Tim Keller - A Biblical Perspective on Risk

[@CushingsSx]

We need more biblical perspective like this! Thanks Pastor Keller. You’re no longer my pastor, but you were once, and I think you still are. I can hear God, speak to me, clearly through you. Love that passage with the apostle Paul and the sailors. It clearly illustrates how providence work, that is with our obedience. It’s both-and, not either -or.

[@JoeyGloorTV]

dude is so awesome, God is the best!

[@fixitrob2go]

Questions to be considered: Where does churches stand on getting rid of the sex offender registry? We are told to obey the laws of the land but after someone has paid their debt is it not evil to keep adding punitive measures after the fact? If so then shouldn’t the church stand against such evil? Anointing comes not just from doing good for others but standing against evil Prv. 16:25 (…ways that seems right but are evil). If the Church refuses to stand against these fundamental wrongs how can they expect anointing and growth to take place? The Lord’s view on who’s a sex offender is anyone that looks upon a woman in lust has committed adultery already in their hearts. With that standard in mind how many sex offenders attend your church? Your argument might be well we are under Grace and forgiven those transgressions. Really? Then doesn’t His Grace reach as far as those being wrongfully punished after they have paid their debt to society? You might also say well those are consequences of their sin/crimes. What are the consequences to the church for not Abiding in Christ and walking as he did in the Earth? Lost anointing and spiritual growth perhaps? How did God’s Grace (through Jesus) handle the adulteress (Sex Offender) that was sentenced (by law) to death? Are you refusing Christ and His example by not showing equal compassion for those that have paid their debt to society? Where does this kind of harm stop? Shouldn’t we exercise Christ like compassion and stand against this LIVING DEATH called the sex offender registry? There have been children listed as young as 9 years old on that evil draconian thing. The church needs to stop following the popular dictates of the world and society. While we were yet sinners God sent His only son to die for us. Given the Lord’s example in this regard who are we NOT to stand against the sex offender registry?

[@ugommaokorie1660]

Absolutely brilliant message.

[@alanpina354]

This is great! Thanks, I needed!🙏

[@TheNewYorker360]

Good to hear from Tim Keller, who is on point as usual. I still remember that review on Yelp of Redeemer Presbyterian Church from some ten years ago. Nothing I've ever heard or read about Redeemer has ever been proven more accurate or cogent. Excerpts edited for brevity and clarity: 1/17/2011 I have been to Redeemer West side and East side services. I still go from time to time. I used to take part in several of the volunteer opportunities at Redeemer. First, I will start with the founding Pastor Tim Keller. Tim Keller's sermons are some of the most thought provoking you will ever hear in your life anywhere! He is also an author. I would go so far as to say that he is one of the great thinkers of our time. He is also a visionary in many ways. My husband and I regularly purchase and listen to his sermons. So why only 3 stars? Because a church is more than just a pastor. Now there is no perfect church. But there are some serious things lacking here: First of all, there is no prayer meeting or focus on corporate prayer for the entire church. The very basic part of the Christian faith that Jesus himself said with his own lips was Matthew 21:13. "It is written," He said to them, "'My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers." Prayer is just talking to God, it doesn't require any special talent, skill or training. So the lack of prayer at this church is very alarming to me. And I haven't heard anyone speak of repentance at Redeemer --- ever. Again, I have listened to hundreds of sermons and been to at least a hundred services both on the W est and East sides. The church ministries are called "ministries" but are run like any secular organization. Redeemer Presbyterian is run like a business, a well-oiled corporate machine, and not a church. The other 2 things which are cultural and not spiritual but are off-putting to me are: 1. Most of the members and regular visitors to Redeemer are transplants, not New Yorkers, so the church is a large city church but run like a small town church where there are very few native New Yorkers. It seems most of the members are not established in the city and are just passing through. 2. The other is that it seems the majority of the congregation is looking for a spouse, and very aggressively. When you walk in, the first thing people do is look at your hand for a ring, and then are bold enough to ask if it is a wedding ring. That experience is not unique to me, but to all of the guests I bring here. In addition, in any volunteer group I have been to, the small talk from both men and women centered around trying to find a spouse. Then the few married people were usually complaining about their marriages. The pastor knows about this, and does see it as a problem because he addresses it in his sermons. But people don't seem to listen. It is like they are all living in 1950's rural America. One other major problem I have with the church is that it is mostly white and Asian. I believe the reason is that the congregation ---- and this is not the pastoral team's fault --- seems to be focused on their careers and making money, and not on God at all. God is there to bless their agendas; this is how they seem to operate. I believe this is true for a few reasons. One, the culture of the church and focus of the congregation seems to be on Whites and Asians who make good money and have high-end careers, rather than on God. A huge basic tenet of the Christian faith is Death to Self. But at Redeemer, when you hear testimonies approved by the pastoral staff, they usually start with the person's professional credentials. I do not see any Death to Self there, but actually the opposite: It's "Look at what I can do for God because of my high income and education." It is not wrong to have a high income or education as a Christian. But the focus (at Redeemer) is wrong. So for these reasons, I think the church is best for those who are not Christians yet but are seekers of God, or those established in the faith already. It is not good in my opinion for the average believer looking for a home church. But by all means, purchase Tim Keller's sermons and do something that the congregation fails to do: Learn from his sermons. The church in my opinion is more intellectual than spiritual. end

[@johnkim7802]

Christianity makes it known how embracing risks and acknowledging them are important.

