Kirk Cameron's 3 Rules for Raising Faithful Children

**Kirk Cameron** (0:00)
Teach them the Word of God. That's their plum line for truth. And if you don't, they're going to be discipled and trained by their phone, or by their school, by the music they listen to, by the TV shows and the movies that they watch. And your kid will be telling you that they're trans before you know it. They'll be telling you that they don't believe in God and that America is a terrible country before you know it.
If you outsource truth teaching to your public school, your private school, even your Christian school.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:38)
Your organization is known worldwide, and we certainly appreciate every facet that you do. I do believe in what you're doing because I've seen it in my family.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:47)
I'm so excited about all the things that, Robert, you guys do with Classical Conversations. It's been a huge blessing for our family.

**Robert Bortins** (0:53)
Grateful for the work at Classical Conversations. You're a leader and you have been in this movement for a long time.

**Kirk Cameron** (0:58)
We love Classical Conversations.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:00)
I do feel like I have a debt of gratitude to you, your family, all of CC for just the fruit that has come from CC.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:10)
I appreciate all that you guys do, both through this wonderful podcast and also through Classical Conversations, which I am convinced is the best education resource out there. Thank you very much for all that you do for the cause of Christ and for our families and for our children. I really, really appreciate it.

**Robert Bortins** (1:26)
Everyone, and welcome to another informative episode of Refining Rhetoric. I've been looking forward to this episode for a really long time. It's a Kirk Cameron. He's joining us today. Of course, you probably know him from his growing up.
On TV is Mike Siever from the 1980 sitcom Growing Pains. But he's starred in Fireproof, which is from the best-selling book Love Dare. He is a producer on the film Life Mark with the Kendrick Brothers about the value of life in the womb and the beauty of adoption. Produced a documentary, The Home School Awakening, about the growing home school movement, which we've been a part of here. But most importantly, he's been married to his wife, Chelsea, for over 34 years, has six children and hosts an all-expense paid summer camp for terminally ill children and their families called Camp Firefly.
So without further ado, Kirk, welcome to the show.

**Kirk Cameron** (2:20)
Hey, thank you very much. Great to be talking with you. Thanks for inviting me.

**Robert Bortins** (2:25)
Yeah, so before we get into what's going on today, you know, you've had kind of a public life in far as, you know, your conversion to Christianity and being a Christian in Hollywood. So how did that affect your career? Like, what did you lose or what did you end up giving up for standing in the faith and what did you gain?

**Kirk Cameron** (2:45)
Yeah, great question. Depends on the perspective we look at it from. So in a sense, you could say, well, I gave up this great Hollywood career. You know, I could have been Leonardo DiCaprio. I could have been Brad Pitt. Both those guys were on growing pains. And look at this amazing career they've had. Well, instead, what I actually gained was the forgiveness of my sins and eternal life. You think, yeah, but you lost, you know, the opportunity to be famous and get an Academy Award.
Well, true, but I also lost the guilt of my sin and the penalty of death in hell. So that's actually a really great deal I got out of the whole thing. As I gained the more valuable thing, I lost the worst thing.
And I'm really thankful that I still get to be a part of projects like the ones you mentioned, Fireproof, a marriage movie, and also new projects that I have a chance to work on, writing books and making children's television shows that advance the values of heaven and teach kids about what's true and beautiful and good. So I'm thrilled with the effect that coming to Faith in Christ has had on my career.

**Robert Bortins** (4:02)
That's awesome. I mean, yeah, what does it gain the world and lose your soul? Right?

**Kirk Cameron** (4:06)
And you can just see that. Yeah, somebody said that somewhere and he knew what he was talking about.

**Robert Bortins** (4:14)
Yeah, so of course we have a lot of married families and you've been married for 34 years. So what are some of the things that you guys, you have done intentionally to cultivate that marriage and keep it going strong?