What is normal Christianity?
I talked with a friend in our church about prophecy and spiritual gifts. She said she had done a "google search" on a couple of authors and there was some controversy attached to their name. As a result, she wondered if what they had to say about spiritual gifts would be unhelpful.
Anyone who exercises faith in spiritual gifts will be considered “controversial," I’m afraid. It’s unfortunate that so much of the church relegates spiritual ministry such as prophecy or deliverance to something that is divisive and weird. It should be normal Christianity.
That being said, there are some valid concerns over certain ministries that emphasize spiritual gifts too much. Rather than seeing gifts as something that should be normative, these ministries chase after the phenomena instead of the fruitfulness of those gifts. For example, they will "ooh and aah" over the latest prophecy or tongues/interpretation but downplay the multitude of passages in the Bible on the subject of worship, attitudes, greed, heaven, hell, suffering, and relationships.
So, all that to say, that yes, we should have concerns about some authors and teachers because of their areas of emphasis. HOWEVER, they may have information that is worthy of study, but I won't swallow everything they say as God's Word. The symbol that comes to mind is the one I used when we were fishing as kids when a fish swallowed everything---“hook, line and sinker.” We need discerning hearts and minds that carefully judge every ministry and gift by God's Word.
But normal Christianity is a para-normal existence. That is, the Christian life is not a scientific life. It is a spiritual life. Some of what we do may be proven scientifically. But science is not the foundation of the Christian life. Faith is.
1 comment:
When ever I read a book or listen to a speaker my prayer is always to show me truth. I think it's always important to remember that books are written by fallible man. And often times prepositions is the driving force behind the concerns and comfort of those who do not understand the phenomena of spiritual gifts, such as tongues.
For example I grew up in a predominantly Southern baptist culture, where tongues are down played quite a bit. So I struggle with understanding the phenomena and to be honest am uncomfortable with it when I'm in the presents of someone "speaking" in tongues. I will question it's authenticity and if it is being practiced bibically. But it doesn't mean I have disbelief, but instead I am cautious and lack knowledge and understanding in this area.
Upon reading a book that teaches on the subject of spiritual gifts I do my best to eat the meat and spit out the bones.
I agree that faith is what we need more then anything and with American Christianity faith tends to be lacking in many areas of our Christianity.
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