More Observations from Dallas Willard

{Material from a long-ago chat with mom re: Dallas Willard's Hearing God}

Willard says (in Hearing God) that scripture can be divided one way into incidentals and principals. Take the parable of the rich young ruler, for example. Is this incidental or principal? Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell all he had and follow Him. Was Jesus’ statement intended for the entirety of the human race to use as a dictate? Should we all go and sell all that we have and follow Him? This, Willard says (and I agree) is an incidental story. The rich young ruler was told to sell all by Jesus, because Jesus saw that this specific man needed to deal with this specific area of his life. That doesn't mean that all people are supposed to sell all they have, but it may mean that there are other rich young rulers out there who will be convicted to sell all and follow Him. It’s not a principal, it’s an incident; an instructive anecdote, not an anecdotal instruction.

But plenty of Christ’s words are principals. "Love the Lord your God with all your mind, soul and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. Do unto others…" There is a fairly big difference between the commands of Christ (the principals) and the incidental stories in scripture. Both are intended to instruct us in how to live, but only some are meant to be taken as true dictums that are one-size-fits all of Christendom.

It seems that a lot of what you read in popular (instructive) Christian writings are incidentals being written as principals. In the human quest to figure out the “perfect (easy) method to find the perfect walk with God" some “theologian” finds an obscure verse that can “de-code” the rest of scripture and allow you to prosper in the Christian walk like never before. The Prayer of Jabez. An incident, not a principal. That prayer was meant for Jabez to pray. Should others pray similarly? Some people, some of the time. But when Jesus tells us, “this is how you should pray…” it is a principal, meant to apply to all people all the time.

What happens through this “Christian” writing is that people entirely MISS the principals because they are wrapped up in the incidentals. As responsible, intellectual Christians, we debate whether or not to attack these “Christian” works, because there is no doubt that they have some merit; they espouse some truth. The problem becomes that people MISS the big truths because they are focusing on these lesser things. People would rather read The Purpose Driven Life for thirty days, than read the bible every day for the rest of their life on earth. It’s easier. So they miss God, but gain religion...

Comments welcome.