Worldview Wednesday is all about helping your families develop a biblical worldview
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.
Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, hey there, friends, and welcome to my favorite time of the afternoon, getting to spend time with you, prescribing Hope for Healthy Families. And today is Worldview Wednesday. I'm so happy to be bringing to you another episode of Worldview Wednesday. If you've been following along since January, every now and then we designate a Wednesday to be Worldview Wednesday. And we talk all about helping your families develop a biblical worldview. And I'm talking to Dr. Josh Mulvihill and he's written a book about this. So if you want to be intentional about helping your family to develop a biblical worldview, this is an excellent resource. if you're watching online, I'm holding the book up here. It's a biblical Worldview. What it is, why it matters, and how to shape the worldview of the next generation. If you are a regular listener to the program, we've been talking a lot about the impacts of AI and how AI is even taking over our intentionality. It's releasing some of that decision fatigue that we have about what do we stream, what do we read, and it's just feeding us things automatically. This should concern every family listening. And so I'm encouraging you to, to now more than ever to be intentional about seeking resources for your family, to be intentional about investing your time, your finances, your energy that your mental, emotional and relational energy towards discipling your family. It is not just going to happen on its own. Last Friday's healthy habit was about being intentional. And I know that resonated with me for sure. Convicted me. Resonated with a lot of you, as I heard.
Being intentional and helping your family develop a biblical worldview is important
And so today we are talking about being intentional and helping your family develop a biblical worldview. And we're really talking about the heart of the issue, like what it, what is a biblical worldview? Why does it matter so much? And Dr. Mulvihill reminds us that every child is being discipled by something, whether it's scripture or whether it's culture. And if you're not intentionally filling in that gap, culture is going to gladly do it for you. And we have been exploring what, what's at stake in the battle for young minds, how parents, grandparents, teachers, church leaders, anybody invested in the future, the future generations can become intentional in shaping a biblical foundation early is best. So for those young kids, this is the, the most effective time. Although there is always hope for everyone. And so we're trying to really help kids understand what, what is truth in a world that loves to do nothing more. It seems like the world's pastime these days is distortion of truth. And I see that even in AI. It used to be that the old people, that would be me, as my kids say, born in literally the previous, century, which is what they like to tell me, that we couldn't differentiate what was AI. But even my high school age son was telling me this week, mom, it's so hard to know what is true and what is not. And he was talking specifically about AI, but that has so many more implications than he thought. And we've got to guide our families to see every part of life, every, every. I mean, every part of life through the lens of Scripture. So. Josh, welcome back. I'm so glad to have you. Thank you so much for joining us.
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Yeah, it's great to be here, Jessica. I. I consider it a great privilege. Privilege. And I really love spending this time with you, everybody else.
Dr. Jessica Peck: Me too. I just feel like it's such a great team because we both have the same heart. We both look at this with a little bit of a different lens. I don't have the theological depth that you have as a pastor minister. And, and I look at it from that health lens. And so I think these conversations have just been really thought provoking for me. And if you've been following along, we've been going through one chapter at a time. It's really been a very big gift from Dr. Mulvihill to give us this time and do a slow walk through his book. And if you're long, we're on chapter eight. And we've talked about what biblical worldview is, but we're really getting down to those nuts and bolts of how to help a child develop a biblical worldview using Colossians 2 as a framework. And so, Josh, give us a, give us an introduction here into this chapter, what you cover in chapter eight. And really, though, the how of. How do we do this? It seems almost impossible.
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Well, just making it simple, you know, our goal is really to help our children, grow in their maturity in Christ and think about every area, every topic according to the Bible, which, of course is not easy. I was listening to a conversation today about the legalization of marijuana. And I was thinking, man, I need to probably have a conversation with my children about this because it's everywhere in Minnesota where I live. Like, there's dispensaries everywhere and, you know, just even thinking about marijuana, how do we think about that scripturally? And all the topics that our kids are being, you know, they're presented with on a regular basis, it can sometimes feel overwhelming. But the nice thing is that Colossians 2 really summarizes it pretty simple. It just summarizes as, teach the biblical truth rooted and established in him, just as you were taught, kind of from childhood. And then, don't be captivated by the world's ideas, by man's ideas. You know, that concept of captivated literally means to be taken like a kidnap, like you would, a person. But of course, you know, our kids aren't getting kidnapped by people today. It's by bad ideas, it's by erroneous ideas. And then, of course, that leads you somewhere. They're not innocuous. They have huge implications for life. And if a person was going to go and read Colossians 2, there's actually a progression from being deceived to being captivated. And at the end of Colossians 2, it's literally, you're disqualified. You walk away from your faith. So that's where bad, bad, wrong, false ideas lead. And so we teach truth, and then we present the wrong idea, and we help our kids think through why is this problematic? And, you know, we could throw out a ton of them today.
Are there any false, wrong, big ideas that your kids have encountered
that was actually one of my questions for you, Jessica. I'd be curious. With your kids, is there. Are there any kind of false, wrong, big ideas that you've. That they've been presented with, that you guys have had to navigate with them, that you're like, wow, this was. This was a biggie for us.
Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, you know, I. It wouldn't be a Worldview Wednesday if you didn't turn the tables on me, Josh, and start asking me questions. But I love it. This is a great question. And, you know, I have to say, honestly, Josh, you know, again, there are many things that I have done wrong as a mom, for sure, and my kids would probably be fighting over who could get to the microphone first to tell you about my mom fails. But one of the things that my husband and I really invested in was a very strong biblical worldview. And they have come home with ideas from the world. And the trickiest ones are those ones that sound right, you know, that have all that are wrapped in biblical language but not grounded in biblical theology. And I will say that my kids have really even schooled me and saying, like, no, that is not right. Like, no, this is not what that says. And we've had a lot of good conversation about that. And I think one of the harder things that they've had to navigate is walking their friends through that and having friends who are at church with them, who are in youth group with them, who are in school with them, and having these conversations and having them say something that, again, sounds so right, but really isn't right. And I think your analogy is so on point, because as parents, we are so, I encounter parents every single day. And I know I even have that fear myself that my kids are going to be kidnapped by somebody. We're scared of the scary white van, but we are not thinking about our kids being kidnapped by. By ideologies that are so harmful. But that seems so good. Isn't that. Isn't that what Satan does, though? I mean, going back all the way to the bar, the Garden of Eden, when he was deceiving Eve. It was just a little twist. And, that is really hard. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly.
Josh: About 20% of Gen Z regularly uses some sort of marijuana
I would love to hear your thoughts on that.
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Yeah. I mean, the Bible kind of even Jesus talks about. He says, you have heard. In other words, here's a bad idea, but it has been said. In other words, here's the truth. Like Jesus did that himself. What we're doing here in Colossians 2. And I'm just thinking through my kids, even just the last few years on the big things they've been hit with. Feminism's been huge. The feminization of all of our society, even in the church, our worship music, our work, you know, the hipster kind of approach to things with skinny jeans and man buns and all the, you know, those kinds of things. How do we understand what a man is, what a woman is, how they're different? all the social justice stuff that our kids get hit with all the time. We, you know, we live like 20 minutes from where everything went down with George Floyd. And so we were like, at the epicenter of all the social justice stuff that was happening for so long. And that's, you know, that's not at the same veracity as it was a number of years ago, but it's still alive and well, all over the place. And our kids need to know, what is justice according to the Bible? These are kinds of things that if we don't help them understand these core truths in scripture, we hear the ideas of the world and we just, by nature, we adopt them. It's a lot easier to go with the flow than it is to swim against it. and so this isn't something we need to be fearful of or to, feel like, man, I can't do this, and I'm overwhelmed that you've just thrown out a whole bunch of things, Josh, that it's like, oh, man, I don't know if I've done any of those. The reality is, if we're just consistent, opening God's word, having regular, ongoing conversations as they occur, and we can remember some of these things. And, you know, part of the reality is we have to do the hard work ourselves to learn this stuff so that we can have conversations as they come up at the dinner table, you know, with our kids in the. In the kitchen. You know, it's not always this big Bible study that we're open. You know, that's usually not the case. And so I was doing some thinking today on the marijuana topic. You know, it's. It's not good. It's not scriptural. The Bible talks about how we always need to have a clear mind. And, you know, marijuana is a lot like alcohol. God calls drunkenness a sin. Marijuana is in that same category. You get intoxicated, it's a dui. It's not a good thing. We could go down that path. but we just have to have some level of clarity on topics like this. So, that means we just. We search them out, we understand what the Bible says, and then we're armed and ready and intentional as opportunities arise.
Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, Josh, you make a good point because, these topics that we have to look at from a biblical worldview are unending. I mean, you went from, you know, marijuana talking about social concepts, more abstract concepts like social justice, all of these things. And I think, actually I just read, from a research bulletin that I got this week that it is estimated about 20% of Gen Z regularly uses some sort of marijuana product. 20%?
