The following Book Report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Joshua E. during the 2007-2008 League.
Book Report: God's Politician
In general, I enjoyed the book Lifeviews by R.C. Sproul. It brings up some good arguments against the secularist faith and challenges us as Christians to make a difference in our culture. It is most useful as a reference tool, and briefly explores the ideas that dominate American culture, discussing why they cannot hold up under their own weight.
All of the views talked about in the book fall under the heading of Secularism. This ideology ignores eternity and focuses on the here-and-now, which is (in this view) all that there is. There are no moral compasses, objective truths, or demanding deities to interfere with the main focus of this religion: man himself. I'll briefly explore each branch of secularism and its corresponding Christian refutation.
Existentialism focuses on a grim determination to accept the hopelessness inherent in a world without God. With no input from an outside source, truth and morality are what we wish them to be. However, with no objective reality, nothing can be called right or wrong, and we have to face the natural consequences of our actions; we cannot have our cake (there is no truth) and eat it too (there is truth that justifies our own evil).
Humanism is just a variation of existentialism that claims to give hope to its adherents. Yet with the same basic principles as existentialism, there is no basis for the dignity of humanity; if humans are heading from nothing (evolution) to nothing (no ultimate destiny) then there is no foundation for hope.
Pragmatism focuses on what is practical. This philosophy exalts all that "works" or provides the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Social security stems from this idea, as does the Holocaust. Justice is the primary casualty of this view, and socialism begins to rear its ugly head. Long-term repercussions are often ignored, leading to bigger problems for future generations (social security and inflation crises).
Positivism postulates that "seeing is believing." In this view, everything must be empirically proven. If true, it is the end of anything supernatural, conscientious, and emotional; in short, anything that cannot be completely understood in the physical sense. In other words, "No statement is meaningful unless it can be verified empirically." (The Law of Verification) Unfortunately, these boundaries prove to be too restrictive as they cannot possibly encompass the broad field of non-physical information available to us. The Law of Verification cannot itself be verified.
Relativism states that morals, truths and everything else are all relative and change from person to person. The problem with this view is that it leads (in real life) to the development of an omni-state which dictates the values of its non-value-holding citizens. Nature abhors a vacuum.
Hedonism centers on the pursuit of pleasure. It is less of a belief system than an overarching fetish for what feels good. Like pragmatism, it does not have any long-term value (since pleasure is fleeting) and leads to nothing more than a self-centered, self-dictating society.
Rather than specifically address each facet of Christian influence in society, I will write about Sproul's general principles. He exhorts Christians to realize what Jesus is calling them to pursue: excellence. He reminds artists and writers that the most influential art and literature in history has come from Christians, and that we must pursue exposure in secular venues in order to influence our culture. The only way to do this is to produce works that are truly praiseworthy and yet still appeal to non-Christians. Scientists should follow truth wherever it leads them. Businessmen should be honest; citizens should be obedient. In summary, Christians should be dynamic and involved in their culture, never settling for monastic lives and mediocre products.
One thing that made the book less enjoyable was its simplification. There was not much novel material that I had not read before, and I came away with a lack of anything to chew on. While it is true that all of the theological systems under secularism lack an epistemological framework or moral reference point, it sounds overly one-dimensional to simply state that "all these views collapse under their own weight." For example: of all the views presented in the book, Existentialism makes the most sense. Yet Sproul refutes it solely on the basis of hopelessness and lack of moral center. What about those who say that there is, in fact, no hope, and that morals developed as part of human evolution? Though there are obviously other arguments against existentialism and there are some good points in the book, I would feel inadequate using them without more information in real-life situations with intelligent debaters. It almost feels like this book sets us up to get slaughtered by clever atheistic arguments when we least expect it because the book exudes such overt confidence.
I appreciated the questioning of other belief systems in the same manner that others question Christianity, showing that they are, in fact, religions that should be addressed on those grounds. Also noteworthy was the call to excellence in all realms of life and culture. According to Sproul, excellence should be considered excellent because it is excellent, not because it is specifically Christian. The bottom line is that we need to take Christ with us everywhere we go and apply his perfect standards to everything we are involved in.
