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Holy Spirit Research Paper

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The different views within the modern church regarding the Gifts of the Holy Spirit can be discussed in four categories. Cessationism, Pentecostal, Charismatic, and Third Wave. Cessationism is a belief that there are no longer any gifts of the Holy Spirit. All of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit were given to man and used within the first century church. The subsequential beliefs directly oppose cessationism.
Pentecostal is the denomination that traces its origin to the Pentecostal revival in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century. They believed that all of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit are intended for the modern church. They believe that a baptism of the Holy Spirit should be sought by all Christians and should subsequent to conversion. …show more content…

This group also believes that all of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit are intended for the modern church. Within this group is disagreement whether or not baptism of the Holy Spirit takes place following conversion. They also are in disagreement whether or not a sign of speaking in tongues will accompany this. Charismatic have no characteristic denomination in the United States.
As stated before, The Third Wave movement began at Fuller University in the 1980s and emphasized Spiritual Gifts, healings, and miracles. This group also believes that all of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit are intended for the modern church.
An additional group should be mentioned and that is the group of Christians that do not place themselves in any of these categories. They do not believe that Spiritual Gifts should be left with the first century church, but they are also not comfortable with the doctrine that Spiritual Gifts are for the modern church.
Which Spiritual Gifts?
In order to determine what Spiritual Gifts a Christian should utilize in their own life, most churches provide a Spiritual Gift inventory test. A Spiritual Gift inventory is a test that uses one’s attributes and interests to determine what area their Spiritual Gifts are in. The uses of Spiritual Gift inventories are beneficial in the following …show more content…

In an article written by Dr. Michael Horvath regarding the psychometric perspective of Spiritual Gift inventories, he stated that more thorough research needs to be done to prepare these tests. He also believes that the tests should have disclaimers warning the users of the potential limitations of the tests.
An alternative to taking a Spiritual Gifts inventory test is to study the passages that explicitly discuss Spiritual Gifts. Romans 12:6-8, 1st Peter 4:10-11, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, and Ephesians 4:1-15. By meditating on these passages one can ask God to reveal to them which area of service they should partake in.
While Spiritual Gift inventories may not be the most effective way for churches to encourage individuals regarding their Spiritual Gifts, it does help the individual. They have the ability to learn about themselves and can discover things that they may not have seen about themselves before.
Danger of Spiritual

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