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To: markomalley; prayerfullywaiting; Religion Moderator
Dear markomalley, prayerfullywaiting and Religion Moderator,

This brings up an interesting point about which I've been thinking for a few weeks.

Many of the caucus labels used here in the Religion Forum do a pretty good job of excluding who should be excluded and including who should be included. There aren't many Catholic calvinists, nor many calvinist Catholics, so those two labels do a good job of sorting folks out as needed. The labels sort folks theologically in the desired way.

But I'm not sure that “charismatic” as a label works quite as well. The fact is that the charismatic movement can be found through nearly the entire range of Christian and even near-Christian or Christian-heritage theologies.

Personally, I was very active in the Charismatic Renewal in the Catholic Church for a long time. I attended charismatic prayer meetings often as many as three times a week for many years, where folks spoke in tongues, folks gave prophecies, folks performed healings. I was actually a prayer meeting leader for some years, I prayed over folks by laying on hands for the “baptism in the Holy Spirit.” I've been to any number of charismatic events, including the annual youth conference in Steubenville.

I met my wife of over 26 years at a charismatic prayer meeting. For many years, she too was active in the renewal.

I am no longer active in the Renewal, but I'm more like a Catholic who doesn't go to Mass on Sundays rather than someone who was once Catholic and now repudiates Catholic faith.

There is no necessary contradiction between being a Catholic and belonging to the Charismatic Renewal. Catholics may participate in the renewal, may participate in the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit, and this has been formally permitted since at least the papacy of Pope Paul VI. Pope John Paul II was a reasonably enthusiastic supporter of the renewal.

Yet, some of the posters here who claim to be charismatic are certainly also virulently anti-Catholic.

So, what is my status in a thread like this?

The problem runs a bit deeper than even this.

The fact is that I've read about charismatic/pentecostal groups in just about every sort of theological group that you can imagine. There are, of course, pentecostals. Many of these are oneness pentecostals that don't even believe in the Trinity. I've read about / heard about Episcopal charismatics, Methodist charismatics, even Baptist charismatics (although I've seen a lot of controversy regarding Baptist charismatics). Heck, I've even heard of UNITARIAN charismatics!

The problem is that the label “charismatic” may not work either because it doesn't really narrow things down theologically or because it may be used in a way that is much narrower (in order to actually narrow down theologically) than the word really means.


sitetest

20 posted on 12/03/2009 6:46:28 AM PST by sitetest (If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
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To: sitetest; markomalley; prayerfullywaiting; Jedediah
I am caucusing Jedediah's prophecies in the Religion Forum to avoid provoking personal attacks and flame wars by those who are deeply, deeply offended by anyone alleging to be a modern day prophet speaking in first person.

As you say theological disputes can arise among those who do recognize the possibility of modern day prophets, i.e. pro and anti Catholicism beliefs and also pro and anti Mormonism beliefs.

The alternative is to caucus Jedediah's prophecies under the label "Pentecostal."

As a final point, even though an article has been caucused, an RF poster may repost a similar article for immediate "open" thread RF discussion or wait for the four hour no-duplicates-allowed bar to pass and then repost the same article for "open" discussion.

This initial caucusing essentially provides a "safe harbor" for discussion by those who share a common belief in modern day prophecies spoken in first person.

21 posted on 12/03/2009 7:49:02 AM PST by Religion Moderator
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