Book Review: Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart

Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart: How to Know for Sure You Are Saved. By J. D. Greear. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group. pp. 128. 2013. ($12.99 Hardcover | $9.99 Kindle | $10.98 Audio)

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4.5 Stars (out of 5)

Are you sure that you’re saved? How can we know that we’re saved? J. D. Greear, pastor and author, hopes to answer these questions and more in his book Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart. The book itself is written in everyday language and uses the Bible to support its premise, namely that you can know for sure that you are saved.

I remember wrestling with these questions myself when I was younger. Quaint phrases like “once saved, always saved” did little to encourage a close examination of the Bible and more often than not were used to give assurance that so-and-so was going to heaven even though he or she wanted nothing to do with God and nothing to do with His church. Hardly what you’d call encouraging!

Greear, on the other hand, points to Scripture as the source of our knowledge on this topic and explains the gospel clearly in a way that his readers—likely teenagers and older—can understand. His reflections not only touch on the assurance of our salvation and security in Christ, but also how those truths should affect our Christian walk.

I’d never read anything by Greear before picking up this book, but I’d heard his name enough to know that he’s well-liked and people are looking to him for biblical answers to life’s questions. After reading this book, I am confident I can point others to him as a source of encouragement and solid teaching.

I would like to note that Greear, who was once a youth pastor, writes in a way that will resonate with teenagers. He uses a lot of humor, which is quite apparent from even the first sentence of chapter one. If you or someone you know is a teenager or young adult, this book may be a good resource for you.

I received this audio book from christianaudio for the purpose of review.

True Love Waits... But Temptation Doesn't

CNN has proved once again that it doesn’t understand the Bible regarding premarital sex and temptation. Unfortunately, it seems most evangelicals don’t either.

The article in question, which I first saw on the CNN Religion Blog, points to an article from Relevant Magazine about how 80% of self-professed evangelicals between the ages of 18 and 29 have engaged in sex outside of marriage, just shy of the 88% that represents the general population.

Looking at the opposite figures, that 20% of self-professed evangelicals have not engaged in sex outside of marriage, is much better than the 12% that represents the general population. Still, 80% is still a problem.

The biggest factor for CNN, swayed by a quote from Scott McKnight, is that in biblical times people married a lot younger. The quote from McKnight is,

Sociologically speaking, the one big difference – and it’s monstrous – between the biblical teaching and our culture is the arranged marriages of very young people. If you get married when you’re 13, you don’t have 15 years of temptation.

We are getting married later and later. It’s not uncommon to know people in their thirties and even forties who are getting married for the first time. But abstinence is not just about age. And the example of people getting married at 13 is not an accurate portrayal of a typical marriage during Bible times.

Many girls got married during their teenage years, but 13 would be at the far end of the spectrum. Perpetua, a Christian martyr from around A.D. 203, was around 22 years old and had one child, recently born. If we assume that people typically had children within a few years time of getting married, this would place Perpetua’s marriage sometime around 19 years of age.[1] Men were typically older than the women they married.

Even if we pretend that there is a 15 year difference in temptation, does that really matter? Human beings are not just base animals, yielding to our natural sexual desires out of instinct. If we are truly Christ-followers, as we proclaim, we should be able to arrive at marriage (or remain single) celibate.

Why? Two reasons:

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it (1 Cor. 10:13).

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15).

We don’t have to give in to temptation for two simple reasons: 1) God will provide us a way out, and 2) Christ is our example. Jesus never took a wife and never sinned. He was tempted like us and submitted to the will of God, even to the point of death. There have been many people in the Bible and throughout history who lived celibate lives. John Stott, who recently passed away, lived all 90 years of his life a celibate man.

The problem is not that we’re waiting longer to get married. The problem is we are not taking the way out and we are not getting our power from Christ. The verse immediately following Hebrews 4:15 says, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

We need to draw near to God both individually and in our relationships. We have to admit our dependence on Him and submit our lives to His plan. Maybe that means some people will get married younger because there’s little point in prolonging a serious relationship. Maybe that means some people will break up with their significant other because there’s little point in developing a serious relationship that’s going nowhere.

