The day and age in which I live is one that is very concerned about practicality.
A scientific age of technological developments has given emphasis to what can physically be proven and shown to be efficient and productive.
As with most things there is good and bad in those things. Plenty to celebrate for the usefulness that the advances in technology have given humanity where it’s benefited our state of being. Plenty to denounce for the way in which it has undermined the importance of what it is to be human and been used for dehumanising ends.
What is fascinating, however, even in the age of all these things, is the interest in the paranormal, the unseen, the mysterious, the spiritual, the mystical. Whether through the horoscopes or the prevalence of supernatural programmes factual and fictional that feature in our lives, there remains an intrigue in those areas.
That interest can lead people down interesting avenues. There are remnants of old pagan spirituality still doing the rounds in this country. In the case of the cultural background from which I belong there is also the baggage of African and Caribbean engagements with the supernatural that inform a great deal of their own approach to spirituality.
As someone who believes in God and acknowledges that a description of God is as Spirit, I am aware that there are forces unseen that have a say in the affairs of men. I believe angels and demons are real, even if they cannot always be seen in the natural. Spiritual warfare is very real to me and I have witnessed things that can only be explained by acknowledging the spiritual realm.
My concern is, however, the tendency for the acknowledgement of the spiritual realm to give some the license to endorse a spooky Christianity. By that I mean an almost paranoid belief that there is a devil behind everything and the need to cast out and rebuke everything that seems untoward.
This form of Christianity over-emphasises the spiritual and mystical to such a disturbing degree it is sometimes hard to believe Jesus was actually a real human man who walked in the flesh and did mighty things in the real world.
What spooky Christianity does is distort the reality of the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit. It minimises the physical far beyond what is wise, and it demotes the rational as though God didn’t give us brains to think and be reasonable.
In as much as it’s not clever believe we can reduce God and following Christ to things we can explain, it is equally folly to throw ourselves into what at times can be dangerous mumbo-jumbo world of spooky Christianity where if there isn’t a demon cast out then you really haven’t had a Christian experience.
Wisdom once more remains the principle thing here. As long as the focus remains on all of who Jesus is – King of all creation and meek and humble carpenter – then we can keep a good perspective on the physical and spiritual.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
dmcd
Life With CD 