Article 4 – Of the Holy Ghost
“The Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, is of one substance, majesty, and glory with the Father and the Son, very and eternal God.” – BOD
This is a very basic definition of the Holy Spirit (which is the term I prefer). At this point no depth is given to the function of the Holy Spirit or its implication for the Christian walk. Of course some of these items will be returned to later when we encounter doctrines of sanctification. However I do feel that our lack of development on the Holy Spirit is an issue.
I come from a Pentecostal family. I was born and raised (until the 6th grade) in the Foursquare Gospel Church. The Foursquare Church has had a huge impact upon the life of my family. Our original inclination to the idea of sanctification came from them, which is why I think we fit so well within the United Methodist Church. Also my brother is a Foursquare Gospel minister with a congregation in Indiana. When you look across the Christian spectrum today you will see that it is the Pentecostals who are grown and more often than not doing the most exciting things with the faith.
In fact I attended Valley Forge Christian College in my undergraduate. This school is associated with the Assemblies of God and they were essentail to a large part of my critical thinking skills and abilities. Now all of this is not to say that I agree with everything that Pentecostals do, but that there is something here we need to learn and put into practice. The expectation for a real intervention by the Holy Spirit in our daily lives is necessary and essential to the Christian faith.
In my struggles with doctrines the Holy Spirit got pushed aside as a rather un-necessary addition to God. In fact I would be lying if I said I still don’t have trouble distinguishing from when God (meaning God the Father) works or the Holy Spirit is at work. In my opinion the typical struggles of a Trinitarian. My biggest issue in the past has been with Pentecostals over the method by which the Holy Spirit communicates with us. For everyone that means speaking in tongs’.
Now I have spoken in tongs’, I do this very rarely because I am not of the opinion that it is something to be done all the time nor is it to be practiced. And I will say that the experience is real and amazing, I will encourage anyone who wants to seek God after the spiritual gifts. You may have just noticed what my difference is; I don’t feel that speaking in tongs’ is an utter necessity that you must have in order to engage in any of the spiritual gifts. Nor do I agree that it is the highest spiritual gift (if you don’t agree with me take it up with Paul in Corinthians). The danger I have found in Pentecostal circles is to make this precious gift a requirement, and I am of the opinion that when you make a gift a requirement you loose the significance of it.
I will probably speak more on this in later doctrines but the current necessity that I feel is that United Methodist need to recapture who and what the Holy Spirit is. I feel if we engage with our Pentecostal brothers and sisters we will be on the right track.
This is a very basic definition of the Holy Spirit (which is the term I prefer). At this point no depth is given to the function of the Holy Spirit or its implication for the Christian walk. Of course some of these items will be returned to later when we encounter doctrines of sanctification. However I do feel that our lack of development on the Holy Spirit is an issue.
I come from a Pentecostal family. I was born and raised (until the 6th grade) in the Foursquare Gospel Church. The Foursquare Church has had a huge impact upon the life of my family. Our original inclination to the idea of sanctification came from them, which is why I think we fit so well within the United Methodist Church. Also my brother is a Foursquare Gospel minister with a congregation in Indiana. When you look across the Christian spectrum today you will see that it is the Pentecostals who are grown and more often than not doing the most exciting things with the faith.
In fact I attended Valley Forge Christian College in my undergraduate. This school is associated with the Assemblies of God and they were essentail to a large part of my critical thinking skills and abilities. Now all of this is not to say that I agree with everything that Pentecostals do, but that there is something here we need to learn and put into practice. The expectation for a real intervention by the Holy Spirit in our daily lives is necessary and essential to the Christian faith.
In my struggles with doctrines the Holy Spirit got pushed aside as a rather un-necessary addition to God. In fact I would be lying if I said I still don’t have trouble distinguishing from when God (meaning God the Father) works or the Holy Spirit is at work. In my opinion the typical struggles of a Trinitarian. My biggest issue in the past has been with Pentecostals over the method by which the Holy Spirit communicates with us. For everyone that means speaking in tongs’.
Now I have spoken in tongs’, I do this very rarely because I am not of the opinion that it is something to be done all the time nor is it to be practiced. And I will say that the experience is real and amazing, I will encourage anyone who wants to seek God after the spiritual gifts. You may have just noticed what my difference is; I don’t feel that speaking in tongs’ is an utter necessity that you must have in order to engage in any of the spiritual gifts. Nor do I agree that it is the highest spiritual gift (if you don’t agree with me take it up with Paul in Corinthians). The danger I have found in Pentecostal circles is to make this precious gift a requirement, and I am of the opinion that when you make a gift a requirement you loose the significance of it.
I will probably speak more on this in later doctrines but the current necessity that I feel is that United Methodist need to recapture who and what the Holy Spirit is. I feel if we engage with our Pentecostal brothers and sisters we will be on the right track.
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