Biblical exposition
Keller explains that everybody is converted by something. Even people who reject Christianity have a worldview that shapes their identity, values and understanding of life.
He uses an article by Mark Lilla, a professor at the University of Chicago, to demonstrate this.
Sermon Illustration – Doubt is also a form of faith
The article describes Lilla’s experience as a young man who had once considered himself a born-again Christian but later became secular.
At the end of his article, he describes meeting a young Polish student from the Wharton Business School who attended a Billy Graham crusade in Queens and decided to give his life to Christ.
Lilla was astonished by the young man’s decision. He wanted to warn him against Christianity and persuade him to maintain a skeptical attitude.
Keller draws attention to Lilla’s own admission:
“I wanted to convince him that his dignity depended on maintaining a free, skeptical attitude toward doctrine. I wanted to save him.”…”I thought I was out of that business, but maybe not. It took years to acquire the education I missed as a young man, an education not only in books, but in a certain comportment toward myself and the world around me. Doubt, like faith, has to be learned. It’s a skill. But the curious thing about skepticism is that its adherents, ancient and modern, have so often been proselytizers. Why do they care? Skepticism offers no good answer to that question…and I don’t have one myself.”
Keller then explains:
> What he said was his doubts about Christianity were really an alternate set of beliefs…about reality, about what it meant to be a dignified person, an authentic person…BUT…none of that could be proven. It’s all a leap of faith. It’s just a leap of faith to something else….He suddenly realized that he was no different. He had a view of reality that had converted him. It had given him an identity and that made him want to save others from their wrong views of reality.Everybody has got one. Notice what he said: “his dignity depended on maintaining a free skeptical attitude toward all doctrine.” Except that one…his.
Tim Keller in CHRIST, OUR LIFE
The illustration’s point:
Nobody lives without a controlling worldview. Even skepticism requires beliefs and commitments. The real question is not whether we will be shaped by something, but what will shape us.
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