Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 68

Jack Phillips on Why He Didn’t Just “Bake the Cake”

From Randy: Jack Phillips is the owner and artist of Masterpiece Cakeshop who was sued for acting on his convictions and not baking a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. I appreciated this article adapted from his new book The Cost of My Faith: How a Decision in My Cake Shop Took Me to the Supreme Court. What he writes here is unique, powerful, and well communicated (with a bit of light-heartedness too).

Even the most inclusive and loving Christians must insist that some things are right and others are wrong. In doing so, we ensure a degree of unpopularity. Jesus Himself said, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.… If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:18, 20). Remaining quiet about hard truths isn’t the way to reach the world for Jesus. Even when it stings us or them, we’re to humbly and graciously tell people what God has actually said.

I think in this article Jack does a good job of demonstrating both the grace and truth of Jesus.

My decision in the cake shop that summer afternoon in July 2012—and my continuing decision to stand by it ever since—has cost me at least tens of thousands of dollars in revenue and eight years and counting of physical threats to my family, insults to my character, and untold hours tied up in legal action of one form or another. Given this, I’m sure there’s an excellent chance that you’re wondering, “What on earth is this guy’s thing about marriage? Is it really that big a deal? Is it really worth all of this pain and aggravation?” Or, as many people have put it, “Why not just bake the cake?” 

My hesitation was not with the men making the request. My objection is never to the person, the customer, asking me to create a cake with a particular message. My objection—in this case—is to the message itself. I can and cheerfully will serve anyone. I cannot and won’t communicate every message. 

I have demurred from creating a lot of non-wedding cakes. I don’t do Halloween cakes, for instance. I personally cannot see Jesus celebrating that day, or encouraging me to do so, especially if the motivation is to glorify things the Bible so explicitly condemns. 

Early on in my cake design career, someone close to me came in asking for a cake with a specific design. Flipping through a reference book for a picture to base the design on, I found out the symbol was occultic. Across the page from the requested emblem was a drawing of an elephant. I’d rather do anything else—even the elephant on that page—than the occult design on this one, I thought. Soon after, the person requesting the cake dropped by, and I gently explained why I couldn’t create anything with the symbol she’d asked for. She shrugged, said she certainly understood, and then thought for a second. 

“Well—how ’bout an elephant?” she said. Another time that God proved to me that he was in control of every aspect of my life. 

So from the beginning, the message has been important to me. I think that’s true of any artist. No one who takes craftsmanship seriously does his work on the assumption that no one else will really notice or pay any attention to it. Why work and discipline yourself to become the best you can possibly be at a skill or talent if no one cares about the result? 

I have no illusions of being in the same league as Michelangelo, Shakespeare, or even Norman Rockwell. But I do have this much in common with each of those guys, and with every other craftsman who ever lived or worked, whatever his medium. Number One, I take my art seriously. Number Two, I want others to appreciate it. And Number Three, I want that work to communicate a clear message to those who do take time to appreciate it. 

If I succeed at Number Two, then there’s no way I fail at Number Three. No one takes time to really appreciate the work of an artist, only to say, “Yep. There’s something that doesn’t mean anything at all.” They may not understand what the art means. They may not like what it means. They may not agree with what it means. But they’ll know that the person who assembled that creation had a definite idea in mind, and have at least some sense of what that idea is all about. 

“Jack,” you’re still saying. “It’s just a cake. Nobody’s thinking anything other than ‘That looks tasty,’ or ‘I hope it’s red velvet.’” But that’s just not true. Especially of a wedding cake. 

Everybody knows a wedding cake when they see one. And most can tell, upon closer examination, whether this cake was custom-made especially for this bride and groom. They can see how much artistry went into the creation. They’ll sense the celebration, and perhaps see in the design something exceedingly personal, something beautifully reflecting the unique love and relationship between these two people. If it’s done well enough, they may even invite someone else to come up and see it, too. Many will ask, “Who made the cake?” 

But whatever their thoughts on the cake itself, two messages are instantly, invariably communicated when people look at a wedding cake. A marriage has taken place. And that marriage should be celebrated. 

As a cake designer, I want to do both of those things. I want to create the cake my customers have requested: something delightful, something delicious, something that celebrates this wonderful coming together of these two unique souls. But to communicate that, I have to believe in the message: that this is a marriage that should take place and that should be celebrated. And that goes directly to what I believe about marriage itself. 

For one thing, I believe marriage was ordained by God. The Bible teaches that God is the one who came up with the marriage idea—early on, in the Garden of Eden—and he had some very specific intentions in mind when he did so. Genesis 2:24 tells us: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” Jesus himself affirms this: 

And he answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Those passages tell me several crucial things about marriage. First, this union was God’s idea, and he takes it seriously. Marriage is a sacred thing. Two, that he intended it to be a one-of-a-kind relationship—the physical, emotional, and spiritual union of one man to one woman. (There is no biblical passage that mentions or allows for same-sex marriage.) Three, that he designed marriage to be a pure and permanent commitment. That doesn’t mean divorce is impossible, but it shouldn’t be so easy, so common, that people end up taking marriage lightly. 

All those ideas are magnified and illuminated in Ephesians 5:22–23, which says: 

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies . . . let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Whole books have been written on that passage, and this is not the place for me to explore all the theology of the Bible, or even to explain all the thoughtful elements of these verses. But the main point, I believe, is pretty clear: Marriage is not some casual thing, nor is it simply a convenient institution for any two people who happen to love each other. God designed marriage for his own specific purposes, and directs the behavior of a husband and wife within marriage to illustrate his own relationship with those who commit their lives to him. 

When we mess up marriage—by treating it as less than sacred, by treating our spouse in unkind and unloving ways, or by twisting the relationship itself into something it isn’t—we’re not just destroying our own happiness. We’re misrepresenting God to those around us. We’re painting an inaccurate and unflattering portrait of what his love for each of us looks like. 

And that’s just not a message I’m willing to help communicate. There are too many people out there already who have a hard enough time understanding God or believing his love for them. I’m not willing to use my talents to make it that much harder for them to believe. 

My beliefs don’t have to be your beliefs. But my beliefs are what make me who I am. My commitment to God and to the truth of a book I believe to be his holy Word is the defining premise of my life, the focus of my faith, and the guiding directive for my actions. If you ask me to separate all of that from my work, from my decisions, from my art . . . I simply can’t do that. Not just won’t—can’t. It’s like asking a contractor to build a great building, but first remove the foundation. 

