5 Toxic Threats to Today’s Grandchildren

Advertisement.

“It’s frightening, Don. I don’t know of any other way to describe it.”

Advertisement.

Those were the words of pioneering Christian apologist Josh McDowell as we discussed an upcoming Encouragement Live radio broadcast, during which we were planning to discuss grandparenting. Josh is the author of over 150 books, including More than a Carpenter, labeled one of the 40 most influential books of the 20^th century. A grandparent himself, Josh has devoted his life to addressing cultural issues from a Christian perspective. We featured a number of his videos in our 16-unit “Grandcoaching” online course which we recently developed and published.

As we talked about some of the toxic threats facing our grandchildren today, I thought back to the time when I was a teenager visiting my grandparents. In those days, one of the biggest threats to teenagers was polio. I remember a close friend of mine came down with it and was confined to an iron lung. Mumps, measles, and whooping cough were also considered threats.

Advertisement.

In the last few decades, social and moral dangers have begun occupying a place of much greater influence in the lives of our grandsons and granddaughters. In the American Family Association’s monthly magazine “The Stand,” AFA president Tim Wildmon wrote, “Modern America… is woefully, morally adrift, having become unmoored from its Biblical anchors under the faithful influence of godless secularism. “

Following my conversation with Josh, I determined to take a survey of our Master Life Coach Training Institute team to ask for their input on what they considered to be the threats of greatest concern to grandparents related to Johnny and Susie. Some of what you’re about to read, you will likely find shocking!

Threat 1: No Absolute Truth

I wasn’t surprised to learn that a majority of our team agreed with the number one threat identified by Josh McDowell. He noted, “When I began writing books on apologetics and defending the Christian faith, people accepted evidence that was rooted in absolute truth. Today, there is no objective truth, only ‘my truth’ and ‘your truth.’ This originated in a paradigm shift in thinking 25 to 30 years ago, and the result was the conclusion that belief should be based on personal opinion. In other words, everything is subjective.”

As I thought through the hazards my own grandchildren face, it seems like every one of them is an outgrowth of this particular threat. This perspective runs against the grain of mathematical absolute such as 2 plus 2 equals 4, and E=mc². To some degree, as Josh noted, this danger required a different approach, one in which he explained, “I need to listen to the other person carefully and creatively and ask clarifying questions. This will result in the likelihood that they will listen to me.”

Advertisement.

Josh had just identified two of the foundational Christian life coaching skills we present in our “Grandcoaching” course: active listening and asking cultivating questions. We use this latter concept in our Grandcoaching curriculum to draw on the analogy of a farmer who cultivates his land to produce a crop.

Josh went on to note, “I frequently ask, ‘What is true for you?’ Then follow that up with, ‘Could I show you something true?’ That often opens the door for me to share the objective truth of the Resurrection using almost anyone’s criteria for truth.”

Threat 2: Politicization & Socialization of Public Education

When you and I went to school back in the day, we studied ‘readin’, writin’, and ‘rithmetic.’ And at times it was taught to the tune of a hickory stick, or a paddle. Recently I heard that the Chicago Teachers’ Union had shifted from an educational organization to a political organization. According to Ted Dobrowski of Wirepoints, the organization’s stated goals involve social justice issues. As he put it, “They don’t really seem to care about education anymore.” To back that up he cited the fact that they had contributed $2.2 million to the Chicago Mayor’s political campaign, 20% of the total raised.

As Tim Wildmon wrote in the article cited earlier, “Modern America…[has] become unmoored from its Biblical anchors under the faithful influence of godless secularism. Through the confiscation of public education, the schooling system has turned into a breeding ground and grooming hatchery of prepubescent and adolescent boys and girls, priming them for a life of unmitigated discontent and distress.”

I remember my first year after graduating from college, an opportunity opened for me to teach seventh and eighth-grade math and English in an Alabama high school. The principal told me early in the year, after observing my Bible on my classroom desk, “I won’t be patrolling the hallway outside your classroom between 8:05 and 8:15 in the morning.” I interpreted that to mean I was free to read to my homeroom students from that Book. And I did so.

Advertisement.

Sadly today, in Wildmon’s words, “Secular government bureaucrats remain fixed on barring spiritual values from public schools, and the Ten Commandments from courthouses and government buildings.” Ironically, the Ten Commandments remain prominently displayed on both the exterior and interior of the US Supreme Court building.

Threat 3: Society-Permeating Sense of Entitlement

For weeks the White House trumpeted a plan to ‘forgive’ nearly half a trillion dollars in student loans, a move identified by many as an attempt to attract voters in the coming election. However, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against the plan, which prompted the announcement of a $39 billion ‘forgiveness’ plan. Like its predecessor, it will likely wind up before the Supreme Court.

This is but one example of many that could be given of a strong predisposition in our society to accept entitlements of all kinds.

Threat 4: The Drug Epidemic

In the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, three children in an area of the public junior high school died as a result of fentanyl poisoning, a scene which is been replicated in communities across our nation. From the Texas border to California, fentanyl and other drugs continue to pour into our country. Rare is the middle school or high school today where Johnny or Susie can readily make a connection to purchase what they believe to be the ticket to a ‘high,’ but what instead could, and in some cases, did lead to death.

Threat 5: Social Media

A number of governments and other entities in the US and other countries have banned the social media giant, Tik-Tok, which has taken young America by storm. According to The Indiependent, the platform’s format of short videos has been linked to decreased attention spans when the app is used for more than 90 minutes a day.”

Facebook, according to an article in The Atlantic, has been shown to produce significant rates of depression, anxiety, and self-injury in teenage girls. Instagram, according to the article, has had a negative impact because of girls’ heightened self-awareness about their changing bodies and social insecurities.

According to my colleague, certified life coach, and psychology professor John Coleman, social media has led the way in the development of two familiar modern concepts which are part of the risk for our grandchildren, Woke and Cancel Culture. The term “‘Woke” comes from a root word that means to be awake and aware of certain things, including cultural issues. It originated in African-American English and gained popularity in 2014 as part of the Black Lives Matter movement. Cancel Culture refers to the practice of boycotting arch meaning individuals who have been interpreted as having made offensive or controversial statements. Examples of Cancerl Culture range from the removal of statues of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln to efforts to “cancel” JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, and Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow.

What can we do?

As I read back through what I have just written, I have become even more convinced that, as a Christian grandfather, I need to be praying specifically for each grandson and granddaughter. For Kathy and me, that also extends to our great-grandchildren.

Advertisement.

But I believe Josh McDowell put his finger on an important part of the answer when he said, “We must communicate truth in the context of relationships. Only in relationships can we build a foundation for the truths to be accepted and believed.”

Truth in the context of relationships. That’s what our 16-unit online Grandcoaching course is all about. Why not check it out at www.grandcoaching.org.