It’s Friday, February 3rd, 2023.
I’m Albert Mohler, and this is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.
Part I
Spiritual Appropriation or the ‘Wisdom of Mother Earth’?: The Pagan Resurgence in the Midst of a Secular Culture
Well, we’re living in a time of widespread moral confusion, and it doesn’t take a great deal of moral clarity in order to understand that. We’re living in a time in which the absolutely odd, the eccentric, and the bizarre, and often even the heretical are simply presented as if what we face is nothing more than an endless cafeteria stream of just do-it-yourself religious choices. If you look at recent developments in the media, you see some of this. For example, you have several news media running articles about Marie Kondo. Now she’s all about inner calm. Now some of you’ll remember that she really leapt into public consciousness because of her videos, her programs, and her writings having to do with how to get your life in order. And she was all about minimalism and control, get rid of stuff, have empty space, simple structuring, and it was based in her own Asian worldview. That’s why she’s often been described as a Japanese lifestyle queen.
Now she’s getting a lot of media attention right now because she has written a new book entitled Marie Kondo’s Kurashi at Home: How to Organize Your Space and Achieve Your Ideal Life. In this, according to the Washington Post, Kondo expands on “The Japanese concept of Kurashi, or way of life. She elaborates on simple ways to bring calmness and happiness to everyday things.” Yes, we are told that can mean cleaning out your purse every night, I assume that is if you are a woman, but it can also mean playing classical piano music during breakfast or making your mom’s recipe for black vinegar chicken wing stew.
Now, Marie Kondo says that she’s written this new book because her life has undergone a big change after the arrival of her third child. And she says right now tidying up her house is less important than the business of life. She said, “My home is messy, but the way I am spending my time is the right way for me at this time, at this stage of my life.” And you’ll notice here that it’s still, and here’s the thing we need to note, so much of this new age spirituality, this does have some eastern roots, but basically this is all calculated towards a modern western audience that’s looking for some kind of secret, simplistic code to get life in order and give life meaning. She is suggesting here that tidying up right now should take a backseat to other things.
As if this is supposed to point to a deep sense of meaning, the Washington Post tells us, and I quote, “Among Kondo’s personal joys, buying 100% silk or organic cotton pajamas because they feel good and help her sleep. Perusing her tea leaf drawer and drinking tea three times a day to bring a sense of calm and opening her childhood sewing box, which brings back warm memories.” Now there is a Christian worldview principle here we need to recognize, and that is that God made us in His image of spiritual beings. And if that spiritual impulse is not directed towards the worship of the one true and living God, it doesn’t disappear, it is just directed towards something else.
It is also important for us to recognize that every single person is, to just use a word that’s indispensable at this moment, religious in some particular way. Now, a lot of evangelical Christians don’t like the word religion because they will say, “I am not religious. I’m a Christian.” And I understand what they mean by that. It’s a rejection of work’s righteousness and a rejection of externals is the measure of our spirituality rather than internals. But nonetheless, we do recognize that human beings made in God’s image are going to translate that impulse and that hunger for a relationship with the one true and living God into something else. And that something else can take a myriad of forms. One of the forms it can take is the latest lifestyle advice from your lifestyle guru. And you’ll notice it doesn’t stay about material stuff, it has to be infused with some kind of spiritual meaning.
The Washington Post article here about Marie Kondo isn’t just about, well, let’s just say her preferences in tea. It’s about what this is supposed to mean about the meaning of life and the inner self and the care of oneself. And modern people, confused about many things, do often believe that the most important thing in life is caring for oneself.
Sometimes our controversies also tell us a great deal about this spiritual hunger that can be so misdirected. Religion News Services Emily McFarlan Miller recently just in the last couple weeks ran an article entitled, “As Smudging Goes Mainstream, Concerns Rise over Appropriation, Overharvesting.” Yeah, this is one of those stories that can only make sense in the crazy world and marketplace of religion and spiritual new age movements that represents 21st century America.
