The Dynamic In Christian Spiritual Formation

Behind Every Sin

There Is Temptation [peirasmos]

Behind Every Temptation [peirasmos]**

There is a Test [peirasmos]

Behind Every Test [peirasmos]

There is intended godly Wisdom and Illumination

Behind godly Wisdom and Illumination

There is Awareness For Divine Direction

Behind Awareness and Divine Direction

There is True Fulfillment for our
Dire Personal Needs...

(Because of Our Depravity, Brokenness & Woundedness)*

Behind the Fulfillment of Our True Needs

There is Peace [Shalom] & Restoration [Imago Dei]**

Apart From These...

There is only Our Falleness

Behind Our Falleness

There is Only SUFFERING & DEATH****


Note*

Depravity = The Will & Desire To Sin
Brokenness = The Image of God is Damaged
Woundedness = What Others Do To Us That
Accelerates & Intensifies Our Depravity &
Brokenness

Note: **

Cornelius Plantinga offers the following comments and definition of "Shalom."

"This webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight is what the Hebrew prophets called shalom. We call it "peace," but it means far more than than just peace of mind or cease-fire between enemies. (As a matter of fact, the area-over which two armies may declare a cease fire-fire may be acres of smoldering ruins.) In the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight - a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, all under the arch of God's love. Shalom, in other words, is the way things are supposed to be."


Note***

That which is in Red represents "Sin Management"
This is where most Christians live out their entire faith

That which is in Green represents: "The Inner
Life In Christ"

rsg 10/30/2009

Thoughts To Ponder On - From "UnSpeakable" by Os Guinness

If there is not God to blame for evil,

the we humans are fully responsible.

But if evil in the modern world has grown worse rather than better,

are we really capable or worthy of such responsibility?

Os Guinness


A Basic Fact of Life

Is That Any Of Us May Suffer

And All Of Us Will Die

Os Guinness



There Is No Time, No Part of The Globe

Free From Evil

'The Crust Of The Earth Is Soaked With The Tears of The Suffering

Eleonore Stump


A Single Death Is A Tragedy,

A Million Deaths Is A Statistic

Joseph Stalin


It Is Easier To Denature Plutonium

Than To Denature The Evil Spirit Of Man

Albert Einstein


Historian Will Durant

... There Have Been Only Twenty-Nine Years

In Which There Was No War Under Way Somewhere,

But Does This Say Something Overwhelming About Us As Humans

Or Is It Only A Tasty Morsel For Dinner Party Conversation


Raph Waldo Emerson

He Has Seen But Half The Universe

Who Has Never Been Shown The House of Pain.

As The Salt Sea Covers More Than Two-Thirds Of The Surface Of The Globe

So Sorrow Encroaches In Man On Felicity