Thoughts on New Testament John 8-12 - Essay Example

 In the book of John, Jesus has quite dramatically called people to choose God as He is the living water. He now refers to himself in a startling manner saying, “I am the light of the world” (verse 12). Jesus was telling the Pharisees that He represents the divine presence of the Lord and was going to save the world from bondage. The Pharisees questioned Jesus’ self-proclamation and did not realize His enormity and so they stayed silent with a charge of blasphemy (verse 13). Instead, they challenged his self-proclamation as they still believed in the religion of the pedantic rules and external tests. Jesus then responded to them that even if he testifies to himself, the testimony is true considering where he is from and where he is going. The Christian values rely upon what lay before and after human life. He embraced both entities in his inward self-consciousness with solemnity giving evidence to his own claim to be the Light of the world (verse 14). The Pharisees used appearances to judge people, which is condemnatory, but Jesus did not judge them but merely by pointing out the truth (verse 15). The Pharisees did not want to accept the glory of Christ who is the light because they had lived and were blinded by the darkness of the god of age who blinded their thoughts.

Thoughts on ‘The Way of the Heart-Prologue & Solitude’
What struck me in the reading is the recommendations Nouwen explains about how Christians should organize their living ways around three disciplines; Solitude, Silence and Prayer according to the unique wisdom and experience of the Desert Fathers and Mothers. The three disciplines are vital to the ways of a disciple but this suggestion shows Nouwen assumed Christian spirituality is very individualistic. Something else that struck me is how the Desert Fathers and Mothers were Christians who fled to live in the desert in solitude and prayer so as to resist temptations (Nouwen, 2009). I saw this not to be realistic as people should have self-control, which plays a vital role in resisting temptations. Desert Fathers and Mothers lived in silence which Nouwen says is solitude practiced in action and a way to practice transformation. The Desert Fathers and Mothers lived in solitude and silence to bring them closer to God by prayer. They prayed and believed that the presence of God enabled them to live at peace in any circumstances.
A wealth of Christian wisdom came from their commitment to practicing and pursuing the presence of God.

Solitude, according to Nouwen is the furnace of transformation. It is a place where we face our fears and weaknesses in order to reinstate them with the presence and guidance of God. In short, solitude is a place where one gets rid of the old self and the new self is born.