Evelyn Underhill

1). Quite frankly, there was nothing that really stood out to me or helped me in any way. I did not agree with the reading, due to the fact that Prayer is an action, and not a feeling, we should not rely upon our feelings because they are constantly changing.

2). I am quite confused by what she is saying, but I am assuming that she means that we should reach for the truth of who God really is, and not who we think he is.

3). From the part that I slightly understood, it reminded me of Dr. Jerry Root when he said that we need to try to try to rid ourselves of our false ideas about God and who he is and reach for the truth.

4). I would like to see Biblical support of what she is saying. I find things easier to understand when there is biblical evidence used correctly (as in not taken out of context), and I find it much easier to believe.

Buttrick response

!. Buttrick defines prayer as friendship with God, friendship is not formless, but it is also not formal, nor casual. I agree with Buttrick, because too much formality can keep us from developing a relationship with God, but casualty can make us forget who we are talking to and we can begin to disrespect God.

2. I think that this tension exists because in order to have a relationship you need to be comfortable with the other person, or in this case God, but we also do need to respect God because he is God. There are not "rules" per say, but there are guidelines and it would be better, i guess, if we followed them.

3. Self Preparation, this is where we sit and let God's peace fill us so that distractions will cease.
Thanksgiving, this is simply thanking God for all he has done for us, this is where we show our true gratitude.
Confession, this is where we confess our sins and ask for forgiveness from our hearts, honesty is key, and once we have asked for forgiveness we must try and refrain from indulging in our sinful practices again.
Petition, this is where we come to God with our needs, this should be at the end of the prayer to avoid selfishness.
Intercession, this is where we lift others up to God, not only the people that we like, but also the ones we don't particularly care for.

4. We need to feel truly remorseful, and not only remorseful but also determined that we will, with the help of God, try to resist temptation and not fall back into those sinful habits.

Celtic Christianity

1).One of the characteristics of Celtic Spirituality is the belief that all creation is good since it was and is created by God. Nothing is created evil, it is only tainted by the devil. Another characteristic is that they are thoroughly biblical as is apparently evident in all of their biblical texts. The third and final characteristic that I will mention is their general Theology which "thinks of the divine being and act or, better, the divine presence and power, flowing in and through what can only be described as an extended family."

2). How do they justify inserting pagan deities into their "Christian" practices/life? That is Changing the scriptures, Gods own words, and that doesn't seem right to me.

3). Magic is completely incompatible with Celtic Spirituality because magic is putting the power into our own hands and attempting to bypass and overrule God's mercy and power. When we call on God we are putting our troubles and desires into his hands because he is the creator and the creator can surely fix his creation.

John of the Cross

1). According to John of the Cross we have our "dark nights" because God wants us to grow. At that point we are ready for the next level. The "Dark night" is essentially when our Spiritual Journey begins to get harder, and we see less and less the pleasure we once found in our Spiritual Activities.

2).One of the false thoughts that Christians have sometimes is the idea that as soon as you give your life to God that everything will all of a sudden get better and our lives will be perfect with no hardships. There are always hardships, and they can always get harder, we just need to remember to always turn to God for help, no matter how small the problem may seem to us.

Merton

1. Merton sees meditation as a set time and place to get to know God deeper and more intimately. During this set time the goal is to focus entirely on God and not get distracted by anything else, to focus on God's love and is-ness.

2. Obstacles Merton presented were avoiding God when he is talking to us, we do this out of either confusion or no confidence. Pride, which is when we get above our "level" and therefore trap ourselves in our pride. Merton suggests that in order to help with this problem a spiritual mentor.

3. The reminder that Prayer is a process and that we need to work for it is always a comfort especially when I hear others pray and start to compare my prayers to theirs. Prayer id not a contest, and it always helps to be reminded of that.

Nouwen

1). According to Nouwen solitude is being without distraction in a place where we are able to fully concentrate and give our full attention and devotion to God.

2). According to Nouwen through Spiritual discipline we can prevent the world from infiltrating our thoughts, and we are truly free to pray and allow the Holy Spirit into our lives. He suggests putting aside a time and place for God and God alone.

3). Nouwen describes the Absurd life as being deaf because we need to learn to listen to God. The obedient life he describes as listening, in order to be obedient to God we need to be listening to what he says. I do find these helpful because we need to make that  transition from being Spiritually empty and "deaf" to being able to listen to God, and to do so, we need Spiritual discipline.

Athanasius

1). God created Humanity so that we can know him. We are made in God's image because we are his treasured creation, and so that we can have a deeper relationship with God.

2). Humanity, instead to worshiping the creator turned to worshiping the creation,resulting in separation from God. We created gods to worship instead of worshiping God, and totally separated ourselves from God, but God still continues to come after us.

