Thursday, August 2, 2018

ROH_Chapter 8_Transforming The Will (Heart & Spirit) And Character


第八单元 : 意志(心、心灵)和品格的转化

1. 什么是意志(心,心灵),它如何操作

i. 我們的意志(心,灵)于心思(思想和感觉)的互动关系
The will is hemmed in by what our thoughts and feelings actually are at the time of willing. But now we need to develop further the idea that our thoughts and feelings also have a crucial dependence on our will, on our choices.(200页,2段).

ii。现在的决定我们很难改变,但是我们可以改变将来作的抉择,因为我们可以选择/改变思想和感觉
Obviously, the thoughts and feelings that the will depends on in any given moment of choice cannot be changed in that moment. But the will or heart can change the thoughts and feelings that are to be available to it in future choices. It is because of this that we are responsible for our character. (201页,1段).

iii。品格是我们惯常的行为模式和意志倾向,但是,品格是可以改变的。  这种改变就是属灵塑造成更像耶稣基督的目的/目标。 
Character is that internal, overall structure of the self that is revealed by our long-run patterns of behavior and from which our actions more or less automatically arise… They do not just tell what someone did, but they reveal what kind of thoughts, feelings, and tendencies of will that person habitually acts from, and therefore how he or she will act in the future. But character can be changed. And that, of course, is what spiritual formation in Christlikeness is about.(201页,2-3段).

iv.  我们的心思和意志要受神的话语和圣灵的引导来真正的被转化。  
The human mind and will must be transformed through interaction with thoughts and feelings deriving from the Word and the Spirit.(202页,1段).

v。真正被转化的人的意志,是完全专一和降服与神的意志里。 
Single-minded and joyous devotion to God and his will, to what God wants for us— and to service to him and to others because of him— is what the will transformed into Christlikeness looks like…this outcome becomes our character when it has become the governing response of every dimension of our being. (202页, 6段).

2. 人的意志的本质 

i. 意志,创意和创造的能力
Will is the ability to originate or refrain from originating something: an act or a thing. It brings things into existence.(203页,4段).

ii。意志,是人的心灵(spirit), 而心灵本身就有自主的能力和性质
It is the core of our nonphysical being. It is, strictly speaking, our spirit— the human spirit, not divine— though it comes directly from God and is meant to be in his keeping through our trust in him. It is the nature of the spiritual to be self-determined. Such self-determination is absolute or unrestricted in God   (204页,2段).

iii。 意志,是人的心 (heart)-行动的中心
the will is the executive center of the human self. From it the whole self or life is meant to be directed and organized, and must be if it is to be directed or organized at all. That is why we recognize the will to be the same as the biblical “heart” or center. (204页,3段).

iv。人的尊严和珍贵,在于我们拥有自由选择
Creation: freely chosen character. The centrality of will to personhood is what makes it immediately and strongly precious and gives the person dignity. Dignity is a worth so great that it disallows exchanging a person for anything else. The great worth of the person explains why Jesus Christ would die for the sake of individual human beings and be satisfied with the outcome (205页,1段).

3. 人的意志是珍贵的,但同时也是人的“难题”
The human will in the individual is not only precious, it is a problem…Human life in its usual forms is characterized by conflict within the will and between wills… true picture of the fallen human will.  (205页,3段)

i. 人选择抬高自己,不去顺服和甘心服事神。 
exaltation of self replaces submission and service to God. (206页,1段).

ii.  现代的心理学也意识到内在自我意志的相互矛盾、冲突和张力,却把这种情况变成了一门学问 
Freud and many other psychologists have, in their own ways, done the same. All of this has now become a part of the modern person’s self-understanding and is accepted as part of standard educational programs and of the popular and other arts. (206页, 3段).

iii。现代的学说,更认为前后不一,游移不定的意志才是自由
Whereas in prior times a focused and coherent will was assumed to be necessary to human freedom, today the assumption is that freedom only comes with an incoherent and vagrant will.
(206页,4段).

iv。真理,被看作是种枷锁 
Truth, by contrast, is regarded as bondage and a rigorous identity as a prison that prevents me from endlessly creating myself and re-creating myself. (207页,1段)

v。远离了神,我们的意志无可避免的“表里不一” (Duplicity), 自我欺骗。 
condition of alienation from God, the complexity of the human will moves irresistibly toward duplicity, not just in the harmless sense of “doubleness,” but in the sense of deception. This is the result of pretending to feel and think one way while acting in another. Often the deception involved is self-deception.(209页,2段).

4. 解决方案 The solution 
Our only hope is to entirely place our confidence in the God and Father of Jesus Christ, who is willing to enter the duplicity of our heart and bring it wholly to himself if we earnestly invite him. He is “greater than our heart, and knows all things” (210页,3段).

i。神回应我们的心,尊重我们的意志,成全我们的心灵
He responds to the heart because it is, above all, who we are: who we choose and have chosen to be. What God wants of us can only come from there. He respects the centrality of our will and will not override it. He seeks godly character in us and for us, to fulfill the eternal destiny he has in mind for us. (210页,4段).

ii。神了解,知道我们的心
God hears and responds without fail. It is as if he has a “heart monitor” installed in every person. And when the heart truly reaches out to God as God,(211页,2段).

iii。  逐渐学习、遵从神的意志的过程 (VIM 里的Intention) 
a. 降服于神的意志 
IN THE PROGRESSION TOWARD complete identification of our will with God’s there are distinctions to be noted. First there is surrender. (213页,1段).
- The center of the self, the heart or spirit, is now willing for God to be God— even if with little hope or enthusiasm. Perhaps it is only willing to be made willing. But it is for lack of this minimal identification with God’s will that multitudes of people are unable to understand the truth of Jesus (213页,3段).

- at this point, surrender now covers all the circumstances of life, not just the truth about God and his explicit will (commandments) for human beings, (213页,4段).

b. 满足于神的意志
Beyond abandonment is contentment with the will of God …At this point in the progression toward complete identification with the will of God, gratitude and joy are the steady tone of our life. We are now assured that God has done, and will always do, well by us— no matter what! (214页,5段).

c. 积极参与服事,完成神的意志
Beyond contentment lies intelligent, energetic participation in accomplishing God’s will in our world. We are no longer spectators, but are caught up in a vivid and eternal drama in which we play an essential part.(215页,2段)


5. 我们还需要继续对付,自己堕落的品格和“纠葛不清”(Entanglement)的内在状况
NOW, WHEN WE SET out on the path of the surrendered will we find we must come to grips with our fallen character. (216页,3段)

i。面对“纠葛不清”的内在,我们要学习操练“专心一意”遵行神的意志
The condition we find ourselves in can best be described as one of entanglement. By contrast, the condition we must move to is that of single-minded focus upon doing the will of God in everything, distracted by nothing. (216页,4段).

ii。我们处在”纠葛不清“主要的原因是私欲 (Desires)
NOW, THE PRIMARY SOURCE of our entanglement is our desires— really, not just our desires themselves, but our enslavement to them and confusion about them. Temptation to sin always originates in desire(218页, 4段). 

iii. 私欲奴隶了意志,它接着也奴役心思
when the will is enslaved to a desire, it will in turn enslave the mind. To justify itself in satisfying the desire, the will enlists the intellect to provide rationalizations, frequently so bizarre that they amount to selective insanity.(219页, 2段).

iv。所以,要摆脱这种“纠葛不清”,就必须克服“表里不一” (Duplicity)
OUR PRIMARY, PRACTICAL AIM in stepping free from the “entanglements” must be to overcome duplicity. And to overcome it we must become conscious of it, confront it, and take appropriate steps to forsake it.(219页, 4段).

v.  以认识神明确说过的意志为起点
We can begin with what we know he has said. Let us firmly decide to do that. This will quickly lead us into the depths of spiritual transformation, including adequate knowledge of all of his will for us.(220页, 1段). 

vi。属灵塑造和转化涉及我们的每一个向度,但是我们仍需立志,并附上努力。 
We can never sufficiently emphasize the fact that spiritual formation cannot be a matter of just changing the will itself. That is central, of course, but it cannot be accomplished except by transformation of the other dimensions of the self. We discover that mere intention or effort of will is not enough to bring about the change in us that we have hoped for and to free us from duplicity and malice. Still, we must hold to that intention and sincerely make the effort, and then we will find that help is available.(220页,4段). 

vii。属灵操练的必要
Disciplines make room for the Word and the Spirit to work in us, and they permit… (221页,2段)Upon a path of clear intention and decision, with appropriate spiritual disciplines and accompanying grace to illumine and correct us when we fail, it is not as far away as many would suppose. The duplicities, entanglements, and evil intents that infect our will can be clarified and eliminated as we keep our eyes on Jesus, (222页,2段).

