The debate ensues and at either spectrum lies extreme Charismatics or radical Fundamentalist. The irony being our political system here in America runs on the same tracks. Right or Left. Conservative or Liberal, etc. Very few really ride down the middle.
For me, I have spent a fair amount of time on both sides; growing up Baptist and later spending years in the Charismatic movement on staff as a youth minister. Both sides have some things figured out and certainly each can make strong scripture based cases for their views, but both extremes miss the mark in great ways if you ask me.
The extreme Charismatics focus on the "power and presence" of God, spending more time in long, emotional worship services than in actual Bible study. Prayers are long and focus on asking God for various things and begging Him to reveal His power and glory. It seems they search for God's hand in terms of wanting to see Him do something, more than they desire to know Him deeper through the main thing He gave us to study, the Bible. Leaders within this circle preach exceptionalism, God's goodness and grace, healing, joy, faith, success, with some being called "name in claim it" or "prosperity" preachers. They believe God is a friend, loves us, wants the best for us, has good things in store for His children, that we can glorify Him by being successful, enjoying life and having a good attitude, and that all bad things can work out for the better if you just believe. They point out various heroes in the Bible who had wealth and success, including Jesus who they claim was self-sufficient and maybe even wealthy Himself due to working in the family carpentry business or gifts He received as a child from local kings. Essentially, they strongly believe a better "self" brings great glory to God and the more you have the more you can bless others.
The radical Fundamentalist focus on knowing God more deeply through His word and the fellowship of other believers, spending less time in worship and more time in deep theological discussions about various books and verses in the Bible. Prayers are brief and focus on adoration of who God is and asking for insight into who He is by asking Him to reveal Himself through His word. Leaders within this circle preach the coming of God's anger and judgment, focus on God's holiness and man's failures, teach deep theological truths, studying every word of every line of scripture for deep, life changing meaning and and that sacrificing one's "self" is the ultimate goal to glorify God. Though the core belief that God is good is intact, the focus is centralized on God's holiness and essentially that man, and certainly our lives here, does not matter. They have an intense desire to be right with God and know Him more. They judge the world around them, even other believers, and seek to be "holy" as He is holy. Seeking good things here in this temporal life is a general waste of time and if we really love God we will live as Christ did, which according to them, was as a homeless/jobless man, with nothing to His name, calling out the evil in the world around Him, running from the law of the day, but serving others all along the way. Essentially, they strongly believe that denying "self" brings God all the glory and the less you have the more unhindered you are.
Ugh...can you see the mess we have?
It seems possessions, money and wealth remain a central core to this entire debate too. But let's take a look and see what we can come up with.
Was Jesus really a homeless/jobless man with no earthly possessions or money? What about the expensive gifts (worth millions) He was given at birth? What about growing up in the family business? Did we really think He begged for food, wandered the streets asking for money? Did the society of His day require money in order to survive or did He just create it with a twinkle of the eye when more was needed? Surely He worked, right....at least before He entered the ministry fulltime. Would He create us with the internal drive to "work" and provide if He didn't do the same when here as a man? In the same sense do possessions here on earth really mean a hill of beans? What IS the point? We can build pyramids to store it all in when we die, but they won't go with us, we know that. Yet, the world requires money, and lots of it, and the more of it you have, the more you can give to those in need, the more ministries you can support and the less dependent on your worldly job you are. On the other hand, money can destroy a man if he isn't careful. A quandary for some for sure.
Just food for though - one side of a story few think about - when Jesus called Peter and his men to be "fishers of men" He performed a miracle by overflowing their boat with fish to the point of sinking. Jackpot for sure. They likely sold all of that fish for tons of money. Jesus made a point while helping a brother out. The fish helped their temporal life for a few days or weeks, but their focus needed to be on the bigger things Christ was asking them to do.Outside of America, Christianity is certainly different looking. We are so blessed in the U.S. it is hard to fathom. Other people's of the world are lucky to have bread or water for the day yet as believers they passionately worship and study His word. Possessions mean nothing. Only God is the source of any "abundance" in their lives. They seem to more diligently seek Him, spending 10-12 hours at a time, sometimes in secret studies or meetings. I have no doubt that life's circumstances can greatly affect our walk with Christ. The Israelites sought God more when in captivity than when free. All the same, when we are hit with despair, tragedy, oppression, suffering, pain, illness, death or loss we naturally seek God more than when life is just rosy. Some might even believe our American freedoms prohibit us from knowing God deeper and though I ceraintly pray we never have to live the way believers in China or North Korea do, I find it hard to argue their point.
Sad but true.
The bottom line for me is this - until Christ returns and we share His eyes so that all things become clear to each of us - believers are going to seek God in different ways and neither extreme is healthy.
Balance is really the key and here is what I can only hope to teach my kids to believe.
You can serve God with all of your heart and enjoy life here to the fullest. God is good and loves us as His children. We should trust and believe in God's grace, mercy and goodness having hope tomorrow can be better than today. God's power is great; He can heal illnesses and move mountains yet knowing Him deeply is more important than anything. We should seek His face more than His hand. Sometimes He moves in power, but Jesus did more small things to show Himself each day than perform miracles of power. Only His word can truly be trusted in terms of seeking His will and way. He can make bad things in our lives bring Him glory. God is holy and in His presence we are filthy, dirty and plain stink - thank God He saved us - and every day we remind ourselves that we don't deserve to be saved. There are both wealthy and poor Biblical heroes. Whatever our "lot in life" brings us (wealth, health, poverty, illness or the like) we should glorify Him by how we talk, act and serve mankind around us. What we do for the lost around us is going to have a greater impact on them than what we say. We can ask God for anything and we should. God is on our side. God doesn't intend to see His children suffer but if it is necessary He will allow it. We should tell others about Christ and that without Him they are destined to hell. It is more important to give than receive but if we live "giving" lives we will be blessed. We should stand up and speak out for Christ and His values in the dark world we live and yes, our world is a very, bad, bad world right now. Above all, we will be known by how we love those around us, including our neighbors and enemies.
God is love.
See? Isn't that simple? Guess that settles that!
"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." I Corinthians 13:12-13
© 2010, J. Brady
“I say it how I see it and I make no bones about it."
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