Perhaps one of the greatest challenges for the Christ-Follower,

Is striking the constant, circumstantially-driven,

Elliptical Balance,

Of practicing the

The LOVE of Christ's TRUTH,

For the TRUTH of Christ's LOVE

The greatest heresies in history

Are Always some contextually driven form,

Of privileging one of these dynamics

(Truth or Love)

Exclusively over the other...

The Witness of "Imago Dei"

We Can Know If A Local Church

FAILS

In Its Divinely Given God-Given Purpose,

When Any ONE PERSON Within It,

Is A More Authentic Representation

Of Jesus Christ,

Than The SUM TOTAL Of The Individuals

Within The CONGREGATION Itself.

It Must Be The Comprehensive Witness

Of The "Imago Dei"

Biblical Principles or Personal Preferences

The Church That Is Driven By

Biblical Principles

Is The Church That Leads

Others To Heaven


The Church That Is Driven By

Personal Preferences

Is The Church That Leads

Others To Hell

rsg
(10-18-09)

Part II – Spiritual Formation In Youth Ministry and Higher Education

Contributions from the Discipline of Spiritual Formation

I am convinced that if we are to produce the kind of students who have the capacity to implement a faith and vocational approach to their life, then we must begin with the foundational issue of their Spiritual Formation. It's the challenge of enabling them becoming whole and complete in Christ. Therefore, what is meant by Spiritual Formation is more than (what in principle is practiced in many evangelical contexts) as "verse-a-day" to keep the devil away". And/Or what Dallas Willard brilliantly describes in his seminal work: The Divine Conspiracy, as "Sin Management."

Can we validly interpret it's (the Bible) portrayal of faith in Christ as one concerned only with the management of sin, whether in the form of our personal debt or in the form of societal evil? …History has brought us to the point where the Christian message is thought to be essentially concerned only with how to deal with sin: with wrongdoing or wrong-being and its effects. Life, our actual existence, is not included in what is now presented as the heart of the Christian message, or it is included only marginally. That is where we find ourselves today… When we examine the broad spectrum of Christian proclamation and practice, we see that the only thing made essential on the right wing of theology is forgiveness of the individual's sins… The current gospel then becomes the gospel of "sin management." Transformation of life and character is not part of the redemptive message."

To put it another way, one's ability to manage their sin, to keep it from influencing negatively and overtly one's life, is often seen as the primary goal of Christian maturity and discipleship. Willard's critique, directed mostly towards evangelicalism, goes on to argue in his book that transformation of life and character necessarily means that one must engage the world… In short, according to Willard, our faith is to be all about the Kingdom of God, as it was for Christ. There can be no decompartmentalization, for the Christian, between faith and the rest of one's life. We cannot continue to practice, as many Christians do: Live in the world, despite the world; and not for Christ, to change the world.

Evangelists as Modern Day Gnostics:

In like manner, there needs to be an overhaul for many of us in how we present the Gospel to young adults. Numerous students hear the Gospel presented to them in what is nothing more than a form of modern day Gnosticism. The-would-be evangelist presents it in the following manner:

"I have some important information that you need to know about and if you listen to me and choose to respond, you can go to heaven and not to hell."

In other words, it's all about collecting vital life-saving information that in turn becomes an almost magical incantation. Once the words are spoken, then heaven is all but assured. The new believer then enters into a life of doing those things that will mostly "maintain" their faith; so that they are confident enough that if they died they would go to heaven and not to hell. This is the lowest common denominator of what can be offered still be considered the Gospel. Very little is said about counting the cost and the Lordship of Christ. Instead of enhancing their restored relationship with Christ, they craft into their life only those things that give them comfort of their eternal standing. There is a very felt need to grow into the image of Christ, because the emphasis is all about doing the right things… The unfortunate repercussions of this kind of Christian life style are disastrous and feed directly into a maintenance only mentality.

Right Being vs. Just Right Knowing or Right Doing

Nor should we, on the other hand, mistake Christian maturity as just having the ability to master intellectually and articulate correct theology… They are not the same. Soren Kierkegaard notes the following in his essay entitled: The Weight of Inwardness

… Certitude and inwardness determine whether or not the individual is in the truth. It is not a lack of content that gives rise to arbitrariness, unbelief, mockery or religion, but a lack of certitude. Whenever, inwardness and appropriation are lacking, the individual is unfree in relation to the truth, even though he otherwise "possesses" the whole truth[…]"

[…]our age is a master in developing truths while being wholly indifferent to certitude. It lacks confidence in the good."

