The Eric Metaxas Show - Sean McDowell

Episode Date: April 23, 2021

Sean McDowell, co-author along with his father, Josh McDowell, of the newly expanded, "Evidence That Demands a Verdict," discusses yet another book, "Chasing Love: Sex, Love, and Relationships in a Confused Culture."

Mettaxas show with your host, Eric Mettaxas. Hey there, folks. This is the Eric Metaxe show. I'll be playing the role of Eric Metaxis. And let me ask you, have you heard of Sean McDowell? I've heard of Sean McDowell, but Sean is a big nobody to me because he's just the son of the guy whose books changed my life. So, Sean, I just want to introduce you in the most passive, aggressive way possible. Welcome to my program.

Eric, thanks for having me on. It's a treat. Now, I should be clear, your father's Roddy McDowell. Is that correct? Planet of the Apes? You know, somebody asked me one time if my dad was Roger McDowell, who I think was a baseball player. And I was like, no, actually. That's the first time someone got it wrong. What is your father's name for the people who are watching who don't know? It is the author and speaker, Josh McDowell. Your father, Josh McDowell is a real hero to me. So it just, it blesses me to think that you're following in his footsteps in so many ways.

And do people tell you that you look like him? Like, sometimes you just see, you know, genetics. You know what? Sometimes. Usually when I speak and I'm on stage, people are like, I see your dad's mannerisms and passions and thinking coming through for the most part. Well, just to be clear, you've got a whole career of your own. You teach it by Ola. you've got a popular podcast called Think Biblically.

You've got three kids. And you have a new book out. It's called Chasing Love. I want to talk to you about that. It's called Chasing Love, Sex, Love, and Relationships in a confused culture. So first question, Sean. Why did you decide to write this one? The biggest reason was Scotty, Shane, Shauna, and Jeremy.

these are the kids who are in my home. And I see the messages they are constantly getting from Netflix, from TikTok, from their friends, from the educational system. And to understate it is nonstop flow of secular ideas that are against and undermine a biblical worldview. And frankly, I couldn't find a book that I thought was up to date that spoke the truth about some of the most pressing issues related to sexuality today, whether it's sex abuse, pornography, the LGBTQ conversation, but did it in a gracious, loving way, which is, I think, what Jesus modeled. So that was the first reason. The second is just all the students that I work with. I teach high school part-time, full-time at bio with grad students, and I teach an undergrad class, and in just seeing over and over again, and the data backs this up, that even the best kids

in our Christian homes, in our churches, kids who are homeschooled, have much more of a secular worldview on relationships than they do a biblical worldview. So this was one way for me to help parents, teachers, and students to see that the biblical worldview on sex is not only good, but it's true. Well, listen, it's one of the reasons that I love you and what you do because there's nothing more important than this. I resonate with that. I'm, you know, I'm a citizen of the culture, the messed up broken culture. I live in New York City. And you're right. The messages that we get, whether it's from Hollywood, wherever you look, it's a secular world view, including from Christians oftentimes. In other is, they have basically, they've drunk the Kool-Aid. They're not even aware that they think about

these issues in a way that's not scriptural. So let's talk about that. I mean, you know and I know that a loving God doesn't give us rules because he's a mean dad. He gives us rules because he loves us more than we can imagine. So what are some of the things that you say in the book, chasing love that we should talk about. Well, the way you frame that, I think, is absolutely correct, that the heart of the question for a young person is, do they believe that God is good and worth listening to whether they understand his commands or not? That's the key question.

So I've always wondered, and I know you thought about this, too, like, of all the commandments in the garden, why was the commandment not to eat fruit? because fruit is made to be eaten, and it says when you read Genesis 3 closely that the fruit looked good, it appealed to their senses. It's in the middle of the garden. It's almost as if God is setting them up for the failure. Why didn't God say, Adam, don't kill Eve? Like, that would be a really easy command. That's very funny in a weird way, right?