最后,我们还有自己吗? 
DO WE THEN LOSE ourselves? To succeed in identifying our will with God’s will is not, as is often mistakenly said, to have no will of our own. Far from it. To have no will is impossible. It would be to not even be a person. Rather, it is for the first time to have a will that is fully functional, not at war with itself, and capable of directing all of the parts of the self in harmony with one another under the direction of God. Now we do not hesitate to do what is right; and to do wrong we would have to work against ourselves. (222页,3段) 我们有了更健全的意志,不再有自我的斗争和矛盾,能拥有真正的内在和谐

ROH_Chapter 9_Transforming The Body


第九单元 : 身体的转化

作者重申属灵塑造的过程和目的:拥戴基督和拥有如他的内在,让我们从里到外自然的流露。 
Spiritual transformation into Christlikeness, I have said, is the process of forming the inner world of the human self in such a way that it takes on the character of the inner being of Jesus himself. The result is that the “outer” life of the individual increasingly becomes a natural expression of the inner reality of Jesus and of his teachings. (225页, 1段).

“…,因为基督如何,我们在这世上也如何。” 约翰一书 4:17
"This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus."1 John 4:17

1. 身体对属灵塑造的重要性
For good or for evil, the body lies right at the center of the spiritual life— …(226页,2段)

i。身体在属灵塑造过程里,是我们首要的协力同盟,但是,我们必须除掉已深居在肢体中作恶倾向的这个事实。  
our body must increasingly be poised to do what is good and refrain from what is evil. The inclinations to wrongdoing that literally inhabit its parts must be eliminated. The body must come to serve us as a primary ally in Christlikeness. (225页,2段). 

ii。我们误用了身体,因为我们把自己放在宇宙的中心,它成为我们终极的关注。 
human ruin comes from placing oneself at the center of one’s universe, in place of God. We further saw how this naturally, if not inevitably, leads to worship of the body and to the life of sensuality that results. The body becomes our primary source of gratification and the chief, if not the only, instrument for getting what we want. That is a perversion of the role of the body in life as God intended it; and it results in “death,” in alienation from God (227页,1段). 

2.    对身体的正确认识

2.1 身体的本质
i。 身体是潜藏的能量
Our body are potential energy.。. to possess and access that energy is the constant human goal and problem.(227页,4段).

ii。 身体是我唯一能直接支取的能量
My body is the only body whose energy is directly accessible for my own use and satisfaction. I access it by choice.(228页,2段). 

iii。它是我们基本的管理范围和责任
MY BODY IS the original and primary place of my dominion and my responsibility. (228页,3段).

iv。它让我们占据空间、时间和历史里
It is only with and through my body that I receive a place in time and space and human history. (228页,5段).

2.2  身体的本质:圣经和保罗的教导
i。   身体不只是物质系统,它更可拥有基督真实的同在
Our body is not just a physical system, but is inhabited by the real presence of Christ.(231页,3段). 

ii。  使徒保罗对身体的教导:(231-236页) 

i。在保罗的思想里:如果我们要转化身体,属灵塑造的过程是必须的
Now, these words of Paul refer precisely to the process and outcome of spiritual formation, of which we have spoken. “Now that you have been released from slavery to sin and enslaved to God by your dependence on him for your new kind of life, the benefit you get is sanctification, and the outcome is eternal life”, “the life that really is life”. The parts of our death-bound body are not mere physical things, but now carry in them a life that is not of them. He who raised Jesus from the dead now dwells in us and “will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you”. (234页,4段).
How the apostle Paul understood its transformation will make very clear why spiritual formation requires the transformation of the body (235页,1段).

ii。经过属灵塑造的过程,我们的身体可以逐渐表现出“内在”生命的素质
The proper retraining and nurturing of the body is absolutely essential to Christlikeness. The body is not just a physical thing. As it matures, it increasingly takes on the quality of “inner” life.  (235页,1段). 

iii。我们需要属灵操练,因为我们的旧“程序”还在运作和支配我们的身体。 
When our heart (will, spirit) comes to new life in God, the old “programs” are still running contrary to our new heart, and for the most part they are running in our body and its parts or members. (235页,3段). 

iv。我们是依靠另一股力量,也就是赐生命的圣灵。  圣灵可以透过属灵操练,让我们更能随从圣灵行事。 
The law or force of the Spirit of life that is in Christ Jesus is now also a real presence in my body and it opens the way to liberation from the force of sin in my bodily parts (Romans 7: 23). By not walking in terms of the flesh but in terms of the Spirit, we are increasingly able to do the things that Jesus did and taught (236页,2段).


3. 圣经怎么看罪恶倾向和身体 : 作恶的倾向是住在于我们的身体里面(肢体的某个部分)

i。品格和身体的关系 :这种“习惯”或“准备就绪的状况” (readiness),其实是深居在身体的某些部分。 
Most of what is called “character” (good or bad) in normal human life consists in what our bodies are or are not “at the ready” to do in the specific situations where we find ourselves. Those “readinesses” enter our consciousness primarily, if at all, through how we feel about things, how we are directly “moved” by things and events around us. Finally, those readinesses and feelings that run our life, whether we are aware of them or not, reside in fairly specific parts of our body, and they reveal themselves to others through our body language— in how we “carry” our bodily parts. (230页,2-3段).

ii。 我们忽略了这个事实 - 作恶的倾向是内住在身体/肢体的某个部分里。  所以,我们有自动作恶的行为和表现。 
THE GREATEST DANGER TO our prospects for spiritual transformation at this point is that we will fail to take all this talk about our bodily parts very literally. It may help us to consider ordinary situations of temptation. We said earlier that temptation is a matter of being inclined to do what is wrong. But where do those inclinations primarily reside? The answer is, they primarily exist in the parts of our body.(236页,3段).

iii。住在肢体里的作恶倾向,是能不受我们的意向和思想所控制的,它是我们习惯和品格的一部分,所以,它是需要被改变的。 这也意味着习惯和品格的改变是必须的。 
These various tendencies actually present in our bodily parts can move our body into action independently of our overall intentions to the contrary— often quite genuine— and of our conscious thoughts. Thus we act or speak “before we think.” The part of our character that lives in our body carries us away. (237页,2段).

