{"id":44097,"date":"2011-05-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/tim-keller-shares-his-approach-to-evangelism\/"},"modified":"2011-05-23T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-05-23T00:00:00","slug":"tim-keller-shares-his-approach-to-evangelism","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/tim-keller-shares-his-approach-to-evangelism\/","title":{"rendered":"Tim Keller Shares His Approach to Evangelism"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an essay in the book A Place for Truth<\/em>, Tim Keller claims that he often hears people say, "I don't know which religion is true" or "No one can know the truth." According to Keller, this often leads to a conversation that goes something like this:<\/p>\n\n

\n

I'm talking to someone who does not believe in Christianity or Christ. At some point he or she responds to me suddenly, "Wait a minute, what are you trying to do to me?"<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

I respond, "I'm trying to evangelize you."<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

"You mean you're trying to convert me?"<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

"Yeah."<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

"You're trying to get me to adopt your<\/em> view of spiritual reality and convert me<\/em>?"<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

"Yeah."<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

"How narrow! How awful! Nobody should say that their view of spirituality is better than anybody else and try to convert them to it. O no, no, no. Everybody should just leave everybody else alone."<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

"Wait a minute …" I say. "You want me to adopt your take on spiritual reality; you want me to adopt your view of all the various religions. What are you doing to me<\/em>? What you're saying is, you have a take on spiritual reality, and you think I would be better off and the world would be better off if we adopted yours. I have my take on spiritual reality and I think mine is better than yours, and I'm trying to convert you to mine …. If you say, 'Don't evangelize anybody,' that is to evangelize me, into your Western, white, individualistic, privatized understanding of religion."<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Keller concludes by stating,<\/p>\n\n

\n

Who's more narrow? It's not narrow to make an exclusive truth claim because everybody<\/em> makes an exclusive truth claim …. Everybody has a take on reality. Everybody thinks the world would be better if those people over there adopted mine. Everybody …. Narrowness is not the content<\/em> of a truth claim. Narrowness is our attitude toward the people who don't share our point of view.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3363,3689,3726,3897,3898,4096,4658,4667,4794,4906,5168,5199,5303],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-44097","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-absolutes","tax_ctp_tags-conversion","tax_ctp_tags-culture","tax_ctp_tags-evangelism","tax_ctp_tags-evangelist","tax_ctp_tags-great-commission","tax_ctp_tags-pluralism","tax_ctp_tags-postmodernism","tax_ctp_tags-relativism","tax_ctp_tags-seekers","tax_ctp_tags-tolerance","tax_ctp_tags-truth","tax_ctp_tags-worldview"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\nTim Keller Shares His Approach to Evangelism - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/tim-keller-shares-his-approach-to-evangelism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tim Keller Shares His Approach to Evangelism - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In an essay in the book A Place for Truth, Tim Keller claims that he often hears people say, "I don't know which religion is true" or "No one can know the truth." 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