Because whenever God says, whenever anybody says, don't do something, immediately you think, about doing it, even if it hadn't occurred to you before. So when he says, don't eat that fruit, your first question is, wait, what? What do you mean? Which fruit? Why? So, yeah, yeah. Well, and I think that's why.

And the heart of it is there wasn't the temptation to murder Eve because she's the only human being. And Adam was pumped when she showed up, but there was a temptation to eat the fruit. So why, I think the reason is, is if the finite is going to be in a relationship with the infinite, created with a creator. there's half, they're going to have to be some trust where we look out and go, I don't understand, but I believe God is good and I'm willing to listen to him. So Satan didn't say, ah, God doesn't exist.

He questioned his character. So kids today are looking out at arrangement of different sexual and marriage and romantic identities. And they're thinking, well, that looks good. That looks fine. Those people seem happy. The heart of the question is, is God. good, are his commandments good? And that's why in Psalms 19, David says he rejoices in the law of the Lord. And that's why, Deuteronomy 10, Moses says, these commandments I give you are for your good.

So I frame this book by saying to students, do you believe you can trust God's character, even if you don't understand why he gives certain commands? That is, that's beautiful. That's just a beautiful idea, because it really does ask the most important question. Do you know who God really is? Do you know that he loves you? Do you know that he wants to bless you? Any of us have kids? You said, how many kids do you have three, four? We have three and then another kid we basically adopted. I love it. Well, so you know when you tell your kids something as a loving parent, you would do anything for your kids. And so when you know that you would die for them, it gives you a moral authority over them. So the question is,

do they get that? Do they know that you would die for them? Do they know that you love them? If they know that, it changes everything. And I think you're right that I think a lot of young people maybe aren't clear on who God is. They think of, you know, he's trying to prevent me from having fun. On the contrary, he's trying to prevent you from harming yourself. Well, so the ethic of the sexual ethic of Jesus, as you put it. What is that? Why do you call it the sexual ethic of Jesus? What is it? Yeah, so this is a great question. Jesus basically said there's two equal, good, beautiful ways to love God and love other people. That's singleness and that's marriage. Now, marriage is one man and one woman who become one flesh for a lifetime. That's the sexual ethic of Jesus. Either honor God and love others through singleness, which

Jesus was and Paul was, or through marriage, again, one man, one woman, one flesh, one lifetime. That's the sexual ethic of Jesus. So I find it interesting today that so many people today are pushing a different narrative about sexuality. I'll often say, so you know better than Jesus, the most influential moral teacher through the history of the world, shouldn't that at least give us pause, even if you're not a Christian, to change how we understood marriage? Now, the way I try to portray this to students, Eric, is not only do I want them to know that God is good, I want them to know that God's commandments are good. So I went to the whiteboard recently, and I wrote up on the board to my students, I said,

if everybody followed the sexual ethic of Jesus, what would result from this? Would society be better or would society be worse? And these 16, 17-year-old students started come back with the answers that I know you see. One student goes, well, there'd be no sexually transmitted disease. diseases. Another student said, well, there'd be no sex abuse. There'd be no abortion. There'd be no crude sexual humor. There'd be no divorce. There'd be no dads leaving their wives for, you know, some younger trophy wife. Kids would be loved and cherished and culture would be objectively better. So I think it's important to understand what Jesus taught why and how it actually would

help us flourish better as a society living out what Jesus taught. It's just so important that we make these points because as you said a few minutes ago, we're living in a culture that is just a wash in filth. That sounds paradoxical and it is. We really need to work harder in a sense to get the truth out because kids are not hearing it. Folks, I'm talking to Sean McDowell. his father is not Roddy McDowell. I apologize. We'll be right back. Hey there, folks. How many years have I been telling you about relief factor? What, like four?