Where do we think artistic creativity comes from? Something outside of ourselves? Of course not. It’s water from the fountain of our soul. It comes from that deep-down place inside each of us where our experiences, our understanding, our intuitions, and our deepest beliefs and convictions about life all stir together. Those can’t be separated from each other any more than you can sift out the various ingredients from a cake after it’s baked. 

That’s why I say that I’ll serve any person, but I won’t communicate all messages. Serving people is merely about recognizing each individual as a person worthy of respect, made in the image of God. I’m not trying to force any person to see the world the way I do, or to embrace my beliefs about God and the Bible. If you want to reject Jesus and purchase a cupcake, go ahead. I’ll gladly sell you that cupcake, and a cup of coffee to go with it, maybe even engage in a conversation about our differences. 

But asking me to draw on my creativity to communicate a message I believe is wrong? That’s asking me to stop being me. To change my own relationship with the Lord. To deny the deepest convictions of my heart, and pretend I haven’t learned the most difficult lessons of my life, or that they don’t matter. That’s not something any person has the right to ask of another. Or a command any government has the right to force one of its citizens to obey.

This article originally appeared on First Things . It is excerpted and adapted from Jack’s book  The Cost of My Faith: How a Decision in My Cake Shop Took Me to the Supreme Court .

Photo: Pexels

Empathy and Understanding in a Conversation Between Clarence, a Black Man, and Ollie, a White Police Officer

The following excerpt from my novel Dominion is a fictional depiction of listening to good officers and understanding the difficulties and pressures they face. Here the main character Clarence, a black journalist, has a discussion with Detective Ollie Chandler. (Ollie is the main character of my later novel Deception.)

“Ollie?” Clarence wondered if he looked as uncomfortable as he felt. “What was the deal with your brutality charge?”

Ollie sighed. “I vaguely remember that. Let’s see, wasn’t there something about it in the Trib?” The sarcasm wasn’t sufficient to mask his pain. “Okay, so you want to hear the story? Well, it was 1987. All started when this dude robbed a 7-Eleven, you know the one over on MLK and Jack?”

Clarence nodded.

“He was flipped out big time. Later we found out it was crack and PCP. Bad combo. Coming up from L.A., I was still a uniformed, before I got into detective division. I was driving on routine patrol. My partner sees this guy in the store facing off with the cashier. He can’t see a gun, but she looks terrified. He says pull over, so I did. My partner, Rick Campbell, he got out of the car just as the dude was comin’ out. The guy looks at Rick out of the corner of his eye but doesn’t run. Smart move. Rick walks in and sees the cashier on the floor, her face smashed up. Turns out the perp pistol-whipped her with a Browning automatic, but she was still conscious. Rick makes sure she’s calling 911, and he’s back out the door chasin’ the guy on foot.

“The perp cuts across a field, my partner chasing him, while I called 911 too, to make sure the girl gets help. I take off in the patrol car thinking I could head them off on a back street. Sure enough, I come around this corner and there they are, both still running, forty feet between them. I pull up, my partner hops in, and the perp suddenly jumps in a car himself. He leads us on a high-speed chase. We go about twenty miles; he dents up three cars along the way, almost hit half a dozen pedestrians. Amazing no one else got hurt.”

“And then?”

“After a fifteen minute chase, we finally pull him over. He shoots at us; we pin him down and run him out of ammo. Then we come after him, hopin’ he isn’t saving a magazine for us. We try to cuff him, but he’s absolutely crazy. Has the strength of five men. We’d handled guys like him with a net before, and no one got hurt, but the ACLU made sure we couldn’t use nets anymore because they’re degrading. Truth is, the nets let us subdue a perp without having to hit him. We can’t just shoot them, of course, unless lives are endangered. Chemical sprays don’t work on the guys flyin’ high on crack, so if they keep fighting, the only thing we can do is hit them with our fists or nightsticks. Which gives bad cops an excuse to do what they want and puts good cops in a position where they have to do what they don’t want to. The bottom line is far greater physical harm both to criminals and cops.”

“So what happened then?”

“Well, I didn’t want to shoot the guy, and cool reason wasn’t real effective. He was resisting arrest, hammerin’ us with his fists, and grabbing for our hands and holsters, trying to get hold of our guns. He was dangerous to himself, to us, to everyone, so as a last resort I used the nightstick on him. Hit him a half-dozen times in the shoulders to get him to stay down so we could handcuff him. After the bad pub­licity in the Trib, there were three or four witnesses who got together and decided I beat him because he was black. Truth is, I didn’t think about what color he was. I just thought about getting him under control and keeping him from hurting anybody.”

“But that’s not what other people thought.”

“Well, the front-page article in the Trib did the real damage. It started something like, ‘White Portland police officer Ollie Chandler, a transfer from LAPD, outraged a North Portland community by his brutal beating of a mentally handicapped black teenager.’”

“You think it came across that bad?”

“Just about. Check it out yourself.”

“I did.”

“Was I right?”

“Not word for word, but pretty close.”

“The funny thing was, the guy was nineteen, but he could have passed for twenty-nine. Besides, when a guy pistol-whips and robs a woman and empties his gun at you, your first thought isn’t to ask him when his voice changed or how long he’s been shaving or whether his neighbors think he’s a nice boy. And mentally handicapped? I didn’t stop to do an IQ test. I’m sure the girl he pistol-whipped felt better once she knew he had a handicap. She had to have reconstructive surgery on her face.”

Clarence nodded, his feelings tearing him two different directions. “I did some homework on your case. I’m curious about something. You didn’t mention just now that your partner Rick was black. Or that the girl at the 7-Eleven, the one he pistol-whipped, she was black too.”

“Didn’t think it mattered. They were people, and they got hurt. Who cares what color they were?”

“Well, people seemed to care about the color of the guy you beat on.”

“Yeah, you got that right. Isn’t it funny? I was concerned about the victims. But some people, all they cared about was the guy who made them victims. They didn’t care about the victim’s skin color, just the perp’s. Weird.”

“I was surprised you had no comment at the time. You should have explained yourself.”

“I was under department orders to say nothing. The problem was the press just took it and treated my silence as if it were an admission of guilt.”

