The Trouble with Christianity: Why It's So Hard to Believe It

Tim Keller is anything but defensive. He respects the real doubts that people bring to Christianity. Although described as a Christian apologist, what makes Tim Keller so palatable is his winsome while sincere approach, his genuine interest in reason and respect for people's skepticism. And he's thoroughly intelligent.

His book The Reason for God -- in which he discussed whether of not belief can exist in the age of reason, an age of scepticism -- was born out of literally thousands of conversations with young people since the early 90s.

In 1989 Tim Keller planted a church by going throughout New York City, talking to young professionals about why they wouldn't believe in God. Most of the people he spoke to had one or more of about half a dozen troubles with Christianity: common objections that made Christianity too hard to believe.

The Reason for God is a trip through reasoning. Keller shows that all of the common problems people today have with Christianity are in fact based in beliefs - alternative beliefs about God and the nature of reality.

And here's the punch line but it won't spoil it for you: To really have integrity skeptics need to apply the same tests to their beliefs as what they are demanding that Christians apply to theirs.

I recommend the book, but perhaps what I've found even more helpful initially, is listening through a series of MP3 audios in which Keller speaks to Christians on most of the subjects he addresses in the first part of his book:

These are excellent, absolutely fantastic presentations: really polite, respectful, palatable, engaging, informative, relevant, thought out and enlightening.

Why not listen to one or all of the following Reason for God audios (I dare you):

• Exclusivity: How Can There Be Just One True Religion?
• Suffering: If God Is Good, Why Is There So Much Evil in the World?
• Absolutism: Don't We All Have to Find Truth for Ourselves?
• Injustice: Hasn't Christianity Been an Instrument for Oppression?
• Hell: Isn't the God of Christianity an Angry Judge?
• Literalism: Isn't the Bible Historically Unreliable and Regressive?
• Doubt: What Should I Do with My Doubts? (David Bisgrove)

And by the way, if you did want to read the book too, here it is: ReasonforGod.com

Retributive justice and true universalism

Is God a bad judge? Liberals react to the classic doctrine of God’s judgment on the grounds that it makes God to be immature, or crude. Rather than retributive justice, they hold that God’s judgment is always corrective and rehabilitative. Universalists react on slightly different but similar grounds: the orthodox doctrine of final judgment contradicts the love of God. Like for the liberals, judgment is restorative in universalism.

1. God is the God of retributive justice

The Bible is clear that the true God is a God who ‘pays back’. He does not only exercise correctional discipline; he also serves out retribution and revenge.

Romans 12:19: Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." (Cf. Deuteronomy 32:35 and Hebrews 10:30).

2Thessalonians 1:6-8:  since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, (7) and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels (8) in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

God’s nature demands that the moral order of the creation must be restored. It’s not just for practical purposes that retributive justice is needed. Re-balancing or rectifying evil with just retribution is necessary because God is a good God of order. His justice pays back what evil deserves, and in this sense, it reconciles evil to him.

2. God is the God revealed by Scripture

Our belief at this point will be affected by our view of Scripture. If we believe that the propositional revelation of the Bible is the authority in all matters, then no matter how hard we might find it to digest; we will believe that God is a God of retributive justice.

Similarly, our view of God will depend on our view of Scripture. If we believe that God is transcendent – that his ways are vastly higher than our ways and so unknowable by ourselves – then we will not put our confidence in reason or natural theology. Our dependence will be on special revelation. Also if we believe in the Bible’s view of human sin, we will completely distrust our thoughts and desires and emotions which will always distort the truth about God. And so the Bible must tell us both what we would otherwise not know about God and also what we would otherwise not believe about God.

3. Retributive justice is reasonable

Despite what we have said about human reason, there are nonetheless human reasons why retributive justice is both right and logical. Everyday humans cry out for justice, for retribution, for the righting of wrongs by rightful punishment on wrongdoers. We are justified to set up war courts and investigate human rights atrocities and be outraged when criminals escape just punishments. Morality is meaningless if there is not a final righting of wrongs.

4. God is the God who has reconciled all things in Christ (already)

The good news of the gospel is that by dying on the cross for the sins of the whole world, Christ has already restored the moral imbalance in the moral order of the universe.

Colossians 1:19-20: For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, (20) and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

God’s own love has already caused him to take upon himself the breakdown in creation caused by the proliferation of evil, so that now and forever sin and Satan and the world stand condemned, but God’s people are freed by his grace.

