How Now Shall We Live? Charles Colson & Nancy Pearcey 1999 C&P Chapters 31-34

1. How Now Shall We Live?Charles Colson & Nancy Pearcey1999C&P Chapters 31-34

2. Saved to What? (Chapter 31) • Recidivism • Human Islands? • Effects of our Worldview • 4 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)

3. Saved to What? (Chapter 31) • The Cultural Commission • Humans—image of God & dominion (Gen. 1:26) • Cultural Commission and Great Commission are inseparable (p. 295) • Salvation includes creating culture • Redemption is for all of Creation • (Col 1:15-20) • Saved from sin to Christ’s lordship (p. 296)

4. Saved to What? (Chapter 31) • The Cultural Commission • No line separating sacred and secular • Comprehensive Christian Worldview • God’s Laws—purpose and design for creation • Special Revelation • General Revelation (p. 297)

5. Saved to What? (Chapter 31) • All Truth is God’s Truth • Tertullian • “The blood of the Christians is the seed [of the church]” (p. 299) • Justin Martyr • How to transform the culture • Partial truths in other philosophies point to Christ

6. Saved to What? (Chapter 31) • Irish Christianity • Patrick • Monasteries • Irish Missionaries • How Irish Christianity saved civilization • Best of Both Worlds • Christianity • Greco-Roman Culture • Restored European Monasteries (p. 301)

7. Saved to What? (Chapter 31) • The New Millennium • One with another • John 17:20-23 • Christian Unity • Key to Evangelism • Key to Cultural Renewal (304) • Taking a Stand • Together on the Great Truths of Scripture • Together on Common Creeds • Obey the 2 Commissions (305)

8. Don’t Worry, Be Religious? (Chapter 32) • Society and Personal Behavior • Consequences? • Sexual Behavior • Health Care • “Values-Free” Living • If all choices are =, then no one has to pay for consequences (310)

9. Don’t Worry, Be Religious? (Chapter 32) • Society and Personal Behavior • Christian Perspective • God’s created order • Sin • Government Subsidization

10. Don’t Worry, Be Religious? (Chapter 32) • Society and Personal Behavior • Alcohol Abuse • Drug Abuse • Crime • Depression and Stress • Suicide • Family Stability • Marital and Sexual Satisfaction • Physical Health (311-312)

11. Don’t Worry, Be Religious? (Chapter 32) • Types of Religion • Intrinsic • serve God without strings attached • Extrinsic • worship for self-serving reasons • “…the inconsistent Christian suffers even more than the consistent atheist” (p. 314)

12. God’s Training Ground? (Chapter 33) • The Family in the Age of Murphy Brown • Liberty = 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

13. God’s Training Ground? (Chapter 33) • The Family in the Age of Murphy Brown • All 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)

14. 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)

15. God’s Training Ground? (Chapter 33) • Marriage as a Mystic Mirror • Male 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)

16. God’s Training Ground? (Chapter 33) • How to be a Marriage Save • Principles that Churches can Teach Families • Treat its own families as a ministry • Educate 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)

17. 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)

18. Still at Risk (Chapter 34) • Sin • Jean-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 training • Leads to “unrealistic and unworkable educational methods that are blind to our children's need for moral direction” (p. 334)

19. 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)

20. 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)

21. 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

22. Still at Risk (Chapter 34) • Christian Schools • Teach all subjects with a biblical worldview • Classical Education: Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric • Teach students to use these tools to appreciate those things that are true and beautiful

23. Still at Risk (Chapter 34) • Reforming Public Schools • Need to restore “high-quality education” (p. 340) • Need to form alliances to get basic principles of truth and morality back into education • Work with other faiths and moral non-believers

24. 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.

25. Coming up . . . November 22: C&P Ch 31-34 11/22: Critical Essay #3 (PPT format) On the horizon: Dec 6 Lunch with Dr. Griffith