Notes on *Making Faith Magnetic*

Making Faith Magnetic: Five Hidden Themes Our Culture Can't Stop Talking About... And How to Connect Them to Christ, Daniel Strange, (Good Book Company, 2021)

Main Idea/Takeaway

• The gospel of Jesus Christ answers the basic longings of the human heart represented in at least five themes found throughout culture. 

• "This book is about five themes that, consciously or subconsciously, our culture and every culture is talking about...these are five themes that are both subverted and fulfilled in Jesus Christ" (13)

Interaction 

• "D.A. Carson: Intolerance of Tolerance" (46)

• "God gets all the blame and none of the credit." (66)

Table of Contents

I. The Way Ahead

II. The Cosmic Game of Hide-and-Seek

Part 1: The Magnetic Points

III. Totality: A Way to Connect?

IV. Norm: A Way to Live?

V. Deliverance: A Way Out?

VI. Destiny: A Way to Control?

VII. Higher Power: A Way Beyond?

Part 2: The Magnetic Person

VIII. Joining the Dots

IX. Jesus: The Way We Connect

X. Jesus: The Way We Live

XI. Jesus: The Way Out

XII. Jesus: The Way of Control

XIII. Jesus: The Way Beyond

XIV. The Magnetic People

Appendix

Conclusion: The Way From Here

Favorite Quotes by Chapter

I. The Way Ahead

• "Yes, Christians are told to live as "foreigners and exiles" in this world (1 Peter 2 v 11). But we're also called to be the "salt of the earth" and "the light of the world" (Matthew 5 v 13-14)— distinctively different to everyone around us but, to those whom God is calling, magnetically attractive." (12)

• "I'm going to show you five of these points of contact — five hidden themes that our culture can't stop talking about, and how they connect to Christ. We'll call them "magnetic points", because they're ideas to which people are irresistibly drawn over and over again." (14)

• "I've increasingly recognized that to siphon off and compartmentalize evangelism and apologetics from Christian discipleship and ministry is artificial and even unhelpful. What Jesus in the Great Commission calls disciple-making is nothing other than allowing the gospel to transform every part of our lives." (15)

• "If my whole life is connected to the gospel, and if I'm growing as a disciple in every part of my life, then the task of connecting the gospel to other people's lives becomes more natural, because we all face common struggles." (15)

• "lf I'm connecting the dots in my everyday story, then I'll be much better equipped to connect the dots in your everyday story."(15)

II. The Cosmic Game of Hide-and-Seek

• "God has made it clear in everything that has been made that he is present and we are dependent, and that he is present and we are dependent, and that he is personal and we are accountable." (21)

•  "Being made in God's image means we are instinctive worshippers. So when we try to smother reality, we end up making new twisted "realities" which we are devoted to instead. Often we imagine that these realities are less powerful and less personal, which means that we are less dependent, more in control and less accountable. Again, we are extremely creative in the things we consider, commit to and worship as "ultimate".(23)

Part 1: The Magnetic Points

III. Totality: A Way to Connect?

• "The idea of totality is centered around connection. It asks questions like: Who are we as human beings? What's our place in the universe?" (34)

• "In the "above us, only sky" world, romantic relationships often bear the weight that communion with God, as the transcendent being, used to bear." (39)

• "At a deep, subconscious level, people know they have been created for close communion with another - and they seek to find it in romantic human relationships." (40)

IV. Norm: A Way to Live?

• "This second magnetic point is called norm and asks whether there is a way to live — and how we know what that is. As human beings, we know there are rules to be obeyed. We accept that there are "norms"-moral standards and codes- which come from outside of us but to which we must adhere." (44)

• "I'm not the first person to comment that tolerance used to mean the idea of "bearing with" or "putting up with" someone with whom you disagreed. Now tolerance has become, frankly, an intolerance towards anyone who disagrees with me. "Bearing with" has become "bearing down", and "putting up" has become "shutting up". (46)

V. Deliverance: A Way Out?

• "There is more — there must be more. Something is broken and it needs fixing. Such songs are just another example of what has long been labelled in literature and psychology as Sehnsucht: a sense of mystical longing and yearning for happiness and fulfillment in the face of a reality which does not provide it."(54)

• "If loss of identity is the problem, then nationalism will bring deliverance. If loneliness is the problem, then community will bring deliverance. If discrimination is the problem, then justice is the answer — or is that education again?" (55)

• "Death is the final confirmation of our sneaking suspicion that all is not right in the world." (61)

VI. Destiny: A Way to Control?

• "When it comes to the magnetic points, I have a favorite and it's this fourth one. It's called destiny and it asks whether there is a way we can control our lives." (64)

• "What a way to put it: we both "lead" and "undergo" our lives. Isn't that a description of so many people we know or how we ourselves feel?" (65)

• "There's no good power responsible for quiet shifts or pleasant customers, just bad ones." (66)

• "I think it's the irresistible power of destiny that explains our fascination with semi-scientific solutions that promise to "explain" us and give us a prophet-like knowledge of the future." (71) // Culturally, we have an infatuation with “data” for this reason.

