Mark Driscoll - Religion Saves: And Nine Other Misconceptions

RELIGION SAVES

Re:Lit Books

Vintage Jesus, Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears
On Church Leadership, Mark Driscoll
On the New Testament, Mark Driscoll
On the Old Testament, Mark Driscoll
On Who Is God? Mark Driscoll
Practical Theology for Women, Wendy Horger Alsup
Death by Love, Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears
Total Church, Tim Chester and Steve Timmis
Vintage Church, Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears

Religion Saves: And Nine Other Misconceptions

Copyright 2009 by Mark Driscoll

Published by Crossway Books
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers
1300 Crescent Street
Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.

Cover design: Patrick Mahoney

Cover illustration: Veer

First printing 2009

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture references marked NIV are from The Holy Bible: New InternationalVersion. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

The NIV and New International Version trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4335-0616-1

PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-0617-8

Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-0618-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Driscoll, Mark, 1970
Religion saves : and nine other misconceptions / Mark Driscoll.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4335-0616-1 (hc)
1. TheologyMiscellanea. I. Title.
BR96.D75 2009
230.044dc22

200804540

LB 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09
15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To all those who are kind enough to listen to my sermons on the Internet. It means a great deal to me that you would give me your time and invite me into your life as you exercise, clean your house, commute, and work your job. I love what I do, and I love the people who appreciate it, so thank you. With all sincerity, you are a source of enormous encouragement. One day in Jesus kingdom it will be fun to finally meet everyone who tunes in and I look forward to that day.

CONTENTS

Theres no doubt the Bible says children are a blessing, but the Bible doesnt seem to address the specific topic of birth control. Is this a black-and-white topic, or does it fall under liberties?

Why do you make jokes in sermons about Mormon missionaries, homosexuals, trench coat wearers, single men, vegans, and emo kids, and then expect these groups to come to know God through those sermons?

Why does an all-loving, all-knowing, and all-sovereign God will into creation people he foreknows will suffer eternal condemnationand the Romans 9:20 answer seems like a cop-out!

Of all the things you teach, what parts of Christianity do you still wrestle with? Whats hardest for you to believe?

How should Christian men and women go about breaking free from the bondage of sexual sin?

If salvation is by faith alone, then why are there so many verses that say or imply the oppositethat salvation is by works?

How does a Christian date righteously, and what are the physical, emotional, and mentally connecting boundaries a Christian must set while developing an intimate relationship prior to marriage?

What can traditional or established churches learn from emerging churches?

Do you believe that the Scripture not only regulates our theology but also our methodology? In other words, do you believe in the regulative principle? If so, to what degree? If not, why not?

RELIGION
SAVES

While preaching through 1 Corinthians some time ago, I was struck by the fact that the letter was a series of answers to various questions that the people in the Corinthian church had asked. My guess was that there were more questions than Paul answered, but that somehow those he did answer were deemed to be of the greatest interest and importance. I thought it might be interesting to do something similar by preaching a series answering the big questions and issues in our own day, which could subsequently be addressed in an even more thorough fashion as a book.

Then, while preaching through 1 Corinthians 9:2223, I was again struck by Pauls strong call for cultural relevance: I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. So we tried an experiment, opening up a section of our churchs Web site for people to post any question, make comments about posted questions, and vote up to ten times a day for their favorite question. We deleted the votes of those people who violated the rules. And in the end, 893 questions were asked, 5,524 comments were made, and 343,203 votes were cast. I answered the top nine questions in a sermon devoted to each. Here in the book well start with the ninth most popular question and work our way to the most popular question.

During the Religion Saves sermon series, we experimented with live questions from people in our late Sunday evening service, which is attended predominantly by urban students and singles, and it offers no child care because the hour is late and young children are not present. Those in attendance text-messaged questions related to the sermon subject, and I answered them live on the stage, which led to a number of helpful, clarifying questions and some tough questions. The questions included whether a young woman in the church who had performed oral sex on her boyfriend was still a virgin, whether masturbation is okay, and if another woman in the church who was pregnant following a rape could have an abortion. To say the least, it was an intense way to finish more than six hours of preaching.

My off-the-cuff, on-the-spot answers to these text-message questions are available on our Web site and can also be found on Youtube. com. As a warning, some of the content is frank and for mature audiences, so if you are a minor, please get your parents permission before tuning in.

Before we proceed, the title Religion Saves merits a bit of explanation. The one thread that weaves this book together is religion; many of the questions that made the top nine are highly religious in nature. Religious people are prone to go beyond the teaching of the Bible to argue for positions that are not clearly taught in Scripture. They are further prone to go beyond the biblical principles on these issues and seek to impose their method on others, as if they alone are truly biblical. Religious people tend to have very strong and vocal opinions about the issues we will examine. In fact, religious people were often the most devoted voters for the questions that comprised the Religion Saves sermon series and this book.

Religious people are prone to draw firm lines on these issues, thereby making them points of debate, distinction, and even division among Christians. The issues fall into some curious categories. Questions 9, 5, and 3 are all related to issues of sex and dating, as sex is the most popular religion in the world. Questions 8 and 2 deal with missional aspects of the emerging church and how Christians should relate to mainstream culture and lost people. Question 7 is the endless debating point between Calvinists and Arminians. Question 4 is the perennial debating point between Catholics and Protestants. And Question 1 is a point of concern between old school and new school Calvinists.