Holy Week continues and over the last couple of days I have finished off a couple of books on my Kindle (the post is coming on that piece of wonder technology).
I read again the latest book by Tim Keller, “The reason for God: Belief in and Age of Skepticism”. I was just as impressed second time around and I paid more attention to the last part of the book which seems to be written especially for those who seek reasons for God or perhaps just seek faith. The strength of the book is that it helps the seeker (or the believer!) think about faith in a way that is honest to the difficulties but open to the one conclusion so left out of our modern world. That is, that there is a God, that God loves and cares for the world, indeed loves and cares for human beings specifically, and has secured a relationship between man and God forever. Keller, I think, especially helps by trying to help the questioner understand, “Just what exactly is my problem?” In many ways Holy Week exists within the church year to draw questions out of us but if they remain questions without answers then what’s the use?
The other book I finished off this week is “Outliers”, by Malcolm Gladwell. This is a book that is profoundly stimulating, but for me, in the end, not quite convincing. Gladwell writes the book to show that even those we see as true performance outliers amongst us are really the product of endless small but profound advantages acquired by being at the right place and the right time. There might be such a thing as genius but it is not what we think and, the book contends, change how we think about how genius is created and we can unleash more from among us. It is, in fact, a deeply hopeful book.
But I was not convinced. Gladwell comes from a Christian family (I do not know if he is a Christian himself) and their story is itself a wonder. Going from poor to privileged was for his family truly a journey through opportunities that were there at the time but soon gone. In the case of Gladwell’s ancestors yes those specific opportunities were there today and gone tomorrow. But would there not have been others? The impressive part of his own story to me is not the opportunities which happened to come along but the unshakable belief in something, in the possible, in his parents and grandparents. It seems to me that belief is the thing that delivers more than anything else the outlier destiny and that belief for Gladwell’s parents seems to be a belief in God our Father. Of course there are other stories in the book for which there is no Christian thread but in each case there is the thread of belief, belief that tomorrow could be better than today, and that next week could be better still. There is also a belief in work (Gladwell calls it “meaningful work”) which points to at least to belief in life being purposeful and having meaning. And I think at this point we get back to Tim Keller. Belief, purpose, God. How do these beliefs come about? Don’t they point to something? As Keller might say, are these more clues which point to God?
The greatest clue about God however is the at the end of Holy Week. The Christian contends that the world was made right at Easter. In Christ’s wounds our woulds were salved. In Christ’s isolation from the Father our isolation ended. In His condemnation we received forgiveness. In His brokenness we were made whole.
25“Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. 26In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. 27No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. 28I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”
29Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. 30Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”
At Easter so may we all believe.
Water Flowed From the Temple