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"Our response to moral questions is not determined by politics, economics, personal preference, popular opinion, or human reasoning. It is, instead, grounded in what God has told us is true about ourselves and our world....God's Word offers sanity, clarity, and hope."--John MacArthurTrusted Voices Offer Biblical Responsesto Today's Hot IssuesOne of the greatest challenges facing Christians today is the powerful influence of secular thinking. From all directions we're fed a constant barrage of persuasive-yet unbiblical-worldviews. This makes it difficult to know where to stand on today's most talked-about issues.The leadership team at Grace Community Church, along with their pastor, John MacArthur, provide much-needed discernment and clarity in the midst of rampant confusion. Using the Bible as the foundation, you'll learn how to develop a Christian perspective on key issues-including...political activismenvironmentalismthe cult of celebrityentertainment and escapismhomosexual marriageabortion, birth control, and surrogacyeuthanasia and suicidedisasters and epidemicsimmigrationGod and the problem of evilAlso included is a topical reference guide of Bible verses that address key concerns-a guide that will arm you with right thinking and biblical answers to challenging questions.

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Philosophie et théologie

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Publié par	Harvest House Publishers, Inc.
Date de parution	01 février 2009
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780736931816
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0738€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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J OHN M AC A RTHUR
AND THE L EADERSHIP T EAM AT G RACE C OMMUNITY C HURCH
R IGHT
T HINKING
IN A
W ORLD
G ONE
W RONG
HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS EUGENE, OREGON
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible , 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. ( www.Lockman.org )
Verses marked NIV are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION . NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Cover by Abris, Veneta, Oregon
John MacArthur: Published in association with the literary agency of Wolgemuth Associates, Inc.

RIGHT THINKING IN A WORLD GONE WRONG
Copyright 2009 by Grace Community Church
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
MacArthur, John, 1939-
Right thinking in a world gone wrong / John MacArthur and the Leadership Team at Grace Community Church.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-7369-2643-0 (pbk.)
1. Christianity and culture. 2. Thought and thinking-Religious aspects-Christianity. I. Grace Community Church (Sun Valley, Calif.) II. Title.
BR115.C8M2145 2009
261.0973--dc22
2008045619
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other-except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America

