Book Report - The Reason For God

Just as Christians, skeptics, and non-believers have faith in their presuppositions too.  If we want to reach non-believers, we should not have a superior attitude about them, but a posture of respect, love, and service. Willing to open and share our lives with them, instead of winning a discussion, or make them feel immoral.

1.- Introduction: a paragraph Early on, Timothy Keller states that non-believers are not people without beliefs, they are people whose beliefs vary from orthodox Christian teaching.
Summarize your basic beliefs as they relate to God, spirituality, and faith.

I believe that I was in God´s heart from before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in his presence forever. I believe that I´m spiritually blessed in the heavenly realms because I´m united in Christ. And each day I´m more convinced and aware that I´m a new creation. It´s a slow process to take it to heart and live it out. I believe I was cut from Adan´s heritage when I said yes to Jesus and participated in his death. I believe Jesus went voluntarily to the cross to purchase me and all those that He forgave for our sins and gave us Salvation. Before dying with Christ, I had to recognize in my core being that I needed to be rescued from my ways (still do), from my twisted ways of thinking when Jesus is not my primary goal. My darkness and selfishness would have drawn me to an eternal spiritual death without Jesus intervention. I proved to myself that I didn´t have the truth, neither did New Age. I wasn’t able to transform myself into a better person. Having "good intentions", sensibility, hunger for the truth didn´t make the difference eighter. My personal twisted way of thinking wouldn't give me satisfactory answers, my source was the humanity.  I couldn´t find peace in my own judgments. I had to repent before being in Christ. And continue repenting when I disobey or not trust in God´s word, my manual and the life-giving book of instructions, of truth and wisdom. I'm in the process of sanctification when I made Jesus my Lord, my King, and Savior. When God moved me from the dark to His amazing light.

I was forgiven and cleansed (my sins are washed away) thanks to the only perfect sacrifice of Jesus the Son of God in the Cross. Jesus blood is powerful to redeem, bring life, to make everything new. His blood protects those who believe in Him.

I´m saved by grace, not because of my good works. Because I have faith in Jesus Christ, my Redeemer, my rescuer, my justification. In the spiritual realm, today I´m seated in heavenly places with Jesus. Today I'm preparing my being to live forever. With & for Him and our amazing Family with people from every tongue, tribe, and nation. God is pleased that I have faith in Jesus His Son. But this faith and trust require actions. If not, it´s just another good intention. Without actions, I will see no power, no breakthrough, no consummation of my faith. Steps of faith and obedience in Gods desires for blessing the Nations is not an option to fulfill our identity and purpose in Christ. 

I believe in God Trinity, since the beginning of creation. God the Father, Jesus the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. God´s story is my story. If I want that “life” itself makes sense, the only way is by understanding the big picture through His word. Jesus himself is the word made flesh. All things were created in and for Him.

2.- In the Introduction, the author endorses the importance of doubt, saying one‟s doubts “should only be discarded after long reflection” (xvii). Would you agree that a loosely held doubt is as pointless as loosely held religious faith? Keller continues: “Every doubt....is based on a leap of faith” (xvii). How do you feel about his implication that even doubt is a type of faith?

I believe so! Our beliefs shape and give life to who we are. What we think we are. In whatever I´m putting my faith and trust, this will have deep implication for my life. This is how we can discern if something is good or bad for us, by the fruits of those beliefs that live inside me. Doubt is a fundamental part of our spirituality. It's like emotions. They point to what is in our souls, (hearts and minds). They help us recognize what is in the bottom line of our beliefs, and show us the quality of our integrity and consistency.

Doubt helps us to be real. And if this helps me to go so deep to conquer ignorance, unbelief, darkness, fear, doubt would fulfill his intention to exist.

3.- Addressing the argument that all religions are equal and there can't be just one true faith, Keller asks: “ Do we really want to say that the Branch Davidians or religious requiring child sacrifice is not inferior to any other faith?” (p.7). How would you respond to this question?

