Category Archives: Tools

September 11, 2014

Do We Need It?: Spiritual Formation #1

By Clarke Morledge
Dallas Willard. Pioneer for the renewal of spiritual formation in the contemporary church.

Dallas Willard. Pioneer for the renewal of spiritual formation in the contemporary church.

What is spiritual formation? Do we really need it?

Spiritual formation is a term that gets tossed around quite a bit in churches today, but there is a lot of confusion as to what it means. Some are even downright suspicious of the idea. This hesitancy is understandable. In the broader culture, we find a lot of appeals to so-called “spirituality.” There is spirituality in the workplace, spirituality Oprah-Winfrey-style to beat the rat-race, spirituality all over the place.

But as the late Dallas Willard observed, this type of generic approach to spiritual formation is misguided:

Human beings are, as such, supposed to have a spirituality. And in a sense they do. They remain spiritual beings, with all that implies. But on their own they’re dead spiritually. They’re cut off from the source of spiritual life. Yet what we are seeing and what we will continue to see is an attempt to take the merely human, dead in trespasses and sins, and make that into ‘spirituality’, framing it culturally, artistically, and in other ways (from the essay, Spiritual Formation: What it is, and How it is Done.)

In other words, spiritual formation without the Holy Spirit really does not lead to the type of life promised to the believer in Christ.

Earlier on Veracity, we briefly explored some of the basic ideas behind a Christian approach to spiritual formation. When we read Romans 12:1-2, we learn that the Apostle Paul urges us not to be conformed to the values of this world but instead to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. What does this mean and what does this look like in the daily life of the Christian? The answer to this question gets to heart of what genuine Christian spiritual formation is all about.

Here again, is Dallas Willard, from the same essay:

Spiritual formation in the tradition of Jesus Christ is the process of transformation of the inmost dimension of the human being, the heart, which is the same as the spirit or will. It is being formed (really, transformed) in such a way that its natural expression comes to be the deeds of Christ done in the power of Christ.

Transformation: As the Apostle Paul teaches in Romans 8:9-11, if Jesus Christ is in someone, then that person becomes spiritually alive. To be in Christ, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, means taking on the character of Christ (Galatians 4:19).

The problem is that many Christians are great at acquiring knowledge, but they are not so great about putting what they have learned into practice. On an intellectual level, we may be able to grasp the theology, but in terms of our day to day experience, our level of spirituality might actually be rather shallow. The challenge is this: practically speaking, what does it mean to take on the character of Christ in your life?

Here I want to try to address some of the misunderstandings Christians often have about spiritual formation. Like any misunderstandings of this sort, there are grains of truth that we should keep in mind.
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July 21, 2014

Announcements

By John Paine

Just a few announcements for our regular readers…

Kaqexeß Page

A couple of years ago our church’s director of Christian education told me about a meeting she had with our associate pastor during which he tossed around the idea of creating online self-directed Bible study courses—a “Chapel U” website as it were. We didn’t have the institutional resources to pull off such an ambitious undertaking, and having just launched Veracity I had plenty to keep me busy. But the idea of self-directed Bible study was intriguing, so I thought it might be helpful to catalog the posts that Clarke and I write on the blog. Maybe someday we might have enough content that people could do a kind of self-directed study.

We pretty much write about whatever our current devotional interests are, with no real agenda or curriculum. Our five most recent posts show up on our home page, then roll off to the automatic archives. But since the very beginning we have also cataloged them in a logical order on our Kaqexeß page, where readers can do topical, self-directed Bible study. We are now closing in on 300 published posts, and if you really worked through them you would have a decent shot at holding your own in discussions about the claims and content of the Bible. (Actually, most of our readers can hold their own regardless, but we have been blessed with feedback from those who learned a great deal from these posts.)

Please check out our Kaqexeß page and see if you have any comments or suggestions as to how we might make this material more accessible and useful. (We also take requests from readers about topics you’d like to see covered on the blog.)

Charlotte Apologetics Conference

Charlotte BBQ

Where is this place? Sign up for the NCCA conference to find out.

The early bird discount for the 2014 National Conference on Christian Apologetics will not be available after July 31st. The conference doubled its attendance last year to over 2,400 attendees, and registration had to be closed due to space limitations. The 2014 conference is moving to a larger facility, and a strong turnout is expected. If you want to give a boost to your devotional life, attending this conference is the way to go. The speakers are subject matter experts, and are quite engaging and entertaining. The conference is scheduled for October 10 and 11, and only costs $90 for early bird registrants (with two box lunches, which you’ll want). Let us know that you signed up, and I’ll tell you where you can find good local barbecue, apples and cider.

H-E-A-R-T Tournament

H-E-A-R-T

H-E-A-R-T

Our friends Debbie and Rob Smith are holding their 12th Annual H-E-A-R-T golf tournament on October 1st, at the Golden Horseshoe’s Green Course in Williamsburg.  Help out a great ministry with a hole sponsorship, or sign up a team using this registration form.

