| Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters |  | Author: Timothy Keller
Publisher: Dutton Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
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Rating:  61 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 240
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.2 x 5.3 x 1
ISBN: 0525951369
Dewey Decimal Number: 241.3
EAN: 9780525951360
Publication Date: October 20, 2009
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Product Description
The New York Times bestselling author of The Reason for God and The Prodigal God and a nationally renowned minister, Timothy Keller exposes the error of making good things "ultimate" in his latest book, and shows readers a new path toward a hope that lasts.
Success, true love, and the life you've always wanted. Many of us placed our faith in these things, believing they held the key to happiness, but with a sneaking suspicion they might not deliver. The recent economic meltdown has cast a harsh new light on these pursuits. In a matter of months, fortunes, marriages, careers, and a secure retirement have disappeared for millions of people. No wonder so many of us feel lost, alone, disenchanted, and resentful. But the truth is that we made lesser gods of these good things -gods that can't give us what we really need. There is only one God who can wholly satisfy our cravings- and now is the perfect time to meet him again, or for the first time.
The Bible tells us that the human heart is an "idol- factory," taking good things and making them into idols that drive us. In Counterfeit Gods, Keller applies his trademark approach to show us how a proper understanding of the Bible reveals the unvarnished truth about societal ideals and our own hearts. This powerful message will cement Keller's reputation as a critical thinker and pastor, and comes at a crucial time-for both the faithful and the skeptical.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 61
 This Could Be Keller's Best (So Far) October 20, 2009
Tim Challies (Oakville, Ontario)
79 out of 79 found this review helpful
Tim Keller knows how to tell a Bible story. Like The Prodigal God before it, his latest book, Counterfeit Gods is built around them. And every time I read one of those stories, I feel like I am hearing it for the first time. I find myself lost in the story, anticipating how it could, how it might, end. In the back of my mind I know exactly how it will turn out, but somehow Keller takes me along for a ride as he tells these stories in such a fresh way. In Counterfeit Gods he tells of Abraham and Isaac, Jacob and Esau, Jonah and Zacchaeus. Each one of these characters and the stories of their lives are used to teach the reader about the prevalence of idolatry in the Bible and in the human heart.
"The human heart takes good things like a successful career, love, material possessions, even family, and turns them into ultimate things. Our hearts deify them as the center of our lives, because, we think, they can give us significance and security, safety and fulfillment, if we attain them." Thus anything can be an idol and, really, everything has been an idol to one person or another. The great deception of idols is we are prone to think that idols are only bad things. But evil is far more subtle than this. "We think that idols are bad things, but that is almost never the case. The greater the good, the more likely we are to expect that it can satisfy our deepest needs and hopes. Anything can serve as a counterfeit god, especially the very best things in life."
What then is an idol? "It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give." If anything in all the world is more fundamental than God to your happiness, to your meaning in life, then that thing has become an idol. It has supplanted God in your heart and in your affections. You will pursue that thing with an abandon and intensity that should be reserved for God alone.
Having introduced idolatry and its effects in the Introduction and first chapter, Keller uses chapters two through five to discuss idols that have a particularly strong grasp on people today, though perhaps they are idols that have always drawn the hearts of men. He discusses love (and sex), money, success and power (focusing particularly on political power). Having discussed such personal idols, he spends a chapter looking at some cultural and societal idols--ones that tend to be hidden from us because they are so prevalent, so normal. Finally, he looks to "The End of Counterfeit Gods" and here he offers hope for the idolatrous. "Is there any hope? Yes, if we begin to realize that idols cannot simply be removed. They must be replaced. If you try to uproot them, they grow back; but they can be supplanted. By what? By God himself, of course. ... What we need is a living encounter with God." He wraps things up in an Epilogue where he offers words that so helpfully answer the "now what?" questions. The trouble with exposing idols is that we realize that most of our idols really are good things that we've allowed to take on undue importance. We do not want to cast away these good things! "If we have made idols of work and family, we do not want to stop loving our work and family. Rather, we want to love Christ so much more that we are not enslaved by our attachments." The solution is not to love good things less, but to love the best thing more!