The truth is, I know there are millions of people. In fact, some say over 100 million people struggling with some kind of pain, maybe from exercise, just getting older. That could do it, getting older, which is why I am so impressed with Pete and Seth Talbot. They are on a mission. You rarely see this kind of focus and commitment. Seriously, they recently shared with me that they are doubling down and want to literally double their total number of happy customers in the next year. And I believe they'll do it. So here's the deal. If you're struggling with back, neck, shoulder, hip, or knee pain, even general muscle, aches and pains, then I'm suggesting you order their three-week quick start, still discounted to only 1995, about a dollar a day to see if we can

get you out of pain too. And then after that, less than the cost of a cup of coffee a day to stay at a pain. Go to Relieffactor.com, Relieffactor.com, or call 800, 500, 8384. Relieffactor.com 800, 500, 8384. I use it. It works. Check it out. Hey, folks, Eric Mataxis here. Like you, I am sick of hearing about big tech companies, spying on their customers, selling their data, and not being able to keep their platforms safe and secure. Luckily, I've found SquadPod, a private platform that helps businesses, organizations, churches, and nonprofits take back control of their communication. SquadPod has three things going for it that other companies do not.

First, SquadPod puts you in control of who is a part of your team, what they see, and how they interact with the group. Second, squad pot is 100% owned and operated in the United States. Third, squad pot is simple to use. Just create an account, invite your team, and start communicating via their secure video and messaging features. Learn more at squadpod.com slash Eric. That's squadpod.com slash Eric. Let me say it again. Squadpod.com

slash Eric. Check it out. Hey, folks, welcome back. I'm talking to Sean McDowell. And Sean, you've got a new book out. It's called Chasing Love. It's a great title, but I kind of want to ask you, why did you call the book Chasing Love? You know what, to be honest with you, it was a title that the publisher came to me with, and I instantly resonated with it. But I think when people hear chasing love, our culture kind of assumes, if you can just find that right romantic relationship, you will fill your life up and it'll be significant. And I, in the book, I flip it on its head.

I say actually what Jesus said is seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. So what we should be chasing is how do we love God and love other people? Then we find content and meaning in life. So when people read it, they're like, oh, how do I actually chase after love? How do I find, get a good date? And I'm saying, no, actually, those are secondary questions to the larger question of life. Am I living my life in love with God and in love with other people?

then the relationships will begin to fall in place. Well, it's interesting, too, because when you bring up the concept of chasing love, part of the negative messaging that we've been getting really roughly since the 60s is that love is like this drug that I want. I want that feeling in love. I want whatever that is. But, of course, the real message there is don't stay with one person. just feed yourself that emotion.

But it is like a drug. Drugs will destroy you eventually. And so people are chasing this feeling, not understanding that that's not God's plan for us. God gave us those feelings to help us find that one person in life. But this idea of chasing love, it really is kind of a secular idea in that sense, isn't it? That we're chasing something that we're not meant ever to catch it. It's just, you know, we're chasing our own tails. We're just not really, we're just not operating the way God would have us operate,

but that's really the message. That's the cultural message somehow, that it's about the chase. It's about the feeling. And we know, no, that's not it. Well, look, if I lived my marriage, I've been married 21 years to my high school sweetheart. If I based my relationship on how I feel, I would have shipwrecked my relationship a long time ago. Rather, I base it on, what does it mean to have a commitment to somebody and put their needs above my own, whether I feel a certain way or not? Now, what happens when we do that is there's a security, there's a contentment, there's a joy and a meaning that comes with that.

And so often the feelings that you're talking about that we want that make us feel alive come. But our culture wants that drug, they want the feelings without the commitment, without the second. sacrifice. And not only does that shipwreck relationships, it doesn't last. So we can only chase love if we really understand what love is. And it's amazing. Eric, I'll ask people to define love and rarely can somebody give me a definition. Now, I think love is simply, when you put the emotional, spiritual, and physical health of somebody, you care about their best interest in the way you do yourself. In other words, the Bible says love others as you love yourself. So I sacrificeally say to my wife, I'm going to put your, I tried, I'm not saying I've got this all

dialed in. I'm going to care about your needs and I'm going to love you. That's different than I want a certain feeling from this. And you know, sometimes our culture gets this. You notice I'm wearing a superhero shirt like you look at the 10 years of the Marvel movies that climaxed with Infinity you were in Endgame. What's fascinating is Iron Man, and people who've seen this have had plenty of time to see the movie, I'm going to ruin it. The movie climax is with Iron Man laying down his life for the benefit of others, and he's held up as this great hero. Well, Jesus said, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for a friend. We intuitively know that love is not just a feeling. It's when we sacrifice for the

