World Religions Report: The Pentecostal Faith
Kellye Berry
HUM/130
Friday, October 18, 2013
Isabel Morales

World Religions Report: The Pentecostal Faith (ROUGH DRAFT)
The purpose of this paper is to give a summary of the Pentecostal Faith in the words of a woman who is both relatively newly sober and newly spiritual. Angela Harper is a fellow Alcoholics Anonymous member that I have known for almost three years now. I chose this denomination because I have never known very much about the Pentecostal faith, aside from the more obvious characteristics, as manifested by the women of that faith in their dress and decorum. I was very pleased to have taken part in a magical conversation about the power of God’s Grace and the way it can transform the life of anyone, no matter how far down the scale they may have gone.
Angela Harper and I finally were able to get together and have our conversation today, Thursday, October 17, 2013. I will give a little background on Angela as a person before I proceed, with her permission, of course. Angela, like me, is a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. Another thing that we both have in common is that neither one of us was raised in the church. It wasn’t until Angela began her recovery journey that she had any reason to deliberately seek a relationship with God. What has happened as a result of that seeking is truly inspiring.
Angela wanted me to preface my report on the Pentecostal faith by saying that she is not only new to recovery, but that she is also new to her faith and so there are many things that she doesn’t know. She was, however, more than willing to share with me the things that she has experienced and discovered as she has begun her walk for Jesus Christ.
My very first question for Angela was what made this denomination so appealing to her, over all of the other denominations she could have chosen to join. Without a hesitation, she told me that it was the Baptism of the Holy Spirit that drew her to the Pentecostal Church. According to the ("Living Faith Forum", 2013), the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is “an experience in which the believer yields control of himself to the Holy Spirit. Through this he comes to know Christ in a more intimate way, and receives power to witness and grow spiritually.” In Angela’s own words, “It basically means that you are so consumed with the Holy Spirit, that it isn’t even your actions, but the actions of God working through you.” This allows for different “gifts,” such as prophesizing, speaking in tongues, or the interpretation of the speaking of tongues.
I then asked her how she came to be a member of a Pentecostal church when she wasn’t raised as a Pentecostal. She said that when she decided to live her life for Christ, that she felt compelled to be absolutely uninhibited in her worship and her other experiences had been at a Baptist Church, where people are often much more staid and uptight. She mentioned it is, of course, a matter of preference, but for her, she needed to feel comfortable enough to throw her hands in the air in her rejoicing in the Lord’s presence and that wasn’t something that she felt as comfortable doing in a more rigid atmosphere of worship. What spoke so powerfully to me was that she says she not only worships this way in church, but also within the privacy of her own home. Her remark was that, being such an emotion driven person, it just seems to follow that she would be compelled to worship in a way that is full of emotion as well, in every sense of the word.
When I asked her if she had encountered any kind of prejudice when it came to her refusal to conform to the more traditional regulations of the church, as far as women’s attire and appearance are concerned, she said that it isn’t even an issue because the church she goes to is a contemporary Pentecostal church. Her explanation is that the more fundamentalist church members do that in order to more closely follow the Old Testament, she called these people, “legalists.” These people hold that it is necessary to follow the Letter of the Law in order to get to Heaven. She did point out, however, that when Jesus Christ came, in was no longer necessary to follow the Letter of the Law in order to experience God’s Grace. Not only that, she says, but that her congregation understands and accepts that God sees and loves us in all of our ugliness, so there is really no reason to try and dress up for church jus for the benefit of other people. She pointed out that there are some female members who do still hold to the old way of dress, but that is most likely because that is the way they were raised and that is all they know. By the same token, it is important to remember that she is representing Jesus and her Church in everything she says and does, so while it may not be necessary to dress in long skirts and dresses and completely forego cosmetics, it is important that she always dress appropriately.
Angela says her favorite aspect of church is the music and worship. She says every Sunday, there is a time of worship just prior to the sermon and that sometimes, the preacher will dedicate the entire service to the playing of music and worship. However, Wednesdays are always dedicated to Bible Study and the opportunity to learn more about God’s Word and how to apply it in her everyday life.
Although the devotions that she uses in her religious life aren’t specific to the Pentecostal Church, she did say that she has begun a discipleship, in which she reads certain devotional books that are suggested to her by her spiritual advisor, and she then meditates on the message for that day in what she calls her “quiet time,” followed by journaling. She says in just over a year of being a disciple, that she has already filled fourteen journals!
When asked about the speaking of tongues, she said that although she has experienced it, that it is very hard to put into words. So for this I’ll be relying on an outside source. According to Christian Bible Reference.org, n.d., “Speaking in tongues is an important part of worship in a number of Pentecostal. Some Pentecostal churches, including Assemblies of God (of which Angela is a member), teach that speaking in tongues is evidence of baptism in the Holy Spirit, but it is not essential for salvation and eternal life.” Angela says that she most often experiences this phenomenon while worshiping alone, but it is common to see among members of her congregation.
