Questioning Eternal Hell (Part 2) 

Last week We began a series of reflections in which I invite us to question the notion of Eternal Hell. 

Most of the thoughts in these sermons are taken from a book by David Bentley Hart called “That All May Be Saved”.  David Bentley Hart  believes that traditional teachings on eternal hell undermine every other claim that Christians make about God, most especially the central idea that God is love.  David Bentley Hart not only critiques the teaching on Eternal Hell from a Biblical Perspective, he also tackles it from the perspective or moral philosophy. 

One of the moral arguments against the doctrine of eternal hell is that these teachings are psychologically damaging.

Illustrating this in a very vivid way, David Bentley Hart tells the story of his friends’ son who  was only around seven or eight years old at the time.  It was just a year before this that the young boy had been diagnosed as having Asperger’s syndrome. He was an extremely intelligent child, shy,  gentle and quiet, although on occasion he could be emotionally volatile – as tends to be the case with many children classified as being “on the spectrum”.  David Bentley Hart reminds us that such children, are often intensely sensitive to, and largely defenceless against extreme experiences: crowds, loud noises, overwhelming sensory stimulation of any kind, but also pronounced imaginative, emotional and moral dissonances. 

And so writes David Bentley Hart, it should have surprised no-one when he fell into a state of panic for three days, and then into an extended period of depression, after attending the families local Roman Catholic Parish Church when a visiting priest happened to mention the eternity of hell in a sermon. 

His reaction however did surprise his parents who realised that up until that point, the little boy had never really absorbed the traditional Christian teaching on eternal damnation. But now having heard it preached explicitly in a sermon, the little boy had fallen into a deep anguish and despair. David Bentley Hart writes that “All at once he found himself imprisoned in a universe of absolute horror, and nothing could calm him down down until his father finally succeeded in convincing him that the visiting priest had been repeating lies  for the sole purpose of terrorising people into submission.” 

This helped the little boy regain his composure, but not his willingness to go back to church. If his parents even so much as suggested the possibility to him, he would slip away into a narrow space where they could not reach him.  Soon they came to see the whole matter from his perspective. And as a result they made the conscious decision to not go back to church except on odd occasions as guests to a few weddings. And since that time, as a result of coming to understand their son’s reasons for not wanting to go back to church, they too have long since lost any interest in doing so either.  

It should go without saying that such a story could have taken place in any number of different Protestant Churches.  The teaching on eternal hell is by no means unique to Catholicism. In fact there are quite a number of Protestant Churches who seem to specialise in the subject, and many other’s who subscribe to the doctrine, but, because of the horror of its teaching, actually very seldom speak of it. 

David Bentley Hart writes that to him at least it seems obvious that this story is more than sufficient evidence of the spiritual bankruptcy of the traditional concept of eternal hell.  He suggests that another description for a “spectrum” child’s “exaggerated emotional sensitivity” might simply be “acute moral intelligence”.  It is precisely because a child on the spectrum lack’s strong emotional protection and coping mechanisms that such children may be unable to sufficiently shield themselves from the true horror of traditional teachings on eternal hell.  Such a child’s response should be like the warning of a canary in a coal-mine that traditional teachings on eternal hell are leading us into morally and psychologically dangerous territory. 

And so one of the moral arguments against the doctrine of eternal hell is the potential it carries with it for real psychological harm: Belief in eternal hell can instil fear, guilt, and anxiety in individuals instilling deep within them the sense that the universe is a profoundly unsafe place and that the very source of life is profoundly dangerous. This deeply indoctrinated fear may lead to psychological distress which can be detrimental to a persons mental well-being.  While I believe that such an underlying psychological distress is in fact experienced by many Christians, if not for themselves then for their loved one’s, I can only talk with authority from my own experience.  In my early 20’s I found myself sliding into a deep depression when confronted with the injustices of the Apartheid system in South Africa and the recognition that my relatively privileged life as a white South African had been built on the unjust treatment of the majority of the South African population. Recognising the depth of my own complicity in that system, I was faced with a crisis of faith. And at the root of that crisis of faith was a deep fear that God would disown me for all eternity. 

