3.1 Schisms in the Pentecostal Movement

[VICTOR]

Of the three (3) issues, the Finished Work stands out and I agree with the statement given by W. Durham saying “…the work for me is done—the work in me is being done.” It is an issue to most of the Christians I encountered who are in the state of what I call “Pendulum Syndrome” (ie. either extremely left, or extremely right). Some of them believe that they are saved by grace and therefore they should try their best to reciprocate that grace by performing so hard in order to maintain having the grace/blessing of God in their lives. They beat themselves and others to perform as hard as they are performing and that anything lesser is unacceptable. On the other hand, others believe that they are saved by grace and only by the grace of God they can survive daily because there’s nothing good in them that would make them “good enough” in the sight of God (“totally depraved”). Having said that, they believe that they can never ever be as good (sanctified) as they could be and that to try hard to be good daily is a futile attempt. As a result, they just go on with life, as a “so-so” (mediocre) Christian living, saved by the grace of God. Indeed, there is an issue here! No matter how many Bible passages we studied (about legalism and sanctification), they’re having the hard time internalizing them. They always find a reason to stay with their status quo.

[Caleb]

2.

concerning the first schism, my opinion is that I not believe Tongues is the only evidence of HS baptism because all sign are equal in showing the glory of God. Although tongues is a very prominent sign in the book Acts and throughout history, I personally know many believers who live their lives in step with the Spirit that do not experience tongues as a sign of the Holy Spirit immediately or even at all.

as for the second schism, I agree that the work done on the cross both saves and sanctifies the believer. the work is done for us to be saved and once we are saved God has changed our lives. he may continue that work of sanctification as we live on earth, but in his sight we are made completely new at salvation.

the third schism however I honestly am unsure about my %100 opinion on the issue. I do believe Jesus’ work on the cross is the only reason for our salvation, but at Jesus’ baptism all three characters of God were present: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Theologically however, I guess that puts me in the camp of tri-une doctrine. I think the trinity is the best representation of the Godhead because they are all present in different key moments of the metanarrative.

I think the only schism that really has a greater importance is the second schism, the other two are understandably hard differences in doctrine to get over, but are of lesser importance. Salvation and sanctification are what makes us set apart as Christians, where as the specific name we use in baptism and how Holy Spirit chooses to manifest himself aren’t critical. What is important is we are baptized and we know that the Holy spirit lives in us.

[Allan]

With these “new” revelations it kind of scares you, where was the accountability and trustworthiness of the individual. No matter how well intentioned people were we make make mistakes

[Nate]

Question 2: Where do you fall on the issues?

I think if I had to pick, I would call my self a finished work, trinitarian, non-only-evidence.

I think that the New Issue and the Only evidence may be bigger deals than the finished work debate. I find the only-evidence debate to be important because it sets out goals/requirements for believers. We want to be people who are full of the spirit and experience the baptism of the spirit, and wee especially want our ministers to be those people. I know plenty of people who I can say without a doubt are spirit-filled, spirit baptized people, who are qualified for ministry, but yet have never spoken in tongues.

The New Issue feels important to me also as it decides a lot of our language about who God is and it is important in a larger ecumenical sense. The New Issue creates a very large divide between Pentecostals, and the wider global church. This becomes important as we seek to have unity with our brothers and sisters across the world.