Writing about Getting the Holy Ghost

So I was editing a biography this weekend and arrived at the conversion scene. This brought up an issue perhaps we've touched on earlier in the blog, but we certainly haven't settled....

How Do You Describe God-Moments to Non-Christians?

For the writer trying to target a non-Christian audience, how do you explain those life-changing altar moments we A/P's understand--albeit usually in our own jargon?

Exercise

Try this.... Describe someone receiving the Holy Ghost but don't use any of these terms:

+ laying on of hands

+ stammering lips

+ other tongues

Now obviously it's not that any of those terms are negative in any way, I just don't know readily a 2011 non-Christian audience could understand a sentence like:

"I walked up to the altar where the preacher laid hands on me. I got stammering lips and then started speaking in other tongues. The service turned into a shout-down and I was still talking in tongues an hour later as I was filled with the Holy Ghost."

I know what that means, but how much of my understanding is shaped by 32 years of hearing this language all the time? What about the outsider?

Our

Age-Old Challenge

How do we speak about "joy unspeakable"? I realize from that very verse we are trying to do something even the Apostle didn't feel he could fully describe. But how do we try to relate an experience with God to people around us who are unfamiliar and possibly even reticent about Holy Ghost experiences?

Fire Shut up in My Bones

What does it feel like for a non-Christian to encounter God for the first time or be converted? Jeremiah used the analogy of "fire shut up in my bones" in an admittedly different context. But I believe that analogy is powerful in that it gives the reader a physical sensation to which he or she can relate. We need writing devices like analogies and metaphors to help the non-Christian relate to how it feels in that incredible moment when we encounter God.

• But what would this analogy or metaphor be?
• Even without a device like that, what should a simple first-person narrative about receiving the Holy Ghost for the first time sound like?
• Am I the only one challenged by the task of relating this great experience in accessible 2011 language?

Disclaimer

I understand that not all A/P writers targeting a non-Christian audience will face this issue. Not everything we write will necessarily wedge in an Acts 2:38 moment. Sometimes we'll just share a single aspect of our particular hope with the aim of building a bridge and opening a door. But even then, I hope that bridge and doorway will lead to a point where you will get to share an Acts 2:38 moment. And by then, I hope we'll have established if not a formula or answer, at least a body of writers who are committed to finding ways to relate this experience with the literary world at large.