Dr. John Piippo - How God Changes the Human Heart

Many thanks to Carol Dougherty-Steptoe!

(I am re-posting this for a friend.)

The Joy of Living Without Things

(Our back yard)

The biblical idea of contentment is circumstance-independent. As are peace, joy, love and so on. 

The "fruit of the Spirit" is circumstance-independent. Were this not so, things like inner peace would be conditional, and that's bad news for all of us. That is, "IF I have _________, THEN I will have inner peace."

This "If... then" mentality results in our being captive to our circumstances.

Philip Yancey shares this story In his excellent book on prayer.

"I remembered reading the account of a spiritual seeker who interrupted a busy life to spend a few days in a monastery. “I hope your stay is a blessed one,” said the monk who showed the visitor to his cell. “If you need anything, let us know and we’ll teach you how to live without it.”" (Yancey, Prayer, Kindle Locations 1012-1015)

JOY! (Henri Nouwen on...)

 I preached last Sunday at Redeemer on JOY! (Listen here.)

My definition of 'joy' is:

It's been a strange two days. I was scheduled to have hip replacement surgery this morning at 7:30. Yesterday, surgeries at our local hospital were canceled due to a Covid surge. I was supposed to have the surgery, then be placed in a room overnight. I got the call from the hospital yesterday late afternoon telling me there are no available rooms.

So, instead of being at the hospital and coming through the surgery, I am upstairs in my home office doing morning prayer time. One of the devotionals I am using is You Are the Beloved, by Henri Nouwen. The December 14 entry is on Joy. Nouwen writes,

"Joy does not come from positive predictions about the state of the world. It does not depend on the ups and downs of the circumstances of our lives. Joy is based on the spiritual knowledge that, while the world in which we live is shrouded in darkness, God has overcome the world. Jesus says it loudly and clearly: “In the world you will have troubles, but rejoice, I have overcome the world.” 

The surprise is not that, unexpectedly, things turn out better than expected. No, the real surprise is that God’s light is more real than all the darkness, that God’s truth is more powerful than all human lies, that God’s love is stronger than death." (P. 380)

The Presence Driven Church

***
My four books are:

Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God

Leading the Presence-Driven Church

Encounters with the Holy Spirit (co-edited with Janice Trigg)

Deconstructing Progressive Christianity

Remembering as a Cure for Fear

(Dandelion seeds in my front yard)

I will remember the deeds 

of the Lord in my life.

Linda’s mother suffered from Alzheimer’s Disease for many years. This horrible illness caused her to slowly lose her memory. One result of her memory loss was an increase of fear. 

One afternoon Linda, her mother Martha, her father Del, and I were shopping in a mall. At one point Linda and Del left for an hour to shop together, while I stayed with Martha. We sat together for a minute, and then she looked at me, her eyes filled with panic, and asked, “Where’s Del?!” 

“He’s shopping with Linda. He’ll be right back,” I responded. 

This put Martha at ease. But only for a few minutes. Forgetting what I had just said, Martha looked at me again, and asked, “Where’s Del?” 

“He’s with Linda. He’ll be right back.” 

This happened several times in an hour, with Martha forgetting, me reminding her, she calming down, then forgetting and filled with fear, asking “Where’s Del?”, and me reminding her again. Martha not only had forgotten what I said to her, she had forgotten a more basic truth, which was: in Del, she had a husband who would never, ever, leave her or forsake her. He was always by her side, Alzheimer’s or not.  

There is a “spiritual Alzheimer’s disease” which results in forgetting the many times God has rescued and delivered us, provided for us, and been with us. Such forgetting breeds fear. The more one forgets the deeds of God in one’s own life, the more one becomes fearful in the present moment. 

The antidote to this is: remembering. 

“Remembering” is huge in the Old Testament. The post-Exodus experience of Israel is grounded in remembrance. The Jewish festivals are remember-events, such as Passover, when the head of the household sits with his family and asks, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” In response, the past is recounted, and we hear again how God delivered their people out of bondage in Egypt. This remembering, reminding them of God’s past faithfulness, brings fresh hope. 

My spiritual journal functions as the written memory of the voice and deeds of God, in my life. I take time every year to re-ponder my journals. In doing so, I remember what God has done for me, how he has delivered me from bondage, and how he has answered many of my prayers. I re-read of past times when I was afraid, or worried, and then re-read how God came through, and my worry dissipated. 

I do not, I will not, forget the deeds of the Lord in my life. The spiritual discipline of remembering brings renewed hope in the present, defeating the onset of spiritual Alzheimer’s disease.

- From my book Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God, Chapter 13, "Praying and Remembering" 

Does Prayer Work?

 

                                                                     (Our front yard)

(This is from my book Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God.)

I believe the question, “Does prayer work?”, can only be answered by those who have committed themselves to a life of praying. 