VII. Higher Power: A Way Beyond?

• "Remember, our magnetic points are what is left after human beings have suppressed and idolatrously substituted the knowledge of God in creation." (74)

• "...as we tear away and sift through our damaged response to God (seen through the magnetic points), we reveal our point of origin: the revelation of God's eternal power, implying human dependency, and God's divine nature, implying human accountability (Romans 1 v 20)." (74)

• "The fifth and final point is called higher power. It asks whether there is a way beyond the realm of our normal experience — a way to connect with someone or something higher than ourselves. Another word for this is transcendence." (75) 

• "So Western culture today is not "dis-enchanted" but "differently-enchanted". It may not be the case that people believe in "God" or "gods" —  at least, certainly not a personal one." (78)

Part 2: The Magnetic Person

VIII. Joining the Dots

• "the gospel of Jesus Christ does not bypass the magnetic points, but is the subversive fulfilment of the magnetic points." (88)

• "Second, the gospel message is the subversive fulfilment of the magnetic points, but our hope is not in a "what" but in a "who"." (89)

• "all this stuff is not about looking sophisticated, or winning an argument; it's simply about getting better at offering people the person of Jesus. We offer Jesus." (90)

• "Third, in offering Jesus as the subversive fulfilment of the magnetic points, we demonstrate both his magnetic appeal and how appalling idolatry is." (90)

• "The more we show people Jesus, the more- we pray, by God's Holy Spirit- they will see the bankruptcy of any alternative worldview.  And the more they see the shortcomings of idolatry, the more beautiful Jesus is shown to be in contrast." (91)  

• "We've said that when it comes to evangelism, we are persons offering other persons the person of Jesus; so let's not miss that the people we're engaging with are people. That means communicating holistically and humanely." (93)

IX. Jesus: The Way We Connect

• "The aim is to use our words to paint a compelling portrait of Jesus, and invite others to stop and look and consider him for themselves." (99)

• "Through Christ we enjoy connection and communion with God, but also connection and community with each other. After all, if I am connected to Jesus, and you are connected to Jesus, then in a very real way we are connected to one another." (104)

• "In his offer of identity, communion and community, Jesus Christ shows himself to be the subversive fulfilment of the magnetic point of totality." (105)

X. Jesus: The Way We Live

• "We've decided to follow our own script and make our own rules. But we can never escape our need for a standard and a sense of accountability, even if it's only to ourselves. It's hard-wired into us." (109)

• "When it comes to the norm, Jesus doesn't just reveal that there is a standard, he says, I am the standard." (110)

• "Everything that God had revealed in the Old Testament about what makes for human flourishing and for shalom(peace) in our communities was fully realized in Jesus' teaching and in his person." (110)

• "And because Jesus is the standard and the one who is the perfect authority over us, we no longer have to live in fear of tyranny of any kind- we need not be oppressed by anyone else's expectations." (115)

• "Jesus is the standard we all want, and Jesus is the Savior we all need. But here's the thing: you can't have one without the other." (115)

• "although the water is quickly running out of the bath, our Western culture still lives off the capital of a Christian worldview." (116)

• "Our culture's norms and conventions are still related to Jesus' norms written in the Bible, but with a diminishing view of our need for the cross." (116)

XI. Jesus: The Way Out

• "Call me a cynic, but I'm afraid that a stadium rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Ariana Grande, however heart-felt, is not going to deliver us from the war on terror." (121)

• "The certainty of death has been shattered and transformed by Jesus; this was previewed in Lazarus' resurrection and undeniably declared in Jesus' own." (124)

XII. Jesus: The Way of Control

• Lewis: "There is something which unites magic and applied science [i.e.  technology] while separating both from the 'wisdom' of earlier ages. For the wise men of old the cardinal problem had been how to conform the soul to reality, and the solution had been knowledge, self-discipline, and virtue. For magic and applied science alike the problem is how to subdue reality to the wishes of men; the solution is a technique." (130)

• "although in the 2020s I have access to more information than ever about my personality type, my ancestry, my ethnicity, or the oppressive regime over me, I don't feel more liberated but instead more trapped by my character, my heritage, my genes and my economic status." (131)

• "As our good shepherd, Jesus' control over our lives is neither impersonal nor tyrannical. Our obedience to him is not akin to throwing our hands up and submitting to fate. Instead, we obey in the context of a relationship of love. With Jesus I don't have to choose between powerless love or loveless power." (135)