It´s false because each religion (included Atheism) has a particular doctrine and ethics, that will help us humans compare and discern what is best. Whatever the chosen religion is, its impossible to discern if it's good or bad, true or false if we do not put it in practice and don´t experience it. This can happen with Christianity too.

Having already the Holy Spirit in my life, but not a deep understanding of the word and yet no discipleship, brought me to the same question: Why is Christianity the only way to the true God? Even though I had already the revelation by the Holy Spirit in my heart that Jesus Christ was the Truth, I hadn't experienced the Truth (or the power of the Word) in what I was believing. I hadn´t experienced the joy of living in a godly way. My life still didn't have meaning, power, or purpose.

When I was sixteen, because I wanted to fit in my group of friends and have fun, I decided to prove if Christianity was the only way, experiencing New Age. The problem is that for 2 years, I was worshipping a minuscule “god”. He was not great, he wasn’t pure, he wasn’t powerful. During this time, I didn’t have any peace, I was full fear and out of control. My style of life was a chaos and in the midst of that, I recognized that Jesus had me. To experience the true Truth, the only way is experiencing the false. After this experience, I was completely convinced that Christianity is the only way to God and no other religion.

a.    Do you agree that most people rank religions qualitatively, even if outwardly they insist that all religions are equal? Write your response.

I believe that the majority don’t really care about Truth. Most people are in love with their own ideas of god that fit into their liberal and selfish style of life. A god with a human shape totally predictable and relative. But those that really are interested in knowing the Truth, or the "Real God" or "Best Religion", they will look for quality, and that’s how many arrive at Jesus. 

4.- In chapter 2. Keller responds to the contention that a loving God would not allow suffering. He states: “Just because you can’t see or imagine a good reason why God might allow something to happen doesn’t mean there can’t be one” (p.23).

a.    Do you buy the argument that the absence of a clear answer doesn’t rule out the possibility that a plausible-but hidden explanation exists? 




Yes, I buy it. I believe that our point of view of suffering and bad events that happen are limited. We don’t see from Gods perspective and we don’t have His Big Picture in our little understanding. I do believe He can speak to us through scriptures and prayers, but without Him, we won´t understand what is behind the scenes. I believe that everything has a purpose and that most of the things that happen while we are alive (not yet resurrected) we won´t have satisfactory explanations, and most of them will stay in mystery until we have a one on one, face to face with Jesus.

b.    Why or why not? Do you feel that claiming God has reasons for his actions that are beyond human reasoning is an excuse? Or is this a valid argument when the topic is God and his transcendent ways of doing things? 


I think that yes, absolutely God is beyond human reasoning and his ways are always transcendent because it was His idea the existence of the world and us human. His plan is to redeem us and put all things together in Jesus. He created all things with a purpose, and even though that God is not responsible for evil, He is over Satan, suffering and the fall. He will use everything for his purposes, for those that love Jesus. He already defeated death and Satan has no right over the children of God.

And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. Ephesians 3:18 

And we know that God causes everything to work together[a] for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Romans 8:28

5.- As he continues to examine the problem of pain, Keller writes: “.....though Christianity does not provide the reason for each experience of pain, it provides deep resources for actually facing suffering with hope and courage rather than bitterness and despair” (p.27). 


a.    Have you ever experienced the hope and/or courage that he refers to? If so, describe your experience to others in the group.

Yes, I have always experienced pain and hope in different levels growing up and getting closer to the Fathers' heart. From less to greater, hope and courage has grown significantly in my journey with Christ. It has been a conquering through the years, to live in victory in spite of difficulty. I´ve experienced bitterness and despair when things get out of control or when I face injustice. But God has used all of my trials to heal me. Even though I'm a new creation in Christ until we are not tested, in different areas, its impossible to really believe we are. Our fallen identity hides in the dark, where nobody sees, and trials shake these lies out. In my journey with God, He continuously intervenes in each area that yet hasn't been redeemed in my life. He cares for every hurt, pain, lies, injustice that I face. I´m the clay, and he is the potter, he is making me more like Jesus in this process of sanctification. 

