More market day pictures! Can you guess what the fruit is . for the pink and yellow fruit think about the shape of the black portion!
How Now Shall We Live by Chuck Colson and Nancy Pearcey.
Book Review by Tim Juhlin
May 19, 2007
The book ‘How Now Shall We Live” student edition, is motivated by the authors’ assessment of the Christian Faith as being marginalized and private in today’s culture. The authors state that if the Church sees their mission as only preparing for Jesus’ return through the disciplines of prayer, bible study, worship, fellowship and witnessing and ignore our responsibilities to rescue the surrounding culture our “Christianity will remain private and marginalized” and “turning our backs on the culture is a betrayal of our biblical instructions and heritage because it denies God’s power over all of life.” The authors expanded on this by stating:
“It is not enough to focus only on the spiritual, on Bible studies and evangelistic campaigns, while turning a blind eye to the distinctive troubles of contemporary life. We must show the world that Christianity is more than a private belief, more than personal salvation. We must show that it is a comprehensive life system that answers all of humanity’s age old questions: Where did I come from, Why am I here? Where am I going? Does Life have any meaning and purpose.”
The authors see the culture wars as a clash of worldviews. The book is very cerebral and requires the laying down of a framework of thought accomplished in 8 units:
1) How we see our world- 2 world views: Judeo Christianity and Naturalism (includes postmodernism and multiculturalism) and the logical conclusions of post modernism.
2) Chemicals,it’s all chemicals- addresses evolution and the big bang theory and the wonders of our design.
3) Science or religion- the anatomy of a lie, What has the theory of evolution has done?
4) The Fall- two views of evil and utopianism
5) Redemption and the Myth of Progress- The escalator theory and the many faces of this fallacy of Naturalism
6) Real Redemption?- Salvation through Science, Genetics, Eastern Religions? And then, real salvation.
7) The Church and Culture- renewal is possible, becoming a creative force in the Culture
8) Transforming our Culture- The opportunity before us.
The authors identify what a worldview is and set up an evaluation process, for any belief system, based on 3 questions?
1) Where did we come from and who are we?
2) What has gone wrong with the world?
3) What can we do to fix it?
The two belief systems are identified as either a biblical foundation or a foundation outside of God. The foundation outside of God includes Multiculturalism and Postmodernism and along with evolution and a series of other thought lines is called the Worldview of Naturalism.
Definitions:
Multiculturalism says that all cultures are equal because one value can’t be better than another.
Postmodernism is a system of thought that denies all truth claims.
Judeo Christianity says that God is the center of all that is good and the source of all truth.
I have included these definitions because truth matters!
“Your worldview is the most basic level of your Faith, the core of your beliefs about the world. It is the big picture that directs your daily decisions and actions.” Our Worldview filters information and colors what we perceive. The authors focus in on Romans 12:2 which speaks on the renewing of our minds stating that unless we purpose to consciously and consistently choose a biblical world view we will be affected by the many other world views that can be defined and will be conformed to the pattern of the world rather than God’s view.
Here are a few lines that may peak you interest enough to buy the book or borrow it from the local library.
-What Christians ought to be telling people is that we do not want to ban Darwinism. We do not want less taught we want more taught….Naturalism starts with certain ideas that cannot be tested. One belief is that nature is “all that is or ever was or ever will be”, to use a line from the late Carl Sagan’s popular science program Cosmos. This is not a scientific statement, because there is no believable way it could be tested. It is an assumption, a philosophy, a religious belief. It is the philosophy that supports the entire evolution scheme, from its assertions about the beginning of the universe to the beginning of life to the appearance of complex life forms…I need to be clear. We should not oppose the teaching of evolution. Instead, our desire should be to expose the religion of naturalism. We should work to have all the facts taught about origins.
-The whole point of Darwin’s theory was to identify a natural process that would mimic design, thus making design unnecessary(by design they are meaning Creation by God).
-The hostility to religion that is so strong in the scientific establishment is not driven by the facts but by materialistic philosophy…..even the methods of science are driven by materialistic philosophy….”We (scientists) are forced by our a priori (a decision reached before examining the facts) adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations. You say, Huh? What he means is that since we already have decided what the answer is then we have to find a way to prove whether it’s true or not…..The truth is that much of Darwinism is not science but naturalistic philosophy dressed up as science.
I include this above point because over the years we have all heard of new findings (ex the infamous pepper moth) with corny conclusions attached to them as they hit the airways only to hear later about the phoniness or falsity in the original claim. The above tends to add some understanding for me as to why this happens.
The author explains the philosophies of individuals such as Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Margaret Sanger, Alferd Kinsey, Wilhelm Reich , Jean-Paul Sartr, Earnest Hemingway , to name a few who influence thought in the 20th century and the negative consequences related to their belief systems that are seen in our society today.
As the authors move to conclusion they provide examples of how we can begin to change our culture, the role of law enforcement (i.e to maintain the peace firstly).
The topic of Christian Unity is discussed… “Let’s fight the real enemy (naturalism) together and quit fighting each other.”
How do we redeem a culture? The answer is simple we are told… “From the inside out. From the individual to the family to the community and then outward in ever widening ripples”
The Books concluding lines:
How now shall we live? By embracing God’s truth, understanding the physical and moral order he has created, leveling contending for the truth with our neighbors, then having the courage to live it out in every walk of life. Boldly and, yes joyously.
This book is not a quick read nor is it escapism but if you are purposefully driven to understand the mindset of the world’s people who chose to deny creation theory and practice the religion of naturalism, whether knowingly of unknowingly, then do consider reading this book. If you are plagued with questions on evolution from you children then read this book. If you are trying to mix Creation with Evolution than please read this book. If you belief in truth read this book. If you believe in relativism and consider yourself a post modernist then read this book. If you do not belief in God or Evolution read this book.
You may be asking yourself why is this missionary to Guatemala taking so much time to write a book review, why does he not get out there and win souls. My motivation for doing this is multidimensional and includes:
- Listening to a friend describe the problems their granddaughter was having in a junior high science class.
- Seeing the influence that TV has on each of us morally.
- Seeing the drift in thought processes from absolute truth to relativism
- Reading the bold introduction to our blog site about changing the culture in Guatemala and gulping a little as the reality of the meaning hits home for me as I view the society ‘here and now’ as a new resident of Guatemala and then thinking about the practical ways that this may happen.
I can only hope that this review peaks your interest enough to inspire you to pick up the book and have a deep read. Whether you believe in God or do not. In either case you will benefit.
Tim Juhlin- May 2007