Miller reports, “In their online metaphysical shop, Kitha sells bundles of rosemary, cedar and black sage, as well as mugwort, though they are sold out of that at the moment. They don’t, however, sell white sage.” That particular herb, the report tells us, is a gift from the land meant for indigenous people. Well, it turns out that this is a great debate where you find this debate and it is found among those who are looking for new age spiritual practice and what’s described in this article as witchy business. And what they want is to appropriate this kind of Native American tradition. And at least some are saying, “The morality here is all off, because after all, you’re appropriating what isn’t yours.” Others are saying, “Hey, this is just the wisdom of Mother Earth.”
The article tells us, “Burning white sage to cleanse a person or space or to attract positive energy has become trendy in recent years with sage bundles appearing everywhere from starter witch kits to luxury grocery stores.” I’m just going to insert here I’m going to assume that most listeners to The Briefing don’t go into stores where you see displays of starter witch kits. I’m just going to assume that.
The article then continues, “While smudging with sage is often promoted as part of wellness routines, the religious practices around the ritual end up largely removed. But along with the popularity of white sage comes concerned about cultural appropriation as well as over harvesting.” Well, it turns out that there’s some people who say, “Look, it is just about smudging, that is having a fire or a flame burning this particular herb and then smudging the remains as if this is some kind of cleansing or spiritual ritual. And yet there are others who say, “You are just appropriating someone else’s spirituality, and in particular, the spirituality of indigenous persons.”
One person out raised by all this said, “The way I grew up understanding this process and from talking with elders about this process, that it is something that is definitely connected to religion and religious practice and it’s not something you would do unless you’re going to interact with the supernatural realm with the divine,” she said. And just when you think you’ve heard everything, the article also includes those who say they are concerned about the “secular rising of smudging,” which is to say taking it out of its religious context and just putting it into the idea of new age consumer spirituality.
I love this particular section of the report: “Peg Aloi, who calls herself an older modern pagan witch, remembers conversations about cultural appropriation when white sage became popular in pagan circles back in the 1980s and 1990s when she first became involved in the witch community. At that time, Aloi said, ‘There was a lot of overlap between the witchcraft and new age circles. Many pagans hosted sweat lodges or smudge with sage, what we now know was appropriating Native American practices,’ she said.” In other words, “We did that back then in our new age witchcraft, but we were wrong.” Why wrong? Cultural appropriation. “We know that now,” she said.
Now again, I’m pointing to this article not just to the humor in it, which isn’t intended, nor to the ideological revelations in it about cultural appropriation and all the rest, nor even just to the spiritual diagnosis of the problem of a resurgent paganism, but rather, all this simply points to the fact that every single human being is made in God’s image because the creator made us this way. He made us to know Him. And if we do not or will not know Him, then we will direct those religious impulses in some direction. One of the things we see here is that even the most pagan, and we also need to say even the most secular, actually translate those energies and transform that hunger into something else.
Now, it may be something as frankly bizarre as this kind of new age spirituality and smudging with white sage. It might also be translated into modern leftist political energies. That’s one thing you also see where the decline and eclipse of Christianity has not been met with empty secular space, but rather with angry ideological space.
Part II
‘Is the Artificial Meat Kosher?’ — Theology is Always Close to the Headlines, Even Strangely
But then just before we turn to questions where we’re looking at the weird religious confusion of our age, I want to point to an article that appeared just this week in the Washington Post.
It’s by Laura Reiley, and the headline is this, “Is Lab-Grown Steak Kosher? Religious Leaders Weigh the Sensitive Question.” Now, I hadn’t thought about this question coming, but inevitably, if you have a kosher system and you have artificial lab-grown meat, well you are going to have to face some brand new questions. Let’s just say Moses and the children of Israel never had to think about this.
The article tells us, “Last week, the leader of Israel’s Chief Rabbinate, a bellwether rabbinical council for religious certifications in Judaism, declared that an Israeli company’s lab-grown steak is pareve. That means in his view it is not milk or meat, and therefore the eating of the two together by those who follow a kosher diet is not forbidden.” The article then tells us, “The debate is the latest example of how this novel form of meat, which is about to arrive on the US market, is shaking up norms and raising vexing questions. Cultivated meat is being hailed as a humane and climate-friendly solution to traditional animal agriculture, which has increasingly come under fire for its contribution to the warming of the planet.”
