Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
At his peak, however, Solomon had an unworldly wisdom about him, which made him the magnet of civilization. And he wasn't the only king with a roving eye - his dad was also notorious in that respect.
Back to the idea of chasing the vapor trail of the "early glory" of the LC experience: at its core there seems to be something there, no? We believed in God, confessed Jesus Christ as Lord, and we had a nearly overwhelming sensory experience. I remember the LC hymn with the refrain: "His glory broke upon us when we saw him in the church" - here, supposedly were "all His riches", leading us to give up "our search". Later, when the experiences seem to dry up, we frantically tried to re-create them. Just shout louder!! More meetings!! More conferences!! Middle-aged training!!
I've now been out of the LC orbit for longer than I was in it, and I still pursue. But for me the contact high is in the word. Nothing wrong with the old experiences, but we can still pursue. I don't judge others' experiences, past or present, but today I suspect that mine was that of the rube who swallowed the pill, and the others shouted excitedly at him(her), "Do you feel it!!?? Do you feel it!!??" At some point I also began to yell and dance. But looking back there was nothing there.
I say this with some confidence because today I see something in the word, which the shouters and dancers and arm-wavers were ignorant of. And when I tried to point it out to them they weren't interested. So I became clear that they were chasing sensory experience. RK assures them that if they shout and jump they will leave their meetings with "more Christ" than when they arrived. To me that's a confidence game; I fell for it once, when I was naive, but no longer.
|
I don't have a lifetime in Pentecostal circles, but some of the ones I've seen fit your descriptions more than the LCs. Screaming slogans intelligibly seems more benign than shaking uncontrollibly while laying on the floor as if struck by the divine lightning.
People want sensory because it goes beyond mere information in the mind. They want feelings which can affect them, improve their life. God understands this too, and that's why they are more common in our youth. Trouble begins when faith does not properly grow within us.