David Platt. Counter Culture. Revised edition, Tyndale, 2017.

The book Counter Culture‘s subtitle reads Following Christ in an Anti-Christian Age. The subtitle reflects a not uncommon theme in Christian writing going back to at least Francis Schaeffer, who called the era in the West beginning in the sixties as a post-Christian era. This book, though, is meant for right now. Indeed, the first chapter contains one of the best expositions of the Gospel for the contemporary culture that I have read. Platt gets it.

In the fifties and early sixties Billy Graham and others could simply say, “You are a sinner,” and everyone knew what that meant. By the seventies, sin was no longer an issue, but there was still a sense of authority. Dylan could sing back then, “You’ve got to serve somebody.” When someone said, “Jesus is Lord,” everyone knew what that meant, although Tom Wolfe was noting that the seventies was becoming the Me Decade.

How does one present the Gospel in a culture where anything goes, there is not even a sense of sin, and personal autonomy is the ideal? Platt sums it this way for today:

…the most offensive claim in Christianity is that God is the Creator, Owner, and Judge of every person on the planet. (16)

Platt envisions three types of readers of this book.

1. Those who for any number of reasons do not profess to be a Christian.
2. Those who call themselves Christian but do not believe the Gospel.
3. Those who believe the Gospel.

He challenges all three types.

He notes that even for the third type there are “popular” issues in which the Christian stand is clear such as poverty and slavery. There are also “unpopular” issues which Christians take a stand contrary to the culture such as sexuality and abortion. But the Gospel calls for taking a stand on all the issues.

The same heart of God that moves us to counter sex trafficking moves us to counter sexual immorality, and the same gospel that compels us to combat poverty compels us to defend marriage. (18)

Even though it is unpopular to say so, if people were all sexually moral, there would be no sex trafficking. If all children were born into a stable, monogamous marriage, there would be far less poverty.

Counter Culture presents a lot of wisdom. Platt brings each of these cultural topics into a perspective from the Gospel. We have to understand that we live in a fallen world. That God has established the way He wants people to live. That He has sent His Son Jesus to redeem the world. When we deal with virtually every cultural issue there is a question of—yes—sin. But also there is a way, sometimes numerous ways, that God directs people to counter the sin and redeem the situation.

As noted already, Platt sees that many people, especially political and cultural elites, have more often than not found Jesus offensive. Still, God’s way is true, and redemption is possible. There are nine chapters each dedicated to a different current issue. All reflect the nature of God and the nature of man. God and man are often at odds, but Platt points out how redemption is possible—not by a political movement or legal decree but by the Lord changing hearts and directing His people to serve in different ways.

“The Gospel and Poverty” chapter gives practical advice to churches in ministering their communities as well as ways to help on an international scale.

“The Gospel and Abortion” effectively presents arguments for saving babies’ lives and examples of practical action.

“Orphans and Widows” stresses adoption, fostering, as well as finding older people who are truly in need.

Perhaps the most moving chapter is “The Gospel and Sex Slavery.” This describes recruiters for urban brothels and shrine prostitutes in Asia, but it also tells of rescuing American women who have been trapped into prostitution. In this topic as well as abortion and sexual immorality, Platt makes an appeal to women.

Just as it was in His own day, Jesus’ way is the true way for freedom for women. Platt does admit that he does not know much about sex slavery involving boys, but we know that this is an issue as well. American pimps recruit both boys and girls from Latin America. My first personal encounter with the concept of sex trafficking was from a gay man in Boston who spoke about hiring boys from Central America.

Three of those issues also apply to the next two chapters, “The Gospel and Marriage” and “The Gospel and Sexual Immorality.” Things like abortion and sex trafficking would be non-issues if there were respect for marriage and sexual self-control. In all of these instances, Platt does not preach. Yes, he uses the Bible, but he mostly tells stories.

He has stories from people in each of these areas. In some cases it is his own experience, but in many cases it is the experience of others. For example, a young friend of his was taking a “bucket list” hiking trip in Nepal. On his trek, he came across a man who was hiking in the opposite direction with a group of nine and ten year old girls. This appeared unusual, but the man freely explained he was taking the girls to work as shrine prostitutes after paying the girls’ families for their services. It was a common form of slave trading in his part of the world. That encounter changed the course of Platt’s friend’s life. He had a cause.

Two related chapters are “The Gospel and Ethnicity” and “The Gospel and Refugees.” As I write this, two major topics in American news are racism and immigration. Platt asks, “What does the Gospel say about these things?” As always, Platt has some practical answers along with some ideas for helping us with our perspectives. I am forever grateful to a family of a different race that took care of me when I was going through a trial. They were one of the first witnesses I encountered who spoke of Jesus in a personal way.

The last topic has become an interesting one even with some political reactions to Covid-19: “The Gospel and Religious Liberty.” You see, right from the beginning in Eden, God gave people the freedom to choose Him or not. In all the other ways apart from Him, there is a catch. Man can choose his own way apart from God’s, but there are consequences.

Why is it that in some sixty countries Christian practice is either restricted or outlawed? Why? How can something so moral and, at the least, harmless if not beneficial be outlawed? It has to do with our own nature. As the quotation near the beginning of this review reminds us, the Gospel is offensive.

God’s way is to allow people the freedom to choose. That is just. So we should be tolerant, too.

Tolerance implies disagreement. I have to disagree with you to tolerate you. We can then be free to contemplate how to treat one another with the greatest dignity in view of our differences. (219)

I do recommend this book for all three types of people Platt describes. For the person who is skeptical about God or the God of the Bible, see what this book has to say. For the person who is a cultural Christian, this could be the challenge to really understand God’s call. And for the believer, especially the younger audience Platt has in mind, perhaps it is time to grow up.

Platt tells us that “the most deadly spiritual force” is not sexual sin, slavery, religious intolerance, adultery, or any of the other specific behaviors listed in the chapters. It is “the assumption that God’s Words is subject to human judgment.” (171) The first words a human being heard the devil say were, “Did God really say…” (See Genesis 3:1) That has been a struggle in the human heart and mind ever since.

So pray to God, participate with God, and proclaim the Gospel. And do these things not because you have a low-grade sense of guilt that you ought to act, but do them because you have a high-grade sense of grace that makes you want to act. (228)

Read this book.

P.S. Platt mentions in passing the following article which turns some assumptions about Christianity on its ear: http://cmm.world/about/the-surprising-discovery-about-those-colonialist-proselytizing-missionaries/. This is worth a look as well.