Dan Darling on Biblical Wisdom for IVF, Gambling, and Cohabitation

Dan Darling, Director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Seminary and Assistant Professor of Faith and Culture at Texas Baptist College, has spent years watching Christians navigate some of the hardest personal decisions of their lives without much help from the pulpit. His new book Biblical Wisdom for Everyday Life, releasing May 26 through B&H, is the resource he wrote for the pastor who gets asked about IVF on a Tuesday, the parent whose college kid is cohabitating, and the young man who can't scroll through a sports app without a gambling ad following him everywhere.

Biblical ethics, cultural pressure, and the questions every pastor hears at least twice a week: Dan walks through why cohabitation has become a wink-and-nod issue even in conservative evangelical churches, why IVF requires more careful ethical thinking than most Christians have been given, and why he believes sports gambling is one of the most laser-targeted traps ever aimed at young men. He also addresses the growing libertine streak inside conservatism, why some issues are black and white in Scripture while others require applied wisdom, and what it looks like to take God's design seriously not just because He commands it but because it is actually for our good.

Highlights

• Why Dan wrote this book for pastors and everyday Christians, not just academics or policy makers
• The libertine streak growing inside conservatism and why Christians are called to live differently
• Why cohabitation embeds patterns of non-commitment and what Tim Keller says about training yourself to leave
• The nuanced case for thinking carefully about IVF, frozen embryos, and how far we move from the one-flesh union
• Why he believes surrogacy raises serious ethical concerns that Christians should not dismiss
• How gambling preys specifically on the working class and why the house is always designed for you to lose
• Why prop bets are corrupting the purity of sports and putting athletes in danger
• How to think through gray areas where Scripture does not give a direct command but biblical wisdom still applies

Resources / Links / CTA

• 🌐 Dan Darling website: https://danieldarling.com
• 📱 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_dandarling
• 📖 Book: Biblical Wisdom for Everyday Life
• 🌐 Land Center for Cultural Engagement
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