Ingram - Culture Shock: a Biblical Response to Todays Most Divisive Issues

2014 by Chip Ingram

Published by Baker Books

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakerbooks.com

Ebook edition created 2014

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

ISBN 978-1-4412-4626-4

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

To protect the privacy of those whose stories have been shared by the author, names and some details have been changed.

Published in association with Yates & Yates, www.yates2.com.

I dedicate this book to Blythe, Ella, and Emory; Nola, Ryder, and Sam; Miles and Jessie; and last but not least, Noah.

I pray they will hold unswervingly to the truth of Jesus and His Word and communicate that truth by life and word with winsomeness and love.

Holy Father, I ask You to protect these little ones from the spirit of this age and ever-changing winds of what is deemed right and wrong. May they know You deeply and trust You fully. Help them hold unswervingly to the truth that is in Jesus and His Word, even when to do so means to be unpopular or even persecuted. Cause them to see and treat others as You do, Lord Jesus.

Help them to so winsomely and radically love all kinds of people, from all kinds of backgrounds and all kinds of beliefs and all kinds of lifestyles, that Your heart and Your truth would be powerfully revealed through them.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

T his book has been in the making for a very long time. I didnt know it at the time, but looking back, its now obvious. In the mid-1970s, I was a new Christian, unwilling to throw my brains in the trash and blindly believe what was so at odds with the spirit of the make love not war and if it feels good, do it mentality of my era.

As I wrestled with the major tenets of Jesuss teaching, His claim to be God, His claim to be truth, His insistence that His Word and Scripture are truth and authoritative, His teaching on sex, marriage, idols, loving your enemies, and His claims to be the unique and only means of the forgiveness of sins and author of eternal life, I began an intensive journey to examine the evidence.

I have to thank Steve Vogal, who introduced me to Francis Schaeffer as we traveled through South America, playing basketball and sharing Christ. I am forever indebted to the graduate faculty at West Virginia University, who allowed me to write my masters thesis on the philosophical basis of teaching ethics in sports, and in so doing, allowed me to do extensive historical and philosophical research on what and how truth, values, and reality have been determined both inside and outside the Church through the millennia. I am grateful for the requirement to verbally defend my thesis (all three and a half hours) before brilliant professors who forced me to think at a new level and answer every objection imaginable. They challenged the core of my beliefs and the Biblical teaching concerning truth as an absolute, objective, nonchanging reality.

I also want to thank Country Bible Church in Texas, Santa Cruz Bible Church in California, Walk Thru the Bible in Georgia, and Venture Christian Church in Los Gatos, California, for the privilege of helping me work out in real time the application of truth as it applies to these controversial and often divisive issues in both very conservative (rural Texas) and very liberal (Santa Cruz) environments.

God, in His mercy and wisdom, allowed me to minister to, and learn to love rednecks who used racial slurs, leaned far right, and didnt use words like gay when referring to those who practice homosexuality. Later I would live and minister in one of the most politically correct cities in America. They viewed the University of California at Berkeley as too far right. I got to know and deeply care about liberal politicians, radical feminists, gays and lesbians, new agers and passionate environmentalists.

As a pastor seeking to teach the same truth that was radical and unpopular with both groups for very different reasons, the pressure to conform in each situation was immense. But the big lesson was how similar both groups and I were with one another. Out of our insecurities, prejudice, and backgrounds, we all held the others with suspicion, assumed the worst, accepted labels, and defended and judged rather than seeking to meet, know, and understand one another as unique individuals.

Ive learned a lot in the last thirty years pastoring these very different groups, and then teaching the very same truth in almost one hundred countries with Walk Thru the Bible. The real issues are not abortion, sexuality, homosexuality, politics, or the environment; these are merely the lightning rods of conflict and controversy. The real issue before the Church today is What is true? and then How is that truth communicated? Im deeply thankful for the privilege of learning from ultra-conservatives and ultra-liberals. I know from personal experience what truth shared in love can do.

My plea for a strong, clear stand on Biblical truth as absolute and authoritative could not have been more countercultural in Santa Cruz, California; but when we translated that same truth to meeting real needs, driving HIV patients to the doctor or grocery store, addressing poverty and runaway teens, and meeting with gay public officials to address the needs of our city... everything changed.

When Gods direction was to build relationships with blacks and Hispanics and even move the church into an African American neighborhood in rural Texas, I was extremely unpopular with some, to the say the least. Yet, years later, I watched one of the most adamant objectors, whose vocabulary had been filled with racial slurs, mentor boys from the neighborhood and teach them a craft to earn a living. His heart changed. He loved them and they loved him. When we baptized at the African American church across the street (because we didnt have a baptistery), we helped one another; prejudice and suspicion were replaced with genuine caring relationships.

So, I thank God for letting me watch the power of His truth when shown in love. This isnt a book to bash anyone or build a case for some particular group. The Church is losing its commitment and courage to believe and stand for what Jesus and our forefathers in the faith have given their lives for.

Yes, some have used truth as a club, but today we have become so fearful of appearing unpopular, anti-intellectual, or intolerant that we have become bland, lukewarm, and anemic. We are not bold because we dont know what we believe or why. We are not loving because we have missed Jesuss heart and His deep compassion for every person regardless of their gender, race, beliefs, or sexual orientation.

So finally, a big thank-you to Jerry and the Living on the Edge team who made this book possible. Thank you, Chad and the Baker Books team, for your support and commitment to me and this project. Thank you, Venture Christian Church, for the privilege to live this out, by Gods grace, in the most diverse city in America. Thank you, Curtis and the Yates & Yates team, for your insight and for building the bridges that led to this book. And thank you, Theresa, for being an amazing, patient, loving, and prayerful wife, without whom I could never have done this.