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Yeah.
Dr. Jessica Peck: But when you're marketing them as supplements and gummies and things like that, again, we're talking about all of these subtle. These subtleties that can be really hard to untangle and to think, like, is that really wrong? Is that really a bad thing? You know, I feel like I don't know how. How Satan spoke to Eve in the Garden of Eden, but in my mind, it's like that kind intonation. And I think there's a lot of kids who look at the Bible who don't know the whole Bible. And one of the things that you talk about in this chi. in this chapter, and I'll just read straight from your Book, the entire Bible needs to be taught to children, but there are key doctrines and core truths that should receive greater emphasis in our teaching. And that's what we're going to do. After the next break, Josh, is go into some of those core truths that are there, because I think that there are a lot of faith families, a lot of kids who just kind of perceive like, yeah, the Bible has some good stuff in it, but it doesn't talk about marijuana. It doesn't talk about, you know, some of those more contemporary issues. But it does because those core truths are there. And I can look back and see that on my and my kids. When those core truths are there, everything is applicable through the lens of Scripture. Absolutely everything. And when we talk about, you know, those core verses, those core characteristics, and you know, who God is, who his character is, who he's called us to be, the commands that he's given us, it's what Solomon said in Ecclesiastes is very true. There's nothing new under the sun. And Josh, I can't believe we're already coming up on our first break, but when we come back, we'll talk about some of these biblical themes, including the Bible, belief in God, understanding, humanity, manhood, womanhood, meaning of life, marriage and singleness, obedience, authority, morality, sexuality, suffering, gospel, Jesus, work, life. I haven't even read the whole list here. Do you see that? There's a lot of work to do, but these are all, foundational truths that are in the Bible that we need to be talking to our families. And I firmly believe there's a lot of kids today who are feeling very anxious because truth is a very nebulous concept in culture that is constantly shifting, and they're trying to figure out what is true. And we need to point them back to the unshakable truth of God's word. We won't get it perfect, but we will keep trying and we'll keep talking after the break. I want you to picture this. Her name is Kayla. She is 17, alone, terrified and pregnant, sitting in a clinic, tears blurring, thinking abortion is her only option until she was offered a free ultrasound, paid for by a hero just like you. The moment Kayla heard her baby's heartbeat, the decision was made. And today, her little baby boy, Gabrielle, is thriving because preborn walked with Kayla every step of the way. Now multiply that by 38,000. That's how many babies preborn has helped save just this year. How many mothers preborn has come alongside with practical and spiritual resources to make motherhood possible. But here's the most important thing you will hear today. Their goal is to save 70,000 by the end of the year. And they can't do it without us. Every $28 provides that ultrasound. The moment everything changes, will you be the reason the next Kayla chooses life? The reason Gabrielle fulfills his destiny? To donate, dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby. That's pound 250, baby. Or donate securely at preborn.com/AFR, that's preborn.com/AFR.
This Is My Father's World by The Worship Initiative: This is my father's world and to my listening ears all nature sings and round me rings the music of the spheres. This is my father's world I rest me in the thought of rocks and trees of skies and seas His hand the wonders wrought
Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is this is my father's world by the worship initiative. And it is our father's world. And thank God that it is. And I am so grateful that you are in it. I'm so grateful that you are here listening today on Worldview Wednesday. I'm back with Dr. Josh Mulvihill, as I have been for nine Wednesdays. I think now we have nine prior episodes where we've talked about the importance of a biblical worldview. If you're at all familiar with the work of Dr. George Barna, this is his heartbeat. This is his passion. I've had the privilege of meeting him, of speaking with him at conferences, and he is so passionate about this because his research shows that there is such a crisis of worldview. And even just this month in the stand magazine put out by American Family Association, I wrote a, I, don't want to say. I wrote an article about my response to the anxious generation by Dr. Jonathan Haidt. And. And really, in that paradigm, Dr. Haidt says that we need to do. We need to really take away smartphones from kids and let them reclaim play in childhood, which I completely agree with. I think those things are so great. But I also think the truth is more complicated than that. And I think that what we're seeing is the collision of the smartphone epidemic along with a crisis of worldview and a crisis of identity. And if you look at young people today, you see all of identity crisis, and you see teens who are in children who are really desperate to answer the question of who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of life? And when we see truth shifting all the time and culture shifting all the time, and what is celebrated today is canceled tomorrow, and you could say something that people could applaud and the next day, you are just on the outs for that. We have got to teach our kids to build their lives on the sure foundation of the word of God. And that's not just going to happen on its own. And so in previous episodes, Josh, has walked us through the four pillars that anchor that biblical worldview. Creation, rebellion, salvation, restoration. Each of those truths, answering life's biggest questions. Where did I come from? What went wrong? What is the solution, and what's ahead? And we have unpacked how these beliefs shape not just doctrine. We're not just talking about doctrine in a very stodgy kind of classroom sense. We're talking about identity and purpose. And I'm telling you, that resonates especially with Gen Z and Gen Alpha. They are so eager to talk about issues of identity and the identity that we can craft for them in the world absolutely pales in what God has created them to be and who God has created them to do, to be and to do good works. And so really, we're talking about teaching these truths at home, in the classroom, whether that's homeschool, Christian school, wherever they are, in school environments, putting that support around them in the church, helping them connect the Bible's grand narrative to their everyday lives and decision. And Josh, in this chapter, we're in chapter eight, what we're talking about, how, how do we do this?
You have a very long list of core Bible themes that help shape kids' worldview
You have a very long list of core Bible themes. You've got key Bible verses and then a key idea, and there's so many that we couldn't even unpack them here today. But I want to pick out a few and feel free to talk about them at large if you want to. But one of them that really caught my eye was the meaning of life. Why do I exist? I mean, we're seeing an epidemic of loneliness. We're seeing suicide is the second leading cause of death, second only to accidents among young people. We have people who are searching for identity, whether that is through academics, through accomplishments, through gender, through, all different kinds of things, through my religious identity, my cultural identity, kids are asking, why do I exist? And so what is. Can you unpack that for us as an example of a core Bible theme and a key idea that helps give our kids this WorldView?
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: You are 100% right. The, loneliness, suicide, the lack of purpose, just the. Any of the markers for this generation are they're bad. And it's in part because they're disconnected from God. They're told to live for their own happiness, but what they're going to be is miserable. If they live for Christ, they're purposeful and that's what our kids are looking for. They're looking for hope. Of course that's only found in Jesus Christ. We have that to offer to them and so we can give them that hope and they find that purpose as they have their life anchored in Jesus Christ.
Dr. Jessica Peck: That is so important and good to go along with that.
One of the themes that's here that we're hearing a lot about is suffering
One of the other themes that's here that we're hearing a lot about is suffering. So this is another example of, of a way to give your child a biblical worldview. Because they're asking, this generation is asking, why do bad things happen? I mean, I really can't shake the fact, Josh, that this generation watched the assassination of Charlie Kirk live on social media. They watched that happen, they watched the narrative that happened, they watched people celebrate his death. And it, it's just triggered a, a renewed conversation for why do these bad things happen? And I get that question a lot like if you really believe that God is so good, then how can you believe in a God who lets those bad things happen? And I know this is asking a lot of you, Josh, but can you, can you give us a glimpse into the hope and the foundation of what Christians believe about suffering and why we can find hope in that when hope seems impossible.
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: M. Well, immediately following our time together, I'm going to a funeral and our funeral, it's a friend's mother that died. It's going to be a hope filled funeral because we know that life is not the end. It's the beginning of eternity with Christ. And so we understand, you know, this, this world is filled with pain and tears and heartache and death because of sin. Christ has conquered sin, he's destroyed, all of those things that obviously doesn't fully change until eternity. But because of that, this life, we we know it's not the end. And it gives, it gives a hope and meaning even to the, the problems that we have, the challenges, the pain in this life. I can't imagine going through this life without Christ and the pain and the hurt, having no better. This is, I mean this is for non Christians, this is the best it gets. And there's no future context to that as to why of course bad things happen. we, you know, the flip side is that evil is present because God is good and there is, there is the goodness of God that we can that we can understand. And so, you know, the, the whole topic of suffering, it is a, it's a faith buster it destroys a lot of young people, a lot of anybody's faith. And so we want to work through this. If young people, if your child is really struggling with the problem of evil, you know, work through that. God gave us, really, he gave us a whole Bible or a book of the Bible on this in the book of Job. And we can glean a lot from how God talks to Job through, Job's suffering in that book. And of course, there's plenty of other, passages we can turn to and glean from. So, man, thank goodness for Christ, that this life is not all. And the challenges that we have are redeemed and, changed once we go into eternity.