The article, by the way, points to the fact that there are several different religious groups, and that would include Muslims and Hindu, Seventh-day Adventist, as well as Jewish people. They have “Practitioners who adhere to faith-based dietary restrictions.” The article then continues with this, “The spiritual question that it’s most basic is, if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, tastes like a duck, but you’re not supposed to eat a duck, does God consider this cheating?” No, I take no position on whether or not lab-grown duck is actually duck. I’ll simply say that this does underline the fact that theology is always closer to the surface and the headlines of the day than you might think.
Now, there’s good reason why evangelical Christians understand none of this in terms of whether it is kosher or not has any deep theological significance. That is answered quite clearly in the book of Acts. But human beings once again are incredibly religious people and that religion, if it is not directed in a biblical direction, it’s going to be directed towards something. And one of the interesting things to note is that throughout the history of human religion, diet has so often played a part.
But if these days we are concerned about the ethical issues that arise from artificial intelligence, now we are also concerned with, at least some of us to some extent, with the meaning of artificial meat. For me, the big question when it comes to artificial meat is not, “Is it kosher?” The book vax takes care of that? No. For me, the big question, “Is it safe and is it any good?”
At this point, I will simply say I’m old school when it comes to meat. I prefer to get the meat that used to walk on a hoof. If you grow it in a lab, it ought to be, oh, I don’t know, a virus or a rat. That’s not where I’m going to get my food. Or at least I’ll put it this way, it’s going to take an awful lot of convincing.
Part III
What Do You Recommend For Someone Trying to Make His Way Back to the Faith? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters from Listeners of The Briefing
Next, we’re going to turn to questions, and I appreciate every single one of them and I appreciate all the responses and all the input coming from listeners.
I especially appreciate questions like this. A man wrote in and said, “I was wondering if there were some resources you’d recommend for someone trying to find their way back to their faith. I lost it in college,” he said. “I’m now approaching 50. I’ve never read the Bible complete. So that’s step one on my list, but if you have some other suggestions, I’d appreciate it.”
Well, I really appreciate the question, Scott. It’s a very honest question and I think it’s one that could help others as well. I want to tell you the honest truth. I am tempted to recommend some books here. And as a matter of fact, I would be glad to recommend books that I think would help to define these issues and help to present the gospel. But here’s the most important thing I can think of and answer to your question. I think you need to be in the company of Christians. I think that’s the most important thing other than the reading of Scripture. You mentioned the reading of Scripture. I want to tell you that’s exactly the right thing to do. I believe the Holy Spirit uses the word of God to call us unto Christ and to bring us to faith and to confirm us in the faith and then to grow us in the faith.
But the next thing I want to say I believe is of absolutely vital importance, I think you need to be in the presence of Christians. And so I would really urge you to find a gospel church and just be with Christians. Be confronted not only by reading the word of God, but by the preaching of the word of God and also be in the company of God’s people. And be ready to enter into conversation. You don’t have to hide behind the fact that you’re seeking to understand the gospel and that you are looking for a rekindling of your faith. That should encourage the believers who are there in the church to want to talk with you and pray for you and to help you to understand the gospel in such a way that you are not only confronted with the gospel but encouraged in the gospel.
I just want to admit as I’m responding to this listener, I am less and less convinced of the power of even suggesting a book in this context other than the Bible. And I’m more and more convinced every single day that what we desperately need is the fellowship of Christ’s people, being involved in the context of the local church, hearing the word of God preached along with others, and then being in the company of those with whom you can be absolutely honest and people who believe it is their greatest honor to help you to understand the gospel and to make Christ visible to you and then to encourage you in your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I think without those things, just being alone, reading the Bible, and even reading a good gospel book, I think what you really need is gospel people. And I really want to commend to you, read the Bible and go find a gospel church and hang out with gospel people. I think that is the very best advice I could possibly give.
