Generations Radio

Teach Your Sons to Work The real estate debacle. The banking crisis. The rise in unemployment. An impending recession. All of this has got us wondering what it really takes to put together a strong economy. In this program, Kevin Swanson unveils the secret to building the best economy in the world. Economics textbooks aside, it's really not all that complicated - fear God and keep His commandments. Great economies are built by families who know how to work, and who will invest the thousands of hours and 15-20 years required to train their sons in the character trait of diligence. Nations are built, one son at a time. And nations come apart, one son at a time.

A Ministry of Criticism? More intolerance towards intolerance in Canada! The Canadian government shuts down a Christian ministry for being too critical of other religious sects (like Pharisees and Sadducees, for example.) This spawns a conversation on the role of criticism in Christian ministry. What is the use of it, and what is its limitations? At what point does a critical spirit undermine humility and grace? These questions are addressed in this broadcast of the Generations Radio program.

Trashing Francis Schaeffer's Legacy When Frank Schaeffer, son of the famous evangelical thinker, Francis Schaeffer, calls his father's writings worse than Barrack Obama's pastor, Jeremiah Wright's rantings, evangelicals were taken back apace. Now seen as an "agnostic," Frank Schaeffer is leading the pack of those apostatizing from the Christian faith. He's also released a popular book that rags on his parents and his parents' faith, called "Crazy for God." In this segment of Generations, Kevin Swanson compares the beautiful legacy of generational faithfulness with the shameful and destructive effects coming from generational apostasy. Throughout history, the greatest men and the most infamous are often linked to a heritage of faith. But how does it happen? How do children walk away from the faith? We've seen it happen, and the results are devastating. Here are some powerful historical observations to which the prudent should take note.

Emotional Shepherding What has happened in the modern world? Are we producing generations of emotionally-scarred, nurture-starved children? The inclination to brood over the egg has been bred out of the hen. Now has nurture been bred out of women as they are raised in nurture-less institutions to be nurture-less? Affection and emotional nurture is key in the life of a child and should be a constant throughout the day from mother and father. Vast differences develop between children who are raised in the cold, institution, and children who are raised in a warm nurturing environment. How are you raising your children? How were you raised?

Betty Freidan vs. God We wade into the controversial question of daughters and college in this segment of Generations, asking the simple question, "Does the average college prepare daughters with a biblical world and life view, with biblical normative roles?" Being careful not to "decide" the issue for parents, he challenges families not to passively accept the Betty Freidan and Gloria Steinem philosophy on gender roles. He insists that Christian parents should re-assess God's vision for daughters and start getting a little more creative in the academic preparation of their daughters, rather than naively assuming that the college paideia will de facto support that vision.

Keeping our Sons Out of It Christianity Today reports that seventy percent of American men ages 18–34 view internet pornography once a month, and the numbers aren't that different for professing Christians. The problem is intensifying among our youth. A recent survey done by the University of Alberta finds that boys in rural areas are far more likely to have a problem with porn that boys in cities. In this segment of Generations, Kevin Swanson defines the biblical principles relating to purity, modesty, and sexual desire. This leads into some practical directions on training our young boys in self-control and sexual purity.

Why People Get Discouraged and Quit About 50% of those who start homeschooling get discouraged and quit. It's always so much easier to put the children back into the big, monolithic, professionally-run public schools, paid for by 500 billion tax dollars. In this edition of Generations, two experienced homeschool dads talk about the commitment to homeschool, the challenges for moms, and the support that dads should pay to the program. As it turns out, in due season you do reap a wonderful harvest, but only if you don't faint in the process.

Reviving Generational Continuity The Pew Forum released a study last week, pointing out that the Christian faith is dying in America. Since 1970, the younger generation is dropping out of the Christian church, and America follows directly in the path of Europe. Children are not following in the faith of their parents. But a new kind of church is forming in America that promises to address the 80% problem (where 80% of children from Christian families walk away from the faith.) These churches are reviving generational continuity, fatherhood, home discipleship, and shepherding. In short, they are bringing relationships back in a cold, institutionalized, programmic world. In this edition of Generations, Pastors Henry Reyenga and Dave Feddes talk about the development of home discipleship churches in the state of Illinois, and how this is radically changing the heart of the church in one state.

Christians and Politics Should liberals be afraid of Christians who want to take over the world? Some Christians do believe and act as if a biblical system of social reform comes primarily by government intervention. This, of course, is not a biblical worldview. This would be the socialist worldview. Nevertheless, every true Christian ought to apply God's law to every area of life including family, church, and state - and this should yield something far less tyrannical than the kind of civil government we see operating in most western nations today. Kevin Swanson interviews the Editor of Faith for All of Life Magazine, Christopher Ortiz on the true nature of the kingdom. Does it include politics? Is it primarily the church or is rooted in the family? Today's Generations broadcast addresses the more fundamental issues, and every Christian should be well equipped with the answers.

Serving Angels Unawares Part of a biblical vision for the household includes this vital area of hospitality. How do we train our sons and daughters to effectively serve others and love the traveler, the stranger, the brother, and the occasional angel? As we rebuild relationships in family and church (in a lost and lonely world), hospitality will play a vital role in this transformation. Two homeschool dads, Mike Cheney and Steve Vaughan join the Generations program for part 2 of a discussion on this important area of family ministry.