rd | Generational Paradigms

Happy Friday, everyone! Today is March the 3rd. I'm Ryan Hill.

John Galantis. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can find us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com. If you have a question for Dr. Shah or a suggestion for a future episode, send us a text at 252-582-5028. You can also email us at contact at ClearviewTodayShow.com. That's right, and you guys can help us keep this conversation going by supporting the podcast, sharing it online, leaving us a good review on iTunes, Spotify, anywhere you get your podcasting content. We're going to leave a link in the description of this podcast so you can do just that. You can also check us out on YouTube, Facebook, ClearviewTodayShow.com.

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Hit that subscribe button and share the video with a friend. That's right. That's right. John, how about the verse of the day today? Yeah, man, let's do it. We're coming in 1 John 3.11, for this is the message that you heard from the beginning that we should love one another. That's like the bedrock of what we believe.

Oh yeah. Loving one another. And I love that it's, this is a message you heard from the beginning. This is what we've been saying. This is what you've known. This is what it all boils down to. The love that you have for one another. That's right. I heard, I heard somebody put it one time that we have the opportunity to be the physical manifestations of God's love here on earth.

Wow. And when you think about it in those terms, it's much more than just an interaction with my friend or it's just more as much more than an interaction with my spouse. I have the opportunity to either display the love of God or to hinder that person's understanding of the love of God.

Right. And there's a lot of, there's a lot of conflicting emotions that come with love. It's not this just outpouring of positivity that I, that I long to feel so many times. And when I don't feel it, I'm like, well, you know, do I really have any love? But I mean, I think about like my wife, there are times where I don't feel positively towards her or my kids. I don't feel that overwhelming rush of, of just gushy, sappy emotions. I mean, I don't love them.

Of course not. Cause we know that love is not the emotion that we feel. It's just kind of like Dr. Shaw was saying at the beginning of middle of February, when we're going through that love series, love are attributes of God.

You know, those attributes that God has given to us, that, that, that character, that, that characteristic of what God is, that's where we get our biblical understanding of love. Yeah. Yeah. But if you have a question or a suggestion for a future episode, send us a text at 252-582-5028, or you can visit us online at clearviewtodayshow.com. We'll be right back. Hey there listeners, I'm Jon Galantis.

And I'm Ellie Galantis. And we just want to take a quick second and talk to you about Dr. Shaw's and Nicole's book, 30 Days to a New Beginning, daily devotions to help you move forward. You know, this is actually the second book in the 30 days series. And the whole point of this devotional is to help us get unstuck from the ruts of life. You know, when it comes to running the race of life, it matters how you start, but a bad start doesn't ultimately determine how you finish the race. You can have a good finish even with a bad start. And that's where this book comes in.

No matter who you are or where you are in life, you're going to get stuck. Instead of going out and buying some gadget or some planner, like I know I've done several times, 30 Days encourages you to find your fresh start in God's word. Life doesn't have a reset button, but our God is a God who does new things.

His mercies are new every day, which means every day is a new chance for you to start over. You can grab 30 Days to a New Beginning on Amazon.com. We're going to leave a link in the description box below. And if you already have the book, let us know what you think about it.

That's right. Send us a text, 252-582-5028. Share what God has done in your life through this devotional. Hey, maybe we'll even read your story on the air. Ellie, you ready to get back to the show?

Let's do it. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com.

If you have any questions or suggestions for future episodes, send us a text at 252-582-5028. Dr. Shah, welcome back to the studio today. It's good to be here. Amen. Happy Wednesday. It's good to see everybody back on the show.

If you guys are new, if this is your first time ever tuning into Clear View Today, we want to welcome you, let you know who's talking to you today. Dr. Abbadan Shah is a PhD in New Testament, textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's episode. You can find all his work on his website. That's AbbadanShah.com.

That's right. Make sure you follow along on Facebook as well. Dr. Shah has a public figures page, AbbadanShah PhD. You can find all sorts of research up there, educational videos, great content for you to grow in your understanding of God's word, and scholarship related to the Bible. Speaking of scholarship, on today's episode, we're continuing this discussion on generations. It has been so impactful for me. I don't know if you guys are enjoying it as much as I am. I pray that you are. I'm taking furious notes over here about my students, about my kids. How do I react to them?

How do I understand where they are? We've been talking about the different generations throughout history, generational theory, and it's been so amazing. We're going to continue that conversation today. Dr. Shah, if you want to kick us off, please.