Next, we’re going to turn to questions, and I appreciate every single one of them and I appreciate all the responses and all the input coming from listeners.
I especially appreciate questions like this. A man wrote in and said, “I was wondering if there were some resources you’d recommend for someone trying to find their way back to their faith. I lost it in college,” he said. “I’m now approaching 50. I’ve never read the Bible complete. So that’s step one on my list, but if you have some other suggestions, I’d appreciate it.”
Well, I really appreciate the question, Scott. It’s a very honest question and I think it’s one that could help others as well. I want to tell you the honest truth. I am tempted to recommend some books here. And as a matter of fact, I would be glad to recommend books that I think would help to define these issues and help to present the gospel. But here’s the most important thing I can think of and answer to your question. I think you need to be in the company of Christians. I think that’s the most important thing other than the reading of Scripture. You mentioned the reading of Scripture. I want to tell you that’s exactly the right thing to do. I believe the Holy Spirit uses the word of God to call us unto Christ and to bring us to faith and to confirm us in the faith and then to grow us in the faith.
But the next thing I want to say I believe is of absolutely vital importance, I think you need to be in the presence of Christians. And so I would really urge you to find a gospel church and just be with Christians. Be confronted not only by reading the word of God, but by the preaching of the word of God and also be in the company of God’s people. And be ready to enter into conversation. You don’t have to hide behind the fact that you’re seeking to understand the gospel and that you are looking for a rekindling of your faith. That should encourage the believers who are there in the church to want to talk with you and pray for you and to help you to understand the gospel in such a way that you are not only confronted with the gospel but encouraged in the gospel.
I just want to admit as I’m responding to this listener, I am less and less convinced of the power of even suggesting a book in this context other than the Bible. And I’m more and more convinced every single day that what we desperately need is the fellowship of Christ’s people, being involved in the context of the local church, hearing the word of God preached along with others, and then being in the company of those with whom you can be absolutely honest and people who believe it is their greatest honor to help you to understand the gospel and to make Christ visible to you and then to encourage you in your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I think without those things, just being alone, reading the Bible, and even reading a good gospel book, I think what you really need is gospel people. And I really want to commend to you, read the Bible and go find a gospel church and hang out with gospel people. I think that is the very best advice I could possibly give.
Part IV
What are the Historical Reasons for the Sexual Revolution? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters from Listeners of The Briefing
Next, a writer named Jack is asking, saying he was talking to his youth pastor the other day and discussing the historical reasons as to why we’ve ended up where we are in the sexual revolution. And then Jack asked, “Could you identify those historical reasons?” Well, Jack, I think I can, at least in part. And I want to say that a couple of things intellectually had to happen before the sexual revolution could happen. One is there had to be a separation of the authority in society from the authority of God’s word. And that is simply one of the big breaks that had to take place in Western civilization for people in western nations and cultures to be able to say, “I’m going to turn my back on the clear teachings of scripture because I hold to a higher authority.”
And so I think as you’re looking at this, you need to recognize that there was a vast intellectual change that took place in the modern age in which people said, “We’re going to reject a theological authority and we’re going to go with a human authority.” Now, by the way, one of the things we need to note is that there are always those who say, “Look, you shift from a theological authority to a human authority and you can still hold to those conservative assumptions and those conservative principles.” The point is, you rarely do for long. Civilizations and cultures certainly don’t hold on to those conservative principles for long because if they restrict human autonomy, well over time, human beings are going to claim that autonomy and without the creator saying, “You shall and you shall not.” Well then, the autonomous, supposedly autonomous human being, is going to say, “Well, I get to decide that for myself.”
That other issue I would point to is just what I named, human autonomy, the idea that we are not creatures under the command and the authority of the creator, but rather we are just autonomous beings and we have the right to determine, to identify, and to follow our own chosen destiny.
