Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age by Rosaria Butterfield. Crossway. 369 pages. 2023 ****
This is the fourth book by Rosaria Butterfield, all of which I have read and learned from. She writes that this book is for Christians, especially Christian women, who are not ashamed of the Bible and its teachings—or who are and want to change. Butterfield, formerly a lesbian English professor at Syracuse University and now a pastor’s wife, writes that this is a book about dismantling the idol of our times – the world of LGBTQ+ that she in her sin helped build. She weaves in aspects of her story throughout the book.
She tells us that overnight, a civil war within Christianity has broken out, where it feels like we are living at ground zero of the Tower of Babel. She writes that the book offers one simple answer: the world is in chaos, and the church is divided because we have failed to obey God and value his plan for how men and women should live. We foolishly believed that we could reinvent our calling as men and women, defy God’s pattern and purpose for the sexes, and somehow reap God’s blessing.
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She writes that the creation ordinance not only describes how men and women are created distinctly and by God’s design; it defines what it means to be human. When we dispense with the wisdom of the creation ordinance, we abandon the standard of God’s intention for men and women, the purpose for masculinity and femininity, and the order that God has set for families and civilization.
In this book, Butterfield addresses five lies, all of which she confesses that she believed as an unbeliever and continued to believe some of them for years into her Christian life. Confronting these five lies begins with repentance.
Here are the five lies, as well as a few helpful quotes from Butterfield:
Lie #1 Homosexuality Is Normal
Intersectionality creates a grand story, a metanarrative, out of oppression. It maintains that the world is made up of power struggles, and that white, male, heterosexual patriarchy must be destroyed to liberate those who are oppressed by it. Intersectionality works at cross-purposes with the Bible.
- Today, failing to affirm LGBTQ+ rights is considered an act of harm.
- The LGBTQ+-rights movement declares no such thing as acceptance without approval.
- Two cultural movements have combined to create a world that believes that lesbianism is normal: the uncritical use of intersectionality as a tool to empower people who perceive themselves to be victims, and the uncritical use of homosexual orientation as a category of personhood.
- The gospel, according to gay Christianity, features a Jesus who loves you just as you are. He asks you to repent of sins of injustice, materialism, and lack of love, but he has nothing to say about your homosexuality.
- The sticking point for the gay Christian is the authority and trustworthiness of Scripture and the necessity of repentance.
- Gay is no longer just one of many vocabulary terms. Gay is not a terminology choice. Gay refers to our nation’s reigning idol.
- Homosexual identity is incompatible with union with Christ because there is no dual citizenship for a Christ follower. A Christ follower has a single mission.
- Gay Christianity—Sides A and B—is a different religion from biblical Christianity, with different understandings of human origin and endings, biblical authority, centrality of the cross, sexual ethics, means of grace, how one is justified before a holy God, and the holiness of God.
Lie #2 Being a Spiritual Person Is Kinder than Being a Biblical Christian
- The gospel doesn’t just make us nicer versions of ourselves. The gospel gives us a new nature and the power to live for the glory of God.
Lie #3 Feminism Is Good for the World and the Church
- Feminism was my religion before Christianity was, and it was the hardest thing to shake.
- My feminism was my idol, and as a new believer I was tempted to build the gospel around it.
- Feminism is incompatible with biblical personhood because it contradicts the creation ordinance.
- Feminist biblical interpretation is bondage, not freedom.
Lie #4 Transgenderism Is Normal
- Transgenderism will be the final nail in the coffin of feminism. Why? Because you cannot defend the civil rights of a woman if you don’t know what she is.
- The root problem is that transgenderism is a sin. It is a sin that tears apart truth and tears down families. Transgenderism is the sin of envy.
- Christian contentment is the biblical antidote to the sin of envy.
Lie #5 Modesty Is an Outdated Burden That Serves Male Dominance and Holds Women Back
- A godly woman is a modest woman.
- In both dress and social media use, modesty has been replaced by exhibitionism.
- A modest woman does not bring attention to herself but instead gives glory to God.
- Perhaps no other medium has created a cult of immodesty as much as social media.
Butterfield includes an Afterword in which she helps distinguish between acceptance and approval, and includes some questions and answers that she has encountered recently, such as “Do I attend the gay wedding of my son?” The book ends with an Appendix with guiding principles for how to read the Bible. Butterfield covers a lot of subjects in this book including the creation ordinance, Side A/Side B gay Christianity, the Revoice movement, intersectionality, feminism, abortion, submission and headship, biblical patriarchy, transgenderism, intersex condition, gender dysphoria, contentment, modesty, and temptation.
This is an important book and one that I recommend.
- Study, Savor and Share Scripture: Becoming What We Behold. My wife Tammy has published a book about HOW to study the Bible. The book is available on Amazon in both a Kindle and paperback edition. She writes “Maybe you have read the Bible but want to dig deeper and know God and know yourself better. Throughout the book I use the analogy of making a quilt to show how the Bible is telling one big story about what God is doing in the world through Christ. Quilting takes much patience and precision, just like studying the Bible, but the end result is well worth it.”
- Jesus Calling and the PCA. Todd Pruitt writes about Overture 33 at the recent Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) General Assembly. He writes “It (the Overture), is rather meant to help the PCA determine whether there has ever been any relationship between the book Jesus Callingand the agencies which would have most likely interacted with it.”
- Molded in the Master’s Hands. Tim Challies reviews Derek Thomas’ new book The Life of Peter: Molded in the Master’s Hands. He writes “It is helpful in tracing the life of one of Scripture’s key characters, helpful in informing the reader’s mind, and helpful in challenging and encouraging the reader’s heart.”
We are reading through Truths We Confess: A Systematic Exposition of the Westminster Confession of Faith by R.C. Sproul. From the Ligonier description:
In Truths We Confess, Dr. Sproul introduces readers to this remarkable confession, explaining its insights and applying them to modern life. In his signature easy-to-understand style and with his conviction that everyone’s a theologian, he provides valuable commentary that will serve churches and individual Christians as they strive to better understand the eternal truths of Scripture. As he walks through the confession line by line, Dr. Sproul shows how the doctrines of the Bible—from creation to covenant, sin to salvation—fit together to the glory of God. This accessible volume is designed to help you deepen your knowledge of God’s Word and answer the question, What do you believe?”
This week we look at the first half of WCF 16 Of Good Works. Here are a few helpful quotes from this section of the chapter:
- Good works involve conformity to, and the obeying of, the law of God.
- In any study of good works, this should be the major premise: Only God is good.
- Outwardly good works without proper motivation are evil in God’s sight.
- Our good works do not contribute anything to our justification, but if we are truly people of faith, the goal of our lives should be to please God and to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.
- Good works are the fruit of faith and provide evidence of a true and living faith.
- We show our love for Christ by obeying His commandments.
- If we have any true faith at all, it will manifest itself in works of obedience and in a spirit of repentance.
