THE REASON FOR GOD THE REASON FOR GOD Belief in an Age of Skepticism TIMOTHY KELLER DUTTON DUTTON Published by Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.); Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England; Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd); Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd); Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India; Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd); Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Published by Dutton, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Copyright © 2008 by Timothy Keller All rights reserved REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Keller, Timothy J., 1950– The reason for God: belief in an age of skepticism / Timothy Keller. p. cm. ISBN: 978-1-1012-1765-8 1. Apologetics. 2. Faith 3. Skepticism. I. Title. BT1103.K45 2008 239—dc22 2007043745 Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content. To Kathy, the Valiant C ONTENTS Introduction PART 1: THE LEAP OF DOUBT ONE There Can’t Be Just One True Religion TWO How Could a Good God Allow Suffering? THREE Christianity Is a Straitjacket FOUR The Church Is Responsible for So Much Injustice FIVE How Can a Loving God Send People to Hell? SIX Science Has Disproved Christianity SEVEN You Can’t Take the Bible Literally [Intermission 115] PART 2: THE REASONS FOR FAITH EIGHT The Clues of God NINE The Knowledge of God TEN The Problem of Sin ELEVEN Religion and the Gospel TWELVE The (True) Story of the Cross THIRTEEN The Reality of the Resurrection FOURTEEN The Dance of God Epilogue: Where Do We Go from Here? Acknowledgments Notes Index About the Author