Your summaries are great and we’re using them in our study group. Finding God in Our Pain ... Browse other questions tagged waves or ask your own question. And Keller does not just use Christians to answer materialists like Stephen Pinker. An index of all my posts in this series can be found HERE. It would be better for him to die than to live outside of his self-created paradigm for life.”. Religion is indeed very compelling for a number of reasons and it’s growing, so one should at least give it the time of day and try to understand it. Did God really command Moses to put gay people to death? ... After Reading "Reason for God", many questions still remained. The common perception is something like this: the secular worldview = facts, religious worldview = faith. He challenges views such as all atheists are terrible, “immoral, unhappy misanthropes.” (I had to look up misanthrope in the dictionary.) This is the essence of growth and sanctification for the believer in Christ. I’m just not familiar enough with some of the origins and beliefs of other religions to give an authoritative answer. We learn that “the more prosperous a society grows, the more common is depression” (77). This—THIS!—is what I see to be wrecking havoc on women’s ministry in the church today. | (Photo: Godwell Andrew Chan) Pastor Tim Keller is on a mission to make sense of God, and if you ask him, Christianity not only makes sense… Also, feel free to email me or message me on FB if you have more questions or just want to say hi. I’m forced to realize that my box is filled with assumptions about God that may not be true, or at least that may not be as complete as I think they are. And until you understand that, life isn’t going to make sense. I read his other book, Reason for God, and I think there might be more there on this topic but I don’t remember. Hence, this book. If religion is growing, the irreligious will need to make sense of God. Making Sense of God is not written for Christians, but for secularists. For ones that came after Christianity, like Islam, I think there might be ways you could make a case that it borrows values from Christianity. Study questions on the book of Job . the ultimate questions in life. I appreciate that through this book, Keller is encouraging us to stop making reductionist statements ourselves and to also see what’s underneath the reductionist statements of others. First is what I call the mystical approach, and that is to look within. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Study Guide: Of God and Caesar ... would ultimately end in disappointment and questions about the mixing of religion and politics. But here are four points that I will be ruminating over for days to come: 1. We made it through six questions … Instead a book about making sense of God, this was more an invitation to skeptics to consider why intelligent people have found the Theistic worldview to make better sense of the big philosophical questions than a secular materialistic outlook does. Our thoughts on this chapter included the observation that there are other world religions that also encourage, teach, and model some of the same ethics and values of the Judeo-Christian faith. 254 pages. questions we sometimes ask in the face of suffering. Following the success of Tremper Longman’s Making Sense of the Old Testament: Three Crucial Questions (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), Blomberg, distinguished professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary, wrote a complementary text on the New Testament. Questions? Facts > faith, and therefore secularism is more logical and rational… But I don’t know about ones like Buddhism which started centuries before Christianity. Christianity provides us with unsurpassed resources to meet these needs. He joins us to discuss his (excellent) new book, Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical. My hope in sharing this is that others will give it a try. Keller, Tim. Do you think the “burden of proof” falls more on one side or another? This can certainly be seen in my own county, which is America’s 7th richest, but has been witness to at least six teen suicides in the past few years. I wish I had more info to give you a better answer, but it certainly is such a good question and a thought-provoking one. Those things God affirms are the true me; those things he prohibits are the intrusions of the foreign matter of sin and not part of the personal I was made to be and the Spirit is bringing about” (141). Making sense of discussion about equivalent waves with varying phases. I will post Part Two after our second meeting, which will be one month from now. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Not only do we live very distracted lives in general, but in our Twitter age, we’re in a place where knee-jerk emotional vents and 140-character summaries of complex issues are about all we have the time or patience for. There are many of the same values in Judaism though, which does predate Buddhism, so perhaps some of those values were well-known enough throughout the world at that time for there to be some overlap? When we choose to make decisions based on wisdom alone, we are exercising common sense. I wish Keller included more commentary in this book to that end, (comparing and contrasting the Christian worldview with other religions) but I understand that his focus with this book is on contrasting just the modern, Western, secular worldview with Christianity, and he just can’t cover everything. I’ll bring you the highlights of our second meeting in late July. ... Study One. Thank you for sharing your hard work, Ron. Clarification? Now Keller has followed up with what could be called a prequel, Making Sense of God, addressing those sceptics who see Christianity as so implausible that no rational person could even consider it.His aim is to show that Christianity is worth investigating. We need Jesus. Timothy Keller, author of Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. . But the Bible teaches that God is so far beyond our understanding, and inevitably, something comes along to challenge my small perspective. 2) Why do my prayers go unanswered? Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Is the devil? Chapter three, “A Meaning That Suffering Can’t Take From You,” is coming up next week! Some believe God’s will is the path of the most sacrifice while others believe it is the path of most personal benefit. Next week, we start part II of the book, where Keller will explore some specific aspects of life and how religion and Christianity speak to those issues. 1,000 years ago would people have said “oh yes all three have similar values” or are we just viewing all these religions through our modern eyes where people generally just want to focus on the most positive and similar aspects of each religion and downplay or stay ignorant of the crucial differences? Timothy Keller’s The Reason for God, published a few years ago, was an excellent exposition of reasons to believe in God and Christianity. $17.70. You must do this yourself, and must not rely on anyone outside to affirm and tell you who you are” (124). Written for both the ardent believer and the skeptic, Making Sense of God shines a light on the profound value and importance of Christianity in our lives. These chapters are intense! When we rightly order him first, we thrive. Reading books of substance is best done in community. Making sense of unanswered prayer From Christianity Today, ChristianBibleStudies.com provides over 1,000 unique, downloadable Bible Studies for personal, small group, and Sunday School use. 2) Does God set any limits to the damage Satan can inflict upon Job? He does the heavy lifting of digging up the work of philosophers and social scientists and then lays before the reader his findings in laymen's terms. Was Paul the true founder of Christianity? Who We Are Moreover, Hamilton is always charitable toward those with whom he disagrees. Well the truth is, God created you for five purposes. Comments? In Making Sense of the Bible, Adam Hamilton, one of the country’s leading pastors and Christian authors, addresses the hot-button issues that plague the church and cultural debate, and answers many of the questions frequently asked by Christians and non-Christians alike. The desire for instant gratification is the enemy of common sense. 3: A Meaning That Suffering Can’t Take From You, Making Sense of God Study – Ch. Ron carefully prepared 18 questions for us to dig in to the content of chapters 1-7, which I will post below. Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical.New York: Viking, 2016. Making Sense of God by Tim Keller: Our First Apologia in Colorado. Discuss your questions surrounding suffering and dig into God's Word to find the truth. In Augustine’s footsteps, Keller articulates that “the ultimate source of our discontent is failure to love the first, the failure to love God supremely” (90). If you enjoyed the show, leave us a review at iTunes . While I don’t have any sort of educated and definitive answer, off the top of my head I would say it might depend on a few things. Conclusion: It may seem that Keller is saying that if science and reason are not as reliable as we think, then truth is unknowable and there’s no way to “weigh and evaluate such philosophical religious statements.” (53) But to the contrary, his point is “only that using demanding, demonstrable, unquestionable proof for them is inappropriate…Rather than unfairly asking only religious people to prove their views, we need to compare and contrast religious beliefs and their evidences with secular beliefs and theirs.” In other words, whether secular or religious, we all have beliefs that can’t be scientifically proven either way and that are taken in a measure of faith. Making Sense of the Old Testament 2. Ask Question Asked today. Why, Making Sense of God's Will by Adam Hamilton will help you to navigate the following questions: 1) Why do the innocent suffer? I also wonder how the ways each religion is perceived over time plays into this question. Case in point, we all suffered through this past election cycle, where it became glaringly obvious how we distill things down too far, throw nuance out the window, and turn every issue into us vs. them. In this book he seeks to answer three questions. ... What about Jesus' last breath convinced the centurion he was the Son of God? 2: Isn’t Religion Based on Faith and Secularism on Evidence? Wow, thanks so much for your comment, Connie! I’ll stop my rambling there because it’s doing nothing to answer your original question! You see, you were made by God and you were made for God. (47-48). Last night seven of us gathered on our back patio to discuss the first half of the book. questions we sometimes ask in the face of suffering. The Trinity has much to teach us about the essence of God and our relationships with one another. Thanks again so much for commenting! As to your question, that’s really a great one and unfortunately I don’t have a good answer. Keller argues in this chapter that secularism actually involves “a set of faith beliefs,” or “highly contestable assumptions about the nature of proof and rationality itself.” He explores two main ideas to support his point: Keller goes on to make the case that our ideas of inherent human rights and our positive views of the body and of emotions all came from Judeo-Christian theology, not secular philosophy. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Want to be notified of new posts via email? Rebuttal? 3. Once per month community members gathered to discuss a book, which would build the reader’s understanding of God, truth, and culture. We all have different ideas of what discerning God’s will looks like. In a sense, the marking of time is irrelevant to God because He transcends it. Many thanks to Ron Coia for preparing well and making this first Apologia meeting happen! ( Log Out /  Last night seven of us gathered on our back patio to discuss the first half of the book. Occassionally we will email  our teammates prayer requests and ministry updates. Tim Keller has served as the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan for nearly thirty years and has spent much of his ministry engaging skeptics of Christianity with both winsome humility and intellectual dexterity. Would you say that those other religions took those values from the Judeo-Christian traditions? Phew! I certainly want to look into it more now for myself! And his challenge is the same to Christians. 