Comments on: The Holy Spirit: Does What We Know About Him Actually Matter? (Part 2)

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 14:25:40 +0000

Yes, Henoch, you are correct. I did not intend to compare the Great Schism with the Pentecostal movement. They are very different. The only similarity between them that I wished to draw out was the fact that they were both concerned with the Holy Spirit, and that over time, teachings about the Spirit have profound impact on individual believers and churches.

By: Henoch

Henoch — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:19:05 +0000

Joe, thanks for your insightful articles. i absolutely agree with you that what we think about the Holy Spirit really, really matters. i personally have to learn so much more about the Holy Spirit. But most of all, i have to get to know Him more and not just about him. So i'll be looking forward for the articles to come.

Just one thought... to me it seems kind of a far stretch to compare the great schism with the development of the pentecostal/charismatic movement. As you mentioned, i think that the great schism involved a great deal of political and power struggles, which i don't see that much in the pentecostal movement. Furthermore, the schism was just divisive and split Christianity in two, which was never again reversed. As for the pentecostal movement, i think there are hardliners in every Christian camp, such as people who say that one can't be saved if you don't speak in tongues and people who say that one can't be saved if you do speak in tongues (casually spoken). But the overall picture i see tells me that this kind of "split" is much more nuanced and one can find all kinds of flavors between the two extremes.

By: david bychkov

david bychkov — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 07:49:43 +0000

I think that one more fact which should be mentioned here and I do find it very interesting is that Athanasian Creed says about belief of Trinity (in very accurate manner) this: “Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith….He therefore that will be saved, let him thus think of the Trinity…”.