≡ [PDF] The Divine Conspiracy Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God Dallas Willard 9780060693336 Books

The Divine Conspiracy Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God Dallas Willard 9780060693336 Books

Download As PDF : The Divine Conspiracy Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God Dallas Willard 9780060693336 Books

The Divine Conspiracy Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God Dallas Willard 9780060693336 Books

This is one of the finest works I have ever read. This is a Christian classic, among the best ever written, through the ages, that just happened to be written in our generation. The Truth found in this book transformed my life. I consider this to be a must read for any person, whether Christian or not, who genuinely seeks to know why God, the Kingdom of God, Jesus are embraced by so many. Dallas' writing is like salt to good food. If you can taste the salt, its too salty, but done properly, it brings out the best of the natural flavor. Dallas' salt has excellent savor. You will understand more about the eternal Word than you may have thought possible after reading this. I must tell you, this is not a light, easy read. Much of this is so profound that you may find youself stopping and meditating (savoring, if you will) the passage you have just read - or - returning to something you you have preiously read because the thing you just read brought substantial depth and meaning to it. This review cannot do it justice. Get it, read it (slowly) and let your understanding of God grow. The best is still ahead of us.


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The Divine Conspiracy Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God Dallas Willard 9780060693336 Books Reviews

If you start to read this book and you find yourself struggling to get into it, I encourage you to push through. The first chapter in my opinion is a bit weak and convoluted, but I assure you it gets much better. If by the end of the 2nd or 3rd chapter you are not captivated by Willard's thought process and content, then you might as well put the book away.

I like how Willard describes the two prevailing views of what the Gospel is in modern day Christianity. Namely, a gospel of sin management that emanates primarily from the conservative Christian camp. And, a social gospel of liberation that often emanates from the liberal Christian camp. But, while Willard does a great job telling us what the Gospel isn't, he fails to clearly describe what it is. It seems to me he may be trying to bridge the gap between the two divergences by saying that the gospel is a yielding to Jesus as Teacher while living in the Kingdom of God.

Willard introduces the premise that heaven is here and has invaded human space. The kingdom of heaven is not only in us, but God occupies the very space around us. He is not some celestial voice or vision in our head, but he is very real, talking with us and guiding us every moment of the day if only we avail ourselves to Him. Willard gives plenty of scriptural support for this premise including how God regularly spoke and interacted with Abraham, Moses, David and many other figures in both the Old and New Testaments.

Willard enters into an understanding of the Beatitudes. He makes it clear that obeying the Beatitudes do not make for God's approval, salvation, or blessing. In other words, they are not a means to an end. Rather, they serve to clarify Jesus' fundamental message that the free availability of God's rule and righteousness extends to all of humanity through reliance upon Jesus himself.

The Sermon on the Mount, or as Willard likes to call it, "Discourse on the Hill" is explained in great depth. He explains that the Sermon should be taken as a whole, rather than piece by piece, nor is the Sermon to be construed as more rules or laws. Rather, the Beatitudes are to "help people come to hopeful and realistic terms with their lives here on earth by clarifying, in concrete terms, the nature of the kingdom into which they are now invited by Jesus' call to repent, for life in in the kingdom of the heavens is now one of your options."

Willard goes into great details about the subject of condemnation. That, when we condemn someone, we are essentially telling that person he or she is in some fashion or another irredeemable and to be rejected. And, nobody generally responds well to condemnation. He explains that rarely does anyone who is condemned will respond in such a way that is desirable to the condemner. Instead of driving people to change their ways Willard proposes that we instead walk with them in kingdom fashion.

Prayer is addressed. Willard proposes that our prayers are in fact heard by God and He acts accordingly. Prayer really does make a difference in what God does or does not do. Willard provides many examples throughout Scripture of how God in essence changes His mind due to the prayer of righteous men and women. Interestingly, Open Theism ascribes to this premise as well to which I ascribe.

Willard describes tangible ways in what it's like to become more of a disciple and student of Jesus. Proposing ways to learn what it means to truly live with Christ. Willard uses the term of curriculum, developing objectives of kingdom values to teach and model. Not in order to merely gain more knowledge, but to turn the mind toward God, actualizing and experiencing the true kingdom life for the believer. Willard proposes there are three ways that God comes before the mind where we can lose ourselves in love of Him 1) through His creation; 2) through His public acts on the scene of human history; 3) through individual experiences of Him. Willard goes on to explain some of the disciplines that we can adopt in order to walk with Christ on a daily basis abstinence, solitude, silence, study, and worship.

