Re: [TruthTalk] More wisdom from Dallas Willard

[Debbie Sawczak]

We are all in danger of mistaking something else for God and loving it instead; you could say that this is the definition of the fallen human condition. It is not only liberals (none of whom are on TT anyway, so I hope the below wasn't aimed at anybody) who are open to this. It often seems to me that many "conservatives" identify Christ with their Correct Theology: they ascribe salvation to their theology rather than to our God, exalt it, and are in love with it. It is immutable, because it is God. I guess I should be using the first person; I have been in this situation myself and thought that what I loved was God.    Rather than practise suspicion or self-righteousness, then, let's encourage one another. One test of whether we love God, after all, according to the Apostle John, is whether we love our brother and sister. A little phileo thrown in wouldn't hurt either. This of course sounds like mush to some people.   Debbie   ----- Original Message ----- From: ShieldsFamily To: TruthTalk@mail.innglory.org Sent: Sunday, April 17, 2005 11:45 PM Subject: [TruthTalk] More wisdom from Dallas Willard             “The bane of the more liberal branches of Christian theology today is that they are unable to present a God who could actually be loved.  They say a great deal about love—especially in connection with things such as community and respect and liberation—but what comes out in the end is something very like the words of the song, “Falling in Love with Love.”               What is to be loved is love itself, very often identified with nothing more than a certain sense of community. And then perhaps some words about God being love are tacked on. But what is actually conveyed is that love is ultimate. That says something quite different, however, from the N.T. revelation of God in Jesus, which made it clear that the love of God is like no love known among humanity.               Basically, modern attempts to think about God independently of historical revelation have been thoroughly victimized by currents of 19th and 20th century philosophy that simply make knowledge of God—and maybe everything else—an impossibility. Indeed, something laughable. This forces one to handle the texts and traditions of Jesus in such a way that he can never bring us to a personal God whom we can love with all our being. “   Dallas Willard~The Divine Conspiracy