Real v Fake

I am a Real Christmas Tree kind-of-a-guy. Part of it is nostalgia, as my parents always had real trees, as did my grandfather, Monte Sr. Part of it is the ritual of going to get the tree, tying it to the roof of my car, and then later cursing at myself (every year!) for forgetting what I thought I had learned last year from all the scratches on top of my car. But the number one reason is that there is something almost sacrilegious about a fake tree: it is like using grape juice in communion. What’s up with that?

I was thinking about the Real v Fake tree debate the other day, while talking to one of Job’s Counselor’s. Why Job gave him my phone number baffles me. After all, Job couldn’t wait for the guy to shut up when he was harassing him.

The bottom line for this guy was that all my troubles would disappear if I were just filled with Holy Spirit. He then began describing to me exactly how I would feel--“in an instant”-- if I would yield myself to the Holy Spirit.

Me: And how do you know I do not do this every day?

JC: Well, you keep writing about the anguish of the Dark Night of the Soul.

Me: And being filled with the Spirit will turn the lights back on?

JC: Absolutely!

Me: But what if someone prays to be filled with the Spirit and it is still dark?

JC: Then he doesn’t have faith.

Me: Where does faith come from? Strike that. Let me ask you another question: who is to say exactly what the Holy Spirit wants us to experience in any moment in time?

Manufacturing Spiritual Experiences
How many of us have ever manufactured a spiritual experience? I willlll be joyful! I willlll sound spiiiiriiitwallll.

We are all familiar with jailhouse conversions, foxhole conversions, but how many of us are aware of crisis conversions? An individual goes through a crisis that leaves his or her life in disarray. Then, in only a matter of days after his life has fallen apart, BAM, he sounds like Charlton Heston playing Moses.

Sometimes I wonder if people create these pseudo experiences so as to distance themselves from the mess they made, both in their minds as well as in the minds of their friends. “That was the Old Me: this is the New Me. Don’t confuse the two!”

Yes, God can and does use such crisis’ to bring about an awareness of our deep need for his grace. And yes, sometimes such transformations begin with a life-altering experience. (See Saul becoming Paul) However, more times than not, it is more a case where a few seeds are planted: seeds that might take years to grow into a tree that produces fruit. But what happens when the individual is in a community where people expect instantaneous demonstrations of joy and power, where people who say they have repented or have given their life over to God are expected to sound like Charlton Heston no later than next Sunday? Easy.

You put up a fake tree with plastic fruit hanging from its limbs

You serve grape juice and tell everyone it is new wine

You manufacture an experience


Copyright, 2008, Monte E Wilson