“No amount of self-talk or willpower can change us if we are seeing things incorrectly. Our good intentions and vows to be better don’t make us better. . . . Seeing is what matters. What we see. How we see. If we see.”- Alan Wright (emphasis author’s) “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he […]
Making Sense of God The late Timothy Keller wrote Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical (Viking) in 2016. First, Pastor Keller observes, both believers and nonbelievers arrive at their positions in the same manner. Through a combination of experience, faith, reasoning, and intuition. However, Timothy stresses, Christianity explains life issues in the […]
“The Resurrection, not taken as a symbol but believed as concrete fact, will lift up the downtrodden, and will change the world. Belief in a final judgement gives us enough hope so that we will neither resort to violence to bring in justice nor give in and collaborate with injustice.”- Timothy Keller Timothy Keller concludes […]
“Through death [Jesus] broke its power . . . How did he do this? He did so as ‘our champion.’ “- Timothy Keller “[God] made the champion of their salvation perfect through what he suffered.”- Hebrews 2:10 (Pastor Keller’s translation) Timothy Keller moves on in Chapter 8 of Making Sense of God as he talks […]
“The great challenge to human hope is not just the question of where history is going but of where we are going. The great problem is how to have a human hope that can make sense of death, stand up to death, and help us to face the fear of death and even triumph over […]
“The principle runs through all life from top to bottom, Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. . . . Nothing that you have not given away will really be yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the […]
“Walking with God, who always sees us and loves us, brings a new integrity and sense of self. We cannot and do not simply blend into each new setting. . . . We are not merely a set of dramatic roles, changing every time we play to a new set of spectators, because God is […]
“Here we see the richness, complexity, and startling distinctiveness of the Christian approach to identity. Paul can say, ‘God judges me,’ not with alarm but with confidence. Why? Because unlike traditional or secular culture, a Christian’s identity is not achieved but received.”- Timothy Keller (emphasis author’s) “I care very little if I am judged by […]
“What is called the secular mentality consists simply of such men, who, so to speak, mortgage themselves to the world. They use their capacities, amass money, carry on enterprises . . . perhaps [to] make a name in history; but themselves they are not. Spiritually speaking, they have no self, no self for whose sake […]
“At one time people got their self-image from connecting to something more important than their individual interests — to God, or family, or nation, or some cultural configuration of all three. Now we have to go get our own identity.”- Timothy Keller Timothy Keller concludes Chapter 6 of Making Sense of God as he notes […]
“We never get to the bottom of ourselves on our own. We discover who we are face to face and side by side with others in work, love, and learning.”- Robert Bellah et al., Habits of the Heart As Timothy Keller moves on in Chapter 6 of Making Sense of God, he notes that our […]
“The traditional way of forging an identity through connection with something outside the individual made sense. But if your identity is in your desires, they are going to be changing all the time. If in every situation you seek your own self-interest, responding in ways that get the approval and control you want at the […]