I am thrilled to share my non-fiction selection, Faithfully Different: Regaining Clarity in a Secular Culture, written by Natasha Crain. This is a must-read for any Christian seeking to understand how to apply Biblical truth to everyday life! Natasha is a homeschool mom, speaker, and author who is passionate about Christian worldview and apologetics.
I found out about her book while listening to an interview on the Center For Biblical Unity podcast, All The Things. I highly recommend CFBU’s ministry because it has been a great resource in helping me navigate hot topic issues like social justice and race relations. They are one of the few Christian organizations that offer a Biblical perspective on social issues instead of relying on the secular ideology of Critical Race Theory.
Natasha clearly defines her target audience as born-again Christians. She gives specific examples of how anti-Biblical secular worldviews have infiltrated Christian thought and action. She shares some depressing statistics showing how few regular church attendees hold Biblically based beliefs like the infallibility of scripture, God as creator, original sin, and salvation by grace. She reminds us that belief is hard to quantify, so the amount of people who live out their Biblical beliefs is probably lower. Humans can profess belief in something without acting consistently to those beliefs. She outlines three core questions that every worldview must answer:
“why are things the way they are?”
“what does an ideal society look like?”
“how do we achieve this ideal society?”
The author draws upon her marketing background to explain how important felt needs are in marketing and how easy it is to manipulate an individual’s felt needs. Secular culture places validation of felt needs above actual needs. She summarizes the secular worldview into four philosophies:
- “Feelings are the ultimate guide.”
- “Happiness is the ultimate goal.”
- “Judging is the ultimate sin.”
- “God is the ultimate guess.”
Throughout the book, she shows how these philosophies are popular because they appeal to mankind’s fallen nature and therefore are incompatible with a Biblical worldview. She has an excellent section on wrestling with doubts about faith and reassures Christians that the “truth is narrow, and that’s okay.” In one of my favorite quotes she explains, “If culture is the air we breathe, we’ve inhaled an expectation for self-censorship to appease man rather than to please God.”
I learned so much from this book, so I give Faithfully Different 5 out of 5 stars! I purchased the audiobook version and will be adding a paperback copy to my library! Reading this book solidified my opinion that Biblical illiteracy combined with the “need to please” is the recipe that has produced the lukewarm Christianity pervasive among the Body of Christ. Revelation 3:15-17 ESV, “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”
Click on the CFBU logo below to check out their website!
Jess Brady 