The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Heaven is now by Andrew Farley 2012

I picked this up at our local library this week. I’m about half way through. I read his Naked Gospel a few months ago when a friend gave it to me. His is ECT according to his Church website belief statement. I do rather take to his main topic of law vs grace where he srongly and, I belive argues well, that mixing law and grace in any way is a trap which christians have always had a tendancy to fall into. Anyway I am finding it an uplifting read. Chris

I read the Naked Gospel as well. Keep us informed.

I finished Heaven is Now (awakening your five spiritual senses to the wonders of grace) today and downloaded it to my kindle so the library can have the paper one back. The overall approach is to go through the five human senses and relate them to the way we can come to understand our relationship to God more fully. The chapers are: feel - the fredom of grace : hear - the Spirit bearing witness : see - the finished work of Jesus : smell - the fragrant aroma of Christ : taste - the goodness of the Lord. Andrew deals with some well worn sacred cows which tend to get in the way of christians experiencing the joy of salvation and daily living in Jesus.

I think one of the saddest stories I ever heard was that of a friends very evangelical father who had spent his life in missionary service, was highly committed and often spent the first three hours of the day having got up very early (and arousing his wife too!) to pray, had given the family inheritance away, saying to my friend that he was afraid to die in case he hadn’t done enough - go figure? This book is a counter to this sort of distorted Christianity. A good book for the burned out and those who are knocking themselves out to please God when He is already pleased.

All Andrew needs is to extrapolate his thinking out a bit further and hit the bedrock of higher hope which UR is all about!

Can someone tell me what Andrew Farley’s “theology” is. Here’s what I mean:

I’ve not read his books, but I have watched a few of his sermons online, and he says pretty much the same thing that I see in my own personal study of scripture. We both separate the covenants at the cross instead of at the birth of Jesus. We both give more attention to the teaching of Paul than to the teaching of the other apostles.

My problem is that I can’t find where my own theology fits in - I read books that are dispensational, Pauline dispensational, and hyper/ultra-dispensational, and I agree with parts of each but haven’t found any book or stream of writers who I really resonate. I do resonate with Farley’s teaching (though I’m a hopeful evangelical universalist), but Farley’s works don’t answer all my questions. Especially when I draw out my doctrines to the “gospels” - did Paul really have his own gospel that was different than Peter’s, James’, and John’s?

Any book recommendations?

TIA, Brian

Chris,

Sorry, but it seems obvious to me that if a devoted Christian getting up early for devotions was “arousing his wife too,” that prayer can wait.

:laughing:
sorry but… :laughing:

0410E - Wrong wave length Andrew! Chris