Redeemer Presbyterian Church Sermons
Doubt is a problem that all of us will face before we can come to grips with faith. To deal with our doubts, recognize that they are based on faith assumptions; examine the object of your faith and whether it is trustworthy; and let Jesus' love for you become your reason to have hope.
Some people claim that they can't trust in the Bible because it is historically unreliable and culturally regressive. But do we have cultural blinders on? Dr. Keller discusses solid reasons that we can trust the Bible historically, culturally, and personally.
The Christian understanding of hell gives us insight into the danger of our own hearts. It also gives us resources to live in peace in the world, and to know the love of God who suffered hell for us.
Historically, the gospel has been particularly empowering and compelling to the poor and the oppressed. Seeing what Jesus did for us, no matter what our socioeconomic position, frees us from being controlled by what is on the surface and teaches us to love and identify with the poor.
In today's society, absolute truth is thought of to be the enemy of freedom. But truth is more important than you think, freedom is a lot more complex than you think, and Jesus is a lot more liberating than you think. Surrendering to God's absolute truth gives you a deeper, richer freedom in every area, without oppression.
In the midst of evil and suffering, abandoning your faith will neither help you handle suffering nor understand God. By looking back to Jesus’ death on the cross and looking ahead to the hope of a new heavens and new earth, we can understand God’s overwhelming love for us and the promise that victory will swallow up evil and death.
As Christians, we are often challenged by others or by ourselves to confront questions about science versus religion, and how to view the miracles of the Bible. What are the arguments used to invalidate Christianity? An examination of the main arguments teaches us the origins of the questions, their ramifications, and how to handle them. This talk was given during a leadership training session at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City.
The modern critique of religion comes from Freud, Marx, and Nietzsche. Freud claimed that religion is psychological self-justification, that we created God to assuage our guilt and fear. Marx claimed that religion is a sociological self-justification, that we created God to exclude those unlike us. Nietzsche said that religion is nothing but a power trip, an attempt to use God to accrue power over others. However, Jesus himself critiqued religion and turned it on its head.
Religion poses a danger of creating division or intolerance between groups of people. However, the gospel lead us to three things: humble service, reconciling behavior that is neither patronizing nor self-righteous, and a love toward people who hold different beliefs than we do.