I was driving back to the church today after lunch and caught a little bit of the Dennis Miller show. For whatever reason, he was talking and talking calls from callers about the Pentecostal experince of "being slain in the spirit."
I only had the time to listen to one caller who was trying his best to explain what he felt and experinced as a minister prayed for him and he was "slain."
Dennis Miller had no clue as to what he was talking about. Now that is not a negative statement about Dennis Miller, for he was sincerely trying to understand and filter this man's story, but it does show that the "world" can have a totally different opinion or viewpoint of what we take for granted in the Kingdom.
It would be like an Eskimo trying to understand what it means to ride a wave in the heat of the day on a beach in Florida. Almost impossible to understand unless you have experinced it - especially since we are dealing with spiritual, supernatural things.
In his book "UnChristian", author David Kinnaman highlights a number of troubling statistics from an extensive study by the Barna Research Group of those born between 1965 and 2002. Included are two statistics that show how those outside the church view those within:
Nearly nine out of ten young outsiders—87 percent—said that the term "judgmental" accurately describes present-day Christianity.
Of the non-Christians surveyed, 84 percent said they personally know at least one committed Christian. Yet just 15 percent thought the lifestyles of those Christ-followers were significantly different from the norm.
Challenging stats. Maybe we in the church need to try to understand those we are trying to reach with the gospel, rather than the other way around. And then....let the good news and the Holy spirit take its affect.
Just a thought for a Tuesday.
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