New Warhorn Media post by Tim Bayly:
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Yeesh. Youâd think a guy who imbibes C.S. Lewis would have instantly recognized how foolish that sounds. I imagine Lewis would write a whole essay rebutting those two sentences alone. I hope he regretted saying it after hanging up the phone.
Show me an absolute that is not also perceived to be oppressive to something. What exactly does he mean by a ânon-oppressive moral absoluteâ? Without a concrete example of a ânon-oppressive moral absoluteâ, especially in the context of our oppressed-happy society, I can only conclude that this is wormy, slithery language (at best).
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âitâs nearly impossible to overstate her significance to almost every important area in Kellerâs life.â
This. I just canât get over this line. I mean⌠of course. If she was insignificant in important areas of life⌠that would probably be bad. I canât think of any way that would be good or even possible? And yet⌠I wonder what he really means. Like, does TK take all his cues from her? In all the important areas of his life? Its just a weird thing to say.
âYeah, this is my wife Maryem; sheâs an important part of my marriage and child-rearing but otherwise, sheâs fairly insignificant.â
Precisely. I mean, does this guy think this differentiates Keller from any man, let alone any Christian man, on the face of the earth across history? But yes, in fact; he does really think it, and he thinks it because Keller himself told him how different he is from other men in this.
My big toe is essential to every step I take and I wouldnât think of taking a single step without my big toe. I respect my big toe. My sock keeps my big toe warm. Iâm careful to regularly clip the nail on my big toe. Me and my big toe are a one-for-all and all-for-one together sort of thing. I never counsel without my big toe. I never preach without my big toe. Why, I never even sleep without my big toe. Fact is, even when I get into the bathtub, my big toe climbs in with me. Other men take their big toe for granted, but not me! Youâll not catch me patronizing my big toe.
Now, I suppose I have to add that Iâm not likening any manâs wife to his big toe, but rather pointing out the conceit of that man who considers himself unique in stating his wifeâs importance to him.
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Wives are a crucial part of a manâs life in the church and in the home, but the Bible is silent on a wifeâs role in other spheres, such as the workplace.
Thatâs weird: our sales rep told us that the new Sunday School curriculum had all the resources we would need.
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Respectfully, and in love, I dont grant your point here. I will say however, that even if were true, it would mean nothing. A wife never sat around with nearly nothing to do all day except shop and run the kids to their extracurriculars.
Respectfully and in love, you shouldnât. I was sarcastically making a point about the milquetoast complementarian position on women in leadership.
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What struck me about the article is how little Tim Bayly actually commented on it. The quotes were damning enough. Well done.
Oh, ok. Cool. I didnât pick up the sarcasm. 
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The Marxist worldview is peeking through. Marxists view the world through the lens of class warfare. There is no success or failure without systemic oppression.
He is trying to eat his cake and have it, too. He wants absolutes, but without the âoppressionâ that such absolutes must introduce under a Marxist worldview. This is the intellectual equivalent of sailing downhill on 2 skis that are drifting further and further apart.
I agree that this is whatâs at play and why I consider it slithery language.
âPowerâ and âOppressionâ popped up in the places just where cultural Marxism would put them.
Thatâs why I think a concrete example from him would be beneficial. Well, beneficial for usâŚbut surely not beneficial to him. Heâs out there saying heâs neither woke nor conservative. Either heâs been deceived into thinking heâs not woke or allowing cultural Marxism to influence his thinking/teaching, or worse.
In some ways I donât find it surprising. I donât think itâs a mystery how nearly everyone who was on the âContextualization!â âMissional!â train is suddenly woke.
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I donât blame you. It wasnât my finest work.
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I canât tell which is more annoying: The way others fawn over Tim Keller or the way he fawns over himselfâŚ
From The Atlantic article:
On Donald Trump, Keller said that unlike a generation ago, many evangelicals are not looking to put Christians into power in order to turn the culture back to God; now they are looking for a protector, a champion.
âBoth those evangelical strategies are wrong,â Keller told me. âBoth of them are about power and saying, How are we going to use power to live life the way we want? Theyâre not enough about service; theyâre not enough about serving the common good.
Ok, but who getâs to define âcommon good?â Thatâs the rub. According to the mainstream Democratic Party platform, abortion-on-demand, giving hormone blockers to children, celebrating gay marriage (and silencing those who donât clap loudly enough) are all part of the âcommon good.â How on earth can Christians âserveâ this common good while remaining âChristianâ in any meaningful sense? But if you reject the leftist vision of the âcommon goodâ and serve a Christian understanding of the common good, you will be lampooned as a troglodyte, no matter how âwinsomelyâ you do it.
Iâm reminded of a quote from Chesterton I read years ago (I forget which book) where he notes the differences between physical health and societal health. In medicine, all doctors typically agree about what health looks like, though they probably will disagree about whatâs causing the problems. In politics, people generally agree about what the problems are (at least the concrete ones), but they have wildly different notions about what a healthy society should look like.
âThe proper cultural strategy is faithful presence within,â he added, ânot pulling away from the culture, and not trying to take it over. Faithful presence within means being faithful; it means weâre not going to assimilate, [but] weâre going to be distinctively Christian. Itâs about an attitude of service, uncompromising in our beliefs, but not withdrawing and not trying to dominate.â
The tiresomeness of Kellerâs constant âThird Wayâ language aside, can any Christian presence really be faithful which does not as part of its message say:
Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (Ps. 2:10-12)
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Itâs from chapter 1 of Whatâs Wrong with the World, âThe Medical Mistake.â
Love,
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Authority is the key to understanding Keller and his admiring fellow pastors. They canât stop denying the authority of God in Jesus Christ and the authority He delegates to them for making all men His disciples. Iâm convinced this is the most destructive thing the guy has done. Anyhow, excellent comments, brother. Love,
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Exactly! On the topic of âthe common goodâ, Keller wrote the glowing forward to a recent book entitled,âIn Search of the Common Good: Christian Fidelity in a Fractured Worldâ. by Jake Meador. Other than on the topic of abortion, the book defines the common good from the point of view of a leftist, Roman Catholic loving, Marxist, who supports big government socialism. Naturally, because it is associated with Keller, it is passed off as coming from a quasi-Reformed Christian perspective.
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Thereâs a story now doing the rounds (you can Google for it), which says that Tim Kellerâs brother was in the gay lifestyle, and he came back to faith before he died of AIDS. If this is the case, does it explain what might have compromised Timâs handling of that issue? I donât know, obviously.