4. 圣经以上的教道,消除我们对身体的憎恶 

i. 错误的观念:身体本身就是邪恶。 保罗的教导颠覆了这思想,他教导我们将身体献上当着活祭,作义的奴仆。
A BURNING SENSE OF these powers of evil actually inhabiting our body and specific parts thereof is one of the reasons body hatred, throughout the ages and across cultures, has been such a dreadful fact. Sincere people really do find evil in their body and wrongly blame the body for it. This misguided and terribly harmful attitude toward the body correctly sees the power of sin that really is in the actual body and its parts. But it mistakenly assumes that the evil is the body and its parts, and does not know how to think about the readiness to sin, the sinful meanings and intentions, that have come to possess those parts through their habituation in a world of sin. (238页,4-5段)

ii。世人有这错误的观念,因为他们只看到,以肉体为念,沉迷欲望的结果必是死亡。 在基督里,我们可以/能以属灵为念,以致可以把身体放在对的位置上。 
But that only illustrates, once more, that to be carnally minded— that is, obsessed with the merely natural— is death indeed. We should now be able to see the truth of this in everything we view or read in today’s world. But, by contrast, to be spiritually minded— that is, to be focused on our nature as spiritual beings and on our place in God’s eternal life and kingdom—“ is life and peace” (Romans 8: 6). Then the body is beautified and beatified in its proper place.(241页,2段). 

iii。一位成熟的耶稣门徒会这样看待身体:我的身体,非我拥有,而是属于神的,由我负责照顾。
As a mature and competent individual, I am responsible for the care of my body, and it is the center of all the other responsibilities I have. But that does not imply that I and I alone have the right to say what is to be done with it, or in short, that I own my body. And this is all the more true for an apprentice of Jesus, whose body and whole being has literally been bought back from evil by God through the death of his Son. It is therefore God’s to do with as he pleases, and he pleases that our body should be “a showplace of God’s greatness”(242页,4段).

iv。 身体的唯一出路,唯一合理的用途是 : 献上当着活祭给神
ACCORDINGLY, OUR “REASONABLE service,” the only thing that makes any sense for a human being who trusts Christ, is to “present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, very pleasing to God” (242页,5段). 

5.  合宜的预备、操练和照顾我们的身体

i。我们要承认,接受身体的状况,不要一味的否定它的问题。  
FOR MANY OF US today, our body is in a constant state of agitation and discomfort 。。。Wounds, fears, unsatisfied desires, shames, losses, and unhealthy ambitions and images of the self sink beneath the horizon of our awareness. We may even deny them. But they continue to disrupt our body and can even take over our life through the body’s “automatic” responses.
(243页,3段)

iii。 身体与其他面向的互补关系
We acknowledge once again that changes are required in other dimensions of our person than our body and that these other dimensions and changes can never be adequately understood or dealt with in total isolation from each other. We must never forget this.(245页,1段). 

iv。 採取行动
a. We must actually release our body to God. (245页, 4段)
b. No longer idolise your body. What does that mean? It means that you no longer make it an object of “ultimate concern.” (246页, 5段).
c. You do not misuse your body. This means primarily two things: 
First, you do not use it as a source of sensual gratification, 
Second, you do not use it to dominate or manipulate others. (247页, 2段)
作者也特别提醒我们不要操劳过度,这是现今我们的问题
A final example, for now, is overwork. In our current world this is a primary misuse of the body. It is now said that work is the new “drug of choice.” (247页, 5段) 

d.  The body is to be properly honoured and cared for. (248页, 2段)

v。 操练安息日 
SABBATH FULFILLED IN HUMAN life is really celebration of God. Sabbath is inseparable from worship, and, indeed, genuine worship is Sabbath. As the fourth commandment, Sabbath is the fulfillment in practice of the first three. When we come to the place where we can joyously “do no work” it will be because God is so exalted in our minds and bodies that we can trust him with our life and our world and can take our hands off of them. (249页,2段).

a.  独处和静默
Sabbath is first to be achieved in the practice of solitude and silence. (249页,3段). 

b. 足够睡眠
First step well might be to start getting enough sleep. Sleep is a good first use of solitude and silence. It is also a good indicator of how thoroughly we trust in God. (250页,1段). 

c. 足够休息,和其好处
Rest, properly taken, gives clarity to the mind. Weariness, by contrast, can make us seek gratification and energy from food or drugs, or from various illicit relationships, or from egoistic postures that are, in Paul’s words, “upon the earth.” They pull us away from reliance upon God and from living in his power. (250页,3段). 

vi. 对身体的属灵操练,可以达到的结果
specific disciplines go far in retraining particular parts of our body away from the specific tendencies to sin that are localized in them. They enable us to stop the practice and remove the tendency in question by entering special contrary practices and circumstances, and thereby breaking the force of habit that has us in bondage.(251页,1段).

最后,这单元里我认为最美和有深度的一段话 :
平安,是身体的一种状况,除非这个状况包围我们的身体,否则我们不算进入平安。 当身体在神的公义和能力之中如同安舒在家那般,平安才进入我们身体
Peace is a condition of the body, and until it has enveloped our body it has not enveloped us. Peace comes to our body when it is at home in the rightness and power of God. (249页,1段). 


Download Summary Chapter 9

ROH_Chapter 10_Transforming The Social Dimension


第十单元 : 社交向度的转化
1. 社交向度的必然性,和充裕圈

i。人类都需要关系,彼此相依,互动,共存。  
THE NATURAL CONDITION OF life for human beings is one of reciprocal rootedness in others. As firmness of footing is a condition of walking and secure movement, so assurance of others being for us is the condition of stable, healthy living. (253页、1段 ). 

ii。这种互动和相依的条件下,在人的心理上(心灵里)形成了“充裕圈” “circles of sufficiency”的依附。如果,只有靠人为和相信人文社会提供的充裕圈,将会是一种幻觉而已。 因为这世界所提供的充裕圈,只会让我们失望。 
These circles of sufficiency, natural and essential to the human condition and so profoundly beautiful to behold, are always illusory at the merely human level, and even the illusion itself is terrifyingly fragile. (254页、3段).

iii。人类有“充裕圈”的需要,是指向神,要我们回归到与神的关系;也只有回到“自有永有”的三一神,才能真正衔接到最真实的充裕圈,一切能在这充裕圈里得着医治。 
every human circle is doomed to dissolution if it is not caught up in the life of the only genuinely self-sufficient circle of sufficiency, that of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For that circle is the only one that is truly and totally self-sufficient. And all the broken circles must ultimately find their healing there, if anywhere.(254页、5段).


2. 人类经历被弃绝的残酷事实,破坏了充裕圈,和人与人的关系

i。不管在儿时或在成年时,遭遇被弃绝的经历,破坏了我们的充裕圈,这些创伤接着滋生了种种人与自己、人与人关系的问题
All of these break up our human circles of sufficiency. They may leave us unconnected to others at levels of our soul where lack of nourishment from deep connections with others means spiritual starvation and loss of wholeness in our every dimension. (256页、1段). 

ii.  人际关系中两种基本邪恶表现、 - 
(1) 缺乏爱的:攻击, 
(2)缺乏与他人有恰当关系的:疏离  
They are so closely related that they really are two forms of the same thing: of lovelessness, lack of proper regard and care for others. These two forms are assault or attack and withdrawal or “distancing.” (256页、3段). 

iii。 攻击的表现
We act against what is good for them, even with their consent. It is not only when we harm them or cause them pain against their conscious will. (257页、2段). 

iv。疏离的表现
withdraw from someone when we regard their well-being and goodness as matters of indifference to us, or perhaps go so far as to despise them. We “don’t care.” (257页、3段). 

v。攻击和疏离主要涉及到我们与身边人的关系,我们在日常生活中所做的一切都会对他们造成影响。这包括我们家人、和我们关系密切的人,一起工作、一起游戏,以及有共同利益,同属一个群体的人。  (257页、4段).

