Transcript

Dr. Jessica Peck prescribes Hope for Healthy Families on American Family Radio

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: To my favorite part of the afternoon, getting to spend time with you prescribing Hope for Healthy Families. And listen, I'm feeling pretty good today, even though it is a, Monday. And Monday is just carry that can carry those Monday blues. We had a great week last week. I was able to travel to Tupelo, Mississippi and to be at the headquarters for American Family association during shareathon, which we do twice a year to ask you, our listeners, to faithfully support the work of American Family Association. And it was beyond successful. Such great energy, such great testimonies brought me to tears for sure. Thank you so much to everyone who listened, everyone who called, called in, everyone who gave, everyone who prayed. Thank you so much to everyone who volunteered. I'm telling you, American Family association is serious about the family and they are one big family. And it is really a joy and a privilege to be part of that work. So it's not too late. You can support the work of AFA at any time. Just because Sharathon is over doesn't mean that your giving opportunity is over. So please feel free to consider that as you're thinking about your end of year giving. We had Chelsea Wildmon on, Wesley's wife, who was co hosting with me. She talks about charitable gift annuities, the work of the foundation. Just call American Family Association. They will be glad to connect you. And again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for everyone who contributed. I have a few things that I want to announce before we get to my guest today and we have a great guest and a great conversation, but I do want to remind you and to invite you to go see a movie. We talked last week to my friend John o'. Leary. John is an extraordinary, extraordinary man who was burned as a child over 100% of his body in an accident that happened when he was about 9 years old in his garage at home. His brother miraculously saved his life and he knows that God just spared his life to continue to do something really good. Great movie out and we really need to send a message to Hollywood that we want family, friends, friendly films that are bold in sharing our faith perspective. And you will find that in the movie called Soul on Fire, it is not only, it's not only just in the United States, it's premiering all over the world. Many of you may be familiar with the director, who also directed the movie Soul Surfer, the story of Bethany Hamilton. But I would really encourage you to go see this extraordinary story. If you're a baseball fan, then there's a bonus because this film has a lot of baseball in it. God used the St. Louis Cardinals as a part of John's healing story, but he really just lives every day to help everyone live inspired. And, I encourage you to go see that movie Soul on Fire. It just released this weekend. Check it out and go and take your family to see it. Third thing is the i voter Guide. We also talked to, Debbie Wuthnow last week from ivoterguide and as you're preparing for elections there, to see if there's elections where you are, which undoubtedly there will be, you can go to I voter guide.com that's ivoterguide.com it's so easy to use. And you just go in and put your address in and they have. Debbie has a team of people that is unbelievable who have done all of the vetting for the candidates for you. They will give you all of the information that you need to know to make an informed choice. And so that's a great tool to use if you haven't gone to ivoterguide.com I have, three new new adult voters in my own home. Three of my children are now adults and this was a great tool to help them learn to be informed voters. Now that's a lot of announcements, but that's so much the work of American Family Association. These services, these connections, the programming that we have, and today is no different. I'm really excited to bring to you Jordan Chamblee from the Stand.

The Stand is a magazine that is published by the American Family Association

Now, many of you may know about the work of American Family Association, American Family Radio, but the Stand is actually a magazine that is published by the American Family association. And it exists to equip and encourage believers to stand boldly for biblical truth in today's shifting cultural landscape. It's got thoughtful commentary, it's got news analysis, it's got faith driven storytelling. I look forward to getting this in my inbox. I get it in the mail and the actual, yes, the actual mail that comes. But you can also be an online subscriber and there's a lot of the articles that are online now. The stand addresses topics from family, marriage, media, freedom of speech, moral integrity, discipleship in everyday life. And readers will find a blend of conviction and compassion within its pages. Articles that challenge culture but point consistently to scripture as the ultimate authority and guide for engaging the modern world. With truth and grace. And just today as I was watching the news with the extraordinary images, of hostages being released, I, praise God for that and, and still continuing to pray for those who were involved, as it certainly it will not be the end of their story, but the beginning of their healing. And for those who did not. Were not able to come home, for those who, either died in those attacks or were not returned as hostages, we just keep all of those families in our prayers. But as I'm watching the news and thinking, this is extraordinary, these. This is the kind of thing that people will read about children today will read about in their textbooks to come. This event that happened. This is exactly the kind of commentary that you're going to get from the stand. So, as I told you, we have a writer from the stand, Jordan Chamblee Jordan wrote a really compelling article that's coming out. It's not yet published. I got a sneak preview about AI Companions, and we're going to talk about that. But for now, Jordan, thanks for sitting through all those announcements. I appreciate your patience. If AFA would just stop doing such amazing work, I wouldn't have so many announcements.

