The Eric Metaxas Show - Brant Hansen and Jeff Myers

Episode Date: March 15, 2022

Brant Hansen brings a few words of encouragement from his book, "The Men We Need," and Jeff Myers of Summit Ministries looks into what's happening with the next generation of "champions."

Folks, welcome to the Eric Metaxus show, sponsored by Legacy Precious Metals. There's never been a better time to invest in precious metals. Visit legacy p.m.investments.com. That's legacy p.m. Investments.com. Taxis show with your host, Eric Mettaxas. Folks, this is the Eric Metaxis show. I'm Eric Mattaxas, and I get to talk to fascinating people. I have next to me here. I'm still at the NRB in Nashville, and I'm sitting here with the author of a book called The Men We Need God's Purpose for the Manly Man, the avid endorseman or endorseman or any man willing to show up. The author is Brant Hanson. Brant, welcome to the program.

Thanks, man. I find the term the avid endorsement. Very funny. Very funny. So tell my audience, before I tell them, tell me what is this book about. Well, I'm all for deconstructing masculinity to a point. Yeah. A lot of it's valid. Yeah. Because there's a lot of stuff that you know. It's just like, that's not masculinity.

That's just posing or something. Like when I was flexing earlier? Yeah. And your shirt was in tatters? Yeah. We all remember that. Hey, that was real, dude. No.

And that was, and that was legit. And I'm not taken away from that. Listen, I worked for this body. I'm proud of it. Yeah, you should be. I worked hard for this. Hide it under a bushel? No.

But, but, okay, seriously. Seriously. The book is called The Men We Need, and it's about actual real manhood. I'm taking a shot at constructing something rather than just deconstructing. Because guys do not know, and you know this, especially younger guys. So what is it? We know what we're not supposed to do. We know what's toxic. Got it. Don't want it to be that. Okay, so what's distinct, is there any distinction at all, and what is it? And what I'm trying to say it is is what the job that God gave Adam is keeper of the garden. Right. that's it and that means being a gardener being somebody you not only protect the garden you

don't want to create a space where people are secure around you but you cultivate you help people flourish around you you protect a vulnerable so you don't mean garden necessarily literally no not literally as a metaphor so I don't have to become a gardener to be a real man no no but if I am a gardener I could be a real man you or it could be a wuss gardening has nothing to do with it well you know what okay you make you make actually you slid into an awesome point there. It happens. It happens. That's why I just keep talking.

But the trappings of masculinity, we could be ripped. Like, we could be outdoors. I'm not an outdoorsman. I don't hunt. I drive up. I'm ripped, but it's not like I talk about it all the time. Okay.

You know what I'm saying? And I appreciate the humility. Yeah, exactly. But there's something about, even if you don't, even if you're not great looking or you're strong or whatever, blah, blah, blah, if you're somebody who creates security in your home

or you make people feel safe, around you, women find it really attractive. And I'm trying to... That is so sexist. But please continue. No, it's true. So I'm trying to say, like, there is a story. I don't know if you remember this.

I bet you do. This was in Paris not long ago, maybe two years ago. I know what you're going to say. Go ahead. No, no, I bet you don't. Yeah, I do. There was a kid dangling from a balcony. Never heard of it.

Go ahead. He was a toddler. Yeah. And he was on the fifth story. And this story was fascinating because there was a Malian immigrant, a guy from Malian immigrant, a guy from Mali who started climbing up. It's on video. He started climbing up, swinging from balcony to balcony, like a boss, goes up and rescues this kid.

And I would tell people about this story because I'm like, there's two guys in this story. As people watch this, everybody admires this immigrant and thinks he's wonderful. He was given citizenship to France. There's another guy in the story, the kid's dad, who was inside playing video games the whole time. He was unaware. I got to confess that I was that guy. That was me. That was me.

I can't believe I have a guest on. That's why I am here. I'm speaking negatively about me on my own show. That's why I'm here to confront you. No, but I mean, so this is not a made-up story that this Malian immigrant, like, heroically saves the kid. And the kid's father was inside playing video games. He was playing video games. And so what I'm trying to say, too, is like...

