I had the privilege of sitting down with bestselling author and teacher Dr. Os Guinness some time ago in Washington, D.C. Os is a brilliant scholar and social critic who has devoted years of thought and study to the cultural chaos running rampant in America.
I’m eager to share our extended conversation on this week’s podcast, but I wanted to give you a sneak peek with some of the more memorable observations and reflections he offered.
Which of these wise observations especially strikes you?
- “Freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and freedom of assembly. Those are the three core political rights, and they’re precious and incredibly important, and each of them is actually rooted in a biblical view of humanity and in the history of the church.”
- “[In America] we have the freedom to move, to act, to give, to live, to speak, compared with our Chinese brothers and sisters, or compared with Paul and the early Christians. If we don’t use it, shame on us.”
- “We should read history. And for me, the best way to read history is biography. Whether it’s the great saints in the church or great leaders like Churchill, biographies are gripping. And then you get the history of a century and so on and so on, rather than reading the story of economics in the 17th century, which is usually pretty dull. Great biography is the shoehorn to history.”
- “The genius of America, the biblical experiment, is it’s ordered freedom. It’s freedom within a covenant. Freedom requires truth. Freedom requires character. Freedom requires a way of life knowing how we live together freely. That’s the biblical way – ordered freedom. That’s the genius of America. But Americans don’t understand it. No leaders today defend it.”
- “The greatest reformers were all Christians. Wilberforce is the greatest social reformer in all history. [He was] one of our brothers.”
- “Give kids stories, Stories are what inspire. Give them role models. And we need stories of courage today. This is a time for courage and faithfulness.”
- “For revival, all we bring is our need and our prayer and our confession. It’s up to Him. In other words. All we bring is our desperate need. I think one of the most encouraging things now is the increase in prayer.”
- “American history is at a critical juncture. Critical Race Theory, cultural Marxism, and other troubling ideologies have gained a foothold. Our culture seems more unsettled than ever before.”
- “A lot of people look for solutions in politics. Our civic duty to vote is an important part of influencing the culture for Christ, but our ultimate citizenship and allegiance is to God’s kingdom. We can take hope that God’s light often shines the brightest when circumstances are at their darkest and most bleak.”
- Today’s world is an opportunity for Christians to be salt and light by recommitting to studying God’s Word and allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us into the lives of others – our families, our neighborhoods, our churches, and our communities. We are ambassadors for Christ, called to be prepared to “give a reason for the hope that is in us” (1 Peter 3:15).
Click here to listen to the entire conversation.
