Why the Traditional Family Is Still Valuable With Tim Wildmon [Podcast]

01/29/18 • 28 min

As a result of this, we have to use the term “traditional” in front of term “family” in order to convey its same historic meaning. But is the traditional family really any healthier or legitimate than other combination of human beings living under the same roof? Others in our society today would say that the traditional family is not any healthier—nor more legitimate—than any other definition of family. If this is true, why should preserving the traditional family be a priority for the citizenry of the United States—or for any other nation for that matter? Tim Wildmon is president of American Family Association (AFA) and American Family Radio (AFR). Tim is the co-host of Today’s Issues, a daily radio program that offers a Christian response to issues of the day. He is also co-host of Christian Worldview This Week, a weekly program that examines social and political issues for Christians and considers how they can become involved. Both programs air on American Family Radio stations across the country. Tim has appeared on Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN. He has been quoted in national newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and numerous other media outlets. He is also frequently quoted by Family News in Focus, WorldNetDaily, SRN News, and USA Radio News. Tim is a frequent guest on local and national radio programs. How Postmodernism Has Impacted the Traditional Family Concept As we have discussed many times before on License to Parent, common sense can’t be common when a society has no common set of standards on which the vast majority of its citizenry can agree. If everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes, which is basically the mantra of the postmodern thought that pervades American thinking today, then, logically speaking, how can you have common sense? Within the greater American culture, common sense can’t exist—unless, of course, we consider the common terms and values among the enclaves or subcultures within the greater American culture. Our own Christian subculture is one example. Some Native Americans or Muslims would have their own common sense values as well. And there are many others. But what is common sense to them may not always be common sense to you and me. So, for the most part, “common sense” for our greater American culture is virtually gone. That has been true in this country ever since the lens of a predominantly Biblical worldview slowly began being exchanged for a lens of a postmodern worldview 50 years ago. We can see what this has done for the definition of family in recent years. I’m looking forward to hearing what our guest has to say about all this. Today, Tim Wildmon and I discuss the definition of “family” as we cover the following subjects: What is the AFA? What is the culture’s definition of a family? How should parents define family? How should parents address their teen’s argument against marriage? The importance of taking “sin” seriously. How do we return to a traditional home? Picture provided by: Virginia State Parks

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Why Parents Must Understand the Multiple Intelligences of Children With Dr. Kathy Koch [Podcast]

It’s argued that all of God’s children have intelligences to offer the world. Knowing how to nurture the God-given gifts, strengths, and intelligences of children can help parents raise them in, what Scripture calls,“the way they should go.” This is the way that will bring them contentment, significance, identity, belonging, joy and the emotional and spiritual well-being to glorify God and benefit everyone they encounter. Now, that’s a recipe for a successful life. Dr. Kathy Koch, the Founder and President of Celebrate Kids, has influenced thousands of parents, teachers, and children in 30 countries through keynote messages, seminars, assemblies, and other events. Dr. Kathy is a popular guest on Focus on the Family radio and other radio talk-shows. She is also an author of six books, including four published by Moody Publishers and two published by Celebrate Kids. Her best sellers are Teens and Screens: Connecting with Our Kids in a Wireless World and 8 Great Smarts: Discover and Nurture Your Child’s Intelligences. Dr. Kathy earned a doctorate in reading and educational psychology from Purdue University in 1984. She was a tenured associate professor of education at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, a teacher of second graders, a middle school coach, and a school board member before founding Celebrate Kids and becoming a full-time conference and keynote speaker in 1991. How Understanding the Various Intelligences of Children Can Help Them Find Their Calling I was in my mid-thirties when Beth and I first felt called to ministry. At the time, the thought of Bible college made Hell feel like a vacation in the Caribbean. The only reason that I was even close to being an average student back in high school was because I had taken classes like drafting, power mechanics, machine shop, and typing. Other than those kinds of classes and sports, I hated every minute of school. So, when, at the age of 34, I had to take an aptitude test to get into Bible college, I scored far, far below sea level. In other words, I had no altitude to my aptitude. In fact, I was so far below sea level that I had to look up to find the ocean floor—and that was covered with whale dung. That’s how bad I scored. It was not only disappointing, it was beyond humiliating. Here I was, telling people that God Himself had called me to ministry, yet according to the way my aptitude was measured, I should actually be in a therapeutic school and program right now, certainly not running one. If it weren’t for a God who measures qualification for His work by a totally different standard and my pastor who saw something in me that I didn’t even see in me, I might be bagging your groceries right now or preparing your hamburgers—not that there’s anything wrong with either of those things. I’ve done both—and pretty well, I might add. Despite my humiliating college aptitude scores and the fact that Beth and I were both working to support our three kids and pay our own way through college, by God’s grace, I managed to be on the dean's list every semester I was in school! I don’t say that to brag. I say that to demonstrate to our listeners and our guest, Dr. Kathy Koch, that what we’ll be discussing today is evidenced in the very guy who will be asking the lion’s share of the questions. Her book is spot on! I just wish my parents and I had access to it about 40 or 50 years earlier. Dr. Kathy Koch and I discuss the various intelligences of children as we cover the following topics: What is Celebrate Kids? What do I do if my child is not making A’s in his classes? How can I cultivate my child’s strengths? How do I train my child to be wise? Why application of truth is so crucial. What are the “8 smarts?” Picture provided by: maxpixel.freegreatpicture.com

