Not long ago, I read a blog post in which the author was criticizing certain practices within churches because they weren’t found in the Bible. I’ve heard that criticism often and it is a valid concern. We want to be certain that our lives, our worship, our beliefs all line up with scripture….have a basis in the Word of God. But, it’s also very possible that something consists of all that is scriptural, but an example cannot be found in the Bible. For instance, we all know you will never find anything about the Trinity….the word cannot be found. But, the concept is throughout the Word.
I’ve been in services that practiced things that, at first, felt uncomfortable…weirded me out, you might say. I remember years ago when I heard of churches who experienced periods of holy laughter during their worship….sounded far-out. Surely, it couldn’t be biblical, I thought. Then, there was a time I heard a pastor tell one of his youth that she will be the first in their church to be transported. I was thinking, “Ok, this is REALLY whacked! Is that even biblical???” I was re-considering my decision to be there and wondering if I’d ever come back.(I have.) Years ago, I had sat under the teaching of one who believed that the only time the scripture mentions anything remotely similar to being slain in the Spirit, it was demonic. And, the term “slain in the Spirit” is nowhere in Scripture. Yet, I’ve been in services led by men I trust and some are being slain in the Spirit. So, is it biblical? Can the experience be found in God’s Word? By the time I experienced my first fire tunnel, I had grown fairly comfortable with happenings that had, at first, felt very weird. I had grown to trust the biblical integrity of those with whom I was worshiping. Some have said that fire tunnels aren’t in the bible. No, they’re not….but does that mean they are unbiblical? In all this time, I was determined I was not going to get caught up in something that wasn’t biblical….so I was on guard. Then, my eyes were opened to how much of these things really are in scripture, either examples or the substance.
Before I get into that, consider for a moment all the things we accept as ok that are not found in scripture…..things that have even reached almost sacred ground….that daren’t be questioned. As I mentioned these things, be assured, I’m am not opposed to any of them. I don’t believe that because something is not found in the Bible, it cannot be utilized. But, for what it’s worth….
Christmas: This actually started as a pagan holiday. Christ’s birth probably occurred closer to our September than December. The church instituted Christmas as a means of allowing the those who came into the church to have their pagan holidays….so they gave them religious significance.
Easter: Again, a pagan holiday was given religious significance. The way we practice it brings far more depth than the way we practice Christmas, but its roots were paganism. At least in this case, to my knowledge, Easter is celebrated more closely to the actual timing of Christ’s death and resurrection. Many of the secular symbols of Easter are pagan symbols of idols or idol worship.
Sunday School, and in reality, all Christian education: Biblically, the spiritual education of children is the duty of the parents. Christian education and Sunday school often lulls parents into a sense of the job is being done….they delegate far more than they should to another person. Sunday School was not started for churched kids. It was started to bring orphans and unchurched kids into a knowledge of Jesus.
Youth groups and any age-segregated groups: You won’t find it in the Bible. What you find is a body worshiping, growing together…older teaching/mentoring the younger.
Church services that consist of a couple songs, offering, announcements and a sermon: I don’t think you will find in scripture any service that is centered around a sermon. What you find is a service where all are prepared to share a song, a prophecy, a tongue, etc.
Voting for positions in the church: Biblically, it was done by calling. God appointed them. They came together, prayed, and came to an agreement as the Spirit led.
So you see, much of what we consider normal-what we are comfortable with-is not found in Scripture. Again, these are not necessarily wrong. I’m not saying we should get rid of these practices. I’m just showing that sometimes our reasons are inconsistent with our lives. What about the things I listed earlier….are they found in Scripture?
Does laughter really have a place in worship? Look at the words of one of Scripture’s worship songs:
When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy. Ps. 126:1-2a
Spirit travel? Look at the story of Philip and the eunuch in Acts 8.
And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus…” Acts 8:39-40a
I can tell you that I switched from someone who was really weirded out by the concept to one who would love to experience it someday. Call me whacked, if you like, but it doesn’t matter to me.
Like the word “Trinity”, you’ll not find the term “slain in the Spirit” anywhere in the bible. But, also like the word “Trinity”, you find several examples of it….examples that are NOT demonic. Here’s one, found in Revelation 1.
“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, ‘Write was you see in a book and send it to the seven churches….’ Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest…When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.” Rev. 1:10-13, 17a
The entire book of Revelation, it appears, was given to John in the form of a vision, after he had an experience that describes being slain in the Spirit.
Again, you’ll not find the term ‘fire tunnel’ anywhere either. But, what exactly is a fire tunnel? It’s a line of people forming a “tunnel” through which others pass. Those forming the tunnel lay hands on those coming through, give a word of prophecy, a prayer, a blessing or simply to impart something to them. And each and every one of those things is in the Bible: prophetic words, prayers, blessings, and yes, impartation and laying on of hands. So, everything that occurs-all that constitutes a fire tunnel-is found in the Bible!
I would think most of us would say we’d be delighted to see events of biblical proportions….but we are skeptical when we do! Our conscious mind tells us that God is the same today as He was then….but we reject His work today because it doesn’t fit our paradigm. If he’s the same today, then what we see in the Bible should be what we expect today!!
I am realizing more and more that being slain in the Spirit and holy laughter is more like the Biblical norm than worshiping while sitting on pews, with our hands in our laps, looking stoically ahead; that a fire tunnel is more biblical than discomfort with praying and prophesying over each other; that my discomfort does not indicate whether or not something is Biblical; that we have grown so accustomed to our Christian experience that it has become the normal, not what the Bible reveals as the normal; that we can’t reject something we haven’t experienced on the grounds that “it’s not found in the Bible”….especially if it is in the Bible!!
The only scripture available to Paul taught him that Gentiles were heathen pagans, that his God was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of the Hebrews…and no one else. Aren’t you glad he didn’t refuse to bring the gospel to the Gentiles because it wasn’t in his Scripture? I know I am. I want the Bible to come alive in my life! I want to experience a life that looks like those that I read of in God’s Word! What His Word describes must be my standard…my measuring stick, not my experience.Therefore, what the Bible describes is the normal Christian experience is the normal!!