I want the Spirit, not a kick drum...

So it's weird to me... Why do people take such polar positions on the Holy Spirit. I feel like you either act as if He's not as important as the other members of the Trinity, thus negating His work in today's world since the time of the Apostles, or you are on the Pentecostal end, focusing on the feeling of the Spirit and what He can make you do and you make it about the Gifts rather then the Giver. I would like to declare that you are both wrong.

I was listening to an audiobook over the last couple days and the author made an incredibly vital point in this argument, the canon of Scripture, the canon that we believe to be inspired, that we believe is divinely preserved, was decided upon not by the Apostles, as some of them were dead by the time that the last book was even written, but a council of men, voted and decided on the Canon under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Now, you can argue that, but then what're you left with? If the pages in your Bible weren't decided upon by the Holy Spirit working through those men, then what do you have for guidance. You can put all of your emphasis on all of your guidance in life coming from the Bible, but in the end, that still involves Him.

Now in turn, you can rely entirely upon the Holy Spirit and not care about the Bible, but this causes equally horrific problems, probably more so. If the Holy Spirit is telling you something, that directly goes against Scripture, in ANYWAY, let me repeat that...

In

Any

WAY

then it is not from God or the Holy Spirit. I've heard some crazy stories about people claiming that God led them to do something, men claiming that God wants them to leave their life and be with some other lady because he feels closer to God with her, heretics claiming that God wants us to be saved so that he can bless us with health, wealth, and prosperity, or popes who feel that starting a crusade to regain the Holy Lands would be the right thing to do. Either way, if it goes against, New Testament teaching it's wrong, no matter the scale.
period.

But I believe that there's a middle ground, a third way if you will. Francis Chan's book "Forgotten God," focuses on the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He doesn't talk about the feelings, but stresses the need for the Holy Spirit in our lives because He strengthens us to do what the Father places upon us. To separate these two Persons of the Trinity, is to break apart the foundation of the relationship between believers and God that was set in motion 2,000 years ago. Christ tells us in John 16 that it is better for Him to leave so that He can send us the Holy Spirit then for Him to stay. That's loud, even deafening in this debate. We are called to embrace all the Persons of God.

BUT

(and there needs to be a but)

if you are seeking after God solely for what the Holy Spirit can do for you, what gifts He can give you...

you

are

WRONG.

Embrace the gift that God has given you, the gift of being able to be a part of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth and do whatever you can to further that Kingdom and rejoice in the fact that we are gifted with Eternal Life. Paul causes us to earnestly desire and pray for Gifts from the Spirit, but then stresses that they are not to be the focus,

your greatest gift...

is love.

you'll be hearing more from me on this as this is just the tip of my thought process iceberg...

sorry I can't go deeper today.
much love.