How can we talk about today’s cultural issues in an engaging way? On the weekend edition of Live the Promise Susie talks with Faith Radio programmer Chip Ingram of Living on the Edge about speaking the truth in love.
In Chip’s powerful book , he notes the decline of our country’s moral standards and shares how we can address hot-button issues with conviction but humility. Chip says:
“I was teaching through and helping our own church, and all those issues are not theoretical… my concern is not what’s happening ‘out there.’ My concern is the 30% of evangelical teenagers who think same-sex relationships are okay. The gospel is good news. God’s plan for sexuality is great. God’s plan for the environment is great. We need to share it very sensitively, but boldly.”
Chip and Susie touch on several controversial issues facing the Church today:
Euthanasia
Sexuality
We’ve had an “unbelievable, radical swing” in our country’s view of sex. Between no-fault divorce, the free love movement of the 1970s, and an increase in access to birth control, a view of sex as sacred and reserved for marriage has become outdated.
“The world believes the myth that God is anti-sex. Myths keep getting propagated… A secular article found that monogamous marriage relationships that were deeply religious had and reported the most satisfying sex lives in America.”
Homosexuality
Chip says we can hold to biblical standards without becoming angry or afraid of what the world will say. He lists a few steps we can take:
Pray
Engage those with different viewpoints in an open, honest, humble dialogue about what they believe and why
Offer to take them to church
Get together with them and look at secular studies about the lifestyles and practices of those in un-biblical lifestyles.
Offer to take a look at the objective evidence and seek truth together.
Key Scriptures: Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:13-14
Theme Song: You Are God by Planetshakers
