Why do other Christians hate Pentecostals so much?

ThomasJH said:

I had no choice but to get hostile as I felt this was a personal attack against me and my faith. Why do people hate this specific denomination so much?

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Or you could have found them interesting.
Instead of asking them then, you're asking others now?

Well you are here now, in the big paddock with many undulations, none of us can really answer for others, we simply try to speak to truth quietly and with love.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I wish you an abundance of all nine.

PS: In my experience it is easier to learn than it is to put it into practice.

yeshuaslavejeff said:

Wow? Most people never get to see such a demonstration of demon possession.
That's not typical of Pentecostals as far as I know,
although it can happen in just about any church (unpredictably usually).

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I took off running into the darkness outside since I just couldn't reconcile that behavior with anything benevolent.
Ruined my nerves. Was never able to sleep with the lights completely off for the remainder of my childhood.

ThomasJH said:

When I mean hostile, I mean I had to get argumentative with them and explain.

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That was a choice you made. You could just have easily accepted their observations as correct unless you feel they had invented situations that never existed.

ThomasJH said:

I was just giving out the news about my baptism on another Christian site I will not name, and many started getting "triggered" when I said I was Pentecostal and it that the baptism was in Jesus name.

So many called Pentecostalism "a cult from the early 1900s" and they called speaking in tongues "mass hysteria". I had no choice but to get hostile as I felt this was a personal attack against me and my faith.

Why do people hate this specific denomination so much?

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It's not that other Christians hate Pentecostals, it's that "Jesus' name baptism" is associated with Oneness theology--which is heretical. Most Pentecostals aren't Oneness, but confess the orthodox faith in the Holy Trinity and, as Christians have always done, baptize using the formula "in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit".

It's not being "triggered" it's a recognition that your baptism was heretical and done in a heretical way. Because theology matters to Christians. Or at least it should.

-CryptoLutheran

~Cassia~ said:

It's not Protestants they hate it's confined to non-litergic Protestants

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I'm not sure that's correct. As a high church Anglican I regard Pentacostals as Protestants who "get it" about receiving the Holy Spirit, though the liturgical style is very different there is something about the experience of worship which is the same, and which I think other Protestants miss out on.

Speedwell said:

I'm not sure that's correct. As a high church Anglican I regard Pentacostals as Protestants who "get it" about receiving the Holy Spirit, though the worship style is very different there is something about the experience which is the same, and which I think other Protestants miss out on.

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It's an issue between the Lutherans and Catholics amalgamating on church issues that is being pushed front and centre as tatamount to not mess up that is causing an oppression of those who don't hold to Tradition to be set aside as causualty of war. Sie la vie.

ThomasJH said:

I was just giving out the news about my baptism on another Christian site I will not name, and many started getting "triggered" when I said I was Pentecostal and it that the baptism was in Jesus name.

So many called Pentecostalism "a cult from the early 1900s" and they called speaking in tongues "mass hysteria". I had no choice but to get hostile as I felt this was a personal attack against me and my faith.

Why do people hate this specific denomination so much?

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Hello, and welcome to CF. We are glad that you've joined us.

I am sorry to hear that you were badly treated when sharing the news of something that must have been joyous and exciting for you. There were surely kinder ways of staring their concerns.

In answer to the reason they were concerned for you, it is true that the group you seem to have been received into is of fairly recent origin, and reject some very important parts of what the body of Christians through the ages has believed. From the first, Christians were baptized "in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit" ... often by triple immersion to underscore that formula. We may charitably disagree on many non-essentials, but Who God Is, is a very fundamental and important issue.

As to other comments here, I have seen many prejudices among Christians against others because of practice or belief. Some more justified, but many not.

Generally, I find it more beneficial to start with what we can agree upon, and build from there. At least in discussion. Our Church tends to hold very tightly to our beliefs and practices and not exactly embrace change, which is a little joke about us, but it's something I actually value.

Again, welcome to CF. If you have any questions about the way things work or I can help you find anything, please let me know. I'll give you a heads-up though, to hopefully keep you out of trouble. Acceptance of the Holy Trinity is a site policy, so you can't argue against that in most forum areas. If you are wondering, you should check the "Statement of Purpose" for a given subforum (it should be a sticky at the top of the list everywhere you go), and if it says "Nicene Christian only" then you can't argue against the Trinity there.