“Did you contact the Trib?”

“I tried to talk to the reporter, but it didn’t do any good. I saw the photographer’s name, so I called her, left a message. Got a call back from somebody else, telling me she was unavailable, and if I had a beef I should contact the publisher’s office.”

“Berkley has an open-door policy. What kind of response did you get from him?”

“I’ll let you know if he ever calls me back. Yeah, I heard about the open-door policy too. Only I think it was the back door and he sneaked out when he saw me coming. His pit bull secretary told me to have my lawyer talk to his lawyer. I said hey, this isn’t about a lawsuit or something. I just wanted to talk man to man, tell him my side, and what it was doing to my family. He never returned my calls.

“His secretary said something about the First Amendment and, ‘The Tribune stands by the story.’ I thought that was pretty funny. If today’s Trib headline was, ‘World will end at noon,’ tomorrow’s follow-up would say, ‘We stand by yesterday’s story.’ Captain told me something I’ve never forgotten: ‘Messin’ with the media is like wrestling with a pig. Everybody ends up getting dirty, but the pig likes it.’”

“I was at the Trib when it all happened,” Clarence said. “I remember it, but I think it got mixed up in my mind with a few other police brutality cases.”

“Yeah. One cop deserved to be fired for what he did—I just wasn’t the guy. There’s a lot of people who still think I hit the perp in the face with the nightstick, that I sprayed him with pepper mace after he was under control, that I even whaled on him after he was unconscious, which he never was, by the way.”

“You didn’t do any of that?”

“No, I didn’t. Look, I’m not saying I haven’t ever gotten in an extra lick that maybe wasn’t absolutely necessary, but it’s subjective, you know? I’m no saint. But the pepper mace and the nightstick were both last resorts. I only used them because he was still out of control and nothing my partner and I did was working.”

“You use mace often?”

“Maybe four times in fifteen years as a uniformed. Nightstick less than a dozen times. See—and I’ll talk slowly because you people in the press don’t understand this—some of these guys won’t come with you to police headquarters if all you say is, ‘Pretty please.’ Truth is, I went to the hospital too. The guy bit me. See this?” He showed him an inch and a half scar on his left hand.

“That’s from this guy? No kidding?”

“No kidding. I could show you all my scars and tell you the stories, but I don’t disrobe for journalists.”

“Thanks. You have no idea how much I appreciate your restraint. So what happened next?”

“The DA’s office came after me. They needed a scapegoat. The Trib and Norcoast made me out to be this brutal racist cop. They described the perp as a ‘mentally handicapped motorist’ and a ‘possible suspect’ in a robbery. Didn’t mention we’d seen him do it, that he pistol-whipped this girl, that he was out of his mind on drugs, trying to kill us and bystanders, that he’d taken us on a high-speed chase, he was resisting arrest, bit me in the hand, and so on. No mention that he was a convicted drug dealer, and who knows how many kids had turned to crime and gangs and died or become killers because of him. None of that mattered.”

“You sound bitter,” Clarence said.

“Maybe I am. Did you see the front-page picture they ran of me, the closeup?”

“Yeah. Barely recognized you.”

“Nobody recognized me. This scuffle went on like fifteen minutes. I guess someone at the Trib was monitoring the police band, and this photographer was already out in Hillsboro, so she had time to get to the scene. This gal keeps getting in close while the perp is swinging these big meathook arms. I was afraid he was going to take her out. She wouldn’t back off. Anyway, she takes these photos, and I swear, I come up lookin’ like Hitler on a bad hair day. I didn’t know it was possible to make this beautiful mug look that ugly.”

 “So you blame the Trib for what happened?”

“Jake told me, ‘The press goes to scandal like a buzzard to entrails.’ They crucified me,” Ollie said.

“You’re seeing the media through the lens of your own bad experiences,” Clarence said.

“Sure. Isn’t that the same lens you see cops through? What bothered me is that I became a cop not to bust heads, but to do some good. I didn’t mind risking my life, but once I was accused of this, suddenly all those years—my career, my record—none of it mattered. I believe to this day if Jake Woods hadn’t done his own investigation and found out the other side and written it up in the Trib, I would have gone to jail.”

“Must’ve been tough.”

“The worst part was when my youngest daughter, then she was sixteen, kept getting harassed by kids and teachers at school who believed the newspaper. One day she comes and asks me, ‘Daddy, did you really do those things to that black boy?’” Ollie’s eyelids got heavy. “That’s when it hurt. Sure, police brutality happens and sure, there are racist cops. I’m not one of them. But I was made to pay for their sins.”

Clarence thought about how often he’d been made to pay for the sins of black criminals who were the exception to the rule.

Photo: Unsplash

A Paralympic Swimmer’s Story and the Value of Every Child’s Life, No Matter the Challenges They Face

It’s been five months since the Super Bowl, but this commercial, featuring American Paralympic swimmer Jessica Long, was by far my favorite ad shown during the game. It was transcendent:

NBC Sports reports, “Jessica was born in Siberia with fibular hemimelia, which means she didn’t have fibulas, ankles, heels and most of the other bones in her feet. She was adopted by Americans from a Russian orphanage at 13 months old and raised in Baltimore. At 18 months old, her legs were amputated below the knees. She has had more than a dozen surgeries.”

Jessica’s life story, including her emotional reunion with her birth parents, is featured in the film Long Way Home.

“When I first see my Russian family, I want them to know that I’m not angry with them, that I’m not upset that they gave me up for adoption,” Long said in the film, before a tearful, hug-filled reunion. “I think that was really brave, and I don’t know what I would have done if I was in her situation, at 16 and having this disabled baby that they knew that they couldn’t take care of. I want to tell her that when I see her that, if anything, I have so much love for her, my mom, because she gave me life.”

What a beautiful prolife story demonstrating the value of each person, no matter their physical challenges. The Bible teaches that each individual is personally created by God (Malachi 2:10). Personhood is never measured by age, stage of development, or mental, physical, or social skills (Exodus 4:11).

I’m reminded of Nick Vujicic, who was born in 1982, in Melbourne, Australia, without arms and legs. He has lived nearly forty years without the ability to walk, care for his most basic needs, or even embrace those he loves. For twenty years, he has been speaking internationally and has also founded an organization called Life Without Limbs. (Nick is married and the father of four children.)

