164. How Can We Find Great Stories for Our Children’s Good?

Many fantastical tales look okay, but may endorse ungodly ideas. That’s why more conservative groups are offering newer fiction to teach your kids moral values. How can Christian parents find the good stuff that will disciple your children’s heads and hearts? In this session recorded live at the March 2023 Teach Them Diligently conference in central Texas, Lorehaven founder E. Stephen Burnett (coauthor of The Pop Culture Parent) explores discernment in light of the gospel, offering practical resources for parents to share the best books and other stories within the body of Christ. Subscribe to Lorehaven middle grade • teens + YA • adults • onscreen • author resources • gifts • guild Episode sponsors Enclave Publishing: Estuary by Lisa T. Bergren The Wizard’s Stone by Herman P. Hunter The Pop Culture Parent Concession stand This audio was recorded live, not at the most recent conferences … But the Teach Them Diligently event near Austin in late March. We get to use this recording thanks to the courtesy of Teach Them Diligently. Also, this happens to help celebrate more family resources at Lorehaven! 1. Find great stories that glorify God. Problem: We may assume we know what great stories should do. Solution: Let’s base our view of stories’ purpose in the Scripture. 2. Find great stories that help children be like Jesus. Problem: Some stories want your child to follow other “saviors.” Solution: Look for stories that help your child worship Jesus. 3. Find stories that help your family build the Church. Problem: Some stories ignore the gospel; others ignore creation. Solution: Seek out stories that help believers disciple one another. Com station David W. Landrum commented on Jenneth Dyck’s article “The Chosen Succeeds Where ‘Woke’ Stories Fail” saying this: I loved the scene after the wedding where Jesus turned water into wine. He and his disciples are going home and some of them are stumbling. Some of them had a little too much to drink. Yep, some of them were drunk! But if the best wine the steward there had ever tasted had been served, that might well have been true. I love the realism, the recognition of his followers as human, and the authenticity of the production. These were real people. We’ve made them into allegorical characters and comic book figures. The Chosen has depicted them as human beings.