"Truth exists for the particular individual only as he himself produces it in action. If the individual prevents the truth from being for him in that way, we have a phenomena of the demonic. Truth has always had many loud proclaimers, but the question is whether a person will in the deepest sense acknowledge the truth, allow it to permeate his whole being…
…Without inwardness, an adherent of the most rigid orthodoxy may be demonic…"
Kierkegaard passionately believed that right knowing did not always mean right being. He believed that while right doing didn't always mean right being… right being did always mean right doing… I am reminded of J.I. Packer's comment on the world "theologia" from which we get our world theology. Prior to the Reformation, according to Packer, the word "theologia" meant: "To study God in such a way, that what you learned became a part of you." After the Reformation, "theologia," in many Christian circles, came to mean simply the intellectual and scholastic study of God. Mystery and emotion in the Christian experience were disabused and deemed irrelevant.
Many Christian traditions eventually gave themselves permission to see one's Spiritual Formation as that of knowing only about God rather than the experience of knowing God personally. Again, I quote Kierkegaard: "Nobody knows more of the truth than what he is of the truth. To properly know the truth is to be in the truth; it is to have the truth for one's life. This always costs a struggle." Theology then must be internalized inwardly, in order that it be authentically manifested and represented outwardly.
What is Spiritual Formation? It is the commitment to the process of inwardly becoming like Jesus Christ, so that you can outwardly do the things that Jesus would do, if He were you, in the here and now.

Spiritual Formation in Christian Higher Education

The connection to Higher Education to me is obvious. Those of us in Christian Higher Education must challenge our students to advance further from the weak praxis of what it is popularly believed it means to be "Christian." They must move beyond practicing the Christian faith as a form of cheap fire insurance (i.e. "cheap grace" according to Bonhoeffer), the belief that Jesus came only to save them from their sins. They must understand that the decision they make for Christ necessarily means a life transforming encounter with the person of Christ… …that they have been saved "to" (Christ) and not just saved "from" (hell). That it's a decision having mostly to do far more with restoration (of relationships) rather than a region (heaven over hell).

Transformed, Transcend Transformational

O eternal truth and true love and beloved eternity! You are my God; to you I sigh by day and by night. And when I first know you, you raised me up so that I could see that there was something to see and that I still lacked the ability to see it. And you beat back the weakness of my sight, blazing upon me with your rays, and I trembled in love and in dread, and I found that I was far distant from you, in a region of total unlikeness, as I were hearing your voice from on high saying: "I am the food of grown men, Grow and you shall feed upon me. And you will not, as with the food of the body, change me into yourself, but you will be changed into me." Augustine Book VII pg. 149-50
It's crucial for them to understand that their Spiritual Transformation must lead them to the hard belief and practice that the more they are inwardly transformed, the more capable they are of transcending those compartmentalizing personal and cultural inhibitors that keep them from being transformational agents within the world of their private and professional lives.
Johann Arndt, German Lutheran pastor who heavily influenced German Pietism in the later 15^th and early 16^th centuries, noted in his essay on True Christianity the following:

Everyone wishes very much to be a servant of Christ, but no one wishes to be His follower… And although we cannot, in our present weakness, perfectly imitate the holy and noble life of Christ… nevertheless, we ought to live it, and yearn to imitate it, for thus we live in Christ, and Christ lives in us, as John in the first Epistle 2:6 says: 'He who says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.' …No one can love Christ who does not follow the example of His holy life… True Christianity consists, not in words or external show, but in living faith, from which arise righteous fruits, and all manner of Christian virtues, as from Christ Himself."

And so we have this challenge before us… The challenge of helping our students transforming their inward nature into the nature of Christ Himself, so that no matter where they go and what they do, they would do it has if Christ Himself where doing it. I believe that it's only with this kind of heart and mind, that our students will have the motivating passion (because it's Christ's) and the moral and spiritual resolve (because it's the character of Christ, redeeming and energizing their own) that will enable them to be toxic to the very worldliness in which they find themselves. They will truly be able to believe: "Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world." (1 John 4:4) It will be then, and only then that we will be able to penetrate and transform those major institutions in our world e.g. the worlds of Business, Government, Education etc., that heretofore have been impenetrable and any substantive manner.

