Friday, July 11, 2008

Michael Spencer on the Spiritual Certainty

Michael Spencer's A Spirituality of Frustrated "Certainty" is, well, I have to say it, brilliant. Michael's thoughts concerning the Lakeland thing are quite helpful, I think.
Most religions that teach God is personal and present have a segment of believers that constantly demand more proof and greater proof so that “faith” can be exchanged for certainty.

Out of this segment comes misplaced zeal, exaggerated claims, bad science, phony experts, conspiratorial mindsets, lies about miracles, a spirituality of desperation and an attitude of constant crisis in regard to what other Christians must support, accept and believe.
And again:
One of the primary differences between a spirituality of desperation and a spirituality of Kingdom living is that life in the Kingdom is a matter of experiencing the Holy Spirit in normal life, and there is not a constant need to create situations where God proves himself by interventions and messages or Christians constantly must assert their certainty about matters where certainty isn’t required or even possible.
Michael consistently writes the kind of posts that I find myself very glad to have read. And apropos of his comments about Christian radio and a spirituality of desperation, note the preacher in the middle of this send-up of christian radio:

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