Jordan Chamblee: Well, it's an absolute pleasure to sit through the announcements, but also to be on the show, so thank you for having me.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, Jordan, I would love for you just to introduce yourself to our listeners. I'm sure that you have a lot of loyal readers. Introduce yourself to our listeners and just tell us a little bit about your life and how God has worked to bring you to be a writer for today.

Jordan Chamblee: Absolutely. Well, my name is Jordan Chamblee I am a husband and a father of four now. so a lot of what I do is very heavily motivated by my kids and thinking about the world they're going to live in. I started working for, the magazine in 2015. Initially, I was working in the video department, AFS, as an editor and sometimes a camera operator. but I really had a desire to write. And so I, approached Randall Murphree who was the then editor. Wonderful man. And, he gave me a chance. He gave me the, the opportunity to write a few articles. And after a little while, after a, I guess a. A probation period or whatever, I was, added to the staff of the magazine. So, here I am now.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, and I'm so glad that you are. And congratulations on being a dad. Having four kids. Your wife. Oh, my goodness. I. Being another person of the 4Kids Club, I aff. It is just the roller coaster that everybody says it is it's so much, it's just a great joy. And I agree with you, that my kids really inform and motivate so much of what I do. I, as a pediatric nurse, of course I care about all children, but having my own children, it really brings those issues so much closer. You can see the way that those things, that the things that are happening in the world, they're going to impact our children personally and, and then they're going to impact all, other children. So I'm appreciative of that. Let's dive in and talk about this AI piece because I read it and I thought, yes, you are so ahead of the curve, Jordan, and pointing out some of these impacts that AI is going to have on the family. So I would love to know what inspired you to write about it and what did you learn about AI and its impact on families?

Jordan Chamblee: Well, there's just so much, I mean, I'm drawn to AI as just, I mean it's a spectacle really. That would pique my curiosity. This is something that, this is a first in human history. I mean, this is maybe even beyond the impact of the Internet. This is going to shape our world going forward in ways that we can't possibly be ready for. and that's the world that my kids are going to grow up in. And so I'm interested in knowing what it is, I'm interested in knowing, how it's going to intersect with our day to day life and for families. there have been, Because we're sort of in the Wild west right now with AI, we're in the very beginning of scratching the surface of what this is. Unfortunately there have been misuses of it. There have been instances where it has been proven dangerous, for irresponsible, use or just uneducated use. And I mean, unfortunately people's lives have been taken, and that's heartbreaking. And as we're beginning to know how this works and as families are beginning to see this come into their homes, first of all, I don't think that AI is an inherently bad thing. I think it's. Honestly, if we look at it honestly, it's a wonderful tool that God has allowed us to develop and it's going to do some really great things. But in the meantime, while we're still learning about how to apply it, we're going to bump into some unfortunate, unfortunate, questions that we have to answer. We're, we're going to figure out how this works for us. and where its proper place is in our lives. And so with, this article focusing, on AI companions and the rise of this idea of you can download an app on your phone and it pretends to be your girlfriend,

Dr. Jessica Peck: There'S something that's wild.

Jordan Chamblee: Yeah, yeah. And this is something that we've never really had before in human history. And so there we are not equipped in any way to know how to process this, to know how to handle this and especially children. my heart is really for the kids involved in this. And because kids are usually early adopters and probably know this technology way better than their parents do, they're going to be the ones who have the encounters first. And my heart is that parents know about this and have practical tools to help them, stem the tide.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You know, I'm struck as I'm listening to you, Jordan. This is exactly what the STAND does. It gives you news with a faith filter, and that's so important. So you may get news from a secular source and they're going to tell you all of the technical ins and outs and they may even raise some of the ethical issues. But even the way that you've just spoken about it now, seamlessly integrating some of those faith impacts, how is this going to impact our faith? Because when we think about this as Christians, we think about how does this, how is this going to change the way that our children see relationships and differentiate and value human life versus a, ah, robot essentially, that is simulating human emotions that doesn't really have that. That's almost impossible for kids to tell the difference because we have adults who have the difficulty, have difficulty telling the difference. And so as you're writing about this, what, through this article and through so many more things that you write about on the stand, how do you equip Christian families to respond with wisdom and to respond in a redemptive way? Just as you said, technology in and of itself is not inherently evil, but the application can be. How do you see the stand equipping families to, to respond to their own family?

