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Think Christianly

Think Christianly

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

My new book comes out this month!

I am both humbled and deeply encouraged by the endorsements I have received for my new book Think Christianly: Looking at the Intersection of Faith and Culture (releasing later this month). Our culture is asking significant questions and Christians need to engage well with solid, thoughtful, and distinctively Christian answers. That is what I hope this book encourages pastors, Christian leaders, and churches to do (more on that later).

"As someone who has devoted many years of ministry to teaching Christian worldview. I am thrilled to see dynamic and faithful worldview leaders like Jonathan Morrow stepping to the fore. Think Christianly, in a compelling and accessible way, equips Christians young and old to engage the culture winsomely, intelligently, and with confidence.”
- Chuck Colson,
Founder, Prison Fellowship and the Colson Center for Christian Worldview

"Think Christianly is a remarkable and important achievement. Written in an interactive and accessible style, it covers an exhaustive range of topics. Indeed, I know of no other book like it in this regard, and it it now the first book to which to turn for learning the specifics of how to think Christianly."

- J. P. Moreland,
Distinguished Professor of Philosophy,
Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, and author of The God Question

"We Christians love to lob rhetorical grenades at the surrounding culture from the safety of our holy huddle. What’s far more difficult—and effective—is to engage the issues of our day with intelligence, moral clarity, and biblical wisdom. That’s exactly what Jonathan Morrow does in Think Christianly. Morrow has a knack for elucidating complex ideas and applying timeless truth to contemporary topics. He’s also done a fine job of gathering top Christian thinkers and presenting their ideas on issues ranging from the role of the Bible to bioethics. Think Christianly is a significant addition to the faith and culture conversation and a readable primer for church leaders. It belongs in the library of every thoughtful Christian."
- Drew Dyck
Managing editor of Leadership Journal and author of Generation Ex-Christian:
Why Young Adults are Leaving the Faith…and How to Bring Them Back (Moody, 2010)

"In a time when truth is distorted and biblical teachings are misunderstood, our commitment to engaging culture must not be compromised. If we are to effectively stand for Christ in a world that is not, we must be equipped. Think Christianly is a much needed resource as we seek to honor God in both what we believe and how we live."
- Jason Hayes,
Author, Speaker, National Young Adult Ministry Specialist,
LifeWay Christian Resources
"In Future Shock, Alvin Toffler wrote, “Change is avalanching upon our heads and most people are grotesquely unprepared to cope with it.” Toffler wrote in 1970, before personal computers, before the Internet, before 100 cable TV channels! The pace and depth of change has only increased several times over since 1970, and still the evangelical church is unprepared to deal with it. The ideas in Morrow’s book offer hope that we can learn how to bring meaning to today’s dangerous intersection of gospel and culture and view the intersection more as an opportunity than a threat."

- Andy Seidel,
Executive director of the Howard Hendricks Center for Christian
Leadership at Dallas Theological Seminary

"For several years, Jonathan Morrow has helped me see where my faith and what I read on blogs intersect. He has been an enormous help to me personally, and I’m glad to see that a broader audience can have access to his insights. If there is one thing I have learned as a pastor who works with twentysomethings, it’s this: If we don’t work hard to show how our message intersects with the issues our culture is facing, then they will assume it to be irrelevant. On a large part, that assumption has already been made. Read this book and help reverse that trend."

- Jonathan Phipps,
Equipping pastor at Fellowship Bible Church, Brentwood, Tennessee

"As a pastor, I know my congregation is both beguiled and beleaguered by Western cultural realities. Neither unthinking assimilation nor unsociable rejection is a biblical option for us. The church must engage culture faithfully, but we must also be shown thoughtful ways how. I welcome any book that helps the church do this, and I am confident my friend Jonathan Morrow’s will."

- Cole Huffman,
Senior pastor of First Evangelical Church, Memphis, Tennessee


For more about the book and some of the interviews with Christian leaders that are included, click here. Stay tuned!

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Monday, September 26, 2011

He's not God

My friend John Stonestreet of Summit Ministries and worldview commentator for thepointradio.org offers a very important reminder (regardless of your political party) as we get into the election cycle--The President is not God.
"Recently on The Gospel Coalition blog, Kevin DeYoung offered a blunt reminder: “the President is not God.” This sounds like stating the obvious, but DeYoung’s reminder is a timely one as we enter another election.

Americans, even Christians who should know better, have a tendency to want our President to “right every wrong, solve every problem, fix every pothole, provide health and prosperity for all, and on top of that be a likeable, fatherly, dignified, fun-loving, brilliant, down-home, urbane, humorous, serious, athletic, good looking, poet-warrior-manager man…”

No one can live up to that! But because we expect these things, candidates end up making promises that far exceed their capacity and voters have their misplaced hopes dashed time and time again.