6.- Paraphrasing C.S. Lewis, the author states: “...modern objections to God are based on a sense of fair-play and justice. People, we believe, ought not to suffer, be excluded, die of hunger or oppression. But the evolutionary mechanism of natural selection depends on death, destruction, and violence of the strong against the weak-these things are all perfectly natural. On what basis, then, does the atheist judge the natural world to be horribly wrong, unfair, and unjust” (p.26).

a.    How would you respond to Keller‟s question? 


    For sure atheist have a sense of justice and injustice. Because if not, from where comes the idea that the natural world is unjust, unfair, horribly wrong? If their belief system is rooted in violence, death, and destruction. The strong against the weak, the natural selection that depends on death: this describes the evolutionary mechanism! The Atheist must be assuming a reality of a supernatural standard... to believe that things should be different.

b.    Does an allegiance to the laws of natural selection and survival of the 
fittest contradict human values that oppose suffering, discrimination, and the victimization of the poor and the powerless? Why or why not? 


   Yes, it does, because atheism shouldn't expect justice or fair standard for the natural world. Its a contradiction in the core of their own beliefs.

7.- In chapter 3, Keller responds to criticism of absolute truth. He contends that in opposing the validity of a claim of absolute truth, the critic is necessarily making a truth claim of his own. As an example, Keller points to democratic values. “ Western society is based on shared commitments to reason, rights and justice even though there is no universally recognized definition of....any of these” (p.39).

a.    Do you agree that the values of Western democracy constitute a type of secular absolute truth, and that adhering to the rightness of those values is no different than a Christian holding to the truth claims of Scripture? 


b.    Why or why not? 


Conservatives and liberals share the same concepts (human rights, justice, life) but both have very different definitions and meaning for them. For sure, each party believes that has a better truth than the opponent, and in that sense, it looks like the absolute truth of Christianity. 

The idea that we hold to absolute truths in democracy, in a politic party or community is an illusion. Even though there are common beliefs that hold them together, inside of each group of people there are many differences. This happens in the body of Christ too. 

I do believe that the right wing, conservatives, are known by claiming and defending Gods righteousness (in Chile) through the laws that they defend and fight for. And the left wing is known by claiming and defending the rights of all humans beings without making differences (they sell very well this idea) but Christians not included. The left wing, or liberals, believe that those who claim and believe on an absolute Truth based in the Holy Scriptures shouldn't have any voice or participation in social justice because is not aligned to the times, and our proposals don't adjust with reality. 

8.- In chapter 4, the author looks at Christian hypocrisy and the problem it creates for those outside church. The author agrees that people who do not claim to be Christians are often more ethical and moral that those who attend church. Then he proposes an interesting explanation: churches might have a higher concentration of broken people, compared to the constituencies of other organizations, because people in need realize their condition and seek out assistance (see p.53-54).

a.    Do you feel this explanation is too close to saying “don't judge Christianity by its weakest representatives”? 


I believe that today Christianity, (or the Church leaders) haven´t communicated correctly to the world what role we play in society. And if we have, for sure it wasn't even heard because of our hypocrisy and inconsistency. Every western person believes that Christianity should be better than non-Christians, but that in reality we are not, and we just have to look at the facts (every day we are known by sexual abuse, robbery, adultery, lack of love, indifference, etc., in the news) to prove this statement is true. Even so, I believe there is still a hope and belief that we Christian should be better. Why? Because we are also well known for our unconditional love.  The problem is just that what God is doing through unknown faithful servants is not in the media, not in the news. What Satan is doing is shaping our world instead.

I share with Keller that society doesn't know that we are not saved by works and that Jesus justified us. That grace occupies an important role in our daily lives, that empower us to obey and to flow from Gods fulfillment. I believe that generally, Christianity lacks consistency between what we say and what we actually do. That we don´t fully live out what we believe, teach or preach.  And we are great to judge and put high standards to everyone. 