It’s fair to say that most children with such disabilities would be aborted. But Nick is one of countless people living meaningful and inspirational lives because they were given the chance and have been raised with sacrificial love. His life has not been easy, and for a time he struggled with thoughts of suicide. But so too have countless people who are not disabled. People are people regardless of the degree of their physical limitations.

A young man born without a left leg and without arms below the elbows says, “When I was born, the first thing my dad said to my mom was that ‘this one needs our love more.’” Not only were these parents just what their son needed, he was just what they needed. Many families have drawn together and found joy and strength in having a child with mental or physical handicaps.

If you asked a disabled person if they wish their parents would have aborted them, what response would you expect? If you asked the parents of disabled children if they wish their children had never been born, what would you think they’d say? Who is better qualified than the disabled and their parents to address the issue of whether children should be aborted because of disabilities?

Does this mean caring for a disabled child and seeing her suffering and struggles isn’t extremely difficult? No, of course not. But hope and beauty in difficult situations are often only seen and appreciated in the rearview mirror.  

Browse more prolife articles and resources, as well as see Randy’s books  Pro-Choice or Pro-Life: Examining 15 Pro-Choice Claims ,  Why ProLife?  and  ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments .

Photos: Wikimedia Commons

Thirteen Years Later, Alex and Brett Harris on How God Has Used Hard Things in Their Lives

Incredibly, it was thirteen years ago that I first shared about Alex and Brett Harris’s excellent book Do Hard Things. I said then, and I still believe, that it is a vitally needed book in our churches and our culture.

I keep in touch with Brett and Alex, and I followed up with a blog in 2015 talking about how both of them were continuing to do hard things. I love these two young men, and the wonderful wives God has given them. (Here’s a powerful article we shared a few years ago from Ana, Brett’s wife, no stranger to suffering.)

I’ve been in an email loop with Alex and Brett, and it’s wonderful to see God’s grace in their lives. Recently they posted a great follow-up, talking about their lives over a decade after the publication of Do Hard Things:

In my book If God Is Good, I talk about how the suffering and trials we face—the hard things—are steep hills that increase our spiritual lung capacity; resistance builds our endurance.

In our side yard a tree has survived ice storms, heavy snows, and howling winds. Several times in the thirty years we’ve lived here, I thought it would fall. Now I expect it to long outlast me. I’ve taken pictures of my preschool daughters in that tree, and now of their children, my grandsons. It has lost many thick limbs, but others have grown, and harsh circumstances have made it stronger. In contrast, many protected and untested trees have long since fallen.

This tree has another secret. It lies at the lower part of our property, where the water sinks deep into the soil. This tree has all the nourishment it needs. The Bible says of the righteous man, “He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers” (Psalm 1:3).

Every athletic champion will tell you that excellence comes out of disciplined training—and all training centers on resistance. Without obstacles, we cannot build strength, whether in the physical or spiritual realms. Whatever costs nothing is worthless, but whatever is worthwhile costs a great deal.

The apostle wrote, “I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” (Revelation 1:9). He considered three things inseparable: suffering, kingdom, and patient endurance in Christ. No suffering, no kingdom. No suffering, no endurance.

Let’s be honest: virtually everyone who has suffered little in life is shallow, unmotivated, self-absorbed, and lacking in character. You know it and so do I. And yet we do everything we can to avoid challenges, both to our children and to ourselves. If we succeed in our avoidance, we’ll develop in ourselves and our children the sort of character we least admire.

God’s parenting method doesn’t shield us from adversity and the character it builds. We would do well to learn from Him.

Giving Helps Us Take Our Eyes off Ourselves and Join in What God Is Doing in the World

We become arrogant when we forget that God is our primary provider. Sometimes we give too much credit to our hard work and ingenuity. We easily forget the advantages of our upbringing, heritage, and education, and we view ourselves, even if unconsciously, as better than others, particularly the poor.

Some of us talk about people needing to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Yet had we not had stable parents or gone to a good school or had positive role models, we might have grown up without bootstraps—or even boots. As has been said in other contexts, many rich people who were born on third base routinely congratulate themselves for hitting a triple.

Scripture says, “Value others above yourselves” (Philippians 2:3, NIV). Our example is Jesus, who humbly gave up the place in Heaven he fully deserved (Philippians 2:3-11). We must fight our misplaced pride, remembering that the air we breathe, the lungs with which we breathe it, and our ability to make money are from God’s generous hand (Deuteronomy 8:18).

Pride, by its very nature, is self-focused. If we live for the purpose of celebrating our own greatness, we’ll endure small, pitiful lives. But if we focus on God’s greatness and live to serve others, then we will, in the best sense, live large.

Ever since I was a child, I’ve loved stargazing. For many years, night after night, I went outside, needing something bigger than myself to be in awe of. While I gazed at the wonders of the universe, I was not thinking about myself (I could have stayed warm indoors and done that!). Similarly, as an adult, I love snorkeling. Sometimes for hours on end, I’m immersed in ocean waters, lost in the wonder and worship of God, and I’m therefore supremely happy. Giving is one of the ways we can take a step back and recognize there’s something much bigger than ourselves—and then to stand in awe as we realize God is at work and that He invites us to play a part in it!

Excerpted from Giving Is the Good Life: The Unexpected Path to Purpose and Joy.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

What Is the Value of Studying Systematic Theology?

A reader asked me, “What is the value of systematic theology? Isn’t there a risk of misinterpretation because of trying to process all of God’s Word through a system rather than letting it speak for itself?”

I think it’s impossible to teach theology without teaching worldview, and impossible to teach worldview without teaching theology, and in particular, systematic theology. A doctrine is a teaching that summarizes biblical truth. Hence the “view” in worldview amounts to a doctrinal lens, a belief system through which you see the world. It applies to everything from money to sex to abortion.

There is a theology of Heaven and work and nearly everything else. It’s “what God has to say about this subject in His Word.” It requires that we examine the whole counsel of God, the larger picture, lest we leave out something vital that is not recorded in Titus or Hebrews or Joshua or Proverbs (or whatever book may partially address a given issue). Ours shouldn’t be just a view based on a single passage or book of Scripture, but based on the whole counsel of God, which offers us checks and balances that we would not be aware of from a single book or chapter or paragraph of Scripture.

