According to the Barna Group , millennials who stayed in church were "twice as likely to have a close personal friendship with an adult inside the church." That was true for me. Around Christmas in December of 1990, I met Ms. Buckner, who lived down a windy, rural Virginia road. She was an 89-year-old widow. There was, shall we say, a pretty significant generation gap between us. We didn't know what to talk about, so she prayed for me. That prayer time led me to visit Ms. Buckner again two years...
Mar 17, 2022•1 min
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has disrupted the global economy, sparked fears of world war, and pumped gas prices to record highs. There are personal costs, too. Aside from the lives already lost in the fighting, the conflict in Ukraine has revealed a conflict of interest at the heart of an increasingly common practice. In an article at The Atlantic , Alison Motluk described how, in recent years, Ukraine has become "an international surrogacy hub." Prospective parents from the U.S., China, German...
Mar 17, 2022•5 min
John and Shane discuss structural racism, how should Christians respond. They also explore the wide landscape of Disney movies, especially noting recent films that are problematic for a Christian worldview. To close, they field a challenging dilemma from a listener who is weighed down by an in vitro fertilization situation.
Mar 16, 2022•41 min•Ep. 30
In his 1979 book The Culture of Narcissism , sociologist Christopher Lasch argued that as the bonds of religious identity and family erode, Americans were increasingly looking inward for security and meaning. In such a culture, feelings and subjective experiences aren't just considered the most important thing in the world: They're considered the most accurate view of the world. We see that played out today, where special social status is awarded to people perceived as victims. In a secular cult...
Mar 16, 2022•1 min
Sir Isaac Newton, in a letter written in 1675 to fellow scientist Robert Hooke, wrote, " If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants ." Chuck Colson was one of those giants for many of us, and it is our privilege to steward his legacy at the Colson Center. In fact, Chuck believed that his most important legacy, more than any organization or his many books, would be people. That's why he started what he called the Centurions Program, something that continues today under a...
Mar 16, 2022•5 min
According to Pew Research , roughly 79% of Americans agree that there are major differences in the viewpoints held by different generations. The gaps are significant, but there's reason for hope. According to a report outlined in Christianity Today , younger generations are eager for more from church. Evangelicals under 40 are twice as likely as others to say they want more substance from the pulpit. That's one reason why the Colson Center is offering a special tool to help you connect with the ...
Mar 15, 2022•1 min
It's not easy or comfortable to talk about the ethics of assisted reproduction. But too much is at stake not to. Artificial reproductive technologies are fraught with moral, ethical, and practical dilemmas. This includes technologies already widely accepted and practiced in our culture (and even our churches), technologies such as surrogacy , in vitro fertilization , and sperm donation . How these technologies are increasingly employed also goes largely unquestioned. For example, much of the dem...
Mar 15, 2022•7 min
Covenant College Professor of Theology Kelly Kapic has written a new book called You're Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God's Design and Why That's Good News. Nobody likes the idea of "limitations." And that's for obvious reasons. A core piece of the American dream is to always fly higher, do more, and never let up off the gas pedal. As Kelly argues though, we sometimes internalize that idea even as Christians. As a result, too many of us go to bed exhausted and distracted. It's easy to have...
Mar 14, 2022•39 min
According to the Pew Research Center , the U.S. has the world's highest rate of children living in single-parent households. Almost a quarter of U.S. children under 18 live with one parent. Of course, there are many heroic single parents courageously committed to raising their children. Still, decades of research show how costly it is for so many. Children of unmarried parents, on average, do worse in school, have poorer emotional and physical health, are more likely to commit crimes, and are mo...
Mar 14, 2022•1 min
Earlier this year, Kelsey Ichikawa of Nautilus magazine raised an important question: Is virtual reality harming the cognitive development of children? As they grow, kids rely on years of practice to develop basic levels of coordination. The process of "sensory integration," where sight, balance, orientation, and touch are integrated into a seamless neurological experience is a "long and elaborate process of development," writes Ichikawa, "that begins before birth and extends into early adulthoo...