3. 我们爱,因为神先爱我们

i。属灵塑造不能独善其身,必然涉及社交向度
SPIRITUAL FORMATION, GOOD or bad, is always profoundly social. You cannot keep it to yourself. Anyone who thinks of it as a merely private matter has misunderstood it. (258页、3段). 

For all that is between me and God affects who I am; and that, in turn, modifies my relationship to everyone around me. My relationship to others also modifies me and deeply affects my relationship to God. Hence those relationships must be transformed if I am to be transformed.(258页、3段). 

ii。爱从神而来,是不可动摇的充裕圈
Love comes to us from God. That must be our unshakable circle of sufficiency. Our purpose must then be to become one who loves others with Christ’s agape. That purpose, when developed, will transform the social dimension of the human self and all of our relationships to others. Love is not a feeling, or a special way of feeling,  but the divine way of relating to others and oneself that moves through every dimension of our being and restructures our world for good. (259页、3段). 

iii。神就是爱 (自有永有,爱的团契)
God is in himself a sweet society of love, with a first, second, and third person to complete a social matrix where not only is there love and being loved, but also shared love for another, the third person. Community is formed not by mere love and requited love, which by itself is exclusive, but by shared love for another, which is inclusive. (261页、2段). 

iv。以下这个段话,要重复读才可以知道它要表达的意义 :我们与他人的关系能“彼此共处,牺牲”,都需要有第三者,而祂就是神。 人类只有在神里面,才能真正“在一起”。
The secret of all life-giving relation to others, and of all that is social, lies in the fact that the primary other for a human being, whether he wants it or not, is always God. (262页、1段). 

“How can one love self without being selfish? How can one love others without losing self? The answer is : By loving both self ad neighbour in God. It is His Love that makes us love both self and neighbour rightly”   - Fulton Sheen, 《Three to Get Married》

v。要在社交向度的灵命塑造过程中尽上本分,我们得深入了解人际关系的过错(攻击和疏离),以及如何改变这种表现。 
we must deeply identify and understand what is wrong in our relations with others (whether that wrong is coming from us or toward us) and how it can be changed. Thus we have spoken of assault and withdrawal. (265页、3段)

vi。婚姻
(1)我们不懂的如何进入婚姻关系。
problem is not divorce— though divorce generates a set of problems all its own. The problem is that people don’t know how to be married. (270页、2段)

(2)婚姻变成了市场经营手法
What, then, does devotion to another mean when one or both parties are constantly shopping for “a better deal” or constantly appraising one another in the light of convenient alternatives? Withdrawal, rejection, and assault will naturally become a constant factor in the most intimate of human relations. (271页、3段) 

(3)真正的婚姻是把自己献给对方
To be married is to give oneself to another person in the most intimate and inclusive of human relationships, to support him or her for good in every way possible— physically, emotionally, and spiritually (270页,3段)

(4)婚姻家庭是付出生命
This home is as much or more the man’s responsibility as the woman’s, for it is the man’s role to make it possible for the woman to do what she alone can do for the child— and for him. And for her part, then, she is to help in making it possible for him to do what he alone can do for her and the child— and this in the midst of constant sacrificial submission on the part of each to the overall good of the other. (271页、2段)

vii。我们要对症下药,社会关系最根本要解决的问题是攻击和疏离。 
Ignorance, prejudice and intolerance, far from being the primary sources of evil, draw upon the still deeper-lying soul structures of assault and withdrawal, without which they would have little effect.  …Unless the sources deeper than it are effectively dealt with, education, diversity and “tolerance” will only yield another version of secular self-righteousness and legalism.  (273页、4段)

viii。教会事工可以从婚姻着手,排拒攻击和疏离、暴力和冷漠。  
To heal the open sore of social existence, there is no doubt we must start with the marriage relationship - or, more inclusively, with how men and women are together in our world.  If that relationship is wrong in its many dimensions, all who come through it will be seriously damaged… spiritual formation and all our efforts as Christians to minister to people, must focus on this humanly most central relationship.  (274页、2段)

The visible churches, congregations of apprentices to Jesus, must return to the transcendent power of Christ for which they stand. They must drain the assault and withdrawal, the attack and coldness, from the individual men and women who form families under their ministry of Jesus and his kingdom.   … break up the deadly hold of assault and withdrawal over the entire social dimension of the human self.  (275页、2段)

ix。作者在间接中,介绍了我们一本有关婚姻的好书《在婚姻中第三者 》(Three to get married) by    Fulton Sheen 主教。 (这里的第三者是神)(275页、2段)

4. 社交向度的属灵塑造的四个要素 
Four major elements in the new world of redeemed relationship : 

i。在神的爱里,看自己为整全的人
First main element in the transformed social dimension is for individuals to come to see themselves  whole, as God himself sees them.  Such a vision sets them beyond the woulds and limitations they have received in their past relationships with others。  (276页、2段)

ii。放下一切自卫机制,从基督里的社交环境中
Second element in the spiritually transformed social dimension is abandonment of all defensiveness.  This of course could occur only in a social context where Christ dwells - that is, among his special people.  (277页、2段)

iii。放下掩饰造作,真诚的去爱 Genuine love predominates in our gatherings 
Then all pretence would vanish from our lives.  That would be the third element in the spiritually transformed social dimension of the self.  (277页,5段)

vi。 扩张我们的社交层面,去祝福他人,修补和医治
The fourth element is an opening up of our broader social dimension to redemption.  Not having the burden of defending and securing ourselves, and acting now from the resources of our new “life from above”, we can devote our lives to the service of others.  This is the positive moment in redemption of the social side of the self.   (279页、4段) 

v。总结 社交向度的属灵塑造和其果效
Spiritual formation in Christ obviously requires that we increasingly be happily reconciled to living in and by the direct upholding of the hand of God.  This is clearly what the entire biblical view of life calls for, and especially what Jesus himself lived and presented as the truth.  Only from within this gospel outlook on life can we begin to approach the godly reformation of the self in its social world. But from within that outlook we can cease from assault and withdrawal and can extend ourselves in blessing to all whose lives we touch.   (280页、3段)


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ROH_Chapter 11_Transforming The Soul


第十一单元 : 灵魂的转化

认识“灵魂”

i。生命的运作有赖于人的灵魂;灵魂是根本的,不可缺少的,同时又几乎超越我们的意识范围
What is running your life at any given moment is your soul….The soul is the aspect of your whole being that correlates, integrates, and enlivens everything going on in your various dimensions of the self.   It is the life-center o the human being.   It regulates whatever is occurring in each of those dimensions and how they interact with each other and respond to surrounding events in the overall governance of your life.  The soul is “deep” in the sense of being basic or foundational and also in the sense that it lies almost totally beyond conscious awareness.   (283页、1段 )

ii。如果能好好保守我们的心,我们的灵魂就能安稳、和谐与现实环境共存 (箴言4:23)
In the person with the “well-kept heart”, the soul will be itself properly ordered under God and in harmony with reality.  (283页,2段) 

iii。真正的成果是一种“丰盛的生命”,正如诗篇一篇说描述的。 
The result is a flourishing life.  The image used here is that of a tree planted by water canals.  No matter what the weather or the surface condition of the ground, its roots go down into the water sources and bring up life.   As a result, it bears fruit when it is supposed to, and its foliage is always bright with life.  It prospers in what it does.  (285页,2段)

iv。对于大部分的人(包括基督徒)来说,我们只有部分实现这种状态。许多时候,是困乱和不安的
For most of us, however, this ideal arrangement of life under God will be only partially realised, at best.  For many, it remains an impossible dream, for their soul is running amuck and their life is in chaos. (285页,3段) 

