Making Sense of God: Finding God in the Modern World

by Timothy J. Keller

The biblical stories, by contrast, do not lead us to think in this way. Characters face forces both good and evil beyond their control. They win through faith and the help of supernatural grace. “Their world is more mysterious than comprehensible, and they do not expect to master it.”42

Jesus Christ, the only founder of a major religion who died in disgrace, not surrounded by all of his loving disciples but abandoned by everybody whom he cared about, including his Father.

Cosmic Wonder One way to argue for the existence of God is to infer his existence from existence itself.

either you have to take a great step of faith to believe there is a God who designed the universe or you must take a great step of faith to believe there is not.

Consciousness and idea making make far more sense in a universe created by an idea-making, conscious God.

the Gospels were written too early to be legend-encrusted folklore.

the Gospels do not show signs of having been shaped to fit the needs and sensibilities of the cultures and communities of the time.

It is extraordinarily difficult to claim to be perfect and divine and then to get the people who actually live with you to believe it. But Jesus did it.

Is it really impossible for God to become human? Why, if God is really all-powerful, could he not have done it? And why, if God is really all-loving, would he not have done it?

In short, if we are going to live rationally and use our minds well, we need new hearts. We need something that draws us out of our desperate search for self-fulfillment, affirmation, and value and makes us capable of loving other beings, not for our sake but for theirs.