But there’s some other things that had to happen, and one of those was what’s been called, Philip Rieff was the author here, The Triumph of the Therapeutic. The rise of therapy is such a big issue because the Christian worldview says that the most basic problem of humans, and this means all humanity and that means every single human being, is sin. We’ve sinned against God. But the therapeutic mentality says, number one, it’s not you who is broken, it’s something outside of you. The problem is outside of you. You need to find coping mechanisms, because if there’s something broken inside of you, it’s only broken because of something broken outside of you.
The Christian worldview says exactly the opposite. The problem is inside of you, and salvation according to scripture comes only from outside of you. That is to say from Jesus Christ. The therapeutic culture says the opposite, and that is that the problem is outside of you and that salvation comes from inside of you. So those things certainly had to take place.
And I’ll simply say another part of the secularization of the culture is just the rejection of biblical authority because the Bible’s very clear on these issues. And so the only way around these issues is to find a way around the Bible. And that’s the entire modern secular liberal project. And by the way, shame unto those who will call themselves Christians who have aided and abetted that great secular liberal project.
Jack, I want to say one other thing. It is very clear from Scripture that sex is one of the main issues that takes on an idolatrous significance in the life of fallen humanity. And so you talk about the sexual revolution, let’s just put it this way, sex becomes an idol. The only way you can follow an idol is if you reject the one true and living God. That’s all these things seem to tie together. Thanks for the question, Jack.
Jack, I hope this isn’t just taking advantage, but I’ll tell you that’s why I wrote the book We Cannot Be Silent because I wanted to deal at length and to document the very things we’re talking about here today, and I hope you would find that book helpful. We Cannot Be Silent.
Part V
How Do I Know If I Am Growing into Adulthood? How Do I Approach Witnessing to My Collegiate Classmates? What Dating Advice Would You Offer to Young Christians? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters from College Students on The Briefing
Next, I want to turn to questions from two young Christian women, both basically college age.
One wrote in to say, “I’m a college student. I’ve chosen to live at home for the first two years of my post-secondary education.” She goes on to say she works part-time in a business, but she says, “I can’t help wondering if my current path is jeopardizing an opportunity to get started on being an adult. What does it mean to be an adult from a Christian perspective? Is there more to adulthood than having the responsibilities of home ownership and a family? How do young people like myself who don’t have the capability for either mature as we ought?”
Now, I just want to say to this young woman, number one, one of the ways you become an adult is by asking adult questions and by taking adult responsibility, which is exactly what you have demonstrated here. Now, I also want to say something else because it’s interesting that both the young women who wrote into me in this context, they’re both basically of undergraduate college age. And here’s where I want to say, look, here’s the deal. When you look at the lifespan, and you’ll look at stages of life in any given cultural moment, there’s some pretty clear patterns. One of the patterns we see is that for all kinds of reasons, the years between say 18 and 22 have been redefined in our culture largely as transitional from someone who’s not an adult to being an adult.
Now, both of these writers, young women who’ve written in, are in those college ages. And I’ll simply say the fact that both of you’re concerned about being adults means you are well on your way. It’s the ones who aren’t concerned about being adults who are the bigger question. And by the way, when you are looking at those years of transition, and that’s basically what the undergraduate experience is these days, the big problem is not that 20-year-olds are acting 20, it’s that they’re acting 15. And the big problem is not the 25-year-olds are not acting 25, it’s that they’re acting 20. And for that matter, you’re looking at the age of first marriage being delayed so long, you’re looking at patterns of young adult irresponsibility that are so extensive that it basically invalidates the word adult.
To this listener, I simply want to say there’s nothing wrong with living with your parents during some college years. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking on some of the responsibilities of being a college student that preclude some of the other responsibilities of adulthood, but we should be aiming for adulthood as soon as possible. The Christian Church really depends upon Christians showing up both young and ready.
And here’s where I want to say something else. I mentioned that these two young women wrote these particular letters and I want to say the big problem right now in the failure to, well let’s just misuse the language but in a way that’s common these days, the failure to adult, the bigger problem is on the male side than the female side. One of the things I find especially in Christian circles is that there are so many Christian young women who are wondering why the young males their age are clearly more boy than man. That’s a big problem that faces the Christian Church, and we better name it for what it is.