2. The declaration that science is the only arbiter of truth is in fact a belief, and not itself established in empiricism. Though I could mention so much more, I’ll close with a quote on identity, “If I am a Christian, I am who I am before God. 1: Isn’t Religion Going Away? Keller encourages us to go through the process of “doubting your doubts.” Like the example explained above in the chapter summary with the problem of evil and suffering, can you isolate a doubt you have and dig deeper to what assumptions are underneath. In my last two posts I have reviewed Adam Hamilton’s book Making Sense of the Bible (New York: HarperOne, 2014) and examined one of the key exegetical claims he makes in support of his view that “we hear God’s voice as we listen to scripture’s words” (p. 131, emphasis added). The group in Japan was led by our dear friend Ron Coia, an English teacher for the high school students of military members in Okinawa, Japan. In fact, one of our Apologia attendees already invited two of her secular friends to read the book with her—they agreed. A mere blog post is an insufficient synopsis of such a substantial work. What does God allow Satan to do, and how does God think Job will react? ( Log Out /  Keller rightly asks, “But what is the empirical proof for that proposition?” (33). I think even as a Christian, you are still always battling doubts and incorrect assumptions and ideas about God. Finally, in part three, Keller makes the case that belief in God and belief in Christianity are reasonable. Is the New Testament historically reliable? It’s neat to see the ways this book generates good conversation and questions over different contexts. Apologia is a tradition from our church in Okinawa, Japan. ... when we discuss religion only in the negative sense … 2. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. He then cites Nietzche, who argues that it’s inconsistent for secular people to reject God yet hold on to these Christian ideals, and that these moral ideas can’t just be separated and utilized apart of Christianity. In indirect ways throughout both chapters, he has challenged believers not to make reductionist statements and to look deeper past our background beliefs. One way this has manifested itself in my life is how I’ve often taken what I’ve learned about God and created this box, like now I completely understand God because I’m holding Him in this box. It contains everything needed for the study, including session plans, discussion questions, and multiple format options. Making Sense of the Bible is borne of a great love for the Bible, along with years of study and pastoral ministry. There’s more in each chapter to flesh out Keller’s ideas but obviously I can’t put everything here. The morning of Apologia I photographed the quote below and had fun seeing Tim Keller retweet it and others share it many times over: It is impossible to cover in one blog post even a fraction of what was covered in the first half of this book, as well as what was said in our group discussion. It’s been pretty difficult to synthesize all the info down and keep these posts to a reasonably easy-to-consume length. Group discussion sharpens as members view the same work differently and share how their lives intersect with the message in unique ways. How does Satan think Job will react? I admire Keller’s commitment to academic research. As my own father languishes in a nursing home with late stage Alzheimer’s and dementia doctors and loved ones ask, “Would your father really want to live this way?”  What they mean is, “This sickness is not the realization of your dad’s created meaning. The deadline and accountability of a meeting helps to push members through, while reading alone leads to the temptation to give up. A Simple—Not Scientific—Truth Genesis 1, the opening scene of the biblical drama, introduces us to the two main characters in the Bible: God and man. One thing that’s really resonated with me through these two chapters is Keller’s general encouragement to just think more deeply about the views we all hold. Making decisions is tough—but one thing I’ve learned is that adding God into the mix makes decision-making even tougher. He outlines many arguments for the existence of God and the validity of Christianity. Pingback: Making Sense of God Study – Ch. 3) What do you think of Satan's role here? ( Log Out /  We’re in chapter two of Tim Keller’s Making Sense of God this week. The book is chock full of endnotes and quotations by philosophers and academicians, as Keller states their view in their words. Making Sense of God is strong at showcasing the problems of a materialistic worldview. When someone says they do not believe in God, perhaps the first question we should ask is: “What sort of God is it that you don’t believe in?” Sometimes the reason why people are confused about God is that there are various concepts of God which are incoherent, contradictory, and counter-intuitive. Making Sense of God Study – Ch. Instead, He promises to faithfully walk with us in our pain and to use it to make us more loving toward others and more trusting in Him. As far as I can tell, or at least in my searching, yours is the only ‘study guide’ to this book. It ends up crushing our souls because we cannot uphold ourselves with ourselves. ( Log Out /  But what we’re seeing is that chosen faiths are being passed on and thriving. 4. his Leader Guide, designed for group use with Making Sense of the Bible Book and DVD, features Adam Hamilton discussing his ideas in six sessions. We would rather die than live out our own meaning. Like today, we might say that Islam or Buddhism seems to teach very similar values, but historically has that always been the case? Making Sense of God begins from Tim’s observation that, although many in the secular west think religious belief is not just wrong, but irrelevant and even harmful, there are many people who want to consider and discuss belief in God. Dobson then makes the assertion "God makes sense even when He doesn't make sense." If you didn’t enjoy the show, let us know and we’ll work to make it better. Our inaugural book is Making Sense of God by Tim Keller. Is perceived over time plays into this question book with her—they agreed usually... ’ t religion based on wisdom alone, we too can engage in thoughtful reflection, critique, multiple. Before Christianity rich as the first half of the secular worldview = faith are commenting using WordPress.com! Needed for the study, including session plans, discussion questions, and hope on women ’ fighting... 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