• "Christians are not those who deny the supernatural realm or the existence of superpowers, but rather those who proclaim Christ's supremacy and reign over them both." (136)

• "In Jesus Christ's sovereign control and tender care we find the subversive fulfilment of the magnetic point of destiny." (138)

XIII. Jesus: The Way Beyond

• "As the theologian Lesslie Newbigin memorably put it, "Christ is the clue to all that is"63 We do not worship a "thing" or an "it" but a someone-someone maximally absolute and maximally personal, who is both transcendent and immanent. We worship one who has reached down to us in grace, the Word made flesh." (140)

• "Jaroslav Pelikan's statement that "Jesus of Nazareth has been the dominant figure in the history of Western culture for almost twenty centuries. If it were possible, with some sort of super magnet, to pull up out of that history every scrap of metal bearing at least a trace of his name, how much would be left?" (140)

• "With Jesus we're not left wondering about how to connect with God (totality). He comes to be the way that we should follow (norm). He is the one who offers true and final deliverance. He is the one who is Lord of the universe but also the serving Shepherd (destiny)." (143)

XIV. The Magnetic People

• "We are either being formed by Christ or are being deformed by someone else. If we are not being drawn to Christ, we are being drawn away by something else." (148)

• "Our attitude toward God's word is an index of our love for Jesus."(153)

• "Open the Bible with the same sense of expectation you would have were Jesus to come through your front door and sit on the sofa next to you. because in a very real sense, he is. What might change if you came to God's word each day with a prayer for that kind of eagerness." (154)

• "We experience the humble confidence and security in knowing who we are — in knowing we are his. So whatever life throws at us — when we're crushed by criticism, or threatened by danger, or feel like we don't belong — we can remember that we belong to Christ: treasured, safe, secure." (158)

• "And once we are magnetized each week, we are then sent out and scattered into the world to be a magnetic presence. Let me ask you: in the places where God has called you to live your life- your home, your place of work, your places of play- what would it look like to do all things fully magnetized by Jesus and for Jesus?" (160)

Appendix

• "For those of us given the responsibility to teach and preach God's word, our goal, in the power of the Holy Spirit, is to offer Christ to people, both Christians and non-Christians." (165)

• "The magnetic points can be extremely helpful scaffolding in our desire to construct messages that connect and confront people with the offer of Christ. It's there to help people look at him." (168)

Notable Content

• "Bavinck discerns five of these magnetic points- these themes to which humans are repeatedly drawn:

1.Totality: A way to connect?

2.Norm: A way to live?

3.Deliverance: a way out?

4.Destiny: a way we control?

5.Higher power: a way beyond?

• These scholars argue that as a society we have become disenchanted/enchanted as ever. (77)

• Four practical steps to engaging faithfully and fruitfully with culture:

  1. Entering: Stepping into the world and listening to the story. 

  2. Exploring: Searching for elements of grace and the idols attached to them. 

  3. Exposing: Showing up the idols as destructive frauds.

  4. Evangelizing: Showing off the gospel of Jesus Christ as subversive fulfilment.

• Roger Scruton: "An Apology for thinking" (108)

• We all have authorities in our lives and we regard them with differing levels of importance, trust and obedience, based on at least three questions: (111)

  1. First, do they have the knowledge?

  2. Second, what about their ethical character?

  3. Third, are they effective?

• All of these three things have to be in place in order for someone to have our trust, respect and obedience. Someone can have all the knowledge but be totally ineffective. Someone can get things done but be taking the wrong course of action entirely. Someone can have great integrity but now know what they're talking about." (111)

• Let's consider what being pulled away might look like, using the framework of the magnetic points:

  • "In terms of totality and the way to connect, we can be pulled back into thinking that there is no big plan for God to bring "all things together" 

  • "When it comes to the norm and the way to live, perhaps we see God's standards as rules that constrict us for rules' sake, rather than as rules that liberate us for our good." (149)

  • "For deliverance and the way out, perhaps we subtly and almost imperceptibility start to think that we are delivered by our routines and our purity." (150)

  • "In terms of destiny and the way we control, perhaps even as Christians we can feel like victims. God's sovereign plan for our lives feels more like that infamous fickle finger of fate rather than loving fatherly care." (150)

  • "Finally, in terms of the higher power and the way beyond, we experience the culmination of all the "pulls" I've just mentioned. In our daily words, actions, habits and rituals we gradually demonstrate that there are "loves of our lives" that are higher and deeper than our love for Christ." (151)

• "How do we become these kinds of fully magnetized followers of Jesus?"

  1. Loving Jesus

  2. Loving Our Identity in Jesus

  3. Loving Jesus' Body: the Church