Results 3701 - 3720 of 4232
|
||||||
Results from: Notes Author: kalos Ordered by Verse |
||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
3701 | Is the Promised Land the Israel of today | Hebrews | kalos | 42422 | ||
Jdth Cstl: You forgot to begin your post with: "Once upon a time..." You also forgot to end your post with: "...And they all lived happily ever after." |
||||||
3702 | Is the Promised Land the Israel of today | Hebrews | kalos | 42433 | ||
Jdth Cstl: To aid you in your comprehension of Tim Moran's Note, I provide the following definition -- just in case you have any confusion about what the word Bible means: Bible -- "the sacred scriptures of Christians comprising the Old Testament and the New Testament." |
||||||
3703 | Hebrews 6:6 explained | Hebrews | kalos | 43278 | ||
Israel was chosen. No question about it. But chosen for what? FOR WHAT? ************* Israel, so named from the grandson of Abraham, was chosen for a fourfold mission: (1) To witness to the unity of God in the midst of universal idolatry, Deuteronomy 6:4 ; Isaiah 43:10,12,. (2) to illustrate to the nations the blessedness of serving the true God, Deuteronomy 33:26-29 ; 1 Chronicles 17:20,21 ; Psalms 144:15. (3) to receive, preserve, and transmit the Scripture, Deuteronomy 4:5-8; Romans 3:1,2. (4) to produce, as to His humanity, the Messiah, Genesis 3:15; 12:3; 22:18; 28:10-14; 49:10 ; 2 Samuel 7:12-16 ; Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; Matthew 1:1; Romans 1:3. According to the prophets, Israel, regathered from all nations, restored to her own land and converted, is yet to have her greatest earthly exaltation and glory. Zechariah 12:8. (Scofield, C.I. "Scofield Reference Notes on Romans 11". "Scofield Reference Notes (1917 Edition)". http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/ScofieldReferenceNotes/ |
||||||
3704 | Aren't the elect commanded to repent? | Hebrews | kalos | 45230 | ||
CDBJ: Excellent post, my friend. I agree with you completely when you say, " . . . most that claim to be Christians don't fully know what is means to believe in Jesus." I quote here the best, clearest, most concise and accurate answer I've ever heard to the question: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO *BELIEVE* IN JESUS CHRIST? (Note that what I am posting is NOT the entire Plan of Salvation. It is NOT Steps to Salvation or How to Be Saved. I hope no one feels the need to write and tell me that I left out part of the Plan of Salvation. The focus of this quote is limited to the question "WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO *BELIEVE* IN JESUS CHRIST?") "To believe in Jesus Christ is to have a confident conviction that: 1) He is who the Bible says He is. 2) He will do what He promises. 3) Upon placing my trust in Him, I enter into a personal, eternal relationship with the Son of God." (Quoted from a sermon by Charles Stanley, In Touch Ministries) |
||||||
3705 | The dream was from God? | Heb 1:1 | kalos | 8441 | ||
"How do you know that the dream was from God?" Good question. Ed: Having read Sutton's offensive and inappropirate posting made 06-29-01, 1:01pm, I now make public what was originally not intended to be made public -- an excerpt from an email of mine: Mark Sutton has graduated from giving us his feelings (as opposed to Scripture only). Now he is in the business of interpreting dreams and telling us what God meant by them. Personally, I think more than 90 percent of a person's dreams have absolutely no meaning whatsoever. A few dreams have obvious psychological significance and often are self-interpreting. My guess is that 1 percent or less of all dreams should be taken as messages directly from God. (Is not the claim to direct (new and unique) revelation from God one of the errors of Benny Hinn?) No need to quote Joel or Acts 2. Yes, God may speak to us through dreams. But, "in these last days [He] has spoken unto us by his Son" through the Scriptures (Hebrews 1:1-2). This is how God normally speaks to us. I just noticed that "This thread has been temporarily restricted from appearing on the homepage," as it should be. |
||||||
3706 | The dream was from God? | Heb 1:1 | kalos | 8466 | ||
Hank: Thank you for your note which begins "Verbatim, here's what you said..." You write and I agree, "The Word of God (Scripture) is not merely "A" source, it is "THE" source which defines our relationship with God and and by means of which we are led into a right relationship with Him through the Lord Jesus Christ." Recent postings of certain persons indicate that those persons have less esteem for and dependence upon the Word of God than is fitting. "The Scriptures are not a "substitute" for anything." How true, yet at least one post-er in his writings has substituted sarcasm for intelligence and a sense of superiority for humility. He has also substituted what he alone sees as a witty writing style for sound answers that include biblical support. He also presumes to know the thoughts, feelings, intent and motives of another person after reading a couple of paragraphs written by the other. And after misreading, misunderstanding and misinterpreting them at that. Maybe he reads the Bible with the same cavalier approach. If one is looking for trouble, one will likely find it. |
