instead of my dad sitting me down and just saying, \"Hey, here is what you should believe and here is why,\" he did a lot of just asking good questions and, in fact, that's what Jesus did.\u00a0 Someone would ask Him a question, he'd respond with a thoughtful question.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0In fact, didn't he take you out to a major movie release and then afterwards go to a fast-food restaurant or someplace \u2026<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0Oh, he did the same thing you used to do with your kids, right?\u00a0 Ruin the movie by dissecting it when it's all over, right?\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0That's exactly what I did.\u00a0 Now, didn't he do that with you?\u00a0 And do you remember what the movie was?<\/p>\n<p>Sean:\u00a0It was the movie, \"Schindler's List,\" and we went to see it as a family.\u00a0 My wife now, who was a friend at that time \u2013 we were in high school, I was probably a junior or a senior, we went to see it, and we went back to Pizza Hut.\u00a0 I remember we were sitting around talking, and my dad just said this, he said, \"Do you think what the Nazis did was wrong?\"\u00a0 I said, \"Of course.\"\u00a0 He said, \"Why?\"\u00a0 I said, \"Well, you shouldn't kill.\"\u00a0 He said, \"Why shouldn't you kill?\"\u00a0 I said, \"Well, it's in the Bible, duh.\"\u00a0 He said, \"Well, why does the Bible say you shouldn't kill?\"\u00a0 And I sat there, and I was stumped.\u00a0 I had never thought about it.<\/p>\n<p>Now, he kept asking me questions to try to get me to realize that killing is not wrong because the Bible says it.\u00a0 The Bible says it because killing is wrong because it says in John 14:6, \"I am the way, the truth, and the life.\"\u00a0 God is life, so taking an innocent life made in the image of God is wrong.\u00a0 Well, how do we have that discussion because we had just seen a movie, and kids live their lives around the movie and the media today and because we had a relationship, he threw questions out there, and it just \u2013 I remember that, in particular, and it had an impact on my worldview.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0And so if you were a parent of a teenager today, what recent movie release that's hot in the culture today would you take them to see, and then what would be the questions you would ask afterwards?<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0Oh, wait, I know, I know, I've got the answer for this one, okay?<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0You know what yours is?<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0\"Snakes on the Plane,\" right?\u00a0 That's where you'd go, wouldn't it, huh?<\/p>\n<p>Sean:\u00a0Actually, I thought you were going to get it, because it's probably been the most controversial movie out recently.\u00a0 I would take my son or daughter to \"The DaVinci Code.\"<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0Really?<\/p>\n<p>Sean:\u00a0Definitely.\u00a0 I would take my kids to see that, and now here's why \u2013 I think \u2013 and realize I understand that some people don't want to see it, some people want to boycott it \u2026<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0\u2026 right \u2026<\/p>\n<p>Sean:\u00a0In the family that I grew up with, we would look at opportunities like that as not so much more compromise, because I don't think it's a moral issue, I think it's intellectual.\u00a0 And sit down, and I would say, \"Well, how do we know what books are in the Bible?\u00a0 Have you ever thought about that, son?\u00a0 Why do we have those books and not other books?\u00a0 How do we know Jesus was God?\u00a0 Was this made up by the culture?\u00a0 How do we know Jesus was married or not married?\"\u00a0 And I would talk about those questions.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0Did you see \"The DaVinci Code\" when it came out?<\/p>\n<p>Sean:\u00a0I did see it, yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0Boring, huh?<\/p>\n<p>Sean:\u00a0It was, wasn't it?\u00a0 It ended three times.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0Well, \"Lord of the Rings\" ended seven times, but we still liked that, didn't we?<\/p>\n<p>Sean:\u00a0Yeah, that's true.\u00a0 Maybe I was hoping it would end a lot sooner.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0I think so.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0Let's take another major issue that our culture faces today, and let's apply your approach to worldview and discuss it \u2013 abortion.<\/p>\n<p>Sean:\u00a0Okay.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0How does your worldview affect the issue of abortion?<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0Yeah, because you know how most people approach this \u2013 I wouldn't want to have an abortion or wouldn't want my friend to have an abortion, but if somebody \u2013 that's somebody's personal choice, that's between the woman and her doctor, and you shouldn't interfere with her making that choice.<\/p>\n<p>Sean:\u00a0When we talk about abortion, we've got to realize this is a very personal issue that hits home with a lot of kids, and we forget that sometimes, and we just give our arguments and reasons, and I think \u2026<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0Now, wait a second \u2013 I have a feeling there's more behind that statement than Bob or I or our listeners may be aware of.\u00a0 What do you mean it's a personal issue?<\/p>\n<p>Sean:\u00a0I mean with students.\u00a0 I deal with students all the time that have dealt with this.\u00a0 Not necessarily in my own life or my wife or anything like that, but just in terms of \u2013 this is a very \u2013 I mean \u2013 look at the statistics.\u00a0 One in two pregnancies are not planned.\u00a0 One in two of those end in abortion.