v。其原因,是人性的各个向度,没能由灵魂整合起来成为一个整全的生命,奉献给神。 
The failure of good intentions is the outcome of the underlying disconnects or “wrong connects” between thoughts, feelings, and actions, permitted or enforced by their disordered soul.  The dimensions of the self are not coherently drawn together by the soul to form a whole life devoted to God and to what is acknowledged as good.  (286页,2段)

vi。虽然灵魂有它发展的规律,如果没有得到应得的照料,就会有损伤,难康复。但是,在神的恩典里,灵魂在神里寻得归宿,是会显出奇妙的康复能力,而得医治。 
There is a developmental order in the soul, such that if it does not receive what it needs to receive within appropriate periods of time as it grows, its further progression toward wholeness is permanently hindered.  It will never be what it might have been.。。。  However, one must not overgeneralise on such matters.  And one must not underestimate the powers of recovery of the soul under grace.  (287页,1&3段)

vii。在现代以经验主义和自然主义为前提的文化教育下,我们认识“灵魂”的课题上面对许多的挑战。 请参考386页注脚里作者介绍的参考资料,有助于我们更深入研究“灵魂”这课题
The soul is by far the most controversial and inaccessible in today’s world.  For various reasons, it was rejected by the field of psychology .  (287页,4段)

2. “灵魂”的一些课题:意义、追求表现为至上的文化、陷入狂热主义/执迷

i。灵魂和意义 Meaning and souls 
In the absence of meaning, boredom and mere effort or willpower are all that is left. “Dead” religion or a dead job or relationship is on that has to be carried on in “meaningless” human routine.  In boredom and carrying on by mere willpower, almost nothing can be endured, and people who are well off by all other physical and social standards find such life unbearable.  They are “dead souls”.  (289页,1&2段)

ii。没有了意义,只有剩下追求表现和成功为终极意义
Where life meaning is lacking, performance is at a premium.   (289页,3段)

iii。没有意义,只有追求表现,就会倾向于把生命全神投入进自己的工作、爱好,感觉等,就滋生了狂热主义的现象 Fanaticism  
It will further help us to understand the reality of soul in life if we see how fanaticism comes in.  Fanaticism - in art, politics, sports, or religion, to name some of the main kinds - is the result of inherently meaningless lives becoming obsessed with performance and then trying to take all of their existence into it.  Being a fan of .. is treated as something deep and important.  Because those who do this do not have a whole soul directing their lives toward good, rooted in God, they allow a “flow” they find outside themselves to take over their thoughts, feelings, behavior, and social relations.  That flow intoxicates them.  They absolutes the flow and no longer subject it to ordinary tests of truth, reality and tried-and-true human values.  (290页、2段)

vi。灵魂失去原有的功用,人就随波逐流,容易被他人摆布,被潮流影响。
The nonfunctioning soul falls easy prey to the mob and to pressures from others.  It is the source of the “other -directed person” and “the lonely crowd” that are so prominent today.  (290页,3段)

3. 从圣经中认识“灵魂”

策略一,用形象/比喻来描绘灵魂,二,从圣经经文来认识灵魂
First, I will elaborate a picture or image of the soul, and second, I will look at certain things said about the soul in the bible (291页,3段)

i。灵魂像一股内在的泉源,给予人生机和引导。  
The soul is like an inner stream of water, which gives strength, direction and harmony to every other element of our life.   When that stream is as it should be, we are constantly refreshed and exuberant in all we do, because our soul itself is then profusely rooted in the vastness of God and his kingdom, including nature; and all else within us is enlivened and directed by that stream.  (291页,4段)

ii。我们从神手中领受相对的自发、自主、自持的力量,是以灵魂的形式存在着。 当我们说到灵魂,我们指的是人里头最深沉的生命和力量。  
The individual living thing receives its relatively “self-initiating, self-directing, self-sustaining power” from the hand of God.  This derivative life flows through the living being in the form of soul is related to the unique spirit relationship it has to God. 。。。In the human being, spiritual life in the kingdom of God is central to its soul and its life.  (292页,3&4段)

iii。圣经里使用“灵魂”,是指存在的最深入,最基本的层面来说,是其他的字无法取代的。 
The heart of the matter is that to refer to someone’s soul is to say something about the ultimate depths of his or her being and something that cannot be communicated by using terms like “person” or “self” or various available pronouns.   (293页,3段)

4. 看顾我们的灵魂

灵魂是每个人生命最基本的层面,它本质上是植根于神的。  
These and many other passages make clear that the soul is the most basic level of life in the individual, and one that is by nature rooted in God.  We must take care to do whatever we can to keep it in his hands, recognising all the while that we can only do this with his help.  (296页,2段)

i。第一件事,要承认有灵魂 
The very first thing that we must do it to be mindful of our soul, to acknowledge it.  In spiritual formation and transformation it is necessary to take the should seriously and deal with it regularly and intelligently.   (296页,3段)

ii。承认灵魂的存在,就会听到它的呼声。  
Once we clearly acknowledge the soul, we can learn to hear its cries.  (297页,4段)

iii。学习与耶稣同负一轭,安息在神里面。 
Rest to our soul is rest in God.  My soul is at peace only when it is with God, as a child with its mother.   (298页、2段)

iv。谦卑是灵魂得安息的一个极大奥秘
Humility is a great secret of rest of soul because it does not presume to secure outcomes.  (299页、2段)

v。在罪中没有安息
Sin or disobedience to what we know to be right distances us from God and forces us to live on our own.  That means it makes soul rest impossible and is very destructive to the soul… pride the root of all disobedience.  We think we are “Big enough” to take our life into our own hands.  (301页、2段)

vi。人的错误使用律法称为自义和压抑人性的文化手段,造成“律法”被贬低的可怕结果
This mistake is what led to the horrible degradation of “the Law” at the time of Jesus and Paul, turning it from a pathway grace to an instrument of cultural self-righteousness and human oppression.   (302页、3段)

vii。神的恩典,透过耶稣基督让我们能与祂建立关系,而律法是这关系的重要元素。  
Human deliverance comes from a personal relationship with God established in God’s gracious love and power.  But the law is an essential part of that relationship.   (302页、4段)。。。
Law is itself a primary manifestation of grace and is raised above legalism to a primary instrument of spiritual transformation in union with “the spirit of life in Christ Jesus”.  Law comes with grace into the renewed soul.  There is no such thing as grace without law.  (307页、2&3段)

viii。爱慕律法使灵魂苏醒。 
There is in fact an inner affinity between the law and the soul.  That is why rebellion against the law makes the soul sick and distances it from God.   That is why love of the law restores the soul.  Law it good for the soul, is an indispensable instrument of instruction and a standard of judgement of good and evil.  Walking in the law with God restores the soul because the law expresses the order of God’s kingdom and of God’s on character.  (307页、4段) 


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ROH_Chapter 12_The Children of Light and the Light of the World


第十二单元 :光明儿女和世界的光 

光明的儿女是怎样的? 

i。灵命重塑,成为基督的样式 
Spiritual formation in Christlikeness during our life here on earth is a constant movement toward this eternal appointment God placed upon each of us in our creation… This movement forward is now carried on through our apprenticeship to Jesus Christ.  It is a process of character transformation toward complete trustworthiness before God.(312页、4段)

ii。他们拥有光的基本性质
To call them children of light is, in biblical terminology, to say that they have the basic nature of light; that light is their parent and has passed on to them its nature, as my parent does. (313页,1段)

iii。光就是能量和知识;光明儿女有了基督的样式,绽放出这光,成为世界的光
Light means both energy and knowledge. From the person of Christ there uniquely came into the world the energy and knowledge by which human beings could be delivered from evil and enabled to live life as it ought to be lived.  (328页、3段)

iv。光明儿女最重要的差别,在于他们“内在”生命的深处
Where the children of light differ is primarily and most importantly on the “inside” of their life.  It lies in what they are in their depths (313页、2段): 
他们生命的每一个向度都改变了:

