If you have not yet read Renovated … then please … first address the following question:
Can you at this moment, clearly articulate for at least 5 minutes, what Dallas Willard taught about the VIM Model?
If you are among the vast majority of people who are unable to say “yes” to this, and actually explain this model, then by all means, do yourself a favor and put off reading Jim Wilder’s Renovated until you have fully digested Dallas Willard’s The Renovation of the Heart, to the extent that you can then explain VIM clearly.
My reason for this is very simple: Only a prior clear understanding of VIM will provide you with the ability to read Wilder’s book critically. Because if his book your first exposure to VIM and explanation of VIM, you will be deeply misled on every detail.
The shocking reality is this: Jim Wilder himself does NOT understand what Dallas Willard taught regarding VIM, a fact that is demonstrated clearly throughout this website. Yet despite his gross misunderstandings of VIM, he has attempted to write a book that deconstructs this model as it applies to spiritual formation! The result is that the reader is presented with a completely fictional description of VIM, along with a distorted image of what Dallas taught, followed up with an effort by Wilder to teach “a better way.”
The bottom line? If the author has no solid grasp of his subject, then reading his book cannot possibly improve the reader’s understanding.
Even worse, the reader would quite likely come to the faulty conclusion that what Dallas taught was deficient in some manner. And nothing could be further from the truth, which is that the teachings of Dallas Willard are rapidly transforming the Christian world in ways it has not seen in centuries!
So … reader beware! This book by Jim Wilder is a danger to your mind, and your very soul.