HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2013 / WINTER / WHO FORMS YOU?
After Martin Carey’s article “Contemplating Prayer” appeared in the Spring, 2013, issue of Proclamation!, we received a thoughtful letter to the editor which we share in part here:
I read with some concern Martin Carey’s article…because there are a number of misconceptions in the article about spiritual formation.
My concern is that his criticisms may hinder your readers from being open to how spiritual formation concepts and practices could help them in developing a more intimate love relationship with God. This may result in the unintended consequence of hindering their growth in Christ.
I have studied and lived spiritual formation as taught by Talbot Theological Seminary for the past eight and one-half years. I graduated with a Masters in Theology, with an emphasis in Spiritual Formation in 2010. The spiritual formation that Martin presented in his article was vastly different from what Talbot teaches and by which I live.
However, before we get into the details, I wanted to say that I share Martin’s passion for truth and living in the grace that God offers us. I rejoice in the freedom that he and other escapees from Seventh-day Adventism have in knowing that they are saved without works. I share his passion to not go back to being under the law or any false teaching.
So, in a spirit of Christian love and deep concern for the spiritual health of the people your magazine influences, I offer this response to Martin’s article. We may not agree on everything, but hopefully we can better understand and respect one another through honest dialogue. I know we have the same goals of knowing and applying biblical truth to our lives and helping others to do likewise.
Editor’s response
The writer explains his position further in the 13-page document he enclosed with his letter. Overall, he seeks to support spiritual formation as a biblical method for growing spiritually. He cites Scripture to confirm that both “our salvation and our sanctification are gifts from God through our faith,” yet he also says, “we are also not sanctified by spiritual disciplines. They are a means to an end. They position us for God to work.”
Scripture never teaches, however, that spiritual disciplines position us for God to work. Rather, God made us alive while we were dead in our sins (Eph. 2:5), thus making us able to respond to Him. He positions us to be able to respond; we do not position ourselves for Him to work.
Morevoer, he says that “the entire Bible is true, but not all truth is in the Bible.” He suggests that, in order to know how to love our wives or to govern our churches, we use biblical principles in addition to wise counselors, circumstances, and other means of guidance.
He further admits that although some of the genre’s foundational authors such as Ignatius and Theresa of Avila “are vague about the salvation experience,” he nevertheless finds “many of their teachings and practices…to be very valuable and biblical.”
Because this letter’s writer reflects the views of many within Christianity who have embraced the philosophy of spiritual formation and the spiritual disciplines as tools for sanctification, we are sharing it as a backdrop for our trio of articles that address how we are sanctified as born-again children of God who have been ushered into the new covenant. We will also address two more statements from this writer’s document in the sidebars contained in Martin Carey’s cover article, “Are You Formed By Disciplines?” †
Copyright 2014 Life Assurance Ministries, Inc., Camp Verde, Arizona, USA. All rights reserved. Revised April 28, 2014. Contact email: proclamation@gmail.com
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VOLUME 14, ISSUE 4