Dr. Jessica Peck: I agree with that so much because I can't imagine. And you know, Josh, I've had the, the real privilege of interviewing so many people who have experienced extraordinary suffering. And so many of them, it's interesting because so many of them share an experience that of suffering without Christ and suffering with Christ. And every single one of them has said it is so much better. The grief is more manageable, that the hope is more tangible, that the joy is more realistic with Christ. Because in this world, things are going to happen, bad things are going to happen. And Josh, I just shudder to think that my only hope is to say, well, you know, I'm here and by my own power I'm going to give comfort to others and work to make a difference in the world. And. And you know, in this world like that, that's all that there is. Like the. What we have here in this broken world, which I think everybody can agree that the world is broken in some way. Regardless of your beliefs, I think that's all that there is, that there's no hope higher than that. I think this is just such an example of the foundational truths that we're talking about that you lay it out in this chapter. Because without going back to those foundational truths, I just. I am not that wise. That's actually what I wrote in my article and talking about the anxious generation, because I said, you know, one of the appealing things I think about that, about that book is that it gave all the power to the parents. It united everyone behind a common enemy. It's all the smartphone. Let's all rally against the smartphone. Get rid of the smartphone. We have the power to do that, and everything's going to be fine. But there's still a vacuum there, Josh. There's still such a longing in the human soul that we are not that powerful. We cannot feel that longing in our children's hearts that is a, a God shaped longing in their hearts. And I'm just wondering how, you know, you, you have kids that are about my age. You know, we've got kids who are launching into adulthood and some kids that are, you know, still at home. How do you see this as a father? How does this transform your journey as a dad and meeting your kids with these foundational truths rather than trying to just be all things for all people on your own power?
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Well, I look at our world today and I think most of the action is being had on the doctrinal level like this. You know, they're not attacking our kids on Bible stories. You know, it's not like David and Goliath and Daniel and the lion's den that they're getting hit on those. It's deep biblical truth. and they of course twist and distort and redefine a lot of the biblical words. You know, love is love. we'll redefine love or redefine justice. We'll redefine though. As a father, as I mentioned before, a lot of my work is I've got to learn this stuff myself so that I can have, I could be ready and have these conversations with my children when they, you know, when they come up. And it just takes, you know, it just takes some effort, some time, some forethought. And I think part of what I do, I don't know if this is the right thing, but I just, I try to listen for what are the conversation topics that are happening? What are the buzzwords? Do they, you know, all the environmentalism, all the immigration talk, how do we, how do we think about immigration scripturally? You know, we get, we, if we aren't prepared for these kinds of things, I, ah, guarantee because of screens and because of schools, our kids are getting fed this stuff. But it's a matter of are we helping shape it according to God's word? And so we, you know, we got to get in the game. We can't sit on the sidelines and think if, you know, if we bring them to church and if they're in good settings and you know it's going to work out. you know, that's, that's probably a recipe for not a good, not a good outcome.
Josh: One of the things that you emphasize and advise parents to do
Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, one of the things that you emphasize and advise parents to do, which is something I completely agree with and something that's hard for a lot of parents to do, is to intentionally present your children with counterfeit arguments and you Know, we hear so much about the gatekeeping method of parenting, which is, hey, we are going to basically build a fortress around our kids. We are going to close the gates, we're locking the gates, we're guarding the gates. We're going to make sure that our kids are not exposed to things they shouldn't be exposed to. And, you know, Josh, you talk about, you know, you're about to go to a funeral. You're literally going to finish the school and go to a funeral. I literally was on the phone with a mom, who had called me about something that her right before the show, and I ran into to finish it. She called me because her kid was exposed to something really horrible, really absolutely terrible that she did not want them to be. That she did everything right and she did all of the things that she should have done to make sure that they weren't exposed. And yet they were exposed to, this. And I think that we so often, I think again, going, I keep going back to this book, the Anxious Generation, I think that was part of the appeal, Josh, is because it gave us a paradigm for childhood that we were familiar with. Oh, let's just have a childhood without technology. That's the kind of tech. That's the kind of childhood I grew up with. And so I'm comfortable in navigating that. It seems more manageable. Let's just make it like when we grow up, when we grew up, so that we can manage that.
Always teach God's truth first before the counterfeit argument
But I think we have got to acknowledge the reality of the world that we live in. With screen saturation, that 100% protection is just out the door. And so I want you to talk through. What does it mean to put that counterfeit argument in front of them and dismantle it.
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: So I got a couple goals. one is to always teach God's truth first before the counterfeit argument. and I'm not nervous of the counterfeit argument because truth always wins in the sense that it, you know, God's word stands on its own two feet. If it is true, we don't need to be nervous about it being proved that. And two, when my kids leave home, I want no surprises that we have. We've kind of talked through what they need to be prepared for, to stand on their own two feet. And so, you know, so we've done this with some topics. You know, I mentioned a bunch of the kinds of topics we talk about with our kids. Just that I rattled off today. one of the more recent ones, we had a pretty in depth conversation about even topics like Calvinism and Arminianism. One of my children is at a Bible college and he's in theology class. I knew he would be, getting a lot of conversation, and he has. So we presented both sides. This is what we think Scripture says, and, here's why. And it's been a good conversation.
Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, we have so much more to talk about when we come back. We'll continue that and we'll talk about legalism, mysticism, and another word that, honestly, Josh, I don't think I can pronounce. So I'm going to ask you about that during the break. But we are all constantly learning. And this is important because in Colossians, really, the emphasis is on danger and the danger of unbiblical opinions and ideas. That's where the danger comes. Not in the scary white van, necessarily, but when we come back on, Worldview Wednesday, we'll talk more with Dr. Josh Mulvihill. We'll see you on the other side of this break.
The Stand Radio focuses on the latest trends in culture, faith and family
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House of the Lord by Phil Wickham: We worship the God who was we worship the God who is we worship the God who evermore will be He opened the prison doors he parted the raging sea My God, he holds the victory there's joy in the house of the Lord there's joy in the house of the Lord today and we won't be quiet we shout out your praise There's joy in the house of the Lord Our God is surely in this place and we won't be quiet we shout out your praise
Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is House of the Lord by Phil Wickham. and we are in the house of the Lord today We're having Worldview Wednesday. We're basically having church on Wednesday. Welcome back, friends. I'm so glad to hear you here. And yes, that is Phil Wickham. My kids have a song counter for road trips to see how many Phil Wickham songs is mom gonna play. I am a fan. I think, by the way, that music is such an instrumental tool in your home. I've talked about that before. It's a great tool for discipleship because those messages, they do have a way of make, becoming an earworm and really worming their way into your kid's heart in the best way possible. But it can really set the tone. And so maybe if you are, you know, feeling like your kids are coming home from school and you want to set a good tone, make a good playlist for a come home from school playlist that will welcome them there.
Josh Mulvihill discusses Biblical worldview with Worldview Wednesday listeners
We're talking today with Dr. Josh Mulvihill on this Worldview Wednesday about his book Biblical Worldview. What it is, why it matters, and how to shape the worldview of the next generation. And we are talking about not just information, but transformation. And we're moving beyond that head knowledge, although I'm acquiring some today, and you're about to too. But we use that head knowledge to move us towards heart conviction. And we're talking about what it looks like to raise and lead children who not only know the biblical truth, but they live it out very courageously in a very confused world. The world is confusing. It is confused. And we can give our kids clarity and cultivate discernment and, and nurture their trust in Scripture's authority and most importantly, model of faith that is authentic and that is contagious, that we are going to help our kids become followers of Christ. And we're in chapter eight of Josh's book and we've been talking about it from the framework of Colossians where Paul warns us to think about the dangers of our kids being taken captive by philosophies that are not of God and not to be convinced by human philosophies that sound good but that are false. And Paul mentions three man made philosophies that had crept into the Colossian church. So during the break, I learned how to say this word. I'm learning along with you. We have legalism, we have mysticism, and we have asceticism. How did I do? Did I say it right, Josh?
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Yeah, right on the money. You're great.
Dr. Jessica Peck: All right, well, teach us. Talk about why do we, why is it important for us to know the these terms? What it, what is the setup for what Paul's trying to teach us in Colossians.
