Tuesday, November 22, 2005
The Charismatic Discussion - Some Unusual Perspectives
I love it when stuff comes in pertinent to a discussion out-of-the-blue. Such has been the case in the last couple of days in the charismatic/cecessionist discussion.
The first such item is from Evangelical Outpost. Joe make an absolutely outstanding contribution to the discussion by discussing the role of the Holy Spirit in Christian ethics and in particular "virtue ethics."
The other "out-of-the-blue" input I got was a talk I heard over the past weekend on the amazing growth of Pentecostal Christianity in the latin third world. The speaker seemed to apologize for, or excuse, the Pentecostal nature of the church's growth in these regions. Granted, his audience was largely cessasionist, but the speaker's approach was quite odd.
Essentially, the speaker's argument was that in the midst of gross poverty, what can you expect other than a "superstitious" holding to action by the Spirit. Further, the speaker seemed to imply that our relative material wealth precluded such miraculous action by the Spirit in the first world.
I found this line of discussion most annoying. I do not think the Holy Spirit chooses how and where to act based on socio-economic considerations. Nor do I think material poverty (spiritual poverty is a different story altogether) leads to a somehow more genuine spirituality, and thus greater activity by the Holy Spirit. In fact, it is precisely the socio-economic desparation that charismatic charlatans often play upon, and such action is beyond reprehensible.
I also found it odd that poverty was offered as some sort of excuse for charismatic activity. Why is apology necessary? It was as if the speaker was trying to have it both ways.
Either the miraculous gifts are real and we should be working diligently to arrive at the proper context for and understanding of them, or they stopped with the apostolic age, in which case they should be universally denounced when seen. But to try and reach some sort of middle ground based on utterly earthly considerations like socio-econmic status strikes me as crowd-pleasing rather than truth-seeking.
It was another example of someone trying to avoid this conversation because it is hard. My response is that it is precisely because it is hard that we should be having it. Playing politics with these issues is what has gotten us into the polarized and animosoty filled state we are in. Seeking truth is the only way to bridge the gap.
Finally, Adrian Warnock hs resurrected the Reformed Charismatic Aggregator. Everything you want to know about being a reasonable charismatic is there.
The first such item is from Evangelical Outpost. Joe make an absolutely outstanding contribution to the discussion by discussing the role of the Holy Spirit in Christian ethics and in particular "virtue ethics."
There is an underlying assumption that once questions about right and wrong are answered then the ethical questions are settled. But in real world situations, most moral quandaries exist not because we fail to distinguish between good and evil but that we fail to do that which is good.I think it would be fair to say that the evil practice of the charismata that many have noted can be described as "without virtue." That's important and it illustrates one of the great misunderstandings on the charimatic side of the discussion. The Spirit is about much, much more in us that just bestowing "gifts," miraculous or otherwise. If our understanding of and interaction with the Holy Spirit does not incorporate all those other activities of the Spirit, and do so on a properly prioritized basis, then our "gifting" is as unsanctified as anything else.
The appeal of virtue ethics is that it places a greater emphasis on being rather than doing. While not without its own problems, this focus on the kind of moral being a person is rather than on goals or rules that must be followed make virtue ethics a particularly appealing option for Christians. As theologian Paul Lewis explains, the task of the Christian virtue ethicist is to become the sort of person who has certain dispositions to respond to certain situations in characteristic ways which illustrate the essence of true humanity, which is "true" only when in relation to God....
...A pneumatological approach, says Lewis, finds the origins of the virtues in God. The Spirit guides us from the lack of virtue to the source of all virtues, producing in us by this relationship the "fruit of the Spirit" (Gal 5:22-23). Because God is the origin, there is a coherence of the virtues in God himself: If God is the unifying element of the virtues then none of the virtues are secondary. Just as the Spirit distributes the different virtues to each individual and resolves any apparent dilemmas between specific virtues.
The Spirit also plays a role in developing the virtues by mediating them through the community of faith (the church), the Word of God (the Bible), and the individual self (the believerÂ’s conscience). He works through these three means to both develop our ethical understanding (i.e., illuminating the moral requirements outlined in Scripture) and to help us live and act virtuously.
The other "out-of-the-blue" input I got was a talk I heard over the past weekend on the amazing growth of Pentecostal Christianity in the latin third world. The speaker seemed to apologize for, or excuse, the Pentecostal nature of the church's growth in these regions. Granted, his audience was largely cessasionist, but the speaker's approach was quite odd.
Essentially, the speaker's argument was that in the midst of gross poverty, what can you expect other than a "superstitious" holding to action by the Spirit. Further, the speaker seemed to imply that our relative material wealth precluded such miraculous action by the Spirit in the first world.
I found this line of discussion most annoying. I do not think the Holy Spirit chooses how and where to act based on socio-economic considerations. Nor do I think material poverty (spiritual poverty is a different story altogether) leads to a somehow more genuine spirituality, and thus greater activity by the Holy Spirit. In fact, it is precisely the socio-economic desparation that charismatic charlatans often play upon, and such action is beyond reprehensible.
I also found it odd that poverty was offered as some sort of excuse for charismatic activity. Why is apology necessary? It was as if the speaker was trying to have it both ways.
Either the miraculous gifts are real and we should be working diligently to arrive at the proper context for and understanding of them, or they stopped with the apostolic age, in which case they should be universally denounced when seen. But to try and reach some sort of middle ground based on utterly earthly considerations like socio-econmic status strikes me as crowd-pleasing rather than truth-seeking.
It was another example of someone trying to avoid this conversation because it is hard. My response is that it is precisely because it is hard that we should be having it. Playing politics with these issues is what has gotten us into the polarized and animosoty filled state we are in. Seeking truth is the only way to bridge the gap.
Finally, Adrian Warnock hs resurrected the Reformed Charismatic Aggregator. Everything you want to know about being a reasonable charismatic is there.