That doesn’t mean we should abandon the political process as some have suggested. No way. Be informed and be involved. We need competent, morally sound leadership like never before. But let’s keep our hope in the right place...." (read more)
As Christians, we should know that utopia will not be ushered in by any sitting president. Now to be sure, there can be good and bad presidents who either promote the public good or undermine it--but they are limited. And as we think Christianly about politics, this is a first principle we need to operate with.

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Thursday, September 15, 2011

New Think Christianly Podcast: Does the Bible Encourage Blind Faith? (Part 1)

Do Christians know anything? Or is Christianity the kind of thing one must simply confess by blind faith? Our culture is having this conversation, so it is important that we know what the Bible has to say about faith. In part 1 of this podcast we will take a snapshot of how both the culture and the church misunderstand biblical faith.

Subscribe with iTunes | RSS

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Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Christians are for Truth wherever it is found

All truth is God's truth. John Calvin provides us with a good reminder that engaging our minds matters because truth matters: "It is superstitious to refuse to make use of any secular authors. For since all truth is of God, if any ungodly man has said anything true, we should not reject it, for it has also come from God. Besides, since all things are from God, what could be wrong with employing to His glory everything that can be rightly used in that way?” Application: Think hard and think Christianly for the glory of God! (1 Cor. 14:20)

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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Ross Douthat of the New York Times Corrects Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker About Francis Schaeffer

I was encouraged to come across this post by Ross Douthat (New York Times) setting some of the record straight on the swirling controversy about Michele Bachmann and Dominionism Paranoia stirred up by Ryan Lizza's article in the New Yorker (who apparently told his fact-checker to take the day off). Here is an excerpt:

"Schaeffer’s major contribution to American public life wasn’t any sort of sinister “dominionist” master plan, but rather a much more defensible blueprint for Christian political action: He argued that Christian values were under assault in contemporary American life, that the idea of secular “neutrality” was something of a sham, and that believers had an obligation to be 1) engaged with the culture rather than bunkered against it, and 2) engaged politically on issues (abortion, especially) where fundamental moral truths were at stake. One can dislike this blueprint and disagree with its premises, but its perspective on American politics is no more illiberal than the perspective of, say, the civil rights movement. And the fact that Schaeffer influenced a prominent evangelical politician like Bachmann isn’t nearly as surprising, strange or scary as Lizza’s piece often makes it sound."

Joe Carter of First Things offers "A Journalism Lesson for the New Yorker"

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Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Listen to Chuck Colson on Family Life Today with Dennis Rainey

Please take 20 minutes and listen to Chuck Colson talk with Dennis Rainey about why it is so important that Christians engage well within the public square on the issues of our day. Click Here to Listen

Have you read and signed the Manhattan Declaration yet? (This is an important document.) You can spread the word by retweeting this post or sharing it on facebook.

This fall, my book Think Christianly: Looking at the Intersection of Faith and Culture, will be releasing by Zondervan in which I lay out our biblical responsibility as Christians to engage culture well. I highlight examples, issues, and areas we must engage because they are cultural moments and we are to be everyday ambassadors. Here is a short video about it:




“The task of this generation – as it will be in every generation – is to understand Christianity as a complete view of the world and humankind’s place in it, that is, as the truth. If Christianity is not the truth, it is nothing, and our faith mere sentimentality.”--Chuck Colson

Think Christianly with Jonathan Morrow

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Friday, June 10, 2011

If Christianity is true, then it speaks to every area of life

“If Christianity should happen to be true – that is to say, if its God is the real God of the universe – then defending it may mean talking about anything and everything. Things can be irrelevant to the proposition that Christianity is false, but nothing can be irrelevant to the proposition that Christianity is true.” - G.K. Chesterton


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Sunday, May 29, 2011

How Technology is Influencing Families

Technology and media are everywhere. And it is not without effects. There is a new Barna study out that talks about this. Here is an excerpt:

Very few adults or youth take substantial breaks from technology.
Americans’ dependence on—what some might call addiction to—digital technology is apparent in the study’s findings. One out of three parents and nearly half of 11- to 17-year-olds say there are not any specific times when they “make the choice to disconnect from or turn off technology so they can have a break from it.” And those who take such breaks tend to be driven by convenience rather than intentionality. For example, only 10% of parents and 6% of teenagers say they try to take off one day a week from their digital usage.