Jordan Chamblee: Absolutely. Well, I think first, first of all, the writers at the stand, have been really encouraging to me. specifically, as we approach these topics, there's always an emphasis on what does the Bible have to say about this? What does the word of God have to say about this? And you know, the word of God doesn't say anything specifically about AI, but it does say a lot about relationships and it does say a lot about what it means to be human and the inherent dignity that humans have and how God has created us for relationships. And so when it comes to AI, you know, I think honesty is the best approach is, well, you know, it's not a bad thing. It can be used very poorly. I think parents need to sit down with their children and talk about AI and tell them it is a tool. It's not a human, it's not a person, it's not your friend, and it doesn't care about you. But I do. As your parent, I'm here for you. And. And then to actually act that out in life, not just to say it, but to actually be that person that your child can come to so they don't pull up their chatgpt on their phone and ask them the hard questions. They go to their parent and ask them the hard questions. So, the stand is really all about what does the Bible have to say about this topic? How can we draw those parallels and then put them into actual practice?

Dr. Jessica Peck: So helpful, Jordan. And after I saw what you had written, the same topic was on my heart. And so I had worked with the Standard staff and wrote, I wrote a companion piece to yours just to also say, yes, this is what I see specifically and how AI companions are impacting parental influence and authority. Because where parents are busy and we are living distracted, AI is not. And it is trained to learn every preference of our children, which can be a really frightening thing. But with equipping from articles that you write in the stand and information from a trusted source, we can feel equipped to respond. Listen, I got a lot more to ask with Jordan Chamblee when we come back.

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Fight On My Knees by Evan Craft: you might not know it, but somebody's been praying for this very moment. Feels like a whisper but in heaven it's loud don't give up don't give up on the ones you love oh, just a little faith is enough help me to remember My help comes from heaven God, when I surrender I find all I need Strength in every weakness in the name of, Jesus, Oh, it's not a secret I fight on my knees I fight on my knees.

Jordan Chamblee writes for the Stand magazine for American Family Association

Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is Fight on My Knees by Evan Craft. And today I am so delighted to bring to you my guest, Jordan Chamblee. He is a writer for the Stand magazine for American Family Association. For those of you who may not be aware, there are so many great resources that AFA puts out, but AFA's the stand is a 32 page full color magazine that is still printed and delivered to your home if you want to, or you can subscribe online. You can also read some of those articles online and the purpose of it is to inform you, to encourage you, and most of all to activate you to be able to respond to some of the things that are happening in our world. And within these pages you will find articles by award winning writers on everything from church to culture, from parenting to politics, activism, anti Christian bias, education, entertainment, patriotism, pornography, gender, government. I mean the list goes on and on. But I can tell you I really look forward to getting the magazine and to being able to read the what they have, what is on their mind, what is on the landscape of culture and to see that through a lens of scriptural truth. And Jordan, I appreciate you being here so much. You've shared already. You're a dad, you're a, husband, you are a writer and there are so many things to cover. And some of the recent articles you can actually go online to the Stand and oh, by the way, I almost forgot to mention this. If you go to afa.netthestand that's afa.netthestand you can actually sign up for a free six month trial of the print version. They will mail it to you for free for six months while you decide if it's a resource that's helpful to informing you. But you can also search by author and read all of Jordan's articles, some of the ones that caught my eye from recently. He's Written about pornography. That was the most recent episode. Recent, not episode. What is it? issue. Thank you. Yes, the recent issue that came out. I'm getting all my media words confused. You've talked about freedom of speech, you have talked about marriage, you have talked about fatherlessness. Tell us a little bit about some of those things that you've written about what your heart is on that and why you're writing them in the stand.