But it is also true, that in Christianity we find the most humble and broken people that recognize their flaws and express verbally that they need a savior, to heal them, justify, and bring redemption to their lives. I believe and proved that Christianity transforms people.

b.    Do you agree with the criticism that if Christianity really does transform lives, that the behaviour of Christians surpass that of the average human?

For sure there are many better-behaved people outside of the church like Keller says. It's not a matter of behavior but a matter of the heart. I truly believe that God chose those that the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose people that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 1 Corinthians 1:27 

The gospel transforms hearts first, it´s a slow deep process from the inside out. Jesus makes His home in our hearts and takes a while to clean the house. But this doesn´t mean that this makes us better than nonbelievers because they are also waiting to be kissed by the bridegroom. We Christians, with all our imperfect humanity, carry heaven in us. Where ever we go, we are broken vessels that carry Gods love, the message of the Good News, Jesus can breakthrough whenever He wants, and bring salvation, restoration, where ever the Holy Spirit guides us. God has entrusted this job to His children. Our job is to be faithful.

9.- What about the Bible's portrayal of a God of love who also judges his enemies? In chapter 5, Keller defends belief in a God of love who is a God of wrath and judgement. If God loves his creation, it's understandable that God would oppose anything that does harm to his creation (see p.73).

a.    Do you agree that God is big enough to encompass mercy and love, as well as judgment and wrath? What‟s your response?

Yes, I believe Gods nature is love, and from that place, He judges all things. I believe he has a holy wrath for evil. He is not indifferent to the suffering, injustice, murders, orphans, hunger and poor in the world we live in. From the heavens, he teaches us how to love better. And I believe he does justice and beat up his enemies if it works well for his mysterious purposes.

10.- On the question of a loving God sending people to hell, Keller writes that God gives people free choice in the matter. ”In short, hell is simply one‟s freely chosen identity apart from God on a trajectory into infinity” (p.78). In other words, those who end up in hell chose that destination by rejecting God.

b.    How do you respond to such an assertion?

Yes, the only way to go to hell is by rejecting God. We are not robots, we can choose to believe or reject Jesus. If Jesus is not our freely chosen identity, we are choosing another thing, whatever it is, is no the way, the truth nor the life to eternity. And what we chose in life will have eternal implications.

11.- In chapter 6, Keller looks at the argument that science has disproven such things as a creator, an afterlife, and supernatural intervention in the universe. To counter this argument, he writes: “ When evolution is turned into an all- encompassing theory explaining absolutely everything we believe, feel, and do as the product of natural selection, then we are not in the arena of science, but of philosophy” (p.87). In other words, believing that evolution rules out God and his intervention in the universe is a departure from science, and instead a decision to substitute one belief (evolution) for another (faith in God).

c.     How do you respond to this argument?

I understand Keller's argument, and I hadn´t thought about this before, that Evolution should stay in the Scientific arena, and not build up a philosophy out of it. But ideas, beliefs have consequences. We could say the same of the biblical worldview, that it should stay in the arena of religion, and not elaborating a creationist philosophy. I'm not sure If I could accept Keller's proposal, to believe the idea that evolutionism doesn't exclude the existence of God, even though I have Christians friends that believe in the evolution theory. I'm not sure if its consistency from my point of view.

12.- The Bible is said to defend violence, to mandate puritanical sexual morality, and to maintain an anti scientific bias. Why, then, would anyone in the 21^st century take it seriously? In chapter 7, Keller responds. “ To stay away from Christianity because part of the Bible's teaching is offensive to you assumes that if there is a God he wouldn’t have any views that upset you. Does that belief make sense?” (p.112).

d.    Do you agree that we should expect God in that he is not a mere human to take stands and enforce rules that run counter to our sense of how things should be done? Why or why not?

God created human beings, He knows how we are meant to live in this world. His word was inspired by himself, every "not agreement" and "not understanding" has a purpose for our lives.