So love has already won. God’s love has already conquered his justice because the good God does graciously justify the wicked at immeasurable cost for the most undeserving (Romans 3:26).

Future and final judgment is yet to come as a fulfilment of the judgment now that has already taken place. At the cross, Christ has borne sins already for those who believe and condemned all those who reject him. So when he appears a second time, it will not be again to bear sins, but to bring salvation to those waiting and final judgment to whoever does not believe.

Romans 1:18: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

John 3:18: Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

The last judgment has already been pronounced over the one who either believes or rejects Christ. This is because Jesus’ first coming and dying on the cross was, in a very real sense, the final judgment:

John 9:39: Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind."

John 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.

God has reconciled all things in Christ (already) because final judgment and salvation happened at the cross.

5. God is the God who will reconcile evil through eternal judgment

Judgment remains a future reality because, though at the cross Jesus permanently condemned sin, the world and Satan, he nonetheless presently waits to implement his final reign over them. God will effect a final unification of all things in Christ, including evil elements in creation.

Ephesians 1:9-10  making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ  (10)  as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Eternal hell, reserved for the devil and all those who follow him, is not evil in itself because of the simple fact that God’s retributive justice is both good and right. In this sense, everlasting punishment restores the moral order in creation because it balances wickedness with punishment, and so actually cancels evil because ‘good’ fully and finally triumphs.

We have said that just punishment of wrong reconciles it to God because his righteousness reigns over it; it restores evil to good; it disarms rebellion to peace. Consequently, eternal retribution is a permanent solution to the problem of evil.

But God’s judgment is actually a loving act and is consistent with the God who is both love and light. As C. S. Lewis argued, it is good for evil to be judged because for it to otherwise evade retributive justice would in fact excuse what is wrong, thus perpetuating evil. So God’s judgment of evil is an act of love towards his creation as well as to himself.

As a result, God’s judgment advances his glory because it brings a final reconciliation of the goodness of all things. In this sense, a full and true universal reconciliation of all things to God is fulfilled as much through God’s final and eternal judgment as it is through his everlasting mercy. 




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Acknowledgement


These notes have borrowed significantly from the excellent lecture material prepared by Rob Smith, Sydney Missionary Bible College, Eschatology, 2010.

Who cares about righteousness anymore?

Does God not care about evil in the world? When we see the violence and hatred and selfishness done in the world, we might think that. Is God indifference about right and wrong? When we witness a world full of people constantly breaking the law, we might think that. Does God not care about justice? When we experience the many injustices of this world, we may want to think that.

Many people accuse God of injustice: ‘if God exists, then he is horrible’. If not atheists they hold God as the unrighteous one.

Remarkably, one of the clearest descriptions in the Bible of the ‘core message’ of Christianity, found in Romans 3:21-26, is also where the Apostle Paul goes to the very heart of this question. It might not be what you typically think the Gospel message is all about, but the question of the righteousness of God is what Paul’s ‘good news’ in Romans 3 focuses on.

Romans 3:21-26 is all about the righteousness of God. God’s righteousness has been made known: It has been revealed as a combination of three things, his character of righteousness, his gift of a righteous status before him, and his action to save unrighteous people

God’s message about ourselves

The Bible declares that in fact there are multiple ways in which God has revealed himself to humanity. First, he has revealed his power in creation: Creation itself displays his eternal power and nature (Romans 1:19-20). Second, he is always revealing his anger against sinful human society: The evil in society is God making known his anger from heaven against all of humanity; we are unrighteous because we suppress this truth (Romans 1:18-32).

Paul's description of all people, from every culture, from every rank, whether we appear to live good lives or not, whether we live religiously or not, without exception, is that every person is guilty before God, without excuse, and without any defence. Romans 1:18-3:20 gives a terrible picture of humanity, society, individuals - unrighteousness and self-righteousness. We have no hope in ourselves and of ourselves for any escape from the judgment of God. What is more, the Bible declares that every person actually knows this.

God’s message about himself

But in addition to this there is something very special that God has revealed, something new; something God has made known without (apart from) his law that he had given Israel, which we have in the Old Testament (although it is promised in the Old Testament).

And it’s just this: God has made his righteousness known (Romans 3:21).

What is the gospel? What has God made known about himself in Jesus? He has revealed his own righteousness.

