Results 1 - 6 of 6
|
|
|||||
Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | What does it mean to "fall away"? | Luke 8:13 | New Creature | 197297 | ||
hello budderfligh Let me provide you with what I believe may be some helpful definitions of "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit" "These words (Mark 3:28-30) were never intended to torment anxious souls honestly desiring to know Christ, but they stand out as a blazing beacon warning of the danger of persisting in the rejection of the Spirit's testimony of Christ, until the seared conscience no longer responds to the gospel message." (Ironside) Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost (Matthew 12:31,32; Mark 3:28,29; Luke 12:10) is regarded by some as a continued and obstinate rejection of the gospel, and hence is an unpardonable sin, simply because as long as a sinner remains in unbelief he voluntarily excludes himself from pardon. (Easton's Bible Dictionary) The sin of blasphemy is a sin that can be forgiven. However, there is a sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit that cannot be forgiven (Matthew 12:32; Mark 3:29; Luke 12:10). This is a state of hardness in which one consciously and willfully resists God's saving power and grace. It is a desperate condition that is beyond the situation of forgiveness because one is not able to recognize and repent of sin. Thus one wanting to repent of blasphemy against the Spirit cannot have committed the sin. (Holman Bible Dictionary) |
||||||
2 | What does it mean to "fall away"? | Luke 8:13 | jlhetrick | 197302 | ||
New Creature- may I ask for clarification on what you believe blasphemy of the Holy Ghost really is. It stood out as interesting to me that you seemed to have taken such a staunch position against the established doctrines/teachings of others (in your response to Doc earlier- though I may have misunderstood you) and then only 11 minutes later offered a response to a most important question offering only definitions from others. While an apparent contradiction I was not so alarmed until I finished reading you and realized that not only did you not offer scriptural argument of your own, but failed to include optional considerations for the definition/explanation to include even those that were offered by the very sources you quoted; such as "Others regard the expression as designating the sin of attributing to the power of Satan those miracles which Christ performed, or generally those works which are the result of the Spirit's agency." (Easton's Bible Dictionary-on blasphemy of the Holy Ghost). I'm not suggesting that you intended to misrepresent any source you quoted but I do believe it a good idea to include enough from the source that you don't end up having them appear to take one position over the other if they do not. This varying from context might cause other "less discerning" to be left to conclude what YOU believe to be true and not necessarily what the Scriptures teach. I can't speak for Doc but I believe you ended up making his point, if not understanding it. We greatly benefit from the exhaustive efforts of those who have gone before us. If one believes he or she is being moved along spiritually to understand any part of God's word to mean something different than what He has given to those he has called for centuries before then one truly must believe himself/herself to be someone spectacularly special. Not trying to pick a fight- just calling for caution. By the way- I like your username. Wish I would have thought of it first :) God bless, Jeff |
||||||
3 | What does it mean to "fall away"? | Luke 8:13 | New Creature | 197387 | ||
Jeff Not everything written or taught by sincere men of the past should be discarded. I just believe we need to chew on the meat and spit out the bones. We need to be Berean's and compare what men say with with what Scripture says. Scripture alone can be fully trusted. As far as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, or the unforgiveable sin, which ever you prefer to call it is concerned, my basic definition as I understand it would be: Continual rejection of the Holy Spirit’s promptings to trust in Jesus Christ is the unpardonable blasphemy. May I ask you a question? Question - Do you believe the words of men layed down in past works, creeds and confessions are without error, and need to be accepted as such? Your's in Him NC |
||||||
4 | What does it mean to "fall away"? | Luke 8:13 | jlhetrick | 197427 | ||
NC- thanks for your response and clarification for my understanding. "...chew on the meat and spit out the bones." That's an excellent way of putting it and every time I hear it or read it I agree. As for your question to me the answer is a resounding No. With the exception of Scripture there is no inerrant writings and only those teachings that are 100 percent acurate with Scripture are 100 percent acurate and true. In the end, this includes those we agree with as well as those we might not. After all, unless one of us is perfect, neither of us have it all right. I believe our conflict of thinking, opinion, belief, may be in how we TREAT the "uninspired" writings and teachings of the Church fathers. I believe that when we teach that the proper approach to Bible study is to read it and completely rely on the Holy Ghost to give us interpretation, we teach something that is inconsistent with the clear plan of God for the Church. Can the Holy Ghost wholly give you or me the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth simply by our spending time alone with Him and the word? Of course we know He can. And there are, I'm inclinded to believe, circustances that would be special and unusual to you and me where He has and will. The bible, however, clearly presents a much different plan for the Church as an institution with Christ the Head. To not acknowledge this would be to not acknowledge Acts 13:1, 1 Cor 12:28-29, Eph 4:11 and the wider context in which these verses are found. On the other hand, when we take A verse out of it's context and develope an idea that it somehow negates those above mentioned verses we're already lost in our search for the truth. We need the context or we're lost. A case in point would be the oft quoted verse 1 John 2:27. If we're not understanding it in context we might be missing the truth teaching both warning against false teachers as well as the distinction made between mature believers verses immature ones. In fact, we might misinterpret the verse to mean that we are to trust our own, fallible hearts and minds as we believe we are being carried along by the Spirit in our reading and study of the Bible. We might also miss the fact that Scripture teaches overall that our hearts are "deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" (Jer 17:9) A light shedding contrast would be 1 Cor 3:2 or Hebrews 5:12-13. We might miss the fact that God intends to have some as teachers and some as students while all are working together to "attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph 4:13). So God has appointed some as teachers. Can't figure it any other way than to have the obvious fact that others are students. Hope this clears up where my thoughts were during my original post to you. God bless, Jeff |
||||||
5 | What does it mean to "fall away"? | Luke 8:13 | New Creature | 197429 | ||
Jeff thank you for your answer. I'm glad you didn't say that writtings of sincere men of the past can be fully trusted. If you did, I would have been concerned. Yours in Him NC |
||||||
6 | What does it mean to "fall away"? | Luke 8:13 | jlhetrick | 197439 | ||
And you would have had cause to be. Thank you for the exchange Jeff |
||||||