The Reason for God by Timothy Keller
Week 13: Chapter 11 — Religion and the Gospel
Read Chapter 11 of The Reason for God by Timothy Keller.
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Keller argues that Christianity rightly understood is not a religion in the ordinary sense — it is not a set of moral achievements that earn God's favor. It is, instead, the news that God has done for us what we could not do for ourselves. This distinction is the hinge on which everything turns.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Keller draws a sharp contrast between "religion" (I obey, therefore God accepts me) and "gospel" (God accepts me in Christ, therefore I obey). Before reading this chapter, how would you have described the relationship between behavior and God's acceptance? Has Keller's framing shifted anything for you?
2.He argues that most people — including many people in church — are operating on a fundamentally religious rather than gospel-shaped logic: trying to establish their worth before God (and others) through performance. Why is this tendency so persistent, even in people who intellectually know the gospel?
a.What are the emotional signs that you are operating from a performance-based religious logic rather than gospel-based grace?
b.How does performance-based religion produce both pride (when you succeed) and despair (when you fail)?
3.Keller uses the term "moralistic therapeutic deism" (coined by sociologist Christian Smith) to describe the default religion of most Americans: God exists, wants you to be good, and mostly wants you to be happy. How does this description fit the implicit religion of people you know? How does authentic Christianity challenge each of its three elements?
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