What could be manlier than wasting your life in the dark playing video games? Exactly. So I'm trying to tell guys, like, engaging in real life. You may think, because the ethos, as you know in the larger culture is, as long as I'm not hurting anybody, then it's fine, whatever I'm doing. I can throw myself into video games. I can throw myself into pornography. I can be a shut-in to technology.

This is very normal for guys. Yeah. But what I'm trying to say is, you are hurting people. Yeah. Because we needed you out here. We needed you. You have certain skills that God gave you. Like, you were supposed to be a place of safety,

not somebody who just doesn't show up. Yeah. And people will pay a price because you didn't engage in reality. So that's one thing I'm trying to, especially, encourage people to be thinking through, like, as a keeper of the garden, if you leave your post, you're missing out on your purpose. I didn't mean to use peas there for both words, but it sounds really cool, and I wish I would have thought of it before. That's called alliteration. It is, thanks.

Okay, so the book is called The Men We Need. On the back of the book, it says, have we gotten manhood all wrong? The world needs real men. I wrote a book called Seven Men, where I address this in a different way. I mean, I'm known for writing biographies, but there's seven short biographies of amazing men. And when you read about their lives, it just inspires you to want to be like them. You just can't help it.

You know you're built for something more like that than for, you know, playing video games in the dark while your children die inches away from neglect. It's something, too. Like, you need the positive stories. You need an actual thing to shoot for. And what I'm saying is for a lot of guys, They have the puzzle pieces.

They don't have the box top that shows the big picture. And I do think the idea that you're a keeper of the guard and you're creating security for people. And the thing is even young guys, get this? Like, when my boy was younger, he would pick on his sister, his little sister. And I said, Justice, it's his name, like, you are betraying your role. You're supposed to protect her. Your job is actually to protect.

And so when you're picking on her, you're actually becoming the guy you're supposed to protect her from. And I know even as husbands, like we can become the intruder in our own. Like I would defend my wife. Yeah, but your words are actually making her feel insecure. You're actually now the problem. So I'm trying to get that across to guys. Like this is a, you're creating a secure space as part of who you're supposed to be. So you obviously write books.

You're a radio host. Have you done other things that we should be aware of? Because you seem to know what you're talking about here. I play the accordion. You play the accordion. While people die. You need to drop the accordion and get out into the real world. The non-accordian world.

It exists, man. Check it out. It's out there. It is out there. But actually, to the point, a lot of these books about guyhood are written by guys, like, we're going to get back in the woods and we're going to climb. We're going to hunt elk with our bare hands, that kind of stuff. Like, that's not me.

I literally play the flute. Yeah. Like. Yeah, I think this interview is over, Elbin. Yeah. I really, I will not put up with this nonsense. But my wife. I don't think so.

My wife thinks it very attractive because. You know what? The flute, I'll draw the line at the piccolo. Okay, that's a good point. I will tolerate a man who plays a flute, but not the piccolo. Thank you. I just want to be honest. I'm there.

That's where I draw the line. I hear you. Okay. And I really do want, Eric, I really do want people to understand masculinity. It's like it's not just being all the stuff that's called masculine. Like this is the keeper of the garden thing is the distinction. And I think, and you can do this, whether you're white collar, blue collar, big guy, small guy, old, young. This is who we're called out to be as men.

Even a flutist? Even a floutist. And as a floutist, if I can also be pronounced flutist. I just want to be clear, ladies and gentlemen. But that's not the cool way to say it. These are alternative pronunciations. It is, but it's not the cool way. And he would have done it had he thought of it.

Right. So I guess the idea is that this is the men we need. It's about what it means to be a man in the deeper sense. This is not just the outwards, you know, grow a beard and chop stuff down. Exactly. Right. Not that there's anything wrong with chopping stuff down. Exactly.

Some trees need chopping down. Right. Some beards need growing. but he's got to do it, I'm growing a beard right now. I have an incredible beard, but that's not the point. We don't need to focus on that. We can if you want. But we can focus on that.

We totally can. You're growing a beard right now. But I'm also growing a beard. The difference is that my beard is not showing yet. It's an invisible beard. But in a couple of days, I'm going to grunt out a masterpiece. An invisible beard is a superpower that so few have. And I salute it.