Dr. Shah Yes. So last show, we talked about the Strauss-Hao generational theory. We focused on this book they wrote back in 1991 called Generations, The History of America's Future, 1584-2069. And of course, this book, like any book out there other than the Bible, the Bible is the inerrant, inspired, authoritative, sufficient word of God.

We know that. Every book has its weaknesses, and they have theirs as well. In that sometimes, critics have said that there are some overgeneralizations that happen, that there are some places where there's not enough evidence provided. And of course, this is just focused on America's future. So the question is, does this work with other cultures and civilizations?

And I would say, yes, it does. Now, don't look at your world like we've been looking at our world for the past 20, 30 years. Since the coming of the internet, the World Wide Web, right? Our world has become smaller. We've become more global through social media, through all kinds of media outlets, like even Twitter. We have kind of come together. So we tend to think everybody's like us. But if you go back beyond 30-some years, in some parts, yes, Europe and America may be, Canada and America may be, yes. But other parts of the world, they were not alike.

So I think this book and the theory behind it does stand. And as we looked at it, we saw how this 80-to-90-year historical cycle with four turnings is so clearly evident in our American history. The Revolutionary Sakellum, then came the Civil War Sakellum, then the Great Power Sakellum, then the Millennial Sakellum, which began with the baby boomers from 1843 to 18...what am I saying? 1843? No, 1943 to 1960, the baby boomer generation. Some boomer somewhere was listening to me like, wait a minute, I love the young people. SpongeBob? Yeah, SpongeBob.

Okay. But baby boomer generation, the archetype of that generation would be the prophet. Okay, the prophet, the idealist. Then followed the generation known as Generation X, which is 1961 to 1981. They are part of the awakening.

So prophet is part of the high. Awakening gives birth to the nomads. It's kind of a reactive generation. Just like Gen Xs were sort of, hey, keep it real. Our parents, man, they're crazy. They don't get it.

They don't get it. But then followed the hero generation in the unraveling turning. And here we have 1982 to 2004 with the millennials. Now keep in mind, the 80s millennials and the 90s millennials are two different types. 80s millennials, a great example is this. The millennials love houses, right? They're like saving somebody somewhere. The 80s millennial would be, hey, here's a dollar, go feed the hungry.

90s millennials, which we call the IY generation, hey, mom, can I have a dollar? Yeah. I was going to say, that's more, yeah, that's more like me. That tracks. Yeah.

So we can feed the hungry. Yeah. That's right. That's the 80s millennial. And then come the crisis generation, which is the artist archetype. And this generation is also known as the homeland generation.

I don't think they like that. But anyways, because that's when the homeland security was created. So anyways, that's that generation. And they're more of the artist type, the adaptive type. So once you begin to see this cycle, this historical cycle with four turnings, it's not like you can completely predict the future, only God knows that, but you begin to see a pattern. And when patterns emerge, you can start to paint in broad strokes. And like you said, you can't really completely predict it, but those broad strokes are still there. So, you know, there's, there's at least something you can start to predict and something you can start to foresee. Yeah.

Yeah. You can, it helps you process the world around you and prepare for how you're going to interact with those, that generation as they're growing up. You know, we have the, the generation Z that is entering into adulthood now and in the, in the upcoming years and the generation alpha afterwards, obviously we can't pinpoint like they're going to be exactly like this, but this, this theory certainly helps us map out and think about, you know, in our context, in a church setting, how do we reach these people, these children, where they are, how do we administer to them in a way that makes sense to their worldview? So, you know, let's, let's take Tim Elmore's book, by the way, again, a great book for parents, employers, church people, pastors, community leaders.

This is a book you need to read. It's called a new kind of diversity, making the different generations on your team a competitive advantage. And in this book, he sort of compares all these generations. He starts at the silent generation, but I'm going to back up to the greatest generation, right? The ones that came in 1901, right?

But here's how it's sort of laid out. Now the greatest generation would be, let's see, going back to the great power. The greatest generation would be the hero generation, the civic minded generation. This is a generation that was born after an awakening.

Okay. And during an unraveling, I mean, I think about the unraveling that happened with the Spanish flu, right? So this generation is going through that. There's also world war one, you know, just when they thought, man, all the wars are over.

Oh no, here it comes. Then somebody kills somebody in Austria or whatever. And next thing you know, the whole world is falling apart. Like, what does that have to do with us? Like that guy got shot in a car. And so we're all going to war. How?

That never makes sense to me. You know, I've studied world war one history. It's like, really? Yeah. So we just like decided to kill millions of people. Yeah, exactly. Like that.