best of another, that's real love. And that's the way of Jesus that I think is far more meaningful than any chemical or emotional high and a feeling you get in the present. That's such a more meaningful life to live. And it's interesting. I mean, these movies would not have these themes unless these themes resonated, right? I mean, C.S. Lewis writes about the Tao, the Tao. I mean, this, everyone knows this is true that somebody laying down their life sacrificially. That's the ultimate, it's beautiful. How do we know that? Well, we know it because we're created God's image and we just know it inherently. We're made to know that, but we're living in a culture as we've been talking about that doesn't give us that message. And as the culture has become

more secularized and sexualized, people have become increasingly confused because you see that kind of thing in a superhero movie. But in all the movies where people aren't wearing superhero costumes, you see just about everything else. Let me talk to you. I want to talk to you about everything, but you talk about LGBTQ issues. What is God's view of those issues? Can we talk about that?

I would love to talk about it. The first thing is that God says to love our neighbor. Jesus modeled that with a good Samaritan. So the first responsibility of Christians is to love all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, regardless of their relationship, regardless of the way they identify, it is our job to lead with love. Second, all people are made in the image of God and have dignity and value and worth simply because they're

human. So we are to live in a way that shows dignity to our gay and lesbian friends and neighbors because they're made in the image of God. Now with that said, our culture says that love is affirming and supporting however anybody identifies themselves and however they live. That's where Christians say, well, time out. We have a different understanding of God, understanding of love rooted in God's character and how he has designed us to live. So scripturally, we're taught from Genesis all the way through to the end

that God has made us male and female and that sex is to be experienced in the marital, relationship, which is one man and one woman for life. So the challenge today is to love our neighbors, show dignity and kindness and respect to people who have a very different worldview, but also hold firm to the biblical view of sex, love, and marriage, which Jesus embraced and lived out as well. And I think it's important to say, you know, maybe Christians don't reference this enough. It must be a tremendous burden to have same-sex attraction in a culture that is telling you everybody, you know, should be having some kind of a sex life. That's a complete lie.

It's a complete nonsense. But we've really taken that on in the culture. And so you can see how somebody who has those feelings would think, are you kidding? You're telling me to be celibate or you're telling me, you know. And I think we have to be honest. We have to say that is really a big thing to ask of someone. And it really underscores why we who call ourselves Christians have to live our lives in such a way that we are being sacrificial, that we understand that we're not just saying you have to sacrifice, you have to give up. We all have to do that in one way or another.

And I think when people don't see other people doing that, they think, well, then why should you? should I do it. So I just want to be clear that it is a difficult thing. It's not something that we can say cavalierly, but it's related to somebody if somebody's going through a really hard marriage, because marriage, a great marriage can be tough. You know, you want to encourage that person to do the right thing no matter what. Don't look around at what you're missing because, frankly, it's a lie. You're not missing anything. God has called you to faithfulness. But it's just something that I would say that in the culture we're talking about the secular culture, that's not a message we're seeing. And so I think it's probably particularly hard for people who are dealing with

same-sex issues. Well, look, I agree. And I think one of the areas we've fallen short in the church is I think we've put marriage on a pedestal and we've said you find happiness and success in marriage in this human relationship. And we've downplayed the goodness and beauty of singleness. And so there's people with same-sex attraction saying, wait a minute, you're giving this message that happiness comes for marriage, but I can't marry somebody to same sex. I get the B, C, or D, or E prize, which is celibacy. No thanks, I'm going elsewhere. Yeah. So some of it is on us not talking about and living out the beauty of marriage and beauty of singleness.

