Breakpoint

In the historical dockyards at Chatham in England is the largest collection of Royal National lifeboats in the U.K.. On many of the lifeboats, printed numbers show how many times the boat has launched, and how many lives it saved. It's a haunting presentation of how life can sometimes hang on a precipice, and what it takes to rescue souls lost at sea. The dockyard is also an interesting analogy for the Church in this cultural moment. Sometimes churches seem more like a museum of saints, a place where salvation is remembered. Here, redemption is often described in the past tense, focused on what God has saved us from. Or, like the dockyard at Chatham, we mark our success by souls saved, with little reference to what happens next for those whose life is in Christ, much less their families, communities, or societies. This presentation of the Church isn't inaccurate, but it is inadequate. Our salvation isn't only about being saved from sin and hell, but also about but also about being saved to eternal and abundant life and for a redemptive purpose. Once Christians experience the life-changing impact of the Gospel, God's restorative work alters every aspect of their lives. This is more than being saved from Hell, and it's even more than being saved to eternal life. The famous pastor John Newton embodied this. When he famously wrote, "I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see," he revealed that he was not only redeemed from the incredible evil he perpetuated as a slave trader but that he was now given new vision, new direction, and new life. Newton inspired William Wilberforce, the great abolitionist, in the same way. For over four decades, Wilberforce fought against the horrible and inhumane practice of slavery, and also for what he called the "reformation of manners." He didn't see success immediately, especially on slavery. In fact, he was three days from dying when he heard that the Slavery Abolition Act was passed. But, in embracing the scope of God's redemptive work in Christ for the world, his personal redemption didn't stay private, he became a public force for good. Each year, the Colson Center gathers with Christians from across the country for an event named in Wilberforce's honor. The Wilberforce Weekend will be held in Orlando, Florida, May 13-15. This year's conference will explore, from a variety of angles, the scale and scope of God's redemptive work in Jesus Christ. Our goal will be to see all of life as redeemed by Christ. Together, we'll explore how Christ is best understood, not just as our personal Savior (though He is), but also as the center of reality. This means recognizing the essential links between who Christ is and creation, redemption, the kingdom of God, and all of history. We'll also dive deeply into the fullness of the redemptive vision Christ gives His people, as individuals, families, churches, and nations. We'll look closely at what we're saved from, not just Hell but death and fear of death, from bitterness and anger, and from confusion about who we are, all of which are incredibly relevant for the challenges of this cultural moment. We'll also look at what we're saved to...truth, identity and meaning and life, and also the vital needs of this cultural moment. And, we'll look closely at what we are saved for: wisdom, mission, reconciliation, and purpose. Along the way, we'll talk about what happens when redemption shapes a distinctly Christian approach to life, society, education, sport, hardship and conflict, film, and other aspects of culture. We'll hear from Jim Daly, Os Guinness, Ryan Bomberger, Nancy Guthrie, Max McLean, Rachel Gilson, Larry Taylor, Monique Duson, Morris Michalski—and many more! The Wilberforce Weekend features compelling talks, panel discussions, and live podcast recordings, and a special screening of The Most Reluctant Convert, a remarkable film about the redemption of C.S. Lewis. For more information, visit www.wilberforceweekend.org

John and Maria discuss recent events in the world, connecting how Christians find grounding and purpose in God's redemptive story. They consider the Church's role and influence in driving a culture of relationships in the wake of Valentine's Day. After a short break, the conversation shifts when they reflect on how the conflict in Ukraine is mirrored by a conflict inside the Orthodox Church. In this moment of virtual online church, Maria prods John to explain the important role technology plays in our lives, shaping our understanding of humanity and how we interact with each other.

A rural Ohio high school superintendent made a questionable decision last month by allowing an "After-School Satan Club" to meet on school grounds while refusing a group of protestors from even meeting outside. The Ohio attorney general sent a letter, reminding the superintendent that the protestors had as much right to gather on public property as the club. That this required a letter from the state attorney general is telling. Cultural tastes shift quickly and unpredictably. Not so long ago, it would have been the "Satan Club," not the protestors, who were considered "subversive." Today, apparently, it's the other way around. This is why it's so important to advocate for free speech based on principle, not on the content of the speech. Still, it could be argued that every news story about this dust-up in Ohio buried the real lede: The After-School Satan Club, it turns out, had 7 attendees at its first meeting. Two were students. The rest were adults. It's always the grown-ups.

Many Christian parents worry about how to best pass on the faith to their children. Sadly, statistics suggest they should. In 2020, the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University found that just 2% of millennials, a generation now well into adulthood, have a biblical worldview. That's the lowest of any generation since surveys began. Lifeway Research reports that two-thirds of those who attend a youth group as teenagers will drop out of church as adults.