What was it? The archduke of, the archduke Ferdinand or whatever. Like he gets assassinated in America. It's like, that's it.

Why are you mad? Like, I mean, I'm sure there was things that led to it, but just when you look at it broadly, like that. Yeah, it's more Europeans. But I mean, you know, usually we have to come in, the Americans have to come in to save the day. We got to help. Without that, it's like, y'all started this, but we have to finish it.

That's right. Just come in and mop up. Everybody sit down. Sit down.

Behave yourself. So the greatest generation known as a GI generation would be the part of the unraveling, the heroes. Then come the silent generation, which is more the artists, the adaptive coming out of the crisis. What is their crisis?

The great depression and world war II. Now all generations have the crisis. It's just that they seem to have the most, right? Then we get into the millennial curriculum with the boomers.

They are the prophet, the idealist generation. And that sounds right. Yeah, absolutely.

Yes, it does. And then followed by the Gen Xs, which are the nomad, the reactive. These are more about, you know, keeping it real. Then come, of course, the millennials, which are part of the hero generation, right? What do we say about the heroes? They're born after an awakening during an unraveling when social institutions are weak and individuals have to be self-reliant and pragmatic.

They are more protected than the children born during the chaos of an awakening, very protected. Heroes are believed to grow up as young optimists. We can fix this, guys. We can just come together. We can change the world. We can do this. Into energetic and overconfident and politically powerful adults. So, y'all two are heroes. As you read that, I was like, mm-hmm.

I've always wanted to hear that, but then I hear energetic, overconfident, politically powerful. I was like, mm. I don't know. I don't know if I want to go down that road. Some of them are positive. Some of them are like, mm, yeah, I see that in my head. Yeah, it's like the hero generation. I just picture Spider-Man swinging from building a building. I'm like, I could get into that. But then you look at it, it's like, yeah. But definitely, what was it?

Overprotected by your parents? I can certainly see that for sure. 100%. And then come the homeland generation, or the Generation Z.

Okay, so this is the artist type. These are part of the crisis. And that's from 2005 to present. And now, correct me if I'm wrong, have we not had enough crises? Yes.

Good gracious, yes. Crisis upon crisis upon crisis. And I mean, you said it yourself, that this generation has faced more crises than any other generation.

Right. I mean, they've had more to deal with, more thrown at them in their formative years, too. It's not like they're adults, fully formed, and they can process all of this with a background of experience. They're growing up in this world of crisis.

I think what would be most helpful is if someone wrote a book on how to navigate through crises. You know what I mean? Maybe if it was a devotional in a 30-day window. Yeah, I was going to say, I don't want to take very long.

I need it to just be 30 days. Well, you know what? There's a book that exists like that.

Sounds like a goose. By Dr. Shah and Nicole, 30 days through crisis. That's just a little shameless plug. It's our show, so we can do that. Go pick it up. 30 days through crisis. And 30 days to a new beginning. Thank you, guys. Yeah, definitely. Going back to the new kind of diversity with Tim Elmore, let's compare these generations based on what we know about the whole paradigm of high and awakening and then unraveling and then crisis and then going into the prophet, the nomad, the hero, and the artist.

Let's look at these. The greatest generation. The greatest generation would fall under the heroes. Life paradigm is they're driven.

Get it? Silent generation, be grateful you have a job. The silent generation is not like the GI generation or the greatest generation. They're more of the artist type.

So be grateful you have a job. Then come the boomers. Millennial, Sakellum has begun.

This is the first turning, which is what? The high. I want better of everything.

I want better of everything. Then come the generation X, which are the nomads. They are the reactive, reacting to their parents.

Our parents, through no-fault divorce and all that, made us shuttle back and forth between Mom's Day and Dad's weekend. We want different. Then come, so their life paradigm is keep it real. Followed by the millennials, okay? Now we're getting into with generation, with cycle.

We're getting into the unraveling, with the hero mindset. They are the ones, life is a cafeteria. You, you, you are so special.

You get to pick what you want. That's what Barney told us. I love you.

You love me. That's right. That's right.

Then finally come the Gen Z, which are really, what generation are they? What turning is it? Oh, I forgot the turning. The artist. The artist.

He's the artist. I can't remember the turning. Crisis. Crisis. Crisis. You're right. They are the artist. Crisis.

They are the adaptive. Their life paradigm, I'm coping and hoping. Gosh, doesn't that just sound like what we're going through right now?

Yeah. Just put your head down. Get through it best you can. Take care of yourself. Take care of your mental health.

