I recently had an interaction with someone coming from a
Pentacostal/charismatic church background. This person, I’ll call him John (as
in Doe), was dealing with depression stemming from an enormous amount of doubt
in his Christianity. He confided in me that he was doubting that God exists
because “I never see miracles.” Continuing, he said, “I don’t feel the Spirit
in me like everyone else experiences. I don’t even hear the voice of God.” John
was placing all of his stock on these experiences, or lack thereof. And why
not? It had been ingrained in him so much that the common Christian factor is
to have a physical, emotional, visceral experience of some kind with God, à
la the Church of God of Prophecy.
This is an all too common confession that many, not just in
the realm of charismatic Christianity, share. So much weight is placed onto
personal experience and feeling at the expense of right theology and reasonable
faith. Why do you think the music part of the corporate worship service has
become the highlight for so many rather than the reading and preaching of
Scripture? Or worse, why is the word “worship” now synonymous with “music”
during corporate worship? That’s an article for another time, I suppose.