Willard concludes the book with an eschatoligical glimpse of the future. He calls it the redemption of all things. Ironically, he references George McDonald who is a proponent of universal salvation. A theological ideology that I myself am currently wrestling with to some degree.

In summary, The Divine Conspiracy is, in many ways, a difficult and challenging book to read. Willard does at times seem to ramble on. The book is long and was difficult to push through. But, this book is so full of spiritual meat that transformed the way I look at my own walk with Christ. It offers a lot of practical ways that, when implemented, can indeed bring us into a much more intimate and closer relationship with Jesus. However, because of the depth this book contains, it is one of those books, similar to "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis that I will likely need to read again in order to better grasp. I highly recommend this Christian classic especially for those who are seeking a deeper relationship with our King Jesus and who want to know more about what it looks like to walk and live with him on earth today.
There are few books outside of the Bible which have legitimately formed me as a disciple. This book, along with Piper's Desiring God and Lewis' Mere Christianity, is on that list. I love books and typically read about a book a week. Most of those books are theology and/or Christian philosophy books. This is by far one of the most memorable books I've ever read. Willard does a wonderful job of painting a picture of what it might look like to actually do what Jesus said we would in today's context. Absolutely wonderful. Read it and you will not be disappointed. Follow its advice and you will take strides in your faith and witness of Jesus.
This is one of "those books." It might change your life. So it's a dangerous read. Highly recommended.

I first picked up this book when it came out in the late 1990s. Back then, I think I got about 50 or 100 pages in, and gave up. I couldn't take it. Its truth; its perceptiveness; its vitalness. Twenty years later I regret not sticking with it.

This book is a heady read. The breadth and depth of Dallas Willard's insights into human psychology is simply and plainly ... amazing.

The Divine Conspiracy is one of the richest spiritual reading experiences I've had in my life. There is not a page that goes by--really, hardly a paragraph--where I wasn't putting the book down and musing over what I'd just read, or making a note, or underlining something in the text or in the footnotes.

His explication on correction love .... left me appalled and disappointed...at how we live.

His exposition on corrective love in Chapter 7 will leave you sad and wondering if there is any Christian community in the U.S. practicing such techniques. I've read that house churches in China are close-knit communities. Where else are they?

Some gems to share

"God has paid an awful price to arrange for human self-determination. He obviously places great value on it. It is, after all, the *only* way he can get the kind of personal beings he desires for his eternal purposes." (p. 220)

"Human life is not about human life. Nothing will go right in it until the greatness and goodness of its source and governor is adequately grasped. His very name is then held in the highest possible regard. Until that is so, the human compass will always be pointing in the wrong direction, and individual lives as well as history as a whole will suffer from constant and fluctuating disorientation. Candidly, that is exactly the condition we find ourselves in." (p. 259)

"Who teaches you? Whose disciple are you? Honestly. One thing is sure You are somebody's disciple. You learned how to live from somebody else. There are no exceptions to this rule, for human beings are just the kind of creatures that have to learn and keep learning from others how to live." (p. 271)

As other reviewers have noted, Willard has problems with both the Christian Left and the Christian Right in America. The Left, for its push of social activism (the "social gospel") bereft of the active person of Jesus Christ; the Right, for its "faith alone" approach that abandons any active work in the Christian community and world at large here on earth.

If you're not near tears in many passages while reading this book, your heart is too hard.

Richard Foster provides the Foreword and compares The Divine Conspiracy to the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, John Calvin, Martin Luther, and even Thomas Aquinas and Augustine of Hippo. I have to agree.

The Divine Conspiracy is that rare book where the standard rating system's words actually meet stars I did love it, and it was amazing.

I loved it/It was amazing
5/5 Goodreads
5/5
This is one of the finest works I have ever read. This is a Christian classic, among the best ever written, through the ages, that just happened to be written in our generation. The Truth found in this book transformed my life. I consider this to be a must read for any person, whether Christian or not, who genuinely seeks to know why God, the Kingdom of God, Jesus are embraced by so many. Dallas' writing is like salt to good food. If you can taste the salt, its too salty, but done properly, it brings out the best of the natural flavor. Dallas' salt has excellent savor. You will understand more about the eternal Word than you may have thought possible after reading this. I must tell you, this is not a light, easy read. Much of this is so profound that you may find youself stopping and meditating (savoring, if you will) the passage you have just read - or - returning to something you you have preiously read because the thing you just read brought substantial depth and meaning to it. This review cannot do it justice. Get it, read it (slowly) and let your understanding of God grow. The best is still ahead of us.