It seems that you have encountered charismania. That’s when genuine charismatic gifts are not properly handled and begin to become the ends rather than the means.

It may well be that you are in a fine church that simply needs to reign in a few things, to keep the fire in the fireplace, so to speak. I would not give up so easily on your church. The hardest thing to find in any church is loving, caring fellowship. If you have that, you have a good basis for everything else. Don’t let a few people who get carried away force you out of a church.

That said, if there is too much out of control, be comforted in knowing that not all charismatic/Pentecostal churches are this way. There are churches that DO keep the fire in the fireplace. No denomination is perfect, nor is every one representative of what the denomination believes and supports. Just as some charismatic churches are filled with charismania, there are Calvinist churches that are judgmental, Nazarene churches that are unfriendly, and Baptist churches that are self-righteous. If you recognize that, more of this will make sense.

As far as life goes, the charismata don’t have to negate the other aspects of the faith or vice versa. We make too many things into an either/or. You CAN have a proper understanding and practice of the charismata along with helpful support in dealing with besetting sins and growth through sanctification. Too often we focus on only one aspect of the faith and make that into the be all and end all. That is a grave error that only diminishes what we can fully be in Chris. When we live out the whole Gospel, not just the parts that make us most comfortable, we find wholeness and fulfillment.

I prayed for you just now. If you need to keep the dialog going, feel free to email me at the address in the top sidebar of the blog.

i won’t continue going but it’s hard, to leave the folks i’ve connected with, but it just doesn’t sit right with me.

i don’t think the holy spirit is the author of anything confusing. you mean to tell me the Holy Spirit couldn’t connect with that young woman who fell over and hit her head in some other way, without her hitting her head? that defies reason. “Oh we should have had someone behind her.” so the holy spirit was depending on you to help clean up after him? it just doesn’t make sense.

so, sigh, i guess i am going church hunting. i didn’t want to be close minded, but i have to find a place i feel more comfortable.

i just can’t do it. AND, i guess I’m not done yet. i have good friends, who are leaving a church for the churches that are more accepting of this stuff like gold flints on the skin and healings and all that. Aren’t we perhaps missing the trees for the forest or somethign like this? I just don’t understand the attraction to this stuff. Sure, we are open to it, sure we pray for it. But I see a lifetime of work in front of me on issues like selfishness, impatience, lack of faith, being judgemental, etc. i don’t have time in my spiritual life to be looking for good flints. I guess it just seems so impractical.

Sigh, it’s so sad tho, because I have this holiness hippy in me, i want everyone to agree. We don’t and we won’t.

Ian Vincent (India)

http://ianvincent.wordpress.com/