I have kept journals recording my prayer life since 1977. My journals total over 3500 pages. I have had many incidences where the best explanation for an event, as far as I can tell, is that it is an answer to my prayers. 

I have much personal experience with praying. This is important to me because of a deep philosophical belief I have, which is: experience, not theory, breeds conviction. So, I’m going to be praying today, and tomorrow. I would not pray if I thought it did not work. (This reasoning is by via negativa.) 

It is important for me to say this. I don’t expect my experience to convince others. But this is my experience, just as you have your experiences; therefore, I stand convinced. Call this an existential reason, without which I have no idea why I would pray (To religiously fake it? To impress others?).

I have taught praying to many people. My estimate is that I have taught at least 3500 pastors and Christian leaders about praying. 1500 of them have engaged in six weeks of praying, one hour a day, five days a week. They have kept journals recording their prayer experiences. They have sent their journals to me. I have read them. These students have been, literally, from all over the world. A few have invited me to their countries to teach prayer to their people and colleagues. I have a broad, deep, data base of people who committed themselves to actually praying. These people tell of experiences and events that deepen my already-held conviction that prayer works. 

I have studied, and taught, the history of prayer and praying. I am familiar with the praying lives of many historical figures. The end result of my studies has been to inspire me to continue to pray. 

Scholarly, empirical studies of prayer and praying support my existential belief in the veridicality of praying. Such as, to cite but two, Testing Prayer: Science and Healing, by Candy Gunther Brown; and The Psychology of Prayer: A Scientific Approach, by Bernard Spilka and Kevin Ladd. 

I have read countless counterexamples to my belief that prayer works. I’ve read innumerable atheistic (and other) arguments claiming that the statement Prayer works is false. I began reading this counter-literature in 1971, as an undergraduate philosophy student. (Beware - philosophy makes you read opposing ideas!) I have little sympathy with atheists who have never had a praying life and, out of their non-engagement, believe they have falsified the claim that prayer works. Their theoretical arguments, which are logical manifestations of their worldview, do not dissuade me. 

I have also read many books by ex-theists who claim to have prayed like I have but found no reciprocity. I am sympathetic towards these testimonies. But note this: since my personal testimony is to the efficacity of praying, absence-testimonies do not persuade me any more than my testimony persuades an ex-believer. 

Jesus believed praying works. I believe Jesus is God incarnate. Therefore, I believe praying works. A major portion of my adult life has been spent immersed in Christological studies. I remain convinced that Jesus is who he claims to be. Note the pronoun ‘I’. I know why I believe praying works. Obviously I do believe praying works, since I continue doing it. Here personal knowledge is important (see Kierkegaard, and Michael Polanyi on "tacit knowledge."). 

I believe prayer works because I believe a personal God exists. If I did not believe this I would not pray, period. My praying life is a function of (is in direct proportion to) my belief in God. I have a deep, experiential, and philosophical belief that, not only does God exist as a personal agent, but God is good, God loves me, and God is working all things together for good. Because I am certain, as well as happy, that I am not the all-knowing, all-loving God, I know I do not have full epistemic access to what God is doing. I have prayed for things that, from my POV, seem unanswered. At this point my properly basic belief in God helps me trust that my prayers are not going unheard.

It Is Irrational and Unloving to Affirm All Beliefs

Sia, in a storefront in Ann Arbor

(This post is a shorter, edited version of "Welcoming and Sometimes Disaffirming." I just want to keep this ball in play.)

I was asked the question, "Would a Muslim be welcome in your church?"

My answer was, "Yes!"

And Buddhists, Hindus, and atheists are welcome, too.

I welcome all of them, as Jesus does the same. I would love to have them come. (I have had atheists come to Redeemer, who are mostly students who have been in my MCCC philosophy classes. A few of them have converted from atheism to theism, and then to Christianity.)

I say yes and amen to loving and welcoming all kinds of people. 

Does this mean I affirm all the beliefs of Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and atheists? Of course not. No one can logically (coherently) affirm contradictory beliefs. 

Consider, for example, the following three mutually exclusive beliefs.

1) God does not exist (atheism, and Buddhism)
2) There are 330,000,000 gods (Hinduism).
3) There is only one God (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam).

Unless a person is on drugs, it is not possible to say "true" to these three beliefs, held simultaneously. (Only people on drugs can sing the song "Imagine" and mean it.)

From this we learn an important truth: No one can affirm all the various beliefs of the world's religions. 

To believe something is, ipso facto, to deny many things. Beliefs, by nature, affirm and exclude.

Going further, No one person affirms all the beliefs of any other person. The fact that I, or you, do not affirm the beliefs of someone else should not be shocking. Anyone who claims to affirm someone else's entire belief system is to be dismissed as unbelievable.

Let me prove this. Consider the statement It is irrational to affirm all beliefs. If you think this statement is true, then you believe it is irrational to affirm all beliefs. If you think this statement is false, then you contradict yourself and prove the statement to be true, since you disaffirm the statement. 