The other young woman of college age wrote in to say that she is really trying to bear witness to her friends, they’re in a local college. She asked a question, “How do I approach witnessing to my classmates? They are such sweet people, but mostly frustrated liberals.” She says, “I just don’t know how to start gospel conversations with them.” But I’ll simply say to this listener, the reality is, number one, the biggest issue is that you want to have a relationship with them and you want to bear witness to Christ to them.
And so I’m just going to pray that you’ll have opportunities you don’t even foresee. But here’s the thing, you should always be willing to enter into conversation, and you do so with such obvious Christian concern. You say they’re sweet people, but mostly frustrated liberals. Well, there is a real opportunity, a gospel opportunity. And first of all, listening to people express their frustrations. One of the things I suggest, especially for evangelism in the college context, is help young people to work their worldview out and figure out where it ultimately leads, and then point to the gospel of Jesus Christ and also personalize it. The fact is if it’s overly conceptual and it’s only about worldview, the fact is people can just treat it as a mind game or a mental exercise. But the real problem, of course, is not just something intellectual, it’s the problem of their sinfulness.
And you describe them as sweet, and let’s, by the way, be thankful for that, but they’re sweet but lost. And so insofar as you work conversations toward the gospel, you just have to trust the Holy Spirit will provide the opening, and then you provide the words. But you’re also just there as a friend. And look, it is not enough merely to be a friend if we never get to the gospel, but the fact is that sometimes God uses friendships to open the door for a conversation that leads to someone coming to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The other question, by the way, from this young woman is one that demands attention. “What dating advice would you offer to young Christians?” And that dating advice would be this, consider dating in a Christian context a matter of checking out whether or not a young believer of the opposite gender, that is to say you are looking for a young Christian man who would be suitable for you to get to know in order to find out if he is worthy of your trust and commitment. And if you are drawn to him in such a way, that you should be husband and wife.
So I guess one of the things I want to say is that I think what we have to guard against is some kind of middle position. And so I’ll say there’s nothing wrong with being in a social context in which you can get to know Christian young men at just the level in which there’s very little commitment that is required. There’s very little, say, pressure on the conversation. This is one of the things, by the way, that churches should do. This is one of the things that churches should very much keep in mind. Churches need to be the place where Christian young people could be in the context in which something can begin to happen.
But then at that point, I think that there are good biblical guidelines into understanding the standards of marriage, the reality of marriage. But here’s where I want to point to something else. And just in summary, I want to say this. I don’t think anyone of us as a Christian, young or old, is smart enough to figure this out alone. This is where I think we need other believers who know us and other believers who know the other believer who we are dating, the young man if you’re a young woman, the young woman if you’re a young man. You need the context, I’m going to go back to this again, of a local church, a local church that knows you, loves you, praise for you, and can help you to discern the will of God for you. And this means, in this case, the will of God for you both.
I think one of the problems right now is that something is broken and unfortunately is broken in many Christian circles and in the lives of many Christian young people where they kind of know how to have a first conversation and they kind of know what marriage is, they’re just no longer certain of how in the world you work from point A to point B.
One of the good ways that we could help, I think, young Christians is for older Christian men to say to younger Christian men, “Look here young fellow, here’s how you get from point A to point B. Similarly, the same thing should take place with older Christian, mature women, and younger Christian women, and that’s drawn directly from the authority of the Apostle Paul in his exhortation in the New Testament. But here finally, and I do mean finally this time, this is where I have to say that the biggest impediment right now in this process is often young men who are not taking the initiative that is the responsibility of a young man.
So young Christian men out there, did you recognize that these two wonderful questions came from committed young Christian women? Here’s a hint, get to it.
Thanks for listening to The Briefing.
For more information, go to my website at albertmohler.com. You can follow me on Twitter by going to twitter.com/albertmohler. For information on The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to sbts.edu. For information on Boyce College, just go to boycecollege.com.
I’ll meet you again on Monday for The Briefing.
