Four Spiritual Laws<\/a> tract, just in case you haven\u2019t used it or heard it:<\/p>\nJust as there are physical laws that govern the physical universe, so are there spiritual laws which govern your relationship with God.<\/span><\/p>\nLaw One<\/span>: God LOVES you, and offers a wonderful PLAN for your life.<\/span><\/p>\n God\u2019s Love<\/span>: \u201cFor God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.\u201d (John 3:16 see notes)<\/span><\/p>\n God\u2019s Plan: <\/span>Jesus said, \u201cI came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly\u201d (that it might be full and meaningful)<\/span>
(John 10:10 see notes)<\/span><\/p>\n Why is it that most people are not experiencing the abundant life?<\/span><\/p>\n Because\u2026 [next Law]<\/span><\/p>\nPremise<\/span>: the \u201claws\u201d introduction is modernist, to be sure, but it is (in my assessment) mostly rhetorical: it is a way of connecting the \u201creal\u201d world to the \u201cspiritual\u201d world. It is a bridge, a touchstone, a way of connecting to modernists who think of the world in terms of laws. I\u2019m no scientist, but I do know that scientists today don\u2019t like this idea of \u201claws\u201d (it gets its classical orientation among the Deists). Today they are talking about \u201cstring theory\u201d and \u201cbraneworlds\u201d and \u201cHiggs field,\u201d and the like, and are much less certain of laws of science that describe the real world. I leave it to the scientists to come to terms with these things. But, if they are nervous about scientific laws, then perhaps the correlation in the spiritual world has undergone as much of a revolution.<\/p>\nNow, because the correlation thing is mine (the law statement is a rhetorical move to connect the real world with the spiritual world) and I may not be as accurate about this as someone else might be, what I say now is of less weight: if it is the case that this \u201claw\u201d premise is an attempt to connect the \u201creal\u201d world to the \u201cspiritual\u201d world, then I would disagree right here: the distinction between the physical world and the spiritual world doesn\u2019t obtain for me. We are wholes \u2014 heart, soul, mind, body, community, world \u2014 and the whole thing comes unravelled into analytical bits when we begin to break this wholeness apart.<\/p>\n
The two points<\/span> are this: God loves \u201cyou\u201d and offers a \u201cplan\u201d for your life.<\/p>\nThat God is love and that therefore he loves the world and that therefore he loves us and that therefore he loves \u201cme\u201d (or \u201cyou\u201d) is clear enough, but there is a lot left out in going from \u201cworld\u201d to \u201cyou.\u201d And furthermore, it is highly individualistic and (Western and all that) to begin with the Individual as the Object of God\u2019s own special love.<\/p>\n
But, I do believe that God\u2019s love for individuals<\/span> was shown dramatically in Jesus, so my point is less what is said and more what is not<\/span> said.<\/p>\nWhich leads me to my first serious disagreement with The Four Spiritual Laws<\/span>: humans are treated as Individuals<\/span> and God\u2019s love is treated as an abstraction. The fundamental reality of gospeling is not based on that Individual-God abstraction of God\u2019s love and plan, but on the reality of experiencing and seeing and knowing love in the face of an Other. This is quite a claim so let me explain briefly: humans are not logical machines who wake up one morning and conclude \u201cI am special\u201d and \u201cGod must love me\u201d and therefore \u201cGod does love me\u201d and therefore \u201cI must respond.\u201d The foundation for evangelism is relationship and not mere abstract thinking. Nearly everyone comes to faith through the face of an Other: parents, siblings, close friends, etc.. Is this an accident? Or is this part of the gospel itself? Is community part of the gospel or not?<\/p>\nPerhaps the users of The Four Spiritual Laws<\/span> will tell me, which they have told me, that it is the personal relationship between the \u201cuser\u201d of The Four Spiritual Laws and the \u201cpotential convert\u201d that makes the whole thing work. I tend to believe them, but the relational part is not part of The Four Spiritual Laws <\/span>and I think it ought to be.<\/p>\nThat God loves \u201cyou\u201d is incontestable to me; God is love; God created out of an overflow of that love; love is at the foundation of everything. Jesus \u201ctaught\u201d this love because first of all he \u201cwrought\u201d this love: in other words, those around Jesus learned God\u2019s love by being loved by Jesus and by being invited to sit at his table and by being challenged by his words and by being overwhelmed by his entire life (birth to ascension and intercession). At the heart of the Western Church gospel is this problem with Individualism and it starts right here when we shape the gospel apart from its ecclesial shape in the Bible.<\/p>\n
Now about the plan<\/span> for \u201cyour life<\/span><\/span><\/span>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nWhen Bill Bright tells us that God\u2019s plan is \u201cabundant life,\u201d which he does tell us because that is the verse he quotes from John 10, I\u2019m indeed curious to see what he will do with it. There are two senses to what he means by this, and the three remaining laws will bring this to the surface as will the final conclusion\/invitation: first, it could mean \u201ceternal life\u201d in the sense of \u201cforever living with God\u201d or \u201cgoing to heaven.\u201d And second it could mean a new birth and a Christ-directed life.<\/p>\n
If he means \u201conly\u201d the first, then I disagree: but I\u2019m certain he does not mean that, and that he means both the first and second.<\/p>\n
Which means I have only one serious squabble with this direction of the \u201cabundant life.\u201d Namely, again, it is purely Individualistic. It will be defined in Law #4 as Christ on the throne, Self yielding to Christ, and one\u2019s interests being directed by Christ, resulting in harmony with God\u2019s plan.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here is the First Spiritual Law of Bill Bright\u2019s famous Four Spiritual Laws tract, just in case you haven\u2019t used it or heard it: Just as there are physical laws that govern the physical universe, so are there spiritual laws which govern your relationship with God. Law One: God LOVES you, and offers a wonderful […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[806],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gospel"],"yoast_head":"\n
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