CASTING DOUBT ON GOD’S CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS ON CIVIC DUTY AND RACE RELATIONS
Here is the great evangelical disaster — the failure of the evangelical world to stand for truth as truth. There is only one word for this — namely accommodation: the evangelical church has accommodated to the world spirt of the age. First, there has been accommodation on Scripture, so that many who call themselves evangelicals hold a weakened view of the Bible and no longer affirm the truth of all the Bible teaches — truth not only in religious matters but in the areas of science and history and morality.…And second, there has been accommodation on the issues, with no clear stand being taken even on matters of life and death.
—Francis Schaeffer1—
Key point: There are no biblical reasons to compromise biblical values. “Compassion” that masquerades as an excuse to promote, or as permission to promote, evil isn’t authentic compassion. It is compromise.
All of the articles in this series are accessible from this page.
We are giving careful consideration to the legacy of Tim Keller. Despite his reputation as a conservative evangelical leader, Dr. Keller repeatedly cast doubt on biblical teachings, and, whether intentionally or unintentionally, encouraged others to doubt as well. We are not talking here about asking honest questions; we are talking about nudging people in the direction of accepting unbiblical ideas and acting contrary to God’s clear instructions. In this post, we will consider how, in the name of being apolitical, Keller promoted leftist political ideas and ideologies. Interestingly, this has ties to the matter of race relations as well. Buckle up! We have a lot to consider in this post.
Tim Keller was notorious for making statements that basically gave, and give, Christians permission to support evil policies. How so? He effectively gave them permission to vote for Democrats — despite the reality that the Democrats and their platform affirm and promote a multitude of evils, including abortion on demand throughout all nine months of pregnancy, infanticide, transgenderism among children, and same-sex marriage, just to name a handful of issues out of many.
Only weeks before the 2020 election, Keller tweeted,
Christians and the freedom of conscience in politics. The Bible binds my conscience to care for the poor, but it does not tell me the best practical way to do it. Any particular strategy (high taxes and government services vs low taxes and private charity) may be good and wise…
— Timothy Keller (1950-2023) (@timkellernyc) September 17, 2020
Keller continued:
…and may even be somewhat inferred from other things the Bible teaches, but they are not directly commanded and therefore we cannot insist that all Christians, as a matter of conscience, follow one or the other. The Bible binds my conscience to love the immigrant-but it doesnt
tell me how many legal immigrants to admit to the U.S. every year. It does not exactly prescribe immigration policy. The current political parties offer a potpourri of different positions on these and many other topics, most of which, as just noted-the Bible does not speak…3/5
…to directly. This means when it comes to taking political positions, voting, determining alliances and political involvement, the Christian has liberty of conscience. Christians cannot say to other Christians “no Christian can vote for…” or “every Christian must vote for…4/5
…unless you can find a Biblical command to that effect. 5/5 (From the Endnotes of the upcoming last article on Justice–coming out soon).
Then Keller tweeted:
Some folks are missing the point of this thread. The Bible tells me that abortion is a sin and great evil, but it doesn’t tell me the best way to decrease or end abortion in this country, nor which policies are most effective.
Here is an image of Keller’s series of tweets.
Immediately after this string, Dr. Keller linked to a New York Times article he’d written: “How Do Christians Fit Into the Two-Party System? They Don’t.” You can read the article here. With rhetoric that both affirms and effectively condemns being political while at the same time upholding the virtues of being apolitical (vintage Keller), Keller reveals his disdain for the religious right. One only has to read between the lines to realize that this is the case.
With rhetoric that both affirms and effectively condemns being political while at the same time upholding the virtues of being apolitical (vintage Keller), Keller reveals his disdain for the religious right.
In a review of the article appearing at FaithWire, Lindsay Elizabeth writes,
Keller believes Christians must play a role in politics, and that they can’t merely “preach the Gospel” and “avoid all political discussion and engagement.” Those who do so are “essentially casting a vote for the social status quo,” he noted.…
“To not be political is to be political,” Keller claims.
He further argued that not only should Christians participate in political thought and discussion, but they should also be involved with politics in an official capacity if they feel God calling them to do so. He pointed out that both Joseph and Daniel in the Old Testament were involved with corrupt, pagan governments because they were called to do so.
Not only should Christians be involved politically, but they should also work for things like racial equality, and justice in the public school systems. Being a Christian means being a good neighbor, he argued.…
The pastor listed numerous reasons for why tying the Christian church to a single political party can be dangerous, one being that it alienates non-believers to think that Christianity is used as a political machine for either side.
He then pointed out that “most political positions are not matters of biblical command but of practical wisdom,” which makes it impossible to fully align with one specific party. But this does not mean churches should completely shy away from “social, economic and political realities because the Bible often does.”
