Steroids & Holy Spirit Empowerment 2

Recall my previous question:

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

Well, I now feel like I’ve got something resembling an answer to the question. The worry was, if we look down at steroid users because they’re accomplishing things only with the help of another substance, why don’t we look down on believers that do great things with the help of another person (the Holy Spirit).

First, if we understand the fall as man losing the capacity to live life as he was meant to live, then we can say that through (and only through) the Holy Spirit we are able to live that life again. Sans the fall, we all would have been able to worship God purely and would have loved our neighbors as Christ loves us. But, when sin entered the picture, we lost that ability. As you may have noticed, this still does not answer the question. Why is it a good thing for us to get credit for something the Holy Spirit is doing? This leads nicely into a second thing we must not forget.

We have to remember that we live our life for God’s glory. Showing compassion to an enemy, assisting the needy, honoring your spouse, etc. are all things that bring glory to God. As I live as God would have me to live, he is further glorified. If I can’t live that life on my own, and need the Holy Spirit to help me, then it only further glorifies God. He not only wants us to live a certain way, he also helps us to live that way. (And not incidentally, that life also is the best life we could live here and now.)

One way we can see the difference between using steroids and being empowered with the Holy Spirit is to think about one’s motives. Why did Barry Bonds use steroids (or Roger Clemens if the Mitchell report is correct)? This is the land of conjecture, but I think it’d be safe to say that Bonds used because there was something he wanted for himself: more respect within the baseball community, more recognition outside of it, more money, or just plain more glory for himself.

On the other hand, why would someone want to be empowered by the Holy Spirit? Again, there could be many specific reasons, but the general reason is to bring glory to God (and if it’s not that, would the Holy Spirit actually empower the person for impure reasons?).

Finally, we see in Christ’s time on earth that he modeled this attitude. When Jesus healed someone and people were amazed, how did he respond? He didn’t say “Thank you, thank you, I’m such an awesome guy” but instead something like, “It was not me but the power of the father within me.” Each time he performed a miracle, he pointed the glory to God. If you continue on in the New Testament, you see the apostles doing the same.

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?

The Assemblies of God and Alcohol

A little over a year ago I wrote a paper critiquing the Assemblies of God position paper concerning the consumption of alcohol. In this paper I don’t argue for any particular position concerning the usage of alcohol, but I do argue that the AG position isn’t adequately supported by scripture. There may be a different sort of argument that they could give to support the view that a Christian should never consume alcohol, but I’m doubtful. Some day I may take the time to actually argue that moderate usage of alcohol is morally acceptable, but for the time being, I think it is enough to show that arguments against the moderate position fail.

After writing the paper I sent it to the Committee on Doctrinal Purity, but I guess they weren’t convinced. Because several people have asked for a copy of it, I decided to go ahead and make it available on this web page. You will find a copy of the paper in pdf format on the ‘Research’ page (the tab should be above and to the left). If you have comments or suggestions regarding the paper, I’d be happy to hear them. You can either post them here under the comments section or send me an email, either way is fine with me.

Cheers!