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Why the Bible Is a Resource for Parents With Steve and Jackie Green [Podcast]

On top of all this, the Bible is a resource for parents as well. Even though roughly 70,000 books have been written on the topic of raising kids, the Bible has always been a preeminent go-to source for parents worldwide. This has certainly been true for American parents—at least for the first 200 years of our nation’s history, anyway. In more recent times, the Bible has become more of a “dust collector” than a “just director” for American families. To steal a phrase from one popular self-proclaimed parenting expert, “How’s that working for us?” Now that America has become a much more dangerous place to raise our children, perhaps we need to return to parenting by the book—this dangerous book, as some call it. Steve Green is the President of Hobby Lobby, the largest privately owned arts and crafts retailer in the world. His wife Jackie actively supports him in his position at Hobby Lobby and is an adoptive mom who has served on the advisory board of a local crisis pregnancy center. She has also worked with her family in orphanages worldwide. Together, Steve and Jackie have written a book about the Bible called This Dangerous Book. They are also a part of the founding family of the Museum of the Bible. The Museum of the Bible is the largest international museum in the world devoted solely to the presentation and preservation of the Bible. This facility opened its doors in November of 2017, but since 2009, the Greens have been collecting biblical artifacts from all around the world. Today, they possess one of the largest collections in the world. Steve and Jackie provide unique insight and commentary into the Bible’s role in our public and our personal lives. They have been blessed six children and four grandchildren. How the Bible Is a Resource That Reveals a Path Toward Healing When pop-psychologists and traditional approaches to helping troubled teenagers fall short, Shepherds Hill Academy remains a proving ground for the truth and power of God’s written Word to heal not only kids who have one foot in jail or one foot in the grave, but their entire families as well. Incredibly, this is happening for families from all across the country and around the world. While it’s easy to think that the healing is coming largely from Shepherds Hill Academy’s clinical approaches alone, we really attribute the lion’s share of the healing to the truth and power of God’s Word. The clinical team here at Shepherds Hill Academy is just doing what is congruent with what the Scriptures have already been trying to teach folks for thousands of years. One of those things is leading people to healthy and right thinking. Without the Bible, how would we know what healthy and right thinking actually is? The Bible really is the ultimate psychology book. But it is much more than that. It reveals God and His redemptive purposes. It leads us to right “being.” Mental health professionals have their own “bible” of sorts; It’s called the DSM (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). They would say that this is where “right thinking” is discovered. But if things keep going as they have been going in mental health circles in recent times, “Christianity” itself might eventually be found as an actual disorder in their DSM. Today, Steve and Jackie Green and I discuss the Bible as we cover the following topics: Why is the Bible considered dangerous? Who are Steve and Jackie Green? Why is the Bible different from the Quran? What is the Bible Museum? How did the Bible Museum begin? How can the Bible Museum benefit my family? Picture provided by: Chajm Guski