ogilvy Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 Recently I've been revisiting some books I used to love. along the theme of 'a closer walk with Jesus', also known as 'the second blessing' or 'the higher life' or 'the deeper life' or 'the consecrated life'. i.e. not just following the rules of Christianity, but being transformed spiritually so that Jesus Christ becomes literally one's all. Well that never happened to me, disappointingly. I read so many stories of people it happened to, like Hudson Taylor and John Wesley and others I can't remember the names of offhand. Oh yes, and Watchman Nee and Charles Haddon Spurgeon. They were people who were living a frustrating life of trying to follow Christianiy but not having experienced being 'reborn', so they were trying to live it 'in the flesh' only. How they got to the next level I'm not really sure. Andrew Murray calls it surrendering one's will to Christ. I tried to surrender but I didn't really want to surrender myself. And there's a terribly depressing explanation that the writers on the theme give along the lines of 'we already have the gift of the Holy Spirit, having Christ in us, but we just haven't APPROPRIATED it'. What I always wondered, and wonder again having revisited the books, is, if one didn't read these books, would one find such explanations in the Bible itself, re how to be 'on fire for Christ' as the apostles were after the day of Pentecost. Why is the Bible not enough to tell us how to make it happen? Maybe some people do just read the Bible, and the full converstion happens to them spontaneously. But why would others have to try so hard and read so many books on the subject to learn how to make it happen? Anyway, it was very very disappointing to me, that it didn't happen in my case, despite searching for the experience, over 20 years. Would all those 'great Christians' have been lying? Why did all their stories coincide then? Did they copy from each other and all share the same delusion? Did people really get down to the last crust of bread for their family, set the table and say grace, pray, and have someone knock on the door and leave them a basket of food? Or do all those Christians lie about such miraculous answers to praying in faith? I just don't get it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyone Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 Would all those 'great Christians' have been lying? Why did all their stories coincide then? Did they copy from each other and all share the same delusion? Did people really get down to the last crust of bread for their family, set the table and say grace, pray, and have someone knock on the door and leave them a basket of food? Or do all those Christians lie about such miraculous answers to praying in faith? I just don't get it. When people answer prayers, it means that people are helping people. I would be surprized if some of those delivering bread to a starving family weren't atheists. Also, most of these things don't happen in a vacuum. One person speaks to another, word gets around, someone has a little humanity and generosity and decides to help. Call that a miracle if you like, but it's people helping people - the most natural thing in the world. As for their experiences, they are speaking about a frame of mind. When my wife was having psychological problems, I made a commitment to myself and her as deep as any commitment to an imaginary religious figure. I was on my knees, holding her to keep her from doing something self-destructive, and I thought she was going to beat the crap out of my head, but I wasn't going anywhere. I was the answer to the prayers she never made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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