Isn’t it virtually impossible even to “share the gospel” without systematic theology? Even if you don’t choose to use a tract or gospel booklet, you must do what they do—select Bible portions and summarize their points in a way that is educated by, and true to, the whole of Scripture. “We have all sinned.” “God loves us.” “We need the price paid for our sins in order to be acceptable to God.” “Jesus went to the cross to pay for our sins.” “We must place our faith in Christ.”

The closest thing to doing this while restricting yourself to a single book of Scripture may be using Romans 1-11, but even then you will end up skipping from Romans 3:23 to 6:23 to 10:9,10 and summarizing your main points of creation, fall, sin, death, curse, Christ’s death, resurrection, and faith in the grace Christ offers us.

Along the way, to make the message more complete, you will probably import a number of passages from the Old Testament prophets, gospels, and other epistles. In other words, you will do systematic theology, pulling together Scripture to express an overall biblical teaching.

Of course, a systematic theology should never dictate our understanding of Scripture. But there is a chicken and egg aspect to this. The fact is that everyone brings assumptions and an interpretive grid to the text of Scripture. In fact, that’s their worldview. We all come to Scripture with a systematic theology—it’s just that often it’s wrong and full of holes and not biblically based.

We have a thirst for knowledge, and knowledge consists of seeing truths in relationship to each other. We do not just need the individual pearls of truths; we need the string that ties them together. Without the larger picture of God’s unfolding drama of redemption, and without systematic theology, pastors are constantly throwing out pearls to people, but they have no string to put them on and hold them together, and keep them in relation to each other. Because we left out the string, the pearls are jumbled and rolling around, and eventually get mixed up with things of lesser value, and many of them are lost in the confusion of competing worldviews that come from everything to Internet billboards to car commercials.

Consequently, I think it is impossible and unwise to simply study parts of God’s Word as individual entities without laboring to demonstrate their relationship to the larger whole (in other words, to systematize). Now we can over-systematize of course, and strip Scripture of paradox and mystery and wonder, but that is not inherent to systematic theology when it is done well. We should not throw out the baby with the bathwater.

I have heard people argue, “But God didn’t reveal Himself to us in a systematic theology. Therefore, it’s wrong to construct one.” But this is like saying, “God didn’t reveal mathematics or chemistry or physics, so it’s wrong to construct them as a science.” Not only is it not wrong, it is vital for progress and inevitable considering the way God created our minds. If these sciences hadn’t been constructed to organize observations and truths in relation to each other, people would be a lot more ignorant about the subject matters and society would not exist as we know it.

I’ll make a comparison with my favorite science, astronomy. In Scripture, God has revealed to us many truths in a history of redemption that involves many characters and stories. Likewise, the history of stars and planets and our observations of them involve many components. Astronomy is a way of gathering this vast realm of facts together so they can be learned and discussed, and theories can be explored and tested.

Rather than just learning isolated facts about the stars and planets, interesting though they be, these facts are studied and organized into a science called astronomy so that understanding can deepen and be better utilized and applied and discussed.

Isn’t that exactly what can happen with systematic theology? It’s what happened in my life, and I’ve seen it in the lives of many people.

Isolated facts about astronomy leave people initially excited but confused and ultimately disinterested because “it just doesn’t make sense.” The same is true of isolated Bible facts. God has made the human mind to want to organize information in a way that makes sense.

This is what astronomy and physics and psychology and sociology and systematic theology have in common. Of course, all are prone to overgeneralization and error, but the difference is that systematic theology begins with the Bible, which is true. So while the Bible didn’t come to us in systematic form, that doesn’t mean it is wrong to study its truths and try to organize them in relationship to each other, just like we do in every area in which we seek knowledge and understanding. And shouldn’t we labor all the harder to systematize with care and accuracy because of the inspired nature of what’s been entrusted to us?

I highly recommend not only Wayne Grudem’s large Systematic Theology, but also his abridged Bible Doctrine. I have recently been reading his expanded and updated systematic theology and have been thoroughly enjoying it. In the introduction Wayne explains which portions of the book are new, and some that have been revised, as well as how and why. I do believe the revised and updated work is well worth purchasing even for those who have and have read the original version.

Finally, here is a helpful article from Wayne about how and why to study systematic theology.

Photo by Jonas Denil on Unsplash

Discover the Ministry of Asking Others Questions

Note from Randy: Tim Keller writes, “The thing we would remember from meeting a truly gospel-humble person is how much they seemed to be totally interested in us. Because the essence of gospel-humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself, it is thinking of myself less.”

It’s hard to imagine more relevant words than these while churches and pastors are still reeling over a year plus of fighting over COVID and politics: “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (James 1:19, NIV). I think this means not only that we should listen when people happen to speak, but also we should ask them the kinds of questions that invite them to speak further and at a deeper and more personal level. 

I love this article by Blake Glosson, a student at Reformed Theological Seminary, about the importance of asking others thoughtful questions as a way of ministering to them and showing interest in their lives.

The Neglected Ministry of Asking Questions

By Blake Glosson

Think about people who make you feel loved. What about them makes you feel this way? Without knowing you (or them), I can almost guarantee that they ask good questions and listen well. As David Augsburger has observed, “Being heard is so close to being loved that most people cannot tell the difference.” Show me a person who asks questions and listens, and I’ll show you a person who makes people feel known and loved.

Sadly, this is an increasingly rare gift. As Stephen Covey observed, “Most people don’t listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” In other words, most people don’t actually listen—they wait. They wait for you to stop talking so they can talk. Some of this is a matter of attention span—trained by short videos on social media, minds quickly wander. But at a deeper level, most people are simply more interested in what they have to say than what the other person has to say.

This makes asking questions and actively listening one of the rarest (and most powerful) ways to communicate love. And when we bless others by asking good questions and listening well, we reflect the character and love of God in a unique and powerful way. Question-asking was one of Jesus’s favorite tools. Even though Jesus knew all things (John 16:30)—including people’s hearts (John 2:24–25)—he still asked over 300 questions in the Gospels alone.

Though we know this from experience, we can often feel ill-equipped to actually do it ourselves (and ashamed to ask how). This is particularly true for younger generations, whose social development is often shaped more by social media than genuine human interaction. To that end, here are three principles for question-based conversation.