No matter how noble its intentions, every idea is ultimately tested by how well it handles reality. By most measures, the "Defund the Police" movement has failed dramatically. Since 2020, when calls for policing reform escalated, the nation has seen a 30% spike in homicides, combined with a rise in other violent crime. Now, cities that slashed police budgets like Portland, Los Angeles, and Oakland are increasing them again—some by up to 12%. The President has been inconsistent on the issue but, in January, he argued against "cutting funding for police," but also for supplementing their work with community and mental health services. The Economist sums up why: "No evidence suggests a relationship between the size of a police force and the number of people its officers kill," yet "ample evidence suggests that bigger and better-funded forces tend to reduce violent crime." A Biblical position is that people aren't just mental health cases to be cured. They're also moral agents who sometimes do wrong things. Even a healthy society will need more than just police, but will never need less.

Futurists and tech industry gurus have long promised a utopia where humans aren't dependent on pesky biological or geographical realities. Behind yesterday's cyberspace and today's "Metaverse" is the same idea: In a brave new world of digital existence, humans can be freed from bodies, specific locations, and other physical limitations. The rise of online technology made it possible for churches to continue in the early, uncertain days of the pandemic. Many congregations have chosen to keep their live-streaming option on offer, in order to accommodate their older, more vulnerable, or physically distant constituents. Other churches have taken it a step or two further. Some have opted for an online-only congregation, abandoning a physical building altogether. Somewhat more spectacularly, other churches are starting "churches" in Facebook's new Metaverse, where people, or their avatars, can "come" to church from anywhere in the world with other people who join from anywhere in the world. D.J. Soto, a pastor at what is called VR Church in the Metaverse, recently claimed, "The future of the church is the metaverse… in the church of 2030, the main focus is going to be your metaverse campus." On one hand, such innovation is just a recent chapter of a long history. Churches have long employed new technologies and methods to reach the sick or infirmed, particularly in times of crisis, and keep them connected with the wider Church. Evangelicals, in particular, have a long tradition of using new technologies in the service of evangelism, including the printing press 500 years ago, the newspaper 300 years ago, the radio in the early 1900s, and the TV in the late 1900s. This commentary, BreakPoint, got its start on the radio. But new technology and communication methods must be evaluated on more than whether or not something "works." This is also about what Church is. Decades ago, Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan said, "The medium is the message." Put another way, the means used to tell a story will shape what is said. When it comes to Church, it can change the nature of what we kind of people we are. People aren't just inviting the world into the Church through new technology, they're moving the Church into the new realm of that technology. Such a move can have unexpected consequences. While there's certainly cause for attempts to "reach people where they are at," what we reach them with is what we reach them to. We must make sure any effort to communicate the Gospel doesn't reduce the Gospel down to anything less than It is. Remember, Christ spoke of those who, in the Parable of the Sower, initially received the Gospel with joy, but, lacking root, turned aside when growing stopped being as convenient. But there's also something else to consider. A disembodied Church assumes that a disembodied faith is possible. A Christianity lived only online encourages America's already existing "choose your own adventure" understanding of religion. Christianity is about more than content. Rather, its content cannot truly be lived outside of the context of real people in the real world. As Tish Harrison Warren put it recently in the New York Times, "[B]odies, with all the risk, danger, limits, mortality and vulnerability that they bring, are part of our deepest humanity, not obstacles to be transcended through digitization." In contrast, a cyberspace "church" is something akin to 2013's "Her," where an imaginary relationship with an online persona becomes preferable to the often painful and inconvenient nature of tangible reality. As someone from that movie puts it, "You always wanted to have a wife without the challenges of dealing with anything real," a line that could be said of what too many seek from the Bride of Christ. The faith of our fathers is not simply attending a performance, or even embracing a set of ideas about God or Jesus. A church without doctrine is a mere social club or an arbitrary special interest group, but a "church" that remains doctrinally correct but only connects online is a mere chat room. A disembodied online existence makes it too easy to hide who and what we really are from those God has called to love and be loved by. The Christian life cannot be fully lived online. God has called us to this time and this place, to times and crises that are uncomfortable and to people whose issues and ailments are unpleasant. The world in which God is making all things new is filled with real people and real problems, and these won't be mended in the illusive world of an online existence.

John and Shane field a question from someone in the medical community who asks what physician-assisted suicide does to our view of medical practitioners. The listener also asks for a worldview breakdown on how physician-assisted suicide came to be. Next, Shane asks John what makes a church "woke", after a listener asks John and Shane to explain what woke is and what it does to a church body. A listener also writes in asking for clarity on what the mindful movement is and what worldview category it fits inside before John answers a listener's question on the four chapter Gospel that John has talked about in other shows. To close, John responds to a listener who asks for clarity on how Christians should respectfully disagree, noting a video from Matthew Vines and a response from Sean McDowell. The listener asks what Christians are to do when there is conflict inside Christian thought

Instead of having a doctor or nurse on hand, Nova Scotia's new "oral protocol" puts the ability to take lethal medicine in the hands of "patients" themselves. Incredibly, that could decrease the total number of assisted deaths in Canada. When using the oral method, up to 40% of California residents chose not to go through with the procedure. By contrast, asks ethicist Daryl Pullmann, why do only 2% of Canadians choose the same? Perhaps the presence of medical personnel creates a kind of "unintentional coercion," a troubling thought, given that over 7,000 Canadians died from assisted suicide in 2020. But the bigger problem, like the law taking effect in 2023 in Canada which allows for death on the basis of "mental health" issues alone, is that "We seem to be rushing headlong for a precipice here," as Pullman said in an interview. "We're medicalizing suicide effectively so that people who, for whatever reason, judge their life to be unacceptable [can] get medical assistance in ending their life." Human dignity is too important a thing to squander in our haste.