And like you said, Eric, I totally agree. They're, like Paul talks about this in 1st Corinthians 7. There's benefits to being married and there's challenges. There's benefits to being single and there's challenges. A pastor who's same-sex attracted, he said when he counsels couples, he actually finds a lot of married couples are some of the most lonely people that he knows because they've been told marriage is supposed to fix all their issues with loneliness, and it doesn't.

So getting a more balanced view of singleness and marriage, I think, would do well not only just to reflect scripture, but send a better message to people with same-sex attraction that you are welcome and you can be fulfilled in the Christian faith according to the way Jesus taught. This is so important. The book is chasing love. Sean McDowell is the author. We'll be right back. Hey folks, you certainly heard me talk about my pillow and how their products have literally

changed my life. Now, have you tried the pillow? They don't go flat. You can wash them, dry them as many times as you want, and they maintain their shape. They're made in the USA. And for a limited time, Dell is offering his premium my pillows for the lowest price ever. You can get a standard queen premium my pillow for 2998. It's originally 6998. That's a $40 savings. Kings are only $5 more.

Remember, all MyPillow products come with a 60-day moneyback guarantee and a 10-year warranty. Just go to MyPillow.com, click on the radio listener's square and use promo code, Eric. There you'll find not only this amazing offer, but also deep discounts on all My Pillar products, including the Giza Dream Bedsheets, the My Pillow mattress topper, and My Pillow Towel Sets. Folks, you know I use these products and they're fantastic. Call 800-978-3057 and use promo code Eric or call 800-9783057. Use the promo code Eric. What is the worth of a soul to Christ?

Is it the same now as it was 2,000 years ago? In Pillars of Barabbas, author M.D. House shows how the times of the early Christian Church differed little from our own, including the treacherous moral and political waters Christ's saints have always had to navigate with his abiding help. Everything they did and said is applicable to our day, and we are fundamentally no better than them. For instance, the Apostle Paul did not fear the Roman Emperor Nero. He served the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. True followers of Christ should always influence secular rule, so that his church can be beacon on a hill inviting all to come unto him order this powerful testimonial pillars of barabbas by md house now on

amazon and feel the inspiring legacy left to us by those faithful followers of our lord and savior jesus christ welcome back to eric mtaxas show i'm talking to sean mcdowell the new book is called chasing love sex love and relationships in a confused culture it is a confused culture, Sean. I mean, I just, the other day, I was flipping around and a movie came on that I've never seen, and I don't have any plans to see it, but it's about 20 years old. Even having seen a few minutes of it, I don't even want to use the title, but I will. It's American Pie, very popular. I'd never seen it. I watched a few minutes of it. I was blown away by how awful it was. I almost couldn't believe it. I thought this is a movie aimed at high schoolers,

at young people. It was one of the most foul, broken pictures of sexuality, and it was done, you know, very propagandistically to sort of promote this as fun and kooky and crazy. And I thought, who can imagine the harm that this has done in real lives, people who just took it in naively, and then it affected them somehow. And they thought it was funny. It just, it kind of broke my heart. And I realized that, you know, one of the reasons is important for us to get our message out about what the biblical view is, is because so much of this stuff, as we said at the beginning, is out there.

And it's portrayed as normal or just funny. But it's heartbreaking. As a father to watch it, my heart broke. I thought, what a horror that people in Hollywood made a film like. like this and a sequel and they made a ton of money and they hurt people it's kind of pretty simple well that's you think about that movie was done 20 years ago yeah and you had to go to a theater or rent the movie to see it now those ideas are coming through Netflix and even worse than that movie now they're coming through amazon prime that people are taking clips of those put them on ticot put

them on instagram it is a non-stop flow and you add to that that. At that time, the educational system would not have been pushing those issues as aggressively as they do today. I live in California. I have read all of the sexual health standards. Eric, and I'm telling you exactly what you're talking about are being pushed in our public schools in California and beyond. So part of writing this book is a wake-up call for parents saying you probably don't even realize the level of ideas and the worldview that has been affected by young people. even their emotions and their affections and their thinking, unless we dive in and really get involved in their lives and help them think Christianly.