Jordan: The average age of a child encountering pornography is about 11 years old

Jordan Chamblee: Yeah, well, for the subject of pornography, again I'm going to go back to my children as my motive here. because okay, I'm a millennial. I grew up with first dial up Internet and then as technology progressed, more and more immediate forms of connectivity. And I'm at least a little bit aware of how easy it is to access not even just pornography but any sort of negative material, on the Internet, harmful material, especially for children. And I know that that has only become exponentially more dangerous as time has gone on. And so as my son and my daughters are going to grow up, they're going to be facing things that I never really faced. They're going to be encountering things faster, potentially younger, unfortun than I did. And it's going to, it's going to require parents to really have an awareness of the issue but also have awareness of they do have power to mitigate the damage. so in that article, I spoke to a ministry who deals with this and they have practical tools. They have a page on their website where they have video after video of talking about specific devices that kids often find themselves playing with and how a parent can lock it down and make it secure. And so it goes beyond just talking about the issue from a moralistic sense or or maybe this is you know, just a danger to be aware of. But it goes into, and here's how you can actually combat it. but regardless of how well you lock down your home and, and put the filters on your router, nothing will replace your ability to just sit down and have a conversation with your child. And because unfortunately, you know, it's not really a question of if they will encounter pornography, it's when and statistics show that the average age of a child encountering pornography is about 11 years old, sometimes even as early as eight, unfortunately. And those early encounters when a child doesn't have any frame, ah, frame of reference to process this information that becomes a, you know, this is how their idea of what sexuality is, is going to be developed. And you have people who grow into their 20s and become addicts to pornography. And even in the church, the statistics are very staggering as to how many people are active viewers of pornography and even addicted. So it's, it's a dire circumstance right now in our culture. And I wanted to make sure that parents felt empowered to be able to in their own home, fortify it against that influence as best as they can, but also to encourage them. Nothing replaces actual discipleship. so that's one thing. And for me it always does go back to kids who will inherit this culture from us. I mean we can talk about the problems that we're having right now, but if we're not thinking generationally, then we're. If we're fighting a losing battle.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You know, I so appreciate how you even frame that because you just said, Jordan, that when you were writing the article, you wanted to make sure that parents, that families felt empowered when they read the article. And I think that's the kind of intention that readers need to know that you have as a writer at the stand. It's not just to inform, but it's to equip and empower as to know thinking. What do we need to know about what's going on in culture? How do we talk to our families about it and what can we do about it? And I appreciate it. That it's in bite size information, that it's accessible, that it's just, you know, just tell me really quick what I need to know and what I need to do. And by having that, that discipline, that prompt, I think it's really helpful because there's other things that you have talked about. You've talked about marriage and fatherlessness, as I said, and even the ideas of free speech. So talk a little bit about the range of, of sub that are in there because it feels like there's so much that we need to know. But I do appreciate it, having it delivered in a way that is not so gloomy, that it's not so doom, you know, just doom stricken. It's just, it's hopeful. And I appreciate that.

Jordan Chamblee: Absolutely. Yeah. We really do try to, when we sit down and we have our meetings and we're throwing out ideas for articles, there is a real, attempt to cover a wide range of, of topics, that affect our culture and, and the ch. you touched on it like anything from freedom of speech to pro life issues to the sanctity of marriage and sexuality. we understand that these are all Fronts that the enemy is actively attacking. These are things that you can trace back in the words of the Bible to. These are institutions that God ordained. These are built into, us being, human and us, having that dignity of being made in the image of God. These are things that the devil wants to tear down and wants to make a mockery of. And so we, like you said, not only informing but equipping. We want to make sure that our readers, have a knowledge of the issues of what's going on, not just, you know, overseas or in Washington, but in their own backyard. and then here's what you can do about it, even if it's just prayer. and that's one thing is we never want to downplay, the power of just being aware of something so that you can pray about it. so yeah, that's something I'm proud of. Our team of at the stand is this ability to look at a wide range of topics but always bring it down into what does the word of God say about this? Because it says something, Jesus is king of all of these issues. and so we want to, make sure that our readers are equipped to fight those battles that they will inevitably face.

