Today on the podcast, Ryan, Stephen, and Josh talk about #helenkellerisfake and the heart of a cynical student.

Notes

• There is a trend going around on TikTok (#helenkellerisfake). This trend is largely a way that GenZ is trying to be funny by poking holes at something as incredible as the story and accomplishments of Helen Keller.
• This trend is just one example, intended or not, of a lot of information that is out on the internet that students have to sort through and wrestle with to decide what is true and what is just fake news.
• This can lead to unhealthy cynicism in students, where they begin to doubt the motives and intentions of everyone. This does not lead to a 1 Corinthians 13 kind of love.
• It’s good to wrestle with things to see if they are true, but if we don’t have a baseline of truth (aka – the Bible), then we’re going to just be tossed around by whatever we think might be true.
• A snowball effect of unhealthy cynicism is a hardened heart.
• A hardened heart is like hard, dry ground. Nothing grows there. So, it’s key to “sow righteousness” and to seek the Lord. (Hosea 10:12)

Tools

1. Whenever you have conversations about news or current events, keep pointing yourself and your student back to what is clearly true in the Bible.
2. Go after your student’s hard heart, like it says in Hebrews 3:12-13, but daily encouraging your student with the truth about God’s character and promises. Forcing it on them, but encouraging them, or calling them to the truth and the hope of Jesus.