Vol. 3, Issue 05 | February 3, 2017

Three Things This Week

1. This Is Us

What it is: New show on NBC that highlights the power parents have in influencing their children, for better and for worse.

Why it's important: CNN says it is a “rare drama that dares to be delightful”. For years, TV has cast family as either the problem (Seinfeld) or something to be altogether ignored (Friends). This Is Us is a deep dive into the love, joy, struggle, pain, and journey of doing life together as family. It’s real, often raw, but for a change it paints parenting and family life in a positive light.

2. Sex Ed By PornHub

What it is: With 70 million daily users, pornhub is creating a “sexual health center” targeting young viewers to teach them about “love, sex, and intimacy in a healthy and holistic way”. Yeah right.

Why it's terrible: A British survey found that 60% of college students use porn as their main source of sex ed, which is terrifying because porn is inherently violent, predatory, and misogynistic. Discuss the five lies porn teaches with your teen. Finally, be brave. You must be the source of your child’s sexual education, not Pornhub. Remember, one conversation isn’t enough, engage with your kids in an ongoing dialogue about the joy, boundaries, and meaning of human sexuality. Watch this interview with Dr. Juli Slattery (Parenting Teens Summit) to help you start the conversation.

3. Parenting Teens Conference

What it is: Axis is hosting a free, online parenting teens conference starting this week and lasting throughout the month of February!

Why it's important: We’ve assembled a stable of experts (Ravi Zacharias, John Eldredge, Dr. Kara Powell, Dr. Tim Keller, Jessie Minassian, and more) to help you start conversations with your teens about gender identity, calling, racism, doubt, sexual purity, time online, social media, and discipleship. Claim your free ticket here!

Join us for our next parent webinar: http://axis.org/webinar-registration

Sanctity of Life

Last Friday’s March For Life in Washington D.C., as well as President Donald Trump’s recent Supreme Court nomination are giving evangelicals hope in the fight against abortion. Even better, while young voters are overwhelmingly “liberal” in regards to gay marriage or drug legalization, 53% of millennials believe abortion should be illegal, even though they do not necessarily identify with the political version of the “pro-life” movement.

While mom and dad ardently oppose abortion, this younger generation of believers see the refugee crisis, sex trafficking, health care, and racial injustice as “pro-life” topics as well. We think they are both right, but the solutions aren’t simple.

What an incredible opportunity to discuss these complex issues as a family! We need both generations to come together to realize that a robust theology of life includes both the born and unborn, it means solidarity with the sufferings of the poor and the vulnerable. It means remembering that Jesus himself was the child of impoverished Middle Eastern parents fleeing infanticide. Help your students understand that to be “pro-life” means the “both and” of the movement, that we first care that the child is born, and then that she is fed, housed, and educated. And ultimately, that we as Christians will be brave enough to see the inherent value in every human life no matter their race, religion, or circumstance. As Deuteronomy 10 reminds us:

“The Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality... He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.”

Join forces with your teens to tackle these issues by doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly before your God. Being completely pro-life means valuing, protecting, and sacrificially serving all lives save one, your own.

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