ThomasJH said:

I was just giving out the news about my baptism on another Christian site I will not name, and many started getting "triggered" when I said I was Pentecostal and it that the baptism was in Jesus name.

So many called Pentecostalism "a cult from the early 1900s" and they called speaking in tongues "mass hysteria". I had no choice but to get hostile as I felt this was a personal attack against me and my faith.

Why do people hate this specific denomination so much?

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Even though Pentecostal beliefs have some merits, I am much against their core belief of attributing their personal emotional outbursts to the Holy Spirit.

ThomasJH said:

I was just giving out the news about my baptism on another Christian site I will not name, and many started getting "triggered" when I said I was Pentecostal and it that the baptism was in Jesus name.

So many called Pentecostalism "a cult from the early 1900s" and they called speaking in tongues "mass hysteria". I had no choice but to get hostile as I felt this was a personal attack against me and my faith.

Why do people hate this specific denomination so much?

Click to expand...

Christians don't hate anyone including Pentecostals. Christians hate destructive heresies (false teachings in opposition to what Christ taught) because they love Christ and value the truth.

Regarding Pentecostalism, I believe it was founded in the late 1800s or early 1900s so it's a relatively new theological persuasion. Some Pentecostals baptize in Jesus' name because they reject the Trinity that Christians believe is an important and fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith so they don't like religious groups that oppose it (Jehovah's Witnesses are especially disliked for that reason because their heresy regarding the Trinity is worse).

Another problem is much of Pentecostalism seems to be based on psychology. In the New Testament, "tongues" referred to other known languages so when the apostles spoke in tongues in Acts 2 the people who heard them understood what they were saying. The gift of tongues was necessary to preach the gospel to people who didn't understand the languages the apostles spoke. Without it, it would have been difficult or impossible to preach the gospel to many groups of people. The gift of tongues became less common once the gospel spread throughout the world. The Pentecostal "tongues" is much different because no one understands what they're saying and it doesn't appear to have any purpose other than puffing up the pride of the person who speaks in "tongues" to feel especially blessed by God. Some Pentecostals are so arrogant that they believe anyone who doesn't speak in "tongues" will go to Hell because he hasn't been "baptized by the Holy Spirit" which is offensive and insulting to godly Christians everywhere.

The biggest problem with Pentecostalism IMO is that it turns people away from Christ because people tend to associate their denomination with Christianity. For example, someone gets a chronic illness and is told God will cure them guaranteed if they pray and trust God. They pray and pray with fervent faith for years but their condition continues to get worse. Eventually they stop believing not just in Pentecostalism but in Jesus and Christianity. When people see faith healers and other deception they may think Christianity is a sham. Many former religious people hate Christianity after they realize their particular denomination deceived them.

Speedwell said:

I'm not sure that's correct. As a high church Anglican I regard Pentacostals as Protestants who "get it" about receiving the Holy Spirit, though the liturgical style is very different there is something about the experience of worship which is the same, and which I think other Protestants miss out on.

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Does not being of the higher criticisism make you of the same order as Lutheran? I'm probably wrong on that but it's something that's sticking in my head.

ThomasJH said:

I was just giving out the news about my baptism on another Christian site I will not name, and many started getting "triggered" when I said I was Pentecostal and it that the baptism was in Jesus name.

So many called Pentecostalism "a cult from the early 1900s" and they called speaking in tongues "mass hysteria". I had no choice but to get hostile as I felt this was a personal attack against me and my faith.

Why do people hate this specific denomination so much?

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I don't think that is the case. When you run into "haters" they will hate you regardless of your denomination.
I'm Roman Catholic, and believe me when I tell you that I have been on the receiving end of that kind of hate many times.
Take it with a grain of salt. Be faithful to Christ, whether you feel the need to be Pentecostal, Quaker, Lutheran, or whatever, and we'll all
get to discuss the silliness of hate over a beer in Heaven.

~Cassia~ said:

Does not being of the higher criticisism make you of the same order as Lutheran? I'm probably wrong on that but it's something that's sticking in my head.

