Welcome to Between Sundays!  My name is Scott Kaufman, and I am guest-blogging for Pastor Floyd while he and Jeana take some much deserved time for rest and relaxation. Each day this week I am reviewing a different book. The first four are books I believe will be great reads for you as you endeavor to grow in your walk with the Lord. The fifth and final review will be a careful and critical evaluation of The Shack, a book which has already sold well over a million copies even as its popularity continues to rise. You won’t want to miss it. Please join us!

Reviewed by Dr. Scott Kaufman, Director of Healthcare Ministries:

CULTURE SHIFT:
Engaging Current Issues with Timeless Truth

(R. Albert Mohler, Jr., Colorado Springs, Colorado: Multnomah, ©2008, 176 pp., List price: $14.99)

Author. Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. is president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a recognized leader among American evangelicals. Time has called him the “reigning intellectual of the evangelical movement in the U.S.”

Synopsis.  Congruous with his mission “to address contemporary issues from a consistent and explicit Christian worldview,” Dr. Mohler has written Culture Shift, a powerpacked little book that equips other Christians to do the same.  As one of the church’s foremost cultural commentators, Dr. Mohler is eminently qualified for such a task. Combining “theological acumen with spiritual discernment,” he applys the unchanging truths of Scripture to such diverse issues as the “culture of offendedness,” the Supreme Court on religion, terrorism, torture and the war on terror, public schooling, science and “the God gene,” American immaturity, truth, abortion, and natural disasters.  Readers are richly rewarded with tangible examples for understanding and discerning their world from a solidly biblical worldview.

Highlights. One of the many highlights of the book is Mohler’s argument that the Christian’s responsibility for engaging the culture is rooted in, and flows out of, his love for God.  According to the ”Great Commandment” (Matt. 22:36-4), our first priority is to love God with heart, soul, and mind.  Secondly, we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.  “The Christian life,” writes Mohler, ”is summarized in these two commands.  We must first understand our culture and its challenges because we are to be faithful followers of Christ and faithful witnesses to the gospel. We are called to faithfulness, and faithfulness requires that we be ready to think as Christians when confronted with the crucial issues of the day. This is all rooted in our love of God” (xiii).

Why You Should Read This Book. You should read this book because the culture in which you live is certainly one of the most complex and challenging in history.  Unfortunately, however, modern Christians too often seem to view, interpret, and respond to the world and its issues no differently than non-Christians do.  They have conformed their minds to a secular worldview rather than the biblical one.  But Paul tells us, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect”  (Romans 12:1, ESV).

Take Home Point for the Day. “In His sovereignty, our Creator has put us within this cultural context in order that we may display His glory by preaching the gospel, confronting persons with God’s truth, and serving as agents of salt and light in a dark and fallen world. In other words, love of God leads us to love our neighbor, and love of neighbor requires our participation in the culture and in the political process” (2). 

If we are to be faithful as Christians, we must train our minds to view God’s world through the lens of Scripture.