Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
Igzy, I don't see this as a conflict. Transformation, renewing, forming, and His spreading / working into our soul metabolically are what happen within us when the Lord teaches us, we study His word in the light, He speaks to us, we obey Him, we have a loving relationship with Him, we behold His face, we speak for Him, we suffer on His behalf, etc.
In his later minister WL definitely emphasized the former, while you now prefer the latter. If we were forced to choose between the teachings of the former or those of the latter, we both would choose the latter because then the Lord is more real and approachable and simpler, as you say. Excessive emphasis on the former makes us passive, as you say, and like mystical esoterics. This is why LSM can go on teaching this abstract theology while blatantly disregarding simple instructions like "don't sue your brother."
I definitely agree that WL made the whole thing too mechanical and impersonal. He used Romans chap. 8 to teach that the whole "God process" is scientific, like turning on a light switch. I remember numerous meetings / messages in this regard. Gradually over time, WL left the "relational" or experiential teachings of the early days, and became objective and systematic, a "Methodist" if you will. I believe there were definite reasons for this decline in his ministry.
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Ohio,
I concur. Like I said, I can't say for sure nothing "metabolic" is going on (whatever metabolic really means). But I can't control that, nor can I measure it. All I know is what I'm allowing myself to think at any point in time.
I can control that, and that's all I can control. Anything metabolic is in Someone else's hands. I just know he's guiding me and changing me, mostly, in my experience, by enlightening my mind and softening my heart. Whether that is done metabolically or by virtue of me just "getting it," I don't know. I think that is beyond us.