Walt Mueller makes a passionate appeal to parents and to all other adults who care about teens,: “We must be familiar with [“Montero”‘s] message.” Why? He spells out the reason in the 3rd “D” of his review of this video “Decide what do I do with the message.”
“While we do not recommend showing or even viewing ‘Montero’, we must recognize that it is being widely viewed and embraced by our kids. . . we must be familiar with its message. . . We must diligently speak to kids from a young age – with grace and truth – about what God is for when it comes to sex and gender (emphasis added).
“Since the culture – including music and video – is catechizing kids 24/7 (emphasis added), we must ramp up our efforts to teach Scripture and theology in the context of relationship. . . And, as we teach biblical truth, we cannot overlook teaching about our enemy and his schemes.
“Pray for our kids. These are crucial and vulnerable years.”
* * * * * * * *
Over the main entrance of the university I attended were the words “RUTH WILL SET YOU FREE” Ruth? Obviously something was missing, obscured by the spreading ivy on the facade of the building. Our motto was “YOU WILL KNOW THE TRUTH, AND THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE.” Jesus spoke these words (John 8:32).
The purpose of the university, as Dr. Jonathan Haidt so clearly states, is to seek truth and to pass it on to the next generation, along with habits of thinking that will enable them to find the truth for themselves and pass it on. Abigail Shrier, author of Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters, says that in order to confront those who educate our daughters we need intellectual ammunition. This requires “merely knowing the truth” (emphasis added). In order to help our teens to confront destructive messages like that in “Montero” they need to know the truth as we find it in God’s Word and they need to see things as they really are.
And, as Mueller says, there is something more that we must do: We must acknowledge the reality of Satan: “we cannot overlook our enemy and his schemes.”
In the same chapter from which the motto of my university comes, these words of Jesus (to religious leaders!) are recorded: “You belong to your father, the devil. . . He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44-46).
Hope and freedom come from truth, from following Jesus, not from creating our own identity and going our own way.
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