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crsschk
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Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
Santa Clara, CA

 Books to Be Chewed and Thought Upon

The devotional works that have appeared have been so varied as to make classification difficult. Some of the great names are Meister Eckhart, Bernard of Clairvaux, Jan van Ruysbroeck, Michael Molinos, John of the Cross, Thomas Traherne, Richard Rolle, William Law, Walter Hilton, Francis de Sales, Jakob Boehme and Gerhart Tersteegen. To those might be added the more familiar names of Fenelon, Guyon and Thomas Kempis.

To a large extent these were universal Christians who experienced the grace of God so deeply and so broadly that they encompassed the spiritual possibilities of all men and were able to set forth their religious experiences in language acceptable to Christians of various ages and varying doctrinal viewpoints. Just as a sincere hymn may strike a worshipful chord common to all Christians, so these works of devotion instantly commend themselves to true seekers everywhere. There need only be genuine faith in Christ, complete separation from the world, an eager cleaving unto God and a willingness to die to self and carry the cross, and the Holy Spirit will introduce His people to each other across the centuries and teach them the meaning of spiritual unity and the communion of saints. . . .

. . . people are unable to appreciate the great spiritual classics because they are trying to understand them while having no intention to obey them. The Greek Church father, St. Gregory, said it better than I could, so we'll let him tell us: "He who seeks to understand commandments without fulfilling commandments, and to acquire such understanding through learning and reading, is like a man who takes shadows for truth. For the understanding of truth is given to those who have become participants in truth (who have tasted it through living). Those who are not participants in truth and are not initiated therein, when they seek this understanding, draw from it a distorted wisdom. Of such the apostle says, `The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit,' even though they boast of their knowledge of truth."

In conclusion, we use books profitably when we see them as a means toward an end; we abase them when we think of them as ends in themselves. And for all books of every sort let us observe Bacon's famous rule: "Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested."

[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=category&cid=2] A.W. Tozer[/url]


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Mike Balog

 2006/3/4 23:39Profile
MarkOne
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Joined: 2004/9/24
Posts: 76


 Re: Books to Be Chewed and Digested


. . . people are unable to appreciate the great spiritual classics because they are trying to understand them while having no intention to obey them.

Does anything come closer to a perfect description of our status as Church in these perilous days?

Mark

 2006/6/5 1:36Profile
freedbyjc
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Joined: 2004/7/29
Posts: 204
Jacksonville. Florida

 Re: Books to Be Chewed and Digested

Quote:
And for all books of every sort let us observe [b]Bacon[/b]'s famous rule: "Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested."


What [i]Bacon[/i] would this be?

And is this the "source" QUOTE, so oft misquoted, ...'we must feed our minds widely yet, "eat only the meat and spit out the bones"" used so often in forums on reading materials?


So true [b]MarkOne[/b]! So true! Obedience is missing, although also from many a critiquer's vocabulary, but especially their ministry toolbox! the Truth is not for the faint of heart and those who turn from the plow.


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bill schnippert

 2006/7/17 13:08Profile
KingJimmy
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Joined: 2003/5/8
Posts: 4419
Charlotte, NC

 Re:

I just don't understand why Tozer would advocate most of these guys? They had some serious theological problems that just don't have any place in anybody who considers themsleves an orthodox Christian. Even the Roman Catholic church had problems with most these folks.


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Jimmy H

 2006/7/17 15:06Profile
Agent001
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Joined: 2003/9/30
Posts: 386
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

 Re:

Quote:
What Bacon would this be?

That would be Sir Francis Bacon.
Quote:
I just don't understand why Tozer would advocate most of these guys? They had some serious theological problems that just don't have any place in anybody who considers themsleves an orthodox Christian. Even the Roman Catholic church had problems with most these folks.

Tozer was one of the few Christian leaders in the 20th century who has widely read the works of the Christian mystics. He has the gift of bringing out their central points without compromising biblical truth.

Everyone would probably have a different list of favourite (or even "orthodox") writer. Nevertheless, Tozer's main point on the relationship between obedience and truth is certainly right to the point!


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Sam

 2006/7/17 15:44Profile
InTheLight
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Joined: 2003/7/31
Posts: 2850
Phoenix, Arizona USA

 Re:

Quote:
I just don't understand why Tozer would advocate most of these guys? They had some serious theological problems that just don't have any place in anybody who considers themsleves an orthodox Christian.



Something I heard Zac Poonen say once may be of some help here. I don't remember his exact words but it went something like this, "True spirituality is not so much what truths you hold in your head as it is what Truth you bear in your heart."

As a side note, If you've ever seen Tozer's recommended list of reading it reads like a who's who on the mystics list. I find it puzzling that Tozer is so widely recommended across denominational lines while someone like Watchman Nee is shunned and labeled a "mystic" by some of the same folks.
:-(

In Christ,

Ron


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Ron Halverson

 2006/7/17 17:37Profile
brentw
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Joined: 2005/12/14
Posts: 440
Ohio

 Re:

Quote:
I just don't understand why Tozer would advocate most of these guys? They had some serious theological problems that just don't have any place in anybody who considers themsleves an orthodox Christian. Even the Roman Catholic church had problems with most these folks.




I remember what Paul Ravenhill said once in a tape sermon...'We read biographies of many different men of God in the past, and yet each of them had their doctrine off a little, they all didnt see eye to eye.' Paul R. said he knew of a man who God used to bring a revival but in alot of the things he believed were way off...because God looks on the heart of a man.
'These giants in the past were off in some doctrine but God used them!'

As Paul told me once...its the intensity!

I love Tozer book on the mystic qoutes. Their heart was for God!


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Brent

 2006/7/17 19:19Profile
myfirstLove
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Joined: 2005/11/26
Posts: 496


 Re:

thanks brentw. good word from paul ravenhill!

"...because God looks on the heart of a man"

"As Paul told me once...its the intensity!"

"Their heart was for God!"

AMEN!


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Lisa

 2006/7/17 21:23Profile
KingJimmy
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Joined: 2003/5/8
Posts: 4419
Charlotte, NC

 Re:

But, so far as I understand these "mystics" that Tozer liked so much, they were far from simply being a "little off" in their doctrines. It is my understanding that a great many of the names listed below were off very much.


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Jimmy H

 2006/7/17 23:04Profile
Agent001
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Joined: 2003/9/30
Posts: 386
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

 Re:

[b]KingJimmy,[/b]

I understand your concern. Though you would have to be very specific about what you mean by "off".

Note however, in appreciating other's writings, one does not have to fully agree with them. In Tozer's quotations, he is very careful about this.

Those people were well-known men and women of God, and their experiences are well worth our meditation. While there might be theological incoherence at times, I believe their experiences were genuine. (Guyon, for instance, was not biblically strong and some Roman Catholic influences were still prominent in her, but oh, if we would all love God as she did!).

On the other hand, be careful about who the Roman Church condemns. The reasons are not always purely theological. Sometimes positions were misrepresented or exaggerated. The Quietists (e.g. Molinos and Guyon) were condemned as heretical but would probably not be so today -- that's why the great bishop Fenelon defended them at the risk of being demoted.

Spiritual classis are not defined by mere theological correctness. (Though I acknowledge the importance of right theological thinking - which is another important emphasis of Tozer!).


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Sam

 2006/7/18 9:29Profile





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