fbpx

Natasha Crain On Parenting: ‘We Need To Learn How To Think From A Biblical Perspective’

Photo from Natasha Crain’s Instagram

Natasha Crain On Parenting: ‘We Need To Learn How To Think From A Biblical Perspective’

By Movieguide® Staff

Apologist and author Natasha Crain recently sat with Kirk Cameron on the TAKEAWAYS podcast to discuss the importance of discipleship in parenthood.

Cain and Cameron share a passion for encouraging children to continue on in their faith. But current culture seems to ignore the biblical mandate of Proverbs 22:6, which reads: “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

“Research shows that somewhere between 60% and 90% of kids who grew up in Christian homes are walking away from their faith by their early 20s,” Crain told Cameron. “This has been confirmed by multiple studies over time, [but] sometimes parents just think, ‘Oh, that’s just an alarm statistic.’ But no, this has been really well documented. The million dollar question is why does this happen?”

“I would say, the very root of the problem is discipleship,” she added. “We are not discipling our kids as Christian parents, in the way that we are called to. Too many Christian parents think, ‘Well, if I just take my kids to church each week and if I take them to some youth groups and we do some devotionals at home we kind of check these boxes off and [say], ‘My kids are going to grow up and they’re going to be a Christian, they’re going to love the Lord.’ But that’s not enough today, it’s not supposed to be enough. We’re supposed to be giving our kids a much deeper understanding of their faith.”

Cain said those spiritual roots are essential due to culture’s anti-biblical stance on many of today’s hot-button issues like abortion, race, guns, and sex.

“When kids are growing up in a culture like this, that’s increasingly hostile to Christians and Christianity, they’re going to need some really deep roots if they’re going to stand firm. People today aren’t just saying, ‘Oh, Christianity, that’s just false, that’s a bunch of myths’—they say that—but they also say, ‘Christianity is bad, it’s harmful, we have harmful beliefs that hurt other people,'” Cain said. “We have a lot that we have to be able to stand up to today, both emotionally and intellectually, and this is something that parents, overwhelmingly in my experience, are not preparing their kids for.”

“I think it starts with just affirming that it is something that we should be concerned about,” she added of present social issues. “We as Christians love people and we are concerned about the issues that face them, specifically, because we are all image-bearers of the great God.”

“We all have this inherent value because God imbued us with this value and we are all equal,” she continued. “Therefore, Christians love people.”

Cain added that it is not enough to care for other people but that we must love according to God’s definition and not the world’s.

“We do care about these issues and we do need to be talking about them but we have to be careful to distinguish a concern and a love from agreeing with the world on how to approach these questions,” she explained. “The secular culture will tell you if you love someone you will love them in this particular way, it’s not just love them in some way, it’s you must agree with what it means to love according to man’s standards.”

“That’s the secular view of love,” she added. “But a Christian view of love is not that. We want for others what God wants for them, whether or not they want that for themselves. That’s a huge distinction that kids need to understand when addressing all of these hot-button kinds of issues.

“We need to learn how to think from a Biblical perspective and that’s something that doesn’t just happen by memorizing the Bible verses on Sunday at Sunday school,” she said. “Kids have to be trained to think in  these ways, they have to be trained how to take what they understand from the Bible, from God’s eternal truths, and to think in light of that. If we don’t, the world will train them on how to think, and that’s not going to be from a godly perspective.”

Watch the full interview:

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.