The very God who, although revealing his anger from heaven against all our unrighteousness (Romans 1:18), has also come into this world and made known his own righteousness. In a world full of evil whose people boast about our evil, inventing further ways of doing evil, even judging others for the evil things that we actually do too - In this world of unrighteousness, God has now revealed his righteousness (Romans 3:22).

God has done this firstly by coming himself as the righteous one. He came in the person of Jesus. He came into the world as the owner. Because he is the owner, he is the lawgiver. And he came into his world to establish his own righteousness through the man Christ Jesus.

What would you have expected him to do when he came? What do you expect the righteous one from heaven to come and do when he enters this evil world?

The amazing thing is that although Jesus came as the righteous one of God, in his first coming he came not to condemn the unrighteous, but to save them: not to judge, but to bring justification; to die upon a cross for us.

Without the cross, justification of the unjust would be unjustifiable; declaring righteous those who are wicked would be unrighteousness. The only reason God will do it, is because Christ died for the wicked.

Although it is true that God is angry with people because of the offence our sin against him [and this is true because he is perfectly righteous], God gave his own Son to die in our place, and in doing this he gave himself. And in doing so he turned away his own anger against us. And consequently, because of the cross, God can justify wicked people; God can declare to be righteous those who are evil. And he does it through faith alone; this righteousness from God comes to all as a gift who have faith in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:22).

God’s demonstration of himself

The cross, as well as being a great achievement of God, the cross of Jesus is also a demonstration of God. It’s by the cross of Jesus that God has demonstrated his character of justice.

Without the cross God could not be both just and justify the wicked. He could not be righteous at the same time as declaring wicked people to have his righteous status. But on the cross he achieved a right way to do it: He bought people at the right price. He turned aside God’s anger with the right sacrifice. He showed God’s justice with the right demonstration. And therefore he can justify us, who were slaves, angering God and unrighteous. It is his just justification of the unjust: he has justified sins righteously. The cross was his righteous way of ‘righteoussing’ the unrighteous.

It is a way that is worthy of himself as the holy just God, and merciful loving God.

We can only be amazed at the righteousness of God, which is perfectly wise and loving and merciful and just.

This is the gospel; it is God's news about himself: God has made his righteousness known by declaring right those who are not through faith in the cross of Jesus Christ.

Is God unrighteous?

The world is full of evil, but through the gospel we know that God has demonstrated his amazing care by coming into this world and experiencing the greatest evil himself on the cross so that we ourselves can be saved from his righteous anger against not only the evil in this world, but also the evil in our own lives too.

The world is full of unrighteousness, but through the gospel we know that God has demonstrated himself to be the only righteous one at the cross, where he did the greatest right, by taking the punishment for the wrong-doing of the world, so that we who are completely wrong might be given his righteousness.

The world is full of suffering, but through the gospel we know that God has himself has come and suffered the greatest injustice, because he loves us, and in his justice he has provided a just way to justify people. 

Self-centred religion: Rod Chiswell

In Zechariah 7, God’s people come with a question about tradition and get an ear-full in return for their hollow and self-centred religion. When we act as if our churches exist merely to meet our needs, when we become precious about the way things are done and annoyed with change, we betray the same need today to hear their rebuke. This sermon flawed me.

God targets four areas his people had neglected (Zechariah 7:9-10):

1. Failure to administer true justice

•  We should truly seek to hold accountable those in the wrong and vindicate those in the right.
• When we see laws being made that fail to protect the innocent we should use our democratic system to make our voice heard as Christians.
• Ordinary Christians can have an extraordinary power when we choose to speak against injustice.

2. Failure to show love and compassion

•  Our ‘neighbour’ is the one who we come across who is in need. When we sanitise our lives by avoiding getting involved with the needy, we show hollow religiosity.
• When was the last time you put your family out in order to help a needy person?

3. Failure to care for the vulnerable

• Do we recognise and give priority to those in our midst who are vulnerable to oppression and exploitation: the single mother, the divorcee in pain, the widow, the foreigner?
• These are the people we should be seeking to befriend, and with whom we should be sharing our lives and what we have.

 4. Failure to think good of others

•  When we become critical of our society, judging other’s motives, failing to give them the benefit of the doubt, we fail in the same way.
• Thinking badly of others leads to evil because it causes us to fail to love those around us.
• God wants us to do good to our enemies, praying for those who hate us.