I love Tim Keller. Listen to his sermons all the time. I read his books. I’m a big fan.

I think he’s right, of course, in this line that he uses often. It’s a good line. Why doesn’t it “work” more often? Because of what Charles Taylor calls “the buffered self” combined with the subtle conditioning of the WIERD (Western Industrialized Educated Rich Democratic) world. We are groomed into believing

• We are in control of our destinies
• We can make the kind of life we want with enough work and determination
• The secularist, materialist claims are strong and proven by our affluence, power and security
• Religion and spirituality are optional experiential life enhancements to make our experience more pleasurable and meaningful.

This is also why people don’t get more serious about religion until they get older often, or until a tragedy interrupts their lives. The tragedy usually forces upon them the realization of their morality and powerlessness. Suddenly you’ve got to make some hard choices.

Once we’re not longer as buffered in life as we thought we were, we find our life less buffered too.