Sometimes everything in life, big and small, humble and glorious, carries an element of pain. That’s why I’m thankful for these words that we can pray to our Abba Father. They liberate our heavy hearts when we choose this attitude:
This is a series that draws from the writings of Timothy Keller, the pastor who founded the Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, New York. He is also the author of The New York Times bestselling books “The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism,” “The Prodigal God,” and “Prayer.”
All beliefs are unavoidably exclusive; but some beliefs, like secularism, are much better at hiding it. This is the self-refuting mechanism found in secular, relativistic arguments against absolute truth, as explained in Part 1 in this series.
But wait, there’s more!
There’s more circular logic floating around our confused “modern” world that loves to condemn others of the very things it practices.
For example, modern secular philosophy argues that religious faith must forever be a private affair only – something that is never brought into serious discussions in the public square.
Timothy Keller, in his book The Reason for God, sums up this post-modern attitude that has worked hard to make people “feel uncomfortable” about bringing up their Christian faith in public. Secularists often express the following sentiments:
Religion-based positions are seen as sectarian and controversial, while secular reasoning for moral positions are seen as universal and available to all. Therefore, public discourse should be secular, never religious…*
But there’s a very subtle false assumption – a wrong presupposition about the definition of religion – hidden in that anti-religious attitude above.
Keller explains what this hidden false assumption is (and I’ve re-formatted it for easier online reading):
Let’s begin by asking what religion is:
This secular viewpoint – that we are here by accident, and when we die, we rot, and that’s it, so live it up not while you can and don’t let anyone get in your way, etc. – is an “implicit religion,” as Keller calls it.
“Implicit” means “implied though not plainly expressed.” It’s a little like being passive aggressive or expressing your opinion in a roundabout, indirect way.
Every view about the world requires elements of unprovable faith. As Keller puts it: “Everyone lives and operates out of some narrative identity, whether it is thought out and reflected upon or not.”*
In other words, if you are coming to the table of public policy – whether you’re a city council member, a senator, or the President – if you are making a statement that expresses a belief about what society should do and what society should not do, then you are automatically presenting core beliefs that tell others what life is all about, who we are, and the most important things that human beings should spend their time doing.*
Just because your beliefs and assumptions about the nature of life and purpose of human existence aren’t colorfully clothed in the garb of organized religion, it doesn’t mean it’s not a religious view point.
The secularist points fingers at religious people who bring their “unprovable faith assumptions” into the public square. But the secularist’s grounds for making this criticism reeks with hypocrisy. As I quoted in my previous article, “Why It Is Not ‘Narrow-Minded’ to Believe in Jesus”:
“Skeptics believe that any exclusive claims to a superior knowledge of spiritual reality cannot be true. But this objection is itself a religious belief. It assumes God is unknowable, or that God is loving but not wrathful, or that God is an impersonal force rather than a person who speaks in Scripture. All of these are unprovable faith assumptions.”*
Keller goes on to explain the fundamental hypocrisy that exists in those who attack Christians for expressing their faith publicly:
All who say “You ought to do this” or “You shouldn’t do that” reason out of such an implicit moral and religious position. Pragmatists say that we should leave our deeper worldviews behind and find consensus about “what works”— but our view of what works is determined by (to use a Wendell Berry title) what we think people are for. Any picture of happy human life that “works” is necessarily informed by deep-seated beliefs about the purpose of human life. Even the most secular pragmatists come to the table with deep commitments and narrative accounts of what it means to be human.
Keller hits a home run with this next point:
Rorty [a prominent secular philosopher] insists that religion-based beliefs are conversation stoppers. But all of our most fundamental convictions about things are beliefs that are nearly impossible to justify to those who don’t share them. Secular concepts such as “self-realization” and “autonomy” are impossible to prove and are “conversation stoppers” just as much as appeals to the Bible…There is no objective, universal consensus about what [it means to be happy and fully human]. Although many continue to call for the exclusion of religious views from the public square, increasing numbers of thinkers, both religious and secular, are admitting that such a call is itself religious.*
And that’s the point here: they are forbidding others, with a high-minded moral authority and condescending arrogance, from doing the very thing that they themselves are doing.
The bottom-line?
When someone uses a hypocritical line of reasoning to shut you up, do not shut up. Speak louder, bolder, and with more determination.
When people tell you to shut up about your faith in public, kindly agree to be silent about your faith as soon as they agree to be silent about theirs.
Besides, there are some very good reasons to ensure that Christianity maintains a prominent role in our culture.
This is breaking news by the way: Academic World Rocked by Discovery: The Free World Owes the Church for the Great Magna Carta.
Kindly remind Christophobic secularists who attack your beliefs and try to censor you that Christianity, as demonstrated by the recent Magna Carta discovery above, has contributed many, many priceless treasures to civilization. Yes, there have been Christians who have rejected the teachings of Christ, twisted them into abusive creeds, and done terrible deeds in the name of Christ, but I would argue that Christianity has given much more to society in its history than it has taken.
