The Institute for Family Studies has published a list of legal and policy recommendations to protect teens from the dangers of social media. Among the recommendations are age-verification laws, parental consent requirements, and shutting down social media platforms at night for teens.
The occult is horrifically popular today: the TikTok hashtag #WitchTok has 20.5 billion views, while psychic services is an industry worth $2.2 billion in the US. By contrast, the Bible emphatically rejects astrology and horoscopes (Jeremiah 10:2), mediums and fortune-tellers (Leviticus 19:31; Micah 5:12), seances (Deuteronomy 18:10-12), and worship of Satan in any form (Matthew 4:10). The reason is simple: the first step into the occult opens the door to all that lies behind it.
According to a new survey by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, at least one-third of senior pastors across the United States believe that people can go to Heaven based on good works.
As New York Times journalists Michael Barbaro and Matt Richtel discussed last week on The Daily podcast, we’re facing an unprecedented crisis in teen mental health.
Yesterday we noted that “the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love” (Psalm 147:11). Here is what he does not “take pleasure in”: the sin of presumption. Today’s stories illustrate the biblical precept, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring” (Proverbs 27:1). Scripture warns, “No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death” (Ecclesiastes 8:8).
Pope Francis’ recent apologies to Canada’s First Nations was a good start to correcting the egregious wrongs done to many indigenous peoples in the name of “Christian mission.” Now, other Christians should follow suit.
Many American schools aren’t succeeding in the basics. In 2015, the U.S. Department of Education found that almost 20% of American high school graduates could not read. In many communities, that number is far higher. This is a moment for Christians to love our neighbors through education, like our forebears did. We should also advocate for new school choice policies, like the one just implemented in Arizona, which allows parents to use their own tax money for the schooling that’s best for their kids. There’s a lot that we can do, and when we do it, we give good gifts to the world. While grown-ups stalk picket lines, there are real kids who need a real education right now. The Church has always been more than up to the task.
Given the clergy abuse scandals of recent years and our declining rate of church commitment, would our culture say Christians are living in ways they should imitate? If not, what moral authority can we possibly claim for calling them to our faith?
Christian artist Cory Asbury recently sparked a social media debate by defending men who paint their fingernails, arguing that Scripture is neutral on the issue.
The church and the state need to step up to help young people struggling with their gender identity. No child should be harmed by state-sponsored lies. No parent should go through what Abigail Martinez -- the mother of a young girl who took her own life after her school secretly helped her undergo transgender treatments -- went through. And absolutely no parent should go through what Abigail Martinez went through alone.
