Results 1 - 8 of 8
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Who decided that the extraordinary gifts | Acts | BMyers | 197931 | ||
I’ve been contemplating rather I should put in my 2 cents on this topic or not. I’ve read the responses and they all appear civil, so I thought I would go ahead and toss in my thoughts/feelings. I feel that the Holy Spirit is still very active today and that the gifts of Spirit are still moving. Do they move the same in every church or person? No. Some churches are more in tuned to the Spirit than others, just like some Christians are more in tune to the Holy Spirit’s moving than other individuals. The statement was made that the Holy Spirit no longer raises people from the dead or heals them. I would disagree. We have prayed for individuals in our church for healings and have had them healed. We have also prayed for people and didn’t see earthly healing we had hoped for, but as it was pointed out, the ultimate healing of joining Christ in heaven occurred. I’ve worked as a paramedic for 16 years. I’ve seen people survive accidents that through all the evidence should have killed them. I’ve seen Christ’s protecting hand in my daughter’s life when her platelet count dropped down to 5,000. I’ve seen the Lord’s blessings poured out not only on my own family’s life, but in my friends and relatives. I watched in their hour of need how the Lord has provided. As a paramedic I have worked on dead people and they have been brought back to life. You may credit this to modern medicine, but I have different thought on this. The Lord is the one who gave us the knowledge to be able to discover, make, and use the modern medicine. I’ve seen people brought back that should have remained dead and those that died, that according to the text book should have lived. I feel that at times in our modern society that we don’t give God the credit He deserves. I feel and see that Holy Spirit is very active in my life and my family’s life. In my quite time of reflection I think how the Holy Spirit has guided, comforted, and protected my family and I know that the Holy Spirit is alive and moving today! |
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2 | Who decided that the extraordinary gifts | Acts | BradK | 197948 | ||
Hello BMyers, Possibly you could elaborate on your statement that "The statement was made that the Holy Spirit no longer raises people from the dead or heals them."? You disagreed. I can certainly appreciate your experience as a paramedic and that through this medical assistance people can and have been resuscitated. However, I think there's a significant difference between being resuscitated (vital signs restored)and having someone who's been dead 3-4 days being raised back to life. Would you not agree? The former could more clearly be assigned to the advances of medicine while the latter would clearly be a miracle of the Holy Spirit! I think the point being made is this: One being raised from the dead is not a normative occurence. God is sovereign and He can and does heal. However, in all of scripture we only have 8 individual examples given. Surely if God intended this type of miracle to be a common, i.e. normative experience of His miracle working power, we would find more evidence of it in the Bible:-) Make no mistake about it, the Holy Spirit is very much alive and operating in our world today quite in keeping with the Lord's promise in John 14:16-17ff. Speaking the Truth in Love, BradK |
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3 | Who decided that the extraordinary gifts | Acts | BMyers | 197956 | ||
I agree, a person who has been dead for 3 or 4 days is much more impressive than one who has been dead for 20 minutes. My question is how many times does something have to be mentioned in the Bible before it should be consider a 'normative experience'? Follow up on Doc's statement about TV ministries, I feel that some ministries have tried to deceive people. I'm not a fan of "TV Churches", not to say that they are all bad, but many fall short of being above reproach. I'm glad to see that we are all in agreement that the Holy Spirit is still alive and active. 1CO 12:27 Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it. 1CO 12:28 And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. 1CO 12:29 All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? 1CO 12:30 All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? 1CO 12:31 But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And I show you a still more excellent way. |
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4 | Who decided that the extraordinary gifts | Acts | BradK | 197957 | ||
Hello BMyers, To answer your question about what constitutes a "normative experience" in scripture, I think we need to look at a couple things: 1. Do we find that scripture prescribes the raising of the dead for all believers in all ages at any time? In other words, from the examples in scripture, do we find these passages teaching (or prescibing) this as a mandated practice? Or, is it merely desribing this? I simply don't see the weight of scripture supporting this as anything close to a "normative experience"; 2. Is the raising of the dead truly necessary as a (sign) witness to unbelievers? From my perspective and understanding, I find far more examples of faith in the Bible (Heb. 11), than I do the dead being raised. I also find no examples of anyone coming to faith BECAUSE of one being raised from the dead (aside from Jesus)![Luke 16:20-31 as a prime example] Correct me if I'm mistaken. Even empirically, do we find this happening as a semi-regular occurence? Certainly not! As a cessationist, I feel it easier for man to seek signs than walk by faith (Gal. 6:12). God can perform miracles as He deems necessary to accomplish His will, but I see far more evidence of man manipulating these for his own spectacular gain! Speaking the Truth in Love, BradK |
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5 | Who decided that the extraordinary gifts | Acts | BMyers | 197964 | ||