But honestly... Yes, I'm sorry. I think you're going to like the book if you get a chance to spend the time in it because I think you're going to like that it's deeper than the usual stuff. I love the phrase, the avid endorseman. That's very good. That's funny. Okay, you traffic in words, and so do I.

You make it sound vulgar. It does sound bad. Okay, you know what, Albin, I need to go to a break. I need to have some quiet time. When we come back, ladies and gentlemen, Brant Hanson will be gone. Trust me. Hey folks, I've got to tell you a secret about relief factor that the father, son, owners Pete and Seth Talbot have never made a big deal about, but I think it is a big deal.

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This is the Eric Metaxa show, and I lied. Brant Hanson is still my guest under such short notice. We really couldn't find anybody else, so I decided, what the heck. Thank you. We just got another 10 minutes. I'll live. I'll live. Brand Hansen has written a book called The Men We Need, God's Purpose for the Manly Man,

the avid endorsement, or any man willing to show up. Now, you say this in a cheeky way. You're a great communicator. You've got a very popular radio program and a podcast. but you're very serious about this, obviously. I am because my own experience growing up was very suboptimal with my dad. And we did not feel safe. I felt scared all the time.

Okay, now we're getting very serious. I know. Where did you, what part of the country did you grow up in? In the Midwest, Southern Illinois. And so you look, a lot of people have this story. I did not. But, I mean, it's horrifying to hear about these kinds of things. But it's important to understand that this is real for some people, that you grew up with a dad that scared scared you.

He did not, you didn't feel protected. Well, because of the stuff we were going through, when it was a couple divorces and some just, it was scary. But I wanted, I even decided as a kid when I come home, I'm not, I don't want my kids to feel like, oh, no, dad's home. I want them to come running to the door. I go, Dad, Daddy, like, that's what I want. And I did create that space. that did happen. I think it's that important.

And again, I'm saying this as a guy who is not not the outward trappings of a manly man. I can't ride a motorcycle. I can't hunt. What? You can't ride a motorcycle. No. Neither can I.

So it's, it's, it's, it is a heartfelt thing. I tried to. Can you ride a bike? Just barely, Eric. All right. Well, that's, that's good enough. Thank you. And it is a heart.

heartfelt thing, but it's one of those things like, I do think our culture is dying for this. And if you can give guys a picture for what it is, because so many guys don't know, you think they know, they do, but people can't articulate

what it is to be a masculine guy in a, hopefully a way that honors God. And I do think it's the keeper of the garden thing. I do think it's what Adam failed to do when he allowed Eve to have this conversation with a serpent, he's just passive. He's utterly passive. Doesn't defend her,

doesn't get involved, and God holds him responsible. He comes looking for him like, Adam, where are you? How did this happen? Well, what we're really talking about is the idea is that God invented masculinity and men, and he wants men to be masculine. And of course, we've only seen, it's become a pejorative. People conflate the idea of masculinity with toxic masculinity. And of course, They're precise opposites actually. Yes, exactly. Toxic masculinity is the antithesis of actual masculinity. Because it's threatening.

Instead of, like, there would be no need for a Me Too movement if we were masculine in this sense. None. Because we're the people who, our neighborhoods are safer because we're there. Women don't feel threatened around us. They feel secure. And that's why the way we treat women and exploit women is so often evil. it's because we're not defending them and covering them. We are actually exploiting them and treating them as objects.

Well, we've also, let's face it, we've created a culture. I mean, this is kind of how the devil works, right? Like, feminism is kind of a reaction to, let's say, toxic masculinity. Bingo, yeah. But then feminism pushes forward a different narrative where women say, well, I don't want a man to protect me. So the men go, okay, fine, I'm going to step away. And it's just no matter how you slice it,

When you get away from God's plan for femininity and for masculinity, it just leads to pain. Yes, in cartoon versions that lead to pain. And I do think this is, I'm just taking a shot at it. I mean, I can always be wrong. I know that. But I do think this Keeper of the Garden idea has so much there because you're not just defending it like Burley Man. I'm going to defend my family that I own or whatever. No, a gardener allows species to thrive that wouldn't.

