Red or Blue Pill. Which will you choose? As a Christian parent, you have a choice. If you take the blue pill, you can just close this post right now. Nothing ever changes. You go on believing what you want to believe. Life and parenting feels like it always has for you. But, if you take the red pill, you will fully digest this post. You will see just how deep the rabbit hole goes. You may be familiar with this pivotal crisis point in the first Matrix movie as Keanu Reeve’s character “Neo” faced a life-altering choice for truth (red) or illusion (blue). Such is the state of today’s Christian parenting. Which will you choose? I pray you choose the red pill and raise the banner of #IBNO. More about that later.

Life Inside the Cocoon

I am a Christian parent of two. I have an adult son, Quilan, who recently turned 23 and a teenage daughter, Kyrsten, who is 16. And, for most of their lives, I have done my very best to keep them in a cocoon. Yes, more specifically, a Christian cocoon. You may be familiar with it—maybe even have your own membership card.

Personally, I liked the cocoon because it felt like a safe place for a nice Christian family like mine. After all, there is a biblically-derived code, sometimes unspoken, other times explicit, that everyone is supposed to follow. And, I’m a good rule-follower—always have been.

The cocoon collective affirms those like me who follow its life script. The script goes something like this. Do well in school. Stay out of trouble with the law. Don’t have sex before marriage. Be happily married. Stay faithful to your spouse for a lifetime. Be a productive member of society. Regularly attend and support your local church. Produce little cocoon children.  And, the #1 cocoon rule, love God and neighbor (at least cocoon-approved ones) with all your heart.