Make sure that you're good. That is a more than accurate summary of where we are. Once you understand that, you're able to help people better. You're able to present the gospel better folks. The purpose behind this entire, these four shows that we've done is not just to make you generational smart because there is something called generational IQ is a book out there by the way, but that's not the ultimate goal.

The ultimate goal is so that you understand people better so you can reach them better, more effectively. Yeah. Now technology with technology, greatest generation you know, we're talking about the nomads. I'm sorry, not the nomads.

We're talking about the heroes. Technology, they're fascinated. They have radio, TV, radar, traffic signal, all this happening. Sound generation, they're hoping to outlive it. They're the artist. Too much is happening.

Too much too soon. Boomers are master it. Gen X employ it. Millennials enjoy it. Gen Z. Gen Z are what generation by the way, folks?

Artists, crisis, right? And their mindset is more of a adaptive type. Adaptive, right?

So Gen Z are hack it. Yeah. Wow. Makes sense. Make it work for me, make it work for- And make it work in ways that it may not have been intended.

Like I'm going to make it exactly what I want it to be. Yeah. Adaptive. Next is market. When it comes to market, greatest generation, we're talking about the hero, the civic, the unraveling is save. Silent generation, goods. Boomers, services, Gen Xs, experiences, millennials, transformations, Gen Z. Remember Gen Z is what?

Artist, right? Adaptive, crisis, reinventions. Reinvent the market, reinvent what's out there. Yeah. Change. Yeah. Invent the next big, not invent the next big thing, but like take what we know, take what we have on the market and make it something completely new, reinvent it. Yeah.

Not make this better, make something else altogether. If you look at ethics and compare these generations, let's go back to the generation known as greatest generation of all, conservative. Silent generation, also conservative. Boomers, self-based. But keep in mind, boomers are the idealist coming out of the high super power America. They are the idealist, the profits, self-based. Gen X, media-based.

Millennials, shop around. Gen Z, elastic, which is sad because everything is elastic. Now gender is elastic. Morality is elastic. Marriage is elastic. And that's not true, by the way, folks. They're not elastic.

A lot of things can be elastic, but no. God has said what is right, what is wrong. So how do we understand the generation before us, our kids, our grandkids, help them, affirm them, validate them at the same time, say, oh, that's a sin?

Yeah. Because you're right, we're coming at someone who's got an elastic mindset that gender and sexuality and all these things are malleable. They're just these things that we can shape and we can twist and we can have it whatever way we want. How do you reach someone without just coming in and saying, no, that's wrong? Because to them, it's not wrong.

It's not wrong. That's the whole basis of their outlook on life, on the world, is everything is malleable, everything can be changed or hacked or made what I want it to be. Yeah. How do you present an absolute truth to someone whose mind doesn't work that way?

Yeah. How about authority? When it comes to authority generation, GI or the greatest generation, respect them.

Respect authority. Silent generation, also respect authority. Boomers, replace them.

Yeah. Boomers are the prophet, the idealist, replace them. Gen X, endure them. These are the nomads, the reactive generation. How about millennials? Millennials are choose them. When it comes to authority, you get to choose. They're the hero, the civic minded. And Gen Z, remember the artists, the adaptive in crisis? Not sure I need them.

I don't need authority. Why do you keep saying that? Yeah. That makes sense.

Interesting. I'm trying to kind of piece it together what's going on today. We hear all those kind of things, defund the police. We don't need them. Get rid of the Supreme Court.

Don't need it. Get rid of these laws that don't serve us. Rewrite the constitution. Rewrite the constitution. If a law doesn't serve you and your body and your mindset, get rid of it.

Change it or erase it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Those laws don't apply to you anymore. Where do we say, okay, you're right about that. No, we're not going to take down those fences. Right. Right.

That's the question. Where do we say we can give ground here, but no, this is the truth of God's word. This is the truth of the gospel. And this, this can't budge. This can't change.

That's right. Look at the pandemic's effects. Greatest generation, if you go back to look at them, they are part of the unraveling, right?

World War I, prohibition. They are the hero, the civic minded greatest generation. We've been through it. They've been through the Spanish flu. They've done whatever had to be done. Silent generation is we've seen tough times before. So they haven't quite gone through it, but they've seen tough time before.

Okay. They were born silent generation was born 1925, 1942. So yeah, they were there in the depression, but not quite as well as the greatest generation boomers. When it comes to pandemics effects, my retirement is disappearing. I see this little, this little nest egg tucked away. It's getting, it's getting rotten. It's decaying right before my eyes.