\u00a0 So there are roughly 1 million abortions per year, and the difference inside and outside of the church is not very big.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0You're saying most students either know somebody who has had an abortion or have had one themselves.<\/p>\n<p>Sean:\u00a0There's no question about it.\u00a0 In fact, every single year I teach a unit on pro-life for about three weeks.\u00a0 I've done it three years.\u00a0 Each time a student has come up to me afterwards and said, \"Right now I have a student considering abortion.\"<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0This is in the Christian school?<\/p>\n<p>Sean:\u00a0In a Christian school \u2013 now, not necessarily the student was in a Christian school, but the student knew other students outside the Christian school, and all three of them went back, showed them the video that I show, talked to them about these ideas.\u00a0 All three of them decided to keep the child.<\/p>\n<p>So what that shows is that kids' worldviews and their beliefs will translate directly into the world that we live in.\u00a0 So the important thing is I don't teach kids to reason from the Scripture, I teach kids to reason to the Scriptures.\u00a0 So the Bible has said that God has put a sense of morality on all mankind.\u00a0 We have that in common.\u00a0 All people believe in justice, believe in goodness, believe in mercy, although they apply it differently.\u00a0 So when it comes to abortion, we'll talk scientifically about it, and the reality is, it goes back to a worldview issue.\u00a0 I mean, you don't see very many young mothers who have two-year-olds saying, \"Gosh, I'd like to go back to school.\u00a0 I better just kill my two-year-old.\"<\/p>\n<p>So it goes back to what our kids view about God, what they view about reality, and it's going to shape the way that they live.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0I think you started with something very important here.\u00a0 As you're sitting down to deal with this with teenagers or with any person, you have to recognize that before it's an intellectual issue it's often a personal issue, and if you go straight for the brain, if you go straight for the logic, or the argument \u2026<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0Yeah, trying to win the argument.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0And you race past the personal side of it, you may never get a hearing for your logic, because you haven't shown empathy, you haven't shown kindness, you haven't shown concern or love.\u00a0 You've got to start there, don't you?<\/p>\n<p>Sean:\u00a0We've been guilty of that in the Christian church a lot \u2013 parading our truth without truly loving the people we're supposed to.\u00a0 You know, you asked me earlier about it being a personal side.\u00a0 In fact, this issue is personal to me.\u00a0 In fact, my sister, Heather, was adopted, and her mom got pregnant, I think, at 14, 15, or 16 years old and had the option of abortion.\u00a0 And she has been the most incredible blessing in our family.\u00a0 She loves kids, she's bright, she wants to do missions and just about three months ago \u2013 Heather is now 19 years old, she's in college, so she wanted to get hold of her birth mom.<\/p>\n<p>Well, we tracked her down, and the person who we had call her contacted her and simply said, \"We want you to know we have good news,\" you know, in fact, at first she probably thought, \"I've won a sweepstakes\" or something like that.\u00a0 Didn't see it coming, the mom didn't see it coming, she said, \"We have good news.\u00a0 Heather is contacting you and wants to get to know you.\u00a0 She's in college.\"\u00a0 And the mom's response was this, she said, \"Wow, I've been waiting for this call for 19 years.\"\u00a0 And I just thank God that she chose life.\u00a0 In fact, none of us would be here if our parents didn't choose life.\u00a0 So it is a very personal issue.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0And, you know, I'm really glad, Sean, that you followed up the abortion issue by talking about adoption, and the reason is, is I think it's one of the greatest aspects of a Christian worldview.\u00a0 What does the Bible teach about orphans and about those who don't have families?\u00a0 Well, it teaches we should care for them, and our Christianity, actually, the proof of it was to be found in how we took care of the widows at the end of life and the orphans at the beginning of life.<\/p>\n<p>And I wonder, many times, our own worldview, as adults, if we've been fairly good at coming out pro-life, being for protecting life and not having abortion, but I wonder if the reason God is waiting to heal our country of this great plague is because we haven't been for adoption, we haven't been for orphans.\u00a0 And, really, a consistent worldview would not be one or the other, it would be both \u2013 both protecting unborn life and, after it's born, if that baby does not have a family, of making sure it gets one, making sure there's a mother and a father that care for it all of its days.<\/p>\n<p>Sean:\u00a0I think that really brings us back to the core of what it means to be a disciple of Christ.\u00a0 And, as you look in 1 John, in the Gospels, there seems to be two key criteria \u2013 correct belief and truth and applying that belief in the real world.\u00a0 And when it comes to adoption, we can argue against abortion all we want, but half of our job is to set the pace and take care of mothers who had an abortion.\u00a0 Instead of \u2013 I mean \u2013 I've met mothers who said they've had an abortion and felt ousted by the church.\u00a0 Well, sadly, we should be loving them \u2013 truth will come, and we'll help them think biblically but being the ones who embrace those who get rejected, who are hurt by the world.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0I would agree with you, and being a place where forgiveness is offered in an embrace to say \"Welcome to the family of God.