- 思想生活Thought Life :  They think about God.  He is never out of their mind.(313页,3段)

- 感觉情绪Feelings : - emotional life of these children of life is deeply characterised by love. (314页、2段)

- 意志、心、灵Will (spirit, heart) : - Children of light really are devoted to doing what is good and right.  Their will is habitually attuned to it, just as their mind and emotions are habitually homing in on God. (314页,3段)

-身体Body :- Their body has come over to the side of their will to do good.  It is constantly poised to do what is right and good without thinking.  And that also means that it does not automatically move into what is wrong.   .. The spirit has substantially taken over their “members”.(315页、2段)

-社交关系Social relations : - They are completely transparent.  Because they walk in goodness that have no use for darkness, and they achieve real contact or fellowship with others - especially other apprentices of Jesus.  (315页、4段)

-灵魂Soul :- A soul that is at home in God.  (316页、2段)
拥有整全灵魂的人
This is the outcome of spiritual formation in Christlikeness.   Again, it doesn’t mean perfection, but it does mean we have here a person whose soul is whole: a person who, through the internalised integrity of the law of God and the administrations of gospel and the Spirit, has a restored soul.  Such a soul effectively interfaces God and the full person and enables every aspect of the self to function as God intended.  (316页、3段)

v。光明儿女,人性的每个向度都改变了Each dimension of human self must change 
So there is no mystery about all of this.  When people live in evil it is because of what is wrong on their “insides.” Similarly, the way to a life filled and fruitful with goodness is the transformation of every dimension of the inner or “spiritual”side of the self。(318页、4段)

vi。逃避对彼得后书1:3-11的误解 :就是以为他们可以用意志去做出每一个行为(很多时候是意志,又或者是单单靠思想),而不必以全心、全灵、全思、全力爱神 (透过属灵重塑、圣灵、恩典和认识神话语在生命“内在”向度转化的过程)。 
They do not understand the presupposition of inner transformation into Christlikeness that accompanies all the passages.  They assume that we are supposed to “do” all the glowing things mentioned in such passages without loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.  In fact, they think we must do them while our heart, soul, mind and strength are still strongly inclined in the opposite direction, against God.   And of course their despair is totally justified.  What they are thinking would be completely impossible.  To the person who is not inwardly transformed in each essential dimension, evil and sin still look good.  They are strongly attractive (321页、1段)

2. 认识成圣和其必要 Understanding Sanctification 

i。成圣是成熟儿女(光明儿女)的灵魂状况
“Sanctification”, as a condition of the human soul established in imparted (not just imputed) righteousness.  it is the condition of soul in the mature children of light.(322页、1段)

ii。耶稣基督为我们成就了“赐予之义”和”参与之义“,成圣就是“参与之义”。  
The work of Jesus in the world is twofold.  It is a work accomplished for us, destined to effect reconciliation between God and man; it is a work accomplished in us, with the object of effecting our sanctification.   - A.H. Strong (322页、3段)

iii。成圣的比喻:船已安全,但并未健全 (The steamship is Safe, but not Sound)
The steamship whose machinery is broken may be brought into port and made fast to the dock.  She if safe, but not sound.  Repairs may last a long time.  Christ designs to make us both safe and sound.  Justification gives the first - safety; sanctification gives the second - soundness.  (323页、1段)

iv。成圣,是重生后,圣灵持续的工作
That continuous operation of the Holy Spirit,  by which the holy disposition imparted in regeneration is maintained and strengthened.  (323页、5段)

v。以下是给“成圣”最清楚不过的定义:
Wayne Grudem : a part of the application of redemption that is a progressive work that continues throughout our earthly lives.  it is also a work in which God and man cooperate, each playing distinct roles.  This part of the application of redemption is called sanctification : Sanctification is a progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our actual lives.  (324页,2段)

vi。成圣是主和祂的学徒之间持久的互动关系,这关系是要人着意去追求的。 
It is a consciously chosen and sustained relationship of interaction between the lord and his apprentice, in which the apprentice is able to do, the routinely does, what he or she knows to be right before God because all aspects of his or her person have been substantially transformed.(325页,1段)

3. 成为世界之光

i。光明儿女的特征
Marks of the Children of light : 
 Whenever they are found to be in the wrong, they will never defend it - neither to themselves nor to others, much less to God.  
They do not feel they are missing out on something good by not sinning. 
Their energy is not invested in not doing what is wrong, but in doing what is good. 
Life in the path of rightness becomes easy and joyous  (325-327页)

ii。每个人都可以拥有这样的生命
The good news of Jesus Christ is that such a life is available to all.(327页、2段)
是轻省和自然的
Our Walk with Christ, well learned, is a burden only as wings are to a bird or the engines are to an airplane. (327页、4段)

iii。思想正直,活在真理的生命
The mature children of light are like their Master.  They know God and his Word, they think straight, and they live in the truth, because every essential dimension of their being has been transformed to serve God: heart, soul, mind and strength.(328页,1段)

iv。现今迫切需要光明儿女成为世界之光,因为黑暗常常自称为光明。我们的光需要放在灯台上。 
All the horrendous political movements of the twentieth century… pled moral righteousness on their side and unrighteousness in their opponents as the justification fro brutalities that no one would have thought possible before the fact.  And the leaders of worldwide terrorism do the same…  it will have given prominence to the fact that the highest ethical teaching the world has ever been given was rejected by the intellectual leaders of humanity in favor of teachings that opened the way to forms of human behaviour more degraded than any the world had seen to that point. (330页、2段)

v。这个世界需要人用行为证明,我们必须用言行活出信仰。
Demonstration is required.  We must live what we talk, even in places where we cannot talk what we live.  We stand again on Mt. Carmel.  Or perhaps the best comparison is the world of the first century, when children of light first entered it.  The test is reality.(332页、3段)

vi。再说,光明的儿女必须回应他们元帅基督的呼召,活出应有的“样式和内涵”。 
There is no effectual response to our current situation except for the children of light to be who and what they were called to be by Christ their head.  Mere “reason “ and “fact” cannot effectively respond. … Only when those who really do know that Jesus Christ is the light of the world take up their stand with him, and fulfil their calling from him to be children of light where they are, will there be any realistic hope of stemming the tide of evil and showing the way out of the tide for those who really want out.   (332页、4段)

这就我们的大诫命和大使命。 

Download Summary Chapter 12 

ROH_Chapter 13_Spiritual Formation in the Local Congregation


第十三单元 :地方教会的灵命塑造

教会最关键的角色和事奉

i。就是光明儿女的灵命塑造(心灵的重塑)
Church around us, what would they do better to omit, and what do they need more of ? 
A reasonable response might be that these local congregations would be entirely devoted to the spiritual formation of those in attendance - to the “renovation of the heart”, as we have explained it here..  (355页、1-2段)

ii。这是圣经和历世历代属基督子民的样式,是可行的、也曾经做到过。 
It has been done and can be done now, if we turn our efforts under God in the right direction. and that direction would be one that makes spiritual formation in Christlikeness the exclusive primary goal of the local congregation.  This is what one would naturally expect after having read what Paul says - and indeed, after having read what Jesus sent his world revolutionaries out to do (Matthew 28:18-20). (337页、4段)