Oh no. Then follow Gen X, which is, see, I told you life was hard. Gen X are the nomads, the reactive coming out of the awakening, the conscious revolution. See, I told you life was hard millennials.

What will this do to my dreams? And Gen Z, I feel postponed and penalized. We saw, we saw so much of that through 2020 and all the craziness that happened. And I mean, one of the things that I will remember this until the day that I die, the, the moment that we were able to kind of reopen the doors here at Clearview and have people back in the first thing we did in illuminate was we had a game night, just come hang out in person because we haven't been able to do that.

And you know, you exercise caution and do all those things, but come hang out and just be together. And you could see as those students walked in the doors, you could see their shoulders relax. That finally I feel like I'm able to have a life again. And it just, it was, it was so beautiful to see that, but yet it was, it was still heartbreaking for me to see that for them to walk in those doors and just to even, even have a glimpse of what they have gone through and continue to deal with. Those are artists.

That's right. You were talking about the millennials saying, you know, what will this do to my dreams? I keep waiting for one of the millennial categories to not apply to me or for me to be like different. But I remember, like you were saying when 2020 happened, I remember being like, but we're going to do an album. We were literally Dr. Show. I mean, I figured I could say this now because it was two years ago, but we were in talks to start recording and writing a full length album. And then all that happened and we were like, but what about what we were going to do? What about this book we were going to write? It was like, I mean, yes, it's going to have far reaching effects, but my first thought was, what about what I wanted? It's not, you're telling me it's not going to happen.

I can't have that. God put us together. So while you are a millennial, I'm a Gen X and I was able to say, no, we're going to still do some things. Right. And we did, we did it. We came out.

Yeah. So rule of work, greatest generation is work and survive. Silent generation is means for living.

Boomers, central focus, Gen X, irritant. It's not happy. It's like something under my skin. It's not a fuss. It's just my dad. It's just fuss.

Millennials place to serve Gen Z. It's my hobby. Yeah. Work is my hobby.

My real stuff is over here. I just kind of do this. I got a little money.

Yeah. So I'm going to do some door dash and blah, blah, blah. So I can make some money. So I can pay for my pad. And other than that, are you going to go to work? Are you going to apply if I feel like it? Not right now.

I'm good. Work funds. Work is not my passion. Work funds my passion. Work is just my passion.

Work is just my side hobby that I do just to kind of make it, just make my, my real life happen. Yeah. And that's fine to a certain extent, but ultimately you're going to be, you're going to be taking advantage of somebody.

That's right. Because you're not contributing. You're not giving back to society as much as you could be. You're not contributing to society at large.

It's just, I'm providing a service in exchange for money because money is what's going to make me happy. Yeah. Rule of relationships, greatest generation would be commitment. Silent generation significant. Boomers limited and useful. Gen X is central in caring millennials. Generation Y unlimited and global. Gen Z utilitarian.

Sense of identity. Greatest generation. I am humble. Silent generation.

I'm humble. Boomers. I am valuable. Gen X. I am self-sufficient. Gen millennials.

I am awesome. And Gen Z. I am fluid. V of the future. Generation I, which is, you know, Gen I, generation GI really is adapt and overcome. Silent generation seek to stabilize. Boomers created. Gen X, skeptical. Millennials, YOLO.

YOLO is what? You only live once. You only live once. And Gen Z, FOMO. Yup.

Yup. Fear of missing out. We have to understand. We have to know that things have changed in our culture and we have to acknowledge that change. We have to appreciate that change. We have to flex to that change. We have to leverage that change. I mean, these are not liability.

These are blessings. And of course we need to resolve that change. And this is coming from Hayden Shaw in his book, Sticking Points.

Five steps for leading through generational differences. Great book, by the way. Wow. If you guys enjoyed today's topic or have suggestions or questions for another topic, let us know by sending a text to 252-582-5028. You can also visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com.

And don't forget, you can partner with us financially on that same website. Every gift that you give goes not only to building up this radio show, but reaching countless others for the kingdom of God. That's right. We had a question coming in from Franklin H. We read it at the top of the episode. Dr. Shah, do you have any plans to write a new book?

Yes. There's several books coming out. One is a book we did as a sermon series on how Jesus Christ is there throughout the book of Genesis. I mean, he's there all throughout the Old Testament, but especially the book of Genesis. And how do we see him in that first gospel? That's the book that we're working on.

There's another book coming out based on our conference, the apologetics conference on can we trust the text of the New Testament? So Franklin, short answer to your question, oh boy. Oh boy, yes. Oh boy. That was good. We love you guys. We'll see you next time on Clear Read Today.