I have experienced first hand, the crippling psychological damage that belief in eternal hell can bring with it.  The fear of eternal hell can also have a serious impact on moral development: The concept of eternal hell may hinder moral development by fostering a fear-based compliance rather than genuine moral understanding and empathy. Morality motivated solely by fear of punishment may lack real depth and authenticity. There is an enormous difference between being motivated to behave morally out of fear and being motivated to act morally out of genuine love.  Moral action motivated by fear leads to outward compliance but quite often with an accompanying inner resentment or rebellion that seeps out in other unhealthy ways. Moral action motivated by love carry’s with it none of these secondary dangers.  

Getting back to David Bentley Hart’s story of that little boy, he writes that for most of those who hold onto a doctrine of eternal punishment, there is an utter failure in imagination, a failure to consider the utter horror of what they supposedly believe.   He says it is an utter failure to really consider what the word eternal actually means: an eternity of punishment. An eternity of suffering… never ending. Going on for infinity to infinity.  What purpose could such an infinity of suffering ever serve anyone?  Surely if God were God, then, a more compassionate option would be for God to simply snuff out the lives of the damned, as the Jehovah’s Witnesses believe, rather than keep them suffering to infinity (although that options also raises moral and theological questions).  If one really thinks about it, the idea of eternal punishment is an absolutely morally reprehensible idea that makes the horror’s of the holocaust seem like child’s play by comparison. (And in putting it like that I in no way wish to diminish the true horror of the holocaust.) 

Closely related to the psychologically damaging idea that eternal hell can have on people is the fact that the concept of eternal hell does not match up to even very basic concepts of proportional justice. 

One of the most prominent moral arguments against eternal hell is that it involves infinite punishment for finite actions committed during a finite lifetime. It is completely morally disproportionate that the consequences of a limited number of actions or beliefs in a finite life-time would result in eternal torment. Infinite punishment for finite crimes committed during a finite lifetime.  It is an outrageously disproportionate sense of justice. The only conclusion that one can come to that the very concept is completely devoid of any sense of justice at all. 

And so David Bentley Hart writes that it takes an almost heroic suspension of moral intelligence to believe that a soul can earn for itself a penalty that is both eternal and just. It requires a total failure to think through what the word eternal actually means. How can a finite being committing a finite temporary sin justly earn an infinite eternal, unending torment forever and ever and ever and ever… without ever ending. He says it defies even the basics of moral thinking of people who don’t even have a particularly advanced conscience. 

In Exodus 21 we read of how an ancient and a pretty violent Hebrew people were wrestling with questions of proportional justice towards even their enemies. It is a chapter that contains those well known words: An eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth, which implies that if someone took your eye out, it would be completely disproportionate to kill the person and their family in response. Rather it should be proportionate – an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If such an ancient and barbaric people, inspired by God’s Spirit, can believe in proportional justice, why should we expect less of God. 

I’d like to end again with a few passages of Scripture that will keep us thinking and that may help to pose some kind of biblical counter-point to what has just been shared: 

Psalm 30:5  For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favour lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.

Matthew 18:14 So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. 

1 Timothy 4:10 For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour of all people, especially of those who believe. (That is a very interesting verse. The original Greek doesn’t say, ‘only those who believe’, but ‘especially those who believe’.  It suggests that faith and trust in God’s saving purposes is helpful and beneficial, but not essential to God’s saving love. )

John 12:32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

How would it change our thinking and our being in the world if we came to believe that God’s saving purposes embraced all people, even the very worst of humanity and in the end no-one would be left out?  

Next week we will continue this exploration as we question the inherited doctrine of eternal hell or eternal lost-ness. 

 Questioning Hell (Part 1) - That All May Be Saved

I have recently been reading a book entitled: That All May Be Saved, Heaven, Hell and Universal Salvation. 

It is written by one of the USA’s leading theologians, David Bentley Hart who grew up as an Anglican in the Episcopal Church in America.  As an adult he became a member of the Eastern Orthodox tradition. 

It is a book that suggests that at some point Christianity went astray when it began to preach and teach the concept of eternal hell and eternal damnation and in doing so created a depiction of God that was distorted and not in keeping with the teaching of Jesus and the New Testament as a whole.  These misconceptions which he believes are rooted in a mistranslation of and incorrect reading of Scripture include Roman Catholics and Protestants as well as many in the Eastern Orthodox tradition.  And so in the book, David Bentley Hart makes a number of arguments against the idea of Eternal Hell and Eternal Perdition which he believes undermines every other claim that Christians make about God, most especially the central claim that God is love. 