Well, again, it's, I'm grateful to you for writing the book Chasing Love because we need, you know, people like you who understand this to talk about it. Now, you are yourself on TikTok. Is that right? I am on TikTok, yeah. I'm not on TikTok. But, I mean, tell me about why you're there. So I have a son who's 16 and he basically said to me about a year ago he goes,

Dad, if you want to reach my generation, they are spending their time on TikTok. So I started surfing around. I'm like, wow, there's Muslims trying to reach people. There's Mormons that are on there. There's progressive Christians that are on there. There's all these secular ideas that are on there. And at first I thought it's like dancing in magicians. And I thought, you know what?

I understand people have concern about it. telling everybody they need to be on it. I get the concerns. But Eric, when it's all said and done, I want to reach students. I want to counter these lies. So I do some videos with my son that are fun. I did a dancing one with my daughter, basketball one with my son. But I do three, four videos a week, just answering individual questions about sex, love, relationships, the Bible, problem of evil, and try to just equip kids. And I've been amazed at the response from young people, hungry for answers. give them in a way that makes sense and answers the real questions that they're asking. Well, I'm glad you're out there.

And how do people find, like, since I'm not on TikTok, I don't know, is there a handle? Is it just your name? Well, yeah, you can just go to Sean McDowell. If you search my name, it'll come up on TikTok. I think it's Sean underscore McDowell. But the best place is I'm actually just shonemaddle.org is my website. And I've got linked to Twitter, Instagram, have a YouTube channel, a blog. just a ton of free resources.

And my whole philosophy is I don't want to waste people's times with cat videos. I want to give articles, videos that help parents and help students develop a Christian worldview. Let me ask you, since you've written a whole book about it, what are some of the most damaging distortions of sex, love relationships that you see out there and that even in the church people are not clear on? One of the biggest lies this generation has told is that sex is not a big deal. Now, sometimes in the church we've made it the biggest deal. It's not idolatry is. But our culture's like, it's not a big deal. It doesn't matter. Well, I think we know this is not true. There was a movie in 2016. I didn't see it, but I read about it called Passengers with Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence. And they're on a ship traveling through space going somewhere. They wake up seemingly accidentally. And in the movie, they build a relationship and there's a sex scene. Well, I saw Chris Pratt get interviewed about this. And he, is asked, how do you do a sex scene and care for your other partner? And you could see Mr.

Cool was uncomfortable. And he gives his answer. And I thought, if sex is not a big deal, why do they ask them about that scene? Why not ask him about another scene? They asked him about that scene because we know sex means something. I did further research. And Jennifer Lawrence got herself drunk for one scene she filmed in that movie. Guess what scene it was? Was it the sex scene? Yeah. Exactly. Of course it was. But she called her mom the night before, Eric. And this is the first time she had done a scene like that. And she said, mom, I've never felt so vulnerable. Please tell me everything is going to be okay. And I think of my daughter when I heard that. And all these girls told sex is not a big deal. Give your body weight. It doesn't matter. But deep in their hearts, they know that it does. Well, we need to keep saying it. Folks, we are going to keep saying it on this program. and elsewhere. I'll be right back. We're talking to Sean McDowell. Don't go away. Hey there, folks. I'm talking to Sean McDowell. The book is Chasing Love. Isn't that a great title? Sean, I have to ask you, one of the things that I observe, right, if we talk about abortion or we talk about anything like that,

it's terrible when people don't understand right from wrong. But sometimes equally bad is when people have committed a terrible sin, something, that we would say is a huge mistake, but they don't have any idea that God can give them total forgiveness and healing. They kind of beat themselves up. They walk around with guilt, with this woundedness. So as much as we're talking about, you know, right and wrong and sexual sin and God's plan, we have to talk about forgiveness. What do you say in your book? Because I know you deal with that. Well, one of the first things I say is maybe you feel guilty because you are guilty. If you're feeling guilty and shame, the only way to feel better is to identify the root of the problem and address it. And the root of the problem Jesus said is sin. And it's not just sexual

