At the beginning of Chapter 4 in the book, “By What Standard?,” Tom Ascol writes:
In his classic book on Holiness, JC Ryle wrote this: The man who is content to sit ignorantly by his own fireside, wrapped up in his own private affairs, and has no public eye for what is going on in the Church and the world, is a miserable patriot, and a poor style of Christian (Holiness, 292). It is because I agree with Ryle that I write this chapter (Chapter 4, page 47).
All I have to say is DITTO.
By What Standard?
It may have taken me a while to get through this book, but that’s not because it wasn’t an excellent and important read. By What Standard? is a collection of essays written by some really outstanding leaders in the church. The list includes Voddie Baucham, Tom Ascol, and Jared Longshore, to name a few.
In this book, the writers were able to address much of the cultural mayhem we see today, all from a Biblical Worldview. Thankfully, each of the topics are well thought out and clear.
Social Justice
One thing that really stood out to me was the discussion on social justice. It’s spoken about throughout the book, but the Appendix had a few illuminating thoughts for me. Specifically, how the social justice movement is dehumanizing (Appendix, pages 199 – 201). After some consideration, I realized that is exactly what it is. If we are to stand for Christ and defend the Church as well as the people around us, we must stand against the worldview that the social justice movement advocates for.
We are more than our skin color or where we’re from or what our social status is. Those are all attributes we have little to no control over. To be clear, many of our differences are good and beautiful! Voddie Baucham writes: “It is a good and natural thing that God has done. For us to say that we want to be colorblind is for us to say, I don’t care about the variety of color of roses there are. As far as I’m concerned, God just made a rose” (page 108). I love God’s creativity!
But social justice advocates are using these differences to pervert the good things that God has created. Rather than appreciating and celebrating the differences and learning from one another, social justice advocates are using them as a cudgel to divide and conquer us (whether that’s knowingly or unknowingly, the results are the same).
A New Religion
Social justice or Cultural Marxism really is like a new religion (page 50). No one of certain pigmentation ever gets to be absolved of their “sins.” However, the more victim points you can gather (whether that’s your melanin count, your gender, your sexual partner preference, your disabilities, etc), the better. But God forbid anyone with a darker complexion push against the narrative. They will be smeared and ostracized for their heresy, and treated worst of all.
Roles of men and women
By What Standard? also touches on the roles of men and women (Chapter 6). Essentially, at the heart of men and women, we want to be our own god. We want to be able to dictate what is true, good, and beautiful. Many refuse to accept God’s created order, and opt for what we believe to be a better and more updated version of the roles of men and women.
I love how Jared Longshore succinctly puts it: “…the Word requires us to treat men and women the same, but in many other ways, the Word requires us to treat men and women differently if we would treat them justly” (page 99). Both men and women can do a lot of incredible things, and can both do them well. However, what does God’s Word say about it? We know that all we need to live is in His Word, no matter where or when we live. Throughout history and around the world, all we need is His Word.
The Christian Life
I found all of the authors in this book to be very perceptive of not only the problems we face at this time, but how best to combat them. And they don’t mince words. I love how Tom Ascol addresses this in the first chapter. He likens our walk as Christians as a difficult one, much like what is described in Pilgrim’s Progress (page 3).
I’ve always gotten nervous when I would hear other Christians talk about how we need to be nicer to others and more inclusive. Often difficult topics such as the ones touched on above would be avoided from the pulpit so as to not offend anyone. The result is that the Church is left to navigate the difficulties of living in this culture, without the benefit of the Truth of God’s Word. As Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress can attest to, the dangers are still there, even if we want to pretend they’re not.
Yes, speaking truth will offend some, and our lives may be more difficult in a variety of ways. But we should do it anyway.
Battle ready
I’m not sure where the message got lost, but God’s Word warns us that we are in a battle – “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12).
We have forgotten that we need to: “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). I think many of us believe we can just get along with everyone. Those divisive topics that are discussed in this book will just push people away! Better not to discuss.
But life is just not that simple. The enemies of the church won’t stop at compromise. They require us to be dominated by their ideology. We will either submit and turn our back to the Truth of God’s Word. Or we will put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:11-17) and resist.
A Great Read!
Please get this book!! I love Founders Ministry (the publishers of “By What Standard?“) and their stalwart stance to uphold the Truth of the Gospel and God’s Word. Get a few copies and share them with other brothers and sisters in Christ who want to be equipped and need to be encouraged.