||||||
3707 | The dream was from God? | Heb 1:1 | kalos | 8476 | ||
I give up! Now the sacred and imperishable Word of God is called "*a* publication." If it is, then it is the only publication I know of that is "forever settled in heaven." The Bible being the written Word of God and Christ Himself being the Living Word, I wonder if Christ too is unnecessary for one's salvation, according to the doctrine/theory/speculation of others. |
||||||
3708 | The dream was from God? | Heb 1:1 | kalos | 8486 | ||
Yet another lame attempt to be funny about a topic that is not funny. So now the 10 Commandments are nothing but a pamphlet? That makes God nothing more than a pamphleteer? We are all so impressed. I can't wait to read more lame attempts at humor. What will be the next target of your great wit -- hell, Satan, demons, the Trinity, the crucifixion, the body and blood of Christ? Oh, dear. There I go again being overly concerned about my beliefs! |
||||||
3709 | God has spoken to us in His Son | Heb 1:1 | kalos | 148844 | ||
Does God communicate to us outside the Bible? The Amplified Bible Hebrews 1:1-2a IN MANY separate revelations [each of which set forth a portion of the Truth] and in different ways God spoke of old to [our] forefathers in and by the prophets, [but] in the last of these days He has spoken to us in [the person of a] Son, Whom He appointed Heir and lawful Owner of all things... 'Answer: 'Short answer: of course he does! The long answer, however, nuances this a bit more. I don't believe that God's normal M.O. is to give verbal direction to our individual lives. That is not to say that he doesn't guide us with impulses, with pricks of the conscience, with moving circumstances, with bringing things to our memory, etc. But it is to say that he doesn't, as a normal activity, communicate to believers verbally apart from scripture. 'To me, this duck doesn't quack the same as the charismatic duck. As far as abuses are concerned when it comes to discerning God's will, as you no doubt know there are legions of heart-breaking stories about people who thought they heard the voice of God tell them to do something. Even some of the better-known Vineyard leaders have had false communications, and have, because of them, (nearly) ruined churches. On the one hand, this posture could well be a moral problem. It's called laziness. I don't think that God expects us to check out our brains when it comes to making decisions. 'But I also don't think that God expects us to be omniscient. His normal M.O. seems to be that if we can learn about something through normal means he will not resort to his non-discursive communication with us. Frankly, I got a bit nervous when I read that you "need" to have revelations. That posture can truly hurt you and your flock down the line. When non-charismatics truly depend on the Lord for guidance, they work hard and study hard and pray hard. And they seek the Lord's guidance in all of this. This is Christ-honoring. We should never substitute discursive revelations for the hard work of prayer and research. I, too, agree that some decisions are so monumental that we need to get something from God. But what that something is distinguishes [non-charismatics] from charismatics. Charismatics need overt assurances that they are doing the right thing. In some respects, this might not only be a symptom of laziness; it might also be a lack of faith. To insist that God gives me revelations when he wants me to trust him--often over the uncertainties of life--is indeed a lack of faith. '[Non-charismatics], on the other hand, often reduce decision making to simply a listing of the pros and cons about a matter. In this approach, God doesn't even need to get involved! I do believe that the peace of God is something that we can have and should seek. And especially when it comes to major decisions, we should never go into the matter cavalierly. This goes for both sides of the debate. 'I hope you get the book, "Who's Afraid of the Holy Spirit?" and I hope that you read J. I. Packer's essay on discerning God's will for our lives. He has some significant comments to make about the wrong ways to go about discerning the will of God.' ____________________ http://www.bible.org/qatopic.asp |
||||||
3710 | God has spoken to us in His Son | Heb 1:1 | kalos | 148976 | ||
