There are no shortcuts to maturity. Someone has an intense spiritual experience, insight, or revelation, and the impression is that this person suddenly will be more mature, responsible and exemplary. This is often not the case. How many men and women have we seen who set themselves up or are set up by others as spiritually advanced or insightful only to find, in due time, that they are just as human and fallible as the rest of us?
Take Ken Wilber’s article on “The Strange Case of Adi Da”, the Fiji guru who initially had Wilber’s support, only for it to be withdrawn later because of the intense controversy surrounding the “pathological” guru. In another article, Wilber writes:
Over the years I have made numerous very strong and sometimes contradictory statements about Adi Da, mostly because he is a very strong and sometimes contradictory personality. . . . I called attention to the fact that, even though Da might be highly spiritually realized, he seemed to have several problematic, perhaps even pathological, aspects to his personality and the way he was running his community. . . . Contradictory? Perhaps, but only because Da is contradictory. Contradictory and problematic — deeply problematic.
This applies to the Christian and church realm too. We see our youth go off to camp or missions or whatever and come back incredibly zealous and inspirational. We love this and encourage it, but we must not put the burden of expectation upon them that they are more mature, responsible or exemplary than they actually are. It is the same with tele-evangelists. It is also the same with the more visible and commendable members of our communities of faith. We must not allow their zeal, intelligence, influence, or vision to blind us to their frail humanity, their solidarity with the rest of the fallen human race. It is not fair to them to elevate them above the mundane work of personal development because of their extraordinary giftedness.
This does not mean we suppress the gifting of individuals. No matter how immature or mature anyone is, their contribution to the community and to the world is encouraged, nurtured, supported and valued. But not at the expense of their own personal growth, transformation and stability. It is possible, and indeed probable, that one can be “highly spiritually realized“, and yet have deep pathological issues that must be struggled with and healed, I think preferably in the context of a safe and healthy community.
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David Hayward is an artist trapped in a pastor's body, stripping to the essential.
This type of thing is one of the reasons wht Lutherans are so strong on the Word and sacraments and weak on “spiritual realization”.
It’s not that the “gifts” might not be real, it’s that we cannot trust them.
The only thing we can trust is that which God has given us in His Word and in baptism and holy communion…precisely because they do come from outside of us.
St. Paul tells us that “…the devil can come all dressed up as an angel of light.”
We must never forget that there is more than one spirit.
Agree with the op and the resposne by steve martin.
I have always had a problem with events for youth that seem to require a lot of people and a charismatic speaker to encourage and elicit “growth and maturity.” Take the mass away, take the speaker away–is maturity really what’s left?
I’ve even seen it abused to the point that large conventions and retreats for youth unwittingly imitate cultic practices of brainwashing (poor nutrition, sleep deprivation, loud music, and dynamic speaker). Then we wonder why these kids fall apart two weeks later after coming back to the “real world”…
Thirty-six years in Pentecost has taught me the truth of what is said here. It is not so much that the “gifts are not real” and cannot be trusted. It’s that people remain people, even after conversion, and the Bible, itself, teaches us that what comes forth from people must be “proven”. Often that takes time. The real problem that I see in this area is when we think ourself or allow others to think of us as having reached some spiritual “level”. There are no levels in this; merely those moments when we surrender ourselves unto the Spirit and He comes forth….
My present theology for whatever it’s worth…
yes there is……………….its called obedience. How mature a person is can be defined by the time it takes from hearing the word of God to obeying it, so even the youngest Christian can be a mature one. Some of the oldest believers are not necessarily the most mature, especially those who spend more time debating rather than doing and using their time at meetings to validate their inactivity. The deception that Jim talks about, the notion of reaching a spiritual level, and the need to surrender ourselves, an act of true worship, is so ongoing a struggle in each of our lives because the devil always wants us to become settlers, people who think they have arrived, whereas Paul in contrast said “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” For me, a professional procrastinator by nature, that is one of the most inspirational verses in the NT.
Way to go on that post…! Yeah…. it’s been a big issue in relationships / community/ fellowship——- Had a discussion about it the other night…. and seeing where we can call people up higher in that area. (by living it and expecting it as well)
blessings.