I wrote on this in my post on The Second Reformation but perhaps a closer look would help.A little background on me, I grew up in a Pentecostal church, I have been a pastor of two Pentecostal churches and have had Pentecostal experiences and I still feel things like tongues, healings and miracles happen and are legit, BUT I have also witnessed things that have convinced me that part of the movement has a dark side and more than just a few bad apples. I have witnessed the charlatans on which Steve Martin based his movie Leap of Faith. The tricks are numerous and the doctrines that are used, to be blunt, are absolute crap with one design -- relieving people of their money and the accumulation of power for the preacher. I saw more and more of these as I got deeper into the leadership of the movement. I am now convinced that many will believe anything as long as it thrills their emotions and gives them a feeling of power over their circumstances.
One of the things that frustrates me is how people who have had a religious experience or a 'feeling' of God in their lives use this as absolute proof that God exists and that their faith is the real deal. It does nothing of the kind.
1) All religions and faiths have religious experiences of some kind. If personal religious experience proves faith, then every faith is proven true.
2) The manifestations of tongues, healings and various miracles are not unique to Christianity, other religions have them.
3) In just about every religion in the world there is some claim of special revelation from some divine source.
4) Feelings are not fact, they are not right or wrong -- they are just feelings and the fact is you can have a feeling of spiritual wholeness from a cup of hot chocolate on a cold day. Doesn't prove I should worship hot chocolate.
5) It is hard to prove a religious experience is genuine and given that some are easily manipulated through their emotions, some experiences may not be religious just emotional releases.
I am not saying that they have no value whatsoever but ultimately they are only valuable to the ones who have them and only as a seal of assurance, not as proof of faith.
I believe this is why you can find so many former Pentecostals out there, they start to think too much. I know I was accused of this often. Once you get past the emotional part of the experience, sometimes it was difficult to say what the experience was. What this means ultimately for someone who has based their whole faith on these experiences, is complete despair and disillusionment when they come to the realization that these experiences do not in any way prove their faith is true.
For Christianity, there is only one event at stake and if it is not a historical fact then as Paul says: 'our faith is useless' - The Resurrection. If Jesus did not, in fact, literally walk out that tomb than Christianity is a complete and absolute waste of time and we would be better off 'eating and drinking for tomorrow we die." See First Corinthians 15, if you do not believe me.
Well spoken my friend. When the warm fuzzes are gone, the situation remains the same. We must stand on God's Word for what it says. We must speak to the situation. With no doubt and always confess what God has already done for us. Just receive it. Thanks for all of your blog's . I enjoy them, and You speak the truth. Bill Scofield
ReplyDeleteThanks Bill, glad to have you aboard.
ReplyDeleteIs there absolute proof that God exists?
ReplyDeleteFor many years at my house Santa Claus ate cookies and milk on Christmas Eve. The reindeer tracks outside, the presents under the tree PROVED (to me) that he existed. My own "faith" in Santa along with evidence (even though it was created by "charlatan" parents that meant well)created this sense of belief in me. Is this not similar to how some Church leaders (bad apples) portray God? Evidence is created, personal experiences are relied upon for belief = epic fail.
It is when followers begin to question each other and find their personal experiences don't add up that many walk away.
Faith. Believing. We must understand that Yes, God Does Exist. Please see http://www.newseum.org/yesvirginia/
My apologies for seeming to be light-hearted with a serious topic, however, my deep thought here is how we can use the analogy of Santa Claus to ALL follow our own faith and belief system. Being a Christian is also about being a better person. (Not better than someone else, or looking down on others, but STRIVING to improve your personal faith.)
I agree that our own personal religious experience does not PROVE Christian faith. But sometimes you just gotta believe!
Inside the Christian faith I have no problem beleiving and having experinces that authenticate belief. It is when we are talking to unbeleivers that our experiences become useless as a way to prove Chrisitan faith.
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