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feelinahole
Registered Member
Date Joined Jan 2004
Total Posts : 754
| Posted 4/4/2004 9:53 AM (GMT -6) |   | | | |
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spenlake
Registered Member
Date Joined Jan 2004
Total Posts : 1050
| Posted 4/10/2004 9:31 AM (GMT -6) | | Dr. Boyd has redefined the words “truth” and “real” to mean different things.
On page 11 he states, “Wondering whether Christianity is real is not the same as wondering whether Christianity is true.”
On page 13 he states, “Remember, it’s not what we believe intellectually that impacts us; it’s what we experience as real.”
Dr. Boyd is telling us that the objective factual evidence that we tangibly discern and process with our intellect is less real than subjective experiences we don’t confirm with our senses. Dr. Boyd goes on to define “spiritual truth” as internal subjective experiences. He states on page 15,
“We have forgotten the truth that while the imagination certainly can be merely ‘imaginative,’ it can also be the means by which we experience spiritual truths as real.”
This may sound innocent, if spiritual truths experienced actually conform to objective truth – Scripture and the historical record observed by men. This is exactly what is denied, however, and the process that Dr. Boyd provides us with constructs an “alternate reality” in his imagination that is disassociated with the objective historical record. He constructs a lie and he claims it “real.” He implicates his imagined “spiritual Jesus” into his lie and claims it to be true and Scriptural, because it works.
I am not exaggerating. Dr. Boyd gives us the factual historical objective truth of an incident in his life. He had a cruel grandmother that didn’t give him a present and called him bad which he recounts on page 117,
“No, Greggie is a bad boy, and bad boys don’t get presents.”
This incident brings pain to his life. Dr. Boyd discovers the techniques of imaginative prayer and applies them on pages 118 through 122, progressing through a series of emotions from grieving to forgiveness. Dr. Boyd claims that Jesus personally leads him through this process. As the process unfolds, we see that what is happening is that Jesus Himself is changing the objective historical record witnessed by Dr. Boyd’s sisters to a different story that never happened. This story evolves into the following account on page 121,
“But this time, instead of seeing the angry wrinkled face of my grandmother, I saw the radiant, joyful face of Jesus. He leaned over the bag and peeked in with a wildly excited smile on his face. Instead of hearing my grandmother say, ‘No, Greggie is a bad boy,’ I heard Jesus exclaim, ‘Oh, of course Greggie gets a present! He is such a good boy!’ He rubbed my head vigorously as he said, ‘It’s a very special gift. That’s why I saved it for last.’ I began hopping and flapping my arms even more excited than before as I looked again into the paper sack. And there I saw a huge red toy airplane.”
Dr. Boyd has imagined, with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and Jesus, a new historical record without witnesses that he now believes to be “real” and a spiritual experience of the truth. This is how the imaginative Jesus enabled Dr. Boyd to forgive his grandmother and find healing. It is the process of building a story that opposes objective reality, believing that it is inspired and therefore “real” and experiencing relief from the historical record that is now “unreal” so that forgiveness is possible. He states on page 123,
“It is crucial to note, however, that forgiveness usually comes at the end of the healing process (i.e. imagined story believed as true), not at the beginning.
Scriptures tell us of a different path to forgiveness which doesn’t consist of my creating inspired “subjective reality.” When I realize that I am utterly sinful and undeserving, with a monumental debt towards God I am incapable of paying, destined to damnation - and God comes and dies for me and forgives my mountainous debt and gives me eternal life instead, the antithesis of anything I deserved or merited – the gratitude that whelms up in my heart and mind at this realization enables me to forgive the puny debts that grandmothers owe to me. This is the gospel. This doesn’t require spirits to create freestyle historical records so I can forgive. It simply believes in the work that God, as a tangible man, did for me on the cross. This is where we find the true and real power to forgive, in objective history that was seen by witnesses and written down for us to read and understand.
Spen Lake
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msekee
Registered Member
Date Joined Mar 2004
Total Posts : 30
| Posted 4/13/2004 9:41 AM (GMT -6) | | Just curious - and I haven't started my book yet - but is Boyd distinguishing between "my experience is truth" and "my perception is reality"? I have a problem with the first statement. I've been in way too many Bible studies where people say things like "Well, that may be true most of the time, but I know in MY life..." and they negate the truth of scripture by stating that since it doesn't fit with their experience it must not be true. The second statement, though, I totally agree with. I've heard it said "There is no reality, only perception" . I agree because we all view life through warped lenses of our own perception. No one really sees life objectively. We all have our own sense of reality. But reality is the way we view things, truth is the way certain things just are. There are less statements that are absolutely true than i think people used to assume, but what God states in the Bible as being true, we cannot argue with because He does not have his own perception of reality. Anyway - I'm really interested in reading the book. Maybe in the fall when my twins go off to kindergarten  | | Back to Top | | |
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