13.- Keller now begins to examine the primary bases for belief in God. In chapter 8, he refers to St. Augustine's argument that human desires and especially, desires that cannot be completely fulfilled are clues to the reality of God. For example, he states: “....while hunger doesn't prove that the particular meal (such as a steak dinner) will be procured, doesn‟t the appetite for food in us mean that food exists? Isn't it true that innate desires correspond to real objects that can satisfy them, such as sexual desire (corresponding to sex) ....and relational desires (corresponding to friendship)” (pp.134-135). He goes on to argue that the human longing for meaning, love and beauty are strong indicators that God exists.

e.    Do you agree that universal human desires point to God, or might there be other explanations? Write your response.
Of course!! Our desires point to God because He made us, He wired us, and only His presence can fulfill our deepest desires. He is the fulfillment of all our desires. He makes us feel complete, loved, belonged, beautiful, special, with identity and purpose. In His presence, we find love, beauty, justice, righteousness.

 And when we don´t have God presences because we haven't experienced Him yet, we desire somehing we really don´t know what it is, and nothing in this world can or will fulfill that. We try to fulfill that whole with much different stuff, that doesn't work.

The one thing I ask of the Lord—

    the thing I seek most—
is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
    delighting in the Lord’s perfections
    and meditating in his Temple. Psalm 27:4

14.- In chapter 9, the author states that the real challenge is not to prove that God exists, but to recognize that people already suspect that God exists. He points to the human sense that certain things are right and others are wrong. For example, protecting children from harm is right; ethnic cleansing is wrong. In light of these understandings, Keller writes: Doesn't that mean you do believe that there is some kind of moral standard that people should abide by regardless of their individual convictions?” (p.146). He continues: “ We can't know that nature is broken in some way unless there is some super-natural standard of normalcy apart from nature by which we can judge right and wrong” (p.155-156).

f.      Do you agree that a shared sense of right and wrong is an indication of God’s existence? Write your response.

Yes, I agree, and I believe that many really don't understand from where right and wrong come from. Moral standards of justice and righteousness were not established by our own actual desires or preferences, but they exist apart from them. This is the exercise everybody should do and go deep, to find the truth and face our beliefs. The problem is that humans beings have believed that moral standards can exist apart from wrong and right, putting their personal preferences as standards in society. Human beings live full of contradictions and no sense. In the name of love and tolerance, people are doing great injustice, twisting the Truth to make it fit in this the broken world. Even that high standard that hasn't being recognized from where it stands out, is being used for defending evil causes. But yes, I agree with Keller that in the midst of chaos, there is a strong desire for justice and redemption. From where this comes from? For sure from our desire of fulfillment of the true justice and perfect love for who we are made for. 

15.- In chapter 10, Keller delves into the issue of sin and its consequences. He begins by positing that we already know sin exists: “It is hard to avoid the conclusion that there is something fundamentally wrong with the world” (p.159).

g.     Do you agree that it’s valid to define what is broken in the world as sin? Why or why not? 

Yeah, I agree if sin means that the world definitely it is not what we meant to be in the original. The world is far from righteousness and holy desires. It has drawn away from Truth, from its original purpose. The world identifies itself with selfish personal goals, far from God. People don't recognize their need of a Savior. The world has rejected Jesus and the Good News. 
But since Jesus died on the Cross, to today, there are more Christians and more miracles than in the early Church. It's not proportional, the World should be upside down with the number of believers that today exist. Evil advances and it has never before being so dark. And it will get worse, as we, children of God, will shine even brighter. 

h.    And given all the things that are broken in the world, what questions does that raise in your mind about God?
What comes to my mind, is that God is good, and he has given everybody a chance, without discrimination, to everybody believe in Jesus before He comes back. I would ask Him what do we do with Church. Sometimes I think it would be better than Church buildings are closed so we go to the lost instead. 

