Biblical Clarity in a Secular Culture

There’s a storm a-brewin’. OK, maybe it’s more like a bubble’s about to pop. Or it’s already popped. Yeah, that’s really it. Western Christians have had the privilege of living in a culture that accepted many of our beliefs and made many of the same assumptions about the world we do. It made it easy to get comfortable. It made it easy to pretend all our neighbors were Christians.

That’s over now. The bubble has popped, and the real world is rushing in on us. How are we going to respond? We will only maintain a biblical view of truth and morality if we’re very intentional about it.

That’s the purpose behind Natasha Crain’s new Faithfully Different: Regaining Biblical Clarity in a Secular Culture. You may recognize her name from her three books about discipling your kids. This one is primarily focused on you, but your kids need this too.

Her message is that it’s no longer normal to be a traditional Christian in our culture. Secularism is the way everyone thinks now. Secularism isn’t just not-religion; it is very specific assumptions about the world and the way things ought to be. And these ideas are very seductive, even for Christians. However, if we’re careful and intentional, we can maintain (or, if necessary, regain) the biblical worldview, which includes the supernatural, meaning determined by our creator, and objective moral truth. She lays out the biblical view on things we ought to believe, how we should think, and the way we ought to live. Each chapter ends with some recommended reading for those wanting to explore the topic further and questions for discussion or reflection (good for private meditation or group discussion).

There is a lot of good stuff here, but the thing that makes this book unique is where Natasha applies her marketing background to the way secularism slowly wins people over to its way of thinking. It’s insidious. And perfectly organic. It appeals to what fallen humans want and pressures those who resist. Being aware of it will help you defend yourself against it and reaffirm biblical morality. This chapter is worth the purchase price for the book.

This is one for parents and non-parents, for college kids and pastors. The church needs to figure out how to resist the secularizing forces in our culture. The world is starting to push on us in a way it hasn’t before in the West. We will be conformed to the pattern of this world if we do not take steps to push back. And if we fall, will our kids be able to resist? Take up and read!


Bubble image via Pixabay