2. 现今地方教会未能成为世界之光的一个原因 :分心 (distraction) /“瓦器”的陷阱
Cause of current situation : The Distraction /Author called “Vessel Trap” 
i。分心
What characterises most of our local congregations, whether big or little in size, is simple distraction.  The oft-noted “failures” of many kinds that show up within them and around them are not the fundamental problem of church life today. They are much more a result than a cause.  (338页、4段) 

ii。圣经对于许多教会里次要的事情是带着沉默无言(的态度)
“While the New Testament speaks often about churches, it is surprisingly silent about many matters that we associate with church structure and life.  … Those who strive to be New Testament churches must seek to live its principles and absolutes, not reproduce the details.  - Leith Anderson. (338页、6段)   

iii。我们只要恰当照顾到主要事项,非主要的事项就能迎刃而解了。
Those matters are not primary and will take care of themselves with little attention whenever what is primary is appropriately cared for.  Pay attention to the “Principles and absolutes” of the New Testament church and , one might suppose, everything else will fall into place. (339页、2段)  

iv。不要把“瓦器”当着“宝贝” Not mistaken the vessel for the treasure.  
如传统、宗派、组织等的“瓦器”
“Vessel” and “Treasure” apply to our local congregations, their traditions, and their higher level groupings called “denominations” (340页、4段) 

v。这些“瓦器”性质的问题都不会使人活得像基督的样式
I am not saying that such things are of no importance, though for some of them it is a close call.  I am saying two things: One is that they are not the starting points of the essential and foundational matters.   Secondly, if you make them out to be essential or even very important - even if you do so only practically, in the sense of spending most of your time on them - the local congregation will make little or no progress in terms of the spiritual formation of those in regular attendance.  …(341页,3段)

vi。太看重“瓦器”,反而产生出“刻薄和愤怒” 的基督徒
Standing on these things (vessel) as essential is what produces mean and angry Christians.(342页,2段)   Christians are routinely taught by example and word that it is more important to be right (always in terms of their beloved vessel, or traditions) than it is to be Christlike.  In fact, being right licenses you to be mean, and indeed, requires you to be mean - righteously mean, of course. … They deserve nothing better. (343页、3段)  

vii。另一个问题,就是我们专注预备人死后上天堂,而不是把天堂带到人中间
Much of the Western church, is that it takes as its basic goal to get as many people as possible ready to die and go to heaven.  It aims to get people into heaven rather than to get heaven not people. (344页、1段) .. 
It creates groups of people who may be ready to die, but clearly are not ready to live.  (344页、2段)
The way to get as many people into heaven as you can is to get heaven into as many people as you can - that is, to follow the path of genuine spiritual transformation of full-throttle discipleship to Jesus Christ. (344页、3段)

3. 如何避免“瓦器”的陷阱 Avoid Vessel Trap 
i。我们不能没有瓦器,但是可以避免瓦器的陷阱
Certainly we can’t avoid having vessels.  And we must be tender to them, for that is a part of what it is to be human and finite. Even Jesus had his vessel. … and so we can avoid making the vessel the treasure.  We can identify the treasure without reference to any vessel, though the treasure will always have a vessel.  (345页、1-2段)

ii。活出大使命:神为教会定下的属灵塑造计划:
Focus upon application of Matthew 28:18-20. This is God’s plan for the growth and prospering of local congregations as well as of the church at large.  It is his plan for spiritual formation in the local congregation. 
A. Making disciples - that is, apprentices, of Jesus. 
B. Immersing the apprentices at all levels of growth in the Trinitarian presence.  
C.  Transforming disciples inwardly, in such a way that doing the words and deeds of Christ is not the focus but is the natural outcome or side effect.  (346页、2-5段)

A. Stage 1 : Making Disciples 

i. 学习信靠和与主同在
Most fundamental, of course, is to be clear on what an apprentice of Jesus is.  It is to be one of those who have trusted Jesus with their whole life, so far as they understand it.  Because they have done so they want to learn everything he has to teach them about life in the kingdom of God now and forever, and they are constantly with him to learn this. (347页、2段) 

ii。在生活里做主门徒的两个面向:“宗教”和“非宗教”层面
Two different though inseparable aspects of discipleship need to be singled out.  
The first is what we might, in misleading language, describe as the specifically religious aspect.  Here we are learning to understand and do the things Jesus gave us in specific commandments and teachings.(347页、4段)
The second aspect of discipleship concerns all the details of what, for lack of a better term, we call our “secular.” our “non-churchy” life. How do we run a business ? ..raise a family ? .. get along with neighbours, participate in government,.. engage in cultural life of your society ? (348页、2段)

iii。生命的所有向度都转化
The process of spiritual formation in Christlikeness is a process through which all the dimensions of our life are transformed as they increasingly take on the character of our Teacher.  That process is the natural condition of the disciple of Jesus, and the natural outcome is that we will increasingly do what he says. (349页、3段) 

iv。做主门徒关系到舍弃生命。
Becoming a disciple is a matter of giving up your life as you have understood it to that point.  Jesus made this starkly clear in Luke 14 and elsewhere. And without that “giving up”, you cannot be his disciple, because you will still think you are in charge and just in need of a little help from Jesus for your project of a successful life.  But our idea of a “successful life” is precisely our problem. (350页、4段) 

v。从教会里现有的人开始-內展
primary candidates for discipleship are the people who are already there.  
I gently suggest, a serious error to make “outreach” a primary goal of the local congregation, and especially so when those who are already”with us” have not become clear-headed and devoted apprentices of Jesus, and are not, for the most part, solidly progressing along the path. (352页、2-3段)

B. Stage 2  : Growth in Knowledge

i。三位一体神的教导
Single major component of a local congregation’s prospering in spiritual formation : the teaching God - Father, Son , and Holy Spirit - in the midst.  It is not human work, though it constantly is in interaction with the human work of stage three.  The presence of God in the midst is the only sure mark of the true eccelsia. (354页、2段)

ii。成为神生命和能力大大彰显的地方
a place where divine life and power is manifestly present to glorify God and meet the needs of repentant human beings.  This would imply an atmosphere of honesty, openness, indiscriminate acceptance of all, supernatural caring, with utter admiration for and confidence in Jesus.  (355页、3段)

iii。不以表现来衡量 Eliminating performance 
Performance is where we try to make an impression rather than just be what we are.  The element of performance would be absent in the Trinitarian gathering. (355页、4段) 

C. Stage 3 : Transform Inwardly
i。促进信徒在内在生命的转化确立意向,安排进程
Third stage in God’s plan for the growth and prospering of local congregations, as well as of the church at large, is intending and arranging for the inner transformation of disciples.   … They are means to be implemented by human action.  This is what Jesus described as teaching the disciplines to do all he commanded... the doing of what he commanded is not the focus of our activities at this point.  Rather, it is the “natural” outcome or side effect. (357页、3段)

ii。这是地方教会一直专注的目标
The third stage of the divine plan, and it should be the local congregation’s constant preoccupation.  

iii。为什么专注“属灵塑造”?因为我们不能凭立志来选择相信 和选择不一样的感觉
Belief and feeling cannot be changed by choice.  
We can choose to take in the Word of God, and when we do that, beliefs and feelings will be steadily pulled in a godly direction.  One of the worst mistakes that can be made in practical ministry is to think that people can choose to believe and feel differently.  Following that, we will mistakenly try to generate faith by going through the will - possibly trying to move the will by playing on emotion. (358页、2-3段)  

iv。正确的次序是:心灵的重塑 
Will must be moved by insight into truth and reality. Such insight will evoke emotion appropriate to a new set of the will.  That is the order of real inward change.  (358页、3段)
We never choose to believe, and we must not try to get ourselves or others to choose to choose to believe.  That is God’s work.  We can try to understand and try to help others to understand. And beyond that - God must work.  (359页、3段)