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: First, I want you to notice these come from within the church, not from outside of it. We often think we're protecting our kids just from what's outside of the church. And this doesn't, shouldn't, throw the, you know, the rug out from under the church that we're in. But it does mean don't get lax. Don't assume that everything that's always taught in the church is going to be, biblical. We do need to be testing everything we hear according to God's word. And here's three examples you'll notice. Second, that they all end in ism. legal ism, mysticism and asceticism. The ism may change, and we're dealing with all kinds of isms. And, you know, when you typically hear ism, your red flag should go up like, okay, this typically is not a biblical thing. What does it mean? So legalism is just unbiblical rules. Sometimes they're works. Righteousness, you know, you add to your salvation doing a certain thing like baptism. it could be. I had a. Here's an example within the church. As a pastor, I had a children's ministry leader under me. She was teaching fifth and sixth grade, students. And, I started getting complaints from parents about some of the things she was saying. She had been telling kids that they could not drink caffeine, they shouldn't play video games with guns, they shouldn't participate in Halloween, and they couldn't listen to Christian music. And if they didn't do those things, they were more godly. Now, those are not things that the. Those are not explicit commands in Scripture. And so, you know, some people may choose not to participate in some of those things from a conviction standpoint, and that's okay. But when we put it to the level of rules, like she was doing with the class that gets into legalism, she had. She had lived out this. we had a conversation like, okay, this here's what you're doing. It's right out of Colossians 2, alive and well in our classroom in the church. the second one is mysticism. And this is all over the place in our culture today. it's the idea of hearing a vision or a, dream or kind of spirituality. New Agey would probably fit into kind of this category. and this same individual I just described was also doing this with the fifth and sixth grade class. And so what she had told them to do was to go look for crosses or hearts out in, you know, there's this every day. And then she would let them come up in class and say, this is what God said to me when I saw this. So you get kids coming up and, you know, I saw the shape of a heart in my banana. And this is like, this was legitimate. Child said this. I saw the shape of a heart and a banana. And this is what God said to me. I saw a cloud that looked like a cross, and I believe this is what God was saying to me. You know, that kind of thing, not rooted in scripture. You could see the danger that it could go all over the place. And how do you know what's accurate, what's not accurate? The form of, you know, what ended up happening was she wasn't teaching the Bible. It literally. Mysticism replaced the authority of God's word in the class so she could give time for kids to talk through this. And then asceticism, is simply the appearance of godliness through self denial. And it's essentially, you know, it's punishing the body so that God won't punish us maybe in eternity. This happened a lot throughout church history. You might have read cases of people sleeping on hard beds, not speaking for days, going without food or sleep. even in First Timothy 4. Three, it talks about, an ascetic mindset had snuck in where they weren't getting married. They thought they were more godly if they were single. the idea of don't taste, don't touch. So this whole idea of self discipline is, necessary to please God. When there are some things that God's given us as good gifts. And they can, of course, become an idol, they can become sinful, utilized in the wrong way. But inherently, they're not sinful in their usage. So those are literally. Paul gives us three examples of some wrong ideas that had crept into the church, had taken them captive. And it's really helpful for us today to say, what's the ism? What are the things we need to be mindful of? You know, it could be those specifically, but it's likely something very different.
I mentioned feminism, man. That's a biggie today with our children
I mentioned feminism, man. That's a biggie today with our children and with the world that we live in, you know, it pushes that really hard. and the whole transgender movement is a version of that. There's no difference. There's an androgyny, essentially, in our culture, you know, erasing of, male and female that God has made. And so, you know, these kinds of things are pushed really hard and that feminism piece, you know, I don't know if that was prevalent in the, you know, the time, the Colossian church at the time, but that's one of them that we're dealing with. And so we just, you know, we bless our kids when we help them know God's truth, understand why it's true and help, you know, point these things out and and talk through, you know, here's, here's what's problematic. And you know, God's word is it blesses. It's, it's. The Bible calls it honey is God's word, Honey, it's delightful and it works in real life. A secular worldview does not work. And so the, you know, the world will try to suggest that it works, but it doesn't. And we can help our kids see how it falls short. So that's a quick run through of those three. that was a lot.
Dr. Jessica Peck: That is a lot. But you know, it. But again, it's all Scripture is useful for teaching and training and, and that is, and you're helping to do that for, with us today. And I think that that is such a good example. Even talking about feminism, that's something, that's a good example of something that celebrated today, canceled tomorrow, and what do you do? There's confusion in that when we move to gender neutral. And I think I've shared this before and I apologize if I'm, if I'm repeating myself like an old lady, as my kids would say, but you know, that has been something that's been very prevalent in the anti trafficking movement. That's a lot of what I do, the work I do as a professor, and I was just at a conference, recently where there was a panel of men saying, hey, this is harmful. When we are talking about gender neutral language because there are specific considerations. Trafficking, exploitation, abuse impacts men in different ways than it impacts women. And so talking about all of that and that confusion and really what we're, what we're getting at is taking the Bible as a whole and not just pulling out. That's what I see a lot in, in this skewed, doctrine. When my kids maybe hear something, it's a verse that's taken out of context. It's, you know, one, one, a part of one verse, a portion of one verse that's used without considering the context of the whole Bible. Because even in what you're talking about in, and some of those, asceticism. I just wanted to say that again just so to make sure I could still Say it. But looking at that, you know, those kinds of things. We also have the contrasting passage from Romans 14 where Paul is advising us about following our personal convictions. Is that right?
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know, Paul says basically in that, you know, the freedom of Christ passage, if you are convicted of something and do it, that's for you, that sin. And so there does need to be some. In some of these areas, there is some freedom in Christ for, you know, Halloween's coming up really soon. You know, we believe because of the nature of that day, it's best not to participate. That's a freedom in Christ choice that we honor. We let somebody, but we, if somebody's making that choice, we don't essentially add it as a required rule that everybody has to follow. And if they don't, then they're less godly. That goes to a different level. And, you know, I see a distinction there.
Dr. Jessica Peck: Yeah. And that, that is hard because there's so many things that are taken in cultural context. You know, what is the, what is the core of your conviction? What, what is your own personal conviction? And, and we've had a lot of conversations about that with my kids is following the conviction of the Holy Spirit in your life. And, and you know, some of my kids have had different convictions than other ones of my kids and just different, and just different things. And none of these rise to the issue, to the level of salvation, you know, but some, some of my kids, you know, may feel really strongly convicted about a particular issue where another kid may think, yeah, okay, I maybe don't have that same degree of personal conviction, but it all comes back down to the core doctrinal issues, doesn't it, Josh?
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Yes. And since you talked about different levels, I'll mention three doctrinal levels of die. You die for, you defend, and you discuss. So some of those, let's discuss it. there's some you defend, like marriage. you were going to defend one man, one woman. And there's some you die for. The, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the inerrancy and sufficiency and authority of God's word. You know, those we die for, defend some and we discuss others. And you know, that's just partially, that's a, maturity in Christ kind of thing where, you know, we're a good Bible believing Christians can come to different views on different subjects. and, you know, that's okay. we love our brothers and sisters when we see differently, maybe you think different than I do even on some of the things I've mentioned here today, that's okay. We can still love each other.
Dr. Jessica Peck: I love that. Die for, defend and discuss. That's really a helpful framework. I'm going to steal that right now. I'm taking that for my family because I feel like that could be a really instructive question that I could ask for my kids when they come home, say, okay, is this a belief that we're going to die for? Is this a belief that we're going to defend? Or is this a belief that we're going to discuss? I think that's really helpful because, Josh, one of the scary things and the hard things is like you talked about, we've talked about the world, which is a completely different thing. And in some way, it's almost easier to have those discussions, those things that are stark, those things that are obvious. But when you start talking about bad doctrine that comes within the church, what I see a lot of times is people who see that pastor and a level of authority and they feel like, oh, I can't speak up, I can't say anything. And then, you know, I've got kids who are going out into the world who are seeking their own churches. And we've been walking through that. How do you evaluate the doctrine of the church? How do you evaluate the doctrine, the theology of the pastor? What do you do if they say something? Because, you know, last time I checked, the pastor's not Jesus. But, I would let. We're coming to the end of our time again. This is why we keep meeting over and over. This is just one long conversation.
Josh: We underutilize prayer when dealing with church doctrinal issues
But, Josh, in a minute or two, can you give any encouragement about, about responding to those doctrinal issues within the church?
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: You've got this, parents, you know, God gave you the stewardship of your kids. He believes you can do it. And, you know, spend the time learning God's word yourself and paying attention to what's happening in our society and just, learning what you need to learn to have these kinds of conversations with your children. I believe that's a blessing. and as that becomes more just the culture of your home, kids become, you know, they start to. They start to initiate conversations on different topics and seek guidance. And those are really fun when that ends up happening. And so you can do it. Don't feel overwhelmed. Pick one thing, start there and go.
Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, you know, what I find just so encouraging is we really underutilize prayer. Just pray about this. Ask the Holy Spirit to be a counsel within you. And when you're walking with the Lord every day when you're doing those spiritual disciplines, just like you said, Josh, when you are in a Bible believing church, you are in your Bible. You are praying and talking with the Lord daily. You start to recognize his voice and there's so much comfort in that. And always going back to the truth of God's word, having those trusted counselors around you. Well, we will be back next time where we'll move into part three of the book, talking about the Bible's big story and how to teach biblical worldview in just four words. And wherever you are and whatever you are doing this afternoon, I pray the Lord will bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And I'll see you right back here tomorrow.
Jeff Chamblee: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
Worldview Wednesday is all about helping your families develop a biblical worldview
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.
Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, hey there, friends, and welcome to my favorite time of the afternoon, getting to spend time with you, prescribing Hope for Healthy Families. And today is Worldview Wednesday. I'm so happy to be bringing to you another episode of Worldview Wednesday. If you've been following along since January, every now and then we designate a Wednesday to be Worldview Wednesday. And we talk all about helping your families develop a biblical worldview. And I'm talking to Dr. Josh Mulvihill and he's written a book about this. So if you want to be intentional about helping your family to develop a biblical worldview, this is an excellent resource. if you're watching online, I'm holding the book up here. It's a biblical Worldview. What it is, why it matters, and how to shape the worldview of the next generation. If you are a regular listener to the program, we've been talking a lot about the impacts of AI and how AI is even taking over our intentionality. It's releasing some of that decision fatigue that we have about what do we stream, what do we read, and it's just feeding us things automatically. This should concern every family listening. And so I'm encouraging you to, to now more than ever to be intentional about seeking resources for your family, to be intentional about investing your time, your finances, your energy that your mental, emotional and relational energy towards discipling your family. It is not just going to happen on its own. Last Friday's healthy habit was about being intentional. And I know that resonated with me for sure. Convicted me. Resonated with a lot of you, as I heard.
Being intentional and helping your family develop a biblical worldview is important
And so today we are talking about being intentional and helping your family develop a biblical worldview. And we're really talking about the heart of the issue, like what it, what is a biblical worldview? Why does it matter so much? And Dr. Mulvihill reminds us that every child is being discipled by something, whether it's scripture or whether it's culture. And if you're not intentionally filling in that gap, culture is going to gladly do it for you. And we have been exploring what, what's at stake in the battle for young minds, how parents, grandparents, teachers, church leaders, anybody invested in the future, the future generations can become intentional in shaping a biblical foundation early is best. So for those young kids, this is the, the most effective time. Although there is always hope for everyone. And so we're trying to really help kids understand what, what is truth in a world that loves to do nothing more. It seems like the world's pastime these days is distortion of truth. And I see that even in AI. It used to be that the old people, that would be me, as my kids say, born in literally the previous, century, which is what they like to tell me, that we couldn't differentiate what was AI. But even my high school age son was telling me this week, mom, it's so hard to know what is true and what is not. And he was talking specifically about AI, but that has so many more implications than he thought. And we've got to guide our families to see every part of life, every, every. I mean, every part of life through the lens of Scripture. So. Josh, welcome back. I'm so glad to have you. Thank you so much for joining us.
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Yeah, it's great to be here, Jessica. I. I consider it a great privilege. Privilege. And I really love spending this time with you, everybody else.
Dr. Jessica Peck: Me too. I just feel like it's such a great team because we both have the same heart. We both look at this with a little bit of a different lens. I don't have the theological depth that you have as a pastor minister. And, and I look at it from that health lens. And so I think these conversations have just been really thought provoking for me. And if you've been following along, we've been going through one chapter at a time. It's really been a very big gift from Dr. Mulvihill to give us this time and do a slow walk through his book. And if you're long, we're on chapter eight. And we've talked about what biblical worldview is, but we're really getting down to those nuts and bolts of how to help a child develop a biblical worldview using Colossians 2 as a framework. And so, Josh, give us a, give us an introduction here into this chapter, what you cover in chapter eight. And really, though, the how of. How do we do this? It seems almost impossible.
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Well, just making it simple, you know, our goal is really to help our children, grow in their maturity in Christ and think about every area, every topic according to the Bible, which, of course is not easy. I was listening to a conversation today about the legalization of marijuana. And I was thinking, man, I need to probably have a conversation with my children about this because it's everywhere in Minnesota where I live. Like, there's dispensaries everywhere and, you know, just even thinking about marijuana, how do we think about that scripturally? And all the topics that our kids are being, you know, they're presented with on a regular basis, it can sometimes feel overwhelming. But the nice thing is that Colossians 2 really summarizes it pretty simple. It just summarizes as, teach the biblical truth rooted and established in him, just as you were taught, kind of from childhood. And then, don't be captivated by the world's ideas, by man's ideas. You know, that concept of captivated literally means to be taken like a kidnap, like you would, a person. But of course, you know, our kids aren't getting kidnapped by people today. It's by bad ideas, it's by erroneous ideas. And then, of course, that leads you somewhere. They're not innocuous. They have huge implications for life. And if a person was going to go and read Colossians 2, there's actually a progression from being deceived to being captivated. And at the end of Colossians 2, it's literally, you're disqualified. You walk away from your faith. So that's where bad, bad, wrong, false ideas lead. And so we teach truth, and then we present the wrong idea, and we help our kids think through why is this problematic? And, you know, we could throw out a ton of them today.
Are there any false, wrong, big ideas that your kids have encountered
that was actually one of my questions for you, Jessica. I'd be curious. With your kids, is there. Are there any kind of false, wrong, big ideas that you've. That they've been presented with, that you guys have had to navigate with them, that you're like, wow, this was. This was a biggie for us.
Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, you know, I. It wouldn't be a Worldview Wednesday if you didn't turn the tables on me, Josh, and start asking me questions. But I love it. This is a great question. And, you know, I have to say, honestly, Josh, you know, again, there are many things that I have done wrong as a mom, for sure, and my kids would probably be fighting over who could get to the microphone first to tell you about my mom fails. But one of the things that my husband and I really invested in was a very strong biblical worldview. And they have come home with ideas from the world. And the trickiest ones are those ones that sound right, you know, that have all that are wrapped in biblical language but not grounded in biblical theology. And I will say that my kids have really even schooled me and saying, like, no, that is not right. Like, no, this is not what that says. And we've had a lot of good conversation about that. And I think one of the harder things that they've had to navigate is walking their friends through that and having friends who are at church with them, who are in youth group with them, who are in school with them, and having these conversations and having them say something that, again, sounds so right, but really isn't right. And I think your analogy is so on point, because as parents, we are so, I encounter parents every single day. And I know I even have that fear myself that my kids are going to be kidnapped by somebody. We're scared of the scary white van, but we are not thinking about our kids being kidnapped by. By ideologies that are so harmful. But that seems so good. Isn't that. Isn't that what Satan does, though? I mean, going back all the way to the bar, the Garden of Eden, when he was deceiving Eve. It was just a little twist. And, that is really hard. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly.
Josh: About 20% of Gen Z regularly uses some sort of marijuana
I would love to hear your thoughts on that.
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Yeah. I mean, the Bible kind of even Jesus talks about. He says, you have heard. In other words, here's a bad idea, but it has been said. In other words, here's the truth. Like Jesus did that himself. What we're doing here in Colossians 2. And I'm just thinking through my kids, even just the last few years on the big things they've been hit with. Feminism's been huge. The feminization of all of our society, even in the church, our worship music, our work, you know, the hipster kind of approach to things with skinny jeans and man buns and all the, you know, those kinds of things. How do we understand what a man is, what a woman is, how they're different? all the social justice stuff that our kids get hit with all the time. We, you know, we live like 20 minutes from where everything went down with George Floyd. And so we were like, at the epicenter of all the social justice stuff that was happening for so long. And that's, you know, that's not at the same veracity as it was a number of years ago, but it's still alive and well, all over the place. And our kids need to know, what is justice according to the Bible? These are kinds of things that if we don't help them understand these core truths in scripture, we hear the ideas of the world and we just, by nature, we adopt them. It's a lot easier to go with the flow than it is to swim against it. and so this isn't something we need to be fearful of or to, feel like, man, I can't do this, and I'm overwhelmed that you've just thrown out a whole bunch of things, Josh, that it's like, oh, man, I don't know if I've done any of those. The reality is, if we're just consistent, opening God's word, having regular, ongoing conversations as they occur, and we can remember some of these things. And, you know, part of the reality is we have to do the hard work ourselves to learn this stuff so that we can have conversations as they come up at the dinner table, you know, with our kids in the. In the kitchen. You know, it's not always this big Bible study that we're open. You know, that's usually not the case. And so I was doing some thinking today on the marijuana topic. You know, it's. It's not good. It's not scriptural. The Bible talks about how we always need to have a clear mind. And, you know, marijuana is a lot like alcohol. God calls drunkenness a sin. Marijuana is in that same category. You get intoxicated, it's a dui. It's not a good thing. We could go down that path. but we just have to have some level of clarity on topics like this. So, that means we just. We search them out, we understand what the Bible says, and then we're armed and ready and intentional as opportunities arise.
Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, Josh, you make a good point because, these topics that we have to look at from a biblical worldview are unending. I mean, you went from, you know, marijuana talking about social concepts, more abstract concepts like social justice, all of these things. And I think, actually I just read, from a research bulletin that I got this week that it is estimated about 20% of Gen Z regularly uses some sort of marijuana product. 20%?