Does God communicate to us outside the Bible? The Amplified Bible Hebrews 1:1-2a IN MANY separate revelations [each of which set forth a portion of the Truth] and in different ways God spoke of old to [our] forefathers in and by the prophets, [but] in the last of these days He has spoken to us in [the person of a] Son, Whom He appointed Heir and lawful Owner of all things... 'Answer: 'Short answer: of course he does! The long answer, however, nuances this a bit more. I don't believe that God's normal M.O. is to give verbal direction to our individual lives. That is not to say that he doesn't guide us with impulses, with pricks of the conscience, with moving circumstances, with bringing things to our memory, etc. But it is to say that he doesn't, as a normal activity, communicate to believers verbally apart from scripture. 'To me, this duck doesn't quack the same as the charismatic duck. As far as abuses are concerned when it comes to discerning God's will, as you no doubt know there are legions of heart-breaking stories about people who thought they heard the voice of God tell them to do something. Even some of the better-known Vineyard leaders have had false communications, and have, because of them, (nearly) ruined churches. On the one hand, this posture could well be a moral problem. It's called laziness. I don't think that God expects us to check out our brains when it comes to making decisions. 'But I also don't think that God expects us to be omniscient. His normal M.O. seems to be that if we can learn about something through normal means he will not resort to his non-discursive communication with us. Frankly, I got a bit nervous when I read that you "need" to have revelations. That posture can truly hurt you and your flock down the line. When non-charismatics truly depend on the Lord for guidance, they work hard and study hard and pray hard. And they seek the Lord's guidance in all of this. This is Christ-honoring. We should never substitute discursive revelations for the hard work of prayer and research. I, too, agree that some decisions are so monumental that we need to get something from God. But what that something is distinguishes [non-charismatics] from charismatics. Charismatics need overt assurances that they are doing the right thing. In some respects, this might not only be a symptom of laziness; it might also be a lack of faith. To insist that God gives me revelations when he wants me to trust him--often over the uncertainties of life--is indeed a lack of faith. '[Non-charismatics], on the other hand, often reduce decision making to simply a listing of the pros and cons about a matter. In this approach, God doesn't even need to get involved! I do believe that the peace of God is something that we can have and should seek. And especially when it comes to major decisions, we should never go into the matter cavalierly. This goes for both sides of the debate. 'I hope you get the book, "Who's Afraid of the Holy Spirit?" and I hope that you read J. I. Packer's essay on discerning God's will for our lives. He has some significant comments to make about the wrong ways to go about discerning the will of God.' ____________________ http://www.bible.org/qatopic.asp |
||||||
3711 | A Fundamental Question | Heb 1:1 | kalos | 150659 | ||
"The greatest movement of God's Spirit in the last 1000 years was the Reformation. It was not started by a voice from God or by an assignment. It was started by a verse of Scripture: "The just shall live by faith." Martin Luther was simply listening to the only Word of God we are ever enjoined to hear, know, and obey-the Bible." ____________________ IN MANY separate revelations [each of which set forth a portion of the Truth] and in different ways God spoke of old to [our] forefathers in and by the prophets, AMPLIFIED Hebrews 1:1 'A Fundamental Question 'Most people teaching error do not do so maliciously. Usually they have the best intentions, but having a good heart is not enough. Even someone who has a loyalty to truth can still undermine truth. 'Many of Henry Blackaby's ideas in Experiencing God are like that. I have addressed only a few of the serious problems with this work. There are more. 'I'll close with a fundamental question. Must I hear the voice of God and receive personalized direction–special assignments for my life–in order to experience an authentic love relationship with God? Blackaby answers "yes" (132, 137). The Bible answers "no." 'Experiencing God involves only three steps. First, it requires accurate information about God (true knowledge). Second, we must live according to that truth (active faith). Third, we experience the effects of truth as God transforms our lives and the lives of others we touch (sanctification and ministry). 'Contrary to what is taught in Experiencing God, you are not substandard if you do not "hear God's voice." The Bible does not teach that receiving personal revelations from God is necessary, ordinary, or to be expected for optimal Christian living. Godly Christians can go their entire life without such and experience. There are dozens of verses about pursuing truth and sound doctrine, but none supporting hearing the voice of God in that sense. 'It is perilous to construct doctrine from historical material alone. However, this is largely Blackaby's approach. It is more sound to first develop one's theology from the less ambiguous material in the Epistles. Then one can look for applications of those principles in the historical texts like Acts, the Gospels, or the Old Testament. 'Blackaby can find no support for his doctrine of hearing the voice of God in the place where all essential disciplines of Christian living must appear: the Epistles. Search for verification in the writings of any disciple. You will find nothing but silence. Why are the Apostles unanimously reticent on a capability that is allegedly at the core of the Christian life? 