R. Albert Mohler, Jr.

Mohler is perceptive, analytical, and wise in his treatment of so many different topics covered in this book. His work is unique in a handful of ways. For instance, there are 25 chapters, making each about 6-8 pages in length. The coverage is quick but sharp and insightful. Another unique aspect is the presentation; Mohler frequently engages with a line of thinking, recent headline in the news, or literary work on the culture and then weaves in his own biblical evaluation. It is less of an show more advancement of his own ideas and more of an application of wise biblical truth to contemporary issues of the day. Anyone familiar with the daily news briefing Mohler delivers each morning will find this material very similar, just in written form.

In an increasingly divisive, immoral, and relativistic world, Mohler is skillful in equipping Christians with compelling, faithful, and biblical responses to current challenges. While no reader will become an expert from one read over any of the areas Mohler addresses, there are many helpful truths to glean here. Entire books have been written on each individual topic and for those who don't pursue the philosopher's life in the study for extended hours each day, Mohler's work is a fine sketch on a multitude of prevalent issues. I presume that for many, this will be a launching point into deeper conversations sparked by these topics. My only critique comes from the book's occasional brevity. A few of the chapters are almost so short they could be left out. The reader can barely become oriented to the landscape and argumentation put forth before the next chapter rolls around.

In the preface, Mohler references Jesus' summation of the law, to love God and love neighbor. He states that the Christian life can summarized by the two great commands to love God heart, soul, and mind and love our neighbor as ourselves (Matt. 22:36-40). These two great commandments provide the grounds for his thesis and purpose in the book. "We must first understand our culture and its challenges because we are to be faithful witnesses to the gospel. We are called to faithfulness, and faithfulness requires that we be ready to think as Christians when confronted with the crucial issues of the day. This is all rooted in our love of God. But Jesus also commanded love of neighbor, and Christians must be driven by love of neighbor as we confront the issues of our day" (xvii-xviii). Yes, and not only does Mohler seek to help believers be ready, but he realizes the finality of this world, its forms, and ideas. "In the end, the culture and its challenges will pass away. But our Lord has left us here for a reason-as His people, we are to be salt and light in a dying world" (xviii).

While the entire book was solid, a few chapters were of particular interest. Chapter 5 introduces the culture of offendedness which, in my opinion, is a culture that has only grown since Mohler wrote back in 2011. While to be offended formerly carried a very serious weight to it as it indicated causing someone to fall, fail, be brought down, or crushed. And Jesus spoke a very serious warning to those who offended the little ones (Matt. 5:29). However, today, "all that is required is often the vaguest notion of emotional distaste at what another has said, done, proposed, or presented. That shift in the meaning of the word and in its culture usage is subtle but extremely significant" (31). Mohler sums it up with a great point, namely that Christians, "given our mandate to share the gospel and to speak openly and publicly about Jesus Christ and the Christian faith, Christians must understand a particular responsibility to protect free speech and to resist this culture of offendedness that threatens to shut down all public discourse" (33). One can't help but think how society is already being encouraged toward oversensitivity.

Additional high points included his chapters on terrorism, natural disaster, public schooling, and the coddled, soft generation of young people.

Terrorism reminds us that we live in a dangerous world and moral relativism is stripped of its disguise in the face of unavoidable evil (ch. 7). "A naive non-judgmentalism often masquerades as moral humility. But a refusal to make moral judgments is not humility. It is insanity." (49). Mohler goes on to cite how the university culture has wholeheartedly embraced this as a comprehensive worldview.

In his chapter on public schools, Mohler alludes to the checkered historical background of the public school which pales in comparison to the controversies they are facing today. On the positive side, public schools have brought hundreds of millions of American children into a democracy of common citizenship, but this vision has been largely "displaced by an ideologically driven attempt to force a radically secular worldview" (60). Mohler ultimately arrives at the conclusion that it is time for Christians to begin formulating an exit strategy. As new headlines and wave after wave of novel educational initiatives aimed at teaching the next generation a new moral ethic come on to the scene, Christian parents will have to make a decision. As it is their responsibility to disciple, train, educate their children, who will be up to the task? The public school would love to stake their claim.

Chapters 10-11 were also enjoyable as Mohler interacts with a growing trend of the coddling of young people. More often than being split on political values, America is more often split on two competing visions of America: hard or soft. These two views are pitted in terms of coddling vs. competition, therapy vs. truth, and self-esteem vs. pride in genuine achievement. Unfortunately, soft America has left "most young Americans unprepared for the real demands of adulthood" (81). show less

In this collection of essays, Albert Mohler tackles the most controversial issues in American society today. Now I don't like politics, and I see all political systems as slowly rotting structures that we prop up as best we can for as long as we can. Ultimately they are all doomed to fail... but as a Christian I have a responsibility to prop where I can. This should not be from a desire to see my particular architectural preference take shape, but because I am to love my neighbor as I love show more myself. And that means patching a leaky roof even though the roof will eventually fall in. It means, in Tolkien's words, "fighting the long defeat."

