Dr. R. Albert Mohler is the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. For those who take time to read his blog or listen to The Briefing, you will know that Al Mohler is up-to-date with events and issues, and how he provides biblically informed clear thinking from a Christian worldview. It is for this reason I was very excited when I heard about the release of We Cannot be Silent and for a friend who surprised me with a copy of it a few days ago.
In this book Mohler makes a significant contribution to the debate on marriage, sex and sexuality. Writing with clarity and courage, Mohler asserts, “We are living in the midst of a revolution. The Christian church in the West now faces a set of challenges that exceeds anything it has experienced in the past” (p. 1).
Where did this sexual revolution come from? In the first chapter, Mohler makes the point that the source was the secularization of the Western worldview (pp. 4-6). In chapter two (It Didn’t Stat with Same-Sex Marriage) he states “opposition to the Christian understanding of sex and marriage did not begin with the arrival of same-sex marriage” (p. 17). Before this opposition gained a realistic traction, heterosexuals were “accomplishing the weakening and structural compromise of marriage all on their own” (p. 17). The stage for the sexual revolution we are experiencing today came about by four developments within a particular cultural context: birth control and contraception, divorce, advanced reproductive technologies, and cohabitation. This informative chapter contains a careful analysis that will prove to be very helpful.
After addressing and examining issues relating to the homosexual movement (chapter 3), same-sex marriage (chapter 4), transgender (chapter 5) and the end of marriage (chapter 6), chapter 7 answers the question What does the Bible Really have to Say About Sex? Building upon the conviction that Scripture alone is our final authority, Mohler provides the reader with a biblical theology of sex. This is considered through the master narrative of creation, the fall, redemption and the new creation. This sexual revolution will have impact on religious liberty and Mohler deals with that in chapter 8. Though this revolution has opened up widespread challenges, Christians have an opportunity and obligation to display the compassion of truth (chapter 9). The final chapter provides answers to thirty hard questions raised in the context of the sexual revolution. This chapter is both informative and practical. The nature of the confronting questions shows how complicated the sexual revolution is and why we must be thinking biblically. Mohler does an amazing job succinctly answering them.
This is an important book that provides a valuable contribution to the issues relating to marriage, sex and sexuality. Mohler’s has written this book with conviction, courage and compassion. His ability to sort through cultural trends and analyze them with a biblical worldview is of immense benefit to the reader. I am grateful for Dr. Mohler and for his willingness to make such a contribution. The sexual revolution is here. It brings complications and devastating consequences. How should the people of God respond to the sexual revolution? Mohler’s title gives us the answer, “We Cannot be Silent”.
By R. Albert Mohler, Jr. We Cannot Be Silent: Speaking Truth to a Culture Redefining Sex, Marriage, and the Very Meaning of Right and Wrong. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2015.
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