You say you have a wide generational perspective in The Stand

Dr. Jessica Peck: One of the things that's encouraging to me is, you know, you said you're a millennial, and I know that there are many generations represented in the stand. Writers, you have Gen Z, you have millennials, you have Gen X, you have baby boomers. I don't know if you have any greatest generation, I cannot verify that. But you do have a wide generational perspective and I find that to be very biblical in looking at the older, teaching the younger, and, and don't let anyone look down on you because you're young, but set an example for the believers. And I really appreciate that because even something like you just said about AI when we were talking about that earlier. So my, my mother in law is, she is in an older generation. I'll just leave it there. I don't want to get in too much trouble. But she was asking me about this guy named Al. She said, there's a guy named Al who apparently is making all this trouble. I said, what are you read? Well, it was the big A and the little I, that was AI, but she was reading it as Al and you know, so I think it's so interesting. And then you as a millennial say, hey, AI is really exciting. It's got some great application, but here's how I know it's impacting My generation. I think that's really, really helpful. So how do you see that cross generational perspective as reflective of the body of Christ?

Jordan Chamblee: Yeah, absolutely. I think it's a beautiful thing. And, you know, when I was growing up millennials, it was kind of the cool thing to hate on millennials a little bit online. And, and maybe we deserved a bit of that. but I do think that that is a beautiful thing. When you look at the church, the. The wide range of people that God has, allowed to encounter him in a saving way. And, the. The universal body of the church is just a beautiful tapestry of humanity from all walks of life. You have, like you said, you have. Have the greatest generation, the silent generation, Baby boomers, Millennials. No, I skipped over Gen X again. Gen X, Millennials.

Dr. Jessica Peck: That's okay. Everybody forget.

Jordan Chamblee: Everybody forgets the Gen Xers. I'm sorry about that.

Dr. Jessica Peck: That's okay.

Jordan Chamblee: But we all do. I think, for all of the faults that I think each generation has, and millennials have had their share, I do think that each one does bring a different perspective to the table and a different way of looking at things, that all of these perspectives have been redeemed because we're all Christians. We all have the Holy Spirit. We're spending time in the Word. And so there is this idea we're helping each other along. and this should be reflected in the church, and it certainly is, in the stand, where I've benefited from the wisdom of people who are older than me and have corrected me on some things and told me, probably need to soften this wording here, because you got carried away, or maybe you need to state this a little bit more strongly. Don't be scared to, you know, rustle, ruffle some feathers. so balancing each other out, I do think is a beautiful thing. And, yeah, applying that to the. The worldwide church, again, it just emphasizes that, there's nothing more unifying, I believe, than the blood of Christ. And, when we are all brought under that and we are all part of that kingdom, it's. It is a beautiful.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, I want listeners and subscribers to know that, to get to know that you're getting a very rich generational perspective when you're having, when you're reading these articles. And I love being able to read the perspective of other generations M. Many. For many of the reasons that you just outlined there, Jordan. You know, you have wisdom from people who have been there, who have seen some tough times, who have. Can attest to decades and decades of the faithfulness of God, but also God raising up new leaders with a heart that is on fire to share the good news of Jesus Christ. That is really exciting too. And I think we can really learn from each other because each, each generation, yes, we all have our stereotypes. You know, Gen X is the latchkey kids. We're notoriously independent. We hate group projects. Like we can do everything ourselves. We can learn from other generations. But I think that when we look at the perspective, each of us has a nostalgia and an affinity for the way that our childhood was. We can bring those things forward while also acknowledging the reality of the culture that we live in.

Jordan Chamblee: How do you decide what to write about

So when you're looking at all of these things, you know, you have this talented, really talented, very qualified group of writers with lots of different generational perspective, but that unifying perspective of all being believers in Christ, al, being Christians, and, and how do you even begin to think, what do you write about? How does God put that on your heart? And how do you see that coming together in an issue?

