By Love Alone
Blog
Daniel Hickman
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The Blood of Love
Christ’s Heart is often depicted as pierced and bleeding, re-presenting the lanced side of Christ crucified (Jn19:34), invoking the rich imagery of a love which bleeds… a love all about Life, Purity, & Freedom, Fulfilling Covenant (cut-agreement), A New Bloodline, Birthing New Life, and Self-Emptying Reality.
The Cross of Love
At its core, the symbol of the cross is an intersection of opposites — a unity of dichotomies. This is seen in its very shape, which is two, oppositely oriented, intersecting beams (the significance of which will be discussed more later). And this is a fitting symbol for Christ, who is the first and the last (Rev 21:6), the highest and the lowest (Eph4:10), the greatest and the least. (Mt23:11)
The Crown of Love
In this 3rd installment of our series on the Heart of Christ, we will reflect upon the symbolism of the crown of thorns, which shows us that the royal love of heaven is a humble love, friend of suffering, and powerful, in an uncontrolling way.
The Fire of Love
In this second article exploring the science of love, we will consider the flames which erupt from the Heart of Christ, and see how it is that Love is Fire. (אֵשׁ: esh)
For Love is Survival, Fear, Union, Purification, and Passion.
The Heart of Love
This is the first post of a series of reflections on the science of love, revealed through the Heart of Jesus.
When it comes to our spiritual growth, symbols are not superfluous, but always play an indispensable role — for symbols are intermediaries between the highest truths and our personal experiences.
The 8 Stages of Faith: Fowler, Spiral, and Vervaeke
As people grow and develop, how does their faith develop with them?
Faith is the pattern of one’s relatedness to and concern for what is real and ultimate. And each of these 8 stages are patterns and dimensions to faith — and thus, we all have access to an 8-dimentional faith-space.
Sola Scriptura, Tradition, and Knitting
What is the right way to live? Who or what do I trust to tell me how?
In the Christian tradition, many sources have been "listened to," including scripture, tradition, reason, and experience.
In this article I propose that Tradition both births and interprets Scripture, and present a knitting analogy for how the 4 Wesleyan sources of authority relate.
Faith or Belief?
“Belief” lives in the top-level of knowing (propositional knowing), by which one can assent to propositions and creeds.
"Faith" lives in the deepest level of knowing (participatory knowing) — our knowing of who we are (our identity) and our participation with God and others. It is a quality of our character and or our relationships, both of which reciprocally define who we are.
What is Non-Attachment?
Non-attachment is neither clinging… nor rejecting… but holding loosely with love.
When we desire something, we are prone to becoming too attached, meaning that we grasp for it, cling to it, try to control it, and make our happiness dependent upon it. This is the essence of attachment. It is an unhealthy dependency and neediness.