David Bentley Hart shares his journey and recounts a story from early Christianity. As a teenager within the Anglican tradition, he encountered the tale of Abba Macarius, a revered hermit known for his life of prayer in the desert. One day, while walking alone in the wilderness, Macarius stumbled upon a human skull. To his amazement, the skull began to speak when he moved it with his staff. The skull identified itself as a pagan high priest who once served the people of the area. It acknowledged Macarius as a holy figure whose prayers could alleviate the suffering of the damned.

Upon hearing this, Macarius inquired about the suffering experienced by the damned. The skull described how they endured being engulfed in flames, packed tightly together day and night, suspended over a fiery abyss that stretched infinitely below them. Additionally, they were unable to make eye contact with one another, condemned to gaze at each other's backs for eternity. Despite their plight, the skull noted that whenever Macarius prayed for them, they briefly glimpsed each other's faces, bringing them immense gratitude as it provided a fleeting relief from their ceaseless torment.

Upon hearing this, Macarius was overcome with sorrow and proclaimed that it would have been better if the unfortunate priest had never existed. He then inquired whether there were others in hell enduring even worse torments. The skull affirmed this, explaining that the suffering endured by him and his fellow pagans was relatively mild because they had never known the true God and thus never had the opportunity to choose to serve Him. The skull described the incomprehensibly more terrible punishments faced by those who had rejected God despite knowing Him. With a sense of dread, Macarius buried the skull and hurried on his way.

David Bentley Hart, first read this story when he was just 14 years old.  And, Interestingly, by coincidence, he heard the story again that same week in the sermon when he went to church that Sunday.  He said the priest spoke with wonder and awe at how beautiful this story was in portraying the mercy and compassion of Abba Macarius extended even to the souls of the damned and how his prayers could bring momentary relief to their sufferings. 

But for David Bentley Hart what really stood out for him was that the mercy and compassion expressed by Macarius’s was far greater than that of God in the story, for the story implied that it was in fact God who had created hell as such a vicious and vindictive form of torture for the apparent sin of not knowing God. And this it seemed to him to be completely unjust and cruel. 
As a teenager, he reasoned that if God knows everything and knew beforehand that the high priest would suffer forever, then creating him was surely and act of limitless cruelty on the part of God. 

As a result of his distaste for Christian teachings on eternal hell, David Bentley Hart says that in his teenage years he began distance himself from Christianity… 

But quite early into his adult years, David Bentley Hart came to see that there were better Christian answers to these questions.  He soon came to see that in the first 300-400 years of the existence of the church, the majority of Christians of that period did not believe in the concept of eternal hell, damnation and perdition (meaning utter destruction).  The majority of Christians in these centuries believed in what is generally called universal salvation, that God’s saving purposes were universal, and all embracing, excluding none.  This was the belief that Divine love is limitless and ultimately inescapable and that in God’s great compassion expressed in Christ, God would save all people from whatever the hellish sufferings they had created for themselves and that therefore, eventually, God would bring all of His lost children home, no matter how far they had strayed. And so these early Christians believed in Love’s final victory over sin and death and hell and that everyone without exception would be saved. 

And they held these convictions on the basis of verses of scripture like the following: 

1 Corinthians 15:22  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. (There are no exceptions there, not ‘some will be made alive’, but ‘all will be made alive’). 

Over the next few weeks over this season of Lent, I hope to explore the arguments of David Bentley Hart further as we are invited to wrestle for ourselves whether the dominant inherited Christian framework, with it’s emphasis on Eternal Hell or Eternal Lost-ness accurately portrays the teaching and message of the New Testament, and whether the doctrine of Eternal Hell can stand up to a moral critique.  Traditionally, possibly going back to as early as the 1700’s, but certainly back to the early 1800’s, many Non-Subscribing Presbyterians across Ireland had come to reject the idea of eternal hell based on their own sensitivity to the spirit of Christ’s teachings, and in their analysis of Scripture. Thus, these perspectives are not new to the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian tradition.  I am simply re-stating a long standing position of many in this denomination. 