Angela referred to some Scripture that talks about speaking in tongues and I am backing that up with my own research. According to the Christian Bible reference (2013), there are a couple of difference Scriptures in the New Testament referring to speaking in tongues. One is in Acts 2:1-13, which says on the day of Pentecost Jesus' apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other tongues. Those who heard this speech each heard it in his own language, even though they were from many different countries. Even though the apostles were speaking in an unknown language, the listeners were able to understand, each in his own language. Another reference to this is in 1 Corinthians 14:2, which says that speaking in ecstatic languages was common among members of the early Christian churches, but no one could understand this form of speaking in tongues. Angela says that part of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit means that God gives different people different talents or gifts. As I mentioned before, that may be the speaking of tongues or it may mean that a person will be able to interpret the speaking of tongue. Angela explained that it was expressing her love and worship of God in a way that went beyond the strictures of common language. As she said when I asked her about speaking in tongues, it is very hard to explain it, both in the sense of what the language consists of and the feeling that comes from the experience.
Further research provided more information about what the Pentecost was, historically. Ten days after Jesus came back from the dead and ascended into Heaven, the twelve Apostles, Jesus’ mother, Mary, and the rest of his family, along with other of his disciples, gathered together to celebrate a harvest festival fifty days after the Jewish holiday of Passover. While they were inside praying, a sound like rushing wind filled the house and tongues of fire descended and rested over each of their heads. This was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on human flesh promised by God. After this the disciples were convicted to proclaim the gospel of the risen Christ. So they went out into the streets and began preaching to all the people who had gathered for the festival. It was during this time that they began to speak in the native languages of the people present, even though these people had come from all corners of the Roman Empire. Because Peter was able to address them in their own languages, he took the opportunity to tell them about Jesus’ death and resurrection, which was for the forgiveness of their sins. On this day of the Pentecost, more than three thousand people were converted to Christianity and baptized. (McDevitt, 2012)
I wrapped up this really touching interview with the question, “What do you think the biggest difference is between your way of life and other denominations?” Angela replied, “The way of worship is the main thing. It’s just about being uninhibited. By allowing myself to be so consumed by the Holy Spirit, I don’t worry about what people think about me. This is probably the only time when I don’t worry about that. This is the only aspect of my life that I can allow myself to be so consumed by my love for God and His love for me. It is intoxicating.”
Having been educated at a Southern Baptist high school myself, my experience with Christianity and worship has been much different. I really envy Angela her relationship with God. Growing up, my conception of God was that God was a vengeful God, and that I was doomed to suffer an eternity in Hell for my transgressions. This was probably the main reason I set off on a quest to learn about so many other different religions and spiritual systems of belief. I just couldn’t accept that I could be punished for infinity for the mistakes of one tiny little human lifetime. My experience, which I admit could only be my perception of the Baptist faith, is that, although Jesus did come to earth to die on the cross for my sins, that I should feel guilty for his sacrifice. Guilty enough to life a “right life.” This never set very well with me, and I never appreciated the feeling of judgment that I thought I was receiving from other Christians. This may have been due to the fact that I have always been a very willful person, a person not very accepting of explanations that didn’t appear to have a certain amount of reason behind them.
Just to give a little more academic spin to my background, I will be referencing the official website of the Southern Baptist Convention. According to Baptists, “Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.” ("Southern Baptist Convention", 2013).
Here is where I parted ways with any faith in Christianity. Especially as I began my search for alternatives to what I had been reared on, it became harder and harder for me to accept that there was only one path to God, only one path to salvation. How then, could people from across the globe, people with no introduction to Jesus Christ, be condemned to an eternity in Hell? Honestly, Pentecostals and Baptist are alike in this respect, but there is something so much more persuasive about the Angela’s emotion-filled description of her faith than in anything I ever learned in a Southern Baptist high school. Angela is a Christian in what I consider to be the true sense of the word, being “Christ-like.” All I ever got from the Baptist faith was that I was doomed to be an ugly sinner, no matter what I did. The way that Angela spoke was of Grace and forgiveness and unconditional love.
If I had to choose a religion that I think I like the best (which would be very hard for me), I would say that I relate to Taoism the most. The Way of Water, the Path of Least Resistance, is the best way I have come to understand my place in the world. It seems to me the most practical way of going about life with the greatest amount of serenity.
Although I really appreciate Jesus’ role in history and the way His love absolutely rocked the world, there are many things about practicing this religion that I object to, primarily because of the people who claim it. So, as with all the other religions I have studied in my quest for a spirituality that works for me, there are things about Christianity that I use and many more which I choose to disregard. Nevertheless, when I’m given an opportunity to speak with a person who truly loves Christ and dedicates her life to living, to the best of her ability, the way Jesus taught us we should, I can’t help but be mesmerized by that kind of faith. That, in my humble opinion, is what any religion should be all about. Love.

References:
Christian Bible Reference. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.christianbiblereference.org/faq_tongues.htm
Southern Baptist Convention. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.sbc.net/bfm/bfm2000.asp
McDevitt, J. (2012, January). Acts 2:1-21. Interpretation: A Journal of Bible & Theology, 66(1), 70-73.