thrive in the wild as survival of the fittest. Like, I am doing what I can to cultivate. I want the people around me to flourish. I'm my wife's biggest fan. She's brilliant. So is your wife. I know this too. Accomplish, brilliant. You're her fan. Like, I think that's part of being a keeper of the garden

is the things within it. I love her. I wouldn't call her. I wouldn't say I'm her fan. But I know what you mean. Yeah. I'm for her. You're for her. I'm for her. I love her. And, you know, when you bring this stuff up, it's just so interesting because any time, anybody, anytime a woman says something negative about men generally or a man says something negative

about women generally, I just think that is so ugly. It is so ugly. The idea that there's some battle of the sexes, that is the most dark, broken idea. And a lot of the culture has bought into that, that it's a zero-sum game. We're supposed to love and support each other. And so that's ultimately what you're talking about here. And look, it's beautiful. it's very necessary. And I do think you're right. There are a lot of people that, they just don't, we don't have a lot of healthy portrayals of godly masculinity,

healthy masculinity in the culture. Right, right. Which is why, you know, people like you need to write books like this. In fact, look, you've already written it. I have. And it comes out. In March 29th, it comes out. But I hope everybody orders it and memorizes it.

And then actually, I think each person should buy enough copies. they can build a fort out of the books. What a great idea. Thank you. You wish you'd thought of it. And by the way, if you lay these down outside, it's a great weed killer. Weeds cannot grow up when you lay down books like this. Thank you.

And part of, you know, letting the plants flourish is killing weeds sometimes. Bingo, you've done a good job of bringing the metaphor home. That was my job. You know, also one other thing I do address in the book is guys need to take their take responsibility of their own spiritual lives. And I think it's very difficult for some guys because we're not wired in a way that churches are like try to create an emotional experience or something.

And not all of us are wired that way. I'm not. But what I have understood from the Bible, and I love this, is Jesus doesn't talk a bunch about emotions. He talks about obedience. And there's a lot about just daily loyalty. Like it's said in the Hebrew, but this steadfast believing loyalty, that's what God is looking for.

And I'm trying to tell guys, too, like, that's something we can get. Like, I know I'm a sinner, but I can keep showing up every day and keep talking to God anyway. And understanding that has helped me to take responsibility for my life. And I've been growing as a result of that, just even the last couple years, like, every day, I just know he wants me to be loyal. And once I've done that, I've been able to, he's been able to change me to make me, I think, more what he wants me to be as a man. Hope that makes sense. Now, just to be clear, if people want to, the book, the title of the book is The Men We Need,

and it's serious, but it's also funny. Try to make it funny. You can be funny while you're being serious. I try to do that as well. Sometimes I succeed. But you, Brant Hansen, if people want to find you, how can they find you? Well, there's brantanson.com. Oh, well, there you go.

And also the books on Amazon and all that sort of stuff too. Brandthanson.com. And you do, is it a podcast, a radio program? I don't know. Where do you doing? All of those things. I have a syndicated radio show on Christian music stations across the country. And then our podcast is pretty popular, too.

And we do, it's goofy. It's a lot of goofy stuff. When you say our podcast. Oh, I have Sherry Lynn as my producer, who's brilliant. She's hilarious. By the way, does your wife know about this? I'm sorry? Does your wife know you're doing this podcast with Sherry Lynn?

She's a big fan of Sherry Lynn. Oh, thank God. Thanks. Boy, that would have been embarrassing. This whole interview would just be like so up in smoke. Would have undermined it. We find out. No, so you do a podcast, you've got a radio show.

People can find you at Brant Hanson.com. Hanson is H-A-N-S-E. S-E-N. And so you mentioned how long, when did you get married, and how many kids do you guys think? 32 years. What? Yeah, I know. And my kid, you'll be happy to know.

My son's at med school at Yale. Why would that make me happy? I hate Yale. I know. I know you do. In a good way. I say that in love. Well.

