and another thing!

[Simon_Templar]

One more vent I need to get out and then I'm done with the negative :)

There are some people I know here locally who view "theology" and education in doctrine/theology as an evil to be avoided. They literally seem to think that ignorance is a spiritual virtue.

I've pretty frequently run into an anti intellectual bias during my time in the Charismatic church so its not that surprising.

That irritates me enough.. but this attitude is usually accompanied by a rather proud proclamation that "we don't need all that theology because we have the Word, and the Word is all we need, all we want." etc... ok fine.

But the same people who say this, then turn around and start spouting all sorts of stuff about soul ties, transference of spirits, ancestral spirits, ancestral curses, breaking off the sins of ancestors literally going back to Adam and Eve, etc etc.

I'm at a loss for words.

[jeolmstead]

One more vent I need to get out and then I'm done with the negative :)

There are some people I know here locally who view "theology" and education in doctrine/theology as an evil to be avoided. They literally seem to think that ignorance is a spiritual virtue.

I've pretty frequently run into an anti intellectual bias during my time in the Charismatic church so its not that surprising.

That irritates me enough.. but this attitude is usually accompanied by a rather proud proclamation that "we don't need all that theology because we have the Word, and the Word is all we need, all we want." etc... ok fine.

But the same people who say this, then turn around and start spouting all sorts of stuff about soul ties, transference of spirits, ancestral spirits, ancestral curses, breaking off the sins of ancestors literally going back to Adam and Eve, etc etc.

I'm at a loss for words.
There are things of the Spirit that transcend the intellect and appear foolish to our mind. (That is the truth)

However, we study to show ourselves approved. (That is the truth as well)

It seems that we have the arena of the Spirit, and the arena of the intellect.

We need one foot in each to be balanced.

Rare is the man who excels in both arenas!

I believe Simon that you are such a man. Don’t get let yourself get discouraged and don’t get negative.

John O.

[Simon_Templar]

thanks for the words of encouragement.

important words to keep grounded in as well.

It is often thought that intellect and spirit are separate things. Which in a sense they are. However, intellect, like every other area of the human being, is not inherently opposite of spirit, but rather something which must be subjected to spirit and brought to life in spirit.

I some times think that one of the greatest handicaps I have is the idea I've inherited from my charismatic upbringing that in order for something to be spiritual, it must appear supernatural and extraordinary.

I constantly battle with the problem of having to "feel" spiritual. God has brought me to the place where I know that he is with me always, whether I feel it or not, whether it is manifested in supernatural extraordinary ways or not... but I still struggle all the time with trying to have that knowledge be real rather than simply academic.

[lismore]

Hi Simon:wave:

When I was in a pentecostal church, getting hammered for being a graduate this scripture kept coming to me:

Isaiah 1:18 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=29&chapter=1&verse=18&version=31&context=verse)
"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "

God wants us to use reason. We need more thinking Christians or it will always be like Hans Christian Anderson's tale 'The Emperor's New Clothes'.

:)

[NorrinRadd]

ST, have you ever read anything by Gordon Fee or Craig Keener -- especially some of their non-scholarly books? In talking about their personal experiences, both of them make points similar to yours -- Traditional scholars, at least in Fee's early academic days, viewed Pentecostals as emotion-driven and unintelligent, while Pentecostals viewed education as stifling to the Spirit. In his book, The Holy Spirit for Today (I *think* that's the title; I see it's missing from my bookcase), Keener talks about how in his early 20s, only a few years in the Lord, he and his Charismatic friends would do street ministry. He would decide where to go based on the leading of the Spirit, and the Spirit would often reveal to him relevant things about the people he met. In church services, he frequently operated (and still does) in the gift of prophecy. But as he pursued his academic studies, it troubled his friends, who were suspicious and dismissive of higher education and intellectualism. His response was that when he delved deeply into ancient languages or the history and culture of the New Testament, he perceived the same presence and blessing of the Spirit as when he did street ministry or prophesied in church.

[KenBrauckmann]

wow... there is hope even for us brainiacs!!

:D

seriously... our pastor admits to being intimidated by 'intellectuals' - for example, his former assistant who went on to get his ThD... Maybe it is a 'power' thing where he is afraid of losing what God gave to him (to someone 'better qualified' but not called to that task) ?

[Simon_Templar]

wow... there is hope even for us brainiacs!!

:D

seriously... our pastor admits to being intimidated by 'intellectuals' - for example, his former assistant who went on to get his ThD... Maybe it is a 'power' thing where he is afraid of losing what God gave to him (to someone 'better qualified' but not called to that task) ?
I think things like that are usually born out of fear. People are afraid that the truth can't stand up to intellectual inquiry. Or they are afraid that if they give validity to intellect then they will find their own beliefs invalidated etc.

They don't feel its a world that they can hold their own in (not saying that they are stupid, but people are intimidated, even smart people).

Another factor is that the academic world in our society has gone out of its way to make itself irrelevant to real life.
The classics are a good example of this. Classical studies were crucial to the formation of western civ, but they have basically died in modern society primarily because of how they were taught. They were made irrelevant and boring.