'The Bible never teaches us to wait for an assignment before making decisions, nor did the disciples model this concept. Instead, the Scripture gives page after page of assignments. 'Yes, God gave special directions under certain circumstances, and He still can today. However, in the Bible such things are rare and generally happen with key leaders of God's people. Even then it is not through an internal "sense" of God's "leading," but by an unmistakable, supernatural revelation. 'The greatest movement of God's Spirit in the last 1000 years was the Reformation. It was not started by a voice from God or by an assignment. It was started by a verse of Scripture: "The just shall live by faith." Martin Luther was simply listening to the only Word of God we are ever enjoined to hear, know, and obey–the Bible.' ____________________ http://www.str.org/free/solid_ground/SG9901.htm * * * * * * * * * * * * * revelationcommentary.org www.solagroup.org In addition to commentary on the entire book of Revelation, this site includes a glossary of terms related to the biblical end times, plus answers to common questions about the false prophet and second coming. |
||||||
3712 | How does God speak to us? | Heb 1:1 | kalos | 154232 | ||
How does God speak to us? 'I am a bit distressed even talking about this issue because my comments are meant to try to rein Christians in a little bit, to keep them off of the fringe... 'But whenever I have to rein Christians in a bit and talk about this kind of thing I feel badly because I realize that some people are straining at the bit for the best of reasons and with the best of intentions...They want to experience more of the working of the Holy Spirit in their life. And here is Koukl coming in, apparently throwing cold water on the whole operation. 'I feel bad about that because I have no intention of quenching the work of the Holy Spirit. My entire goal is to be very, very careful and look closely at the specifics of what's being held to be true to see if they do, in fact, line up with the directives given in the Scriptures. Or, are we drawing some wrong conclusions that cause us to go over the edge and maybe do some spiritual damage to ourselves and others?... 'I think I'm somewhat of an evangelical iconoclast because I'm always breaking up people's parties, so to speak. An iconoclast is an image breaker, someone who kind of attacks, to some degree, cherished notions. Sometimes that bothers people and I 'm sorry about that. I don't mean to cause trouble for the sake of trouble, but I do mean to force people to think clearly and Biblically, even about those ideas they cherish the most. And, to many of us, the thing that we cherish the most is this idea that we have a personal hotline to God and we ought to expect Him to speak to us about our decisions. 'I had a very stimulating conversation last week about this. I talked about it on Sunday in some detail, and then a friend of mine wrote me a note and offered me eighteen references from the book of Acts that seem to contradict my point of view. So what I want to do for just a few moments is to talk about these particular references and see if they do contradict what I was saying last weekend. 'I have to make clear what my point of view is so that it's not misunderstood. Let me capsulize it for you very quickly. My point of view is basically four quick points: 'First of all, learning to hear the voice of God is not taught as a Christian discipline that we must learn in order to live the optimal Christian life. This is the "hotline to God" view in which we get specialized and tailor-made instructions for our personal lives. That is not taught in Scripture. 'Secondly, God sometimes does give specialized instructions, so I'm not saying that God can't do that and I'm not putting God in a box. He does sometimes give specialized instructions. He did in Biblical times and He does in the present. But when we read in the Bible especially in the New Testament, which is what our discussion is about today when He has done it, such specialized instructions are clear first of all. They are not mumbled. They are not whispered. They are not nudged. And they are, almost without exception in the New Testament, a sovereign intrusion by God into the circumstances rather than something that is first sought by a Christian. 'Thirdly, God's intrusion in these cases is sometimes through special gifts in the body that I believe are in full operation today, but are by very nature individual. In other words, every person has his own gift and each person does not have every gift. So this working through gifts can't be a means of every Christian hearing from God. In other words, sometimes God intervenes with a prophetic word, but since prophetic words only come through those people who have the gift of prophecy, it's not the kind of thing we all have to cultivate, to learn to do. 