Focus on the Family Magazine - April/May 2023

Discerning Truth
Among the Lies
Training our kids to counter
unbiblical ideas in the culture
BY ALISA CHILDERS | ILLUSTRATIONS BY MARY HAASDYK VOOYS
RECENTLY I ASKED more than
3,000 people in a Christian parenting
Facebook group what it feels like to
raise kids in our current culture. The
responses were telling: “Challenging.”
“Heavy.” “Terrifying.” “Bombarded.”
I’ll add a description of my own:
Overwhelming. Even as an author,
speaker and apologist, I often feel
overwhelmed as I try to correct false
information, anti-biblical sentiments
and self-focused ideologies that are
coming for my kids through virtually
every media outlet and social encounter
they have.
Where to start
It’s literally my job to defend our biblical
worldview, and yet sometimes I
feel like I’m playing a game of Whac-
A-Mole. This was my favorite arcade
game as a kid. I would hover over the
board and wait for the little plastic
moles to peek out so I could wallop
them on the head with an oversized,
soft mallet. Whacking plastic moles
was fun for a kid in an arcade.
But it’s not so fun for a parent in
the realm of ideas. As soon as one lie
pops up in a “family” movie, another
rears its head in a tutorial YouTube
video. Moments after I address one
lie, another emerges from a billboard
sign or a television commercial in
a doctor’s office waiting room. It’s
becoming nearly impossible to shield
our kids from encountering these
deceptions in their daily lives. But
rather than being discouraged, there
is good reason for us to be encouraged
and excited by the task at hand.
As Christian parents, we have a
responsibility to train up our kids with
a biblical worldview. This is like playing
offense in sports. Giving them a
solid foundation will help insulate
them from many of the unbiblical ideas
they will inevitably encounter in their
culture. But we can also play a little
defense and protect our kids by exposing
the lies that come against them.
These lies are packaged in countless
ways, but here’s the good news:
Most of the faulty slogans, messages
and ideas our kids will encounter in
our culture can be boiled down to
three modern lies that are disguised
as truth. Let’s equip ourselves to spot
these lies so we can teach our kids to
recognize them, too. Let’s also look
at some of the ways wise parents
have navigated these lies with their
own kids.
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FOCUS ON THE FAMILY
APRIL / MAY 2023