Steroids & Holy Spirit Empowerment

It’s generally agreed that Barry Bonds used steroids. We may not have a courtroom conviction, but we also don’t have one of those for O.J.

Why do we (or at least people that think like me) think it is such a bad thing that Bonds used steroids to enhance his career? Almost everyone agrees that Bonds would’ve been in the hall of fame before he started hitting so many home-runs, so why does it matter if he enhanced those abilities? One reason is that it seems there is an unfair advantage between him and everyone else that didn’t use steroids. Bonds supplemented his hard work with things not (legally) available to others. A second reason is that we feel like it wasn’t Barry that performed these amazing feats, but the steroids within him. Bonds is getting credit for something he didn’t do. I think these two reasons are broad enough to capture most people’s feelings about the issue.

How the Holy Spirit relates to this

Recently a friend and I began to discuss the Assemblies of God (AG) and their position on Holy Spirit baptism. The AG teaches that not all Christians are baptized in the Holy Spirit (and all that are baptized have spoken in tongues). The AG does not teach that you have to be baptized to be saved, but that baptism is a subsequent act to salvation. This baptism brings an empowerment for Christian service. When you are baptized in the Holy Spirit you acquire a new power to serve God in ways you otherwise would not be able to (e.g. hear God’s voice better, witness more effectively, be more compassionate, etc.). My friend then asked a question that I’ve never heard asked before. He asked me,

What keeps someone from looking at the Holy Spirit the same way we look at steroids?

If we look down on steroid users for the reasons I stated above, then why don’t we look down on those that do great things because of the Holy Spirit’s empowerment? How is Holy Spirit empowerment different from steroid empowerment? If I am able to live a more compassionate life because of the Holy Spirit, then why is my compassionate life praiseworthy if it’s just the Holy Spirit acting within me?

I’ve thought about this for a couple of weeks now and will post my thoughts (however nebulous they may be) sometime Friday. While I continue to think about this, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the issue. Do you think the AG position is crazy? Do you think it’s right to look down on steroid users (like Bonds)? Do you think there are differences between the Holy Spirit and steroids? If so, what are they?