Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
...the vague subjective nature of the inner life talk served what was wrong with the LC. ...Take away the evil controlling aspect of the LC and "exercise the spirit" is a benign phrase. That's true for a lot of things we debate here.
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The fact that it is vague and subjective makes it ripe for abuse. It can mean anything Big Boss wants it to mean. And the charismatic experience, as
Dave said, makes you let down your powers of discernment, and weakens your defenses where you're willing to accept anything they say. Supposedly you can scream "The sky is green" loudly enough and repeatedly enough and it will be so. That is what I was talking about with the idea of the "sensual seduction" of the charismatic experience. It's a thinly disguised veil for control mechanism(s).
This is not what the Bible means by faith. This is an abuse, a co-opting of faith. It becomes the beach-head of what Paul called a "system of error". You have unbalanced teachings and partial truths reinforcing unbalanced behaviors. And behind it all is the desire for control, masquerading as "good order in the church". The disorder and chaos of the charismatic experience, under the rubric of exercising your spirit, becomes the entry point for a different order, which puts man and not God at the top. This is entirely different from the letter and the spirit of the Bible, irrespective of Paul's dictum of "apostles, prophets and teachers": it's a complete subversion of the divinely inspired order.
This is the slavery Paul warned against in Galatians. It is the imposition of Satanic control via man-inspired behaviors and hierarchies, under the guise of God-pursuing and God-pleasing activities.