sin. It's all sin. And what makes Christianity unique is that we don't earn a relationship with God by fixing our behavior by ourselves. The Christian story is, that God died for each one of us and says, I love you, I forgive you. And the story I use in the book I reference is the story of the father with a prodigal son. And this prodigal son basically says to the dad, I want my inheritance now, which means you are dead to me. And this father I envision every single day, like looking out his version of the first century blinds, thinking maybe today is the day, my son is going to come home. And his son comes home. He doesn't say, just if he behavior, forgive it right he says i love you you are my son let's celebrate there's a lot of hurting people in this

generation of things that have been done to them that they feel shame about things they've done or things they've seen now i want to look these young people in the eyes and say like as a father god loves you and god forgives you you are made in his image you don't have to live with this guilt jesus said you shall know the truth of forgiveness and it'll set you free so you are forgiven please know and embrace that you're a child of god and god wants to restore you from that hurt and that pain and set you free it's just an amazing thing isn't it it's like the false view of religion people have this uh you know sometimes they they just get the guilt part and so they can't deal with it because they don't know about forgiveness so they just push away the guilt and they don't

they don't want to think about the the problem that i maybe i've done something wrong or whatever they just have to push it away because it's too painful. So it's really important that we make it clear to them. No, no, no, no. Don't push it away. God wants to heal you. And I just think that that's part of the problem in the culture is that we don't ever talk about right and wrong because people don't know what to do with wrong. They don't understand forgiveness.

And I do think we have to lead with that sometimes, you know, because people know instinctively, like what we were saying about the Marvel movie. people have an instinctive sense of things. And we have to help them, you know, in a way to bring that out a little bit. I want to go back to what you said there about the Marvel movies. Isn't it interesting that you hear the same stories over and over and over? They're everywhere because we're created in God's image. Reality is reality. Love is love.

You can't really escape it. and that we're seeing these things played out. They're played out in fairy tales. They're played out in movies. So it is interesting to me that there are signs out there, even in our broken culture, that would lead us back to God's idea of love. Oh, I love that you framed it that way

because whenever I watch a movie, I'm thinking, where's the bad ideas, but where's the good ideas that can be redeemed? And this story, this idea that there's a savior who's willing to lay down his life, for others is the greatest story that can be told. You see it in movies like Avatar, you see it movies like Big Hero Six, you see it in the Harry Potter series, like you see the sacrifice all over the Star Wars films. Well, those are all fiction, but it's true in the person of Jesus. That's why

C.S. Lewis said Christianity is the myth made fact. And our culture can't escape this because like you said, in Romans 2, people are made in the image of God. And we know there's a right and wrong, we intuitively know what love is. So that's something I do all throughout the book, as I point out to students, I say, your heart is to be known, your heart is to love, your heart is to find out who you are and God made you to be. And there's glimpses of this in different movies because that resonates with your heart and who you are. We just got a couple of minutes left. What do you say to somebody who is married and it's not going well? I would say, please don't give up. Scripture holds marriage in such a high bar. So please don't give up. And I just saw a study this

week that said couples who don't give up on marriage and they find ways to work it through, the vast majority within a five-year period turn around and have a happier, better marriage. And some of the greatest twists are flips are those who had the toughest marriages. That's one. Second, don't dwell in the past. If you've made mistakes, give yourself grace, and maybe you could be the person who would humble yourself as tough as that is and take the steps necessary to get this marriage where it needs to be. It's so important that we put that message out there because I keep hearing of even Christians getting divorced, and I don't get it.

I think where did they get the idea that that was an option? God can't bless you if you don't do what he asks you to do, what he tells you to do because he loves you, and he has a blessing for you, but if you say, well, I can't deal with it anymore and you're out. But we're even seeing that in the church, aren't we, that people are sort of, they're looking the other way on that scripture. Scriptures. And you know what, Eric, we're not only seen in the church, the wider culture looks in and says, wait a minute. There's rampant divorce in the church. There's remarriage on grounds that don't seem to match up with scripture.

