Beyond Culture Wars: Is America a Mission Field or Battlefield?

Horton, professor at California's Westminster Seminary, prefaces this provocative volume with these words: "This book is not going to take sides in the "culture war" (i.e. between "liberals" and "conservatives"), not because I do not have an interest in such things, but because the church is no longer pursuing its authentic mission, generally speaking, and ministers are supposed to ring the bell when that happens. As we shall see...the greatest issues of the day do not have to do with whether one is politically left or right of center. The real division is between those, on the one hand, who believe that revelation, salvation, and the kingdom of God come down from heaven as the sovereign intervention of God breaking into human history and, on the other hand, those who assume that we can save ourselves (either as individuals or as a nation) and bring in the kingdom of God by our own works of righteousness."

Although I read 50-100 books a year, this is one of the strongest books I've read in recent years. Rather than trying to "prove" the case, I want to list some information about the book, then some quotes from it, and let you decide for yourself. I do think, however, that it is a balanced book. It doesn't say "don't get involved in 'worldly' disputes," but "don't lose the church's focus from Christ to politics or other secondary issues."Thesis: Modern Christendom's fascination with politics (public morality), pop-psychology, and marketing-secular methods-comes at the expense of orthodoxy, spirituality, and our witness. The church needs to return to the Gospel and doctrine, to deal with our own sins first, to look at the church before we condemn the culture.According to Horton, the book was written because: "The church is no longer pursuing its authentic mission, generally speaking, and ministers are supposed to ring the bell when that happens."Politically, we have become "one more minority group demanding its rights." Spiritually, "we have made it clear that we do not stand in the tradition founded by our Lord, the `friend of sinners.' " Culturally, our hostile rhetoric has brought us to the point that "our involvement is purely negative."Horton identifies as his thesis: "Theology, not morality, is the first business on the church's agenda of reform, and the church, not society, is the first target of divine criticism." Quotes:--Have we made a compelling case? Are the pagans even aware of what they are rejecting? What separates evangelicals from the world today very often is not doctrine . . . but style, extrabiblical codes of behavior, lingo, and in-house spirituality.--If "Judeo-Christian" means not handing out condoms, it is reduced to the trivial and, ironically, anything meaningful it may have to say about condom distribution is disregarded because it is not taken seriously. Christianity is a religion, a theological confession first and a moral system only secondarily.--It is time for judgment to begin in God's house and God's invitation to peace and forgiveness to be extended to the world. As it is, the order is reversed. . . . We must put our own houses in order, so that the offense is in the message and not in the messengers.--We ought not to be surprised that everything is being questioned in the realm of morality, since there is no longer any theological infrastructure undergirding it. Liberals attacked orthodox theology, while conservatives largely ignored it, so what more could we expect? This generation is simply riding on fumes. We cannot expect people to accept Christian morality if they are not at least intellectually persuaded by Christian truth.--Those who do not know what it is that shapes the worldview of their time and place will not be able to resist its lies.--We are offensive for all the wrong reasons while we remove the offense of the cross. Those who are committed to immoral lifestyles will not give us a hearing for the G

Horton certainly is well-read and knows from whence he speaks. The church is not into culture wars, but in the proclamation of the Gospel. This admonition challenges the church to be the church, to be about its Father's business and will here on earth: "We have turned the one true God of history and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ into a tribal deity of the American experience -- we who are supposed to be the guardians of absolute truth." He so righty puts forward the message that spiritual warfare is what is at hand and gives frank suggestions for turning towards the real battlefront. Only the Calvinistic leaning towards soverignty rather the cross of Christ detracted from an outstanding, bold message.

If there are prophets today Dr. Horton is one. His book is not for the faint hearted or the intellectually lazy. He knows Theology and the Bible and clearly shows us how Christain are in danger of loosing the message, because of our false concepts about the truth and our creation of "Christian Gettos". He helps us rediscover the Gospel, how we should view the world and how to relate the Gospel to it. And in so doing pulls down the walls of hostility so many Christians have with the world. Hopefully ending this "Cultural War" and takes us "Beyond Cultural Wars". The reader will end up better equiped to fulfill the Great Commision. This is a great book that will change us.