Jordan Chamblee: Yeah, well, yeah, as a kind of a peek behind the scenes, a lot of times it will be. We, have an idea and we take that to Rebecca Davis, our editor, and she'll help us develop it. for instance, she, again, kind of going back to AI that was. It was not my idea to start writing about it. It, but it was brought up in a meeting and I had an opinion about it. So I became, you know, I'm going to write about AI now, which I love. And I have a whole bunch of things, planned out. But, that was one way. We. We'll, sit down at the table. We'll have a sheet of paper that's got all of these ideas on it. And if one speaks to us, we'll. We'll take it. and each one of us does sort of have an unofficial beat. Some, of us gravitate towards certain, topics more than others. but again, I do think that that kind of adds that personality to the magazine where you're. When you're reading Matthew White article, you can tell it's a Matthew. It's a Matthew White article. This is, this is the topic that he has a lot to say about. A lot of wisdom in, when you're reading, a Rebecca Davis, piece, you know, that this is something that she cares deeply about. so. So that's sort of a peep behind the curtain. Sometimes it's an assignment and sometimes it's Something we, we present to our editor.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Yeah, I, love that, Jordan. I love that you're giving us a sneak peek behind the scenes here, like what goes on there because there is so much thought and intentionality and it really is a beautiful thing to see your team come together. And some things, you know, are just brought up, like there's a need to address this. It may be a need from your readership and need that you can see in culture. Sometimes it's a message that God's put on your heart. But I know, Jordan, I know that sometimes these messages are not well received and sometimes you may get some, shall we say, fan mail that is not that positive. But we are going to talk about that. Where you find the courage to be a bold voice for truth and a world that can be hostile to that. Most of all, what we're helping our listeners to do is to filter culture through scriptural truth and to do that by subscribing to the Stand once again. You can go to afa.net/thestand that's afa.net/thestand and you can get a 6 month free trial if you would like to do that. We'll be right back with more from Jordan Chamblee. Do you believe in the absolute inerrancy of God's holy word? Do you believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to radically change lives and empower us to live like Christ? At Wesley Biblical Seminary, we believe God is raising up a movement of people across our nation and across the world who hold fast to the authority of the Bible and the hope of holiness. We are working today to equip tomorrow's pastors and Christian leaders through biblical and theological education in practical ministry that's accredited, affordable, online and highly personal. Our programs include undergraduate, master's and doctoral degrees, certificate programs, and even training for lay people. So whatever your next step is in being equipped for ministry, we're here for you. And if you believe these are the kinds of pastors we need leading our churches in the future. We invite you to learn more about partnering with us through giving. Learn more about Wesley Biblical Seminary by visiting us at wbs.edu today.

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Jordan Chamblee writes for The Stand Magazine produced by American Family association

Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is Jesus is my Healer by Gateway Worship featuring Jessie Harris. And today I'm so delighted to have on with me Jordan Chamblee He is a writer for the Stand Magazine Produced by the American Family association. And I learned that during Share a Thon. Many of you love American Family Radio. They do a lot of things. There are a lot of things. And they do issue a print magazine. I'm holding it here in my hands. It's 32 pages. Very, very well done. Very talented group of writers who write on issues of culture and how they apply to the family. And it really is written with you in mind. what do you need to know and what do you need to do about it? Are basically the ways that you can feel engaged and equipped and empowered after reading the information that's there. And right now you can go to afa.net and you can sign up for a six month free trial. They will send you free issues for six months so that you can see is this a tool that's helpful for you. And I bet that you will discover that that is true. So we encourage you to sign up and try it for free. And Jordan, we were just talking about, you know, you write all of these things for the most part I'm sure that you get positive feedback. But it is tough to speak things that are countercultural. It is tough to be a bold voice for biblical truth.

Jordan, what kind of pushback or criticism have you experienced

What kind of pushback or criticism have you experienced and how do you deal with it?

Jordan Chamblee: Well, for me personally, I tend to somehow be able to dodge most of the criticism that comes in. The call usually goes to a different phone or the letter usually goes to just the editor in general. but I have received some and it's. It's been mostly I, I would say not so much from a non Christian perspective. Somebody writing in, from a secular worldview and, and having an issue with, you know, a biblical worldview, it's been from other Christians, and it's been on questions that are quite difficult. So for instance if I'm writing about if I'm writing about AI or I'm writing about something that, that is a, is maybe more of a secondary issue. but it is pretty difficult to wrap your mind around or maybe this is something that has historically just led to disagreements. they'll write in with some quite strong opinions as they should and what it's led me for personally, and I can't speak for the rest of the team at the stand m. I've had to really come to the realization, I mean be reminded often that I still have a lot to learn and if that comes to me in the form of a letter written by a passionate reader, ah, of our magazine, then so be it. but. So when it comes to those secondary issues, I do want to be able to, retain that flexibility of I can be taught. if it's a primary issue, if there's something that. No, this is something I believe is necessary for a Christian to think or necessary for a Christian to believe, then I'm going to hold my ground. And that's something we've done in the stand where maybe we sat down in a magazine and Rebecca brought up a concern that a writer wrote in, and we kind of talk about it and we come to the conclusion, no, this is something that is important not only just because we are at afa, and as a ministry, we hold to this to be true, but also we're Christians and we believe that the Bible says this thing. so we're not going to back down on that. We're not going to apologize for it. so it just depends on the. The criticism, I guess, where it's coming from and what it's about. If it's a secondary issue, I'm hope. I hope that I take that. That humble approach. And, you know, even if I don't take back what I said, I'm able to learn and grow from that experience. But if it's a primary issue, we, We. We're very careful about the things that we say. and. And Rebecca holds us to a high standard, thankfully. And, if it's something that we've put out there and we believe it's a primary issue, chances are we're not going to back down, because this is the voice of AFA in a lot of ways. And we have to be. We take that stewardship very seriously.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You know, Jordan, that's really extraordinary to hear you describing that. And I do want our listeners to catch that because I don't think that that kind of receptiveness, that kind of intellectual wrestling, that kind of humility is a very common thing, and especially when you're talking about writers. You know, I think that,