1) Well it depends, do you consider raising a person from the dead a healing or you looking for a scripture that says ‘raise a person from the dead’? 2) Nope. 2CO 4:4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. If you read the story of Lazarus, verse 45 leads you to the possibility because of the raising of Lazarus people believed in Jesus. JN 11:45 Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him. I agree with you that many people will seek the signs and the gifts, but not the giver of them. The signs/gifts are for glorifying God, but as you noted, has been abused and miss used to gain self-recognition and gain, not only in today’s society, but throughout history. I would not want to be one of those people on judgment day that has taken the glory for themselves. You follow brother in Christ, Brad |
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6 | Who decided that the extraordinary gifts | Acts | DocTrinsograce | 197967 | ||
Hi, Brad... I think you will find that Brother BradK's assessment does, indeed, reflect both doctrine and practice for Biblical Christian orthodoxy. I wish I could express myself as well as he! We draw our normative practices and our doctrines from didactic passages. The record of the miracle with Lazarus did, does, and always will affirm that Jesus is Messiah (John 11:42-43), bringing glory to God in general, and to the Son of God in particular (John 11:4). Nowhere in the narratives recounting the miraculous restoration of life are we told that these incidents are to be normative behaviors. In reference to your suggestion regarding John 11:45: We do not implement or eschew practices based on their results. The truth manifests itself in practical ways, but pragmatism is not a Christian philosophy. Even if this were a sound exegesis of that passage, we can cite other passages where Christ performed miracles only to have people stop following Him (John 6:62-66). After all, belief is never a matter of what people see (Luke 16:31). You also cited 2 Corinthians 4:4, but that whole passage is about God bringing the truth directly to the hearts of those to be saved (v6), not about miraculous manifestations in the church. Finally, I would remind you of Peter. He actually experienced directly the voice of God (Luke 9:35). When he discussed this miraculous experience in 2 Peter 1:18-19, he does not tell us to seek out such supernatural experiences. Instead, he places the value of such an experience as being far less sure than that of the Word of Scripture itself! Therefore, as we read the miracles of Christ and the apostles in the primitive church, we ought to be moved far more than by any sensationalism or theatrics we may experience directly. God is gracious to grant us experiences, but they are nothing as compared to the living Word! In Him, Doc |
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7 | Who decided that the extraordinary gifts | Acts | BMyers | 198065 | ||
What is my suggestion on John 11:45? I believe I was answering BradK's question about if anyone had been converted to following Christ because of a person being raised from the dead. I understand what a 'normative practice' is, but my question was how many times does something have to appear in the Bible before you consider this a normative practice? (I wasn't trying to imply that raising from the dead was normative practice, my question was just that, how many times does anything have to be in the Bible before you consider it a normative practice?) I'm not sure where you got the impression that I was saying that the miracle is more important than the Creator. If I remember the start of this whole discussion, does the Holy Spirit still operate or move? My answer to this is yes. It is demonstrated in the gifts that we find listed in the Bible, which are still active today. 1CO 12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. 1CO 12:2 You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the mute idols, however you were led. 1CO 12:3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is accursed”; and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. 1CO 12:4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. 1CO 12:5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. 1CO 12:6 There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. 1CO 12:7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 1CO 12:8 For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; 1CO 12:9 to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 1CO 12:10 and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. 1CO 12:11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. 1CO 12:12 For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. |
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8 | Who decided that the extraordinary gifts | Acts | DocTrinsograce | 198092 | ||
Hi, Brad... A normative practice for the church would be one that arises from didactic passages which actually speak to church practices. One does not derive practice or doctrine from narrative. The genre of a passage always influences sound exegesis. (The Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics (Article XIII) says it so well: "The awareness of what kind of literature one is interpreting is essential to a correct understanding of the text. A correct genre judgment should be made to ensure correct understanding. A parable, for example, should not be treated like a chronicle, nor should poetry be interpreted as though it were a straightforward narrative. Each passage has its own genre, and the interpreter should be cognizant of the specific kind of literature it is as he attempts to interpret it. Without genre recognition an interpreter can be misled in his understanding of the passage.") Consequently, although water is parted four times in the Scriptures, we are not all bound to part water! However, the single instance of didactic instruction of the orderly and instructive nature of assembly in 1 Corinthians 14, requires our obedience. If you look for the evidence of the Holy Spirit apart from the fruit of holiness as manifested in regenerated lives (cf John 3:8; Mark 4:26-29; 1 John 3:8-9), then you may mistake tares for wheat and goats for sheep. Thank you for your willingness to rightly divide the Word, and to allow it to be our sole authoritative standard. In Him, Doc |
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