I end this reflection by reading a selection of verses from Luke’s Gospel, and in doing so I invite you to listen out for the word ‘all’ and it’s equivalents. Teachings on eternal hell suggest that not all will be saved.  But these verses suggest the contrary - 

Luke 2:10
And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

Luke 3:5-6
Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

Luke 16:16
“The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it.
‍
Luke 19:10
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

​Step 12

We have come to the end of our journey exploring the 12 Steps as today we reflect on the final Step. 

Hopefully this has been a really helpful journey exploring a program that you may have heard about, but never really knew what it was about. 

The original 12 Step Program was written for Recovering Alcoholics, but over the decades, it usefulness in bringing change in people’s lives has been shown to be valuable in all sorts of other spheres. 

Today there are 12 step programs for people who experience drug addiction (Narcotics Anonymous), for those who struggle with cluttering and hoarding - (Clutterers Anonymous), 
for those who repeatedly get themselves into debt - (Debtors Anonymous), for those who struggle with finding themselves repeatedly in dysfunctional in relationships – (Co-dependents anonymous). For those who struggle with food, (Over-eaters Anonymous and Food-Addicts Anonymous) and also a 12 Step program for those who over-work -  (Workaholics Anonymous). 

What really strikes one is how rigorous the 12 Step program is. One has to hold in high admiration anyone who has embarked on this program and those who have been able to see it through to the end.  It is a program that takes an enormous amount of courage.  If you know someone who has been through the 12 step program, hopefully you have a new appreciation and admiration for the rigorous journey that they have been through. 

Perhaps what has been missing is the recognition that the 12 Steps are best not done simply privately as individuals.  It was designed to be done with the support of a mentor and also the support of a group.  It is therefore not a self-help program. It is built on the premise that journey towards wholeness and recovery in all spheres of life is best done with the help of others… and with the help of God or some conception of a Higher Power.  

And so we come to Step 12 “Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others and to practise these principles in all our affairs”

What does it mean to have a spiritual awakening?  It sounds awfully religious says Trevor.  One gets the sense of an other-worldly vision, of strange lights and ethereal music. 

But Trevor says a spiritual awakening can be defined quite simply – It is about coming alive in some area of our life where previously there was a deadness.  And the shape of this can be different for different people depending on the nature of their own circumstances. 

- For some it may be about coming to a deeper acceptance and humble awareness of who we really are with all of our gifts as well as our weaknesses.

-For some it might be the joy of experiencing more positive emotions. 

-Or the discovery of a new found freedom in our capacity for choice, no longer feeling like hopeless victims trapped in our past mistakes, but joy of discovering the ability to move forward towards a more positive future. 

-Or the experience of new life in our relationships and a new found ability to relate to people more openly and freely. 

-Or simply a new found ability to appreciate the gift of life – As Trevor writes... to appreciate the sound of the wind in the trees, to smell the scent of a beautiful flower, to enjoy the taste of a good meal, to delight in the playfulness of a puppy. Our senses are alive and awake again because we have begun to see through the fog of negativity, guilt and shame that we may have lived with for so long. 

-For some perhaps a deeper sense of Divine Love, that Life is good and that each of us is deeply loved by something much greater than ourselves. 

Trevor asks: Can you identify with any of these? If you can, then you have had a spiritual awakening.  

And so what the 12 Step Program suggests is that a spiritual awakening is not just about some kind of supernatural experience (although for some it might include that), but is rooted in the ordinary reality of ordinary life and relationships. 

The second half of Step 12 is about sharing the positivity of what has been experienced with others: 

Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others… 

I find it interesting that this encouragement to carry this message to others only comes at the very end of a rigorous and testing process.  It is one of the last parts of the 12 Step program not one of the first for good reason, because by the 12th step, all participants would have come to a far humbler and more mature view of themselves, with a far greater awareness of our common human frailties. 

And so with this in mind, some of the best advice I have heard about sharing any religious or spiritual message with others still comes from St Francis Assisi who is reported to have said:  “Preach the Good News to all creatures – and if necessary use words”

This is echoed by Richard Templar in his book the Rules of Life.  Rule 1 of his Rules for life is “Keep it under your hat”.  

In introducing his rules for life he writes: You are about to discover ways to become positive, happier, more successful in everything you do. So there’s no need to say anything to anybody about it. Keep quiet. No-one likes a smart arse. First Rule: Keep it under your hat. 