'Finally, there are clearly workings of the Spirit in the area of teaching, conviction of sin and comforting of individual Christians. I admit that those workings are private, individual and tailored to individual people. Those kinds of things are not in question here. 'We're going to do a little Bible study. We're going to look at eighteen references suggested in the letter to me that was an attempt to offer contrary evidence from the Scriptures to the point of view that I just described for you. All of these references come from the book of Acts. We will see if these references actually undermine the basic point I have been making or not. In a sense, I hope the Bible study will go beyond just the meaning of the passages because what this will do, as we walk through it, is help us to learn how to be more precise and particular about our Bible study and not draw conclusions hastily or inappropriately from the Scriptures. But take a close, methodical look to get a clear idea of what is actually being averred here about Christian disciplines and God speaking.' ____________________ Acts and the Voice of God by Gregory Koukl To read more go to: (www.str.org/free/commentaries/theology/actsvoic.htm) |
||||||
3713 | How does God speak to us? | Heb 1:1 | kalos | 154233 | ||
Does God communicate to us outside the Bible? The Amplified Bible Hebrews 1:1-2a IN MANY separate revelations [each of which set forth a portion of the Truth] and in different ways God spoke of old to [our] forefathers in and by the prophets, [but] in the last of these days He has spoken to us in [the person of a] Son, Whom He appointed Heir and lawful Owner of all things... 'Answer: 'Short answer: of course he does! The long answer, however, nuances this a bit more. I don't believe that God's normal M.O. is to give verbal direction to our individual lives. That is not to say that he doesn't guide us with impulses, with pricks of the conscience, with moving circumstances, with bringing things to our memory, etc. But it is to say that he doesn't, as a normal activity, communicate to believers verbally apart from scripture. 'To me, this duck doesn't quack the same as the charismatic duck. As far as abuses are concerned when it comes to discerning God's will, as you no doubt know there are legions of heart-breaking stories about people who thought they heard the voice of God tell them to do something. Even some of the better-known Vineyard leaders have had false communications, and have, because of them, (nearly) ruined churches. On the one hand, this posture could well be a moral problem. It's called laziness. I don't think that God expects us to check out our brains when it comes to making decisions. 'But I also don't think that God expects us to be omniscient. His normal M.O. seems to be that if we can learn about something through normal means he will not resort to his non-discursive communication with us. Frankly, I got a bit nervous when I read that you "need" to have revelations. That posture can truly hurt you and your flock down the line. When non-charismatics truly depend on the Lord for guidance, they work hard and study hard and pray hard. And they seek the Lord's guidance in all of this. This is Christ-honoring. We should never substitute discursive revelations for the hard work of prayer and research. I, too, agree that some decisions are so monumental that we need to get something from God. But what that something is distinguishes [non-charismatics] from charismatics. Charismatics need overt assurances that they are doing the right thing. In some respects, this might not only be a symptom of laziness; it might also be a lack of faith. To insist that God gives me revelations when he wants me to trust him--often over the uncertainties of life--is indeed a lack of faith. '[Non-charismatics], on the other hand, often reduce decision making to simply a listing of the pros and cons about a matter. In this approach, God doesn't even need to get involved! I do believe that the peace of God is something that we can have and should seek. And especially when it comes to major decisions, we should never go into the matter cavalierly. This goes for both sides of the debate. 'I hope you get the book, "Who's Afraid of the Holy Spirit?" and I hope that you read J. I. Packer's essay on discerning God's will for our lives. He has some significant comments to make about the wrong ways to go about discerning the will of God.' ____________________ http://www.bible.org/qatopic.asp |
||||||
3714 | How does God speak to us? | Heb 1:1 | kalos | 154234 | ||
