Friday, December 27, 2013

Five Ways A Skeptical World Attempts To Destroy Or Neutralize Christianity- Tim Keller at the Veritas Forum: Belief In An Age Of Skepticism

Among the many other good things that Keller brings out of his storehouse in this Veritas presentation are these five strategies that a skeptical world uses to deal with the exclusive truth claims of religion in general and  the faith of Jesus Christ in particular.
In order of Kellers reference to them they are:

  1. Hope it away. Skeptics just hope Christianity will go away and die the death of a thousand false hopes and "spurious" beliefs as people just get more sophisticated, better educated and less superstitious, less gullible and more rational, scientific, reasonable people. History, however shows how this did not happen, and will not happen. Voltaire, the French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit once said that Christianity will be dead and forgotten within a hundred years or so (or words to that effect) but what actually happened is that Voltaire is gone and the Bible society now own his house in Switzerland. As Keller points out- Christianity dying out is wishful thinking.
  2. Outlaw it away. Skeptics have in the past and still are using government to enact legislation making Christianity illegal (eg communism). Or if Christianity is not openly outlawed by government decree, then, by enacting laws that make those who hold a Christian worldview unpopular and seemingly less moral, by enacting laws that legitimize those moral mores that Christianity abhors- they thus attempt to destroy the faith by marginalizing it.
  3. Explain it away.Of particular interest is the debunking of the latest sociological research that would attempt to explain away in evolutionary terms that most fundamental mark of humanity- the propensity for religion. By casting doubt on the reliability of our belief forming faculties to form true beliefs or whether they really have anything to do with truth, but rather are merely fulfilling some evolutionary device which enabled our ancestors to survive- the sociologists which are pushing this understanding- have inadvertently undermined any knowledge at all! After all if our belief forming faculties are wrong about the truth of religion, or the existence of God, why shouldn't they be wrong about evolution itself, or why should a naturalistic explanation for the Universe be taken as true?
  4. Argue it away. The new atheists are strident moral campaigners who attempt to rationalize why Christianity cannot be true, and is not only not true but actually harmful to human progress. "Religion leads to violence, and war" are the sort of slogans that are heard.
  5. Privatize it away. In this attempt- which has had a marked success in more secular countries like New Zealand- this tactic has convinced all parties, secular and non-secular that one's beliefs or religion should be kept private, out of the public square. The attitude has taken hold that in order for the preservation of peace to continue and for our pluralistic society to get along, each must maintain their beliefs on a strictly private basis. Thus "peace at any price" has come at the expense of truth. After all "truth is relative" so it is arrogant and rude to refer to your particular set of beliefs as universally true. This tactic is so successful at all levels of society that it also occurs within churches, where groups of differing emphasis or persuasion are made to feel that what they believe to be true, can only be true for them, and not for the church as whole. When truth is thus relativized, it begins to lose power as a reforming force and universal standard, it no longer has a unifying and strengthening effect, but rather the fragmentation of society is enhanced, not only at a general societal level, but even amongst Church communities we see this fragmentation. This is characterized by churches that do not interact and explore their different emphases, and by factions within denominations that are voiceless. Pastors are reduced to feeling the need to apologize if their sermons get a bit "doctrinal" and the Gospel is reduced to a "therapeutic" gospel. 
This is an excellent presentation that addresses the problems that face the Church in the "West". Also of note was his explanation for active and passive oppression, that people of either religious or secular persuasion are prone to slip into, which he called "the slippery slope of the heart" (?).

For a review of Keller's book: The Reason For God: Belief in an age of skepticism, follow the link.


Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Merry Christmas!


To All Those who have shown an interest, interacted, came to the meetings, read, commented and even those who have disagreed, Merry Christmas! My prayer is- to those that  have not yet seen, that they will see- and those that do see, that they may see clearer, the Goodness of God in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. And that we, who claim to see, would see that "he has committed to us the message of reconciliation".

God Bless You in this festive season.