As always, Keller is eminently quotable and is a very skilled writer. The book is excellent not only in its big picture, but also in its component parts. More importantly, it turns always go the gospel. It never leaves the reader in despair but instead points him away from his idols and toward the idol-breaker, toward the one who demands and deserves the first place in our hearts. "The way forward, out of despair, is to discern the idols of our hearts and our culture. But that will not be enough. The only way to free ourselves from the destructive influence of counterfeit gods is to turn back to the true one. The living God, who revealed himself both at Mount Sinai and on the Cross, is the only Lord who, if you find him, can truly fulfill you, and, if you fail him, can truly forgive you."
Truly, the human heart is an idol factory. Counterfeit Gods points to Scripture to help root them out, turns to the Cross to find forgiveness and points to the gospel as the power to find ultimate freedom from them. This is an excellent book and one I hope to read again, perhaps in a group setting. It is easily one of the best books I've read this year and I commend it to you.
Should be required reading for Christians October 21, 2009
Matthew Robbins (Ohio)
37 out of 37 found this review helpful
I was a big fan of Tim Keller's first 2 books, The Reason for God, and The Prodigal God. Speaking largely as an apologist in the former and a pastor in the latter, Keller demonstrated his immense intellect and knack for offering keen observations of culture as it relates to the gospel of Jesus Christ. These strengths are applied directly to his latest work, Counterfeit Gods. This is Tim Keller at his finest as he subtly, yet powerfully, points out the things people, and particularly Americans, tend to turn into idols that take the place of God in our lives.
Taking on various arenas of life, Keller explains how even good things become bad things when they turn into God things. His working definition of an idol is simply anything that ascends to the place that only God should occupy in our lives, and he shows how career, money, sex, and even family can become idols in our lives, taking the place of God but lacking the ability to live up to the positions where we place them.
For example, when a parent places their kids in the place of God and wraps their entire identity in a child, an enormous amount of pressure is placed on the child, a pressure they will inevitably fail to live up to. This causes disappointment for the parent and disillusionment for the child. This is because the child isn't God. He or she isn't ever-faithful, ever-loving, all-powerful, and perfect. Only God is. It's unfair to children and damaging to the parents when these situations occur.
This idolatry can show up anywhere. I especially found Keller's chapter on power particularly helpful. When power is made into a God, it manifests itself in many places such as careers, parenting, and relationships; today, it mostly shows up in the political arena. People turn political parties, politicians, and ideologies into gods; subsequently, when their party loses, they are devastated. Their god has let them down, and now they do the only thing they can think of...they mock, ridicule, and blame the false political god that arose in its place. They lament the end of everything or complain about the status quo. The problem, of course, is that neither conservativism nor liberalism live up to god-status. Neither is perfect, but many convince themselves otherwise, believing that everything would be perfect if they could just elect the right person who embodies their values.
Keller has chapter after chapter that points out these idols in our culture, applying his Paul-like style of reasoning. All of this would be for naught, however, if people are not pointed to the true God. It's not enough to remove idols. People have to be pointed to God as fully-revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Keller does not back down from this one bit. He continually pulls our idol-fashioned foundations from underneath us, but he quickly replaces it with the true foundation, the Rock, Jesus Christ.
This book should be required reading for all western Christians. Other cultures have their idols, but we in the West have truly made it an art form. The roots of this idolatry cannot be removed overnight, but this book is a powerful tool for attacking those roots and unashamedly and repeatedly reminding us what needs to exist in its place.
