# Mere Christendom ![rw-book-cover](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51bDLurIJsL._SY160.jpg) ## Metadata - Author: [[Douglas Wilson]] - Full Title: Mere Christendom - Category: #books ## Highlights - I am offering this book to evangelical Christians, and evangelical Christians are quite accustomed to the basic thesis of this book, which is that “Jesus is the answer.” But because they are also accustomed to express this sentiment in ways that artfully dodge the real issues, we should perhaps take just a moment to look at things more closely. ([Location 63](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0C5RKQ7FV&location=63)) - The point of this book is that Jesus is the answer to every ultimate question that can be framed by man, and that this is not limited to the first person singular—“Why ([Location 67](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0C5RKQ7FV&location=67)) - Lordship applies to politics, culture, entertainment, media, and His answers to our rebellions and follies are just exactly what we need to hear. ([Location 74](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0C5RKQ7FV&location=74)) - I argue here for a principled abandonment of the disastrous experiment of secularism, and for a corporate confession of the fact that Jesus rose from the dead, and all done in such a way as to preserve and protect our liberties. ([Location 78](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0C5RKQ7FV&location=78)) - Secularism is the idea that it is possible for a society to function as a coherent unit without reference to God. It is the idea that a culture can operate on the basis of a metaphysical and religious agnosticism. It is the idea that we can understand what human rights are without knowing what a human being actually is. ([Location 97](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0C5RKQ7FV&location=97)) - In a Darwinian society, the highest civic value has to be survival, and since we are talking about species, it has to be survival of the group. There is therefore no theoretical ground for our secularist rulers to value individual liberty. The true ground of individual liberty is the recognition that individuals will live forever, and in a way that the current regime will not. ([Location 107](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0C5RKQ7FV&location=107)) - In order for genuine liberty to be extended to non-Christians, it is essential that non-Christians not be allowed to define genuine liberty. ([Location 110](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0C5RKQ7FV&location=110)) - The public square cannot be neutral. If Jesus is Lord, then Caesar isn’t. If Jesus is Lord, the liberties of those who don’t believe in Him are far more secure than the liberties of everybody in the hands of a Caesar who answers to no one above him. ([Location 113](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0C5RKQ7FV&location=113)) - But in secular societies, overreach is not a possibility, but rather a necessity, by definition. If there is no God above the state, then the state has become god—the point past which there is no appeal. If there is a God above the state, then hubris in high places will always be dealt with appropriately. ([Location 119](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0C5RKQ7FV&location=119)) - Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. If the Spirit has been exiled, how can we still have what only He can give? How can we reject the Giver and keep the gift? Those who puff themselves up and say that they can do this thing need to remember—wisdom is always vindicated by her children. ([Location 121](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0C5RKQ7FV&location=121))