Tozer on "Joy" and "The Spirit"
Chris, aka Desert Pastor quotes this great selection from A.W. Tozer:
As might have been foreseen, this resulted in a steady decline in the quality of Christian worship on the one hand and, on the other, the rise of religious entertainment as a source of mental pleasure. Wise leaders should have known that the human heart cannot exist in a vacuum. If men do not have joy in their hearts they will seek it somewhere else. If Christians are forbidden to enjoy the wine of the Spirit they will turn to the wine of the flesh for enjoyment. And that is exactly what fundamental Christianity (as well as the so-called "full gospel" groups) has done in the last quarter century. God's people have turned to the amusements of the world to try to squeeze a bit of juice out of them for the relief of their dry and joyless hearts. "Gospel" boogie singing now furnishes for many persons the only religious joy they know. Others wipe their eyes tenderly over "gospel" movies, and a countless number of amusements flourish everywhere, paid for by the consecrated tithes of persons who ought to know better. Our teachers took away our right to be happy in God and the human heart wreaked its terrible vengeance by going on a fleshly binge from which the evangelical church will not soon recover, if indeed it ever does. For multitudes of professed Christians today the Holy Spirit is not a necessity. They have learned to cheer their hearts and warm their hands at other fires. And scores of publishers and various grades of "producers" are waxing fat on their deliquency. (Tozer, A. W. -- "Christ Died for Our Hearts" in The Root of the Righteous,1955)Read his blog for his thoughts and questions on this. I can only say, that had I a more genuine expereince of joy, in the Christianity I grew up with, I may not have wandered from the fold....
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Reader Comments (2)
I wonder if it's because angst is all but admired in my generation. I'm sure part of it is habit and my self-centered nature. But as soon as you start to talk about something good- the Lord, a relationship, marriage, whatever- people want to remind you how flawed it is. Soon you start to worry if things are going too well!
Meanwhile I read about the saints' lives and see men and women who were truly at peace. Their life with God didn't increase their anguish and torment, except their anguish over sin until they had conquered sin- rather it took away the sting of even the most horrible earthly torments. Their default setting was happiness and peace, not fretting and conflict.
Thanks for posting this!
Buffalonians, are so negative. If its a nice day, "Yeah, how long is this going to last?" If the Bills or Sabres start winning, "Their just setting us up for disapointment." Actually, come to thinnk of it... ;-)
No really. There is a real doom and gloom mentalitiy. But this cannot be blamed on Evangelicalism, as it Born-again Christians are almost as rare as Orthodox in these parts. The area is 75% Roman Catholic.
But Tozer speaks to my heritage as a Baptist. "Don't drink, don't smoke, don't chew ...or go with girls who do..." and above all, don't dance. I see "emergent" as a reaction to that.
But of course, I don't think emergent goes far enough. Yes, its willing to revisit some of these things....drink and dance for instance. BUT, its "I'll throw out this part of my heritage, but keep that." It does not address the core problem, of seperation from the Christian Tradtion, and the guidance that is so needed in these Godless days. Its one more attempt at "re-inventing the wheel," and it is of course piloted by the key Protestant principle, of individualism.
The irony, is joy comes through obedience! Who'd of thunk?