Allowing children to seek the Holy Ghost?

[deltaguitar]

I have two young children. My daughter is 6 and my son is 3. It amazes me to think that they will never grow up knowing the fear and anxiety that I experienced while trying to seek the baptism of the Holy Ghost. This was such a huge part of my life and experience growing up and they will never know it.

Before I left the UPC I didn't know that I felt this way. Even after I left over doctrinal issues I still held to the belief in the initial evidence doctrine and still sought after the power of the Holy Ghost.

After we left our pastor didn't do much of the pentecostal stuff anymore. Over time we came to not long for it anymore. It wasn't until I had been out for maybe a year that I was watching a youtube clip that someone had posted of a child seeking the baptism of the Holy Ghost that the emotion and relief that I would never have to go through that again began to flood over me.

Then it hit me, my children will never have to go through that! See, I never really thought it was that bad until I thought of having to put my own children through a pentecostal altar service. They deserve my protection and to put them in the middle of that really scares me.

If I had not left the UPC how would I have handled it when they went to youth camp or even in our own church where the pressure to come to the altar is huge. Would I have had the ability to walk up to a hysterical altar scene and remove my child from that situation? Would I have protected my child from those people who would lay hands on them and tell them to "hold on hold on" in one ear and "let go, yield to God" in the other ear.

I am not trying to offend even though I know this may offend some. It just scares me to know that I might have allowed this to happen to my children. Second, I wonder why my parents didn't keep me from this as a child? I know they believe it and consider it a great experience. I still remember as an eight year old child my mother praying with me for hours at youth camp and all I wanted to do was make her happy and get the Holy Ghost. I felt comfortable with her but there were tons of other people around screaming and hollering in my ear.

Looking back, this was an overall terrible experience. I wonder sometimes how much damage this caused me over my lifetime. I have struggled a lot with confidence issues and with anxiety and I wonder if maybe I would have turned out different had I not been subjected to that torture at the altar call.

I even have this issue with some baptist that I have fellowshiped. They would always want to have an altar call after church and it really gave me a lot of anxiety. There is so much performance anxiety from my early years that I still have a very hard time praying in public or allowing people to pray for me.

So my questions;
Will you allow your children to seek after the Holy Ghost at a young age and if so,will you be defensive and protect them from a lot of the folks who surround them in the altar? I have seen preachers push down on people's heads and there is a lot of clapping and loud praying going on. There is a lot of emotion and things can get out of hand. My sister, who is still very pentecostal, rolled on the floor because the preacher said God wanted our sacrifice and to do something outrageous and a big lady fell on her. She was not injured, probably because of adrenaline, but she claimed at the time that she thought she was going to die but that God healed her instantly.

Also, if you will allow this seeking to happen, did you go through the same thing as a child or were you converted as an adult? See, my parents came to the apostolic faith in their late teen years so they would not have had the trauma of dealing with the altar call as a child. I don't think they were aware of how much this could damage their child. I didn't even know myself until years later when I started really thinking about this.

[Hoovie]

A little broad brushing there on your part I think. I don't know why you would address ex UPCers rather than UPC members. But that aside, a child seeking the Lord should never be motivated by fear whether placed by others or a misconstrued view of their Heavenly Father. When I became a Christian in my mid teens, and later spoke in tongues, I do not remember fear being the motivation - though I think I have seen it in some others.
It is wrong and yes I would intervene.

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by Hoovie

A little broad brushing there on your part I think. I don't know why you would address ex UPCers rather than UPC members. But that aside, a child seeking the Lord should never be motivated by fear whether placed by others or a misconstrued view of their Heavenly Father. When I became a Christian in my mid teens, and later spoke in tongues, I do not remember fear being the motivation - though I think I have seen it in some others.
It is wrong and yes I would intervene.

Yep, as usual. I tried to point this out before

It was a wonderful experience for me to receive the baptism and speak in tongues. It was full of Joy. To this day I still experience this. I thank the Lord for what he gave me.