Mar 14, 2022•5 min
Is the invasion of Ukraine a sign of the end times? What are the end times and how are Christians called to respond? John and Maria unpack the Ukraine crisis and how both Christians and the secular world are interpreting the events as an omen of the end of the age. Maria then asks John for clarity on the new Florida bill that protects young children from being exposed to sexual ideology in grade school. John explains the landscape of the culture and how and why many are responding the way they a...
Mar 11, 2022•58 min
Is your worldview big enough? Everything at the Colson Center, from the Point and BreakPoint commentaries to podcasts to Wilberforce Weekend brings clarity on culture from a Christian worldview. But the goal isn't just to think clearly. It's also to live in an intentionally redemptive way. And nothing gets in the way of that more than a truncated view of the Gospel. You might call it a "two-chapter" worldview, one focused only on sin and salvation but doesn't take seriously the biblical realitie...
Mar 11, 2022•1 min
Babies aren't popular, right now. In fact, on average, Americans have never had fewer children as we did in 2020. Of course, that was also the year the pandemic began, something that historically, like war and recession, tends to empty maternity wards. The decline in our nation's birth rate, however, didn't begin with COVID-19, and there's little reason to believe it has turned around in the last year and a half. The current decline goes back a while now, and didn't reverse when the economy boom...
Mar 11, 2022•5 min
There's a religious element to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In 2019 the Orthodox Church of Ukraine officially split from the Russian Orthodox Church. Obviously, the political and religious history of this part of the world goes back far beyond that, but it should be noted that one of the ways Vladimir Putin justified his invasion of Ukraine is by claiming that he was fighting for " the religious soul of Ukraine ." And prior to the invasion, one strong indicator of his ultimate intentions is tha...
Mar 10, 2022•1 min
When the University of Northampton added a trigger warning to George Orwell's 1984 last year, a fresh round of conversations about speech and censorship followed. What do people in a free society owe each other when it comes to our words? What is the nature and purpose of education? Is it possible to have accountability if there's no real debate? Many educational institutions are taking extreme measures to eradicate language they think is problematic. Students at Brandeis University, for example...
Mar 10, 2022•5 min
Listeners write in asking for a framework to teach young people to view the world with a Christian perspective. John talks about credibility, plausibility, and discernment. Then, Shane asks John for a Biblical grounding for Lent and how Christians should approach the season. Another listener writes in to ask for clarity on how BreakPoint recently explained Jesus' humanity and if his body was fallen or perfect. To close, John helps a listener think well on where we find our identity and how to th...
Mar 09, 2022•43 min
America has a real trust problem. We've lost trust in our institutions and each other, and the ramifications for society are immense. Recently a senior partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers wrote in the Harvard Business Review about how businesses should focus on building trust with their customers. A recent survey showed that Americans are wary of trusting companies on issues such as cyber security, employee relations, and transparency. A crutch for many businesses, the author wrote, is not having ...
Mar 09, 2022•1 min
Richard John Neuhaus , founder of the journal on religion and public life First Things, once wrote, "When I meet God, I expect to meet him as an American." The line got him in a good bit of trouble back then, but today he'd almost certainly be accused of being a "Christian nationalist." Nationalism of any stripe has gotten a bad name recently, but especially so-called Christian nationalism . How should Christians think about nations and national loyalty? The first use of the Hebrew word for nati...
Mar 09, 2022•6 min
In 2020, America reached a grim milestone . According to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, 2020 was the first year that more than half of all abortions performed in the U.S.—54%—were done with drugs instead of instruments. That's up from 39% in 2017. Abortion pills are only approved for use before a baby reaches 10 weeks' gestation. Due to COVID-19, prescriptions became available via "telehealth." But how can a doctor verify gestational age without seeing a woman in person? In fact, how is ...
Mar 08, 2022•1 min
Many Christians, rightly concerned about protecting the Church's witness in front of the wider world , have embraced claims about the church that simply are not true. Last week, Pastor Josh Howerton of Lakepointe Church in Dallas shared a fascinating Twitter thread demonstrating that when it comes to the Church's reputation, perception is not always reality. Citing research from the Barna Group and others, Pastor Howerton debunked the popular m yth of the pro-life evangelical who cares only abou...
