[Praxeas]

We certainly need to be introspective and honest with ourselves in this area.

There is nothing wrong with being emotional, however at the same time we need to be less demonstrative imo and we need to be biblical.

Unfortunately we have stressed the physical demonstrative in our ranks as evidence of somethings that it simply does not support.

We call it worship, the bible does not support that running the aisles is worship.

We portray it as being spiritual, the bible makes no claim.

We portray a service where in there was plenty of that kind of activity as "a move of God" and the bible does not support that.

I love what Bro Stoneking says...he said (paraphrase) "We come out of a service and we say 'we had a powerful service'...We may not have had a powerful service, it might have been a happy service but not necessarily powerful. When the power of God falls the blind see, the deaf hear, limbs grow back"

I don't know about you but some of the most powerful services made me weep, made me stand in awe...but never made me run around in circles.

Having said that, as I said earlier, nothing wrong with emotion...but emotions are joy, happiness, rejoicing....the lame man was healed and he came leaping for joy. He was not out of control. He was not shouting at the top of his lungs hystrically. He did not dance in a circle with his eyes closed until he tripped over someone or smacked them in the face.

It is possible that we have become so accustomed to that sort of antics that we associate it was the move of God and have become performace oriented. We have to have something happen. We expect something to happen and so like a Benny Hinn meeting where the real miracles are absent, we rely on visual effects. People in a BH meeting see someone falling over and because of where they come from they are conditioned to think something just happened.

They do the same thing, differently, in the RCC. They have candles, they have shiny objects, they have a lot of visual and audio stimulation...then they tell them the priest is working a miracle by turning the bread into flesh.

I have seen some of the most bizarre antics. I have seen someone literally leap into the baptismal tank..suit and all and come out dripping wet. Oh please don't tell me that was the will of God. That kind of thinking is what got us in the mess we are in. The Will of God is the Word of God. What we do turns outsiders off. Yet WE are supposed to be winning souls. Paul warned

1Co 14:23 If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds?

and

1Co 14:40 But all things should be done decently and in order.

What is happening in our midst is excess IMO. I hear people, young people mostly, talk about "My worship"...worship is never about self. We should NEVER have pride in worship as if one's demonstrative display is somehow out doing someone elses. That is scary.