Book Review
The Disappearance of God
By Paula R. Kincaid, The Layman, December 23, 2009
The title and the advertising blurb were intriguing – “Has God disappeared?” So I ordered Albert Mohler’s The Disappearance of God, to review and I found myself impressed with his latest effort.
2009, Multnomah Books, $14.99
208 pages
The writing is easy to read, understandable, with a little humor thrown in, and it deals with issues confronting most U.S. denominations.
Mohler begins by establishing the need for theological triage, in response to the “multiple attacks upon Christian truth that mark our contemporary age.”
“The entire structure of Christian truth is now under attack by those who would subvert Christianity’s theological integrity,” Mohler writes.
Establish priorities
But we cannot fight on every front and at every level simultaneously. A priority needs to be established. “God’s truth is to be defended at every point and in every detail, but responsible Christians must determine which issues deserve first-rank attention in a time of theological crisis.”
First-level theological issues include the Trinity, the full deity and humanity of Jesus Christ, justification by faith and the authority of Scripture, writes Mohler. “These first-order doctrines represent the most fundamental truths of the Christian faith, and a denial of these doctrines represents nothing less than an eventual denial of Christianity itself.” In current Presbyterian debates these might be called “essentials.”
Second-level doctrines are issues that Christians can disagree on, he said, “though this disagreement will create significant boundaries between believers.” Mohler mentions meaning and mode of baptism and the issue of women serving as pastors. Presbyterians would discuss these as “non-essentials.”
As a Southern Baptist working with Presbyterians, there have been many discussions (some may say debates) with co-workers on issues such as infant baptism and election. And while I have learned from those discussions, Mohler provided confirmation that we can agree to disagree on these issues and still stand together on the essential doctrines of the faith.
Other issues covered in the book include the disappearance of sin and hell, the emerging church, the Christian view of beauty, and the urgency of preaching.
Mohler writes four chapters on the demise of church discipline, which he calls “perhaps the most visible failure of the contemporary church.”
He quotes John Leadley Dagg, author of Manual of Theology: A Treatise on Church Order: “It has been remarked, that when discipline leaves a church, Christ goes with it.”
If so, Mohler writes, “Christ has abandoned many churches that are blissfully unaware of His departure.”
Protestantism’s surrender
And yes, he deals with sexual ethics. He quotes from James B. Twitchell’s book For Shame: The Loss of Common Decency in American Culture: “‘Go and sin no more’ has been replaced with ‘Judge not lest you be judged.’” Mohler says that mainline Protestantism’s surrender to the ethic of sexual liberation is an illustration of Twitchell’s point.
“Liberal Protestantism has lost any moral credibility in the sexual sphere,” he writes. “… Homosexuals get a special caucus at the denominational assembly and their own publications and special rights.”
“The mandate of the church is to maintain true Gospel doctrine and order. A church lacking these essential qualities is, Biblically defined, not a true church,” writes Mohler.
As for missions, Mohler declares them at risk from a failure of nerve: “At base, the issue is a failure of theological nerve – a devastating loss of Biblical and doctrinal conviction.”
His answer to this failure is simple:
Let us make our convictions clear. Evangelical Christians must take our stand for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, who alone has made atonement for our sins. In a day of pluralism, we must point to the only Gospel that offers salvation. We must learn again to define the true Gospel in terms of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. This is the sum and substance of the genuine Gospel – and the true gospel is always a missionary gospel.