February 21, 2009

  • Theological Question of the Week 2:

    This was a question that was posed several weeks back. The general question is How does the Holy Spirit (HS) work?

    1) When do you receive the Holy Spirit? The Bible suggests at a Pentacostal type experience.
    2) Is the HS something that is within a person or is it an external force that works on someone?
    3) Does everyone have the HS?

    I will argue that everyone has the HS, but not everyone recognizes that they have it. Therefore, everyone has the HS within and is not an external force that somehow acts upon you. Rather, it is an inner working brought forth by the HS, recognized, and acted upon by a person. When you receive the HS, is a tricky question. As a scientist, I can not say that a dividing ball of cells is a human being. The logical extension then is a dividing ball of cells does NOT have the HS. However, the HS is not something that is given to Christians only, and so that justifying moment (to throw more Methodist doctrine at you) is not the time that you receive the HS. Neither is the moment of baptism the time you receive the HS. Infant baptism or even the Gospel John story of Jesus' baptism would seem to argue in favor of a specific, action oriented acceptance of the HS, but then I would say that the HS was working in Jesus before his baptism, and that the HS was working in people not baptized. So....when exactly? If pressed to give an answer, I would say AT BIRTH as a latent force waiting for action. The working of the HS is only fully attained when acted upon, which implies that conscious knowledge of right and wrong is needed. So, it's not that infants do not have the HS; they do. But the workings of the HS are not revealed until the person is spiritually ready. Just because you have the HS, does not guarantee faithful action. I leave you with this line from a baptismal covenant.

    The Holy Spirit work within you,
    that being born through water and the Spirit,
    you may be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.
    Amen.