1. Be Curious

The beginning of asking good questions is being genuinely curious about the person to whom you’re speaking. A good conversational tool to keep in your toolbelt is the acronym FORKS. Whenever you meet with new people, ask about their:

Family
Occupation
Recreation
Knowledge
Spirituality

“Why” questions are often the best kind to ask. This will help draw out the other person’s motivations, passions, and feelings—which not only makes for better conversation, but also helps you get to know this person beyond a surface level.

Another great way to begin a question is with the phrase “Can you teach me about?” Pick a topic that you know the other person is passionate about or experienced in, and ask or the person to educate you on it. This is one of the most effective (and fun) ways to get to know people and to make them feel valued—and it gives you an opportunity to learn. Everyone wins.

2. Follow Up

Once the other person finishes talking, try to repeat the content, in your own words (e.g., “So, you’re saying?”). Making a habit of asking this follow-up question will help you learn to listen well. It’ll also assure other people that they’ve been heard, and that you value what they have to say.

Another great follow-up question is “Can you tell me more about [choose one part of what they just shared]?” or “What do you mean by [choose one part of what they just shared]?” Not only does this spark deeper conversation, but it signals to the other person, “I’m interested in what you have to say, and I want to make sure I don’t misunderstand you.”

3. Ask Leading Questions

One of the best ways we can love others (and glorify God) is to ask questions that lead to mutually edifying, Christ-exalting discussion. God tells us to think about things that are praiseworthy (Phil. 4:8) and to talk about things that build up the people in the conversation (Eph. 4:29). Think about the kinds of questions that you typically ask. Do they typically stimulate discussions that lead to praise and gratitude? Or do your questions typically stimulate gossip or complaining?

All questions lead somewhere and set the tone and trajectory of a conversation. The next time you’re conversing with someone, ask yourself: Where do my questions lead? Do they tear down or build up? Do they promote anger or love? Do they lead to mutual frustration or mutual edification?

Communicate Love

Everyone has something to say—but few have the opportunity to say it, since question-asking and listening are increasingly rare.

The next time you meet with someone, challenge yourself to ask more questions than you answer. This can go a long way in making the other person feel valued—and it’s one of the most powerful ways to communicate the character and love of God.

This article originally appeared on The Gospel Coalition and is used with permission of the author.

Photo by Liza Summer from Pexels

His Name Is Jesus

The name Jesus comes from the transliteration of the Greek IESOUS (pronounced ee-ay-soos; there is no J in Greek) from the Hebrew name Yeshua, which means “Yahweh saves.”

No matter how it is spelled or pronounced—whether Yeshua, Yēsū, Jesus, or something else—we are told that His name is above all names, and that one day every knee in the universe will bow to Him (Philippians 2:9-10). Some will bow in humble adoring worship; others will bow with unrepentant hearts, subject to the King they have never recognized and do not want to know.

Christ is not His last name. (His stepfather’s name was not Joseph Christ nor was His mother Mary Christ!) Christ is actually a title that means “anointed one,” or “Messiah.”

Jesus has many other names and titles. Each reveals something important about Him. He is Immanuel, “God with us.” He is our Savior, Redeemer, Creator, King of kings, and Lord of lords. He is the second person of the triune God, the Son of God and Son of Man, our Messiah, Judge, Advocate, High Priest, Mediator, Brother, and—incredibly—He calls himself our Friend! He is the Lamb of God, the Light of the World, our Good Shepherd, our Bridegroom, and our example. He is not a way, a truth and a life; He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, the only means of access to the Father and to Heaven, His dwelling place. He is the Bread of Life, the Living Water, the Rest-Giver, Word of God, and Prince of Peace.

We could spend eternity contemplating the meaning and implications and depths of these names and titles, and indeed we will! Wherever we go and whatever we do as resurrected beings walking on God’s resurrected New Earth, we will never lose sight of Jesus. We will see the very face of God (Revelation 22:4). The conversations we have with brothers and sisters in Christ, the journeys and adventures we undertake, and the missions the Lord Jesus sends us on will all be centered on our desire to know and glorify and serve Him.

But we don’t have to wait until then to focus on knowing Jesus. If we had met Paul 2,000 years ago during his first Roman imprisonment and asked him, “How long have you known Jesus?,” he might have replied, “I met Him on the Damascus Road thirty years ago, but I am still getting to know Him, and I will continue to know Him better until I die, and forever afterward!” In Philippians 3:10, Paul declared his heart’s desire: “I want to know Christ.”

Though Paul knew Jesus thirty years later much better than at his conversion, he had barely scratched the surface of who Jesus is. It was the tip of an infinitely large iceberg. Now that I have known Jesus fifty years, I too “want to know Christ”! I thank God that today I don’t just know and love Jesus as much as I used to; I know and love Him more. That is to His credit, and I’m deeply grateful. He’s what makes life exciting and worthwhile.

Jesus Himself prayed, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3). Because our eternal life is wrapped up in knowing God through Jesus Christ, we are well-advised to truly know Him!

One of many startling statements about Jesus is this: “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18 ESV). So Jesus is God and is at the Father’s side, and He has come to make God known to us. Provided what we learn is true, the more we learn about Jesus, the more we know about the God that no one has seen, but in another sense can be truly seen in Jesus. He is the explanation and illustration of who God really is.

There is much to know about Jesus, but Scripture puts particular stress on grasping His love for us: “[I pray] that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:17-19 ESV).

As the hymn “Be Thou My Vision” puts so beautifully, Jesus is our “best thought, by day or by night.” May your worship be full and deep as you contemplate the following quotes from my book It’s All About Jesus, focused on our Redeemer!