Christ in and Through Us, In the World

What the world desperately needs to see is not a Christianized us, but rather us, in Christ, in the world. In essence, it's the practice rejecting the corrosive values of the "world" and instead, choosing to connect lovingly and meaningfully with Christ's omnipresence within the world. It is not our job to take Christ into our professional work and world… He is already there! It's a matter of deliberate choice to have our life resonating with and accommodating His presence so that what He is reflected in and through us in a powerful, authentic, compelling and restorative manner to all of those people that He had determined to restore to Himself.

The love of God is hatred of the world and love of the world hatred of God. This is the colossal point of contention, either love or hate. This is the place where the most terrible fight must be fought. And where is this place? In a person's innermost being. Whether the struggle is over millions or over a penny, [in the world of business for example…] it is a matter of loving and preferring God – the most terrible fight is the struggle for the highest. What immeasurable happiness is promised to the one who rightly chooses. If anyone is unable to understand this, the reason is that he is unwilling to accept that God is present in the moment of choice, not in order to watch but in order to be chosen…"

What does the world need more than Christ? In Acts chapter one Christ ascended. In Acts chapter two the Holy Spirit descended... to live in us... that we might become the image of Christ once again in the world.

With Regard To Christian Luminaries – Discussion From A Facebook Thread

A few off-the-top-of-my-head thoughts for Jason, in response to your post and vid in Facebook: It seems to me that everybody in varying degrees is a "heretic." The question becomes for all: "in what manner and to what degree can we extract that element of truth each of us?" This is often where the real work of the Christian is for all of us. Christ reveals Himself in all of us, but He does not reveal all of Himself in any of us. There are usually no clear lines of where He is and where we begin – is usually a broad band of circular gradations that encompasses us all. However, once you get to the core of either… you just know what they really are… When it comes to communicating the Gospel, "Style" cannot be mistaken for "Substance," but "Style" cannot in most cases be mitigated either... because it is "Style" that may make the "Substance" accessible, to those for whom we cannot access. Perhaps, instead of people taking on the exclusive role of "an authority" in these matters, we should simply (albeit sometimes passionately) offer our humble perspective and let the Holy Spirit do His work from there. Again, remember: Despite our best efforts and our most disciplined work we always speak, write and live out of some degree of heresy – sometime pathologically so…. There are many, many Christians for example who appear on the "outside" in terms of their actions, as flawless. But, it would not be rare for many of those same people, when it comes to their inward motivation, for it to be goaded into existence from deepest parts of hell itself. For most, the dynamic of our fallen nature militates this and the noetic affects of sin, on some level, would damn us to it. It is precisely because of these issues, that humility, grace and love towards one another are so important. I always find it odd that for two millennium that when it comes to truth, the church always appear to be susceptible to majoring in the minors and minoring in the majors. Indeed, this phenomenon is what drives so many denominations – all 30,000 of them. I think it clear that Christians should always work to live out of The Core of orthodoxy and make regular pilgrimages to the edge. But I don't think we should live only on the edge, and then self-righteously wonder and judge the validity of The Core. Often times, these are the people who stand over scripture instead of under it. This DOES NOT MAKE TRUTH RELATIVE... IT JUST MAKES US RELATIVE TO THE TRUTH. By Way of Example: Recently Jason, I responded to your comments about Rob Bell. He is a prime example (as well as Tony Jones) of what I am talking about. He has much to say and has been a blessing to many… His approach and some of his perspectives have been enlightening and life giving. On the other hand, I roundly disagree on his position regarding the Virgin Birth… I just wonder if he is trying too hard to appeal to the Enlightenment Spirit in order to be relevant. From my perspective he is playing with fire as it relates potentially to the core of our orthodoxy. Does that make him a person that we should not listen to? Not necessarily, but perhaps a bit more circumspectly – graciously so… on this specific matter. We did this historically with many of the early church Fathers I think we can afford to do this with people like him as well. The problem is in too many cases, we want to be lazy and look for the "fire-and-forget" teachers and theologians, so that we can be confident enough that no matter what they say, we have nothing to fear and we can always direct someone to them… Those people are VERY RARE. The work of Spiritual Direction, Formation and Discipleship is hard work and it is our responsibility to do what is necessary for those souls the Lord has given to us. We are not consultants… we are Vassal ambassadors whose purpose it is to represent our Suzerain in all things well. Feel free to respond... The vitality of your "community" endeavor depends on much of what has been discussed! Blessings Brothers! Rich