Personal Revelations Not Necessary Or Ordinary ____________________ "The Bible does not teach that receiving personal revelations from God is necessary, ordinary, or to be expected for optimal Christian living." ____________________ IN MANY separate revelations [each of which set forth a portion of the Truth] and in different ways God spoke of old to [our] forefathers in and by the prophets, AMPLIFIED Hebrews 1:1 'A Fundamental Question 'Most people teaching error do not do so maliciously. Usually they have the best intentions, but having a good heart is not enough. Even someone who has a loyalty to truth can still undermine truth. 'Many of Henry Blackaby's ideas in Experiencing God are like that. I have addressed only a few of the serious problems with this work. There are more. 'I'll close with a fundamental question. Must I hear the voice of God and receive personalized direction–special assignments for my life–in order to experience an authentic love relationship with God? Blackaby answers "yes" (132, 137). The Bible answers "no." 'Experiencing God involves only three steps. First, it requires accurate information about God (true knowledge). Second, we must live according to that truth (active faith). Third, we experience the effects of truth as God transforms our lives and the lives of others we touch (sanctification and ministry). 'Contrary to what is taught in Experiencing God, you are not substandard if you do not "hear God's voice." The Bible does not teach that receiving personal revelations from God is necessary, ordinary, or to be expected for optimal Christian living. Godly Christians can go their entire life without such and experience. There are dozens of verses about pursuing truth and sound doctrine, but none supporting hearing the voice of God in that sense. 'It is perilous to construct doctrine from historical material alone. However, this is largely Blackaby's approach. It is more sound to first develop one's theology from the less ambiguous material in the Epistles. Then one can look for applications of those principles in the historical texts like Acts, the Gospels, or the Old Testament. 'Blackaby can find no support for his doctrine of hearing the voice of God in the place where all essential disciplines of Christian living must appear: the Epistles. Search for verification in the writings of any disciple. You will find nothing but silence. Why are the Apostles unanimously reticent on a capability that is allegedly at the core of the Christian life? 'The Bible never teaches us to wait for an assignment before making decisions, nor did the disciples model this concept. Instead, the Scripture gives page after page of assignments. 'Yes, God gave special directions under certain circumstances, and He still can today. However, in the Bible such things are rare and generally happen with key leaders of God's people. Even then it is not through an internal "sense" of God's "leading," but by an unmistakable, supernatural revelation. 'The greatest movement of God's Spirit in the last 1000 years was the Reformation. It was not started by a voice from God or by an assignment. It was started by a verse of Scripture: "The just shall live by faith." Martin Luther was simply listening to the only Word of God we are ever enjoined to hear, know, and obey–the Bible.' ____________________ www.str.org/free/solid_ground/ SG9901.htm |
||||||
3715 | How does God speak to us? | Heb 1:1 | kalos | 154235 | ||
Does God talk to you personally? "A Private Hot Line to God?" by Gregory Koukl 'Does God talk to you personally? Would you bet your life on it? Claiming to receive personal messages from God on a regular basis places subjective experience on the same level as Scripture, Greg argues. This is the claim of a prophet, and not even Old Testament prophets did so unless they were willing to die for the claim. 'I've made what I think is a telling observation about those who hold to a dual source of special revelation. Whenever an organization says, "We believe the Bible is inspired plus we believe our leadership is inspired," or "We believe the Bible is inspired plus we believe this other book of ours" (like the Book of Mormon, for example) "is inspired," the Bible always ends up taking the back seat instead of being on equal footing with these other sources of special revelation. 'I think most Christians will be comfortable with that assessment. This, though, raises a question about Evangelical claims to multiple sources of special revelation. For all our talk about sola Scriptura, many also hold that God speaks to them on a regular basis giving true information about Himself and specific directions for their lives. Their claim is, essentially, "I believe the Bible is a bona fide source of information and the Spirit also gives private information directly to me." The second step frequently follows the first: The personal, subjective sense of what a person thinks God is telling him trumps the objective Scripture. 'I was teaching from the Bible recently in a large Evangelical church here in Southern California, and I was publicly opposed by a woman who challenged my view not on the basis of a better interpretation of Scripture (she completely ignored my exegesis), but on the basis of what she was convinced the Holy Spirit had told her. She called me a heretic and said I was sinning because I was "analyzing and dissecting the Bible" instead of letting the Holy Spirit speak to me. My view was merely "man's interpretation." You'd be amazed at how often I run into that kind of response by otherwise orthodox Christians. 