I thought this book would follow well on the book about Christian Counter-Culture and the Sermon on the Mount. It is very much about how society and Christianity are (or should be) at odds with one another, and she does not mince words. I'm putting all of my little comments and highlighted bits in this one post, and I'll do a bit of a summary at the end. But if you're a progressive, you won't like this post or this book, and I am aware that it generally doesn't matter how things are said these days.
If you're going to not bother with this one, that's fine. I will just ask you to stay long enough for this main point that I took away from this book:
Our identity lies in God, along with Truth and love, and anything that tells you that you define yourself and your truth and what love is, that is wrong.
Okay, go do your thing. People are gonna do what people are gonna do, and I can't control other people's behaviour, only my own. I hope, always, for the best, and I hope that everyone is doing the best they can with what they have.
If you're still with me, the book is in two sections. The first section covers basic concepts that need to be clear before we get to the second section, which covers some specific issues we face today and does so via chapter titles based on the main accusations Christians deal with in relation to the issue being tackled.
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1. Jesus Said it Would Happen
To say that unbelievers are governed by evil isn't a hyperbolic theological claim. Jesus bluntly said on multiple occasions that Saton is the ruler of the kosmos (John 12.31; 14.30; 16.11).
People are either children of Satan or children of God.
Those who remain of the world are slaves to sin because they remain in rebellion to their Creator; in following their own passions and desires, they do the will of Satan. Those who give their lives to Jesus, however, receive a new nature and are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5.17). They become children of God (John 1.12) and are now slaves to righteousness.
1 John 3.9-13
Righteousness is despised by a fallen world.
Being a Christian, therefore, doesn't end with a private profession of faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior.
acknowledging the need to advocate for righteousness in how society funcyions doesn't imply there isn't also a need for Christians to share the gospel and do good works in their private lives.
The underlying sentiment is that our primary mission is to share the gospel and do good works, so time spent on social issues is a distraction from what we should /really/ be doing. [Spending time on social issues isn't a distraction, it's DOING GOOD.]
the gospel itself implies the need to care about how society functions and act accordingly.
when we care about the quality of people's lives in the context of the society in which they live, we should want God's best for them regardless of how many people are responsive to the gospel message at any given time.
God's concern for how society functions runs throughout the Bible.
[a quote of Daniel talking] (Daniel 4.27). Here we see that God expected even pagan societies to function in a righteous way (see also Amos 1-2 and Obadiah).
It's never been popular to publicly advocate for righteousness in a fallen world.
2. God Defines the Common Good
The common good, then, refers to the conditions and parameters that allow those in a given community to thrive.
people disagree on what is good for society.
Just because a person thinks something is good doesn't mean it actually is.
a person's definition of good is ultimately rooted in something much deeper and more complex--their worldview.
A worldview is a set of beliefs about the fundamental nature of reality.
The existence and definition of moral goods inherently depend on the nature of the universe in which we live. As a result, if people disagree bout what kind of universe we live in and/or are logically inconsistent in applying their worldview to matters of morality, they'll disagree over how to define the common (moral) good.
In order to know whether something benefits a person or group of people, we therefore have to know what the purpose of a human is.
there's only one actual reality.
1) God has revealed Himself through Scripture; 2) God has revealed Himself through the natural world; 3) God is love and defines love; and 4) God is just and defines justice.
we have the responsibility of knowing what He's told us and accepting those things as the truth about reality.
we have the ability to know that 1) objective truths pertaining to issues of cultural relevance exist, and 2) what those truths are.
When your authority for reality is yourself rather than the Bible, culture will warmly embrace you as one of its own--even if you technically call yourself a Christian.
The Bible teaches that even if you never lay your hands on Scripture, there are certain things all people can and do know about God from the natural world (this is what theologians call general revelation).
The Bible teaches that God is love (1 John 4.8), so His perfect character is the only valid standard for defining love. If we instead use our own standards to define love, we will err.
what it means to love others depends on what it means to first love God.
right and wrong are moral categories that require a standard, and it's God's character than provides that standard.
Only God is perfectly righteous, and His perfectly righteous character is the objective standard by which He judges the world.
1) every human is made in the image of God; 2) every human has an objective purpose; and 3) every human has a sin nature.
