2012 MAY

Greetings to all on 10 MAY 2012

Words for the Day
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics to inanimate objects or, in this case, to spiritual beings.

YHWH is the tetra gammon for the name of the Hebrew god.

Quote for the Day
Christians should not be content merely with knowing mentally the doctrine of the Holy Spirit as given in the Bible; they also need to know Him experimentally. Watchman Nee [1]

Thought for the Day
Our Wednesday evening class just concluded the video series The Forgotten God with Francis Chan. The stories and insights from Chan helped us to refine and redefine our relationship with the Holy Spirit as the forgotten God. In our tribe we honor God the Father and God the Son but haven’t quite known what to do with God the Spirit.

You may have noticed that I often use the Hebrew – Ruach HaKodesh [RHK] rather than the English – Holy Spirit [HS]. Some Hebrew scholars maintain that ruach is feminine. If that’s correct, it makes good sense that the Trinity would be represented as child, female and male – a family. Of course, we realize that these are all anthropomorphisms; used by the writers to help us humans have a concept of God. We know that YHWH is not a “he” or a “she” but an “it” according to our reckoning.

The Ruach HaKodesh was promised as a counselor. The word John uses is paraclete [GK], which means advocate or counselor – like a defense lawyer. She will lead us into all truth. [JOH 16.13] The question is - how does this happen? In our tribe, the debate between “word-only” theology and the continual work of the Holy Spirit goes all the way back to the beginning of the Restoration Movement. The Campbell’s were fiercely word-only. However, Alexander Campbell’s personal friend, physician and editor, Robert Richardson espoused the opposite view; that is, an ongoing activity of the RHK. This disagreement became such a point of contention among some of Campbell’s more vocal followers that his relationship with Richardson was strained to the breaking point. As we would say, Campbell left his friend “hanging” during the bitter attacks against him. Campbell eventually apologized to Richardson for failing to come to his defense.

We find the gifts of the HS listed in Romans and in 1 Corinthians. In Romans 12, Paul lists the gifts of prophet, servant, teacher, exhorter, contributor, leader and one who shows mercy. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul lists wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues and the ability to interpret tongues. Have some of these gifts disappeared? Perhaps; I recently read an article that made a good case that the gift of tongues would cease, meaning that gift would naturally cease to be useful. Could it be that we don’t see the gift of healing because our faith is actually smaller than a mustard seed? Could it have been a gift whose days were numbered? Maybe that gift is only evident in countries that don’t have all the medical technology that we do. [2]

I see no reason to deny the existence of these gifts. Just because we don’t experience all of them doesn’t mean they aren’t available when needed. Who knows, some may have no place in our modern world but could reappear in the future. In some cases our definition is too narrow. For example, the goal of prophecy was not telling the future, but exhorting the people to return to God. Aren’t there some among us doing that today? Don’t we know people among us who display the gifts of mercy, generosity, encouragement, discernment, leadership and knowledge? Perhaps we would see more of the gift of healing if we did not quench the Spirit. Someone will say, “These aren’t gifts, just talents or natural inclinations with which one is born.” My reply is “Yes, but the RHK gifts us according to our natural inclinations and only through her power can we mature and perfect these gifts.” Did I receive the gift of teaching or was I already inclined to be a teacher? I would say it’s some of each.

The Spirit still leads us into all truth, helping us to discern how to apply the ancient stories and teachings in today’s post-modern world. The Spirit shapes us into the image of YHWH, something I don’t believe we can do on our own. The Spirit empowers us to reinterpret just as Jesus did. Why were the people amazed at Jesus’ teaching? It was because he taught as one with authority [s’mikah HEB], not as the scribes. He made the old teachings fresh and new again!  And so can you.

May God Bless
Mike Toole
Adrienne Owen, ed.

1.    Found at http://christian-quotes.ochristian.com/Holy-Spirit-Quotes/page-7.shtml
on 25 APR 2012.

2.    Craig Keener, Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts, Baker Academic, NOV 2011 Keener records hundreds of miraculous healings that he or others observed in Africa.