There may well be times when you want to talk to other people about what you’re doing because, quite naturally you want to share it with somebody.  

Let them find out for themselves…. He says… if you tell them, they will shy away. And quite rightly so – we all hate being preached at.  He says its a bit like when you give up smoking and suddenly find this new healthier way of living and you simply have to convert all your old smoking friends. Trouble is, they aren’t ready to quit yet. 

So the first rule says Richard Templar is quite simply, don’t preach, propagate, try to convert, shout from the roof-tops or even mention this. Richard Templar suggests that no-one really wants to know, so keep quiet.  

Perhaps Richard Templar’s approach is quite radical… but it should make all of us a little more cautious in trying to convert anyone too quickly.  Let them first see something different within us and perhaps when they begin to ask why maybe that is the time to speak.  Which is really what St Francis is saying when he said: Preach the Good News at all times, and only when necessary use words. 

Finally, just in case we think Step 12 is the end of the program, it reminds us to continue practising everything we have learned. 

“Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to
others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.”

The last phrase of the 12 steps: keep practising these principles in all your affairs. 

In closing, Trevor Hudson writes:  The Twelve Step Program contains wise principles that show us how to live well.  If we put them into practice in all our affairs, we will experience tremendous benefits and blessings. We will experience a growing sense of sanity and serenity… We will begin to have small victories over those weaknesses that were once sabotaging our lives and relationships. We will move beyond being superficial in our relationships with others and with God. In the words of the last line of one of the short stories in the Big Book of AA: At last we will be at peace with ourselves. And with others. And with God.  Amen.

An audio recording of the whole service...

Sharpening the Saw (Steps 10 & 11) 

Trevor Hudson tells the following story - 

Once upon a time all the temptations were put on sale. Each one was packaged, price-tagged  and advertised: The temptation to be selfish, to control those around us, to lose our temper, to nurse our grievances, to tell lies, to be greedy, and so on.  Most of these temptations were expensive. But there was one which was marked ‘Free’. It was the temptation to be complacent. One day a customer came along, noticed this jar and asked why it was being given away for nothing. ‘Oh, if you fall for that temptation,’ came the answer then you are vulnerable to all the others.’

Trevor goes on to write that complacency is one of the most dangerous temptations on the spiritual journey, especially for those who have managed through the first 9 Steps, who have now begun to reap the real benefits of the program, whose lives are beginning to feel lighter, more harmonious with a new sense of stability. It may begin to feel for such people that their goals have been achieved and after all the hard work it is now time to relax.  

But Step 10 is a reminder not to become complacent, emphasizing the ongoing need to continue practising everything that has been learned and maintaining everything that has been gained. 

In 1 Cor 12, the apostle Paul, in the midst of a reflection on temptation writes the following words: 

“If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall.”

It is the encouragement not to become complacent.

And so Step 10 on the 12 Step Program, right near the end, comes as a reminder that the 12 Step program is not a program that you graduate from and then leave behind.  Rather it is about a training in a set of principles for harmonious and stable living and that therefore need to be practised on an ongoing basis.  

Step 10 does this by emphasizing the need for ongoing self-reflection. Step 10 reads: 

         We continued to take personal inventory and, when we were wrong, promptly admitted it. 

This is a step about practising the skills learned so far. 

In 1962 Gary Player told a story about his fellow golfer Jerry Barber in his book “Gary Player’s Golf Secrets”. 

    Once Jerry Barber, a great sand player, was practising bunker shots. He hit one ball near the flag. The next shot went in.

    A person watching Jerry told him: “Gee, you sure are a lucky bunker shot player.”

    “Yes, I know,” Jerry replied. “And the harder I practice, the luckier I get.”

And that is really what Step 10 on the 12 Step program is emphasizing. The more practised we become at reflecting on our character flaws, spotting them and identifying them, the easier it will become to promptly admit that we are wrong, the less mess we are likely to create in our lives, and the easier it is going to be to clean it up. 

I think we are all aware how keeping a room tidy on an ongoing basis is much easier than leaving it to get messier and messier and then in the end cleaning it is going to feel like an enormous task.  The same is true in our personal lives.  If we can catch our character flaws early, the smaller the mess that we’re going to create in our personal lives and in the lives of others. 

