Sanctus Forum

In this special episode of Conspiracy Commentaries Michael Stewart Robb answers questions and responds to comments posted by you. Should you have a question or comment write to us at info[that "a" thing]sanctus.institute. No promises. BE INFORMED and PRAY for us better by signing up for the Sanctus newsletter: https://sanctus.institute

The human quandary is how to rise above "lives of quiet desperation" to something transcendent. Aldous Huxley suggested drugs. Dallas Willard suggests spirituality because we are spiritual beings who are meant to live from the spiritual. BE INFORMED and PRAY for us better by signing up for the Sanctus newsletter: https://sanctus.institute/​

First off what is substance? We got to get a handle on that word in order to know what Dallas Willard is talking about. At a minimum, it means that something is capable of independent existence. But it means more than that and Michael Stewart Robb tries his best to do a little philosophy with you to get to Dallas's understanding of spiritual. BE INFORMED and PRAY for us better by signing up for the Sanctus newsletter: https://sanctus.institute/​

The will or heart is the innermost core of a human being. With all the current talk of spiritual and spirituality, does anyone have in mind the will? Or when people talk about the will, what is that? Just matter and energy? If we are going to describe the spiritual, Dallas Willard thinks we must take serious personality and get around to talking about its center, the will. This applies to God just the same as to humans. And Michael Stewart Robb tries to dissect this compact section of The Divine Conspiracy. BE INFORMED and PRAY for us better by signing up for the Sanctus newsletter: https://sanctus.institute

Pretty crucial to Dallas Willard's theology and whole view of the Bible is that we can know spiritual reality. God is spirit and we can know what that means. We can know positively and not just negatively. And our means of knowledge, he holds, is through knowledge of ourselves. Listen this week for a tour through you as spirit and a lot of philosophical terms that Michael Stewart Robb wants to throw at you. BE INFORMED and PRAY for us better by signing up for the Sanctus newsletter: https://sanctus.institute/​

The Divine Conspiracy is a disguised book about God. And in chapter 3 Dallas Willard has a lot to say about God's omnipresence. He seems to think that if we allow the myth of empty space to dominate our thinking, we won't understand Jesus or his gospel. BE INFORMED and PRAY for us better by signing up for the Sanctus newsletter: https://sanctus.institute/​

God wants to be seen, so why don't we see him? Dallas Willard in his The Divine Conspiracy answers this by pointing our wanting to see God. Do we really want to see him? But he also points to the need to develop in our ability to see. Seeing is not so straightforward as we might think. BE INFORMED and PRAY for us better by signing up for the Sanctus newsletter: https://sanctus.institute/​

Comparing God to humans can be dangerous business. But Dallas Willard feels confident to do it. And in this episode Michael Stewart Robb reaches Dallas's conclusion to how God is in space by exploring how you are in space. But in a century when spiritualism and pantheism are alive and well, Mike has some cautions to issue, the biggest being a reminder that Dallas really is a dualist. BE INFORMED and PRAY for us better by signing up for the Sanctus newsletter: https://sanctus.institute

Dallas Willard's argument for God's presence in the world takes a detour through our presence in the world. Where are you? Not where is your body but where are you in relation to your body. There's a lot to talk about here and Michael Stewart Robb will need two podcasts/videos to get it talked out. Come join us for an exploration of Dallas Willard's existential phenomenology. Oh yeah! BE INFORMED and PRAY for us better by signing up for the Sanctus newsletter: https://sanctus.institute/​

Dallas Willard says that the one place where "our contemporary mind-set" most strongly conflicts with the life and gospel of Jesus is in its understanding of space. He probably has in mind secularity. The secular mind-set has resulted, says Willard, in two attempts to reconcile the presence of God with empty space. Neither of which solves the problem. BE INFORMED and PRAY for us better by signing up for the Sanctus newsletter: https://sanctus.institute/​