Several years ago, while visiting the United States, we took a family day at Disneyland in Orange County. Thinking the junior rollercoaster might be a good entry point for my ten year old daughter to enjoy thrill rides, we ventured into the queue. As our rollercoaster car began to pick up speed on the first hill, my daughter let out an almighty scream, “Jesus, save me!” Later, I took consolation in my daughter’s affirmation of our Lord, but she was absolutely overcome with fear and the whole experience became something less than pleasing for all concerned. Think about it. Is her fear real? Of course. She senses danger and her body begins to react and suddenly, she’s in a full blown panic. Is the danger real? Not really – this is what makes the ride fun! We are led to sense danger without the presence of a true threat.

Recently, I heard someone relate his story regarding spiritual warfare. He recalled his story of encountering a person was afflicted with an evil spirit, a spirit of anger. Admittedly, he was a novice to this kind of spiritual encounter and nothing in his theological training had prepared him for what was to take place. Even though he was theologically trained, nothing in his understanding equipped him for handling someone demon possessed. He closed his account with the words: “Sometimes, our experiences shape our theology.”

Now, I thought about that statement and I want to return to the rollercoaster ride. My daughter’s experience was one of fear and panic. She felt something. But we have other ways of knowing other than subjective, sensory intake. For example, what did the evidence suggest? Were people arriving into the dock dead? How many visitors to Disneyland had died on this ride today? This week? All year? Ever? What she needed was some rational reflection to help her process what she was feeling. This is where her mind needs to process her feelings. Likewise, she could have drawn on my 30 plus years of rollercoaster riding and my confidence in the safety of the ride to help allay her fears. In other words, it’s about not allowing your feelings to rule your mind but, instead, combining one’s experiences with the existing evidence to come to a better understanding.

Imagine that she felt nothing on the ride. What if she felt no sensation of speed and danger? Boring, right? In this sense, it’s only as she is able to engage both experientially and rationally can she fully appreciate the ride.

When it comes to theological processing, much is being stated and written about people’s intuitive path to God. I agree and acknowledge the value in it. However, our foundation for knowing is the Word of God. The inherent danger is to experience something and then attempt to read back into the event ways to justify it. For instance, evil spirits appear throughout the Bible. However, nowhere do we find ridding ourselves of demons as a means of dealing with issues like anger or lust (which are major issues for the average Christ follower)? Why isn’t there one example given in the Bible of this teaching as a means of sanctification?

Yet we do know that Satan appears as an angel of light and that he is by his very nature, a deceiver. So, this is all the more reason that we should continually go back to God’s Word as the objective source by which we gain a clear understanding of what we might be experiencing. Isn’t this what the elderly John the Apostle instructed his readers, “Test every spirit”. Another way in which we test truth is through the community of faith. Allowing ideas to be considered and weighed not based on my individual understanding of either an experience or of a passage, but in the collective understanding: God’s people reasoning around the Scriptures together. In short, it’s not our experiences that shape our theology but let our theology and the community of faith help us to shape our experiences. Do we have clear frameworks in place to know God and understand His Word?