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Yeah.
Dr. Jessica Peck: But when you're marketing them as supplements and gummies and things like that, again, we're talking about all of these subtle. These subtleties that can be really hard to untangle and to think, like, is that really wrong? Is that really a bad thing? You know, I feel like I don't know how. How Satan spoke to Eve in the Garden of Eden, but in my mind, it's like that kind intonation. And I think there's a lot of kids who look at the Bible who don't know the whole Bible. And one of the things that you talk about in this chi. in this chapter, and I'll just read straight from your Book, the entire Bible needs to be taught to children, but there are key doctrines and core truths that should receive greater emphasis in our teaching. And that's what we're going to do. After the next break, Josh, is go into some of those core truths that are there, because I think that there are a lot of faith families, a lot of kids who just kind of perceive like, yeah, the Bible has some good stuff in it, but it doesn't talk about marijuana. It doesn't talk about, you know, some of those more contemporary issues. But it does because those core truths are there. And I can look back and see that on my and my kids. When those core truths are there, everything is applicable through the lens of Scripture. Absolutely everything. And when we talk about, you know, those core verses, those core characteristics, and you know, who God is, who his character is, who he's called us to be, the commands that he's given us, it's what Solomon said in Ecclesiastes is very true. There's nothing new under the sun. And Josh, I can't believe we're already coming up on our first break, but when we come back, we'll talk about some of these biblical themes, including the Bible, belief in God, understanding, humanity, manhood, womanhood, meaning of life, marriage and singleness, obedience, authority, morality, sexuality, suffering, gospel, Jesus, work, life. I haven't even read the whole list here. Do you see that? There's a lot of work to do, but these are all, foundational truths that are in the Bible that we need to be talking to our families. And I firmly believe there's a lot of kids today who are feeling very anxious because truth is a very nebulous concept in culture that is constantly shifting, and they're trying to figure out what is true. And we need to point them back to the unshakable truth of God's word. We won't get it perfect, but we will keep trying and we'll keep talking after the break. I want you to picture this. Her name is Kayla. She is 17, alone, terrified and pregnant, sitting in a clinic, tears blurring, thinking abortion is her only option until she was offered a free ultrasound, paid for by a hero just like you. The moment Kayla heard her baby's heartbeat, the decision was made. And today, her little baby boy, Gabrielle, is thriving because preborn walked with Kayla every step of the way. Now multiply that by 38,000. That's how many babies preborn has helped save just this year. How many mothers preborn has come alongside with practical and spiritual resources to make motherhood possible. But here's the most important thing you will hear today. Their goal is to save 70,000 by the end of the year. And they can't do it without us. Every $28 provides that ultrasound. The moment everything changes, will you be the reason the next Kayla chooses life? The reason Gabrielle fulfills his destiny? To donate, dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby. That's pound 250, baby. Or donate securely at preborn.com/AFR, that's preborn.com/AFR.
This Is My Father's World by The Worship Initiative: This is my father's world and to my listening ears all nature sings and round me rings the music of the spheres. This is my father's world I rest me in the thought of rocks and trees of skies and seas His hand the wonders wrought
Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is this is my father's world by the worship initiative. And it is our father's world. And thank God that it is. And I am so grateful that you are in it. I'm so grateful that you are here listening today on Worldview Wednesday. I'm back with Dr. Josh Mulvihill, as I have been for nine Wednesdays. I think now we have nine prior episodes where we've talked about the importance of a biblical worldview. If you're at all familiar with the work of Dr. George Barna, this is his heartbeat. This is his passion. I've had the privilege of meeting him, of speaking with him at conferences, and he is so passionate about this because his research shows that there is such a crisis of worldview. And even just this month in the stand magazine put out by American Family Association, I wrote a, I, don't want to say. I wrote an article about my response to the anxious generation by Dr. Jonathan Haidt. And. And really, in that paradigm, Dr. Haidt says that we need to do. We need to really take away smartphones from kids and let them reclaim play in childhood, which I completely agree with. I think those things are so great. But I also think the truth is more complicated than that. And I think that what we're seeing is the collision of the smartphone epidemic along with a crisis of worldview and a crisis of identity. And if you look at young people today, you see all of identity crisis, and you see teens who are in children who are really desperate to answer the question of who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of life? And when we see truth shifting all the time and culture shifting all the time, and what is celebrated today is canceled tomorrow, and you could say something that people could applaud and the next day, you are just on the outs for that. We have got to teach our kids to build their lives on the sure foundation of the word of God. And that's not just going to happen on its own. And so in previous episodes, Josh, has walked us through the four pillars that anchor that biblical worldview. Creation, rebellion, salvation, restoration. Each of those truths, answering life's biggest questions. Where did I come from? What went wrong? What is the solution, and what's ahead? And we have unpacked how these beliefs shape not just doctrine. We're not just talking about doctrine in a very stodgy kind of classroom sense. We're talking about identity and purpose. And I'm telling you, that resonates especially with Gen Z and Gen Alpha. They are so eager to talk about issues of identity and the identity that we can craft for them in the world absolutely pales in what God has created them to be and who God has created them to do, to be and to do good works. And so really, we're talking about teaching these truths at home, in the classroom, whether that's homeschool, Christian school, wherever they are, in school environments, putting that support around them in the church, helping them connect the Bible's grand narrative to their everyday lives and decision. And Josh, in this chapter, we're in chapter eight, what we're talking about, how, how do we do this?
You have a very long list of core Bible themes that help shape kids' worldview
You have a very long list of core Bible themes. You've got key Bible verses and then a key idea, and there's so many that we couldn't even unpack them here today. But I want to pick out a few and feel free to talk about them at large if you want to. But one of them that really caught my eye was the meaning of life. Why do I exist? I mean, we're seeing an epidemic of loneliness. We're seeing suicide is the second leading cause of death, second only to accidents among young people. We have people who are searching for identity, whether that is through academics, through accomplishments, through gender, through, all different kinds of things, through my religious identity, my cultural identity, kids are asking, why do I exist? And so what is. Can you unpack that for us as an example of a core Bible theme and a key idea that helps give our kids this WorldView?
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: You are 100% right. The, loneliness, suicide, the lack of purpose, just the. Any of the markers for this generation are they're bad. And it's in part because they're disconnected from God. They're told to live for their own happiness, but what they're going to be is miserable. If they live for Christ, they're purposeful and that's what our kids are looking for. They're looking for hope. Of course that's only found in Jesus Christ. We have that to offer to them and so we can give them that hope and they find that purpose as they have their life anchored in Jesus Christ.
Dr. Jessica Peck: That is so important and good to go along with that.
One of the themes that's here that we're hearing a lot about is suffering
One of the other themes that's here that we're hearing a lot about is suffering. So this is another example of, of a way to give your child a biblical worldview. Because they're asking, this generation is asking, why do bad things happen? I mean, I really can't shake the fact, Josh, that this generation watched the assassination of Charlie Kirk live on social media. They watched that happen, they watched the narrative that happened, they watched people celebrate his death. And it, it's just triggered a, a renewed conversation for why do these bad things happen? And I get that question a lot like if you really believe that God is so good, then how can you believe in a God who lets those bad things happen? And I know this is asking a lot of you, Josh, but can you, can you give us a glimpse into the hope and the foundation of what Christians believe about suffering and why we can find hope in that when hope seems impossible.
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: M. Well, immediately following our time together, I'm going to a funeral and our funeral, it's a friend's mother that died. It's going to be a hope filled funeral because we know that life is not the end. It's the beginning of eternity with Christ. And so we understand, you know, this, this world is filled with pain and tears and heartache and death because of sin. Christ has conquered sin, he's destroyed, all of those things that obviously doesn't fully change until eternity. But because of that, this life, we we know it's not the end. And it gives, it gives a hope and meaning even to the, the problems that we have, the challenges, the pain in this life. I can't imagine going through this life without Christ and the pain and the hurt, having no better. This is, I mean this is for non Christians, this is the best it gets. And there's no future context to that as to why of course bad things happen. we, you know, the flip side is that evil is present because God is good and there is, there is the goodness of God that we can that we can understand. And so, you know, the, the whole topic of suffering, it is a, it's a faith buster it destroys a lot of young people, a lot of anybody's faith. And so we want to work through this. If young people, if your child is really struggling with the problem of evil, you know, work through that. God gave us, really, he gave us a whole Bible or a book of the Bible on this in the book of Job. And we can glean a lot from how God talks to Job through, Job's suffering in that book. And of course, there's plenty of other, passages we can turn to and glean from. So, man, thank goodness for Christ, that this life is not all. And the challenges that we have are redeemed and, changed once we go into eternity.
