This interview with John Piper highlights an important question he has made before when it comes to questions about watching non-Christian media or media which displays sin in an approving manner: the question is not whether or not something is sinful but whether we are pursuing holiness. In the West, where our culture has become consumer-centric and consumption-heavy, Piper warns well: “Take heed that you not be consumed.” 4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.

The idea of God accepting us “just as we are” holds only a half-truth in it. First, accepting is a bad term to be used, even if it is readily accessible. What is communicated by accepting is not what is communicated on the cross. Jesus’s death and resurrection was not an acceptance of sin, but a continuing declaration of war that dealt a decisive victory against sin. Second, we are not accepted for who we are, but we are accepted based upon no prior criteria as God chose us before the foundation of the world, before we existed, before we had done any works or had willed anything; God chose according to his own mercy and grace and love, not according to anything within us; God does not accept us.

It’s great to see discussions like these happening. While I may have worded the counsel provided in this article differently, I think it is still very useful. There’s also some good import from this article on how does our faith influence our art. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/not-cliquish-silent-faith-work/ UPDATE: 20191017 A solid basic introduction to the Bible and friendship. Another good serieson friendship from TGC by Kevin DeYoung, which I utilized in some discipleship meetings with a student, is his “The Gift of Friendship and the Godliness of Good Friends”.

This covers an important trend I have seen since my days in Campus Crusade. Have you heard the catchphrase of the need for “vulnerability” or the need to be “vulnerable”? it is in vogue among the broadly evangelical to speak and even boast of one’s brokenness and the healing that is found in Jesus’s loving and personal relationship forming arms, but it is so often stripped of the responsibility and guilt.