Mar 08, 2022•5 min
Tony Souder is the founder of the Pray for Me campaign, something being used in over 700 churches to connect generations. BreakPoint writer sat down with Tony Souder this week to hear how his ministry is uniting the church. Kasey also shares how BreakPoint listeners can receive the resources from The Pray For Me Campaign, and bridge generational breaks in their own communities. For more information visit www.breakpoint.org/february .
Mar 07, 2022•25 min
"From Neolithic constructions to atomic clocks, how humans measure time reveals what we value most," writes Clara Moskowitz in Scientific American . She's reviewing physicist Chad Orzel's new book A Brief History of Timekeeping , and her comment is an insightful one. We may not think measuring time is an extension of worldview, but it is. Os Guinness puts it this way: "Accelerated time is one of the primary shapers of our modern world and far more influential than any individual modern thinker."...
Mar 07, 2022•1 min
In his letter to the church at Philippi, St. Paul exhorted the believers there to live lives "worthy of the gospel of Christ.." How Paul goes on to describe that kind of life lived is a bit unnerving, especially in a letter supposedly about finding a life of joy. Such a life, wrote Paul , involves, "striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, not frightened in anything by your opponents…. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but als...
Mar 07, 2022•5 min
What exactly did President Joe Biden say at the State of the Union? John and Maria identify the worldview foundation that President Biden spoke from and how the topics in his speech, ranging from Ukraine to education, reveal important realities about his worldview. To close the show, Maria shares a haunting reality in the Ukraine conflict: Surrogate children conceived for commercial purposes are stuck in a Ukrainian bomb shelter because their paying parents aren't able to reach them. John explai...
Mar 05, 2022•1 hr 8 min
As the world watches Russia attack its neighbor, it's worth remembering that threats to freedom can come from within, too. Scotland's newest Hate Crime Act is aimed at squashing any speech that critiques transgender ideology. Offenders face jail time, for up to seven years , for what's being called "stirring up hatred." Exactly what "stirring up hatred" means , of course, is the problem. Incredibly, the law not only applies to public spaces but to conversations held in one's own home. Many in Sc...
Mar 04, 2022•1 min
Earlier this week, Christians were reminded , by a smudged cross on foreheads and with words first spoken to Adam and Eve, of our mortality : "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." These words, delivered by clergy on Ash Wednesday, are God's words about us, recorded in Genesis 3:19 . Though it's not pleasant to be reminded that we are dust, it is good. Ash Wednesday tells the truth about who we are. The Season that follows, Lent, helps us order our lives around that truth. A...
Mar 04, 2022•6 min
Are we overusing the word trauma ? In a recent article, Lexi Pandell of Vox news notes : "Current cultural references to the word (trauma) have become a mess of tongue-in-cheek and casual mentions, mixed with serious confessions and interrogations of the past." Of course, trauma is a reality, which is why overusing it is so problematic. The undiagnosed shell shock among World War I veterans is a tragic example. Unaddressed, emotional wounds caused by injury, violence, or sexual assault can have ...
Mar 03, 2022•1 min
In Tuesday night's State of the Union address, President Joe Biden told young people with gender dysphoria that he will "always have (their) back." Though he didn't specify what exactly that means, presumably it had something to do with extending Title IX protections to include allowing men full access to women's facilities and sports ; extending mandatory insurance coverage for " gender reassignment" surgeries ; and restricting any counseling, treatments, or public advocacy that does anything l...
Mar 03, 2022•6 min
Earlier this week, Christians were reminded , by a smudged cross on the foreheads and with words spoken first to Adam and Eve, of mortality : "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." These words, delivered to us by clergy on Ash Wednesday, are God's words about us, recorded in Genesis 3:19 . Though it's not pleasant to be reminded that we are dust, it is good. Ash Wednesday tells the truth about who we are. The Season that follows, Lent, helps us order our lives around that tr...
Mar 03, 2022•6 min
John clarifies the role of technology in worldview, specifically how it impacts the Church. He is asked how the Metaverse is problematic for Christianity when people from around the world are able to enter deep conversations inside the faith. Then, Shane asks a listener's question who is wondering if we're missing relevance in the Russian motivation for invading Ukraine. Later in the show, John explains the role of religion in the conflict.
Mar 02, 2022•46 min
