Friday, March 18, 2011

Spiritual Growth and Controversy

I was recently asked in a church survey, "How do you define spiritual growth?"
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This question really struck me, because although I talk very frequently about wanting to grow spiritually, I'd never thought about what that actually means.  How can I work toward a goal if I don't have a clear image of that goal to aim for?

Here was the answer I gave:

"Growing deeper in intimacy with God - greater awareness of His presence, a stronger desire to do His will, a renewed sense that He has a purpose for my life different from my own and being willing to pursue that purpose."

Now I look back on my answer and I'm like, Wow, I wrote that??  Pretty cool.  God was most definitely guiding my fingers for me, because that answer is still my answer, yet I don't think I would be able to put it into words like that again.  Way to go, God. :)

So what about you?  What's your definition of spiritual growth?

And while we're on the topic of thoughts on spirituality, has anyone been keeping up with the Rob Bell controversy over his new book Love Wins?  The whole thing just makes me uncomfortable and wary.  How do we know who we can trust these days?  Does listening to a good preacher always run the risk of that preacher becoming so popular that he or she can do or say anything he or she wants??  How do we know who is right?? Clearly, there IS truth (not some personal this-is-what-I-think truth, but an actual TRUTH), but how do we figure it out amidst all these Christians arguing like this??  I am not a theologian.  Yes, I read the Bible, and I try to understand God's message, but I need guidance for the deeper issues.  And now I'm torn because I feel like there's no clear answer as to who to look to for that guidance.  I told Dave, situations like this make me want to just find a small start-up church and hide from the masses, because I start feeling like I can't trust the "big guys".  All I can do is to pray that God will not allow me to go astray.  I need to let Him guide me to the leaders I should trust.

Here are several articles and blog posts related to the controversy if you're interested:
1) http://blog.beliefnet.com/news/2011/03/critics-heated-up-by-bells-hel.php
2) http://www.leadingsmart.com/2011/03/a-warning-about-rob-bell.html
3) http://www.christianpost.com/news/the-blood-drained-gospel-of-rob-bell-49448/
4) http://michaelkrahn.com/writing/2011/03/the-mclaren-moment-what-john-piper-meant-by-%E2%80%9Cfarewell-rob-bell-%E2%80%9D/
5) http://bibtheo.blogspot.com/2011/03/kerfluffle-with-rob-bell-and-love-wins.html
6) http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/blogs/cj-mahaney/post/Rob-Bell-Love-Wins-Debate-Summary.aspx?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sovereigngraceministries%2FCJMBlog+%28C.J.+Mahaney%27s+view+from+the+cheap+seats+%26+other+stuff%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

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