Dr. Jessica Peck: I agree with that so much because I can't imagine. And you know, Josh, I've had the, the real privilege of interviewing so many people who have experienced extraordinary suffering. And so many of them, it's interesting because so many of them share an experience that of suffering without Christ and suffering with Christ. And every single one of them has said it is so much better. The grief is more manageable, that the hope is more tangible, that the joy is more realistic with Christ. Because in this world, things are going to happen, bad things are going to happen. And Josh, I just shudder to think that my only hope is to say, well, you know, I'm here and by my own power I'm going to give comfort to others and work to make a difference in the world. And. And you know, in this world like that, that's all that there is. Like the. What we have here in this broken world, which I think everybody can agree that the world is broken in some way. Regardless of your beliefs, I think that's all that there is, that there's no hope higher than that. I think this is just such an example of the foundational truths that we're talking about that you lay it out in this chapter. Because without going back to those foundational truths, I just. I am not that wise. That's actually what I wrote in my article and talking about the anxious generation, because I said, you know, one of the appealing things I think about that, about that book is that it gave all the power to the parents. It united everyone behind a common enemy. It's all the smartphone. Let's all rally against the smartphone. Get rid of the smartphone. We have the power to do that, and everything's going to be fine. But there's still a vacuum there, Josh. There's still such a longing in the human soul that we are not that powerful. We cannot feel that longing in our children's hearts that is a, a God shaped longing in their hearts. And I'm just wondering how, you know, you, you have kids that are about my age. You know, we've got kids who are launching into adulthood and some kids that are, you know, still at home. How do you see this as a father? How does this transform your journey as a dad and meeting your kids with these foundational truths rather than trying to just be all things for all people on your own power?
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Well, I look at our world today and I think most of the action is being had on the doctrinal level like this. You know, they're not attacking our kids on Bible stories. You know, it's not like David and Goliath and Daniel and the lion's den that they're getting hit on those. It's deep biblical truth. and they of course twist and distort and redefine a lot of the biblical words. You know, love is love. we'll redefine love or redefine justice. We'll redefine though. As a father, as I mentioned before, a lot of my work is I've got to learn this stuff myself so that I can have, I could be ready and have these conversations with my children when they, you know, when they come up. And it just takes, you know, it just takes some effort, some time, some forethought. And I think part of what I do, I don't know if this is the right thing, but I just, I try to listen for what are the conversation topics that are happening? What are the buzzwords? Do they, you know, all the environmentalism, all the immigration talk, how do we, how do we think about immigration scripturally? You know, we get, we, if we aren't prepared for these kinds of things, I, ah, guarantee because of screens and because of schools, our kids are getting fed this stuff. But it's a matter of are we helping shape it according to God's word? And so we, you know, we got to get in the game. We can't sit on the sidelines and think if, you know, if we bring them to church and if they're in good settings and you know it's going to work out. you know, that's, that's probably a recipe for not a good, not a good outcome.
Josh: One of the things that you emphasize and advise parents to do
Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, one of the things that you emphasize and advise parents to do, which is something I completely agree with and something that's hard for a lot of parents to do, is to intentionally present your children with counterfeit arguments and you Know, we hear so much about the gatekeeping method of parenting, which is, hey, we are going to basically build a fortress around our kids. We are going to close the gates, we're locking the gates, we're guarding the gates. We're going to make sure that our kids are not exposed to things they shouldn't be exposed to. And, you know, Josh, you talk about, you know, you're about to go to a funeral. You're literally going to finish the school and go to a funeral. I literally was on the phone with a mom, who had called me about something that her right before the show, and I ran into to finish it. She called me because her kid was exposed to something really horrible, really absolutely terrible that she did not want them to be. That she did everything right and she did all of the things that she should have done to make sure that they weren't exposed. And yet they were exposed to, this. And I think that we so often, I think again, going, I keep going back to this book, the Anxious Generation, I think that was part of the appeal, Josh, is because it gave us a paradigm for childhood that we were familiar with. Oh, let's just have a childhood without technology. That's the kind of tech. That's the kind of childhood I grew up with. And so I'm comfortable in navigating that. It seems more manageable. Let's just make it like when we grow up, when we grew up, so that we can manage that.
Always teach God's truth first before the counterfeit argument
But I think we have got to acknowledge the reality of the world that we live in. With screen saturation, that 100% protection is just out the door. And so I want you to talk through. What does it mean to put that counterfeit argument in front of them and dismantle it.
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: So I got a couple goals. one is to always teach God's truth first before the counterfeit argument. and I'm not nervous of the counterfeit argument because truth always wins in the sense that it, you know, God's word stands on its own two feet. If it is true, we don't need to be nervous about it being proved that. And two, when my kids leave home, I want no surprises that we have. We've kind of talked through what they need to be prepared for, to stand on their own two feet. And so, you know, so we've done this with some topics. You know, I mentioned a bunch of the kinds of topics we talk about with our kids. Just that I rattled off today. one of the more recent ones, we had a pretty in depth conversation about even topics like Calvinism and Arminianism. One of my children is at a Bible college and he's in theology class. I knew he would be, getting a lot of conversation, and he has. So we presented both sides. This is what we think Scripture says, and, here's why. And it's been a good conversation.
Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, we have so much more to talk about when we come back. We'll continue that and we'll talk about legalism, mysticism, and another word that, honestly, Josh, I don't think I can pronounce. So I'm going to ask you about that during the break. But we are all constantly learning. And this is important because in Colossians, really, the emphasis is on danger and the danger of unbiblical opinions and ideas. That's where the danger comes. Not in the scary white van, necessarily, but when we come back on, Worldview Wednesday, we'll talk more with Dr. Josh Mulvihill. We'll see you on the other side of this break.
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House of the Lord by Phil Wickham: We worship the God who was we worship the God who is we worship the God who evermore will be He opened the prison doors he parted the raging sea My God, he holds the victory there's joy in the house of the Lord there's joy in the house of the Lord today and we won't be quiet we shout out your praise There's joy in the house of the Lord Our God is surely in this place and we won't be quiet we shout out your praise
Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is House of the Lord by Phil Wickham. and we are in the house of the Lord today We're having Worldview Wednesday. We're basically having church on Wednesday. Welcome back, friends. I'm so glad to hear you here. And yes, that is Phil Wickham. My kids have a song counter for road trips to see how many Phil Wickham songs is mom gonna play. I am a fan. I think, by the way, that music is such an instrumental tool in your home. I've talked about that before. It's a great tool for discipleship because those messages, they do have a way of make, becoming an earworm and really worming their way into your kid's heart in the best way possible. But it can really set the tone. And so maybe if you are, you know, feeling like your kids are coming home from school and you want to set a good tone, make a good playlist for a come home from school playlist that will welcome them there.
Josh Mulvihill discusses Biblical worldview with Worldview Wednesday listeners
We're talking today with Dr. Josh Mulvihill on this Worldview Wednesday about his book Biblical Worldview. What it is, why it matters, and how to shape the worldview of the next generation. And we are talking about not just information, but transformation. And we're moving beyond that head knowledge, although I'm acquiring some today, and you're about to too. But we use that head knowledge to move us towards heart conviction. And we're talking about what it looks like to raise and lead children who not only know the biblical truth, but they live it out very courageously in a very confused world. The world is confusing. It is confused. And we can give our kids clarity and cultivate discernment and, and nurture their trust in Scripture's authority and most importantly, model of faith that is authentic and that is contagious, that we are going to help our kids become followers of Christ. And we're in chapter eight of Josh's book and we've been talking about it from the framework of Colossians where Paul warns us to think about the dangers of our kids being taken captive by philosophies that are not of God and not to be convinced by human philosophies that sound good but that are false. And Paul mentions three man made philosophies that had crept into the Colossian church. So during the break, I learned how to say this word. I'm learning along with you. We have legalism, we have mysticism, and we have asceticism. How did I do? Did I say it right, Josh?
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Yeah, right on the money. You're great.
Dr. Jessica Peck: All right, well, teach us. Talk about why do we, why is it important for us to know the these terms? What it, what is the setup for what Paul's trying to teach us in Colossians.