[@Kathschannel]

That was very helpful. Thank you.

[@laurakosch]

I having trouble reconciling kellers take on “fate” (illustrated by reference to Oedipus) and his Presbyterian alliance.

[@imathibodeaux4008]

Incredible

[@joef111]

Timely with Flash Boys by Michael Lewis just releasing...

[@stephenoni2019]

wise and bold! submit to the Lord's Sovereignty

[@JMC5013]

Abraham didn’t take risk when he offered Isaac. He obeyed.

[@mr.qoheleth4303]

Just like countless parents who heard voices in there head and followed through with killing their children in order to send them straight to heaven prior to the "age of reason". Hell, a mother 20 miles from me did exactly this to her 2 children recently. And if they truly believed what they did, they're acting rational. What's a lifetime in prison knowing, in your mind, that you secured your children in heaven. Not to mention you'll likely join them, if Christianity is true.

[@Yeh-ts5bj]

네

[@TinyFord1]

I’m not a Calvinist or a fatalist so I think he’s only half right that you aren’t in charge of your own life

[@mr.qoheleth4303]

Sure, every child that dies is God's plan, every girl held captive for 20 +years in a basement is ultimately for the glory of a God who is all love. Hell, apparently most people are predestined to hell for His glory.

[@CasperLCat]

Amen. You can believe like a Calvinist, but you can’t live like one, because it’s absolutely absurd when it comes up against real life. Keller was ridiculously inconsistent as a supposed Calvinist.

[@87rtlandry]

You’re not fooling anyone with that bald cap Jeff Goldblum.

[@Jaijioommen]

I got killed

[@vladepast4936]

Interesting guy, very "earthly" not much spirituality....and then I listened more and it become even sadder. He is lost, completely...

[@jamesbertram7925]

Mr Keller knows more about mans books than he does about God's book, and especially about the Eternal Word in the Word of God, who created the complete Cosmos and Controls it but in His sovereign will he gave Eve and Adam a free will, and jn His sovereign power and providence He gave them in His sovereign Grace permission to partake of every herb and tree except one, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and warned them of His wrath if they used their free will to distrust and disobey their creators will , and in the original ethics of Eden, we are taught that neither Adam nor Eve contributed anything to their sinless state of standing as very good creatures, their perfect position and condition was unearned and unmerited , so their divorce from Eden and the Tree of Life, was entirely their decision and not their Creators, therefore the concept of risk is a myth because it is the rejection of God's clear revelation and a rebellion against the will of God in the word of God by the will of man, given to man in God's sovereign will

[@CasperLCat]

Keller’s Calvinism mandates that ALL things are predetermined by God’s immutable decree, then simply ASSERTS that humans nevertheless have freedom of action (and thus moral responsibility). How can there be both ? It’s a “mystery”, as Keller repeats here. No, it’s a CONTRADICTION.

[@ShayPatterson]

From our human perspective it is a contradiction, but from God's perspective, it is not a contradiction, AT ALL.

[@CasperLCat]

@ Oh yes it is. Saying that “God understands it” is just thought-stopping device, intended to evade critical and logical thinking. As C S Lewis said, ‘Nonsense doesn’t become sense, just because we put “God can…” in front of it.’

[@SimElectronics101]

My perspective is that it's a terrible terrible boardgame and you should play a more recently published game instead.

[@shawngregory1312]

Terrible how

[@CrypticCL]

...and published by who?

[@josephroehl5999]

Risk, confidence (i.e. confidence interval), and Expected Value (how much money can I expect to walk away from the table with), in addition the very modern term black swan event are mathematical concepts derived from the theory of probability which was invented to study games of chance in other words gambling games, a Presbyterian no-no. Risk appears in the bible because gambling appears in the bible, Roman soldiers casting lots for Jesus’ garments. In addition killing a giant with a sling shot would be a black swan event. I think the point of the bible is that God always has his finger on the probability scale. He got back to Abraham just in time to save Isaac, another moment and well! Tim Keller is a smart guy and way above the usual Flat Earther’s and Creationists but why not fess up to his own limitations? Stripped of the modern Christian clap-trap, entrepreneurs are gamblers and probably should give a Presbyterians some her burn.