Debbie Smith is the only person I know who has a federal law named in her honor, with a movie to tell her story. She’s been on 60 Minutes, Oprah, and a large number of programs, testified before Congress, and has received three gubernatorial appointments. From my limited perspective, Debbie and Rob Smith exemplify the power of church community in the aftermath of personal trauma. If you are not familiar with their incredible story, read about it here on their website.

Veracity Readers Out On The Town

We don’t do it as often as we should, but to mark a milestone birthday several Veracity readers and I took my dear wife Marion to the Williamsburg Inn. We’ve attended so many funerals this year it occurred to us that special celebrations like this one are among the most cherished memories we can have. The evening was fabulous, and I am truly blessed to count these dear people among my family and friends—particularly Marion, whom I count doubly.

Marion's Birthday

Marion’s Birthday

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May 31, 2014

William Lane Craig’s Defenders Series

By John Paine
William Lane Craig's Defenders Series

Dr. Craig teaches his Defenders class at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia Sundays at 11:15 a.m. (in the Fellowship Hall). If you’re in the Atlanta area treat yourself to some very fine teaching.

Last weekend Marion and I drove to Atlanta to visit our son and daughter-in-law. On the long drive down we listened to William Lane Craig’s podcasts, specifically his Defenders series.

Dr. Craig is one of the premier voices in contemporary Christianity and is quite likely the strongest debater to oppose atheists around the globe. Whether you agree with his views or not, he cannot be dismissed offhand. He has published scores of books, teaches in seminaries, is routinely interviewed in national and international media, and has debated many of the world’s most popular atheists. So it’s somewhat surprising that with all he has got going on he has made a sacrificial time commitment to teach a Sunday school class.

Marion and I popped over to Marietta to sit in on the class and were welcomed by everyone in attendance, particularly by Jan Craig, who is a vital part of her husband’s ministry. We had a warm discussion after the class about how Reasonable Faith functions. It really is remarkable how much they are able to accomplish. The time and financial demands are enormous, so please pray for them and their ministry.

Dr. Craig’s material, including the entire Defenders series, is available at ReasonableFaith.org. The audio files are loaded within a day or so of the class, and the videos are loaded about a month later. There is a large catalog already available online.

If you’ve tried listening to Dr. Craig’s podcasts before, you may have come across some very heady philosophy. After all, he is a professional philosopher. But these Sunday school classes are disentangled—aimed at a target audience of intelligent Bible students, not the academic intelligentsia.

Dr. Craig has been producing his current Defenders series since 2009. This series on Christian doctrine and apologetics has become an epic work. The material is quite refreshing. He presents both sides of opposing doctrinal views fairly and respectfully, without sidestepping his positions. Those of us who have studied under Dick Woodward will find Dr. Craig’s Defenders series to be the perfect complement to Dick’s Mini Bible College series. Dick used to say his goal was to, “Put the cookies on the bottom shelf,” and he was masterful at doing so. If you have studied the Mini Bible College, you might think of the Defenders series as graduate school.

Did I ever imagine I would be interested in Christian doctrine? Nope, never—not many people are, really. But the more I read and study, the more I realize how vitally important sound doctrine and theology are to biblical understanding. Dr. Craig’s Defenders series is not some esoteric exercise for eggheads and theologians, but a profound labor of love that puts the Christian faith within reach of those who are willing to study and think.

If we want to share the Christian faith we must first understand what that faith really is—and we have to be prepared to defend it. The apostle Peter exhorted us to “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15). Doctrine and apologetics…a powerful combination.

 

HT: Jan and William Lane Craig

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July 27, 2013

Bible Infographics

By John Paine

Sometimes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”  Sometimes a picture can convey more truth than words.  Sometimes a picture helps reinforce a thousand words.  We use lots of pictures on Veracity—art, photographs, videos, and infographics.

Here are just a few examples of good Bible infographics.  Click on the images and hyperlinks to visit the sites of these amazingly creative folks.  You’ll find some real gems if you take a little time to explore the content.

Visual Unit

New Testament Reliability
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June 29, 2013

Old Testament Fit To Hebrew History

By John Paine

The Old Testament

 

Here’s a simple graphical representation of the books of the Old Testament, tied to Hebrew history.

I recently came across Tim Challies’ Visual Theology series, and his Periodic Table of the Bible.  The notes about that table state that he and graphic artist Josh Byers decided not to include chronology or the relative size of the books in their depiction.  That was intriguing because for some unknown reason I always thought it would be nice to have a chart indicating the size of the books of the Bible—suitable for taping to dashboards or refrigerators for memorization.  Inspired by Challies and Byers, I started noodling around.  It seemed pretty straightforward, at first, until it was time to fill in the authors and dates.

Among reliable references there is a lot of disagreement about who actually penned the books of the Bible, and when they were written.  Take the debate a step further by tying the dates of writing to Hebrew history (about which there is also considerable disagreement), and we have a formidable academic can of worms to sort through. Continue reading

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