In recent years I’ve read a few hundred books most of which I’ve found mentally stimulating. However, one of the books that has stayed with me the most and that I’ve subsequently recommended for people of all types to read is ‘The Coddling of the American Mind’ by Jonathon Haidt and Greg Lukianoff.

I think this book diagnoses some of the key problems that are so prevalent within our modern society with a wonderful clarity. The authors suggest that people are often delude by 3 great untruths which are;

1. Fragility – What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker.
2. Emotional Reasoning – Always trust your feelings.
3. Us vs Them – Life is a battle between good people and evil people.

The book gives a plethora of examples of ways that this faulty thinking has recently been witnessed (in universities especially) and the damage that these beliefs bring for young people and society as a whole. I think the authors provide some sensible secular solutions that would improve human interactions but ultimately, I believe that the good news of Jesus brings the best answers to these problems. So I decided to do a 3 week teaching series examining these modern issues and seeking to see how scripture speaks into these great untruths with a timeless wisdom. You can listen to all 3 sermons below if you wanted to get my case for how the gospel answers modern problems or you can just listen to week 3 which starts with a summary of the 2 previous sermons.

Coddling myth 3: Is the world ‘Us vs Them’ or Jesus team open to all? (Scott Berry)

Coddling myth 2: Should you trust your feelings? Eph 4:17-27 (Scott Berry)

God speaks through ‘Coddling of the American Mind’: Untruth 1 challenged (Scott Berry)