May updates

I'm updating you today with a number of various topics. Thanks for reading.

Free Willard talks

As I continue on the journey as one of Christ's apprentices, I continue to find Dallas Willard's teaching to be the most helpful and thorough when it comes to training as a disciple of Jesus. I hope you'll head over to ChristianAudio.com and download all of the free Dallas Willard talks they have available there. As a matter of fact, I'll make it easy for you by linking to each one individually:

• The Cross and Discipleship (3 parts)
• Church Staff Retreat 2004 (3 parts)
• The With-God Life (parts 2 and 4 are Willard)
• What Does It Mean to Be Human?
• Interview on Renovation of the Heart
• Interview on Hearing God
• Interview on Knowing Christ Today

These audio files will give you a good idea as to what he writes about in his books. If you like what you hear, please read his books, beginning with Renovation of the Heart and The Divine Conspiracy. There's no better teaching on the topic of becoming an apprentice of Jesus and understanding the true gospel.

Willard's new book

It's been a few years since Renovation of the Heart, and now, Dallas Willard has finally authored another book, Knowing Christ Today: Why We Can Trust Spiritual Knowledge. I am eager to acquire and read this book. Willard's website says: This book deals with the disastrous effects of divorcing the teachings of Jesus Christ and his people from the domain of human knowledge. Its aim is to reposition the substantial teachings of Christianity ("Mere" Christianity) as a body of knowledge in the contemporary world.This is a topic that J.P. Moreland wrote about in the first section of Kingdom Triangle, and I am looking forward to diving in deeper with Willard's long-awaited new book.

Designed for analogy

Have you noticed how useful analogy is for communication and understanding? We use analogy all the time to compare things and make our ideas more accessible to listeners. I have come to believe that God designed the world in such a way that analogy would be incredibly easy. He has created a cosmos in which parallels exist all over the place. And, just as analogy is useful in every topic of discussion, I think that God specifically intended that many things we experience and see on Earth would help us to better understand him. One obvious and common such analogy is that of a parent with his or her child. The things we can learn about God through our own parenting experience are many, and they are the kinds of things you won't learn by reading, but only through the experience of that analogous relationship. By training and observing our own children, and our responses to them, we can gain insight into God's role as our father. Analogy can also be useful in defending your Christian worldview. Just listen to someone like William Lane Craig or Greg Koukl teach and you'll see what I mean. As you observe the world around you, take note of how God created everything in such a way that analogy is easy, and it is everywhere.