One of the most common problems with Christians in our modern secularized world is that they don’t feel the reality of Jesus. Sure, they believe in him and love him, but he somehow doesn’t seem to enter their daily lives in a real sense. Some might say, “You ought to pray more.” Others would advise, “You ought to witness more.” While this may be true, we don’t get closer to God just because we … “ought to.”
Boyd believes that the way to true spiritual transformation and feeling the presence of God in your life comes from a little R and R: rest and reality. Boyd encourages readers to stop striving and learn to rest in an experience of Jesus as real. The best way to do this, he says, is through imaginative prayer. Experiencing Jesus will teach readers how to use God’s gracious gift of creative imagination to know him better and feel his presence in their daily lives.
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This book by Greg Boyd is a little hard to follow. Like usual, Greg Boyd’s ideas are academic with high, abstract concepts that are very hard to understand. While I appreciated his focus on resting in Christ instead of striving in our own power, I had a hard time seeing how this whole concept could be practical without doing something—what he would call striving.
The first four chapters are all about the what and why, the reason behind the resistance to the practice of imaginative prayer, which he calls resting in Christ. Part 2, the next five chapters, supposedly debunk several arguments the practice, especially focusing on Western resistance to using imagination in Christianity. There is only one chapter devoted specifically to how to perform this spiritual discipline. The third and final part gives three examples of individuals who were freed using this particular method.
I found it contrived, mystical, and slightly hokey. I don’t discount the need to visualize Jesus when we pray to him as he is the physical representation of God. However, even though he specifically says this is not about getting a feeling and experiencing a powerful charismatic moment, this is exactly what it sounded like. I tried this practice several times myself and it only worked once. Perhaps after weeks of therapy, which of course he provides in person, this would begin to make sense to someone who really is struggling with a traumatic memory. For those of us who are not, it’s hard to see the benefit.
I did appreciate the small section on visualizing lyrics in worship music. Imagining the word pictures in lyrics helps me to turn my whole heart and mind to the Lord.
Maybe this practice didn’t apply to me because I already have such an overactive imagination. I read this with my sister, and she said she had a lot of trouble visualizing spiritual things in general and Jesus in particular. She seemed to like the book better than I did.
One of the examples was amazing and memorable (the last one), but everything else felt contrived or at least subjective, including his own story, which was about changing a repressed memory of him as a three-year-old not getting a present. While flipping back through to find my favorite quotes, I realized how many of them were in the negative. Much of his arguments were against modern culture and the current Christian mindset. While much of that was true, it didn’t give me much to practice. I just don’t think this is the answer.
Favorite quotes:
“In terms of what we believe, we differ significantly from non-Christians. But in terms of how we live—what we do with our time, how we spend our money, even our basic moral practices—we differ very little.” (p. 13)
“When we buy into this strategy of obtaining fulfillment from our performance, we must hide everything about ourselves that isn’t consistent with the performance we are giving.” (p. 45)
“Take it on faith that the you who responds to situations in ways that manifest the truth that you are a temple of God, filled with God’s love, joy, and peace, is the real you.” (p. 99)
“Resting in Christ does not take work, but it does take faith.” (p. 106)
“Yet to the degree that the Western scientific worldview has pervaded our thinking, this belief about what lies beyond the physical realm has little or no concrete impact on our lives. There is often no real place for God in our materialistic worldview, and hence he seems remote and distant to us.” (p. 128)
“…some parallels might be best explained as part of a demonic strategy to counterfeit God’s truth.” (p. 133)
“Trying to feel something when the feeling isn’t there is another form of striving.” (p. 199)
“If you use this or any other exercise as a means to attain an emotional experience, you will defeat the purpose of the exercise.” (p. 202)
“The decisive difference between Christianity and other religions and philosophies is not in how we pray—whether imaginatively or not—but to whom we pray.” (p. 218, note #11)