HOGWASH! Guffaws to the MAX!You Charismatics and UFO types use a
RUBBER DICTIONARY and
RUBBER hermeneutic and a
RUBBER Calendar and a
RUBBER whatever!
Except for when you use plastic (or is it paper, I forget, paper or plastic?).I HATE the Charismatic Movement for the way it canonizes emotions and impulse, and despises careful thought and the way it rules out real personal growth for delusive and self-involved spiritual romanticism, and the way it provides a kind of exclusive, unless you have OUR experience and worship with OUR style of worship, you are spiritually dead and probably an idolater.
You would THINK that the Charismatics out there simply cannot accept that fact that a few of their number fit this description -- and use rubber dictionaries and elastic syllogism to dissociate their movement from the inevitable fruit of psychosis in some of their adherents
And given the way God says, "Who is this that darkens counsel with words without knowledge?" I think I'm in good company.
{I left out the colors and fonts and font sizes and all.)
(AND, nothing personal but I;m going not only to ignore but to scoff in big letters at your rubber arguments for the sake of the lurkers.)
I'm not saying I think that. I'm saying that that may fail just a wee bit in conveying a deep and heartfelt love for Charismatics and UFO types.
*****************
My heartfelt thanks.
Wouldn’t greatly move me.
I’d mostly consider it a perspective.
And, the way some Charismatic/Pentecostals behave . . . a fairly unsurprising perspective.
I’d probably suspect that the author wasn’t overly fond of Charismatics/Pentecostals.
But it’s also plausible that the person was offended at a particular group or family or preacher or service or some such.
And, it’s also plausible that the person was exaggerating for effect in an argument.
Certainly nothing worth my getting my knickers in a twist over.
It has not a microgram’s of influence on MY RELATIONSHIP with God 1:1. Sooooooo, I don’t need to get the least bit emotional about it.
I might be sad that so many have such a skewed perspective on Charismatics/Pentecostals. But, I’ve been around long enough to know that it’s not 100% unfounded.
I may consider it wholesale exaggerated; 98% off the wall wrong; misinormed; a result of some unfortunate out of balance experiences; . . . whatever.
But it’s not punishment from God on Mt Sinai.
It’s just a human perspective from unfortunate understandable human causes.
Even if 98% of all RC’s felt that way—it would still just be a human perspective from unfortunate human causes. I’d be sadder if 98% of all RC’s felt that way but it wouldn’t wind my emotions up except maybe to feel sadder that so many felt that way.
I could even imagine that the author really had a love for Charismatics/Pentecostals and wanted them earnestly to “see the light” as the author saw it—however misguided I thought that might be.
I don’t know how to articulate things better . . .
Charismania is not per se the sum total of my relationship with God. It’s an important—sort of—label to use as short-hand in talking about many important aspects of my relationship with God. But it’s just a label.
And all the Charismatic groups/congregations etc. are just collections of folks working out their Salvation as Biblically as they can with Holy Spirit’s assist. None of them gets it perfectly as individuals nor as groups. ALLLLL see through the glass darkly. That’s part of what it means to be human.
The Charismatic leaders are not perfect nor infallible. All of everything must be checked with Scripture AND with Holy Spirit and we all miss it. And we all need grace and must extend grace. We all need forgiveness and must extend forgiveness. We are all bruised by other’s judgments and must learn to avoid judging unBiblically.
I met John Wimber in Taipei. I was responsible for guarding his warmup-room—green room before he went ‘on.’
He was incredibly authentic. Just as I’d seen him in his videos. He was super humble and unaffectedly so. He’d have been the first to insist he was not infallible.
Yet, he got more things more right about Charismatic Christian life and church life of anyone I’ve ever known. And, somehow, he even managed to infect the Vineyard churches with some wisdom in how to choose wise, humble, anointed, truly spiritual leaders. But not infallibly.
And, while I can enjoy cathedrals and even worshipped in one for many months . . . there’s something quite New Testament about worshipping in a warehouse, in homes . . .
And there’s something about tradition that the insecure little country-hick farmboy part of me would like to nestle into and take security and comfort from. But God has never allowed me that luxury. He has persistently insisted that I have Him as my Daddy, My Security, My Tradition, My Edifice, My High Tower . . . My All-in-All.
Yeah, I’ve often been like the little boy ready for some “God-with-skin-on.” And there’s been very little of that. God’s path for me has mostly been the road not taken . . . by very many others.
And I’ve been forced to learn the hard way that most, if not all, Protty groups are as guilty of idolatry and leaning on flawed tradition as much as many RC groups.
A lot of Protty idolatries are more whitewashed, more ostensibly ‘sanctified’ and disguised than so many of the RC idolatries. Doesn’t make them less deadly.
With relentless persistence, God has forced me repeatedly to the place where it was GOD ALONE AND I. Nothing else. Nothing in between. Nothing buffering. Nothing distracting. No other pacifiers, blinky’s, teddy bears, arms of flesh to lean on.
With relentless persistence He’s repeatedly brought me to the place where all the accoutraments of RELIGION were trashed, shredded, burned to ask and blown away in this or that fiery furnace.
One particularly hard, dark and long fiery furnace I was reduced to knowing merely that there was a God. I thought that maybe, hoped that maybe Jesus was His Son, but I wasn’t even too sure about that any more. Slowly God built back the basics of my faith walk with Him.
GOD AND GOD ALONE.
There’s nothing else worth anything of any substance.
Only when that is rock solid secure and rock solid the eternal central focus of a soul can anything else be added without hurting the soul.
I wish I could say it better, dear MD. That’s probably the best I can do off the top of my head.
And, I have to leave shortly for a pizza thing with my mother’s cousin’s son.
I hope it’s comprehensible.
Blessings,
The charismatics I’ve known, at least in the past 25 years in my own experience in my church, have been the most loving and the least judgemental Christians I’ve known. They have loved me (and others), supported me, prayed for me, surrounded me when I needed that, cared for me. I am so grateful for the charismatic movement. Sure, some of it did get out of hand, but God has been refining us and most of the charismatic, spirit-filled churches around us are well balanced between the Word and Worship, the gifts of the Holy Spirit and such. I praise God for them.