As Keller argued in reply to skeptics who were quick to list the “sins of the church” (and notice he makes a distinction about what kind of Christianity):
However, within Christianity— robust, orthodox Christianity— there are rich resources that can make its followers agents for peace on earth. Christianity has within itself remarkable power to explain and expunge the divisive tendencies within the human heart…Christians believe that all human beings are made in the image of God, capable of goodness and wisdom. The Biblical doctrine of the universal image of God, therefore, leads Christians to expect nonbelievers will be better than any of their mistaken beliefs could make them. The Biblical doctrine of universal sinfulness also leads Christians to expect believers will be worse in practice than their orthodox beliefs should make them. So there will be plenty of ground for respectful cooperation.*
Keller exposes a misguided stereotype that many people hold about what Christianity actually teaches – especially in regards to how its adherents should treat those who disagree with them:
Christianity not only leads its members to believe people of other faiths have goodness and wisdom to offer, it also leads them to expect that many will live lives morally superior to their own. Most people in our culture believe that, if there is a God, we can relate to him and go to heaven through leading a good life. Let’s call this the “moral improvement” view. Christianity teaches the very opposite. In the Christian understanding, Jesus does not tell us how to live so we can merit salvation. Rather, he comes to forgive and save us through his life and death in our place. God’s grace does not come to people who morally outperform others, but to those who admit their failure to perform and who acknowledge their need for a Savior. Christians, then, should expect to find nonbelievers who are much nicer, kinder, wiser, and better than they are. Why? Christian believers are not accepted by God because of their moral performance, performance, wisdom, or virtue, but because of Christ’s work on their behalf. Most religions and philosophies of life assume that one’s spiritual status depends on your religious attainments. This naturally leads adherents to feel superior to those who don’t believe and behave as they do. The Christian gospel, in any case, should not have that effect.*
Keller then responds to the charge of “fundamentalism” within Christianity:
It is common to say that “fundamentalism” leads to violence, yet as we have seen, all of us have fundamental, unprovable faith-commitments that we think are superior to those of others. The real question, then, is which fundamentals will lead their believers to be the most loving and receptive to those with whom they differ? Which set of unavoidably exclusive beliefs will lead us to humble, peace-loving behavior?*
He then makes a telling contrast between ancient Grecian culture (which had a hyper-tolerant mix of worldviews not unlike post-modernistic tendencies) and ancient Christian culture:
One of the paradoxes of history is the relationship between the beliefs and the practices of the early Christians as compared to those of the culture around them. The Greco-Roman world’s religious views were open and seemingly tolerant— everyone had his or her own God. The practices of the culture were quite brutal, however. The Greco-Roman world was highly stratified economically, with a huge distance between the rich and poor. By contrast, Christians insisted that there was only one true God, the dying Savior Jesus Christ. Their lives and practices were, however, remarkably welcoming to those that the culture marginalized. The early Christians mixed people from different races and classes in ways that seemed scandalous to those around them. The Greco-Roman world tended to despise the poor, but Christians gave generously not only to their own poor but to those of other faiths. In broader society, women had very low status, being subjected to high levels of female infanticide, forced marriages, and lack of economic equality. Christianity afforded women much greater security and equality than had previously existed in the ancient classical world. During the terrible urban plagues of the first two centuries, Christians cared for all the sick and dying in the city, often at the cost of their lives.
Why would such an exclusive belief system lead to behavior that was so open to others? It was because Christians had within their belief system the strongest possible resource for practicing sacrificial service, generosity, and peace-making. At the very heart of their view of reality was a man who died for his enemies, praying for their forgiveness. Reflection on this could only lead to a radically different way of dealing with those who were different from them. It meant they could not act in violence and oppression toward their opponents…We cannot skip lightly over the fact that there have been injustices done by the church in the name of Christ, yet who can deny that the force of Christians’ most fundamental beliefs can be a powerful impetus for peace-making in our troubled world?*
Amen, Timothy Keller. Amen.
*All quotes from “Reason for God” in this article can be found: Keller, Timothy (2008-02-14). The Reason for God (p. 12-19). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
If you’ve been a Christian long enough, you’ve heard the creed of post-modernism: “You can’t believe Jesus’ claims that He is the only road to God. That’s narrow-minded. And besides, there’s no such thing as absolute truth. All truth is relative.”
I appreciate Timothy Keller. I’m thankful for his presence in our country and the difference he has made. He is the pastor who founded the Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, New York. He is also the author of The New York Times bestselling books “The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism,” “The Prodigal God,” and “Prayer.”
Here’s a small excerpt to his “The Reason for God” book, which, among, other things, provides a thorough refutation of the post-modern relativist claim:
By now the fatal flaw in this approach to religion in general and to Christianity in particular should be obvious. Skeptics believe that any exclusive claims to a superior knowledge of spiritual reality cannot be true. But this objection is itself a religious belief. It assumes God is unknowable, or that God is loving but not wrathful, or that God is an impersonal force rather than a person who speaks in Scripture. All of these are unprovable faith assumptions. In addition, their proponents believe they have a superior way to view things. They believe the world would be a better place if everyone dropped the traditional religions’ views of God and truth and adopted theirs. Therefore, their view is also an “exclusive” claim about the nature of spiritual reality. If all such views are to be discouraged, this one should be as well. If it is not narrow to hold this view, then there is nothing inherently narrow about holding to traditional religious beliefs (Keller, Timothy (2008-02-14). The Reason for God (p. 10). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition).
