How Now Shall We Live?

Charles Colson & Nancy Pearcey

1999

C&P Chapters 31-34

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Saved to What? (Chapter 31)

RecidivismHuman Islands?Effects of our Worldview4 Questions

Creation—where do we come from?Creation—who are we?Fall—what happened to the world?Redemption—what can we do to fix it?(p. 294) “…transformed people transform cultures” (p. 295)

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Saved to What? (Chapter 31)

The Cultural CommissionHumans—image of God & dominion

(Gen. 1:26) Cultural Commission and Great

Commission are inseparable (p. 295)Salvation includes creating cultureRedemption is for all of Creation

(Col 1:15-20)Saved from sin to Christ’s lordship (p.

296)

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Saved to What? (Chapter 31)

The Cultural CommissionNo line separating sacred and

secularComprehensive Christian Worldview

God’s Laws—purpose and design for creation

Special RevelationGeneral Revelation(p. 297)

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Saved to What? (Chapter 31)

All Truth is God’s TruthTertullian

“The blood of the Christians is the seed [of the church]” (p. 299)

Justin MartyrHow to transform the culturePartial truths in other philosophies point

to Christ

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Saved to What? (Chapter 31)

Irish ChristianityPatrick

MonasteriesIrish Missionaries

How Irish Christianity saved civilizationBest of Both Worlds

ChristianityGreco-Roman Culture

Restored European Monasteries (p. 301)

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Saved to What? (Chapter 31)

The New MillenniumOne with another

John 17:20-23

Christian UnityKey to EvangelismKey to Cultural Renewal (304)

Taking a StandTogether on the Great Truths of ScriptureTogether on Common CreedsObey the 2 Commissions (305)

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Don’t Worry, Be Religious? (Chapter 32)

Society and Personal BehaviorConsequences?Sexual BehaviorHealth Care“Values-Free” Living

If all choices are =, then no one has to pay for consequences (310)

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Don’t Worry, Be Religious? (Chapter 32)

Society and Personal BehaviorChristian PerspectiveGod’s created orderSinGovernment Subsidization

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Don’t Worry, Be Religious? (Chapter 32)

Society and Personal BehaviorAlcohol AbuseDrug AbuseCrimeDepression and StressSuicideFamily StabilityMarital and Sexual SatisfactionPhysical Health (311-312)

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Don’t Worry, Be Religious? (Chapter 32)

Types of ReligionIntrinsic

serve God without strings attached

Extrinsicworship for self-serving reasons

“…the inconsistent Christian suffers even more than the consistent atheist” (p. 314)

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God’s Training Ground? (Chapter 33)

The Family in the Age of Murphy BrownLiberty = free choice?

“…It doesn’t matter what we chose; the dignity of the individual resides in the mere capacity to choose” (p. 319)

Individuality trumps community?Our choice doesn’t mean it should be

everyone else's choice

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God’s Training Ground? (Chapter 33)

The Family in the Age of Murphy BrownAll choices are created equal

“…the only “sin” is hemming other in the oppressive rules and artificial moral codes” (p. 321)

Identity“…roles and responsibilities are regarded

as separate from…one’s core self. The self can either accept or reject them in the process of defining itself” (p. 321)

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God’s Training Ground? (Chapter 33)

The Family in the Age of Murphy Brown“Unencumbered Self”

worldview of isolation to all previous, current, and future moral obligations

Family relationships are arbitrary roles (p. 323)

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God’s Training Ground? (Chapter 33)

Marriage as a Mystic MirrorMale and Female (Gen 1:27)“The implication is that to be a

husband or wife, a father or mother, is not an artificial or arbitrary role separate from our ‘true’ self, a threat to authentic personhood” (p. 324)

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God’s Training Ground? (Chapter 33)

How to be a Marriage SavePrinciples that Churches can Teach

FamiliesTreat its own families as a ministryEducate the children in a biblical worldview

Churches implicated in the divorce rate! 75% “…of all weddings are blessed in a church

or synagogue…” (p. 327)Community Marriage Policies

Marriage requirements agreed to by churches in the community (p. 328)

“Divorce is a community issue, not just a religious matter”—Judge James Sheridan (p. 329)

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Still at Risk (Chapter 34)

Public Education Esteem based education

“…American kids score at the bottom in terms of skills but at the top in terms of self-esteem. We’ve made them feel good about doing badly” (p. 332)

Dewey and Darwin “…pragmatism, a philosophy that says there are no

transcendent, unchanging truths but only pragmatic strategies for getting what we want...Children should not be taught facts and truths; they should be taught how to conduct a process of inquiry” (p. 332)

Constructivist Education “…children should not be given the ‘right’ answers but should

be taught to construct their own solutions through interaction within a group” (pp. 332-3)

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Still at Risk (Chapter 34)

SinJean-Jaques Rousseau

“human nature in its natural state is innocent—that people are made evil only by the constraints of civilization” (p. 333)

No need for moral boundaries or trainingLeads to “unrealistic and unworkable

educational methods that are blind to our children's need for moral direction” (p. 334)

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Still at Risk (Chapter 34)

Education“lifting society to the next stage of social

evolution” (p. 335)Education: “a means to ‘empower

students by alerting them to the need for struggle against patriarchy, racism, and classism’” —Frederic Sommers (p. 335)

Existentialism—each one is an autonomous self (p. 335)

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Still at Risk (Chapter 34)

Education “Students who are taught to look only to their

own feelings soon lose all sense of accountability to any external moral standard” (p. 336)

Public Education’s decline is due to “educational theories that deny the existence of transcendent truth and morality, that renounce standards of excellence, and that ultimately render children unteachable” (p. 336)

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Still at Risk (Chapter 34) Truth in Teaching

“…God has communicated with us through the Bible, revealing an objective standard of truth and morality for all people. Our lives are guided by revealed truths that are much greater than anything we could possible conceive on our own” (p. 337)

Part I: “The goal of education should be to feed children’s souls through a directive presentation of these objective ideals [of being created in the image of God and are capable of recognizing truth, goodness, and beauty]” (p. 337)

Part II: Teach biblical virtues and enforce them with consistent classroom discipline.

Role of Teachers: recognize where the students are and help them to see how

others dealt with these transitions

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Still at Risk (Chapter 34)

Christian SchoolsTeach all subjects with a biblical

worldviewClassical Education: Grammar, Logic, and

RhetoricTeach students to use these tools to

appreciate those things that are true and beautiful

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Still at Risk (Chapter 34)

Reforming Public SchoolsNeed to restore “high-quality education”

(p. 340)Need to form alliances to get basic

principles of truth and morality back into educationWork with other faiths and moral non-

believers

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Still at Risk (Chapter 34)

Clarion Call“What the schools do today determines

what society will be tomorrow” (p. 343).The importance of reforming education

today is the most critical task of Christians. Those students in school today are tomorrow’s workers, doctors, lawyers, politicians, and clergy.

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Coming up . . . November 22:

C&P Ch 31-3411/22: Critical Essay #3 (PPT format)

On the horizon:Dec 6 Lunch with Dr. Griffith