A Year Older Today

Happy Birthday Lengdung

I turned a year older today, so I thought to share an important thought with you all. Yesterday, Dr. Timothy Keller, one of Christendom's finest preachers and authors, left this world. Tim was an apologist. Basically, it meant he spent his career defending Christianity. As you would understand, this often meant conversing with people who opposed his views and beliefs. Especially today, disagreements are filled with hate, loud, and often petty. It was this that Tim Keller faced for all his preaching career. 

He was born in 1950. At the age of 24, Tim began his preaching ministry. For the next 42 years, he would preach, teach, and defend the gospel. It lasted until 2017, when he stepped down. In 2020, Tim announced that he had pancreatic cancer. The struggle with cancer will dominate his life until his death. Tim did not stop working, writing, or engaging with others during this time. He believed and said that dying or living doesn’t make much difference for a believer. He says, “All death can do to Christians is make their lives infinitely better.” In a way, Tim showed how to die. He had lived well, and when death began knocking, he was not afraid. “For he knows whom he has believed”

I know some of those reading this will not be Christians, but hang on. I just want to draw two lessons from Tim’s life that has been a practical struggle for me in the past year. 

The first is conversations are still the way to go. 

The world has become deeply polarized. We cannot even tolerate the thought that others should have different opinions. We have built walls and fences that hold us within our ideological base and refused entry to any outsider. Social media and internet algorithms have helped us to ensure we hear only the things we want to hear, and the moment we hear something contrary, it is a war. To varying degrees and on different issues, we have become intolerant of contrary points of view. This is what made Tim Keller's life an example. Tim was a preacher who broke down fences and built bridges. Despite the polarization in America, Tim could reach a wide variety of people. Yesterday, I read a tribute written to him by David Perrell. David Perrell is an agnostic. Several other people have shared their testimony on Twitter. Many of them began to interact with Tim after they had written some vile article attacking his teachings. Rather than return such hate, Tim usually reaches out privately and asks for a conversation to understand the other party. He was never shy of disagreement or hiding away from them; instead, he invited the other party to fully table out their thoughts. For Tim, there was never a divide too big for him to cross. Tim believed Jesus died for everyone, and therefore everyone deserves to be engaged. This is a big lesson for Christians but also for anyone interested in living a full life on Earth. In an age where demonization of others can help you build a career, Tim says that no one is too far off that he or she should be canceled. Also, he shows that conversations are still the best way to handle disagreements. 

The second lesson is to let it end with you. While reading testimonies from those close to Tim, there was one theme that constantly appeared: he never uttered a vengeful response to any of his critics. All through his life, Tim was constantly attacked by a different set of people. He has faced attack even from within his faith circle. In recent years, he has been the target of criticism from both sides of the American political divide. Yet, Tim never uttered a vile word against his opponents. Those close to him testified that each time a hateful item is directed at him, the first thing he does is to find the substance of the attack, not even the attacker. He reasons through the article to see what areas he was wrong and what corrections he can make. Tim took the higher road in a world where attacks are the new ways to gain attention. He would never stoop to be vile with others. Instead of joining the mud to fight dirty, he always stands on the sidelines inviting the opponent to step out from the mud and have a civil conversation. You see, it is very easy to become exactly like the very thing we are railing against again. Nobody I know engages with social media and is not tired of the vileness and clout chasing all over the internet. However, it made me wonder where all the vileness flows from. It is the same us who complain who do these things. Someone has to be the first person to stop. 

In the past year, my presence on the internet increased exponentially. My Facebook reach has crossed over 100 million people reached. This sub stack has grown to over 4,000 subscribers; my YouTube has over 1,700 subscribers, and my Instagram has over 1,000 followers. With this attention comes all the love and hate the internet embodies. Nearly every day, I face some hateful thing from someone in a different part of the world. I have received all forms of insult for saying some of the simplest things. Sometimes for just posting a book cover, I receive a series of hate messages and comments. At first, I tried responding with the same condescension as my opponent. Other times I was sarcastic. As someone with too much pride in the books he has read (we fall into this temptation when we have acquired some little reading), I had devoted so much time to bullying my opponents with their wrong opinions or fact, disgracing them, or publicly shaming them. But over time, I began to reflect on my strategy intentionally. But to what point? In all my interactions, I have never had a situation where those hurtful approaches lead to change or learning. Did I truly want to share knowledge, or did I want to join the crowd? I didn't want to join the crowd. I didn't want to become the kind of troll I had seen on the internet. I didn't want to be the person who couldn’t listen to others. This wasn't easy to learn. It is still difficult. 

Tim Keller was able to do this with grace. He was not a petty fellow. Although seriously intellectual, well-read, and deep, he never allowed his knowledge to become a bully pulpit. We all can make use of the same trait. 

So for me, this added year is an opportunity to exemplify these traits and many more from the life of Tim Keller. The gift of life is a precious thing. It is the gift that makes all else possible within this realm. I hope to make the most of all that I’ve been given. I will try to be a little kinder. I will try to be a little more accommodating, listen more, and engage with those I disagree with in a kind way. 

I hope you try to do the same in your part of the world. 

PS: I am very open to receiving book gifts. Thank you in advance.