[Darris McNeely] We awoke this morning to the news of another tragic incident in Colorado in the United States where someone opened up shooting in a crowded movie theater at a very late night showing of a new released movie this summer. And at current reports 12 people have died as a result of this. Steve and I were planning to do a program, or BT Daily here on the impact of culture on behavior from a different point of view when this news came in here. But we thought we'd go ahead with this because there are lessons to learn for all of us in regard to the impact of culture upon our own personal behavior and where to go for the answers to influence behavior in a positive way.

[Steve Myers] It is amazing, the impact—we wrote it up here, cultural impact. What impacts us in our thinking? What impacts our children? Well, we ran across an interesting study that researchers and psychologists did for Dartmouth College and it was actually published in Psychological Science. And what they found, and of course this is no surprise, I think we all know this, but in their study they found that parents need to restrict their children from seeing sexual conduct in movies at young ages. That was one of the comments that the researchers made in this study because they found the youngsters watching movies, watching Hollywood films, are—become more promiscuous, they become more sexually active is what this study actually found. Now that isn't a surprise. And so when you look at what the studies say, what are we doing as parents? What is the impact on our children? Are we giving the responsibility of raising our kids to a video game? Are we giving our responsibility to raising our kids to movies?

[Darris McNeely] And teaching values through these.

[Steve Myers] Exactly. What is that teaching them and what is our responsibility?

[Darris McNeely] And of course a tragic incident like what has occurred overnight in Colorado is going to reopen the public debate and discussion on this subject. From our point of view on Beyond Today, BT Dailies here, we always ground our instruction, our commentary on the Word of God. Those values, those morals, those teachings that guide our conduct in life, both personal and private, are best understood and taught from a basis in the Word of God and in His law. And probably one Scripture that in light with this particular survey that Steve quoted and again just ongoing matters of life that impact this is what God said to us in Deuteronomy chapter 6 when He spoke of His word and His law and to Israel and to all mankind, He says, "These words which I command you today shall be in your heart," internalized as a way of life.  "And you shall teach them diligently to your children. You shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk in the way, when you lie down and when you rise up, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand. They shall be as frontlets between your eyes" (Dueteronomy 6: 4-9). In other words, it's a complete part of your life that you not only think about, but you talk about and you talk about on your couch, in the living room, around the kitchen table. You teach them to your children God's way of life based on His laws, His eternal principles. Those are the cultural influencers that we should be passing along to our children, wherever we have the opportunity. They will make a difference in a positive way for the conduct of us and certainly our children.

[Steve Myers] And it changes our whole perspective because then what it comes down to is the biggest impact on our families has to come through the parents. And that's what God's guiding us. God is our Father. Our ultimate spiritual parent is telling us, you know, the parents are the ones in the family that have to take responsibility for how society impacts the kids—has to be.

[Darris McNeely] And begin to work against that. Something will influence our children. Something will influence us. The question is what. And what are we feeding into your own minds and our own hearts and passing along to our own children or those that we influence, even grandchildren, or neighbor kids, if you're a teacher, children in your classroom, hopefully it is based on sound values. Those values are best anchored in the word of God and His way of life.

[Steve Myers] And maybe a good guide as a parent, you might just ask yourself, "Are my kids watching movies, are they watching and playing video games more than I'm talking about the Word?" He said, "Let this Word," the Word of God. So, in our families, is the word of God something that's present, that's real, that's a topic of discussion more than the time we're spending watching movies, more than the time we're spending doing video games or other forms of entertainment. And I think by looking at that, thinking about that, praying about that, that should begin to help us to understand our responsibilities as parents and the impact we could have on our families.

[Darris McNeely]  And if the answer to that question is, "Well, they are getting more from these other influencers than from myself," you as a parent, or from the Word of God, then of course the responsibility comes back on you just as it goes back on us. And so we ask you to ask yourself the hard question and come up with the honest answer to this whole issue that we are talking about and see where you can make a difference in a positive way with those in your household based on the way of God.

[Steve Myers] That's BT Daily, we'll see you next time.