This reliance translates into some interesting behaviors and habits. Nearly half of both parents and teens said they emailed, texted or talked on the phone while eating in the last week. Two out of five youth and one-third of parents have used two or more screens simultaneously during this time period. And half of students and one-fifth of parents have checked email or text messages in bed in the last seven days. The question arises whether families are in control of their technology or being controlled by it. (read the rest)

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Monday, January 10, 2011

Living well flows from thinking well

"Your intellectual life is important . . . for the simple reason that your very character, the kind of person you are and are becoming, is at stake. Careful oversight of our intellectual lives is imperative if we are to think well, and thinking well is an indispensable ingredient to living well." - Jay Wood

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Tuesday, December 21, 2010

How should we engage those who don't believe in God? (Video)

How should we engage those who don't believe in God or may even be hostile to what we believe? What should our attitude and approach be? (1 Peter 3:15)



For more on engaging those who don't believe in God, see my new book with Sean McDowell:


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Sunday, December 19, 2010

Just Preach the Simple Gospel?

Is apologetics, philosophy, and worldview training really necessary? After all, shouldn't we just preach the simple gospel and leave all that intellectual stuff to the academics? Nancey Pearcey offers good insight here that I agree with:
"The ultimate goal is to preach the gospel. But the gospel is not simple to those whose background prevents them from understanding it. Today's global secular culture has erected a maze of mental barriers against even considering the biblical message" (Saving Leonardo, 15).
That is why we must help people see that faith is reasonable and that belief in God is not religious wishful thinking (2 Cor. 10:3-5)

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Saturday, November 13, 2010

Why Think Christianly?

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Engaging the Spirit of the Age Without Losing our Soul

"In this climate, the crucial challenge is to present Christianity as a unified, comprehensive truth that is not restricted to the upper story. We must have the confidence that it is true on all levels—that it can stand up to rigorous rational and historical testing, while also fulfilling our highest spiritual ideals. Christians are called to resist the spirit of the world, yet that spirit changes constantly. The challenges facing our generation are not the same that faced an earlier generation. In order to resist the spirit of the world, we must recognize the form it takes in our own day. Otherwise, we will fail to resist it, and indeed may even unconsciously absorb it ourselves." - Nancey Pearcey (Total Truth)

Amen...may we show ourselves faithful in this generation! Here are some verses that need to guide our path...(Romans 12:1-2; 2 Cor. 10:3-5; Jude 3; 2 Cor. 7:1; 2 Tim. 2:15)

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Thursday, October 28, 2010

On the Please Convince Me Podcast

I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Jim over at the Pleaseconvinceme.com podcast on my book Welcome to College and equipping the next generation. Here is the link. If you have not checked out their ministry, it's really good stuff! Check it out.

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Saturday, October 2, 2010

Christians in Context reviews our new book

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The Reason For God DVD Trailer by Tim Keller

"The Reason For God promises to be unlike any Christian DVD series we’ve ever seen. It actually shows the presenter (Keller) in live, unscripted conversation with an articulate group of six people who passionately disagree with Christian views."

More...

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Monday, September 20, 2010

Apologetics 315 Interview with Sean McDowell and Jonathan Morrow on Is God Just a Human Invention?

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Our New Article on the New Atheists in Charisma Magazine is Now Available Online

Here is our new article giving an overview of the New Atheists and how Christians should respond:

"Atheism is on the move. At least that’s what Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and other so-called “New Atheists” are fighting for. While atheists have always been around, the pop-cultural influence of atheism has traditionally been rather minimal. Not anymore.

In the past few years there has been a resurgence of interest in the case against God. From books to bus campaigns, the question of God’s existence is back in the forefront of public dialogue. And the New Atheists...." Check it out (on page 34)

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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

More teens becoming 'fake' Christians?

Interesting article at CNN on the spiritual lives of teenagers:
"If you're the parent of a Christian teenager, Kenda Creasy Dean has this warning: Your child is following a "mutant" form of Christianity, and you may be responsible. Dean says more American teenagers are embracing what she calls "moralistic therapeutic deism." Translation: It's a watered-down faith that portrays God as a "divine therapist" whose chief goal is to boost people's self-esteem. Dean is a minister, a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and the author of "Almost Christian," a new book that argues that many parents and pastors are unwittingly passing on this self-serving strain of Christianity. She says this "imposter'' faith is one reason teenagers abandon churches. "If this is the God they're seeing in church, they are right to leave us in the dust," Dean says. "Churches don't give them enough to be passionate about." (more...)
Christian worldview training is not optional for the church. We must talk about what we believe, why we believe it, and why it matters on a regular basis.

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Saturday, August 28, 2010

The Genesis of an Idea

"Ideas are born, nurtured, and developed in the universities long before they step out onto the political stage." - Nancy Pearcey

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