\"<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0I think what you've illustrated for us today is that correct response comes from a correct belief, from the right worldview, because fundamentally all of us respond to whatever it is we're facing in life on the basis of what we really believe, what we value, what we think is true.\u00a0 And I think what you've done in your book, \"<strong>Ethics<\/strong>,\" is help us lay out a framework for how we can think biblically about these issues, especially, again, when the culture is bombarding us with all kinds of messages that, frankly, sometimes sound like maybe they're right.\u00a0 I mean, maybe this is how it ought to be.\u00a0 But we need to come back to the Scriptures and say, \"Is my thinking biblical,\" and you help us do that, and you help our young people do that with the book, \"<strong>Ethics<\/strong>.\"<\/p>\n<p>We have it in our FamilyLife Resource Center, and I want to invite our listeners to get a copy of this book.\u00a0 Read it together with your teenager, with your high school or your college student.\u00a0 If you're involved in discipling younger students, get a copy of this book and go through it together with them.<\/p>\n<p>Again, you can go to our website, FamilyLife.com.\u00a0 In the middle of the home page, you'll see a red button that says \"Go.\" You click on that button, it will take you to a part of our site where you can request a copy of this book, you can order it online, if you'd like, or you can get more information about the book.\u00a0 We also have information about other resources that we have available, including the book that you and your wife Barbara wrote for parents, Dennis, a book called \"Parenting Today's Adolescent,\" where you really challenge us to make sure we know what we believe on these major issues before we try to disciple our children.<\/p>\n<p>Again, the book is called \"Parenting Today's Adolescent.\"\u00a0 It's available from our FamilyLife Resource Center as well, and if any of our listeners want to get both books, we can send along at no additional cost the CD audio of this week's conversation with Sean McDowell.\u00a0 All the details are on our website at FamilyLife.com or you can call 1-800-FLTODAY, that's 1-800-358-6329.\u00a0 If you have any questions or if you'd like to place an order, we've got folks standing by who can help you with any of that.\u00a0\u00a0 Again, the phone number is 1-800-FLTODAY, and the website is FamilyLife.com.<\/p>\n<p>Making these resources available or talking about subjects like this on FamilyLife Today \u2013 what we want to try to do is provide you with encouragement and help and hope as a mom or as a dad.\u00a0 That's what our Website is all about, the resources we offer, our conferences.\u00a0 We're trying to do all we can do to continue to encourage families to stand firm as they apply God's truth in their marriage and in their family and this month we want to say thank you to those of you who not only listen to FamilyLife Today but those of you who are able to make a contribution to our ministry of any amount.<\/p>\n<p>We want to make available to you a CD of a message that your wife Barbara shared with a number of wives not long ago where she talked about how a woman can help her husband be the man God wants him to be.\u00a0 The CD is available this month as a thank you gift for, again, making a donation of any amount to the ministry of FamilyLife Today, which you can do online at FamilyLife.com.<\/p>\n<p>If you do that, when you come to the keycode box in the online donation form, just type the two letters, \"CD\" in that box, and we'll know that you want to have that CD sent to you, or call 1-800-FLTODAY.\u00a0 You can make a donation over the phone, mention that you'd like to receive the CD from Barbara Rainey, and we'll get it out to you.\u00a0 Again, it's our way of saying thanks for your financial support of this ministry.\u00a0 It is needed, and it is much appreciated.<\/p>\n<p>Well, tomorrow Sean McDowell is going to be back with us, and we're going to continue to talk about what we can do as parents to help our children cultivate both a mind and a heart that is passionate for God and to think rightly; that is, biblically, about the issues we're facing in our culture today.\u00a0 I hope you can be with us for that.<\/p>\n<p>I want to thank our engineer today, Keith Lynch, and our entire broadcast production team.\u00a0 On behalf of our host, Dennis Rainey, I'm Bob Lepine.\u00a0 We'll see you back next time for another edition of FamilyLife Today.<\/p>\n<p>FamilyLife Today is a production of FamilyLife of Little Rock, Arkansas, a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ.<\/p>\n<p>We are so happy to provide these transcripts to you.\u00a0 However, there is a cost to transcribe, create, and produce them for our website.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve benefited from the broadcast transcripts, would\u00a0\u00a0 you consider <a href=\"http:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/site\/c.dnJHKLNnFoG\/b.3782043\/k.384D\/Support_Us.htm\">donating today<\/a> to help defray the costs?<\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 FamilyLife.\u00a0 All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","theme_header_position":"Sticky","post_header_is_sticky":"default","is_header_overlay":"0"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast\/301208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/podcast"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301208"},{"taxonomy":"podcast_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast_series?post=301208"},{"taxonomy":"cwp_profile","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cwp_profile?post=301208"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=301208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}