Every topic that I hoped Voddie Baucham would tackle, he tackled. I am surprised how many topics he covered in a fairly brief, non-academic book. I waEvery topic that I hoped Voddie Baucham would tackle, he tackled. I am surprised how many topics he covered in a fairly brief, non-academic book. I was not disappointed (except for a few typos in it!). I learned greater details of things I have wondered about, such as the SBC’s Resolution 9 of 2019 (and some late 2020 updates). For other readers, these may be very new and different things you’ve never heard about or heard this way. This is a great introduction for you. Basically, he discussed the following from many angles: what will be the impact of our contemporary cultural upheavals (fault lines) on the gospel of Jesus Christ?
I appreciate the opportunity to see these things we agree upon in light of someone else’s point of view. Thomas Sowell is my top hero for observation of American policies, but, though he is not too shy to quote the Bible, unlike Voddie he doesn’t cover the Main Thing: what do our policies mean for followers of Jesus Christ or in relation to our theology. In fact, Voddie quoted Sowell several times in reference to a few of his topics. His book could be considered a “101-level” course from which to launch further study on the reader’s part for a range of topics. You could discover several other directions by the footnotes.
I really enjoyed the insights into Voddie’s background and guiding principles, especially his reading the works of those opposed to Christ, and exposing his homeschooled children to them, too. This is a smart but uncommon way to raise spiritual warriors in today’s world. It’s a dangerous place for our minds, so we can’t waste a moment in preparing our minds to recognize lies in contrast to God’s truth.
I dived into Voddie’s book having already spent a great many hours and days and years contemplating many of the individuals and topics he summarizes. I have never read a more clear explanation of the “three-fifths” Constitution controversy, and I am so relieved and set free by the truth. On my own, I had researched false witnesses (breaking the 9th Commandment) about brutal policing and the ignored names of unarmed white victims. I had read some of the same sources as Voddie. I valued the affirmation from a brother in Christ.
It also wasn’t the first time I came across names and organizations that were highly (blindly?) trusted until recent years, such as Christianity Today and the Gospel Coalition. (Please keep in mind that Apostle Paul and Jesus Christ himself regularly named names and called out wrong teaching, at the appropriate times.) In 2016, I began to perceive the existence of a “Christian Elite” — with the same condescending power structure as the secular counterpart. Not surprising that they are among those Christians enamored by Marxist theories, revisionist history, and eisegesis (a new term I learned from Voddie). According to Voddie, many have also succumbed to the 11th Commandment: Thou shalt be Nice.
In a speech from 2017, which I listened to online many months ago, about “Racism and Corporate Evil”, Tim Keller (one of many names Voddie mentions in pointing out how evangelicals and Reformed have strayed) proved one of his points by referencing Michelle Alexander and her book about The New Jim Crow (also mentioned by Voddie), one of many points in Keller’s speech that were eisegetical and factually empty. I looked up his source and found her to be a transgender rights activist who also claims to be representing Christ. After being disturbed by his speech, I also discovered that Keller believes Darwinian evolution is as real as God. I find that believing God used evolution is a common first step towards gospel confusion and possibly rejection.
From Christian friends’ posts on social media, I had already listened to Phil Vischer’s viral video (full of Critical Social Justice falsehoods, most of which could be easily and empirically refuted in just about any Thomas Sowell book). Another friend posted a Pass the Mic podcast to me, pleading for me to listen. Surely it would convince me of “the error of my ways.” These are additional sources of evidence for Voddie’s points but with only brief mentions.
In a personal conversation back around 2008 or 2009, after a church viewing of the 2006 film Amazing Grace, I said to my young adult friend, how wonderful it was that, unlike the USA, William Wilberforce was able to abolish slavery in the UK using politics and without resorting to violence. She replied, “But he did use violence.” I was baffled into speechlessness, and ever since then, I was not surprised to come across extreme sensitivity and exaggerated meaning applied to spoken words especially in the “college educated.” (You know, “triggered”? “Microagressions”?) Polls have shown that more than half of Millennials mindlessly accept that “words ARE violence” or else that “silence IS violence.” In his book, Voddie doesn’t tackle this one much, but he does refer with disdain to the accusation of “verbal violence.” Another point made about today’s divisive verbal policing concerned identifying oneself as a hyphenated American in the United States, which he finds dishonest.
Voddie fearlessly scours the anti-Christian “anti-racists”, and on the other hand finds truths in the writings of those whose lifestyles are not in line with the scriptures. I found it refreshing that a Bible scholar explores secular writings for insights that agree with our scriptures, even from atheists. He considers them friends, and illustrates by these friendships another layer of what’s missing in the “American gospel” in 2021.
The truth is the truth, and we can find bridges of agreement with our unredeemed neighbors without compromising. If we can’t, it merely demonstrates fear and a lack of confidence in what we believe (or else not truly caring about “the welfare of the city in which [we] are exiled” — Jeremiah 29:7). If we do relentlessly seek truth, or things in line with God’s word no matter the source, rejecting the lies, and remain authentic and sincere in our faith, then one day, instead of being led astray from the gospel and divided from our neighbors, we may perhaps be sharing in the unity of the gospel with those who had been lost.
If we imbibe the lies of Critical Social Justice in order to “be reconciled” with our neighbors, how can we also claim that salvation (the debt for sin being paid in full) is through grace alone in Christ alone by faith alone? Why trust a godless worldview to offer a better justice and kindness and unity than God’s glorious truth that he created all mankind in his image?
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