Christian Spiritual Formation and Appropriate “Rescue” Responses to Genocide

On the other hand, let us say that there are a group of Christians who successfully resisted in being swept up into the almost all encompassing vortex of a Genocidal situation. What then is their appropriate Christ-like response? To what Biblical principles do they avail themselves to? Would it be the kind of civil disobedience, magnificently led by the French Huguenot Protestant Pastor, Father Trocme and the village of Le Chambon (Hallie – Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed)?

For Trocme, to be spiritually formed properly was to fully embrace and unswervingly live out Jesus' Sermon on the Mount Discourse (Matthew 5:43-46, Luke 6:27-36). Trocme felt so literal in his view of the Sermon on the Mount, that he felt it necessary to tell authorities that they were in fact hiding a number of Jewish (Hallie pg. 128); and summarily refused to be involved in any kind of violence (Hallie pgs. 34-35). In addition, it was Trocme's intention for his village of La Chambon to function as a kind of "city of refuge," that Moses describes in Deuteronomy 19 (Hallie 283); to hide particularly Jewish children, so that "no innocent blood would be shed."

Others however might argue that because the evil associated with Genocide is so great, so pernicious, so comprehensive and unremitting, that the only way to stop it would be through the use of violence. How should we understand Proverbs 24:10-12 in contemporary times?
10 If you falter in times of trouble, how small is your strength! ¹¹ Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. ¹² If you say, "But we knew nothing about this," does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life knowit? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done? (Proverbs 24:10-12)
Does the New Covenant in Christ alter how we should interpret the implied and potential use of violence in Proverbs 24:10-12? Given the historical context of this passage is there really any other way to interpret the possibility of violent or military action? Bottom line, can those made over in the image of Christ, after a careful "cost-benefits" analysis, initiate and prosecute a "Just War" as initially articulated by Augustine? This issue is massively complicated. What does the Bible have to say about this issue? We are confident, for example, when we say that Jesus would not "pull a trigger, wield a club or push a button" against those helpless victims selected for Genocide; but are we equally confident that in order for Christians to protect potential victims, and stop the perpetrators, that we can in the name and image of Jesus Christ "pull a trigger, wield a club or push a button in their defense;" and how do we interpret Matthew 5:38-48 in light of this?

By way of argument, I think it fair that hypothetically, if Germany had not been defeated would there have been even larger horrific possibilities than what took place against the Jews and other demographic groups? Can Genocide become so corrosive and far-reaching that not only a population group is in danger from ceasing to exist (the Jews); but entire population groups (Africans, Japanese, Indians of American descent etc.)? Ostensibly if the Allies had failed, would Adolf Hitler's doctrine (in his mad pursuit of racial purity) stopped only with the Jews? Was Martin Niemoeller being globally prophetic when he wrote:

First they came for the communists

But I was not a communist

So I did not speak out.

Then they came for the socialists and the trade unionists,

But I was neither,

So I did not speak out.

Then they came for the Jews,

But I was not a Jew

So I did not speak out.

And when they came for me,

There was no one left to speak out for me.

(Hitler Came For Niemoeller: Book Cover)

Perhaps a reasonable argument could be made that after his Master Race passion had eliminated the Jews; Hitler might have quite likely then turned his attention to anyone from say African descent? In what manner would the "cost-benefit" analysis come out in favor of the kind of theology rooted in ardent "pacifism" if a victorious Hitler set his sights on the African continent?

Scholars like Richard Hays (among others) postulates forcefully against any kind of violence, to stop any manifestation of violence; and in fact argues throughout his discussion in his book: The Moral Vision of the New Testament, that there is nothing Biblical in principle or text, in favor of Augustine's theory of a Just War (Hays pgs. 341); making and amplifying his argument from largely a single key text (Matthew 5:38-48).
Regardless of either theological tradition, the historical evidence is clear that with few exceptions, as individual Christians or as the institutional church, those who belong to the Christian faith simply do not perform very well Biblically, in favor of Genocidal victims. Other than a few, small pockets of Christian resistance, there is no clear, historical evidence of the Christian community responding on a massive scale to any major Genocide, either within it; or outside of it - particularly in the 20^th Century. The matter is obfuscated even more with what a mature, comprehensively mature Christian response would and ought to be.