“Racism is a sin,” Keller continued, “violating the second of the two great commandments of Jesus, to ‘love your neighbor.’ The biblical commands to lift up the poor and to defend the rights of the oppressed are moral imperatives for believers. For individual Christians to speak out against egregious violations of these moral requirements is not optional.”
Keller believes the Bible clearly states that we should help the poor and less fortunate, but each party has a different way of accomplishing these goals.
It is clear that Keller obviously believed either that the Republicans’ way of helping the poor and the Democrats’ way are at least equally valid, or that the Democrats’ way is far better. Mark it down! It is wrong to assume conservatives have no compassion for those in need while Democrats exude it. Conservatives want policies that actually help — not that only appear to help. Also, Keller wrongly assumes that the American political system has to mean one of two alternatives, but we’ll address that in just a bit. Note the initial tweet in the string (emphasis added):
Christians and the freedom of conscience in politics. The Bible binds my conscience to care for the poor, but it does not tell me the best practical way to do it. Any particular strategy (high taxes and government services vs low taxes and private charity) may be good and wise…
What Bible Was He Reading?
Keller doesn’t appear to really understand the Bible he is claiming to follow. Right off the bat, ponder this question: How in the world could it ever be acceptable to use socialist policies to supposedly ‘help the poor,’ including poor blacks, when Planned Parenthood concentrates its abortion services in minority communities? (Go here and here.)
Of course, there’s much more to consider. In part 1 we explored how Keller often talked out of both sides of his mouth about ways to care for the poor — affirming believers’ obligation to care for the poor but also showcasing his unquenchable attraction to Marxist policies. Here’s the rub. Marxism promotes the forced redistribution of wealth. Not only is this position a tenet of Marxism, it’s also an approach advocated by the social justice movement. Such an approach involves stealing — violating property rights that the Scripture upholds. Yes, Christians should help the poor, but they are to assist them, not through government redistribution of wealth, but through charity. By definition, charity is voluntary. Further, a poor person isn’t necessarily poor because of injustice. We must not automatically assume that when one has needs (even acute ones), that he or she is a victim of injustice. Such might not be the case.
Government redistribution of wealth to meet people’s needs, however, is inherently unjust. Furthermore, it destroys people’s incentive to work and be productive, incentive to fulfill a God-given purpose. Proverbs 16:26 declares, “The person who labors, labors for himself, For his hungry mouth drives him on.” Accordingly, Paul reminded the Thessalonian Christians to let those who refused to work to face the natural consequences of their inaction: “For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.” Note that the apostle was not referring to those who could not work, but to those who willfully would not.
I am not here arguing against a government “safety net” for those who have needs they are unable to meet themselves or for those who are unable to meet their needs and don’t have family members who can provide for them. I am arguing against socialist, Marxist policies — policies that clearly are unbiblical but that apparently Tim Keller believed to be as valid as free market incentives. They’re not. Just as Marxism is unbiblical, the free enterprise system (in its uncorrupted form) is entirely consistent with biblical teachings. The solution to corruption of the free market system isn’t to ditch the system and trade it in for Marxism, but to rid it of corruption by upholding biblical guidelines such as honest weights and measures.
Of course, taxation to provide legitimate government services isn’t stealing. Scripture, however, is crystal clear about the primary purpose of government — and that purpose is not to meet the people’s needs. It is to maintain order by punishing those who do wrong and commending or rewarding those who do right. The right and wrong to which we are referring here (and the right and wrong to which Scripture is referring as well) is God’s standard of right and wrong. As we indicated already, the Democrats are promoting all kinds of evil! During the 2020 campaign, I warned my readers not to buy into Keller’s arguments. You can read the article I wrote here.
I’ll reiterate: The Bible is absolutely unambiguous about government’s primary job! American Christians should readily recognize that these passages alone give them all the reasons they need to support candidates who uphold righteous principles. Yet there are other passages, as well. Here are six more!
Missing the Point? Really?
Note the last installment in the image of Tim Keller’s Twitter thread. Keller tweeted, “Some folks are missing the point of this thread. the Bible tells me that abortion is a sin and a great evil, but it doesn’t tell me the the best way to decrease or end abortion in this country, now which policies are most effective.”
Some folks are missing the point of this thread. The Bible tells me that abortion is a sin and great evil, but it doesn’t tell me the best way to decrease or end abortion in this country, nor which policies are most effective.
— Timothy Keller (1950-2023) (@timkellernyc) September 17, 2020
I included this tweet in the article I wrote leading up to the 2020 election. Keller got a lot of pushback — and appropriately so.
