Heard a lecture by @timkellernyc in which he observed the HEROES in our American stories are those who define themselves over and against the crowd. Consider, he asked, what that does to our children's moral imaginations and intuitions. Compare that with biblical stories...
in which the HERO is the person who is faithful to God, in spite of all adversity. In other words, set aside for a moment talk of culture war flash points (LGBT, abortion, identity pol, etc). Recognize more crucially that Scripture offers the world a different moral universe!...
That universe will sometimes overlap, but more profoundly contradict the moral imaginations of every culture since it begins with the Triune God of the Bible. If, then, you want to equip Christians to engage culture, first immerse them in the story and stories of Scripture.
How culturally counter-intuitive it sounds to say, "HEROISM IS OBEYING GOD even as friends and family and nations oppose you." Yes, the gospel says all except Jesus have failed to be heroes, but it doesn't redefine heroism away from obedience. Biblical heroism is still obedience.
So one parenting and discipling challenge is, how do we better use Scripture to reshape our moral intuitions and imaginations to view the hero in these terms rather than in the terms of expressive individualism, which saturates everything from princess movies to library books?
P.S. Around the same time I heard the Keller lecture, I was reading through the Chronicles of the Kings books by Lynn Austin. Not Pulitzer Prize literature, but compelling stories in which heroism is faithfulness to Yahweh. Recommended.