And yet, you call out same-sex marriage. like the hypocrisy of this is not lost. My concern is let's look inside and ask ourselves. Am I living the kind of relationships Jesus wants me to live? Do I need to humble myself with a friendship, with a parent, with a spouse, and restore that relationship? So, yes, we see it in a church. It's affecting kids within the church, and it's affecting our witness to a wider culture as well. Well, Sean, just great to have you on.

great to see you give my love to your wonderful dad the book is chasing love sex love and relationships in a confused culture get a copy god bless you there's talk on the street it sounds so familiar hey everybody this the irkman texas show with my sidekick slash producer albin sadar oh wait man i thought you were the sidekick no i could be i could play the role of sight listen i'm very versatile people don't believe me i was talking to kevin sorbo he's doing these movies i said kevin give me a part i don't care what it is i will show you you you want to know what acting is i will show you hey sorbo hey sorbo i'm i'm talking to you could be kevin's body double i could do i could do it i'm so ripped it's not even funny don't don't talk about those things here's what we need to talk

about okay let's do it a couple things okay um there are still people not signed up for our newsletter what yep and um i was talking some friends yes yesterday and and they said what where do we find these videos and I got really you know smokestar coming out of my ears and I said hey hey you get my email don't you if you open up the email every email we send it out like about twice a week sometimes more has all the previous videos so you're saying when did eric have lou dubs on where do I find that when did eric have mike Lundel on when did eric have myelonopolis on when did it you have to subscribe to eric mataxis dot com. That's the first announcement. The second announcement, we keep talking about people going to my pillow.com and my store.com. My books are mostly available at my store.com. Use the code Eric.

Well, guess what? What? We have a new sponsor called Nutrametics. Oh, yeah. N-U-T-R-A, Nutrametics, M-E-D-I-X. Nutrametics.com. Nutrametics.com, you also have to use the code Eric with them. But if you use melatonin, Reservatrol, stevia, which is a sweetener. Vitamin C, zinc, vitamin D. Like, this is all the stuff magnesium that I take anyway, right? The whole alphabet there is. Cercumen, they've got it all, folks.

And I just want to say, if you use any of that stuff, my attitude, the reason I'm so excited about Nutrimetics and I'm excited to work with them, they give 50% of all of their profits to missions. Did you hear that? 50% to missions and to similar charities. And I'm going to find out what charities. And they have a goal to give away $100 million by the end of this decade. And to put a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s, that's their goal.

They've already accomplished the first one. And the second one, by the way, if you missed that, you can look it up on micro-ofeas at the library. But they did put a man on the moon in the 60s. And Nutrametics is going to give away $100 million by the end of this decade. It said 2030, and I thought 2030. That's like 2050, right? And then I realized, oh, it's a few years away. Yeah.

So, but you have to use the code, Eric. But honestly, most of their stuff, just look them up online. You can read their story. We're going to have the founder on this program. But it's hard not for me to be excited because I think I buy all this stuff anyway from somebody. I might as well buy it from Nutrimetics.com and 50% of their profits go. to things that I believe in. Yep.

Right? Yeah. So there you go. You can't lose. You cannot lose. Is there anything else that we need to talk about? Well, what I'd like to say the weekend is here coming up and it's, you know, that's exciting. And did you mention that people have to, you did.

We'll sign up for your newsletter. Did I ever mention that? I don't think I've ever mentioned that. I don't think you ever mentioned that. Use the code Eric, it's double, double free. So you know when you confuse people like that, that's bad. That is. Ericmataxis.com.

Actually, we'll mention one thing before we go. if you go to our radio website, which is metaxistock.com, there is a banner to support voter integrity in Georgia. Everybody, all of the woke corporations, Coca-Cola, which I'll never drink again, Delta Airlines, all of these folks are lining up saying that voter integrity is racist. Actually, they are racist. I don't have time to break it down. But if you don't mind, please go to metaxis talk.com, click on the banner and sign. the petition for voter integrity in Georgia. Voter integrity is for all Americans, folks.

Make no mistake, that's the point of it. All right. Thank you for listening. Don't forget, we're here for you.