4. 教会和信徒可以做的一些改变

i。生活里抽出时间操练属灵生命的必要性
Intensive training away from “ordinary life” is exactly what Jesus did in the spiritual formation (360页、3段)

ii。单单开正常教会崇拜和集会,是不足够的。 
One of the greatest contemporary barriers to meaningful spiritual formation in Christlikeness is overconfidence in the spiritual efficacy of “regular church services,” of whatever kind they may be. Though they are vital, they are not enough. It is that simple. (360页、4段)

iii。给教会的挑战
Two steps to “teach other to do everything Jesus said in church“ : 
Openly expect the apprentices to learn to do the various things that Jesus taught us to do.  
Announce that you teach people to do the things that Jesus said to do.  
Publicise and run training programs designed to develop specific points of the character of Christ as given in the New Testament.  Put the whole weight of the staff and the congregation back of this.  (361-361页)

Can this be our motto : - “We teach people in such a way they do everything Jesus said to do” - 

跋 Postlude 

总结如下: 

心灵重生的中心:耶稣基督
In this book I have tried to clearly present the path of spiritual formation, the authentic formation of the human person, as seen in the people of Jesus Christ through the ages.  I have tried to gently ignore the many vessels of spiritual formation that littler the historical and contemporary landscapes and concentrate on the treasure; Jesus Christ himself.  (367页、2段) 

心灵重塑的过程:
The path of renovation of the heart is therefore one in which the revitalised will takes grace - provided measures to change the content of the thought life, the dominant feeling tones, what the body is ready to do, the prevailing social atmosphere, and the deep currents of the soul.  These all are to be progressively transformed toward the character they each have in Jesus Christ.  This is what we call “putting on the character of Chirst” - or in Paul’s language, “putting off the old man and putting on the new man.” and as it transpires, the individual or group more and more effectively acts for the good things they intend; and the will itself evermore broadens and deepens its devotion to good and the God of the good. (367页、4段) 

心灵重塑的态度:
We must take the particular things that slow us down and the sins that entangle us, and put them aside in a sensible, methodical way…We remove their roots from our minds, feelings, and so forth.  We are neither hysterical nor hopeless about them. We find out what needs to be done and how to do it, and then we act.  We know God will help us with every problem as we take appropriate steps.   …We take the long view of the race that is set before us.  We don’t try to accomplish everything at once, and we don’t force things.  If we don’t immediately succeed in removing a weight or a sin, we just keep running - steadily, patiently - while we find out how it can be removed in God’s way.  (368页、3段-367页、1段) 

Thursday, November 10, 2016

神圣的密谋-自学造就计划 The Divine Conspiracy Study Group

1. 为什么叫《The Divine Conspiracy 神圣的密谋》 ( 中文翻译为《神圣的约定》)?

耶稣说天国就好像是一粒微小的芥菜种 (马太13:31-32),却能成为大树,让飞鸟来宿在它的枝上,又说天国像一点点的面酵 (马太13:33)藏在三斗面里,能使全团都发起来。 神计划的操作模式往往由一小群人,在不起眼的地方;不高调、不强迫、默默地进行着,类似“密谋”的方式被实现出来。 所以,此书才被称为是神圣的密谋。

祂的国度和旨意是透过我们这些顺服和效法耶稣基督的门徒,才能行在地上如同行在天上。  每当基督徒先求神的国和义,我们就拥有以善胜恶的能力去改变这个世界。 

这本书将带领我们思考和具体的明白 ”天国“、“义”、耶稣的救赎、登山宝训、耶稣的门徒、属灵操练等的教导。  他谈的都不是新的概念,只是被我们遗忘了的圣经教导。我相信,这本书能重新挑旺我们的属灵生命,让我们活出福音的大能,在各自的职份和生活里背起十字架,成为耶稣的门徒。 


2. 为什么要以自学造就的方式来看这本书 ?

《The Divine Conspiracy》是达拉斯。魏乐德博士(1935-2013) 在1997年出版的经典巨作。此书曾荣登今日基督教杂志1999年的“年度好书”。 英文版的面数是400页,中文翻译的《神圣的约定》有626 页。 它并不是一本容易消化的书。 有人形容说,看《The Divine Conspiracy》就像吃奶酪蛋糕Cheese Cake,不能狼吞虎咽,必须慢慢品尝,才能吃出滋味和益处。  

我们将用11个月的时间,透过书本和高质量的英文有声书Audiobook, 按照每个月一单元的速度,以自学的方式进行。  这计划也会应用 Whatsapp group的平台来作读后心得分享,问题思考和小组讨论。 除此之外,我们也会有四次聚会训练的时间和背圣经经文的补助活动,以加强学习的效应。  

你唯一需要做的投资就是购买这本书,如果可以看英文书,鼓励购买原版英文的The Divine Conspiracy。  中文翻译是《神圣的约定》 由台湾中国主日学协会出版 (繁体字)。  参与者可以在附近的福音书局订购。  


Audiobook 可以在 Christianaudio.com 购买 : 
http://christianaudio.com/the-divine-conspiracy-dallas-willard-audiobook-download

3. 这计划的目的 ? 

重新思考和具体了解,在这个时代里成为耶稣的门徒。  


4. 谁需要参与 ? 为什么要学习? 

- 任何想更深入了解和活出基督教信仰的基督徒或非基督徒。 
- 信仰停滞不前的基督徒
- 想了解和重温这些观念的人: 登上宝训、天国、公义、门徒、救恩和属灵操练等
- 想要在职场里活出伦理(道德) 和信仰的人
- 被邀请和有兴趣一起学习,读书的人


5. 我个人的经历和见证: 

我在2012年买了《The Divine Conspiracy》 这本书,看到第三单元就放弃了。今年(2015),重新看这本书,并借着有声书的帮忙,我终于看完了整本书。 这本书把我带到27年前刚信主时所关心的议题,并且解答了我在这么多年信主以来都未能解答的问题和内心的挣扎。 它似乎疏通了我被堵塞,停滞不前的灵命,让我重新委身成为耶稣的门徒。  


信主久了,我以为自己已经拥有和明白福音的信息,所以信仰的唯一表达就是服事主,完成他的大使命。 无可否认,这是出于好的动机和行动。 可是逐渐的,我只单单从功能性的角度去思考信仰,比如说,每当我想到教会,门徒和职场事工时,我所可以与这些词汇连接的都是功能性的问题和思维:教会如何增长? 门徒如何倍增? 职场事工怎么做?… 而忽略了更基础的问题,就是神对教会的心意是什么? 什么是在这时代里成为耶稣门徒的意义?耶稣的教导与职场的关系? 我自己的品格和生命的素质等的问题。   The Divine Conspiracy 的前言里提醒了我 : “那些自认已经了解他(耶稣)的人。坦白说,他们这种自以为是的熟悉,只会使自己与他更疏远,而疏远引发藐视,藐视又造成深刻的无知。“ “Among those who believe they already understand him (Jesus). In this case, quite frankly, presumed familiarity has led to unfamiliarity, unfamiliarity has led to contempt, and contempt has lead to profound ignorance”  

谦卑回到圣经,并思考信仰根本的问题,帮助我(我相信也可以帮助大家)找到了事奉的能力,在这时代成为耶稣的门徒,改变这世界,如同他的门徒曾经做过的一样。  我可以继续有方法,有规模和有策略的做事工,但是我不在需要依赖这些方法论,我信靠的是我们在天上的父。