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Not necessarily. I'm not an Episcopalian, but belong to a conservative branch of US Anglicanism. As such, we have a Patristic view of scripture which gives us more commonality with Orthodox Christianity. My point was, that I find in worship an intense emotional experience and observe something similar in Pentacostalism which I don't see in other Protestants.

It's mostly due to the excesses of Pentecostalism being a bit more on display than your average denomination or tradition. I'm from the south, so we have an SBC or Holiness-style denomination on just about every street corner.

When you begin talking Anglican (which does have a history in my particular area), Lutheran, etc you get into more "cerebral" issues often dealing with doctrines rather than actions. In other words, for people around here, you can lump mainline or evangelical groups in larger subsets of Christianity where the denominations differ only on a small range of issues or perhaps even just a few issues. Even though there will be differences, visiting one church from the next will even be confusing for the average person who would see them as shades of the same core. Pentecostalism, for better or worse, will call to mind perhaps the excesses that we've all heard about locally or even in the southern hemisphere. And to a large extent, these headline what people know about the tradition.

At the end of the day, it's really an epistemological issue. All Pentecostal traditions rely heavily upon personal experience which conflicts with a large body of belief within Christianity. This contrasts with the older Reformation denominations as well as even more so with Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox where some outside force is the ultimate determinant. Even Baptist churches often have a certain level of decorum and tradition that restrains certain modes of behavior.

I love Pentecostalism... as long as they hang close to the doctrine handed down through the inception in the early 1900's...

And in metaphor to the Hebrew temple...

1. Outer gates - Justification by faith
2. Altar - Salvation through Christ
3. Laver - "Sanctification makes us clean on the inside." - William Seymour
4. Lampstand - Faith, hope, charity, joy, grace, warmth, love, etc...
5. Table of Shewbread - Daily in the Word of God
6. Altar of Golden Incense - Prayer and praise meetings
7. Holy of Holies - The Baptism in the Holy Spirit

And just because someone came though a year ago does not mean they are still filled today! This is a daily walk! Seymour's doctrine in a form of video...


From Seymour's devotions...

I have respect for Pentecostalism, even though I am a cessationist.

They're not a cult, but there are some doctrines that other Christians consider heterodox. Of course, not all Pentecostals accept things like the Prosperity Gospel, and all sects with Christianity have beliefs that may seem heterodox or just strange.

I'm a Pentecostal as well and have experienced a little bit of hostility over the years. It tends to be from Christians from a very religious background that hsa more to do with following religious rules and traditions than being open to God to do a new thing in them. I won't go as far as to say I dont think they are saved, that is between them and God, but they certainly dont show the love or an attitude I would expect from a genuine Christian. I have also met good, loving people who seem to be genuine believers in Jesus as the son of God from most denominations, including Catholics (that a lot of Pentecostals write off as religious idol worshippers).

I came to the conclusion a few years back that God uses denominations to put people in his church in a place that will suit them. We are one body with many parts, but as long as Jesus has the head I dont worry myself about which part of the body we are.

In church yesterday the lady behind me spoke in tongues the most of the service. Not very loud, but enough where I could hear her... But I was thankful that she did.

ThomasJH said:

I was just giving out the news about my baptism on another Christian site I will not name, and many started getting "triggered" when I said I was Pentecostal and it that the baptism was in Jesus name.

So many called Pentecostalism "a cult from the early 1900s" and they called speaking in tongues "mass hysteria". I had no choice but to get hostile as I felt this was a personal attack against me and my faith.

Why do people hate this specific denomination so much?

Click to expand...

Pentecostals are not a "specific dehomination" at all. It's an umbrella term embracing a wide range of belief--and disbelief.

For example, Some Pentecostals are Trinitarian. Others are anti-Trinitarian: so called "Oneness" or "Apostolic." Yet they both claim their contradictory doctrines comes from the SAME Holy Spirit that enables them to speak in tongues.

i don't hate Pentecostals. But as I see it their greatest fault is the total lack of discernment and discretion in spiritual and doctrinal matters.

I once heard someone claiming to be a Pentecostal prophet preach that Jesus could perform no miracles after His resurrection, because He didn't have a physical body, and "the Holy Spirit needs a physical body to manifest through."

I'm sure that most of you will not need to have the errors of this pointed out to you. But (except for me) the listeners were eating this garbage with a spoon.