Willard on Discipleship and Heaven

Perhaps I'll get back to posting once finals are over, but for now here's a quote from Dallas Willard.

From The Divine Conspiracy (page 301f):

The division of professing Christians into those for whom it is a matter of whole-life devotion to God and those who maintain a consumer, or client, relationship to the church has now been an accepted reality for over fifteen hundred years. . . . It is now understood to be a part of the "good news" that one does not have to be a life student of Jesus in order to be a Christian and receive forgiveness of sins. This gives a precise meaning to the phrase "cheap grace," though it would be better described as "costly faithlessness."

. . . I want it to be very clear that I am not saying only "true disciples" of Jesus make it to heaven after death. Indeed, I believe that that is not t rue, though I would not encourage anyone to stop short of discipleship. Nevertheless I know that as far as forgiveness alone is concerned, the tenderness of god is far greater than we will ever understand on earth or perhaps elsewhere.

That is surely what it means to say that he gave his unique Son to die on our behalf. I am thoroughly convinced that God will let everyone in to heaven who, in his considered opinion, can stand it. But "standing it" may prove to be a more difficult matter than those who take their view of heaven from popular movies or popular preaching may think. The fires in heaven may be hotter than those in the other place.

. . . There is a widespread notion that just passing though death transforms human character. Discipleship is not needed. Just believe enough to "make it." But I have never been able to find any basis in scriptural tradition or psychological reality to think this might be so. What if death only forever fixes us as the kind of person we are at death? What would one do in heaven with a debauched character or a hate-filled heart?

-------
On a side note I won second place in the Tufts Graduate Student Photo Contest with these two pictures (two which I wouldn't have put at the top of my submissions):

New Camera!

Jen got me a new camera for a late birthday present (my fault for being late, not hers) and it came in Monday. It's a Canon S3 IS and I love it.

I yesterday afforded me some time around Tufts and Boston to try out my new toy. I thought I would share a few of my favorites.

On a side note I joined the Boston Photography Meetup, a group for amateur and professional photographers to get together and interact and learn. My first meeting is tonight--hope I'm not out of my league.

Zebra Fish Embryo

I saw this video (sans narration) in my Biomedical Engineering Seminar this morning (by Donald E. Ingber from Harvard). It was truly an excellent talk--wish they were all so good.

I think this video of the development of a zebra fish embryo is absolutely amazing. Enjoy!

The Ineffectiveness of Talking Head Preaching

I've been thinking about and struggling with the concepts of teaching and preaching as they applied in the early church and in house churches. I read this today over on the House Church Blog. I think that some of the problems with preaching (as done) are accurately diagnosed, and a treatment is offered as well. Check it out and let me know what you think--I'm still trying to figure this one out.

Boundry Conditioning

Here's an interesting video. I think it has implications for the Church. (HT* The Forgotten Way)



This PS2 add (I really don't get how it's advertising the PS2) is a great illustration of the problem of centered vs bounded sets. Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch discuss this concept in their book, The Shaping of Things to Come (an excellent book that I'd recommend to anyone who has any interest in the past or future of the body of Christ). Ben Cheek also references this idea in his very good e-book examining the person of Jesus, Revolutionary. Since I'm short on time (and since he does a better job than I can) I'm going to quote from Ben (book 4 page 9 and following).

Frost and Hirsch use this as an illustration to demonstrate the difference between bounded sets and centered sets. A set is a collection of objects, or in the case of the spiritual community, people. A bounded set is a group of people defined by their boundary and by their separation form others. On the other hand, a centered set is defined by their center and their relationship relative to that center (how close they are to the center).

Churches that see themselves as bounded sets have a clear line of who’s in and who’s out. Those inside the boundary all have certain minimal qualities in common like baptism, membership, doctrine, etc. The point is to get unbelievers or non-Christians to become believers or Christians by crossing the boundary. The work of the leaders is to tend the fence, make sure none of those inside “cross the fence” and are lost, and in some cases they prevent others from getting in who are outsiders and don’t
belong.

In contrast, churches that see themselves as centered sets have no clear line of who’s in and who’s out — in the broadest sense of the group, everyone who has any kind of connection at all is in. What all the people have in common is a relationship to the center, but these relationships vary considerably in closeness, quality, strength, and style. The point is — whether you consider yourself a Christian or a not-yet-Christian — to move closer to the center of the set: towards Christ and his core values. The work of the leaders in a centered set community is to link to people and to the center. Like rescue workers, they use their relationship to Jesus as an anchor line, while they extend relationships to those farther out (regardless of their Christian/non-Christian, member/non-member status), which they use to pull them in closer.

I'd recommend picking up Shaping or downloading Revolutionary. This is an important thing for Christ's church to think about.

-----
* HT: (I just found this today) blogging jargon for "Hat Tip" or, in other words, the source for where the blogger found the content for his blog