No Other Gods October 24, 2009
Bradley Bevers (Brenham, TX)
23 out of 23 found this review helpful
The First Commandment: Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me
"Thus you can easily understand what and how much this commandment requires, namely, that man's entire heart and all his confidence be placed in God alone, and in no one else. For to have God, you can easily perceive, is not to lay hold of Him with our hands or to put Him in a bag [as money], or to lock Him in a chest [as silver vessels]. But to apprehend Him means when the heart lays hold of Him and clings to Him. But to cling to Him with the heart is nothing else than to trust in Him entirely. For this reason He wishes to turn us away from everything else that exists outside of Him, and to draw us to Himself, namely, because He is the only eternal good. As though He would say; Whatever you have heretofore sought of the saints, or for whatever [things] you have trusted in Mammon or anything else, expect it all of Me, and regard Me as the one who will help you and pour out upon you richly all good things."
The words above from Martin Luther's Large Catechism serve as a sobering reminder that idols are not made out of brick, wood, and stone alone - often, they are found in our heart. In Timothy Keller's new book, Counterfeit Gods, he lays out a case for idolatry in our current time that should pierce every Christian to the core. As Keller says in the beginning of his book, perhaps there is no better time to be reminded of the idols in our own hearts then in a time of uncertainty. The current economic crisis has stripped away our masks of religiosity and exposed idols that we did not know existed.
In Keller's second chapter, he focuses on love and sex. He specifically shows how our love for other human beings becomes an idol if we place our love for them above our love for God. Following that, Keller expands on the lust for money that is pervasive in our culture. Personally, I was especially convicted of the sin of greed when reading this part of the book. Greed is a subtle, deadly sin. It enters our lives unannounced and, if allowed to grow unchecked, is undetectable by those in its grasp.
After focusing on love and money as idols, Keller turns to politics. This book is worth the price for this chapter alone. It lays bare the misguided hopes and trust that Christians place in human government and brings one of the Enemy's most potent secrets to light. The warring factions in politics, especially among Christians, can reveal who are trust is really placed in. Individual Freedoms? Our Nation's Sovereignty? The Ability to Choose? Education for All? Healthcare for All? Or the Holy One, the Living God, Our Father in Heaven. Just as Nebuchadnezzar saw the statue built of human achievement crumble under God's power, Keller smashes the political idols in our own lives swiftly, painfully, convincingly.
No other Christian writer of our generation is on par with Keller's work right now. His ability to popularize Biblical truths without sacrificing any of their depth is unmatched. He has been called the C.S. Lewis of our time and it is an apt description. Though The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith is still his best work, Counterfeit Gods is a close second. You will not find a more enlightening, convicting book - it is must read for every Christian who desires to put to death the earthly idols that consume us.
Gripping. Convicting. Liberating October 21, 2009
Brian G Hedges (South Bend, Indiana)
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
Counterfeit Gods by Timothy Keller is a gripping exploration of the human heart and the ways we substitute false gods for the True God. Keller masterfully weaves together contemporary concerns, spiritual and psychological analysis, and biblical narrative to show us that while sex, romance, money, success, and power are good things in themselves, they make poor masters. When we give our trust, love, and service to these things, they destroy our lives. But this foray into the labyrinths of the human heart is not only gripping, it is convicting. Keller exposes not only our surface idols, but our deep idols - our cravings for significance, comfort, security, and approval. These are the desires that drive us to give our affections to false lovers, place our trust in alternative saviors, and swear our allegiance to other lords. But Keller never leaves us without hope. This book is as liberating as it is convicting, as Keller confronts us again and again with the good news of God's love for sinners, displayed in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Keller may be one of the more important Christian thinkers and writers of our day. His ministry experience in New York City has equipped him with a unique ability to speak to both the secular and the sacred dimensions of our lives at the same time - and to show us how intertwined these dimensions really are. Keller addresses both skeptics and believers and demonstrates a broad grasp of not only biblical studies and theology, but also literature, sociology, philosophy, psychology, and the arts in his writing. In chapters exploring the relevance of biblical stories from Genesis or the Gospel of Luke, we also encounter insights from Ernest Becker and Friedrich Nietzche, illustrations from Madonna, Andrew Carnegie, or the film Chariots of Fire, and commentary from Robert Alter and other Jewish or Christian biblical scholars. This liberal use of sources, plus Keller's engaging yet succinct writing style, make this a very enjoyable read.