No, but actually the med school is good. So, you know what? The med school is very good. He's a scientist. He just finished his Air Force duty as an intel officer in Afghanistan. So he's a pretty accomplished dude. And he got his degree at Russian history from Berkeley. So he's pretty sharp.

He is extremely focused. And what kind of medicine is he focused on? He wants to be a neurosurgeon for cure. Cure International as he's hospitals. I'm suddenly less afraid to get brain cancer. Isn't that amazing? I didn't think that would happen during the course of this program. No, he is cut out for it, man.

And he's dynamite. And obviously, you're proud. So what a beautiful thing. He got medals for combat from the Army. He wasn't in the Army. What? He was in the Air Force. He got medals from divisions.

I've never heard of this. I'm confused. I'm confused. He's not in. That's my next goal. Yes. He's Jack Ryan. So he's a neat guy.

And I have a wonderful daughter, too. But, you know, he's still defending people. And that neat? Like, it stuck with him. Well, look, it speaks well of you. as a father. And that's a beautiful thing. What a wonderful way to end.

Because, you know, it's one thing to theorize, but to have lived it, to have raised kids. Anybody who raises kids understands there is literally no more important job, no more challenging job that a human being can have. And that's a big part of what you're talking about. Folks, the book is the men

we need. The men we need by Brant Hansen. You can and find Brandhansson at brantanthanson.com. Brandhansson, I'm so glad I didn't, you know, kick you off the show after the first segment. I really think we've turned it around my new friend. God bless you. Thank you, man. God bless you, too. In case you haven't been paying attention, the Biden administration has caused a financial crisis and they have no clue how to fix it. Oil prices have skyrocketed. And when oil prices go up, the cost of transportation and shipping spikes, leading the prices of goods to rise. And when we're already,

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Act IRA where you still own the physical gold. They can also ship gold and precious metal safely and securely to your house. Call Legacy at 866-5281903 or visit them online at Legacypminvestments.com. Folks, welcome back. This is the Eric Metaxis show. I'm playing the role of Eric Metaxis. And I have, as my guest, I'm at the NRB in Nashville. As my guest, Dr. Jeff Myers, who's the president of Summit Ministries,

I have been on your show many times. You have been on this show many times. It's always good to see you. You're an encouragement to me, brother Jeff. Thanks for being here. It's good to see you, Eric. Man, and I love the atheism book, too. I hope you get to talk about that a lot.

Atheism is dead. I've been doing a lot of interviews here at the NRB on that subject. Listen, sometimes when I wrote that book, I have to say, it was kind of like surprising to me. I wasn't planning to write a book on science and biblical gargology. And now that I've written it, This always happens. In retrospect, I think, we kind of need this. It's so encouraging. We need encouragement. I mean, things are so crazy. We need to be encouraged. So, yeah, you interviewed me on your program.

Well, science and biblical truth are two of the, you know, they're two of the big issues. But it comes back to, is there such a thing as truth? That's what the rising generation doubts. And so giving the evidence is huge. Well, that's what you talk about at Summit. And so for people who don't know what Summit is, tell my audience. because a lot of people who won't know. Summit Ministries is the organization that's equipping and supporting the rising generation, young adults, to embrace God's truth and champion a biblical worldview. We're catching them right before they go to college. They've graduated high school.

Their hearts are a little open. They have a lot of big questions about their faith. And we're putting them in touch with great Christian thought leaders who can help them find answers, strengthen their biblical worldview, get a grasp of truth, and then use that to be confident. We want them to emerge as leaders. I mean, college shouldn't be a time that tears you down as a person. It should be a time that prepares you to be a difference maker. And yet for most people who go to college, it is tearing people down.

They do get torn down. I mean, and, you know, the studies on this, you've seen them for years too. Like Scott McConnell's study at Lifeway where he discovered 70% of young adults who are significantly involved in church in their high school years are no longer even attending church by the time they reach their mid-20s. What happens between high school and their 20s? It's college. It's the university experience where it's intentionally set up to try,

to take apart their biblical worldview. Well, look, and of course it's not just a biblical worldview. It goes hand in hand. It is fundamentally anti-American. It is anti-patriotic. I mean, I experienced this, of course, in the 80s. Yale, like a lot of those elite institutions, was at the forefront of this movement. They're basically pushing cultural Marxism.