In the Jesus worldview, I welcome and love all people. I do not (because it cannot be done, epistemically) affirm all the beliefs of people. It is irrational to expect that I should do so. It is not unloving to say, "I think you are wrong about that." It is unloving, because untruthful, to treat people as if our different beliefs are harmonious. 

The Words of Jesus Were Events

(Butterfly House, Whitehouse, Ohio)

I wrote my doctoral dissertation on metaphor theory and linguistic philosophy; especially, how metaphors refer. I draw on this research in my chapter on the language of presence-driven churches in my book Leading the Presence-Driven Church. 

One source is speech act theory (John Searle, and J. L. Austin's How to Do Things with Words). 

Henri Nouwen, in Gracias! A Latin American Journal, links Austin's idea that words have "illocutionary force" with the biblical idea that Jesus is "the Word." Nouwen writes:

"In Jesus, no division existed between his words and his actions, between what he said and what he did. Jesus’ words were his action, his words were events. They not only spoke about changes, cures, new life, but they actually created them. In this sense, Jesus is truly the Word made flesh; in that Word all is created and by that Word all is re-created."

Nouwen encourages us to have what I am calling illocutionary integrity.

"Saintliness means living without division between word and action. If I would truly live in my own life the word I am speaking, my spoken words would become actions, and miracles would happen whenever I open my mouth."

This Christmas, Abide in Him

(At the Gandy Dancer, in Ann Arbor)

A dying man's last words are said to be important.

I was in India, riding in the back seat of a car on a five hour ride from Hyderabad to Kurnool, on one of India's major highways. I could not sleep, even though I was jet-lag tired. India, by their own admission, leads the world in road deaths. 

I thought I was gong to die a hundred times or more on that trip! My driver was a crazed man in a land of psycho-drivers. He would routinely pass cars while going up a hill, or driving around a curve. Occasionally, he played "chicken" with an ongoing car, and sometimes with an oncoming truck. The game was to see who would "chicken out" first and swerve aside. This is beyond ridiculous, I thought, as my Indian friend and host slept soundly next to me through it all, as if this was the normal Christian life.

One time we passed a car going round a curve and came face to face with a truck. My driver swerved at the last moment. When I saw the truck coming at us, I said the following profound, almost-last-words-of-a-dead-man: "Oh no!" Had I died, whoever would do my funeral would have to say, "John the theologian's last words were, "Oh no!""

Jesus' Final Words, aka his "Final Discourse," were profound and continue to guide my life. We hear them in John, chapters fourteen through sixteen. 

The disciples are wondering what they will do when Jesus is gone. Jesus instructs them, and us.

He does not say, "Form some committees, and think of strategies to keep this thing going." He tells them: "Abide in me." 

Jesus says:  

Because I live, you also will live. 

On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, 

and you are in me, 

and I am in you. 

(John 14:19-20) 

Call this "reciprocal abiding." 

God comes to make his home in the heart of every Jesus-follower. Every Jesus-follower is to tend this inner fire by making his home in Jesus like a branch connects to a Vine.

As we abide in Christ we...

• do the kind of things Jesus has been doing (John 14:12)
• do greater things than Jesus has been doing (John 14:12)
• are taught and led by God himself (John 14:26)
• are immersed in Trinitarian peace (John 14:27)
• live lives that bear much fruit (John 15:5)
• live lives of true, God-love (John 15:9)
• are flooded with the kind of joy Jesus experiences (John 15:11)
• receive the Father's wisdom (John 15:15)
• bear fruit that will last (John 15:16)

Jesus' last teaching was:  

Connect. 

Attach.

Dwell. 

Remain. 

Abide. 

Slow-cook.

In Him. 

He lives, in and through you. 

Let us sing these words together. 

O holy Child of Bethlehem

Descend to us, we pray

Cast out our sin and enter in

Be born in us today

We hear the Christmas angels

The great glad tidings tell:

O, come to us

Abide with us

Our Lord, Emmanuel

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

What I Am Now Reading

 

I read - a lot. I read multiple books at a time. I have done this kind of reading for over 50 years.

I read from one book, then turn to another book, then another, then back to the first books, and so on.

Here are the books I am reading right now.

One Faith No Longer, by George Yancey and Ashlee Quosijk

Miracles Today: The Supernatural Work of God in the Modern World, by Craig Keener (I have to read this book slowly, since many of the stories are so stunning.)

The Atonement, by William Lane Craig

Jesus and John Wayne, by Kristin Kobes du Mez (Du Mez teaches at Calvin University. See the reviews.)

Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life, by Zena Hitz

Into the Abyss: A Neuropsychiatrist's Notes on Troubled Minds, by Anthony David

Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity, by Charles Taylor (I've been reading this book for a year!)