In a way, it is not only Step 10 that emphasizes the need to maintain our progress, in their own way, Step 11 and 12 do so as well.  For the rest of this reflection I would like to focus on Step 11.  

While Step 10 encourages us to continue the practice of self reflection and making amends by apologising promptly when we see our faults and character defects re-emerging, 

Step 11 is an encouragement to practice an ever deeper reliance or consciousness of our Higher Power, or God as we may understand God. 

Step 11 reads: We sought through prayer and meditation, to improve our conscious contact with God, praying for knowledge of God’s will for us and for the power to carry it out. 

Two parts to Step 11

1 – Through Prayer and Meditation seeking to improve our conscious contact with God

2 – Praying for knowledge of God’s Will and the power to carry it out. 

In the late 1990’s, an American life-coach called Stephen Covey, wrote a book called the Seven Habits of Highly Effective people.  One of the principles he identifies in the book is what he called: Sharpening the Saw using the following story: 

A woodcutter strained to saw down a tree.  A young man who was watching asked “What are you doing?”

“Are you blind?” the woodcutter replied. “I’m cutting down this tree.”

The young man was unabashed. “You look exhausted! Take a break. Sharpen your saw.”

The woodcutter explained to the young man that he had been sawing for hours and did not have time to take a break.

The young man pushed back… “If you sharpen the saw, you would cut down the tree much faster.”

The woodcutter said “I don’t have time to sharpen the saw. Don’t you see I’m too busy?”

In the context of the 12 step program, one of the ways we can sharpen the saw, is by seeking to maintain and deepen our conscious contact with God, through prayer and meditation. 

It is the encouragement to find a discipline that on a daily or weekly basis will keep us connected with God, our Higher Power or our Higher Self. 

For Christians, one of the most obvious ways of doing this is regular attendance at Church worship. But there are other ways too...

For some it might be practising conversational prayer… speaking to God as though God were your dearest and best friend.  But not everyone can connect with prayer in that sense. And so for others, it might be memorising a prayer like the Prayer of St Francis of Assisi (or perhaps even the Lord’s Prayer) and saying it slowly and meaningfully every day.  For others reflecting on the Gospel stories of Jesus or memorising inspirational verses of Scripture. For others, it might be more along the lines of resting into the stillness as the Psalmist says: Be Still and Know that I am God.  But for others it might be spending time alone in nature, connecting with God through the natural world.  

A little boy was watching his granny rub some cream onto her face. He was intrigued and asked her why she was doing this.  She replied simply, that she hoped the cream would take away her wrinkles. He became quiet, continued to look closely at her face, obviously concerned. After a long silence, he said ‘Granny, I’m sorry, but it’s not working.’

Prayer and Meditation can take many different forms. The most important thing is doing whatever works for you, whatever it is that helps you to feel more deeply connected with a sense of the peace, wisdom and love of God. So that your life begins to align more and more deeply with God’s Life. 

The second half of Step 11 is about praying for God’s will for us and the power to carry that out. 

What is God’s will for you? Some Christians approach that question as though God is some kind of micro-manager wanting to meddle in the finer details of your life. I don’t find such views helpful.  For me the bottom line of God’s will for us us that more and more we should grow into the Mind of Christ, in other words the mind of Love and Wisdom. If you are growing in love and wisdom, then I believe that you and fulfilling God’s will and purpose in your life 

In our gospel reading today we encounter Jesus going off early in the morning in solitude, spending time alone in nature in order to connect more deeply with God in prayer.  This appears to be the spiritual heartbeat of his life.  After a busy night the previous night, Jesus seeks seeks to be refreshed and renewed by reconnecting with the Divine.  And it is out of this stillness and prayer, that Jesus seems to find his direction and purpose.  When the disciples find him and want to drag him back to the house where people are waiting for him, Jesus recognises that it is time to move on to other towns and villages.  By reconnecting with God or the Divine, Jesus is not only refreshed and renewed, but his has a renewed sense of purpose. 

I end with 2 quotes: 

For Step 10 – about not becoming complacent

Philippians 3:13-14 "Brothers and Sisters, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

For Step 11 – deepening our connection with God

1 Chronicles 16:11 - "Seek the The I-Am, the Holy One and his strength; seek his presence continually!"