Dr. Jessica Peck: I'll say this for myself, because I am a writer, even though I mainly write academic papers that are, for the most part, very, very boring, unless you're very interested in the scholarship of what I'm doing. But I think that it's easy for writers to just, you know, feel, an attachment and a protectiveness of their work. But to hear that kind of humility that you're describing and pointing back to biblical truth, what does the Bible say about this? Having. Holding each other accountable, you Know, speaking truth into that and having the humility to say, you know what? That is something that I should have learned. I think that's absolutely incredible. How do you, how do you balance that as. As a writer?

Jordan Chamblee: well, I think that it's not easy all the time. I mean, I can't prepare myself for criticism. that comes in because it comes in the form of a phone call or a letter that's delivered to the office. And so it could catch me on a bad day and I might have a bad reaction to it. but I do think, you know, just sort of backing out of that a little bit and just, the bigger picture. Yeah. If I'm writing something that I believe is true, and I believe it's true because the Bible says so, then I'm just the messenger. I'm not the author. this is something that. This is coming from a place that is beyond me. This is coming from places above me. And, there's really no reason for me to, I don't know, to take up pride in the. The message, because it didn't come for me. And so, you know, I, I can grow as a follower of Christ every day, and, I'll probably have a better understanding as time goes on on these issues. but when it comes to humility, I think for me, it goes down to God just reminding me, look, this is not your truth. This is not your thing to possess. This is my thing. And I don't need you to get all offended for me. So if somebody has an issue with something that we write and we do believe it's true through then, remembering that we're just the messengers. And, while we steward the message, God is the one who takes that responsibility for it. And, we can kind of stand confidently in that.

Dr. Jessica Peck: I really appreciate you just stand on the timeless truth of God's word. Because in a culture where things are constantly changing and shifting, I'm sure it's comforting to stand on the truth of God's word. And that message is always reliable. But looking back, Jordan, how have you seen even since you started at the stand, how do you see the shifts of culture impacting what kind of messages are crafted? And what do you see on the landscape? What do you see out, looking out on the horizon? Put us in your seat as a writer and you're thinking, I want to inform the readers. What do you see as things that are coming that we're going to need to know about?

Jordan Chamblee: so if I kind of. Of boil down everything. You know, just as I've begun working at the stand and, and writing and, boiling every. Down to its essential parts, we are always answering the most basic questions. who are we? You know, who is God? What is a man? What is a woman? These are very basic questions that our culture is wrestling with. because, you know, we've. We are very privileged to live in a country where we're able to ask those questions. We have the time and the mental ability, the mental energy to even think about what is a man. we're not worried about the wild animals trying to come in and eat us. We have that ability to think about these things. And so these basic questions come up. And I think that's just going to be the case from now on. We're going to ask basic questions. When I think about, and I've been thinking about it a lot, the coming of AI, I think one of the questions that we're going to wrestle with is, what is a person? What is a human being? And what does it mean to think? What does it mean to have intelligence? that's going to be a. Interesting time. And I think it's a good idea to go ahead and answer those questions now. because not too far in the future. I think that's going to be something that is on the mind of a lot of people, is that I have this thing that's telling me it's a person. is it? And knowing what the Bible has to say about that. And so that's. That's one thing. But, yeah, answering those basic questions, whatever form those come, those come in, I think is something that we're going to have to remember. We always have to go back to the scripture because the scripture gives us that basis of understanding, of reality. Is this is the way that God created things. And no matter what situation comes up, no matter how complex it appears on the surface underneath, it's going to connect to one of those. Those questions that are very basic and are answered in the Bible.

