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NASB | 1 Thessalonians 4:7 For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Thessalonians 4:7 For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness [to be dedicated, and set apart by behavior that pleases Him, whether in public or in private]. |
Subject: Holy Living |
Bible Note: "Experience alone has no weight. Scripture alone has all the weight we need." The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9 (NASB) 'We don't confirm truth or base our beliefs on subjective feelings. We base our beliefs and teachings on what the written Word of God says -- not on experience. Experience alone has no weight. Scripture alone has all the weight we need. 'Claiming to receive personal messages from God on a regular basis places subjective experience on the same level as Scripture.' To some people 'the personal, subjective sense of what a person thinks God is telling them trumps the objective Scripture. '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? '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.' 'One of the things Mormons ask potential converts to do is to read the Book of Mormon and then pray to God and ask Him if the Book of Mormon is true. It is said that you will then receive a testimony from the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God's restored church on earth today. It is difficult to counter this testimony because it is an emotional and, I believe, spiritual phenomenon. I say spiritual but I am not saying it is of God; it is of the devil. 'Mormons teach that if you are sincere and that if you ask God for wisdom as it says in James 1:5, that God will answer you and lead you into the truth. What could be more common sense than that?... 'You don't pray about truth -- you look into the Bible for it. To begin with, the Mormons are going against scripture and trusting something unverifiable (except by their own subjective feelings, of which the Bible says not to trust, Jer. 17:9).' (www.carm.org/lds/bom_look.htm) ____________________ Material above is quoted from these sources: www.str.org/free/commentaries/life/aprivate.htm www.carm.org/lds/bom_look.htm |