Because every human is created by and made in the image of God, every human is inherently and equally valuable.
we exist to know God, love God, and make Him known to others (for example, see Hosea 6.6; Matthew 28.19; Luke 10.27; John 17.3; 1 Timothy 2.4).
human purpose is not a subjective, individualized adventure. [The Purpose-Driven Life would like a word.]
As a culture, we've collectively deceived ourselves into thinking we're basically good, but the Bible tells a very different story.
Ironically, what's truly good is often hated by culture, which makes it all the more pressing that Christians have clarity. Without clarity, we're prone to compromise truth under cultural accusations of hate.
3. When the Common Good is Political
If Christians are indeed called to advocate for righteousness on behalf of the common good (as we've seen is the case in the prior two chapters), we need to recognize that our calling will inevitably often overlap with the political process in some way.
politics is the process through which people living in communities decide on the parameters of how they're going to live together
Possible errors in political engagement are not the same as political engagement itself being inherently problematic.
civil leaders are responsible for promoting what is good and restraining what is evil
Romans 13.1-7
First, civil rulers receive their authority from God Himself, and as such are His servants (vv 1-4).
The role is good, but the execution of the role by sinful humans won't always be.
there are times when civil disobedience is appropriate--in particular, when there's a conflict between obedience to God and obedience to government.
Second, civil rulers should be God's servants for promoting the good (v 4).
Third, civil rulers have the authority to bear the sword as avengers on God's behalf (v 4).
in the context of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is talking about personal conduct, not the role of governing institutions.
1 Peter 2.13-14: "Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good"
civil government plays a vital and God-given role in our earthly communities.
Jesus's silence on a given subject, therefore, doesn't imply that subject is forbidden, undesirable, or unimportant for Christians to care about.
We should never develop our views from less than what the Bible teaches
our present-day polarization isn't a reflection of gratuitous disagreement over trivial matters. It's a reflection of the seismic split that has happened in people's underlying views on the nature of reality.
We must take seriously the occasion we have to influence government in a godly way--not because we want to "war" with culture, but because we love God and because we love people.
4. Should Christians Impose Their Views on Others?
It's not somehow unkind to or intolerant of others when you advocate for laws that reflect your viewpoint. That's just the nature of public policy.
If power were inherently a problem, we would need to get rid of government entirely, because government, by definition, is the body to which we give the power to make, enforce, and judge the laws of this country.
As Christians, our desire should be to give power to those who will steward it well
Just because Jesus didn't achieve one type of good (spiritual atonement) throug political processes doesn't mean we shouldn't achieve other types of good through those processes.
If these positions logically follow from a biblical worldview, are we not downplaying the significance of the gospel itself by refusing to speak to how the gospel transforms our entire view of reality? The gospel isn't some otherworldly thing wherein we casually say we'll take Jesus up on His offer of forgiveness in the afterlife and then keep on living however and believing whatever we want here.
hiding part of the truth about reality in the hope that people will like us enough to hear the rest is at best cowardly and at worst a silent complicity with some of the greatest evils being perpetrated by society today. Do what's right and leave the results to God.
the Bible never suggests that we should sacrifice truth in order to achieve some kind of polite collective agreement in the vague name of unity. In fact, the Bible repeatedly teaches to /divide/ from those who are not holding to truth.
some divisions are bad and some are actually good.
Our goal, then, shouldn't be to prevent division, but rather, to divide rightly.
the fact that poorly justified divisions sometimes take place doesn't mean biblically justified divisions are to be avoided by sweeping politically controversial subjects under the pew. Remember, division itself isn't the problem. Wrong division is.
all people are image bearers of God.
5. Persevering in the Public Square
First, we need to better understand basic biblical apologetics.
Second, we need to regain awe for what the Bible is.
Third, we need to better understand the implications of the Bible being God's Word.
Truly recognizing the Bible's authority means being willing to trust what it says over your subjective feelings.
subtle presuppositions of culture that are also confusing many Christians today: 1) feelings are the ultimate guide; 2) happiness is the ultimate goal; 3) judging is the ultimate sin; and 4) God is the ultimate guess.
not everyone who identifies as a Christian holds the Bible to be God's authoritative Word.
First, we should be ever mindful that our views must be rooted in what Scripture itself says--not what culture says, not how we feel, and not what other Christians say.
Second, we need to understand the culture that surrounds us.