'Note that I have a very robust doctrine of the Holy Spirit. I'm charismatic in that I believe in the perpetuity of spiritual gifts and in energetic worship. The real question is-- and this is vital-- Are we justified in claiming that our personal, private, first-person, subjective experiences give us authoritative knowledge about God, or about what God wants us to do? 'If a woman said, "God told me to marry this man," that wouldn't be contrary to Scripture unless he was a non-Christian or already married. Even if he was a Christian, though, the statement begs a different question: Does Scripture give us the liberty to assign the authority of divine fiat to our subjective experiences? 'My answer is nowhere does the Bible give us that liberty. It does not enjoin us to assess our feelings and then judge whether they are a manifestation of the voice of God or not.' This is an excerpt from the article. To read more go to: ID# 85421 at this website (StudyBibleForum) and/or: (www.str.org/free/commentaries/life/aprivate.htm). |
||||||
3716 | How does God speak to us? | Heb 1:1 | kalos | 154246 | ||
The role of the Holy Spirit is not to add anything to the text... 'But the way God longs to reach our hearts is through our minds. It is through the truth of Scripture that we become transformed people through the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). This truth comes through the discipline of careful reading of the text (Ephesians 3:4) seeking to find the author's intended meaning. The role of the Holy Spirit is not to add anything to the text but to make the heart of the reader humble so that he or she will welcome and embrace the truth (I Corinthians 2:14).' (www.desiringgod.org/library/what_we_believe/ pastoral_teaching.html) AMPLIFIED 1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural, nonspiritual man does not accept or welcome or admit into his heart the gifts and teachings and revelations of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (meaningless nonsense) to him; and he is incapable of knowing them [of progressively recognizing, understanding, and becoming better acquainted with them] because they are spiritually discerned and estimated and appreciated. |
||||||
3717 | How does God speak to us? | Heb 1:1 | kalos | 154277 | ||
CDBJ: Thank you for the kind words. As for others, why is it that every time I post anything about the authority of the Scriptures, someone always posts back implying that I am not depending on the Holy Spirit to illuminate the meaning of the Bible text? This is just plain silly. I have never downplayed the role of the Holy Spirit in our understanding of the Scriptures. It is not I, but others who act as if the holy Scriptures and the Holy Spirit are mutually exclusive -- that you have either one or the other. For the record, I do not advocate legalism OR mysticism. There has to be a balance. I have never said otherwise. I know that you are in agreement with me here. I merely mention it in this Note for the benefit of others. Grace to you, Kalos |
||||||
3718 | How does God speak to us? | Heb 1:1 | kalos | 154283 | ||
'This teaching that God will whisper in your ear all kind of particulars that pertain to you and His will for your life is very appealing to Christians. Even though when you look at the Scriptures, the specialized directions are rare. They are unusual. They are usually unsought. And they are always crystal clear. None of this "I think the Lord is telling me" business. People are still gravitating to the suggestion that we can develop a sixth sense that can tie us into a hotline to God so that we can have certitude about the things of life and the decisions we ought to make. Why is this appealing? Because it's easy. It's easy. You know Americans are given to quick fixes and this is the American Christian quick fix. We are also given to individualism and this is the American individualistic view of Christianity--guidance decision making. It fits the American mentality, not the Biblical mentality, not the Christian mentality, the American mentality. And that's why this point of view is distinctly American. It's a quick fix. It's an easy way out. It's kind of like Cliff Notes, only worse.' ____________________ (www.str.org/free/commentaries/ life/heargod.htm) |
||||||
3719 | How does God speak to us? | Heb 1:1 | kalos | 154284 | ||
Experience is not authoritative... the Bible is. ____________________ "The only Word of God that we are ever enjoined to listen to is not the word that comes into our spiritual ears, as it were, from the spiritual ozone, but the Word that comes from the Scriptures." ____________________ 'For me to say the Bible doesn't teach this and then someone to say, "Well, here's what happened to me." All they are telling me is what happened to them. They are not proving to me that God was involved with it just because it happened to them. That's precisely what's in question. I'm not questioning the experience, I'm questioning the source and the validity of the experience. Experience is not authoritative to me...What is compelling to me is to go to the Scriptures and to show in the Scriptures where such a thing is a discipline.' (...) 