Results 1 - 4 of 4
|
|
|||||
Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | At what moment do we go to heaven? | Eccl 12:7 | Bows44 | 155653 | ||
Dear WOS, I did not choose my son and husband over Christ. I am my beloveds and he is mine still and always. I chose to stay and finish the job He gave me to do. (Some days when my son is being especially difficult, I wish I had chose differently. :-D) But as you say, God is sovereign and it was He who decided to give me the choice and I chose what I chose. Without knowing my history, who I am, and what I went through you may not be able to understand why I had this experience and made the choice that I did. But, Jesus was happy with my response and honored it, so that is what counts. I am a God pleaser not a man pleaser. As some have pointed out, this is not an experience study forum. If you are truly interested in knowing more (not looking for opportunities to slam it) then I will be happy to discuss it further via personal email. My email is in my profile. Yours in Christ, Bows44 |
||||||
2 | At what moment do we go to heaven? | Eccl 12:7 | mark d seyler | 155667 | ||
Hi Bows44, You are very correct when you say that since we do not know you, or your history, that we may not be able to understand why you have experienced what you did. I don't know that we can even neccessarily interpret your experience correctly to know actally what it was, whether vision from the Lord, deception from the devil, or rogue potato cassarole from the night before - please, I mean no offense ;-) - but I think it can be very difficult even for ourselves sometimes to understand things we experience. I believe there is a place for us to share of our personal experiences, just as you brought out scriptures in another post that make that point very plain. God gives us certain experiences so that we will be equipped to share with others in their time of need. What you have described is much like what Paul wrote in Philippians 1:23 "For I am pressed together by the two: having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better, 24 but to remain in the flesh is more necessary on account of you." Paul recognized the usefulness of his life here on earth, in spite of his desire to depart and to be with Christ. I think the point others have been trying to make is that we must always subordinate experience to scripture. We can share experience to demonstrate an application of scripture. We can share experience to encourage another believe to continue in the doctrines of scripture. We can share experience to demonstrate the power of God's truth as revealed in scripture within our lives. We must be very careful to always let scripture have the first place, and always let experience be filtered and checked by scripture. One of the difficulties with near-death experiences is the wide variety of experiences that people report. Many are like yours, an in-between place where they meet with Jesus, and discuss whether to go on or come back. Many are of a "tunnel of light, moving towards a brighter light. Many are of the physical surroundings, looking down into the room, then drifting through the ceiling, through the sky, and so on. There are a variety of different descriptions. Not to mention the other kind, of burning and hellfire. So which are true and which are not? Are they all true? Are none of them true? Some seem so ridiculous they are beyond belief! (again, I mean no offense! yours seems fairly normal ;-) ) Not to mention, the results in people's lives of these experiences are across the board. Some grow closer to God, some become cultic and antichrist. How can we know if some or all of these experiences mean what we think they mean? How can I correctly interpret anything in my life? I thought that my illness was something bad, but God says "all things work together for the good." It is by the Bible that I can gain a correct understanding of the events in my life. So we must always use scripture to moderate our experiences. "I know a man, who, fourteen years ago..." We all know the story. We commonly understand this reference to be speaking about Paul when he was stoned outside of Lystra(?), but let me ask you, is Paul trying to intentionally mislead us? He says "I know a man who..." and goes on to speak of this man in the third person. So was this about Paul, or someone else? And either way, it doesn't tell us anything beyond that this was a vision. Anything else is our own conjecture. So I do not see where the Bible specifically gives validity to near-death experiences as are reported among us. I do not say that it is impossible for what you experienced to be what you think it is. I only say that we need to be very careful as we consider our experiences that do not have specific teaching or example in the Bible. Some things in my life are just for me to treasure in my heart, and sometimes to wonder, knowing I will understand fully in the time to come. I can see how the experience you described could certainly have been a method God could use to help establish within you a clearer focus of your purpose in this world, or some other work He wished to accomplished. I do not just assume that such could not happen. Doctrinal teaching must always come from the Bible. The only place the sharing of any experience has is in illustrating a truth which has first been taught from scripture. The Bible say "we reap what we sow", and brother, let me tell you what happened to me! That should be the format we follow, giving Scripture first place, and letting God, not experience, be our teacher. I hope somewhere in these many words a few are helpful ;-) Love in Christ, Mark |
||||||
3 | At what moment do we go to heaven? | Eccl 12:7 | Bows44 | 155722 | ||
Hi Mark (and others,) I am not placing experience higher than scripture, I am supplimenting scripture with my experiences. The original post that started this long thread had both scriptures and my experience. I was stating what I believed based on those two things together. If others believe otherwise and wish to share what they believe and why, then they can and do. This is what this forum is all about..sharing what we belive based on scriptures and whether some want to admit it or not experiences. Our experiences have a large bearing on what we choose to believe or not. This is a fact. Mark...as for not being able to discern valid experiences or not, the Bible says: Matthew 7:16-18 "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? "So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. If you could take the time to get to know me personnally, you would find that I am passionately in love with Jesus and serve Him with all of my heart. I can pass the test that someone else out lined...I declare Jesus as Lord and Savior, born of a virgin, crucified dead and buried and risen again. I have confessed with my mouth the Lord Jesus with faith in my heart, been water baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit and am therefore born again. You would find that I am a good tree bearing good fruit, therefore I can not according to this scripture bear bad fruit. The fruit of my experience is Christ honoring and therefore good fruit. Testifying falsely would be bad fruit. Satan would not give an experience that honored Jesus. So based on these facts, you should be able to know that the experience is valid. I also hope that somewhere in my words someone can find help and encouragement and a closer walk with Jesus. I hope people can look beyond the semantics to the heart of the matter which is to share, encourage and grow. Your Sister in Christ, Bows44 |
||||||
4 | At what moment do we go to heaven? | Eccl 12:7 | mark d seyler | 155773 | ||
Hi Bow44, I appreciate you comment: "I hope people can look beyond the semantics to the heart of the matter which is to share, encourage and grow." That is exactly what we are to do as the Body of Christ, to share, and encourage, and grow. Unfortunately, the semantics are often all we have to go on in a forum like this. We don't have the advantage of personal contact and being able to get a "sense" of a person, we just have their words. Jesus gave us the example of sometimes ignoring the words people said to Him and addressing where they actually were. Nicodemas, the woman at the well (John 3 and 4), are both examples of that, where people attempted to communicate the best they could, but Jesus could see deeper, and could see see past their words to their heart. May each of us on this forum be like Jesus! But a lot of the time, I can't, and others can't, and we need your clarity, and we ask you to be careful to say exactly what you mean, and to proofread and consider if your post presents yourself correctly. We will all fall short of this from time to time. And we will also read each others words and come to wrong conclusions about them. We must all be forgiving, and understanding, and patient with each other, and take the time to correct misunderstandings with gentleness and love, so that we can quickly return to the shared study of God's Holy Word. Also, I want to respond to your comments elsewhere in your post, but I need a little more time to consider. Till then, Love in Christ, Mark |
||||||