For years conservative church leaders have warned against doctrinal decline. But what happens when it’s not just our doctrines that change but the very conditions of our unbelief that shift with time?
That’s the concern discussed in this video, where theologian Michael Horton observes how doctrines such as sin, redemption, atonement, grace, heaven, and even Christ have been redefined in therapeutic terms. Salvation is seen as recovery. And God doesn’t seem concerned with the problems he used to solve when today we’re only searching for personal peace and happiness.
Horton discusses this change with Tim Keller, author of Center Church, and missiologist Alan Hirsch. Keller describes in particular how the open-and-affirming movement claims not to threaten the gospel but actually redefines the Christian narrative according to expressive individualism. Identity in this misunderstood gospel is found through self-affirmation and self-assertion, not self-denial. But according to the biblical gospel, we lose ourselves in order to find ourselves in serving God and others.
For more, pick up Keller’s book Shaped by the Gospel (Zondervan, 2016), featuring contributions from Horton and Dane Ortlund.
Free eBook by Tim Keller: ‘The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness’
Imagine a life where you don’t feel inadequate, easily offended, desperate to prove yourself, or endlessly preoccupied with how you look to others. Imagine relishing, not resenting, the success of others. Living this way isn’t far-fetched. It’s actually guaranteed to believers, as they learn to receive God’s approval, rather than striving to earn it.
In Tim Keller’s short ebook, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness: The Path To True Christian Joy, he explains how to overcome the toxic tendencies of our age一not by diluting biblical truth or denying our differences一but by rooting our identity in Christ.
TGC is offering this Keller resource for free, so you can discover the “blessed rest” that only self-forgetfulness brings.
