gifts, scales, shakes, balancing, mate, joy, might?

"I consider it heresy to speak of shaking, trembling, falling, dancing, clapping, shouting, and such actions as manifestations of the Holy Spirit. These are purely human reactions to the power of the Holy Spirit... There are far too many Christians who are satisfied with such emotional reactions and thus do not seek to grow in grace and become channels through whom the Holy Spirit may manifest his gifts for the edification of the Church." - David du Plessis

Have to say that I agree with him. Especially the bit about Christians going after the "human reactions" rather than God himself. We were talking about this in class last week...about the difference between more "traditional" denominations and more recent emerging denominations (or "non-denominations" as the case may be!). Richard told a wee joke about a guy from another denomination he had been talking to once. The guy said "the difference between us is that I believe in the Almighty and you believe in the Almatey!" It's so true though. There seems to be a scale by which churches are measured..and it's crucial (and perhaps even impossible?) to get the balance. I know my church is at the "Almighty" bit - and things are slowly moving the other way...slowly becoming more balanced. But for those churches at the "Almatey" end of things, the churches whom I suspect are chasing after the "human reactions" that aul Dave up there mentions...it's kinda dangerous and kindaaa not very healthy. Personally, I go by the old thing that my grandma always used to say to me (and, on occasion, still does say to me!) - JOY. J for Jesus - put Him first! O for Others - put them second! Y for Yourself - put yourself last on the list. I seriously believe that when we do this + really try to put it into practice, everything else (i.e. spiritual gifts) will just slot into place. Anyway, who knows. My spelling is a bit dodgy these days, and I always end up spelling JOY as YOJ...sometimes it's so bad that i just type a big silly Y. Anyway, now I'm waffling but I hope you get what I mean. :) let me know what you reckon.