Advice For The Kids

Church

  1. There is no darkness in God. God hates sin and evil but loves people. The only values in Him are peace, love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness. Stay away from the dark stuff in our culture. Christians aren’t into this stuff. Learn to draw lines on the media you consume (ask “Does this glorify God?”, “Is this good for my mental health?”, “Is this something God wants me watching or listening to?”). While everyone’s art is beautiful and part of God’s creation, we need to make sure that what we create or consume is respectful to both God and other people.
    • Rock & Metal Music (see examples at bottom of page)
      • Much of Metal and lot of Rock has you worshiping the devil with hand gestures, imagery and lyrics. You will be judged at the end – it would be wise to stop listening to certain artists.
      • Typically if it is on the radio it is OK. But this is not always true. Alien Ant Farm is a good band but makes the hand gesture (watch the “Movies” music video). I stopped listening to them. Another example is Papa Roach’s ‘Lovehatetragedy’ album cover. This is serious stuff.
      • A good line to draw would be – soft/clean vocals, non psychotic guitars/lyrics and absolutely no satan. The goal is to be respectful to God and people as well as to have a brighter sound to your playlist overall.
    • Rap Music (see examples at bottom of page)
      • One group I can think of has a satanic name (Three Six Mafia). Some artists make the satanic hand gesture (Lil Uzi Vert) – probably wise not to listen to these groups or artists.
      • Running a crime gang, pimping, and songs about graphic porno are probably not something God is into. I’m not talking about sex, love, or being upset at the state of the world.
    • Horror/Dark Themes – These movies put dark ideas into your head that affect your thinking.
      • Probably OK to watch
        • Light Halloween/Horror – e.g. Ghostbusters and Hocus Pocus
        • Detective Shows from the perspective of the detectives – CSI, NCIS, or Will Trent. The general idea is catching bad guys not becoming them.
        • Gray Heroes – The Mask of Zorro is a good example. He is a vigilante and seeks revenge (not good things) but the overarching theme is that he fights for the poor and oppressed (good things).
      • Not OK
        • Hardcore Horror – e.g. Texas Chainsaw
        • Crime shows from the perspective of the criminals (e.g. Weeds, Peaky Blinders or Sons of Anarchy).
    • Halloween
      • Stay away from dark Halloween – God probably isn’t big on serial killers.
      • Captain America, Iron Man or a silly costume (not mean/offensive) are OK examples.
  2. Loving God and Loving people are the two most important commandments. Loving people is the Golden rule. Loving God is being respectful to God but also obeying God and His commandments (abiding).
  3. Once you see something it is very hard to unsee it and forget it. Less is more with curiosity. Consuming dark media content does warp your mind and moves you away from God.
  4. Less is more on the internet. There are all kinds of things on there that will warp your mind in negative ways. Stick to education for work, learning how to do things in life (e.g. cooking) or light entertainment.
  5. Read the Bible – instruction manual for life (God’s Wisdom). It will teach you how to be happy and how to be a good person (walking in His ways).
  6. Stay in Church, and pay attention in Church. There is always a lesson that will help you in life.
  7. The good guys help people and the bad guys hurt people. God asks you to deny yourself and do the hard thing. Helping people isn’t easy but you will come to find it is very rewarding.
  8. Christian Communication with others
    • No lying
    • No Gossip behind a person’s back
    • Jokes are fun & silly – not mean and cruel. If the joke isn’t there, we don’t make it – rather than saying something that risks hurting someone.
    • There are times where we have to describe something negative – not everything in life is positive and you do have preferences, so make sure it is true, helpful and kind. An example would be “X culture food isn’t my favorite”. Words matter and they do hurt people so the intent to be kind when you do have to describe a negative is very important.
  9. God’s way is through peaceful and non-violent protest with democratic reform to enact change. War is for defense only.
  10. Maintaining your relationship with God requires discipline and routine. It is easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle in our busy society. I used to always put work first and wanted to sleep in on Sundays. Below is what I like to call “The Church Game”. I used to lift weights. Sometimes you had 2 sets left but were tired and didn’t want to do them. Do them. I now use a calendar to make sure I show up for God consistently and get my “sets/reps” in on a regular basis.
    • Church every Sunday
    • Prayers
    • Weekly Offering
    • Volunteering
    • Donating to Charity
    • Verbal confession of sins to a priest
  11. Be wise and stay on the straight and narrow path. God will judge you at the end of your life.
  12. Sins come in thought, word and deed. Words and deeds are obvious. Thoughts are also sinful – what you think can easily come out and hurt someone. So just as “If you don’t have anything nice to say, we don’t say anything at all” – we also should have “We only think good things – things that are true, helpful and kind”. “Is this something God would want me thinking about?”.
  13. Caring for God’s Creation – while all things are possible through prayer and all environmental issues could be solved overnight (e.g. he could make all excess carbon emissions disappear), do you think that he would want to work with someone who cares absolutely nothing for His creation? For example a person who dumps their used motor oil in the sewer drain? There are 8 billion of us on the planet right now. Our collective actions compound at an enormous scale. Do a quick Google image search for “single use plastic problem” to see how individual misbehavior or ignorance adds up quickly. Again you don’t have to be an activist but some care would be good (e.g. recycling, planting trees (instead of cutting them down) and reducing your personal carbon footprint).
  14. Science – while we believe science, we also need to believe that some science is disrespectful to God and to people. For those who are interested in these fields it is important to always consider if you are crossing a line. For example the science performed on Henrietta Lacks was performed in an unethical manner. Another example would be gene editing, which is both incredibly dangerous as well as entering the territory of playing God.

Bright Music

These are all songs about Him that I found listening to Bright FM (FM Radio). They are all positive, uplifting and awesome. I am truly blessed to have found this.

This is a great song about His grace, love, and ability to forgive. A song about how He is always there no matter what you have done – waiting for you to come back.

Music at the Limit

I wanted to give some examples of good songs that showcase the limits I wrote about above for secular music. These songs are respectful to both God and people. It isn’t about being perfect but you will come to find you will make a lot of cuts in your playlist – things that are clearly bad. Specifically for Rock style genres the goal is moving your overall playlist towards a “FM Radio” sound – one that is brighter and softer. For rap it is about paying attention to song topics.

Rock – Moving Towards A Brighter and Softer Sound

Metal – Moving Towards A Brighter and Softer Sound

Punk – Moving Towards A Brighter and Softer Sound

Rap – Paying Attention to Song Topics