09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 / BP-SK / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To our beloved flock at Grace Community Church, who make the responsibility of shepherding the sweetest task on earth.
C ONTENTS
Introduction: The Bible and Real Life
God s Word and Everyday Ethics- John MacArthur
Part 1 E NTERTAINMENT AND L EISURE
1. Glorifying God in the Gray Areas
Christian Liberty and the World of Entertainment- John MacArthur
2. A Match Made in e-Heaven
Internet Dating and God-Honoring Romance- Rick Holland
3. Where Virtual Reality Meets Real Life
Video Games and a Biblical Worldview- Austin Duncan
4. Parental Guidance Required
Making Wise Media Choices for You and Your Family- Kurt Gebhards
5. American Idols
Entertainment, Escapism, and the Cult of Celebrity- Tom Patton
Part 2 M ORALITY AND E THICS
6. What God Hath Joined Together
Issues Related to Divorce and Remarriage- Pastoral Perspective
7. When Life Is Reduced to a Choice
Opposing Abortion While Reaching Out to Hurting Women- Bill Shannon
8. Planned Parenthood?
Birth Control, In Vitro Fertilization, and Surrogacy- Pastoral Perspective
9. Hope, Holiness, and Homosexuality
A Strategy for Ministering to Struggling Christians- John D. Street
10. The Right to Die and the Right to Kill
Euthanasia, Suicide, and Capital Punishment- Pastoral Perspective
Part 3 P OLITICS AND A CTIVISM
11. God, Government, and the Gospel
How Should Christians Think About Political Activism?- John MacArthur
12. Faith, Fidelity, and the Free Market
Biblical Living in a Secular Economy- Jonathan Rourke
13. God s Carbon Footprint
Global Warming and the Environmental Movement- Pastoral Perspective
14. From Every Tribe and Tongue
Racism and Reconciliation in Church and Culture- Mark Tatlock
15. When the Nations Come to Us
Illegal Immigration and Border Control- Pastoral Perspective
Part 4 T RAGEDY AND S UFFERING
16. Sorrow, Suffering, and the Sovereignty of God
Divine Providence and the Problem of Evil- Rick Holland
17. When Bad Things Happen to God s People
Responding Rightly to Personal Hardship and Trials- Irv Busenitz
18. Why Christians Can Trust God
Putting Your Hope in Your Heavenly Father- Nathan Busenitz
19. Help for the Hurting and Hope for the Lost
The Role of Mercy in Ministries- Jesse Johnson
20. A Hope That s Fixed in a World That s Broken
The Gospel as God s Solution for Our Fallen World- Kevin Edwards
Topical Reference Guide
Contributors
Notes
About the Author
Introduction
T HE B IBLE AND R EAL L IFE
God s Word and Everyday Ethics
J OHN M AC A RTHUR
I t is common in the evangelical church today for people to verbally acknowledge that the Bible, as God s Word, is the final authority for both what they believe and how they live. Yet in reality, a clear connection between that public confession and personal conduct is rare.
Claiming that Scripture is true and complete should preclude evangelicals from turning to other sources for establishing thought and life. Yet many do just that. In cosmology, for example, a straightforward reading of Genesis 1-2 is often dismissed on the basis of modern evolutionary theories. In apologetics, philosophy and human reason frequently take precedence over Scripture. And in church growth, demographic surveys, marketing techniques, and a man-centered theology with a watered-down gospel override clear biblical truth.
To this list, the subject of morality and ethics must be added. Instead of looking to the Bible, many professing Christians look to psychology and sociology for supposed solutions to personal needs and social ills. The rise of postmodern thought has similarly skewed the church s understanding of right and wrong-as an unbiblical tolerance (in the name of love) has weakened churches to the point where they are as soft on truth as they are on sin. Popular television shows, from Oprah to The Tonight Show to the average sitcom, have had a tangible effect (and not for the better) on how American Christians think through everyday issues. The political arena, too, has played a major role in shaping an evangelical understanding of morality, as words such as Republican and Democrat or liberal and conservative have come to redefine the difference between what is good and what is evil.
The fact is that far too many professing Christians live their lives, day in and day out, on the basis of something other than the Bible. As a result, their priorities reflect the world s priorities, not God s. Their patterns of behavior and their plans for the future differ only slightly from those of their unsaved friends and neighbors. Their expenditures reveal that their perspective is temporal, and that they are vainly pursuing the elusive American Dream. Their shortcomings, when they admit to them, receive the same fault-free labels that the world ascribes ( mistakes or diseases or addictions rather than sins ), as they search for answers in psychology, medication, or the self-help section of the bookstore. Though they adhere to an external form of traditional Christian moralism, there isn t anything particularly biblical or Christ-centered about how they live.
Yet it is in the lives of sinners who have been transformed by the gospel of grace that a distinctly Christian ethic must be fleshed out. True Christianity is not defined on the basis of external moralism, religious traditionalism, or partisan politics, but on the basis of a personal love for Jesus Christ and a desire to follow Him no matter what the cost (John 14:15). It is only because believers have been transformed on the inside (through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit) that they are able to exhibit godliness in their behavior. And the world cannot help but take notice. As Jesus told His hearers in the Sermon on the Mount, Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16; cf. 1 Peter 2:12).
The Heart of the Christian Ethic
The heart of the Christian ethic, of course, is the gospel. Only those who have been transformed from within (Titus 3:5-8), being indwelt by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:13-14), are able to exhibit genuine holiness (Galatians 5:22-23; 1 Peter 1:16). Biblical Christianity is not primarily concerned with external behavior modification (cf. Matthew 5-7), but with a change of heart that subsequently manifests itself in a changed life (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).
A true Christian ethic, then, is not possible without the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. Unless the inner man is washed first, external morality and religious observances are only a superficial fa ade. Jesus rebuked the hypocrites of His day with these words: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men s bones and all uncleanness (Matthew 23:27). Christ was not saying that behavior is unimportant. But rather that from God s perspective, the heart is what matters most (cf. 1 Samuel 16:7; Mark 12:30-31).
Of course, a heart that has been truly transformed by God will respond in love to His Son, Jesus Christ (cf. John 8:42). And those who love Jesus Christ will eagerly desire to follow and obey His commands (John 14:15), as found in His Word (cf. Colossians 3:16). A truly Christian ethic, then, eagerly affirms and applies the moral instructions found in the Bible. But it does not do so in an attempt to legalistically earn salvation (Isaiah 64:6). Rather, having received salvation as the free gift of God through faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9), it readily obeys out of a heart of love (Ephesians 2:10).
If Christians are to live in keeping with who they are as children of God, they must live according to the Word of God through the power of His Spirit. No other source of wisdom or moral insight will do. By definition, they are people of the Book-and not just on Sundays, but every day of the week (cf. Isaiah 66:2).
The Total Sufficiency of Scripture
Psalm 19:7-9 is one of the clearest and most concise sections of Scripture detailing the sufficiency and authority of Scripture, especially as it applies to everyday Christian living. 1 In that passage, we learn first of all that the law o