Podcaster A. D. Robles was buying none of Keller’s rhetoric. He tweeted,
nobody is missing the point of this thread. You are attempting to ease the conscience for people who want to vote for abject sin in every area. Every commandment overturned…you want those people to feel good about.
The truth is that no one paying attention could misunderstand Keller on the matter of Christians and their postures toward politics and political parties. It was his version of the age-old question Satan asks, “Did God really say?” I’m not accusing Keller of being Satan or satanic, but I am saying he put himself on the wrong side of this issue. He cast doubt on clear biblical teachings!
Keller also made this statement on Twitter:
Inside the church we should be making room for political differences.
Read between the lines, folks! Voting for Democrats is OK! We can readily recognize that Keller intended to send that message, but did he really mean what he actually said? This reply to Keller’s claim that “Inside the church we should be making room for political differences” exposes the truth that Keller didn’t really mean any and all “political differences.”
You see, by redefining the term justice, social justice warriors are hijacking it and promoting ungodly and unbiblical ideas and ideologies. That included evangelical leaders like Tim Keller — and that is the kind of legacy he has left.
The failure to see the dangers of socialist policies explains the broad push among evangelical leftists to broaden the meaning of the term pro-life to include caring for the poor. I’m all for helping the poor through charity, but not attempting to “help” them by implementing socialist redistribution policies in which the wealth and resources of those who’ve worked hard are taken — stolen — and “given” to those those deemed by government to be “in need.”
Despite these huge problems, Keller’s rhetoric apparently resonated (and resonates) with quite a few self-proclaimed “evangelicals,” many of whom were (and are) thinking and/or saying the same thing Keller said. How else do you account for the rise of the so-called “Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden”? They aren’t as pro-life as they think they are or as they claim to be!
Lest you think I am being partisan in my pushback against Keller on this issue, I will state clearly: Holding a biblical view with regard to the political climate and the positions of the political parties on issues in America today does not necessarily mean a believer has to support or vote for the Republicans — but it must mean a committed Christian cannot and will not support or vote for Democrats.
One More Thing
Keller’s sense of justice, which includes
-
- his promotion of Marxist policies to “help the poor” and
- his contention that the Christian has freedom of conscience with regard to which of the two major political parties in America to support
are consistent with his contention that whites are guilty of systemic racism and that blacks and other minorities deserve, as a matter of justice, wealth and resources not currently belonging to them. (We must realize that even though Democrats have historically been oppressive to blacks, they successfully have hidden their track record and even have, for the last sixty or so years, also successfully painted Republicans as racists — contrary to historical facts!)
History doesn’t matter to leftists, including social justice crusaders. The system, Keller asserts, has been inherently unfair to minorities because it has promoted “white privilege” and kept minorities from achieving their full potential. This is the narrative, despite the real progress America has made over the last several decades in race relations. It is a racist narrative, pure and simple. In Darkened Pulpits: The History and Hirelings of Social Justice, Patrick Wyatt writes,
Society has regressed to the point where racism has become not only acceptable, but desirable if practiced against whites. Today’s churches have their own specialized guilt and grievance “gospels” for this purpose. The guilt gospel is for and about whites, the proclaimed skin color of capitalism and Western Civilization.
“If you have white skin, it’s worth a million dollars over a lifetime over someone who doesn’t have white skin…you have to say, I don’t deserve this…I am the product of and standing on the shoulders of other people who got that through injustice…the Bible says you are involved in injustice, and even if you didn’t actually do it.” — Tim Keller, The Gospel Coalition co-founder, Faith at Work interview, June 2016
So according to Keller, by biblical mandate, all whites are to be guilt-stricken (the guilt gospel) and held accountable for what their ancestors might have done. Nowhere in the Bible is such a thing stated. What is repeatedly stated are warnings against false teachers and the admonition to avoid them and their destructive teachings. What Keller is passing off as “scripture” is nothing more than “woke” social justice talking points.
“Have we reached the ultimate stage of absurdity where some people are held responsible for things that happened before they were born, while other people are not held responsible for what they themselves are doing today?” — Thomas Sowell.2
Don’t Go Away!
Keep your eyes open for part 4, where we will consider ways Tim Keller undermined the authority of Scripture, the very Book he professed to uphold! Part 4 will be coming your way very soon!
Copyright © 2023 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.
This article is available for publication and distribution by Exposing enemies within the church, LLC.
top image credit: You Tube / Gospel in Life
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture has been taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Notes:
1Francis Schaeffer, The Great Evangelical Disaster (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1984), 19-20.
2Patrick Wyett, Darkened Pulpits: The History and Hirelings of Social Justice (Waterloo, Iowa, Lampstand of Truth Publishing, 2022), 281-282.
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