{"id":4318,"date":"2008-06-05T00:35:27","date_gmt":"2008-06-05T05:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/2008\/06\/05\/our-reasonable-faith-12-rjs\/"},"modified":"2010-09-11T09:01:40","modified_gmt":"2010-09-11T14:01:40","slug":"our-reasonable-faith-12-rjs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/06\/05\/our-reasonable-faith-12-rjs\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Reasonable Faith 12 (RJS)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

If the problem is Sin \u2014 and Sin is failure to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength \u2014 what is the solution?
\nThe last four chapters of Tim Kellers\u00e2\u0080\u0099 The Reason for God<\/a>\"\"deal with Christian doctrines \u00e2\u0080\u0093 the solution \u2013 in the general sense of the term, from a protestant perspective. In Chapter 12 the issue is Religion versus Gospel but first he must define his terms.
\nAccording to Keller, Religion is salvation through moral effort while the Gospel is salvation through the grace of God. Don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t clobber me over his terms \u00e2\u0080\u0093 we could just as well say that there are two conceivable solutions \u00e2\u0080\u0093 (A) We do it or (B) God did it.
\nIn (A) Jesus came as teacher with a message \u00e2\u0080\u0093 do this and you will be saved. This is also the message of most (every) other major religion \u00e2\u0080\u0093 Do this and you will find the divine. Do this and you will enter the kingdom of God.
\nIn (B) Jesus came essentially as savior (although he was also teacher). Jesus says: \u00e2\u0080\u009cI am the divine come to you, to do what you could not do for yourselves.\u00e2\u0080\u009d (p. 185)<\/em>
\nThe Gospel (B) is that God through Jesus did for us what we could not and cannot do for ourselves so that we can rest in that assurance of reunion with God and participate in bringing about the Kingdom of God \u2013 the community of the people of God. Here and now \u2013 continuing forever. (Ok \u00e2\u0080\u0093 not Keller\u00e2\u0080\u0099s exact expression, rather mine \u00e2\u0080\u0093 but Keller has the same sense, more or less).
\nThe Gospel is scary \u00e2\u0080\u0093 if we are saved by our good works there are limits to what God can expect of us; if we are saved by grace there is nothing he cannot ask of us. Following Jesus \u2014 accepting the Gospel \u2014 is total surrender.
\nKeller illustrates his points in this chapter by reference to fiction \u00e2\u0080\u0093 Robert Louis Stevenson\u00e2\u0080\u0099s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde<\/em> ; Flannery O\u00e2\u0080\u0099Connor\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Wise Blood<\/em>; and Victor Hugo\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Les Miserables<\/em>.
\nIn Keller\u00e2\u0080\u0099s view Religion (A) \u00e2\u0080\u0093 even Christian Religion \u00e2\u0080\u0093 is no better than irreligion as it does not, cannot, address the problem.
\nSo \u2014 Does this tally with your understanding of the Gospel? How would you describe the Gospel?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If the problem is Sin \u2014 and Sin is failure to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength \u2014 what is the solution?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[337],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theology"],"yoast_head":"\nOur Reasonable Faith 12 (RJS)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If the problem is Sin --- and Sin is failure to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/06\/05\/our-reasonable-faith-12-rjs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Our Reasonable Faith 12 (RJS)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If the problem is Sin --- and Sin is failure to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/06\/05\/our-reasonable-faith-12-rjs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-06-05T05:35:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-09-11T14:01:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=jescre-20&l=ur2&o=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"RJS\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"RJS\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/06\/05\/our-reasonable-faith-12-rjs\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/06\/05\/our-reasonable-faith-12-rjs\/\",\"name\":\"Our Reasonable Faith 12 (RJS)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-06-05T05:35:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-09-11T14:01:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/716551d3a3f8c156aabfd47c0bce89a0\"},\"description\":\"If the problem is Sin --- and Sin is failure to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/06\/05\/our-reasonable-faith-12-rjs\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/06\/05\/our-reasonable-faith-12-rjs\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/06\/05\/our-reasonable-faith-12-rjs\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Our Reasonable Faith 12 (RJS)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/716551d3a3f8c156aabfd47c0bce89a0\",\"name\":\"RJS\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/rjs1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Our Reasonable Faith 12 (RJS)","description":"If the problem is Sin --- and Sin is failure to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/06\/05\/our-reasonable-faith-12-rjs\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Our Reasonable Faith 12 (RJS)","og_description":"If the problem is Sin --- and Sin is failure to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/06\/05\/our-reasonable-faith-12-rjs\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2008-06-05T05:35:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2010-09-11T14:01:40+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=jescre-20&l=ur2&o=1"}],"author":"RJS","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"RJS","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/06\/05\/our-reasonable-faith-12-rjs\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/06\/05\/our-reasonable-faith-12-rjs\/","name":"Our Reasonable Faith 12 (RJS)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-06-05T05:35:27+00:00","dateModified":"2010-09-11T14:01:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/716551d3a3f8c156aabfd47c0bce89a0"},"description":"If the problem is Sin --- and Sin is failure to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/06\/05\/our-reasonable-faith-12-rjs\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/06\/05\/our-reasonable-faith-12-rjs\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/06\/05\/our-reasonable-faith-12-rjs\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Our Reasonable Faith 12 (RJS)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/716551d3a3f8c156aabfd47c0bce89a0","name":"RJS","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/rjs1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/198"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4318\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}