3).God makes himself known to us through other people, his Word, and the universe. We are surrounded by the beauty God has created in his universe everyday, and by family and teachers who always tell me about God and his love for me and everyone, and I have the great blessing of being able to own a Bible so that i can read his Word everyday.

4). God restored Humanity by becoming human in order to tell us of himself and his Love for us. Jesus submitted himself to death in order to save us so that we can draw closer to God and further know him.

Schmemann

I agree with Schmemann when he said that man sinnned not because of food, but because of hunger or more specifically the lack therof. Man lost their hunger for God and because of that we fell away and left God. He uses food as an analogy in order to help us understand. Which I think was a brilliant idea for all of the foodies in the world who might not understand God. Everyone understamds food, and real food can help us understand spiritual food.

Chesterton

1. What is Chesterton saying here? In your response, be sure to include how he interprets or understands how MODERN people see the world and how that contrasts with how he is casting a vision for seeing the world.

Chesterton understood the modern view of the people as them rejecting repetition and seeing it as boring and uneventful. They look at the world almost like it's a radio, if there is constant change then everything is in order and the world is "working". But if it starts to repeat then something is wrong and the radio is dying or dead. While in God's eyes repeating something has the same meaning as when a child wants something to be repeated. When babies love something they want you to do it over and over and over again, it is almost the same with God. He loves things and because of his love for it he wants it to be repeated. That is how we should see the world.

2.  What does Chesterton mean when he writes that God is like the child who each day says to the sun and the moon "Do it again?"  Why is this so significant in our understanding of the created world?  How does this contrast with the modern view of scientific materialism?

As mentioned in the previous answer, a child when they find joy in a certain thing they want it to be repeated. Chesterton, when he compared God to a child was saying that God finds immense joy in watching the rising of the sun and moon, and never tires of it due to it's beauty. This shows that our world is not meaningless in contrast to the modern views of scientific materialism.

3.  How do you understand his statement. "It may be that He [God] has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our father is younger that we"?

To me this means that we have been tainted by sin and therefore, we must suffer the affects of sin, which also means that we cannot see the world in it's full beauty. we see sin, and because it does not satisfy us we constantly want a change of scenery. While God can see the true beauty of things and appreciate it without tiring of it.

4.  How does Chesterton's vision of the world compare and/or contrast to the way you view the world? If we truly made it a point to train ourselves to see the world according to his vision, what do you think might happen as a result - in our lives and our interaction with the world around us?

I agree with Chesterton's vision because we tend to take things for granted, and if we could see things the way God sees them, then I think that we would be satisfied, and we would respect God's creation more and not ry to play God in creating "new" things.

The Incarnation

When Christ became incarnate, He literally took on the form of a human being, he left his Godly
form to help us, which shows that he loves and cares for us. He limited himself in order to save us, knowing that he would not readily be accepted. I think that Christ becoming incarnate shows us that we are treasured, Christ, the son of God came down to earth to die to save us, we are truly, truly loved.

Tozer ch 22 and 23

1).In his writing on God's sovereignty, Tozer says that God is "absolutely free...to do whatever He wills to do anywhere at any time...Were He less than free He must be less than sovereign."
(p. 108). How do you respond to this statement (return to the context)? Why do you think Tozer links God's freedom to his sovereignty?

I agree with Tozer. God is above everything, and he has no limits, he has absolute freedom. If God were any less free, then he, like us, would have boundaries. He would have rules to follow, and if there are rules, then there must be some higher order where the rules came from. Rules are given by those in power to those with less power. If God had rules to follow then it is implied that there is someone with more power than Him, and we know that God is the most powerful being ever. God's sovereignty implies total and complete power, which means no boundaries, and complete freedom.


2).Tozer uses the analogy of an "ocean liner" (p. 111) to try and elucidate (make clear) how he sees the interrelationship between God's freedom & sovereignty and the human free will. Does this analogy help you? Why or why not?

This analogy actually does help me, because it was always hard to understand how God gives us free choice even though he knows where we will end up. The destination is the end of this world, while on the boat we can do whatsoever we please, it is our choice. Once we reach our final destination, it is our choice to join God, or to stay on the boat, which is eternal death.


3).In the chapter, "The Open Secret", Tozer renames what he believes is the "most critical need" of the church of his time. To address this problem, he offers 6 imperatives or conditions that need to be met in order to experience a remedy. Do you tend to agree or disagree with Tozer on these points? Why or why not? Which of the six do you believe to be the most necessary? Why?

All are undoubtedly important, but I believe that the Second is the most important. In order to stand firm in our faith, we need to be fully committed to God, we need to give our life to Him. The Bible says that there will again come a time when those who follow Christ will be persecuted, and in order to hold firm to our beliefs we need a strong relationship with God, and by first giving our lives over to God, we can then build until we are solid in our Faith.