Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
Edify. This is one of those words that everyone knows what it means, but I think that most people treat it as if it means something else.
Edify. Essentially to build. An edifice is a building, and the modification into edify indicates the process of bringing a building to be. So "building."
Yet, in spiritual, emotional, psychological, etc., terms, what is "building"? It surely means to add to or improve the condition with a goal to a "correct" or "healthy" condition. But how do we gauge that?
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I still assert that the Cessationist position is no better than the position that tongues and other miracles continue. But the "old school" version of the Pentecostal/charismatic gifts seems to place it way out of balance with respect to scripture. Just like Lee took "prophesying" and drove it way out of perspective.
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Personally, I cringe at the word "edifying" because it almost always ends out with a "feel good" aura around it rather than something that looks like either personal sanctification or the growing together of the members of the body.
And while ... it is probably not correct to pass the charismatic things off as relics of an ended time, too much of the visible evidence is that it is not about edifying, but about feeling good.
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I apologize for using
OBW as a spring-board for my possibly irrelevant rant. But I will try to make it "quick and clear".
The idea of charismatic experience being linked to building up in God's kingdom has a long lineage, of which speaking in tongues and other "ecstatic" phenomena were merely parts. For example, I think of the prophets who became somewhat "mad" and channeled the Spirit of God who then instructed others through them.
I also think of the prophets who continually declared that they fell down as dead, and could not eat or drink or function normally after seeing a vision of God (Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah, etc). This continued into the NT. See Paul (Acts 9:9) and John's (Rev. 1:17) testimonies for example.
So here is my "quick and clear" -- God comes to us in His Word, on the proverbial holy mountain, and shows us a pattern of the heavenly things (Hebrews 8:5). Everything we then do must be according to this pattern.
And seeing this pattern, I argue, places a holy flame upon us, in which we are both astonished beyond measure, and even become ourselves an astonishment and a byword of both mocking and awe to those around us. But whether this involves singing, dancing, praying, pray-reading, "prophesying", speaking tongues, hand-waving, guitars, music, rolling around on the floor, is irrelevant. What matters (to me) is:
#1 the Word of God. Ecstasy apart from the word is untrustworthy. We are today become like Aaron in Exodus 28:36-8:
“Make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it as on a seal: holy to the Lord. Fasten a blue cord to it to attach it to the turban; it is to be on the front of the turban. It will be on Aaron’s forehead... It will be on Aaron’s forehead continually so that they will be acceptable to the Lord."
There is a spiritual 'engraved plate of pure gold' on our forehead. That is equivalent to the flame dancing upon the believers in Acts chapter 2: God's speaking to us in His Holy Word now separates us, forever, from everything else.
#2 This Word consumes us, and burns away everything else. We can hear or see nothing else. This is to enter the cloud of bright glory, what Jonathan Edwards called "the divine and supernatural light". We do not know where we are going, but we are on the Holy Mountain of God, and the Voice is speaking, and we can never go back. We can only go forward; our living should move into full accord with the vision we have received. We no longer can live like we used to. The universe has now changed for us, and we have to respond, and to abide in this 'new creation'.
Like
OBW said, It is not about feeling good. It is about living according to what we see in God's Word.
#3 This flame of God should now touch the world. The people in darkness are crying out for light. Beyond that I don't want to add detail. I hope the point is made, nonetheless. Of course it involves coordination and fellowship with our fellow believers. But too many details might distract from the simple and obvious point.