I have been reading (very slowly), Dr. R. Scott Clark's book Recovering the Reformed Confession and have had a couple thoughts that I'd like to put down. I am thoroughly enjoying the book and as I think through my past religious experiences and education, I can see how Clark's main two "villains", QIRC (quest for illegitimate religious certainty) & QIRE (quest for illegitimate religious experience), manifested in my life and understanding of God and religion. People like Jonathan Edwards, Billy Sunday, and Billy Graham were touted as heroes in the Christian faith. I didn't know much of their real theology. All I knew was that they preached the gospel to the masses, which is a good thing. But how they taught and some of their underlying assumptions about how the Christian life would be followed up were beyond me at that time.

I was not explicitly taught that conversion would naturally lead to religious fervor, but it almost seemed implied in some of the different events and experiences that the church encouraged, church camp, religious concerts, revival meeting attendance, etc. What I have come to realize is that these things put assumptions in your mind that you should be having a religious experience and certainty about your relationship with God.

I've starting considering my relationship with God similar to that with my wife. God does call us the "bride of Christ" after all. In my relationship with my wife, we grow closer together through communication, working through hardships (whether self-inflicted or not), and ordinary regular connections. God has created us as relational beings because He is relational. If me and my wife have to have "mountaintop experiences" regularly to grow our relationship, it will become taxing and difficult to keep things going. She does not have to satisfy me in mind-blowing ways all the time for me to connect and grow to love her more. Just by sitting and talking, sharing our days, sharing our hardships and struggles, we grow closer. As we grow closer, emotional moments will be deeper and stronger. They will be more appreciated because they are the result of the knowledge and relationship that has been built to that time. This is why the Reformed place such an emphasis on the "due use of ordinary means" (meaning church attendance and paying attending to the preached Word).

The modern evangelical and Pentecostal church seeks to short circuit that and try to have a mountain top experience every Sunday, but they are not doing the work to learn about their "Husband".

I have told my children, I will not be outside of church on a day I can be in it! I want to learn who my "Husband" and Lord is every chance I get. So as long as I'm not sick or traveling, I will be sitting in that seat, listening to my pastor preach to me Christ's Word and enjoying the fellowship with my Savior through the Lord's Supper. I want to sit at my Lord's feet like Mary did and be fed by Him!