[RandyWayne]

Originally Posted by Hoovie

A little broad brushing there on your part I think. I don't know why you would address ex UPCers rather than UPC members. But that aside, a child seeking the Lord should never be motivated by fear whether placed by others or a misconstrued view of their Heavenly Father. When I became a Christian in my mid teens, and later spoke in tongues, I do not remember fear being the motivation - though I think I have seen it in some others.
It is wrong and yes I would intervene.

Without readying hardly any other post I will say that fear was definitely an initial motivator for me to seek out God. Receiving the HG was a wonderful experience and was one of the most peaceful moments of my life. Soon after fear became the big motivator again -fear of not attending enough church. Fear of disobeying or criticizing the "man of God". Fear of not being perfect and being lost to eternal torment because of the dumb luck of dying after the most minor sin is committed but before repenting of it.

Thankfully God gave me His spirit whilst standing by our seats during song service. Had I relied on the normal gangsta-prayer circle to "help" I would have most likely resisted, at which point many of them would have gone into full force mode and literally wrestled me to the front in order to cast out the demon that was obviously causing me to avoid the alter.

[acerrak]

i saw a little girl last night get moved by the Spirit, bring a tear to your eye, she had her hands up praising God, and was emotionaly envolved in her praise.

why wouldnt you want your kid not to seek after God? What it seems like is some of you have been abused or something over the years, I have been in and out of pentacostal churches, and while i may add you do see pressure from people in the upci about seeking tounges, I have never seen the scale of it like that in a trinity pentacostal church, mainly the church of God (clevland) which is the denomination i grew up in.

whether we like to admit it, The baptism of the Holy spirit is biblical, John said i baptize you with water, but the one who comes after me who was before me will baptize you with the Holy ghost.

Something happend in samaria to the point that simon the socerer was wanting to buy this power so when he lays on hands they to recieve the holy Ghost

people who give themselves over in true worship is a canidate for the Spirit. The spirit falls in worship, its not locked into any specific denomination, it happends to baptist methodist, catholics, it happends to chinese, american russians etc

its not something we labor for, its something God gives freely

[Dedicated Mind]

Even though I prayed for the holy ghost several times, I received the spirit while praising God with faith not in a seeking mode.

[acerrak]

Originally Posted by Dedicated Mind

Even though I prayed for the holy ghost several times, I received the spirit while praising God with faith not in a seeking mode.

its a expression i use to mean the same as you have expressed in the qouted

we seek God in praise, by drawing closer to him in praise and worship

not a literal, hey God were you at??

the bible says draw nigh unto him and he will draw nigh unto you

[Dedicated Mind]

Originally Posted by acerrak

its a expression i use to mean the same as you have expressed in the qouted

we seek God in praise, by drawing closer to him in praise and worship

not a literal, hey God were you at??

the bible says draw nigh unto him and he will draw nigh unto you

I agree with your statement that we seek God in praise, but I was not seeking, I was just praising to a faith filled song on my walkman jogging around an air force base on a solitary road at night. no one around me, no prayers, just faith filled worship.

[acerrak]

Originally Posted by Dedicated Mind

I agree with your statement that we seek God in praise, but I was not seeking, I was just praising to a faith filled song on my walkman jogging around an air force base on a solitary road at night. no one around me, no prayers, just faith filled worship.

man that is some awsome stuff.

[Dagwood]

I, myself, have a 7 y/o and 4 y/o. After witnessing (here and there) what I've seen in the past, nothing recently, I do not feel it necessary to coerce (sp?) my children into praying/seeking the Holy Ghost until they're really, honestly ready and full of questions with answers we can show them for their understanding; they're too young to be released from my accountability for one thing, IMO. Besides that, most smaller children I've seen get the holy ghost are the ones causing most of the trouble, whether in the home, church, or out on the streets. Not to broadbrush by any means, only from what I saw where was going to church at the time. Since being away from that atmosphere, I've seen far better results when the Spirit baptism is explained to allow the child to grow in their own experiences with life, sin, etc and realize how much more meaning being baptized later with the Holy Ghost really holds. To me, it almost comes across as if "the younger the child, the better chance of getting to Heaven before everyone else does." Just from what I've seen; others may not have that perception...