“Science can tell you what is, but it can never tell you what ought to be. As soon as you set foot in the territory of guilt and forgiveness and of discerning what is right and what’s wrong, you’ve left the realm of technical expertise. You’ve entered the realm of faith and spirituality.”- Timothy Keller
As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? . . . Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy?” – 2 Kings 5:7 (NIV)
In Chapter 7 (“Sin as Leprosy: Part 2”) of What is Wrong with the World?, Timothy Keller talks about four important principles we can draw from the biblical account of Naaman. Pastor Keller covers the first principle today.
1. The world cannot solve our deepest problems. Even though his wife’s servant told Naaman to go to the prophet Elisha, Naaman opted to ask the king of Israel for his cure. Most significantly, throughout history, to receive a miracle from the god of a specific country, one first needed to go to the king.
Because religion basically functioned as a form of social control. Then, in the late 1800s, the educated classes of Europe and America rejected the idea of a supernatural God. Above all, one implication of this position centers of the view that human beings are ultimately on their own. So, to find human solutions, one must go to the king.
In conclusion, Pastor Keller stresses:
“But the deepest problems in life — the ones that have us asking, ‘Who am I? What is the meaning of life? What is right and wrong?’ — are things that human endeavor and expertise cannot solve at all. To answer these questions, we must go to God.”
Today’s question: What Bible verses support you when you set foot in the territory of guilt and forgiveness? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “The mouse’s search for the cat”