What’s the simplest way to summarize this?
There is no such thing as a “non-exclusive” claim about truth and religion. Some relativists do not believe that the God of the Bible exists.
The God of the Bible does not believe that relativists exist.
A person’s assumption that he or she maintains a non-exclusive worldview is a product of the modern imagination, not logic.
It just feels awful – like there’s a gaping wound across America, desperately needing to be healed.
During tough times like this, gratitude is a necessity – a skill for survival. Here are three ways to improve your thanksgiving when it seems that darkness, grief, and fear abounds:
1. Look for the Helpers.
I’m taking this one from Mr. Rogers, but it’s timeless advice: look for the helpers. Here’s a quote from RockinGodsHouse.com:
If this sounds familiar, it’s because it’s an oft-quoted line from Mr. Fred Rogers. “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” The more I’ve thought about this phrase, the more it has resonated with me. Instead of focusing on the evil, the pain or the suffering, focus on those who are doing something good in the situation.
Even though that advice was originally meant for kids, it applies to the rest of us too. We need to look for the good things currently being doing in response to the evil. That’s much better than obsessing over the evil that’s already been committed.
2. Pray for Our Enemies
Christ commanded us to love our enemies and forgive them. The families of the victims have – shockingly enough – publicly forgiven the killer. The killer, meanwhile, remains unrepentant as of the latest news stories published 6/19. Who is now walking in freedom and who is in bondage? Those who have chosen to forgive are the ones who conquered the wickedness and have been liberated. When we allow unforgiveness to rule over us, our hearts became slaves to that hate/wrath/rage/brokenness. But when we forgive, we open a door for joy and healing to begin a new work inside of us. Praying for our enemies is the first step toward forgiveness.
3. Look for the Little Blessings
Even in terrible darkness, there are always signs of life, of goodness, of hope – of the Author of Life. I think of Corrie ten Boom. She was a Christian who was sent to a concentration camp during WWII because she hid Jews in her home. While in the camp, she still found the smallest of blessings for which to thank God and nurture hope and even the smallest flames of joy in her heart.
God’s love and joy can conquer any darkness, if we have eyes to see and ears to hear.
It’s a terrible thing to live in fear.
That’s quote from Shawshank Redemption. Red says it (played by Morgan Freeman). In that film a white man and a black man become best friends – a picture of friendship and racial harmony that stands in shocking contrast to the wickedness that occurred in South Carolina.
And then there’s the faith aspect. These people in Charleston, form what I can see, consider their spiritual identity just as important if not more important than their racial identity. And, frankly, sometimes non-religious people or people who are obsessed with class wars or race wars or politics, don’t understand that it’s possible to place your spiritual faith identity on a much higher level than your racial or socio-economic identity. Charleston was just as much an attack on Christians as it was a racial attack. I consider any Christian part of my family – a brother, sister, mother, father spiritually – no matter the race. So an attack on a church feels like an attack on family.
It hurts.
And the knee-jerk reaction (besides shock, disgust, anger) is fear.
But it’s a terrible thing to live in fear. When David, who knew a thing or two about tragedy and terrible, wicked deeds done within his own border (even his own family), felt this overwhelming fear, he took it to the Lord with words like this (Psalm 56):
Be merciful to me, my God,
for my enemies are in hot pursuit;
all day long they press their attack.
2 My adversaries pursue me all day long;
in their pride many are attacking me.
3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise—
in God I trust and am not afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?
5 All day long they twist my words;
all their schemes are for my ruin.
6 They conspire, they lurk,
they watch my steps,
hoping to take my life.
7 Because of their wickedness do not[c] let them escape;
in your anger, God, bring the nations down.
8 Record my misery;
list my tears on your scroll[d]—
are they not in your record?
9 Then my enemies will turn back
when I call for help.
By this I will know that God is for me.
10 In God, whose word I praise,
in the Lord, whose word I praise—
11 in God I trust and am not afraid.
What can man do to me?
12 I am under vows to you, my God;
I will present my thank offerings to you.
13 For you have delivered me from death
and my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God
in the light of life.
Rest in Peace, Christopher Lee.
Sir Christopher Lee passed away on June 7 from respiratory problems and heart failure. He was possibly one of the most interesting human beings in pop culture. Did you know:
*When he was a child, he met the real life assassins of Rasputin. He would later play Rasputin in film.
*He was a huge heavy metal fan and released several heavy metal albums, on which he sang in his operatic bass – even into his eighties.
*During WWII, he was an intelligence officer (i.e. spy!) in the Royal Air Force.
*Climbed Mt. Vesuvius in Naples. It erupted three days later.
*Hunted Nazi war criminals after WWII, caught them, and then interrogated them.
*Was an eye-witness of the Nazi concentration camps when the atrocities were discovered.
*Served in Special Forces for Britain, which would have included “covert reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, direct action and human intelligence gathering.”
*Made it a tradition to read J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” every year, and he became a LOTR expert and informal consultant for the LOTR films.
