Friday, May 14, 2004
Click....Click....Click...
James’ post has got me thinking about my own past. I hesitate to even write about it, as invariably there will be people who don’t like what I say, probably on both side of the spectrum. So let me throw out my disclaimer, “These are just my thoughts. They may not be Orthodox, and to the extent that they are not, I need reproving”.
Many of you know I was raised in the Pentecostal movements. As a kid, I’m not sure I even knew what that meant. I just went to Church, and wanted to love God. I really did. I think children innately want to love God. (This point will cross reference with another idea the Munkee and I were throwing around the other day, and coalesce into a future blog entry.)
But the question raised in the comments of this post was, “Is there grace in the Pentecostal movement?” We Orthodox like to hem and haw about how “We know where grace is, but won’t state where it is not…” and all that, and while there is truth there, if that is all we have to say on the matter, there’s an untruth there too. THERE IS GRACE IN THE PENTECOSTAL MOVEMENT…….there, I said it.
I’ll go ya one further. There’s grace in Buddhism; there’s grace in Mormonism; and there’s even grace in Islam. In almost every prayer service of our Church we affirm that God is “everywhere present and fillest all things”. David stated that if he descended into the depths of hell, God is still there. Where can we hide from his presence? Nowhere. Does it make sense for God to be somewhere, but he just left his grace back at the house.
No God’s grace can be found anywhere. I found it in the Pentecostal movement. Yes, there is error and heresy running rampant through that movement. I found the grace of God there in spite of that. The other movements and beliefs I mentioned above, I know people who found God’s grace there too. In spite of the things we believe intellectually, we can find the Grace of God.
Obviously, the more error present with that grace, the more we have to change. What we believe does not just affect our minds. It will also play a part in determining how we live, and how we respond to God’s grace. Here is the danger of these other faiths (yes, in my opinion, the Pentecostal movement is another faith). What we believe will of necessity affect how we respond to God and his grace.
We cannot err on the one side and say that it does not, nor or the other and say that we cannot be saved or relate to God unless we believe rightly. I am quite sure I believe wrongly still on a great many things, and I pray God gives me many years to repent where I am wrong. There is a right truth, and I thank God I have found His Church, wherein I can be corrected in my error as I draw closer to its head, who is Christ, truth himself.
James’ post has got me thinking about my own past. I hesitate to even write about it, as invariably there will be people who don’t like what I say, probably on both side of the spectrum. So let me throw out my disclaimer, “These are just my thoughts. They may not be Orthodox, and to the extent that they are not, I need reproving”.
Many of you know I was raised in the Pentecostal movements. As a kid, I’m not sure I even knew what that meant. I just went to Church, and wanted to love God. I really did. I think children innately want to love God. (This point will cross reference with another idea the Munkee and I were throwing around the other day, and coalesce into a future blog entry.)
But the question raised in the comments of this post was, “Is there grace in the Pentecostal movement?” We Orthodox like to hem and haw about how “We know where grace is, but won’t state where it is not…” and all that, and while there is truth there, if that is all we have to say on the matter, there’s an untruth there too. THERE IS GRACE IN THE PENTECOSTAL MOVEMENT…….there, I said it.
I’ll go ya one further. There’s grace in Buddhism; there’s grace in Mormonism; and there’s even grace in Islam. In almost every prayer service of our Church we affirm that God is “everywhere present and fillest all things”. David stated that if he descended into the depths of hell, God is still there. Where can we hide from his presence? Nowhere. Does it make sense for God to be somewhere, but he just left his grace back at the house.
No God’s grace can be found anywhere. I found it in the Pentecostal movement. Yes, there is error and heresy running rampant through that movement. I found the grace of God there in spite of that. The other movements and beliefs I mentioned above, I know people who found God’s grace there too. In spite of the things we believe intellectually, we can find the Grace of God.
Obviously, the more error present with that grace, the more we have to change. What we believe does not just affect our minds. It will also play a part in determining how we live, and how we respond to God’s grace. Here is the danger of these other faiths (yes, in my opinion, the Pentecostal movement is another faith). What we believe will of necessity affect how we respond to God and his grace.
We cannot err on the one side and say that it does not, nor or the other and say that we cannot be saved or relate to God unless we believe rightly. I am quite sure I believe wrongly still on a great many things, and I pray God gives me many years to repent where I am wrong. There is a right truth, and I thank God I have found His Church, wherein I can be corrected in my error as I draw closer to its head, who is Christ, truth himself.
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