Parody of a Modern Church Service

brokentulsa wrote:

I am not saying we shouldn't have emotions. Yes, I got choked up in my throat when I saw the crucifixion scene in the passions. Yes, I cry to the lord at times. It upsets me greatly to see some of the choices that my children make. yes, I feel love and warmth and happiness sometimes in church and yes I feel comfortable around some other guys. I don't like being around emotionless people and I don't care for super macho jock types either.....I am just saying that I think men and women should keep it in check. My main point was I have seen alot of churches guilt people and use emotion in church to get bigger tithes and keep people under control and further the agenda of the church instead of Gods agenda. The faith movement is extremely famous for this and all the emotional stuff like rolling in the floor and speaking in tongues and running around in church that happens in alot of charismatic and pentecostal churches is just freaky and IMO is not the lord but peoples emotions getting worked into a frenzy. I will share that for me personally I do not like people to touch me. My wife, my kids and my dog are about it.

Let me say first that I agree, but at the same time I think we also need to be careful of the danger of distrusting emotion. We read many accounts from Scripture of people who were overwhelmed by the presence of the Lord and that resulted in an emotional response. Where I think many charismatic/Pentecostal groups get it wrong is seeking the emotional response as an end in and of itself, making the experience into an idol.

the problem a lot of people have is telling the difference between an emotional response and a movement of God which results in such.

unworthy wrote:

the problem a lot of people have is telling the difference between an emotional response and a movement of God which results in such.

There's a picture I saw on someone's Facebook post that had a worship leader babbling on in prayer about inviting Christ to be present, we welcome your presence, descend on us...you know the stuff, and the whole time Jesus is standing right there beside him. It reminds me of the story of Elijah listening for the voice of God in the mighty wind and in the earthquake and in the fire, but God did not speak in those dramatic, flashy ways. It was a quiet whisper. Sure, sometimes it is big and dramatic, but not always. We need to be open to both.