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Robin said:
We had an old thread on the ExCharisma group about religious addiction. Some of the best stuff I read in that thread was written by Dave. I still have it archived, and Dave, if you will grant permision to have it re-posted here, I think it would make an awesome contribution not only to this thread, but to everyone who reads it.

-Robin

By all means, please go ahead and post it here. I think that discussion took place quite a while ago, so there may be folks here who have never seen it.

To this day I tend to compare charismaticism with drug addiction. In both situations, there are "highs"--feelings of peace and joy--but in between there can be the most wrenching sense of craving and lack. That's not how the Christian life ought to be. To be sure, the Christian pilgrimage features sloughs of despond amongst the delectable mountains, and the believer does often find himself panting after a closer walk with God, but whereas the charismatic gets his "high" from the emotional euphoria of his experiences, the Bible-centered believer derives peace and joy from knowing God through Christ. Granted, the charismatic will attribute his highs to God, but make no mistake: it is the emotions he's really after. What a far cry this is from the joy amidst sorrow and the peace in the storm that God has in mind for His Elect! Of course the believer will often feel strong emotions as he walks with Christ, both pleasant and not-so-pleasant, but unlike the addict to emotional euphoria, he is not ruled by his emotions. To the contrary: he strives to make Christ ruler of every aspect of his being up to and including his emotions. Thus, the believer who walks in the light of Scripture alone enjoys a peace, joy, and contentment far beyond that of his brother who vainly, desperately seeks to recapture the emotional highs of charismatic experience.

Dave