Timothy Keller writes a powerful and challenging synopsis of the difference between world-views. As he compares and contrasts the Christian perspective on life with a more secular worldview, the reader is brought into an almost scientific comparison of these seemingly opposing views of life.
The writing begins with definitions and an overall set of operating principles to help the reader understand any bias that might be contained in the descriptions. It doesn’t take long for the reader to gather that Christians aren’t held as perfect or better than anyone by Keller. As a matter of fact he very clearly indicates ways in which the Americanized view of the Christian faith has become skewed.
Keller alludes to the Christian’s life and the problems with the current version of Christianity in the world today. Teh issue isn’t really the extra stuff we have in our lives as Americans, although some believe to be a Christian you have to be in poverty. The issue isn’t the distractions in our lives or the overworked nature in which we find ourselves. The real issue is a lack of love for God. Or at least a minimal devotion to him.
The problem isn’t that we love other things too much but that we love God too little. Share on XWhen we place our love for God in the right perspective then the rest of life start to make more sense. We’ll better understand the holy and sacred parts of life. We’ll better understand what real freedom looks like. We’ll be able to see what’s important.
Ultimately the difference between Christianity and Secularism is the priority of self. The Secularist places the “self” as the most important part of life, whereas the Christian lowers self to a position under the authority of another. Our freedom as Secularists is something we choose and earn and means that no one controls us but ourselves (which in and of itself isn’t freedom). But our freedom as Christians is earned for us as we make ourselves subject willingly to an authority beyond our comprehension.
If you’re looking for a deep and thorough look into these two opposing views, then by all means open the pages of Keller’s excellently written description.
Looks like he plays around with Martin Luther’s ideas from Freedom of a Christian. The notion that a Christian is a slave to none because all is secured and given to us through Christ and that we are servant to all as we now seek to share this love for others in this world.
Yes it’s a somewhat similar approach. One thing that was interesting to me was the idea of freedom and that we view freedom as the absence of authority over us. But we’re never really without authority over us. An idea he posits is this, “True freedom is not the ability to do whatever you want whenever you want to do it. True freedom is the ability to decide and determine which freedoms you are willing to give up in order for the best potential outcome for you and those around you.”