And to see this having filtered down through the decades so that it's the universal. experience in college, it's astonishing. It's absolutely astonishing. And parents, I think, often have no clue what they're sending their kids into. They just don't have any idea because they're thinking of college when they went to college or when their parents went to college before it went absolutely nuts. Well, cultural Marxists have won in two ways. They've won because their agenda, their worldview is center stage. But they've also won because their approach to culture has won. And that approach is basically, we don't want to share the debate. We don't want to have a debate. We want your viewpoint to be shut down so that ours emerges. This is why Marxists don't get

involved in debates, because if they feel like if they're debating you, then they're giving you legitimacy and credibility. Well, they also don't believe in truth. They believe in power. And this is what's so dramatic. I mean, I think a lot of people, it takes some time to get used to these ideas because they think, I've always lived in a nice America where people agree to disagree. And it's like, well, yes, but there are people that are not on board with that, and they have been pushing an agenda which is against what liberals used to believe just a few decades ago. I mean, it's an agenda that is a, it's a fascist agenda, it's a Marxist agenda. It's a, it's not an agenda that respects difference, but again, why do you respect difference? The reason anybody would say I respect

difference is because you say, well, we respect truth. We believe in this thing called truth. We believe in this thing called truth. And we believe that we can disagree on some stuff, but we both agree on the concept of that we want to know what is true and right. Once that idea gets pushed out, which is, it has been, you don't even have a basis to not cancel. Cancel is the most, you know, you're at war. You're in ideological warfare. And that's basically what cultural Marxism is. And that's what the cancel culture is. But a lot of people just didn't think that could happen in America. No. The beauty of, you know, the beauty of, a biblical worldview and training young adults in it right now is they realize when they go to class

we teach them how to ask questions we teach them how to identify counterfeit world views they are the open-minded ones eric they're the ones who are asking good questions they're the ones who are engaging the class in discussion and it's the professor who's trying to shut everything down so we've found there a lot of our students are having incredible opportunities to stand for truth on their campus because they're the only ones who even believe truth exists well i got to say You know, you have to be insulated from reality to live in a world where truth is an option or truth is an idea that you don't believe in. Because in the real world, you have to believe in it, right? If there's no food, you starve.

If you can't pay your bills, you know, you get thrown out of your apartment. If you live in the world of reality, you're forced to deal with reality, with truth. but if you're in the university system or if you have a job in government, you can be insulated from reality. And you have a place where you can be insulated from reality and from truth and not be forced to deal with the disconnect. Yeah. I think a lot of the, what we try to help our students with is we know their historical facts.

If I said Martin Luther King was killed in April of 1968, nobody would say, well, that may be your truth, but that's not mine. Right. If I said water is made up of two hydrogen molecules and one oxygen molecule, somebody's going to say, well, maybe that's true in your culture, but in my culture, it's different. So we know they're historical facts. We know their scientific facts. The question is really, are there moral or philosophical facts?

Okay. When we come back, I want to follow this line because this is beautiful. Folks, I'm talking to Dr. Jeff Myers, president of Summit Ministries. It's the Erkmataxis show. Don't go away. Hey, folks. If you listen to this program, of course, you've heard me talk. at infinitum about my pillow and my friend Mike Lindell. Well, Mike has just announced that you

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To use the promo code, Eric. Make like a Mr. Milk Toast Folks, I'm sitting here talking to Dr. Jeff Myers, president of Summit Ministries. Jeff, you were just talking about the idea of somebody will say, yes, there are two molecules, two atoms of hydrogen and one molecule, one atom of oxygen in a water molecule. So people don't dispute that. People don't dispute that, you know, eight times eight. is 64. People don't dispute that, you know, Columbus landed in this hemisphere in 1492 for the first time.

So these are facts. Right. But what's interesting is that even when you're dealing with less clear information, people can twist it. But what I notice is that once you allow the kind of woke thinking, the cultural Marxist thinking in, they even begin to forbid those. Like they say that, I mean, look, the Nazis did this. The Nazis said, that's Jewish science. And you think, what do you mean? We're talking about science.

