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What does "Deeper Life" really mean?


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#1 Tkulp

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Posted 18 January 2019 - 01:48 AM

The Deeper Life in the Alliance

by Paul King     December 14, 2018

https://www.cmacan.o...n-the-alliance/

     

 

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This evening, for whatever reason, I did some internet research on the C&MA and 'Deeper Life'.

 

Most of my time was spent reading the many posts in a thread started with the question "Is the CMA Calvinist?" by Steve Page, posted 23 June 2011.  The thread is filled with a full gamut of answers, official and otherwise.

 

  https://ecommunity.c...4-cma-question/

 

(My opinion would be that it was not, but has become so. I sincerely wonder if Calvin would be pleased with what is represented as Calvinism today. Luther banned an associate for teaching what is being lived in many churches today. The old Calvinists that I have known believed in real purity and holiness. If your life did not bear good fruit, you just were never saved.)

 

My observations, from my internet reading, put Alliance beliefs, especially what is coming out of Nyack College, closer to the teachings of the Reformer Martin Luther, than those of A.B. Simpson. My observations are on the fruit produced rather than the actual doctrines taught.

 

I did not want to revive an old thread, but felt to post what I consider to be one of the best articles that I have recently read on the 'Deeper Life. It expresses the early Alliance and Simpson's beliefs about the "Deeper Life" that I was taught and grew up with.

 

https://www.cmacan.o...n-the-alliance/

 

I was really impressed that it was written in Dec. of 2018. Maybe I am not very well informed, but do the Canadians have a better understanding of Simpson's 'Deeper Life' than the organization in the States???

 

In the two plus years that I have been involved on this site I have seen little over-all interest in the defense of the concepts of the 'Deeper Life'. Most of those that I have experienced, on this web site, are, like myself, not attending Alliance Churches.

 

According to what I read, few, if any, have a scriptural understanding of A.B. Simpson's thoughts and writings on the "Deeper Life" and the deliverance offered to humanity through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

 

 

 



#2 Meema

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Posted 19 January 2019 - 08:18 AM

What is the Deeper Life? Since I consider myself a work in progress, given all I have learned thus far is not even the tip of the iceberg. The more I grow spiritually, the stronger is the realization that there is more to learn than is possible in this short fleshly life. 

 

The Deeper Life, for me, given I prefer my focus on refining my personal relationship with Christ over listening to or following any other human voice/thoughts/teachings, is about falling deeper into trust. To fret less over than which I do not yet understand. To listen for the still small voice and tune out the din of manmade doctrine, interpretations and debate. To believe that He loves me because I do trust and listen and that I am willing to be an open vessel which means I very often have no idea what fruit was born by a small act of obedience to the call to do a thing, however seemingly insignificant it might be to the human concept of ‘works’.  

 

Size is a human obsession - our perceptions of small or big is irrelevant to God. A small stone tossed in a still pond sends out waves to the shore. We are too myopic to grasp the unfathomable ways in which God moves the universe about. We think we need to be able to record our goodness and keep a running visible tally so we can prove ourselves - to prove we have graduated to the next level of spiritual authority.

 

But, for me, the Deeper Life is about coming to terms with how small we truly are, how big He absolutely is, how many ways He accomplishes things, sometimes in multiple layers all at once, and how we are not really equipped to understand.

 

Last, but not least, the Deeper Life is founded in a devotion so embedded that even if I thought for a second that I was never going to be perfect enough to end up in heaven, I’d still serve Him because He is worthy to be served. Though He slay me will I serve Him.

 

Therefore, sinking into the Deeper Life is not about me - it’s about Him.