This morning my son Nicholas (age 6) described to me how to use food coloring to make a flower turn two different colors. He then told me that he wanted to do this with grass. I wanted to help him understand that the dark color of grass would make it harder to see the color change, so I asked him, “What color is grass?”

Without a moment’s hesitation he answered, “Brown.”

My wife burst out in laughter, and I hung my head in defeat. The reality of our lawn the past two summers trumped the answer I hoped for. I only wish that the reality of the text of the Bible was allowed to trump our doctrines, our expected answers. But reality is just crazy talk.

Some in the cessationist camp have felt that we have thrown the baby out with the bath water. That is, we believe that the sign gifts have ceased, but then we act like the Holy Spirit has ceased as well! Can one be a cessationist and still believe that the Holy Spirit does anything today? Maybe even something miraculous? Maybe even something subjective? What does the Holy Spirit do today? I had the privilege to get together with a group of pastors (all cessationists) recently to discuss this issue and it was fascinating to see the variety of opinions among them. Cessationism is certainly not a monolithic entity. Another group of cessationists (this group consisting of academics) asked the same questions and the result of their inquiry was a fairly recent book entitled Who’s Afraid of the Holy Spirit? Here are some of the highlights of the book.