Redeemer

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited us and accomplished redemption for his people.”  Luke 1:68 ESV

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.  Romans 3:23-24 NASB

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.  Ephesians 1:7 ESV

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”—in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.  Galatians 3:13-14 NASB

God undertook the most dramatic rescue operation in cosmic history. He determined to save the human race from self-destruction, and He sent His Son Jesus Christ to salvage and redeem them.  Billy Graham

There was nothing that so annoyed people about the Lord Jesus Christ as when he said that he had come to seek and to save them.  Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Leviticus 27 reminds us that there is always a price to pay when buying back someone or something… Jesus referred to his death as a “ransom for many” (Mark 10:45), and God reminds us throughout the New Testament that Jesus died as a payment for our sin.  The Knowing Jesus Study Bible

Jesus did not die to increase our self-esteem. Rather, Jesus died to bring glory to the Father by redeeming people from the curse of sin.  Edward Welch

Because an eternal, unchangeable sentence of condemnation has passed upon sin—for God cannot and will not regard sin with favor, but his wrath abides upon it eternally and irrevocably—redemption was not possible without a ransom of such precious worth as to atone for sin, to assume the guilt, pay the price of wrath and thus abolish sin. This no creature was able to do. There was no remedy except for God’s only Son to step into our distress and himself become man, to take upon himself the load of awful and eternal wrath and make his own body and blood a sacrifice for sin.  Martin Luther

Sins that you thought were absolved by religion will always come back to haunt you. Only the Redeemer and Savior, Jesus Christ, can forgive and pardon and free from guilt—and the sins He has forgiven will never come back to haunt you as a child of God—never while the world stands!  A.W. Tozer

Luther taught that every time you insist that I am a sinner, just so often do you call me to remember the benefit of Christ my Redeemer, upon whose shoulders, and not upon mine, lie all my sins. So, when you say that I am a sinner, you do not terrify, but comfort me immeasurably.  Thomas Oden

Jesus came because there is something broken inside us that can only be, will only be fixed by his person, presence, and redeeming work.  Paul David Tripp

You couldn’t make up a better story than God’s unfolding drama of redemption. You can’t find a greater hero than Jesus.  Randy Alcorn

Jesus endured great pain, pain I can only imagine. But his pain was for a purpose—the redemption of the world. He did it on my behalf—and yours.  Trillia Newbell

Redemption in Jesus Christ reaches just as far as the fall. The horizon of creation is at the same time the horizon of sin and of salvation. To conceive of either the fall or Christ’s deliverance as encompassing less than the whole of creation is to compromise the biblical teaching of the radical nature of the fall and the cosmic scope of redemption.  Albert Wolters

The total work of Christ is nothing less than to redeem this entire creation from the effects of sin. That purpose will not be accomplished until God has ushered in the new earth, until Paradise Lost has become Paradise Regained.  Anthony Hoekema

Jesus has redeemed not only our souls, but our bodies. When the Lord shall deliver His captive people out of the land of the enemy He will not leave a bone of one of them in the adversary’s power. The dominion of death shall be utterly broken.  Charles Spurgeon

We were made for a better place and for a better person, and all the beauties of this world whisper that to our soul. We crave Christ. He has made this restoration possible and offers Himself to mankind as Savior, Redeemer, and Restorer.  Steve DeWitt

It’s All About Jesus is available in print from retailers, including EPM’s online store. It’s also available on Kindle.

Photo by Patricia McCarty from Pexels

Choose Life: One Woman’s Response to a Texas Valedictorian’s Prochoice Speech

Earlier this month, Paxton Smith, a graduate of the Lake Highlands High School in Dallas, Texas, set aside her approved valedictorian speech and instead spoke about abortion and the threat that Texas’s new heartbeat bill, in her view, poses to young women. Her speech has gone viral and received the praise of mainstream media, as well as caught the attention of abortion advocates like Hilary Clinton, who tweeted, “This took guts.”

Paxton said:

Recently the heartbeat bill was passed in Texas. Starting in September, there will be a ban on abortions that take place after 6 weeks of pregnancy, regardless of whether the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest. Six weeks. Most women don’t even realize they’re pregnant by then. And so, before they have the time to decide if they are emotionally, physically, and financially stable enough to carry out a full-term pregnancy, before they have the chance to decide if they can take on the responsibility of bringing another human into the world, the decision has been made for them by a stranger. A decision that will affect the rest of their lives.

She continues,

I have dreams, hopes, and ambitions. Every girl here does. We have spent our whole lives working towards our futures, and without our consent or input, our control over our futures has been stripped away from us. I am terrified that if my contraceptives fail me, that if I’m raped, then my hopes and efforts and dreams for myself will no longer be relevant. I hope you can feel how gut-wrenching it is, how dehumanizing it is, to have the autonomy over your own body taken from you.

Note Paxton’s telling choice of words: “the responsibility of bringing another human into the world.” That’s the focus of this powerful response to Paxton’s speech, from Sarah Elizabeth Lowe, a graduate of the same high school Paxton spoke to:

Choose Life.

My very life exists because of a brave young girl who made a hard decision to carry me, and then to give me life through adoption.

I am forever grateful for her decision, and it is not lost on me the fear and emotion and sacrifice that was a part of that decision...when her plans as a high-schooler were turned upside down with my pregnancy.

...a bravery and sacrifice I will never understand or even try to. Just one I am thankful for.

To see the valedictorian speech from my own high school going viral right now (you can google it if you want)...spoken with such disdain for life in the womb, and describe an unexpected pregnancy as a thwarting of hopes and dreams and aspirations and efforts for a future ... yes, it’s gut wrenching on so many levels.

And really? It’s just not true. It doesn’t have to be. There is another way than what she is fighting for. I’m living proof.

I sat in that very graduation for that very high school 20 years ago this year.

I sat there as an unplanned, adopted child about to pursue my own dreams and live the rest of my own life...because of the choice my birth mom made.

Life over death.

Was I an interruption to her life as a young girl? For sure. I can’t imagine that and I won’t try to understand it.

But I know what is on the other side of the hard choice she made. Because it’s me. And now it’s my kids.

My heart is heavier than it has been in a while seeing this, and I know everyone has different opinions. I am strong in mine too. I’m not here to debate.

I am here to simply say “Hi! Hello! I literally exist because instead of living in fear of how an unexpected pregnancy would mess up her life, my birth mother GAVE me life.”

There is absolutely no argument to this. It’s my story.

To fear the loss of hopes and dreams and aspirations and efforts for a future? Quite opposite...I was given life instead of seen as a forever hindrance. We both got life actually.

She fought a war for her daughter that didn’t involve death.

And one of the most beautiful parts? I now have a relationship with that brave woman who gave me life and it is beautifully redemptive.

We all deserve a chance to live and have a story.

Paxton’s speech is a reminder that despite their emphasis on choice, the pro-choice movement leaves many women believing that they have no choice but abortion. Abortion is constantly portrayed as the preferred choice. After all, a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy wonders, what’s the alternative? Raise a child she seemingly can’t afford, and who will disrupt her life choices like going to school and pursuing a career? Or experience the heartbreak of giving up a child for adoption?

