Posted on 02/27/2010 2:03:40 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
"It’s a Sunday evening at Redeemer Presbyterian Church, and the pews are full. Redeemer is a conservative Evangelical Christian congregation, but the parishioners don’t fit the easy Bible Belt stereotypes. They are a cross-section of yuppie Manhattanites—doctors, bankers, lawyers, artists, actors, and designers, some of them older, most of them in their twenties or thirties..."
"Last year, after his book The Reason for God hit No. 7 on the New York Times’ nonfiction best-seller list, his publisher, Dutton, conceived the idea for a new Redeemer imprint. Keller’s latest book, Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters, out in October, speaks directly to the concerns of New York and New Yorkers."
"The intellectual component is the key to winning over New Yorkers, he says. “When you communicate in a way that touches a person’s heart culturally, you get growth,” he says. “I come here, and people say, ‘Oh, look, Tim quotes The New Yorker and Nietzsche and talks about the existentialists. He’s an intellectual.’ Another way to put it is: ‘He’s showing me what Christianity would look like if I believed. Because I think like him, and even though I’m not sure I agree, it resonates.’ ”
"His belief system is not the fundamentalist strain running through many of the Bible Belt megachurches—the “saved” us versus the “heathen” them. Nor is it the new-school “be a winner, praise the Lord,” Christian self-esteem-building ideology of Joel Osteen. Keller advocates something of a third option. He wants to call people’s attention to the emptiness of a way of living that overvalues worldly achievement and to help them see the spiritual benefits of accepting Jesus Christ, and all he stands for, as their savior..."
(Excerpt) Read more at nymag.com ...
‘Cause he is a really really good preacher.
*PING*
Bump
Hopefully he is not a Rick Warren or Joel Osteen.
NY is so screwed but they will keep voting Dem. I have more confidence in Mass waking up.
Because NY City is a pit of secular culture - crass individualism, materialism and money worship, sexual depravity.
There are people there who see this and dream of something better.
No, he isn’t in the vein of Warren or Osteen. I liked his “Reason For God”.
I read more of the article. He sounds very good. He makes the case to these people intellectually. Many of the people are smart but they realize their lives are empty. He sounds like a good guy.
It was surprisingly good. It was a refreshing change of pace for the typical "religious" best seller. Straightforward Biblical apologetics with the Gospel dashed in whenever Keller could apply it to the issue at hand. Highly recommended.
Because, my friends, we are at the very cusp of a new great awakening! Very, very exciting!
Yes. I think we do need people like St. Paul who could appeal to the intellectuals at his time. They wouldn’t take a message of a carpenter brought by a fisher or tax collector seriously.
I couldn’t agree more. And all these natural disasters thave taken place, as horrible and catastrophic as they are, have been taking people out of their comfort zones and reminding all of us that GOD truly is in control and wanting people from every corner of the globe to turn to him and come to knowledge of the *Truth.*
Keller is very down to earth, but passionate in his faith....a really good guy and great fit for NYC.
Because there's a sucker born every minute?
Because you can fool some of the people all of the time?
Because his church is next to the Papaya King?
Tim Keller is a Reformed powerhouse. Great guy, great writer. Love his stuff.
Oh, and he’s as far from Joel Osteen as you can possibly imagine.
ping for later read
Yep, the birth pangs.
Great point and analogy. These people probably think they are too smart for Christianity but they know something is missing in their life.
I think the advent of you know who and the economic destruction in NY has been an eye opener for these people.
I was listening to a very good financial adviser in TX. He is almost more like a minsiter. He was talking about how great societies or civilizations are brought down by debt and by rampant secularism/hedonism. Sadly this is where we are at.
I hope there are more Tim Keller’s in more blue states.
>>They wouldn’t take a message of a carpenter brought by a fisher or tax collector seriously.<<
.
Three cheers for tentmakers.
Do you imagine that the thousands of folks who heard the message of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and accepted the gift of salvation through Osteen’s ministry are not “really saved”?
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