In her newest book, The Toxic War on Masculinity: How Christianity Reconciles the Sexes , bestselling author and speaker Nancy Pearcey explains how secularism has villainized the concept of masculinity. For example, one media researcher analyzed more than 2,000 mass media portrayals of men and found that more than 75 percent of all media representations of men portrayed them as “villains, aggressors, perverts, and philanderers.” How did we get here? How did we get to the point where men are seen...
Jul 11, 2023•55 min
How you educate your child should be a very intentional choice--certainly not something you default into just because you haven't considered the various options available. But how is that decision best made from a Christian worldview perspective? In Part 1 of this episode, I walk through 6 key principles to keep in mind, followed by my thoughts on and experiences with homeschool in particular. In the next episode (Part 2), I'll go on to talk about Christian private school and then public school....
Jun 13, 2023•41 min
Today I have the honor of talking with someone who I think is one of the best, if not the best, Christian models of navigating this tough culture with grace AND truth. Dr. Sean McDowell is a gifted communicator with a passion for equipping the church, and especially young people, to make the case for the Christian faith. In this episode, we go deep into the question of how we can better balance grace and truth in our interactions with a hostile culture--and also in our interactions with fellow b...
Mar 28, 2023•57 min
Cultural Marxism. Equity. Socialism. DEI. CRT. Anti-Racism. Collective Guilt. Christians can no longer stay silent about the divide between the Bible's truth and the world's lies. In today's episode, I talk with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, pastor emeritus of The Moody Church, where he served as senior pastor for 36 years. Dr. Lutzer clearly explains the most prevalent lies today and walks through the reasons we should have the courage to proclaim truth. MENTIONED IN THE SHOW: Get Dr. Lutzer's book, No Rea...
Mar 14, 2023•46 min
Jesus wants us to be humble, but we can misunderstand the nature of that humility and start to believe the world’s claims that we’re being arrogant about things that we’re not being arrogant about. In this episode, I walk you through how to respond to charges of moral arrogance ("Who are you to judge?"), epistemic arrogance ("Who are you to be so confident that you know what’s true better than others?"), and biblical arrogance (“Who are you to think your biblical interpretation is better than mi...
Feb 13, 2023•23 min
The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is a popular and fast-growing new movement of Christians who emphasize signs and wonders and teach that God is giving new revelation through new apostles and prophets today. Some churches associated with those teachings have even become household names—you’ve probably heard of the widely influential Bethel Church, for example. But are NAR teachings consistent with the historic Christian faith? That's the question my guest today, Holly Pivec, seeks to answer in...
Nov 03, 2022•1 hr 8 min
In today’s secular culture, there is a lot of popular-level wisdom that passes as self-evident truth we should all just accept--statements like live your truth; you are enough; authenticity is everything; God just wants you to be happy; you shouldn’t judge. These are claims about reality that sound good…but are they really good when we define good by the standard of God’s Word? In today’s show, I’m welcoming back my friend Alisa Childers to talk about the lies we hear in culture and how secular ...
Oct 18, 2022•1 hr 12 min
If you have followed my content for any amount of time in the last year, you have heard me talk repeatedly about the jarring statistics related to the shrinking percent of Americans who have a biblical worldview. I’ve written and talked about a lot of different studies and numbers, but two of the most pertinent data points are these: 65% of Americans self identify as Christians, but research on people’s actual beliefs and behavior shows that only about 6% have a biblical worldview. This huge gap...
Sep 12, 2022•1 hr 7 min
There is a crisis of homelessness happening across the country, and many Christians wonder what can and should be done. This is an important question because not all attempts at helping the homeless are equally beneficial nor are they equally consistent with a biblical worldview. Bryan Crain, Chief Operating Officer of the Orange County Rescue Mission, joins me to discuss what helping the homeless looks like from a biblical worldview perspective, how that compares to secular homeless program mod...
Sep 02, 2022•1 hr 47 min
Not only is mainstream media no longer trying to be objective, but they’re also openly advocating for specific viewpoints. And not only are they openly advocating for specific viewpoints, but they’re also strategically manipulating public thought. In this episode, I break down five implicit messages that mainstream media trumpets to push culture toward a uniformity of thought that's nearly always at odds with a Christian worldview. Mentioned in this episode: My newest book, Faithfully Different ...
Aug 03, 2022•17 min
There are few things more controversial than whether Christians should be involved with politics, and if so, to what degree and how that involvement should happen. In this episode, I break down two basic premises for thinking well about this subject: 1. Christians have the right, politically speaking, to advocate for our views in the public square. 2. Christians have the calling, spiritually speaking, to advocate for the good of others. I then respond to seven problematic ideas on the topic foun...
Jun 15, 2022•38 min
My guest today is the best-selling author and nationally known speaker Dr. Frank Turek. Frank has a fascinating new book out called Hollywood Heroes: How Your Favorite Movies Reveal God . Hollywood Heroes shows how our culture's favorite movie heroes are patterned after the ultimate hero—Jesus of Nazareth— and how the stories we see played out on the big screen parallel the real-world fight between good and evil. This is a unique and powerful book for starting faith conversations with people you...
May 02, 2022•45 min
Author, speaker, and podcaster Alisa Childers joins me to discuss a series of popular ideas found in progressive Christian writings, using the recent bestselling book If God is Love, Don't Be a Jerk by John Pavlovitz as a case study. We explain why each idea is in conflict with a biblical worldview for those who accept the inspiration and authority of the Bible as God's Word. Mentioned in this episode: My newly released book, Faithfully Different: Regaining Biblical Clarity in a Secular Culture ...