But “abortion or misery” is a binary trap that keeps women from pursuing—and society from providing—positive alternatives. It’s a terrible thing to present pregnant women with inadequate choices, leaving them in an apparent no-win situation. We must reject this trap of presenting the choice between abortion and misery, as if there were no misery in abortion, and as if there were no alternatives.

Kathryn Jean Lopez quotes one wife and mother who responded to Paxton Smith’s speech: “Children—they don’t make women less than. They don’t stand in your way. They aren’t a barrier to your dreams. Abortion isn’t some great equalizer. The act of killing an unborn human does not make the world better for women.”

Tragically, “pro-choice” often ends up meaning “no choice but abortion.” Let’s do all we can to show women the real choices besides abortion—which are far superior, with outcomes involving life, not death.

Special thanks to Sarah Elizabeth Lowe for permission to share her article. You can find her on Instagram and follow her blog.

Browse more prolife articles and resources, as well as see Randy's books  Pro-Choice or Pro-Life: Examining 15 Pro-Choice Claims ,  Why ProLife?  and  ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments .

Photo by Hollie Santos on Unsplash

Was There Any Value in Purity Culture or Was It All Just a Mistake?

A reader asked me,

I see a lot of people pointing out the harm done by the “purity culture” of the 90s and early 2000s. But it seems like it’s easy to throw out the baby of purity with the bathwater of a manmade culture. God says purity is His will for us, but perhaps some people had the wrong motives and thought there was a guaranteed outcome if they followed a formula and set of rules?

The problem is certainly not purity itself! “It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality” (1 Thessalonians 4:3).

However, it’s true that one of the weaknesses of the purity movement was the false belief that following a formula of courtship instead of dating will buy you or guarantee you a great marriage. I’ve heard it called the “sexual prosperity gospel”; I would call it the “marital prosperity gospel.” Like all formulas, it helped some and hurt others.

Unfortunately, some youth and their parents failed to understand there are no formulas, no legalistic guarantees in this life that is under the Curse, except the presence and faithfulness and love of our Lord and the blood-bought promises of redemption in Him.

I vividly remember speaking in the 1990s at a large church youth conference about the biblical calling to save sex for marriage, and also asking God’s forgiveness for past sexual sin, which He graciously grants. After I spoke, they invited young people who wanted to commit themselves to sexual purity to come forward. If they wanted, they could receive a purity ring or necklace.

So many teenagers came forward that the youth pastor and his staff were immediately overwhelmed. So they handed me rings and necklaces and asked me if I would talk and pray with some of the kids who came forward. I gladly did so and saw a clear work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of a number of young people who wanted to honor Jesus. There was nothing superficial, inauthentic, or legalistic about the message or the responses of those I talked with afterward.

Yet in the modern-day backlash to such commitments, it’s like many who chose to wear a purity ring or to wait until marriage to have sex are now saying that messed up their lives! I don’t think so; I witnessed firsthand that many were helped immensely. Our daughters and many of their friends are far better off because of committing to purity. The dangers of impurity were—and are—very real and consequential.

Joe Carter writes, “Where purity culture has failed is in keeping the focus on the body and on sex rather than on Christ.” Though we raised our daughters during the height of the purity culture movement, Nanci and I tried to emphasize that the motivation for purity is following and honoring Christ.

On her thirteenth birthday, I gave my oldest daughter a heart necklace with a keyhole, symbolizing a commitment to saving herself for one man, giving him the key to her body on her wedding night and not before. I did the same for my younger daughter two years later. Of course, I believed then and still believe now that our children must own the conviction themselves, but it is our duty and privilege as parents to encourage them to follow the Lord in sexual purity, which is not only for His glory, but for their good.

Had my daughters not followed our counsel, I would have loved them just as much. Certainly we made many mistakes as parents, but I don’t think helping them set their bars high in terms of personal holiness and purity was one of them.

Years ago, I developed guidelines for sexual purity and presented it to many young people and their parents. When my now married daughters were teenagers, I honed it further for sharing and discussion with them and the young men who asked to date them. We had honest conversations together. These guidelines weren’t legalistic rules; they were principles based on Scripture to help young people understand what God’s Word says about sexual purity. Our Creator and Savior is the One who tells us, “Flee from sexual immorality” (1 Corinthians 6:18).

Scripture warns against man-made rules involving a “harsh treatment of the body,” but lacking “value in restraining sensual indulgence” (Colossians 2:20–23). Guidelines are valuable if and only if they are biblical and wise, are Spirit empowered, and point us to Christ. All guidelines can be legalistically and proudly followed, but guidelines are not inherently legalistic. For example, as I share in my book The Purity Principle,  Proverbs calls us to live wisely, exercising God-honoring common sense. In a context encouraging sexual purity we’re told in Proverbs 4:

13 Hold on to instruction, do not let it go;
    guard it well, for it is your life.
14 Do not set foot on the path of the wicked
    or walk in the way of evildoers.
15 Avoid it, do not travel on it;
    turn from it and go on your way…
18 The path of the righteous is like the morning sun,
    shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
19 But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
    they do not know what makes them stumble.

20 My son, pay attention to what I say;
    turn your ear to my words.
21 Do not let them out of your sight,
    keep them within your heart;
22 for they are life to those who find them
    and health to one’s whole body.
23 Above all else, guard your heart,
    for everything you do flows from it.

Alex Ward says, “Where the purity culture went wrong…was when virginity was conflated with chastity or purity. Ironically, there was a greater interest placed on physical virginity (though this is a good thing) than spiritual chastity. To be chaste is not to be free from sex. A married couple is called to chastity as well.”

I agree. Whether we’re married or single, purity begins in the heart, and that’s why God tells us, “Above all else, guard your heart [mind, inner being], for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23).

Let’s be willing to take an honest look at the shortcomings of the purity movement and seek more Christ-honoring ways to train our children and young people that emphasize His grace and truth and the Holy Spirit’s empowerment. But let’s not forget that it’s God Himself who calls each of His followers to pursue purity—for His glory, and for our good.

Photo by Chang Duong on Unsplash    Photo by Tyler Nix on Unsplash