There is also a practicality to this book. Keller is not just a great theologian, he is a pastor. And he writes with the heart of a skilled diagnostician of souls. He begins the book with a discussion of the idol factory of the human heart, and ends by showing us how to find and replace our idols. He not only exposes the cancers that are eating us away, he applies the scalpel of the gospel with surgical skill. Like Jesus himself, Keller knows how to both wound and heal.
Powerful Book! October 21, 2009
William Varner (Newhall, CA United States)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
To tell you the truth, when I first heard about the subject of the book, I sort of yawned, since I thought I knew enough about this subject already. But because of Tim's reputation as an effective church planter and his ability to relate to cultured New Yorkers, I knew it was probably worth reading. Well, let me control myself from gushing, but I want to say that it is simply one of the best books for a general readership that I have ever read! I already am planning a short series on the subject of idolatry for my Sojourners flock because of this book. Over and over he nails his point so effectively that I realized that I was underlining so many sentences and paragraphs that the underlining ceased to fulfill its purpose of emphasizing his most important points! Every sentence was important!
Tim Keller's Counterfeit Gods is without doubt one of the most powerful books I have ever read. I think it should be carefully read by every professing Christian. I recommend its consideration for group Bible studies where it's effective implications can be considered and discussed. Pastors will find much grist for their sermon mills in these scholarly yet pastorally sensitive chapters.
Keller is a culture critic of the first rank. His familiarity with literature of diverse genres as well as more popular cultural icons like movies will connect with readers weary of sincere but culturally irrelevant preachers. In a cursory review I found references to 75 different books about subjects from OT culture to modern sociology and Biblical commentary as well as references to dozens of articles, popular and scholarly. (Not to mention hundreds of scripture references). Keller understands popular culture as well with many illustrations from literature and film. These references are not done to impress but to connect. He writes, "There is no way to challenge idols without doing cultural criticism, and there is no way to do cultural criticism without discerning and challenging cultural idols" (167).
But it is when Keller opens the Word and carefully analyzes and applies that Word that he also shines. Under his skillful handling, the familiar characters of Abraham, Leah, Jacob, Naaman, Nebuchadnezzar, Jonah, and Zacchaeus leap off the pages and stab us in the heart. He expounds and applies the lessons from those characters without allegory or facile moralizing. And Jesus is always held up but not forced onto the text.
There are so many quotable statements in this book that I hesitate to isolate only a few. "The human heart is an idol factory" (a few places). "An idol is a good thing turned into an absolute value" (128). "Making an idol out of doctrinal accuracy, ministry success, or moral rectitude leads to arrogance and self righteousness and oppression of those who differ" (132). Ouch!
One of the things I have appreciated about Keller's preaching and writing is that he understands popular culture so well and is able to effectively apply the Word in a away that speaks to the culture without surrendering to it. For example, when Tim is applying the Pauline text that "greed is idolatry" (Col. 3:5), he alludes to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy and the plot revolving around the "ring of power" that corrupts its wearer. This corrupting influence can be seen in the evil Sauron and the pitiable Gollum or even in "good" characters like Bilbo and others who greedily desire its power when they wear it. At times it almost destroys the only one who can carry it to its destruction, Frodo. Thus greed can actually destroy us as we commit this act of idolatry.
Keller continually develops this danger of idolatry with fresh examinations of Biblical texts. He helped me to see that Abraham's crisis of offering Isaac was to deal with the danger of idolatrizing (is that a word?) his own beloved son. He shows how idolatry takes good things and make them objects of worship. Even children can become idols when they replace the true God as the object of our affections. The problem is not that we "love our children too much, but rather we love God too little in relationship to them" (3).
Greg Beale has gone over this material in his massive We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry, but only scholars will read his book! Keller's ability is to take deep concepts and apply them effectively to postmodern New Yorkers and then to all of us! This is a hard hitting book. Don't read it if all you want is another feel good experience. I have already been convicted of the idolatry that lurks deep within my own heart.
"Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (1 John 5:21).
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 61
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