Mar 01, 2022•1 hr 30 min
This weekend, Saturday Night Live cast member Cecily Strong played a character called Goober the Clown who had an abortion when she was 23 and now talks to people about how normal abortion is in between clown jokes. Every single one of us should be asking how on earth we, as a culture, have arrived at such a moment. Here's my answer. Mentioned in the episode: Faithfully Different launch team details and application link: https://natashacrain.com/join-the-book-launch-team-for-faithfully-different...
Nov 11, 2021•15 min
There are plenty of high profile cancel culture examples that grab sustained public attention, but it’s the everyday cancel culture that picks off person after person without national attention that’s far more insidious...because the cumulative seriousness of what’s happening isn’t obvious to many people. In this episode, I discuss a recent example and walk through three things every Christian should understand about the fast but quiet creeping of everyday cancel culture. Mentioned in the episod...
Oct 20, 2021•20 min
When parents start to see the importance of teaching their kids apologetics (how to make a case for and defend the truth of Christianity), they often start reading books but then feel stuck as to HOW to pass the knowledge on to their kids. At what age do you start? What if your kids aren't interested? What subjects should you cover? What subjects should you start with? What if you can't answer the questions that come up? In this episode, I cover all kinds of ideas for how to make apologetics par...
Aug 24, 2021•1 hr 16 min
Have you noticed how any view that doesn't track with the mainstream secular consensus today is considered "extreme"? Even Facebook is now encouraging people to report when they've been exposed to so-called "extremist" content. While it used to be that extremists were those who committed ideological acts of violence, today extremism is increasingly being defined with respect to how far a view lies from popular consensus. And guess what? Christians with a biblical worldview fall squarely in the n...
Jul 28, 2021•15 min
There’s something that often goes unsaid in discussions about the importance of critical thinking: Not everyone we interact with will actually VALUE good logic and critical thinking. Many people think emotionally rather than critically and that has a lot of implications for Christians engaging with culture. It’s not enough to learn to think well...we have to learn how to think well AND how to deal with the fact that a lot of people don’t CARE about thinking well. In this episode, I highlight eig...
Apr 20, 2021•24 min
If you spend any time around Christians, you’ll hear about the “hope we have in Jesus.” But we’re often trying to offer people (including our kids) something they’re not even hungry for. In this episode, I share why kids need to more fully understand the true hopelessness of the world in order to hunger for the hope we have in Jesus. Resources mentioned in this episode: My book, Talking with Your Kids about Jesus . Original article: " One of the Greatest Gifts to Give Your Kids This Easter is a ...
Apr 01, 2021•13 min
In an opinion piece for The New York Times titled, “ Progressive Christians Arise! Hallelujah! ” Nicholas Kristof made the case this week that “with a churchgoing Democrat in the White House, faith becomes more complicated in America”…and that that’s a good thing. In this episode, I explain why that's NOT the case, and break down Kristof's article point by point. This is an audio version of my blog post, "No, The Growth of Progressive Christian Politicians is Not a Good Thing for America [A Resp...
Mar 23, 2021•19 min
There are a lot of competing ideas in today's culture, and it's important that Christians understand how to think critically about the nature of these ideas from a worldview perspective. In this episode, I explain THE most important thing that separates a biblical worldview from a secular worldview and give several examples of how to respond to common secular sentiments accordingly (for example, "Don't you want to be on the right side of history?").
Mar 17, 2021•39 min
The idea that Christians need to fix a growing reputation problem in our society is becoming increasingly common in conversations on social media and even in articles by well known Christian leaders. The assumption is that we’ve collectively gone wrong in recent months (or years), and now we’ve got to quickly do something about it…before the world thinks even worse of us. In this episode, I explain why I think this is wrong-headed and dangerous. This is the audio version of my blog post found he...
Mar 05, 2021•12 min
Most people would spot a problem immediately if a Christian influencer said they didn’t believe in the Trinity. But it’s just as important to be able to identify when less obvious warning signs are present. In this episode, I share 10 subtler things to watch for. [Episode based on my viral blog post, "10 Signs the Christian Authors You're Following are (Subtly) Teaching Unbiblical Ideas."] Articles mentioned in the show: Girl, Wash Your Face? What Rachel Hollis Gets Right...and Wrong Is How We L...
Feb 25, 2021•15 min
More parents than ever are considering alternatives to public school. In particular, many are weighing the relative benefits of Christian private school and homeschool. In this episode, I share about our family's six years of experience in Christian private school and what it's like to transition from a traditional school setting to homeschool (which we did this fall). If you're considering one or both options, this show will help you think through key questions before making a decision. Additio...
Feb 17, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Skeptics often claim that the miracles in the Bible defy common sense--that any reasonable person should see that such claims are unreasonable in nature. Christians must understand how to think critically about the nature of and evidence for miracles, but this is rarely something addressed in church. In this episode, I walk through a 10-point framework for both adults and kids to better understand how to approach this important subject.
Feb 05, 2021•20 min
Teaching kids about non-Christian worldviews is mission critical for giving them a deeper and richer understanding of their own faith. In this episode, I explain three key things kids should know about the nature of studying world religions before you even start discussing, and three “best practices” from my own experience for how to discuss the particulars of other religions.
Jan 29, 2021•33 min
America is in a moral, spiritual, and political decline. How do you share what's going on so your kids are informed and understand what's happening from a biblical perspective, but in a way that won't overwhelm them? In this episode, I share key tips for talking about issues in each area--moral, spiritual, and political.
Jan 22, 2021•37 min
