Would you listen to these men?
I've been accused by my Charismatic brethren of being too cerebral when it comes to "receiving" from the Holy Spirit. I counter that God says to love him with all your heart, soul, and MIND. Still, at times I wonder if in my quest to "come now and reason together" I don't at times overcompensate. Consider this Who's Who line-up of Old Testament Prophets (that reads like a ward at Bellevue):
- One prophet stripped naked for three years as he conducted his ministry (Isaiah).
- Another one walked around with the yoke of oxen binding his neck (Jeremiah).
- A third married a prostitute who cheated on him repeatedly (Hosea).
- A fourth bound himself with ropes to lay on his left side for 390 days "besieging" a model of a city that he had built in a sandpile, before shifting to his right side for another 40 days (430 days total). Later the same prophet packed his bags and walked around the city in circles with them. Finally, he refused to mourn his wife's death because God told him not to (Ezekiel).
Oh, that I would have eyes to see and ears to hear, whatever the medium or message.
posted by Jeremy Del Rio @ 6/14/2006 01:45:00 PM
2 Comments:
Remember that most Christians, charismatic or not, in the US wouldn't be willing to do those things. When it comes down to it, talk is cheap. Not a whole lot of middle class charismatics live in my neighborhood. Never have. I don't expect them any time soon. Locally, charismatics and pentecostals are more likely to run away from the public schools than get involved. A few years ago our school district adopted a system that would have allowed churches to have a major impact on the public school system. Parents could have gotten together and enrolled their kids at a specific school and had a major impact. My church alone could have supplied 1/3 of the students at most of the elementary schools. What did Christians do? Pulled their kids out, criticized those who stayed, and built more and bigger private schools. My response to criticism of receiving the Holy Spirit would be a simple "Talk is cheap." Nothing more needs to be said.
Yeah, I have a little chip on my shoulder. ;-)
J, define 'cerebral' for me in this context. If cerebral means possessing a thorough and biblically faithful theology through which you filter supposed moves of the Spirit (another term that needs a definition) you can't be cerebral enough. Also, I would encourage you to think about where you live along the timeline of redemptive history, 2000 years after Christ and the Apostles, etc., before you start getting down on yourself for not buying into all the supposed stuff that your Charismatic bretheren are accusing you about.
Bob, love your heart, and your decision to involved yourself and your kids in the public schools as a missional endeavor is cool. But I don't think throwing blanket shots at people who, from conviction, have chosen to abstain from sending their kids to government-run schooling is fair. There are very sound biblical reasons for choosing private schooling.
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