'What happens here is that people don't do the hard work of learning...There is a distinct difference between the work of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament and that of the Old. The New being the fulfillment of the promise of Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 37 and following in Joel and a number of other places of the giving of the New Covenant. 'Now, here is what is interesting to me. I was having a conversation with a friend who...believes that this is an appropriate thing for Christians, yet at the same time this person didn't have a clear understanding of the difference between the old covenant and the new with regards to the working of the Holy Spirit, which is fundamental in understanding how to look at Christian life. 'This is my fear, ladies and gentlemen, and I'll end with this point. This skill is being offered, and what it ultimately involves, what it ultimately ends up being is a short cut to the real McCoy of knowledge and spiritual growth. Instead of investing our time learning the truth and working at making it a part of us so that we have a good understanding of the truth from the front to the back, from the beginning to the end, from Genesis to Revelation, we opt out for an easy way out, which is to let God just tell us and therefore we are not equipped. 'Not only that, but a lot of times when God tells us, what He tells us is false because it's not God telling us. So we've got a lot of screwy things going on with people who believe this kind of thing, and instead of being devoted to developing spiritual maturity and attaining Scriptural knowledge we want the quick fix, and then we call the quick fix spiritual maturity and knowledge. That's what is ironic about it. Instead of devoting ourselves to developing real maturity and attaining genuine Scriptural knowledge we go for the quick fix, and instead of developing mastery we want the Master to be sitting next to us during the tests of life whispering His answers in our ears. Do you know what that's called, ladies and gentlemen? That's called cheating. 'And there is no guarantee and no teaching and no instruction in the New Testament or Old that this is the way that we are to live our lives on a day to day basis. The only Word of God that we are ever enjoined to listen to is not the word that comes into our spiritual ears, as it were, from the spiritual ozone, but the Word that comes from the Scriptures. That's the one that we are told to learn, listen, heed, abide and hide in our heart.' ____________________ (www.str.org/free/commentaries/life/heargod.htm) |
||||||
3720 | How does God speak to us? | Heb 1:1 | kalos | 154286 | ||
The easy way out. The quick fix. 'What kind of people get spiritually weird? People who are looking for quick fixes frequently get weird. 'It seems like every couple of years a new fad comes down the pike promising a, deeper richer, fuller, Christian life. If you've been around for a while you know what I mean. In my twenty years as a Christian we've had Power in praise; the "second blessing" as key to the powerful Christian life; . . . heavy-handed submission to church leadership; binding, loosing and rebuking of demons, name it and claim it, the School of the Prophets, hearing the voice of God, power evangelism. These are all fads, ladies and gentlemen, evangelical joy-toys. They each may emphasize something that has biblical merit, but they do so in an unbalanced way, and each fails utterly as a panacea, as the one particular and principle thing that makes your Christian life "work." 'It is uniquely American to want an easy way out, especially a way out that is not painful and requires no work. That American value has crept into our American Christianity. So we have these seminars to get it all taken care of in a weekend. Want mental health? Get hands laid on you and you'll have mental health overnight. Want spirituality? Have a vision, get the baptism, . . . Want your problems to disappear? Simply praise the Lord. Want to be rid of temptation and sin? Have the demon cast out. Want to be done with the aggravation of decision making? Let God speak to you. 'Instead of being devoted to developing spiritual maturity and attaining Scriptural knowledge, we want the quick fix. Instead of developing mastery, we want magic. Instead of learning our lessons, we want the master sitting next to us during the tests of life whispering His answers into our ears. We anticipate an A in the exam of life not because we know the material, not because we've mastered the content and it's become a part of us, but because we've cheated. 'You will notice, by the way, that these extreme things do not stay around long, and that the effects of these fads fade over time. That's why the church as a whole has to move on to its next fast-fix. ____________________ "How to Keep from Getting Spiritually Weird" by Gregory Koukl. This is a transcript of a commentary from the radio show "Stand to Reason," with Gregory Koukl. For more information, contact Stand to Reason at (www.str.org) |
||||||
Result pages: << First < Prev [ 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 ] Next > Last [212] >> |