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: First, I want you to notice these come from within the church, not from outside of it. We often think we're protecting our kids just from what's outside of the church. And this doesn't, shouldn't, throw the, you know, the rug out from under the church that we're in. But it does mean don't get lax. Don't assume that everything that's always taught in the church is going to be, biblical. We do need to be testing everything we hear according to God's word. And here's three examples you'll notice. Second, that they all end in ism. legal ism, mysticism and asceticism. The ism may change, and we're dealing with all kinds of isms. And, you know, when you typically hear ism, your red flag should go up like, okay, this typically is not a biblical thing. What does it mean? So legalism is just unbiblical rules. Sometimes they're works. Righteousness, you know, you add to your salvation doing a certain thing like baptism. it could be. I had a. Here's an example within the church. As a pastor, I had a children's ministry leader under me. She was teaching fifth and sixth grade, students. And, I started getting complaints from parents about some of the things she was saying. She had been telling kids that they could not drink caffeine, they shouldn't play video games with guns, they shouldn't participate in Halloween, and they couldn't listen to Christian music. And if they didn't do those things, they were more godly. Now, those are not things that the. Those are not explicit commands in Scripture. And so, you know, some people may choose not to participate in some of those things from a conviction standpoint, and that's okay. But when we put it to the level of rules, like she was doing with the class that gets into legalism, she had. She had lived out this. we had a conversation like, okay, this here's what you're doing. It's right out of Colossians 2, alive and well in our classroom in the church. the second one is mysticism. And this is all over the place in our culture today. it's the idea of hearing a vision or a, dream or kind of spirituality. New Agey would probably fit into kind of this category. and this same individual I just described was also doing this with the fifth and sixth grade class. And so what she had told them to do was to go look for crosses or hearts out in, you know, there's this every day. And then she would let them come up in class and say, this is what God said to me when I saw this. So you get kids coming up and, you know, I saw the shape of a heart in my banana. And this is like, this was legitimate. Child said this. I saw the shape of a heart and a banana. And this is what God said to me. I saw a cloud that looked like a cross, and I believe this is what God was saying to me. You know, that kind of thing, not rooted in scripture. You could see the danger that it could go all over the place. And how do you know what's accurate, what's not accurate? The form of, you know, what ended up happening was she wasn't teaching the Bible. It literally. Mysticism replaced the authority of God's word in the class so she could give time for kids to talk through this. And then asceticism, is simply the appearance of godliness through self denial. And it's essentially, you know, it's punishing the body so that God won't punish us maybe in eternity. This happened a lot throughout church history. You might have read cases of people sleeping on hard beds, not speaking for days, going without food or sleep. even in First Timothy 4. Three, it talks about, an ascetic mindset had snuck in where they weren't getting married. They thought they were more godly if they were single. the idea of don't taste, don't touch. So this whole idea of self discipline is, necessary to please God. When there are some things that God's given us as good gifts. And they can, of course, become an idol, they can become sinful, utilized in the wrong way. But inherently, they're not sinful in their usage. So those are literally. Paul gives us three examples of some wrong ideas that had crept into the church, had taken them captive. And it's really helpful for us today to say, what's the ism? What are the things we need to be mindful of? You know, it could be those specifically, but it's likely something very different.
I mentioned feminism, man. That's a biggie today with our children
I mentioned feminism, man. That's a biggie today with our children and with the world that we live in, you know, it pushes that really hard. and the whole transgender movement is a version of that. There's no difference. There's an androgyny, essentially, in our culture, you know, erasing of, male and female that God has made. And so, you know, these kinds of things are pushed really hard and that feminism piece, you know, I don't know if that was prevalent in the, you know, the time, the Colossian church at the time, but that's one of them that we're dealing with. And so we just, you know, we bless our kids when we help them know God's truth, understand why it's true and help, you know, point these things out and and talk through, you know, here's, here's what's problematic. And you know, God's word is it blesses. It's, it's. The Bible calls it honey is God's word, Honey, it's delightful and it works in real life. A secular worldview does not work. And so the, you know, the world will try to suggest that it works, but it doesn't. And we can help our kids see how it falls short. So that's a quick run through of those three. that was a lot.
Dr. Jessica Peck: That is a lot. But you know, it. But again, it's all Scripture is useful for teaching and training and, and that is, and you're helping to do that for, with us today. And I think that that is such a good example. Even talking about feminism, that's something, that's a good example of something that celebrated today, canceled tomorrow, and what do you do? There's confusion in that when we move to gender neutral. And I think I've shared this before and I apologize if I'm, if I'm repeating myself like an old lady, as my kids would say, but you know, that has been something that's been very prevalent in the anti trafficking movement. That's a lot of what I do, the work I do as a professor, and I was just at a conference, recently where there was a panel of men saying, hey, this is harmful. When we are talking about gender neutral language because there are specific considerations. Trafficking, exploitation, abuse impacts men in different ways than it impacts women. And so talking about all of that and that confusion and really what we're, what we're getting at is taking the Bible as a whole and not just pulling out. That's what I see a lot in, in this skewed, doctrine. When my kids maybe hear something, it's a verse that's taken out of context. It's, you know, one, one, a part of one verse, a portion of one verse that's used without considering the context of the whole Bible. Because even in what you're talking about in, and some of those, asceticism. I just wanted to say that again just so to make sure I could still Say it. But looking at that, you know, those kinds of things. We also have the contrasting passage from Romans 14 where Paul is advising us about following our personal convictions. Is that right?
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know, Paul says basically in that, you know, the freedom of Christ passage, if you are convicted of something and do it, that's for you, that sin. And so there does need to be some. In some of these areas, there is some freedom in Christ for, you know, Halloween's coming up really soon. You know, we believe because of the nature of that day, it's best not to participate. That's a freedom in Christ choice that we honor. We let somebody, but we, if somebody's making that choice, we don't essentially add it as a required rule that everybody has to follow. And if they don't, then they're less godly. That goes to a different level. And, you know, I see a distinction there.
Dr. Jessica Peck: Yeah. And that, that is hard because there's so many things that are taken in cultural context. You know, what is the, what is the core of your conviction? What, what is your own personal conviction? And, and we've had a lot of conversations about that with my kids is following the conviction of the Holy Spirit in your life. And, and you know, some of my kids have had different convictions than other ones of my kids and just different, and just different things. And none of these rise to the issue, to the level of salvation, you know, but some, some of my kids, you know, may feel really strongly convicted about a particular issue where another kid may think, yeah, okay, I maybe don't have that same degree of personal conviction, but it all comes back down to the core doctrinal issues, doesn't it, Josh?
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Yes. And since you talked about different levels, I'll mention three doctrinal levels of die. You die for, you defend, and you discuss. So some of those, let's discuss it. there's some you defend, like marriage. you were going to defend one man, one woman. And there's some you die for. The, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the inerrancy and sufficiency and authority of God's word. You know, those we die for, defend some and we discuss others. And you know, that's just partially, that's a, maturity in Christ kind of thing where, you know, we're a good Bible believing Christians can come to different views on different subjects. and, you know, that's okay. we love our brothers and sisters when we see differently, maybe you think different than I do even on some of the things I've mentioned here today, that's okay. We can still love each other.
Dr. Jessica Peck: I love that. Die for, defend and discuss. That's really a helpful framework. I'm going to steal that right now. I'm taking that for my family because I feel like that could be a really instructive question that I could ask for my kids when they come home, say, okay, is this a belief that we're going to die for? Is this a belief that we're going to defend? Or is this a belief that we're going to discuss? I think that's really helpful because, Josh, one of the scary things and the hard things is like you talked about, we've talked about the world, which is a completely different thing. And in some way, it's almost easier to have those discussions, those things that are stark, those things that are obvious. But when you start talking about bad doctrine that comes within the church, what I see a lot of times is people who see that pastor and a level of authority and they feel like, oh, I can't speak up, I can't say anything. And then, you know, I've got kids who are going out into the world who are seeking their own churches. And we've been walking through that. How do you evaluate the doctrine of the church? How do you evaluate the doctrine, the theology of the pastor? What do you do if they say something? Because, you know, last time I checked, the pastor's not Jesus. But, I would let. We're coming to the end of our time again. This is why we keep meeting over and over. This is just one long conversation.
Josh: We underutilize prayer when dealing with church doctrinal issues
But, Josh, in a minute or two, can you give any encouragement about, about responding to those doctrinal issues within the church?
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: You've got this, parents, you know, God gave you the stewardship of your kids. He believes you can do it. And, you know, spend the time learning God's word yourself and paying attention to what's happening in our society and just, learning what you need to learn to have these kinds of conversations with your children. I believe that's a blessing. and as that becomes more just the culture of your home, kids become, you know, they start to. They start to initiate conversations on different topics and seek guidance. And those are really fun when that ends up happening. And so you can do it. Don't feel overwhelmed. Pick one thing, start there and go.
Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, you know, what I find just so encouraging is we really underutilize prayer. Just pray about this. Ask the Holy Spirit to be a counsel within you. And when you're walking with the Lord every day when you're doing those spiritual disciplines, just like you said, Josh, when you are in a Bible believing church, you are in your Bible. You are praying and talking with the Lord daily. You start to recognize his voice and there's so much comfort in that. And always going back to the truth of God's word, having those trusted counselors around you. Well, we will be back next time where we'll move into part three of the book, talking about the Bible's big story and how to teach biblical worldview in just four words. And wherever you are and whatever you are doing this afternoon, I pray the Lord will bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And I'll see you right back here tomorrow.
Jeff Chamblee: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
Worldview Wednesday. Dr. Josh Mulvihill joins Jessica to discuss how we can help a child develop a Biblical Worldview
Rx for Hope: Help Children Develop a Biblical Worldview
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