Seemingly innocuous yet unbiblical ideas (like happiness being the ultimate goal of life) are readily slipping past the biblical filter of many Christians today.
Knowledge of the disease helps maintain clarity on health--conviction that your positions aren't unduly influenced by the world around you.
Third, take time to study objections to biblical views on controversial subjects.
We wouldn't even have to discuss the need to maintain tenacity if we weren't living in a culture where subscribing to Christian moral views or violating the secular moral order brings negative consequences.
Some of the factors that might determine the degree to which a Christian has been exposed to the negative world include where they live (rural versus urban are; conservative versus liberal state), their field of work or job function, their kids' educational experiences, the predominant views of close family members and friends, the degree to which their church community proactively addresses cultural topics, and their personal interest in and approach to following the news. [My bubble is Canada + rural life + my family.]
Christians have varied levels of exposure to the negative world reality, and those who experience fewer touchpoints with it need to know it's only a matter of time before they'll experience it in greater ways.
Jesus expects us to be faithful to Him over anyone else and that we shouldn't be surprised when our fidelity results in relational loss. Our love for God and our love for others in not shying away from truth must come first.
believers must at the very least be prepared to make hard decisions that will result in significant financial loss.
Being a Christian will cost you.
If maintaining tenacity starts with resetting our expectations, it ends with continually being mindful that we're accountable to God, not man.
7. Power-Hungry Oppressors
1) many injustices exist, 2) many of those injustices don't have to exist because humans have the ability to make things better, and 3) human lives matter.
8. Controlling Misogynists
Whether the loss of a government-given right is good or bad therefore depends on whether the right itself is good or bad.
circumstances don't change the morality of ending a life
First, the Bible unequivocally condemns the intentional taking of innocent human life.
Second, we know from both the Bible and science that preborn babies are, indeed, human.
human embryos are not creatures of a different kind from human beings, but rather, are human beings at a different stage of development.
the moment sperm and egg come together, a unique human being is formed.
9. Cruel Rights-Deniers
As created beings, we don't get to tell our Creator who we are and what our purpose is
Our bodies are a physical expression of maleness and femaleness.
Human rights are rights to which every person is entitled by their Creator and are based on equality in human value and dignity.
No one is entitled to every right they seek simply because they're human.
10. Hateful Bigots
What people didn't know--and often still don't--is that Kinsey's findings were based on an extremely flawed methodology. [Such as interviews with criminals. Who were sex offenders. Including pedophiles. So maybe Kinsey's not someone whose "science" should be consulted or considered good.]
if God created us, it logically follows that He has the authority and knowledge to tell us who we are.
We can be wrong about who we are.
we are made in the image of God, but animals are not.
Unlike animals, we are more than our biological instincts; God gave us a moral law and corresponding conscience to point us toward what is objectively good, and He has expectations of us accordingly (Romans 2.15).
we are made to know God, love God, and make Him known to others.
the reality of biological sexes underlies the biblical view of sexuality as well.
God designed sex specifically for the physical, spiritual, and emotional union between a husband and wife.
we are by nature pleasure-maximizers.
The Bible acknowledges it's what we do by nature but teaches that there's a moral law that's greater than our instincts; it's not what we should do.
fundamental disagreement about the very nature of mankind. [Who are you? Alice and the caterpillar.]
If you presuppose that a person's sexual behavior is literally who they are, then the rejection of the morality of that behavior is seen as a harmful and hateful rejection of the whole person. [This explains a lot about the conflict that I have been confused about for literal decades.]
loving others doesn't mean agreeing with them on everything they believe and do.
No one accepts everything about everyone.
Epilogue: Letting Your Light Shine in Spite of Hate
when God's messengers advocate for righteousness in society, it means we're working for people's good against their own desires.
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Okay, so, that's a lot and if this was interesting you should snag the book and read it yourself because there was a lot in it that I didn't share. Most of it was pretty specific to the USA, of course, particularly how the government works, so it wasn't applicable to me here in Canada. But some of it was universally applicable, and I appreciated that and I've shared what I found most compelling.
Overall, it's got some good information and gives solid Biblical foundations for its thesis. Even if you don't agree with what I've shared here, you might want to read it. Why? Because it's important to understand where people are coming from. You can't engage in proper debate or discussion with others if you haven't really listened to what they have to say.
Peace & Blessings.
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