Happy Wednesday, from the Old English “Wōdnesdæg,” meaning “Wōden’s day.” Wōden ruled the Norse gods and became associated with the Roman god Mercury because both were guides of the soul after death. Mercury is often depicted as a perfect physical specimen of great speed, with wings on his helmet and feet. Being the enterprising Americans that we are, we have refined the romance of the ancient gods to Hump Day, symbolized by a camel. Woot, woot!

On a less humorous note, Timothy Keller, former pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, co-founder of The Gospel Coalition and author of several best selling Christian books, is at the center of controversy.

Last week he posted on his Facebook page an op-ed he had written for the New York Times in 2018 that basically absolves of a guilty conscience any Christian who might be inclined to vote for the Democrat Party—the party of radical, extreme abortion—in this presidential election. A convincing rebuke of his opinion is the response by Laurie Higgins over at Illinois Family Action.

Yesterday I came across a video clip from the Center for Faith & Work (CFW), the “cultural renewal arm” of Redeemer Presbyterian Church. In it, Keller claims that if you have white skin, you are complicit in oppressing blacks, even if you haven’t oppressed blacks. Watch:

https://vimeo.com/459445613

To be fair, it isn’t clear from the clip who comprises the “we” that his pastor friend refers to when he says, “we’re all complicit in creating this narrative that ‘black people are dangerous.'” If the “we” means people from all races, that’s one thing; if the “we” means white people only, it’s another. Logic, context and our cultural milieu strongly suggest that “we” refers to whites, but at the end of the clip he goes on to talk about what he would say to Asians, Latinos and African Americans.

Regardless, Keller goes on to plainly talk about whites being involved in injustice toward blacks. The idea of one’s skin color being the source of sin has no support in scripture, even though Keller says it does. His view is a product of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in service to social justice.

[M]y pastor friend said, “studies have shown, have pretty much proven, that if you have white skin it’s worth a million dollars over a lifetime, over somebody who doesn’t have white skin.”

Just taking his words at surface value, why is this important? Is it inherently, objectively wrong for someone who is white to be worth a million dollars “over someone who doesn’t have white skin”? According to social justice activists, yes, it is objectively, inherently, morally wrong. It is an example of “injustice” because it was gained through oppression. In fact, Keller goes on to make that exact point.

And that’s because of historical forces that have come about, and at this point you can go at it several ways. One, as I’ve mentioned, if you have that asset of white skin, right now, historical asset, then you actually have to say, “I didn’t deserve this,” and also to some degree, ‘I’m the product of…I’m standing on the shoulders of other people who got that through injustice.”

What is so disturbing about this statement is that Keller is making an immutable characteristic—white skin—an “asset.” You don’t deserve that advantage, he says and, in fact, your advantage was gained through injustice. Therefore, he goes on to say, you have a responsibility to correct the imbalance:

So the Bible actually says, “yes … you are involved in injustice,” and even if you didn’t actually do it, therefore you have a responsibility. Not just to say “well, maybe if I get around to it, maybe we can do something about the poor people out there.’ No, you’re part of the problem, if you do actually let your understanding of responsibility be shaped by the Bible instead of American individualism.

The underlying message is “white privilege” even though Keller doesn’t use that term. If you’re white, you have economic advantages over blacks. You didn’t ask for that advantage, you don’t deserve that advantage, and that advantage, he says, is unjust. And because that advantage you have is unjust, you have a responsibility to “do something about the poor [black] people out there.”

That’s the social gospel, which has no basis in scripture. Social justice warriors agitate for “equality.” But the Bible doesn’t tell us to “do something about poor people” because of skin color or because of an ill-gotten advantage or to “even things out.” What it does say is to take care of the poor, the widows, the orphans, the prisoners and the oppressed.

If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?

— 1 John 3:17

“The poor,” Jesus said, “you will always have with you.” Poverty will persist. We are to care for the poor simply because it is the right thing to do, no matter whose skin color is white and whose is black. Tim Keller is teaching a false gospel, and Christians need to be wary of his theology.