Whatever action we take, it all has to come from a proper understanding of temptation that is centered on the Bible and the person and work of Jesus Christ. Starting with human nature and sexual desires will only lead to failure. And so far it looks like 80% of us are focusing on the wrong thing.

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[1] Although Perpetua’s husband is never mentioned in the account we have of her martyrdom, it is likely she was married at the time, possibly to Saturus, another martyr in the account. Source: Osiek, Carolyn. "Perpetua's Husband." Journal of Early Christian Studies 10.2 Jan. (2002): 287-90. Project MUSE. Web. 28 Sept. 2011.

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Teens, Sex, and Subjection to Christ

The other day while listening to The Briefing, a daily cultural analysis program from Dr. Albert Mohler, I heard him mention a new TV program from MTV that has begun airing.

This program, called Skins, is a drama designed to look much like a reality show. The child actors are aged 15 to 17. One would wonder whether shows featuring teenagers might be better suited to MTV’s other network, Nickelodeon. It is not uncommon for actors in their twenties (and even thirties) to play the role of a prepubescent teenager on that network.

So why would MTV, a network geared towards adults, feature a show with teenagers? I can only guess, but I believe part of it is designed to transition teenagers from the more childish Nickelodeon to the more adult (though still childish) MTV using actors their own age in exploits they see or can imagine in their high schools.

The problem is that Skins is definitely NOT for children. As a matter of fact, were the parents likely to enforce the show rating on their kids, the child actors who appear in it wouldn’t even be allowed to watch it—it’s rated TV-MA, signaling that it is not appropriate for viewers under 17.

The reason Dr. Mohler mentioned the show was because it appeared in an article in the New York Times. It seems the show’s producers are afraid they may be in violation of child pornography laws due to some of the graphic nature of a few episodes. One episode due to air at the end of this month features, from behind, a 17 year old male running naked down a street. The episode apparently focuses on the teenager’s misuse of an erectile dysfunction drug.

Other episodes, according to the article, show “simulated masturbation, implied sexual assault, and teenagers disrobing and getting into bed together.”

On the one hand, this is nothing new. MTV has been pushing the envelope on sexuality and obscenity in film and TV for quite some time. Other movies popular with teenagers, such as the American Pie, Scary Movie, and other series, feature much of the same content (links are to reviews by Focus on the Family). Additionally, many teenagers are exposed to obscenity and sexuality throughout their high school experience. Chances are the concepts of teen sex, sexual assault, and sexual performance are not new to the average high schooler.

But there is a big difference. This show features teenagers in the leading roles as teenagers, and it is designed to look like reality. We live in a culture that has refused to be defined by any kind of moral system, much like Israel in the time of the Judges: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6; 21:25).

Our culture by and large, and MTV in particular, is lusting after the exact same system of morality. MTV pushes this mentality on its viewers, saying, “We also have taken numerous steps to alert viewers to the strong subject matter so that they can choose for themselves whether it is appropriate.”

MTV has raised a defense, saying that the show itself is “specifically designed to be viewed by adults.” Does this make it any better? First off, obscenity and immoral sexuality is not edifying to the spirit but rather gratifying to the flesh. As beings under the law of God, we are to put on Christ and not gratify our sinful desires (cf. Rom. 13:14). We are very good at excusing ourselves by saying that we can filter out the bad because we’re older or more mature, yet that kind of self-justification is evidence of our own immaturity!

Second, and what I find personally disgusting, is the logical conclusion that comes from saying Skins is “specifically designed to be viewed by adults”: the teenage sexuality is for adults. If the content of the show borders on child pornography, the purpose of the show borders on pedophilia—fulfilling and encouraging adult fantasies about minors!

We as human beings are under the law of God and we stand condemned. Living as though we are the masters of our universe will not change or delay the inevitable subjection of all things to Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 15:24-28). We need reconciliation with God, which is only possible through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

As people under the law of God, we should avoid TV shows, Movies, music, and other forms of “entertainment” that push Satan’s agenda for the world on our minds and consciences. As parents, we should work to teach our children to adopt a biblical worldview instead of a worldly, rebellious worldview that says, “Do what is right in your own eyes.” As Christians, we should engage this world with the gospel of Jesus Christ to “destroy strongholds… arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God” (2 Cor. 10:4-5).