Dr. Jessica Peck: It reminds me of Solomon writing, there's nothing new under the sun.

Jordan Chamblee: Exactly.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You know, and I think sometimes when we look at these things that come our way, especially AI, I think that is definitely on the forefront. It is impacting everything. You know, I think Jordan, for me, I'm a nurse, and AI has infiltrated every, Every element of nursing because we're wrestling with it. How do we use it wisely? How do we use it for the good of mankind? How do we protect against some of those, you know, dangers that are there. And it's interesting even for me in nursing because we're basically the, the, if you want to boil down arguments there, it comes down to people. We think that nursing ultimately will never be replaced because nothing can replace the human touch and that human caring factor that comes with nursing. And really it's so interesting Jordan, because we're talking about the sanctity of human life. And usually when we think about that, you think about issues of abortion, you think about other issues that have been related to life and related that come out of that. But I think AI is going to be a sanctity of human life issue because how do we value real humans? And just as you wrote and I wrote and so if you want to read those articles, you need to subscribe to the stand, go to afa.net thestand you can get a 6 month free trial and you can read more of what Jordan and I have shared about that, that. But Jordan, I mean this is, this is very, very real because I think that one of the things that concerns me is allowing AI to think for us, and not being intentional. And it already does. People think, oh well, it doesn't impact me. Well yes it does. If you have auto scroll autoplay on any streaming platform that you have, you're no longer even choosing what to stream. You're letting AI and an algorithm literally reshape your worldview. And that is something that definitely gives me pause.

Jordan Chamblee: Absolutely. And especially when I and I see it all the time. And even in my own home unfortunately, sometimes is you see a kid with a phone in their hand and it just seems like that has been just accepted as a normal thing. And again that kind of goes down to maybe their parent didn't grow up in a time where Internet was, you know, as ubiquitous as it is now and, and not really understanding the dangers, but even the AI component makes it even more complex. And so we really need to be careful for the children's sake I think to know where we stand on these topics, but to understand the avenues where they're coming in and what you can do about it, and have honest conversations with kids, because this is going to be something that just shapes their world in ways that we can't begin to imagine.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Exactly. And it's happening now. It's already happening. And that is my big pushback is that it's not a safe experimentation ground for kids. And one of the things that I'd written about it, in my companion piece to yours, Jordan was talking about how AI is trained to learn your preferences. It's trained to be the best friend. And that's why you have people crying over proposing to their AI girlfriend, which I use those terms. I had struggled to even write about it because I said, you know, she said yes. And I thought I shouldn't even say she because it's not she. It's a, it's a robot, it's a machine. It is not a she. But you know, looking at that, that is going to be hard for parents to compete with because as a parent, you know, you know this too. You're in those, and you're in those years where you have to say no a lot. You have to tell your kid, you know, no, you can't have that extra candy. No, you can't watch that. No, you can't go there. And when you have AI saying, oh, yes you can, yes you can. Oh, I understand. And emulating human emotions, it is tough. Well, we're out of time, Jordan, but I would love to give you the last word. Just whatever you want to share.

Jordan Chamblee: Whatever. Yeah, again, you can go to afa.net/thestand not only is there a print magazine, but also there's the blog and a lot of the us who write for the print magazine also write for the blog. So, there's a steady stream of really great writing there, covering all sorts of topics. So you can go there and check it out. But again, you can get that six, month free, six month free subscription, for the print magazine if.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You wish, afa.net/thestand and afa radio, right? Is it the Stand Radio?

Jordan Chamblee: Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Stand Radio. Yes, is on Stand radio.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Yes, the Stand radio. So short radio programs to highlight some of the articles that are in the Stand. Well, Jordan, it has been a joy to talk to you. I just appreciate you represent. We did great representation of millennials and Gen X here. I love that intergenerational perspective. Thank so much for all that you do to write for the Stand and I will echo what Jordan said. You can go to afa.net/thestand Sign up for a free 6 month trial. We would love to have you read the perspectives of the writers who are so carefully and thoughtfully writing for you. And wherever you are, whatever you're doing on this Monday, I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you, 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.