16.- In chapter 11, the author contrasts religion with the message of the Christian gospel. He points out that religion is a set of rules and standards that determine what a person must do to obtain divine approval and enter heaven. In contrast, he states, the gospel makes it clear that no human can measure up to God's standard which is perfection. That explains why God sent Jesus, his Son, to earth to die for the sins of humanity. The perfect God, in human flesh, was sacrificed for imperfect humanity. Keller writes: “The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued....that Jesus was glad to die for me” (p.181).

i.      How do you respond to Keller‟s characterization of religion in contrast to the message of the gospel?
I agree 
that Pharisees misunderstood the purpose of the law in the Old Testament, and ended up been reduced to a set of rules and standards to obtain Gods approval. It was meant to leave clear that nobody could measure up, only Jesus, the fulfillment of the law. Sadly, there was introduced the concept of good works to obtain divine approval. 
The Good News can be misunderstood too if we don´t preach it well. 

j.      How do you react to his summary of the meaning of the gospel?
I like this statement of Keller's: "That we are saved by Christ's record and not by our record". 
That Jesus came as a savior, came to us, to do what we can´t do by our selves...". I´m pretty crazy for Jesus and it's really necessary to recognize how flaw we are in essence. I believe that pride gets in the way and doesn't let us experience successfully God´s power and redemption. 

17.- In chapter 12, the author responds to the critique that “The Christian God sounds like the vengeful gods of primitive times who needed to be appeased by human sacrifice. Why can't God just accept everyone or at least those who are sorry for their wrongdoings?” (p.187). To answer this question, Keller compares God to a person who has been wronged by another person. The injured party can exact revenge by making the offender suffer, or the wronged party can instead take the difficult path of forgiveness. When you forgive, you choose not to make the wrongdoers suffer for what or she has done. The person who was wronged suffers instead. By forgiving the wrongdoer, Keller states, “you are absorbing the debt, taking the cost of it completely on yourself instead of taking it out on the other person. It hurts terribly. Many people would say it feels like a kind of death” (p.189). Thus, God suffered the pain of his Son‟s death in order to forgive the sins of humanity. And because he did so, the wrongdoers (humanity) are freed from the debt of their wrongdoing. 


k.     How do you feel about Keller comparing the pain of human forgiveness to God‟s act of sacrificing his son to redeem humanity?

It makes sense Kellers comparison. Jesus not only absorbed the debt of humanity that it must have hurt like hell but yes, he was redeeming us from the fall. Cutting us from Adan's inheritance. He got personally involved with our suffering, with our impossibility to makes us righteousness, through His death and resurrection, to be a New Creation, son and daughters of the living God. 
If there is no Cross, there is no exchange. We (humanity) would have bad news instead. God has been always been personally involved with his creation. That's why he sent his beloved Son to suffer on our behalf. 
Jesus took our place as "the sin" of the world. He identified himself with everyone, including the oppressed, marginalized and the poor. "On the Cross Christ wins through losing, triumphs through defeat, achieves power through weakness and service, come to wealth via giving all away. Jesus turns the world upside down"

18.- Near the end of the book, the author concludes: “ I believe that Christianity makes sense out of our individual life stories and out of what we see in the world‟s history” (p.213). Thus, he does not present watertight proof of God’s existence, but offers the message of Christianity as the most plausible explanation for the human condition and what we observe in the world around us.

l.      Do you feel Keller has made a compelling case? Why or why not?
Absolutely yes! Keller does a great job! Not only establishes what is and what is not the Gospel in a very complete way but also teaches the reader the most common arguments that the world uses to invalidate Christianity. Its a great book for the Christian believers clarifies wrong beliefs of Salvation and gives us a healthy and godly point of view of how to bring the Gospel to the Public arena.

19.- Conclusion:

m.   Which of your views have changed as a result of reading The Reason for God?
I think that after reading this book, I will honor more non-believers beliefs in the political arena. I don´t have to feel threatened. Keller put my heart in place. 
Also so good to remember that truly there was nothing good in my core beings before Christ. I don´t like to feel righteous by my works, it stinks. Reading Keller, God revealed me this truth more in-depth. It gives more glory to God

n.    Are you more confident now in what you believe? Write your personal conclusion of “The Reason For God”. 


I do feel more confident, more reflexive, open minded, without changing my beliefs. Happy that the non-believers arguments can be weak, contradictory and without any base like Christians from the opposite point of view. I would like to continue reflecting in this book and go deeper with other authors.