New data is poking holes in what's become a prominent cultural myth. "When it comes to divorce," write Brad Wilcox and Lyman Stone in The Wall Street Journal, "the research has generally backed up the belief that it's best to wait until around 30 to tie the knot." This is because the divorce rate is generally lower for those who wait to wed. However, according to the National Survey of Family Growth, there's an interesting exception to this modern-day rule of thumb. Couples in their 20s who don't cohabitate first have some of the lowest divorce rates of any group. Though it's not exactly clear, from the research anyway, as to why this is the case. This particular cohort is disproportionately religious, something that is linked to lower divorce rates across the board. Even so, the data sheds further light on the relationship between cohabitation and marriage in American society. Decades of studies have led sociologists to broadly conclude that cohabitation leads to higher rates of divorce. In general, living with a partner, even one that eventually becomes a spouse, is associated with a 15% higher chance of splitting up. One Stanford study indicates that the rate is twice as high for those who cohabitate with someone other than their future spouse. "We generally think that having more experience is better…." says University of Denver psychologist Galena Rhoades, "but what we find for relationships is just the opposite." More partners mean more comparison, she argues, which can make it harder to achieve long-term contentment. Cohabitation also teaches couples that one can always head for the exit when problems seem too daunting, instead of to press in and stick it out. As a result, while marriages in general are more stable at 30, marriage to one partner is better, even if at a younger age. Still, despite a significant amount of data that says otherwise, society pushes a very different story about living together. People in their 20s, says convention, should avoid commitment, establish themselves professionally, and certainly try living together before tying the knot. For a generation raised in divorced homes, skepticism toward marriage is understandable … as is the desire to "try it before you buy it." After all, this is the same generation who never has to pick a restaurant before checking its rating on Yelp. And so here we are, in a culture where both delayed marriage and cohabitation are "normal," but relational satisfaction is rare. Married couples report more satisfaction across the board than cohabiting couples, in all kinds of areas, and report more trust by double digits. Even couples who've had to persevere in marriage through difficult seasons report higher levels of satisfaction. Marriage is also broadly connected with better health and wellbeing, not to mention the wellbeing of children, 40% of whom today are born out of wedlock. Though the data about marriage is overwhelming, fewer and fewer are choosing it. Compared to only 9% of Americans in 1970, more than a third of adults today (35%) will never tie the knot. That's not to say they won't have romantic relationships and create children. They will simply opt out of marriage. Given the relevant data, the idea that one should not get married "too early" emphasizes the wrong factors. Wisdom should always be exercised with commitments this big, but at the same time, age matters far less than the commitment itself. Limitless sexual experience, self-actualization, and the freedom to leave don't actually produce relational happiness in the long term. In fact, they damage it. In short, as a project of self-fulfillment, marriage might be worthless. As a way to reap the rewards of self-sacrifice, its value is incalculable. Christians know why. Marriage is a part of the created order. Though some marriages will tragically end for various reasons and others may want marriage but struggle to find it, the Church can provide vital community for all of its members, while still promoting marriage for the God-given good that it is. And when marriages hit rocky ground, resources like Focus on the Family's Hope Restored conferences, are available for those willing to fight for reconciliation … with incredible stories of success. Ultimately, though, a successful marriage requires the same thing as Christianity, a commitment to something bigger than ourselves.

Winston Churchill famously said that "we shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us." A recent example is Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue. After the deadly 2018 shooting, synagogue leaders consulted security expert Juliette Kayyem on how to prevent the same thing from ever happening again. "In security, we view vulnerabilities as inherently bad," she explained. "We solve the problem with layered defenses: more locks, more surveillance. Deprive strangers of access to your temple (and) have congregants carry ID." Her basic suggestions were good. But to Kayyem's surprise, when it came to keeping strangers out of the synagogue, "they would have none of it." Inviting in outsiders, the leaders explained, was central to the building's purpose. The Jewish concept of tikkun olam means the "repair of the world." Changing the building to prevent what would be antithetical to its design. Churches should also welcome outsiders, but according to Paul, it's primary task is to gather Christians for worship in order for them to be sent out. It's supposed to be a "go and tell" model, not a "come and see" model. Something to ponder…