A Brief Book Summary from Books At a Glance
by Kirsten Birkett
About the Author
Jen Oshman is an author, missionary, pastor’s wife, blogger, and podcaster. She served as a missionary with Cadence International in Okinawa, Japan, and with Pioneers International as a church planter in the Czech Republic.
Contents
Introduction
Part 1: You are Here
1 Waking Up in a Far Country
2 The Sexual Revolution Meets #MeToo
3 A Timeless Lens for Changing Trends
Part 2: Confronting the Empty Promises of our Age
4 Obsessed: Bodies, Beauty, and Ability
5 Selling Out for Cheap Sex
6 Abortion Has Not Delivered
7 Trending: LGBTQIA+
8 When Marriage and Motherhood Become Idols
Part 3: We were Made for So Much More
9 It’s Good to Be a Girl
10 Home
General Summary
An analysis and discussion of contemporary culture and its emptiness (particularly for women); wrong Christian responses; and the answers in God. Each chapter ends with discussion questions.
Introduction
We want to be accepted. We want to be humble and kind and to be perceived as such; but that’s harder for Christians these days. Some of this book will offend both secular and spiritual, but empty promises need to be critiqued because Jesus is the truth. Jesus’ acceptance is far more valuable than the acceptance of others. Without him we have nothing, and the counterfeits of our age will not deliver. Embracing Jesus is costly but gives life.
Part 1: You Are Here
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Waking Up in a Far Country
People value autonomy. Adam and Eve had everything they needed but were convinced they knew better than God, so lost Eden. Since then we fallen humans think we know best; the serpent still tempts us. We leave God’s “safe boundaries” and try to create a better life in our own way. We hear two stories:
- I am the center of the universe, I just need to create my identity, and I will be limitlessly happy.
- The whisper that there is something better.
The first is much louder and harder to argue with, as our culture continuously endorses it. But we are exhausted trying to follow it. Millennials are especially prone to burnout, but it’s not a new condition, just a new take on idolatry, when “we ascribe meaning of power to something that cannot actually bear it.” We suffer because “we are living outside of reality.” Nothing temporary can fulfil our deep longings.
Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son; we are like that. The sexual revolution offered a particularly tempting “far country” for women, promising empowerment and freedom. Idols of outward beauty, sex, abortion, and LGBTQIA+ promise satisfaction but have inflicted great harm. The older brother also had an idol, of his own good behaviour, and Christians can set up idols of purity, marriage, and motherhood. For both, the Father still offers embrace when we repent. . . .
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