They said, no, that's Jewish science. We've seen this during the COVID madness where people say, well, we're going to follow the science. And then you think, but you're not following the science. You're following a narrative. And so we're in a real crisis where you could say the same thing about journalism, right? The facts are the facts. what happened, when did it happen?

Journalism has been under attack. So this corrosive effect on the concept of truth has come down to the level where it does affect, to some extent, science. Where you're talking about climate change. It's all become politicized. So it's a weird battle that we're fighting. Yeah, I think you're right. And you think about if a scientist is telling you trust the science, but they're giving you political information after a while you become cynical.

Yeah. So, in fact, this is essentially what postmodernism has been. My students are telling me that's the dominant worldview on their campuses, the idea that we should be skeptical of all truth claims because anybody who claims to know the truth is trying to hurt you and control you. So, but we have to start with the realization, just as their historical facts, just as their scientific facts, it is possible to know moral facts. Okay.

So moral facts. Moral facts. Bingo. It is wrong to torture puppies for fun. Yeah. I've never had a professor who would disagree with that. Or it is wrong to torture your professor for fun. Yeah.

All professors disagree. Murder is wrong. Racism is wrong. But the problem is that you and I know why those things are wrong, because we believe in the God of the Bible. If you don't believe in those things, then how can you say anything is wrong? talk about this in my my book is atheism dead we're living in a world that sort of accept some of these things but now when you say okay why they kind of look at you because they have lost the why they have been they have severed the roots to to this book called the bible and and they they just

they kind of act like well what do you mean why just just because they don't they've ceased to think clearly or to be able to think clearly yeah that's why the main battle of our time is not religious versus non-religious. It's truth versus the capital T versus the idea of truths, small T, the truth is socially constructed in our lives. But you're exactly right. Why would racism be wrong? Why is injustice a bad thing? Why should we pursue justice? All of those questions assume that we're talking about the same thing. That there's a way things ought to be because we know what that ought is, so we know when it's not as it ought to be. Well, it is amazing. What an incredible time for young Christians, though, to say, hey, look, you're struggling for your sense of purpose in life.

75% of young adults are. Maybe there's a relationship between this and the idea that you're, you know, it's like going in the wilderness saying the needle's pointing to me, therefore I know where I am. Well, what you guys do at Summit, explain again to my audience that, you know, if they're interested in getting their kids involved, how would they do that and what programs do you have because this is really, it's just a glorious thing that you do at summit. I want people to know about it. Well, we have in-person programs and we have curriculum courses for Christian schools, churches, homeschool groups. But in the in-person program, students 16 to 22 years of age will come spend two weeks with us. They'll spend two weeks with me with John Stone Street from the Colson

Center, Jay Warner Wallace, Cold Case Christianity, Sean McDowell, Frank Turrick, who wrote the book, I don't have enough faith to be an atheist, Dr. Kathy Cook and others. all these thought leaders gathering together to help them find answers to their difficult questions. So what is a biblical worldview? How do we know it's true? What are the counterfeit worldviews you're up against? And how do you engage and live in a world like this? So just to give you a sense of how this works, 4% of young adults who regularly attend church have a biblical worldview, according to George Barna. 4%. 96% of kids who go to church don't know why they're there. Okay. By the time they graduate summit ministries, 86% have a biblical worldview.

Listen, this is pretty important stuff. These facts are important. People need to understand that. It's kind of funny because I've been thinking about this a lot recently. When people say I'm a Christian, it's virtually a meaningless statement. What does it mean, are you living that way? Does it affect how you think about everything? If it doesn't, then I would say, who cares if you're a Christian? I don't think the devil cares. I don't think God is happy. If you simply say that this is a label, but then it's not manifesting itself in any of the way you approach the world around you. That's the key.