Mohler refers to Augustine's epic view of history from the Christian perspective, City of God, and Augustine's division of all people and all history into two cities, the City of God and the City of Man. We live now in the City of Man that is passing, and yet we have a responsibility to do for it what we can. Political activism cannot save the world and we should never put our hope in flawed human systems—but if we love our neighbors, we will seek their good. And we can't do that without engaging our culture and asking (and answering) the hard questions.

There are so many helpful and relevant topics touched on in this short book. Most were not new to me, but Mohler brings a level of clarity and common sense to the discussion that I have rarely seen. In several places, I felt quite convicted; for example, I've bought into our culture's growing assumption that we all have the right not to be offended—a right that is preposterous in a culture of free speech. If I have the right to never be offended by what others say, others do not have the right to speak freely. We can't have it both ways!

Though Mohler is able to diagnose the problems, he isn't always able to offer an optimistic, practical answer. In the chapter about the educational system in the U.S. and how it is increasingly being used to indoctrinate children in the secularist position, all that Mohler can really offer is the advice that Christian families should have "an exit strategy" from the public school machine. This isn't his fault; the momentum is all on the side of secular activists who have been busy writing curriculum and directing the educational culture in America for decades. We can't fix the system, but we can at least plan ahead to protect our children.

This is a quick and easy read that I finished in a day. But the issues it addresses are anything but simple. Wending his way without hesitation through sensitive issues and general cultural drifts, Mohler makes sense of the chaos and shares a biblical perspective on the most contested questions in our world today. I highly recommend this book for Christians and non-Christians alike; even if you don't agree with Mohler's stance, he is one of the clearest voices articulating the biblical Christian position. Excellent. show less

Mohler’s subtitle grabbed my attention: The Lord’s Prayer as a manifesto for revolution. What a provocative phrase. We live in an age of revolution, or perhaps more accurately, an age of failed revolutions, he says. We long for them, knowing that the world is deeply flawed and broken beyond repair. There is a utopian streak promising to cure all that ails. But just as the revolutionary spirit is abroad, history reveals that they scarcely deliver.

In the Lord’s Prayer, there is no show more clearer call to revolution than in “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Mohler says this is the prayer that turns the world upside down. That it is “for men and women who want to see the kingdoms of this world give way to the kingdom of our Lord” (74). Each phrase contains a theology lesson in itself (170), and instructs us on what to pray.

Jesus teaches that prayer is not primarily an act of therapy, granting a sense of serenity or about lessening anxieties (though these things often result), but can disrupt our inner being as it reorients our hearts to God’s agenda. Prayer is about his glory. What we pray forces us to articulate assumptions about who God is and who we are. “If we don’t know God, our prayers will be impotent, facile, and devoid of life” (67). The Lord’s prayer disrupts our sense of individualism, emphasizing our corporate identity. Just as we wrongly present our petitions first, Jesus begins by identifying God’s character (43).

There is much more that could be said. It is a great book filled with great teaching about this all important prayer. Believers need to know what and how to pray and this book is really helpful toward that end. show less

First sentence from Introduction: Jesus came preaching the gospel of God--and he came telling stories. The most famous of Jesus' stories are the parables. They are not tame stories intended to deliver sentimental messages. They are not moralistic, like Aesop's famed fables. They are not fairy tales, such as the kind that abounded in medieval Europe. Nor are they stories intended for children, though children are often among the first to understand them. In the parables, Jesus was not show more concerned with mere self-improvement or trite moral messages. Not at all. God's own Son, God in human flesh, is who shared the parables with us. For this reason, Jesus' parables reveal nothing less than the kingdom of heaven and the power of almighty God expressed in both judgment and grace. They illuminate God's character and the hardness of sinful human hearts.

R. Albert Mohler's written a book about the parables of Jesus. He doesn't cover every single parable from all the gospels. He covers a variety of parables--of all lengths and types. Reading his insights and thoughts about the parables helped me appreciate them more. Parables--and the gospel in general--can feel too familiar to pack a punch. It is good, sometimes, to be reminded of how they felt to the original audiences--and to those hearing them for the first time. For better or worse, Christians can take so many things for granted that things that should be powerful, engaging, and sometimes shocking, just fall flat. Believers should pray for hearts to receive the gospel--not just once but every time the Word is read or preached.

Quotes:
The parables are like hand grenades. Jesus took them out and set them before his hearers. Then...he pulled the pin out. Listen carefully, because the parable explodes. If you miss the blast of the story, you have missed the power of the parable.
There is nowhere to hide when Jesus' parables come at us with their stabbing truth.
There is not one unnecessary word in any of the parables.
Only the quickening power of the Holy Spirit can open hearts that sin has made dull. Only God's work of regeneration can explain how ears now hear hear and eyes now see--and hearts now receive the gospel.
Moralism says, whether explicitly or implicitly, that God expects us to behave. But what expects of us is to believe in Christ. show less