The Psalms are the word of Christ

[awareness]

Originally Posted by OBW

Don't take my words too literally. Despite my tendency to think that we often over-spiritualize things, if someone doesn't at least think about things that way, we will miss what really is there. So carry on.

As far as I'm concerned if bro Aron sees Christ in every verse in the Psalms more power to him ... even if I can't see 'em.

[aron]

Originally Posted by awareness

As far as I'm concerned if bro Aron sees Christ in every verse in the Psalms more power to him ... even if I can't see 'em.

Well OBW is right: doesn't matter how much "Christ" you pull out of the text. Of itself, it means nothing. Words without actions. At the same time, acting without seeing Jesus going before is difficult at best. He isn't called the "Captain" for nothing. But OBW was presenting the necessary corollary to my "seeing Jesus in the text". It needed to be put out there.

Anyway, I just told God that I wanted to see. So I began to see. (Emphasis on 'began'). Then, when WL said there was nothing to see in the text I got a little miffed. But it's important not to become obsessed, and over-compensate for someone else's perceived lack. That's not our calling. Not why we're here.

[OBW]

Originally Posted by aron

Anyway, I just told God that I wanted to see. So I began to see. (Emphasis on 'began'). Then, when WL said there was nothing to see in the text I got a little miffed. But it's important not to become obsessed, and over-compensate for someone else's perceived lack. That's not our calling. Not why we're here.

And there is much to see.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that it is not that there is not the very spiritual to be seen, but rather that we ignore what seems common. But the bulk is common. It is exactly what Lee saw. His problem is that he has no appreciation for the common because it is not lofty enough. And despite his claim of having all the riches, he was also missing the riches that were there. So he missed both. He was not only blind to the Christ to be found, but to the spiritual value of the common that he DID find.

In other words, he did not have a spiritual view of the Bible. Just a skewed view of spirituality.

And that is one of the serious flaws of the inner-life camp of Christianity. They tend to ignore everything that is not our inner-life landscape. They emphasize the secular-spiritual divide rather than diminish it.

[aron]

Originally Posted by OBW

The more I think about it, the more I realize that it is not that there is not the very spiritual to be seen, but rather that we ignore what seems common. But the bulk is common. It is exactly what Lee saw. His problem is that he has no appreciation for the common because it is not lofty enough...

I think that's what I alluded to when I wrote, "To the pure God shows Himself as pure, but to the shallow God shows Himself as shallow." God is not common, nor shallow, nor is His word, but if you have a shallow (arbitrarily simplistic) hermeneutical template you might end up making that claim. You might even give messages and sell books, making that claim. But I think it says more about your theology than about the word.

Originally Posted by OBW

And despite his claim of having all the riches, he was also missing the riches that were there. So he missed both.

Yes, suddenly in the Psalms the "allegory well" dried up, and the "typology fountain" stopped gushing forth. Now, it's possible that there were no riches there in the word, but it's also possible that the WL ministry was running on man-made steam, and simply ran out. He wasn't able to linger there, waiting for the arrival of the Spirit. So he simply moved on.

Originally Posted by OBW

He was not only blind to the Christ to be found, but to the spiritual value of the common that he DID find.

In other words, he did not have a spiritual view of the Bible. Just a skewed view of spirituality.

And that is one of the serious flaws of the inner-life camp of Christianity. They tend to ignore everything that is not our inner-life landscape. They emphasize the secular-spiritual divide rather than diminish it.

There are many, many testimonies in the Bible of those who didn't outwardly espouse theology, at least in the record, but manifested reality. Sister Dorcas, etc, etc... they were small, and common, but were connected to the well of living water. And somewhere, back in time, WL probably did have a mountain-top experience. But by the time he got to us it was covered over by layers of theology. The inner life simply became a teaching and a practice. And consequently, if up became down and in became out and black became white, well that's what "life" was telling him. And who were we to say?