Look, one term for that is discipleship. Right? Discipleship. Okay, you say you believe in Jesus. Okay. So now what does that mean? What follows from that? And so we have churches filled with people.

who maybe they're baptized, maybe they say I believe in this, but somehow they ended up stuck. They don't go past that. I wonder how many people in church are there just saying, well, I wonder if the pastor's story helps me better understand my story. If the pastor's truth helps me better understand my truth. What you're looking for from a biblical worldview is, no, what is the truth? I'm not interested in speaking my truth. I'm interested in seeking the truth. There's a huge distinction between those two, and church ought to be the place where people can find answers, not only to those big questions, but what does that look like around the water cooler at work?

What does that look like when you're in your residence hall? All of those places where you're meeting people who don't agree with you is your worldview credible. That's where truth really is put to the test. Well, listen, I love you. I love Summit. Every name you mentioned, I know all the folks involved. people should check you out Summit Ministries

What's the website? The summit.org Summit what could be simpler Summit dot org Jeff Myers Thanks for what you do Thanks for this time Thanks for this time

It's NRB week On this program Even though Albin and I Are done with NRB We're done We were there last week It was dizzying We met so many friends

We have so many things That we will be airing This week Abby Johnson You know her She was in the film unplanned. I mean, that was her life story, I should say. She shares some stuff about her new book and about her life. We'll play that later this week. Truly gripping, amazing. In fact, it's one of

those things I made an immediate note. We need to run this twice. So whenever we run it, if you miss it, we will run it again. It's that good. We have Erwin Lutzer talking about his book. He's always fascinating. But I force him. I always force him to, give us a few minutes of an impression of Billy Graham. Oh, yeah. No one does. It's creepy. It's that good.

So that's coming up this week. We have my buddy Barry McGuire, the car guy. Oh, yeah. Telling the story of a 1901 automobile. You won't believe it. But that's later this week. We have Lucas Miles. Oh, my gosh.

I did a big panel with him. That's another reminder. Sign up at Eric Mataxis.com for my newsletter, because we'll send you all the stuff that I did that's not part of this program. I don't think you want to miss it. The thing with Lucas Miles was amazing. Now, Alvin, I don't want to forget to remind people, food for the poor. We're doing a campaign with them.

We're about halfway through the month and we're way, way behind. I know everybody's distracted with the Ukraine thing or whatever. The kids that are starving in Central America, they are starving whether there's a war in Ukraine or there isn't. They need our help no matter what's going on in the rest of the world. Food for the poor comes to us so that we can ask you to help. So we're asking you to please go to metaxus talk.com. That's the radio show website.

Metaxistalk.com. Not Ericmetaxis.com. That's my website. but Metaxistalks.com at the top of the page, there's a banner you can give monthly. I also want to say that there's a phone number, 844-8663 Hope, 844-8663 Hope. I want to encourage people who can do this to please do this, because I'll tell you what, when something like this is going on in the Ukraine, giving goes down dramatically for things like this. Yeah.

So please, we really need your help. This is serious. This is it. 844-863 hope. Yeah. And we know you don't give to get, but we do have three grand prizes. So give any amount. You put in any amount, and then your name is put into the virtual hat.

And we pull out three names at the end of the month, and we give away three grand prizes with books signed by Eric, books of hamster homes signed by me, and all kind of hats and T-shirts and stickers. so it's a lot of fun to get a big package if you win the grand prize and all you have to do is give anything to food for the poor and you've got to please do it today before you know what i'm holding in my hand here a little book i like to call his atheism dead yeah that's right yeah i like to call it is atheism dead because that's the title of the book you get a signed copy of this magnificent work by the author eric metaxus he's kind of an egghead uh he uh he uh he doesn't really like to appear in public. But he, you know, that's how writers are.

The best writers are, you never see them because they're just writing. When I sign my books, I sign it with a little cartoon drawing of myself. That's hamster homes. And on the other end of the spectrum, there's Albin who, who, okay, so you're going to get a signed copy of is atheism dead, a signed copy of whatever else, Bonhoff or Miracles. I mean, it's like, it's just a tremendous amount of. stuff. Yeah.

And there are three of these grand prizes. All you have to do is go to metaxustalk.com. Give something. Doesn't matter what you give folks. I want to emphasize that. Please give something. $88 feeds a kid for the year. So that's the goal.

But anything like that or call 844-863. Hope. We need your help. We need your help. 844-863. Hope. God bless you as you give.