The above difficulty aside I continue to be mindful of what my colleagues said to me when I attended the Conference on Genocide at Whitworth College in June of 2002: "The phenomenon of Genocide was more toxic than God's ability to overcome it (Psalm 37:17, 20)." Biblical Theology tells us that nothing more powerful than God and His ability to overcome it. The real issue is that God is allowing mankind to live out their own autonomy through their fallen nature; and the consequences and repercussions of our self-serving, antinomian, autonomy can be not only disastrous but horrific as well. And it is through the steady restoration of the God-image within us, that He wants us to respond and engage the great evils like Genocide as well. Bottom line we should be willing, because Christ was willing and able.

Regardless of what the great psychologists propose, the answer cannot come solely from us – the scriptures are clear on this. In the same spirit of Isaiah 60:1-3, It is the living light from Christ, and His incarnational presence within us, that illuminates 1. The way, 2. reveals wickedness and 3. brings hope by driving back the darkness.

3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴ Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. ⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶ and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷ and to godliness, brotherly kindness;and to brotherly kindness, love. ⁸ For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:3-8)

The Scriptures are clear that we are to be a "people of God" (1 Peter 2:9-12); and that through genuinely transformed (2 Cor. 3:18) lives made over in the manner of Christ. Therefore because of our newly transformed nature we can have the capacity, alluded to by Paul in Colossians 2:6:-13 - to transcend worldly, even malevolent circumstances like Genocide; freeing ourselves from the corruptive affects of the surrounding darkness. The more we mature in the light of Christ, the more He shines permitting us to be the kind of transformational agents (1 Peter 4:7-11) this is what the world desperately needs the Christian to be… steadfastly overcoming the particularly stygian dark pockets of Genocide within the world (2 Corinthians 4-6-11). Further permitting Christians to escape the charge of being complicitous or Bystanders and as we faithfully engage in the role of rescuers of victims within a Genocidal ethos, and call perpetrators to some kind of account.

In essence, the question should be asked: "What have to be the fundamental characteristics of a Christian that would transform their inner nature in such a way that they are able to transcend the present and great manifestations of evil; and become proactively a transformational agent over it instead?" What are some of the Biblical truths and principles that we could follow to help us in this way? How might one's Christian Spiritual Formation provide the necessary ingredients to equip Christians to keep from being a Perpetrator or Bystander within a Genocidal context on one hand; and to know the appropriate response of being some kind of rescuer for those who are Genocide victims?

Thoughts From Others...

Ignatius of Antioch
During His Martyrdom
(117 AD)

I Am The Wheat of God,
And Let Me Be Ground Up
By The Teeth of Wild Beasts,
That I May Be Found The Pure Bread of Christ...
...Let Fire and The Cross;
Let The Crowds of Wild Beasts;
Let Tearings, Breakings and Dislocations of Bones;
Let Cutting Off of Members;
Let Shatterings of The Whole Body;
And Let All The Dreadful Tortures of The Devil Come Upon Me;
Only Let Me Get To Christ


If your heart is free from ill-ordered affection, no good deed will be difficult for you. - Thoms a' Kempis


What The Soul Is In The Body,
That Christians Are In The World

Epistle to Diognetus 130 AD

The Heart is Stretched Through Suffering
And Enlarged

But O' The Agony of This Enlarging of the Heart,
That One May Be Prepared To Enter Into
The Anguish Of Another.

Thomas R. Kelly - A Testament of Devotion

It Has Been Rightly Written That 'uno mystica' (Mystical Union With Christ) Is The Heart of Calvin's Spirituality

John Tyson


BELIEVING WHAT WE SAY WE BELIEVE:

Soren Kierkegaard once said: "Most systematizers stand in the same relation to their systems as the man who builds a great castle and lives in an adjoining shack; they do not live in their great systematic structure. Metaphorically speaking, a person's ideas must be the building he lives in --- otherwise there is something terribly wrong