These Clips Get Me Thinking

Why am I such a zealot about guiding my teenage kids through the issues of dating, sex, and other unmentionables? It's because the stakes are so high. The trajectory they get on and the choices they make now have the power to impact them throughout their adult lives.

Biblical principles declare it.

Current scientific studies confirm it.

The troubled marriages I encounter prove it.

And some stuff below that I found on YouTube illustrates it.

We used some of these videos in our presentation at Johnson Ferry over the past weeks. And we referred to some of the others. They all get me thinking.

Mark Gungor gives a great presentation about why these issues matter in marriage...and how the foundations are laid when we are teens.

This Gnarls Barkley music video illustrates powerfully the connections that happen when we give our heart and lives to someone who isn't our spouse. But be aware: in addition to being truthful, it's a bit funky and a lot bloody...in an "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" sort of way. Don't say I didn't warn you.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUhCKFNuj3Q&w=500&h=400]  

Including this video after the Gnarls Barkley one enables me to channel my inner Osmond. I have included both "a little bit country and a little bit rock-n-roll." (If you were born before 1972, you will probably need to ask somebody what that means.) Taylor Swift's song "Fifteen" beautifully and tragically captures the choices that many of our teens make as well as the regrets they are left with.

Mark Driscoll is very conservative in his theology but something of a "shock jock" in his delivery. Think A.W. Tozer mixed with Howard Stern. I love this brief clip in that it encourages us to consider WHY our kids want to have a girlfriend/boyfriend. Driscoll is rather extreme in his perspective, but I think he's on to something.

Are there any other videos you have encountered that get you thinking deep thoughts about these issues? Please feel free to share them with the rest of us!