18564 ScannedImage

i

Chapter 3

65. W-

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF THE SPIRIT

The wind blows wherever it pleases; you hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it has come from or where it is going. That is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit.

John 3:8

The biological theory of spirituality (with its claim that everybody has it) leads us to expect that spiritual experience, especially these days, will sometimes be expressed in secular terms. In spite of that, religious language is still the commonly preferred choice, which ought to be helpful to researchers. It is easy to recognise and to con-nect it with related doctrines within the religious culture. Unfortunately standard religious statements can also operate as ‘Keep Out’ signs. A few years ago a young chemistry graduate who was a member of a fundamentalist evangelical sect gave me the following account of his conversion:

Over approximately two years, both through the reading of the Bibie and through the faithful preaching of the same, I came under a conviction of my own sin and was brought to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s a God-given thing - not at all the work of man.

I was keen to know what was special in this young mans case; the subtle facets of his persona! feelings at the time of his conversion. He mentioned nonę of these. Perhaps they were beyond words. Perhaps he felt the particulars of his conversion were nonę of my business. My impression at the time was that he was conforming to an expected pattern, and that in doing so, his terminology concealed as